by Diana Winchester 5th June 2020, 8:56 pm
-Snowfall Lodge, Room 437, thirty minutes later-
Having checked into Snowfall Lodge under the assumed name of Margaret DuBois with an Iceberg history as the daughter of the wealthy DuBois shipping family and an expertly forged Iceberg passport that was virtually indistinguishable from the real thing thanks to the tireless work of the staff of Hidden Blades, the disguised Stiletto sat in the room she had checked into for two days and made sure that the room door was shut before she planned her next move. She had checked into a hotel, so there were physical traces of Margaret DuBois, but nothing out of the ordinary. She had to be careful with her movements and not do too much to arouse suspicion. Now that she had set up shop in the Snowfall Lodge room, she had some time to herself to plan how she was going to go about the business of eliminating Jacob Beall and "Greg."
The first order of business was finding where exactly the Anlecotti safehouse was. The briefing had only told her somewhere in the wilderness, but that was not very helpful because there was a lot of wilderness around the remote area the lodge was located in. She would need a way to learn the lay of the land, but she could not question the locals because she did not know if the Anlecottis had spies among the hotel staff and she did not want to let Jacob Beall and his guest know what was coming.
Stiletto quietly sat in her small but lavish room with beige carpet, wooden walls made to resemble those of an old-fashioned ski lodge, a mini-kitchen with a granite counter and up-to-date appliances including a microwave and a coffeemaker, a small living room with a 48" wall-mounted television, and a small bedroom a stone's throw away from the kitchen with a double bed to sleep on. She did not plan on being here very long, so the amenities of the room did not matter very much to her because checking into the room was all part of selling the deception that she was a wealthy tourist, not a globetrotting contract killer. On a glass coffee table in the living room was a white brochure with blue print advertising hotel amenities, so the blonde picked it up and thumbed through it to see if there was anything she could use to build a cover story.
After three minutes of careful reading she saw that Snowfall Lodge had a ski slope at its attached ski resort complete with a ski lift to ferry skiers back to the top of the slope. The blonde saw that and carefully re-read the entire brochure to make sure that her eyes were not deceiving her. If there really was a ski lift, perhaps she could use it to gain a vantage point that would let her get a glimpse of the wilderness below. With any luck she might even spot the Anlecotti safehouse from her perch. While Stiletto did not know the first thing about skiing, today would be a good day to learn how so that she had a legitimate reason to be on the elevated areas around the slopes.
Stiletto took a deep breath and mentally prepared to go to the ski resort to build her cover story. Since she did not know how to ski she would be taking a lot of falls, but thankfully she would not be leaving any evidence that could trace her. All that the world would see was a novice skier taking the bumps and bruises that came with learning how to use that method of travel turned into sport. Stiletto could handle looking less than graceful in public so long as she could get a good glimpse at the wilderness around Snowfall Lodge's ski resort. Pocketing her room keycard and taking a deep breath, "Margaret DuBois" left the room and shut the door behind her, then made her way to the ski resort owned and operated by the hotel.
-Snowfall Lodge Ski Slopes, forty-five minutes later-
Having rented a pair of skis and poles and having put on the skis with the help of a patient slope attendant, after a lengthy preparation time Stiletto waddled towards the start of the bunny slopes. There were plenty of people on the ski slopes wearing a rainbow of colors and wearing sunglasses to avoid going snowblind. She saw blue, orange, pink, green, black, yellow, even a few people in white with orange hats for visibility purposes... hardly anyone would pay attention to a white-clad blonde zooming down the bunny slopes and possibly falling a few times. Stiletto stood at the top of the beginner's slope and exhaled a cloud of breath, then focused and used the poles to move herself forward.
She hung on the edge of the slope for what seemed like forever before finally going over and starting her rapid descent. Once she got going her altered hair whipped behind her, giving her the appearance of a comet as she used the poles to alter her direction to avoid hitting fellow novices and children with their parents. She soon found herself wishing that parents and older siblings would keep better track of their children because the skiing blonde looked away for a split-second because on the intermediate slope she saw a young blonde woman with purple eyes in a baby blue outfit who greatly resembled Francesca Corlone. She was so distracted by the sight that when she looked forward again she found herself seconds from impact with a child in a pink outfit. The huntress sharply swerved to the left and avoided hitting the child but lost her balance in the process.
She pitched forward and fell onto her front, doing three head-over-heel revolutions and part of a fourth before finally coming to a stop on her backside. Shaking off the fall, the dazed Stiletto quickly hurried to her feet and started skiing again before someone coming down the slop ran into her and took a tumble themselves after inflicting more injury on her. She got moving again and was relieved to find that her sunglasses had survived the tumble none the worse for wear, which was good because she had taken a liking to them. Investing in the durable model over the flashier model had paid off handsomely.
Stiletto stayed on her feet the rest of the time and managed to learn a little more about the art of skiing. She paid attention to what was in front of her the entire time and carefully navigated around fellow novices and wayward children lagging behind their parents. Stiletto was starting to learn how to smoothy maneuver instead of making jerky motions that resulted in her risking a second fall... the huntress was actually having a bit of genuine fun for once, but that fun ended when she reached the bottom of the bunny slope without further incident. Now that she was at the ski lift she had to wait for the next empty one to arrive and ride it up to the top while hoping that she could get a glimpse of the remote safehouse in the process.
[Post Word Count: 1,200]
[Total Word Count: 1,903/7,000]