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Tomoko was having a sensory overload. She wasn't sure who to hug onto first and start crying, or what else to do. She was just... OH SWEET UNDERWORLD, EVERYBODY WAS ALIVE. Even if the girl was still shaken, she made a point to latch onto whoever was closest to her in as death-grip-surprising-for-such-a-delicate-girl and start bawling again.

"YOU'RE ALIIVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ;A:"

((PACH IS LATE. SHUT UP.))

Tsetsiliya stumbled through the portal as she had done before entering the cove, this time nearly tripping over a small kitsune demon who was currently clinging to someone and sobbing her eyes out. The poludnica blinked dazedly and raised her head to properly scan the crowd. Her eyes widened as she took in the whole of everything.

So many faces. Her heart swelled at the sight of her peers, both at familiar faces and those not so near to her heart. So many happy reunions, tears, laughter, hugs.

It was real. They were here. They were together.

She closed her eyes and soaked it all in. They were safe, thank Jack, they were all together again. For the time being, she kept to the back of the crowd and all of her previously muted emotions rushed out. She let it come, welcomed it, even - and tear after tear slid down her cheeks. It wasn't the frightened bawling she had done earlier in the cornfields, complete with running nose and short breath, but rather.. this felt different.

She was not one to cry, but she was just so terribly relieved. An idle hand reached up to wipe some of the moisture from her eyes but she could not fight the small smile on her lips. A moment to compose and push away any lingering lonelinesses, then to pick through the throng of students to move on towards her dormitory. There would be time aplenty to catch up, but she still needed to get herself together.

So, Mac didn't find Charlie.

But what he did find was that he was suddenly in the death grip of a really small, fluffy looking girl with several tails...and she seemed to be crying. A lot. He wasn't sure what to respond to; the fact he was being touched by a stranger, the fact that this stranger was probably some sort of demon, or the fact that this probably-demon stranger looked remarkably breakable. Oh, the dilemma!

"...Uhh...Yeah...?" He said awkwardly, weaseling an arm out of her grasp (augh why do Halloween girls all have super strength wtj she looks so weak aaaa) to pat her head with a rather methodic tap tap tap. "You are too?" It was more of a baffled observation than an actual question.

"Where are your friends? Wouldn't you rather be bothe---errrr hugging them?" Okay, he was torn; she was cute, she was upset, and she just wasn't letting him go. Hopefully she wouldn't bite or anything, and to appease her he kept patting her head...which slowly turned into patting her hair instead.

He just couldn't help it.

That really pathetic look cut through him even faster than those blades in the cave. Abfilgabugiafubgalijbgwra TRICKY DEMON She was probably an angler. A really, really cute lure with the intent on snacking on his innards.

But damn the lure was adorable and believable and BLOODY JACKIN' MARY~

"ALRIGHT, CALM DOWN!" He hollered, louder than he intended. Sputtering a bit, Mac ruffled his hat in lieu of his hair with his free hand, looking around. He was going to regret this, he was so going to regret this. So Badly. Just. Aaaaa.

"Look, I lost some friends too." He was much quieter this time, and he had stopped patting her hair. "C'mon, lets go look for them, just calm the jack down." It was a very important, stressed point...especially if she was going to insist on clinging to him for much longer.

"You can walk, right?" He hoped she could. He was still pretty sure he was going to regret this soon. Really soon.

Yeah, he's rather be back on that island right now. That place was better than feeling like he kicked a puppy little kitsune. That wall of 'HATE DEMONS FOREVER' he'd built up was getting smashed to smithereens with this little one. It was already breaking thanks to Charlie and Lizzy, but, damnit.

"I'm sorry!" He gasped out, the first time he'd ever really apologized for his behaviour. "Just...augh. I'm sorry!" 'Justpleasestoplookingatmelikethat', he added mentally. A rather distinct whine of displeasure emitted from him when she grabbed his hand, fighting every single reflex he had to shake her off of him before bolting entirely.

Demonhanddemonhanddemonhanddemonhandaaaaaa

He managed to stay there, but his whole body was stiff as a board. He was a statue, an unhappily uncomfortable statue.

"H-hey! Wouldn't you like a piggyback instead?! Yes, I'm sure you would." Mac started to babble nervously, moving to get on his knees. "You'll be much taller that way and can see your friends better so c'mon how about you let go and get on my back instead that's a much better idea!" Nervous? Mac? Nooooo.

The lump stirred, lifting his miserable head up to blink at his Master hopefully, but... oh... oh no... he had not been paying attention to the discussions milling about him, only snippits of "Fog" and "Hallucinations" and so on drifting past incomprehensibly.

But... but he had tried to kill Barth. That had not been an illusion. That had really happened. If it hadn't been for the demon's thick horns...

The hunchback gave a whine, looking utterly frantic, his face white as he wobbled to his feet. He... he had to get out of here. Riley was still swamped by people who had been worried about her. He needed air. he couldn't breath, and it wasn't because of his disconnected head. He had just been following orders- but they were orders he should have known not to follow. There had been no commanding burn in his chest when his Mistress had instructed him...

But the flames that had engulfed him at the time had felt so real... horrifyingly, depressingly real.

He was going to vomit.

Barth was suddenly glad he hadn't gone the same way as Riley. He didn't connect Christof's expression with guilt.

"I don't think I tried to kill anyone." It was unfair, really, that his own psyche placed him squarely in the role of victim. Going on some sort of spree had never even occurred to him. Sprees, he suspected, involved a lot of walking. "...Err, I did give a Reaper a few good whacks. The Reapers were real, weren't they? I mean, they weren't anyone we knew?"

Comfort, found in the close knit embrace of her two companions, brought her enough sense to worry about those close to her who she hadn't seen yet. Her head snapped up, one eyebrow cocked as she came to think of it.

Have either of you seen Christof? She mused aloud, letting the two go so she could turn her head and look around. In the jumble of students, she couldn't find the patchwork anywhere. She tried looking for Barth as well, but saw nothing of him. I think I'm going to go look for him. I'd hate to think what that place has done to him. She turned back to the two, leaning up to bury her head in Jericho's neck while hugging him. She let him go, and both of her arms wrapped around Malodore to pull it closer. You should probably come too, if he's distressed he'd feel better seeing you. She whispered to her plague doctor, and bumped her face gently against his beak before letting him go. She would leave the decision to follow up to it, however - in case Malodore decided otherwise for it's own reasons.

Wandering through the crowd, she spotted several more familiar faces - and gave out several more unnatural, and yet completely necessary hugs. Still, she hadn't seen Christof and those around him settled in the corner behind her. It didn't matter, she could feel his mind even now.

Christof? Where are you? She emitted carefully.