[right][img]https://i.imgur.com/LgbtnEJ.png[/img]
[sub][@Scribe of Thoth][@Achronum][/sub]
[/right]
The bandit attack, its aftermath, and the slow ride became a jumbled chain of events in her head, one moment bleeding into the next to form one impossibly long day. After the behemoth of a man fell and they were certain the village was finally safe, Imogen had spent the remaining time in Luin running about what was left of the town, helping where she could. There were fires to put out and crying children to console and reunite with their parents. There were injured villagers that needed help getting to Kai or Clary and so much debris to clean up. There were people to bury. So many things to do, so little time. Imogen didn't stop milling about until they had to leave the next morning.

Sleep had been a stranger to her since, but not because she had been haunted by the blood of their slain enemies or anything dramatic like that. In truth, Imogen barely gave it more than a passing thought—a detached "oh, I killed someone the other day" and then a reluctant acceptance of her sullied hands. Even she could understand that battles had casualties; Caius' stories had prepared her for that.

What kept her up at night was a restlessness that gnawed at her gut. A seed of awareness planted after witnessing the aftermath of a bandit attack first-hand, slowly sprouting into a relentless itch to [i]just! do! something![/i] It made her fingers drum impatiently upon tabletops and her legs bounce whenever she sat for too long. She could hardly pay attention in class—not that she was ever fully paid attention to them in the first place, but that was beside the point. In her daydreams, which came more frequently than usual, Imogen thought of other villages in need of saving and how she wished she could help them all. What if those villages get attacked by a scary giant man, too? What if no one was there to stop the mages from exploding everyone in time? Even Caius, so far away from them, wrote to her about similar concerns.

Imogen paced about the classroom as she waited for Professor Mik, eager to find out what their after-class meeting was about. She hoped they would be given another mission, or really, just anything to do. More training sessions, maybe? Instead, the meeting turned out to be nothing more than a debriefing, where Professor Mik pointed out what worked well and what didn't during the bandit attack. Aubie and Jory and got their well-deserved praises and Imogen cheered for them—she already knew from the get-go that Jory was awesome, he was their Deer Boss, after all. But seeing Aubie on the field reshaped her image of him: from Mr. Holy Stick up his Butt to a kickass warrior with hilarious trash-talking skills.

Clary was basically a literal saint, Imogen thought, feeling proud by proxy. Deer power, yeah!

[color=ffb5c2]"Me too? Yay!"[/color] Imogen beamed upon getting recognition and reached out to give Kel a high-five for his assist. [color=ffb5c2]"Dogberry says we could have died in that explosion so I'm glad we didn't."[/color]

The news of Rai-Rai and the (not?) twins leaving would have hit Imogen harder if it wasn't for the surprise introduction of a Rudy ham Burger. Imogen did a double-take as the person in question made himself known, seemingly materializing out of nowhere. [color=ffb5c2]"Wow, how'd you do that? You were like a ghost!"[/color] Imogen blurted out. Then she realized that might have been rude, so she added, [color=ffb5c2]"Oh, and welcome to the team! Don't let Aubie intimidate you—he's actually pretty funny!"[/color]

As soon as they were dismissed, Clary approached her and Iz, asking to meet up later that day. Imogen, excitable as always, accepted for both of them. See that? Literal saint. It was like Clary knew she could use some company to stave off her restlessness. [color=ffb5c2]"We'd love to, right, Iz? See you in a bit!"[/color]

For now, Imogen ran off to the stables. She learned from Iz that it was a good place to volunteer her services, and she needed to feel useful right about now.