scientists' POV - before the blizzard
February 1st:
"This snow may become troublesome," Lolita sighed, "if it continues like this."
Green sat in a chair nearby, unresponsive. Not unlike a doll, Lolita noted.
Green had been in this state for days. Weeks. It seemed to get worse and worse as time went by.
The experiment notes on Green that Lolita had obtained from the prison camp in Dissimulo led her mind into various paths, various possibilities of how to fix it and help the girl recover her lost mind. But nothing worked.
It became Lolita's personal mission to find something to save her. It was both bitter and sobering when one day some of Green's hair fell out, as Lolita ran a brush through the strands.
She didn't understand. Everything seemed to spiral down for Green, since encountering her brother if only for a brief moment. Ever since Green came back from Dissimulo... It hadn't been the same. As if something had broken inside. A semblance of normalcy had returned around the end of December, but...
Lolita blinked. Had to refocus her eyes. Even though she managed to avoid going completely blind, she still had some trouble seeing. She was dizzy.
She didn't see Green get up from her seat.
"Hey, Greenie... when this snow clears, we should..."
But she did hear the familiar click of a gun.
"Q, was it?" Holden asked, not shy at all about raising a skeptic eyebrow. This girl- 'Q' as she wanted to be called- just appeared out of nowhere, it seemed. Just suddenly starting showing up, sending messages without knowing it to all the people in Discedo and then crashed her car (how it was still working up till then amazed him) in the forest.
The communicator she had was an older version, upon closer inspection. It had a lot more wear and tear too, that was for sure.
"Yes. Um... Thank you for taking me in. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the snow." Q said, looking at her hands.
Holden just looked at Grendel, a wry look on his face. Grendel avoided his gaze and simply flipped a coin in her hand.
"Yeah, well it was an order from the 'boss,'" Sarcastic quotation gesture not held back.
"Boss?"
Holden's next response was interrupted by an echoing gunshot.