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 Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 9:21 am
Everything had been so busy, it was only when he finally found a moment to sit down, to breathe, that he realized there was something missing, a certain pain in his side that had disappeared without a trace, that in the midst of things he had forgot to even look for. Lucky's absence wasn't exactly unusual, as the Life hunter often tried to squirm out of Shiloh's dogged pursuit, but a job was a job and a lifeline was a lifeline, and normally Shiloh had clung to him as if he might vanish at any second. And now he had. Or at least, he was refusing to answer his cell and while Lucky wasn't into the whole babysitting idea, he'd always answered, if only to refuse whatever Shiloh was asking. One part of him worried for Lucky, after all, just because he didn't approve of the guy's behaviour didn't mean he wanted anything to happen to him. The other part worried for himself, wondering how the hell he would explain it to Caelius if it ever came up, and with the Circles kicking into a higher gear, the sudden disappearance of a rogue courier certainly would. He knew Lucky's room number by now, though it'd been quite a while since he'd visited, months even. One last check was given to his phone, in case any messages had popped up but it sat empty, unblinking and he pocketed before reaching up to knock on the door. "Lucky? Are you in there?"
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Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 8:47 pm
Taking care of Lucky was very hard work - which Robert maintained all on his own, for the most part. It was Mimsy who had been so insistent on keeping him here, to avoid having him podded, but her only contributions were hardly contributions at all. She did keep tabs on his vitals, which was something that was standard day-to-day before Wonderland, but all she did aside from this was talk to him and treat him like some bizarre mixture of a doll and a brother who was still conscious. It may not have been all together different from her typical attitude towards him, really. She was in the middle of this, busily keeping him updated about current events and projects, when someone knocked on the door and called his name. Startled, Mimsy froze, counted to the tenth digit of pi to calm herself, and tried to think. Ultimately, she resolved to just answer it, because refusing to do so would probably be more suspicious than not. "Oh! Hello, Shiloh," she greeted him, teetering back and forth on the heels of her feet as she tried to steady the door to prevent it from opening all the way. "I apologize, but Lucky is unavailable at the moment. He is still not feeling well. Is there a message that you would like for me to relay to him?" By that she meant 'tell him as soon as you are gone', rather than actually taking down the message for him to see when he woke up, because that was the sensible thing to do. Or she thought it was, at least.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 9:48 am
The length of time wasn't what surprised him, after all Lucky was never particularly keen on opening the door for Shiloh, with, of course, good reason. And really, seeing Mimsy's face fill the small space she allotted to open the door shouldn't have surprised him either, he'd heard about the fire, everyone had. He was surprised, anyway, but his expression brightened a bit. Mimsy was an enigma, and his thoughts on her were muddled at best, but she at least was more personable than her brother. Unfortunately, however, she was not Lucky, and Shiloh's message was rather sensitive, at least in the manner that he didn't want the entirety of Deus knowing about it and though interacting with Mimsy was a far more pleasant experience than with Lucky, it didn't make her any more trustworthy, at least not in these sorts of matters. He liked her well enough, just he knew how it was, things might get mentioned to significant others, and so on and so forth and then information got compromised. Mimsy didn't strike him as a person to be so careless, but love certainly had a way of breaking all the rules. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, still? Did he catch a bug? Poor guy... And ah, well, I could just come back later, do you think he will be up? I'm really sorry it's just that it's sort of an important thing so I'd really like to talk to him myself." He couldn't help but crane his neck a little, trying to peek past Mimsy. "Is he awake right now? If I could just let him know... I promise it'll only take a second!"
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 3:23 pm
"Yes, still," Mimsy replied, nodding her head with the same sort of fervent insistence that a child might have as they explained that mommy wasn't home. "Yes, you could say he caught a bug. A virus, theoretically. I have no definitive proof, and trust wholly in her judgment, and..." Surely Shiloh meant no harm. He seemed more interested in helping and happiness than hurting anyone, and she trusted him just enough to believe that he would not tell their superiors what she was doing. It was a tremendous risk, considering what was at stake here, but this was Shiloh. He was historically supportive of anyone who made her smile. She sighed, a long hiss of breath through clenched teeth, and stepped aside to open the door for him. With her eyes turned to Lucky, she leaned against the door again. "He will not wake up," she slowly began. "Not until ALICE says that it is all right for him to come home." Following her brief explanation (as bizarre and uninformative as it was), she smiled over at Shiloh, then nodded towards the man sleeping in his own bed. Not podded. Not safe. "You may still let him know! I speak with him frequently." Another nod, as she encouraged him to go on and say what he needed to. Lucky would listen, whether he wanted to or not.
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 11:24 am
Mimsy relented and not entirely to her detriment, after all Shiloh's intentions were good. He wouldn't have exactly called Lucky and his relationship friendship, it was an odd sort of camaraderie where he disliked Lucky but he needed him, and somehow that need had turned into a sort of familiarity, a begrudging partnership but one all the same. Or something like that, anyway. Shiloh wasn't keen on the semantics, focusing only that Lucky had been gone, and he'd needed to find him, for mission purposes, definitely not because he was worried. Mimsy moved, pushing the door aside and Shiloh was already talking, though his blabber was notably hushed, in case Lucky was sleeping. "A virus? That's not good, is it contagious? I didn't even think we could get sick being the way we are, he should go to the inf-" It was a thought cut off first by the sight of a slumbering Lucky, and second by Mimsy's proclamation. Maybe he was a little worried. "Alice?" He asked, the name forcing him to look away from Lucky and incredulously at Mimsy. "What do you mean Alice? Like the A.L.I.C.E.? It- Er, She's still alive? How do you know?" ALICE had, of course, been one of the topics he'd wanted to discuss with Lucky but now he was confused, the bizarre situation throwing him entirely for a loop. He hesitated, then moved closer to Lucky, kneeling by him. "Shouldn't we tell someone about this? If he's trapped, he needs help, he can't just sleep like this forever!" He thought back to his own Wonderland induced nightmares, not wanting to imagine being stuck in one for any extended period of time. But even then, who would they tell? As much as they butted heads, he didn't want Lucky to end up a lab experiment or worse, but to stay here like this... He looked up at Mimsy. "Can you tell me more?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 12:08 am
The instant after Shiloh was in the room and out of the door's path, Mimsy closed the door behind him, then locked it for the sake of safety. She smiled as she listened to him, appreciative of his efforts to speak more quietly. How kind of him. "No...well. I do not think it is contagious to our current corporeal forms, at least. It seems to specifically infect portions of Wonderland, and Lucky fell victim to it," she explained, hesitating over some of the parts that she was not very confident about. She'd hoped that the situation might be more clear to her by now, but the stream of information had run completely dry, so she approximated as best she could. "Yes, I mean the ALICE. She spoke to me in a dream, before the strings were severed. I told her a bedtime story. She is only resting. Trying to make all of us happy must have been exhausting, but she has learned her limits and will be able to better assist us when she is not so tired - I feel certain of it!" When he moved to kneel next to him, she followed. The majority of her time in the room was spent either on the floor beside his bed as they were now, or curled up next to him so he wouldn't have to feel alone, if he could even tell that she was there. It made perfect sense to her to sit here while they had this conversation, as it was similarly inclusive (and only polite). "I don't want him to sleep forever. I already want him to wake up, but I have to be patient. I have to ensure that he wakes up properly, when ALICE is ready for him to." She reached to take Lucky's hand, and held it tightly between hers. "I am afraid to allow anyone else to care for him. I am monitoring his vitals at all times, and Robert is very good at his job. He would not let anything happen to him, but...someone else might not be so patient, or careful, or attentive. Or what if they simply determined that he was not worth waiting for, and allowed him to die instead?" Fortunately, Lucky couldn't feel how hard she was squeezing his hand. "Please understand," she begged, brow furrowed with concern. "I trust you, and cannot bear to lose him."
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Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:26 pm
Shiloh’s processing powers were not quite on the same level as Mimsy’s, and though she tried to explain, he still didn’t really understand. Alice was a person? A being? The way Mimsy spoke, it made her seem like less of an anomaly and more like a living creature, and Shiloh studied her for a moment, trying to wrap his head around it. It was true though, that both she and Robert were capable life hunters. Even in the infirmary, he was sure they would be the ones making a point of looking over Lucky, so it wasn’t as if this was really any different. Duty dictated he should tell someone, but Mimsy didn’t seem to have any other sort of motive when it came to her brother’s care, her voice pleaded with him sincerely, and Shiloh couldn’t help but be moved, just a little bit. He was sure his sister would have done the same, if the situations had been reversed, as would he. And whatever he felt about Lucky, he certainly didn’t want him shoved in some dark corner of the infirmary, forgotten or turned into an experiment. No, here would be best, he decided finally, casting a glance at the sleeping hunter. The humans of course, were still more deadly to Shiloh than Halloween had ever been, and he could understand Mimsy’s fears. “Okay, it’s okay, Mimsy, I won’t say anything,” he answered her, reaching over to place his hand gently on hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze over Lucky’s. “I promise, just promise to take good care of him, okay. He’s… He’s a good guy.” Mostly, Shiloh thought. Mostly. But something else Mimsy had said was catching at the back of his mind, though it took him a second before he realized what it was. “You had a dream too? Before the strings, I mean, I thought maybe it was just a weird side effect or nightmare, but there was a little girl’s voice…” The dream hadn’t been pleasant, more of a nightmare really, but he’d thought he’d been the only one to have it, and he’d told no one, worried of repercussions. But if Mimsy had had one too, he couldn’t help but be curious.
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