(The following is just to serve both as Lorena's introduction, and the resolution to BAS[L]'s most recent in-game activity. Everything that follows will be back in line with current events.)
"I can't..."
Quina had left, realizing all her attempts to comfort Amy had done was make her sob harder. "I can't control..." Her fist hit the ground hard, next to the discarded pieces of Unchained Fury. "I've never been able to..."
Her voice faded again."Well, I don't think it's quite fair to blame the ground." BAST's leader commented quietly, crouching down next to Amy. Ben was quiet a moment after the soft, dry remark, mulling over what to do. He set a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
"Suppose that's part of why we're all here, isn't it? Learn how to handle ourselves in the world. Most of the people here already know how to fight. It's the rest that we all need to learn." He gestured to where Quina had been. "You got worked up, I'm guessing. Doubt it was just the fight, either. I've seen you fight and I've seen you talk, and they're pretty much the same thing. You don't let it get personal."
"Something about this one made it personal. But given that your sparring partner walked away instead of being carried, doesn't seem like you lost control completely."
"Just have to learn to work through whatever's eating you."
"Ben... I would have killed her if I hadn't had that split second... I wanted to kill her. I wanted to."
"But you didn't. A whole lot of things might happen or might have happened. But what happened was a different story."
Lauren Negasi was quickly trying to manuever her way through a crash course in tact.
And your friends faded off shots of
What you ordered to forget about the game
That you on top of
Your famous girlfriend's ass keeps getting thicker than the plot does
She'd intended to go barreling into the gym like a young bull, and had even paused her MP3 player with a single bombastic motion - pulling it out of her jacket pocket and pausing it in the palm of her head with a movement and energy that wouldn't look out of place pumping a shotgun. When the music stopped, however, she found a beautiful girl about her age on the ground, being comforted by a calm-looking guy who might have been the guy she was told to report to? Maybe?
Lauren didn't know what she was doing here. She'd bombed the entrance exam, hadn't she? The only stuff she was good at was physical and getting those around her turned up.
Hrrm.
She'd meant to come in loud and proud, ready to make friends. Now she wasn't sure if she kinda just wanted to tiptoe back out of the room, like the Grinch in the process of stealing off with Christmas.
"...Err..." GET YOUR CHARM UP NEGASI "...hey fam. Are you guys BAST? Or...BASL? I got told to report to you guys."
"I know, Ben... But I can't... I can't lose control of myself like that... The fact that I only had a good possibility of killing one of my best friends isn't a huge comfort..."
Amy's feathers rose in shock when the new girl approached and she quickly smoothed them back down.
"Yeah... We are..." For once, she seemed content to let Ben do the talking.
"We can work on that." His head swiveled when Loren spoke, shifting to a lazy half smile. Squeezing Amy's shoulder one more time he stood and slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah, we are. And you might be...?"
"Lauren Negasi!" [MOOD LIFTER]
The young woman kissed her index and middle fingers and spun them upwards into a cocked salute at Ben and Amy. For the latter - already frazzled-looking, who she'd apparently spooked - she spared a brief grin.
"Not a good test taker, so after I was done entering, they sent me straight to you guys."
"You'll fit right in." BAS [L]'s leader replied dryly.
"All of us failed." Amy smiled slightly, though her eyes were still far off. "As long as you don't suggest team Basil, we're okay..."
Lauren's eyes lit up.
"Oh, word? So I can speak freely?" She sighed out a long, long breath. "Cause man, did I feel like dirt walking over here. Plus this dress code! They made me put something on underneath this jacket! Can you believe that? Like I joined some kind of fucking convent."
"I don't mind the uniform. It took forever for them to give Amy one."
"Spoken like someone whose midriff has never been in a state of national emergency after being unbared."
"Ben... They still gave me the male one. It doesn't fit."
"Yeah." Ben nodded, almost solemnly. "Amy has had uniform troubles."
"Is having."
"Over/under on me knowing the feeling is a week," Lauren joked. "I'm so far under that I should probably have a marsupial patch stitched onto my collar."
This wasn't so bad! Even if she was dressed like a nun, at least the people seemed fun.
"Is having, right, forgot you were my English teacher." A half grin and an eye roll later, Ben looked at Loren again.
"I'm Ben. This is Amy. Talkative one is Sangue."
"Amaranth Desire's my str- full name."
Amy looked back at the ground, adjusting the strap of her dress.
"Cool name."
"Too long for me to say. I just call her Amy."
"Slacker," Amy said accusingly. "He is. Sangue is the snake. I'm the..." Amy pulled herself to her feet, sighing. Was gonna come out sooner or later. "I'm the stripper."
"I prefer energy efficient."
"If it makes you feel any better," Lauren said, clapping her hands together frequently as she compared the syllable lengths of 'Amaranth Desire' and 'Lorena Negasi' suspiciously. "I'm the...I'm the...shit, I don't even got a title."
"Yo, there's definitely six syllables in both."
"Don't worry. You'll get a title soon. You probably won't like it."
"Nobody likes them. Just depends on how true it is. Slacker is certainly true, and Sangue deals a lot with poison... Though we don't really know how she feels about it. Doesn't talk much."
"Not a slacker. Just energy efficient. Why waste effort on things that don't matter?"
"So hold up, the team leader has the same tagline as one of those little disc-shaped vacuums that moves around the rug on its own?"
"Well, it's either that or being led by the silent snake or the former stripper."
"The other most qualified one is who you're replacing, so... Yeah."
"Heh. What happened to them?"
"Dropped out, I think. He left pretty quick, said he'd try and keep in touch."
"What Ben said..."
"Well, that's tamer than I expected."
"Our team's entire existence is controversial." The young man shrugged slightly, shifting to regard his entire team.
"Even administration's torn on whether we should be here. Can't really afford to be anything except tame."
Lauren's mouth quirked, but for the first time since her notice of the crying Amy, she stayed quiet and shrugged her consent easily.
Amy wiped the last tear off of her cheek and sighed. "What I just did probably hasn't helped any..."
"It'll be fine." The reassurance was firm, the lazy half grin slipping slightly. "You got carried away. Isn't the first time for this school, probably won't be the last. Don't worry, okay?"
"Whatever you say, Ben... Quina..." She shook her head and sighed.
"Is still in the land of the living. So you can make up with her when you think you're both up to it. I promise, everything's gonna be fine." He gave Lorena a wry, half smile.
"You caught us on an interesting day."
"Yeaaaah, I can kinda tell. But it's alright. My mom told me pree much the same thing about the day I was born." Lauren grinned and crossed her hands over her ribs lazily. "No sweat."
Ben nodded, and glanced about the training area. Everyone else had more or less vacated after Amy and Quina’s match, and the group had fallen into a slightly awkward lull in the conversation. Reassurances were given, introductions were made, but no one seemed quite sure how to proceed. Ben made an executive decision after a moment’s thought. Busy day tomorrow, after all. Best to make sure they were all rested.
“Let’s go show you our room, Lauren. Space should be cleared for you already. This way.”
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