Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sudden explosion of students made Riyo's eyes widen in surprise. At first she'd thought they had all died painful deaths, but the realization that they didn't phase in like she had struck out that assumption.

So...What had happened?

Seeing Hel approach was both a relief and a reminder of the deep shame she felt for having left them at such a crucial time. The feline tried not to show it, but her demeanor seemed... Much less aggressive than usual.

"Yeah. I'm alright." She agreed, but it didn't really sound like she agreed. There was no way Riyo was about to admit her feelings of inadequacy to Hel. No way in... Hel.

Shoving her hands in her pockets, the ghoul pushed up to her feet, trying to act as if they'd simply left her behind momentarily instead of what really happened. Oh, and look. Shun was there too. Perfect. "Yes. Thank you for noticing." The demon then turned back to Hel. "Did you manage to free Lizzy and Lattice?"

Team Awesome

Hel was about to respond to Shun and Riyo, until the grief the kelpie and Professor Patches seemed to be feeling caught her attention. The reaper paused, staring over at the two. Why…were they upset? Everyone was making it back slowly but surely, right? The ghoul glanced around, now fidgeting as they were still down two team members…the team members she would worry about the most if their group got split up.

Jack damn it.

“…Ah…yes…but…uh…” Hel kept looking around, trying to spot a cowboil and a lycan. “…I’ll tell more in a moment friend just…” Her brows furrowed, and she was quickly growing anxious. Speaking of Lizzy and Lattice…they should appear soon too…right? Hopefully?

((entering from the tent))
Team ARPK
The frost demon could feel the ground beneath her and for a while she lay there, savouring her freedom.

Who was that woman?

Get up, get up, the voice in her head called. That's right, did Lizzy, Lattice and Vieve make it too? Pushing herself to her feet, the ghoul would find herself outside the haunted house.....along with many other students. Were they all involved in that battle? Edel wasn't sure if she could ever thank all of them enough.

Moure she suddenly remembered. She had caught a brief glimpse of the patchwork boil at the tent – was he here with the rest too? There was a knot in her stomach as she began her search – what if they had gotten him? What if they had gotten the others?

There was a short reprieve from her anxiety as she found the patchwork boil standing right in front of her again. For a moment, Edel simply looked at Moure, unable to say anything.

“You're here.....” she managed, though her voice was small. “Thank Jack.”

Trira

Christof had fallen quiet after a while, sitting close with Calder as he joined him on the stoop, gingerly leaning against his shoulder as he stared at the Mark on his hand.

The wheels were turning, and slowly, his expression had slackened from anguish to quiet thought. Digestion. Rationalization of the situation. Inside, he was screaming, ripping, tearing, smashing, all those pretty... *human* parts, there was no doubt what they were now.

What Master Fell would give to get his talons on human parts... it was impossible in Halloween, though. But if they were all here now, together... maybe there was a way.

Just... chop them up into small, manageable, customizable pieces. The image of it behind his eyelids as he closed his eyes to take a slow, clenching breath seemed to calm him more than even his remaining friend's comfort.

Slowly, he pulled his notebook from his pocket, shuffling as though sleep walking, writing as he approached his other Team Mates and their cluster of friends, holding it out for any of them to read once he got close enough.

Need to find Parts.
Pertinent. Anything you have
that might be useful.
Master Barth would have
wanted it this way.

His expression was unreadable, lax and aimed mostly at the ground as he waited for anyone to offer something up. Underneath the glazed look, though, was curling, bottled fire.

Team: Scarlet Sabbath

Moure was still looking around, searching the crowd of returning students with his bright blue eyes, trying to find the halo of blue hair that would signal to him that Edel was here. Safe.

Then, his eyes caught the deep blue of her hair, and the patchwork immediately looked to her, looking her over to convince himself that she was here. She was safe. Edel was safe.

"Edel." His expression of worry began to melt, breaking into relief as he quickly made his way over to meet the Ice Demoness. He met her there in between, looking her over again, trying to see if she was hurt from her captivity among those false-hunters.

At her soft words, Moure gave a deep, thankful nod. Then, he did something he wasn't even expecting he would do. The Runner reached out and embraced Edel in a hug. She had been his first friend he'd made after he'd escaped from Cphira's home, the first person he'd shared his interest in Scario Kart with. She'd been the first to make him feel welcome at the school, even if all those things had only happened during the Open House. They still mattered to Moure.

Then, Moure let go and stepped back, not knowing how the blue-haired ghoul would react to his hug. Still, his expression was one of relief, the anxiety that had built during his attempted rescue of her finally breaking. His voice was quiet, though just as thankful as hers had been. "You too...you're alive..." Moure said, letting the worry he'd held for her safety slowly disperse, his face taking up a slight smile, too wound up by the events that had just passed to do anything more joyous than that. He was happy enough though with that. Edel was safe, here. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Moure began, then paused, slowly finishing with another trailing statement, "I was so worried..."

Freya's eyes widened when she read the note, stopping just before she'd finished it.

"Stops that." She flickered her gaze sternly up to Christof, scolding him. "Stops talkings as if Barth is.. is.. anythings but okay. He's in there, we're out here, and we goes and gets him back. None of this 'what he would have wanted' poops. Yeh asks him what he wants when we gets in there."

She hadn't given up on Lattice, and neither was she about to just give up on Barth. Her lower lip jutted out in determination. "We has to heals up and finds him. Okays. So where are the bandaids?" She held out her puncture riddled arm.

Team ARPK
The ghoul trembled a little as she looked into Moure's blue eyes, in many ways they spoke the same things as hers. She struggled to hold back the compulsion to hug him, to reach out for him. Personal boundaries-

- who cares. Her eyes widened as she felt the patchwork boil pull her into an embrace, stunned. The shock quickly wore off and the frost demon was returning the hug, still shaking slightly. That's right, Moure was the first person to have welcomed her into a world so unfamiliar to her. The boil had done nothing else but shower her with his warm, warm kindness every time. She hadn't forgotten their first meeting at the Open House either. He was her fondest memory.

Even as they broke apart, the ghoul continued to hold onto his hands, glad that he was here for her. The trauma from her capture would probably come back to haunt her later, but for now it simply ebbed away, it didn't matter to her for now.

To Moure's questions, the ghoul simply nodded and shook her head, while looking downwards. There was a rush of warmth to her face, yes the ghoul was blushing a little. She couldn't find the words to say anything else in return, but to Moure's last words she squeezed his hands and looked up to give him a smile. That should say enough.