Room 324, Sunday Evening

[vanillajello]

Kate felt weird. As if she... was supposed to feel kind of dizzy, but everything was completely clear instead. With a vague buzzing, somewhere in the background. It was probably shock.

She was just going to run with it, for as long as it lasted. Then collapse. Maybe cry. She wasn't thinking about any of that right now. Someone else was her priority.

And that someone was Bod, who'd been using her as a walking aid on their way up from the lobby.

"So, what do you need?" she asked when they'd made it to her room.

[ooc: For the poor, poor boyfriend.]

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[vanillajello]

There was no fight in her voice, no anger, no bite. Her face was near emotionless, though. It had to be.

"Well, would you consider people and buildings disappearing and monsters taking their place while the whole island seems to be on the verge of collapsing difficult?"

[therewaslife]

"Yes," he said, stopping his movements and looking down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

[vanillajello]

Normally, she would've chided him for apologizing for something like that. Now, she didn't feel like doing that. Couldn't muster up the energy to explain anything and still keep from crying.

So she moved closer to him instead, getting close enough to hold onto him again, lean against him, and just generally know he was really there.

She wasn't going to ask where he'd been, or what had burned him, or why he smelled like ashes. Not right now, anyway. But she wasn't going to blame him for asking her.

[therewaslife]

Bod wasn't going to object to getting held, not after everything. It seemed to calm him down, temporarily bat away the images in his head. He held onto that and his breath hitched a little.

"I'm probably getting you dirty," he said just because he wanted to say something.

[vanillajello]

"I don't care," she replied, her face half pressed against his neck. "We're taking a shower in a moment anyway."

[therewaslife]

"All right," he said and stopped protesting or talking about things that didn't really matter. He leaned against her, keeping his weight off his leg and just stayed like that.

[vanillajello]

One of her hands traced slow circles against his back, like he'd done to her many times before, while the other curled into his shirt.

"I missed you."

She'd said it before, but she didn't care. She was going to keep saying it for as many times as she felt like saying it.

[therewaslife]

"I missed you too," he said thickly, keeping a shaky hold on his emotions now. "I'm really glad you're all right. I really am."

If he'd come back to her injured, he might still be in the lobby, crying like a child.

[vanillajello]

Her arms tightened around him for a moment, and she didn't say anything. Couldn't say anything. She could hear how his voice sounded, and had to fight to keep hers from sounding the same.

So she was silent for a minute, just clinging. And changed the subject once she did talk.

"Now how about that shower, huh?"

[therewaslife]

He nodded quickly, trying to get a better control of his emotions while she was talking to him. "Yes, please. I need one. Badly."

[vanillajello]

"I know," Kate breathed, letting go of him and stepping back. She went over to her desk and rummaged around one of the drawers before she found a crumpled up plastic bag.

"Pretty sure all our clothes are going straight to trash."

[therewaslife]

"That's probably for the best," he agreed, reaching for the hem of his ruined shirt and trying to pull it over his head. He'd gotten cut up and bruised pretty much all over so this wasn't as easy a thing as usual.

He didn't want to see these clothes again.

[vanillajello]

Kate would probably be tempted to burn all of them, actually. A violent end to some violent mementos.

But right now she set the bag all opened up on the desk, and pulled off her own shirt. There was a bruise on the back of one of her shoulders, and some minor, almost healed cuts along her arms, but nothing big.

"Need help?" she asked after she'd stuffed the shirt in the bag, but she was already moving closer.

[therewaslife]

"Yes," he said, not even bothering to deny it. He really didn't have the energy to hide things right now. "Please."

[vanillajello]

She took a hold of the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head as gently and carefully as she could.

While trying not too look too upset about how battered he looked. She was mostly successful at that.

[therewaslife]

"Thank you," he said, rubbing at some errant ash on his stomach and arms. It fell harmlessly to the floor in front of him. "I don't even know if dressing better would have helped me."

Still, wearing pajamas hadn't done him any favors. His poor feet were just a mess so he wasn't even looking down there.

[vanillajello]

"Well, it's not like you could've known," she said quietly, looking down and busying herself first with stuffing his shirt in the bag and then getting started on getting her jeans open and off her.

Her slightly bloody jeans that had been her second favorite pair before Friday happened. Ugh.

[therewaslife]

"I know," he said, shrugging a shoulder and reaching for the waist of his own pants. They were easy to push down, though he had to slow down around the bandages around his knee.

"I suppose I should be grateful I didn't fall asleep in less," he added, still trying to slide his pants off around his knee.

[vanillajello]

"Yeah. You could've been naked. I bet that would've been awkward."

It was a tired attempt at a joke. At least she thought it was an attempt at a joke. She didn't even know how to sound like herself right now.

Though really, she was concentrating more on wriggling her way out of her jeans, anyway. Stupid fucking skinny jeans.

[therewaslife]

"And unfortunate," he said, finally stepping out of his pants and using the tattered remains of the material to blot at the blood that had dried on his feet.

[vanillajello]

"Yeah, that too," she replied, glancing at him and his feet before shaking her head and concentrating on herself again. She shucked her jeans the rest of the way off and rolled them up.

Then those, too, joined the other pieces of clothing in the bag.

[therewaslife]

Bod stood up slowly, rolling his pants up and offering them to her so they could join the other garments. They'd managed to get their clothes off, at least. It hadn't taken that long even.

[vanillajello]

Well, she still had her underwear on, but that wouldn't take long to get off.

They would have to wait, though, because after disposing of his pants, she went to her dresser to dig up some towels for them to use.

She felt like she should've kept talking, but she was tired. And somehow it was enough to know he was there.

[therewaslife]

Bod didn't mind the lack of talking though he found himself rubbing his eyes. That turned into keeping his hand over his eyes while his mind whirred, providing him with a rewind of what he'd seen. He breathed a little harshly.

He knew he was back on the island, back in Kate's room but it was going to take time to get things out of his mind.

[vanillajello]

Kate had started the day unsure about... everything, really. So she could understand the need to adjust and take time. It had been a nightmarish few days for everyone, and sadly, she knew how the aftermath of something like that worked.

And the shock hadn't even really hit her yet.

She set the towels down on her bed while she took off the last of her clothes, then picked them up again once she was done.