Lily Thompson's Journey: Deception

[Seon]

"And..." Jack paused and looked at the figure.

"...That can't be good. Grab the gun, Lily."

[Laraqua]

Jack's radio crackles and a woman's voice sobs, "Oh god oh god oh god...." Ash.

[Seon]

"Ash?" Jack said out loud. "Is that.... Is that you?"

[Kadael]

Lily takes the gun with shaking hands, scrambling to try and figure out how to use it. "I - I don't know... w-why can't you do it?! It's your gun!"

She turns to glance at whatever's making that horrible sound.

[Seon]

"Ash? Ash!" Jack said, walking cautiously towards the figure, ignoring Lily.

[Laraqua]

A young woman of around nineteen materialises from the fog, wearing a red cardigan and a white dress - the general uniform of Alchemilla Hospital. Her blonde hair hangs loose around her shoulders, gone a little wild as though she'd been running, and the white cap on her head is askew. She wears one low heeled red shoes, the other must have gone missing, and she staggers forward out of the fog. "Please, help me!" She stumbles forward, loses her footing, and falls into Jack's arms, sobbing. She grips his upper arms and slowly looks up, eyes wet and juicy with tears. "It's ... it's you! Jack ... I've found you." Her grip tightens on his coat. "I've been so scared."

[Seon]

Jack's eyes widened in horror.

"Ge- Get off me!" he cried out.

[Laraqua]

"B-but Jack, why?" Her lip trembles. "Did I do something to offend you? I-I've missed you so much. I did everything you said. I...." Her gaze flicks to Lily and for a moment there's a look of savage jealousy on her face, followed by gentle confusion. "Who's she and why does she have Roche's pub gun?"

[Seon]

"I'm sorry," Jack said, suddenly calming. "Did you dye your hair or something? You look different."

[Laraqua]

"What?" She releases him and takes a few steps back. "You ... are you okay? You seem ... different."

[Seon]

"Uhhh yeah," Jack said.

"You look kind of like the crazy nurse lady who tried to stab me to death with a knife."

[Laraqua]

She looks at him in shock and horror, then slaps him hard on the shoulder. "How dare you? My cousin is ... you're the one who told me ... you're.... Gah!" She stomps away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Since when did you become such a jerk! Here I was so glad you'd finally come." She spun around to glare at him. Tears spill down her cheeks. "Not that you had come! This is nowhere near the rendevouz point. Do you know what happened to me? Do you? You haven't even asked! Do you even care?" Her lower lip trembles. "You said you loved me!"

[Kadael]

Lily raises an eyebrow, then sighs and shakes her head. Lovers' quarrels are the worst, even if you don't know the people involved. She looks the young lady up and down with curious eyes, not being very surreptitious about it.

"I'm just Lily, and I'm really not that fond of him," she says, cutting in to clear up any misunderstandings. Seems a woman can't be out in public with a man, unless they're a couple. Even if he's her brother. Shoving the gun at Jack with a huff, Lily tries wiping her eyes with the back of her hand - only serving to further smudge her mascara rather than get rid of it. "Take this back. She's not going to kill me. Why would you even say that? I could've shot her, you jackass."

[Laraqua]

"He has that effect on people," she says drily. "Listen, I should probably go home but I ... I can't seem to find my way with all this fog. Could you two escort me? I don't know about you Lily but Jack's always had a head for these streets."

[Seon]

"Ooooh, ooooh," Jack said. "You know lady, I didn't know what was going on around here but I think I do now," he said, picking up the shotgun. "Unless you want to say that your name is Ash now... You do sound like Ash but I don't recall her being a blond... And although she is a nurse I doubt that she works in this town..."

"Well... Follow me..."

"I'll be sure to send you back."

[Laraqua]

The nurse stares at the shotgun for a moment, then her gaze flicks up to Jack's and there's visible confusion there. "It ... is you, right? Jack?" Something she sees in his eyes obviously disturbs her because she takes a few steps back. "Maybe I should just, yeah, go by myself. I'm sure I just remembered the way. Oh yeah, that's it ... it's ... this way!" She starts marching right into the fog. "Well, it was good to see you again."

[Seon]

"You aren't going anywhere," Jack said coldly.

"Stop. Who the fuck are you and what did you do with Ash?"

[Laraqua]

"Ash?" She pauses and looks back at him, arms crossed over her chest as though to keep out the cold ... or him. "You mean the girl at the bar? Look, I don't know, Jack. We never really talked about her. All I know is you had some kinda plan and I ... I did what I had to do but you never got back to me on whether it worked or not." She hugged herself tighter. "Did you try at the hotel? I think she was staying there. Or over at the ICU? I know she visited Katie there a lot. I saw her sometimes but we never spoke. If something's happened to her, I wasn't involved."

[Seon]

"...Maybe that is true. I can't remember what happened to me in the last month or two at all."

Jack sighed. "All I know is that I was planning on something... Then I was dead. What was I trying to do?"

[Laraqua]

"I don't know if I feel comfortable talking about it out here," said the nurse. "Did you try your home? I think you kept a journal."