text | un; sieglindesullivan

[grunehexe]

This is Sieglinde Sullivan, the Green Witch.

I shall not waste my time or yours with much pleasantries. The situation is dire, as you know.

Several of our number have been working tirelessly to develop a vaccine to this virus, and hopefully a cure.

Tests of the vaccine are proceeding smoothly, and we have seen positive results so far- it may be available within one or two weeks time if all continues to go well and no adverse effects present themselves.

I cannot guarantee nor estimate potential cures, and it is not my intent to elevate your hopes, but know that we have several leads we are exploring. Samples of blood, particularly from those of the non-humans within our ranks who are or may be immune to the virus, are much needed at this time if you have not already been solicited.

To protect against the possibility of contamination, four of us have set up in separate locations.

Urahara Kisuke, in the hospital laboratories. Peter Parker, in the university laboratories. Sonia Nevermind, at her apartment residence, 20B of Woodhurst Court. I myself have relocated from the hospital to a residential office, at 45 Pinehurst Drive.

Samples or supplies are welcome there. The others may speak for themselves, but in my case, I will not tolerate any distractions or intrusions, so please do not abuse the knowledge of that address.

[ooc; just a note from some of the Team Science members so that characters can have a better IC idea of what's going down on that front! Stay tuned for more OOC and IC info on/near the 25th!]

Comments

[grunehexe]

[Sieglinde didn't usually lock the door when she was expecting company. She didn't like to have to get off her seat and toddle to open it, pulling her attention away from experiments or research for such a mundane task.

But the current situation necessitates it, and it takes a moment, but Sieglinde soon answers the door after the sound of multiple locks and a chain, peeking before she opens it wide enough for Lucina to pass through.]

Lucina, well met. Do come in.

[There's a certain paleness to her features even stronger than before, bags under her eyes, and a disconnect in the gaze, but she's unharmed at least. Alive, at least.]

[tolight]

[ Alive is a start, she knows — better than what she can ask for in these times. Uninfected, even better —

But that doesn't mean her brows won't furrow in concern at the state she's found her friend to be in. To be frank— Sieglinde looks awful. It's understandable, given the circumstances, and Lucina knows that the scientific-minded have quite a bit ahead of them. Yet...

While she doesn't voice it, it's plain in her expression. ] I've brought what you've asked for.

I hope I'm not interrupting. [ She steps in, closing the door behind her. ]

[grunehexe]

My thanks.

[Movements a bit slow, somewhat wooden, Sieglinde closes the door behind Lucina and rebolts the locks before she gestures for her to follow her down the hall and into the kitchen, toddling along in her distinctive gait.]

Do not worry for such things- I planned for this.

[Which... might imply Lucina was still interrupting, but. It's cool.]

[tolight]

[ Is it though — Lucina's eyebrows furrow, visibly struggling between asking Sieglinde to rest and ... ] I won't be staying too long.

[ ... She can't rest if there's a guest here, could she ( but Lucina knows that once she leaves, Sieglinde will go back to whatever she was doing )? It's a strange place to be in, where the cure is imperative, yet so is the health of her comrade.

Why does she have to choose between both? ] But if there's anything I can help with... I'd be more than happy to.

[grunehexe]

The food is much help on its own.

[Once in the kitchen Sieglinde makes a show of getting plates, of moving around notes and equipment scattered on the table and over chairs. She did actually plan to eat, (this time), her stomach had been rumbling for hours.

Another plate she sets aside for Achilles, though she knows he will not appear, having rarely shown himself in his grief over Patroclus' death.

Not that she could blame him. She wanted to mourn, to disappear, to be gone for just a while... but there was no time for that.]

I shall pass some on to Achilles later.

[tolight]

I'm glad. [ That she could help, in anyway possible — she's making up for how passive she had been last month. Lucina opts to stay at the edges of the kitchen, watching Sieglinde gather the plates to heat up the food again. A brief moment of peace, when neither of them have to actively worry about the ongoing state of the mission ( that's a lie ).

She nods at the mention of Achilles, tries not to tense her jaw, bites the inside of her cheek. Some things come before others ( the death of a comrade due to a common enemy, no matter what sour feelings remain ), but Lucina's never been that rational. ] ... I'm sorry about Patroclus.

[grunehexe]

["Peace"- she's come to hate the word. In Audentes, it never seems to mean what she wants it to.

But at the sound, Patroclus' name, she slowly comes to a stop, two small hands gripping a plate harder than anyone need hold on to tableware. She hadn't really talked about it. About him. Jin and Asher had been surprisingly helpful in keeping the man comfortable, freeing Sieglinde herself up to devote herself to the cure the entire team needed...

But she wanted to be selfish, just a small part of her. Wanted to abandon the good of the whole for the private grief of individuals.

She can't, though. She knows that, and so she'd simply refrained from thinking about it, barely saying his name for fear it would remind her, tempt her again to be selfish.

There's a long pause where she struggles for a reaction or a word, staring down uselessly at the plate.]

... It is a great loss.

[Not just of the man himself... but what it meant. The first member of their team to die on a mission. A reminder... that any of them could.]

[tolight]

[ The parallels continue — her world and Woodhurst seem to grow more and more alike, despite their best efforts. After the number of deaths and violence Lucina has experienced, the first one is the one she'd never forget; but then, whether that's because of the death or if it's because of the dead rising moments later, she'll never be certain of ( likely a bit of both; the idea of her comrade passing, but also the fact that she had to be the one to slay him. It's a cruel fate ).

Maybe that's why she recognizes Sieglinde's reactions, can read between the lines; because that was her, well over a decade ago. The reactions of her friends, that she had to watch time and time again, until none of them felt anything anymore. Her guts twist painfully, expression turning grim, before she reaches out to lay a hand on the girl's shoulder; none of this was supposed to happen ever again. ]

... [ Yet there's no words that can ease the grief ( she knows this ). She keeps the silence, as powerless as it is, in the hopes that it conveys more than what her words could possibly do. ]

[grunehexe]

[For as mature as Sieglinde acts, there's no changing that she's physically all of thirteen. That the hands clutching too tightly on the plate are small, that she is short enough that she has to go to tiptoes to reach across the table, that sometimes, it wasn't just physically that she felt that way.

The silence hangs heavy, and she can't think of anything else to say. Patroclus would still be dead. Achilles would still be heartbroken. She herself would still be facing the first death of a person who actually cared about her.

She's seen death countless times by now. She's treated patients who were too far gone and died beneath her hands. She's seem people crushed by stone and chimera in Chantes, burned bodies in Anwick, drowned in Nalawi, shot in Perdition's Rest... all manner of deaths.

And they meant something. Just... not personally. Not to her.]

... let us eat.

[It's all she can say, finishing the set of silverware, and hopping into her seat expectantly. Perhaps it was hardly a subtle way to avoid the subject, but.

It was all she had.]