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Niamh sniffled, and clung to Aedus as everyone scrambled into the bunker. It was clear that they were still being pursued, even before Annabelle began screaming. Niamh shielded her eyes, and flinched at what was happening. It was hard to process. She limped toward the bunker, hoping beyond hope that no one beside Annabella had been caught outside. Surely Anabelle could defend herself?

Once inside the bunker, she slid to the ground, wimpering again. Her right shoe was gone, her stockings a bloody mess. She grimaced as she looked at her wound. It wasn't particularly deep, perhaps her now missing shoe had spared the worst of it. It still did look it needed attention.

She looked up at Aedus, big eyes liquid. "D-do you think you could figure out if there's someone who can ... look at this." She gestured to her foot, wrinkling her nose.

midnightglow18

Water! Chips! Lawven's mood considerably rose as she grabbed the bag and bottle. Her tail flicked across the ground, a pleased purr rumbling in her chest as she opened the crinkly bag of chips, "Uhm, sorry for not asking politely." Really? Who cared? But she guessed the Elf was right. Especially since the nice hallowed Chimera had given her chips and water! What a nice nightmare.

Taking a fistful of chips and shoving them into her mouth, Lawven chewed noisily, happy chirps rumbling out of her mouth (as well as some chips coming for the ride). "Are yew shick? Are you gonna puke? I did that wonsh." Swallowing, Lawven rubbed her sweatered arm across his face roughly, "Miss Annabelle was really nice! She read me a nice story and I felt better. I like her a lot." Lawven nodded as if confirming this fact with herself.

Well, with the food and water situation ended, she was free to leave, but... Stuff happened. Noises, moaning, and loud talking came from the door. Then, there were people again! The search party was back. Some of them got hurt, but the kid that had escaped was found. So that was good.

Lawven was only half listening to Ava as she silently munched away, but the snacking ended when Ava ended her announcement. What? Miss Annabelle was outside? With the hostiles? Hostiles were bad things, right? To be hostile was like, angry? Or kind of mean. And she couldn't get inside safely. What... What did any of that mean? Was she... She couldn't be gone, right? No. Lawven hated the idea of losing someone else. Losing more. Tears started to roll down her cheeks, and no matter how much she tried to clear them up, they kept coming back.

Boldly, the bakeneko approached Ava. Reaching up, she grabbed the teacher's skirt with her grubby hand and tugged. She was still crying, but through the tears she managed to ask, "Miss Ava? When is Miss Annabella coming back? I miss Miss Annabelle, Miss Ava. Is she okay?"


Nasaiki
bossy kitten has left! ty for your kind donation


jinxgirl5


Yushika
the wrekt-ening begins

Arabelle took the bottle of water with another "Thank you", but held onto it for a moment. Just the act of taking the bottle had tired her out. She heard the Bakeneko give thanks as well, then start noisily munching the bag of chips. The sound irritated her, for some reason, making her want to knock the bag away. She just couldn't muster the energy to move.

"I don't think so," she responded to the question (and hoping it was correct, she really didn't want to be sick right now), though she again had to throttle the irritation that came as the freshling spoke around a full mouth. Thankfully for her irritation the chips were gone quickly, the freshling also off to ask questions. Arabelle was only vaguely aware of things going on around her, unable to properly focus.

She looked down at the bottle in her hands. Perhaps a drink would steady her. She tried to open it, but her hands slipped around the cap. Again a wave of irritation. She wanted to just throw the bottle and curl up in a ball. It seemed these waves would come out of nowhere, then fade at the realization that she was too weak to do anything about them.

She looked up at the junior. "Sorry, I'm having trouble. Could you open this for me," she asked, offering up the bottle with an arm that trembled. She looked over at the milling crowd. They seem stirred up, but she still couldn't string her thoughts together properly. "What's going on?"

Somewhere safe to go. Lawven had never really worried about 'safety'. It was an abstract thought, a lot like time. Something that was there or it wasn't. Sometimes you were safe. Sometimes you had time. Sometimes you had neither. Miss Ava left her abruptly, rushing off, and Lawven was alone.

Again.

For a brief second she considered retreating, maybe curling up and getting some sleep, but being alone sounded wrong. She was so bone tired and lonely. Instead of returning to the group, Lawven padded after the headmistresses, her gait much more slow than the older demon's.

What she found was... Surprising. Miss Ava was standing in a corner, and there was... Some sort of crying sound? Was Miss Ava crying? Was it because of Miss Annabelle? They must have been good friends. Poor Miss Ava was so sad and alone too. Lawven approached the adult, waiting until she was about a step or two away, and then cleared her throat loudly.

"You know," the bakeneko's split tailed brushed across the ground, "If you hide in the corner it'll just make you look suspicious! Miss Annabelle taught me that. Shouldn't you know that too?"

Sitting down on the ground, Lawven stretched her legs out in front of her, "You don't gotta be lonely. I'll be here with you. Here, I'll tell you a story. It's one of the oldest ones I know! How the Bakeneko split its tail."

Vague memories came rushing back. She remember sitting on a plush bed in an oppresively warm room. Beside her was a woman, but not her mother. It was a caretaker, a maid. They were holding hands, and she was telling her the story. There were boxes everywhere, holding all of her things.

"Once upon a time there was only one Bakeneko. He was black and white all over. He was really lonely and so he decided to find a friend." Lawven glanced over, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at Ava, "You're listening, right? You better be! There will be a quiz at the end."

Yushika
smol cat wanders after like ???

Ruby slunk back into the bunker with the rest of the group, letting the nurse fret over her. Even though they were both here now, both relatively safe, Ruby felt like something was off. She felt nauseous, and she wasn't sure if it was from nerves, stress, or her injury. The survivors from the safehouses... she glanced at all of them, looking for some sign that they were okay. Honestly, they weren't looking so good. Some of them seemed to be acting, well, even worse than they had before they left to look for that kid. If only they had been more careful, if only, if only...

Ruby didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. Really scared. She looked at Chunli, her search partner, her friend, perhaps. Why shouldn't they be friends after what had just happened? "You okay?" she asked, a bit strained. The blood running down the Chimera's neck was ghastly. It needed to have pressure put on it, or, something. It didn't seem to have punctured anything vital because Chunli hadn't passed out from blood loss yet. Ruby, meanwhile, had lost a chunk of her own arm. At least it's not my good arm, she mused as the nurse wrapped a bandage around the wound, attempting with healing magic to staunch the bleeding.


Magician Arcana

They were almost there. Almost... just a little farther! Kingston didn't realize what had happened until they were all inside. Wait, Annabelle... Annabelle was! But the door was closed. His ears flopped back as he helped bring Coco inside. At least... at least they were all here. They were safe. Well, not everyone was here. Annabelle...

Kingston set Coco down. He looked at her, then Eilwen and back. Were they going to be ok? AH! And then Eilwen started crying? He didn't know what to do, and it was made worse by the fact that... That... was Vanna crying too? A soft whine escaped him. His friends needed... something, and he didn't know what. He stood before Eilwen before dropping to his knees and hugged her carefully. "Power of friendship... or something." What did it matter how they survived. The point was that they DID, and they all made it out together. He looked seriously at Eilwen. "Do you want me to call someone over to look at your shoulder?"

Then Kingston heard Vanna talk. He looked up at Vanna, then frowned and stood before punching him in the arm. "Don't you dare leave!" He snapped a little more harshly then he'd intended. "Now more then ever, we need you. We... need to stay together." Because honestly, things weren't over yet, they just didn't... feel like they were over. Something didn't sit well with Kingston, and he didn't know how to say it. Then, not caring about the blood on his friend, Kingston hugged Vanna.

Honey let out a groan, stumbling from wall to wall. They tried to get through the door to help the others, but it was clear that their wounds were too debilitating. Hearing the nurse ask for the wounded, Honey grinned at her. "Got bit, love, right on the... the thing, ya know... here..." Honey mumbled, indicating to the area between their neck and left shoulder. It was weird, though, when they thought about it. The wound in her right side still burnt like crazy, but the bite wound had almost gone totally numb. "I uh... I can't really feel it now, miss. That's a good thing, yeah?" Honey said half-heartedly, trying to pull their charismatic smile through the pain.

Seeing the party return, Honey waved dismissively. "It's... it's alright, right? Alright right, ha..." Their words were barely more than a mumble now as they sank to the floor. "Had enough of this day," they muttered irritably.

Aten and Raa had slipped inside just in time before the doors were sealed. Aten's heart was in a twist. Annabelle would return, or so she had promised. Aten didn't like that she was still out there one bit, but Annabelle was old enough to make her own decisions and likely knew what she was doing. It was hopefully for the best.

For now, the imp had other things he had to address. Like Ella in his arms, still unconscious.

Aten used his tail to gently move people out of the way as best as he could to find a comfortable spot with the other bitten children, settling her down in a makeshift bed that had been constructed out of layers of blankets. Aten shifted to cradle her head as he slowly lowered her, while Raa slipped his hands in deftly to bunch up some of the blankets as a pillow until he could find a more suitable one.

"Stay here with her. Keep your hands pressed to her wound. I'm going to find Ava and Yuki ... " Aten got to his feet, pressing a hand to his son's shoulder and giving it a small, reassuring squeeze before stepping away to speak with the headmistress.

Raa was left alone with Ella, one hand pressed firmly to her wound, and one hand gripping tightly on to her hand, as if he might never get the chance to hold it again.

"I'm so sorry, Ella ... "