who do you think you are

[Lilyana Winter]

Prompt List

• Unfair
• Identity
• Quit
• Rot
• Masquerade
• Destroy
• Damage
• Pretend
• Order
• Death

[Lilyana Winter]

D E A T H

Lily stood with Alice at the end of the pier, satisfied that it wasn't as crowded as she'd suspected it might be. It had been the first spike in temperature that spring, finally warm enough to go to the beach, and she was happy to spend it with Tuck and his daughter. Things had been going well for them - really well, actually. Lily had a sneaking suspicion that Tucker was about to try and take it to the next level soon, but it was less a suspicion and more Alice fucked up and told her that he'd taken her to a jewelry store a few weeks back. Lily hadn't reacted then, and she'd continue to not react, mostly because going to a jewelry store didn't mean anything except the thought was there.

But still.

Alice seemed content to watch seagulls fighting over a donut they'd stolen from someone on the beach, dive-bombing eachother and inevitably chasing it into the waves of the ocean after they'd dropped it in the midst of their fighting. They were waiting for Tucker to come back with ice cream, something he'd promised Alice when they got there. She wasn't aware of how much time was passing, but Lily was, and it was starting to bother her. She turned her back to the water, arms rested on either side as she leaned casually against the wood; ignoring the breeze at it whipped her blonde waves across her face, she narrowed her eyes, trying to source him out of the crowd.

She spotted him almost immediately, and by his posture she could tell he was impatient. It seemed the line was longer than the crowd suggested, and he was finally next. So, it was normal. Nothing to be worried about. Lily wondered if she'd ever get that sudden hiccup of thinking something was wrong to go away, frowning. If she always thought things were wrong right off the bat, she was going to end up paranoid, and driving Alice and Tucker nuts. She saw him turn around and make a terrible face, and she smiled in spite of herself. He looked like he was going to strangle the swamp rhino in front of him when she ordered about twenty double-scoops for her litter of tiny hambeasts. Finally, they cleared the way, and he was next.

"Looks like your dad finally got to the front of the line," Lily said, nodding at Tucker while his back was turned. Alice looked up at her, grinning.

"I'm surprised he didn't just start pushing people out of the way," she said, a keen observation from the mouth of a child.

"Me, too," Lily muttered.

He was successful in his purchase and began heading back to the end of the pier, and Lily nudged Alice to go meet him halfway, which prompted the child to run full tilt at him. Lily walked behind her slowly, and then watched as Tucker momentarily hesitated, trying to side-step a man in black and missing by inches, catching their shoulders in a bump and causing the ice cream to splatter to the ground. It wasn't that it happened - it was the body language that happened that set off that hiccup of worry again. Except it wasn't unfounded - the man who he'd bumped turned to look over his shoulder, back the way Tucker was careful not to look, and saw Alice running his way, then further in the foreground a face that he recognized all too well.

Lily recognized him, too. Every instinct in her body screamed to run, and in truth she was fighting the programming that Grayson had given her by not immediately running, but she kept that casual gait as the moment passed, watching the back of his head as he turned and disappeared into the crowd. She watched as Alice reached him first, distraught by the dropped ice cream, but as Tucker bent at the knee to meet her, he was looking past her, at Lily. His expression was one Lily rarely had seen him wear, reserved only for when his daughter was potentially in danger.

"I'm going to need you to go with Lily, sweetling," she heard him saying as she finally approached. "Right now, no questions. I'll explain later." Alice began to protest, but Tucker shook his head, putting a finger on her lips to shush her. "I'll explain later. I love you," he said, sweeping her into a tight hug.

"Lily, take her. Don't run. Walk. Get away from here as fast as you can."

"Tuck - "

"Lily, no," he snapped, cutting her protest off. "Now isn't the time to fight." He could tell, even by looking at her, that every bone in her body was telling her to run, but she was overcome by that urge Zaine had been beating into her, to attack, and right now, he needed to rely on the fact that she was a more resourceful escape artist than a hunter.

"I'll see you soon," he promised. "I just have to handle something, first." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips, but it wasn't like any kiss Lily could recall before - it felt very finite. "I love you. Alice, be good," he warned. "Soon, okay?" And with that, he gave Lily a push on the shoulder, turning her away to face the sand, where the pier began and the crowd thickened.

Lily walked slowly, deliberately, but Alice wasn't feeling cooperative. "Lily, what's going on?" she demanded. There was fear edging into her voice, and panic, and Lily knew that if she stopped to answer her questions, she'd lose her window to escape. "Lily!" Alice yelled, louder, tugging back on her hand.

"Alice, not now, okay?" Lily barked. She could see the parking lot.

"No, Lily! Lily!" she wailed.

Lily turned to kneel by the crying girl, trying to calm her as best she could. She didn't know what to tell her, but she swallowed her fear and promised her that everything was fine, that daddy had a job to do, and that they'd see him soon. She felt the sun cool from her skin for a brief second and looked up at the shadow that passed over them - the shadow that belonged to a large man who smelled of dog - and hunger.

"Daddy ain't comin' to save you now, kid," he said, his deep voice resonating against Lily's spine like a knife. "Or your foxy mama, here."

Lily scooped Alice up so quickly she startled the child. "Hold on to me," she commanded. "As tight as you can." With that, Lily locked her arms around the little girl and abandoned her slow, leisurely walk, breaking into a full-tilt sprint. Xavier was one thing, but Cerberus? They were being hunted. As she ran through the parking lot, she fought the urge to look back, instead concentrating on not slamming into a taxi at top speed as she slid to a stop on the asphalt. She already had her phone out, calling Zaine to tell him what had happened, taking quick directions to a safe house where he could meet them.

It didn't take long for the guilds to piece together what had happened. Lily sat silently as Zaine stood behind her for support, listening while Connor read Tucker's Will to her, dictating guardianship of his daughter and what to do in the event that he should die during a hunt. To her credit, Lily fell back on her training, remaining as together as she could appear to be.

She couldn't fall apart, now. She was all Alice had.

[Lilyana Winter]

U N F A I R

Lily had been getting shit on for most of her natural life in some form or fashion. From her family being killed and being sold off into some creepy slave trade that was mostly a fucking urban legend in the human world, to having massive chunks of her memory taken away, to becoming a hunter and meeting an amazing man and finally getting a grasp on her life only for him to DIE and leave her - LILY - alone with a child that wasn't hers and no fucking will otherwise except for some contingency paperwork that left her everything (yes, more responsibility, that would be sweet) to this exact moment where Alice was fucking sick and Lily hadn't slept in two days and she'd just burned through the last of her emergency savings and really was coming to terms with the fact that she was utterly unemployable.

Yes, because this night couldn't get any worse. The culmination of every event of her life couldn't possibly come to a head right at this particular moment, except it totally could, because fuck you, Lily, that's why. Lily had just left Alice's room after essentially having to drug her to get her to go to sleep (to be fair, it was what the doctor had given her, she just didn't like dosing Alice with all that shit because she was still of the mind that she would accidentally do something wrong and then she'd end up at the hospital answering questions about why she gave her the proper dose of cough medicine because real mothers don't rely on drugs or some shit). She'd just left Alice's room when the rain storm that had been raging all night took a step up and a loud BOOM CRACK was heard and then...

Total darkness.

"Fucking kidding me," Lily said. It was summer. It was a hundred fucking degrees because the A/C broke and Lily just didn't have the time or funds to get it fixed right then because apparently it was way more expensive than she thought it would be. And now it was dark. She stood absolutely still in the hall, in the dark, and felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck. Her anger was hitting unparalleled points at that moment, but there was something else there, too, and that something made her just put a hand over her face, there in the dark, and close her eyes, and start to just... cry.

"Fuck," she hissed. "Fuck, fuck fuckfuckfuck." Her voice broke off into a high-pitched noise as the burning in her throat from trying not to cry caught up with her. She took in a sharp breath, trying to use the training she retained from hunting to level herself the shit out. No crying. There was no crying. There was no crying because it would be a waste of time, get nothing accomplished, and she'd just feel like shit afterwards. She needed to get to the kitchen, to the drawer, to the candles, and go from there.

She was trying to do just that when she heard, over the sound of the storm, a car door shut, and it made her nearly jump out of her skin. She rushed to the door, grabbing the first available weapon her fingers could find (a ka-bar she had in a drawer by the front door), and gripped the hilt of it tightly in her hand as she struggled to see without being seen. Not that anyone could really see through the storm, but she tried. She jerked back when she saw a familiar face, and then opened the door, tensing as the sudden burst of cold air from the rain hit her skin.

She stepped out onto the porch of the apartment before climbing down the steps into the rain, ka-bar still in hand. She raised the other to her forehead to shield her eyes from the freezing ass drops of rain that felt like they were being fired from an A-10. "Zaine?" she called, her voice betraying her weariness and confusion. Yeah, no, it was definitely her former trainer. What the fuck was he doing here? She felt - too many emotions to explain. Shame, relief, anger, need. She didn't know, but she knew that she both wanted him to stay and leave at the same time. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

He didn't say anything at first, just stood there in the rain looking at her with his dark eyes. His face wasn't blank, though - it was twisted in a thousand things he was trying not to say, things he probably came to say but suddenly didn't want to or thought better of now that they were face to face. Finally, he just decided to say the easiest thing that came to mind first - his goal for the trip, anyways. "Come back, Lily. Please."

Come back? Come back? This motherfucker.. "Is that a joke?" she asked. She walked towards him, ignoring the fact that she was utterly saturated by the rain, until she was close enough not to shout to be heard. "What do you mean 'come back'? To hunting? You know I can't do that. You know why I left." She paused. "It hurts too much."

"Not to hunting," he argued. He stopped short of what he was going to say, and it was visible.

Lily's expression grew impatient. "Zaine," she sighed. "I'm tired. I'm cold. I'm wet. I have a sick child who just went to sleep for the first time in the last few days without choking from coughing so much. The power is out, the A/C is broken, and I pretty much want to die every second of every day, except I can't, because David already did." Her voice cracked a little at the end. "So say whatever you came to say. Or don't. It doesn't matter anymore. Nobody saves me anymore. Just me."

"Come back to me, Lilyana," he said, just as she turned to walk away. He saw her freeze in place, and the knife slipped from her grip and buried itself into the mud beneath her feet. "Not just to the guild. To me. Nobody saves you anymore? That's not true. I'm here. I came here. For you. And Alice," he added. "I know it's a package deal. I don't care. Just - come back to me."

Lily closed her eyes tightly, thankful that the pouring rain was hiding how hard she was crying. I mean, sort of - her shoulders were still shaking, but she was mostly relieved that she didn't have tear-streaked ugly red-face. She whipped around suddenly, taking the few steps to close the gap between them, and jammed her finger right into Zaine's chest. "That's not FAIR, Zaine," she screamed. "You can't just come here and say these things and think that I'm just going to -"

He cut her off with a sudden kiss, grabbing her face with his hands before she could stop him. Instinctively, her own hands moved up to try and pry his off, but she stopped fighting before her fingers ever hit his. It was unfair. Because she was desperate, and she did love him, but not in the way that he was telling her he felt. She was being unfair.

"Zaine, I don't love you," she said softly, once he'd broken the kiss. She placed her hands atop his own, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just - it's too soon."

"It's fine," he said, raising his eyebrows. "I'll wait." With that, he let go of her, then gestured to the apartment. "Come on, I'll help you pack for the night. We can have Olivia or Victor look at Alice when we get to Onyx." He saw her hesitation, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lily, it's fine," he pressed. "We have all the time in the world."

She nodded. All the time in the world. Wasn't that what David had said? Constantly? But maybe - Martin was a hard target. She'd trained with him, she knew him - she'd known him all her life, or what she could remember of it. Was this the obvious choice, now? He would always protect her. He always had. She bit her lip as they walked back inside, unable to shake the feeling of fear that came with well-timed solutions to her problems. But again, Zaine Martin was, in terms of hunters she had known - it. He was it. Was this how it had meant to play out? Maybe. Maybe... 

[Lilyana Winter]

I D E N T I T Y

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Grayson asked, looking concerned at the woman who sat across from him. Even Chandra, usually uninvested emotionally in their dolls, had a worried expression on her face. She placed a hand on Grayson's shoulder, and he actually reached up, resting his atop hers. Yes, this disturbed him.

"Yes," Lily said, her voice flat. "After what happened with Niall, and all of these missing pieces and fractures, memories that aren't mine, I don't think  - but I don't know." She paused, then gestured to them. "You've even said yourself, he fried my program. If there's a way to reintegrate who I was with who I am, it might - it might help me understand, move on, whatever."

"Mr. Cole, please," she said. "If there's a way..."

Grayson held his hand up to stop her. "There's a way," he assured her. "I just - Lily, you know your history. This is going to be a lot. Even for who you are, and how you are, now. This is easily going to bench you with your Guildhouse. I can't not tell them about this. It - it could cause a psychotic break. And if you think what Niall did to you is bad, this is worse. This is real."

She nodded. "I've already requested a leave of absence. I have someone who will be with me - we have a good team at Onyx. Exceptionally good. I think with my training, if you introduce it slowly, I should be able to work through it." There was a deafening silence in the air, and she tilted her head a little. "What?"

"We... we can't do this in multiple sessions, Lily. This is going to be a one and done thing. Your old data - it's not going to survive 'sessions'." Grayson sighed, leaning back in his chair. Chandra walked around the desk and sat down on the edge of it, attempting to explain what Grayson was struggling to conceptualize.

"What he means, Lily, is that your backup is on a version that's more or less considered one way for us. And this is exactly why - we took it off of you and wiped you, it was purely for storage. We never intended to give it back. We can upload it, and we can control the speed at which it uploads, but it will corrupt if we try to do it in pieces. It's all or nothing." She fell silent, letting the hunter take the information in.

"Lily, you should know - this could cause a psychotic break. And it won't be the kind you come back from."

Lily shifted in her chair. Her throat felt dry, and the room was too hot for her liking. "I know my history, Chandra, with all due respect - "

"No, Lily," Chandra said, interrupting her. "You know what was compiled into reports. Knowing it - it's not the same as living it. I understand that you've been through enough on your own in this current session, but even still, what you have dealt with? It's not comparable. I need you to understand the gravity of what's at stake here."

She needed air. "Can I have a moment?" she asked, but she was already getting up. Chandra nodded, and Lily excused herself. She walked out of Grayson's office, and as soon as she got into the hall, she felt her hands start to shake. Fuck, fuck, she thought to herself. How am I going to accomplish this if I'm reacting this badly already? She continued down the hall and to the stairs, skipping the confinement of the lift in order to give her sudden burst of anxious energy somewhere to go.

She practically ran down the stairs, and rounded the corner to see Zaine sitting at the bar of the mansion-turned-hotel-turned-residence/business. He was having a discussion with the long-haired gentlemen who had been playing the piano when they'd first arrived. Lily couldn't even understand them; her blood was pure thunder in her ears. Her tongue felt heavy and clumsy, and her palms felt clammy and cool. "Zaine," she managed.

The man behind the bar was actually facing Lily, and so Zaine saw his face twist into concern before he even heard her. He turned as she reached out for him, already saying "No, no, no" as she apologized for interrupting. "Lily, what's wrong?" He shifted on the tall chair until he was facing out, watching her wipe her hands on her jeans and take a few deep breaths.

"I don't know if I can do this," she said to him, blue eyes glassy with anxious disassociation. She seemed to be looking everywhere but seeing nothing, unable to focus. Jesus, she thought, get a grip. But she couldn't seem to.

From across the bar, Othello observed the interaction between the man and the woman, absently pouring a shot of scotch for her while he did so. He slid it across the bar with a loud noise. "Here you are, pet. Should help steady your nerves."

Lily reached out and took the shot, as though on auto-pilot, and threw it back. The woodsy, smoldering liquid seemed to snap her back into the present, and she felt a heat in her stomach as it made its way down. "Thanks, I needed that," she said to him, sliding the glass back. She meant it. After another second, she shook her head, coming back into focus. She placed her hands on Zaine's knees, meeting his concerned so-brown-they-were-black eyes with her own. She appreciated how he waited, saying nothing, merely taking her neuroses in and giving her room to collect her thoughts.

"I don't know if can do this," she repeated. She paused, and then corrected herself. "I don't know if I should do this."

Zaine exhaled, placing his hands atop her own. "Then we can go," he offered. "None of this is a requirement. I know that you think it might be helpful, but you've been through plenty as it stands in this reality. Maybe it's best not to engage another reality." He let go of her hands as she moved, and she leaned against the bar thoughtfully, playing with a section of her long blonde hair.

"Helpful," she said with a laugh. "The way they explain it, it's all or nothing. But at least it doesn't sound like anyone could tamper with it. Not like before," she muttered. "I think it will stop a lot of the trace decay that's been happening. I can't tell if I'm having waking dreams or memories or what," she added. "Even if this is dangerous, it could be worth it."

"It's up to you," Zaine said. Othello noticed he was very carefully not attempting to influence her either way. The Triste wondered, but said nothing. "I'm here, either way. You can go back up and plug in, or we can just drop it and walk away." He hesitated. "Lily - I've read your case files. It was part of the agreement for you to be in Onyx. You may be better off just not knowing."

"But I do know," she insisted.

"No, you really don't. You've read reports - it's not the same as having the memory in your head. And while stressful, traumatic memories are something most in our profession have, even the sociopaths like me, if you're unburdened by them, I wouldn't suggest you invite them in to become a problem."

Lily could sense that regardless of what anyone told her, her unpreparedness to cope would be their first and foremost concern. Hell, it was a main concern for her, as well. But even with everything, her need to know was overwhelmingly stronger than her logic and reason at the moment. Zaine nodded as he saw the resolve in her eyes. "I understand the danger - what's at risk here. But..." she trailed off. "My life has so many unknowns." He knew she spoke specifically to the Tucker situation in that regard.

"Sometimes, Lily, we just aren't meant to know," he cautioned.

The Triste watched the couple speak a little longer, and it made him feel uneasy. The man was masterful at manipulation - everything he said sounded exactly like the proper response, but it was the edge behind his words that gave Othello cause to believe he was a liar and to be avoided at all costs. When the woman departed, presumably back up to Grayson's office, Othello folded his arms and leaned on the counter behind the bar. His posture was relaxed, but the Triste was anything but.

Zaine had turned around by then, and glanced up at Othello. "What?" he asked, voice carefully neutral.

"You certainly have her fooled, but you can't fool me," he warned.

Zaine maintained a blank expression on his face. Not nervous, not curious as to the accusation - just... Blank. For a split second, it were as though this man had not been present for any of the conversations prior to that. He appeared utterly indifferent, and his energy dulled to match it. He offered no rebuttle to Othello's observation - which sounded dangerously close to an accusation. Instead, he finished what was left of his beer. "If you'll excuse me," he said, entire demeanor changing. It was so fast, that even a Triste young in their years could have missed it, but Othello was far from young.

Othello watched the man leave, and he assumed that he was going to go find his friend. Othello felt a disquiet in him - he hadn't dug around him out of both professional courtesy to Grayson/the Guilds, but also because he had a sneaking suspicion that Zaine was more than a little adept at protecting against non-invasive discovery like Tristes could do. He would even bet the Serpiente would be difficult at using invasive techniques. Othello could tell that he had been a hunter for a long time - perhaps too long. There came a time in every hunter's life where the compartmentalization came dangerously close to wiping them from all actual emotion and feeling, and generally speaking, hunters - even career hunters - tried like hell to avoid that moral event horizon. Othello was willing to bet that not only had the hunter run straight at the event horizon, but that he enjoyed being reduced to a creature that lacked things like remorse or compassion.

Ultimately, though, the decision was still Lily's to make. Even if she couldn't tell that Zaine was subtly pushing her to the choice she needed to take in order to fulfill whatever Zaine's endgame was regarding the reintegration, she still had free will. Othello felt himself hoping that she would say no and change her mind, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be that way.

[Lilyana Winter]

R O T

They had broken up and gotten back together so many times that it was a joke between guilds. Lily had been swapped from Onyx for Skye LeCroix, who Astrid had hand-picked from the list of available hunters that would be appropriate for a one-for-one swap. Lucien had wanted Kimber, but Astrid warned him that stacking wolves like that was bad for business. Even still, Astrid had still placed a magnet on the fridge in the higher headquarters breakroom. It was a rainbow, and if it was flipped right-side up, the rumour intelligence was that Zaine and Lily were together. If it was upside-down, they were not, and it was an early warning sign.

Lily knew about the magnet; oddly, Zaine didn't, despite him still actively being part of that guild. She thought it was funny, if not a little unprofessional, but said nothing. She didn't know why she was thinking about that stupid magnet now, instead of the present situation that was far more enjoyable. Maybe she needed to be checked for a TBI; her mind wandering during sex had been something that had not really come up recently, but at the moment, all she could think about was everything else except what she was doing.

Or rather, what Zaine was doing to her. He had stopped, anyways, plopping his head on the pillow next to hers. "You want to just go to bed?" he asked. "You seem distracted."

She sucked her teeth, then rolled over to look at him. "I don't know... I just can't seem to focus. Not on you, not on anything. Maybe I'm getting ADD?" she asked, and she was half-joking but half-serious about it. It could also have been the repeated fucking traumas she had suffered at his expense, including being bitten by him, which should have been fatal (and nearly was). It would make sense, then, why she was hesitant around this man. Except she was as naked as a jay, laying next to him in his bed, and his face - and teeth - were inches from her face.

She had no fucking sense of self-preservation, that's what her problem was.

Zaine laughed, and reached out, running two fingers down her arm, watching as her skin rose in tiny bumps. At least he could still do that, he thought, resting his hand on hers after making its way down said arm.

"I don't think you're getting ADD, Lily," he said with a chuckle. No, he bet it was fucking Tucker returning and fucking everything up that was doing this. He couldn't say that, though - wouldn't say that man's name in his fucking bed. May as well just welcome him into it, were that the case. No, he could fuck right off from Zaine's thoughts, as well as Lily's. He'd see. Zaine was all she needed. He'd see.

"Well, I don't know what my problem is, but I'm sorry all the same," she said, sighing.

"No, don't apologize," he said firmly. "Work is crazy. You're at Crimson now, which is a shitshow, just not the same as ours. I wish you'd gone to Frost, I think you'd like it better there," he said, his voice reflecting his displeasure at her move.

"You know, I requested it. I don't know why it didn't go through," she said, making a face. "Anyways, maybe it's better we just go to bed."

"Okay," he agreed. "Whatever you want," he added, touching her nose with his fingertip. She smiled and nipped at his finger, and then scooted into his form, pulling the thin sheet up over herself. Lily stayed hot next to Zaine; she'd throw that thing off soon enough.

Zaine awoke to something touching his jaw. His arm flexed, preparing to pull the knife out from under his pillow, until he remembered Lily was staying the night. Christ, he could have fucking killed her. His brain was alert, but as reality settled in, the fog of sleep returned, giving him pause as he tried to make sense of what was going on. The sensation on his jaw was Lily. Lily was kissing his jaw.

In truth, she hadn't meant to wake him up. She had never really gone to sleep, instead laying there with her eyes closed and pretending. Zaine actually had fallen asleep, and she regarded him, studying his features. He looked so much different when he slept. It was hard to believe he'd almost killed her. How had they ended up back together? It was like destiny, or something. She needed him, especially now, as he was the only stability she had - even if he was drastically unstable. And in the moment, she found herself taken with him and shifted, tilting her head to kiss his jaw. Of course, she felt him wake up, and steadied herself, ready to block his attack - but it never came. Instead, he tilted his face downward, directing her kisses to his mouth.

She had no idea where her mind had been before, but now, she was perfectly clear. She pulled at Zaine, pulled him on top of her, and sank back into the bed under his weight. She wrapped her arms around him, enjoying the smell of him, the feel of him - until something happened. His face changed somehow, like it wasn't him, it was Tucker's for a second, and that was - no, that would absolutely NOT do.

She wanted to stop him, but she was so terrified that she couldn't even make any sound. She put a hand over her own mouth to stop herself from crying out, closing her eyes and trying to force herself back into reality. She was with Zaine. It was Zaine right here, it was Zaine who was with her. She and Tucker were over, he had come back wrong, and she couldn't be around him until he had been cleared by Stavros. Fuck, why did they switch her guilds? Fuck. Fuck! His face changed again, as did the scenery around her - suddenly, he was rotting and the house around them was ashen and full of decay and black mold. In the distance, a rainbow spun in a circle. The prospect of fucking a corpse was enough for Lily, but the rainbow really was the icing on the shit cake her mind was serving her in her panic attack. She wanted to get off this fucking ride.

Panic began to build in her chest, and she cried out - ironically, so did Zaine, but the second he saw her face, he knew something was wrong. He practically jumped off of her as she pushed him up, sharp little nails digging into his arms as she used him to anchor herself. She was pale, like she was about to pass out, and her hands were damp and clammy, but not with sweat from the sex.

"Lily? Lily, are you okay?" he asked. She stared at him for a moment, then her vision flickered and for a second she was in a different house in a different bed talking to a different person. It was so jarring that it gave her vertigo, which she was painfully aware of as she put one foot on the ground and tried to stand.

"Lily, let me help you," she could hear him saying; it was as though he was calling to her through a tunnel, though. No, she did not want help from the decaying corpse sitting on the bed, jaw half-attached. He saw she'd snatched a robe off of the chair, getting an arm through it before she wobbled away.

She managed to growl "No, no," as she ran into the bathroom - literally, she made solid contact with the door, which was Zaine's indication something was really fucking wrong. Lily was quite a graceful creature most days, unless drunk, which she wasn't.  She crawled on her hands and knees now, unable to stand, across the cool tile of the bathroom floor, ignoring whatever she bumped into on her way to the toilet. That was her only goal at the moment, and finally it was achieved as she hung her head over the bowl just barely before she began to wretch.

Outside, now at least somewhat dressed, Zaine paced. What the actual fuck was going on right now? Did Lily have brain damage? Was she possessed? Was his dick suddenly an agent of destruction? What? What the fuck had just happened? When he heard her puking, that's when he decided to intervene.

Lily lay on the floor when Zaine finally came in, still only one arm in the dark teal silk robe. It had orange blossoms on it. She looked at them as they splayed across her legs, spilled onto the white of the surface she lay on. She had no idea what had just happened to her. She knew she could not, under any circumstance, tell Zaine what had just happened. He'd be less mad about suddenly turning into a dead body than he would turning into Tucker, she knew that much, but she didn't feel it would be productive.

"I don't feel good," she whimpered, fingers twitching toward him as he knelt down beside her. Maybe he'd just leave her there.

"Okay, okay," he said. "Let's get you into bed. I'll call Doctor Watkins and let her know something happened," he said.

"NO!" she barked. Then, more quietly, "No, it's fine, I can call the doctor in the morning," she explained. "It's late, and I'm dizzy, and I just want to sleep." She looked at him studying her, trying to determine whether she was right or not, and she slapped her palm down on the floor. "Zaine! I said, I can call in the morning. Just, help me up - or back up so I can get up," she said.

"You must really not feel good," Zaine said, helping her up. "You're getting aggressive."

Lily snorted, finally getting her arm through the other sleeve of the silk robe. "You haven't seen aggressive," she boasted, but they both knew it was a lie. All the better for her, though. If she bared her teeth, he might back off a little - it seemed to work, as he flitted back and forth between her, an offering of Ginger Ale, and the announcement that he'd sleep in the guest room so he wouldn't disturb her.

She laid in the dark and thought. This time she didn't pretend to sleep. Her phone in her hand, she texted Indrani, not Doctor Watkins, and briefly explained she thought she'd had a panic attack at an inopportune moment, and could she see her first thing in the morning? Indrani was, oddly, awake - and responded in the affirmative.

Great. She closed her eyes, pretending to sleep, praying not to be visited by any more visions. Fuck Tucker, Fuck Zaine right now, and most importantly, fuck rainbows.