Om nom nom nom (Kumachan!)

[Anonymous]

Candidate life was hard, really hard. Chica has so much damn homework it felt like her head was going to explode. So much history had been forced into her head that she could barely remember what year it was anymore, not to mention the anatomy study.

Combined with strenuous physical training the regime had left Chica with very little free time. Unfortunately due to her large tail and semi-cold blooded body if the gorgon didn't have time to sunbath regularly she needed to consume a lot of calories.

As such, if she wasn't studying in the library, in class, at the gym or passed out in her room Chica was generally eating in the cafeteria. Breakfast, dinner and lunch had lost all meaning, there was only eating.

It was a little late, just past nine, and Chica was getting stuck into what could have been called her second dinner. She'd selected a chicken, not a piece of chicken, but an entire roast chicken. And potatoes. And gravy. With some peas. And a cola. And a mousse for later.

And a candy bar.

Working out made her peckish.

If she was desperate she could have unhooked her jaw and consumed the chicken in one giant mouthful, but bones were irritating to digest and she had time. As the candidate began cutting large strips of bird flesh off the carcase in front of her, shovelling it into her mouth in alternate gulps with vegetables she was blissfully unaware of her thick emerald tail, which was sprawled across the walkway between the table she was at and the one behind her.

It wasn't important, you'd have to be blind to miss seeing it.

[Anonymous]

Aaand blind she was. The odds of this were probably in the thousands at least, but the one person capable of tripping over so obvious an obstruction was the one person currently on a crash-course with it. Ellie Noah.

She shouldn't be walking this fast, she was quite aware of that. She wasn't properly hooked up to Jaxx right now, and instead had her slender pale hand atop his metallic skull. Jaxx, looking for all the world like a metal doberman pinscher, led her along through a row of tables in the cafeteria. His paws made a dull metallic clack with every fall, the synthetic rubber pads having worn away with so many years of use, and a complete lack of maintenence. Ellie's other hand was clutching a stack of books and a few pens somewhat haphazardly, trying to keep their girth tucked up close to her body. It was late, but somewhere in the midst of frantic studying her body had reminded her that it wanted food. She was so used to not eating that it had momentarily surprised her to remember she could get food whenever she wanted.
....
Whenever she wanted.
Glee!

And thus she was hurrying a bit too fast through the large room, a happy smile on her face at the thought of eating. But being that she was hurrying, her usual clumsiness reared it's ugly head and smirked, and a few pens decided then would be a good time to slip free of her grasp and clatter to the floor. She came to a halt, but her pink eyes blinked blindly.
"Oops, drat..."
"I will retrieve them, miss Ellie." Jaxx's emotionless mechanical voice came forth then, as she knew it would, and she smiled.
"Thanks Jaxx! I'll keep going down the aisle then, I don't want to be last in line and miss the food!"
"Negative, miss Ellie. There is no line." But Ellie was too used to how things were back home, and the general lack of food being 'last in line' entailed.
She was already off again, confident in a clear path ahead of her, and equally confident Jaxx would catch up with her before she ran into something.

She was wrong.

One minute she was briskly walking along, and the next minute her feet were unhappily colliding with something quite firm but a bit squishy.
"Eeek!"
Books flew, pens scattered across tile, and Ellie landed flat-out on the other side of that tail, landing quite ungracefully in a characteristically sprawled position.
"O-Owie..."
Slowly she began to pick herself up as Jaxx came loping up to her side, stopping at her side, her previously dropped pens in his toothless maw.
"Miss Ellie, status report?"
"I...I think I'm ok...ouch..."
She'd scuffed her chin rather good on that one, and her wrists were throbbing a bit from trying to break her fall (a might bit unsuccessfully too). But as she sat up on her knees, it was evident this wasn't the first time she had expressed her stunning lack of grace.
She already had two band-aids on her face, one across her nose, and the other on her cheek. There was also one on her left knee, on both elbows, and another on her ankle, but those were all hidden by the Candidate uniform she was wearing.
"Miss Ellie, you have tripped over a snake."
"Wh-Wh-What???" A snake!? H-How in the world...? There were snakes in this place now too?? Wide eyed, she sort of froze, still kneeling there on the other side of Chica's tail, at a total loss for what to do. Would it bite her...??
She had no idea Jaxx's description of things was a bit...incomplete.

[Anonymous]

Cooked chicken bones could kill a dog. Their structure changed when cooked, making them splinter into sharp little needles and wreak havoc on the poor animal’s insides. Chica was not a dog, but while she could safely consume the little bits of avian shrapnel she didn’t if she could avoid it.

The chicken was perfect, juicy and crispy skinned. Machines were amazing sometimes. It was pretty much impossible to get a bad meal at the ATC cafeteria, but at the same time there was never much variety. She knew exactly what every part of her meal would taste like, because it was made following exact parameters. Boring in a way, she supposed.

As the gorgon was stuffing herself she failed to notice the small girl traipsing down the isle behind her. Food gave Chica a singular focus, wherein all the world was dulled out and became white noise.  

Her tail, which while it housed some of her extended digestive system was mostly made of muscle and bone, barely moved when the girl tripped on it. The green, scaly skin twitched where it had been hit, like a horse trying to rid itself of flies.

Turning her self around, the majority of her tail still slung across the path, Chica looked down at the sprawled creature with a mouthful of potato and a quirked eyebrow.

Well, that wasn’t exactly graceful.

She snorted, amused, snarky comments already bubbling to the surface. Swallowing she said, in her most superior tone, “Heh, nicely done kiddo. What are you bli…”

She trailed off as the dog…thing trotted over to the girl, who was propping herself up.

Oh.

Ooooooooh.

“Oh…um….sorry,” she mumbled, a slight embarrassed pink touching her cheeks. Her and her damned big mouth. But what were the chances of an actual blind girl? A very pale blind girl at that.

She moved over to the girl, her tail curving into an arc. “I’m really sorry, are you ok?” All the bitch was gone from her tone, replaced by an ‘Oh fuck I beat up a blind girl’ kind of tone. Normally Chica kept herself tall, and rose up to be the tallest person in the room if she wasn’t already, but instead she sunk down as low as she was able, until her grey skirt was almost touching the floor.

She placed her left hand gently on the girls back and offered the other to her. “Want a hand?” Her hair, which tended to convey her thoughts rather clearly, was focused on Ellie, pointing out towards her, trying to get a better look.

Picking on smaller, weaker candidates was all good in her book but…this was just pathetic. Like kicking a puppy.

[Anonymous]

The sudden voice cut through her nervous little self like a knife, and she sat bolt upright. The snide tone was bad enough, but what it said was worse. Even if it was an incomplete thought, she knew what word was coming next...

I just tripped over a snake, please don't make fun of me!! She briefly considered asking Miss Phantom Voice to tell her where the snake was, but before she could do so, the voice was...
...apologizing?
Albino-pink eyes turned timidly up toward the voice, hoping she was at least somewhat facing the person she could not see. There was an odd shuffling sound she could not place, and then the lady's voice again, this time closer.
"U-Um...why...are you apologizing miss...?" Oblivious much?

"You tripped over her, Miss Ellie." Jaxx piqued just then, his voice flat and emotionless as usual.
"....What?? You said a snake!"
"Affirmative."
"....A talking snake? Er....with hands...." She felt it as one touched her back, her confusion pulling her young face into a pout.
"Negative."
"Aaah Jaxx, make up your mind!!" She flailed a little, flushing brightly as she knew the stranger was probably watching her in her confusion.
"Scan complete. She is a gorgon."
"...Bwuh?" A what? A what?? Oooh, never mind! Now I feel like I'm being very rude! I tripped over...her (not sure what part now), and she said sorry, and I'm just sitting here stare at her like an idiot! Pull yourself together Ellie!
"I-I-I'm so sorry miss!" Is she offering her hand? Normally you say that when you do...uh...er...She reached out nervously, totally in the dark as to where Chica's helping hand actually was.
"Ten degrees to your left, Miss Ellie."
Almost mechanically, Ellie adjusted her arm, and felt her hand brush Chica's. There it was! She took it gently, and smiled a bit sheepishly, her scuffed chin pink and beginning to throb.
"Thank you. I'm really sorry...I didn't mean to trip on you!" Again ambiguous about where, ahaha... "I didn't like...kick you or hurt you or anything right...?"

Even though she was the one in pain, she had to ask Chica. After all, tripping was her fault, not this lady's. And she had kicked...whatever it was she had kicked! What if she hurt her??
It may have been a good thing that she couldn't see the many snake heads straining toward her, even though she was so close to them. Without Jaxx's sight, she was absolutely blind, everything around her a black void of sound and scent and touch alone.

(Argh, rustyyyy)

[Anonymous]

Chica's eyebrows made a steady crawl towards her hairline as the girl and her robot dog talked. Her being a gorgon was pretty freaking obvious. The tail, the head full of snakes, her goggle covered eyes....well they didn't really point to anything else.

This girl was odd. Cute, but weird.

"Don't worry about it, my fault entirely," she replied, taking Ellie's hand and raising herself up slowly. "It really was, I shouldn't leave my tail out where people can trip on it. I wasn't expecting a...well that is to say someone who....er...can't....um..." she trailed off, failing at not insulting the girl. Best just to shut up and move on.

"Aaaaanyway, I'm Chica, Chica Characa. First stage candidate and all that stuff. Er...and you're Ellie? I think I heard your dog there say that."

She considered letting go of her hand, but considering the girl appeared to be blind thought that perhaps keeping in touch was a better idea for now. Chica had her own optical issues, what with her eyes killing anyone who looked at them directly, but at least she could see.

"Ow, looks like you scraped your chin there kiddo. Want me to take you to the clinic or something?"

[Anonymous]

"Oh..." As Chica raised herself, Ellie was forced to come too, and so stood on somewhat wobbly legs. Ow, now the scrape on my knee hurts...drat. Once again on her feet, she brushed herself off a little with her free hand, having been told once that falling makes you dirty, and she definitely didn't want that!
"Tail...?" Oops, didn't mean to say that out loud, ahaha... She couldn't help the surprise though, she'd never met a non-human before now. And being that she didn't know what a gorgon was, and wouldn't know what it looked like even if she did, her mind began to ponder exactly what having a tail meant. And then she realized she had sort of missed the lady's discomfort over her disability, and she simply shook her head, smiling warmly.
"Blind, you mean? Don't worry about it, you can call me that. It's part of who I am."
She tried to make a point of not being offended by things like that. She'd been this way since she was born, it was a part of her identity, and it was also a pretty obvious handicap. It stopped her from doing certain things, and sometimes stuff like this happened. For someone to call her blind was just part of the package, and it wasn't like it was a bad word or anything.
...Though sometimes it was said like one...

Anyway! Pay attention Ellie, she's introducing herself!
"Chica...Characa..." For a moment she wanted to giggle, but she managed to hold back. What a neat name! Chica Characa...hehehe. Chica Characa....Chicaaa Characa-ca-ca...
...Ahem!
"Yes, that's right! Ellie Noah, I just recently arrived here. It's nice to meet you Chica."
...Characa Characa Characa...hehehe...
Ahem!
"Negative. I am not a dog. I am an android." Jaxx interjected smoothly, not needing to open his mouth to speak, and so the pens remained where they were in his jaws.
"But you look like a dog, Jaxx." Her fingers brushed his nose, and so she gave his metal head a pat.
"Sorry about that, Jaxx has no personality data." An apologetic grin tilted her lips. He was very stiff, but she still loved him, even if he did speak like a robot.

She was grateful for Chica holding onto her hand, it helped her get a bearing on where exactly the other candidate was. She hated talking to space, she was never sure if she was actually facing the person or not. She could be talking to a wall for all she knew! At least this way she knew where to smile at the very least.
"Oh, no, please don't worry about it!" She touched her chin gingerly as she spoke, but shook her head soon after.
"I'll just put a band-aid on it. Hehe, then I'll have three on my face. I think the record though is five..." She patted the one over her nose as she spoke, then put her hand back on Jaxx's head to help keep track of where he was exactly.
"Um...are...are you sure you're okay though...? I ran into your...tail...prett y hard..."

[Anonymous]

"No really it's fine!" she said hastily, "You didn't hurt me at all Ellie, really. My tail's all muscle anyway." It was powerful too, enough to crush someone if she wrapped around them and squeezed.

"That's pretty neat," Chica commented with a nod towards Jaxx. Realising a moment later the girl would have no idea what she was talking about she hastily corrected, "Your dog, er, android I mean. Sorry, I'm not really used to someone not being able to see me." She laughed nervously.

The poor little thing, she looked so beaten up. Probably fell a lot. Adding to those injuries gave Chica a pang of guilt and made her cringe.

"Are you sure you're alright? You banged yourself pretty hard... Here, have a seat. I've got plenty of food, we can share if you want."

Chica couldn't really sit, given her tail, which was why she had pushed the chair out of her way so she could stand and eat.

With her free hand the gorgon pulled out a chair, guiding Ellie around to find it and making sure she didn't fall off. Last thing she wanted was the girl falling yet again because of her.

[Anonymous]

"O-Oh, okay...I'm glad." Another warm smile graced her lips, and it was apparent that such an expression came naturally to her. She practically radiated good vibes. She was genuinely glad to hear she had not caused Chica any harm.
"Hm?" What was pretty neat? Her head began to tilt despite itself, but soon Chica cleared up the confusion, and Ellie giggled softly.
"It's okay, most people aren't used to it. Don't worry. And I'm glad you like Jaxx!" The android dog was extremely important to her...she always liked it when somebody else found him to be interesting at the very least.

She was somewhat surprised when, once again, Chica brought up her own injury. It had been awhile since someone fretted over her so much...it was actually kind of nice, hehe.
"I'm okay, I promise! This happens all the time, I'm used to it!" Okay, maaaybe not the most reassuring thing to say, but she was nothing if not honest. And besides, she kept a stash of band-aids in Jaxx at all times for stuff like this!
Regardless, she was led to a chair, which she felt briefly with her free hand before recognizing what it was and sitting down, grateful for Chica taking such care to set her down properly (yes, she has fallen out of chairs before).
"Y-You really don't have to share your food..." She started, placing her hands on the table now to keep bearing on where she was. She wasn't sure how to handle the situation...obvious ly Chica was being kind, but she didn't want to take the other girl's food, especially over something like this. But then, turning down the offer might be rude, so...ah! Decisions...!
Jaxx began to pick up her belongings, placing the books and pens neatly up on the table next to her.
"Thanks Jaxx. Can I have a band-aid?"
"Affirmative." There was a low whirring, and then a click. Jaxx then opened his mouth wide, and a little rectangular opening where his throat would have been (were he a flesh and blood dog) produced the band-aid like a tiny receipt. Ellie held out her hand, but Jaxx did the maneuvering, until her fingers brushed the familiar insides of his metallic maw, and she easily knew where to reach to snag the band-aid.
A few seconds later, and it was stuck to her chin, band-aid number three.
All better!

[Anonymous]

"Naaaah don't worry about it, there's plenty," she replied with a dismissive wave in Ellie's direction.

In truth, she had probably taken a little too much. She didn't want to get all chunky like she was in her early teen years, before all the baby fat suddenly shifted and dumped into her breasts.

Chica watched as Ellie took her band-aid, which apparently she needed often enough to have her dog act as a little dispenser. She couldn't suppress the giggle that escaped her mouth watching the girl patch herself up in such a matter-of-fact way, and her attempt to do so only resulted in an embarrassing snort that caused her to cut off her giggling and shrink down.

Sliding down to a sitting level, Chica prodded her plates closer to Ellie, picking up her fork and touching it to the girl's hand to let her know where it was.

"Dig in, it's the least I can do after making you trip like that. Uh...there's chicken and potatoes, some gravy, peas, and I have a drink if you want some. Just let me know if you need me to guide yah to something or anything like that 'kay?"

She wasn't really sure how much help Ellie needed. People with disabilities were supposed to be pretty capable, so she certainly didn't want to insult the girl by babying her.

[Anonymous]

She couldn't see the wave, but she could tell by the tone in Chica's voice that the girl had already made up her mind.
"Oh, okay...Thank you very much." Another soft smile accompanied the statement, for she really was grateful. Nobody had shared their food with her in a long time! The last time somebody had done that, they'd gotten a very sharp reprimand from-ah! She shook her head a bit, trying to wipe the memory from her thoughts.
No, no....let's not think about her...

At the odd sound from her companion, Ellie again tilted her head. What in the world was that...? She, of course, had no idea she looked so amusing.
"Are you okay...?"
She could be...choking or something, and I wouldn't know it since I can't see her! Ah! Panicpanicpanic...u ntil something cool touched her hand?
"Oh!" What was...she grabbed at it, and realized right away it was a fork. She nodded at Chica's words, the smile a permanent fixture now.
"Thank you. Oh, don't worry about that, I'll have Jaxx help me!"
The smell of the food in front of her was beginning to make her tummy growl in anticipation, so she was quick to reach down and find Jaxx's familiar metal head. Running her fingertips down the slope of his smooth skull, she easily felt the two knobs she was looking for. Pulling on them, they came free, but proved to be attached to two cables about an inch thick, one blue and the other red. Still she pulled, until she was able to reach her neck with those knobs. With the sort of ease only repetition can create, she popped each knob into it's sister port at the back of her neck, connecting herself to Jaxx.

Jaxx propped his paws on the table and looked down at the plates and...
"Oh, wow, that's a lot of food!" Her tummy grumbled louder in response to that, and she giggled to cover her slight embarrassment. She could only see what Jaxx looked at, and due to the software and hardware being incomplete, she couldn't make out more than outlines and colors at best. But it was enough for her to be able to locate the different sorts of food on the plate.
"Um, well...if you don't mind..." She stabbed a piece of chicken, a look of complete glee on her face before she chomped down on it. Mmm, tasty! And they're not leftovers either...I'm actually eating the best parts! Heehee...

[Anonymous]

The best thing about artificially grown food was that you could literally create anything.

Picking off a strip of breast with her fingers, Chica dug into the same perfect chicken as Ellie was. The thing was all white meat and almost no fat, created with far more perfection than nature could ever grow.

And of course there was no proof it caused cancer.

Ellie's smile was infectious. Chica smiled a fair amount, it wasn't like she was mopey or anything, but usually it was because she was picking on someone or listening to old IF songs before they lost Vaughan and Cory, or even while watching Devi change.

That last one confused her a bit, because she wasn't into girls. Really, not into girls at all. She just liked watching Devi undress. And walk around the room naked. Nothing weird about that…

What was weird was the fact that her mouth kept pulling up into a grin while she watched Ellie and she had the inexplicable urge to giggle.

More to distract herself than anything, Chica decided to question the cords that were attaching Ellie to her mechanical canine.

"Ellie," she began, swallowing the mouthful of potato she'd been chewing, "What's with those cords in your neck? Can you see now or something?"

[Anonymous]

Ellie proved to have a far larger appetite than her tiny frame would suggest. She practically shoveled the food, or rather one forkful of food followed another, with hardly a moment to breath in between. It was as if she were trying to inhale her food as quickly as possible.
But, well, some habits die hard.
"Hmm? Hck-gack!" Apparently trying to respond to someone's question in the midst of swallowing a large piece of chicken was not the best way to go about not choking. Pink eyes watering, she smacked her chest a few times as she fought to get the ever so delicious morsel down her throat, rather than blocking it.
When she could once again breath, she gave Chica a sheepish smile.

"Ah, wow, sorry! -cough- Ate a little, um, too fast there...-cough-" She wiped at the moisture in her eyes, grateful she had only managed to make a fool of herself rather than making herself dead.
"T-To answer your question..." Not that it was of much importance after the near-choking incident- "I can see through Jaxx. Well, sort of."
She sat her fork down next to her plate, and reached up to touch at those cables, so easily visible with her hair cut short as it was.
"The hardware in my brain, and the software in us both, was never completed. I can only see shapes and colors at best, but it's enough to get by. I can also only see what Jaxx sees, so my perception is totally off, but after so many years I've gotten pretty used to it."
The casual tone of her voice matched equally her feelings on the topic. She'd explained it to quite a few people, and for her it was perfectly normal, even if she was aware that Jaxx and herself were one of a kind. But without Jaxx, she wouldn't be able to see anything at all. She was grateful for the mixed browns and whites of the chicken and potatoes, the bluish hue of the table, and all the myriad of green and a peachy tone that made up Chica in her vision.
It was all very precious to her.