That's surprising!

...Also really cool. Kareen isn't sure why El is down here, but it's not surprising, with all the mana Kareen's been handing out and an affinity for Bad Shit, that she was able to. 

And the special effects are really really cool. If it were a stranger, back in Kareen's home dimension, who looked like that, Kareen would be nervous, but this is El. Kareen trusts her. 

El zaps something that was creeping up on her six. She takes a few steps closer into the fray.

El says:

"My father's name is Arjun Sharma. And he's not dead.

"He's downstairs."

"--Aadhya told you?"

Nod.

She kills a thing that looked like it was about to make itself annoying, then strides over to El and hugs her. 

"Once the project is done I can do him first."

El has to get rid of the lightning smart quick before she can be safely hugged and almost doesn't make it in time because it's such a weird thing to happen but then she is delightninged and hugs back.

She's so hot and Orion has no idea what her name is.

Kareen occasionally has to murmur a spell to fling something vaguely Orion-wards but she is not letting this interfere with Hug. She didn't take Two-Way Street or anything; her specific advantages at non-verbal communication are pretty minimal unless she's looking to actually just shove a chunk of information into someone's head. 

But she is doing her very best to communicate with this hug, I care about you. You are not alone. 

Orion can guard the hug in spite of having an entire other feeling that is not about slaying mals.

Kareen appreciates you, Orion! Despite having no idea about the feeling. 

That's probably enough hug. It's not like El's never been hugged in her entire life, just for the last two point five years.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm glad your affinity can be at least occasionally useful."

"Oh, this was dead stupid of me and I ought to've waited till morning. But I'll most likely make it back to my room all in one piece."

"You're probably right, but I have enough of a taste for the dramatic I can't help but appreciate how you did it instead."

"Cheers," snorts El. "Back a few paces before I do the Catatumbo again, all right?"

"Yeah, of course." She backs up some. "Need some more crystals?"

"Probably, I have not a clue how many I've gone through." She holds her pocket open.

Kareen dumps in as many crystals as will fit. 

"See you at breakfast."

And she chants the Catatumbo again and the lightning returns and she heads back up the stairs.

"What's her name," Orion stage-whispers urgently, beheading something in the background.

"El Higgins! Isn't she neat?"

"She's neat!!" Orion agrees.

"She's the one who gave me the original crystal I've been handing out mana in copies of." 

"Cool! Everybody seems really happy about those!"

"Yeah, it's really useful when you can't just yank mana out of a bunch of dead mals."