[They're fighting flabby mats of leaves that spit up clawed spores with devilishly hooked ends, belching thick greenish gas, and the cold blaze of words sheathed in iron keep clanging at the back of his skull, clamoring for his attention. Alex snarls something incomprehensible. Brian won't stop laughing. A high, discordant shrill of distortion shrieks, the background radiation of his uneven breath.]
[Jay buckles over with a patch of scarlet blossoming down his middle, arcing gracelessly with one hand outstretched in protest.]
[He doesn't shout their name, and he doesn't breathe in any deeper than he needs to.]
[He slips a little when he reaches their side, falling to one knee - but that works to his advantage, when he raises one hand, palm out, a foot or so away.]
barrels into
[Jay buckles over with a patch of scarlet blossoming down his middle, arcing gracelessly with one hand outstretched in protest.]
[He doesn't shout their name, and he doesn't breathe in any deeper than he needs to.]
[He slips a little when he reaches their side, falling to one knee - but that works to his advantage, when he raises one hand, palm out, a foot or so away.]
[Real.]