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

action;

[torrefied]

I will. Thank you.

[He nods again, chews lightly on his bottom lip for a moment while he thinks. He isn't good at this sort of thing, genuine emotion; he can connect with people, knows how to apply his social skills in the correct way toward a goal, but until fairly recently, it's always been superficial, a play at being human, leverage to use in getting what he wants.]

You were close with her too. [He's guessing, based on her reaction here and what he's gleaned of her previous interactions with Sharon on the network.] If you need ... someone to talk to. Someone who understands ...

[Well. He understands losing Sharon, at least.]

You know how to reach me.

action;

[closerift]

I do know.

[ She was close with Sharon, would consider the other woman her closest friend in Hadriel... before. Now, she and Mello are strangers, but two people who shared a painful loss. ]

... And I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.