The world's not falling apart because of me... [OTA; multiple threads welcome]

[savesherself]

[Sort of wibbly-dated to whenever the rescue groups got back. ...wibbly-dated is totally a valid term.]

With most of the rescue parties in the barracks and probably on their way to a well-deserved rest, the Doctor has managed to get the stream to himself... and he's glad for that. Cross-legged by the edge of the water, he's trying to clean the

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[didntblink]

Hotch still felt unease at having given the old woman his blood. Anyone who wanted blood for services most definitely was not to be trusted. There hadn't been enough time to organize people, to make it so only a few people had to give blood, and that was a failure on his part. But JJ hadn't needed to give blood. That much made him feel better.

This place, these barracks, hadn't made him feel any better about being in this wood, which according to some at least was as much an...individual, entity or some such thing. It was a lot to take in and process. But Hotch knew that time was against them. It always was. So instead of resting, though he probably needed it, Aaron was walking around, and he was considering leaving the barracks again. And this time his feet led him right to the gate, and Aaron looked out.

[savesherself]

Lost in quiet thought, Emily only notices the man by the gate in a vague, peripheral sort of way at first. He's already inside the walls, which means at least for the moment, he's safe, and not really anything she has to worry about.

But then something about his profile, his body language, his clothes, who knows what catches her attention, and she actually focuses on the person standing there. She freezes for a second, her breath catching in her throat. After a moment, she blinks and shakes her head, half-expecting him to be someone else entirely at a second glance. But no, it's still him - still looks like him, anyway. The fae play tricks, and people here can look just like friends even when they're not, and she can't quite bring herself to believe another member of the team is actually here.

Emily lurches to her feet and half-stumbles down the stairs toward him, a little bit clumsy with equal parts weariness and shock. "...Hotch?" she asks, quiet and uncertain.

[didntblink]

He had been considering the outside so much that he hadn't truly seen anyone, and that more than anything told him how exhausted he was. Aaron needed sleep - hadn't slept yet, hadn't even tried. But it was the recognition, not the movement, which struck him speechless for a moment.

Staring openly in shock, Hotch crossed the distance between them as quickly as possible. And when he reached her, he did something particularly out of character: Hotch hugged Emily close, too close, and he held on a bit too tight. "Emily," Aaron whispered, his eyes closing as he bites back the painful memories. He couldn't believe it.

[savesherself]

And that was the last reaction she'd expected, even on the slim chance that it was Hotch.

She wraps her arms around him instinctively, holding almost as tight out of sheer relief, but she can't ignore the stab of sudden fear that comes on the heels of that relief. Hotch isn't exactly the most demonstrative person in the world, and she can't imagine what might have prompted this. Even the weirdness of the Wood doesn't seem like it would be enough to shake him, and yet...

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," she gasps softly, pulling back a little so she can look at him. "Are you okay?" She's not going to point out the strangeness of the fact that he hugged her, but it's obvious from her expression that she's thinking it.

[whateverthemess]

Murphy's come out for a little meditation, away from Harry's worry and the buzz of new people and their rescues. She's tired. Bone tired, actually, but she also doesn't want to let her guard down and take a nap for fear of what will happen if she does. So: meditation. It's relaxation, a form of rest, and for now it'll have to do.

She's tired enough to not see the Doctor until she's tripping over the end of his coat. Normally, she'd be fast enough to catch herself before dropping onto all fours in the dirt. Now is not normally.

She takes one look at him, closes her eyes and thinks, Great. Murphy rolls onto her back and stares up between the branches. "Dabbing at it like that isn't going to get it clean."

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor just eyes her in faint apprehension for a moment or two, and then sighs, flicking pink-tinted water off his fingers and into the stream.

"Yes, well, it hurts," he mutters in response, not quite loud enough to be speaking directly to her, but definitely meant to be heard.

[whateverthemess]

"I've heard broken noses do that," she says to the air. The dirt is comfortable. She's not going to move for a little while. Instead, she closes her eyes and starts counting and breathing along with the numbers until her body falls into the familiar pattern and she doesn't need to count any more.

Okay, usually she does this sitting up, but that seems like a little too much effort at the moment.

[thatsortofaman]

"You didn't have to break it." He glances over at her, trying to look like something other than a sulky child and failing. "A bruise would've gotten your point across perfectly well."

[numbersnfigures]

Spencer Reid, meanwhile, had seen Will back to his cabin. He didn't want to let him out of his sight until he absolutely knew that he was safe. After giving the boy one last hug, he returned to his own cabin. He pulled off his cardigan, which was covered in dirt and blood. It would need to be washed as soon as possible. Spencer grabbed the dirty cardigan and basin that he used to wash clothes in.

He poked his head into Emily's room, wondering if she wanted anything washed, and found that she wasn't there. She had seemed exhausted, so he had fully expected to find her in bed. Slightly worried, he set out to see where she was, assuming that she hadn't gone back out into the woods. After a little while of looking around the barracks, he found her by the gate, looking completely beat. He knew what she was doing out here and he honestly wished she would come back to the cabin and sleep. Spencer placed the basin down with his sweater inside of it, then gently sat next to Emily on the steps.

"Hey..."

[savesherself]

Emily winces a little to herself when she sees Reid coming. It's not that she doesn't want him around, exactly, but bans on inter-team profiling aside, there's no hiding anything from a profiler. Especially Reid. As he sits down beside her, she folds her hands in front of her and tucks them between her knees, where the shaking's a little less obvious.

She smiles over at him - tired, but genuine. "Hey. I was just... making sure everyone got back okay."

...okay, maybe she should have waited until he asked before offering an explanation. But it's not hard to see he's worried about her, and she doesn't like giving him reasons for that.

[numbersnfigures]

"Yeah. I know."

Spencer can see her hands. He's not going to ask about it though, partially because he shouldn't and partially because there wasn't much to ask. This may have not been an official case, but it was still hard. The supernatural element of it all didn't help.

"Will's back in his cabin. Maybe you should... come back and rest as well..."

[savesherself]

She nods a little. "I will, just... I'm not sure I could sleep yet. Today was just..."

Emily shakes her head, glancing off toward the cabins for a moment or two before looking back to Reid. "I'm glad Will's alright. He seems like a sweet kid."

[lovethissuit]

[Because obviously being seated on the tigerpony means he got there first and has already had quality catching up times.]

Peter, by very direct contrast, looks ridiculously happy as he heads to the stream. Hell, he might even be humming. Because even though now he'll have to worry about El and Satchmo on top of everything else, he can't deny that last night was the best night's sleep he's gotten in months and that he's pretty much overjoyed just to have her back.

"Morning," he says cheerfully as he bends down to splash some water on his face. It's a minute before he gets to remembering... Oh. Yeah. The cave doppelganger thing happened. Right. "...Sorry about the nose. Again."

He cares, Doctor. ...Really. He does.

[thatsortofaman]

"You didn't break it," the Doctor mutters, with a grimace that's got nothing to do with how much his face hurts. "Then again, you didn't exactly help..."

He pauses, looking over Peter with a faint frown. He looks entirely too cheerful, and it can't all be because he had a good reason to shove the Doctor's face into something. "Are... Are you humming?"

[lovethissuit]

"You had it coming," he replies quickly enough, before amending it. "Or the other one did. However that works. You know what I mean."

Peter grabs a nice, grassy spot to sit in and just kind of. Bask in the nicer, spring weather. "Was I? Huh. Didn't realize it."

Which might be slightly more believable if not for the giant, fool smile plastered on his face.

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor narrows his eyes a little, just watching Peter for a minute or so with definite suspicion.

"Have you done something?" he blurts out finally, because... well. This kind of cheerfulness just isn't natural for Peter - the Doctor's much more comfortable when he's glaring and grumbling and... not humming.

[modernholmes]

Conan approaches the gate, kicking a small battered ball in front of him. He'd found it in a dusty corner of his cabin, while trying to invent a reason to investigate this enclosure. A child crawling around the foundations of buildings and examining wall surfaces was suspicious. A child trying to retrieve a toy from the same location was only at play.

As he spots the woman standing by the gate Conan stops the ball with one foot and stares up at her with an expression of childish concern.

"Ne, miss? Are you okay?"

[savesherself]

Emily smiles vaguely when she sees the boy playing with the ball - he's not someone she recognizes, but it's at least vaguely reassuring to see something... almost normal like that in a place like this.

The smile gets a little less vague - and a little more falsely bright - as he looks up at her, and she nods firmly in response. "Yeah. I'm just a little tired." She pauses, and then tilts her head to one side, her voice soft as she asks, "You're new here, huh?"

[modernholmes]

"I suppose so. I woke up with a bunch of other people in the forest, and then we had to walk a really long way. We just found this place yesterday." He cranes his neck to see her face and crosses his arms behind his head. "Have you been in this place for a long time?"

[savesherself]

It's a struggle not to wince at that news - not unexpected, but still. People just keep coming, and not the slightest hint at a way home so far. It's kind of depressing if she thinks about it for too long.

"Um... I've been here for a while, yeah." Almost five months, though she'd rather not freak the kid out by saying that. He might be too young to both pick up and be disturbed by the implications, but Emily doesn't want to gamble on that.

She decides to try and redirect his attention instead, with a gentle, "My name's Emily. What's yours?"