It was hunger that made their decision for them. There really wasn’t anything to eat around the cave, and Lina certainly didn’t intend to start living in the wild. Not when there were patients who would need help. She wouldn’t do anyone any good in the shape she was in, though. Making her way through the streets, Aspir stayed hidden while she made her way home. Once inside, she let her in the back door, still half convinced she was hallucinating. Perhaps she’d hit her head when the hospital had been falling down around her, or maybe she was dreaming and she’d wake up in a makeshift hospital bed of her own.<br/><br/>The first thing she did was take a quick shower, washing away the soot and dirt that covered her. Her clothing she’d been wearing was beyond salvation, so she’d chucked those in the garbage as soon as the door was closed. The shower helped clear her mind, at least, and it was a relief not to be constantly smelling smoke. She pulled on jeans, a t-shirt, and hiking boots when she was finished, hoping she was prepared for… Well, for whatever was happening. Going into the kitchen, it still took her a couple of minutes debating with herself whether she really was seeing an alien creature,<span style="font-style: italic">who spoke to her in her mind</span>, in the room.<br/><br/>“Are you hungry?” Lina asked when she gave up trying to figure it all out for the moment. If she was hungry, she needed food. If she was hallucinating, she still needed food. If this was all a weird dream, having dream food wouldn’t harm anything. At least, that’s what she told herself as she pulled out tofu and veggies for stir fry and got the rice cooker going.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">”I’ll have a little of what you’re making, if you have enough,”</span>Aspir answered, staying out of the way. It was just as well, Lina’s small kitchen wouldn’t easily accommodate the both of them in it. Soon they were both eating, and Lina listened to sirens outside, occasional exclamations of her neighbors, and wondered what she’d gotten herself into. She had just finished eating when there was a knock on her door, and it opened. Her head still spinning, she and Aspir didn’t resist as they were loaded into a truck and taken to the same military post others who had bonded with Fal’an had found themselves in, locked in a room, waiting to find out what was going on. If this was a hallucination, at least it was an interesting one, she thought.