[hr][center][sub][color=cecece]Present - Morning[/color] [color=734e66]◈[/color] [color=cecece]Marth Oldfox[/color] [color=734e66]◈[/color] [color=cecece]The Docks (The Collapse Site)[/color] [color=734e66]◈[/color] [color=cecece]Marth[@Memoria], Joanie[@Natty] (Mentioned)[/color][/sub][/center][hr][table][row][/row][row][cell][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5661930][img]https://i.postimg.cc/jj6wNr82/Marthclearskin-tuxpi.jpg[/img][/url][color=2e2c2c]▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇[/color][/cell][cell][quote] [color=8d8e8f] Emile Oldfox drove with both hands on the wheel. And not once did he question Marth's certainty. He only drove. That was how Marth knew his father was frightened. Ordinarily, Emile filled silence the way painters filled a canvas, with his own color of language. He'd make small observations, with some passing remark about clouds or brickwork or the tragic emotional life of bad signage. But now the truck moved through Calder City with no music on, no commentary, and none of the gentle, somewhat aimless nonsense his father was known for. Only the trucks old engine, the wet road hissing beneath the tires, and Marth in the passenger seat with fingers pressed to his temples and the small strained sound of him breathing through his nose. Eyes shut. Whenever Marth opened his mind, the city became too loud. But not outside. From within. Every mind they passed brushed against him in fragments. And beneath it all... Joanie. Or at least, what remained of her mind's telempathic signal. Marth listened to the thin thread tugging somewhere under his ribs. They drove deeper toward the Docks, where the first psychic ache had pointed him. Marth reached again, carefully, trying not to tear through the city's noise and take half of Calder into himself with it. [h3][i][color=DEE5F7]~ⱼₒₐₙᵢₑ~[/color][/i][/h3] His thought went out softly. [h3][i][color=DEE5F7]~Cₐₙ yₒᵤ ₕₑₐᵣ ₘₑ?~[/color][/i][/h3] For half a breath, he felt her. Then the thread went cold. Marth’s eyes opened. Émile looked over. [color=silver]“What?”[/color] [color=DEE5F7][b]“I lost her.”[/b][/color] His father’s hands tightened on the wheel. [color=silver]“Lost her how?”[/color] [color=DEE5F7][b]“I don’t know.”[/b][/color] Marth swallowed. [color=DEE5F7][b]“It was there. She was there. Now it’s faint. Like something moved between us.”[/b][/color] He hated the helplessness in his own voice. He hated that his gift, which could make a stranger’s private sorrow feel like thunder, could suddenly leave him with nothing but a direction and dread. Marth did not know how else to say it. Joanie’s pain had been a lighthouse when it struck him at the Gables. Now it was a thread under dark water. Then they saw the collapse. A street near the old route had folded in on itself. Dust hung low over wet pavement. Emergency lights strobed red and white against broken concrete. Police tape held back a crowd of witnesses who stood pale and stunned in the morning chill. Firefighters moved through the wreckage with careful urgency, their radios crackling like insects. Emile pulled over, but Marth did not get out. The place was loud with too many sounds and too many thoughts. Marth opened too far and the collapse poured into him, mind's replaying the fragments of the moment again and again in broken, distorted loops. [h3][i][color=silver]~ᵣᵤₙ. Gₑₜ Bₐcₖ. ₜₕₑᵣₑ wₑᵣₑ ₖᵢdₛ. Wₕₑᵣₑ dᵢd ₛₕₑ gₒ? Dᵢd ₐₙyₒₙₑ ₛₑₑ ₕᵢₘ? ₙₒₜ ₘₒᵥᵢₙg. ₙₒₜ ₘₒᵥᵢₙg.~[/color][/i][/h3] He searched for the shape of her mind in the chaos. He had hoped at least. But he knew, from the fear in her psychic voice, that she was not here anymore. Just the private little songs of the living remained. Marth closed his eyes and tried again to reach out to her, forcing himself narrower. [h3][i][color=DEE5F7]~ⱼₒₐₙᵢₑ~[/color][/i][/h3] Not the woman crying at the bus stop. [h3][i][color=DEE5F7]~ⱼₒₐₙᵢₑ~[/color][/i][/h3] Not the paramedic thinking of blood on concrete. [h3][i][color=DEE5F7]~ⱼₒₐₙᵢₑ~[/color][/i][/h3] Not the man praying under his breath. [h3][i][color=DEE5F7]~ⱼₒₐₙᵢₑ~[/color][/i][/h3] For a moment, he whispered to his father, eyes still shut. [color=DEE5F7][b]"She's not here."[/b][/color] That was all Emile needed to hear. He put the truck back into traffic and they circled the Docks some more. [/color][/quote][/cell][/row][/table]