"He didn't say it at all, just acted like he had no idea why I was glad he was alive, and flinched away from me." Dinah sat down on one of the brick walls running around the park, and put her head in her hands. "I just, and he's so angry, Priestly, I kept saying the wrong thing and he just kept getting more disgusted and I yelled at him and he wants to go back into a war zone and it's like he forgot me, almost."

And as understanding as she was of why that was? It still really, really hurt.

"No. God, no." Jak would yell back and get even angrier, and he still probably wouldn't get why she was upset. Priestly didn't need to get in the middle of that. "I just had to tell somebody, I feel like maybe I'm the crazy person here, because I don't get why he's being like this. I thought he'd be happy to be back, at least. But he's not. He's really not."

Dinah gulped a giggle, and said, "Why? Was he part of a conspiracy?"

"Oh, maaaan... But at least you reacted fast?" Dinah said hopefully. "And did the guy get hurt?"

"You never know," Dinah said, even if there were no zombies in Priestly's world, or hers. "I mean, the last time that happened... yeesh."

"Yeah. Severe change of venue, hunh?" Dinah tilted her head, waving away a cloud of smoke that sent sparkles across her vision. "Did your mom ease up on the hair thing yet?"

"How's Trucker and Jenn?" It helped, thinking of other things. Happy things.

"Awwwww. You got her IM ID and email, right? I'd like to tell her how you're doing too." Especially if anything weird happened in the coming semester.

"Cool. Are you going to be back in Fandom on Saturday?" New kids, Priestly, Tony, plans with Jill-who'd-be-Jack; why couldn't it be the weekend already? Why did she have to distract herself from all this bewildering change in the Big Apple?

"Awesome. I think some of us are going into Times Square tomorrow night, for the big ball dropping." Dinah took a breath, and shook her head. "And running around with people tomorrow. Seeing everything." Ignoring anything else.

Dinah got up to pace a little, restlessly, then sighed. "Yeah, no. I'll... deal. For now. I may call you freaking out tomorrow, but. I don't want to run away from this, you know?" Well, she kind of did. But she had her pride. Even if she didn't have a boyfriend any more.

Owwwwww.

"I'm thinking that being hammered might be the way to go," Dinah admitted. "Since I have no other good ideas. I might call so you can hear the crowds roar, early." She smiled, then sighed. "Thanks, Priestly. I should go... Fiona's waving, we're gonna get coffee."