[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/BFiejta.png?1[/img][/center][hr]

Chie had spent most of her time looking out the windows, losing herself in the chaotic rattling of the rain. Something was bugging her about the exams everyone had gone through, a feeling that had eaten away at her ever since the four girls reunited after their individual evaluations.

She had it easy.

Nobody had said so out loud; a good chance it didn't even cross their mind. But compared to what the others had gone through, their stories; Chie's evaluation was a breeze. Chie ended up with a few wounds, sure. None of them severe, and her instructor was more toying with her than actually trying to kill her. But Rivka, Selma, Crystal- their instructors sounded downright malicious. Days long excursions that tested the limit of the girls' endurance, fights that had a real chance of killing one of them... not to mention the state Crystal was left in after her trial.

It bugged Chie. She couldn't quite tell why, but it did. It's not like she wanted to be as beat up as her teammates were, and her first instinct was worry for their health above all else. So then why did her getting off easy plague her mind so? Chie closed her eyes for a bit, remembering back to it. Remembering the words of her instructor.

[color=F8EE87][i]"Stop doubting yourself."[/i][/color]

A tapping on her shoulder snapped the girl out of her thinking. Liam, one of the cadets, offered her a cup of coffee. Chie gave him a warm, if slightly pained smile and humbly accepted it. She... didn't like coffee very much. It was bitter, it often tasted burnt and her household was much more fond of tea. Beggars can't be choosers, though, and its not like she was going to pass up on some needed stimulants. Chie carefully drank down the cup, trying not to think too much about the taste as she did. Luckily the protein bar- though hardly exciting itself- did a good enough job of cleansing her palette after. All too well, too, since it looked time for Kheper to shape up and roll out. Chie hadn't missed the ominous black clouds that had tainted the sky, so it was only a matter of time before something happened. Chie glanced over at the monitors, trying to get as good of a look in at the area as she could get before the orders to deploy came in.

"Yes Ma'am!" Chie saluted and wasted no time with transforming into her parma. She stuck close to her team while still being the last one out of the building, frowning at the awful weather. Rivka, Selma, Crystal- all of them talkative, all of them gearing up for a fight. Chie didn't spare much of a look back at the soldiers who would be left behind, her eyes fixed on her team. She felt some of the tension glide off her shoulders when she saw their confidence shining so radiantly against the darkened night. Involuntarily, her face eased up, the corners of her mouth curled up just a tiny bit. Its their first [i]real[/i] mission together, and somehow, maybe, everything was going to be alright. She just knew it would be.

"Selma, I'll use my magic to help you scout the area. Don't be afraid to rely on me," she offered. She knows about Selma's seismic trick, but it took a lot of concentration. Chie had a slightly easier time feeling out the shifting centers of gravity than she used to, but the rain was throwing a lot of grey noise into the mix. Between her and Selma, though, there wasn't a whole lot that could slip by unnoticed. "Nothing should get past the both of us. And even if something somehow did," Chie continued her thought, pausing to look at her two other teammates, "then Rivka and Crystal should be able to cover us."