Jia Li had risen from her seat, leaving a tip on the table beneath her tea plate. She had had a little over an hour to kill before class, so she had made her way, tree by tree, to a nice little park area where she could rest and look over her notes for it.
As soon as she had popped from a sturdy maple tree, she had felt an electrical charge in the air. It wasn’t strong, but it was there, and it was unmistakable. The vivid, crashing noises she heard drew her eye to a terrible scene.
A guy about her age was yelling at a squirrel and… throwing lightning at the poor thing. She saw him throw two bolts at it before it disappeared, unharmed, but terrified. She felt fury rise within her. Sure, she was kind of afraid of him. After all, he could throw lightning at her. However, someone had to stand up to him.
Jia Li was to his left, a few feet away, but she didn’t move closer. She stood where she was, near the maple tree from which she had appeared with her hands on her hips. She repeated her question. “What is wrong with you! That squirrel didn’t do anything to deserve to have you scare it. Do you take pleasure in others’ suffering or something? Are you a big man for scaring a defenseless creature?” The venom in her voice was clear, and her striking eyes were narrowed to slits.