A Waterbug

Naomi had expected a socially awkward protege, as most Urasaria women seemed to be, but how little Natasha spoke up bothered her. Her principal insecurity when it came to socializing was that she could skim someone's surface well, but rarely did people open themselves to her. Anywhere but Urasaria, she would've been popular, if not a party girl.

"Finished?" chimed Naomi and Natasha nodded, sitting across at the diner, glass door at the other end of the room.

Natasha never understood how she was supposed to respond to smalltalk. She mumbled it was fine as she stacked her three plates, and in the next instant -

- something crashed through the front door in a rain of glass; Natasha & Naomi shot up -

- and saw a humanoid creature they knew was their foe fifty feet away, two legs & two clawed-hands, seven feet tall with a black tail that could cut a woman in half. Naomi eyed the fryers at the back as the two stepped back, Natasha shivering in fear as Avalanche formed.

"Stay calm." said Naomi, patting Natasha's shoulder with her flesh-arm. Avalanche's arm raised as the beast rushed towards them, and as it came thirty feet within -

" - Avalanche!" shouted Naomi; a dozen stonefists burst out of the wall and grabbed the fryers of oil, hurling them forward -

- and in to the beast went the boiling liquid, cases shattering as soon as they hit it; Natasha shrieked as a drop landed on her face, frantically spraying her face with snow -

" - I - you okay?" said Naomi.

'Why is she freaking out? She has heat resistance.' Naomi frowned as Natasha wiped her unscarred face clean.

Ahead, the beast kept walking unfazed, and as it came twenty feet within -

- all the lights went out in the diner; Naomi stomped -

- and a stone-pillar launched her & Natasha up through the ceiling and on to the roof, Natasha still shivering as they landed, no sight of the beast below. Naomi peered over the roof's hole as she heard it skittering around inside. Its footsteps sped up and suddenly stopped, and as Naomi opened her mouth to speak -

- no sound came, and in the next instant -

- she saw it climbing up the wall behind Natasha, then rushing towards her; Natasha screamed as she turned -

- and a puddle of lava formed below her boots & disintegrated a hole; back in to the diner she fell, smoothly enough Naomi didn't realize it wasn't intentional until later.

The stonewoman and beast started circling, twenty feet separating the two. Naomi kept her left ready s it lunged at her -

- and pulled back laughing at how she'd flinched. She mouthed some insults she'd learned from Serena, stomping twice so Natasha knew what she was about to do, and on the third -

- a fissure formed in the roof and shot towards it -

- and back in to the diner it fell; Naomi stomped again and sent a rain of rubble crashing in to its skull, then rushed across the roof as her stone fingers snapped. No time to waste, she leaped off the roof & to the sidewalk below, diner's walls collapsing in a storm of concrete as she glanced back -

- but fear claimed her as she didn't see Natasha outside. She rushed up to the ruins and started searching through the rubble, disintegrating it as she tried to find her. At her left, she heard something clawing out of the ruins & felt a presence behind; with the speed of light she turned -

- and shrieked as Natasha's torn face filled her entire vision, weatherwoman's nose nearly touching her's; Naomi shoved her back, frantically searching her pockets for Flickendecke's patches -

' - I - I forgot them at the hotel, I-I fucking forgot them at -'

- comprehending none of this, Natasha ran with Naomi out to the sidewalk, mentor pointing to her face as the two ran.

"U-U-Um, s-something on my face?" winced Natasha, tapping her cheeks, houses at their left as they ran.

Naomi put one stonefinger to her own cheek and sliced a small gash. A geyser of blood came out of it and the two nodded as they realized the Revenant, but Naomi frowned as she glanced back to see no beast near the diner.

"N-Nightmare." panted Natasha, heart rate rising & skin cooling as she clutched her arms tight.

Naomi nodded and pat Natasha's back as they ran. She saw a face peering out of a house window as they passed by it -

" - t-there!" panted Natasha, rushing up to the front door -

- and screaming as a crash came from the rubble of the diner, beast rushing out in pursuit of them now; Naomi knew they wouldn't be able to outrun it, and as Natasha opened the door -

- she shrieked as it screamed right in her face; a wind & lava & snow volley replied -

- but a stone wall burst up just in time to keep it from hitting the civilian it was, and Naomi gestured for Natasha to follow as she rushed up the sidewalk. Snapping her stone fingers, she felt Meteorology's snow drip in to the concrete.

'Might work.' she thought, concrete tubes forming underground as they ran. She glanced behind and didn't see the beast, then made a throwing gesture to Natasha.

"H-Huh?"

Naomi put her arms around herself like she was shivering.

"Snowball?"

Naomi nodded and Natasha handed her a snowball. She threw it to the ground and asked for a few more as they ran, and as they turned the corner -

- Naomi felt her voice return just as she felt her strength decreasing.

"Out - out of range." she panted, slowing Natasha down. "V-Voice is back."

"U-Um, w-what now?"

Naomi looked at the scene ahead and quickly turned Natasha's head to face her. "Let's keep walking and I'll check ahead, okay? Just stay calm, okay? It's feeding off of your fear, so just calm down."

Natasha felt even more anxious from Naomi touching her. "O-Okay."

"Need to, uh, need to find the host - can you check behind us?"

Natasha nodded.

Naomi kept her eyes forward as they passed by the diner, making sure to look calm for Natasha. A man inside walked up to the windows and stared at her. Someone stepped through the wall, then walked in from the front door. She saw three streetlamps sitting in the same spot, and cars parked with their wheels gone.

Ahead, a shadow with no source walked below a house's door, then opened it to an empty room. Holes in the ground began filling with dirt.

'Couldn't have just been gore?' she winced.

"W-W-wait -" panted Natasha - " - isn't that the same hou-"

- and she shrieked as it appeared right behind their backs -

- but the next scene was instant. Naomi pulled Natasha back as her stone fingers snapped and opened an enormous hole in the sidewalk; in to the sudden burrow it fell -

- right in to a pit of snow with concrete spikes for walls, Naomi speaking - " - wait, don't -"

- and a jet of lava melted its face to its skull, beastman turning back in to a male corpse as it fell rigid & dead, nightmarish vision fading as Naomi frowned.

"…Natasha, you -" - Naomi shut her eyes, realizing the harshness in her tone. "We needed to… it could've been useful if we didn't... ugh -"

" - y-you know you just keep fucking me up, okay?! Every time you try to be cheery and just act like I can WILL my anxiety away-y or s-something like that - and s-springing that fucking fight on me - I've been trying for a long time not to say anything about it, but i-it really bothered me! And now I-I had a fucking panic attack and you just -"

- and her stomach punched her as she saw Naomi's face clench.

"…I-I w-was about to say sorry." said Naomi. "A-And, a-and I just thought it would h-help you. I-I didn't mean to make you nervous - I just thought that, y-you know, I was anxious my f-first few weeks too until I got in to my first fights. I-I'm sorry that sometimes I d-don't know what you're going through because I-I used to - because I-I still don't..." She closed her eyes. Her amnesia really had left her with a gap in empathy. "…c-can you g-go back to the hotel?"

"I'm - I'm sorry, I -"

" - j-just leave. I-I really don't want to talk right now. I-I'll handle the Revenant."

Naomi crouched down, and Natasha felt like an absolute shithead walking away. She didn't want any sound to add to her guilt, so she walked around a few corners, and held the corners of her eyes tight as she eventually heard someone walking up behind her.

"Um, hey, Natasha." she heard and she winced. "Is everything okay? I-I heard you two yelling."

"No." mumbled Natasha, walking away.

Olivia caught up beside. "Did something happen?"

"Can you just fu- can you just leave me alone? I-I just need some time alone."

"…um. Sure thing, Natasha." said Olivia, and Natasha's spirit sank as she walked away.

She was beginning to think she would have trouble connecting correctly with *anyone* this year. Tact was never one of her better traits - she wished she had a little more now.

She took her badge off, shook her head as she turned the corner -

- and ran right in to a bald man.

"…uh, excuse me." she muttered, walking past.

"Meteorology, isn't it?" he said, turning.

Natasha glanced back. "...uh, yeah. That's my Revenant, yeah."

"Amusing. I was just thinking about her. Meteorology's first host. Rita. She went by Weatherwoman."

"…um, okay."

"A bit after that, it was some paranoid schizophrenic named Lidvald. And now you have it." He started stepping towards her, ten feet separating the two. "You know, I was cleaning someone's home recently. I saw a waterbug there."

"What's a waterbug?"

"…it's a type of cockroach. They had an infestation -"

" - gross."

"I was thinking about how there's a message to be had there. I could've killed it whenever I wanted -"

" - I don't wanna hear your weird cockroach story, dude." sighed Natasha, walking away.

" - but I didn't. I simply -"

" - what are you doing without your mentor?" sighed a familiar Russian accent behind, and Natasha turned to face Viktoria walking past him, head shaking. "And without your badge?"

"…I needed some space." muttered Natasha, hoping she wouldn't lash out again. Viktoria slightly scared her. Naomi & Olivia didn't, and she felt even guiltier for lashing out at them, as if she only had because they were easy targets.

"Space for what? Talking to some homeless man?" she said, looking at him. "Come with me, Ms. Disaster."

"Remember what I told you." he said as they walked off. "I could've killed it any time I wanted."

Viktoria sighed as they passed the corner. "I could report you to President Swarm. You're not meant to be out alone without a second-year."

"I'm sorry." mumbled Natasha.

"…don't look so sad." sighed Viktoria, head shaking. "I won't, obviously. Put your badge back on. People will think I'm arresting you otherwise."

"Sorry." said Natasha, putting her badge back on, as people would think Viktoria was arresting her otherwise.

"Now, tell me. Why did you need space?"

Even knowing Viktoria couldn't actually read her mind, something in her gaze seemed like it could scoop it out anyway. "…I just… I got in to an argument with Naomi. She just…"

Viktoria put her hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. What is it?"

"…I freaked out on her." muttered Natasha. "We got in to a fight, and I freaked out on her because I felt anxious, but…"

"...you're still nervous in fights?"

"A-A bit. I-I don't know, I've just always kinda been like that, a-and I'm having to fight really, really hard Revenants, and… I-I just - it's a lot of stuff to think about at once because Meteorology is really broad too."

"Then focus on three for now. Fire, ice, and electrical work for President Swarm - it should work for you, yes? Until you have more experience."

"…m-maybe. I just feel bad about hurting Naomi, too."

"If she's a good mentor, she'll forgive you for it. I saw how you were during swap week - I doubt you had a bad reason for it."

"I-I read the report you wrote about me." smiled Natasha, and Viktoria shrugged.

"I never expected you to. Most people don't possess any drive to improve themselves."

"I feel like I do."

"Good." said Viktoria. "You know your Revenant better than I do - but I thought a bit more direction would help you."

They stepped up to the hotel's front door and Natasha paused. "…um. Just nervous about when Naomi comes back."

Viktoria had no other clue how to help Natasha, but she wasn't about to show that; she always felt she was more mature than the rest of her generation and heard no argument otherwise. Her mentor had been a man who affixed every fight with a bottle of alcohol, and she never knew whether to pity his immaturity or not. Now she mostly just avoided him.

"You have a difficult problem on your hands - but you'll have to find some way… regardless." said Viktoria. "You know her better than I do."

"T-thank you."

"…let me know how it goes." She hugged Natasha, and walked off before she could respond.

Natasha went back up to their hotel room. She thought about Viktoria praising her, because if she didn't the tears would come.

She was already fucking up with Naomi. She was lashing out against Olivia. and her classes kept making her feel as stupid as always. The only person who'd given her any solutions this month couldn't help her now, and she knew she wasn't as smart as Viktoria, she knew she couldn't fight without getting nervous, and she kept wondering why the hell Viktoria disliked Naomi & Olivia so much! Was there something she couldn't see in them?

Natasha had never been a good judge of character, and the ignorance frustrated her in to balling up her blanket in to a fist & blasting it across the room. She knew taking it out on an inanimate object was stupid, but damnit, what was she supposed to do? The years she should've learned how to control herself she'd spent cooped up in her local gym, and at some point she'd realized that everyone else had gone up without her. There was a moment where she might've been able to grab on and engage with the outside world, but she was below now and probably would be for the rest of her life.

Even if Viktoria was wrong, she needed *something* to tie her mind's anchor to. Right now, freedom was something she needed to avoid.