The worst thing Luka could do with an unexpected activation of his powers was make some peculiar display of shadow shapes over the wall, ranging from what was available, lamps and the like, to actual fantastical constructions, creatures and arrangements that had no place in the realms of reality. It was really the most extreme thing he could do with his power without using it as a veil to hide himself and others, and lately, he wasn’t very fond of that range. It could do nothing truly helpful, and it certainly wasn’t useful in a dangerous situation. His own shadow had a life of its own, he had little to no control over that he had come to realise, but the other things he could do were next to useless, and over the years, that hadn’t bothered him. Now it was starting to. Luka wasn’t exactly reassured by that cynicism, someone who attempted to be as optimistic as possible on any given day, but after what had happened, he couldn’t help but doubt his place at the school, especially with his track record when it came to fighting and accidentally landing himself in the line of fire.

Unlike Vea, Luka’s mind wasn’t really forming much in the way of coherent thoughts, as if now that the shock of the nightmare and ensuing attack had passed -- his hands were still shaking somewhat, but at least it had ebbed out of most of the rest of his body now -- it was slipping back into a kind of catatonic, groggy state. Her sudden appearance was enough to startle him out of that distant, empty reverie; his shadow reacted first, fairly flailing as if that would help the situation somehow, and then he realised something had changed out of the corner of his field of vision and he couldn’t help but start slightly, rattling the bottles in the door again with the reflexive tightening of his grip. If Vea was embarrassed about being seen in her current condition, she didn’t have anything to worry about; Luka was just as ruffled in the hair department, and if anything, it was a member of the faculty who ought to be ashamed to be seen wandering around fresh out of bed. “Oh, no, go ahead,” he managed to say after a few moments just gripping the door with white-knuckled tightness. “I don’t know what I want anyway.” With that, he let go of the fridge and moved away, lightly bumping into one of the stools before he perched himself on it gently.