[i]Damn! How did he hear me? I guess that stupid limp is noisier than I thought it was.[/i] Alda stepped away from the door with a very visible grimace. Stupid leg. Stupid prank that had been more amusing than she'd ever want to admit to herself. She forced herself not to groan.

That was when the intercom suddenly announced that they were going to hunt down an Anomalous. Alda's heart clenched in fear. They'd only had a day of training, and if anything got too stressful out there, someone was bound to notice all the fainting and assume that either Alda had a gift or, more likely, that she had some kind of blood sugar problem--both possibilities were bad. She closed her eyes for a moment to steady herself and ran to the weapons room with her thick hair billowing out behind her, hoping Derric didn't see her fleeing.

She put her hair up and picked up a handgun, feeling its weight in her hand before stewing it carefully in her uniform. That would be a last resort; Alda had never been talented with guns. What she was talented with, though... She picked up a heavy axe and gazed at the handle, then the 'business end.' She hadn't used an axe to cut lumber since her accident, and she hadn't used one to cause bodily harm to a person at all. She swallowed a lump in her throat, slung the weapon on her back, and ran again, ignoring the growing ache in her leg, up a flight of stairs to the roof. 

She pushed open the door and stepped into the cool outside air. Her gaze wandered to her roommate, who, sure, she was easily annoyed at because of the Principle traits, but Alda felt herself worrying for her. Estella wasn't ready for this. Alda wasn't ready for this. She made her way toward the girl and put on a mask of confidence. "Ready to kick some ass?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder in a show of nervousness over whether Derric had seen her creeping around at his door.

[@karamonnom]