Scandalous!

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Aeron said as she followed Thana down the street. It was afternoon and the sun was high in the sky over the peaks of the castle in Crocus. The roads were packed with Fiore citizens going about their daily business. The woman with short brunette hair was barely dodging the foot traffic trying to trail after her companion, though that was primarily because the people around them couldn’t actually see Aeron.

Thana, on the other hand, was quite visible - though she looked nothing like she normally did. The sociopath had managed to intercept a job posting that had technically been sent to a local dark guild. “Intercept” in this case meaning that she’d come across a small group of dark mages as they were discussing the job outside the city and decided to steal it for herself after disemboweling the lot for a bit of sport. It had been posted by some politician that was looking for help in ruining the reputation of his rival before the upcoming election. The job was more than a little bit intriguing to her, of course, as Thana rarely passed up a chance to destroy someone else’s life, especially if it was going to make national news.

So, she’d entered the city and spent a couple of days observing the competitors, going to their rallies and getting to know them from afar. It was quickly approaching the prime time to deliver the product, but Thana wanted to meet with the client first to get as much information as she could about her target before following through. Of course, he couldn’t afford to be seen with a random stranger. Thomas Stone was an easily recognizable face right now, and given the name she had made for herself as a mysterious Coming Storm in the dark wizard community it would hardly do to be seen with him openly. Normally these were details that she wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about, but the thought of playing along by these secretive rules seemed fun to her so she chose to go with it for now.

With her magical ability to morph her body, Thana had adjusted her form to turn herself into a copy of one of Thomas’s closest advisors. She’d even gone so far as to steal a business suit to complete the look, and it was in this guise that she intended on meeting with her unwitting client. “Where is your sense of adventure, Aeron?” she asked the grumpier woman, her voice the crisp bariton of the man whose image she’d usurped. “You can’t continue to live your life hiding under a rock. That’s not going to save you.”

Aeron glared daggers at the back of Thana’s head. “How do you know it won’t? It’s worked pretty damn well so far, hasn’t it? We escaped months ago, and they only caught up to us once -- after, I might add, you had gone on a killing spree that drew the attention of the authorities for nearly the entire country of Seven! If we’re caught again, it’s going to be because you can’t keep your fucking head down!”

“Keeping my head down won’t do any good,” the disguised woman retorted. “Do you really want to keep running for the rest of your life? What kind of freedom is that? I say, let them come. Let them find us so we can get rid of them permanently. Then we won’t have to be looking over our shoulders all the time. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“You’re never going to take out the entire cartel. The entire organization is after us, and there’s hundreds more of them than there are of us. I may be living in solitude and paranoia, but at least I’m alive, which I won’t be if you draw too much attention to us!”

“The only one drawing attention to us right now is you with all your yelling at me,” Thana smugly informed her. Sure enough, a lot of people were giving her weird expressions as she passed them on the sidewalk. This of course was less because Aeron was yelling, which they couldn’t hear anyway, and more because the man Thana was posing as appeared to be talking to himself. Still, it was enough to silence the hallucination, who grumbled irritably and shoved her hands in her pockets.

Before long, Thana had made her way to the small diner where she knew her client would be eating lunch that day. Sure enough, Thomas was tucked into a booth on one side of the restaurant, eating a sandwich while flipping through some official looking documents. Leaving Aeron outside, Thana smirked and stepped into the building where she approached the man where he was sitting. “Thomas. May I join you?”

Mr. Stone looked up from his reading and blinked for only a moment in confusion before gesturing to the spot across from him. “Daniel,” he said, shifting the paperwork to make room for the companion. “This is a surprise. I thought you were having lunch with Roger today?”

“Oh, I’m quite sure that’s where Daniel is,” Thana told him as she made herself comfortable. Her voice was low so it wouldn’t carry too far, and she maintained her casual demeanor. The confusion returned to his face. For a brief second, she shifted the color of her eyes back to their normal amber shade, alerting the man subtly that he was not, in fact, speaking with his colleague at the moment. “Stay casual, Thomas. It would not do for you to be seen speaking with a strange mage, now would it?”

As he quickly processed what exactly was happening, she returned her eyes back to green and smiled up at the waitress that came to ask if she wanted anything. “Iced tea and a large BLT. To go. Thank you.”

By the time the other woman left, Thomas had managed to regain his composure. He was a bit stiff in his seat, but it would pass well enough. It really wasn’t any of her concern whether or not he maintained his innocence or not anyway. “Is this about the..?” He left the question hanging, not wanting to speak too much out loud.

“Smart lad. Yes, it is. I was just looking to get a bit more information about the subject. Really anything that you think might be… useful.”

He eyed her carefully, still coming to terms with the unnerving authenticity of her disguise. “How did you make yourself look like that?”

She smirked at him playfully. “Now, now, Thomas. Are you sure you want to know anything about little old me? The more you know, the less you can deny.”

Thomas nodded soberly. “Yes. Yes, you’re right. Forgive me.” The man finally smiled then, an expression that more genuinely looked like he was just chatting with an old friend or close colleague. “Thank you for coming. I was starting to worry that no one was going to respond to my request. What would you like to know?”

“Oh, this and that.” Thana paused as the server returned and placed her glass of tea down, waiting to speak back up until after they had some semblance of privacy again. “Mostly I just need to know a bit about him. I could always go for the most outlandish thing I can think of, but if I do something that’s too ridiculously out of character everyone will suspect its authenticity, which is of no help to you. If you could just give me a few pointers in viable directions, it would be an immeasurable help to us both, I’d wager.”

Thomas stroked his chin in thought while she plopped a straw in her glass and sucked away at the reddish liquid. “Well, anything sex or drug related is always a viable option to ruin any politicians career. People are always willing to believe a sex scandal, though even if you were willing that may be a bit tricky to pull off. He’s got quite a reputation as a family man, so seducing him would be… difficult, to say the least.”

She grinned. “Well, I do enjoy a good challenge,” was all she said for the time being before flicking her tongue back under the straw and returning it to her mouth.

He continued. “You don’t have to just target him specifically, though. Our families are just as big an influence on our reputations as we are. He’s got a wife and kids. Putting them in any kind of compromising position would reflect on him and his ratings. And between you and me, I think his wife is looking for some adventure in her life. Everyone knows she’s been ready for him to retire from the game for years.”

“Interesting… I could certainly work with any of these angles, I think. Anything else?”

The politician gave a little more thought. “Well, he is involved in a number of charities. If some proof popped up that any of them were less than reputable, that would be quite a blow. Though I don’t know how quickly you could organize something like that with the election tomorrow night.”

Thana tapped her chin as she considered it. “It’s a decent option, but frankly I don’t think it would help you as much as you’d like. He could always claim ignorance. Something that directly targets him or the family would be best, I think. What can you tell me about them?”

“I already gave you a bit on his wife. Both his kids are teenagers. As far as I can tell they’re fairly well behaved, but teens are prone to outbursts of rebellion. They’re home schooled, so no one really knows much about them aside from what’s seen in the public eye. Just about anything could be believable with them.”

“What about where they live? Where they’re likely to be at night?”

“I can give you their address. The kids and the wife are usually home most nights, though occasionally she goes with him to meetings and stuff to keep up his good image. He likes to keep himself busy, so usually he’s not home until pretty late at night.”

“I see.” As she finished up her tea, the server returned with the bag that contained the sandwich Thana had ordered. “Well, Thomas, you certainly have given me a lot to think about but I believe I have more than enough to work with. By this time tomorrow, you should find yourself relatively competition free. The only thing I need before I go is my payment.”

Stretching out her arm, she subtly ran it beneath the table where no one else would see it, until she could tap him on the leg. Thomas jumped a little and looked down to find her open, waiting palm. “Yes, of course.” He quickly masked the shock and pulled out his wallet, sure to keep it low so that no one looking their direction would see it. After slipping a stack of jewel into her hand, she pulled the limb back and casually tucked it into a pocket. “Did… you need to count it?” Thomas asked her awkwardly.

Thana smiled at him. “You’ve never done this before, have you? No, I’m quite certain it’s all there. Because if it’s not, you’ll have a lot more to worry about that a campaign rival, won’t you?” The color drained from his face when he realized how easily she could blackmail him, but he nodded. Getting up from the table, she took the bag with her food and gave him one last grin. “Good luck, Thomas. And thanks for lunch.” With that, she walked out of the restaurant, leaving him to pick up her tab.

Later that evening as the sun was going down, Thana found herself camped in a discreet location outside the home of the man called Stephen Goodwill. Aeron had taken off some time ago, opting to go do literally anything other than watch Thana ruin someone’s life. The night before an election mean that Stephen himself was quite busy, and conveniently not home. For that matter, neither were the kids. It was just the wife Lauren that was home relaxing and taking it easy, which was the perfect set up for what Thana wanted. She couldn’t have planned it any better if she’d tried.

The psychopath altered herself into the form of a handsome young man in his mid thirties or so, with dark hair, tanned skin, and bright blue eyes. In this form, she casually walked down the street, whistling and taking her time. A few neighbors had lights on in their homes, and some were even setting out the trash. There were just enough to make sure at least a couple people saw her as she carefully made her way to the back of the Goodwills’ house. From there, she reduced her size down to merely a few inches and flew up into an open window on the top floor. Carefully, she flew around the house to confirm that no one was home but Lauren herself, who was currently sprawled on the couch in front of a large lacrimavision, a glass of wine in her hand.

With a grin, Thana flew over toward the front door and reverted back to her normal size, and then changed her appearance to resemble Stephen. Silently, she pretended to be just arriving home by opening the door just enough that she could close it loud enough for the woman to hear. In the full guise of Mr. Goodwill, Thana strolled into the living room where Lauren looked at him. Surprise etched itself into her face, as well as a slight bit of disappointment that wasn’t masked entirely well enough for Thana not to catch. “You’re home earlier than I expected,” the woman said, looking at the watch on her wrist.

“There really isn’t much more that I can do at this point. By now, the voters have made their decisions and are just waiting until tomorrow to cast them.” Just like earlier, Thana’s voice had changed to match that of Stephen’s perfectly.

“Is that so?” There was a slight bit of suspicion in Lauren’s void as she eyed the man she believed to be her husband. It clearly wasn’t like him very much to say, so Thana knew she was going to have to improvise to make it believable.

Thankfully, she’d already prepared herself for that thanks to Thomas’s insight.

“Yes. Well, mostly…” Like a man that was giving careful thought to what he wanted to say, Thana wasted a bit of time removing her coat and draping it on the back of the couch. After a long enough silence appearing to look troubled, she spoke up again. “Listen. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to some of our previous talks. I know this life hasn’t been ideal for you, and I feel like I don’t thank you enough for sticking by my side despite it.”

Lauren continued to be surprised, though now the expression on her face had shifted away from suspicion and more to just confusion. “Okay,” she said, not really sure where this what leading. “Well, I do appreciate the acknowledgement…”

Thana continued. “I can’t stop at this point. With the election tomorrow, I’ve already put so much work and time and money into this it just wouldn’t make sense for me to quit now. But I think I can put more of a focus on trying to be home and perhaps… make up for it by doing more for you.”

The man’s wife raised a brow, curious and intrigued. “What did you have in mind?”

“Wellllll…” Thana sauntered around the edge of the couch and sat down next to the woman. Leaning in close so their bodies were touching, she lowered her voice and said, “For tonight, I was just thinking maybe it would be a nice treat for me to rebel just a bit. Play hookie the night before the election, when the kids aren’t home, to just have a little alone time with my beautiful wife.”

Reaching up, Thana brushed her finger’s against Lauren’s cheeks, pushing the woman’s blonde hair back past her ear. “That doesn’t really sound too much like you,” the woman said, but Thana didn’t miss the subdued excitement in the woman’s tone. The poor thing had likely been stuck with a dull husband that was little more than a shell of the man he’d used to be in his youth, the one that had excited her and made her fall in love with him. This behavior was something she hadn’t seen in some time, and was quite possibly just enough of a change to hook her in.

The mage smiled at Stephen’s wife with a very real heat in her eyes. This was a dangerous game to the psychotic woman, and the thought of how greatly the lives of everyone in this family were about to be destroyed only made her more eager to do it. There was a fire inside of her that only lit when she was using and abusing people, and the strength of it caught Lauren off guard. “Well, maybe tonight I’d like to be someone different. Someone… better.”

Before the woman could say anything else, Thana pulled Lauren’s face toward her and planted a deep, hungry kiss on her. It only took a few seconds for things to get so heated that Lauren practically dropped her wine glass trying to set it down to free her hands. At this point, the carnality had bubbled up so heavily that Thana was operating on senseless instinct. She scooped the woman up into her arms without pulling away from her mouth and clumsily moved them both upstairs.

By the time they got to the bedroom, Lauren had torn off half of her faux-husband’s clothes. Thana somewhat rudely dumped her on the bed, not giving her any say at all as she pulled the woman’s pants down and flipped her onto her stomach. What followed was an interaction that would put most newly weds to shame as Thana quite literally man handled the other woman, keeping her pinned mercilessly to the bed where she couldn’t see Thana’s face. And in the middle of it, the mage pulled out her iLac and flipped on the recorder -- after silently morphing her body to look like the younger man’s image she had taken on earlier.

Holding the iLac up, she was sure to record several long minutes of dirty deeds without Lauren being any the wiser. By the time it was all said and done, and both women were thoroughly satisfied, Thana quickly reverted back to the form of Stephen before she could get caught. After that, all that was left was to find a way to slip out of the home without confrontation, which was easier than she expected. As Lauren went to relieve herself in the bathroom, Thana threw her men’s clothing back on and flew quietly out one of the windows, only leaving behind a single sock that was conspicuously left near the bed. Turning once more into the vision of the younger, mysterious man, she made sure to hustle a bit suspiciously down the street and out of the neighborhood, where others on the block would hopefully be witnesses to her presence.

The next day, mere hours before the election, a scandalous video went viral on the lacrimanet. Extremely graphic evidence of Lauren’s disloyalty played on just about every social media outlet Thana could upload it to. There wasn’t even enough time to call a press conference to handle the dramatic incident. Stephen’s wife quickly found herself the scorn of the entire capital city of Crocus, and reporters all over the city had flocked to the couple’s home to try and get answers. Most of what they caught was Lauren avidly protesting the event, saying she had slept with her husband only, but several neighbors stepped up to confirm that they had seen the young man from the video sneaking around to the back of the house and then leaving it hastily an hour or so later. That coupled with a mysterious sock Stephen found in the bedroom that didn’t belong to him, and there was plenty of incriminating evidence to utterly decimate the image the Goodwills had of being the picture perfect Fiore family.

Later that night, Thomas Stone was elected as the new head of his district in a landslide of a vote. There was absolutely no competition between the two, as everyone heavily favored the man who wasn’t associated with such degeneracy.

And as for Thana, she could only smile to herself as she closed her iLac after reading the election results. “Another job well done,” she told herself, more than a little pleased. It was time to go reward herself...