Epidemic Exsilium: Stage Two

[initiates]

Date & Time: June 8th - June 14th
Location: Throughout Exsilium
Characters: Anyone participating in hunting down the sleeper agents; anyone participating in taking care of the ill, or being ill themselves.
Summary: Stage Two of the Super Virus Epidemic strikes; sleeper agents of the United Earth are revealed.
Warnings: Illness, violence, needles. (Those IVs, man!)

Sniffles and coughs aren't unusual during the spring, with people combating allergies even in the far future, and colds being as present as always. But with more and more people falling ill, and none responding to antibiotics, things are starting to get worrying.

The first death is of an infant, on the night of the 7th. It's not the only one: three more are recorded not long after. It's unknown about the state of patients who never presented for medical assistance. Those familiar with viral infections fear the worse, especially as the usually healthy demographic starts arriving, coughing and displaying symptoms of the same sort of illness.

If that's not enough out among the natives, the Initiative has received its own information and insight into the true nature of the virus. "Wasmannian" Agents, spies of the Initiative in the United Earth, have reported back information at great cost to their security in their undercover positions. There is a super virus headed your way. They've been shipping it in to the island since December 3312. These are the manifests. We've deciphered most the code-names. Good luck.

Now the Initiative turns to the Transports for additional manpower to hunt down the United Earth's sleeper agents, pick up the shipments of the virus, and track down its physical origins in order to do something to stop the impending decimation of Exsilium's population.

Things are getting scary. It's a sick, sad world out there. Where are you, in the middle of it all?

Comments

[retraced]

[He doesn't make any moves to help her, but he does watch to make sure she's okay walking on her own. He's watched too many people collapse in the streets from this disease, his closest friends included. He walks alongside her, keeping a polite distance between them.

A memory of their first meeting, that pained expression on her face. But he doesn't want to put more strain on her by bringing that up now, so he asks the next question on his mind.]

Before...you said my name. ['Said', but.] How did you know it?

PLEASE FORGIVE MY LATENESS

[reassures]

[She's grateful, more than she shows, because while he's letting her do this he's also keeping an eye on her. She isn't sure that means he'll actually make sure she'll get all the way to her apartment, but... If it were him, Nill probably would probably do the same. Especially if he looked as shitty as she did.]

...You said it the last time we met.

[Despite her best efforts, it doesn't sound that convincing.]

Don't you remember?

I'M THE LATEST ALWAYS

[retraced]

[He tries to think back to that day. It had been chaos...maybe he had said something in his haste to speak to her before she'd run away. His mind had been a mess of questions, the answers that he'd given had been lost in it all. It's the possibility that makes the most sense.]

Right...sorry. I forgot about that.

[His voice sounds a little empty, but he also sounds convinced. But with the state of his memories the way that it is, the way it always had, she can probably tell just how easy it is to make him believe it.]

THAT'S OKAY SO AM I WE CAN BE LATE TOGETHER

[reassures]

[Oh. Oh, no. She hadn't thought he would react that way. For a fraction of a second she almost looks guilty because of it. But he's convinced, which makes what she needs to do easier. It worries her, though, that he doubts his memories enough to believe it.

More than that, it makes her want to cry. She misses him so much.]

It's fine.

[She stumbles slightly, but mostly rights herself. She's doing well enough on the walking thing.]

Have you-- how are you doing here?

[retraced]

[He notices the stumble, but he doesn't worry too much about it. For someone as clumsy as him, something like that doesn't mean much. But if she starts to sway or looks woozy, he'll definitely step in and help.]

Me? Oh - ah, well...I haven't been sick, and...I guess I've gotten more used to the way things work here.

[There's still a lot to learn, though. His mind idly wanders towards things like the new oven, the way that these devices work, modern inventions that he doesn't completely get yet, but that Oz seems to understand without any trouble at all.]

Even though I still don't understand what the purpose of everything is...there's no choice in these circumstances but to accept it until we figure out a way to get everyone out safely.

[reassures]

[It's reassuring, so say the least. Even if she's stumbling, if she doesn't look that far gone by Gil's standards then it probably means she's not doing as badly as people like to make her sound. (She likes to think as much, anyway.)]

You're very smart.

[In his Gil way. Anyway, he knows to try to get through things rather than to get... super worked up about it. Eventually he'd be okay here.]

...Did I tell you my name before?

[retraced]

[His face and ears go a little pink at her praise. No, nothing about him is smart. It's all selfish self interest and nothing more. If he can't take care of himself and keep himself alive, then the people closest to him would suffer for his incompetence. That's all there is to it.]

I don't think so. Though you may have and I didn't realize it because I didn't know that this is how you...'talk'?

[If that's the right way to put it.]

[reassures]

[Nill doesn't think it's selfish at all. But maybe that's just the flaw in her thinking, not his. It's not inaccurate though, so Nill offers a nod. She stops though, because between 'talking' this much and walking, it's making her dizzy.]

I'm mute. I can't talk any other way.

My name is Nill.

[retraced]

Nill.

[He repeats it, the inflection on her name the exact same as she should remember from knowing him before. But he's sorry for making her have to explain that she's mute, so he adds my means of an apology:]

It's a nice name. It suits you, I think.

[reassures]

[It does her in, in more than one way. Her knees go weak beneath her, and she needs to lean more heavily against the wall that she's already stopped at.

There are no memories that leak out, no glimpses of anything terrible. There's just an awful sense of loneliness that fills the air, as her eyes fill with tears and she tries her damnedest not to cry.

This was worse than it was with Dave.]

Thank you.

[retraced]

[He immediately mistakes the heaviness in her movements for sickness and not sadness, but still has no problem moving in closer to her side and offering his hand.]

Nill - are you feeling worse?

[reassures]

[She shakes her head at first, just the slightest motion to get the general idea across, but then nods, because yeah, she does feel worse. So much worse. She takes his offered hand though, and clumsily wipes tears away from one of her cheeks.

She misses Gilbert so much. Most days it wasn't too bad, but right now... she could really use seeing him again.]

[retraced]

[He watches her another silent moment before he finally decides:]

This was a bad idea.

[He's seen how sick people had gotten, how close to death they'd been. He shouldn't have agreed to let her try, knowing that already. Or rather, he's given her the chance that she wanted, but he can't in good faith let a woman that he hardly knows go home in the condition that she's in.]

We should go back to the hospital.

[reassures]

[She shakes her head, more vehemently, and then places her palm firmly against the wall again, because that was a bad idea.]

I'm fine.

[The tears aren't really stopping now, and holding herself up is a struggle, but holding onto his hand... helps. It's not perfect, but she's still mostly standing, anyway.]

I just--

[She hiccups slightly, and the crying is a bad idea, because it's causing more mucus production, which is no good for her lungs. She coughs, and tries to hold it in, but it doesn't work very well.]

...I want to go home.

[Seriously. If she were in the Port she wouldn't need to sneak out of the hospital. She could either stay, because people came to visit, or leave, because people would help her go. They would make sure she made it through this, and it would be more than enough. Yosuke would bring her pudding, and Dave would play music for her, and Gilbert would be awkward and polite and quietly happy she was still alive. Why was that so much to ask?]

[retraced]

[He's never had to say those words himself. Home had always been 'where Oz was', and when he was gone 'home' hadn't been anywhere at all. It had only been an idea, a wish that someday he'd bring Oz back, and then that world would become 'home' again. He's not sure just what it is she's really asking for here, if she wants to return back to her own world, or if she's calling the place that she lives here 'home'.]

...We're almost there, right? Just a little further.

[But they'll start with that and figure something out from there. He's still sure that either way he'd be able to sprint her back to the hospital if this is more than just a bout of terrible sadness. He grasps her hand a little tighter, urges her on.]