Room 308, Thursday, Late Afternoon

[the_merriest]

Okay. It was all okay. She'd gotten a letter from Mel and she was keeping it with her, folded in her leg-pouch in case she needed to pull it out and stare at it and worry more. Which she seemed to do a lot

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[sarcasm_guy]

Sokka knocked on the door, hesitantly. "Hey, Rikku?" he asked quietly. There was a photocopy of something in his hand.

[the_merriest]

"Sokka," she said quickly, and a second later was giving him a rib-crushing hug. "We'll get her. We'll find her. I promise."

[sarcasm_guy]

Sokka nodded and hugged her back. "I know. We will. ALL of them. Even..." He glanced down at the paper he was holding, which was starting to get crumpled in his hand.

[the_merriest]

"Even ... ?" She pulled back, looking at him strangely, and then her eyes flickered down to the paper.

"Oh, no," she murmured, rubbing her forehead. "Who is it now? Who got grabbed?"

[sarcasm_guy]

"It's, uh..." Sokka shifted nervously. "It's nobody new. I mean, you know how people are all being sucked into the past and stuff? Like, the WAY past?" He bit his lip.

[the_merriest]

"... Sokka?" Rikku said. And there, the knot in her stomach was twisting itself around again. "I don't ..."

[sarcasm_guy]

Better to just SAY it, right? Just come out and say it?

He put a hand on her shoulder and took a deep breath. "I found a thing. In a book. About Deadpool's tombstone." His hand clenched, crumpling the paper more.

[the_merriest]

Her mouth opened, then closed. And opened, and closed again. Nothing was coming out.

"You can't," she said, shaking her head. "He didn't. He can't. You. You can't."

[sarcasm_guy]

Sokka cleared his throat and read from the crumpled paper. "'Like the Phoenix, but not the south, I shall rise again!' I didn't believe it was him until I read that." A bit unsure of what to do next, he offered her the paper.

[the_merriest]

She winced, as if he'd slapped her, and one hand cover her mouth. It. It couldn't be. It was. It couldn't be.

She squeezed her eyes shut pull it together Rikku she was not going to freak out she was okay she was.

[sarcasm_guy]

Sokka stood there awkwardly, not really sure how to deal with the situation. Cautiously, he reached out to give her a big hug.

[the_merriest]

She stood, dumbly, with his arms around her, mind whirling, and then pulled away sharply. "S-sorry," she managed. "I'm. I don't. I'm good. I. I have to."

Flailing more and biting her lip didn't count as finishing the sentence, dammit. But she couldn't, she couldn't stand here when her lungs were on fire and she couldn't breathe.

"I h-have to ..." She stepped past him, for the door, and then stopped, just as abruptly. "Mel. Letter. Did she? Did you? She's. She's okay and she ..."

[sarcasm_guy]

Sokka nodded, and his hand jumped to the letter in his pocket. "Yeah. I got one from her." He winced at her. "Do you -- are you -- do you need...?"

[the_merriest]

"I'm fine," she said quickly. Any appearance of tears welling up and trying to spill over was an optical freaking illusion, because Rikku was fine, dammit. "I'm g-good, I just, I need ..."

Waving. Vaguely. That direction. She was going to be in that direction, over there, doing important things.

[sarcasm_guy]

Sokka reached out vaguely towards her. "You need me, you come find me, okay?"

[the_merriest]

"Y-yeah," she nodded quickly. "Cable. He should ... someone ... can you? A-and ... and Yondaime, h-he ..."

Hamlet all over again. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.