Haunted Theme Park

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 4, Post Number 99

-Near the Haunted Guild-

Dressed in a navy blue long-sleeved shirt with matching cargo pants and black boots, Diana walked through the area to the left of the Haunted Guild with Suppressed Assault Rifle in hand, stepping past a deceased zombie lying on the soft dirt. The blonde had already had to dispose of more than a few walking corpses who made the mistake of thinking her to be easy prey. She was killing all the zombies she could find to secure the area for herself and her partner, Sakura Kisagami. During a brief break in the hunt Diana stopped near what was left of a rickety wooden fence that looked like it would collapse in the next stiff breeze and listened to her surroundings. She could hear the soft rustle of grass all around her while a cold breeze moved her hair around.

Diana also heard more moaning carried on the wind as well as faint screaming coming from the dilapidated Haunted Guild hall that was located about 300 meters from her present location. However, her mission tonight did not involve venturing into the Haunted Guild hall. Instead, she and Sakura were to investigate a haunted theme park that had been tracked to this area and return alive to tell the client of what they found within the park.

It was rumored that anyone who ventured into the park never returned alive. The reason for that was the rumor that the park grounds were infused with a dark magic that prevented visitors from ever leaving once they set foot in the park. Diana and Sakura endeavored to be the first people to enter the park and return alive. The blonde heard moaning coming from a good distance behind her and turned around, spotting a zombie dressed in green hunting attire with a huge bite taken out of his outstretched right arm as well as the right side of his neck. Diana aimed her weapon at his forehead and fired a single suppressed shot that punched through its skull and dropped the walking corpse to the dirt.

Where was Sakura?

Diana did not know. Sakura was supposed to be right behind her, but maybe she had just gotten off to a slow start and was still back at headquarters. The blonde would continue to thin out the area's undead inhabitants while waiting for her job partner and mentee to arrive. She thought that she could hear carnival music drifting from the woods surrounding the Haunted Guild, but she did not know for certain. She would wait until Sakura got here before exploring the area any further.

[Post Word Count: 440]
[Diana's Word Count: 440/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 440/7,000]

Pondering could be the best way to place the place where the doll was. It definitely was not her best placed time to decide to be lost in mental thought, but she was far from in danger. With no pun intended for where she had been, the grunting noises of the undead howling and grunting as they tried to climb into the pond in which she had been sitting on. Rightfully so, the slayer only watched in silence as the rattling sound of gunfire was heard in the distance. She wasn’t really being much of an observer staying out on her lonesome on these kinds of jobs. Not after she was tasked with following some orders, but at least some of these undead things were away from her. The water in which these zombies had tried to get to her wasn’t too deep by normal standards, but Sakura would have issues trying to get to the deepest point where she sat.

It helped to have experience in using water magic. Sitting on top as though she were on solid ground gave her headway over the creatures wanting to dine on her flesh... or what thy could only assume was it. Normally, it would be amusing to watch them push through the water, but all in all, her mind was elsewhere. Trapped in the bubble of Medeia... Thinking back to their encounter was morale sucking, almost in a vampiric sense. However, she continued on to want to move past this. Sure, this woman could call at any time for her... but in her defense, she was in the middle of something to which could not be helped. Now however, the few chasing after her were in the water and right where she wanted, it was time to get rid of them.

The doll stood up from her seat on the water and proceeded to walk to the waters edge by the land, stepping in and turning her head. She carried no emotion either way on this. A fin began to circle around the group of undead before a shark made of water, one which in the moonlight shun a hue of the rainbow flew up several feet in a twisting flip and crashed down on top of them, creating a loud bang and splashing sound that could be heard for at least half of the distance in the park. ”Just goes to show you. Shark week is better than any water park whale.” Her tone was cold, more than usual. Perhaps from the lack of focus on this job. But now was not the time for sulking. That could come later.

Small spaces and small areas that which she could sneak through made things much easier for her to be able to search for Stiletto. She had to apologize to her for getting separated from her as this job was vastly different than her last. This was a job in which her guild was to be known about it. Not so much that she was publicly going to be worried, but the information would surely be collected by them and for that alone, she needed to keep her head in the game. It was in that moment of thought that she had squeezed through a small area and found the blonde mowing down others with her weapon. She never could understand the appeal of guns, but without a second thought, a beam of light would fire from an open palm, blasting off several zombies coming for Stiletto. The doll simply nodded and walked over toward her job partner and giving a light bow. ”I’m sorry about splitting like that. It’s.. not like me. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently and I picked a bad time to disassociate from you and the job. I won’t let it happen again.” Unsure if the apology would carry any weight, it was always worth the effort. ”If you want to lose them for a little bit, there’s a decently sized tent not far from here we can go hide in and take time to regroup and move in.” She pointed toward the north east, being the only tent around that one could see in easy seeing distance, she hoped Stiletto would be willing to take the offer.

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Diana had been so busy looking for Sakura that she had neglected to check behind her for some more of the local shamblers out for a nighttime snack. Fortunately her partner picked that moment to announce her arrival with a blast of light that disintegrated a gaggle of walking corpses before they could reach the blonde. Diana was glad to see her partner, who was the doll-like girl from the meeting at headquarters several days ago. The blonde lowered her weapon and paused to look at the youth, who was a good foot and six inches shorter than herself. The doll-like girl bowed and apologized to her for splitting away from the more experienced mage... Diana did not feel anger or indignation at the other girl.

Instead, she was just glad that Siren was all right.

Stiletto was supposed to be a stoic contract killer who only cared about completing the job. Instead she worried about a new mage like she was Stiletto's own sister.

Why was Stiletto getting soft now?

"It is fine, Siren. I am glad that everything turned out all right." Stiletto accepted the apology. She found herself thinking back to her oldest sister Lucia's porcelain doll collection and how Siren looked like one of them. Siren reminded her of the dolls perched in a display case in Lucia's room. The ivory skin, the bright eyes, the immaculate hair and clothing... everything about Siren was bringing back memories.

Diana snapped out of it when she heard moaning that grew closer and closer. There were more shamblers nearby who had found the two mages and wanted to have them for dinner. Diana could see them swaying and slowly staggering through the thick grass a short distance from the woods with an unsteady gait imposed by rigor mortis and compounded by the effects of decomposition. The blonde took it upon herself to clear those closest to them out of the way so that they would not have too many unwanted followers when they got to the park.

Using her night vision mode to make out nine zombies staggering in the distance, Diana aimed her Suppressed Assault Rifle in their direction and began to pick off those closest to them and those cluttering the path to the park. Diana went to picking them off with single shots to the head... Siren could hear the whisper of death as the suppressed rifle did its work. Zombie after zombie went down until the path to the park was clear of all nine zombies. Hearing a soft raspy moan from behind, Diana then spun around and killed another one who had managed to shuffle unnoticed to a distance of eight feet behind her with a Three-Round Burst to the head.

"You say that there is a tent where we can take shelter? Lead the way. I will follow and provide cover." Stiletto commanded Siren. Stiletto wanted to get to the park before they had to fight what seemed to be the entirety of the Cursed Lands' zombie population.

[Post Word Count: 518]
[Diana's Word Count: 958/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 1,672/7,000]

Strange... she really didn’t expect Stiletto to say something like that to her. Honestly, she didn’t really expect her to say much at all. This was the same woman who remained absolutely silent during her initiation into the guild, so it was safe to say that anything she spoke about or in any length of time would be new for her. It didn’t really make this any worse though. If anything, this was going to be more fun in the long run. But the genuine way she had thanked her felt a little more sincere than she had thought it should have. In other words, she didn’t expect to have the blonde be as vocal as she was.

It was almost a miracle to her that she didn’t feel intimidated by the gun near her either. She knew a number of people were terrified of them for a number of reasons both small and large. Her own mother was one of them. Having been mugged when Sakura was younger had made her very skeptical about being on the streets after certain hours. Plus in having to assure care over the at the time sick daughter wasn’t much of a help either. And yet, for what mafias had usually stood for in life and in one that she’d even been a part of, only one person ever used a gun that she could recall. Sadly, the name escaped her too quickly, but surely the girl would come to memory soon enough. The topic of guns was always a hard thing to talk about in her house... always.

The groaning sounds of the undead approaching caught not only her attention, but it had also seemed to have gotten Stiletto’s as well. The gun toting trooper fired off accurate shots like they were nothing and dropped them like the flies that flew around their rotting corpses. Giving a small nod, she had turned and began to move off towards the tent where she had mentioned for her to lead her to. Very quickly, (for a doll anyway) she ran off in the direction of the intended tent. Very few undead had been crawling around this part as well, which one made talking much easier to do as well.

Each shot that Stiletto fired would gently startle her at first, but once she was used to it, the reactions stopped completely. Not being used to them made it a little harder to do so, even in somewhat dire situations. Just as the reached the tent, small transparent glow would begin around Sakura’s body and a mirrored image of herself would split off, running down the road while the other ran in the tent. The one on the outside began to dart off at much higher speeds, luring zombies alike after her. Once inside, she would pull on a rope fixture that would close the tent cover and leave them in a dimly lit space, but it was safe for now. ”You can rest for a moment, if needed. Check your Ammunition’s, etc.” Walking awayy from the cloth cover, she would sit down nearby the blonde, just relaxing for a moment. ”You’re pretty good at that thing. Where’d you learn to shoot?” She asked, wanting to make a little idle conversation while she got her stuff together and recovered from any adrenaline rushes or low amounts of stamina she may have had.

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With no time to waste on niceties such as debating who was really in charge of the mission, Stiletto quickly followed Siren, who could run surprisingly fast for a... doll?

Was Siren actually a doll?

The blonde put that out of her mind and followed her smaller partner before she lost sight of the latter. It did not take long to catch up with her partner, who had guided her to a tent that would do for a temporary shelter. However, there was still the issue of dealing with their unwanted followers, who despite the difference in speed were still doggedly shambling after the two mages. Thankfully Siren had already anticipated that problem and was working to resolve it.

Stiletto dispelled her weapon and watched as Siren emitted a translucent light just before a copy of herself split off from the original and continued to run down the road while the real Siren ducked into the tent. Stiletto got over her admiration for the ploy and followed the doll-like mage into the tent before it was closed off from outside view. The pair would be safe here... at least long enough to come up with a viable plan of action.

-Inside the tent-

Stiletto's night vision mode allowed her to see through the gloom and see Siren perfectly. She recalled the smaller mage asking how the blonde had become such a good marksman. The blonde took a moment to catch her breath, then came up with an answer that was technically true.

"I had a lot of practice hunting animals when I was younger." Stiletto explained succinctly. What she left out was that the blonde sometimes hunted animals that moved about on two legs. People like human traffickers and criminal gangs who killed entire families for fun and profit likely qualified for the term "animals." It was not like Stiletto had the moral high ground, but she felt that at the end of the day she was still better than them.

[Post Word Count: 338]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,296/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 2,727/7,000]

It didn’t seem so bad at first, running around in this small frame really. She wasn’t as fast as she was a kid, but at least her light weight let her move a decent speed for having really no muscles to help propel her forward and push ahead. At the same time, she really wasn’t in the very same state of mind for the notion of needing to stop and catch her breath or feel the burning muscle of the workout in running. The lack of cardio or exercise in it of itself was something she wouldn’t really miss. But, it wasn’t like she didn’t when she was doing dance routines in her spirit form. That... that was hell on earth. Though her happy, cheerful face helped her get through each practice she did in their studio in her off time, so it wasn’t so bad after all.

While she did sit by Diana’s side, the doll couldn’t help but pull her dress up. She began inspect her leg joints by her knees then further up toward her waist. It was easy to tell she had no tone or muscle in her legs at all. Much less having really anything else. ”Ok good, the ball joints didn’t detach from the sockets this time.” She spoke in a low tone, not so much trying to mask it. She didn’t plan to maid a scene either as though to make it as though she was vying for attention. ”I’m sorry if that was a little rude of me to just hike my dress up like that.... I try to be more courteous. But I couldn’t afford this to happen if we got ambushed and had to make a quick run. Physical activities are far from a doll’s strong point.” She laughed, humoring herself mainly.

As Stiletto had replied to the question in which Sakura asked her about her marksmanship, she mentioned being a huntress of sorts. Possibly having to fend for her dinner in the Wild was fascinating. Horrible, but some people preferred the simplicities in life and she was one to be more inclined to support it. ”I hope it isn’t rude to ask, but did you have to ever shoot anyone? Well... more so anyone you saw was threatening towards you or another?” Her voice was curious much like a child, but once it hit her, she waved her hands back and forth in a dismissive manner. ”I’m sorry I’m sorry! I should be asking about personal information like that... I was just thinking small talk would help pass the time. Please forgive me, ma’am. It won’t happen again.”

A small giggle made her look up from herself and away from Diana. The sound wasn’t so much am aloud sound, more mental than anything. A small rustling of brush had gotten her to jump a little in the surprise, until she noticed the small bush sitting in the middle of the room. A look resembling “are you serious?” showed on her face without any doubt and she just shook her head. ”Russet, what are you doing?” She asked the bush, one which shedded its leaves and left not branches and roots, but a small fox cub wagging its tail about in a playful manner. ”Aww, Miss. Sakura! You’re no fun!” He replied, sitting down in a manner similar to a domesticated dog or cat. ”I told you today not to use that name. It’s Siren while on jobs that I can use your help in. This is Stiletto, my uh.. I guess handler would be a good way to put it in a scenario like this?” She looked over to the blonde, the questionable look on her face apparent. ”Stiletto, this is my companion, Russet. He’s been taking all smaller routes around to help us survey around. He speaks through telepathy, so he won’t attract any attention speaking louder than we are.” The doll would reach over, petting the fox on the head as he got closer to the pair. ”Aaaand connected! Hi there, Miss Stiletto! It’s nice to meet you! So, did you name yourself that because you like to shove a heel so far up someones’s-”

”Russet!” She yelled out in a whispering tone, making the playful little fox giggle and laugh like a playful child, picking up the wagging of his tail. ”Miss Siren is always fun to play with! I hope we can play together too, Miss Stiletto!”

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Diana was listening out for any zombies who were not fooled by Siren's duplicate when she saw her partner Siren casually pull her dress up. Diana turned away but saw the ball joints on her partner's legs in enough detail to confirm what she had suspected earlier... Siren was a living doll. Diana set aside the brief and accidental flashing the doll had performed and focused on the present.

"It is fine. Again, I am glad that you are all right." Diana said to the youth, accepting the explanation given to her without criticism. Diana knew from looking at her oldest sister's doll collection that dolls were not exactly made for athletic endeavors like long-distance running. Most dolls were made for collectors to keep on shelves or in special cases. She did not know the circumstances behind Siren's becoming a doll and it was not her place to ask. Siren asked Diana a question about her life and the blonde did not flinch from it.

"Yes, Siren. I have had to shoot people before. Several months ago I took down a serial killer in Hargeon Town who was terrorizing the port town. I once tracked down and eliminated criminals who murdered a tailor and his entire family, including the children. I have also acted on behalf of the authorities when they outsourced some work." Diana told Siren truthfully, her eyes meeting the doll's. The blonde decided to be truthful with her partner concerning whether she had killed people before because part of her wanted to trust someone in the guild. Diana did her best to make the world a little bit safer and target only those who really needed to be eliminated, but once the niceties were stripped away she still killed people for money and did other unsavory things for her clients. There was no way to whitewash that unpleasant reality.

"I am not upset with you, Siren. You probably did not want me to learn that you were not entirely human, so I see it as a sort of trade." Diana said to her partner, choosing to ignore the implication that she would harm Siren if the latter ever asked about her personal life again.

Why was the blonde getting soft all of a sudden?

Was Siren working her magic on Stiletto?

Or was Stiletto tired of wearing a mask all the time?

Diana's thoughts were interrupted by rustling from the bushes. She raised her fingers towards the source of the noise and focused pale blue magic into her index and middle fingers, ready to fire a Spirit Drain Beam at the intruder and end the threat. Diana looked down and saw that the intruder was only a fox, a fox who somehow knew Siren. Diana canceled the spell and listened to the two converse, learning that Siren's real name was "Sakura."

Diana also learned that the fox was named Russet and that he had been scouting paths on Siren's behest to get the lay of the land. She learned that Russet could communicate telepathically without others being able to eavesdrop on him, which was a useful ability for their line of work. She was not quite sure what to make of Russet since she had never encountered a telepathic fox before, but Russet seemed friendly enough. The blonde decided to be cordial to her partner's four-legged partner.

"It is nice to meet you, Russet. Perhaps we can work together now and in the future." Diana said to the friendly fox.

[Post Word Count: 609]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,905/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 4,078/7,000]

She couldn’t help herself but to smile at Stiletto as she had mentioned that she was glad to which the doll was alright. It felt like a genuine statement, but perhaps she was enthralled with her previous encounter to honestly, really be able to buckle down on her ability to read people like she could. But, she refused to with guild members that she didn’t have to. Those whom were defensive or avoiding things from her specifically were among those, but Stiletto, her guide or mentor even. She felt like an older sister of sorts in the way she had been acting. Sadly, as an only child, she couldn’t imagine how that personally was, but the signs were easy to read.

Though reading people who could mask them or even present fake ones were the tougher cookies. And if they were tough, Stiletto’s could chip some teeth. After enough time of doing it, it simply becomes habit to just look over people and know who’s doing what or who’s trying to hide things. Though she was far from a professional, she would certainly continue to learn. What she could tell though is through all that was told to her, Stiletto had no remorse for the acts she committed and hearing the reasons, neither did Sakura. ”Well, that’s unfortunate for them. I feel bad for the families that suffered though...” Despite where she was in the world, she carried little compassion for some and seemed to be more heartfelt for others. More than she originally thought.

Her attention averted down to her legs and dress before they came back to Stiletto. She apologized about knowing she was a doll? The apology honestly made her giggle a little, waving it off. ”You don’t have to apologize, Stiletto. It’s not a secret I hide. I simply wear the dresses because I frankly don’t like them showing. It’s nothing too detrimental, and I can get over a couple parts showing, makes them look more prosthetic than they would toy like.” She would pull down the sleeve like gloves over her elbows, showing them before pulling them back and just getting a good, small laugh out of it. ”I appreciate your honesty though. It means a lot to me. I know we are supposed to be a place that is built on lies, but some obvious truths never hurt, am I right?” She could be wrong, she wasn’t so sure though.

Once Stiletto and Russet has been introduced, the fox walked over to the doll and say himself down across her lap. He let out a small sigh and licked his front paws each a couple times. ”So, I did what you asked and took a look around. This place is really freaking creepy, Miss Siren.” The fox cub had pointed a paw towards the hole in the tent that led into an equivalency of a black hole. ”I went around and there’s a couple places worth checking out, but I didn’t see anything but zombies. The whole north side is barren of them around the hall of mirrors and the merry-go-round, but uh... those creepy noises were the loudest there. I hitched on the first big breeze and darted out of there there like no tomorrow.” He pounced up, his paws pushing on her legs and the doll simply looking down curiously as he spoke to them both. ”I believe you two ladies have what it takes!”

If Russet had been good for a couple things more than he let on, his best was geography. Though perhaps that was a perk of being mixed with a Dryad? The story of this adorable cub was fully a mystery to her. All she had known was what he wanted to tell her and from someone in Sakura’s position, she was content with that. ”Well what do you think, Stiletto?” She asked, looking up to the blonde. ”Should we split up and take one each or would you prefer to stick together? It’s your call.” Giving a confident nod, she was willing to go with whatever orders were given. She trusted the woman’s instincts and was hardly worried about injuries.

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Stiletto had taken everything about the mission in stride so far. She had fought zombies before, so they were not mythical beings who were nigh-invincible. They were just slower-moving human corpses who went down with a single headshot just like the living humans they used to be. She had survived a visit to Sombras Manor barely three days ago, so she was not particularly frightened by odd sounds in the dark. However, the blonde had never worked with a doll for a teammate or encountered a fox who could speak human language before.

Working with Siren made the blonde think about a lot in her life, a lot that she had not thought about in a long time. The younger mage was saying a lot of things that made the blonde think. One of those words was "families."

Stiletto had felt no remorse for the trash she had cleaned up like Abdul and Mr. L'argesse the human traffickers, but she suddenly felt something resembling remorse for the hapless people her parents had marked for death simply for being business competitors. This was no time to have a breakdown. She and Siren were in an unknown park ground with no way of knowing the exact nature of their opposition. Siren was counting on the senior mage to get them through this place alive and able to deliver the information to the client.

"I do not mind being honest at all, Siren. There is not much use in lying about what I do." Stiletto said calmly, hiding a small bit of inner turmoil that threatened to bubble to the surface and destroy the mask that had been carefully crafted over years of being a contract killer.

Stiletto sidelined the awakening of her long-dormant emotions and focused on what Russet had told them about the opposition he had seen on his recon run. A small army of zombies occupied a good deal of the park except the north side that hosted the hall of mirrors and the merry-go-round, where the creepy noises were the loudest. After learning that the ball was in her court.

Would they split up to explore the park separately or would they stay together to explore the park?

"We will stick together. We do not know if there are bigger threats besides zombies lurking in the park." Stiletto replied with confidence. It had been proven that both mages could easily defeat the zombies, but what if there were other threats like vampires or ghosts or even magically improved zombies who were once mages? The blonde thought it prudent for them to stay together for mutual protection. Besides, it was not just her life that was on the line out here. Siren's life was in danger too.

[Post Word Count: 472]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,377/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 5,243/7,000]

The dolls eyes moved around the body and face of the blonde teacher of hers. She wasn’t so sure that she was letting out everything that she wanted to, however that wasn’t so sure to be a good idea to really jump into at this moment. In a hostile area as they were, certain emotions were a detriment to the safety of their cover, and the longer they stayed here, the more likely at some point they would be caught. If at any cost, they should try and run off as soon as they could and get to the north end as Russet suggested. Why the north end was so empty the slayer really had no idea, but it was worth exploring. If he were right, they could figure out this phenomenon and then head off as soon as possible. The quicker the better at this point...

As Sakura stood up from her seat on the ground, ready to take off, the comment over her not lying got her to thinking. ”Well then, why not after our work is done, you and I go somewhere and talk? Just you and I, a nice pot of tea or some coffee if you prefer, and we just sit and chat.” The offer went both ways. If Stiletto wanted to come clean to someone, then maybe it was time Sakura did the same. Few people knew, but that was through either duress, anger, or a genuine upset rule of her emotions. If she should be able to sit down and get it off of her chest with a calm, honest demeanor for a change, she could further accept it. After all, she was lucky enough to not be solely stuck within this form, and for that alone she was thankful.

With the given command choice to stick together, the doll nodded and smiled towards Stiletto. ”Yes, ma’am! Russet!” She paused and looked around for the Fox, but he was gone. A smell would soon permeate the tent. A burning smell. Was something one fire? Soon after that, the fox scurried into the tent, huffing lightly. ”Miss Siren! Miss Stiletto! I caused a distraction for you two. We have only another minute before the fire extinguishes itself, so hurry!” She didn’t even ask, only walking over to poke her head out and see a horde of zombies crowded around a fire. Popping back in the tent, she gave a nod to the blonde before she took the lead in heading out of the tent. Being that she was the smaller of them, Stiletto could catch up in no time.

It wouldn’t be long before they would reach the north side. Before them stood the two aforementioned places; the merry-go-round, and the hall of mirrors. With a small sigh, she just stood there, unsure of which direction would be the better choice. ”Ms. Stiletto, you take the lead. Wherever you want to start, I’ll be right behind your lead.” She didn’t really have much idea where to go. This was a bit of a learning experience for her.

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After listening for any zombies who had ignored the illusionary doll diversion and had tracked the mages to their temporary shelter, Stiletto listened to Siren's offer to talk with the latter over a pot of tea or coffee. The blonde was adamant that she would take every detail of her sordid deeds to the grave, but at the doll's offer she found herself wavering. For a moment the blonde felt a sense of something that almost qualified as a connection with the youthful mage in front of her. Then she remembered something.

She was in a guild of contract killers.

Some of its members were ambitious enough to try and climb the ladder by throwing others off of it.

Why was Stiletto so reluctant to trust Siren?

She was looking for a human connection to keep her in the guild. It was standing right in front of her, looking her in the eyes, and making an offer with no strings attached. What was Stiletto so afraid of?

Siren.

She could be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

No matter how innocent the doll-like mage looked, Stiletto would have to be wary of her. The senior mage's paranoia was threatening to get the better of her and destroy something that she wanted, which was a human connection. She wanted something tangible, something besides a cold, impersonal contract to keep her with the guild she called home. The offer was right there and all Stiletto had to do was reach out and take it.

"Perhaps. Perhaps we can once we are finished here." Stiletto said to Siren. Stiletto had just finished speaking when Russet bounded up to them and announced that it had caused a diversion in the form of... fire? Stiletto smelled smoke wafting into the tent and saw Siren leave while the diversion lasted.

Stiletto threw the tent flap aside and wasted no time in following her smaller colleague towards the haunted park.

-Outside the tent-

Stiletto hurried to catch up with Siren and saw the source of the smoke, which was a small fire that zombies had crowded around. While she did not like a diversion as attention-grabbing as a fire because it could catch the attention of passersby and lead to an investigation by the authorities, it did the trick in luring the shamblers out of the path to the north side that Stiletto and Siren were going to take. Besides, the blonde could not argue with the results because the path was clear and she reached her colleague without any issues.

Now that they had gotten this far, the pair was faced with a choice.

Did they ride the merry-go-round or did they proceed to the Hall of Mirrors?

Stiletto did not care either way. However, she did not have all night to stand around and agonize over the issue. The small fire started by Russet would soon go out and the zombies would start their awkward shambling back to the mages. It would be a lot easier to hide in the Hall of Mirrors than it would around the merry-go-round.

"Because the distraction is about to end, it would be prudent for us to get out of sight as soon as possible. We will go to the Hall of Mirrors first." Stiletto informed Siren of her decision. It was not that Stiletto was afraid of the walking corpses... she had killed them by the score in previous jobs in the Cursed Lands. She was simply acting on her preference for avoiding unnecessary fights, especially unnecessary stand-up fights. Since Russet had went to the trouble of making a distraction, it would be prudent for the pair to use it and slip away unnoticed.

[Post Word Count: 640]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,017/7,000]
[Total Word Count: 6,396/7,000]

With an affirmative nod, Sakura was prepared to follow Stiletto to whichever place she had tried to go to. It mattered not to the doll to which place they went, but the choice needed to be done quickly. Her attention focused away for a moment to see the dwindling light of Russet's small fire, she had looked back to the two rides they had to pick between. Amusement parks and carnivals were never something Sakura went to growing up. The idea of being wheeled around, unable to enjoy most if not all of the rides was upsetting to say the least. Being here was a real smack to her past and having it catch back up to her, it was unsettling and annoying to say the least.

Stepping into the hall of mirrors was a strange feeling, however. Seeing all the mirrored images of herself had her a little self conscious. It wasn't that she disliked her look, in fact, she kind of enjoyed it. Not having the ability of aging was a plus, but it was a picture perfect sort of look and in some regards, it was really nice to have it. But there was a part of her that missed her old look. The body she grew up with was missed, sans her deadly condition that forced her into a situation like this. All in all, she was accepting of it and everything that had come from it since then. At first, should Stiletto be watching her partner, she'd see a gazing look of a little show of sadness, but soon after had shifted into a bit of an accepting smile.

A sudden laughter caused that smile to cease. The doll turned and looked around, trying to find the source of the laugh. As her head turned to the mirror she faced, the look of a clown standing behind her had grinned from ear to ear. She jumped, letting out a gasp and jump forward as her body twisted around. But there was nothing. "Do you wanna play, little girl?~" She heard, looking around. Diana on the other hand would see nothing, not even within the mirror. He began to cackle, one that Siren would hear echo through the ride. "I've always wanted a dolly~ We could run a circus with the others forever..." The last word became deep, raspy, and intimidating. And as it started, it had ended just as quick. Her body shook with fright and she couldn't find a common mental state. Her eyes locked in the mirror in front of her, hoping Stiletto would help pull her mind back to reality.

442 words
3671/3500 personal words
6838/7000 total words

Hurrying inside the Hall of Mirrors with Sakura as the fire Russet had set for a distraction dwindled away, Diana was glad that she had not chosen the Merry-Go-Round. Riding that ride would have put them in danger in more ways than one. First, the noise of the ride and the piped-in music that played would have attracted the zombies that were lured away from them by Russet's fire. Second, there would have been no safe way to escape the spinning ride except by jumping off, and that was risky because if either one of them had sustained a broken leg in the fall one mage would have had to carry the other through the rest of the park. Sakura was a lot easier for Diana to carry than Diana was for Sakura to carry.

-Inside the Hall of Mirrors-

Diana entered just behind Sakura and observed herself in a plain mirror. Diana stopped for a moment to brush a few stray hairs on her forehead back into place before looking over to Sakura, whose facial expression had changed from one of sadness to a smile. Maybe making the choice to mentor Sakura in the shadowy arts was not a bad choice after all. Not all contract killers were soulless automatons who only thought about their next assignment and the next payday. It remained to be seen, but at the moment the relationship between Diana and Sakura seemed to be a good one.

As she approached Sakura Diana ran the gauntlet of mirrors that distorted her image right before her eyes. One mirror stretched her body proportions until she was eight feet tall and in danger of stretching beyond the mirror. The next one to the left squashed her until she was only two feet tall. The one after that flipped the blonde upside-down but otherwise left her proportions alone. As Diana walked through the hall she found herself to be somewhat amused by the optical illusions that the mirrors could create... until she heard laughter from nowhere and could not find Sakura anywhere.

This was not good. Diana hoped that The Shadow Collective had not followed them here to get revenge on her and kidnapped Sakura to do it. Diana sprinted through the rest of the hall and looked everywhere for the doll-like mage but just could not find her. Where had Sakura gone?

She could not have left the hall because Diana was standing within a stone's throw of her. The blonde soon went back to the mirror Sakura had been standing in front of and briefly felt a presence, one which belonged to the doll. She was still here but had been forcefully taken to a different plane somehow. It was up to Diana to get her student back before the doll disappeared for good.

But how?

Diana desperately thought of ways to bring back Sakura from the other side. She looked in the same mirror Sakura had been in front of and saw flashes of the doll whenever she thought about her. Maybe that was it. If Diana thought about Sakura enough the former could pull the latter back to this plane. It was worth a try anyway.

Diana dropped everything else and began to think of nothing but the doll. She focused intensely on the mirror and thought hard until she saw flashes of something with a red nose and white makeup with frizzy red hair. To Diana's intense disappointment it was a clown. The clown looked at her with yellow eyes and smiled at her with pointed teeth... as if that could scare her.

The scariest thing about that creep was his outfit. He must have gotten dressed in the dark by some drunk circus friends of his. She ignored the creep and focused instead on Sakura, who was flashing into existence more frequently as Diana mentally squared off with the clown for possession of the doll. Diana had to win this. She was not going to let some circus freak run off with her student without a fight.

Diana ignored the laughter and focused exclusively on Sakura. She mentally pulled at the doll, fighting the clown every stretch of the way. Diana pulled at Sakura, hoping that the latter was doing everything she could on her end. Try as she might, this was not a fight that Diana could win alone.

[Post Word Count: 736]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,753/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 7,574/7,000]

The mirror and the voice had begun pulling her mind deeper into the back of her mind. She couldn’t move her body any longer, nor could she speak. Even trying to utter a single noise was lost on her, but her mind was only beginning to paint herself a new picture. It was a large circus tent. Something akin to the large big top that normally would be used for the main attraction of the circus. In it was this clown whom had been speaking to her so far and it seemed as though his teeth were as sharp as knives. The doll continued to gaze helplessly into the mirror while the scene played out in her mind without any show of what could be going on to her partner.

In it, the big too continued fo grow larger and larger. Not as though the size of it had been growing, but much more so that the actual height of the place was growing or perhaps she was shrinking. One by one, a child’s voice began to sing in her mind and slowly, the began to harmonize and grow. More and more began to play at the same time until she couldn’t hear anything but at least eight children were singing. The chuckling of the clown began to act up and sing along with them and it was then she started to feel herself starting to lose it. Her mind was slowly beginning to grow hazy, her eye sight following soon behind while she was stuck in this scenario, unable to fight anything off. Then, her body began to give weigh.

Something felt off to her. The more she stared into the mirror, the weaker she could feel herself getting. Why did that feel off to her? Well, she was a doll. And in this doll form, she felt nothing, be it weakness, strength, hot, cold. Nothing. Was all of this some sick illusion? Unable to figure it out for sure, she had to figure something out, quick. In a desperate attempt, her eyes would flash for a moment and the nightmare before her was replaced with another. Now she was back into her old body. Confined to a wheelchair, but she was starting to find it hard to breathe. Becoming literally choked up, she started to imitate those same choking sounds aloud for a brief moment. Then, she blinked and Sakura’s body dropped to her knees. She panted heavily from the mental exhaustion between forcing herself to endure her own greatest fear on top of the one that seemed to be drawn onto her by some third party.


”I-I know.. what is.. haunting it... but we have t-to leave...”

Unable to hold on her own any longer, Sakura fell to the ground. Her mind overly expensed within only moments of staring into a mirror.

475 words
4146/3500 personal words
8049/7000 total words

Diana had fought the annoying clown for possession of Sakura for several intense minutes before something happened and the diminutive doll appeared in front of the blonde. Sakura was tired, but she was also afraid beyond words. That clown had done something to her to put Sakura in such bad shape, but teaching that circus freak a lesson would have to wait. Sakura reported that she had learned what was haunting the Haunted Park, which was exactly the information that their client had sent them here to get. Getting that valuable information to the client took priority over revenge, so Diana and Sakura would leave this place immediately.

"Well done, Sakura. We will leave here without delay. You got us this far, so I will carry us the rest of the way." Diana said to her student before picking her up and carefully placing her over her left shoulder, then equipping her Suppressed Handgun in her right hand in preparation for dispatching any curious zombies who may have overheard the commotion in the Hall of Mirrors.

"I apologize for carrying you this way, but we must move quickly." Diana apologized to Sakura, who would not appreciate being treated like a toy just because she had a doll's body.

The blonde then turned around and left the same way they came in, the cool night air slapping her in the face as she strode out of the Hall of Mirrors and set out to retrace her steps through the Haunted Park. A couple of zombies who were smarter than their peers had shambled up to the north area in search of a late night snack. When they spotted the pair they raised their arms and shambled towards them, so Diana gave them a single shot to the forehead apiece without breaking stride. The zombies fell to the wooden walkway and bled out as Diana strolled away from the north area with Sakura slung over her left shoulder and Russet following just behind them. Soon they would be home and able to report to the client what they had learned to get their payday.

This was Diana's first mission with Sakura and the blonde felt oddly protective of her student. She was not sure why that was, but she was not too upset. Maybe Diana still had a soul and caring about Sakura was a sign that there was still some good left inside the blonde who lived in the shadows.

[Post Word Count: 417]
[Diana's Word Count: 4,170/3,500]
[Total Word Count: 8,466/7,000]