XXI

[punsofiron]

[Liz-kitty found a good perch in a small tree on the nature deck, away from the traps. She knows everyone's still dealing with that whole thing, but there's something she needs to ask...she looks worried and maybe the slightest bit sad, unusually.]

Guys? Has anybody seen Linkara?

Comments

[salvagedlight]

[Ven is bittybitty which makes him difficult to catch in traps - he can hide in all those lovely nooks and crannies. But he wriggles out of the one he found on the rec deck to respond to this.]

Not lately - haven't you?

[punsofiron]

He's not in the room, or in the library or anything. I haven't seen him all day.

[wavesinherheart]

[Aqua's been avoided the traps by the simple expedient of hanging out in the pool, for the most part. It's harder to set up traps there, after all. That and paddling around just feels natural.]

Ah, I don't think I have.

[punsofiron]

[If a cat could frown...]

I was afraid of that.

[salvagedlight]

...Do you think... he's gone? [it's not nice to think about, let alone say. But he can't just let it sit.]</small.

[punsofiron]

I think he just might be, if nobody's seem him. It's a ship, there's only so many places he could be.

[optimistickey]

[Sora looks pretty worried.]

No, I haven't seen him for awhile...

[wavesinherheart]

I'm sorry I don't have any better news.

[punsofiron]

[Liz sighs, settling on her perch to curl up.]

I hope he'll be okay...

[punsofiron]

Why should you be sorry? If he's not here, then maybe he's gone home. He can go christen that spaceship of his, catch up on his comic books, say hello to Pollo for once...heck, maybe he can figure something out about that Entity.

[Her tone betrays a slight air of that not really making her feel any better about it, though.]

[optimistickey]

[He tries to offer her a smile.]

He'll be all right! He's really smart, and figure out all kinds of problems!

[punsofiron]

[And she tries to smile back]

Yeah...

[optimistickey]

[Yeah, he can tell that she's still pretty upset about this...]

And I'm sure you'll see him again soon!

[punsofiron]

I hope so.

[wavesinherheart]

Because you obviously miss him, of course.

[punsofiron]

[Yup. Got her there.]

Yeah...I guess after almost two years you get used to a guy, huh?

[wavesinherheart]

Yeah. You do.

[punsofiron]

[Sigh]

I just hope he'll be alright. It's not like he's the smartest guy around sometimes.

[wavesinherheart]

I'm sure he'll be fine.

[punsofiron]

[She tries to offer a small smile...a little more difficult as a cat but.]

[wavesinherheart]

[It's more than Aqua can manage at the moment, but she offers a nod in return.]

[milliondollarpipes]

[...oh no. He's already heading up, though he's still not very fast like this.] Not for a couple days now.

[punsofiron]

[Her ears flatten a little to hear that.]

[salvagedlight]

[Ven goes quiet, glancing around as if to look for predators. Then he scampers forward and disappears under the camera, which swings to try and catch him but then quickly shuts off.]

[A few minutes later Cam has deposited him in the Nature Deck and left to keep an eye on the entrance to make sure Pearl doesn't get any more traps set off there. Ven, meanwhile, starts sniffing around, finding a trace of cat-scent and starting to follow it to Liz's tree.]

[milliondollarpipes]

Hey, don't go anywhere.

[A few minutes later, he enters the Nature Deck and starts waddling towards the tree, craning his neck to look up at her and grumbling.] 'Least you can still freakin' walk...