Rich had taken the arena pretty well other than worrying like crazy about Sam after getting separated. Even with Vance and Nita, he'd worried but also trusted that they could look out for themselves, so mostly he was concerned with Sam making it because he was so young. In the end, though, Sam had come through, and Vance and Nita were alive. Nobody on the team had died, Arcade had been stopped, and dozens of innocents had been saved. He chalked that up as a win.
That meant he'd weathered things pretty well, mentally. Really, nothing could compare to the horrors of the Annihilation War, and for exactly that reason, the only part of this whole business that had gotten him twitchy and shaky was those damn giant bugs.
Because he was doing okay, that meant he was with it enough to keep an eye out for anyone that maybe wasn't, and Wash had "not-okay" all over his face. Rich was good at spotting not-okay. How many times had he pulled a soldier off a position of importance because he could tell they were suffering from shell shock and needed to be rotated out? More time than he could count.
Right now, though, it wasn't about strategy, now he could try to help someone else breathe because they deserved to. So he grabbed some of the stuff provided by the aid station, stuffed it in a pocket and went over to Wash.
"Hey, I checked in and everyone on the team's been accounted for. Some injuries, but nothing serious, especially with the med-tech on Legion World. A whole hell of a lot of the Harrubians were saved, too. Dozens, they said, and a lot of the ones that died were killed before we even showed up. We gave Arcade such a hard time that he focused most of the heat on us and it gave them better chances." He held out a bottle of water. "You look like you're about to vibrate out of your own skin. It's okay to take a minute and just breathe."
Rich wasn't in the best physical state himself, what with having one arm in a sling, a bloodied face, and a few long nasty cuts on his torso and legs scabbing up, but otherwise, he was visibly pretty relaxed.
no subject
That meant he'd weathered things pretty well, mentally. Really, nothing could compare to the horrors of the Annihilation War, and for exactly that reason, the only part of this whole business that had gotten him twitchy and shaky was those damn giant bugs.
Because he was doing okay, that meant he was with it enough to keep an eye out for anyone that maybe wasn't, and Wash had "not-okay" all over his face. Rich was good at spotting not-okay. How many times had he pulled a soldier off a position of importance because he could tell they were suffering from shell shock and needed to be rotated out? More time than he could count.
Right now, though, it wasn't about strategy, now he could try to help someone else breathe because they deserved to. So he grabbed some of the stuff provided by the aid station, stuffed it in a pocket and went over to Wash.
"Hey, I checked in and everyone on the team's been accounted for. Some injuries, but nothing serious, especially with the med-tech on Legion World. A whole hell of a lot of the Harrubians were saved, too. Dozens, they said, and a lot of the ones that died were killed before we even showed up. We gave Arcade such a hard time that he focused most of the heat on us and it gave them better chances." He held out a bottle of water. "You look like you're about to vibrate out of your own skin. It's okay to take a minute and just breathe."
Rich wasn't in the best physical state himself, what with having one arm in a sling, a bloodied face, and a few long nasty cuts on his torso and legs scabbing up, but otherwise, he was visibly pretty relaxed.