[action]

[breatheinthefog]

*The past few nights, Kaoru has come stumbling home from the dungeon, fighting until she can barely walk. You might see bruises on her, although she wears long sleeves and long skirts even in summer, and you can definitely see her pushing herself to move throughout the day. Find her either at school, in the hotel, or wandering around the town to get groceries she doesn't know what to do with.*

Comments

Groceries, you say?

[buildthatwall]

Kaoru! [Oh that ain't good. Zia drops her own shopping to come over to her side]

[breatheinthefog]

*Kaoru looks over, holding a basket with far too much food crammed inside and not having much trouble with it...*

It's strangely heavy. I take much more time to heal here.

[buildthatwall]

What happened? Let me take that. Oh Kaoru, have you gotten those looked at?

[breatheinthefog]

*Kaoru blinks and hands off the groceries. Note that Kaoru is very strong.*

Shadows. I haven't. Why?

[buildthatwall]

[Oh. Oh yes. Kaoru is very strong. Zia staggers under the weight] Unf. You should! You look really hurt. You should make sure they're not too bad.

[breatheinthefog]

Put the food down if you can't carry it. *She blinks.* Why?

[buildthatwall]

No. You're hurt. You shouldn't aggravate it any more.

Kaoru, if you're hurt really bad, you could have to be in the hospital or... something worse might happen.

[breatheinthefog]

I don't want to go back there.

[buildthatwall]

I don't want you to have to go. So please, take it easy and have someone look at you.

[selene]

[ Usagi is at school as usual - even if she seems to be daydreaming to herself a little, as if she isn't fully there with her mind. After a few moments she manages to spot Kaoru though in the hallway and it's indeed not very difficult to notice something is up with her, so she's over in a few steps. ]

Hey..! What's wrong?

[breatheinthefog]

*She looks up, not caring to hide the bruises beyond what she's wearing.*

Everyone is asking me that. It was just Shadows.

[selene]

You should be more careful, you know. [ she frowns a little, a worried expression. ] Those things can be really dangerous. And it looks like they really hurt you..

[breatheinthefog]

I lived, so it's fine.

[selene]

It's not just about living or not, you know.. It's about feeling okay too.

[breatheinthefog]

I always go out and fight Shadows. The only difference has been in the past two weeks, and I've been doing the same things as always.

[selene]

But normally you never look this hurt, right..? At least I never noticed anything like that!

[breatheinthefog]

Everyone is gone.

[soulsborderline]

[Asuka, for her part, has been noticeably quiet during the Dark Hour. As in, completely absent. It's a mystery why she's even at school today, since she's been skipping as well.]

You're working hard.

[Can't get her sarcasm down, though.]

[breatheinthefog]

*Shrug.* I have a reason to. What are you doing?

[soulsborderline]

What, you suddenly decided everything wasn't pointless?

[No answer for you.]

[breatheinthefog]

I don't care what you think. I fight Shadows. So do you.

Normally, anyway.

[soulsborderline]

Why.

I mean, why do you fight Shadows. You think about this so much you've got to have an answer, right?

[breatheinthefog]

*Kaoru whirls on Asuka and punches the wall beside her. It cracks even as another bruise forms on her knuckles.*

Because they're here. They're an obstacle. They're a nuisance. They infest the only place that's given any of the captives of this island anything resembling clues. Clues that point toward the nature of the captors, whether we are here to oppose something attacking this world or just to be tortured until we watch it be destroyed, where everybody's gone the past two weeks--

*She stops cold, wide-eyed, and slowly draws back.*

[soulsborderline]

...

Did you just...care?

[breatheinthefog]

It should be pointless...

*She shakes herself out of her shock and glares.*

But it's not.