Lilith:...How did I get here?


She felt the throb in her hand before anything else.

Lilith groaned as she blinked back to reality, her head feeling muddled. Blinking felt like more effort than it was worth, hell, breathing almost felt the same. She could hear something in the back of her head, unsure if it was her own mind trying to collect itself, or someone on the other side.

"Do me a favor and try not to die on my table. I'd rather not have to go and get a new table."

Lilith managed to crack a smile at that, finally able to open her eyes and keep them that way, "Don't act like that, Doc, I'm sure you'd have fun dissecting my corpse."

She heard a chilling laugh somewhere off to her left as she pulled herself up, one hand rubbing her forehead while the other moved to keep herself upright. She flinched back at the rough fabric that brushed against her forehead, only then noticing the hand brace constricted around her right hand.

"Don't push yourself, you're still recovering." Lilith couldn't help but roll her eyes at that, watching as something to her left shifted, giving way for the Doctor to waddle through his shelves, test tubes balanced on his clipboard.

"Sure thing, dad." Lilith couldn't help but shoot right back, pulling her legs to dangle over the side of the metal table before moving to grip the edge of the table, stabilizing herself. It almost didn't phase her, how the cold yet stale basement air blew across her face.

"Before you ask, you'll find your face coverings on the table near the stairs," She could almost feel the Doctor shaking his head, tutting as you would a foolish child, "Why all of you proxies insist on wearing those everywhere is beyond my understanding. You of all of them, Lilith. I'd imagine that the eyepatch under the mask is little more than an additional hindrance."

"I don't like how naked my face feels," Lilith said, her tone light rather defensive, arms stretching upwards as she yawned, "Anyway, how long was I out this time? A week? A year?"

"Try 6 hours," Dr. Smiley murmured, placing his stuff down on the table next to her, before moving to pull on a pair of medical gloves, "I honestly didn't think that you'd be waking up so soon. Granted, you definitely won in terms of injuries, but regardless…"

Before Lilith could ask, the Doc placed a hand on her shoulder, gently applying a little pressure, "Do yourself a favor and lay back down. I don't want you putting your right hand under more strain."

Unwilling to really fight against him, Lilith let the doctor lay her back down, moving to adjust her jacket before gloved hands traced over her abdomen, "Do you feel any pain and discomfort?"

"Nothing too new, no." Lilith muttered, wincing slightly as he reached out to touch Lilith's braced hand, "Is it broken?"

"It was earlier." Dr. Smiley murmured, pressing gently against her hand before muttering to himself, "Interesting, it would seem as if the meds also manage to help increase recovery time."

"Did you drug me while I was out, or something?" Lilith couldn't help but ask, watching as the Doc would apply pressure to different parts of her arm, only to then take a step back and jot something down onto his clipboard.

"You could call it a painkiller," He finally said, seemingly infatuated with whatever he had written down, before finally putting his pen down, "If my tests were correct, this should work specifically for you and your… Unique blood type."

"Are you testing out a drug on me, Doc?" Lilith couldn't help but grow a bit antsy, the cold of the room finally leaching into her skin.

To that, Dr. Smiley chuckled lightly to himself, "Do you honestly think that I'd use you as a lab rat?" He murmured, stripping his gloves from his hands before moving to toss them, "I can't help but feel a bit hurt here, Lilith."

"That's not a straightforward answer, Doc."

"I don't recall you asking for one." With that, he moved behind one of his shelves, rummaging through them as he hummed a low tune, "I hope you don't mind, but it isn't often that I get to examine a Shade, especially a damaged one."

"Take me to dinner first." Lilith couldn't help but joke, her only warning being the Doc's audible scowl before cold fingers trailed down her arm.

"Do tell if you're experiencing any sort of pain." With that, he proceeded to jab a needle into the back of Lilith's hand, tutting when she jumped a bit, "No need to be like that, Lilith. There's a difference between pain and discomfort."

"You could try to warn me before sticking a needle in me, Doc." Lilith grumbled, turning her head to stare at a desolate corner of the room, "...So, how long have you had Shade painkillers?"

"Technically speaking? I've had a formula of sorts for a few years now, give or take." Dr. Smiley murmured, watching the blood fill the vial, before pulling the needle away, offering Lilith a cotton ball and a pat on the back, "I haven't really had time to perfect it, till now."

Before Lilith could ask, a pained groan rang out through the room, "It's like he knows I'm talking about him," Dr. Smiley sighed, shaking his head before taking a step back, "Give me a moment to subdue the patient, would you?"

With that, the Doc pushed his way through the shelves, following the echoing howls from whoever was dying. All Lilith could really do was sit there and listen, her legs kicking up and about as the moans grew louder and longer.

Finally, Lilith hopped off of the table, unable to take the pained noises alone. She moved to scan the shelves, looking for anything to take her mind off of the sounds, eyes squinting as she attempted to read the backs of what she could only assume were medical books. Some of them looked like they were written in code, or possibly a whole different language.

She reached out to grab one, only to nearly drop it when another pained howl filled the room, followed by what Lilith could only assume was irritated chiding from the good Doctor.

"Lilith, would you be so kind as to get me a bottle of citric acid."

"A bottle of what?" Lilith asked, eyeing the multitude of bottles, flasks and jars on the shelves before her, "And, more importantly, where?"

"It's a bright orange jar, bright green lid." His words were cut off by the sound of something heavy falling over, "It's impossible to miss."

"Doc, have you seen your shelves?" Lilith muttered to herself, pushing her way through, scanning every jar she could as quickly as possible, "I could lose a country back here, honestly." She took a step to the left, attempting to make a grab for what looked like a high up orange jar, only to trip over a book on the floor.

Lilith yelped, nearly face planting into the dirty floor below, grabbing at one of the shelves in a last ditch effort to keep herself upright, only to feel the shift in weight. She had enough time to realize there was no saving herself before falling to the ground, thankfully landing on her left side rather than her right.

"What's taking so long, Lilith?"

"Your fucking shelf is rigged." She all but spat, pulling herself up while sputtering, doing her best to keep the dust on the ground out of her mouth, "God, would it kill you to clean up back here, Doc?"

"What was that, Lilith? You haven't found the acid yet?"

Lilith scowled, pulling herself up before dusting herself off, stomping her way through the narrow corridor-like area, "If you're so smart, why don't you use that PhD of yours to find your stupid citric acid? Why the hell do you even need citric acid-"

She would have been more than happy to continue on with her self-contained rant, only to note the faint blue light coming from behind a shelf. Confused, she took a turn, peeking out around the corner.

She honestly wasn't too sure what the make of the sight before her.

It looked like the shelves had been pushed to the side, making way for the large cylinder placed in the center. Lilith couldn't only describe it as a sort of incubation tube, complete with the soft lights coming from it and the glass, allowing anyone to take a peek inside. The presence of the machine wasn't what made her confused, however; what got to her was who was inside of the tank.

Lilith couldn't help but take steps closer, placing her hand on the glass as she peered closer, as if the white face and heavy black makeup wasn't already enough of an indication.

"No wonder you're taking so long."

Lilith all but froze up, unable to turn around as the Doc walked around her right, seemingly completely aloof as to her findings, "It's right here. I don't see how you're able to knock down everything and still be unable to find what equates to a highlighted container."

"Doc, what the hell is this?" She had yet to take her eyes off of the cylinder, a slight vibration coming from under her left palm, where her hand was pressed against the glass.

Dr. Smiley casted the machine an uninterested glance, "A pet project, if you will. Jane's condition wasn't the best, and I've been looking for a reason to build something like this. I've had the blueprints lying about for a while now, so it only made sense to go through with it."

"That, somehow, doesn't answer my question." Lilith finally managed to tear her hand away from the glass, staring at her fingers until the vibrating had stopped.

"Let's just say that Jane's condition, after further examination, looked to be… Possibly contagious. This was the safest way to keep her isolated, medicated, and unconscious." He looked like he was going to go on, only to have a bloodcurdling scream echo through the basement.

"Damnit, I'm going to have to make this next batch stronger," The Doc muttered to himself, adjusting his lab coat before walking on, "Lilith, be a dear and help me?"

"Yeah." Lilith followed the Doc out of the area, mentally unable to rid herself of what she'd seen. She didn't know why, but seeing Jane like that was almost… haunting. It wasn't so much the look as it was the feel, almost like there was something (or someone) in the tube with her.

Something that, for some reason, responded to her.

"Duck."

She had barely enough time to duck before a glass jar flew overhead, shattering against the opposing wall, "If that was the Tetrodotoxin, you're going to be replacing it, Shad."

She couldn't do much outside of watch in an odd stupor as the Shade writhed over the medical table, kicking and screaming as if he were dying on the spot. Over his torso and around both wrists were what looked like thin velcro straps, the only thing keeping him held down to the table.

"Umm…" Lilith murmured, unsure exactly what she could say at the moment.

All the while, Dr. Smiley put down the citric acid on a nearby counter, moving to wash his hands in the sink before moving to other test tubes and whatnot, "Do calm down, Shad. Mixing will only take a few minutes, I'm sure you can suck it up till then."

"Wouldn't it be easier to knock him out?" Lilith couldn't help but ask, watching as Shad thrashed about on the table, "I could try and clock him right now, if you want."

"Regular sleep medications don't work well on you Shades," Dr. Smiley's voice sounded strained as Shad threw his arm about, a wave of shadows throwing a ripple right at one of his shelves, "Besides, I'd rather not be tasked with fixing his broken nose. Now, do hold him down, would you?"

Before she could speak, the velcros finally gave way, freeing his right hand enough for him to begin tearing at the one around his torso, his shadow flinging itself, as well as everything else, about in a frantic manner.

Lilith jumped to grab his right hand, her mouth open to speak, only to have words fail as Shad reached up to grab at her hair. Growling lightly, Lilith forced Shad's wrist down, her right hand clasped around the right wrist, the left doing the same.

She all but glared down at Shad, noting how utterly deranged he looked in the moment. His eyes looked wild, a giant leap from their usual calm and easy going air. Even when he was angry, he never looked this far gone in his rage, not even during their fight.

"I really do need something more than velcros to hold people down," The Doc tutted to himself, finally approaching Shad's side the moment Lilith had him detained, "Now, try not to move too much, Shad. This is meant to help you, not drive you insane."

With that, Dr. Smiley stuck the needle into Shad's arm. Lilith jumped at Shad's hoarse scream, before his flailing finally came to a screeching halt. Lilith watched as Shad's torso fell back down to the table, almost lifeless.

Finally, Dr. Smiley pulled the needle, tossing it somewhere to the side, "Good, I've bought myself another fifteen minutes of peace." He muttered, before turning to Lilith, "I take it that this was oddly therapeutic?"

"I neither confirm nor deny." Was Lilith's calculated answer, having to pry her hands from Shad's wrist, wincing slightly at the nail marks she'd left behind, "What was that?"

"The pain medication, believe it or not." She was sure he didn't mean it, was it was damn hard to believe him with that evil glint in his eye, "You should have seen him before I started medicating him. It does a lot more good than you'd think."

"I don't suppose that you have me on the same thing?" No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't tear her gaze away from Shad's body. Even with most of his form hidden by his oversized cloak, she couldn't help but feel that his frame looked smaller than it normally did, sickly even.

"The only difference was that you were on a much smaller dosage. In his defense, all you had was a broken wrist." He must have noted how Lilith was unable to look away, "You don't need to worry about ending up like that, if that's what you're concerned about. Shad's body is just a bit more… sensitive."

"Sensitive?" Lilith couldn't help but repeat, gesturing to Shad, "I'm sure that he's a lot of things, Doc, but I doubt that the strongest Shade here is 'sensitive'."

To that, Dr. Smiley gave her an odd look, "What makes you think that he's the strongest?" Before Lilith could respond, he shook his head, laughing lightly to himself, "Regardless, believe it or not, Shad's a lot more fragile than he lets on. Don't tell him I told you though, I'm sure that the shame would kill him."

"Uh-huh." Lilith said, unsure what else to say. That seemed to be happening often as of recent: her mouth unsure of what words to use in situations.

"Thankfully, he won't be a problem for a little while longer." Dr. Smiley said, clapping his hands together before making his way towards the exit, "Thank you for your help, Lilith, but I'd highly recommend that you go back to your room and sleep. If you're suffering any pain, I'd be more than happy to provide you with the painkiller."

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass." With that, Lilith made her way to the basement stairs, the chill of the basement slowly but surely leaching into her hoodie. She walked past the table he had mentioned before, picking up her things before moving to push the heavy trapdoor open. She offered the Doctor one last wave before pushing it closed behind her.

She took a moment to stretch, a yawn fighting out of her mouth as she made her way up the stairs. Did a lot just happen in the basement? Yes. Did most of it leave her with more questions than answers? Yes. Was she going to waste time thinking about it?

Her answer was made up well before she pushed open her bedroom door, the mess of wires and metal on her desk ready to greet her. She couldn't help the groan that escaped her mouth, tossing her mask and eyepatch onto her nightstand before taking a seat at her desk.

No, she didn't have time to waste. She still had to figure out this mess on her desk.


She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep. She just blinked and, suddenly, it was no longer light outside.

Instinctively, she moved her hands to her cheeks, fingers tracing the corner of her lips, before finally letting out a sigh of relief. No drooling had occured while she was out.

She ignored the red flushed feeling attempting to fight its way onto her face, shaking her head almost wildly before slamming both hands down onto the desk, pushing herself up as she did so. No, now wasn't the time to think about that.

The snarky part of her mind noted that it was NEVER time to think about such things.

The rest of her mind was quick to agree.

As if her entire body agreed, her stomach rumbled, quickly giving her something more pressing to think about. She didn't realize how hungry she felt until that moment, more than happy to push aside her undesirable thoughts.

She couldn't help but wince as her door squeaked open, taking a moment to look down the halls before closing her door behind her. It had been oddly quiet as of late, as if everyone had decided to evacuate and she just didn't get the memo.

Regardless, she made her way down the stairs, mentally noting how dim the place looked as she crossed through the living room and into the kitchen.

"How lucky am I today?" She muttered to herself, pulling the fridge door open before peering inside. She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face, nearly lunging forward in order to grab the can of coke and what looked like saran-wrapped banana bread.

Kicking the fridge door closed behind her, she pocketed her banana bread in her hoodie, cracking open her coke as she walked out of the living room. She had been planning to collapse on the couch, take a moment to just unwind and east something. Maybe she was gonna do some channel surfing, assuming Ben hadn't messed with the cable box too much, or hook up some game and attempt to flop her way through it.

Honestly, anything was preferable to the current predicament.

It was possible that she hadn't noticed it before when she crossed through, but now that she was looking at him, she couldn't help but wonder how long Shad had been there. The Shade was laying face down on the couch, left arm dangling over the side while his feet hung off of the armrest. If he was breathing, it wasn't noticeable, no real rise or fall in his chest visible. The only real movement from him were his shadows, and even then they just kinda sluggishly slid across the floor, their movements heavy and almost lazy.

She was tempted to just phase into her shadow, drop into her room, and hope that doing so wouldn't affect her coke. But, before she could move to do so, a pained groan left Shad's mouth, said Shade rolling over to face her from the couch.

Lilith couldn't help the sudden gasp that left her mouth, her body instinctively taking a big step backwards. She thought that he had looked bad earlier. The skin of his face was darker than usual, as if someone had injected black ink into his face. His eyes were bloodshot, scleras a sickly shade of yellow.

He huffed out what Lilith could only assume was some sort of pained laugh, "Hey, there, little princess." His voice was hoarse and dry, as if he had just spent the past few hours screaming.

Lilith couldn't stop herself from speaking the most prominent thing on her mind, "You look absolutely horrible."

Another huff of laughter escaped Shad's mouth before he curled up in on himself, coughing almost violently, "I see you're as brusque as ever."

Lilith opted for silence, instead watching as Shad attempted to get into a more comfortable position, each one looking more and more twisted than the last. She was pretty sure that, at this point, he was going to twist himself into a pretzel.

"And you don't just go to your room to suffer in solitude, why?"

"I'm not really in the position to get off of the couch right now, much less walk."

"I wasn't talking about walking."

Sighing, Shad fought to lift his left hand up to rest onto the couch, his fingers moving to point upwards, as if he were holding an invisible sphere. Shifting his head so that he was looking at his hand, his eyes narrowed with concentration, as if willing something into existence. Lilith watched as the air within his fingers turned a shade darker, acquiring a brief look of smoke before dissipating entirely, "That's all I can do right now."

Again, her mouth moved into action before her brain, "That's pathetic."

Shad's laughter sounded more like a wheeze this time, looking like he was about to respond, only to suddenly claw at the couch, eyes pressing shut in pain.

Maybe it was pity, or maybe it was actual empathy. It felt like the same thing that kept her from killing Dimitri, even if doing so wasn't only easy, but the logical thing to do. Shad had attacked her, nearly killing her in the process. It would only make sense for her to turn around and walk away. Hell, it wouldn't be out of left field for her to strike him down now and make sure that it never happened again.

Regardless of the reason, she put her can of coke down on the coffee table with a sigh before walking back into the kitchen, pulling a cup from the cabinet before running the tap. Moments later, she stood in front of the couch, offering the cup of water, "It probably won't do much for your current situation, but it's something."

Shad sat up, ready to say thank you, only to begin hacking up his lungs. He was quick to lift one arm to cover his mouth, the other reaching out for the cup. Lilith handed it over, unable to do much more than watch as Shad's coughing fit finally died down.

He nearly choked on his sip, eyes going wide as he ripped the cup away from his mouth to cough once more, raising his sleeve to wipe away the water as best as he could. Finally, he looked at at Lilith, who had yet to move from her stance right in front of him.

"You don't need to stand over me like a gargoyle, you know."

Lilith was going to scoff at that, possibly follow it up with some sort of witty remark, only to find herself sitting down on the couch next to him wordlessly. She watched as Shad took tentative sips from his cup, all the while unable to really bring herself to say anything worthwhile.

Finally, Shad put the cup down on the low standing coffee table in front of the couch, reclining back as he let out a deep sigh, "I feel like now is an amazing time to apologize."

It took a while for Lilith to understand what he was talking about, and longer for her to speak up, "Oh."

Shad winced at that. At least, Lilith assumed that's why he winced, "I, ah, I can't really do much to apologize, I know that. But I can explain it to you, if you want."

"I have nothing better to do." Lilith shrugged.

Another hoarse laugh followed before Shad made a big show of clearing his throat, "When you and Slender left, I became, ah, irrationally angry. And, well, my abilities become harder to keep under wraps when my emotions get out of hand."
Lilith couldn't help but remember that morning where he had single handedly brought the whole mansion down to his level of doom and gloom, "You don't say."

"Princess, you really need to put a cap on that sarcasm."

"It's my only redeeming feature."

"...As I was saying," Shad continued, choosing to ignore the devious smirk on Lilith's face, "The more out of control my mental state is, the worse it gets."

"So you get super-powered temper tantrums."

Shad huffed, "You really can't put that into better words?"

Lilith took a moment to think it over a bit more, "So you're basically Raven from the Teen Titans."

Shad looked like he was about to refute, only to think it over twice, eyes going wide for only a second before he shook his head, "I'm not going to get in on that. I've had this debate before with another, and let's just say that the only thing that ended the argument was his death."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Anyway," Shad said, looking like he was somewhere between frustrated and almost entertained at this point, "That's just how us Shades are, some more so than others. Our power is something that can't be controlled easily, and even then it's more like we're guiding it, if that makes sense?"

"It doesn't."

Shad groaned, doubling over in either frustration or pain, either of which honestly reasonable, "I really don't know how else to explain it, princess. Our power isn't something you can just throw your hand out and control, it has to be second nature. But, once it is second nature, it becomes attached to your emotions, thoughts, 'spirit'; whatever you call it. It'll respond to 'you' rather than your command."

Lilith's eyes narrowed, her fingers subconsciously tapping against the edge of the couch, bouncing away to their own silent tune, "So that's why you go haywire when you're angry?" She said, doing her best to put it into her own words. Even then, she wasn't too sure she understood it that much better.

"Angry, sad, scared; if any of those begin to overpower my mind, it won't be pretty."

"Trust me, I know."

That got a laugh out of him, and for once, coughing and wheezing didn't bother to follow, "Well… Yeah, I guess so. Wow, what a way to wrap up an apology."

Lilith hummed in agreement, the two filling the silence with their beverages. They just kinda sat in silence for a bit, before Shad finally spoke up, "Well, since I'm here, you got anything Shade-related on your mind?"

Before Lilith could shoot it down, insisting that she should really head back upstairs to continue working on her little project, a question did come to mind. It didn't "hit" her, more like it gently nestled into her head, waiting to be recognized.

Honestly, she kind of surprised herself that she remembered the word, but thinking about how she'd seen it in that diary, she guessed it would have been a little hard to forget it forever.

"What's an Ersatz?"

She watched as Shad's face visibly scrunched up, looking as if he had just chewed on a lemon before swallowing it whole, "Where did you hear that word?"

What was she going to say? "Oh, I read it somewhere"? No way that wouldn't look suspicious, and obvious. So, her wit and deception quickly worked together to formulate the next best thing: "I remember hearing Dr. Smiley muttered it in the basement when he thought I was still under. It didn't really sound like a medical term to me, and he was talking about you in the same sentence. So I kinda just put two and two together."

Lilith could only watch as Shad stared at the carpet, fingers digging into the fabric over his knees, "Of course he would," He said quietly, muttering to himself as if Lilith was no longer there, "God damn typical Alistair."

"Umm…" Lilith watched as his shadows licked around. It wasn't nearly as much as it normally did, the movements still sluggish, but she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as one of them phased through her leg, leaving an almost menthol-like feeling behind, "Shad?"

He took a moment to breathe, pressing his eyes shut as he forced his back against the couch, "Sorry, it's a bit of a… A touchy subject." He said, fingers finally letting go of his coat, instead opting to pull at each other as Shad attempted to put his thoughts into words, "God, okay, umm, where do I start?"

"The beginning."

"Not helping, little princess." Shad said, taking a moment to force out a breath of air, before finally loosening up just a little, "Do you know what a Blood Shade is?"

"If you haven't told me, and it's Shade-related, just assume that I have no idea about it." At some point, Lilith was hoping that she was going to get some sort of textbook out of this. Honestly, it felt like there was this whole hidden lore behind who and what she was, and if Shad was the only way she was going to get to any of it, she might just have an aneurysm.

Shad honestly looked like he was struggling with his thoughts, unsure how to put them into words. He'd open his mouth, only to have it snap shut once more as he looked off in deep thought. Finally, his voice came out softly, "A Blood Shade is, as the name might suggest, a Shade that's blood-related to Zalgo. Normally it's a term saved for direct descendants, like sons and daughters and whatnot, but it can be extended to others down the line."

Lilith nodded, figuring that her silence would be more appreciated than her more-than-often sarcastic input. Once again Shad looked like he was verbally struggling, as if his mind and his mouth were at odds with one another. He took a moment to take a sip of water, his fingers going back to fidgeting with anything he could get his hands on, "With that said, an Ersatz is the opposite, almost. A Blood Shade is born, and an Ersatz Shade is… Made, I guess you could say."

"...Okay, but what's the difference?" Lilith said, wincing just a little at how pushy she sounded. Not that she meant to, rather, she was trying to help him along. She didn't think she'd ever seen Shad so uncomfortable, and honestly, she couldn't help but feel as if it were beginning to brush against her, infecting her almost.

Finally, after what felt like hours of chilled silence, Shad said, "Boiling it down to the basics, a Blood can properly open the Sable Void. Remember that thing I showed you before, that window?"

"It's kind of hard to forget."

"Well, a Blood can properly open, maintain, close and manipulate those. Unfortunately, they can also suffer from Penumbra shock and Aphotic Discharge."

Lilith didn't like how haunted his expression looked, how his eyes felt like blackholes attempting to pull her into his head, forcing her to the same horrors stuck inside of him, "An Ersatz can't suffer from those. They can go above and beyond with their abilities, really, since there's technically no real topper. But, we can't open Sable Voids. At least, not naturally."

She wanted to ask, she really did, but not now. It felt like she'd already asked too much with her single question, taking much more out of Shad than that "pain medication" had. He honestly looked worse now than he had before she'd given him the cup of water, and if this was enough to do that, she figured the rest of her questions could wait for another day.

When Shad remained silent, she stood up. Fishing around in her hoodie pocket, she pulled the banana bread out, placing it on the coffee table next to his cup, "You look like you need it more than I do."

Shad managed a smile, at least, that's what she assumed he was going for. He would have looked more believable had he had two clothing pins hooked into his cheeks and put at gunpoint, "You're too kind, little princess."

Lilith offered a chuckle as she rose from the couch, giving her back a nice stretch as she did so, "I do hope that everything you told me wasn't a lie like that, Shad."

Shad wheezed out a small laugh, pounding his fist into his chest as if that would do more help than harm, "You're a riot, Lilith."

"Quit lying." With that, she picked up her can of coke, giving Shad one last nod before heading back up the stairs.

She let her thoughts play with this new information as she opened her door. That answered one question, and oddly enough, it didn't really raise anymore at the moment. Maybe it was because her brain just didn't feel like dwelling on it any longer, or maybe it was because she felt like there was nothing else to look into on that account.

Regardless she closed the door behind her, putting her coke down on her desk before flexing and cracking her fingers, tired eyes setting on her desk. She all but glared at the wires before her, as if they dare to challenge her in such a way. The monitor mirrored her expression, as if to glare right back at her in defiance.

"If I don't figure this out tonight, I throw everything out the window."


Lilith: You know what, after escaping the shitshow from earlier, I'm not going to complain. I can get use to the silence around here.