The library was quieter than usual that evening, which a considerable feat, considering it was, well, a library. Most of the tables and desks were empty, and hardly a soul was perusing the aisles in search of the book they needed. In fact, on the second floor, Adela was convinced she was the only person there.

She had sent her message to Terra merely minutes ago, right as she arrived, but already she was surrounded by papers, binders, and stacks of books. Usually, this was where she’d thank the universe for her Abilities and slow her relativity to time to give herself the maximum time for studying. To anyone else, she’d be a blur of movement and shuffling papers.

However, the longer (from her perspective) she sat there, the less focused she became. Her mind kept drifting to the first meeting she was about to have. It didn’t happen often that she couldn’t lose herself in her textbooks, but it looked like she was getting nowhere tonight until it was over.

With a sigh, Adela sat back and let the world come back to normal speed, and then started to go quicker than before.

When she heard the stairwell door click, she slammed her ability to a stop so fast that it left her head spinning. She took her glasses off to rub at her eyes; when she put them back on and could see straight, Terra was walking towards her. Adela smiled and got to her feet.

“Terra?” she called.

Terra’s eyes widened a bit, and her mouth slightly parted, but she closed the gap regardless. Adela held out her hand; she stared at it for a moment, and then hesitantly shook it. They were a bit damp and shaky. Adela wanted to cringe and rip herself away, but she knew from experience that it wouldn’t end well, so she instead pulled back after a sufficient (she hoped) amount of seconds.

“My name is Adela Kariuki,” she recited. “I’m glad you see you got my message. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” Terra responded, voice barely over a whisper.

Adela sat, tucking her legs under herself, and gestured to the seat across the table. “I want to ask you some questions, if you don’t mind. As far as I understand—which, regrettably, isn’t much –it’s the quickest and most efficient way to get to know each other.”

“Oh, um… Okay.” Terra sat on the edge of her chair, slow and stiff, while Adela dug through her pile to find a specific binder already filled with plenty of pages. She plucked her favorite green quick-drying pen from behind her ear, and then flipped through until she found the tab labeled “Terra Beste”.

Opening it to the first page of the section, she clicked her pen with a flourish and pressed it to paper.

“Age?”

Terra blinked. “Uh… 18?”

“Hometown?”

“Frelip… It’s only about an hour south of here, and it’s pretty small, so if you don’t, um, know it…” She trailed off, bringing both of her lips into her mouth to bite down on them. “S-Sorry. Nevermind. Keep going.”

Adela raised an eyebrow, but did as she was told. “Uh, family members?”

“Both parents and an older sister.”

“Favorite color?”

“Um… Blue, I guess?”

“Favorite food?”

Terra was quiet for a moment; she tipped her head down and started fidgeting with something in her lap. “I… I like… Salads, I guess.”

Adela paused, leaving her pen just sitting at the space for an answer instead of filling it in. In her head, she ran over everything she’d just said; it looked like Terra was getting uncomfortable, but everything she’d asked had been okay in the past… Maybe it was her body language? Adela sat up and smiled a bit more, lifting her voice into what she hoped was something more friendly.

“Any dietary restrictions? Intolerances, allergies?”

Again, it took her a moment to answer. “Not that I know of.”

“Can you give me a brief description of your Abilities?”

Adela waited patiently for her to speak, noting how it had been longer and longer between each one, but this time, nothing came. Terra just stared down into her lap, hair covering her face. (Not that seeing it would have given Adela anything to work with.)

“…Terra?” she urged.

There was a small, shuddering breath, and then her hands flew up to cover her face. “Sorry… Sorry, I-I’m sorry, I…”

Oops.

Adela quietly set the binder down and bit down on the inside of her cheek. Without anything in her hands, she started to pick at the skin around her nails until she caught herself and reached up to play with her silver necklace instead. Terra’s obvious big feelings, whatever they were, echoed in her gut.

“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “I-I think I did something wrong. Right? Um… Did I ask a question that made you upset?”

Terra sucked in a short breath and shook her head. “No, no, I just… S-Sorry…”

A sort of sick familiarity struck Adela, watching how she curled in on herself and struggled to speak. There was a slight rock to her movement, the same way Adela did when she got too overstimulated. It was as if a lightbulb went off in her head as she perked up.

“Oh! Are you overwhelmed? Did I ask too many questions?”

There was a beat, and then Terra slowly nodded, stuttering out another apology. Adela, though ecstatic she was able to figure it out on her own, felt a wave of heat rush up her back and across her face. She winced at herself.

“Ah, I’m really sorry… I’m not… great at communicating with people. Or making friends. Or just… being social, in general,” she admitted. She looked down at her open binder. “I’ve been making a guide for myself to help with it, for the people that are important to me. It helps me remember the things they like and need, but… I forgot it’s not really a common thing. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you so much. I really apologize.”

As she spoke, she leafed through the pages to show Terra all of the sections within. Chika, Soledad, Tali (who she needed to remove), Dr. Lani… When she got to the first page, she made sure to point to the title being “Schesi Academy” and hoped Terra would understand that this wasn’t the only binder.

Terra sniffled a bit; her hair was still covering her face, so Adela couldn’t see if she was crying or not. “That’s a good idea,” she whispered.

A light fuzz formed in her chest. “Thanks. My old therapist gave me the idea when I told her I was struggling with it. I could copy it for you if you…”

She paused as a revelation came over her. Terra looked up through her hair.

“What?”

“…I just realized that I only ever asked the questions, but I never gave my own answers,” she muttered. She placed a hand on her forehead. “No wonder everyone looked at me weird when I wrapped up! They wanted to know about me, too! Oh, Adela, you foolish…”

“If it helps,” Terra quietly interrupted, “I don’t think I would have remembered, either.”

Adela settled back in her seat, dropping her arms. “That does help… I have a hard time knowing and understanding things like that. I’m autistic, so my brain is wired differently than most people’s. It’s hard to know what I need to explain and what I don’t, because I don’t know what’s common or not.”

Terra nodded, lifting her head a little. Adela was relieved to see her face was dry. “I know how you feel.”

She tilted her head. “Are you autistic, too?”

“No, not—I don’t think I am, anyway,” Terra answered, “But talking to people, and socializing… I have a hard time with it, too. I think I’m too much for most people.”

Adela hadn’t felt that way at all during this conversation. As much as she wanted to reassure her of such, realistically, she didn’t know any of Terra’s life before this. Maybe today was an off day, or maybe she had insecurities metaphorically eating her up inside. Either way, Adela hadn’t yet earned her ability to tell her she was wrong. The only thing she could tell her…

“You’re not too much for me,” she said with a shrug and a smile.

Terra’s head snapped up, sending her brown and blonde hair flying and nearly knocking her glasses off of her face. She stared at Adela for a long moment; Adela forced herself to keep the eye contact, no matter how uncomfortable.

Eventually, Terra’s eyes drifted back to the table. “…Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Adela glanced down at her binder, taking note of all the questions she’d never answered. She considered how it would feel to be bombarded with questions she hadn’t prepared for, and with that spike of gear came a twinge of guilt. She looked up at Terra, over to some loose papers she had, and then back to the binder.

Taking care not to knock anything off of the table, she pushed it towards Terra. “Here. You can fill it out on your own. I’ll make my own with you.”

Terra blinked at her. “Are you sure?”

“Mm-hm.” She handed her a spare pen. “This way, we can get to know each other without having to talk. And if you don’t want to answer something, you can just skip it without having to tell me.”

A small smile found its way onto Terra’s face. “Okay. Do you need to see the questions, too?”

“I have them memorized, but thank you.”

She nodded and hunched forward over the binder. Adela watched her for a moment, grateful that despite her slip-ups, this had gone so well. It was the best out of all of her teammates, actually. For the first time, she felt like she’d made a real connection.

With a smile, she turned to her own pages and began to write.

(And if she sped herself up to make it feel like she was spending longer with Terra, well, who needed to know?)