The Sheridan Family Grows

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 28, Post Number 687

-The Sheridan Estate, Victoria's Room, 9:00 A.M.-

It was mid-morning and Victoria was lying on her bed watching Fortunate Meteor reruns without really paying attention to them. She was staring at the television wondering what kind of job she was going to take next. No good ideas were coming to mind and none of her usual clients were calling with offers of work. She probably needed to do some laundry because all she had that was clean right now was her white Steel Matron t-shirt and black skirt and she was wearing them.

Victoria sat up on her bed, rolled to the left side, and sat up, then put her feet on the carpet and stood up. She turned to face the television and walked towards it as Kaede was excitedly talking to her friends about an Algebra test she made a 85 on. Even though Victoria had seen that particular episode at least three times already it still made her happy to see the hapless anime character finally begin to succeed academically after a rough start at the beginning of the series.

Victoria walked past the television and walked to the door. She opened it and was about to walk out when Lawrence greeted her at the door without warning, causing the brunette to jump back in fright. Lawrence's face turned red.

"Uh, sorry about that, Victoria. Anyway, there's a blonde lady outside in the driveway. Calls herself Dr. Reid. Do you know her?" Lawrence asked Victoria. The brunette nodded.

"Yeah, I know her. She's a scientist who lives in Motor City. She's one of the scientists who created my Centaur." Victoria replied and explained how she knew Dr. Reid. The brunette thought about what her uncle had just told her and blinked.

What was Dr. Reid doing here?

And how did she learn where Victoria lived?

"Were you expecting the doctor to show up here today?" Lawrence asked her. Victoria shook her head.

"No, Uncle. Not at all." Victoria replied in the negative. Lawrence frowned.

"Well, we'd better go see what she wants. I don't think she means us any harm, but it's kinda strange how she found our home." Lawrence said to Victoria.

"Yeah. We'll go see what she wants." Victoria replied. She and Lawrence walked down the hallway, then took the stairs down to the first floor. From there they walked out of the garage and into the driveway.

-The Sheridan Estate, the driveway-

Victoria and Lawrence walked into the driveway, where Dr. Reid was waiting outside with her truck with a trailer attached. Dr. Reid was wearing a pink t-shirt with khaki cargo shorts and brown work boots. The blonde doctor saw Victoria approaching and waved.

"Hey Victoria!" Dr. Reid cheerfully greeted the brunette. Victoria waved back and walked up to her.

"Hi there Dr. Reid. What brings you out here? And how did you find my address?" Victoria greeted the doctor and asked two important questions.

"I've brought you a new robotic pal. And I found you by tracking your Centaur." Dr. Reid answered both questions. Victoria was not pleased to hear the second answer. She made that irritation visible by frowning, but she reined in her irritation before it could be expressed in words. However, Lawrence was not so restrained.

"You mean that you tracked my niece here with some kinda computer chip in that Centaur bike she rides?" Lawrence asked Dr. Reid. The doctor nodded.

"Yeah. Victoria didn't tell me where she lived, so I had to resort to that method to find her. I've got a delivery for her, something that she's been waiting on for awhile." Dr. Reid replied. Lawrence continued to frown and glare at the doctor.

"It's OK, Uncle. We can trust her." Victoria tried to calm her uncle down by assuring him that Dr. Reid could be trusted with the knowledge of where the Sabertooth mage lived. Victoria then turned to the doctor.

"I know that you did what you had to do to find me, but I would have appreciated a warning about there being some kind of chip inside the Centaur that you could use to track me." Victoria gave a mild rebuke to the doctor that was tempered with the knowledge that the Sabertooth mage had accepted the Centaur being given to her of her own free will and had thus accepted that the possibility of its internal computer chips being used to track her.

"The Centaur's got plenty of chips inside it, Victoria. It's a sophisticated piece of technology and it has several systems inside of it that run on them. But I see your point. I'm sorry for not telling you about the potential for tracking and I won't use the chip to track you any more than I have to." Dr. Reid made a point of her own before apologizing for the invasion of privacy. Victoria took a quiet breath.

"It's OK, Doctor. I shoulda known that this could happen and I shoulda read the manual." Victoria accepted the blame that was hers for not being better informed. Lawrence, still upset about the incident, remained silent.

"I suppose that you've figured out what I've brought to you by now, so I'll just go ahead and tell you. Would you like to see Larry?" Dr. Reid asked Victoria in a cheerful voice, the brief disagreement between her and Victoria already behind them.

"Yeah!" Victoria replied with enthusiasm. Lawrence blinked.

"Who's Larry?" Lawrence asked the pair. Dr. Reid smiled at the scar-faced man.

"You'll see." Dr. Reid said. She walked to the back of the trailer and opened it. Victoria and Lawrence obligingly walked to the back of the trailer to see the doctor's gift to the Sabertooth mage.

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Dr. Reid waited until the two Sheridans were standing at the back of the trailer before showing them Larry. The small black-and-red robot's camera eye flashed green and it began walking towards them. It walked down the ramp and reached the end of it, stepping onto concrete before turning around to face the Sheridans.

"Hello." Larry greeted Victoria and Lawrence. Victoria raised a hand in greeting while Lawrence took a step back.

"What is that thing?" Lawrence asked Victoria. Before the brunette could answer Dr. Reid took the question.

"He's LR-1014, but he's called Larry." Dr. Reid answered on Victoria's behalf. Lawrence blinked as Larry turned to face him.

"Hello." Larry repeated the greeting. Not entirely sure what to do, the burly man raised a hand in greeting.

"Hi there." Lawrence said awkwardly to the small robot. Dr. Reid looked on in silence for a few moments before speaking.

"He's my latest creation. He's a fighting robot who has both an anti-vehicle beam cannon and a Shield Defense System." Dr. Reid explained to the older Sheridan what Larry was. Lawrence looked at the blonde doctor and blinked.

"He's... a fighting robot?" That little thing's a fighting robot?" Lawrence asked Dr. Reid in disbelief. The doctor nodded.

"Yes, Mr. Sheridan. I made him for Victoria because she tends to go into a lot of dangerous places and she needs a partner with a lot of firepower." Dr. Reid replied and explained why Larry had been created. Lawrence looked at Larry, then back at Dr. Reid.

"Interesting. I take it he's been thoroughly tested so we don't have to worry about that anti-vehicle weapon going off and doing some major property damage?" Lawrence asked her. Dr. Reid smiled.

"Yes, Mr. Sheridan. Victoria and I tested Larry thoroughly before I brought him here. We tested him in Fat Monsterland against the local zombies. He passed with flying colors." Dr. Reid replied to the question. Lawrence turned to Victoria and frowned.

"You shoulda told me about the test, Victoria. Fat Monsterland's no place to test a new weapon! If he had broken down you two woulda been in a lot of trouble!" Lawrence verbally reprimanded his niece. Not wanting to get into an argument about the matter in front of Dr. Reid, Victoria decided to take all the blame.

"It was all my idea, Uncle. We needed a place to test Larry without having to worry about collateral damage if anything did go wrong and I chose Fat Monsterland." Victoria told him, accepting the blame for the choice of testing grounds. Lawrence looked at Victoria for a moment before sighing.

"What's done is done, but next time let me know when you decide to test a new weapon so that I can go with you, OK?" Lawrence asked his niece. Victoria nodded.

"OK, I'll let you know next time." Victoria agreed. She was not just saying that to get him off of her back. Victoria intended to honor that agreement so that he would be more at ease whenever she went on a job of that nature. The brunette thought that she heard a musical tone sounding from somewhere around Dr. Reid.

Dr. Reid pulled out her iLac out of a pocket and looked at it. She put it away and began to close up the trailer while the Sheridans and Larry watched.

"I'm sorry to have to leave so suddenly, but I've got to get back home. A close friend of mine's coming for a visit and I need to be there to greet them!" The doctor excused herself.

"All right then, Doctor. Have a safe trip back! And thanks for bringing Larry to us!" Victoria wished the doctor a safe trip back to Motor City and thanked her for delivering Larry to Capital Crocus. The doctor waved back before climbing into the cab of the truck, cranking it up, and starting the return trip to Motor City. Once the doctor's truck had left the neighborhood and vanished from sight Victoria turned to her uncle.

"I don't think Larry's gonna fit in the house, Uncle. Do you mind if he stays in the garage?" Victoria asked her uncle. The burly man looked at her, then at the garage.

"I don't mind if he stays in the garage, Victoria. He is kinda wide for such a little guy and he looks pretty sturdy. I don't think we can lift him, not without a crane or something." Lawrence gave his blessing for Larry to stay in the garage until better "living" arrangements were found for him. Victoria smiled.

"OK then. Let's go to the garage and get Larry set up!" Victoria said. She turned her head to face Larry.

"C'mon Larry. Follow me!" Victoria ordered. Larry's camera eye flashed green.

"Following now." He said and began to follow Victoria as she and her uncle walked towards the garage. He would stay there for the time being until they could either find a way to move him inside or find somewhere else for him to stay.

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-Inside the house, the living room, twenty minutes later-

Having set Larry up in the garage for the time being, Victoria and Lawrence were now standing in the living room after having briefly spoken to Laura and Abigail. They had notified the two young women of Larry's presence in the garage so that they were not alarmed when they spotted a small black-and-red war machine standing in it. They had notified Larry of Laura and Abigail so that he did not mistake them for intruders and open fire on them with his anti-vehicle beam cannon. Victoria did not want either property damage or for her friends to be hurt or killed, so she had taken the precaution of informing them of Larry's presence and informing Larry that Laura and Abigail were friendly entities.

Now that the meet-and-greet with Larry was over the quartet was dispersing to do their things. Laura was going back to the kitchen to resume her cleaning, Lawrence was going to the couch to watch television, and Abigail was going to the guest room she had been staying in to find out how the replacement of the roof on her home was going. Victoria was going to her room to do something, but she did not know what she was going to do with her time. Maybe she should check her iLac to see if any of her clients had called her or sent an offer of work her way.

-In Victoria's room-

Victoria sat on the edge of her bed watching Fortunate Meteor reruns because she had forgotten to turn the television off when she went to see Dr. Reid earlier. Victoria had seen this particular episode before, but she sat there and watched it despite herself. She sat there watching the show a few minutes longer before finally getting off her backside and walking over to her nightstand, where her iLac sat waiting for her to pick it up. Victoria walked over to it, picked it up, and swiped the screen to check for anything she might have missed while standing outside with Dr. Reid, Larry, and her uncle.

Nothing was on it.

No text messages, no Missed Call alerts, nothing.

Seeing that she had not missed anything while she was standing outside, Victoria calmly set the iLac down and walked back over to the edge of the bed, then sat on it and resumed watching Fortunate Meteor. She really needed to look for a job or at least look for something exciting to do, but that could wait. It would not hurt her if she vegged out in front of the television for awhile.

-In Victoria's room, one hour and thirty-five minutes later-

Victoria had sat through three episodes of Fortunate Meteor without even moving. It had been fun, but now it was time to get up and get moving. Victoria stood up from the bed and found the remote, then turned off the television. She then left her room to go to the guest room right down the hall and ask Abigail how the replacement of her house's roof was going.

-In the hallway-

Victoria had just left her room behind and was approaching the guest room when Abigail walked out of the doorway and found Victoria walking towards her. The blonde was dressed in a light green t-shirt and blue jean shorts with no shoes. She also looked angry.

"I can't believe this, Victoria. I got a call this morning from the roofing company." Abigail started speaking to Victoria before the former even stopped walking. Victoria remained silent and let her friend talk.

"The company claims that there's been a setback. According to them their replacement roof needed replacing because some of the tiles fell off of it!" Abigail informed Victoria of the source of her ire. Victoria winced.

"Yeah. What a lousy way to start the day, huh?" Abigail asked her hostess a rhetorical question. Victoria could only nod in response. The brunette could tell that her friend was holding a lot back when it came to expressing how angry she was.

Abigail sighed dramatically.

"At least I won't have to pay for a replacement for the replacement roof. There's that small mercy. I owe you enough money as it is!" Abigail fumed. Again Victoria refrained from commenting on that subject because the subject of the loan was a sensitive one. She waited in awkward silence until the blonde spoke again.

"Anyway, the day can only get better from here. I hope." Abigail expressed the hope that her day would improve but clearly did not hold out much hope for said improvement.

"I think it'll get better, Abby. At least you won't have to pay for a replacement for the replacement. There's that much in your favor." Victoria spoke up, reminding Abigail of the small silver lining the latter had told the brunette about earlier. Abigail gave a small smile to Victoria.

"I suppose you're right, Vic. But the timing of the setback's kinda bad. I was hoping to be able to go back home, but it's not meant to be just yet." Abigail lamented.

"You'll always have a place here if you need it, Abby." Victoria tried to comfort her friend by reminding her that there was always a guest room if she needed a place to stay. Abigail gave another small smile.

"I'm glad to have a friend like you, Vic." Abigail said with genuine gratitude. Looking to change the subject, Victoria soon came up with another subject for them to talk about.

"Hey Abby, is there anything you want to do today?" Victoria asked her friend. Abigail folded her arms across her chest.

"I don't know yet, Vic. I'm gonna need a little time to think about that." Abigail replied.

"OK. There's no need for you to hurry. I'm going downstairs for a little bit... if you decide that you want to do something like go to the mall or go to the movie theater let me know." Victoria said. Abigail's mood brightened a little.

"OK!" Abigail said before Victoria walked past the blonde and walked towards the stairs that led down to the living room. From there she planned to go to the kitchen to at least get something to drink while she waited on Abigail to decide if there was anything she wanted to do today.

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-In the kitchen, three minutes later-

Victoria walked into the kitchen and walked over to the stainless steel double-door refrigerator to get a drink while Laura washed dishes left over from breakfast in the sink. The brunette wanted either a bottle of water or a can of Cherry Charge soda. She was not sure which beverage she would end up getting, but she would decide when she got to the refrigerator doors.

Victoria reached the appliance and opened the right door, then peered inside. She spotted a bottle of water and reached for it. She grabbed it and pulled her arm out, then shut the refrigerator door and walked away clutching the bottle of water. Having gotten what she had come for, the brunette walked out of the kitchen with her prize and went into the living room.

-In the living room, two minutes later-

Victoria walked into the living room, where her uncle was sitting in front of the television. He was watching some hokey old black-and-white Western that she did not recognize. Lawrence turned to face Victoria.

"Hey Vic, are you doing OK?" Lawrence asked his niece. Victoria nodded.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Victoria replied in the affirmative just as Abigail came walking down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom and turned to face Victoria and Lawrence.

"Hey Vic!" Abigail cheerfully greeted her hostess. Victoria raised her left hand in greeting.

"Hey Abby!" Victoria greeted her friend. Abigail spoke to Victoria.

"Hey Vic, I just reached a decision on what I want to do today!" Abigail told the brunette.

"OK. What did you decide?" Victoria asked the blonde. Abigail smiled.

"I want to go to the mall and go back to Animated Merchandise. There's this anime series named Fighter Girls about an all-female squadron of mecha pilots that I wanna get." Abigail announced her decision. Victoria was always up for a trip to the mall with her friend.

"OK, works for me. I'll get the Centaur ready." Victoria replied.

"And I'll get ready myself. I need to get my socks and shoes on." Abigail replied. The blonde immediately went back upstairs and Victoria went to the garage to get the Centaur cranked. She and Abigail were going to the mall to spend some time together and maybe pick up an anime series box set or two.

-Capital Crocus Mall, two hours and twenty minutes later-

Traffic in the city was intense and it seemed like she caught each and every red light on her way to the mall. Victoria managed to get past that obstacle and reach the mall only to find that parking was going to be an issue. Most of the spaces were occupied, but after driving around in circles for almost thirty minutes a space finally opened up and Victoria took it. Now the pair were standing just inside the mall's food court, which was absolutely packed with people waiting in line for every restaurant.

"There's no way in Ishgar we're getting anything here." Victoria said to her friend. Abigail stood watching the scene with her hands on her hips. She soon turned and faced her partner.

"Yeah. We're not gonna get anything here, not for a long while anyway. Wanna try to get into All-Star Grill?" Abigail proposed an alternative. Victoria gave a thumbs-up with her right hand.

"Yeah, Abby. It's worth a try." Victoria replied. Together the pair turned right and began to walk towards the restaurant. They were not that hungry, so if All-Star Grill turned out to be full they could wait until they got home. However, both of them wanted to eat here just to do something different.

-Inside All-Star Grill, two minutes later-

Abigail and Victoria had expected the restaurant to be packed, but to their surprise it only had seven other patrons inside and they were all seated at the bar. The pair had walked up to the front counter and placed their orders for hamburgers and French fries with Cherry Charge sodas to drink, then took a table facing a television that was showing footage of auto racing. Victoria ignored it in favor of looking at Abigail, who in turn looked at the brunette and made eye contact with her.

"I can't wait to go to Animated Merchandise and see if there's any Fighter Girls merchandise!" Abigail said to her friend. Victoria had never heard of that series before. She was sort of interested to find out more about it, but she could wait until after they had eaten to do so.

Within roughly ten minutes of placing their orders the food had come out and had been placed in front of the pair. Their drinks followed within seconds. Now that they had everything they needed the two mages began to eat while halfway paying attention to the various sports being shown on the televisions. So far their trip to the mall was going well.

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-Forty minutes later, outside All-Star Grill-

Having eaten their meals at a leisurely pace before going to the counter and paying for them, the pair now stood outside All-Star Grill as the number of patrons entering the restaurant began to increase. Now that they had eaten they were going to head for the stairwell in the food court and go to the third floor in order to reach Animated Merchandise, but first they had to wade through the crowds of people in the mall. It had gotten a lot more crowded since they had arrived here.

"Well Vic, looks like we're gonna have to work our way through the crowd if we wanna get to the third floor." Abigail remarked to Victoria.

"Looks that way." Victoria dryly replied. With nothing left but to get to it, Victoria followed Abigail as the blonde began to slowly move forward, working her way through the crowd while heading towards the staircase in the very busy food court. Not wanting to get left behind and possibly get swept away by the crowd, Victoria closely followed her friend.

-On the third floor, thirty-five minutes later-

By Victoria's estimate it had taken ten minutes to get to the stairs and twenty-five minutes to actually go up them because of the large crowds of shoppers in the stairwell plus a foot traffic jam or two. Now she and Abigail were on the third floor and standing a short distance to the left of the stairs. The third floor was still busy with numerous shoppers going into and coming out of the numerous stores. Unlike on the bustling first floor near the food court and in the stairwell, there was enough space on the third floor for the pair to move around without bumping into anyone.

"OK Vic, we made it." Abigail said with her hands on her knees. It was obvious that the blonde was a little tired from all the walking plus the standing she had to do in the stairwell. Victoria was a little tired herself, but she was still able to move under her own power.

"Now we've just got to get to Animated Merchandise and hope that it's not packed full of people." Victoria mused. Abigail stood up straight and shot Victoria a look that could kill.

"DON'T. SAY. ANYTHING!" Abigail emphatically warned her friend to keep her mouth shut so that the brunette did not jinx them and cause Animated Merchandise to be full of people by the time they got there. Victoria was surprised by how forceful her friend was.

"OK, OK. Sorry, Abby." Victoria meekly apologized for the remark. The pair then began walking towards the shop, which was straight ahead and a short distance past the left turn they would have to take at the intersection. Abigail led the way at a brisk walk while the brunette did her best to keep pace with the determined blonde.

-Inside Animated Merchandise-

Despite the Sabertooth mage's best efforts to keep up, Abigail had reached the store well before Victoria did. By the time the brunette got to the shop entrance the blonde had long since disappeared, presumably into the back of the store where a good deal of the anime and manga was kept. Victoria slowed down and walked at a slower pace through the central lane as she passed by various pieces of anime merchandise like t-shirts, character plushies, and other items. There were only three other patrons in the shop, a sight which made Victoria glad that she had not somehow jinxed the pair earlier when she casually mentioned her hope that Animated Merchandise would not be full of shoppers.

Victoria slowly made her way to the back of the store and found Abigail standing in the back. The blonde was facing towards the entrance and clutching a box like her life depended on it. Abigail spotted the brunette heading for her and moved to meet her at a brisk walk. It seemed like Abigail had found what she was looking for.

"I found it. The last box set." Abigail reported in short sentences once she reached the brunette. Victoria blinked.

"I found the last box set of the first season of Fighter Girls. The last one they had in stock." Abigail elaborated a bit. Victoria smiled when she heard that news.

"Way to go, Abby." Victoria sincerely congratulated her friend on finding her prize. Abigail smiled back at Victoria.

"Thanks, Vic. It's a series a friend back in Oak Town introduced me to shortly before my roof began to leak. I wanted my own copy of it, but due to circumstances I've never been able to get my hands on one... until now. Now I have my own copy." Abigail replied with palpable relief on her voice in the last sentence.

"Did you want to look for any other anime merchandise while we're here or did you want to check out what you already had?" Victoria asked Abigail. The blonde shook her head.

"I'd better quit with what I have, Vic. I don't need to spend the money on an anime series when I owe you for the loan on my new roof, but it's one I really want, so I'm going for it." Abigail replied to the question. She then looked back longingly towards the anime and manga section.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you want, Abby?" Victoria asked Abigail. The blonde turned her head to face Victoria and frowned at the brunette.

"Don't tempt me, Vic!" Abigail said in a half-joking tone of voice. Deciding to let the matter drop in the face of such a response, Victoria decided to quit while she was ahead.

"OK, Abby. We'll check out and once that's done we'll go to wherever else you want to go in the mall." Victoria replied. Together the pair headed towards the back of the store so that Abigail could purchase her prize and the duo could move on to other shops. Victoria was not sure if the blonde wanted to go anywhere else or call it a shopping trip, but she was fine with whatever her friend wanted to do.

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-The Sheridan Estate, three hours and forty minutes later-

The traffic was every bit as bad on the way home as it was on the way to the mall. In fact it was so bad that Victoria believed that it had somehow gotten worse. She had had to sit through at least one "fender bender" accident and several stop lights. Fortunately the pair had managed to get through traffic safely and were now back at Victoria's house.

While at the mall they had purchased both Abigail's Fighter Girls first season anime box set and the newest model of Lacrima player to play it on. Victoria was going to set them up in her room since the guest room Abigail was staying in did not have a television just yet and she did not want to make another trip to town to buy a television and take it home. She would get one for the guest room soon, maybe even as soon as tomorrow depending on whether she was called to go on a job or not.

They were now standing in the living room with their shopping bags and facing Lawrence, who was watching some old black-and-white movie with two guys riding on horseback through a desert while a melancholy guitar piece played and a harmonica accompanied it. Lawrence stood up, turned around, and greeted the two mages.

"Hey guys. How did it go?" Lawrence asked them. Abigail and Victoria each raised a hand in greeting.

"It went great. The mall was so full that you couldn't throw a rock without hitting someone, but we got what we needed. Er, what we wanted, anyway." Abigail replied. The burly blond man turned to Victoria.

"Abby said everything that needed to be said." Victoria replied. Lawrence laughed a little.

"Well, I'm glad that you two made it back safely. Capital Crocus traffic can be terrible." He said to them. Abigail and Victoria laughed at the comment.

"Terrible is an understatement, Mr. Sheridan." Abigail replied. She had endured traffic along with Victoria on several occasions, so she knew the deal.

"It took us almost four hours to get back from the mall ALMOST FOUR HOURS." Victoria told her uncle how long it took for them to get here from the mall. The blond man winced.

"Yeah." Victoria said in response to his wincing.

"Even though traffic was a big pain in the ass, we got what we wanted. I got an anime box set I've been wanting and a Lacrima player to play it on. Vic's gonna set it up in her room so that we don't have to buy another TV today." Abigail told Lawrence the results of their shopping trip.

"All right. It sounds like you two have it under control. I'll let you handle setting that up." Lawrence told them. Abigail and Victoria decided to head upstairs and get everything set up before it was time to eat a late meal.

"We're going to go set things up now, Uncle. We'll see you later." Victoria said to her uncle. He gave a small wave before the pair immediately walked towards the stairs with Abigail taking the lead and Victoria following close behind.

-In Victoria's room, twenty minutes later-

Thanks to the detailed instructions that had come with the Lacrima player the blonde and the brunette had set up the new Lacrima player so that Abigail could watch Fighter Girls right away instead of having to wait for another television to be purchased and set up in the guest room. Everything had been plugged in and tested and everything was running smoothly. Now all that had to be done was start the Fighter Girls Lacrima.

"That was pretty easy." Abigail commented on the ease of the setup. Victoria nodded.

"Yeah. It was so easy that even I could do it." Victoria replied with a self-deprecating remark about her lack of familiarity with technology. She could use her iLac, she could use her SHG-IV Smart Glasses, and she could command Larry, but that was about the extent of her knowledge of technology.

"I appreciate what you're doing for me, Victoria. You didn't have to set the Lacrima player up in your room and give up your space." Abigail told the brunette. Victoria waited a few moments before speaking.

"It's all right, Abby. I don't mind doing this." Victoria assured her friend. The two were about to discuss the matter further when they were interrupted by someone who had knocked on the doorframe to get their attention. The two mages turned and faced the source to find Laura waiting on them.

"Dinner is ready." Laura announced in a succinct manner and swiftly departed as suddenly as she had arrived. Abigail and Victoria faced each other.

"We can talk about this later, Vic. Let's go eat while whatever Laura made for us is fresh." Abigail suggested to the brunette.

"Yeah, we'll discuss this later. Let's go get something to eat first." Victoria seconded the blonde's suggestion. Together the pair left Victoria's room to go downstairs and eat in the dining room with Lawrence and Laura. They wondered what Laura had prepared tonight.

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-Victoria's Room, two hours later-

Having eaten a meal consisting of baked chicken and salad thanks to the tireless efforts of Laura, Victoria and Abigail were now back in the brunette's room, where they had set up the Lacrima player and had started watching Fighter Girls. Abigail was watching the first episode while Victoria was halfway paying attention because her mind was elsewhere. Victoria was catching bits and pieces of the show, which was a show about young women who piloted transforming mechas on behalf of their nations.

The main characters were all in Martin Squadron, a squadron of rookie mecha pilots who represented the island country of Landsend. Landsend had four squadrons of mecha pilots: Martin Squadron, Northrop Squadron, Grumman Squadron, and Lockheed Squadron. To get into one of the four squadrons pilots had to go to Landsend Flight Academy.

Landsend Flight Academy was the school that all aspiring mecha pilots for the country of Landsend went to. Exams were tough and a lot of aspiring pilots could not handle the pressure and dropped out. Aspiring pilots who persisted to graduation were assigned to one of the squadrons based on a combination of test scores, performance on simulator flights, and openings within the squadrons. Martin Squadron was composed mostly of average students who managed to barely hang on to graduate while the members of other squadrons tended to consist of academy graduates who had better academic performance and a fair bit of luck on their side.

Victoria's attention wavered as the girls of Martin Squadron began to meet and greet one another in the Martin Squadron hangar. Her mind drifted to other things, namely where her next job was going to come from. She had not gotten a call from any of her usual clients in quite some time and was starting to get a bit concerned that she might have been replaced.

"I'm going to go to the kitchen for a few minutes to get a drink, Abby. I'll be back as soon as I can." Victoria told Abigail. The blonde looked towards Victoria and smiled.

"OK, Vic." Abigail said before turning back to watch Fighter Girls again. Victoria left the room as the girls of Martin Squadron began to talk excitedly among themselves and form friendship groups. She was going to go to the kitchen to get something to drink, an action which was a cover for her concern about not getting any calls from her clients.

-In the kitchen, five minutes later-

Victoria stood in the kitchen in front of the open refrigerator. She peered inside the open refrigerator to see what beverages she had to choose from. Her options were bottled water, bottled vodka, bottled tequila, and Cherry Charge soda. Victoria reached in and grabbed a can of Cherry Charge soda, then pulled her arm out and closed the refrigerator door. She opened the can of soda and took a swig from it, then turned around and began to walk out of the kitchen.

-In the living room-

Victoria emerged from the kitchen with her drink and stood behind the couch her uncle was seated on. He was watching another old black-and-white Western that was on a scene of a cowboy in a white hat riding into a typical frontier town of wooden buildings that included the obligatory saloon. Lawrence must have sensed his niece standing behind him because he stood up and turned around to face her.

"Hey Vic. How's it going?" He asked her.

"Slow." Victoria replied laconically. She then took a sip of Cherry Charge.

"You don't seem particularly happy." Lawrence observed. Victoria nodded.

"I haven't heard from any of my clients in some time. I'm afraid that I might have been... replaced." Victoria revealed to her uncle the cause of her unhappiness. He shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I don't know what to tell you, Vic. From my experience jobs come in cycles. Sometimes you're so busy that you barely have time to catch your breath. Other times you're so bored that you're... well, bored out of your mind." Lawrence told the brunette. Victoria did not find that very helpful, but it was what it was. She shrugged her shoulders and took another sip of Cherry Charge.

"Yeah, you're right, Uncle. I probably just have to weather this cycle before things get busy again." Victoria replied calmly. She would just have to wait until one of her clients called with some work. She had plenty of money stashed away, so she did not need a job for the money so much as she needed it to fight boredom.

"Don't worry, Vic. Things will turn around for you soon." Lawrence predicted. Whether he really believed that or was just saying that to ease his niece's concerns was up in the air, but Victoria chose to believe that he was being sincere. She shrugged her shoulders again.

"I'm sure they will." Victoria remarked and took another sip of Cherry Charge soda. Moments later the doorbell rung. Both Victoria and Lawrence began to walk towards the door but stopped in their tracks when they saw Laura moving towards the door faster than they could go.

"I'll get it." Laura announced. Seeing that the silver-haired maid was already halfway there, Lawrence and Victoria decided to let Laura handle it.

"OK." Lawrence said.

"Sure thing." Victoria replied. The brunette wondered who could be at the door.

[Post Word Count: 900]
[Total Word Count: 6,460/11,000]

Laura opened the front door while Laura and Victoria watched. Standing at the front door were Mr. Thomas Montgomery... and someone else. That "someone else" was a brown-haired young woman with blue eyes who was roughly the same height as Victoria and a ponytail in a different style from the Sabertooth mage's. The young woman also wore clothing consisting of a black shirt with a gray skirt and brown boots.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Thomas Montgomery and I've come here on important business." He greeted everyone. He stepped into the house and the young woman followed behind him. Lawrence walked over to the man and spoke to him.

"I'm Lawrence Sheridan, Victoria's uncle. What are you here for, Mr. Montgomery?" Lawrence asked the dark-haired man in the three-piece suit.

"Hello, Mr. Sheridan. I'm here on behalf of Ms. Amy Sheridan, who is one of the other missing children of the late Phillip and Octavia Sheridan." The lawyer cordially greeted Lawrence and explained his reason for being there. Victoria's eyes met Amy's eyes. Amy's eyes met Victoria's.

Victoria did not know she had any siblings. How did she know that this person was not a cleverly dressed and incredibly persuasive imposter trying to con their way into taking the Sheridan Estate by manipulating Mr. Montgomery? Victoria could see the truth in people's body language, but she was not sure that such "evidence" would hold up in a court of law... or how she would even present it.

Then Victoria thought about it.

Could this be what the fortune teller at the Halloween event was talking about when she claimed "a family separated by tragedy will be made whole again?"

Victoria thought about it a little more.

She was not sure if this was how the family was going to reunite. The fortune teller showed her an image of four people and the Sabertooth mage was under the impression that all four missing family members were going to return home at once. If this "Amy Sheridan" was really her sister, where were the rest of her missing siblings?

Then Victoria made her brain cells cry out in agony from overexertion by thinking even more about the fortune she had been told.

Perhaps the fortune was not a prediction that everyone would return home at once.

Victoria put that train of thought on hold and looked towards Mr. Montgomery, who had presented her uncle with some papers. Lawrence received the papers and began reading them. Victoria paid close attention to what was happening.

"These papers are proof that Ms. Amy Sheridan is the daughter of Phillip and Octavia Sheridan." Mr. Montgomery said. Lawrence read through them and Victoria watched him without making a sound. Her uncle handed the papers back to Mr. Montgomery.

"So she's Amy Sheridan, huh? One of my brother's children?" Lawrence asked the lawyer. He nodded.

"Yes, Mr. Sheridan. She willingly took DNA tests and other testing to prove her identity. The results came back positive. She's one of your nieces... and one of Victoria's sisters." Mr. Montgomery replied. Victoria blinked. From what she knew of him Mr. Montgomery was not prone to exaggeration or lying and always researched the subject, so if he said it was true it had to be true. Her uncle finished reading the papers and handed them back to the lawyer.

"It seems that everything's in order, Mr. Montgomery. I'm just surprised that I have another niece." Lawrence said and handed the papers back to Mr. Montgomery. Victoria blinked again. Amy made eye contact with the Sabertooth mage and smiled.

"Hi, Victoria! You've grown a lot since the last time I saw you!" Amy said to Victoria. Victoria blinked a third time. She did not remember Amy at all, not even a really fuzzy memory.

"I can't say that I remember you." Victoria replied as diplomatically as she could to avoid offending her sister... if she really was her sister. The Sabertooth mage had lingering doubts about the veracity of Mr. Montgomery's claim. All of this seemed like a well-planned con job, but the lawyer had asserted that all of the documents proving Amy's identity and relationship to Lawrence and Victoria were legitimate. Mr. Montgomery had never lied to Victoria about anything, so he had to be for real.

"Yeah, you wouldn't remember me. Not since we had to scatter for our own safety." Amy said. Victoria watched the other brunette's eyes the entire time Amy was talking. Every word of what Amy said rang as true.

"You were only six at the time, Victoria. The rest of us fled, but Mom and Dad kept you with them. They said that they were going to send you to safety too, but we had no idea whether they did or didn't." Amy said further. Again her words rang as true. The chances that Amy really was Victoria's sister were growing by the moment.

"Where... where did you go when you fled Capital Crocus?" Victoria asked Amy.

"Rose Garden." Amy replied. She had spoken the truth for a third time.

"Do you know where any of the other Sheridans went?" Victoria asked Amy. The other brunette shook her head.

"No, not at all. We were told to scatter and we were told not to communicate so that our messages couldn't be intercepted and used to track us." Amy replied. That claim was another true statement. Victoria wondered what kind of threat was so bad that Phillip and Octavia told the other Sheridan children to go into hiding and to not communicate with one another.

"OK." Victoria said, not really sure what to say to everything she had been told. Everything Amy had said had been true. Unless this was a really elaborate con job, this was really happening.

Amy Sheridan had really come home.

Amy Sheridan:

[Post Word Count: 966]
[Total Word Count: 7,426/11,000]

-The Sheridan Estate, Victoria's room, ten hours later-

The visit from Mr. Montgomery had taken a lot longer than Victoria had expected, but by the end of it she had learned that Amy Sheridan was truly who she said she was. The DNA test results had proved it and Victoria had learned by analyzing the body language of Amy that everything she had said was true. Victoria should have been thrilled to have a member of her family back, but for some reason she was not. The Sabertooth mage recalled Abigail's concern that the returning family members might try to leverage their seniority to force Victoria to hand over control of the Sheridan Estate to them, then boot the brunette out once they had what they wanted.

Victoria thought about her friend's words and realized that that might have been why she did not fully trust Amy.

Victoria was a poor street kid who went from homeless and kicked around by other street people (sometimes literally) to a Sabertooth mage who was one of the strongest mages in the guild, at least in terms of magic power. She had plenty of money and could buy food whenever she wanted as opposed to having to scavenge in trash cans for it. She had a home on the outskirts of Capital Crocus that had once belonged to her parents. She had finally found her father figure again and he was living in his brother's house as a full-fledged family member.

After years of working towards that goal Victoria had finally gotten her little piece of the pie. She had membership in a guild, a home to call her own, a living family member in the form of her uncle Lawrence, a good friend in the form of Abigail Windstrider, and a faithful maid in the form of Laura Warren. It was safe to say that having worked so hard to earn all of that, Victoria was not particularly inclined to give it up to anyone. That went double for anyone who called themselves a Sheridan like Amy had.

Victoria frowned.

She was not supposed to be selfish, but she had gotten used to being one of two Sheridans left and having sole ownership of the Sheridan Estate. Now that another Sheridan had been confirmed it was possible that Victoria would lose sole ownership of the estate. If Amy wanted to take it from Victoria the Sabertooth mage was going to defend her piece of the pie by any means necessary.

Victoria frowned deeper.

Why was she feeling this way?

She should be happy that the fortune told to her at the Halloween party was coming to pass.

Yet Victoria was not happy.

Perhaps this was a classic case of "be careful what you wish for."

The brunette decided to go to the kitchen to get a drink of something stronger than water or soda. Tonight she was breaking out the vodka. It was an irresponsible thing to do and a step backwards on the road to lessening her mental dependence on alcohol, but tonight Victoria wanted it, so she was going to get some.

Leaving her room, Victoria walked down the hall and towards the stairs.

-In the kitchen-

Victoria walked into the empty kitchen and made a beeline for the refrigerator. Knowing exactly what she was looking for, she opened the door and reached for a bottle of Albino Gander vodka that she had been neglecting for the past few weeks. She seized it by the neck and pulled it from the depths of the refrigerator, then closed the door.

Victoria turned towards the door and began to open the bottle when the doors opened and she spotted someone walk in. It was Amy.

"Hey, Victoria! I was wondering if we could- is that a bottle of vodka?" Amy asked Victoria.

"Yeah." Victoria replied warily. It seemed like now that she had been established the older Sheridan was going to start asserting her authority to boss Victoria around.

"You know that stuff's bad for you, right?" Amy asked Victoria another question. The brunette nodded.

"Yeah." Victoria remarked dryly. Amy was not telling Victoria something that the Sabertooth mage did not already know.

"Mind if I have some?" Amy asked another question. The Sabertooth mage blinked. She had been expecting a stern lecture about the evils of alcohol, but it seemed like Amy actually wanted some of the vodka Victoria was holding.

"Um, sure." Victoria replied meekly. Victoria walked over to the cabinet that contained drinking glasses and set the bottle of vodka a short distance to the left on the counter, then fished out two ordinary drinking glasses. She set them down on the counter and shut the cabinet door, then reached for the bottle of vodka and grabbed it.

She took it into her hands and opened it, then poured half a glass of vodka for each of them. She set the Albino Gander aside and handed a glass to Amy, then took the other one for herself. The brunettes then faced each other.

"Thanks, Victoria." Amy thanked Victoria for the alcohol and took a swig from the glass. Victoria sipped from her own glass. The blue-eyed brunette made eye contact with the Sabertooth mage.

"This is Albino Gander. You have very good taste, Victoria. Amy complimented Victoria for the latter's taste in vodka.

[Post Word Count: 894]
[Total Word Count: 8,320/11,000]

"Yeah. I might not have good taste in anything else, but at least I have good taste in alcohol." Victoria said in a bit of self-deprecation. She did not have good taste in fashion, literature, or music. She did not really care about those things because she was still stuck in the "street kid" mentality despite having long since left the streets behind.

Victoria now had the physical and financial safety to pursue things other than survival but did not care to pursue them. One reason was that her work as a Sabertooth mage kept her busy. Another reason was that she did not have much interest in fashion or literature. She had developed something of an interest in music and in anime, but it was not something she was ready to invest large amounts of time, effort, and money into either pastime just yet.

"I'm glad that you have good taste in alcohol." Amy admitted. Victoria watched the blue-eyed brunette sip vodka in silence before lowering the glass and making eye contact with Victoria.

"I didn't mean that to sound like an insult, Victoria. I meant it to be a compliment." Amy apologized for how her remark might have sounded. The green-eyed brunette casually waved off the apology.

"Don't worry, Amy. I wasn't insulted by what you said. You'd have to try a lot harder than that to insult me." Victoria assured her older sister that she did not take offense to the latter's remark about her taste in alcohol.

"I'm fond of vodka myself. I drank like a fish for a few months after having to flee Capital Crocus. You should ask my former roommate some time." Amy said to Victoria. Victoria had read her older sister's body language and every word of what the older Sheridan had just said was true.

"I don't drink as much of it as I used to, but I still like vodka. Albino Gander and Slatheron are my two favorite brands. I'll drink CEIL, but only when there's no other choice available." Victoria told her sister her favorite brands of vodka. Amy nodded her head along with the first two but showed visible disgust at the last one.

"CEIL? That stuff's so nasty that I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy! Even hot beer's better than that swill!" Amy expressed her disgust with that particular brand of vodka. Victoria laughed.

"Yeah. Like I said, I have to be pretty desperate to willingly drink CEIL. It's very much a drink of last resort for me." Victoria told Amy. The green-eyed brunette was not exaggerating. The amount of times she had willingly consumed it could be counted on one hand. On the other hand, she had lost track of how many bottles of Albino Gander or Slatheron she had consumed over her lifetime.

"You said it." Amy replied. She then took another swig from her glass during a pause in the conversation. Victoria silently waited for her older sister to start talking again. After an awkward silence between the pair Amy finally lowered the empty glass and began to talk.

"It's been a long time since we've last seen each other, Victoria." Amy started. An awkward silence prevailed between the two for several moments before the blue-eyed brunette spoke again.

"How's it been? Um, I mean... how have you been doing?" Amy asked Victoria. The green-eyed brunette had trouble coming up with anything to say. It had been years since she last saw Amy. It had been so long since they had last seen each other that she could not even remember Amy.

"Um... it's been going. Yeah. It's been going.... going. Going pretty good." Victoria answered in a stilted manner. It was obvious to Amy that her younger sister did not have a whole lot to talk about. The new conversation was threatening to die before it even got started properly.

"Um... OK. That's good. That's really... really good. Yeah." Amy answered in an equally stilted manner. Both brunettes were not sure what they could say to each other to have a more natural conversation. Amy and Victoria made eye contact and looked at each other awkwardly, each hoping that the other would continue the conversation. Eventually Victoria worked up the nerve to say what was on her mind.

"I really hate to say this, but... I don't remember anything about you, Amy." Victoria said as politely as she could. Amy blinked. Victoria was not sure if she offended her older sister with that unpleasant admission. She had told Amy the truth as politely as she could, but there was a chance that the blue-eyed brunette would be offended by the admission regardless of how it was presented to her. Victoria waited in silence for Amy to reply to her statement and hoped that she had not ruined the chance to rebuild a relationship with her older sister.

[Post Word Count: 816]
[Total Word Count: 9,136/11,000]

Amy looked to be upset by what Victoria had just told her. The green-eyed brunette kept a straight face. While Victoria was worried about ruining her relationship with her older sister before it even started being rebuilt, the green-eyed brunette was only worried up to a point. It had been well over a decade since their last meeting and Victoria did not remember anything about her older sister. Amy knew that as well and if she could not handle that unpleasant truth that was on her.

"Um, well then..." Amy started off hesitantly. Victoria made eye contact and waited for a coherent response from the blue-eyed brunette.

"Well... that statement's a little more blunt than I expected, but it's true. We haven't met in a long time and I wouldn't expect you to remember me." Amy admitted that what her sister said was true. Victoria remained silent.

"But I don't remember a lot about you either, Victoria. I thought that you didn't make it out of Capital Crocus alive." Amy made another admission.

"If some of the people in the back alleys of Capital Crocus had had their way I wouldn't be here right now." Victoria replied. She remembered the bad old days of life on the streets and the fight to survive to see another day. She remembered having to dig through garbage cans and dumpsters to find something somewhat edible to eat.

"What do you mean by that?" Amy asked Victoria. The green-eyed brunette frowned for a moment.

"After our parents died I had to live on the streets. Whatever escape plan they had for me didn't materialize in time to get me out of the city, so I was stuck here." Victoria said. She closed her eyes and thought about her shorter, less attractive form, then snapped the fingers of her right hand. Tall Victoria was now Normal Victoria again.

"Victoria, is that you?" Amy asked the Sabertooth mage in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's me. This is what I looked like when I lived on the streets." Victoria replied. Amy continued to look at Victoria's "new" form in disbelief for a minute before speaking again.

"How did you learn to do that?" Amy asked Victoria.

"My... our parents took me to a guy who knew transformation magic. He changed me into the form you see here. Since our parents couldn't get me out of Capital Crocus in time they decided to disguise me by using magic instead. I guess their thinking was that I could hide in plain sight." Victoria answered. She supposed that her parents did the best they could given the circumstances, but she still found herself wishing that they had sent her with one of her siblings instead. That way she could have grown up somewhat comfortably instead of having to scrounge in trash cans for food and fight for her life whenever bored street people tried to use her as their personal punching bag.

"I'm sorry, Victoria. I didn't know that you had it so rough." Amy apologized to Victoria. Victoria waved off the apology.

"Don't worry about it, Amy." Victoria replied. While her days on the street were tough and unforgiving and she wished she had never had to go through them, they were not Amy's fault. It was not like she murdered their parents and took Victoria's inheritance, then tossed Victoria onto the streets while laughing manically before zooming off to her giant mansion in a limousine to have a five-course meal.

"That wasn't the reply I was expecting, but I'll take it." Amy said with relief.

"Did you expect me to scream and cry at you and blame you for what happened to me?" Victoria asked with her trademark sarcasm.

"Actually, I did." Amy replied with total sincerity. Victoria was disarmed by that statement. The remark she had meant to be a joke had been taken seriously and Amy had given a serious answer.

"Well, uh... what happened wasn't your fault. Not at all." Victoria assured Amy without sarcasm. The green-eyed brunette had been disarmed by Amy's response and she was trying to regain her footing, so to speak. It was going to be tough, though.

"Thanks, Victoria." Amy said with an economy of words. After a momentary pause the blue-eyed brunette continued the conversation.

"You don't know much about me. I don't know much about you. Is there any way we can start fixing that problem?" Amy asked Victoria. The green-eyed brunette, grateful for the chance to move on to another subject, grabbed that chance with both hands.

"I'm sure we can, but it'll take a minute for me to come up with something for us to talk about." Victoria said to her sister.

[Post Word Count: 784]
[Total Word Count: 9,920/11,000]

-In the kitchen, seven minutes later-

Victoria and Amy stood in the kitchen of the Sheridan Estate drinking another glass of Albino Gander vodka while trying to find something to talk about. The pair of brunettes spent several minutes looking at each other awkwardly before Victoria broached the topic of their parents. Once Victoria did that the floodgates opened.

"I know the names of our parents and that's about all I know about them." Victoria told Amy.

"That's OK, Victoria. I can fill you in on some details about them. However, I've gotta warn you... I'm fuzzy on some of the details." Amy assured the green-eyed brunette.

"I know that both of them liked alcohol. I found our father's bar in the basement and I found our mother's wine collection." Victoria informed her older sister of one thing she had learned about their parents. Amy smiled.

"Yeah. Our father was big into alcohol. He'd spend hours at that bar downstairs mixing drinks for him and his friends. Mostly him, though." Amy commented. Victoria was amused by that mental image.  

"And our mother was big into wine. She wouldn't touch any of Dad's mixed drinks. The only thing she'd drink was wine." Amy told Victoria something about their mother Octavia. Victoria had gotten the impression that their mother liked wine, but Amy had confirmed that with a firsthand account. Now Victoria knew beyond a doubt who the wine in the basement belonged to.

"The mini-bar in the basement and the casks of wine are still there. Wanna see them?" Victoria offered. Amy's face lit up.

"You mean that they're still there?" Amy asked Victoria.

"Yeah. They're exactly where you remember them being. I didn't get rid of them because I've used the mini-bar a few times before and I was told that our mother's wine might be worth something." Victoria told her sister. Amy looked a little disappointed by her younger sister's admission of self-interest being the reason she had kept what had belonged to their parents. Again Victoria was telling the truth, so how Amy took it was entirely up to the latter.

"Well, whatever your reasons for keeping them, they're still here and that's all that matters to me. I'd like to see them, please." Amy requested. Victoria felt like her older sister was a bit angry at the green-eyed brunette for hanging on to their parents' belongings out of greed but chose to let her off the hook. Victoria would take that opportunity to avoid a tongue-lashing.

"Sure thing, Amy. Follow me." Victoria said. The pair finished their glasses of vodka and put the empty glasses on the counter just to the left of the sink, then Victoria led them out of the kitchen. She was going to guide Amy to their father's mini-bar and their mother's wine collection.

-The Sheridan Estate, the basement, three minutes later-

Laura had unlocked the basement for the Sheridan sisters and given Victoria the key before going back upstairs to clean a guest room for Amy to claim as her own until more suitable living arrangements could be made. Now the two brunettes were standing to the right of their father's mini-bar. Amy walked around the bar and leaned down, then started examining the types of alcohol behind it.

"Yep. All of our father's alcohol is here. Vodka, tequila, rum, gin, vermouth, everclear... they're all here. And his mixing equipment's here too. Just like I remembered it." Amy told Victoria with a measure of fondness on her voice. The younger Sheridan already knew that, but she decided to humor her older sister and go along with that subject.

"Yeah. And there's a lot of alcohol too. Our father really liked alcohol, didn't he?" Victoria asked Amy. Amy laughed.

"Yeah. If there's one thing that unites the Sheridan family, it's alcohol." Amy said to Victoria in a joking manner. Victoria knew that that assertion made in jest was an indisputable fact. Amy, Victoria, and Lawrence all drank alcohol and that was a common interest they shared.

Amy continued to look at all the alcohol their late father had stashed away for his personal use while Victoria stood close by. Victoria heard Amy list brand names in a way that indicated that the latter had more than a passing familiarity with them. After a few minutes of browsing their father's alcohol collection Amy stood up and faced Victoria.

"I'd like to see our mother's wine collection, please." Amy requested of Victoria. Victoria wordlessly pointed towards the door that led deeper into the basement with her right hand.

"All right then, Amy. Follow me." Victoria said. She walked towards the basement door with key in hand to unlock the way to their mother's wine collection.

[Post Word Count: 790]
[Total Word Count: 10,710/11,000]

-In the wine cellar-

Victoria and Amy had unlocked the wine cellar and shut the door behind them. Now they were facing the wall of wine casks that their mother had set up years ago. Amy looked at Victoria.

"I don't remember exactly when these wine casks were set up, but they've been here as long as I could remember." Amy told Victoria. The blue-eyed brunette then motioned to the wine racks holding bottles of wine placed on the left and right walls of the wine cellar.

"The same goes for those wine racks." Amy said succinctly. Victoria did not learn anything new from those statements, but she let Amy talk anyway. Maybe Amy would tell her something new if she was allowed to keep talking without interruption.

"I told you earlier that this wine was the only alcohol that our mother would drink. She was a big wine drinker, but she was also a big wine collector." Amy informed Victoria. That was something that Victoria did not know about her mother. The green-eyed brunette knew that her mother drank wine, but she did not know that her mother also collected it.

"I can tell." Victoria said with mild sarcasm. Amy simply laughed.

"Did you also know that our mother was fond of poetry?" Amy asked Victoria. That was news to the latter.

"I had a sneaking suspicion that those poetry books in my room belonged to our mother, but I never had any solid proof until today." Victoria told Amy. Amy's face had a surprised expression on it.

"What do you mean by those poetry books in your room?" Amy asked Victoria.

"My current room's the master bedroom that once belonged to my... our parents." Victoria told her sister. Amy crossed her arms over her chest.

"How did you get our parents' bedroom for your room?" Amy asked Victoria with a large hint of jealousy on her voice. Victoria hoped that she was not in for a round of sibling rivalry.

"Well, I got here first. I also thought that I was the only Sheridan left, so I took it for myself." Victoria replied with complete honesty. Amy was at a loss for words for several moments before finally being able to speak again.

"OK, ya got me there. Both of those are good points." Amy admitted with jealousy still on her voice. Deciding to take the opportunity to assuage her older sister's jealousy before it could simmer and drive a wedge between them, Victoria decided to ask the question.

"Would you like to go to our parents' bedroom and get our mother's poetry books?" Victoria asked Amy. Amy smiled.

"Yes, I'd like to." Amy replied.

"All right then. Follow me." Victoria said. The green-eyed brunette turned around and began walking out of the wine cellar. Amy followed behind her younger sister.

-Victoria's Room, twelve minutes later-

After locking the wine cellar back and locking the basement door back Victoria found Laura and handed the key back to her, then went to her room. In her room sat Abigail, who was watching the Fighter Girls anime first season set she had purchased earlier today. Abigail looked away from the television and spotted Victoria in her normal form.

"I haven't seen you like that in a long time, Vic." Abigail commented on Victoria's shorter form. The blonde then spotted Amy, who was standing to Victoria's left.

"And who's that with you? Is she another friend of yours?" Abigail asked Victoria. Victoria made eye contact with her friend.

"She's my older sister Amy." Victoria replied. Abigail blinked and Amy laughed.

"Amy, this is my old friend Abigail Windstrider. Abigail's staying with us until the roof of her house is fixed." Victoria introduced her sister to her friend. Abigail stood up from the floor and greeted the older Sheridan.

"Hi Amy. I'm Abigail Windstrider. Victoria and I have been friends for awhile." Abigail introduced herself to the older Sheridan. Amy waved at Abigail and turned to Victoria.

"How did you meet Abigail?" Amy asked Victoria.

"It's a long story. Say, you wanted our mother's poetry books, right?" Victoria deflected her sister's attention from the story of how she and Abigail had met.

"Of course." Amy replied laconically. Victoria pointed towards the bookshelf sitting in a corner of the room.

"They're somewhere on that bookshelf. I don't want them, so they're all yours." Victoria informed Amy. Amy walked over to the bookshelf and began browsing.

"You didn't answer my question, Victoria. How did you meet Abigail?" Amy asked Victoria again. Victoria looked towards Abigail and Abigail looked back at Victoria. Victoria then faced Amy's back.

"It's a really long story, but if you've got the time, I'll tell you." Victoria started off.

"I've got the time." Amy casually replied while browsing the bookshelf. Victoria looked at Abigail again, then looked at her sister's back.

"OK. Well, it started a few years ago in Sakuramori. I was hired by this lady named Octavia Ashford to find a special sword that had been stolen from her..." Victoria started the story of how she and Abigail had met while Amy looked for their mother's poetry books. Victoria was not sure if Amy was really paying attention, but the former would tell the story anyway.

[Post Word Count: 878]
[Total Word Count: 11,588/11,000]