The Lobby, Sunday Afternoon

[endsthegame]

A rip opened in the middle of the dorms lobby-- but it was unlike any void the island had seen before. It didn't precisely shine, but white light did filter out, almost tentatively, like the rays of the morning sun. It did not pull or pluck at anything, and when it vanished, it would leave the dorms exactly as it had found them

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[chose_humanity]

Mitchell hit the ground shoulder-first. This was something of a relief, because the last thing he'd have wanted was to land on his face, but it still meant pain spiking up through his body.

With a groan, he pushed up.

[shyest_eyes]

The world had whirled, making her sight a hindrance and it was a very nauseous Hinata that landed, still in a Jyuuken stance.

It took her a few seconds to orient herself enough to register--Fandom, dorms, safe.

Then she sat down, hard, and let her eyes go back to normal. Pressing her hands to them, Hinata breathed deeply.

She'd get up in a bit: she was filthy, she needed her back looked after, she needed to fall over on a bed and sleep for days.

But right now, right now she was just going to concentrate on breathing.

[glacial_witch]

Karla saw Hinata from across the room, but rather than running towards her, she backed out of the lobby and dashed upstairs.

A few moments later, she was back, a purring ball of white fur in her arms. She made her way over to the ninja and said, "Welcome home, Hinata. There's someone here who is very happy to see you."

[shyest_eyes]

Tears pricked her eyes as she looked up and took in the presence of Yei and Karla.

She tried a smile on for size but it was a very wobbly one. "Sh-Shall I guess which one?"

Oh look, she still had a sense of humour. Where had that come from?

[glacial_witch]

"Actually?" Karla's smile was also a little wobbly. "I think it might be me. Yei's spent the weekend being spoiled rotten and might not even have noticed I was baby-sitting."

[need_no_moon]

It was a wolf that came through. So much for keeping secrets and he damn well didn't care. It was Fandom. No more demons and roaches and smelly, freakish things that were almost making him feel normal.

Now to get himself to calm down and change back.

[flowering_mind]

Ino had a good guess at who this was, by now, as he'd been there but then he hadn't been and yet their numbers hadn't changed.

"Thank you," she murmured to him quietly.

For distracting the nurses, she meant.

[need_no_moon]

Jake glanced down at her and he nodded his big head up and down, giving her a wolfish grin. Any time.

[flowering_mind]

He was huge and she should probably be worried that she didn't feel disturbed by that at all but Ino was far too tired to care.

"Need any help gettin' somewhere?" she asked quietly.

Because a giant wolf didn't normally roam the school building, no.

[flowering_mind]

Ino blinked at the light, knowing she looked a mess--soot covered, her clothing charred in places, her hair an absolute disaster--and couldn't quite bring herself to care.

There was light, there were people she recognized that hadn't been in that dreadful world...

She leaned against the wall and told herself, firmly, that she wasn't allowed to cry until she was alone.

[puppy_fair]

Zack had wanted to go to help the strike team, or to fight away more of the monsters or... or a lot of things. But for the first time in his life, his head hadn't been there. He'd been too worried to be of any use at all, and that was going to eat at him later, when he'd had some time to actually think about it.

For now... Thinking wasn't important. He didn't need to think to be able to push his way across the room, to gather Ino up in his arms and cling to her as if he fully intended to never let go again.

[flowering_mind]

Ino was out of it enough that he'd managed to do so before she'd even fully registered that something was happening.

When she did realize who had her, she let herself go, a bit like a puppet without strings, and just sagged against him, clinging to him.

She was getting him dirty. Ino didn't care. Her shoulders shook as she struggled to not lose all composure right here, right now.

[puppy_fair]

Dirty? Dirty? Zack had been plenty more dirty than this in his lifetime. Dirty was fine. Ino was Ino, damn it, and that was a million times better than a bit of soot and gore.

He could feel her shaking in his arms.

Naturally, this meant that he was going to start shaking, too. There were little hiccups and snuffles happening now and again, but he wasn't going to break down. He wasn't...

"Missed you."

[willbethenight]

Bruce stepped out of the tear and took a look around. He was going to need a shower. And a real meal. And a phone call to Alfred to tell him that Fandom was better for his training than they could have possibly imagined.

But the main thing at the moment was probably making sure that everyone was okay after the past few days.

[svetocha_blooms]

Dru had been avoiding anything fight-like for the last two days. Instead, she'd tried to be useful around the dorms. Which at the moment included making coffee and checking on people as they'd come back.

"Bruce. Are you okay?"

[willbethenight]

"I survived and I'm back," Bruce said. "I think that's the best definition of 'okay' anyone's going to get at this point. Did you get sent anywhere?"

[svetocha_blooms]

"Okay is good," Dru said. "Okay is a hell of a lot better then severely injured or even worse, dead."

"I was lucky. I managed to stay on island." Something she was very, very grateful for. She couldn't imagine dealing with the blood hunger without somewhere safe to run to. "Not that it was safe. There were all sorts of nasty things running around."