Chapter 2
The whole hodgepodge of Rangers out of time and out of known dimensions get to work together and know each other and help develop a whole lost universe over the course of half a year.
Half a year of Tori missing home and family lost and friends she doesn't really feel are gone forever (which Cam calls shock, when they meet up after he and the still functioning Rangers come back from their duties because she--without fail--drags him out of Terona's lab to have tea and chat, "Because not talking to the people you still have is called being rude, Cameron,") with her building new connections to people she is fairly certain she never would have met otherwise.
And Kapri. Who is there at Tori's beck and call when she's strong enough to leave her room; the certainty that she won't break down because her little sister isn't within reach adjusting her personality so that she's a lot more standoffish than back at Blue Bay Harbor; the disconnect between her and everyone else making Tori even more willing to try and pave the way a little.
"But it's hard," Tori grumbled, chewing on a fresh apple from one of the orchards Promethea has on this absolutely massive ship they're all living on for the foreseeable future, "We used to be enemies, even if those two were never very good at the whole evil thing. And now she's alone and raises her hackles at the slightest jibe or gesture. I'm a little worried that she's gonna develop an ulcer at this rate."
Cam removed his glasses to squint at the Blue Wind Ninja, feeling an obnoxious echo between what Kapri needed and a conversation he and Kim had with Heckyl not too long ago; but with Tori as the axis, and Kapri not there to give her piece, he was...rather want to give any advice.
"Have you tried writing a list?"
The way her eyes wound into the back of her head--
"Stop. No. Listen," Cam hissed, adjusting the glasses back onto his face, pointing both index fingers at his blonde compatriot with the welling up of the newfound assuredness he'd gained with this team cobbled together out of necessity; they're doing him good was the thought that passed through Tori as he continued, "Just observe and write and report it back to her when you think you've got enough to build a solid foundation enough to actually know her. Just as she is. Like when little kids are in school and don't know each other and then there's a Valentine card inviting one to another's house and they end up best friends for life."
"...So you did pay attention when Dustin talked about his early school days to Blake and Hunter."
Tori honestly did not expect the seeds out of Cam's own apple to smack her directly in the face, the Green Samurai Ranger bounding out of his chair and out the door to lead her on a merry chase that he would have never deigned to participate in mere months ago.
But even with the screaming and her threatening to end him and the laughter, she did not forget his suggestion.
Even after cornering him into a headlock to give him a noogie in front of his (new/temporary/she was trying not to hate them) team to she that she was still the boss; wandering away afterwards to get in a shower and then pass out in her room; se didn't forget the suggestion.
It just took her a couple days because she had to find a pad and pen and stop forgetting to put them in her pocket when she left her room to do whatever.
--
Tori had to keep reminding herself that, while yes, Kapri was eventually going to hear most of this, did not mean she was going to read it straight out. Tori's shorthand and chicken scratch were perfectly acceptable.
Still too a couple times to go when the pen kept jamming and she sprayed the first page with globs of ink.
But it was fine.
'Okay, first observation: Kapri is way stronger than anyone else here, and that is definitely because she's an alien.'
Tori included the date (such as it was in a dimension without calendars and going off of what day the Promethea computers said was mid-October) as well as a little doodle of herself, T.J. Johnson, Mia Watanabe, and Dana Mitchell carrying one boulder each to the edge of a cliff while Kapri carried seven. They were not very good doodles, but Tori's hands still hurt from having to make three trips while Kapri barely had to make one and then had wandered off to help Tyler and Riley when even she couldn't tune out all the people glaring at her not breaking a sweat. Nor did she try to hide the smug superiority, but it was whatever.
(Tori would not hold this against her. No she would not.)
'Kapri would probably walk barefoot everywhere if Lothor didn't apparently train her to not do that?'
The blonde wasn't even going to try and parse out her thought process on watching Kapri leave her room without shoes, go back five minutes later; go to the training room, take off her shoes, go five rounds with non-powered Rangers; go to get a snack, walk all the way back to put on her shoes while muttering about her uncle and how "the rules didn't apply," but putting her shoes back on regardless, and then stomping back to the commissary with her head lolling back on her neck like a crazy person and giving a load moan like a dinosaur.
It was...cute.
'Kapri is skinny because she thinks a lot of the human foods we have served are disgusting.
Rolled oats are disgusting.
White bread is disgusting.
Orange juice is disgusting.
Any kind of fish--apparently--is disgusting.
Alcohol is disgusting.
Poultry is disgusting.
Ham, sausage, lamb, beef, rabbit, and deer are all disgusting.
Milk is fine. Eggs are best when still half raw. Plant matter is mostly okay.
Sugar and Vanilla are the best things EVER.'
She is almost sure and certain that after watching Mia and Kapri bond over a meal that would have looked right at home as a challenge on a reality program, there is a special circle of hell for everyone who watched them take a red cabbage leaf, coat it with pure mustard, sprinkle in sesame seeds, licorice sauce, and brown sugar before wrapping it around a pickled beet and then held their breath as the two ate it like candy.
On the bright side, Conner recorded the whole thing and used it as the basis for writing both Mia and Kapri out of kitchen rotation in the ship's (silent) petition to Grace and Terona.
'She says what she means and means what she says.'
Tori made sure to underline that last bit with three differently colored pink sparkly gel pens after a night about four months on the ship; to make sure that it was in fact reality and not just her brain conjuring something that had nothing to do with that Praetor asshole fucking with the active Ranger team to give her something nice to hold onto.
--
"I wanna be in your bed."
Kapri meant: to lay down and sleep. She always, always, alwaysmeant: to lay down and sleep.
Thanks be to the Grid that Tori was used to the knock on the door, the young woman in a dark pink linen pajama set standing there looking sulky and defeated with her big orange pillow half of her size held like a stuffed animal, and her marching right by the Blue Ranger to fall into the side that was against the wall to curl up like some animal without further adieu. Her brain had to adjust to the display or she was sure she'd go crazy.
As it was, she just huffed and continued brushing her teeth, closing the door with nary a sound (when not too long ago it would have been a slam) and shut off the bathroom light after she spit (no she wasn't being conscientious about drool smears; just about staining her pillows later) and returned to her place on the outer side where her books and journal and pencils sat.
There was so much temptation to tell Kapri, "We've gotta set some boundaries," or tease, "We should stop meeting like this," and Tori really had tried.
But.
She looked from her stacks that were craving to be finished, the over to the young woman that still spent most of her nights in a curled fetal position no matter where she was. Hair untied and face tucked into her pillow and fingernails digging into the slip cover and blanket despite her face being blank.
…It wasn't a fair fight.
So she just turned out the light and rolled over to face her guest and just tried to be happy that Kapri's presence had technically solved Tori's self-imposed/manufactured insomnia.
Also the hand that found her own just before she was fully unconscious was...really quite nice.