[text/action]

[bashfulshifter]

[It's too quiet.]

[Rick's been wandering the Tower since Thursday, trying to help whoever he can with their shadows, checking up on them every few hours when he can catch his breath. But after yesterday, he's lost track of nearly all of them...and earlier today, he watched yet another die. After making a full circuit of all the safer floors and the stairwell, he's only now beginning to realize that perhaps Sertoria's death was just a continuation on a pattern that he's somehow missed.]

[It's evening, now, and around him the Tower has become eerily silent. Rick's staggered his way to the top floor dorms; his collar is almost as clear as it was Wednesday. He knows that the network hasn't been working well, but he's so alone, so terrified that he's failed all the people that he's tried so hard to help, and this is the only other way he can think of to try and contact them. The message he sends is short...]

Is anyone still up and around? There's so few people left...if you're still alive, I'm on the first floor of the dorms. We should stick together. Don't let the shadows win this.

[...but the message that comes out is glitched, nearly unreadable in spots. Rick paces between terminals, reloading his post to see if the problem fixes itself--and then, appropriately enough, he gives one of the computers a solid, frustrated kick, and collapses on the opposite side of the hall.]

[It's doubtful that anyone will be lucky or persistent enough to decipher Rick's message. If they do, though, he'll be curled up by the wall where he left himself. A shadow rubs his back.]

[You tried, honey...but you can't save everyone, you know. I told you it wasn't worth the effort and you just didn't listen...]

Comments

[bashfulshifter]

[Predictably, Rick continues to worry. Perhaps thankfully for Ion, the mention of a some kind of follower proves a suitable distraction.]

Ah...who? [He's never mentioned a "Guardian" before...is that some kind of bodyguard? Suddenly Rick remembers an encounter from earlier that week: ]

...A-Anise?

[fonlines]

[ He's briefly surprised by the mention of a name, but it quickly clears in favor of a bright expression. ] Oh, so you know her! I didn't know you two were acquainted.

Well, that makes things easier. Yes, Anise is one of my Fon Master Guardians. [ Even if she wasn't the one he was talking about, though he was alluding to her. ] She also seems to take her job quite seriously, so with all these shadows about, well...

But I'm sure she wouldn't mind me doing this, for now.

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick nods slowly and pauses to think. He comes back more worried than before.]

...Is sh--she...o-okay?

[fonlines]

She was fine the last I saw of her. [ He looks slightly thoughtful, for a moment. ] Granted, they've been troubling her, too... but she's been well enough despite them, I think.

Really, it's not your place for you to have to worry so much. At least, you should take care of yourself first so you don't worry others.

[bashfulshifter]

I...I h-hope s-so.

[He sighs and settles deeper into the floor, but he's calmed down quite a lot. Ion's calm reasoning, as...strangely distant as it was at the moment, really did wonders for Rick's state of mind.]

...Y-You're r-right. [He chuckles lightly.] A-And y-you'll have to t-tell me a-a-another f-five times b-b-before it s-sinks in...

[fonlines]

I'm sure she's fine. [ His sigh is a long-suffering one, but he's still smiling. ] Very well, if you insist.

You should take care of yourself first. It'll worry others if you don't. Even if it wouldn't, you couldn't very well worry about others if you're not [ alive ] well enough to do so. And again, it's not your place to have to worry about us.

[ Then he pauses, and chuckles a little, bringing a hand to his mouth. ] I'm sorry, that was only four, wasn't it?

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick wheezes--it's obvious from his squinted eyes and grin that it's intended to be the precursor to a laugh, but he doesn't seem to have the energy to fuel it that far.]

...I think...th--that w-will w-w-work.