Room 330, Thursday Morning

[genesishero]

Evan had been out all night. Out making terrible life choices, mostly. But after his conversation with Zeela in the library yesterday, he'd felt that maybe he ought to at least check out just how far the bad guys were roaming through town. And he wasn't even going to land in order to do it, either. Honest. He had gone out there fully intending to

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[3girls_1core]

It was going on evening when there was a knock on the door. The sister on the other side was likely not the one he was expecting, but she was hoping he was there anyway.

Okay, given the style of knocking, he was probably expecting Zee in the other side. But odds were he hadn't anticipated a visit from her. Probably ever.

[genesishero]

Pretty much never, true.

At least he'd managed to get the blood cleaned up by the time she came knocking, having had most of the day to try to sleep off the events of the night. And when he answered the door, it was with a slightly husky-shaped corgi in his arms, his hair hanging in his eyes and an expression on his face bordering on 'done with everything, thanks.'

"... Zee?"

[3girls_1core]

"I need your help," Zeela said without preamble, pushing past Evan and into his room. "At least, you'd better be able to help me, with all the kissy faces you two make at one another."

She paced back and forth in his room, filled with nervous energy, every muscle taut and ready for action that...wouldn't be forthcoming.

[genesishero]

Evan stood in his doorway, eyes following Zee as she paced around, Ozzy watching as well, content to dangle from Evan's arms.

"Help you, or help Sholeh?"

He was pretty sure Zee was here to get Evan to help Sholeh. He couldn't picture her coming to ask him for help for herself. He inhaled, and then shut the door behind himself.

"What's going on?"

[3girls_1core]

"Of course to help Sholeh," Zee snapped, irritated. "Do I look like I need help?"

She actually looked like she was on edge and fairly short of sleep, so Evan was more than welcome to keep his opinions to himself there.

"Sholeh's not talking to us," she said finally, stopping where she was and dropping onto the edge of a bed. Evan's, his roommate's, she didn't really care. "Not to me or Zhari. She won't come out, either. Not to eat or to shower or anything. I did what you asked and didn't go out last night--" there was a glare for you, Evan. Look, she'd been good and her sister still wasn't talking. Some advice you gave. "--but she's just--non-responsive. We're getting worried. So...here I am."

Now fix it.

[genesishero]

Evan was fairly certain that Zeela going out probably wouldn't have gotten much better results, so he was going to just file that information under 'thank God' and then focus on the problem at hand.

"... Can she hear me?"

Directly on the problem at hand. He wasn't touching Zee's irritability with a ten-foot pole.

[3girls_1core]

Zeela shook her head. "No. To hear what's going on, we have to be close to the surface. She's not. She's as far down as it's possible to go." Frustration made her voice sharp, but it was worry that drew lines on her face and around her eyes.

[genesishero]

"I can't... I don't think I can do anything unless she can hear me, Zee," he said, chewing his lip, trying to keep worry from seeping into his own voice. "Can you coax her up at all? You or Zhari?"

[3girls_1core]

"We spent all day trying to coax her up," Zeela said. "That's not working. The only thing we can do is shove her out. But if we do that, you're going to have to try to get her to stay. Nothing we've said has done the trick yet."

[genesishero]

Evan took a deep breath and nodded, glancing down at Ozzy, and then setting the pup down on the floor.

"I'll do what I can."

What else could he do?

[3girls_1core]

Many people would likely find what happened next to be fairly unsettling. Zeela's features faded, becoming almost amorphous before she turned away from him. Her hair retracted into her scalp, but nothing moved to take its place while the sisters struggled to push Sholeh to the surface. A blond curl sprouted before disappearing again, one brown eye opened and one green.

"She's not fighting us," came a voice, one that sounded rather buzzy and indistinct. "Not reacting at all. It's like pushing a sack of river stones."

Eventually, however, bright red curls began growing and the face settled into the familiar contours of Sholeh's own. Immediately she contracted into a tiny ball, whimpering, "No, no, no," for a moment before falling silent once again.

[genesishero]

It was actually fascinating to watch. Evan found himself wondering if that's what he looked like to other people when he was shifting from one shape to the next.

It was weirdly beautiful. A notion that he'd dwell on later. Right now, there was something far more important to take care of.

"Sholeh," he whispered softly, hurrying to her side and crouching down beside her. "Sholeh, it's okay. It's me, it's Evan. You're safe..."

[3girls_1core]

No verbal response, but a slight shake of her head, just enough to cause her curls to tremble.

[genesishero]

Well, at least it was a response. That was more than he'd been expecting, going by what Zeela had said. He bit his lip, and then took a seat right there on the floor, tentatively wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"It's okay, Sholeh," he murmured. "See? You're here and alive, and your sisters are..."

Right about then, Ozzy was curling up with his back against Sholeh's bum, too. Puppy love, Sholeh. Puppy love.

"And Ozzy's happy to see you."

[3girls_1core]

It took a cold, cold heart to ignore Ozzy--or at least a gravely wounded one. Sholeh wasn't cold, but while her physical wounds had been healed, her emotional ones were not. So Sholeh didn't acknowledge Ozzy's presence in the slightest, not even a butt-wiggle.

Saddest day.

[genesishero]

Saddest day indeed. Evan was chewing on his lip as he gathered Sholeh up in his arms, gently pulling her into his lap and cradling her there. And then, at a loss for what else to do, he started to sway a little, pressing his forehead against hers and humming a song he remembered from his childhood, an old country waltz that his mother had adored. Every now and again, he murmured a few of the words as they came to mind.

"Let's fall to pieces together... Why should we both fall apart?"

Just that. Swaying, and holding close, and humming, and occasionally a couple of words. Maybe she didn't want to be coaxed back, but he wasn't going to let her be alone.

"Right here, in each other's arms..."