freewillacquired

[freewillacquired]

{out of smokes} Alright, I'm so tired, I need to call it for tonight. I won't be here next Weds (11/27) because I'm taking a few days next week to do some things with family for Thanksgiving and my birthday. I'll be back on 12/4. See you then! =)

[freewillacquired]

"Okay, then. Lani," Matt corrected himself with a smile. His own voice was raspy too. it wasn't like they got fed or given water with any kind of regularity in this place. He was trying his best to keep his spirits up, though, and part of that was helping the people around him who were having a worse time than he was.

When Lani said Lisa wasn't dead, though, Matt's smile faded and his gaze fell. "No, she's... she is dead. I know that for a fact. I saw her body." Before and after it stopped moving permanently, he thought grimly, but he didn't say that aloud. This poor woman was traumatized enough without hearing that sort of story from him.

"You've talked to her?" Matt asked, his face contorting with the confusion that came long with hearing that statement. "How is that possible? Are you like... one of those psychic type people, or... Wait, what do they call them...?" He thought for a second. "Oh, a medium. Are you... Do you think you might be a medium? Maybe you're talking to Lisa's ghost."

Most people wouldn't have jumped to that kind of conclusion that fast, but Matt was a fairly religious person and he absolutely believed in souls, spirits, and ghosts. If this woman was really talking to Lisa, then in Matt's mind, there was no other explanation for it...

This woman sounded like she was pretty out of it. Or traumatized. Or both. That really wouldn't be surprising, given the nature of this place and what Umbrella was doing to the people they imprisoned here. Matt felt like he would be losing his mind too, but for two things that kept him going: spite... and holding up those around him. It was in his nature to help people around him, it always had been. No man left behind. Or woman. Especially in a place like this.

He smiled pensively as she told him her name. "Hi Ailani. I'm Matt," he said kindly. "A year? Geezus." Then again, he had no way of knowing how long he'd been there. The tranquilizers and various other drugs combined with anesthesia and surgery recovery times had him completely disoriented. "I think I've... only been here a couple months, but I'm not sure," he shared.

But then she said something that had his gaze shooting up in her direction again from where he sat. "Did you just say... Lisa?" he asked. No, it couldn't be... could it? How the hell would this woman know about Lisa? He'd never even met her before they were put in cells right next to each other. So how on earth...?

"Lisa was my sister's name. She was... Umbrella killed her to stop an outbreak in their Hive facility. They killed a lotta people that day to stop that outbreak... and they didn't even actually stop it," Matt said bitterly. "But it's... it's my fault she's dead, really. If I'd never tried to expose Umbrella... if I'd never told her I needed more information from the inside... she never would've been there." And he'd have to carry and live with that guilt for the rest of his life. "It should've been me instead of her," he said, beating himself up over it terribly.

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis was thankful to Gherkin and 176 for helping him obtain information, what little they were all privy to, of course. It always made him feel a little less lost, less like a caged animal, to be included and informed instead of just locked up or ordered around. And it was especially nice to pass around information under Umbrella's nose. Small acts of rebellion meant a lot to Nemesis.

When Gherkin finally got out of quarantine, Nemesis was laughing to hear that they'd bitten the staff member who had been trying to evaluate them. He was so happy to see Gherkin again, for he considered them a friend, and of course he was simply glad to see that they were safe.

"Hey, Gher-kin!" Nemesis exclaimed in a happy and friendly manner, waving back to them. His tentacles were apparently also happy to see his friend. They undulated excitedly behind him.

@freewillacquired

It had been months since any contact with the Splatverse.

Gherkin, without any warning, appeared again. They chattered in Inklish at Tyrant 176, and soon, the Tyrant was taking Gherkin to Quarantine for the usual checkup.

They passed KRAKEN and Nemesis, and Kraken smirked, "Wish I could watch haha."

Gherkin nodded, a devilish grin under the child-size facemask 176 put on them.

KRAKEN looked up at Nemesis, "So Matt... I assume Gherkin will have news. You heard three more ailing Tyrants got sent, right? Hope they too did well."

[freewillacquired]

Matt had only been trying to be honest with her but given her reaction, he wished he'd maybe not been so open about how much less useful he was in human form. Would she take everything back now? Revoke their deal? He sincerely hoped not, although he would've understood if she had.

He glanced at what she was thumbing through, wondering what she had in those files but not wanting to push her for information. She didn't seem like the type that liked to be questioned or rushed. When she mentioned Jill Valentine, however, Matt winced a little. "Uh... yeah, history's an interesting way of putting it," he said with an apologetic sort of guilt.

"I don't really know her as a person, but we... we encountered each other in Raccoon City the night of the outbreak. I was deployed by Umbrella and given orders to attack certain targets without any kind of mental ability to dissent at the time. One of my targets was the S.T.A.R.S., the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad, and she was a member, so I... I tried to kill her. Several times. It's not something I feel great about, okay? I came to my senses later, when the control between Umbrella and me was broken, but by that time she... understandably wasn't about to trust me at all. We went our separate ways after that. I never saw her again." He shrugged. "That's all I know."

He thought about the question for a bit before answering. "Honestly, probably not. She didn't seem like the trusting type to me, and you're... pretty vague and mysterious, if you don't mind me saying it. But like I said, I don't know her well, I only... tried to kill her. That sounds terrible... Maybe if you had something she wanted? Something you could offer her, like you did for me? I don't know what that might be, though."

She was incredibly abrasive, a little disrespectful, and she sounded like she hated her own very existence, but if this woman wanted to help him in exchange for him joining her in screwing over Umbrella, something he wanted to do anyway, then so be it. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, even if she did sound like she was one snarky comment away from changing her mind about the whole thing.

The transformation had been frightening, painful, and downright gross. When it was over, Matt was covered in a disgusting slime, and his whole body ached like he'd been beaten up. But it was his body again. His human body. No more tentacles, no more oversized muscles, no more balding head stapled shut, no more huge teeth and stretched out lips. He felt his head and then waved his hand in front of his face. The visual overlay was gone, and suddenly he had depth perception again. And color, not just red and blue highlighted forms with information ticking past them. "Holy shit..." he said, oblivious to the woman for a moment as he took all of this in.

Having spoken, he now realized he had lips again. Pawing at his own mouth, Matt started laughing like a giddy schoolkid. "Yes!" he exclaimed, so excited to be able to speak normally again. But then her comments registered in his mind and he looked at her incredulously. "Flair? Are you kidding me?" He looked down at himself, covered in goop and the remnants of his former self. "This is enough, thank you very much. I don't need more flair or anything right now. This... all of this... has been enough," he said, waving around at the leather outfit, now fallen off him, and the melted remnants of the Nemesis.

At the mention of clothes, he nodded, suddenly realizing he had nothing on underneath all this... slime. "Yeah, well... anything's better than... this." On shaky legs, he pushed himself to stand as everything slopped off of him, plopping onto the ground. "Yuck..." he complained before covering his nether regions with his hands. "Pants would be appreciated. There better be pants," he said, maintaining his humor at least, in the face of both shock and embarrassment.

Making his way downstairs, Matt was absolutely humiliated to be walking around, literally butt naked. He doubted this woman cared at all, but... he cared. Dignity wasn't anything he'd had in spades in recent years, but he loathed the idea of losing the last shred of it he had left. Rummaging through things, he was able to wipe himself down in lieu of being able to properly shower, and then he dressed himself as best he could in clothes that didn't perfectly fit him but were close enough.

"Okay... now what?" he asked, since this whole second chance at being human had come at a cost, and that cost was that he now owed her his help. "Although... you do realize I'm a lot less invincible and useful like this than I was as Nemesis, right? I can use guns and that's about it." He was actually trained to, as a FBI Quantico Academy dropout.

[freewillacquired]

My drawing of Nemesis from Resident Evil 3

@psychopathicraccoonleader on YT, IG and TT

[freewillacquired]

NEMESIS resident evil 3 remake, 2020

[freewillacquired]

{out of mutations} Just a heads up before I turn in for the night... My day is seriously booked up tomorrow (11/20) and I have to get up a lot earlier than normal. Because of that, I'm likely to be really tired by the time I get on here, so it may be a light night. I'll get to what I can, but I just wanted to say that if anybody is struggling to get out replies for our threads this week because of time constraints or other issues, don't feel you have to rush for tomorrow because I might not be able to get to too much.

I also won't be here next Weds (11/27). It's the day before my birthday and Thanksgiving, so I'll be helping my dad cook/bake things and then having a movie night with him. I'll be back on 12/4, but then may need to skip once more on 12/11 due to my classes ending. I'll be on a short hiatus that week to wrap everything up. Sorry for the lack of activity, but this is just a busy time of year. Thanks for understanding, and I'll see you here tomorrow to get done what I can! =)

[freewillacquired]

{out of smokes} Alright, I've gotta head to bed now, it's 5AM. I should be back here next Weds (11/20) as scheduled. See you then! =)

[freewillacquired]

"I hathen't seen... either oth those," Nemesis admitted. "Isn't the Con-jur-ing... dased on real... ghost hunters?" he asked, having vaguely remembered seeing something about that, but maybe he was thinking of a different movie. "I'n good with that. It's detter than... ones adout non-sters..." he said, feeling like he was already kindof a tentacle monster himself. That was not a great thought. "Don't worry... no ghosts... will get you... while I'n here," he said, puffing himself up in a super hero pose.

“Matt, do you wanna watch some spooky movies with me?” (For nemesis)

"O-kay..." Nemesis replied. "Dut no... ones adout nonsters. I'n stooky enougth... as it is." He laughed a little, but really he wondered how she could possibly want more spooky things when she had a literal monster for a friend. A boyfriend? Was that really what he was to her. Sometimes he couldn't believe it was true. "Ith you get scared... I can hold you," he offered, for he knew she liked the way his body temperature always ran warm.

[freewillacquired]

"Yeah... they do that... sone-tines," Nemesis said, shrugging. His tentacles, now not only excited but being talked about as well, seemed to grow even more energetic in their movements. The one Sara petted, though, slowed down to loosely wrap itself affectionately around her hand and wrist, as if enjoying the attention.

"Exact-ly!" he exclaimed. "Why should we let... the world end-ing... get in the way... oth a great... Hal-lo-ween?" He hoped at least that the absurdity of that statement alone might squeeze a laugh out of Sara. Making her laugh and smile had become a daily goal of his since they'd met. She deserved to feel happy all the time for the way she put up with him and treated him like a real person, not a monster.

"I'n not sure... ei-ther," he said. What could they do that was fun and Halloween-related, but also had nothing to do with zombies or real violence that would hit too close to home right now? "Nay-de we could tell... each other... scary stories?" he suggested, but then he slumped. "Oth course... no one can under-stand... what I say... any-nore..." he said a bit dejectedly. "Dut I could try."

“I know it’s probably a little stupid to celebrate it when the world has gone to shit but… happy Halloween big boy!” (Sara to Nemmy; @mxrvelouscreations

@mxrvelouscreations

Sara was so cute sometimes. Maybe it would've seemed a little stupid if anyone else had said it in the middle of the end of the world, but coming from Sara? It sounded great to him. "Thank you!" Nemesis said, his tentacles waving around excitedly. "You too," he cheated, since he knew that trying to say Happy with his lack of lips would come out like Hatty anyway. "I used to really lothe... Hallo-ween... when I was hunan," he shared. "Now... I guess scary things... aren't so great any-nore... huh?" He shrugged. "We can still try... to enjoy it... in our own way."

[freewillacquired]

"Oh, I could definitely pull off Peter Pan, if you wanna be Tinkerbell," Matt said with comical confidence. "I look amazing in tights, if I do say so myself. Don't... ask me how I know that. Let's just say... I had some interesting college days," he said, chuckling.

It was nice to have these kinds of silly yet normal conversations with her after everything they'd been through. They deserved a little normalcy, he thought. "But if you'd rather be Rapunzel, I'm flexible. As long as we have fun, that's the point. I don't know about you, but I could really use some fun."

After a second, Matt added, "And I plan to eat a lot of candy in Pietro's honor, because... I feel like it's what he would want," he said, wanting to include his fallen friend but also using it as an excuse to just eat a lot of candy.

“So I was thinking… we could dress up together? Maybe do a couples costume?” (For Matt)

Since their escape from the laboratory and acceptance by the Avengers, Matt was learning to get back to some kind of a normal life. Well, within reason, being genetically changed by the experiments and now a member of a very strange team, but... it was all made better by being here alongside Wanda. They were growing closer each day, and Matt really cared about her.

"Sure, that sounds like fun," he replied with one of his usual, boyish smiles. "What kind of couples costume? I once saw a couple dress up as salt and pepper shakers. But I'm guessing that doesn't appeal to you..." he said with a chuckle. "Scary, cute, funny? What kinds of costumes were you thinking of?"

[freewillacquired]

"Yeah, the noise and the trail of candy wrappers, probably," Matt said with a smile and a chuckle. "I'm really glad you asked me, yeah, I was just planning on sitting around in my jammies watching horror movies 'til the wee hours. A party's much better!" Matt was a definite extrovert, so sitting at home by himself on Halloween was the absolute pits as far as he was concerned.

He laughed at her joke regarding his costume. "I know, it'll be hard. If only real chocolate chips were as big as the ones on my costume, right?" His eyes widened when she said she was going to be Belle. "Oh, I love that story! I'm such a sucker for the old Disney version. I used to watch it when I was a kid. I think you'll look great as Belle, Leigh." He couldn't help the way he smiled at her just then. She was such a sweet person and he was glad to call her a friend.

“Hey, so I heard that a few of the neighbours were having a Halloween party and I was wondering if you wanted to come along?” (Leigh for Matt pre Crow? @mxrvelouscreations

@mxrvelouscreations

"Oh, cool, are they?" Matt said, his excitement already brimming. "I was about to write this Halloween off as a total bust since my plans got canceled, so I'm totally free. I'd love to go! Got a costume ready and everything. I'm gonna be a big chocolate chip cookie. They're my favorite. I know, I know, it's really corny, but... Halloween's all about the silly fun, right? What are you gonna be?"

[freewillacquired]

She was incredibly abrasive, a little disrespectful, and she sounded like she hated her own very existence, but if this woman wanted to help him in exchange for him joining her in screwing over Umbrella, something he wanted to do anyway, then so be it. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, even if she did sound like she was one snarky comment away from changing her mind about the whole thing.

The transformation had been frightening, painful, and downright gross. When it was over, Matt was covered in a disgusting slime, and his whole body ached like he'd been beaten up. But it was his body again. His human body. No more tentacles, no more oversized muscles, no more balding head stapled shut, no more huge teeth and stretched out lips. He felt his head and then waved his hand in front of his face. The visual overlay was gone, and suddenly he had depth perception again. And color, not just red and blue highlighted forms with information ticking past them. "Holy shit..." he said, oblivious to the woman for a moment as he took all of this in.

Having spoken, he now realized he had lips again. Pawing at his own mouth, Matt started laughing like a giddy schoolkid. "Yes!" he exclaimed, so excited to be able to speak normally again. But then her comments registered in his mind and he looked at her incredulously. "Flair? Are you kidding me?" He looked down at himself, covered in goop and the remnants of his former self. "This is enough, thank you very much. I don't need more flair or anything right now. This... all of this... has been enough," he said, waving around at the leather outfit, now fallen off him, and the melted remnants of the Nemesis.

At the mention of clothes, he nodded, suddenly realizing he had nothing on underneath all this... slime. "Yeah, well... anything's better than... this." On shaky legs, he pushed himself to stand as everything slopped off of him, plopping onto the ground. "Yuck..." he complained before covering his nether regions with his hands. "Pants would be appreciated. There better be pants," he said, maintaining his humor at least, in the face of both shock and embarrassment.

Making his way downstairs, Matt was absolutely humiliated to be walking around, literally butt naked. He doubted this woman cared at all, but... he cared. Dignity wasn't anything he'd had in spades in recent years, but he loathed the idea of losing the last shred of it he had left. Rummaging through things, he was able to wipe himself down in lieu of being able to properly shower, and then he dressed himself as best he could in clothes that didn't perfectly fit him but were close enough.

"Okay... now what?" he asked, since this whole second chance at being human had come at a cost, and that cost was that he now owed her his help. "Although... you do realize I'm a lot less invincible and useful like this than I was as Nemesis, right? I can use guns and that's about it." He was actually trained to, as a FBI Quantico Academy dropout.

Yeah, he'd survive, but Nemesis still didn't get what the true cost of that survival would be, or what was necessarily even in it for this woman. Who was she, how did she know him, and why was she trying to get him to join up with her? Other than the obvious, of course.

"I think... the gother-nent... is the least.. oth ny con-cerns." Bullets and even most explosives didn't do much to him, so why did he care about pissing off the government? It was Umbrella he was after, plain and simple. Nothing else mattered right now. Except maybe helping innocent people too.

When she took out a vial of the antivirus, however, she had Nemesis' full attention. His single blue eye widened, Alice's words echoing in his mind... Red for the virus, green for the antivirus. Was that real? Would she really give it to him? Nemesis had only a moment to ponder that notion before this mysterious woman yanked it back away from him.

Leon Kennedy...? He was about to say he had no idea who that was before the target identification system in his retinal scanner began issuing information to him within his visual overlay. "Rac-coon City... law en-thorce-nent..." Nemesis read aloud. Although he was still uncertain about this woman's true motives, if she wanted him to team up with someone who wanted to take down Umbrella, then he was game. "O-kay,' he agreed.

Before he could blink, she drove the thick needle into his arm and pushed down on the plunger. It hurt, but not much. At first. Then it felt like his whole body was on fire. Or maybe just itchy. Or both. What the hell?! He fell to the ground, falling into his side as his body seemed to contract over and over again.

Is it working?

It took a bit for her question to register. "I don't know either..." he said, but after that, speech became impossible. He growled and snarled in pain, his tentacles whipping around in distress. They were the first to go... shriveling up into black, desiccated, crispy things that disintegrated into dust. The rest of him felt like it was melting, all gross and itchy and... was the antivirus actually melting him? Was it killing him? Was this how he met his end?

At least I tried, he thought. Tried to live. Tried to fight back against Umbrella. I tried.

Matt was left gasping and shaking from the ordeal, but as he tried to sit up, large masses of flesh fell away from him. It sloughed off him and plopped onto the ground with a sickening wetness, liquefying into a putrid puddle around him. What was left behind, underneath everything, was his old self reborn. When it was over, he felt... well, gross. And yet also amazing.

"Oh my god," Matt said in disbelief, looking at himself. He wiped off the goop as well as he could, finding normal flesh underneath. "Oh my god," he repeated. "I'm... It worked!"

Welp. He owed her big time now.

[freewillacquired]

Matt smiled at Wanda's words, knowing she'd caught him on his bullshit. "Okay, more than a little," he admitted. Mission accomplished, he thought as he saw her own smile. Humor had its place in everything, even tragedy. That had always been Matt's philosophy his entire life.

"Yeah..." he commiserated with a sigh. "Congratulations, we're having a completely normal reaction to trauma. The bad news? The trauma's there in the first place. I totally get that." Being normal wasn't a whole lot of consolation when one went through the kind of hell he and Wanda had in recent months. "We're gonna be okay, though, Wanda. I know we are. It's just gonna take some time. We'll be different than before all of this, but we'll be okay."

He nodded rather seriously. "Yeah, you really did. I'm not kidding. There were times when I wasn't sure I wanted to wake up in the morning, or what I was even living for. You helped give me a reason to keep going." He smiled, drawing his arm around her as she leaned against him. "It's helping me too," he whispered. "I'll be here for you whenever you need me to. I promise. I'm not ever gonna give up on you, Wanda. So don't ever give up on me. Okay?"

"Matt.. pssst.. are you awake?"

(either pre Nemmy in the lab, or an AU where Matt doesn't become Nemmy?)

Matt and Wanda were currently holed up in a small abandoned cabin they'd come across in the mountainous forests outside Sokovia. It was the only shelter they could find after escaping the joint Umbrella-Hydra laboratory where they'd both been cruelly experimented on. They were trying to be as hidden and quiet as they could possible be, to hopefully disappear from their captors' sight for good.

Wanda had been exhausted and scared, so Matt offered to sit up for a bit to keep watch and make sure they weren't followed while she tried to get some sleep. He thought Wanda had fallen asleep quickly, but...

Matt's head turned where he'd been sitting with his back against the wall while Wanda slept on the couch. "No," he whispered back. Getting up and going to sit on the edge of the couch beside her, he looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?" he asked gently. Matt knew she wasn't okay. Neither was he. Who would be after what they went through? But he thought it might give her an opening if she needed to talk...

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis followed her up the stairs and was taken aback by the sight of the rooms above. They looked so perfect... so untouched by the horrors outside. It was nice, but also kindof sad. If only everything could just be the way it was again. That could never be, he knew. The world these rooms reminded him of was long gone.

He looked around at the room, noticing the fish tank and the rest of the disturbingly intact and oblivious decor, before he continued to follow his new friend. When directed to the padded benches, he went over to them and looked them over. Well, it was worth a try, right? He turned around and slowly attempted to sit down. Although the bench groaned a bit under his weight, it didn't break, and so he gave the woman a thumbs-up to indicate the success.

"Yeah..." he answered her. He had been outside for a while, though most of it was fuzzy now. Nemesis wasn't even sure what had attacked him. Sometimes that happened when he was badly wounded, his memory would have holes in it along with his body. It was as if the virus didn't want him to have any memory of anything that caused him harm, choosing instead to take care of it all itself. Well this time it had failed miserably. Thank goodness this woman had been willing to help him.

"I'n kindoth hun-gry. Dut I doubt... you hath... any-thing... I could eat." Meat. That's all that would actually sustain him. It was disgustingly tragic for someone who used to be a vegetarian before all this horror occurred. "Do you hath... any wa-ter?" he asked, for that was also a need of his, at present.

Inspect -( if you want to give things a try from scratch. Nemesis always looked like he could use some company )

{ Hello! I'm so sorry, I was supposed to get back to you and I completely forgot. I don't mind starting something, but I know nothing about your muse. Your rules and bio pages aren't visible to me because your blog only comes up as an inset on my dash, not as a full page. Maybe you have it set to private or something? But that's why this is going to be a little sparse, because I couldn't find any info about your muse. Nemmy could absolutely use some company, though. ^_^ }

Nemesis was used to fending off undead, and even trying to help survivors of this apocalypse. He was just as used to getting yelled at, having rocks thrown at him, or getting shot at by those very same survivors. What he wasn't used to... was anyone actually sticking around to talk to him, much less someone caring about his welfare. So he'd flinched a little to realize that someone was now... checking him for wounds? Weren't they afraid of him? Didn't they think he was ugly and monstrous like everyone else did?

He stared for a moment, just watching them fuss over him, bewildered by their concern. "It's o-kay..." he said around his large teeth and without the aid of lips. "I can't... get in-thec-ted... any-way." At least not any more so than he already was. Good thing he wasn't contagious. "I'n not hurt.... dut thank you... thor car-ing."

[freewillacquired]

This woman sounded like she was pretty out of it. Or traumatized. Or both. That really wouldn't be surprising, given the nature of this place and what Umbrella was doing to the people they imprisoned here. Matt felt like he would be losing his mind too, but for two things that kept him going: spite... and holding up those around him. It was in his nature to help people around him, it always had been. No man left behind. Or woman. Especially in a place like this.

He smiled pensively as she told him her name. "Hi Ailani. I'm Matt," he said kindly. "A year? Geezus." Then again, he had no way of knowing how long he'd been there. The tranquilizers and various other drugs combined with anesthesia and surgery recovery times had him completely disoriented. "I think I've... only been here a couple months, but I'm not sure," he shared.

But then she said something that had his gaze shooting up in her direction again from where he sat. "Did you just say... Lisa?" he asked. No, it couldn't be... could it? How the hell would this woman know about Lisa? He'd never even met her before they were put in cells right next to each other. So how on earth...?

"Lisa was my sister's name. She was... Umbrella killed her to stop an outbreak in their Hive facility. They killed a lotta people that day to stop that outbreak... and they didn't even actually stop it," Matt said bitterly. "But it's... it's my fault she's dead, really. If I'd never tried to expose Umbrella... if I'd never told her I needed more information from the inside... she never would've been there." And he'd have to carry and live with that guilt for the rest of his life. "It should've been me instead of her," he said, beating himself up over it terribly.

@freewillacquired — cont. from here.

Ailani tensed up a bit at the sound of the voice, for there were two people trying to talk to her at once. The first, Matt, was the expected one. He was tangible, and though physically she didn’t want to even move right now, she could touch him if she needed to. Matt was not a hallucination, and she had confirmation of that because the doctors frequently spoke with him.

Lisa, on the other hand, was an interesting case. Ailani’s ability to see ghosts had not been solidified yet, and so Lisa flickered in and out. She hadn’t had the energy or time to speak with her with any sort of frequency, but she addressed them both now.

“I’m Ailani Ka’ana’ana.” Ailani had repeated that mentally. It was the last thing she thought before she went to bed, and it was the first thing she thought when she woke up. She wouldn’t allow herself to forg that. “I’ve been here for over a little over a year now. It’s nice to meet you both. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to speak with you much, Lisa, you’re just… you’re not here all the time.”

[freewillacquired]

Nemesis was happy to see Gherkin again, even if it was only in passing. Given the nature of his daily life and the lives of many around him, once someone left his sight, there was no guarantee he'd ever see them again. Sometimes they were just moved to another facility, but sometimes... something horrible happened to them, and they were never seen again. So to see Gherkin after all this time reassured him that they were alright, which was a small blessing in an otherwise hellish existence for him.

"What?" Nemesis asked, surprised. "No... I had not heard that..." he said. "That's... won-der-thul." They were doing great things for these poor Tyrants with health issues or ones who had been abused and their health was failing. It was so uplifting to know that someone cared about them and considered them worth something, instead of being regarded as just discarded, mindless animals.

"I hote so too..." he said. there was always a risk with medical procedures, especially with Tyrants. Despite their large size and sturdy, muscular appearance, many of them had very fragile health due to their unstable mutations. Their hearts were too big, their ribcages too weak, their core muscles didn't hold in their organs very well, their bones didn't support their massive frames... Broken bones and torn muscles were very common, but heart disease, collapsed lungs, and other organ failures were almost as common.

"Do you think... I'll end ut like then too? Need-ing... sur-ge-ry...?" He wondered a lot about his own health. Was he just one stressful day away from a heart attack? One careless jump away from breaking a leg? It worried him sometimes.

@freewillacquired

It had been months since any contact with the Splatverse.

Gherkin, without any warning, appeared again. They chattered in Inklish at Tyrant 176, and soon, the Tyrant was taking Gherkin to Quarantine for the usual checkup.

They passed KRAKEN and Nemesis, and Kraken smirked, "Wish I could watch haha."

Gherkin nodded, a devilish grin under the child-size facemask 176 put on them.

KRAKEN looked up at Nemesis, "So Matt... I assume Gherkin will have news. You heard three more ailing Tyrants got sent, right? Hope they too did well."