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Amory wasted no time, leaving Thian's side with a squeeze of his hand then hurrying off to find supplies. Unfortunately, this room was swept clean, and for a moment she regretted drinking all those juice boxes earlier. The only thing left to hope for was that this would all be contained quickly so that they might go back to their normal lives.

He moved into the room opposite the one Amory had headed into, barely looking around for half a minute before he found a heap of clean, warm blankets, so many that he could barely carry them. After taking some time to gather himself, he finally managed, bringing them over to Mink and Ava without further complaint. He wanted to greet Amory with a sarcastic remark once he found her again, but instead he simply took her cold hand in his and rubbed a couple of comforting circles into her skin.

Baum shook his head. Worrying about things he couldn’t do wouldn’t get him anywhere and if he let himself get carried away then he wouldn’t be able to gather the necessary supplies that he needed and the people that were going into the bunker would need as many supplies as the juniors could get. With a shake of his head he started taking deep calming breaths and focusing on the here and now. He would chew Kadali’s butt off next time he saw her. The girl seriously needed to answer her phone more. Now what kind of blankets could he find.

Why did he go off alone? It was a stupid idea.

Kuni was alone, and he wasn't sure that was a good idea anymore. Well, okay, he wasn't totally alone--he had Mushroom, after all--but it...it wasn't the same thing. Panic was filtering into his pores through his bark, and with the physical jitters came the emotional jitters.

Nai was right. He'd been spending the whole evening complaining and insisting that they be honest about things. He'd been whining about how no one was admitting what was going on, but now that he was off alone, every creak--every sound--reminded him of what Ava had said.

Survivors...some did not make it...

It was an old building, right? And it wasn't as big as it seemed. It just...felt big. Those were just creaking boards and concrete, the school was what, fifty years old now? There was no way someone could sneak onto campus and just...break into the building. It was secure. There were wards up. That was why they were blocking the windows and the doors. No, that didn't make any sense. But they were going to make things safe. The building would be safe, and no one would have to worry. It would be a safe place, a safe--

--house...

Oh, Strong Arms and Strong Will, why did he go off alone? Why did he want to be by himself? He was selfish, that's why. He wanted to stew on his own, he wanted to get upset, he wanted to be unhappy. That's why he always grumped at everyone. That's why he pushed people away. Those few moments, like tonight, when he'd allowed himself to help people--he'd had to allow himself. He'd had to give himself permission.

What was wrong with him?! Why did he have to permit himself to be nice? Why did that have to be taboo for him? Why did he have to be such a, a...stick in the mud?! Why did he have to call himself stupid as he put his life on the line to help people? Wasn't that noble? Wasn't that desirable? Wasn't that what everyone wanted to do? Why was he so afraid? Didn't he want to be a hero? And no, handing out plushies and bracelets and whatever to little kids didn't count as heroics. It was just...stupid. That's what it was. It was making up for being useless and just...putting on a nice mask. That's what it was.

He'd done absolutely nothing at all to help. He'd just been spreading panic and distracting himself. Useless!

Kuni yelped as he dropped a hammer on his fingers. D-- He sucked his fingers and looked out at the world through the window he was boarding up. Everything looked quiet and still out there. There was no indication of the disaster happening. There was no sign of the refugees, either--though to be fair, he was on the wrong side of the building for that.

He leaned against the wall and sighed. He'd decided to make this place his home. He had decided to put down roots in Below. Was that a bad decision now? Should he return home? Would there be a home to return to? How long would this crisis last, and would it spread to Above? His thoughts went out to his younger sisters, Heidrun, Glaedwine, and Niamh, tiny little Niamh. Would they be safe in the world after tonight?

He shivered. Everything was going to be okay. Nothing bad was going to happen. He just...had to finish boarding up these windows and he could go back to safety, with other people.

Did he even deserve the safety of the group?

Aten's heart sank in his chest. There were so many children here, so many terrified and panicked young ones scared out of their wits. His own children were here, and while he had every confidence that Ava, Mink, and Annabelle would take care of all the children, it split Aten right down the middle to know that he would have to part ways with his eldest children. He could see Rhys through the crowd, Raa with his friend, and his youngest children huddling together. As much as Aten wanted to comfort them all, Aten had his place, and that was with Annabelle.

The imp tried to herd as many of the freshlings as he could to guide them underground. He had his role to play, and as much as Aten's fatherly instincts were kicking in to protect his children, the imp had to consider all the students of the academy his children this particular day. The children needed him, and he had to put his best foot forward and serve his purpose as a caretaker.

Lokni was working as if on autopilot, determined to get this hallway boarded up as quickly as he could so he could move on to the next. The announcement rattled him something fierce, he was a student in Levithian and "what if's" were going through his mind as he was hammering in the nail to hold the heavy boards along the windows and doorways. He was getting nowhere with his thoughts but he could not stop thinking of all those in his house. He had made some friends and so far he saw none of them here and it disheartened him. He picked up the hammer to use and not paying full attention to where he was aiming hit his hand and he let out a loud yelp of pain. ~sighing he dropped to the floor allowing the board to fall and held his head in his uninjured hand while he sucked the sore finger to take the sting out~

Sathe excused himself from the small group he was gathering once they became too abrasive to his usual self; starting a fight wouldn't help here after all, but he couldn't go along with what they were doing. That and being aggressive would not only be a bad idea in this situation, but would probably come back to bite him with his luck, and as such he gave no outward sign of his internal struggles.

He was milling around the auditorium, reverting to generally keeping the peace and assisting with passing out supplies. The bracelets were a nice way to keep everyone busy with their hands and their minds off of the events, but it wasn't really his thing. There wasn't anyone he would want to give them to, and they weren't really his style. Either way he had finished moving another box of water when the headmistress came back and made her announcement.

On one hand, the mention of survivors set him on edge, but with Ava rallying them together he figured there would be plenty of work that he could pitch in for and plenty of things to keep their minds off of the unknowns.

Wasting no time, he made his way to where Ava and Mink were directing the other juniors, and tagged along to do some more heavy lifting. Sure, these scrubs could lift a box each, but there was no way he would pass up an offer to flex his muscles a bit. Even carrying two boxes at once, there was still plenty more that needed to be moved into the auditorium.

Once he had dropped of the first set, he noticed a bakeneko curled up on the floor. Sathe wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it was pretty clear that the kid wasn't going to get into the bunker on his own two feet. Making his way over to the freshling, he knelt down and put a hand gently on his arm, speaking in soft tones that were so out of character for him that he hoped nobody else could hear.

"Hey kid, no need to be scared, we've got plenty of big guys like me that can put up a good fight if it comes down to it."