Quinn couldn't help it: as soon as Dahlia turned her camera on, she pulled in a sudden breath through her teeth and her nascent giggle died. A smile stayed on her face, but it was a smile of both joy and of [i]concern.[/i] She'd seen Dahlia pushing herself too hard before. She'd seen it plenty. 

But it had never looked like [i]this.[/i] 

Her skin was pulled taut over her face. Her eyes were sunken and red; not bloodshot, but close. She hadn't washed her hair in how knew how long. And, unless Quinn was mistaken, the thing she was leaning back against was the side of a sim pod.

Well, at least Dahlia seemed aware of it. Soap and nap? Yes, absolutely, she needed soap and a nap desperately. But be that as it may, she needed more than that. Quinn knew that her sister was very good at reading here emotions, the way she always seemed to be able to see what she was thinking was proof enough of that. But, though it came into play only rarely, the opposite was also true. Quinn had seen Dahlia tearing herself apart enough times to know what it looked like when she was imploding into a spiral. Perhaps it had to do with Runa placing their entire survival squarely on her teenage shoulders from the time she was a child, Quinn didn't know. But she was obsessive--dangerously so--about always being ready to protect. And her arrival...[i]really[/i] hadn't helped that complex.

She let Dahlia finish, let her face become something like a smile than the grimace it so often seemed to look nowadays. Then, after a pregnant silence (or at least she felt like it was) she spoke again.

"[color=ffe63d]Deelie.[/color]" She hesitated a moment. "[color=ffe63d]Can I set you a rule?[/color]" 

A lack of immediate refusal was all she needed to push on, and as she did, her voice grew stronger, more certain. More forceful. "[color=ffe63d]Your new rule is, the longest you can sim is how long you slept. No more twelve hour days unless you get twelve hours of sleep. You can't keep doing this to yourself.[/color]" 

[i]"[color=ffe63d]Promise me. Right now.[/color]"[/i]