Shilo had been gone, away from her home, for about nearly a year. She'd traveled quite a bit, and had seen things that she'd only ever dreamed of. She didn't allow herself to think about her father, or even her mother.. but everything had to be brought to the surface eventually. Once she was ready to face everything that had happened that night at the opera house, she made her way back home. She decided to stay as far away from GeneCo as possible. It caused nothing but pain for her family. She never once regretted her decision as far as inheriting the company went. She wanted nothing to do with any of it. 

Her first stop would be her mother's tomb, but for the moment, she was roaming through the cemetery, staring at tombstones that held the names of so many people who's lives were stolen thanks to the Repo Man. The whole time it was her father doing the dirty work. She was prepared to stumble across his grave eventually.. He never made arrangements to be buried along with his beloved wife, so he was likely to be in this very cemetery. Everything felt the same as it had since the last time she was there.. the same, only if possible, slightly darker. 

It had been one year since the very last Genetic Opera had taken place, and yet nothing had really changed for Graves. He had maintained his general habits of squatting in empty buildings, and selling street Z to attempt to make a living. GeneCo had almost dissolved since that fateful night, and the police had gotten lax, making it easy to harvest Z from the dead.

He had taken up residence in the old victorian looking house near his favorite cemetery, as all of the past inhabitants were either dead, or had been missing since the night of the opera. It made it easy to travel from his favorite hunting grounds back to where he was staying and vice versa. This particular night he was out harvesting, using some of the bodies that weren't quite decayed yet to harvest Z from, when he heard the crunch of shoes on the gravel path. Graves swore under his breath and ducked behind a particularly large headstone, his eyes watching for whoever was in the cemetery.

Shilo remembered the first time she'd found her way in to the cemetery. She had met a grave robber, who made his living by selling Zydrate that he'd gotten from corpses. She wondered if he was still continuing with his work.. if others had been doing the same. It was a risky thing to get in to, but she suspected that things had changed enough that it was possible to get away with it even more now. What all -had- changed though? Was there a new Repo Man? There was certainly a new face for Gene-Co, which she knew because of the several billboards that were showing her face. It was different than what she had remembered, but there was no doubting that the pretentious look belonged to Amber Sweet.

Shilo's eyes narrowed before she glanced back to a tombstone she had been passing by. The sound of someone several feet away from her coaxed Shilo to investigate. What she saw, was someone inside of a grave that looked to be freshly dug. Sure enough, it was the same Grave robber who had, more or less, befriended her. "Still in the business?" She asked in a cool, emotionless tone. 

The sound of feet kept coming closer, and Graves began thinking of several escape plans before the figure loomed over the hole he was hiding in. He narrowed his eyes to try and see the face above him, and when he finally recognized her he looked a bit stunned, before maintaining his usual calm and composed character.

"Kid? Is that you?" He climbed out of the grave effortlessly, before turning to get a better look at her. Yup, that was the same kid, Shilo or whatever her name was. "You're back."

Shilo had been through way too much to ever be considered a 'kid', but she would allow Graves, and only Graves, to call her that. "I am.. and you're still here," she observed, walking closer to the edge of the grave where he had been standing. She was honestly happy to see him. So happy that she wanted to fling her arms around him and hug him.. she hadn't hugged anyone in a very, very long time..but she was a little timid around, well, anyone right now. "I couldn't run forever, could I?" She asked, glancing in the direction of her house. "I wanted to see if they were wrong when they said you can't go home again.."



Her voice drifted off as she thought of having been a prisoner in her own home for seventeen years, thinking that she had a blood disease..she also wondered how she expected to live there again and still be sane. Luckily for Shilo, she was able to block the past easily. She then turned her attention to Graves once more. "I'm glad to see a friendly face." She admitted finally.

He shrugged. "I've been running most of my life. It's never stopped me." He watched her carefully. It was strange, she still seemed to fragile, and so lost, and so tiny. "You can always go home again." He followed her gaze and remembered that he should probably tell her that he had been squatting in her house for a year. "However, sometimes home is a little different than you think." When she turned back to him he gave a soft smile. "Hey, it's good to see you too kid."

Home certainly was different than she thought.. and that's what she was afraid of. "So how much has it all changed?" She asked, moving to sit on top of one of the tombstones. "Are there more repo men? Or has Gene-Co gone in a completely different direction?" There were a billion questions that she wanted to ask, and Graves was the only person she had now to talk to.

In fact, even though he likely didn't realize it, he was the only person in the world that she had at all now. Both her parents were dead, her god mother was dead.. everyone who had ever cared about her was gone. 

He gave her a small smile as he busied himself with what he did best. Another body, another dose. "The repo men have been all liquidated." Graves looked up at her. "Which is a step in the right direction if you ask me." He busied himself with gathering his supplies out of their case. "I was talking about your home though, where you lived." He returned his gaze to her once more. "I have been squatting there, since I assumed you were not going to return any time soon."

Shilo was relieved to find out that the repo men were a thing of the past, but she was snapped out of her thoughts by Graves mentioning that he had been squatting in her childhood home since she had just taken off with no sign of returning. "Oh..well, I guess that's alright. I haven't been using it.. at least it hasn't been completely abandoned." She took a deep breath, and folded her arms over her chest. "It's a big house. I don't mind sharing it." She'd been alone for quite some time, and maybe having company in the big empty house was something that she needed.



Not to mention, maybe having Graves in the house would get rid of some of the negative energy that remained in there from when her father was still alive. Memories that she would happily bury in that cemetery.

He had returned his attention to the body in front of him, thankfully, as his eyes had widened at her little admission. "You would be willing to share your home with a man you barely know?" He looked up at her and smirked as he worked from muscle memory, slamming the needle of his syringe into the dead man's skull. "You've turned out to be quite the little rebel kid."

He pulled back slowly, smirking when the vial filled with the glowing blue liquid. "Perfect."

Shilo noticed that he seemed to be surprised that she'd be willing to share her home with a complete stranger.. the thought extracted a small snort. "If you want to get really deep, I spent my whole life in a house with a man I barely knew." Her father had a double life that she didn't know anything about. She knew her father, yes, but she didn't really know Nathan.. not at all. 

When Graves shoved the syringe in to the dead man's nostril, she winced and looked away. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that..." She muttered. He mentioned that she had turned out to be a little rebel. She gave him a sideways glance and a small grin. "You're only now just noticing that? You're the one who found me rebelling before.. A couple of times. Anyway... my home is your home. I'd never dream of kicking out a squatter. Are.. you the only squatter?" 

Her words didn't surprise him so much this time. It was true, her entire life had been a lie practically, one that her father had forced upon her. He felt bad for the kid, but he wouldn't let that show too much. "You do have a point there." He said simply as he continued to watch the vial. Once it was filled he unscrewed it from the syringe and placed it in one of the deep pockets in his coat.

"Luckily for you, you will never have to get used to it kid." He stood and kicked the body back into the shoddily dug grave it had been in before. "As for the number of squatters I'm the only one." He packed up the rest of his supplies and placed that within his coat as well. "What, afraid my little harem had taken up residence in your home?"

Shilo wasn't sure if she hated it when he called her 'kid', or if she enjoyed it. She was never able to really be a kid, so perhaps she found it a little more endearing than anyone else would have at her age. "I'm far from being a kid anymore, by the way..but I appreciate the sentiment." Her lips held a small ghost of a smile that tugged painfully at the corners of her mouth. She had forgotten how to truly smile. 

"Maybe I do have to get used to it.." she mused, watching him kicking the body back in to the grave. Moving away from that topic that she'd think about later, she addressed her concerns about any other possible squatters. "Well that's good to know that i'll only have one roommate.." He mentioned his harem and she teasingly quirked a brow. "So you admit you have a harem." Of course he did..she figured that she had met those...ladies.. that night in the ally. "You got your Zydrate.. I should leave you to the rest of your work. I'll be at home.. I won't wait up." 

Graves chuckled. "You're still a kid, compared to me, sides I'm terrible with names." He shrugged. "Easy to not need them when all you do is work with the dead." He placed a hand in his pocket and felt for the zydrate vials. Ten already, that would be enough to get him through at least a couple of days.

He shrugged when she mentioned the harem again. "I only use them to make a living off of, nothing more." When she mentioned returning home he cocked his head to the side. "You shouldn't go home alone. I've picked this place clean for the night. I'll return with you."

She felt herself scrunching up her nose when he mentioned that compared to him she was a kid.. she didn't see that way..but it was his prerogative. She lifted up her chin, as though it would somehow make her look more adult. She did have a bit of a young girl vibe about her still. Although the way he spoke of his 'harem' made her feel a little bit of relief. She played it off as a relief that they wouldn't be showing up at all hours of the night. She highly doubted that his customers knew where he was living..he didn't exactly seem the type to sell Zydrate from the same place that he called squatting home. "Oh?" She asked innocently. "Well..I always thought you and Amber Sweet had a..thing.." But she guessed they had just been using each other. 

Another wave of relief washed over her when he offered to escort her back home. She didn't want to go in there alone..she wasn't ready yet. "Okay," she gave him another small smile, and she started to walk toward the direction of the large house. The memories started flooding back in to her mind..the most prominent being the night she found out exactly who her father was..the night that he died. The night she was freed. Other memories came back too.. both good, and bad. By the time the two of them reached the door, she had relived a lifetime of memories. "Home sweet home.." she muttered as she reached and opened the door. 

It was time for Shilo to get past her childhood. This was her home now..and she would make new memories in it. Her own memories.