[Round 3, Rest Day] And They Said: Let There Be No Light.

[utopiamods]

Characters: ALL
Format: ANY
This log is: OPEN
Location: ALL OF CAMPUS
Summary: In a flash of lightning and the deafening roll of thunder, the power goes out across Utopia Academy.

It's early in the morning when it happens, about six o'clock. The clouds were gathering gradually through the night, the rain only getting heavier from the near-constant downpour during the previous week. Lightning crackles across the sky, the water around the academy is violent and the waves are high. And in a particularly loud clap of thunder, what lights were still on go out and the academy is plunged into darkness.

Comments

[tenwholeryou]

The rain didn't wake Kotarou up, nor did Huashi's early awakening. What did it was a particularly loud thunderclap, which had the boy bolting upright and reaching for Tobimaru. When his sleep-hazed mind caught up with where he was, he flopped back onto the nest of blankets and rolled over to grab onto Huashi... and she wasn't in her blankets.

"Huashi?" He called, flinching as another lightning bolt illuminated the hideout. "Huashi, where are you?"

[monkeystail]

The rolling thunder didn't drown out Kotarou's wavering call, and the monkey girl shook her head and went back inside, taking off the wet shirt and pulling a blanket off from the pile to dry herself somewhat, and then she dived back into the warm nest.

"Right here, Kotarou. Are you okay?" Her smile was dimmer than usual, and she still feels like (continuing to) crying, but she swallows it back. Kotarou didn't need to see that.

Then, suddenly, she reached out and snagged Kotarou to herself, hugging him firecly.

It wasn't the same.

Kotarou, when he hugged back (if he would, he was so cutely huffy about things like this), wouldn't be nearly strong enough to even simulate what she was looking for. And while he smelled of dirt and little-boy scent, he didn't smell of lightning and air, of rain and black, rich earth.

He did not smell like her father.

[tenwholeryou]

Normally Kotarou would have resisted the hug, but with the thunder and rain he wanted nothing more than to curl up with his dog. His dog who wasn't here, who was somewhere he couldn't get back to, with Nanashi. They'd look after each other until he could get back to them... but that didn't help him. He gripped the blanket so it bunched across Huashi's back, thinking fiercely of warm campfires and laughter and... he wished he could remember riding their horse. He wished...

"I want to go home," he muttered, angry at the tears that were welling up in his eyes, angry at the people who'd brought him here and wouldn't let him leave. Huashi was his friend, but she probably missed her home too. She understood. "I miss them."

[monkeystail]

"Uh-huh," her reply was muffled in Kotarou's hair, and she did totally not sniffle. She was old enough to not cry when Kotarou, who was younger, needed comfort.

She totally was.

"They're stupid! They should take people who want to be here... I want to go home too." She doesn't whine, managed to not whine. She could be strong.