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Jett shrugged; if she was around for long enough for him to memorize her name, he would. “Easy enough,” he said, regardless. His name was easy to pronounce, so he’d never had to deal with the frustrations of being called by the wrong name. He glanced at Marley, very well aware that she was still busy, but since he’d started talking to Aya he now felt that she had some sort of precedence for receiving first aid. He glanced at the blood; even amidst all the colors of the rainbow he sat upon, its still seemed to stick out. He didn’t know much about first aid; if it was an open wound, you put alcohol on it and slapped a Band-Aid on it and were done with it. This mind frame would do little to help Aya—not to mention that even if he did know how to properly wrap a bleeding wound, he doubted he could with his arm right now.

Well. He probably could but she wasn’t near enough to unconsciousness or death that he was going to put himself through more pain.

Still, talking was a fine enough distraction to help him ignore his pain, and it wasn’t like they could really do anything else at the moment. “So, Aya,” he said—careful to pronounce it how she’d insisted—though a part of him very badly wanted to provoke her just for another adrenaline rush, “What’s so special about you that you ended up here?”

It wasn’t a real question; he didn’t know why he was here any more than she knew why she’d gotten teleported into all this chaos. “Did you piss somebody off or get involved with the wrong people?” he inquired; all of this seemed like it might have been some punishment. He could believe it was some sort of curse or death wish—albeit didn’t understand how. And, sure, he’d believe he pissed someone off and deserved something like this; he wasn’t foolish enough to think that he was some innocent. “…Or do you figure this all must have happened because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

Neso seemed oblivious to any annoyance his happiness was causing. Instead, he smiled wider, nodding with approval as the civilians began to help each other. "Team work makes the dream work -- but we really should get you all out of here," he said finally, clapping Roxy and Varya on the shoulder.

Wallace's retreat earned a sideways grin. "You're funny," he said, perhaps to both Wallace and Roxy, or maybe all of them. Marely seemed to know what she was doing, and Neso was more than happy to let her take the lead -- anyone, really, would be better than him. Even the sniffling Darwin.

"Yes, this is the Surrounding, and that big old space thing is not Business As Usual. I hope you enjoyed your stay, but it really is time that I get you all out of here." Princess Chronos didn't need to tell him this much. He had known it would be the only course of action the moment the battle began.

Blue eyes searched the group. "I can zip-zap you back to Earth -- maybe we'll start with just two? I'm looking for volunteers." Neso outstretched his arms, as if waiting for the two volunteers to run right into them. It was sort of true.

The first two to ask to go home would be the first!

Aya shrugged and shook her head at Jett. "Nothing that I can think of. I'm a junior journalist for the paper. I may have ruffled some feathers here and there, but I can't think of a reason to kidnap me to outer space. You?"

She wasn't expecting anyone to have an answer. Over half the people who'd arrived still looked school age. If there was anything special about the lot of them, it must be something hidden. More likely, they just all had bad luck. Wrong place in the wrong time, somehow got themselves targeted. Maybe they'd all bumped some superpowered idiot on the street and this was revenge. Aya didn't have a clue.

The mostly naked senshi spoke up, looking for volunteers to go home. No one seemed to be putting themselves forward. Aya stood. "I'd suggest those with serious injuries be the first to leave. They need proper medical attention, and if there is another attack, at least they'll be gone and not suffer anything worse than they already have."

She shrugged. "If they're not up for it, I am," much as she feared this laid-back senshi would somehow botch the trip, "but they should have the first chance to say yes."

Darwin was slowly getting over his pity party, the large, logical part of his brain telling him that he needed to stay aware of his surroundings. Constant vigilance! What if another space whale snuck up on them? Or Deoxys? That didn’t negate one concern of his though.

“ Can anyone tell a dislocation from a break?” He asked aloud. Darwin was pretty sure his finger was broken, but he wasn’t sure about his thumb. Maybe it could be nudged into place?

Then he heard Neso’s offer. Darwin’s bravery was a fickle thing, and it had run for the hills after he’d been blown here by the space whale. He wanted to take up the partially-naked not-alien on his offer, but there were two problems:

1.) He didn’t know how seriously injured everyone else was.

2.) … he didn’t trust the not-alien.

“ Have you ‘zip-zapped’ others before?” Darwin asked Neso.

Roxy had been half listening to the conversations that had been fluttering about as she sat and waited for some sort of answer. Information for later use for sure, but also just to ease her growing irritation with the barely clothed sun looking senshi. Her offer was getting her no where and it seemed dismissed with a pat on her shoulder and a little quip.

As much as home did seem tempting, as she stated earlier and what most people seemed to be thinking, Roxy had to wonder if he could get them home. Seeing how aloof he was, was just not helping. Sure, he reminded her a little of Flannery - just a little - but the brunette she knew she could trust and it wasn't just the many years of knowing her.

"I'm still game with going, unless someone else needs it more," she wasn't that cold hearted and she had to agree with Aya on this - even though she couldn't think of why the woman thought her name was in anyway difficult to pronounce - serious injuries needed to go first. Even if she was bleeding more than she liked.

She took a moment to glance at Wallace, to make sure he was still alive.

Varya's arm hung limply at her side, caked in blood and whale goo. It hurt now too, now that the rush of being purple was gone. She listed rather quietly to everyone saying their names, and listened in horror when a dislocated shoulder was popped back in. Neso's offer, however, interested her more than anything. Var didn't necessarily trust everything that was going on, but she could appreciate his easy going attitude about things.

"My name is Varya." She stood as best as she could, wincing at the lacing pain that was moving through it. "I wouldn't mind a ride back, but I can wait for the second round if someone would be fine with bandaging up my arm. I don't want it to bleed for too long." She had had enough of space, whales, and pain for the time being. All she wanted was hot water, a doctor, and a couch. Or her bed, whichever was easiest.

She did move quietly over to the group after speaking, ending up next to Layton. "Was your brother at the crazy space whale fiasco?" Varya asked softly. It would be interesting to know where everyone else had gotten too... and if they were okay.

So many civilians, so many afraid! Neso couldn't blame them. He wasn't exactly the bravest man in the world. He might be giant in size, but he was a little boy inside. Roxy half-volunteered just then, and it was more than enough for the Senshi of Summer. "It's a triple date then!" he said brightly, crossing to gently grab each girl by the wrist.

"Hold on to me if it helps you be less scared. Don't worry! You'll hardly notice it," he said, grinning from ear to ear. That wasn't exactly true, but it was better to start shuttling the civilians out of there so that the Zodiacs could figure out what had just happened.

Neso smiled wider, just to show the girls how okay and awesome it was going to be. "I've heard it helps to close your eyes," he said. But without waiting, the senshi counted down, "3, 2, 1!" and zipped out of existence.

He did -- but Roxy and Aya didn't.

After thirty seconds, the Senshi of Summer popped back onto the rainbow pathway. He looked confused. "Apparently I'm rusty. How about round two?" The teleportation dance was repeated -- and again the two civilians did not budge. Neso returned after another thirty seconds looking even more confused. He made a few thinking noises and then began to pace around the group of civilians.

Without warning, Neso gently placed his hands on Varya's shoulder and then blipped out of existence again. But Varya didn't. He repeated this with Layton, Nathalia, and Darwin. Each time, a look of concentration would cross his face, Neso would disappear into thin air... but the civilians would remain. They felt nothing. Nothing at all.

When Neso returned from his attempt at transporting Darwin, he was flushed and seemed a little out of breath. It was no easy feat to do that back-to-back. "That's... odd," he said, his voice uncharacteristically dimmed. "In a kind of freaky Twilight-zone way -- even weirder than you guys being here at all. How funny." But it didn't sound funny. And Neso didn't seem entirely entertained.

In the distance, there were castles. Neso turned over his shoulder and then raised his voice to address the group. "Hey, guys! There is some weird space voodoo going on around here. For whatever reason, I... can't take you home. So! Looks like we've got some special guests with us here at the Surrounding for the next bit of time. It's a nice place out here, don't mind that monster whale situation, it's a fluke -- aha, a fluke! Get it? A fluke is part of a whale." Neso laughed. He was the only one.

With a smile and an enthusiastic hand wave, Neso cleverly avoided all questions and instead began to jog ahead of the group, leading them back to the castles clustered in the distance.

Aya wished she could say she was surprised, she really did. Unfortunately, Neso just didn't give people the impression that it was okay to relax because everything would be fine with him around - more the complete opposite. She supposed that going nowhere was better than winding up halfway through a star, or something.

"Small mercies," she reminded herself. There was a growl to her tone that hadn't been present the last time she'd muttered the little mantra to herself, though.

Considering that they were all stranded here, Aya didn't find Neso's jokes amusing. She was bleeding, aching, tired and pissed off, and very far from any semblance of 'normal'. So there was a scowl on her face as stared after the retreating Neso.

"Worst magical boy ever," she said to the girl beside her, Roxy. She held out the strip of fabric, then turned to present her injured bicep to the girl. "Thanks."

Roxy's request for more bandages had Aya narrowing her eyes. She bit off the habitual 'mine!' that hovered on her lips, turning it into a grimace instead. "This came off my clothes already." She gestured to the torn top she was wearing, ragged edge ending above her belly button instead of meeting the sleeping pants that rested at her waist. "Sorry, but I don't fancy ending up with a makeshift bra just because other people don't want to ruin their own clothes."

"Besides," she added, "now that we're heading somewhere inhabited, maybe there'll be bandages there." That didn't improve Aya's mood any. So now she'd possibly torn her shirt for nothing. Fantastic.