[hr][center] [img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLmJmYzRjNS5VbWwwWVNCV2IzSnZibUUsLjA,/divat.regular.png[/img] [img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLjkyM2Y2MC5VR1Z1Ym5rZ1RHRjNjMjl1LjA,/youth-and-beauty.regular.png[/img] [img]http://txt-dynamic.cdn.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLmY4YzE1OS5RbWxzYkhrZ1RHRjNjMjl1LjA,/playtime.regular.png[/img][/center] [code]St. Mercer Hospital - Hall[/code] [hr] Penny was thankful to be back in real clothes. They weren’t clean by any means, but the smell of stale cigarettes covered up any other foul odors. She had even found a half-crushed pack of the culprits in her jacket’s pocket, and considering the circumstances the “No Smoking” signs littering the hospital could go fuck themselves. She waited by the makeshift changing room for her brother. He was going to get an earful for abandoning them during the fight with the Glutton, plus a hug for making it through it, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing his dumbass could do to get out of it. “Hey,” said a quiet voice. Penny looked down from the smoke cloud she had been staring at to see Rita standing there in an old gray sweater with a pile of gowns in her hands.. “Oh hey,” said Penny. It was weird for Rita to be talking to her. The two of them didn’t really have much of a rapport, outside of the camp incident and the chest moment. There was a stillness in the air that forced Penny to continue, “What’s up?” Rita shuffled her feet and looked down. Penny sighed; she remembered now why the two of them didn’t have a close relationship. “Okay, look, I don’t know if this shrinking violet thing is a fucking bit or if you really have this much social anxiety, but if you need something just say it.” “Can we talk, later? Once we’re out of here?” asked Rita, still looking away. “We’re talking now,” said Penny. “Alone,” said Rita, her voice barely there. Penny sighed, “Sure. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time.” Rita muttered a thanks and then took off towards the lobby. Penny barely had time to consider the odd girl when Billy entered the hall where she was waiting, decked out in some god awful combo of cargo shorts and hooded sweatshirt. She launched herself at him. “Jesus, Penny, there are people around,” said Billy, squirming as his sister locked her arms around him. “Shut up you’re ruining it,” she said with her head pressed into his chest, the urge to yell at him gone. “Don’t run away next time. I know things are fucking scary and you’re absolutely useless in a fight, but don’t run. Not unless everyone’s running, too.” “Penny, come on, I—” “Promise me,” she said, “Promise me you won’t run away.” “Okay,” said Billy, his voice lowering, “I promise.” “Good,” said Penny as she pulled away. “Cause next time I’ll blast you with a bunch of quarters.” “Cool,” he said, as his sister headed back to join the group. “Cool, cool, cool…” [hr] [code]St. Mercer's Hospital - Lobby[/code] [center][sub] [@Ruler Inc][@MagratheanWhale][/sub][/center][hr] Rita had taken it upon herself to cover the dead with the discarded hospital gowns. There was still a lot of blood in the lobby, but at least they didn’t have to look at the fresh corpses anymore. She wiped her eyes and pulled down the sleeves of her sweater after the task to recover the sigil on her arm. By the time her task was complete most of the others had returned in their new old duds, and Rita found a nice wall to become a flower on. Billy sat on top of the receptionist’s desk, zero fucks given about the papers he had knocked to the floor, while Penny stood by the front door and watched the snowstorm outside. The God-Child had warned them that the Glutton was coming for them, and Penny doubted that one zealot with a pipe was all of its forces sent to descend upon the hospital while they were out of commission. She tried to use her abstraction to see any movement beyond the blinding snow, but was quickly overwhelmed when she saw every snowflake’s projected path of descent. She shut down her abstraction as fast and she could and picked up the dropped cigarette, rubbing the butt of it with her fingers as if it would clean it before she put it back in her mouth. If a few germs killed her then she’d be lucky, considering what happened to the rest of their group. “Well, here I am.” Penny felt her temper flare up in an instant as she looked back at the group and saw Britney take center stage. It was easy to blame her for everything. In reality, everything was way more complex than it seemed, but when Penny looked at Britney and thought,[i] this bitch is why everyone is dead[/i], it just felt right. She couldn’t help but smile when Jordan shouted Britney down, although her own desire to jump in on the beatdown was kept at bay when Britney agreed to spill her guts. She took another drag of her cigarette and held back. “...And was he right when he said that the world might be ending?” asked one of the new kids. “Well, man, even if it doesn’t end now, the Sun is eventually going to expand and swallow up the Earth anyway,” said Billy from his perch, ever unhelpful. “So don’t sweat it, dude.” Britney offered a more insightful explanation. "... And we will stop it," Justin optimistically said. "Screw that end of the world bullshit, I promise that [i]everyone[/i] here will live a happy life!" “We’ll fucking stop it, at least,” said Penny, holding back a rare laugh. She quickly swallowed it and glared at Britney, the smile on her face turning sour. “Let’s say I’m a fucking idiot that doesn’t learn from her mistakes and actually believes you. You’re saying the reason we have to deal with the fucking Glutton trying to destroy our little shithole town is because some assholes from a different universe decided to lock him up here, right? Maybe there is some way to send it back there, then—except no, fuck that. Clearly that didn’t solve shit!” Penny slammed her fist against the wall. The thought of other people pushing this off on them pissed her off, even if it was the way the world worked. Let the next generation deal with our problems; let the other universe fight our abominations. “How the fuck do we kill that thing?”