"Unclear." / "I'm glad you are good." / "I'll be right back."
Well, none of that was powerfully encouraging, she thought as Nate made his exit. But everyone was rightfully on edge and cautious and worn thin. She probably looked like the embodiment of a bean bag that missed a target. She gave the dark-haired man a very small thumbs up of understanding, eyes still shut.
"Maimed you? Very own Whomping Willow? You sensed me? I'm going to check out the tree."
Oh was very lucky, sometimes, that he was so pretty, she thought of Eric as he meandered through her story with rhetorical reverb and obvious confusion. Then he left. "Okay," she confirmed with him verbally. Finally, a huge, deep, pressure-releasing sigh escaped her lungs and it caused her to cough a few times. Worth it.
"Eva, I love you too, I've been wanting to tell you for a long time."
The electrokine opened one eye. Her head rose very slowly. She opened both eyes and watched Piotr, their very dear family friend, as he grinned to show his pride and amusement. "You told me that when we were fifteen and it was less awkward than what just happened here." Her head fell back and she allowed Piotr to continue making contact with her leg, opting to enjoy the affection instead of rightfully shocking his cakey ass. "I'm glad Pup found you," pause, "and that you came," pause, "even though we said nasty things about your cleavage in that tank top." If he didn't want attention, he should have zipped all the way up.
Piotr squeezed her leg suddenly, but she knew it wasn't a playful interaction. Eva sat up immediately and scanned their surroundings visually and audibly. Her detective skills were not needed. There was a stunningly beautiful astral being suddenly looking down at her where she sat, only a foot away from its snout. She blinked, felt a moment of confusion, and when she didn't automatically celebrate its arrival, the bear lurched forward and knocked her onto her side with a push from the top of its head. Oooff! This was fine. Smol. Easy. Instinctively, she held her hand out towards Pete to signal for him to stand down. This was no attack. This was a piece of her she hadn't known was missing...
The bear advanced and Zap moved to right herself, and put her hand on the nose to halt its progression. She also used the connection she trusted to be corporeal to help get to her knees, then she stood and marveled down at the creature. "Hello again." The bear grunted, head raising as it made a gruff call of approval. Zap grinned and began to tear up. Her mouth fell open with a rush of emotion, lower lip quivering with relief but also sorrow. The bear leaned its head against her, and she would have fallen backward had she not grasped its ears. Eva bent forward and trusted her body to rest on the strength of the bear's neck and she embraced its head.
"You're bigger," she commented to her old friend, to which the bear replied with a series of sassy-sounding gurgling, and she grinned again and breathed in the sensations with relief. Her head turned amongst the nebulous fur and she focused on Piotr. "She's been trapped in there," her eyes were watery, but instead of a frown, she wore a smile of breathless gratitude, aimed toward her brothers and Nathaniel, wherever they'd wandered off to. She rose up after a few minutes and held her hand on her bear's head. Eva's sights were set on Pup. "You knew, didn't you?" she asked the wolf.