Private Finished Get acquainted with your 8-legged saviour

"I was hanging out in the community centre," She began to explain. "There was this uh, grey owl deer person thing? Me and a bunch of other people were all chilling out and talking and then they like, got on all fours and started growling and looked like they were about to take a bite outta me."

Technically speaking, Evie had started it, but it started with a harmless joke, as far as Evie could tell.

"They didn't actually hurt me in the end, everyone else talked them down. But it was...kind of a really scary thing to happen, y'know?"

She clasped her hands together and leaned them on the table, glancing away again, looking uncharacteristically nervous as she spoke.

"I mean, in the past I never really worried much about people hurting me because, you know, I have friggin' superpowers. If someone out there tried to jump me I could just fling them into the stratosphere or pin 'em to the ground by their own shirt. Here? I dunno what the fuck anyone is capable of. My powers might do jack shit."

Evie had spent practically her entire time on the island bottling up her feelings, and now that she was talking, the words just started to pour out of her.

"So like, ok, I just need to adjust, right? New place, new rules. That should be something I can handle, I was part of a travelling circus, I've been to heaps of different places, there's usually enough similarities for me to adjust. But the island has all this shit that...isn't the same. At all. There's things that eat people here, like I'm not supposed to be weirded out by that?"

At this point, the flood gates were open. She rambled on, barely stopping for breath.

"And if I fuck up and get hurt or piss off the wrong monster then what? All the family I ever had ditched me! If this doesn't work out I have nowhere else to go. I'm stuck here now and no one else is gonna be able to help me and the more I think about it the more I freak the fuck out and I don't...know what else I can do about it other than just not think about it..."

She finally stopped, blinking once she realised her eyes had begun to water. Oh god, don't start crying in the middle of a restaurant, she thought to herself. Before she could say anything else, the waiter placed her sandwich in front of her, the plate clattering against the table snapping her out of her little moment. She blinked the tears away before they could begin to flow in earnest, and then just...very stiffly and awkwardly picked up her lunch, still unable to really look back at Aranea, looking like she was trying very hard to pretend she didn't just spill her guts like that.

Evie took a long, shuddering breath as she tried to recompose herself. It felt…weird, getting everything off her chest like that. She leaned in on her seat, slouching against the table as she chewed her sandwich, trying very hard to project the usual carefree attitude she held herself with. It looked about as hollow as it felt, not that Evie really cared right now. The cat was out of the bag, no use pretending with Aranea now.

“I don’t wanna replace any of them. Don’t need to replace any of them.” She added on, maybe a little too quickly, the statement intended as much for herself as it was for Aranea. “That’s not even the biggest problem. It’s just…there’s a lot things and each one thing is a lot to deal with, ok?”

She sighed, before finally looking back at Aranea. The anxiousness was clear in her eyes, even as she tried to keep it out of her expression.

“Can we just…not talk about this for a moment? At least until I’m done eating. I…kinda just wanna relax and enjoy my lunch.”

Evie lethargically chewed through her sandwich, averting her gaze again. She was pretty obviously distracted, at first she doesn't really pay attention to the story. The longer Aranea went on, however, the more she started to listen. By the time Evie had finished her sandwich, she was giving her full attention, curious to see where it goes.

Once she finished her story, Evie broke into a smile, eyes lighting up in surprise.

"No way. You did that? You?"

Evie couldn't imagine it. Aranea seemed so, well, responsible. It was hard to imagine the well-composed scout getting her payback like that. Being the little rebel that she was, Evie had a certain level of respect for people who balked against authority, and her respect for Aranea went up just a little bit after hearing about it.

"Do you know what happened to that guy? 'Cause if he's still acting like a creep I can totally key his car or something." She giggled. She meant it as a joke. Mostly.

Evie settled back down, playing with some of the scraps of food that remained on her plate with her fork.

"I dunno. I didn't even do anything bad that time. I just threw a pack of chips at another guy and then the next thing I knew they were on all fours and growling like a crazy person."

Evie had something of a reputation for being a prankster, but this was before that had even started. She'd done far worse and gotten far milder reactions.

"I didn't even throw it hard at all. I guess they were feeling defensive or something? Maybe they had a crush on the guy, I dunno."

"Heh, better hope no one messes with me. I'm super strong."

She smirked, flexing both her arms and kissing one of her biceps. Though, after that display, Evie started to look mellow again.

"But...not really. Like, before I got here that's what I thought. I figured I could deal with any problems like that. But I didn't know there were monsters or wizards or...whatever the hell I am."

That was another thing she'd never considered. She'd of heard people being born mysteriously with powers, but was there an explanation for hers? She didn't know how to even start looking into that one.

"I used to think I was special, y'know? Like...I was invincible, kinda. But here I'm..."

Ordinary? Weak?

Small?

"I dunno how much they can really help me here." She frowned to herself, crossing her arms and resting them on the table.