A Moving Story

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 32, Post Number 797

-Rose Garden, La Vie En Rose Apartment Complex, Apartment 201-

Riding on her Centaur with Amy in the passenger's seat, Victoria pulled up in front of Apartment 201 in the La Vie En Rose apartment complex located close to the center of Rose Garden. Victoria's "job" today was more of a favor for her older sister. Amy had already had a moving company take the heaviest of her belongings to the Sheridan Estate... she just needed help moving some clothing that had been left behind during the first trip. Victoria had purchased and placed brown leather saddlebags on the back of her Centaur to help carry some of the clothing.

The green-eyed brunette turned off the Centaur and put the key in her shorts pocket, then turned to face Amy. Amy had just gotten off the Centaur and was looking around the apartment complex.

"Well, here we are, Amy. You said that this was the apartment complex you lived in." Victoria said to Amy. The blue-eyed brunette nodded.

"Yeah, Victoria. This is it." Amy replied succinctly. Victoria looked around the place and saw that it was a medium-sized apartment complex with numerous apartment buildings that each had small front yards. The place looked to be middle-of-the-road in terms of looks and affordability. Residents were not living in the lap of luxury, but they were not living in the bad side of town either.

Amy turned right and faced an apartment door with the brass numbers 201 hanging on the green wooden door.

"There it is, Victoria. My old home for the past several years." Amy pointed out the apartment in question to Victoria. The green-eyed brunette looked at Amy.

"This is a nice place." Victoria commented on her surroundings. Amy was pleased by that response.

"Yeah, it is. It's a good place with good people and I made some friends here, but this isn't my home anymore. Not physically, anyway." Amy replied. Victoria took that to mean that Amy now called the Sheridan Estate home. The older Sheridan did not bother to explain what exactly she meant by that statement and instead began walking towards the apartment door while Victoria followed a short distance behind. When Amy got to the door she turned to face her sister.

"Maybe my roommate's still here. She's a pretty cool chick who's been my roommate for all the years that I've been here. I think you'd like her." Amy said to Victoria in an optimistic tone. Victoria was going to be the judge of that, but she would give her sister's roommate a chance. The green-eyed brunette watched as her sister knocked three times on the apartment door.

"It might take a minute for her to answer the door, Vic. Bear with me." Amy told her sister. Victoria was not in any real hurry today. There was still plenty of daylight and she did not anticipate this errand taking very long.

Amy knocked on the door again. There was still no answer. She turned to face Victoria to tell her the news.

"This might take a few minutes. My roommate might be asleep or busy doing something else." Amy said to Victoria before facing forward again. Victoria simply shrugged her shoulders. She was willing to wait if it meant helping her sister move the last of her belongings to the Sheridan Estate.

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-Outside Apartment 201, ten minutes later-

It had been ten minutes since Amy had knocked on the apartment door and her roommate had not answered the door yet. Amy turned away from the door and looked at Victoria apologetically.

"Do you think that your roommate's OK?" Victoria asked and folded her arms over her chest. Amy shrugged her shoulders.

"I hope she is. Maybe she's just really tired or something." Amy replied. It was clear from the tone of her voice that she did not have a clue what her roommate was doing. Out of respect for her sister Victoria did not say anything disparaging and instead waited for Amy's roommate to answer the door.

"I'll knock again." Amy stated. She turned towards the door and knocked three times, then took a step back. Victoria waited for the door to open, but it did not open. This was getting to be ridiculous, but Victoria kept her mouth shut.

The Sheridan sisters waited another three minutes and still no answer. Victoria kept her arms folded across her chest and looked at the door while Amy turned around and looked at her with the same apologetic look she had a few minutes earlier. Suddenly the door opened to show a bespectacled brown-haired young woman in a sleeveless red shirt with blue jeans and socks.

"AMY!" The bespectacled brunette called out with a smile on her face. Amy spun around to face the young woman and held out her arms for a hug.

"SHERRY!" Amy exclaimed. The two brunettes emitted a loud squeal at the same time and embraced each other, then separated and started talking so fast that Victoria could not understand a single word they were saying. The puzzled Sabertooth mage hung back and let the two talk while waiting for something to happen. After roughly a minute of rapid-fire talking that only they could understand Amy and Sherry turned to face Victoria.

"Sherry, this is my younger sister Victoria. We've been separated for awhile and we just reunited a week or two ago." Amy introduced Sherry to Victoria. Sherry waved at Victoria and Victoria returned the gesture.

"Victoria, this is Sherry Wilkinson, my roommate for the past several years. We've been friends ever since we met after... you know." Amy introduced Victoria to Sherry.

"Hi Victoria, I'm Sherry. Your sister told me about what happened to your family several years ago and how she hoped that she wasn't the last of her family. She was especially worried about you." Sherry said with sympathy on her voice. Victoria read her body language and learned that Sherry was being completely truthful and was not just trying to ingratiate herself to her roommate's younger sister. Victoria was not upset by what she had been told. It was Amy's business who she told the story to.

"It's been a long time since we were all together as a family, but things are starting to look up for us." Victoria said with optimism. At the Halloween Tricks & Treats event in Capital Crocus several months ago Victoria had been told by the fortune teller that "A family separated by tragedy will be made whole again." and was shown images in the crystal ball that showed four figures whose faces were obscured by shadow along with images of Victoria, Lawrence, and Laura. At first Victoria thought the fortune was an elaborate hoax and her uncle shared the same opinion. However, Amy's arrival went a long way in convincing Victoria that there might be some substance to the fortune.

Sherry Wilkinson:

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"I'm glad to hear that there's still hope for you guys. Amy's been a good friend of mine for the past several years and I wish the best for her in her new place." Sherry said to Victoria. Victoria read her body language out of force of habit and discovered that while the sentiment sounded like an empty platitude it was not an empty platitude but a genuine wish. Victoria had no problem with that.

"You two didn't come here just to hear me talk all day. So, what brings you two here?" Sherry asked the Sheridan sisters.

"We're here to get the last of my clothing, Sherry. I've moved virtually everything else out." Amy replied. Sherry seemed upset to hear that and her face showed it.

"I figured. Once I went in your room and saw most of your furniture gone I knew the end was near." Sherry said glumly. Victoria refrained from commenting and let Amy do the talking.

"Yeah. It's kinda sad for me too, but I'm going home to Capital Crocus. I'm gonna look for my other siblings and try to bring the Sheridan family back together." Amy stated her goal in returning home. Victoria remained silent on that and recalled Abigail's warning that reuniting the Sheridan family could lead to a clash over the Sheridan Estate. Amy had no intention to claim the property, but that did not mean that the other Sheridans lacked that ambition.

Victoria felt slightly bad about wanting to keep the estate for herself because that selfish desire was at odds with her excitement about the possibility of the Sheridan family reuniting. She wanted to have a family again, but that would mean possibly clashing with older siblings who wanted to take the estate for themselves. The green-eyed brunette was feeling conflicting emotions as she watched Sherry and Amy go inside the apartment.

On one hand, she was glad to see that the fortune she had been told months ago might have something to it.

On the other hand, Victoria had gotten used to being in charge of the Sheridan Estate.

If her older siblings came back she might lose that control and she was not looking forward to that. Victoria wanted to keep her little piece of the pie as long as she could, but was keeping it worth shutting out family members? She did not know. She was not a deep thinker and had trouble planning ahead.

"Hey, Victoria! Are you gonna help us or not?" Amy asked Victoria while standing inside the doorway to the apartment. Victoria stood in place for a moment before finally mustering a response.

"Sure." Victoria replied. She walked briskly towards the open door and Amy stepped aside to permit her sister entry. Victoria entered and the door was shut behind her.

-Inside Apartment 201-

Victoria entered Apartment 201 and the first thing she saw was a tiny laundry room to the right that had just enough space for a washer and dryer and just enough space to open said washer and dryer. She walked down the tiny hallway and into the living room, which had a tan cloth couch and some framed canvases hanging on the wall. Victoria examined one of them and saw that it was a framed white canvas that looked like someone had flung red and yellow paint at it using a paintbrush. Sherry saw Victoria looking at it and faced her.

"I'm a fan of abstract art." Sherry explained what style the painting was made in and why it was hanging on the apartment wall. Victoria wanted to say that the "artwork" in front of her was not very good and looked like something that had been "made" in five minutes, but she kept her mouth shut. Meanwhile Amy walked out of her room with an armload of clothes and made a beeline for Victoria.

"Do you mind taking these to your motorcycle for me while I get another armful to bring outside?" Amy asked Victoria. The Centaur was a hovercycle, but Victoria did not bother pointing out the difference.

"Sure, I'll take them to my Centaur." Victoria replied. She held her arms out and received the clothing, then turned around and walked out of the living room towards the door to the apartment. She opened it with her right hand, stepped outside, and closed the door behind her.

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-Thirty-five minutes later, outside Apartment 201-

Amy had much more clothing to carry than Victoria thought she did. The saddlebags on the side of the Centaur were so full that they had been hard to close, but Victoria somehow managed to close them so that her sister's clothes did not fly out of them on the return trip to Capital Crocus. Now that all the clothes had been packed away it was time for Amy and Sherry to part ways.

Victoria stood close to the Centaur to prevent anyone from trying to steal Amy's clothes or the Centaur itself while Amy and Sherry said their goodbyes. She watched as the roommates stood face-to-face and struggled to find something to say.

"Sherry... we've been roommates for years. It's gonna be rough parting ways after all this time." Amy said to Sherry.

"It's been great having you as a roommate, Amy. We've been through a lot together." Sherry said. Victoria watched the proceedings from afar and could tell from the posture and word choice that her sister and Sherry were the kind of close friends that did not come together overnight. The situation reminded her of her friendship with Abigail Windstrider and how long it had taken to develop from reluctant job partners into true friends.

"Hey Amy, remember that time we went to that party at Tiffany's house that night and you drank that Jeremy guy under the table?" Sherry asked Amy. Amy nodded with a smile.

"Yeah. That party was amazing. And Jeremy was a total jackass. Did you see how he kept trying to act like an alpha male and hit on all the girls there despite them all having boyfriends?" Amy asked Sherry. Sherry laughed.

"Yeah, he was a major league jackass. He kept trying to hit on Tiffany despite the fact she already had a boyfriend and he wouldn't take no for an answer. It took Adam threatening to throw the dumbass out of the party before he got the hint to leave Tiffany alone." Sherry replied. Victoria had no idea who all these people were, so she did not bother asking. Instead she kept her mouth shut and continued to listen to the story in the hopes of learning about them.

"Adam's soooo hot! He's so buff and his chiseled abs are to die for! He looks like a movie star!" Amy told a bit about how this "Adam" guy looked. Sherry squealed loud enough to sound like she was trying to communicate with dolphins.

"Yeah. If he wasn't already Tiffany's boyfriend I'd try to date him!" Sherry said about Adam.

"I would too, Sherry. Who wouldn't want a guy who could sing, fix cars, dance, and cook like a professional chef?" Amy asked Sherry. Sherry smiled widely.

"Adam's a real catch. Most guys around here aren't as talented as he is. I mean, have you ever met another hot guy who has that kind of skillset?" Sherry inquired about the local single male population. Amy frowned.

"You know I'm not that lucky, Sherry. I tend to attract all the meatheads who want a one-night stand. Like that Kyle guy. That guy's SUCH a sleazebag." Amy reminded her roommate of her lousy luck when it came to men. Sherry laughed again.

"Yeah, that guy's so sleazy that I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole without a lot of antibacterial soap handy to clean my hands afterwards. I was watching the whole time and he constantly talked about taking you home with him and trying to put his arm around your shoulder. He even hit on me a couple of times despite the fact I had a date!" Sherry explained why "Kyle" was so sleazy. Amy frowned even harder.

"Please don't remind me of that loser." Amy requested politely but firmly. Sherry got the message and quickly changed the subject.

"Hey Amy, I know that you're going to Capital Crocus, but I wanna go to Boomslang at some point in the future. I've never been, so when we go I want it to be you and me. What do ya say?" Sherry asked Amy. Amy's face lit up.

"That'd be great, Sherry! When do you want to go?" Amy asked Sherry while Victoria listened intently. The Sabertooth mage had the feeling that she was going to end up being a chaperone of sorts when the two went to Boomslang, so she had better pay attention to her sister's response so that she could check her calendar and make sure she had nothing to do on the night they chose to go out.

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