It was difficult to look directly at TokyoZombi. Not that she was ugly, exactly. She still maintained many of the features of her beauteous prime—the delicate nose, large eyes, and sultry lips were the same as the pictures sitting on Solastalgia's desk from ten years before. But there was a sort of dissonance about her face. Her skin was the main problem. Although she covered it every day in perfect makeup, her skin was still strangely dry. There was a small wound on her forehead that never seemed to heal—she usually covered it deftly with a stylized curl. The eyes, too, hinted at a horrible truth. They were continually glassy, but possessed a strange intensity all the same. Zorya sometimes thought that they were what blind eyes would look like if they could suddenly see—against their will.

Zorya had seen the woman often enough—carrying coffee to her, idle chat in the elevator, rustling newspapers together in a comfortable silence as they caught up on the day's news. Still, she wouldn't have said they were close. So this was a surprise.

“Do you want the job or not? I'm happy to pay whatever you want.” TokyoZombi was matching Zorya's gaze with the intensity of her own, staring her down from across her desk. Zorya absently picked up a paperweight and turned it over in her hand, pondering the proposition.

“I must apologize, Tokyo. It is a strange request. I have broken into jewelry stores, banks...places vhere valuable things are kept. But never--”

TokyoZombi's eyes narrowed and her voice became harsh. “You think this isn't valuable?! This is of utmost importance to me. I will show you--”

“No, Ms. Tokyo, you misunderstand me. I am not saying is worthless. Just...is strange, yes? I vould be happy to provide my services. You know that I can sneak through the night like a shadow. This laboratory vill not be a problem. Whose did you say it vas?”

TokyoZombi did not seem to even breathe for several minutes as she stared down at Zorya. Finally, she straightened and released the name.

“Mr. Pickles.”

Mr. Pickles.

Tokyo said to Zorya, cringing at the name, but not stuttering her intense look upon the woman in front of her. It was something she couldn't be afraid of. Tokyo was part of the undead, it'd be a little pathetic if she was scared of the monster under her bed or the name Mr. Pickles. She watched as Zorya tucked a piece of brown hair behind her ear, her fingers brushing past her milky flesh. She smelled like wild flowers on a summer's day picnic. Tokyo pushed herself away from the desk separating the two of them.

Zorya. She made Tokyo uncomfortable, besides the way she always smelled like the great outdoors, the girl was always sneaking around. Making her nervous, paranoid. Unless it was the first few days after a feeding, Tokyo was not the quickest. Some may even call her slow. In the walking movement, not the head. Just because she ate brains did not make her brain dead. Back to Zorya and all her swift movements, but Tokyo knew she'd be the best at getting what was needed. 

Strange? Sure. Tokyo could see how it would be strange to follow the treasure map she had been gifted to her when Solastalgia put her in that "home" during the summer months. It wasn't much of a treasure map, but a map to the treasure in Mr. (Dr.) Pickle's secret layer. After Tokyo had woken from the dead, Pickles had kidnapped her before Solastalgia could help her with her the confusion of her new life. The things that "Dr." had done to her. The horror. But what was worse was what he took from her. Her sanity and and something else, something very important. Tokyo knew she was never getting her sanity back, heck, that probably abandoned her while she had still be alive, or not undead. 

So Z, you in?

Zorya nodded slowly and rose to her feet, her shoulders setting back into a military-like posture. "Of course, Ms. Tokyo. I vill just need the blueprints for his building. Any knowledge of discreet entrances or guard patrols vould also be velcome."

Almost immediately, TokyoZombi produced the rolled-up blueprints for the facility. The two pored over them together, discussing the security details of the place. Zorya was impressed with TokyoZombi's knowledge of the place--she seemed to have left no brick unscrutinized in the building. Then again, she always had seemed more of a sit-back-and-take-everything-in type. She probably observed more that Zorya could even fathom. They laid out the plan, but Zorya couldn't help but have reservations. She looked between TokyoZombi and the blueprints in her hands.

"Ms. Tokyo...you have very intimate knowledge of this laboratory. I get the feeling that you vould be a great asset to me if you were to accompany me. I know that you do not enjoy the place, and you...vell, you do not move like you used to, I can tell. But you vould certainly help further this mission if you vere to come along."

Going with was not apart of the plan. She was never suppose to have to go back there. Not even when she needed a check up, she went to a different building for that. It was all the way on the other side of town and she never went alone. A shiver washed over Tokyo's body as she sat perfectly still as she thought about what Zorya was saying. Tokyo understood why Zorya brought it up. She could see how the woman with the strange accent moved her piercing eyes over the paper work and blue prints Tokyo had dragged out from the bag she had under the table.

Z....I don't know if going back to that place would be such a good idea for me...

Tokyo trailed off as her memories flashed back to the person she was the first few years of her undead life. The graveyard she had been buried in sat in the once peaceful valley beneath the hill that Pickle's "house" sat upon. She remembered waking up in the coffin. Remembered punching through the wood of it, digging her way to the surface. One would think it was panic that had motivated her to the fresh air, but it wasn't. It was something much deeper, darker and instinctual. Months later Tokyo realized that that wasn't normal or healthy, but the damage had already been done.

After she had dug herself from the grave and stumbled around the cemetery moaning, stomach growling, flesh decomposing, crows above her head cawing it all felt right. Specially when she shuffled through two large headstones and found Pickles leaning up against another a few feet away, as if he had been waiting for her. She followed him up to his house, his laboratory, the place Tokyo needed Zorya to go. 

Alright Z, I'll come with.

Tokyo lifted her gaze to meet Zorya's eyes. She felt both utter dread and excitement boil deep within her. 

But I can't promise me coming with will make this any easier for you.