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Ennéa grimaced. "You sound like Baraz... he wanted to cut off her head."

Baraz rustled indignantly. Hey! I--! He paused and seemed to think better of what he was going to say. The ahriman sighed but didn't add anything else.

Ennéa absently rubbed the blue bead but otherwise didn't acknowledge that she had heard him. She fished around in her pocket for the bao cover and handed it to Maddie when the other girl asked.

"Thanks." She said, leaning her head so Maddie had a better angle to work with. The gentle tugs on her hair as the other girl worked was soothing. Ennéa closed her eyes. "I don't... really want to go back in there." She admitted in a small voice. "I know I have to, that's why we're hunters, but..." Ennéa quickly wiped at her eyes and was silent.

Petra looked up again as Jordan addressed her, looking mildly surprised but otherwise clearly starting to regain her composure. Her eyebrows lifted a bit in question, her head swiveling to face the boss of the Phoenixes, listening before glancing back at the irritated skin, squeezing and unsqueezing her burned hand into a fist, testing its mobility. For the most part, it was fine -- there was a distinct soreness there, a little painful as the scorched flesh stretched to accommodate, but certainly usable. She wouldn't have any problems wielding her mace, as heavy as it was... even if she did, she certainly wouldn't be telling any of the others.

"Burns. Some glass shards. Nothing unmanageable -- I'm fine," She replied after the moment of assessment, reaching down to massage her burned leg gently, picking out a glass shard with a completely straight face. As if to prove it, the moon hunter in training began pushing herself to her feet, standing gingerly at first, but then with a little more pressure when she was sure she was fine, reaching up to her neck where Cain had reverted back to the pentagram. The silver pulsed a little in her hand, glowing blue under her palm for a moment before she let her arm drop, turning back to the others. Ennea, too, seemed a little out of it. Seemed Phoenix's first mission was affecting them pretty hard.

"We did well. Really well," she spoke up again in a determined, if mononotonous tone, looking between each of them before ending with Jordan, "Don't let Caelius try to tell us any different."

"There are always shadows." Ennéa muttered to Madison. "Even if you can scare away a few and fight the rest, more just come. And some of them are so much stronger... I mean, like that shrieky thing." She sniffled a little and then carelessly rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. "Next time... you all might not wake up."

Ennéa's attention was briefly diverted when Petra started talking, but she looked away when the other hunter asserted that their team did well. She didn't comment, however, and instead fiddled with her newly retied hair bao. "Thanks Maddie." She said, briefly leaning against the older girl and giving her a small smile.

The smile quickly disappeared and she tensed slightly when Jordan leaned over to comment on her mud doodle. "S-sorry," She said, quickly scribbling through the drawing with her stick and then tossing it to the side and getting to her feet. "I know I shouldn't be goofing off and not paying attention."

Ennéa cleaned her muddy palms against the sides of her shorts and tried to force her expression into a calmer, more professional demeanor before turning to face Jordan. "I'm glad you're okay, Boss." She said.

Jordan's eyebrows arched briefly, caught off guard by Ennea's sudden switch in demeanor. He hadn't meant - wrong approach - damn. He smoothed his expression over again and tried on a small smile. "Hey, it's fine," he said. "Redraw it for me later?" He rested his hand on her shoulder, briefly, lightly. "Thanks," he answered. "You did good. Petra's right, we all did."

Ennéa was a little taken aback by Jordan's request. "O-okay?" She said, "It's just a stupid doddle though." She leaned into Jordan's shoulder pat. Part of her desperately wanted to be held. She wanted to be coddled and protected and reassured.

She wanted her brother.

She wanted Tobias to tell her it would be okay -- that everything would be okay. That the shadows couldn't hurt her and she had nothing to worry about. Her squad mates wouldn't die and she would never be alone ever again.

But Jordan's hand on her shoulder was polite and distant, and too soon he moved away. Ennéa bit her lip and dully nodded when he praised her, a cold knot twisting in her stomach. She blinked rapidly to keep from crying yet again.

ARGH!! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANY MORE! Baraz exploded, Ennéa! You did FINE!!! More than fine, even!!

Ennéa flinched at the volume and vehemence of her weapon. "Baraz?!"

Stop feeling sorry for yourself! He scolded her sternly. Waaah, my weapon is scary! Waaah, I was allll alone! GET OVER IT!!

Ennéa's back went rigid with outrage and for a moment she was tempted to start shouting back at the stupid ahriman. But then she remembered where she was and guiltily glanced up at Jordan. She was already a mess and a letdown to her squad; she didn't want to disappoint Jordan further.

A letdown??! Baraz's wings were furiously rustling. Those idiots were knocked out as soon as they hit the field! I didn't see any of them helping you and yet you're *still* a letdown to your squad??

Baraz sighed as if her idiocy was too much for him to bear. You did fine, Ennéa. He said finally in a more measured tone. It's okay to be scared. You still handled it -- I knew you would.

Besides, He added smugly, you were never alone, I was there. And I'll always be there to protect you.

Ennéa glowered at her bracelet but the slit-pupiled bead stared back up at her in a manner that seemed utterly unrepentant. "Stupid eyeball." She muttered. To Jordan she said, "Er, sorry. My weapon was being noisy." She explained.

Ennéa looked over Jordan's shoulder at the house and then back to him again. She still didn't want to go back in there; just looking at it made her stomach twist unpleasantly, despite Baraz's 'encouragement'.

"So um, when are we going back in?" She asked anyway.

Robert watched Petra handle her wounds, and his own arms wound tighter around her waist, squeezing every time she did something that would make a lesser woman yelp in pain. Why was she so hardass? He watched her carefully, brushing the hair away from her face. After leaning in to kiss her temple, Robert's eyes flickered to Ennea and the sudden mood that had settled around her and those taking care of her. His large chest lifted and fell in a deep sigh.

With yet one more kiss, this time pressed against Petra's neck, he picked his girl up and settled her on the floor gently. Robert gave her a wink, before getting to his feet and standing beside Ennea.

There were certain ways to handle a bad mood. Robert had very few weapons at his arsenal. With the experience of a little sister who needed a pick me up, however, this was one of them. Big, strong arms wrapped around Ennea from behind, and she picked the little girl up, bouncing her in his arms.

"Oi. Annie." Arsenal weapon #2? Nicknames. "You were a firecracker today! All you girls, you guys made me so proud. Petra's right, you know. Don't matter what anyone says, we kicked a**! Especially little Annie here." He bounced her so hard that she could have fallen out of his arms if he wasn't careful.

Any minute now he was going to use baby talk. Please stop him.

"Can't promise I will keep up, but I don't mind having a shot at it." Chances were, she'd manage about five and then collapse on the ground in a pile of fail. Cassandra had never promised she was physically capable, after all. However, she bit her lower lip to keep from admitting that she did want to go ghost hunting.

She wanted to stab them all and go on a rampage. Which was why she'd decided on the running instead..okay, that and the group-bonding-which-really-was-Marcus-time.

If nothing else, Cassandra Norris was easy enough to motivate.

"Race ya~" She challenged, slapping the other hunter on the a** before she went running ahead to catch up with Leon and Jeremy.

~ Are we done resting yet? ~ Azrael sounded bored. This was never a good thing.

Davey pushed himself off the ground where he'd been sitting, watching the others. "Yeah, I need something to do," he said. Back on his feet, he began making his way over to Clarice.

His phone beeped on the way. Checking the message, he wondered if this meant Caelius was in a better mood or just pissed that people weren't hard at work. Davey wasn't about to go find him and ask. He shrugged and continued over to Clarice.

Clarice was looking a little green as she eyed the last group. Davey made sure to stand a few feet back as he asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"

Helping her, helping Dr. H... yeah, Davey was pretty bored to be signing back up for that. But he wasn't going to be useless and they'd had enough setbacks for one day.