A villainous encounter in a cafeteria (?) (for K0hryuu)

"Cu...oh. I get it."

"Yeah, definitely could've been worse in that regard... And, if you took special pre....", she shut up immidiately, realizing she almost gave herself away by talking about the protective cup she used:

"I meant to say... yeah, they are definitely painful...and a bit immoral when you think about it..."

"Oh, I heard your team lost the title a couple weeks ago. My condolences...", she looked at her plate. She was half done with fries, but didn't touch the chicken yet. She started to think about taking it home...

Maddie felt her heart sink a bit as she realized Clara probably figured out what she was about to say, thinking that maybe the girl had seen her past matches after all. Then again, she had probably gone a bit overboard on GASTER, and it certainly sounded like this girl was judging her for it, taking a none too subtle jab right there.

"Believe me when I say I know full well how badly it hurts..." the dark-haired girl mumbled, her thoughts starting to get a bit depressed. She certainly didn't have any delusions that her tactics weren't 'immoral', but a weakling like her had to fight somehow. Or at that's how she justified it.

"Oh... Thanks..." the reminder of what happened at Avalanche didn't exactly brighten her mood either. Losing her appetite for a moment, Maddie just kind of stared blankly down at her half-finished burger, as if not sure what to do with it.

"...why am I always such a mood killer?

Not wanting to see the girl she was getting to know quite well depressed, Clara said to her:

"Even if you think you aren't that great, trust me, you were amazing in yesterday's match! I wouldn't mind sparring with you, one of those days...

Receiving some praise lifted Maddie's spirits a little bit, even if she knew it was probably just superficial. At the very least, she was snapped out of the depressed stupor, looking back over at Clara, "Haha... thanks."

Putting down her burger, the dark-haired girl munched down on a few fries before continuing. "I would be up for a spar sometime, but..." she trailed off for a moment, as if trying to think of what to say, "You probably would hate me afterwards..."

Giving a forced smile, Maddie shrugged, trying to make light of what she said, even if it was likely true...

"Hmm... we could make this work somehow...can't we?"

"If I rememer correctly, GASTER wore a protective cup at yesterday's match. If you want to, I could wear that and try to teach you not to rely on just low-blows in a match...", she said, taking a sip of an orange juice she picked up before.

Maddie felt a bit of irritation at mention of the whole cup thing, but brushed it off. "That probably would be good, but old habits kind of die hard..." Maddie pondered aloud.

"I lived in a pretty shitty neighborhood, so I ended up joining a gang way back." the dark-haired girl started to reminisce. "Ended up getting in tons of fights anyway, but it was probably safer than just being on my own all the time. I'm pretty tough, actually, but I just don't really have any strength. I still had to defend myself somehow, so I ended up relying on dirty tactics to try even the score."

"Low blows were just one thing before, but that somehow became a kind of a... trend around here..." she muttered, stirring up her own traumatic memories of her matches. Just then recalling where she was at the moment, Maddie immediately perked up, waving her arms and giving Clara a forced smile.

"O-oh, sorry, I kinda... You probably didn't wanna hear all that... Haha...

"Street fights? Makes a lot more sense than a "low-blow school"

"Oh, no. It's ok. It's actually has been a while since I've talked to someone like this...", Clara said. She only had one fry left on her plate, and no wish to eat the fried chicken she picked up earlier.

"I probably can't relate. I had a fairly quiet life, if a bit lonely. Minus wrestling of course. Some bad people here and there in my matches, but most of them agreed to spar a bit, show me some moves, give advice..."

"If you need someone like that, give me a call. OH! I didn't tell you my name at all, did I? I am Clara.", she said, while getting her mobile from her bag. "You have a cell phone with you?"

"Ahhh, you're pretty lucky then..." Maddie chuckled halfheartedly. Her first two matches were against complete psychopaths who put her in the hospital. She had managed to make friends with her third opponent, sort of, though they really didn't have anything in common at all.

"Oh, yeah one sec..." Maddie reached down and pulled her smartphone out of her pocket, "Clara..." she repeated, typing it in onto her contact list.

Typing in Maddie and her number, Clara got her phone in her pocket.

"Alright!", she looked at her chicken. She wasn't in the mood to take it with her, since she will be going to the supermarket a bit later anyway.

"So...I need to grab some stuff at the supermarket. What are you going to do?"

"Uhhhh..." Maddie trailed off, not really having any plans for the day. Given her pantry, she probably should go to the market as well. However, she didn't really feel like it at all, thinking that she'd rather go with her teammates once they got back. And also when the money from last night's match was in her account.

"I'm just going back home I guess." she shrugged. Today just felt like one of those days where she wanted blow off her chores, and just lay around in her underwear and watch anime. "Guess I'm still a little tired after last night..."