Claiming The Sheridan Estate

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Job Sign Up Archive - Page 39, Post Number 972

-Sabertooth Guild Hall, Victoria's Room-

Wearing her new Steel Matron t-shirt to replace the one that had been badly damaged by the necromancer's corrosive magic and her black skirt, Victoria sat in front of her Daggerbook with a six-pack of Strawberry Slam soda sitting nearby. She was browsing the Lacrimanet in search of a music lacrima store in Ace Of Spades. She was looking to buy some Steel Matron music lacrimas for the music lacrima player she had won at the Christmas event in Capital Crocus but did not want to have to journey to Capital Crocus Mall in order to buy them. So far Victoria was not having much luck, but she was not exactly trying very hard either. She was busy reading about a local music store named The Full House and reading about a Steel Matron concert that was set to arrive in Capital Crocus in a few weeks.

Victoria was interested in going to a Steel Matron concert and getting a live concert experience instead of listening to their music on a lacrima player, but she would need to make sure that she did not have any pressing engagements before she went to it. She did not want to go to the concert only to be called away because some big threat had popped up and she needed to go deal with it. While she would prefer to be left alone during the Steel Matron concert, Victoria had no say in what happened in Earthland. She had no control over when Zupazu's Executioners popped up next or when another necromancer worked their nefarious magic in some corner of Earthland.

The brunette took a swig from the open can of Strawberry Slam sitting far to the right of her Daggerbook and looked at the concert information. The Steel Matron concert was called Capital  Punishment and seemed to be a concert of "greatest hits" plus the promise of new songs made just for the concert. The concert name sounded more like something Plague Doctor would come up with than a Steel Matron idea, but Victoria did not complain too much. She had gotten used to the metal references used by the band but found the name somewhat amusing. Perhaps Steel Matron was implying that their concert would be so successful that it "killed" their previous concert attendance records.

Victoria was browsing the offerings of the local music store named The Full House. So far she found that the store had the albums Matron Of Metal and Steel The Spotlight in stock, which was a good start. Victoria wanted more of their earlier albums, but she did not know what the names of their earlier albums were. She would either have to consult Florence or find a Lacrimanet site devoted to Steel Matron with a discography of the band's albums. In the meantime her attention span wandered towards the offerings of the concert violinist named Marina Renault, a young woman Victoria had met slightly over two years ago for a housesitting job that paid well and was fairly easy.

Victoria was not a big classical music fan, but she had found Renault's work to have a certain appeal. Victoria was not educated in music but knew that a violin was not a beginner's instrument. Like with the saxophone or the piano, the violin took an experienced musician to bring out its full potential. Marina Renault was the experienced musician needed to bring out the full potential of the violin.

The brunette was casually browsing through the music catalog of The Full House when she heard the soft sound of paper being slipped under her door. Victoria got up from her chair and walked over to the door to find a brown manila envelope waiting on the floor for her. She gently bent down and picked it up, then walked back to her chair and sat down to open it. Victoria opened it and found a handwritten message within. She gently pulled out the message and read it.

"Dear Miss Sheridan:

I'm afraid that I did not get your iLac number the last time we met, so I'm sending this message to you the old-fashioned way. The legal matters concerning the estate of your family have been cleared up and you are now set to inherit it. Please visit my home at 1780 King's Court at your earliest convenience and we'll discuss the matter further.

Thomas Montgomery"

It was a short message, but it got across the message quite clearly. Victoria was to go to 1780 King's Court in Capital Crocus and meet with Thomas Montgomery, a lawyer and old friend of her late father Phillip. There she would learn more about the Sheridan estate and possibly even get to see it herself. Victoria had been reluctant to accept it at first because it felt like betraying everything she stood for as a champion of the little guy, but then she came to realize the benefits of having a home on the outskirts of Capital Crocus.

Victoria would have a guaranteed safe place to stay in the area. She could stay rent-free and she could offer a place to stay to her guildmates and to her friend Abigail Windstrider if they needed it. She would also have a place to store some of her excess belongings if she really needed to. Victoria did not have a lot of excess belongings, but having more storage space was never a bad thing.

The brunette exited the Lacrimanet browser and turned off her Daggerbook, then put on some socks and shoes. She then threw a few supplies into her backpack and got the key to her Centaur. Victoria was on her way to Capital Crocus to talk with Mr. Montgomery and learn more about her family's home.

[Post Word Count: 964]
[Total Word Count: 964/11,000]

-Capital Crocus, two hours and twenty minutes later-

It had been a two-hour drive to Capital Crocus, but that was due to the car traffic. On the outskirts of the city it had been congested for over an hour because of a fender bender that happened at a stop light when someone in a sports car ran into the rear of a four-door sedan whose driver was busy drinking coffee and did not notice the light change from red to green. The minor incident clogged the road for well over an hour and had caused Victoria a lot of frustration. She was more than a little tempted to zip onto the sidewalk when it was empty, but the Capital Crocus Police were everywhere and she did not want to get arrested for something stupid like that. The brunette instead endured the lengthy wait and lamented the lack of a good Lacrimanet connection in the area to make the wait more bearable.

Once the wait was over Victoria carefully made her way to 1780 King's Court and watched her speed carefully. There were plenty of police officers at the accident site, but there were also plenty of officers all around the city for some reason. She passed by two squad cars sitting on the road to the Montgomery house and that was two more squad cars than she normally encountered. Maybe they would do her a favor and arrest Francesca Corlone for being a terrible human being who was an active part of a crime family, engaged in torture on an unknown number of occasions, deliberately assaulted other people just because she could, and had somehow gotten away with it all. The brunette found herself involuntarily clenching her teeth at the thought of her old enemy.

-1780 King's Court, twenty minutes later-

After over two hours of travel time Victoria pulled into the driveway of 1780 King's Court and came to a stop. She looked around for Francesca Corlone and was not disappointed... or rather she was disappointed to see her casually dressed enemy glaring at her from her driveway while standing next to her black convertible. Francesca was wearing a white tube top with open black jaket and short black skirt with black stiletto heels. Victoria braced herself for another conflict with the brash former mob princess who just did not know when to quit. True to form Francesca came striding over to pollute the place with her very presence.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, BIKER BITCH?" Francesca asked Victoria in the former's lack of indoor voice. The brunette was a bit tired from sitting in traffic for over an hour, so she was not looking forward to a conflict with the former mob princess. She just wanted to talk to Thomas Montgomery and get on with the day. Unfortunately that was not an option.

"That's none of your business. Besides, you're not supposed to be here. If I'm not mistaken, there's a restraining order against you coming onto the Montgomery property." Victoria replied to the blonde. That was not what Francesca had wanted to hear.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE RESTRAINING ORDER!" Francesca yelled at Victoria. That was obvious, but Victoria hoped to either avoid a conflict or resolve it in a civil fashion. Unfortunately Francesca was convinced of her own invincibility, convinced that the law did not apply to her. There was no reasoning with someone like that. Fortunately Victoria was not the one to have to reason with her because someone else did.

"You're not welcome here, Miss Corlone. There's a restraining order against you for attacking my daughters, so I suggest that you leave before the police get involved. I will call them if I have to." A powerful male voice advised the blonde and produced an iLac to back up the threat. Francesca crossed her arms over her large chest, huffed, and wordlessly walked back to her property with her high heels clacking. Victoria turned around to find Mr. Montgomery standing a short distance away dressed in a black three-piece suit with black dress shoes and a look that said he was ready to remove Francesca from his property with force should it become necessary.

"Thanks, Mr. Montgomery." Victoria thanked her rescuer.

"No need to thank me, Miss Sheridan. Now, I believe that you're here to discuss some business with me. We'll discuss this business inside." Mr. Montgomery said to her. Even though Victoria was not the one under the microscope, she was not going to disobey him. He had a no-nonsense look on his face.

"OK." Victoria said. The garage door raised and Victoria got onto the Centaur, gently driving it into the garage so that Francesca could not damage it while the pair were inside discussing the Sheridan estate. Once the Centaur was inside the garage was closed and the pair walked through the house and to his home office.

-Inside the Montgomery house, in Mr. Montgomery's office-

Victoria was sitting in a small and tastefully decorated home office with a computer, a mahogany desk, two chairs, and a metal filing cabinet that had a lock on it. Mr. Montgomery was searching through his desk for something and found it after about a minute of searching.

"It took some doing and a lot of late nights, but I've finally managed to get the Sheridan estate in your name, Miss Sheridan." Mr. Montgomery told Victoria. He presented to her a copy of the will for her to read.

"The original's already been filed and all the hurdles have been cleared, so you don't have to worry about some last-minute legal shenanigans taking it away from you. If you're anything like Phillip, you won't want to have a big party celebrating your inheritance. You just want to see the house." He added further as the brunette read over the document. Victoria was momentarily taken aback by the lawyer's accurate assessment of her character. As Gaia and Itori could tell him, Victoria was not one for ceremony. When she wanted something, she wanted it as quickly as possible without time-consuming delays like ceremonies.

"I'd like to see the Sheridan estate, please. Without ceremony. You see, Francesca and I don't exactly get along." Victoria requested. Mr. Montgomery nodded.

"Of course. We'll leave whenever you're ready." He said to her and stood up while clutching a briefcase.

This was it. Victoria was going to not only revisit the house she had grown up in, she would also get to own it and live in it again. The brunette felt a surge of emotion as she followed Mr. Montgomery out of his office and back to the garage for the trip to her family home.

[Post Word Count: 1,116]
[Total Word Count: 2,080/11,000]

-The Sheridan Estate, 25 miles outside of Capital Crocus, forty minutes later-

Mr. Montgomery had driven to the Sheridan estate in his personal vehicle and Victoria had followed on her DH-40 Centaur. Thankfully by the time the pair had left 1780 King's Court Francesca Corlone's black convertible was no longer in its driveway. She had gone for a day on the town, meaning that they would not be followed by the mob princess, at least not this time. There was a good chance the enemies of the Sheridan family would notice that the estate had a new owner and would come to finish what they had started, but since she was currently the second-strongest mage in Sabertooth, Victoria was not too worried about attempts on her life. After fighting mafia soldiers, demon cultists, and actual demons, the brunette was not worried too much about some jealous rich people who could not stand any young upstarts moving into "their" neck of the woods.

Mr. Montgomery pulled his car into the driveway and Victoria parked her Centaur beside him. She turned off the Centaur and climbed off of it and waited for him to get out of his vehicle. He soon joined her in the driveway, where they stood outside of a medium two-floor house made in almost the same style as the houses on King's Court except for its second floor. The Sheridan estate was a medium-sized home that had a light gray exterior and a front door made out of oak.

"Well, here it is. The Sheridan house." Mr. Montgomery said to Victoria. He fished a set of keys out of his right pocket and handed them to Victoria. The brunette looked at them.

"They're the keys to your house, Miss Sheridan. Your father Phillip entrusted them to me many years ago. Today the home returns to the possession of a Sheridan." The tall dark-haired lawyer said to Victoria. The brunette analyzed his body language and learned that he was telling the truth to her about how he had come in possession of the keys to the Sheridan home. Victoria relaxed and looked at the front door of the house. It opened and out stepped a silver-haired young woman with blue eyes and wearing a maid outfit greeted them. Mr. Montgomery turned to the puzzled Victoria.

"I forgot to tell you that I've kept the house maintained until it could return to your hands, Miss Sheridan. I've taken the liberty of hiring a maid for you. Her name's Laura and she came highly recommended." Mr. Montgomery introduced Victoria to her maid. Victoria blinked. She never knew that she had a maid.

"Hello Miss Sheridan. I'm Laura Warren. I'm from Capital Crocus and I was hired by Mr. Montgomery to serve you and look after the Sheridan household!" Laura cheerfully introduced herself to Victoria.

"I'm Victoria Sheridan, as you may know. It's nice to meet you too!" Victoria introduced herself to her new maid. The brunette was not sure how to deal with the fact that she had a maid. Laura was getting paid for the job and had chosen to accept employment of her own free will, but Victoria did not really like the idea of someone "serving" her.

"I'll leave you two to get acquainted. I have to get home and prepare dinner for my daughters. Here's my iLac number if you have any questions." Mr. Montgomery said to Victoria. He handed her a small note with his iLac number on it and turned for the driveway.

"Thank you, Mr. Montgomery. Thank you for everything." Victoria thanked the man for all of his help. He nodded and waved goodbye, then walked towards the driveway and got into his car, then left for Capital Crocus. Victoria then put the note in her backpack and faced Laura.

"Laura, does this house have a garage?" Victoria asked Laura. The silver-haired young woman nodded.

"Of course, Miss Sheridan. Give me a minute and I'll open it for you." Laura replied. Victoria nodded and Laura entered the house. Roughly a minute later the three-car garage on the left side of the house opened. Victoria hopped onto the Centaur, turned it on, and gently drove it into the garage, where Laura closed the door behind her.

-Inside the Sheridan house, the living room-

Victoria had taken her shoes off in the foyer and was standing in the living room, which was a large area with a 70" flatscreen television of recent manufacture mounted on the wall in front of a leather sofa that could seat three people. The carpet was spotlessly clean and the walls were as well. Laura had done a good job cleaning up the place.

"I cleaned the house before your arrival, Miss Sheridan. I made sure that the entire house was clean." Laura informed her.

"Thank you, Laura." Victoria thanked the young maid for her hard work.

"It's no problem, Miss Sheridan." Laura replied with a bow at the waist. That bow made Victoria feel rather uncomfortable, but the brunette did not say that. Laura was just showing respect for the new owner of the Sheridan house, but it felt uncomfortable for someone to bow to Victoria like she was a superior being. Bowing and scraping was what the upper crust of Capital Crocus expected from anyone who did not have the good fortune to be born into their clique... at least that was Victoria's jaundiced opinion talking. Her opinion had not been formed in the best of circumstances and it was not exactly fair, but just like some of them had considered poor people street trash, she considered most of the upper class to be insufferable narcissists.

Now that Victoria had sort of joined the upper crust by virtue of inheriting her family's estate she would have to grin and bear them and their attitudes. She would probably never fit in with them because she was not running in the right social circles, but that was fine with her. She had better things to do with her time than beg for their approval. The world still needed protection from various threats and the Sabertooth mage would answer the call until she was no longer able to. She would rather spend her time fighting cultists and necromancers than going to party after party and trying to pretend that she liked people she really did not like and them pretending to like her back.

Laura Warren:

[Post Word Count: 1,072]
[Total Word Count: 3,152/11,000]

Standing inside the living room and still trying to come to terms with the fact that she was now standing in the very house she had lived in when she was a child, Victoria looked at Laura, her new maid. Or rather Laura was the maid hired by Victoria to clean the latter's home and assist her with other domestic chores. It was strictly an employer/employee relationship... the brunette did not "own" Laura in any way.

"So, Laura... where would you like me to set my backpack?" Victoria asked the silver-haired maid who looked to be about her age, if not slightly older.

"Anywhere you'd like, really. It's your house." Laura replied with a smile. That was not exactly what Victoria wanted to hear, but it was technically an answer. Victoria shrugged her shoulders and began to take off her backpack when she thought of something.

"Could you show me my room?" Victoria asked Laura. The maid nodded.

"Of course, Miss Sheridan. Follow me." Laura replied. Victoria looked around the living room and saw a staircase in a well behind the sofa that led to the second floor. Laura made for them and Victoria followed close behind.

-The second floor, Victoria's room-

Victoria stood in her new room, which was easily twice as large as her room back at the guild hall. It had a large four-poster queen size bed with white sheets sitting against the wall in the center of the room, a large wooden bookshelf with some books in it, a desk at a window covered with beige drapes that did a good job of blocking out sunlight, and a wardrobe on the wall next to the door.

"This is your room, Miss Sheridan. How do you like it?" Laura asked Victoria as the latter looked around the room. It was hard to believe that all of it was hers and hers alone.

"I like it. It's got a lot of space." Victoria replied. The room was easily twice as large as her room back at Sabertooth Guild Hall. She had more living space than she knew what to do with and this was just a bedroom. A bedroom.

"If I remember what Mr. Montgomery told me, this was once your parents' bedroom." Laura added. The brunette blinked. She had no memory of her parents whatsoever and certainly did not remember this room. She wondered if an amnesia-inducing spell was part of the transformation package provided by Professor Ernest Richardson or if she had been taken to someone else for the amnesia spell once she had been transformed into her shorter, more boyish form.

"I don't remember anything about my parents, Laura. I don't remember their voices, their hair colors, their eye colors, their favorite foods, their favorite television shows, nothing." Victoria admitted to the silver-haired maid. The first six years of her life were a total mystery to her, as was any information about her parents other than their names and Phillip's fondness for strong alcohol. Mr. Montgomery had been telling the truth about their names, so Phillip and Octavia Sheridan had clearly existed. Victoria was also their daughter because she had taken two forms of DNA testing and both had come back positive.

"Forgive the intrusion, Miss Sheridan, but when I was dusting the bookshelf and rearranging the books, I noticed a photo album among them. I believe its cover was green." Laura provided a possible clue. Victoria looked towards the bookshelf and spotted several green books among the numerous books on the shelf. That clue was a very good starting place for Victoria to begin her search... later. Right now she was hungry and more than a little tired.

"I'll look into that later. In the meantime, I want something to eat. Do you want anything, Laura?" Victoria asked. She was thinking of riding to Capital Crocus and grabbing something from a Hamburger Monarch she saw while driving into town.

"I'd be delighted to make something for you, Miss Sheridan. What would you like?" Laura asked the brunette. Victoria blinked. She was not used to having someone able to cook for her, let alone having someone willing to cook for her. A typical meal back at the Red Dragon Inn was chicken wings and soda or chicken wings and vodka. That was not a healthy meal plan, but there were a lot of things about Victoria's life that were not healthy.

Her tendency to make powerful enemies like cultists, outlaw gangs, and demon lords.

Her fondness for alcohol... the stronger the better.

Her tendency to take dangerous jobs and go on them by herself instead of asking for Brianna, Itori, Gaia, or Noctis to go with her for support.

"Uh, good question. You see, I've never had anyone really cook for me before. Well, I've ordered plenty of food from the Red Dragon Inn, but I've never had anyone really cook for me and just for me." Victoria explained why she was uncertain as to what to ask for. Laura smiled.

"Let's go to the kitchen. I'll show you what we have and you tell me what to make for you." Laura offered.

"Um, sure!" Victoria replied. The pair left her room behind and went back downstairs to go to the kitchen.

-In the kitchen, the first floor-

Victoria entered a kitchen with wooden double doors and black-and-white checkerboard tile floors. In the middle of the kitchen was a kitchen island with a wooden chopping block and to the right was a top-of-the-line oven that was chrome. On the left side of the kitchen was a large double-door refrigerator with an ice dispenser and water dispenser. To the right of the refrigerator was a pantry door that was undoubtedly stocked with more food.

"Wow. This is a really nice kitchen." Victoria commented. Laura walked over to the refrigerator and opened both doors for Victoria to see what it contained. The brunette peered inside and found all manner of fresh produce, some poultry and beef, an unopened carton of eggs, and other supplies needed to make a meal. All Victoria had to do was ask and it would be made for her.

"What would you like for me to prepare for you, Miss Sheridan?" Laura repeated her earlier question and looked at Victoria, blue eyes meeting green. Again Victoria was not sure what to ask for. She was thinking of something simple like a salad, but now that she had seen what ingredients were available to make a meal, she might aim a little higher than a salad.

[Post Word Count: 1,092]
[Total Word Count: 4,244/11,000]

-The dining room, forty minutes later-

After thinking about what she wanted Victoria finally worked up the courage to ask for something beyond her normal meal of chicken wings and vodka or chicken wings and soda, a meal called "fettucine alfredo". While she waited for it to be brought out she looked at the dining room and noticed the old-fashioned brass candelabra with light bulbs in polished glass globes hanging overhead and providing a little bit of elegance to the otherwise simple dining toom. Victoria sat at the head of a small rectangular table that could seat four but could be extended with a special insert to accommodate up to six people. Covering the table was a slightly yellowed white tablecloth that Victoria was concerned about messing up because it was likely older than she was. There was also a white porcelain vase of plastic flowers, something that the brunette thought was a bit tacky but kept her mouth shut because Laura had gone out of her way to set the table.

After an additional six minutes Laura came into the room bearing a single white plate loaded with pasta noodles. She set it down in front of Victoria and backed off to a respectful distance. Victoria opened the bottle of vodka that had been brought in earlier and took a swig, then looked at her plate.

Victoria grabbed a fork with her right hand, clumsily speared a few pasta noodles onto the fork, and carefully ate the noodles to avoid dropping them and making a mess of the tablecloth. To her surprise it was pretty good; the noodles had only a hint of garlic, but since she had never had fettucine alfredo before the brunette had gone into this meal with no expectations. Laura watched Victoria eat from a meter away and waited for comment on her work. The brunette took a swig from the bottle of vodka at her right and stood up, then pushed the chair back in.

"I like this. A lot." Victoria finally spoke up after clumsily spearing a few more pasta noodles onto the fork. Laura seemed pleased to hear that and smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that, Miss Sheridan." Laura replied. Victoria ate the noodles on her fork and looked at Laura, who was standing in place like a statue wearing a maid outfit. Maybe the silver-haired maid was waiting for an invitation to join Victoria.

"Hey Laura, why don't you get a plate and join me?" Victoria asked the young woman. Laura raised a hand in a "no thank you" gesture.

"No thank you, Miss Sheridan." Laura politely declined the offer to join the brunette at the table. Victoria felt bad about eating in front of the young woman and decided to make the offer a second time.

"Are you sure?" Victoria asked Laura a second time. The silver-haired young woman politely refused a second time.

"No thank you, Miss Sheridan." Laura politely repeated her refusal. Since Laura had declined for a second time the brunette decided not to press the matter and let it go. Maybe the maid was not hungry or maybe she was following some sort of code where the employer and employee did not eat at the same table. Victoria did not know what Laura's reason for refusing the offer was, but the brunette still felt sort of bad about eating in front of her. Victoria continued to eat while her employee watched from a polite distance and waited for a command or a request.

-Twenty minutes later-

Victoria finished her meal and the plate and fork were taken from the table by Laura while the brunette took another swig of Albino Gander vodka. Having had her share of the drink, Victoria put the cap back on and screwed it back into place, then stood up and walked into the kitchen to put the bottle of vodka up for another time. Now that she had had something to eat the brunette decided to go back up to her new room and look for that green photo album Laura had told her about earlier.

-The second floor, Victoria's room-

Victoria walked into her room and stood in place for a moment. She still could not believe that all of this space was hers now. She could not believe that the entire house was hers either. Recovering from that feeling, Victoria walked over to the bookshelf and began browsing through it for the green photo album that Laura had mentioned.

Victoria started on the top shelf and looked over the books. Right away she noticed that the books on the top shelf had a theme and that theme was alcohol. A closer look told her that they were books that had recipes for various mixed drinks. The brunette reached for a small blue book named Simple Mixed Drinks and flipped it open. She browsed a page on vodka-based mixed drinks and noticed that the recipe for a Screwdriver had been circled in black ink.

Victoria smiled a little. It looked like her father Phillip had circled that recipe. She did not know if her mother Octavia had liked alcohol too or if she was a teetotaler. The brunette continued to thumb through the book and noticed some interesting tequila-based drink recipes that were also circled in black ink... she would have to come back to those some day and write them down on a sheet of paper. Not having all day to spend browsing through the book, Victoria put it back on the shelf and continued to look through the bookcase.

On the second shelf was more books related to alcohol, but instead of mixed drinks the theme of this shelf was wine. Victoria wondered if these books had belonged to her father as well or if her mother was the wine drinker of the family. She had no idea and was not inclined to stop and find out, so the brunette swiftly moved on.

The third shelf had many books of poetry, something that Victoria was not very interested in. The uninterested brunette moved on down and looked on the fourth shelf, which was filled with vintage magazines on old cars and trucks; there was even an odd magazine on motorcycles. That subject was of more interest to Victoria than poetry, but she did not have the inclination to stop and read about vintage vehicles. She quickly moved onto the fifth shelf and continued her search for the green photo album.

[Post Word Count: 1,082]
[Total Word Count: 5,326/11,000]

-Thirty minutes later-

Victoria had gone through all the photo albums that she could find on the shelves. Perplexingly they were all empty. She wondered why that was, but then she recalled Ernest Richardson's story to her about her parents going to him in a hurry to get her physical form changed. She began to think about that story a little more and began to put two and two together. She had no evidence to support her hypothesis, but she had put together a reasonable hypothesis.

If Victoria's parents really had gone to him in order to get help in hiding her in plain sight, before they left home they had taken the time to destroy all photos of her so that their enemies would not know what Victoria looked like.

If Victoria's hypothesis was not out in left field and the story she had been told was true, that would explain why all the photo albums were empty. If her parents wanted to hide her in plain sight, it would make sense to do that. There was more than one brunette named "Victoria" out there and there likely other people with the last name Sheridan. If her family's enemies did not have a picture to match to her name, there was no way that they could attack the daughter of Phillip and Octavia Sheridan and be sure that they were killing the right person without risking getting the wrong person and bringing the authorities down on their heads.

Victoria was sure that her family's enemies were still out there, which was why she had insisted that there be no ceremony or press about her inheriting the Sheridan estate. Someone would find out that the Sheridan estate would have a new owner soon enough and word would spread. Victoria would need to use what little time she had to prepare herself for the inevitable onslaught of nosy neighbors wondered what she was doing in "their" neighborhood. At least she was strong enough to fight off any hired guns short of Wizard Saints, so if the shadowy people behind the deaths of her parents wanted to finish the extermination of the Sheridan family they would have to send some serious muscle.

Having browsed through all the photo albums on the shelf and having found nothing, Victoria put all the books she had taken off the shelves back onto it and took a look at the bookshelf one last time to see if there was anything that she was missing. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the shelf, so Victoria decided to give up on that approach for the time being and go get some more of that vodka she had with the fettucine alfredo. Victoria left her room door open and went for the stairs.

-In the kitchen-

Victoria walked over to the refrigerator in the empty kitchen and opened the right door. She spotted the bottle of Albino Gander sitting inside the right door and grabbed it by the neck, then closed the refrigerator door with her right foot. She unscrewed the lid and took a swig from the bottle, then walked out of the kitchen with her prize.

-In the living room-

With her prize in hand, Victoria was walking back towards the stairs so that she could go back to her room and take another look in case there was something hidden in it when she noticed that the television was on. The brunette looked a little closer and saw that Laura was sitting in front of the television watching a concert of some sort. There was a young woman standing onstage playing the violin who looked a lot like Marina Renault, but at the angle at which she was standing Victoria could not tell for certain. Laura spotted Victoria out of the corner of her eye and stood up.

"Oh, hi there Miss Sheridan! I didn't expect to see you again so soon!" Laura greeted her. Victoria was amused by that and smiled a little.

"Hey there, Laura. Don't mind me. I was just passing through with my bottle of vodka from earlier. You can watch TV if you want. You don't have to wait on me hand and foot." Victoria said to the faithful maid. Laura hesitantly sat back down and looked at Victoria. The brunette could tell that the silver-haired maid wanted to follow her upstairs so badly that the Sabertooth mage could feel it. Eventually Laura sat back down.

"OK, if you say so. Just call for me if you need my help with anything!" Laura said to Victoria. Victoria calmly waved at Laura and walked back up the stairs, making sure not to spill any vodka on the stairs. Victoria made it to the top of the stairs without any trouble and was soon back in her room staring at the bookshelf.

-Inside Victoria's room-

With her bottle of vodka clutched firmly in her right hand, Victoria studied the bookshelf she had combed through earlier for any irregularities that suggested that something might have been hidden in or underneath it. Maybe it was even hiding something behind it. The brunette took a swig from the half-empty bottle and began to walk around the bookshelf with her left hand on her hip.

Victoria walked all the way to the left of it and paid special attention to how it fit against the wall. She was looking for anything irregular behind it like a gap or an object taped to the back of it. From where she was standing the bookshelf showed nothing unusual. Victoria decided to walk over to the right side to view the bookshelf from a different angle.

Now that she was standing on the right side she looked behind it to see if there was anything unusual about it from this angle. Unfortunately there was nothing unusual about the piece of furniture from this angle either. Maybe in this case the bookshelf was just a bookshelf. Not willing to concede defeat just yet, the brunette took a few steps back until she was facing it from a short distance away and took another swig of vodka.

Victoria's mind began to wander back to the subject of her father's interest in alcohol. She recalled the books with drink recipes and books on wines on the first two shelves. That led her to come up with another hypothesis.

If her parents had books on alcohol and wine, maybe they had a basement bar for mixing up some drinks for personal consumption and for entertaining guests. She did not see mixing equipment and tools in the kitchen, so if they had any it was likely in the basement. Maybe she should ask Laura if the Sheridan house had a basement. With that in mind the brunette left her room behind and went back down the stairs with a nearly empty bottle of vodka in her right hand.

[Post Word Count: 1,155]
[Total Word Count: 6,481/11,000]

-In the living room-

Victoria walked down the stairs to find Laura exactly where she had been sitting earlier. The brunette was not sure whether she should disturb Laura or not, but when the silver-haired maid turned to face Victoria, she knew that Laura would not mind the interruption. At least Victoria thought she would not, anyway.

"Hey Laura, do you know if this house has a basement or not?" Victoria asked Laura. Laura nodded.

"Yes, Miss Sheridan. This house has a basement. If you'd like to see it, follow me." Laura said, standing up in front of the couch and walking away from it. Victoria wordlessly fell in line behind the silver-haired young woman and followed her towards the basement of the Sheridan house. There Victoria would continue her search for anything pertaining to her past.

-Inside the basement-

"And here we are, Miss Sheridan. The basement." Laura announced before flipping on the lights, showing a large basement with a complete minibar and all the equipment needed to make alcoholic drinks. It was large enough to host a house party if the brunette wanted to. Against the left wall was a minibar with a polished wooden counter that was well-stocked with alcohols of different types, including what looked like a few bottles of wine. Straight ahead was a door leading deeper into the basement. Victoria, being a drinker of some taste even if it was limited to vodka, was drawn to the stock behind the bar.

"Mr. Montgomery told me that your father Phillip was a man with a fondness for strong drink. Tequila, vodka, gin... the stronger it was the more he liked it. If a drink wasn't strong enough for his liking he would gladly mix his own." Laura chimed in as Victoria finished her bottle of vodka and set it on the bar, then went behind the bar and began examining what the late Phillip Sheridan had set aside. Victoria's attention was drawn to a clear bottle that looked like it contained vodka, so she reached for it and gently pulled it off of the shelf. When it was safely in her hands Victoria examined the label.

"I can tell." Victoria said calmly. In her hands was a bottle of CEIL vodka. Victoria could not believe that her father would willingly drink such a cheap vodka. The brunette showed the bottle to Laura.

"This is some really cheap but strong stuff, Laura. There's a joke that it's called CEIL because it's so strong that when you first drink it you'll be knocked flat on your back and staring at the ceiling." Victoria commented on her father's choice of drink. Laura was moved to comment.

"I wouldn't know, Miss Sheridan. I don't drink alcohol." Laura told Victoria. Victoria could see that her maid was telling the truth.

"That's a smart thing to do, Laura. Don't take up the habit if you can avoid it." Victoria commented in all seriousness. She knew that liberally drinking strong alcohol was not the smartest idea, but she had been drinking since she was around ten years old. The water on the streets of Capital Crocus was far from safe, so Lawrence shared alcohol with her so that she would have a beverage that was somewhat safe to drink. His biggest mistake was throwing her into the deep end by giving her vodka right away. He should have just given her soda... it was just as unhealthy and slightly better for her.

Victoria put the bottle of CEIL back in its place and looked at the polished wooden bar that her father had had installed. She ran her right hand over it and noted how smooth it was. She also noted the cocktail shaker under the bar.

"Since we're on the subject of alcohol, would you care to see your mother's wine collection?" Laura asked Victoria. Victoria smiled widely.

"Sure!" Victoria said cheerfully. She walked from behind the bar and followed Laura towards the door that was on the back wall. Laura opened it and Victoria followed her inside.

-Through the door-

The hallway started out straight but soon turned into a staircase as the pair walked down it and Laura turned on lacrima-powered lanterns that were hanging from the walls. Victoria thought that the choice of lighting was a little creepy. It was like she was walking into a crypt like the one she and Abigail had explored in Silent Cemetery several weeks ago. Victoria paused in place when she looked into the darkness ahead and thought that she saw the face of that necromancer she and Abigail had killed. She knew that the necromancer was well and truly dead, but the memory of his rotting face in that tunnel was enough to give the brunette pause.

"Are you OK, Miss Sheridan?" Laura asked Victoria, lighting a lantern and driving the darkness back.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Victoria replied. Now that the light was on and she knew for certain that the necromancer had not somehow cheated death a third time she was fine... mostly. Even witnessing his death at the hands of Abigail was not enough to entirely convince Victoria that he had not somehow come back to life. He was a necromancer, after all. Who was to say that what she had seen when he "died" was not an elaborate trick to fool people into thinking that he was dead?

Victoria did not know for certain. She would just have to trust that he was really, really dead this time and not just biding his time to take revenge on her and Abigail. After all, her Silver Dagger was made to fight the supernatural.

Victoria turned her thoughts away from that topic and towards her mother's wine collection. She wondered how much wine Octavia Sheridan had managed to collect before the events that led to Victoria living on the streets happened. Soon she would find out.

-In the wine cellar-

"And here we are. Octavia Sheridan's wine collection." Laura said to Victoria. The pair had entered a large and rather chilly room that had wine racks on the left and right walls. On the wall in front of them were casks of wine... one of them even had a tap protruding from it. That cask must have contained her mother's favorite wine. Victoria was not a wine drinker, but there was plenty of time to take up a new and slightly more socially acceptable drinking habit; wine was a little classier than vodka, after all.

"My mother certainly was a collector." Victoria commented dryly as she looked around the room and looked at the wine racks on the left and right walls. In between the books of drink recipes, her father's well-stocked minibar, and her mother's wine collection, it seemed like the Sheridan family had a fondness for alcohol. A serious fondness.

[Post Word Count: 1,141]
[Total Word Count: 7,622/11,000]

Victoria and Laura looked around the wine cellar and found that it was well-stocked with several different vintages, none of which Victoria had the slightest clue about. She would have to keep this collection a secret to avoid having unscrupulous wine aficionados descending on the Sheridan estate to try and snap up vintage wines at cheap prices... or for free. Victoria knew that some people would try and steal them if they thought that they could get away with it.

The thought of someone stealing what rightfully belonged to her incensed the brunette to no end, but then she stopped and thought about it. If someone stole something of hers Victoria supposed that she had it coming for stealing food from street vendors when she was younger. Back in the bad old days she stole food only when she was at her most desperate and she never stole for sport, but it was still stealing someone else's property that they had worked to make. It would be hypocritical for Victoria to have stolen food and then get angry when someone stole from her. She should expect some sort of cosmic backlash for the mistakes of her youth.

Victoria put those unpleasant thoughts out of her mind and focused on the present.

"You might not want to drink these, Miss Sheridan. I'd look up each and every vintage before you open them. You could be sitting on a gold mine of valuable wines." Laura advised Victoria. Victoria nodded.

"Certainly. I'm not a wine person anyway." Victoria replied, causing Laura to turn her head and look incredulously at the brunette. Victoria did not flinch. She knew what she liked and did not apologize for it. Or maybe Laura was looking at the brunette because the latter had implied that she would have drank the collection out of existence if she was a wine person. Victoria looked back at Laura.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to look them up." Victoria assured the maid that she would not drink anything in the collection before learning its value. Then she thought about it a little. She had no idea what she was doing, so maybe she should hire an expert to appraise the wine collection. It might seem heartless to sell her mother's collection, but if Victoria needed quick cash she could sell parts of the collection to willing buyers. That would be a last resort, though.

"Say, would you happen to know any wine experts who could appraise this collection and be trusted to keep quiet about it?" Victoria asked Laura. The silver-haired young woman shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, Miss Sheridan." Laura replied in the negative. Victoria shrugged her shoulders.

"Eh, don't worry about it, Laura. It's no big deal." Victoria assured her. Victoria was not sure if there were any big secrets hiding down here because everything looked to be in place and there were no suspicious gaps between the casks and the wall. Maybe there was something in the room with the minibar.

"I've seen everything I need to see here. Let's go back upstairs." Victoria said. Laura nodded.

"After you, Miss Sheridan." Laura said to Victoria, who started going back up the stairs. Victoria walked slowly so that she did not leave her faithful maid alone as the latter began to turn out the lanterns, plunging the wine cellar into darkness again. The brunette waited at the door for Laura and tried not to think about the necromancer.

-In the living room-

Victoria and Laura were now back in the living room. Victoria had seen enough of her family's alcohol collection for today. She wanted to do something else like watch television.

"Thanks for showing me the basement and wine cellar, Laura." Victoria thanked Laura for her help. Laura nodded.

"It's no problem, Miss Sheridan. I'm here to help." Laura assured her. Victoria turned the face the television and saw that it was now on a show with vintage sports cars. Victoria knew nothing about them other than some were not being made any more and that they could fetch big money if put on the auction block. She wondered if her father had any vintage sports cars... not that she would sell them or even drive them.

Victoria had her Centaur and that was good enough for her. It got her to where she needed to go and it had a visual style that she liked. She also did not want that trashy skank Francesca Corlone bashing up one of her father's sports cars with a metal baseball bat if Victoria drove it in public. If that ever happened chances were very high that Victoria would go to King's Court to have more than just harsh words with the mob princess. Victoria did not need to let that happen, so she would keep the vintage cars safe and just stick to her Centaur.

Victoria was not sure whether she wanted to go to the garage and check it out or just go back to her room and do something else for awhile. After giving it a bit of thought she decided to go back to her room for awhile. She was sure that Laura did not want her hanging around all night while there was exciting bidding action on a black sports car that was twice as old as Victoria was.

"I'll just go back to my room for awhile. I'll go through the books again." Victoria announced to Laura and went upstairs.

"OK. Let me know if you need me for anything." Laura said and sat back down to watch the exciting bidding action on the sports car. The last thing Victoria heard before going out of earshot of the television was that the bid was now 650,000 Jewels and rising.

-In Victoria's room-

Victoria was standing in her room and looking at the bookshelf again. After having gone to the basement and seeing her parents' respective alcohol collections the contents of the bookshelf took on a new meaning for the brunette. Victoria was not upset by this and was even a little amused. It seemed that all members of the Sheridan family had an affinity for alcohol.

Besides, Victoria did not have room to throw stones at her parents for their drinking habits. She was one of the most avid drinkers in Sabertooth and a frequent patron of the Red Dragon Inn. Victoria would rather have been known as Sabertooth's second-strongest mage after Samira Nassar, but she supposed that there were worse things she could be known for.

[Post Word Count: 1,092]
[Total Word Count: 8,714/11,000]

-The next morning, Victoria's room, 8:00 A.M.-

After a fruitless search for any books or pictures pertaining to her family Victoria had decided to call it a night and go to sleep. Victoria woke up the next morning in the middle of her four-poster bed feeling like she could not sleep any more for whatever reason. She felt restless. When that kind of feeling hit there was no point in remaining in bed, so Victoria rolled off of it and planted her feet on the carpeted floor. She walked over to her wardrobe, opened it, and got her skirt from yesterday out so that she could wear it with the wrinkled Steel Matron t-shirt she had slept in.

Victoria put it on and went to go get something to drink that was not alcohol. A soda like Strawberry Slam or Cherry Charge would do nicely. She walked across the carpet and left her room behind for the time being. For some odd reason she wanted to see the house that was hers again.

-In the kitchen-

Victoria's bare feet felt the cold tile as she walked in the kitchen to get a drink. She walked over to the double-door refrigerator she had seen yesterday and opened it up. The brunette glanced over the drinks that were in stock and found a can or two of Strawberry Slam in the very back. Victoria leaned into the refrigerator and grabbed one of them, then carefully extracted herself from the refrigerator and opened the can. The HISS broke the mid-morning silence and the brunette was pretty sure that Laura could have heard it from her room... if she even had one.

For all Victoria knew Laura was asleep on the couch in front of the television. If she was asleep on the couch in front of the television that was OK. Victoria did not need someone to wait on her hand and foot. She had gotten what she needed on her own for the past several years.

Drinking some of the soda so that the chance of a spill was reduced, the brunette left the kitchen with her can of Strawberry Slam and walked into the living room.

-In the living room-

Victoria walked into the living room as quietly as she could and found Laura asleep in front of the television, which was on another car auction that was being broadcast from an auction somewhere in Fiore just like the previous auction was. This car auction was for sports cars and the particular car on the auction block was a red convertible manufactured roughly twenty years ago. The starting bid was set at 750,000 Jewels. At first glance Victoria did not see what was so special about it... she listened to the commentator talk a bit about the car in question and learned that it was a limited-run vehicle of which only one hundred were made. Apparently it was coveted by collectors because the starting bid was met and then exceeded within a minute of the auction starting. Once the auction started in earnest the bid soon jumped to one-and-a-half million Jewels and showed no signs of slowing down.

Victoria walked away from the television and wandered back upstairs to explore the upstairs area. She had never gotten to explore it yesterday because she was too busy browsing photo albums and books and exploring the basement, but today she would check out the upstairs area. She had nothing else to do, so the brunette would explore more of the house that had once belonged to her parents. Victoria carefully walked up the stairs with her can of soda firmly in hand.

-The second floor-

Victoria arrived on the second floor and noticed an open door just outside the door to her room. Overcome with curiosity, she peeked inside and found a room that was half as large as her own. It had decent-looking furniture in it and a suitcase on the bed. Victoria wondered if the room was Laura's. The brunette stepped away from that room because even though this was "her" house she did not want to pry into Laura's personal business.

Victoria walked away from it before she was spotted and casually made her way down the hall, which had no paintings on the wall. It was completely empty; there was not even a family portrait, an omission that may have been intentional to protect her identity from her family's enemies. She did not mind, though. She did not have much of a taste for art and if she were in charge of decorating the place it would look kind of tacky. The brunette had not even decorated her room in Sabertooth Guild Hall... unless one counted a vodka bottle sitting here and there waiting to be opened.

She walked until she found an open door to the left about four meters away from what she thought was Laura's room. Unable to resist temptation, Victoria peeked inside of it and found that it was a medium-sized bathroom. It was a clean bathroom with white tile flooring, a shower with frosted glass, and two sinks with a spotless mirror hanging in front of it. This must be the guest bathroom.

Her curiosity satisfied for the moment, Victoria took a sip of her drink and walked back into her room because she thought that she had heard her iLac ring. Since the only people she had given her Lacrima Identification Code to so far were Thomas Montgomery and Abigail Windstrider, it had to be one of them. Victoria hoped that nothing bad had happened to either Mr. Montgomery or her old friend Abigail.

[Post Word Count: 941]
[Total Word Count: 9,655/11,000]

-Victoria's Room-

Victoria walked briskly to her ringing iLac and picked it up. She tapped the "answer" button and listened to the voice on the other end.

"Hey Vic, how's it going?" Abigail asked Victoria.

"Not too bad, Abby. How about you?" Victoria asked her friend.

"I'm doing a lot better now that that necromancer's in the dirt. Again. Hopefully for good this time." Abigail replied in a matter-of-fact voice. Victoria was amused by that response.

"You and me both, Abby." Victoria replied. The brunette was glad that that necromancer with the rotting face had been killed. Again.

"Hey, listen. I'm going to be in Capital Crocus today for a trip to the mall. Are you in the neighborhood?" Abigail asked Victoria. Victoria gave a small smile. She was not only in the neighborhood, she was now a homeowner.

"I'm in the neighborhood, Abby." Victoria replied. She took a sip from her can of Strawberry Slam and turned around. When she looked forward she nearly threw the can from her hand because Laura was standing in the doorway and looking at Victoria. Victoria had certainly not expected that.

"Great! Did you want to meet at the mall or something? I want to go to the mall 'cause I want to look for some new music and maybe a band t-shirt." Abigail asked Victoria. The brunette looked at Laura, then turned back around and finished her drink so that if she dropped the can there would be minimal damage to the carpet.

"Sure, Abby. We can meet at the mall if you'd like." Victoria said. Laura looked at the brunette. Victoria looked at the silver-haired maid with an unspoken question and the blue-eyed maid nodded. The brunette wanted to be sure that Laura was on board for what she was about to suggest. It seemed that Laura was on board with Victoria's idea.

"Or we can meet at my place." Victoria suggested.

"Great! Where is it?" Abigail asked. Victoria gave the address of her new home to her old friend. There was little chance that Abigail would abuse that knowledge, so Victoria felt safe in giving it to her.

"Great! I'll be there in a few hours! See you then!" Abigail said.

"See you then." Victoria repeated. Then the call ended and Victoria turned to face Laura.

"That was a young woman named Abigail Windstrider. She's a friend that I've known for a couple of years. We met in Sakuramori Forest while I was doing a job for a collector of antiquities and curiosities." Victoria gave her maid companion a brief rundown of who she had spoken to. Laura nodded.

"You're free to invite whoever you'd like without having to ask my permission, Miss Sheridan." Laura gently chided Victoria. Victoria blushed in embarrassment.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who's having to clean up and prepare things. You are." Victoria defended her behavior from earlier by citing the fact that Laura was the one who would be saddled with most of the cleaning duties that resulted when a guest was coming over. Laura smiled a little.

"While I appreciate your concern, Miss Sheridan, I was hired to keep the Sheridan house clean. Just as long as you don't trash the place and make it look like a dump, I don't mind you having guests over. It's your house, not mine." Laura replied by citing the fact that the Sheridan house belonged to Victoria and the brunette had the final say. Victoria was not sure what to say to that sound logic, so she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Fair enough, Laura. I'll try not to trash the place and I'm sure that Abigail won't trash the place either. I'll try to make sure that none of my guests trash the place." Victoria finally mustered a verbal response. Laura smiled.

"I'm sure you won't, Miss Sheridan. Now you should get ready for Miss Windstrider's arrival. I'll clean up the living room so that it doesn't look like I've been sleeping in there." Laura said. Victoria gave a thumbs-up. The brunette would go get a shower, then put on a shirt that did not look like it had been slept in when she got dressed.

Laura left the room to start cleaning up the living room and Victoria left the room to go to the guest bathroom she had seen earlier. But first she needed a bathcloth and towel. She did not know where the linen closet was, but as it turned out, Laura had Victoria covered. The silver-haired maid handed Victoria a white bathcloth and white towel.

"Thanks." Victoria thanked Laura for the unexpected delivery. Laura nodded and went on her way without another word. Victoria went to the bathroom to take a shower and prepare for Abigail's arrival.

-Victoria's Room, thirty-five minutes later-

Victoria had gotten dressed in a green t-shirt with black skirt and bike shorts underneath them. She went to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of clean socks from a drawer, then tossed them onto the bed from where she was standing. All she needed to do was put on her socks and shoes and she would be ready, but there was no real need to hurry because her friend would not be here for another hour or two.

Then again, Abigail was a Wind mage, so she might know some spells that could speed up her travel time.

Victoria looked at the socks for a moment and tried to decide whether to put them on now or just wait until Abigail got here. She was not sure what to do. After a bit of thought Victoria just decided to leave them where they were and wait for her friend to arrive before getting ready. She doubted that Abigail was in any real hurry to get to the mall.

[Post Word Count: 971]
[Total Word Count: 10,626/11,000]

-The living room, three hours later-

Now fully dressed, Victoria sat in the living room sipping another Strawberry Slam as Laura stood by. The television had been turned from the car auction to a cheesy old Western where a cowboy in a white hat was playing an acoustic guitar in front of a campfire outside the entrance of what looked like a gold mine. Accompanying him was an elderly miner playing the harmonica. Victoria did not care for Western movies, but it was better than a lot of other options that were on television. There were no good television shows on and as good as Marina Renault was, Victoria did not want to sit through another Marina Renault concert if she could help it.

Victoria had finally had enough of the harmonica and flipped the channel to some paint-by-numbers police procedural, then promptly flipped away from it because she disliked those kinds of shows. The next show in line was a cooking show, but since Victoria did not cook there was no need for her to watch it. She changed the channel again and the next show was some kind of mecha anime where pilots in a white mecha and a red mecha fought for control of a space station that was presumably in a strategic position. From what little she understood, the guy in the white mecha was defending the station and the guy in the red mecha wanted to take it for his side. Or that was the impression that Victoria got, anyway... she had just flipped to the show, so she had no idea what was going on.

They were trading laser fire and the occasional missile along with their philosophies, something that Victoria found odd. Who would trade philosophies with their enemy in the middle of an important battle? She also found the upbeat pop music to be an unusual choice of soundtrack for an important battle, but that was her. Victoria watched the two opponents shoot at each other while tossing around ideas. The guy in the white mecha shouted that "the endless cycle of wars" needed to stop before humankind destroyed itself and the guy in the red mecha countered that war served "humanity's march towards improvement" by killing off the weak and stupid, leaving only the best specimens of humanity to inherit the future.

Victoria halfway paid attention to the show because she was busy thinking of so many rebuttals towards the guy in the red mecha and his half-baked ideas strongly reeked of the old classic "Might makes right" line of thought. The guy in the red mecha seemed like the kind of guy who happily spouted those ideas just so long as he was the one stomping people into the dirt. Victoria wondered if he would talk the same way if he was the one getting stomped into the dirt by someone who was stronger than him. She seriously doubted it.

Victoria had had plenty of experience with that as a street kid. A lot of people believed that they had the right to physically and verbally abuse her because they were stronger than her.

"I'll get it, Miss Sheridan." Laura stated, moving for the front door before Victoria could even get up from the couch. Victoria did not even know the doorbell had rung. It was a good thing that Laura was on the case.

"Hello there. You must be Miss Windstrider. Miss Sheridan told me about you." Laura greeted the person at the door. Victoria turned off the television and walked over to Laura to greet her guest.

"Hey Abby!" Victoria greeted the blonde standing in the doorway. Abigail was wearing a casual outfit of thin white t-shirt and blue jean skirt with brown hiking boots and a small backpack of supplies and spare clothing.

"Hey Vic! Nice place you have here!" Abigail complimented Victoria on the latter's place. Victoria smiled a little.

"Yeah, I like it too. This is the house I grew up in, at least for the first six years of my life. It's mine now." Victoria told the blonde. Abigail blinked.

"C'mon, Abby. Don't just stand there. Come in and I'll tell you the story. Oh, and meet my helpful and reliable maid Laura!" Victoria bade her friend to enter before introducing Laura to Abigail. The silver-haired maid gave a slight bow.

"I'm Laura Warren. I've been hired by Miss Sheridan to clean her house and look after her property. I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Windstrider." Laura introduced herself to Abigail. Abigail waved at Laura, then stepped into the house and Laura closed the door behind her.

"I'm glad you made it, Abby." Victoria said to her friend. Abigail smiled.

"Me too, Vic. Traffic was a serious pain in the ass." Abigail told Victoria. The brunette smiled.

"Tell me about it. Anyway, do you want something to eat or drink before we go to the mall?" Victoria asked her guest. Abigail shook her head.

"No thanks, Vic. But I'm kinda tired. Mind if I rest a few minutes before we go to the mall?" Abigail asked. Victoria gave a thumbs-up.

"Sure! Just let me know when you're ready to go!" Victoria replied in the affirmative. Abigail walked over to the couch and sat down while Victoria went to the kitchen to search for another Strawberry Slam. The brunette would hang around and find something to do until Abigail felt well enough to go to the mall. Victoria herself was in no hurry to go there, so time was of little concern to her.

[Post Word Count: 929]
[Total Word Count: 11,555/11,000]