Waiting to Die

*Tirea flushes the toilet and goes to wash her hands, staring at the floor the entire time. After she finishes, she follows Lilith out the door*
===
*Eve nods and puts her card away, then grabs her purchases and heads back over to the others*

<Let's get out of here before someone else starts bleeding.>

S"Well, Schreiber, you're the one who knows most about this. Where do you think would be the best place to discuss this?"

Schreiber<Somewhere relatively private, where we can't be easily heard or seen.>

S"I agree."

Th"But what if the Shadow shows up?"

Schreiber<That shouldn't be a problem.>

*She pats her coat, near her waist.*

"I don't want to be too far away from people," Astarte said. "If I haven't made it clear enough, I don't trust you."

Eve:<We could go back to the hotel rooms or somewhere on campus.>

S"You trust Ira more?"

L"We could always take down the bugs."

S"We could miss one, or Ira could already be planning to meet us."

*Eve looks behind her for a moment before turning back to the others*

<Let's continue this conversation outside.>

"Yeah."

S"Yes, let's."

V"That's what we've BEEN saying. Way to finally catch up, retards."

*Senthose, Vanessa, & Schreiber file out of the store. Lilith & Thiera start to follow, but look back.*

L"Hey, Roatha, we're leaving! Hurry up! ...Okay, I can hear him shuffling out, he should catch up eventually."

*She grabs Thiera's wrist & follows the others out.*

*Eve and Tirea follow Lilith and Thiera out, Eve casting glances behind her as she walks*

Eve:<We need to get Tirea and Azuma some clothes.>

Astarte waited in the open doorway and looked back into the store, waiting for Roatha to come out.

L"Yeah, that'd prob'ly be a good idea."

*As promised, Roatha is shuffling out from around the aisle. He's really fucking slow & the doors start to close.*

L"Hurry up!"

*He jogs towards them, but falls on his face once he gets into the parking lot.*

"Was he this pathetic before?" Astarte asked offhandedly, walking around him at a wide berth.

Eve:<Was he not like this when you ran into him before?>

*Lilith grabs his arm to pull him to his feet.*

Th"He's...been through a lot."

L"So have the rest of us. Some of us didn't make it."

*Thiera frowns & stares at her feet. Senthose shoves his hands into the pocket of his hoody. Vanessa crosses her arms & kicks a pebble or something.*

S"In any case, you need to try to keep up. Right now, you know the most out of any of us. We need your help."

V"Whatever, not like we can get rid of him."

"So where are we going first?" Astarte asked nobody in particular.

Eve:<Well, Senthose, do you think we could get clothes for these two in the same place you got your clothes from?>

S"Possible, but it's relatively far away & fairly conspicuous. There are more traditional clothing stores just downtown. I should buy some hair dye and maybe a pair of glasses for myself."

L"I can get those for you."

V"This is a waste of time, no wonder you idiots never get anything done if you just spend all day shopping!"

Astarte shushed Vanessa with a 'shh' and a middle finger pressed to her lips.

Eve:<Alright, however we'll need to keep Azuma and Tirea out of plain sight until we get the clothes. Also...>

*She turns to look at Astarte, crossing her arms and glaring*

<That's not necessary.>

"Neither is she."

Azuma: "Because keeping a low profile is just what we're capable of doing."

V"Let's just get this stupid thing over with. If you're modest, you can hide in an alley, or something."

<Well, we're stuck together.>

*Eve heads off to the shopping center*

<Everyone's going to need to help, if they can. The phones were expensive.>

OOC: I'm just going to say that they arrived at the store without incident. Harley & Leafy can describe what Tirea & Azuma purchased on their own.

S"In there."

V"You want us to just crowd into an alley like we're a bunch of drug dealers?"

S"Nothing to hide there. It's time for everyone to spill their secrets, away from the crowd out here."

*He indicates the late afternoon traffic jam as office workers leave their day jobs & the local stores change shifts.*

S"Then we can plan our next move."

Astarte would wait for at least two of the others to go into the alley before following.