Ascot saw Tristan tensing in fear, and he walked over to place his hand on the man's shoulder. "It'll be okay," he said with surprising strength, "we just don't have to do as she says when it is something obviously dangerous. In fact, we can actually flee; it's not as if she can stop us, considering the fact that she would have forced us here if she wanted to. Anyway, my name is William Ascot; what is yours'?"  

Tristan felt like one of those people who hurt deep inside, with a haunting past. One of those people you needed to stay away from while at the same time wanted to hug. Ascot liked him already. Not that it stopped him from noticing Saffron's presence; he was a regular at Johnny's, after all. Withdrawing his hand and going over to the other young man, Ascot gave his most winning smile, then continued:

"Hey, Saffron. Nice to meet you outside of work. You look hungry and tired; I wish we'd brought something to eat while going here - my sister is with me, although I don't think her bag has any food. And, well, if what the Ghost Girl says about Iriss is true; we'll have to do more hard work foraging." He sounded ridiculous. But...True Reason accepts everything that exists, even if it cannot explain it. "Anyway, whether she's right or not, I think we should run off. Yes, I think we should run off, back to safety." 

He then faced the Ghost Girl, "Sorry, but we are leaving. If you could have stopped us before, you would have done so by now. We are also not listening to your wiles; but we may keep the masks you gave us." Ascot dangled the mask he had been given. "We are not going to play your games, Ghost Girl."

"Zoe," Ascot turned to her, "let's go, and perhaps drag away those who are least willing to leave." A look at Koda. 

"Hey, sciency guy!" He tried to be as brash as he could, "stop asking questions; we need to evacuate this place!" Then a turn to Michael, Kate, Smokey, and the rest.

"We are in a subway, and whether she is real or not, the Ghost Girl - or mass hysteria for the more skeptical - has led us here. This is also the middle of the night and the most dangerous time for people. So I think we should go back to our homes, and do whatever we want with the masks," He braced himself for opposition. "I, for one, am not going to die or be stuck for what could be multiple days somewhere else." [I]People will just laugh at me, or greet my words with skepticism because I am so young. I should not expect a vote of confidence, to be followed.[/i]

More bracing for opposition. More expectations of having to fight so that people can see what was so self-evident. More moments of guilt and self-loathing for when he [i]did[/i] get something wrong. It had happened before. He trembled.

Ascot looked at Zoe, knew she would always support him within reason. But he didn't want a crutch. He braced himself again; the lack of support was coming in 3...2...1...

[@Daft Monarch][@Redward][@MechonRaptor]