Hell to Pay (Diana/job)

Today was just a day to relax for the better part of the morning at least. Lounging about and spending more quality time with her mother was something she had taken to doing on a more regular basis and even more so without the use of her doll for a change had become more and more frequent. It wasn’t the plan for her to begin with. This was a thing she’d do on occasion and with few and far between them as well. The less this was seen, the better. But, something began to cross her mind as she had done this. Should things turn sour in some respect for her in the case of her work with Hidden Blades, should it be better that she stick away from that until she were to be going through things in their name? It was much easier to hide a doll than it was to hide herself. The plan was altered and in doing so, she felt like her mother had gotten back something she missed out on in her life. Because of that, it was hard to revert her ideas back and in doing so, she had just said screw it to the old way. Again, it would be much easier to hide a doll then hide herself.

It wasn’t until one day during their time to relax when she had heard something slide through their mail slot in the door. The teenage girl approached to find the envelope blank and upon opening it had simply given her the sentence of “Blanche is wearing Stilettos”. Not too simple nor was it too complicated. Enough so that Sakura understood the message and got herself “changed” and headed off towards the estate. Passing by and through everything she could to cut through some time had its benefits when going by foot.

Once she arrived, she was handed her token and headed down into the elevator, headed down to the hall and into the place without much else of a fuss. The doll had taken a look around trying to see if maybe she had been a little later than her partner and mentor of sorts. At least, that’s how Sakura viewed her. Someone who helped her to adjust a little bit to the whole ordeal was someone she saw to be like a teacher for her. Even with prior experience in somewhat of this field of things, she wasn’t one to turn down being able to adjust not only to the field once more, but also the whole idea of now having to learn new things was better with someone more experienced rather than picking them up on their own. For that, she was grateful to both the guild master as well as Stiletto herself.

Well, while she waited, she may as well not sit around doing nothing. Siren, as she went by in the halls of Hidden Blades stepped into the bar and seeing not a soul in it had decided to just go get what she wanted herself. Headed into the back, she pulled out plenty of materials she would need and put together a fresh pot of tea and a pot of coffee while she was at it. The current out wasn’t even warm from the looks of it. So, within a few minutes, she had struggled against her height issues to get together the pot of tea and pour herself a cup, leaving the coffee to finish brewing in the meantime whole she sat back and enjoyed her tea to herself. Of course, not that she wouldn’t share, however she couldn’t stand the taste of coffee and figured it would be a good deterrent from others wanting her tea. But for now, she would just relax and await Stiletto’s arrival and why in fact they were gathered to the building, presumably for a job, if anything.

647 words

Getting up from her spartan bed, Stiletto stood up, made up the sheets, and donned her guild armor minus the mask and carried the ring in case she needed to do some shapeshifting on the fly. She shut her room door behind her and slowly wound her way to the bar to get some coffee before perusing the job boards to see what kind of work was available. She had been a bit sluggish in looking for work because she had run into unforeseen complications during her trip to Fulci on behalf of Mister Burke and wanted to let the heat die down before taking another job. She was not sure if Mister Burke had tried to double-cross her or if the arrival of another party interested in the secrets was purely coincidental. Either way the huntress had decided to wait awhile before taking another job from Mister Burke.

Stiletto strolled up to the bar and saw that Siren had beaten her to the bar by a matter of minutes. It was just the two of them at the well-appointed bar, which was fine by the blonde. She expected Iris to join them soon because Iris was irresistibly drawn to bars as if pulled by a magnet. A fresh pot of coffee was waiting on the huntress and Siren was already sipping from a cup of tea that was clutched in her delicate porcelain hands. It was obvious that Siren had made it since she was the only one in the area, but that was fine with Stiletto.

Stiletto was glad that she had chosen Siren as a mentee. While the huntress was far from the best teacher and had not yet taught anything that the diminutive mage did not already know or could not pick up from a more competent guild member, something about having a human connection to the guild made the huntress glad that she had taken the chance of trying to connect with someone. Siren seemed to be receptive to friendship and that friendship was what Stiletto needed to keep her anchored to the guild. Stiletto had been connected by a contract, but a contract was cold and impersonal. Stiletto wanted something real, something tangible to keep her connected to the guild.

Stiletto had sort of befriended The Black Cat, but their connection was not quite as close as that of Stiletto and Siren. They still made a good team though. The Black Cat acted decisively while Stiletto served as support for her more proactive colleague, a good pairing which let them cover their weaknesses and allowed them to win over their more numerous but less skilled opposition during a mission several months ago. It was a serendipitous pairing that could lead to a long-term partnership... if The Black Cat was willing to work with Stiletto again. That would be entirely up to the raven-haired mage to decide.

Stiletto got a cup of coffee and sat down a seat away from her colleague, then began to sip the beverage slowly in the company of the doll as a peaceful mood prevailed at the bar. She could not think of anything to say just yet and neither could Siren, so the huntress would let silence prevail until one of them started a conversation. It was not a power thing intended to show Siren her place; it was the simple fact that Stiletto could not think of anything meaningful to say yet. The blonde was not used to having company for anything and was acting accordingly.

Stiletto tried to think of something meaningful to say because she did not want to make Siren feel uncomfortable or unwelcome, but what could she say?

Stiletto had no idea.

[Post Word Count: 618]
[Diana's Word Count: 618/12,500]
[Total Word Count: 1,265/25,000]

Everything was peace and quiet for the most part. Aside from the small clinks and unavoidable bits of sound she could not avoid less she probably wore a pair of mittens or something to cover the sound of porcelain tapping against the ceramics of the cup and plate, there wouldn’t have been nothing but silence in the bar. She was elated for the time being not to be bothered by others while she drank, much unlike she’d had the displeasure of every so often when she was back in Black Rose. A mistake in it of itself was that there were no private areas for members not to be harassed by the normal patrons should they not want to, but alas, that wasn’t an issue anymore. Here, everything was private— Secretive if you will. While that could grow old in due time, for the meantime, she would enjoy the time she had of being a doll with no worries than what she was outside of these doors.

Two separate lives from which she was about to hit a potential course of hardship. While Siren ran through the shadows of the night doing god knows what, there was the other side of her that acted nothing like she did. At times, she wondered how the two would conflict with one another, but she tried to keep herself at ease for the sake of both halves of her world. It was a tricky front, something much lore dangerous for her now than the Mafia was, but this wasn’t exactly something she jumped into without the expectations that she had when she was reached out to for the chance. Choosing to come was her being assured that she was prepared for the risks that were involved. Especially including what little pretrial has entailed for her as well.

Then, enter Stiletto. Garbed up just as Sakura was for the most part, sans the uniform design difference, she had watched for a brief moment as the blonde had approached the coffee maker just fresh with the pot she’d had set up to brew and the sound of her pouring a cup did nothing to disturb her own drinking. With a small smile gracing her porcelain cheeks for just a moment seeing her sit close by, she quickly covered it up by the cup. Taking the last sip of her tea, she had set the empty dish down and began to pour herself a cup while Stiletto took her first sip. She made no faces, so maybe it wasn’t badly made? ”I hope I didn’t make that too strong for you, Ms. Stiletto.” She broke the ice finally, at least to go on something to start it off before she knew where to jump from there.

Not that this was much of a bad thing, but that peppy idol teen she portrayed outside these walls were showing a bit around Stiletto. While the blonde didn’t speak after her arrival yet, she did begin to think she was mad or upset over their last job together. Having to snap the doll out of some trance like state and risk her own safety wasn’t something that sat well with Sakura. No, not in the slightest. She had to buckle down this time. Take no prisoners. For that, she wanted to make sure that whatever they did together this time would be something she could be useful doing.

That’s where things would get interesting. Despite her calm demeanor as it was, she was on edge. What for? Well, that was something she could only tell her rather than sit on any longer. It had already been too long. ”I... I need your help.” She started off, ready to come forward with something that she would need to divulge, she’d need to do so quickly. ”I’ve gone through the channels with this, so consider me the client, but I can’t do it alone.” Now, her body turned toward the blonde and that look of worry mixed with determination was evident even in the unreal eyes of Siren. ”A friend and a contact of mine for some time had been looking into something for me and... I haven’t heard from them in a couple weeks now. Now, I know it sounds so simple, but he was looking into something with stronger ties. Enough to bring even Fiore into a brink of a hell storm, or so they’ve said. It did involve the carnival situation as far as that ordeal that I was caught up in, so if you wanted any hand in this, I’d really love to take someone I could trust..”

Laid out before Stiletto now was an offer. One she could refuse if she wanted and frankly, she wouldn’t be blamed for declining. Something with a random stipulation of having that kind of catastrophic effects could easily go wrong, but doing everything from within shadows and taking no public credit was something that she was perfectly sure was something that a member of this guild would be for. Then again, she didn’t know many others aside form her current mentor, so who’s to say that she would not discover one to be among them.

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2,110/25,000 total count

Stiletto listened to the silence in the bar until Siren saw fit to break it by expressing the hope that the coffee the doll-like youth had made for her was not too strong to bear. Again the silence was not about reminding Siren of her place as Stiletto's student or one of a number of similar power games that some individuals played with those who they perceived to be beneath them. Instead Stiletto simply had no idea what to say. Besides, her trade impressed upon her the benefit of being a person of few words.

"This coffee is fine, Siren. In fact I prefer strong coffee." Stiletto informed her youthful apprentice, allowing something approaching satisfaction to creep into her normally inscrutable voice. While the blonde would drink any coffee with enough caffeine in it, she tended to favor the stronger brews for everyday consumption. She found the cup of coffee in her hands to meet her needs and thus continued to drink it in contentment.

It had been quite the journey since Stiletto had first received the mysterious missive that had been addressed simply "To The Huntress." She was but a relative novice when the journey began, but now she had made a few high-profile assassinations on Shadow Collective supporters and had carried out other shadowy jobs on behalf of her guild. As a result she was second only to The Chairman in terms of magical power. She had even acquired a student along the way, something which still surprised the huntress but also provided a much-needed human connection that kept her from tumbling completely into the "heartless contract killer" stereotype.

Stiletto listened patiently as Siren began to request the former's help for a job in which Siren was the client. The huntress lowered her coffee cup for a moment. This was quite a twist.

Stiletto listened as Siren explained the situation further. It started with a missing contact of Siren's and concluded with the revelation that taking this job could bring a hell storm of unforeseen consequences to Fiore. The huntress brought up her coffee cup and took a sip from it as she pondered what to do.

Siren had appealed to her for aid in this endeavor. As the doll-like youth's mentor, Stiletto could not turn her back on a direct appeal from her student. While not normally given to being swayed by emotional appeals, the statement that Siren wanted someone she could trust to help with this task affected Stiletto more than she wanted to admit.

In a field marked by duplicity and betrayal, someone actually trusted her.

Stiletto pushed back the raw emotion that thought generated and focused on the benefits that taking the job would give her. Taking the job would secure Siren's loyalty and delay any ambition on the youth's part to try and supplant her mentor by treachery. It would also put more money in her pocket, a marker of success. It would add further to Stiletto's reputation as a go-to mage for high-risk jobs. What was there to lose in accepting?

Stiletto took another sip of coffee before announcing her decision to Siren.

"I have decided that I will accompany you on this endeavor, Siren." Stiletto announced her decision to her student. Something human stirred inside the huntress for the first time in a long time. Whenever she became Siren's mentor, she had made an unspoken pact to aid her student with her problems. If anyone threatened Siren, Stiletto would end them. If any situation was beyond Siren's ability to solve, Stiletto would step in to help solve it.

[Post Word Count: 597]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,215/12,500]
[Total Word Count: 2,707/25,000]

It was hard to believe really, much less that it was something she didn’t anticipate in some respect. When it came to tea, stronger was usually the better case, but with coffee? That was a whole different beast. A pain in the neck for sure, but if she wasn’t a fickle choice in what type she preferred, it was best she just give it a whirl and hope for the best. There wasn’t a moment that Sakura was certain she was in any bit of concern for the fact that there wasn’t any obvious look of disgust or discomfort in the taste of the drink. It also seemed like she wasn’t the type interested in dressing the drink up with anything to change or enhance the flavor of it up at all. It wasn’t any problem to the doll at all, just more so very different thing to something her mother usually did.

Watching other people engaging in the same thing that she herself had seen other people enjoying or doing. It was a shrugging moment for some, but people watching was her thing. Seeing how some people did the things they did with it and figuring the reason why was like a game to her at first. When she had been told she had a talent for it, that was where she began to move into using her game for profit and from there she was able to advance to what she had been today. That and everyone who helped to bolster her confidence up from being the withdrawn person that her situation had bore into her head over the years, even those before becoming a living porcelain doll.

That aside, the yokai simply smiled looking on at her teacher having enjoyed her drink. It took a lot in her after their first job and even some passing by times in here to offer to hang out together. Something about it seemed to be frowned upon as an idea in her mind due to the type of secrecy in which this place has used to run so fluidly thus far. With a shrug, Sakura learned to pass that off and let any further jobs allow them to get to know the other a little better if she could help it, and whether she had to make the excuse to do so by making a job or taking up one for someone else and asking her along was entirely up to the situation. Why she would not do so here was an easy thing, but in other senses, it probably didn’t matter much at all.

That child like, elated look on her face as though a child was told they had free reign or a candy shop for free for even one day was like that along this girls face. ”Really!? I-I don’t know what to say or how I can repay you for it!” Though it really didn’t show at all, it took all of her not to jump across seats to hug the blonde marksman. ”And don’t you worry! If you get hurt at all, I’ll be right by your side to fix you up!” She showed the brightest smile yet, one of upmost confidence and pride. Grabbing her cup of tea, she quickly drank down to the last stop and set the cup and small plate aside so she could easily move along to the next phase of the task. ”I hope your clothes are heat and fire retardant, Ms. Stiletto. Because we’ll be headed to the volcano.” Siren informed her, never worrying about her own self. One upside of not having to worry about feeling anything like heat or cold.

Once they were done, the smaller of the two females had gotten up from her seat and set off towards the elevator for a moment until she realized something of importance... she had no idea where to leave... ”So... where do we leave again? I have a way to get there, but I have no idea how it is we’re supposed to leave from here.” Rubbing the back of her head in a bit of an embarrassing feeling from it, she headed in the direction that she would be led by Stiletto, making sure to memorize how it is she could get out when going on jobs and the like. Once outside, they would be led to a black colored car, jumping into the back seat and leaving the door open for Stiletto to get in from while Siren climbed through to the other side. ”I called in a favor for some quicker transportation to what will be getting us to the volcano faster. We can’t use anything magical or we’ll be sighted and surrounded before we can even gather our bearings together. So, once we get to the shore, it’ll be a short boat ride towards it, afterward I’ll have to make us a little ice path over the surface so we can get there without making our presence known.”

Her plan sounded a little more methodical than it could have been with a simple teleporting or something of that sort, but why give themselves something to worry about early on? ”So, since we have a bit of time before we get on with it, do you wanna talk at all? Questions or concerns?” Resting against the seat, she kept her attention on her mentor and friend, trying to gauge in a bit of a relaxing conversation to cool her rattled nerves.

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3,624/25,000 total words

Stiletto liked her coffee plain and Siren had done well in making this coffee. She appreciated the fact that Siren did not try to jazz it up with any number of additives that people normally used. Aside from being able to taste the real flavor of the brew that was untainted by milk, creamer, sugar, or any other additive that others used to spice up their coffee, drinking coffee straight made it harder to tamper with. One of the few things in this world that the huntress feared was poison. A bottle of poisoned wine had taken out her family and falling victim to any variant of poison slipped into her drink would be an ironic way for her to die.

"We are heading to a volcano?" Stiletto asked her visibly elated student, setting the cup of extra-potent coffee aside for a moment to fully understand exactly what she had been told by Siren. The blonde had traveled far and wide across Earthland. She had been to Boomslang, she had been on a party boat, she had survived trip to Haunted Castle and Sombras Manor, and she had even traveled to the heart of a decaying town overrun by the undead. Working in the area an active volcano would be a new experience for Stiletto, but success in such an unusual environment would add to her reputation as a go-to mage for risky and lucrative jobs like the retrieval of corporate secrets from Fulci. She was sworn to secrecy for as long as she lived, but in exchange she had gotten a hefty payday and the esteem of Mister Burke plus a promise of more high-risk, high-reward jobs as they came up.

Keeping secrets was no problem for the huntress because she had over a decade of practice in keeping quiet about what she did for a living. She had learned the skill while working as a slave-assassin for her parents and working cloak-and-dagger jobs for Hidden Blades only reinforced that tendency towards secrecy. The blonde had no problem with it because leading a double life also came naturally to her. Noticing that Siren had gotten up and was heading out, the huntress had to pick her her own pace to be able to keep up with the smaller mage. That meant that she needed to drink her coffee faster because she was loathe to waste the effort of her apprentice, who had worked so hard to make a good cup of coffee for her mentor even though such a task was not a requirement of her apprenticeship.

Stiletto quickly finished her cup of coffee and set the empty cup on the bar, then caught up with her eager apprentice and led her to the hidden exit she had used numerous times before. That exit was a simple yet effective underground tunnel that allowed operatives to travel to and from the base unnoticed, a feature of the facility that the huntress appreciated. Stiletto liked to stay below the radar and avoid prying eyes and the tunnel was the best way to accomplish that. Whoever had designed the tunnel deserved a hefty pay raise for that stroke of genius.

Just before she left the tunnel, Stiletto used her ring to transform the armor into her alternate form of green t-shirt, black skirt, white thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes with aviator sunglasses perched on her head.

"If you have a disguise form, it would be prudent to use it before we leave here." Stiletto suggested before leaving the tunnel with only Siren the wiser to her true form. Siren was trustworthy enough to transform in front of with little fear of the huntress' secret being exposed.

Once the pair had exited the tunnel Stiletto caught a glance of the car that Siren had hired to transport them to their destination. At first Stiletto was reluctant to ride in an unknown vehicle because she did not know the loyalty of the driver behind the wheel, but as it turned out her apprentice had a valid reason for employing that method of transportation. Siren explained that any magical means of transportation would be detected and intercepted by their quarry long before the pair could find them to make the kill. When she heard that reason Stiletto's doubts were quickly sidelined, though she was still concerned about putting her life in the hands of a driver she had never met before today.

If the driver had been hired to transport them, an inducement of a large sum of money could easily convince them to tell about their passengers and where they were going. An even larger inducement could convince the driver to arrange a meeting point where they could hand their passengers over to the authorities. The possibility of that kind of betrayal was one reason why Stiletto preferred to walk wherever she went.

Another reason was that mechanical transportation could easily be sabotaged or destroyed while she was taking care of business, leaving the huntress in a bad situation at the worst possible time. One of the keys to a clean getaway was reliable transportation and the huntress found it hard to beat the versatility and reliability of her own two feet. While vehicles tended to be faster than traveling on foot, that mechanized mobility could easily be taken away by chance, sabotage, or destruction by either the target or other individuals. Vehicles could also be stopped by natural or man-made roadblocks, obstacles that she could quickly get around or avoid altogether while on foot.

Siren's reasoning was sound, but Stiletto had reservations about riding in a car driven by someone she did not know. Stiletto would have liked a chance to vet the driver before getting into their vehicle, but she recalled Siren mentioning that she had called in a favor just to get use of the car for a one-way trip. Stiletto would trust that her apprentice knew what she was doing when she procured transportation and would fight her way out if it proved to be a trap. The blonde got into the car and sat beside her apprentice.

"So, what kind of music do you like?" The disguised Stiletto asked her apprentice in a cheerful voice that was an octave higher than her normal one. She did not trust the driver as far as she could throw them, so mundane conversation was the order of the day to avoid an eavesdropper hearing things that they did not need to hear.

[Post Word Count: 1,081]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,296/12,500]
[Total Word Count: 4,705/25,000]

Giving a small nod, Siren was a bit taken aback by the question that was given to her. Did she have any issues with the volcano? The doll looked on at the blonde huntress, but she was more blank and unreadable in this moment than Sakura ever could be... and she had no muscular system! No micro expressions, nothing. This girl was really good, and the fact she was kept it extremely interesting to be around her when she could. She was stronger, wiser, and even more so, she was really pretty. Whether she believed that or not, it was like having an older sibling to look up to. Something she didn’t ever really have a sense or chance with.

Having that honestly made this little relationship of theirs as a student and teacher all the more worthwhile to put her whole into. However, she didn’t want to leave the question hanging in the air. ”Right, right. Yes, a volcano is where this is going down and from other reports and all I’ve gotten prior to today, there’s more going on than just a suspicious phenomenon going on.” Reaching over the counter as best she could, she pulled out a Manila folder and placed it on the counter. She would then open it up and pull out a couple of photos, laying them one at a thing as she explained each of them. ”In this first one, several black robed and hooded figures gather innocent people, bringing them for what I can assume is a forceful recruitment of sacrifices, that is unknown.” She would then set the next one down, depicting a very old alter of sorts. ”And this one is assumed to be what they’re using to complete whatever ritual is planned. It’s also the last picture sent before he disappeared...” She let out a small sigh, showing a rather obvious sign of worry and concern. But this feeling also fueled her need to do this.

Having honed new abilities before taking on a daunting task such as this, her confidence was higher than she felt before even figuring out what she was going to do in concern to her contacts safety. Having Stiletto along with her only bolstered that confidence that she could do just what she promised herself that she could do. ”It isn’t going to alter your choice to go, is it Ms. Stiletto?” She asked, now having gotten the information out of the way that was willing to be shared within the guild. As far as she was concerned, the higher ups all knew these basics, if not more than even Sakura knew when it came to this job. So what was shown here was already mostly public information and not any detriment to any privacy of the guild as far as jobs and all were concerned.

But within a moment, the pair had left through he tunnel of the guilds building, pausing momentarily in the advice of her mentor, she had to think about it. Frankly, this was her disguise, but if it was better she double up in a sense, she would nod and contemplate the idea. Then an idea struck her as though the lightbulb just lit up above her head. As the ring was placed on her finger, one she’d never thought she would have to wear, she had her entire appearance altered. Her pure white hair dimmed to a duller gray color, tied up into a high sitting twin tails with black ribbons to decorate. Her attire was also altered into a little less than her normal Lolita fashioned attire, however almost close enough to still be. Even that of the color of her eyes has shifted their tone to a nearly red hue of color, similar to a more crimson colored ruby. ”Ooooh. This is cuter than I expected!~” A big smile formed on the dolls face as she gazed over her new form for a moment before running along to meet Stiletto and get into the car from which she had set up for them to take.

Once inside the vehicle, the doll became extremely confused, baffled practically at the sudden change of tone from which Stiletto shared. Never before had she heard the blonde speak.. normally, for a lack of better term. So hearing it got her to give a rather puzzled look for a good moment before she shook her head of the shocked stare. ”U-Uh.. right... let’s see.” She tried to play into it as her not really sure of the answer, while she truly was just trying to recover from the surprise. ”Generally upbeat types of music is what I like to look into. Those and sentimental pieces. I remember growing up I used to write a lot of lyrics, even aspired to be a musician or a singer at some point... but sadly fate had other plans for me. And yet, despite it all, I can still go ahead in trying. After our last mission, I can leave you to guess to that reason.” She hinted, giving a wink to the disguised mentor of hers, giggling a bit to avoid the whole grim hole of the backstory of her life. But, the driver already knew. They simply remained quiet for the meantime while the two talked in the back. As for the topic itself, she wouldn’t go into it unless she were asked, but it was never something that she sought to speak of to avoid the pity parade or the feeling that she was given any special treatment. ”How about you? What type do you listen to? Or have any instruments you learned?” Now her curiosity was getting to her, but it may only serve to keep the chit chat going while they made their way to their destination.

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5,672/25,000 total words

Stiletto could tell that her youthful apprentice was somewhat captivated by the air of mystery that she cultivated without really trying. Being able to wear a mask of calm at all times was quite a useful ability to have, but attaining it came at a high personal cost for the blonde. Her childhood was cut short by her parents once they learned of her death-dealing magic and she became nothing more than a tool to them, a tool who could deal death to their enemies and be the last suspect on Earthland thanks to her calm demeanor and equally calm face that betrayed nothing of how she felt at any given moment. Stiletto was not born with such a talent... she had learned it the hard way.

Stiletto recalled her childhood "training" in wearing the mask of deception by the various tortures her parents had inflicted on her. She had to keep a straight face through being tazed in the back, being whipped on the back with a rawhide whip, and being hit with an old paper phonebook since it inflicted harm while not leaving any bruises. If she failed at any point in the "training", the punishment was worsened to having her hands tied behind her back and being forced to kneel on grains of rice for hours on end. By the time she was eighteen Stiletto had gained the ability to wear a mask of perfect calm, but it had come at the cost of her childhood and a good portion of her soul. If Siren or anyone else saw what was lurking behind the air of mystery, they would probably be repulsed by the blonde.

Before getting into the vehicle Siren had informed Stiletto that the reason they were heading to the volcano was to track cultists who had been forcibly kidnapping people, possibly as human sacrifices for some occult ritual. Although her face did not show it, this job had intrigued Stiletto. She was always looking for a high-risk job that offered big pay for big risks. If traveling to an active volcano and going inside said volcano on a search-and-rescue mission while battling cultists was not high-risk/high-reward, she did not know what would qualify. Stiletto was also glad to have a job where she killed for a reason nobler than to soothe someone's wounded ego.

"What I have learned has not altered my choice to go." Stiletto said calmly in her temporary voice just before the pair had gotten into the car. She felt like she was stringing the hapless Siren along by shifting form and voice, but it had to be done to preserve the secret of the real Diana Winchester. Siren had shifted form herself; she had changed from an aqua-haired doll in elegant Lolita attire into a gray-haired red-eyed youth in maid attire. Having once disguised herself as a maid for a contract, Stiletto could appreciate that choice of disguise. Dressing like a maid was a popular look and it was easy to pass it off as wearing the outfit for a boyfriend... or a girlfriend.  

Seeing her apprentice momentarily fumble when presented with the topic of what kind of music she liked, Stiletto smoothly shifted gears with the hard-won ability to converse smoothly about anything on short notice. Siren had picked up that Stiletto did not trust the driver enough to talk about official business in their presence and soon adapted to the abrupt shift in topic. The huntress was pleased... she had chosen her apprentice wisely. The doll-like youth's face was almost as inscrutable as the huntress'; only subtle voice cues gave anything away and Stiletto really had to listen to pick them up. Siren's poker face could be improved upon with enough practice and a bit of coaching.

"As far as music goes, I tend to stick to classical music because my parents were big fans of it. However, I am starting to like Tuesday Blue's work. She is talented for someone as young as she is." Stiletto segued from discussing going into an active volcano to talking about classical music with no discernible change in tone of voice. It was another "talent" her parents had taught her the hard way. Being able to talk about anything without obvious changes in tone or inflection made it easier to avoid detection from the authorities, especially when details of a crime one had committed were brought up in one's presence.

One of the blonde's earliest memories of putting the skill to use was when she was fourteen years old.

It was during her escape from a hit on a rival banker who she had killed by shooting in the back of the head from 25 meters away with a silenced pistol. She had left no evidence during or after the hit; she had disposed of the gloves worn to prevent her from leaving fingerprints and had thrown the pistol into a nearby lake but was almost caught in the police dragnet when making her way back home. Fortune was on her side when a classmate from her private high school met her in the park Diana had cut through; the pair walked past a police patrol while casually discussing a hot school rumor of how a male senior named Thomas DuFraine was attracted to a female senior named Molly McNamara, a socialite who was renowned for turning heads with her good looks. Neither the police nor her classmate suspected that Diana had been the culprit in the banker's murder. Diana slipped through the dragnet and got home, washed off the gunpowder residue, and was ready for school the next morning without anyone the wiser... except Diana and her parents.

Stiletto did not tell the full story of her interest in classical music because of the driver's presence; she had told her student just enough for the conversation to seem natural. The blonde's oldest sister Lucia was also a fan of classical music, though not to the extent of their parents. However, Lucia treated Diana as a human and taught her to play the piano as an escape from the abuse suffered at the hands of their parents. Stiletto could tell this part without arousing any suspicion as to her real name.

"I do know how to play an instrument, my friend. I'm reasonably adept at the piano because my oldest sister taught me how to play. I'm afraid that my repertoire's mostly limited to the greatest hits, though. Pieces like Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2. I really need to learn more pieces." Stiletto admitted to her companion.

"I also know Pachelbel's Canon in D... ya know, the one piece that everyone and their brother plays at a wedding aside from Mendelssohn's Wedding March? I can't stand that one. My mother adored it, though. She had me play it for her all the time." Stiletto added with a subtle bit of irritation that was not feigned. Once her mother learned about Diana playing piano she made Diana play Pachelbel's Canon in D every night. Over a period of years Diana learned to hate that musical piece almost as much as she hated herself.

Once she had imparted that bit of information about her personal life, Stiletto went quiet for a few minutes to give Siren a chance to speak again.

[Post Word Count: 1,226]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,522/12,500]
[Total Word Count: 6,898/25,000]

The disguised doll had stared in a bit of silence for a moment as the two had carried into their conversation of music. The silver haired mage looked on as her companion and mentor had begun to talk about her admiration of classical music. A smile began to climb onto her face as she had enjoyed that idea as well. She could remember her mother playing pieces on the piano in their home, being taken to various orchestra symphonies and other concerts growing up. The idea and enjoyment of the classics had never left her over the years and during her own creation of lyrics in a completely different genre. If anything, they inspired her to create some more personal types as well to show her feelings upon certain pieces with the intention they would never be seen by another soul aside from maybe her mother. But now she had a chance to share them.

Then it seemed to come to a grinding halt as something caught her attention in it all. Tuesday Blue? Her head tilted a bit in the whole thing, trying to come up with a thought of the name, but hearing that her mentor spoke highly of her had given her a bit of spite. ”Someone as young as she is?” Did some violin playing hussy think she could take her place as her mentors pupil? Just how much did she really know about this Tuesday Blue? The smile and outward inflection of joy on her face had unknowingly been replaced with a somewhat pouting face, her eyes glaring lightly and her arms folded at her chest in an odd manner, mainly due to the lack of full on movement capabilities in her joints. ”Hmph. I bet she isn’t better than me...” She muttered under her breath.

It was in that moment she realized what she was doing and jumped out of that state as if she didn’t have a moment to spare. Showing her emotion wasn’t a part of her plan, but she was enjoying her time alone with her mentor to chat about one another, so to hear this and feel as though a stranger was taking her attention caught her the wrong way at first. However, the slayer quickly tried to regain her composure and laugh off her earlier comment. ”I-I mean... I-I uh...” She couldn’t come to figure out any kind of explantation of her earlier action, but at least she didn’t mention her comments about this intruding trash.

Thankfully it seemed to pass a moment later as Stiletto began to regale the doll in a small story of her being taught to play the piano and her favorite pieces. Pieces she had heard a number of times herself, though she sadly could not keep herself from feeling a little sad at the idea of pointing a finger into her own past and the stages of her life from which she had tried to push behind her as much as possible. But one thing Stiletto mentioned to her little student was that she had an older sister and a mother. Until now, family was never mentions between the two of them. So to hear about it made her smile. ”I bet you don’t know more about my mentor than I do, you generic named hussy.” She thought to herself, smiling still through her thoughts.


”I didn’t know you had a sibling, Stiletto.” Sakura spoke up finally, aloud this time and twiddling her thumbs the entire time. Hearing the blonde speak about the type of pieces she learned on the piano had her enthralled to hear about it. But she hadn’t been able to get passed something that had been nagging at her. ”What’s it like? Having a sister? I am an only child and my mother was afraid to have another one after my diagnosis. The closest admittedly I’ve gotten to one is you and a close friend of mine.” She had been referring to the Witch of Errings Rising, Medeia. It felt weird still to refer to someone whom kidnapped you as a friend, but the two had a lot in common despite the reason they had met, and thus a strange bond grew between them.

706 words
4,102/12,500 personal words
7,604/25,000 total words

Stiletto was surprised to see Siren react so strongly to the mention of Tuesday Blue. The doll-like mage exhibited behavior that could almost pass for jealousy... her facial expression had turned to something resembling a pout and her arms were folded across her chest at an unusual angle, almost as if they could not fully fold. Maybe Siren had been saddled with a limited range of motion from an injury to her arms in the past. Stiletto chose not to dwell on the possibility and instead chose to focus on trying to describe what having family was like. Her family life was not the best, so she would have a lot of difficulty describing what family was supposed to be like.

"I did have a mother and a sister. I had eight older sisters, as a matter of fact. The oldest of them was named Lucia. I had two younger brothers because for the longest time all my parents could seem to produce was girls, but they had their first son two years after I came along." Stiletto told a bit more general information about herself. She briefly worried that specifying how many children of each gender her parents had would provide a clue to her real identity, but it was common for the wealthy families of Bellum to have numerous children to secure lines of succession and to have backups in case of a tragedy carrying off one or two older siblings. The blonde would know because she was one of the backup children to Lucia and Melody, the oldest and second-oldest Winchester sister respectively. However, Diana had involuntarily forfeited her place in the line of succession when her death-dealing magic manifested and she was forced to live in the shadows.

"Having eight older sisters was hard. There was quite a bit of sibling rivalry, especially between Lucia and Melody, the second-oldest sister. Both of them wanted to be concert pianists and both of them didn't want to lose to the other, so they spent hours upon hours at their pianos practicing anything and everything. And don't get me started on what it was like to be the youngest of the sisters." Stiletto continued, touching upon the sibling rivalry just enough to keep the doll-like mage's interest. Being the youngest sister was tough. There was always at least one of them who reveled in throwing their weight around and making Diana do the jobs no one else wanted to do, like cleaning bathrooms and washing dishes. Lucia was the only one who did not bully her, but the rest had no compunction against bullying the youngest Winchester sister.

"I was kinda in the background because I was the last of the girls and my parents chose to focus the most on Lucia, Melody, and Lucius, the older of the two brothers. My mother liked Lucia and Melody while my father doted on Lucius. Me, I was just there." Stiletto expanded on the family dynamic, risking her secret but giving Siren a better idea of what family life was like with a lot of siblings. As with many parents, the Winchesters had their favorites and did everything they could to ensure that they succeeded. Special tutors, special books, their own top-of-the-line musical instruments... the oldest Winchester siblings had it all. Diana got a bit of the high life before her magic manifested and some after her magic manifested in order to keep up appearances that she was an ordinary girl; she went to the same private schools that her sisters did and got the best education that money could buy.

Stiletto was about to continue when she recalled that Siren had stated that she thought of the the huntress as a sibling. The thought of that actually gave her pause. Who would want to consider someone like her as a friend, let alone a sibling? Did Siren say that because Stiletto was her mentor and felt obligated to say that or was it for real?

Stiletto had no idea what to say, but she needed to say something, anything, to acknowledge Siren's feelings.

"You do?" Stiletto asked laconically, wearing the mask that had been perfected in over a decade of constant use. There was no outward sign of emotion, but inside the huntress was in something resembling turmoil. She had no idea how to respond to Siren admitting how she viewed the senior mage in a favorable light. If Siren saw something in the blonde worth viewing positively, maybe the huntress was not totally lost to the darkness after all.

[Post Word Count: 760]
[Diana's Word Count: 4,282/12,500]
[Total Word Count: 8,364/25,000]

The winter mage was enthralled to be given the story of what a normal household was like. At least, for her it was a lot more normal than she had to experience, so this was something much different for her. Her jaw nearly dropped hearing the amount of siblings that Stiletto had in her entire family, her questioning the fact of how the mother could put herself through childbirth nine times. It was an incredibly confusing and also remarkable choice of determination to gain a child of a specific gender. In some ways it also seemed selfish to the younger girl, however she kept it to herself for now. Not truly understanding her standing with her family and blurting our unnecessary opinions would be a huge setback if it were to go awry and at the very least her mentor deserved more respect than that of a spit to the family name during a casual conversation.

Continuing her silence during Diana’s time explaining her family life story to whatever comforting detail she chose to, she mentioned only a few specific siblings by name. Perhaps she liked or hated them the most and so they were worthwhile telling the idol-to-be? Not wanting to be rude and still her curiosity being piqued at the blondes story, she had listened to her expressing the old habits and rivalry’s between them. The more Diana went on, the more that she had sought to think being the only child wasn’t so bad... but then again, not knowing just how they lived also would have shown how it also could have been. Truly, this wouldn’t be such a hard thing to process had there of been a worse story than what was going on right about now. The way she ended a portion of her speech by the “Don’t get me started” would have made her giggle, however she tried her best to stay impartial and just nod when appropriate. Letting her vent seemed to be a way for her to get to know her some more and frankly the idea of it had her smiling just a bit.

”I can’t imagine what it was like, honestly. I can’t tell if I should feel envious of your chance to have them or if I should be thankful I didn’t have the chance to be in a peril like you were.” She replied, letting out a small sigh and leaning back in her seat of the car. ”I honestly don’t even know what it’s like to have both parents in my life. My father was never in the picture my whole life and I partly believe it had something to do with what was happening to me. So in terms of parents, I truly envy you Stiletto. But... siblings maybe on the other hand.” She gave a soft shrug, trying not to get too bothered over the words she was saying without letting it dwell on her mind for too long. In the moment to follow, she fixed herself up in the seat and sat there quiet, contemplating mainly what it was that she wanted to say, if anything. Or if Diana had a rebuttals, she was more than welcome to throw it out. It was practically expected one way or another.

When Stiletto piped up, questioning the idea that Siren had come to think of her like a sibling, it made her giggle and nod her head. It was nice to have gotten off of her chest, and it felt good to have a situation like this come up between them. ”W-Well... growing up, I didn’t make any friends, but that was by choice. I grew fast to the fact I would die and I didn’t want to have others in my life to feel like my own mother was going through. I hated being pitied and once I was in the wheelchair portion of my life, I begged her to pull me from school. Teachers and kids trying to treat me a certain way only made it feel worse.” A sorrowful look on her face held during this confession of her childhood experience. But that turned to a small smile as her head had raised from her lap to the blonde huntress. ”But you know, when I got my first doll body, I felt no different. I had no sense of physical feelings and the hardest thing to grasp was that I could never feel the warmth of a hug again. It was hard to make friends too, because of my appearance and other misunderstanding. So when someone can look at me for who I actually am, past this physical form, I can’t help but want to think of them for more than just a friend. That doesn’t mean you have to think the same, but a small circle of friends to me means more than any crowd of fans in a concert.” Tears had started to well in her eyes from the recollection of her past endeavors to make it through until now, but now that she felt she was more accepted than ever, there wasn’t anything to hold her back from enjoying life to its fullest.

“Ladies, we’ll be arriving soon.” The driver cut in, making sure to keep the two in loop of their current drive was still happening.

887 words
4,989/12,500 personal word count
9,251/25,000 total word count

Stiletto thought about what the doll-like mage had said to her about parents and kept a straight face as her thoughts turned to her "parents."

She had no idea how to feel about them because there were so many conflicting emotions whenever she thought about them.

Hatred.

Sadness.

Joy.

Emptiness.

By all means Stiletto should have been heartbroken when they died, but she would be a liar if she said that was the first emotion that crossed her mind whenever she thought about her parents. "Hatred" was a more appropriate emotion that described how she felt about them. They were supposed to love and protect her and raise her into a proper heiress, but they had let her down in the worst possible ways whenever they molded her into a slave-assassin through torture whenever she refused to do their bidding. She recalled the consequences of refusing to kill an "enemy" of theirs, usually someone who refused to be forced out of business by the avaricious Winchesters.

The very first time Stiletto had refused to use her magic on someone she was punished by having her hands tied behind her back and her head forcibly submerged in a tub full of water. Her head was held under the water for a good thirty seconds, then it was brought up to give the blonde a chance to reconsider her decision. After three repetitions the blonde gave in and carried out the hit on the head of some rival banking family that her parents wanted dead for slighting them at a party by making fun of a mismatched tie that her father had worn. That petty reason was Stiletto's entry into the world of assassination.

"There wasn't a whole lot to envy. It was hard knowing that no matter what you did you'd never get your parents' attention... unless you messed up. If you messed up you got their attention, the kind of attention you don't want." Stiletto said to her apprentice. The blonde hated to burst Siren's bubble like that, but Stiletto saw no need to sugarcoat what it was like to be the daughter of a dysfunctional rich family. Diana's parents tended to pay her attention only when they wanted someone dead or she had made a less-than-satisfactory grade at school.

"One time in high school I made an 80 on an Economics midterm exam that half the class failed. It didn't matter that I was among the half that passed. It didn't matter when I told her that even the smart kids struggled to make above 84. My mother was so angry when she learned I made an 80 that she backhanded me in the foyer when I got home. I recall spinning and hitting the tile floor and being dizzy for at least twenty seconds afterward." Stiletto gave an example of how a parent's attention could be a negative thing. Her mother's anger was easy to incur and it was slow to die down. Even Lucia and Melody felt it from time to time whenever their piano recitals were not "perfect" enough for their mother's liking, but it never reached the point of physical rebuke like a slap powerful enough to knock someone to the floor. That form of rebuke was reserved for Diana and the younger Winchester sisters, the spares that were floating around in case something happened to Lucia and Melody.

Stiletto recalled Siren talking about friends and vaguely recalled a few that she had made. "Friend" was being far too generous considering the detachment with which Diana had treated those classmates she had cared to learn the names of. "Acquaintance" was much more fitting because they tended to come and go. Diana's own sense of detachment from people certainly did not help matters... why bother making friends when they would only be around a short time?

"I had a few friends in school, but "friend" was a relative term when one was enrolled in a prep school full of rich kids. The prep school was full of the usual cliques like athletes, cheerleaders, what have you. It wasn't all bad, but you had to be careful who you were friends with." Stiletto gave a glimpse into her own school situation. She knew that being rich and able to move on her own hardly compared to Siren's situation of being stuck in a wheelchair and being bullied for something beyond her control, but the blonde wanted to impress upon her apprentice that coming from a wealthy background was not nearly the cakewalk that some made it out to be. While being wealthy had certain advantages like ready access to money, material goods, and a network of contacts to give one a boost up the ladder, being wealthy also had its own set of problems like constant jockeying for position on the social ladder and not really knowing who could be trusted. There was no shortage of "friends" turning on each other for the chance to advance just a little bit further up the career or social ladder; it was a cycle that had begun when man first formed civilization and it was a trend that would not end any day soon.

To counterbalance all the negativity Stiletto had been spewing at her young apprentice, Stiletto decided to say something positive for a change.

"I haven't considered anyone a friend in a long time, but you're different. There's something about you that's genuine. I like you." Stiletto admitted truthfully. Even if this talk about friendship was all a game and Siren was buttering her up before the doll-like mage knocked the huntress off the ladder, Stiletto did not care too much. She was tired of being alone and always dealing with others in terms of cold, impersonal contracts. She wanted something more tangible, something real.

Still, Stiletto could not show weakness to her apprentice because the huntress was swimming in a shark tank from the moment she had joined the guild.

After that brief exchange Stiletto had heard from the driver that the pair were almost to their destination.

"Thank you." Stiletto said to the driver before facing Siren and giving the youth a chance to speak.

[Post Word Count: 1,030]
[Diana's Word Count: 5,312/12,500]
[Total Word Count: 10,281/25,000]

There wasn’t much of anything that Sakura could say to her mentor to cheer her up in the moment. Hearing her story caused a big feeling of sympathy for the blonde, and frankly it was also angering her. How someone could treat their children like so, to demand so much from children was infuriating to her. Still, she held it behind the porcelain face of sadness for the story telling mage. She was right though, in that sometimes no attention was better than the negative attention, but there was a side that wished she could have traded part of that. To allow Stiletto to feel the love of a parent— or rather, how a normal parent SHOULD treat their children. Her head had sunk down hearing the initially made comment, but it quickly turned to a look of growing shock. The next example of the parenting that she endured had been that she was about a test score in school. The way that she was treated in that moment almost brought a tear to her eye. It wasn’t so much of how the story went... no. It was how calm Stiletto was when she told it.

To Sakura, it was one thing to say it and show the anger, the fear, any emotion at all in regards to it. But the fact that Stiletto remained as calm as normal upset her the most. How someone could do that to their child and let them succumb to such a sense of... who knows what to call it that they shut themselves off from normal interaction. But, it wasn’t like she was the only one who went through a time like that. She could remember just becoming the doll she was today and having no care for feeling joyful or peppy. She was a lot like Diana, but everyones experiences change them differently. There was a chance to bring someone back from the brink like that. It only took time and patience, not to push too much. Perhaps maybe she could pass on the favor done to her? Was it worth a try to even think she could? There was no telling just what would happen if she wanted to have nothing to do with it and simply ended their partnership here and now over it. It was a dicey decision for sure and though it could push the blonde away, she wanted to try.

The next words from Stiletto’s mouth had brought those artificial orbs of her to widen. Genuinely shocked by the way that she had to say, but slowly the look of surprise mellowed down to a soft smile. ”I don’t know how to honestly respond other that just to say thank you, but I know that isn’t enough.” She started off, pausing as the driver had chimes in about their arrival. Once Stiletto and Siren both returned their thanks, she looked back to the blonde and her thumbs nervously twiddled together. ”But I feel like I should be thanking you, Stiletto. Since day one of joining, you’ve been there for me, and I feel if there’s anything that can be done to repay you for it, I’d do it.” She slid a bit closer to the blonde, being sure now to lower her voice so she couldn’t be heard by the driver. ”I know they don’t like personal information brought out, but I haven’t had the trust in someone I wasn’t related to ever. As hard as it is for me to think of it this way... you’re the closest thing to a friend I’ve had in this line of work. So if there’s ever anything you need of me in the future, personal or professionally, please let me help you.” She didn’t want to add to the fact that she was here because of Siren to begin with, however she wanted to make sure that if she could help her mentor with anything. Anything at all. That she would drop anything and everything to help her.

669 words
5,658/11,000 personal total
10,950/22,000 total thread count.

(Adjusting totals from mistaking 10y & 100y job tables)

"If I ever need your help, Siren, I'll be sure to ask you. It's nice to have someone I can count on." Stiletto said to Siren, her faithful apprentice who had just pledged to help her should the huntress ever need a helping hand. Stiletto was genuinely touched by the offer of aid from the smaller mage should the former one day need it, but she did not want to get Siren's hopes up. The huntress had made a lot of enemies over her career and did not want her apprentice to get caught in the crossfire when things inevitably came to a head between the huntress and her enemies, but then a grim thought hit her.

Just by associating with the huntress, Siren was already a target.

Like it or not, Siren was already in the crosshairs of Stiletto's enemies just for associating with the latter, let alone actually being a friend of hers. The fact that the smaller mage was a friend would make her an even more tempting target to The Shadow Collective. Siren was one of the few good things in the huntress' life right now because the former did a lot more for her than just regard her as a mentor. Siren just might be the key to pulling Stiletto's soul back from the abyss.

While working for her parents the blonde had no idea of who she could really trust because her own parents had already betrayed her in the worst of ways and she could never go to the police, not after her parents had made her kill their rivals. That attitude was only reinforced when she became a freelance mage who had no support network and no acquaintances to turn to. The blonde had to make her own decisions as to what jobs to take, she had to procure her own gear if a job required special equipment, and she had to tend her own wounds if she got hurt. As a result closing herself off from the world made her life a lot easier because she did not have to care about anyone. She did not have to care if a contact got hurt, got killed, or simply disappeared like they had never existed... to the blonde any human contact was just business and nothing more.

She provided them with a service and got paid for her work. They had an obstacle removed from their lives or had a rival dealt with once and for all. It was a simple business arrangement and nothing more.

The blonde had lived by that philosophy for many years and it had not led her astray. She could shut out anyone and everyone with disturbing ease, even her own family after they died from drinking poisoned wine. Diana had refused to acknowledge their deaths; she had refused to even acknowledge any link with them until Mr. Necargie told her that he held the key to the Winchester estate in Bellum. Even then the decision to finally acknowledge familial ties was not a decision free of ulterior motives. Diana had wanted to claim the Winchester estate primarily to keep it from falling into the hands of Mr. Gorman, the man who had sent the poisoned wine that had killed her family.

After meeting several people during her travels who made her reconsider shutting herself off from everyone and seeing relationships only in terms of business transactions, Diana found it harder and harder to maintain the level of detachment needed to see that attitude as a healthy one. People had thanked her for her help and she had gotten to know a little about a few of them. Jasmine DuClaire had an older brother who wanted to be a Capital Crocus police officer before his murder, Veronica of Hargeon Town really liked music, Ben the cowboy had worked for a caravan company ever since he was a teenager, Professor Fauntleroy had a passion for tea and ancient civilizations, and Angela Helton really liked shopping. After those experiences it was rather hard for Diana to see people as just business contacts. Now her experience with Siren had made it all but impossible to go back to the "people are just business contacts" attitude.

"I'm glad that I can rely on your help, Siren. If I ever need your help, I'll let you know. And if you need my help with anything, let me know and I'll help you." Stiletto said to Siren with genuine gratitude before extending her own offer of help if it was ever needed. It was funny. For many years Stiletto had no problems killing people but now had suddenly developed reservations about people dying on her behalf. Was that because Stiletto actually cared about Siren? Maybe.

Despite all the dangers that came with having a friend, it was nice to finally find someone she could rely on if push came to shove.

[Post Word Count: 818]
[Stiletto's Word Count: 6,130/11,000]
[Total Word Count: 11,768/22,000]

(I am following Sakura's lead and adjusting totals from 100-Year to 10-Year totals.)