diff --git a/tractor/_actor.py b/tractor/_actor.py
index 9416260..e85b16b 100644
--- a/tractor/_actor.py
+++ b/tractor/_actor.py
@@ -682,29 +682,30 @@ class Actor:
                                 await pdb_complete.wait()
 
                             # we immediately start the runtime machinery shutdown
-                            await _invoke(self, cid, chan, func, kwargs, is_rpc=False)
+                            with trio.CancelScope(shield=True):
+                                # self.cancel() was called so kill this msg loop
+                                # and break out into ``_async_main()``
+                                log.cancel(
+                                    f"Actor {self.uid} was remotely cancelled; "
+                                    "waiting on cancellation completion..")
+                                await _invoke(self, cid, chan, func, kwargs, is_rpc=False)
+                                # await self._cancel_complete.wait()
 
-                            # self.cancel() was called so kill this msg loop
-                            # and break out into ``_async_main()``
-                            log.cancel(
-                                f"Actor {self.uid} was remotely cancelled; "
-                                "waiting on cancellation completion..")
-                            await self._cancel_complete.wait()
                             loop_cs.cancel()
                             break
 
-                        elif funcname == '_cancel_task':
-
-                            # XXX: a special case is made here for
-                            # remote calls since we don't want the
-                            # remote actor have to know which channel
-                            # the task is associated with and we can't
-                            # pass non-primitive types between actors.
-                            # This means you can use:
-                            #    Portal.run('self', '_cancel_task, cid=did)
-                            # without passing the `chan` arg.
-                            kwargs['chan'] = chan
+                        if funcname == '_cancel_task':
 
+                            # we immediately start the runtime machinery shutdown
+                            with trio.CancelScope(shield=True):
+                                # self.cancel() was called so kill this msg loop
+                                # and break out into ``_async_main()``
+                                kwargs['chan'] = chan
+                                log.cancel(
+                                    f"Actor {self.uid} was remotely cancelled; "
+                                    "waiting on cancellation completion..")
+                                await _invoke(self, cid, chan, func, kwargs, is_rpc=False)
+                                continue
                     else:
                         # complain to client about restricted modules
                         try:
@@ -995,7 +996,7 @@ class Actor:
             raise
 
         finally:
-            log.info("Root nursery complete")
+            log.info("Runtime nursery complete")
 
             # tear down all lifetime contexts if not in guest mode
             # XXX: should this just be in the entrypoint?
@@ -1094,7 +1095,7 @@ class Actor:
         self._service_n.start_soon(self.cancel)
 
     async def cancel(self) -> bool:
-        """Cancel this actor.
+        """Cancel this actor's runtime.
 
         The "deterministic" teardown sequence in order is:
             - cancel all ongoing rpc tasks by cancel scope
@@ -1187,18 +1188,20 @@ class Actor:
         registered for each.
         """
         tasks = self._rpc_tasks
-        log.cancel(f"Cancelling all {len(tasks)} rpc tasks:\n{tasks} ")
-        for (chan, cid) in tasks.copy():
-            if only_chan is not None:
-                if only_chan != chan:
-                    continue
+        if tasks:
+            log.cancel(f"Cancelling all {len(tasks)} rpc tasks:\n{tasks} ")
+            for (chan, cid), (scope, func, is_complete) in tasks.copy().items():
+                if only_chan is not None:
+                    if only_chan != chan:
+                        continue
 
-            # TODO: this should really done in a nursery batch
-            await self._cancel_task(cid, chan)
+                # TODO: this should really done in a nursery batch
+                if func != self._cancel_task:
+                    await self._cancel_task(cid, chan)
 
-        log.cancel(
-            f"Waiting for remaining rpc tasks to complete {tasks}")
-        await self._ongoing_rpc_tasks.wait()
+            log.cancel(
+                f"Waiting for remaining rpc tasks to complete {tasks}")
+            await self._ongoing_rpc_tasks.wait()
 
     def cancel_server(self) -> None:
         """Cancel the internal channel server nursery thereby