I Do Believe In Egos

Hospital, Sweet Hospital

When he heard the knock at the door, followed by a few barks from Chica and Henry, Mark made his way to the door. "Calm down." He hushed the dogs, before opening the door. "Hey." He grinned.

"Hi." Jack forced a small smile, shifting the weight of his bag. "Can we come in?"

Mark glanced over Jack's shoulder at the group of men and nodded, pulling the door open. "How was the flight?"

"Long." Jack yawned, carrying his bag in and set it down before he immediately started petting Chica and Henry. Chica wagged her tail before running off and excitedly dashed around the room. Henry let out a confused bark before running after her. "They're so good."

"Mhm." Mark smiled, his attention shifting to the egos as they trickled in. Dr. Schneeplestein was the last in, assisting another ego who was wearing one of his surgical masks. Mark hesitated, watching this ego carefully in confusion. Purple hair fell down over his face, his eyes a sickening white with dark bags under them. With a groan, the man leaned into the doctor, who seemed to be helping him along. Slowly Mark made his way over to Jack. "Which one is that?"

"Robbie?" Jack turned to watch as the doctor released the man who immediately slumped against a wall and slid down to sit on the floor. "Robbie the zombie..."

"You have a zombie?" Mark rose an eyebrow. "I didn't know you-"

"Not really." Jack cut him off, scratching the back of his neck. "It's... complicated. It was a thumbnail, you know? Just a thumbnail for zombie mode in PUB G. I never even considered him a real ego, and I was honestly really surprised when he first showed up. We don't really decide these things though, do we..."

Mark shook his head. "No. We don't. They do. A thumbnail though? That's a new one."

"Right?" Jack chuckled. "Anyway, he doesn't cause as much trouble as you would expect. Not nearly as much as Anti or Schneep anyway so... it's fine."

"So that's why he looks so rough? He's a zombie?" Mark asked.

Jack frowned, slowly shaking his head. "No... I mean, that's why Schneep gave him a mask. We hoped covering up his rotting mouth would draw less attention... but he's really not been feeling well. I didn't even know zombies could get sick."

Mark nodded, looking over the rest of them. "Dr. Iplier rented a house."

"He has that much money?" Jack rose an eyebrow.

Mark chuckled. "Let me rephrase. I rented a house that Dr. Iplier found."

Jack smiled. "That makes sense."

"Anyway, he turned it into a make-shift hospital. We're going to keep all the egos there. He turned the different rooms into different wards. I think he was thinking of separating them by level of illness just in case it is a contagious thing... but I don't understand how it would have spread across an ocean." Mark shrugged. "They might need our help preparing meals and getting supplies. It's these times when I wish Chef Iplier had showed up at some point."

Jack laughed, patting Mark's shoulder. "That's what you need. MORE of them."

Chuckling Mark turned. "How have you been by the way?"

Jack shrugged, then hugged him. "Right, we didn't do the whole... hello thing. I mean, I've seen you more recently than I usually have when we eventually get together."

Mark patted his back before the hug broke, and nodded. "And I feel like we've done better at keeping in touch."

"Yeah, you HAVE to talk to me, I'm your business partner." Jack smirked.