[color=e0faac][center][h2]Hollyhock[/h2][hr][/center][sup][@Obscene Symphony][/sup][/color]

Being led was a strange feeling. Usually, Hollyhock was the one leading around Jannick. When she stumbled, Jannick would pull her so the two of them could continue to run without missing a step. If her life were a romance novel, this would be the moment where she would say that she could only hear her heartbeat as she gazed into Jannick's eyes.

However, that was not her life. Her heart was beating strong, but it was from a mixture of sprinting and fear instead of infatuation. She could very much hear the bullets fired around her; they were hard to miss. The only thing her eyes gazed at was the exit--not that she could gaze at Jannick's eyes through his helmet anyways.

From ballroom to train, the two ran without stopping. She boarded alongside Jannick without so much as a huff or disappearance. It was uncharacteristic, but expected.

Hollyhock didn't even think about counting the number of people in the train. She wasn't prepared to deal with that thought. She just looked at the ground of the train. Flecks of blood covered the bottom of her dress. The hand that had grasped Jannick's had rusty streaks of dried blood that went from palm to sleeve.

On the other hand, Jannick was coated from the brief moment that Hollyhock had left him. Splashes of blood painted his white and gold armour. It was hard for her to notice in the limited light of the torn up ballroom. Though, she still would have grabbed his hand even if she did see it. The blood had made him look like a bowling pin. Or perhaps a life buoy would have been a better comparison.

She didn't say anything about it to Jannick. Not a single one of her snarky quips. She just stared back down at the floor and tried to not think. It was easier that way. Riding in silence was enough.

When they had finally arrived, Hollyhock didn't have much to say. She followed the group as they were lead to the castle. Every so often, Hollyhock had a wayward glance at a window. The beauty was nice, but she wasn't very trusting of them for now. Crossing the barrier, at the very least, returned some semblance of safety to her.

She listened to what Duchess Bachmeier said. Her lack of injuries made most of her speech not apply. 

[color=e0faac]"I need to wash up,"[/color] she mutedly told Jannick. Her first words since running with Jannick were expected. Nobody would want to enter a snuggery with blood on them.

She approached a servant and asked to be lead to her room. It wasn't quite small talk as they were walking, but she was speaking with the servant about the location of her room. She paused in the middle of the hallway to look back at Jannick. A slight smile came to her face before she pointed at the roof while asking the servant a question. As the servant turned away from her, Hollyhock had immediately begun to sprint away to her assigned quarters.