<hr/><strong>Name:</strong>Lilah 'Li-Li' Oliver (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=200832.msg9813377#msg9813377)<br/><strong>Faction:</strong><br/><strong>Date:</strong>5 June, 1871<br/><strong>Time of Day:</strong>late evening<br/><strong>Location:</strong>The Great Maze<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>Jack<br/><hr/>Lilah was dozing and picturing herself in a fancy dress, talking even fancier with a beautiful lady in a grand house, who didn't look at Lilah askance for being Chinese but was inviting her to stay. It was nothing she would ever see in her lifetime but that was the beauty of reading she was finding out. There was nothing about life she wasn't liking in this past year, even the lean times (which was most of the time) because she was with Jack. The nights when he wasn't too tired to read were the best and she had never given much thought to what she was missing before but it was like a kind of magic when he brought those words to life. She looked at a page and saw nothing but a whole lot of funny looking marks but Jack looked at them and could pull out the world. She was suspicious at first that he was just making up yarns as he went along but any time she asked him to read a part over, it was always the same every time so she had to acknowledge that words were actually coming from the page. It was until there was silence that she came back around. She remained still, smiling as he pulled the blanket up around them, listening to him breathe a time or two before she spoke.<br/><br/>"Jack? I might need you to read that last page or so again next time we're readin'," she said softly and gave a little yawn. She was exhausted but as usual her mind wasn't quite so ready to settle down once the reading stopped. Enough time passed that it seemed like she might be asleep before she spoke again. "Old Gerhardt...that fella that's workin down by Lame Horse Creek though ever'body knows it's played out...he came by yesterday begging. I gave 'im the biscuit I was savin' fer lunch but I couldn't give him nothin' else...we barely got what we need. He looked bad though. Somebody oughta check in on him I think."<br/><br/>Again a long silence but again she spoke just as it seemed she might be done. "Know what? I been tryin' to keep track, and I think it was an exact year ago we made our deal. Sure worked out good fer me...I hope you think it worked out good fer you too."<br/><br/>This time the quiet lasted and she was soon drifting off to sleep to dream of places she would never see and grand adventures she would never have but it was a contented sleep none-the-less.<br/>