The others were talking, assessing the situation and making plans, but Sloane scanned the various unwelcome faces for dull teal hair, bright blue eyes, and an easy smile. Instead, their owner found her, placing an arm over Sloane's shoulder. A simple gesture, but just like that the mounting despair clutching at Sloane's heart began to subside. She gave Judea an appreciative look, watching her rifle through her pockets and pouches. Level-headed, good-natured, and caring, she helped prop up those around her like a big sister, especially Sloane. Being the subject of Judea's responsibility rather than being the responsible one herself didn't feel good, instead sitting high on the infinite list of her failures, but being around Judea did. Patient, warm, and not blind to failure, but [i]understanding[/i] of it. No wonder the two went together.

With her partner found, albeit without pertinent alchemical mixtures, Sloane could refocus. An unknown island with no means of escape, for which their information was at the very least out of date, laden with curses capable of rendering people completely incapacitated and populated with what might as well be dolls. Judea lent her voice to those suggesting that the students find shelter, which sounded reasonable, and started to move the sheep. Sloane lent a hand, employing her strength to help the less-than-willing ewe along. While no brute like Kathy, she could definitely move things around. Speaking of which, the much-lighter-blue-haired girl was just now agreeing with Judea, adding the campsite as a potential destination. “Okay, let's go,” Sloane said, loud enough to get more eyes on her than she bargained for. The sudden attention made her skin crawl; she wasn't trying to grab Evan's coveted leadership position for herself or anything. She felt pressured to say something. “Um. The longer we stay out in the open, the more dangerous it is. Sure, we can fight, but as we can see with Opal here...” she patted the sheep on the head. “You get morphed, you're done.” Though her voice sounded pretty sure, Sloane was groaning on the inside. [i]What a stupid, obvious thing to say. Now everyone's going to think even worse of me.[/i] She ended up scowling, looking as if everyone else wasn't moving fast enough. “So let's. Go. To the campsite.”

Kathy's partner had a map, so it fell to him to lead the way.