[center][h1][b][color=gold]Lillianna Steiner[/color][/b][/h1][/center]

[quote=The Red Eyed Red-Eyed Man]
Rising again from where he was sitting at a normal speed to talk to Lillianna at eye level, Adam spoke sincerely to her. "You were so brave back there, taking the ninja on like that. And I'm so happy to see you're okay. Do you want some water again? …Or maybe a hug? Whatever you want."
[/quote]

She...she didn't know how to respond to that one really. Not that she knew how to frankly respond to any of this. Lillianna felt her tear ducts about to burst, and yet at the same time the red-eyed Druid's words ending on such an awkward note almost made her want to laugh-cry at the same time. Did that even make sense? Maybe. She appreciated the sentiment at the very least, the edges of her mouth ever so slightly curling up on either side in response to Adam's words. However, even then she still tried to hold herself in restraint, visibly so, her staff still clutched tightly in her hands and whitening knuckles. 

Her mouth still refused to form proper words, perhaps even a bit afraid to make physical contact at the moment, but in lieu of that she seemed to be- 

[quote=The Latest In Local News, As Brought To You By Mytheria's Newest "Anchor-man"]
[color=lightblue]"If we are going to have a group hug I want you all to know, my safeword is Chayanne, nothing worse than saying your dad's name in the middle of it"[/color]

He stood up from the wall he was resting on and rolled his shoulder, damn the anchor was heavy [color=lightblue]"Full seriousness though, nice to see you walking around Lily, I knew a cray- a genious wizard like you would't kick the bucket by something like that"[/color] A lie, he knew exactly how bad were her chances had they not found the hospital on time [color=lightblue]"So, let me get you up to speed, we are in Valhaim right now and we are waiting for Mac and Joji to join us to head to the Adventurer's Guild to get rid of the Cube of Doom, they are not here because they"[/color] The idea of laying briefly crossed his mind but he dismissed it, she would learn about it sooner or later, better take the bandage off now when they were safe [color=lightblue]"...They went to give a proper burial to Clive, he and Arthur didn't make it"[/color]
[/quote]

[center][color=gold][i]'CRACK'[/i][/color][/center]

...Ah. Her vision would turn to James as the other man spoke, seeminmgly scrambling for words himself in the heat of the moment. As much as he was trying to distract her and perhaps the others for a moment, it was not hard to tell that much, the news he gave did cause the corners of the mage's mouth to turn back down once more. She'd been afraid that-...so it was just Arthur and Clive, then? She'd had a guess in her mind at seeing the anchor strapped to the cleric's back, but hadn't had a way to know for sure really. Not until someone told her something, really, and it wasn't that she wasn't glad for that. 

No, she was glad someone had told her. She could feel the cracks in her facade beginning to grow at it all, her attempt at self-restraint wavering even closer to the point of no return, and yet at the same time she felt grateful for at least knowing. The pecuiliar farmer and the odd other man, both gone to the dangers of a new world and the violence they had managed to survive back there. Somehow. And yet here they were in the aftermath. Survivors, still alive and living. 

Part of her felt somewhat...'guilty' about it all, really. Felt guilty about still being here when the other two were not, still holding onto her own second chance at life with a clinginess as tight as her hands were gripping her staff. Did she even deserve this? To still be around, and not having passed away into the pit of oblivion that had seemed like it was sitting just below her? It was seemingly chance and magic and the others who had managed to get her to what was seemingly on first glance a proper medical facility in this new world, like a vast swath of sheer dumb luck keeping her alive through this point. More importantly...

...was this how her Uncle or others might be feeling back home? Even if just a bit? 

Here she was feeling sorrow over the deaths of others who had fought alongside her, but family was certainly a bond that was far deeper than even that. She'd learned that much from her Uncle, perhaps for the first time in a long time at that. The one who who had shown her nothing short of unconditional love from day one of meeting him and living at his home, all without the fuss and education and mess thrown into the mix like before. 

A couple more tears would run down her face, then, even as the last two living members of the group entered the hospital. 

[quote=Now The Current Acting President of the Lillianna Waterworks Board][color=pink]"H-"[/color], but when she saw Lillianna, her words caught in her throat.  She was alive and perfectly well - finally some goodness in all this mess!  Marching forward, her eyes alight with joy, she squeezed past everyone else and threw her arms around the white-haired wizard. [color=pink]"Lillianna, thank god you're okay."[/color]

Death comes in threes, she'd heard her grandmother say before.  Not today.  She let go of Lillianna, only to take the wizard's face in her hands, smile and then hug her again. [color=pink]"Don't scare us like that again, okay?"[/color][/quote]

And then the Frenchwoman threw her arms around her, regardless of her posture or stance, seemingly on first instinct and without hesitation. 

[center][color=gold][i]'CRACK'

'CRUNCH'

'WHOOSH'[/i][/color][/center]

Thse all were not sounds that anyone could hear, in the room or otherwise, but within herself the mage could hear and feel them. The final blow to the mental dam in her mind had been made. It was like pulling the trigger of a firearm to start a race, even, or opening the gates of a flooded city long left abandoned and mired in the deeps contained within its walls. Or...something. She couldn't think of it all right now. Or think in general now. Yet whatever the case was, the tidal wave that had been contained for so long had finally been loosed in its entierty by this one action.

MacKensie thought she'd get the chance to step back, but this ultimately would not be the case. Instead the white-haired Lillianna instinctively threw her arms back around the other woman and pulled her in tight in turn. No more thinking. No more pondering. Just burying her face in MacKensie's left shoulder and holding onto her tightly, as if either of them could disappear again, as she began to ugly sob as hard as she could into the warmth of another human being. The hot tears were pouring out like a deluge coming down upon the world, like a dammed river that had just been unleashed downstream, overwhelming everything else in its path and wiping it out of her thoughts and mind. It was nothing short of raw emotion, burning, searing, painfully hot and yet flowing freely from her without any more restraints or attempts to hold it back. 

Not this time. 

Lillianna cried, and she cried hard. Cried for a family that she had many fond memories of and still loved, but which had broken apart around her without being able to do anything about it as she'd been pushed to the limit and beyond along the way. Cried for a future long sought, even fought for, by her...only to be lost on the wind of change as it had all been cut off brutally yet simply at the head. Cried for someone who had become like her second family, even after it had all fallen apart and she'd been left sitting in the very basement of despair, offering her a hand and that stupid relaxed 'beach bum' smile he'd always had on his face. Cried for the pain of separation, from the fear of dying alone and being left sitting in the darkness by herself once again, for the fear of the others around her dying, for all the feelings of loneliness she'd tried to push back since her arrival, and for the lives lost so quickly and horribly in the little time they'd been stuck in thisd crazy and dangerous world they'd all been pulled into.

She'd even cry for the sake of crying, should it help in the end, but even so her heart couldn't help but let it all go like the disaster she felt like right now.   

Her staff even fell to the ground with a sudden and unceremonious 'clack' amid all of this, though with all else shut out in the heat of the moment the twin element mage didn't even so much as notice it.