[IC] VIGILANCE: Memento Mori

[Insatiable]

Ed tried to open his eyes but every attempt was tough. It felt like opening a can of sardines with his bare hands but with minimal strength being exerted. Maybe it was the bright lighting that forced him to shut his eyes down or perhaps the bed where he was resting on was just too comfortable. Regardless, he didn't even notice where he was not after acquiring the familiar scents present inside a hospital. Ed finally managed to open his eyes, squinting for the first couple of seconds before spotting a familiar face sitting right in front of him.

"Thank goodness you're awake." Robert said with great relief sailing within the tone of his voice.

Ed ignored him and quickly got himself up on his torso, moving his head from left to right. He noticed a few IV poles surrounding his bed and an equipment that monitored his vitals and beeped at several intervals. Every turn built a tension inside him but he couldn't describe it. It made him breathe faster and harder which immediately lured Robert's attention.

"Hey," Robert assured Ed with a pat on his shoulder. "Everything's fine. Just calm down and relax. I know last night was quite disastrous but you should put that thought away for a while."

"C-Charlene....where's Charlene?" Ed's voice shivered. Apparently, he remembered well of what happened and he certainly wasn't happy that he did.

"Her situation is devastating and I--"

"You think she'll make it?" Ed was only eager to know if she will or not. Whatever Robert would say that doesn't concern it wouldn't matter.

Robert slowly shook his head as he closed his eyes and wore a frown. He planned to take on Charlene's situation slowly on Ed but he knew that in the end, it would still be the same; a loss that was unwanted. Robert felt sorry for himself but he knew that there wasn't anything he could do to avoid the loss. What scared him was Ed and how he was ready to blame himself for what had happened.

"S-Sh-Shit." Ed felt a suffocating sensation from his lungs, as if someone's hands were wrapped around his neck and tried to choke him to death. He didn't want to cry but then after his thoughts swam on saving Charlene in the first place, eventually ended him in sobs. "If only I saved her..."

"Don't blame yourself Ed. It's not your fault. None of it ever was."

"It is Robert," Ed paused to rub the tears that blurred his vision. "and don't tell me that it isn't because you weren't there."

Robert stared down from Ed. He had no intentions of starting an argument.

"Okay look, just stop crying because it's the first time I've seen you in tears and it honestly doesn't fit you," Robert paused for a short gasp. "and second, you need to relax. You have a humanities report on Friday and a press meeting for your upcoming forum. You need to prepare for that."

Ed seemed to have his attention drifting from the things Robert said. He still sobbed, with his right palm wrapped around his mouth.

"Ed. You don't have to worry. I also express my sincerest sorrow for Charlene since she's a good friend of mine. But you shouldn't act as if you deserve the same fate as her. People die but I know deep inside that they don't wish to be mourned forever. A loss is a loss, the dead cannot go back to life. You need to look up Ed and move on because that's what life is."

Robert smiled and caressed Ed's shoulders. Surprisingly, it worked. The words that came out from Robert somehow managed to stop Ed's sobbing. He went quiet after a few seconds then laid himself back on his bed.

"Rob? can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything! but don't ask me to cover up your meeting schedules with ridiculous excuses because the doctor said you'll be out by tomorrow and you just can't be absent after that."

"No." Ed rolled his eyes. "Just don't tell my dad about what happened to me. He'll go crazy for sure.""

"Of course, that won't be a problem."

Ed fixed a glance on the patient's table beside him. He pondered back about last night, about Charlene. He could have saved her for sure if he used his powers a little earlier. A part of it all was truly his fault but he just couldn't admit it entirely. Either he was afraid or just wasn't expecting a tragedy to happen, it will remain to haunt him for a time he won't know when will last.

[An Outsider]

Red was closing in on the out of control hype with every agonizing, grating step. Every moment felt like it could be his last, like the immutable force of gravity was going to finally crush the life from his feeble flesh. Thought left him, making way for nothing more than animal instinct, his fight or flight reflex keyed all the way to extreme 'fight'. Something was hurting him, that something was the hype, and he was going to stop that hype no matter what. His breath came in wheezy snarls through grit teeth. Ghrrr, ghrr, ghrrr, ghrrr. Like an old and tired lion dragging itself towards an injured gazelle. He wasn't far now. He could taste the kill. . .

Suddenly and without warning the pressure stopped. It didn't ease, it just stopped, the crushing weight of earlier replaced with a weightlessness, as if Red was floating through the air. It took him a moment to realize that floating was exactly what he was doing.

"Ah balls!" He shouted, slowly elevating higher and higher, no way to stop or slow himself. Ten feet, fifteen feet, twenty feet. Fear started to grip him as he realized that he was probably going to just keep on floating, clearing the tops of the buildings all around him as he continued his journey towards the heavens. Eventually he would hit a point where the oxygen would be too thin to breath, and hype abilities or not he needed to breath. Flapping his arms wildly did nothing to bring him closer to the earth, nor did shouting profanity at the hype responsible.

Well fuck, if this wasn't a hopeless predicament he didn't know what was.

He was eighty feet in the air when gravity sorted itself out, but Red was already falling before he realized everything was back to normal. . . Or as normal as things can be for a man hurtling through the air towards the hard concrete. He managed to get out one short yelp before his body smashed into the ground. If his body hadn't been so powered after fighting with gravity earlier then he would have almost certainly broken every bone in his body. As things was it just hurt like hell.

He allowed himself a moment of rolling in pain, before pushing himself back to his feet, ready to charge the out of control hype once more. It looked like he was already unconscious though, Red hoping he wouldn't have to intervene anymore. It wasn't like it had worked out well for him so far.

[Archangel89]

The night prior’s interaction with Reggie had been the peak of an otherwise uneventful Friday night for Aiden. The next morning his phone had been overwhelmed with texts and calls from the various members of Reggie’s little crew about the ins and outs of their latest scam, which they were arguing about what to actually do. Aiden had finally convinced Reggie to let him be a silent partner for the same cut of the profit and that was no easy feat to accomplish. The crew got together over breakfast, much to Aiden’s disapproval, and hashed out some of the finer details including the who, where, and why. Finally done with business Aiden felt just as exhausted as he did the night before and it wasn’t even noon yet.

Aiden shoved earbuds into his ears and played the first thing that came through as he started walking through downtown Toronto trying to sift through the series of events that brought him back to the life he had sworn to leave. After his tenure in New York and all the trouble that he managed to get himself into he couldn’t believe that he was back where he started, although everywhere he looked he could see another sucker willing to give away their money with little or no effort on his part. He let an audible sigh escape him, if only life was that easy.

As he looked over to Nathan Phillips Square, surprised that he had actually walked that far, the sight of people floating involuntarily towards the heavens caused Aiden to stop in his tracks. The sight of a Hype with such a powerful ability flaunting it in such a public place was enough to send a chill down Aiden’s spine which only intensified the closer he got. Gravity, of course it was something so ground breaking. Aiden was ready to turn tail and run fully convincing himself that this wasn’t his fight the sound of screaming, a child screaming, caused him to stop in his tracks another shiver traveling down the length of his spine.

A little girl had been caught in one of the gravity wells and was steadily rising higher and higher to the point that if she fell it would seriously hurt if not kill her. ’Aww damnit, I guess this is the second promise I get to break to myself.’

Rolling up his earphones and shoving them back into his pocket and taking off towards the sounds of the screaming girl, making it to about thirty-five miles an hour when he hit the first gravity well. The loss of traction caught him off guard as he was quickly in and out of the space with a slight tumble before he was back up and running. Aiden stopped to take stock of where everything was taking a moment to plot a path to the steadily rising toddler. With his route in mind Aiden charged in running on everything that was in the particular gravity well. With a running leap off the hood of a car Aiden reached out to wrap the little girl in his arms just as the gravity cut out from under him.

The solid thud could be heard among the crowd that had gathered as Aiden took a moment to catch his breath after it was knocked out of him. Remembering why he took such a fall Aiden looked up to see the little girl having a death grip on his t-shirt and loudly sobbing into his chest. He weakly patted her head and reassured her that everything was alright as the girl’s mother came hysterical and praising him and his heroism, all Aiden wanted was something to drink and an aspirin.

[twave]

As she was led around Ruth made note of where things were. This was definitely going to be a much better setup for her than ever in the past. Proper equipment would do wonders for her research. When Winter mentioned doing a lecture the woman smiled and nodded. "I would love to do that. I will be sure to prepare a few things for just that.. They continued on and and listened intently. There was quite a lot to cover but the tour did a good job at giving a layout of the facility and how things would operate.

In the end they made it back to the front where her ride was waiting. The speed at which her dwelling was arranged was quite surprising. Ruth thanked Winter for everything and stepped into the car. There wasn't much to do on the ride there other than think. For the first time in forever she had the chance to actually stay somewhere without having to hide who she was. Well to some extent at least. Media still made things a little more complicated but at least they wouldn't call her a witch, try and drown or burn her, or run her out of town.

While contemplating she noticed that the ride was taking longer than anticipated. Come to think of it there was a lot of traffic that didn't seem to be going anywhere. From where they were it was hard to tell the cause. Curious she took out her phone and started looking for traffic reports. New devices like smart phones were something Ruth was a little behind on. Because she avoided being traced until recently she never had one. This particular phone was a gift from one of the networks, probably so they could keep in contact with her. There was a learning curve for sure and she had sought help from those younger than herself for instructions on how to use it.

The traffic report was vague but did link to a breaking news. Apparently there was an incident with a hyper that was putting everything on hold. Personally she probably wouldn't be able to do anything about the man herself, but from the information given there would be people that were injured from the encounter. "Meet me at the Nathan Phillips Square whenever you can. I need to go help with the injured." Before the driver could argue she exited the car and began her trek there. And thus one of the advantages of her abilities displayed itself. She could run her way there without much fatigue slowing her down. With the commotion she wasn't stopped by anyone either until she arrived. The authorities would not let her get near until she practically put her medical licence in his face. Even still she was to stay back while the situation was contained.

[Lord Wraith]

Several weeks had passed since the random Hype attack in Nathan Phillips Square. When the Hype had been rendered unconscious the police were able to move in with those who assisted with the arrest quickly departed from the scene. The sickly Hype had later died in custody, his fever reaching record highs as he nearly took the whole police station with him in a gravitational swell. Since that day several other Hypes with similar symptoms had sprung up throughout the city and almost each time caused as much mayhem and panic as the first. Unable to risk any more devastation or loss of civilian lives, H.E.L.P. had been forced to order a quarantine over Toronto. Calling in several squads of S.H.I.F.T. agents, H.E.L.P. wasn't allowing anyone to enter the city and those already instead were forced to stay there. Patrols constantly circled the outside of the area to discourage anyone from trying to escape and endanger the rest of the country with the strange disease.

From his apartment, Zeke stared down at the streets below. Empty despite the great weather for late October, Zeke could hardly believe this had happened. His home was essentially under a police state now and the only people truly at risk were Hypes like him. Shaking his head, he growled before kicking his coffee table over and flopping down in his recliner. Zeke had been cooped up for at least the past two weeks and was beginning to go stir crazy in the small one bedroom apartment. The glare of the descending sun on his TV screen gave the young man the urge to go take part in the night life as he decided to get dressed.

After a quick shower and finding some clothes that at least smelled somewhat fresh, Zeke grabbed his jacket and headed downstairs. Climbing onto his motorcycle, he gunned the engine and headed for the closest club. Even when the end of the world could possibly be around the corner, it wouldn't stop people from throwing their money away for alcohol and the loose promise of no strings attached sex he noted as the club was perhaps livelier than he had ever seen it before. Strobe lights flashed from the dance floor as Zeke pushed his way towards the bar, finally making it he grabbed a stool and waved to the bartender.

"What'll it be bud?"

"Rye and ginger, double shot." Zeke called over the music as he turned to scope the crowd.

[Nemaisare]

Too many worries and ruins, plans ruined by worries, caught in a city with no way out or in or over walls that nobody could see. If he’d wanted to, Lucas might have been able to trace those lines with his feet, following new memories made by routine patrols. But he didn’t want to, he didn’t want to be here either. October was about the last month of good weather for travelling. If he left it any later he’d risk getting snowed in at the cottage, and stuck wasn’t what he liked being. At least here, at least here there was the illusion of not being stuck. He had a whole city to wander around in, enough parks to get away for a little while. But there were still sounds in parks, falling off the high buildings, it seemed. Drifting in on echoes. And he always knew he’d reach the end sometime sooner than later and the rush would all settle in again without his invitation. Caught between the bones of his skull, just like he was, only he wasn’t big enough. His head was small. Too small to fit it all in and sometimes it escaped when he had nothing else to say. Or crowded out his thoughts so they might as well have moved into someone else’s head for all the good they did him.

But not today. Not with the sun shining through the back of his coat, settling like a friendly cat, just about, all bright and brash until a cloud skittered across its face. No wind today. Well, not much down here, nothing like what it could be. Warm enough that everything was remembering it, and he’d be too hot by the end of his walk, but he’d been meeting Mark, and he preferred walking where he could. Less crowded than the buses or the subway, even if it took longer.

He knew the way well enough besides. He turned the corner with the car wheels coming up on the sidewalk and kept going two blocks past the fallen streetlight. Before he made it to the next landmark, however, a strangely simple contentment fell over him. Love, rough but true, as he dangled from a small hand and felt his feet bouncing off the ground again and again. Lucas stopped so suddenly in confusion he was lucky there was no one immediately behind him. He looked up first, feeling small, before he remembered he wasn’t and looked down. To one side the walkway was grey and spotted. On the other it tripped over the curb and turned into street. But reaching over the curb was a strand of red wool. He followed it to a stitched smile and button eyes. The doll had on a neat little dress, striped socks and black shoes, and there was an admittedly unnerving vacancy to its smiling stare, but Lucas found himself focusing on the dirty ground into the discoloured hands and the way fingers curled around his – its – wrists.

Lost toys were worse than most lost items. Especially the stuffed ones, full of synthesised comfort and hugs. It had been a while since he’d found anything like this one though. A nice little rag-doll. Handmade by a sure-fingered woman humming along to a radio. Someone would be missing it. Maybe they’d come back. If they knew where to look…

In the absence of anything better to do, Lucas stood back up, folding the doll into a one-armed hug and smiling as its memories hugged back. Over his head, he could hear the adults talking, looking for something, can I help you? Well… The whole street had buildings full of similar questions, maybe one of them would have the same voice too. Or recognise the doll. He tried a café first, the staff weren’t sure, but they offered to keep the doll and ask the next shift, too. He said he’d come back. Mac’s next. They said no one with a stroller yet that day. He was just walking by a gun store, under the assumption that it was unlikely, eyeing the doll again, when it became double. They’d walked past the shop window.

So, he turned right there and held up the doll again, then bent down and let it swing, squinting, trying to get as close to where it had been, but the light was bad and the window kept shining light in his eyes instead. Blinded his mind’s eye and that was funny because it was making his real eyes tear up too from the light. He tried touching it too late, when he couldn’t figure out what he was seeing at all and there were guns behind the glass and he didn’t want any but that’s all he was seeing now. Until he raised his head and saw a man looking back at him. Unaware that he’d momentarily appeared to have a bad back injury suddenly flare up, or any other possible explanation for his awkward poses, Lucas gave the guy a grin and went towards the door. If the window couldn’t show him, maybe someone inside had seen what it had. A description was better than asking about a stroller and a kid with the doll. Lots of kids had dolls, and strollers…

Through the door and swinging on laden hinges, Lucas swept in with a slight swaying before he caught his balance. “Hello, hi. You should change stations.”

This radio station played the same songs too many times. He could name them, and he didn’t want to. But it was better than he’d expected. Except the arm holding up the tv… He frowned up at it and went wide around the space beneath it, things that remembered falling might fall again. “You rent guns?” The question emerged surprised, and just as loudly as his initial greeting, unperturbed by having veered off subject. There was enough in here to weigh in on his words, and he needed to get through that before he could get back to the doll. Now though, he just wanted to know if renting really was an option. He hadn’t known that before. Mind you, he’d never walked into a gunstore before, either.

[DJAtomika]

"Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And everything you do
Yeah they were all yellow."

It'd been a month. A long, hard month. The day that that misbehaving Hype had been taken from the Square, Sam had gone home. Gone home to find the security shutters of his shop totally trashed, graffiti on what remained of the aluminium frame spelling out a death threat. The youths he'd scared off earlier in the day had been back. They were angry, no doubt, but as he picked past the wreckage of the shutters he found the interior still intact, thankfully. He'd even found his television frame up in its corner, complete with a new set. Charlie's man had been around; no doubt let himself in with the key he had stashed outside. On the corner his shop unit was a drainpipe that led up to the top of the building, and between that pipe and the red brick that composed the outside facade of his place, there lay a key, taped innocuously to the aluminium pipe. Between the key and the pipe was a small piece of paper and Sam knew what it was: an I.O.U. He flipped it open and yes, it was indeed a bill for the repairs. Ninety bucks. Not a whole lot, but still that would set him back a fair ways. He kept it in mind as he taped the spare key back in place; no sense using it, the shutters were damaged beyond any hope of being opened. He'd call Charlie again later to get another guy to replace the things. Nothing was missing, nothing broken, so he was still happy. The days rolled by and October hurt its head walking through his shop door, the days were colder and the nights were longer and he was wearing thicker clothes.

Today was like any other. His routine had returned the moment his shutters had been replaced. The early morning runs, meeting Mrs Robinson, having breakfast at the cafe while the two policemen rolled on by on patrol, everything was as it should be. He sat behind the counter, idly polishing one of his revolvers, by the name of Carl as it were, while his beagle Casey yawned and snuggled up to his stomach where she lay on his lap. Slow day, as usual.

Probably.

"I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called Yellow."

“Hello, hi. You should change stations.”

That woke him up. He gently ushered Casey off his lap and onto the floor as he stood to greet the potential customer. The man in question wasn't that big, even if he looked it, with shifty eyes and hands that wringed and fiddled with each other nervously. In the crook of his arm sat a little doll, with a little red dress, shiny black shoes and a warm smile on its hand-stitched face. Casey ambled around the counter, her paws making a soft pitter patter on the linoleum floor as she went up to the stranger and examined his leg by way of sniffing it gently, before turning her cute head back to him as if to ask "who is this man, Sam?" He merely smiled and emerged from behind the counter, walking up to the beagle to give her head a gentle scratching. His radio, though on, was on soft, and it cast a little shadow of uncertainty over this strange, but interesting man that stood in his shop. He pushed that feeling aside as he tipped the brim of an imaginary hat and flashed a bright, warm smile.

"Howdy partner. In here looking for something?"

“You rent guns?”

Another question from the unknown visitor. Hmm.

"Sadly sir I do not, however if you're looking to buy one, you're in the right place. I sell secondhand firearms and restore old ones, all for a small fee of course."

He did do all of those, of course, but renting guns was something very few did around here. Mostly they did that in gun ranges and this was nowhere near a range, so rentals were out of the question. He smiled and spread his arms, gesturing to his whole shop.

"What y'see here is what ya get. Anything in here is for sale. 'Cept the shop, course. Hehe."

[Nemaisare]

Oh, he’d been sleeping.

Lucas might have apologised for waking him if he hadn’t been distracted by the beagle coming over to sniff at his leg. Little claws scratching at his skull and the floor while he watched her assess his interest value. The store owner/manager/clerk - whatever he was he was in here a lot - followed after her, a right friendly greeting for someone shaking them out of a doze. So, he smiled distractedly, keeping his hands to themselves and now and again resettling the doll who was never in danger of falling.

“Ha. And hullo Casey. Is she Casey?” Lucas crouched to say hello properly, unable to help believing that the dog was the more important acquaintance to make, since he was more used to them than people these days. He’d meant to add her as an exception to the everything’s for sale rule, but tripped up and rolled with it anyway. He wasn’t absolutely certain that was her name, but there was definitely someone named Casey who came here regularly.

Holding out his hand for her to sniff if she wanted, he shook his head, processing the greeting and answer he’d received with a speed roughly equivalent to a cow chewing cud. He’d get through it eventually. He gave up halfway though, since he didn’t actually want any guns, and wasn’t interested in learning much more about them. Rentable or not. Finally, after a long moment, he shook his head and shrugged, raising his gaze from the cute dog to the less adorable man and offered him another crooked, half-hearted smile. “Sorry, no. I don’t like guns.” He made sure that came out clearly, speaking slowly and loudly so he could hear himself, not wanting to disappoint him after the rest of their conversation by only then bringing up that he wasn’t planning on buying anything. “They’re loud.”

He held the doll out instead, her smiling face flopping back on an unsupportive neck. “She was my mum’s and don’t dropped her, but I’m trying to find the girl.”

[twave]

The world had been rattled by events beginning by the first Hype losing control. It was not the last though. What could only be describes as an epidemic, several more Hype's had lost control and caused even more destruction and death. Having just arrived Ruth suddenly found herself scrambling with her fellow scientists to isolate the cause. In the case of the veteran practitioner she likely couldn't have been in a safer position. The new facility was well equipped for the safe study of many potentially dangerous substances. Already they found a new strain of virus in samples taken from the Hypes before their untimely demise. So far there has not been much headway in learning details of this new health threat.

Where did it come from? How does it spread? Why does it only seem to affect Hyperhumans? What is the potential to mutate? Many questions yet to be answered. These unknowns contributed to quarantine. No one enters and no one leaves. Week after week tests were being run to try and figure out anything from what little they had.

For the moment Ruth was taking a break. While she could work longer that nearly everyone in the facility the human mind still needs a break. Due to what was going on she had been pretty much living at the lab, only occasionally going out. Getting infected was the last thing she, or anyone else needed. Although it was hypothesized that she could be immune, having shrugged off some rather nasty bugs and toxins in the past. But there wasn't a good way to test it. From past experiments she knew that her cells did not keep their regenerative properties past a couple minutes once removed from her body. Leaning back in a chair, eyes covered my her right arm she let her mind drift.

[DJAtomika]

"Yeah, her name's Casey. Cute lil' thing, ain't she."

Sam smiled as the little beagle sniffed the stranger's hand gently, before looking up at him with her tail at a wag, as if to say 'Sam this guy's cool!' He gave her head another affectionate little ruffle before he hoisted her up into his arms, cradling her gently as she rested her head against his chest. The man held out the doll and Sam raised an eyebrow. It wasn't every day that someone you didn't know offered you a doll...

“She was my mum’s and don’t drop her, but I’m trying to find the girl.”

...and asked you to find its owner.

He took the doll from him and held it in a hand for a while. Where'd he seen a little thing like this before...he had a memory but it was vague, curse his greying brain cells. He wasn't one to leave someone down though, so he gave the stranger a nod and a smile.

" 'Course I'll help you look for her. She mean a lot to ya?"

Sam smiled as he held out the doll for the stranger to take back. Not ten minutes and already he had work, though certain things about his mysterious visitor...piqued his interest. Like how he'd near instantly known that his beagle was named Casey. Perhaps he'd seen the collar on her neck with the single silver tag on it with her name engraved on it, perhaps he hadn't, but he'd known almost as he touched her. A Hype? Wasn't out of the picture, strange things were happening a lot these days.

Well, he'd give it a shot. Might be fun.

Probably.

[Nemaisare]

Now came the important part.

The dog was sweet. Friendly, but not too friendly. Just the sort he supposed you’d want if you brought it in to work with you. Every day? Maybe, hard to tell, not what he wanted to know. Casey though. Yeah, she was cute. He hadn’t come in to talk about the dog though. Oh, now that he’d seen her and they’d said hello and all, he wouldn’t have minded spending the rest of the morning talking about dogs. About Casey in particular if the man – was he Sam? seemed to answer to it – had enough to say to take up all that time. Given how he was holding her, he might well have, at that.

But the longer they spent on the dog, the more time it gave that mother and her girl to disappear into the city. Back from wherever they’d come from minus one. So, the first chance he had at clearing his head and he held out the doll and tried to explain the situation. He wasn’t sure he’d managed it too well, and frowned at the floor as he pushed himself up to standing again, trying to go over what he’d just said, but Casey’s owner didn’t seem to have any trouble with it. Maybe it was the obvious conclusion to seeing a grown man wandering around with a doll; that he was looking for its owner.

Then came the follow-up question as he took the doll back. Probably the next obvious conclusion, and he must have said something a little sideways, but Lucas’ frown only deepened when Sam asked if she meant something to him. A lot?

“Not a lot of-No.” He cut his attempt at explanation short and shrugged one shoulder, a lopsided sort of confused dismissal that made what he was doing that much more important and that much more without a reason. Biting at his thumbnail, Lucas tried an apologetic grimace around his hand as he searched through old conversations and leftover feelings for what he needed. It could drive his dad crazy, when he couldn’t find the words to explain why he wanted to do something. And this was only a stranger who had more important things to do with his time, but he’d said he’d help and that deserved something. Only, what was there to say? The mother and girl who’d lost the doll were strangers, too. He just…

“It’s sad.” He brushed the doll’s hair back with careful fingers, unable to count how many times such a motion had been done before, and pinned her to his chest in a two armed hug to go back to happier memories. The old toy made for an incongruous sight against the backdrop of gun store, two grown men and not a child anywhere near, for the moment, however, it had the strongest hold on his mind, and he smiled absently. “It’s all care and crying comfort stuffing inside. Stuffed full up to the gills and that’s all lost the keys to keep… It’s all lost memories.”

Lucas was used to getting weird looks now and again, at least once a day if he spent any amount of it talking with strangers. He was no longer worried about trying to fit in. Making himself understood if someone was trying to understand him was more important. He wasn’t sure if he’d explained enough or just confused the situation, but he’d tried. “Have to give that back.”