Akira was still blinking furiously, traces of the tear gas-thing continuing to irritate her eyes, when Hortence crouched down and flicked her ear. “Ow! What the f—!” She promptly shut up, a mixture of embarrassment at her gaffe and indignation at being talked-down to, clogging up her thoughts. Hortence was right about the fiddling, of course. But when she started to explain<span style="font-style: italic">why</span>she had them, with another painful flick at her ear, Akira was trembling with anger.<span style="font-style: italic">Say something!</span>she screamed internally, but for some reason the words were stuck at her throat. What was she going to say, anyway?<br/><br/>There was an uncomfortable silence as Hortence stared at her. Akira stubbornly returned her gaze, trying to let the woman know she was not going to be intimidated, but she could feel her fists trembling, her nails digging into her palms as she tried to keep herself in check. When Hortence stormed off, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She wanted to punch something. She had almost forgotten that she wasn’t actually alone, and when she heard the other woman speak to her, Akira flinched, surprised.<br/><br/>Not yet feeling up to talking, Akira took the water bottle with a nod and took big gulps from it, wiping her mouth sloppily with her sleeve. For good measure, she splashed some more water on her face, too, rubbing her eyes as she did so. She wished she literally had a million responses for Beth’s explanation regarding Hortence’s behavior, but whatever rant she wanted to start on died down when the woman apologized for her impromptu make-out session earlier.<br/><br/>“No big deal,” Akira said with a shrug, returning the water bottle, “not something I’m used to, but not entirely unusual, either. I’m the guest here, and I guess I don’t really have a say how Hortence runs her house.” Akira frowned, then, remembering what it was she was so angry about. “I’m sorry for fiddling with that machine, but she had no right to tell me things as if I dropped out of Paradise without a clue about ‘The Real World’,” she said to Beth, her voice steady. With Hortence away, there really was no reason to project her anger at this stranger. “I came from a world where you see starving families in the street everywhere you walk, where madmen can waltz into a school and shoot children because they felt slighted, where bombs go off in civilian cities and you hear about it in the news every day. Every day, Beth.”<br/><br/>Akira pointed her thumb at the direction of the gas machine. “So forgive me if I’m a bit wary of people who think they are doing good, while making things like that.” The young woman sighed, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “What am I even doing here?” she said aloud, to nobody in particular. After a while, she stretched, putting on a small smile for Beth. “Well. I’m stuck here, so I might as well find out what you folks call ‘food’ around here. I’m starving.”