tenth. text. (and if you leave me, rest assured it would kill me.)

[torrefied]

[He's put off doing this notification as long as he can, hoping against hope that she'll turn up again, that her physical absence and alias's disappearance from the directory are mistakes, that there is another explanation waiting to be found. But it's been three long days, and no sign of her. She has friends, and they probably deserve to know, too.]

Sharon's gone.

[Yes, he's upset. No, he doesn't want to talk about it.]

I'm taking over maintenance of her emergency supply cache network, but I could use some help.

[Grieving? What grieving, there's work to be done.]

Comments

text

[torrefied]

[He knows there's a chance she could come back, but he doesn't want to allow himself to hope for it, because it's selfish and likely to end in disappointment. So he lies instead.]

I hope she doesn't come back. I hope she's free of this place.

text

[unknowable]

Was her home better?

[He's not sure. From what he's heard, it wasn't great, but then - neither is Hadriel.]

text

[torrefied]

No. But she probably has a better chance there than here.

text

[unknowable]

That's true for a lot of us. As dangerous as our homes might be, an invasion of murderous robots is something else entirely.

text

[torrefied]

Some might say it's better to fight the devils you know.

text

[unknowable]

At least in that case you have information to work with.

text

[torrefied]

Exactly. You can be better prepared, if you know what to expect.