[attr="class","mimi"]they're still cooling off in the water when the gastly joins them. is it the same as before, or a new one altogether? mimi can't be too sure, but it doesn't stay with them long and so she has no reason to worry about it too much. the private spring party continues.

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[attr="class","mimi"]fifty percent is good. not optimal, but good. hers is probably at around sixty or seventy, too. mimi's never used her phone exclusively as a lantern, but she estimates they'd last a few hours at the very least. even at a young age, quick calculations were her forte.

the squeeze makes her attention shift from math to the boy responsible for it. "what was what?" she asks, perhaps a little too eager. excitement suddenly coursing through her veins. could it be a real ghost? but mimi doesn't see anything when she turns in the direction lance is facing. "ah, is it gone already?"

the disappointment is almost palpable.

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[attr="class","mimi"]"i'm saying," she gulps a knot down her throat, "we've lost somebody very important to us, so we should be a little more mindful of what we're doing. i don't want to lose you. simple as that." not now that she's found him again. not ever, really.

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[attr="class","mimi"]she wants to say something, but nothing comes out of her mouth. there's a bit of amusement mixed in with deference in her smile. "it works, but..." why is the light on his phone so dim? no, nevermind. they can use his phone for now, and switch over to her own later.

without giving it much thought, she brings her hand to his phoneless one. this way, they wouldn't get separated in the dark. she makes no comment on it, and rather gives him a light push to urge him on. the only thing worrying her is "how much battery do you have left?"

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[attr="class","mimi"]as much as it saddens her to admit, she does know she can't make him promise anything he knows he can't keep. "i understand," she says, defeated. "but there's something i want you to understand, too." even the deep breath she takes isn't enough to prepare her for what she says next. like with most challenges she's encountered in her life, she goes head first in.

"back then, i saw worry in your eyes." mimi still finds it a little uncomfortable to think about, much less talk about. she hasn't allowed such thoughts to roam her mind ever since... ever since he started dating ava, in fact. that's when she chose to step aside. "i don't know how you've been living your life this past year, but i'm the same. i don't want to lose you."

heart bare in front of her, she wants to at least look away to shield herself. she shouldn't be submitting a sick patient to this kind of talk.

[attr="class","seelie"]LANCE VOLLANS

[attr="class","mimi"]mimi can't quite believe lance actually believed her. the year he has on her feels close to nonexistent at this point. she only has two options now: to call him out on being dumb, or to play along with their little act. if he's acting like the knight in shining armor, does that make her the damsel in distress? better yet, the warrior princess disguised as damsel in distress. yeah, she likes that last idea.

"okay," she ends up agreeing. as requested, she stays close, close enough to give him a scare when he got distracted, if she so wanted.

sadly, she has no chance to make use of their proximity during this first part of their haunted mansion exploration. something else bothers her. after a few more steps deeper inside what can only be the mansion's old hallway, mimi stops in her tracks. she can't see anymore. night has fallen to reduce the midsummer heat from earlier in the day, as well as the natural light they had available. "lance, did you bring a lantern?"

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[attr="class","mimi"]it doesn't sit well with her to be told such a thing. of course she cares about him - they're friends. have been for decades. sure, they'd never been very vocal about the second side of their rivalry-slash-friendship, but any interaction they shared would show how close they really were. sometimes, much to their chagrin.

"don't get hurt again and we'll be good," she finally says. hardly plausible, she knows, given his line of work. still, if she could have her way, lance's health would definitely be one of the things she'd wish for.

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[attr="class","mimi"]mimi certainly doesn't need a cue to reprimand her friend for everything gone wrong during the pirate ambush, but having him actually give her a cue throws her off. she blinks. her countenance darkens. "why are you taking this so lightly?" she fights the urge to take the pillow from behind him and hit him with it. a pillow, she decides, is too soft to get the idea across.

"you have no idea how worried i was, coming here everyday and seeing you there. sometimes feverish, sometimes seeming fine, but never once awake." she'd had a lot of time to think during those visits. often, she'd end up thinking about ava before leaving the hospital. "anyway, sorry i woke you up."

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[attr="class","mimi"]just his expression is enough to make the entire trip worth it, in mimi's eyes. she wants to laugh. he's grumpy and too proud to show it.

"i'm only a lady to you when it's convenient," she half-complains, half-teases. having grown together, their relationship was more of a sister-brother deal, and mimi was perfectly happy with that. that, of course, doesn't mean she'll waste a good opportunity to embarrass him. "aren't you glad a lady is thinking of you to protect her?"

mimi herself is unfazed by the threat of ghosts. really, it's more a promise than a threat. she wants to meet a ghost or two. so she pushes the gate open, creaky from disuse, and urges lance on. the overgrown maze of a garden that the mansion has is their first obstacle. she's grateful she's wearing jeans today.

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[attr="class","mimi"]oh for arceus's sake. mimi was so certain that the man was asleep, that his words scare her almost out of her seat. almost. it's a similar reaction to what one would see when a corpse moves.

"did i wake you up?" mimi asks slowly. for some reason, she suspects he's been awake for a while. she takes a deep breath, trying to compose herself, but the rose tinge on her cheeks refuses to leave. how embarrassing. "i've been waiting to scold you, obviously."

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[attr="class","mimi"]another day, another jogging session.

she realizes it's kind of silly to fly all the way to fallarbor for her morning and evening jogs, but then again it's not like it takes them that long to speed through the clouds. she just liked this route, somehow. the three types of terrain all mixed and compacted in a single route. the uneven nature of all three terrains, which could at times prove a difficult obstacle course.

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[attr="class","mimi"]it started out as a dare.

kids are always trying to prove themselves better than their peers. whether to vye for attention, to try and fulfill the expectations they perceive from their parents, or as a simple, morbid pleasure. mimi was dared to enter the haunted mansion by this kid, who in turn had been dared by another kid. at the time, she couldn't really care less about childish dares, but she thought it'd be funny to dare lance. everyone in the town agreed he'd be the next champion, after all.

as it turns out, neither of the kids earlier in the chain really wanted to enter the mansion for real. kids. therefore, mimi finds herself at the front gate of an old and by all means abandoned mansion in the middle of the woods.

she turns to him. "you wanna do this anyway?"

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mission

[attr="class","mimi"]the door closes behind her, the clicking sound akin to the glub glub sound of a goldeen. her bag makes a soft thud against the night table, while she moves to open the thicker layer of curtains separating them from the sun. a thin, light layer remains unchanged. the windows are huge, as is the room itself. the league does not tighten its belt when it comes to their officers' health, she's come to find over the past few days.

once she's satisfied with the lighting of the room, brighter but not blinding, mimi returns to lance's side. an armchair has been moved from across the room to right next to the bed.

he's asleep. has been every single time she's visited. mimi isn't used to seeing him so still, so silent. she watches over him for seconds, minutes, it all blurs into the next, the eternity that takes him to recover. she's pretty certain that by now she's committed to memory the sharp curve of his nose and the light wrinkles on his forehead. another byproduct of his time dealing with her, he'd probably say.

"when will you wake up, lance?" she mutters. his breathing isn't hard, and his heart beat is slow and calm. these are her only comfort.

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