Another Sheridan Arrives

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 8, Post Number 191

-The Sheridan Estate, Victoria's Room, 9:30 A.M.-

Victoria had been up and on her feet since 8:55 A.M. and was getting dressed in order to go to Sakuramori and meet her mentor Florence Manderley. She was wearing a green short-sleeved t-shirt and black gym shorts and had bandages on her left arm... she needed to change to a long-sleeved shirt to hide the bandages from her mentor, at least for awhile. The arm was still not able to handle the recoil of her heavier weapons nor was it able to handle being touched, but she could use it to drive the Centaur, which was good because there was no way she was going to walk to her destination.

Speaking of limbs, her left leg was doing a lot better... while she was not going to be running a marathon on it, the pain was now mild discomfort instead of a shooting pain whenever she went faster than a limp. She could comfortably sit on the Centaur as long as she took periodic rest stops to stretch the leg. Since she was leaving early she would have plenty of time to take rest stops as needed.

Victoria walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a green long-sleeved shirt, then took off her short-sleeved shirt and dropped it on the floor. She put on the new shirt and closed the wardrobe, then picked up the garment she had been wearing and threw it onto her bed. Now all she needed to do was put her hair in a ponytail and put on her socks and shoes and she would be ready to go.

Victoria bent down to the sock drawer and had just pulled it open when her room door opened and footsteps sounded. The younger Sheridan stood upright and turned to face the person who entered her room and found herself looking at Amy. Amy was wearing a baby blue tank top and blue jean short shorts and was barefoot.

"Hey Vic! You look a lot better than you did a couple of weeks ago!" Amy greeted her younger sister.

"Yeah. I am doing better lately. I'm not gonna be running a marathon, but at least I don't limp like I'm auditioning to be a zombie." Victoria told her older sister how she was feeling. Amy seemed to be amused by that description because she smiled a little.

"You look like you're about to go somewhere." Amy observed.

"Yeah. I'm going to Sakuramori to talk to my mentor Florence Manderley. She sent a text to my iLac and I'm heading there on my Centaur." Victoria told Amy her plans. The older Sheridan put her hands on her hips and looked at Victoria.

"You sure you're able to drive?" Amy inquired skeptically. Victoria frowned.

"I'm pretty sure. But you can ride with me if you want." Victoria offered her sister a way to judge the former's fitness to drive for herself.

"Eh, why not?" Amy accepted the offer. Victoria was so amused by the way the acceptance was phrased that she let the perceived insult slide without a retort.

"All right. Lemme put my hair up, change the bandages on my arm, and get my iLac and I'll be ready to go." Victoria told her sister. She doubted that Amy would want to be repeatedly slapped in the face with free-flowing hair, so she would put it in her signature ponytail. Then she thought about it and realized that her ponytail might not be much better for a passenger to put up with. If all else failed she could just turn into "Normal Victoria" and solve the problem in a flash since that form had short hair.

In the meantime she needed to get ready for the trip.

"If there's anything you need to do before we get on the road, you'd better do it now. That includes changing clothes and using the restroom." Victoria warned her older sister before walking over to her nightstand and picking up a rubber band with which to do her hair up into a ponytail. Once that task was finished she picked up her iLac and jammed it in her right pocket along with her Centaur key. If Amy had anything to do she had better do it quick because Victoria was almost ready to go to the garage, raise the door, and crank up the Centaur.

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-Sakuramori, outside Florence Manderley's house, 1:03 P.M.-

It had been a lengthy trip to Sakuramori. The distance was only a small part of it... the real cause was Victoria having to stop and stretch her legs often. Fighting Kalama had done more to her left leg than she had realized, but that was to be expected when going up against a powerful and relentless Dark Mage. It had taken a few weeks for the leg to heal to the point Victoria could walk on it without limping like a zombie, but the wait had been worth it. Now she was outside her mentor's home and standing under her own power.

"Well, we're here. Let's go knock on the door." Victoria told her older sister, who was standing just behind the Centaur.

"I'll wait here. My legs are kinda numb from riding all the way here." Amy bade Victoria to go on ahead. Victoria did not need to be told twice.

"OK. It shouldn't take too long." Victoria replied before walking over to the front door and knocking on it. Victoria had expected to wait a few minutes, but to her surprise the door opened within seconds. On the other side was Florence, who had dressed up as if she was expecting someone. Florence was wearing a white turtleneck long-sleeved shirt, a black knee-length skirt, and black high heels.

"Hi Victoria! It's been a long time since we last spoke!" Florence warmly greeted the Sabertooth mage. The older woman's eyes soon settled on Amy, who was still standing near the back of the Centaur.

"Who's your friend?" Florence asked Victoria.

"She's my older sister Amy." Victoria replied, jerking her right thumb over her shoulder towards the older Sheridan. Florence showed surprise and as if on cue Amy made her way over to the pair, walking with an awkward gait that was similar to the one Victoria had used until fairly recently.

"I'm Amy Sheridan." Amy introduced herself.

"I can't say we've met before." Amy followed up her introduction with a statement. The blonde was not deterred by that and faced the older brunette.

"I'm Florence Manderley. Victoria's known me for quite some time, but you probably haven't heard of me. I'm friends with your uncle." Florence introduced herself to Amy and stated her connection to Victoria. Amy smiled at the blonde.

"It's nice to meet you." Amy greeted Victoria's mentor. Florence looked towards the Centaur that was shortly behind the Sheridans. She then looked towards Victoria.

"I sent the text because I've been meaning to talk to your uncle about something. I need you to take me to Capital Crocus." Florence told Victoria the reason for the text message. Victoria looked towards the Centaur, then towards Florence. The Centaur could comfortably seat two, but she was not sure if it could carry three people in any sort of comfort.

"All right then. We're ready to leave whenever you are, Florence." Victoria told the blonde. The Sabertooth mage was hoping that the ride would not be too uncomfortable for her passengers, but it could not be helped. She did not have any other form of transportation at the moment.

"Let me get my purse and turn out the lights and I'll be ready." Florence informed Victoria about what she needed to do to get ready for the trip to Capital Crocus.

-Capital Crocus, the Sheridan Estate, 4:37 P.M.-

The trip back to the Sheridan Estate had been almost as long as the trip to Sakuramori. The ride was far from comfortable because the passengers were crammed onto the vehicle, but the trio had made the lengthy ride and were now standing in the living room.

"Man, my legs are numb!" Amy complained about the state of her legs.

"Mine are too." Victoria confessed.

"Me three." Florence chimed in. Victoria wondered where her uncle was... normally he would be sitting on the couch watching Westerns, but for some reason he was not here. Maybe he was out and about for some reason... maybe he really wanted another meat lover's pizza.

The front door opened and in walked Lawrence, who clearly did not expect Victoria, Amy, and Florence to be standing in the living room. The scar-faced man stood in awkward silence for a few moments before his eyes focused on Florence.

"Florence... what are you doing here?" Lawrence asked her. Florence smiled.

"It's nice to see you too, Lawrence." The blonde responded to his awkward question. Amy laughed and Victoria grinned.

"You... you look great." Lawrence commented on Florence's appearance. That comment drew a smile from the blonde woman.

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-The Sheridan Estate, the dining room, 3:00 P.M.-

The Sheridans and Florence were eating a late lunch consisting of salad and spaghetti made by Laura, the maid who seemed to be a walking recipe book because of how many different dishes she knew how to prepare. Victoria was eating a salad and spaghetti while Amy was nibbling on a large salad. Lawrence was eating a large plate of spaghetti and so was Florence. Victoria was mildly surprised that Florence was doing that considering how often the doctor lectured her on health, but it was not something that made the brunette concerned enough to comment. Florence knew what was right for her and Victoria was not going to shove her views down her mentor's throat.

"What were you planning to do later today, Lawrence?" Florence asked the scar-faced man, who was busy trying to wrap some spaghetti around his fork. Judging from the mass of spaghetti on his plate, he was not doing very well. There was a mass of noodles with a whirl in the center that made it resemble a whirlpool or a tornado from a top-down view.

"I have no idea yet. I went looking for a job earlier and actually got a couple of offers." Lawrence casually mentioned what he had done earlier in the day. That got Victoria's attention. She recalled that he was looking for work as far back as a few months ago, but she had assumed that he was keeping quiet about any potential offers.

"Really? What are you going into?" Florence asked him as Amy and Victoria listened.

"I'm looking to go into private security. You know, protecting a local wealthy person and their property from the local hoodlums and thieves." Lawrence answered. Victoria could see him going into that kind of work and doing well at it.

"Who are you gonna work for?" The blonde woman asked another question.

"I'm not allowed to say. They don't wanna advertise the fact they're looking for extra security." Lawrence replied. Victoria looked at him and saw from his body language that he was telling the truth on both claims. The scar-faced man had never been a liar and he was not lying now.

"Oh, OK. I'll let it go at that." Florence agreed to let the matter drop for Lawrence's sake. Victoria wondered who had given him a job offer. She did not know any of the local rich people except for Francesca Corlone, who probably needed protection from the many enemies she had made due to her abrasive behavior. She hoped to whatever cosmic entity was inclined to listen that her uncle was not going to work for that person.

"I was asking because I wanted to go to a movie tonight." Florence revealed the reason for her earlier question. Lawrence set his fork down on his plate and looked at her.

"Uh, sure. Sure thing, Florence. I don't have anything to do tonight." Lawrence told her in a manner that indicated he was at a loss for words. The woman smiled again.

"It's a date then." She confirmed their plans for the evening. Lawrence's face began to turn red, a sight which amused Amy and Victoria. Their uncle usually had a serious look on his face and to see him so visibly flustered about going somewhere with Florence was something they were not used to.

"Uh, right. Certainly." He choked out a response. Laura entered the dining room with Victoria's iLac in her left hand.

"Miss Sheridan, your iLac has a text message on it. I didn't read the contents, but a Ms. Ashford sent the message." Laura informed Victoria. Victoria got up from the table and walked over to the silver-haired maid, who handed her the device. The brunette read over the message and learned that Ms. Ashford had sent it about thirteen minutes ago. The client wanted Victoria to go to Sakuramori and pick up a book that was to be delivered to Anna Ashford, the client's niece who lived in Capital Crocus.

"Guys, I've got a job to do. I've gotta go to Sakuramori to visit an old client of mine. Don't wait on me to do anything." Victoria told her family and mentor about the contents of the message she had received.

"Good luck, Victoria." Lawrence wished her.

"Be careful out there." Florence chimed in.

"I would go with you, but I don't think I can handle another ride to Sakuramori today." Amy told her younger sister.

"I'll be fine. I promise." Victoria told them before turning away from them and leaving the dining room to get her Centaur key from her room. It was going to be a long ride to Sakuramori and she had better get going while there was still daylight.

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-Sakuramori, outside Ms. Ashford's house, three hours later-

It was nighttime by the time Victoria arrived in Sakuramori, but she was never one to let the setting of the sun stop her from pursuing a job. Now she was standing outside the client's house and was approaching it when the door opened and out stepped Ms. Ashford. The older brunette was holding a thick book with a dark blue cover as she approached Victoria.

"Hi there Victoria. I hate to call you out here so late, but there's something I need you to do for me. I forgot to give this book to my niece when she visited earlier in the day." Ms. Ashford laid out the nature of the task she was giving Victoria.

"It's fine, Ms. Ashford. My Centaur won't turn into a pumpkin if I'm still out at midnight." Victoria informed the older woman that the time of day would not stop her from answering the call of a longtime client. Ms. Ashford smiled at that.

"I want you to take this book to my niece in Capital Crocus. I've already called ahead and let her know that you'll be the one to deliver it." The client volunteered some additional information before handing Victoria the book. When the Sabertooth mage took it with her right hand she immediately felt the weight of the book and had to take a moment to grab it with both hands to keep from dropping it.

"All right, Ms. Ashford. I'll take it there as soon as possible." Victoria told the older woman. The latter smiled again.

"That's why I called for you. I know that you'll get the job done." Ms. Ashford replied to Victoria's statement.

"I know that you have a long ride back to Capital Crocus ahead of you, so I'll see you later, Victoria. Have a safe trip." The client bade Victoria farewell before turning and walking back to her house, then going inside and shutting the door. Victoria walked back to her Centaur and climbed on board, then wedged the book between the bottom of her right leg and the seat before putting the vehicle into reverse and carefully backing away from the house while slowly turning it to the right. When she was clear of it Victoria put the Centaur in drive and began to follow the road out of Sakuramori while moving slowly to avoid hitting anyone who might be out for an evening stroll. Once she was outside of Sakuramori she would increase speed.

-Capital Crocus, outside Anna Ashford's house, four hours and twenty-three minutes later-

It had taken Victoria roughly three hours to return to Capital Crocus from Sakuramori. Once she was in the city it had taken her almost another hour-and-a-half to get to Anna's house because of the vehicular traffic, which was a bit dense despite how late it was. Once she had gotten through it without incident she pulled into the driveway of Anna's house and turned off the Centaur, then climbed off of the vehicle and picked up the book she had been tasked with giving to the client's niece.

Victoria temporarily took her right hand away from the book to knock on the door three times. Almost a minute later the door opened and Anna was standing on the other side. The blonde was wearing a red tank top and blue jean short shorts and her hair was done up in a ponytail that was almost identical to Victoria's except for the fact the blonde's hair was shorter. The ponytail had a red scrunchie in place to secure it.

"Hi Victoria! My aunt called and told me that'd you be delivering a book!" Anna greeted the brunette. Victoria handed over the book and Anna took it with both hands. She held it in her right hand while opening it with the left, then began skimming through the pages for a few moments before closing the book and holding it with both hands again.

"It's the book on the Cursed Lands my aunt was going to give me!" Anna exclaimed in joy. Victoria was not sure how a book on that place could make anyone happy, but she was not going to say anything to ruin Anna's happiness. The blonde made eye contact with the Sabertooth mage.

"Thank you for delivering this book to me, Victoria! I'll call my aunt and let her know that I got it!" The blonde told Victoria. The brunette gave a thumbs-up with her right hand.

"Is there anything else you need before I go?" Victoria asked Anna. The latter shook her head.

"I'm good, thanks. This book is all I need!" Anna answered in a cheerful tone. She seemed content with what she had, so Victoria was not going to press the issue. The Sabertooth mage had done her job, so it was time for her to go home and let Anna read her new book in peace.

"All right then, Anna. I'll see you later." Victoria bade farewell. Anna waved goodbye with her left hand before closing the door. The brunette turned and was about to get onto her Centaur when she heard the sound of tires screeching and saw a purple convertible jolt to a halt. The driver put the vehicle in park, got out and slammed the door, and began walking briskly towards Victoria.

"HEY BIKER BITCH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD?!" A voice Victoria dreaded to hear shouted a question. Victoria found herself looking at her old enemy Francesca Corlone. Francesca was wearing a white tube top that was barely holding her large chest in, a dangerously short black skirt that hugged the blonde's backside, and black high heels.

"It's nice to see you too, Francesca." Victoria sarcastically replied to her old enemy's question.

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"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD?! ANSWER ME!" Francesca aggressively repeated her question. Victoria folded her arms across her chest.

"None of your business. You're not the neighborhood watch." Victoria retorted. She had been putting up with the blonde's bullshit for years and had just about had enough. Francesca did not like that answer because she stormed up to Victoria and stopped within arm's reach of the brunette.

"THIS NEIGHBORHOOD HAS STANDARDS!" Francesca shouted at Victoria. The brunette frowned. She wanted to punch Francesca so badly, but that would be assault and she did not want to make Sabertooth look bad, so she would have to avoid punching her old enemy no matter how much she wanted to.

"If this neighborhood has standards, then why are you here?" Victoria turned the blonde's remark back on her. Francesca's face turned red and she drew her right hand back to slap the brunette when she had a rare moment where she thought things through. Instead the blonde settled for jabbing her finger in Victoria's face.

"SHUT UP, BIKER BITCH!" The blonde demanded.

"Why do you always want to know what I'm doing somewhere?" Victoria posed another question to her enemy. That question seemed to put the blonde on the back foot because her mouth hung partially open as she tried to muster a response.

"Are you stalking me?" Victoria asked. It was meant to be a sarcastic inquiry, but instead of angering Francesca it prompted her to have a different response.

"N-NO! DON'T BE STUPID! I CAN'T STAND YOU!" Francesca retorted, backing away from the brunette. Victoria analyzed the blonde's body language and saw something completely different.

Francesca was lying.

"You seem to want to talk to me every time we meet. You also like getting in my face. Do you want to ask me on a date or something?" Victoria put another question to Francesca. Again it was meant to be sarcastic, but again it elicited a response the brunette did not expect. The blonde's face turned red.

"NO! YOU NEED TO LAY OFF OF WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE ON! I WOULDN'T WANT TO DATE SOMEONE LIKE YOU!" She insisted while waving her hands in front of her in a "NO!" gesture.

Francesca was lying.

"Are you sure?" Victoria inquired, walking closer to her enemy. The horrified blonde backed away from the brunette even further.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Francesca screamed. She spun around and ran back to her convertible, hopped in, slammed the door, and quickly put the vehicle into drive before pulling away from the brunette and speeding down the road. Victoria was grinning the entire time.

Once her enemy was gone Victoria's grin faded as she realized what she had learned by observing Francesca's body language when she responded to the sarcastic questions. It seemed that her old enemy she had met during her time in Black Rose was attracted to her. That made the brunette want to drive home, take a really hot shower, and then make a few drinks at the mini-bar in the Sheridan Estate. In fact that was exactly what she would do.

Victoria walked towards the Centaur, climbed onto it, cranked it up, and began to drive home for a really hot shower and a few mixed drinks.

-The Sheridan Estate, 1:01 A.M.-

It had taken Victoria roughly an hour to get home because of vehicular traffic and a few pedestrians who seemed to not know what a crosswalk was, but she had made it home without incident. She had taken a shower over thirty-five minutes ago and had changed clothes to her green Steel Matron t-shirt and black skirt. She was now in the basement mixing up a Screwdriver or two while trying to cope with the knowledge that her old enemy might actually be attracted to her. That was not something Victoria was expecting to learn, but there was no unringing the bell.

The brunette finished mixing the first Screwdriver and stood at the bar as she took a sip from it. Moments after taking the sip the basement door opened and down the stairs walked Amy. She was wearing a blue tank top and blue jean short shorts and was barefoot.

"Hey Vic, are you making mixed drinks?" She asked her sister. Victoria looked at Amy.

"Yeah. Do you want something?" Victoria replied and asked a question of her own.

"A Long Island Iced Tea, if you don't mind." Amy requested.

"You got it." Victoria said, setting down her Screwdriver and going behind the counter to mix up a Long Island Iced Tea for her sister. The younger Sheridan began procuring the tools needed to mix the ingredients while Amy sat at the bar and faced her sister.

"You're pretty good at mixing drinks, Vic. You've obviously had a lot of practice doing that." Amy commented on the Sabertooth mage's bartending skills as Victoria finished procuring the tools and started gathering the ingredients.

"Yeah. I've done quite a bit of bartending in the past." Victoria replied without looking up. While Victoria could probably make a Long Island Iced Tea in her sleep, she did not want to make a mistake, especially when Amy was the one who was going to be drinking it. Therefore she focused on the task at hand instead of making eye contact with her sister.

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Amy did not immediately respond to her sister's comment. Her eyes settled on Victoria's Screwdriver, which was sitting on the bar not too far from where she was seated. She then looked at the Sabertooth mage, who had finally finished making the Long Island Iced Tea and gently pushed it towards Amy.

"Hey Vic, it's really none of my business, but why did you make yourself a Screwdriver?" Amy asked Victoria.

"Have you ever learned something that you really didn't want to know?" Victoria posed a question of her own to her older sister that doubled as an answer. Amy seemed to catch the meaning of the question.

"Yeah. A few times." Amy replied without elaborating on any of those times. Victoria's analysis of her body language told her that her older sister was telling the truth. The younger Sheridan was satisfied with that and did not press the issue.

"Do you really think alcohol's gonna help with that problem in the long run?" Amy asked in a serious voice. Victoria shook her head.

"No." She answered.

"Then why do it?" Amy inquired.

"I like the taste." Victoria replied with a hint of sarcasm. Amy looked at her for a few moments as if trying to figure out whether her sister was trying to be funny or sarcastic. Then the older Sheridan laughed.

"Eh, fair enough. A Long Island Iced Tea's not gonna fix my problems either, but here I am about to drink one." Amy casually remarked before lifting her glass and taking a drink. Victoria walked back around the counter, grabbed her Screwdriver, and took another drink from it. The conversation died a quiet death at that point as each Sheridan drank from their beverage of choice.

-Victoria's room, eleven hours and thirteen minutes later-

Victoria woke up and turned so that her feet hung off of the left side of her bed before she put her feet on the floor. She stood up and checked her iLac for any job offers or other items of interest but did not find any waiting on her. She checked the time and found that it was a little past noon. She put the device down, walked into her bathroom to bandage her left arm, and walked towards the door to go to the kitchen and get something to drink.

-The kitchen, three minutes later-

Victoria had passed through the living room to find that her uncle and Florence were not here. Neither was Amy. Victoria briefly wondered where everyone was before dismissing the thought and walking towards the refrigerator. When she got to it she opened the right door and fished out a can of Cherry Charge soda, then shut the door back. Victoria opened the can and took a sip from the soda, then began to chug it with the same ease with which she chugged alcoholic beverages.

Once she was finished she threw the empty can away before walking out of the kitchen to go to her room and read some of her father's drink recipe books.

-Victoria's room, three minutes later-

With the taste of cherry soda still on her tongue Victoria entered the basement and walked over to the bookshelf. She fished out a recipe book or two and walked over to her chair in the center of the room, then set both of them down to the right of the chair. She then sat down in it and picked up the smaller of the two, a book with a white cover and the title printed in gold text. The book was simply titled Popular Drinks.

Victoria opened it and began to read. In it she found recipes for drinks such as the Dirty Ashtray, Long Island Iced Tea, Tequila Sunrise, Bloody Mary, and others. She was looking for new drinks she had never made before, but she was only on the first few pages, so she would continue to read and hope that she struck gold later in the book.

As she read she noticed that some of the recipes were circled in black ink. That was most likely the work of her father, who was marking his favorite recipes for future reference. She wished he would have used bookmarks instead because the ink bled through and made reading the other side fairly difficult.

The door to her room opened and in walked Amy. The older Sheridan looked at her sister and cracked a smile.

"This is the first time I've ever seen you read anything, Vic. What are you reading?" Amy asked her. Victoria wordlessly held the book up and let her sister see the front cover. Amy smiled again.

"Of course the book's gonna be about alcohol." Amy jokingly remarked on the Sabertooth mage's choice of reading material. Victoria did not take offense to the joke... instead she took the chance to throw one back at Amy.

"It seems that the Sheridan family loves the stuff. I'm reading one of our father's drink recipe books now and he sure has a lot of recipes circled in red ink." Victoria remarked on the Sheridan family's predilection for consuming alcoholic drinks. It was an assertion she had made several times in the past and it was an assertion that she would stand by.

"You've got that right. Dad would drink almost anything. Mom really loved her wine." Amy replied to Victoria's statement. Victoria blinked.

"You knew about Octavia and Phillip?" Victoria asked her older sister.

"You mean Mom and Dad, right?" Amy inquired.

"I only know them as Octavia and Phillip. I don't remember much about them." Victoria explained why she referred to her parents by their first names. Amy's facial expression softened.

"I remember you telling me that some time ago, Vic. I remember some details about them, but it's been a long time." Amy told Victoria. Laura entered the room.

"Amy, Victoria, forgive the interruption. There's someone downstairs that you have to meet." The silver-haired maid informed both Sheridans.

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-In the living room-

Amy and Victoria had followed Laura downstairs and were now standing in the presence of Lawrence, Florence, and a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair Victoria had never seen before. She was wearing a white sweater that hung off of her shoulders a bit and a lavender skirt with white sandals. The most striking physical feature of the newcomer was that her eyes were two different colors.

"Hey Amy. Hey Victoria. Meet your sister Lorelei. She also goes by Lory." Lawrence introduced the young woman to the Sheridan sisters. Amy immediately hurried up to Lorelei to embrace her, but Victoria kept her distance. She looked at her uncle and noticed that he was holding some paperwork. The scar-faced man noticed that his youngest niece was looking at him and walked over to her.

"Mr. Montgomery introduced Lore- Lory to us a few hours ago. Apparently Lory's been here longer than we knew because she went through genetic testing to prove that she's really one of us and not an imposter looking to score a free ride and take the place out from under us. Here's the paperwork certifying that she's the daughter of my brother and his wife. Mr. Montgomery's crossed every T and dotted every I." Lawrence told Victoria a bit about the circumstances that led to the third Sheridan sister and handing over the papers. Victoria took them and began to read over them. Her uncle was not a liar and he was not lying now, but she wanted to read the lawyer's papers out of curiosity. While she read them she could hear her two older sisters talking.

"It's been so long, Lorelei! Where were you?" Amy asked Lorelei.

"I've been living in Clover Town for the past few years." Lorelei answered.

"I was in Rose Garden for the past several years." Amy told Lorelei where she had been living. The two older Sheridans talked while Victoria continued to read. The writing was all in legalese and she did not have the education to begin to understand it all, but everything seemed above board. Mr. Montgomery had indeed covered everything from genetic testing to lie detector testing. Victoria looked up to see the new arrival approaching her.

"I don't remember you. Who are you?" Lorelei asked Victoria. The Sabertooth mage looked at the other Sheridan for a moment.

"I'm Victoria Sheridan. I'm your younger sister." Victoria introduced herself to the older Sheridan. She was not entirely sure that "Lorelei" was really her sister if the other brunette did not remember her. Maybe a convincing imposter had managed to fool Mr. Montgomery after all.

"I don't remember you looking like that." Lorelei flatly told Victoria. The latter picked up on the former's tone and got the impression that Lorelei believed Victoria was a fake who had conned her way into the Sheridan Estate.

"Maybe you remember me looking like this." Victoria said and thought about her "normal" form before snapping her fingers. Moments later she was back to her short, more masculine form. Lorelei squinted as she scrutinized Victoria, then she took a step forward.

"Vickie? I thought you were dead!" Lorelei exclaimed in surprise. Victoria looked at the latter and learned from analyzing her body language that the surprise was genuine.

"The streets of Capital Crocus did their best to kill me, but they didn't do a good enough job." Victoria remarked on her survival.

"I remember our parents debating where you were supposed to go when we were told to scatter. Amy had been sent to Rose Garden. I was sent to Clover Town." Lorelei told Victoria a bit more about the past. Again Lorelei was being truthful.

"I didn't know that they left you to fend for yourself on the streets." Lorelei told her younger sister. Lorelei was telling the truth yet again.

"I was dumped on the streets when I was only six years old. I guessed that time ran out for our parents before they could send me somewhere safer." Victoria remarked bitterly. Even though that had likely been done as a last resort she was still bitter about it. She wondered why she had not been sent with one of her older sisters when the Sheridan sisters had to disperse. With an older sister to look after her Victoria might have had a much better childhood than the one she had had.

"I found Victoria on the streets when she was ten years old. I saved her from some slavers looking to capture her and sell her who knows where. She didn't have anyone to look after her, so I took her in. I didn't know that she was my niece until a couple of years ago." Lawrence chimed in. The Sheridan with two different eye colors looked horrified.

"I'm sorry that that happened to you, Vickie. We were told to scatter and to not contact each other in case whoever was after us was still out there. I laid low in Clover Town for a long time and didn't come out until a few weeks ago." Lorelei informed Victoria of both her regret and the plan for the Sheridan sisters to survive. Victoria still felt bitter for being tossed onto the streets, but Lorelei was not lying to her on either claim. The heterochromatic Sheridan was not to blame for all of the years Victoria had spent on the streets.

"It's OK, Lorelei. What's done is done. None of it's your fault." Victoria said in acceptance of her rough childhood. Lorelei approached her with her arms extended. Victoria realized what was about to happen and tried to prevent it.

"Please don't hug me, Lorelei. My left arm's in bad-" The Sabertooth mage began to protest. Lorelei was not listening because she had already closed the distance and was wrapping her arms around Victoria.

"I want to hug my little sister! It's so good to see you again, Little Vickie!" Lorelei said, cheerfully oblivious as to what she was about to do. Her arms forcefully wrapped around Victoria and pinned the latter's arms to her side. When the pressure hit her left arm Victoria emitted a shrill scream that lasted for two seconds.

"I'm so sorry, Vickie! I'M SO SORRY!" Lorelei apologized for hurting Victoria.

Lorelei Sheridan:

[Post Word Count: 1,048]
[Total Word Count: 6,198/11,000]

-Victoria's Room, twenty-seven minutes later-

Victoria was back in her room and nursing her left arm after having it pinned against her by her newly returned older sister Lorelei. She had changed back to her "tall" form because she had reached the limits of her tolerance for being in her "short" form. Being tall and unmistakably feminine had become addictive to her... looking like a model was a bonus.

She had left Lorelei and Amy to catch up while she went upstairs to bandage her arm and recover from the intense pain the hug had put her through. It was almost as bad as the pain inflicted when Kalama had deflected the bullets that caused the wounds. At least she was not going to suffer permanent nerve damage from the fight: all she would have to do was not rush off into combat and try not to lift anything heavy with the arm.

Victoria had rolled up the left sleeve of her shirt and was reaching for the bandages she had put on her nightstand a minute or two ago when the door to her room opened.

"Victoria, are you there?" Lorelei asked.

"I'm here." Victoria calmly replied. The older Sheridan entered the room and Victoria found herself drawn to Lorelei's eyes. Lorelei found herself drawn to Victoria's exposed left arm, which had healed some but still showed evidence of gunshot wounds.

"What happened to your arm?" Lorelei asked.

"Some time ago I fought a Dark Mage who could deflect bullets with her sword. She managed to deflect the bullets I fired at her right back to me and she turned my left arm into Swiss Cheese." The Sabertooth mage answered truthfully.

"Does your arm still hurt?" Lorelei inquired, moving closer to the younger Sheridan.

"It hurts, but I'll live. I won't suffer permanent nerve damage, so in a week or so it'll be back to normal." Victoria have her sister a rundown of her condition, drawing her left arm back in case Lorelei came in for another hug. The older Sheridan kept her distance.

"That's good to hear." The latter responded before making eye contact with Victoria again. The Sabertooth mage maintained eye contact and was looking at her sister's differently colored eyes. One was green and the other was blue... Victoria could not recall seeing anyone else with eyes like that.

"You're drawn to my eyes, aren't you?" Lorelei asked.

"Yeah. I haven't seen anyone else who had each eye a different color." Victoria admitted. Lorelei giggled.

"A lot of people notice that about me. You could say that they're a gift from our parents. Our mother's eyes were green and our father's eyes were blue. By luck of the draw I managed to get one eye color from each parent." Lorelei told her sister a bit about their parents. Victoria did not remember the eye colors of her parents... or much about them, really.

"Mind if I take a look around the place?" Lorelei asked Victoria. The brunette gave a thumbs-up with her right hand.

"Sure. Go ahead." Victoria gave her older sister the go-ahead.. not that she really needed the younger Sheridan's consent. Lorelei departed the room to wherever it was she was going while Victoria stood around her room trying to decide what to do next. There were no jobs to go on and no calls from Abigail or any of her clients, so the Sabertooth mage did not have any reason to leave home. She would sit down and play Malevolent Tenant.

-Thirteen minutes later-

Victoria was playing Malevolent Tenant and was currently watching a cutscene where the protagonists were based on a riddle. Jane and Carl were standing in a large marble hallway with a giant sphinx statue sitting in the middle of the hallway with wrought-iron gates to its left and right. The sphinx was resting on a marble pedestal and was staring down at the protagonists with red eyes as if sitting in judgment.

"What walks on four legs in the day, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?" The sphinx asked the pair. Jane and Carl looked at each other in obvious puzzlement. Carl crossed his arms over his chest while Jane began tapping her left foot against the marble floor.

"I've heard this one before." Jane asserted to Carl.

"Yeah, me too. I think it's from some old story or something." Carl told his partner. There was a tense silence as Jane looked at Carl, who turned away from her and began to pace back and forth between her and the wall.

"What is your answer?" The sphinx asked Jane. The woman did not answer right away and looked at Carl, who had stopped pacing and stood close to Jane.

"Man, this is a hard riddle." Carl complained. Jane's face lit up as she turned to face the statue.

"What is a..." Jane started. Moments later a list appeared on the screen and the possible answers were "A man", "a gorilla", and "a horse." Victoria was prompted to pick one of the options and went with "A man" based on Jane's response to Carl's remark. She hit the controller button to confirm her choice.

"A man?" Jane answered. The sphinx's eyes flashed red, then its wings spread wide.

"You may pass." The sphinx replied in a booming voice before its wings folded back, its head tilted upwards to face forward, and the statue itself began to sink into the ground. Jane and Carl looked at each other in triumph with Jane showing a wide grin on her face.

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-Victoria's Room, eighteen minutes later-

After getting past the sphinx puzzle Victoria continued to play Malevolent Tenant until she reached a save point in a large library she had cleared of zombies. She saved her game and turned off the console. She was not getting bored of the game... while the choices of puzzle were a bit weird and the voice acting was hokey the pacing of the plot was good. She also liked the great graphics and responsive controls. There was no delay between her pressing a button or moving a joystick and the action being carried out on-screen, which was good because the first-person shooting mode demanded quick reflexes.

Victoria stood up from the chair and stretched her legs, then set down the controller and walked out of her room to go see what Lorelei was up to.

-The living room, two minutes later-

Victoria walked down the stairs and into the living room, which was empty. Lawrence was not sitting on the couch and neither was anyone else. She thought she heard noise coming from the basement, so she walked to the basement door and opened it, then walked down the stairs.

-Inside the basement-

Victoria reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Amy and Lorelei drinking at the bar. Amy was drinking a Long Island Iced Tea and Lorelei was drinking from a bottle of wine. Victoria remembered that their mother was the wine aficionado in the family and knew that the newly arrived Sheridan had raided the wine cellar. That made Victoria a bit unhappy... she was not sure if Lorelei was drinking anything valuable or not. Amy must have seen Victoria because she turned away from Lorelei to face her.

"Oh hey Vic!" Amy greeted her sister.

"Hey Amy. Hey Lorelei." Victoria greeted her older siblings. Lorelei raised the wine bottle at her.

"Hey Vic! This is some really good wine! You should try some!" Lorelei crowed.

"You'd better not be drinking our mother's valuable wine. I was planning on selling some to collectors if money ever got tight." Victoria warned her sister. Lorelei was not phased by that.

"Don't worry about that, Vic. I'm drinking the stuff Mom had set aside just for drinking!" Lorelei assured her younger sister that nothing worth a lot of money was being consumed. Victoria's ability to read body language told her that Lorelei was being truthful. Amy faced the Sabertooth mage and got up from her seat, then walked over to her.

"All right then. Have at it. I don't care for wine anyway." Victoria gave Lorelei the go-ahead to keep drinking. Amy stopped an arm's length in front of her.

"I'm glad that Lorelei's back, Vic. It's been awhile since I've seen her and I was starting to get worried that she might have died." Amy told Victoria.

"I'm glad she's back too, Amy. Maybe at some point she can tell me more about our parents." Victoria said in return. Lorelei was sitting at the bar and happily drinking the bottle of wine while the other Sheridans talked.

"She told me that there's one more Sheridan out there, but she doesn't know where they are. For all she knows they could be anywhere in Fiore." Amy informed Victoria of the existence of one more family member. The Sabertooth mage was fairly surprised to hear that, but she was glad to hear it. The Sheridan family seemed like it was finally coming back together again and she wanted it to come back together.

"Don't worry, Amy. I'm sure she'll make contact with us one day." Victoria assured her sister. Meanwhile Lorelei was taking a swig from her wine bottle... it looked to be halfway empty. She seemed much more interested in her drink than she did in the conversation her sisters were having.

"Speaking of Sheridans, Lawrence went to town with Florence roughly an hour ago." Amy told her. That was news to the Sabertooth mage.

"Where did they go?" Victoria asked Amy. Amy shrugged her shoulders.

"No clue. He wouldn't tell me or Lorelei." She replied. Victoria thought that was kind of weird, but she supposed that her uncle had his reasons.

"All right then. If he didn't tell you, he didn't tell you." Victoria said before deciding to let the subject drop. She looked at Lorelei again and then looked back at Amy.

"I'm gonna let you two do your thing. I'm going back to my room." Victoria told Amy.

"OK, Vic." Amy said before taking a swig from her Long Island Iced Tea. Victoria turned around, walked back up the stairs, and left the basement to go back to her room. She was either going to check her iLac for any missed calls or text messages before doing anything else like picking up Malevolent Tenant where she had left off or going to sleep for awhile. Maybe Abigail or Ms. Ashford were trying to get in contact with her.

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[Total Word Count: 7,956/11,000]

-The next morning, 10:40 A.M.-

Victoria woke up, carefully rolled over onto her left side without rolling onto her arm, and grabbed her iLac to check for messages. On the device was a message from her old friend Abigail, who was coming to Capital Crocus to pay a visit and was planning to arrive around noon or so. The message had been sent over two hours ago. The brunette set down her iLac on the nightstand that was its home and started to get ready for the day. Her left arm was almost fully healed, but she still wanted to bandage it so that she did not make Abigail or Lorelei feel sick when they looked at it.

She went to her closet and picked out a blue Steel Matron t-shirt and clean black skirt. She walked back over to her bed and set the garments down, then changed out of her green Steel Matron t-shirt and black skirt she had worn for the past few days into the clean garments. She had changed just in time because her room door opened and in walked Lorelei.

"Hi Victoria!" Lorelei greeted her younger sister. The younger Sheridan fought the urge to make a sarcastic remark about knocking and faced the older Sheridan.

"Hi there." Victoria greeted Lorelei. The other brunette's eyes wandered towards the bed where Victoria's dirty clothing was and quickly put two and two together.

"Did I walk in on you changing?" Lorelei asked in an apologetic tone. Victoria shook her head.

"I completed the change just before you walked in." Victoria informed her sister that while no harm had been done the timing had been uncomfortably close. Lorelei blushed and went silent for a few moments. During that time Amy entered the room.

"Hey guys!" Amy greeted her sisters. Lorelei turned and waved back while Victoria raised a hand in greeting.

"It's kinda crowded in here." Amy remarked on the presence of multiple Sheridans. Lorelei chuckled while Victoria frowned a little.

"Looks that way." Victoria remarked dryly, her annoyance at almost being walked in on while changing clothes and the gathering of her older sisters in here seeping into her voice. She had not had time to bandage her left arm thanks to Lorelei's intrusion, so the wounds were currently exposed to open air and she could see the oldest Sheridan sister looking a bit nauseous. Victoria decided to hurry up and wrap the arm before Lorelei threw up on the carpet or ran out of the room. She quickly located a roll of bandages and wrapped up the arm while her sisters watched. It was obviously a quick patch job, but it was enough for Lorelei to calm down.

"You're up kinda early, Vic. What's going on?" Amy asked Victoria.

"I got an iLac message that an old friend of mine's on her way here, Amy. If everything goes well she'll be here around noon or so." Victoria replied. Lorelei took an interest in that statement and made eye contact with the Sabertooth mage.

"Where's your friend coming from?" Lorelei asked.

"Oak Town." Victoria replied calmly.

"I would have gone and picked her up on my Centaur, but she didn't ask for a ride, so I didn't bother. She likes to travel on foot a lot." Victoria commented on Abigail walking the distance between Oak Town and Capital Crocus and explained why she had not gone to pick her up. Amy and Lorelei did not immediately speak, but within moments Lorelei spoke up.

"Your Centaur? Is that what you call that motorcycle-looking thing parked in the garage?" Lorelei asked her younger sister.

"Yeah. It's the DH-40 Centaur Prototype, but I call it the Centaur for short. I got it in Motor City long before you or Amy arrived." Victoria gave her older sister a brief rundown on her vehicle. Lorelei looked impressed. Victoria had deliberately left out the part about testing it on a track and helping Dr. Hanlon and Dr. Reid fix the problems with it, the primary one being the cooling system. Lorelei did not need to know how risky testing the Centaur was.

"And what about that small robot thing holding what looks like a vacuum cleaner? You didn't tell me about that either." Lorelei inquired with something of a forceful tone. Victoria did not know that the former had already met Larry.

"Oh, that's LR-1014, but I call him Larry. He's another technological device I picked up in Motor City. And he's not holding a vacuum cleaner. He's holding an anti-vehicle beam cannon." Victoria informed Lorelei about Larry and what he was really carrying. Both Amy and Lorelei's faces turned pale.

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" Amy asked as Lorelei stared in open-mouthed silence.

"You never asked." Victoria replied truthfully. Amy frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"LR-10whatever or Larry or whatever you call him's gotta go somewhere else. We can't risk that weapon going off and vaporizing someone or something." Amy put her foot down. Victoria frowned and glared at Amy.

"Yeah, sure. Lemme go build Larry a cute little doghouse in the backyard or something. Maybe my friend Abigail will help me build it when she gets here." Victoria retorted with obvious sarcasm. Amy and Victoria continued to glare at each other; it was clear that neither Sheridan was willing to back down.

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"You don't have to be so rude about it, Victoria. All you have to do is put Larry somewhere else where he won't hurt people or destroy property." Amy told her sister in a rough tone of voice. Victoria was not having it.

"The whole point of putting Larry in the garage was for him to be a security measure. He can't protect anything if he's stuck in the backyard." Victoria dryly pointed out her reasoning for stashing him in the garage. Amy was not impressed with that logic.

"We live in a nice neighborhood, Victoria. We don't need a knee-high robot with a beam cannon hanging out in the garage. He might blast one of our vehicles by accident." Amy retorted with her own logic and claimed that there was little need for Larry to serve as security.

"Guys, let's not argue about this." Lorelei urged her sisters to calm down and speak to each other in a more civil manner. Amy turned to face the older Sheridan sister.

"We'll talk civilly as soon as Victoria moves her little war machine out of the garage." Amy retorted in a way that convinced the Sabertooth mage that the only way this was going to be resolved was by Amy getting her way.

"You didn't have any problems with Larry before. Why does he need to be moved all of a sudden?" Victoria pointedly asked Amy.

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW HE HAD A LIVE WEAPON!" Amy shouted her response as if shouting would suddenly make her younger sister see her point of view. Victoria frowned and clenched her teeth.

"Shouting's not gonna win me over, Amy." Victoria dryly retorted, refusing to give any ground. Lorelei looked at both of her sisters, her heterochromatic gaze glaring daggers each of them.

"Guys, that's enough." Lorelei declared in a strong voice. Amy and Victoria were so focused on each other that they ignored their older sister.

"Then why won't you see reason? Are you purposely defying me because I'm your older sister and you think I just want to boss you around?" Amy asked her own pointed question. The first part was a logical question to ask, but the way the second question was phrased set Victoria off.

"Yeah, that's exactly it. Congratulations. You solved the mystery." Victoria caustically replied and clapped slowly. A few seconds later she stopped clapping and continued tossing sarcasm at Amy.

"I really enjoy pissing off my older sister. I constantly think of ways to ruin her day because I'm a spoiled brat who never had to share anything and can't accept her telling me what to do." Victoria made a sarcastic confession that was so full of obvious sarcasm a blind person could see it. Amy was not happy to hear that.

"You really are a brat, Victoria. You won't listen to a simple request that has a good reason behind it. You don't care about what other people want and you don't want anyone to tell you no." Amy fired back with barely restrained anger.

"That's bullshit, Amy. That's complete bullshit and you know it." Victoria replied, glaring at the blue-eyed Sheridan.

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Lorelei shouted at her sisters. Amy and Victoria glared at each other for a few moments. Finally Victoria threw up her hands.

"Fine. Screw it. Amy's gonna get her way. I'll go look for a shelter to build Larry in the backyard or something." Victoria sourly conceded defeat. There was no way she was going to win this, not with her two older sisters joining forces against her. She walked away from them and grabbed her Centaur key and iLac, then walked past them to leave the room and keep her word. She was going to go to Capital Crocus and look through the hardware stores to find a shed or something she could build to house Larry in.

-The Sheridan Estate, six hours later-

Victoria had canvassed all of the hardware stores in search of something suitable and only one of them had had what she needed. She had bought it along with the tools needed to assemble it and put her purchases on the back of the Centaur, then drove all the way home. She was going to build it so that she could get Larry out of Amy's sight as soon as possible. The sour Sheridan stopped outside the garage and it opened to reveal Larry waiting on her along with Abigail. Abigail was wearing a light blue t-shirt and blue jean short shorts with boots.

"Hey Abby. Hey Larry." Victoria greeted the two. Abigail raised a hand in greeting and Larry looked at her with his camera eye.

"Hello." Larry greeted his owner in a deep robotic voice. Abigail walked over to Victoria and peered past the brunette.

"What's with all the hardware on the back of your Centaur?" Abigail asked.

"I've gotta move Larry to the backyard. I bought a shed I'm gonna build for him to live in." Victoria told her friend.

"Need some help?" Abigail asked.

"If you don't mind." Victoria replied, grateful for the help.

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-In the backyard, three hours and thirty-six minutes later-

"Well, it's done. Larry's new home." Victoria said to Abigail, who was sweating profusely from the effort required to build the shed Victoria had purchased. It was a medium-sized and windowless metal shed meant to store gardening tools in, but it was being repurposed as a home for Larry. The brunette felt sorry for her robotic companion because he had been unceremoniously booted from his garage by Amy, who suddenly had a problem with him being there.

"I'm glad it's finished, Vic. It took us long enough." Abigail replied, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her left hand. Victoria was a bit sweaty herself and used the front of her shirt to wipe off her face. Both of them were uncomfortably hot because the midday sun decided to show up with a vengeance and bring the heat with it.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't expect to have to do this." Victoria apologized for the unexpected task.

"It's OK, Vic. I volunteered to help." Abigail replied.

"I'm glad you did because building the shed would have been too much for me by myself." Victoria commented. The instructions were clearly printed and explained step-by-step with illustrations, but the brunette had never built anything like it before, so the task naturally took her a lot longer to do than it would for someone with experience. Abigail's help had made all the difference.

"I'm probably gonna need a shower after this. Do you mind if I borrow one of your bathrooms?" Abigail asked.

"No problem, Abby. That should be fine. But before you go, did you bring some spare clothes?" Victoria said before asking whether her friend had brought spare clothes or not. Abigail nodded.

"Yeah, I brought some spare clothes. They're in my bag in the guest bedroom Laura showed me to." The blonde replied. Hearing about the bag prompted the brunette to ask another question.

"What happened? Are you having more trouble with your house?" Victoria inquired. Abigail frowned as she nodded.

"Yeah. I fixed the roof and now the wooden floor wants to give me trouble. It looks like I'm gonna be in for a floor replacement." The blonde told Victoria the latest trouble with her home.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I grew up in that house I'd just sell the damn thing and get what I could out of it, then go rent an apartment somewhere." Abigail added.

"My door's always open if you need somewhere to stay." Victoria told her friend. The blonde smiled a little.

"Thanks, Vic." Abigail thanked her friend. She then turned to face the Sheridan Estate.

"I'm gonna go get a shower now. Thanks for helping me out yet again." Abigail said before walking towards the house. Victoria turned to face Larry, who had not said a single word the entire time the shed was being built and Victoria and Abigail were talking.

"Well Larry, this is your home now." Victoria told him dryly, moving her right hand towards the shed. She knew Amy's request was a logical one, but the abruptness of it was what had gotten the Sabertooth mage so irritated. The older Sheridan had had no problem with Larry being in the garage until she suddenly decided that his occupying the garage was an issue. If she had asked whether or not Larry was armed earlier Victoria would have been glad to answer. The young Sheridan knew deep down inside that her sister was right to ask for Larry to be relocated, but the timing of it was what had gotten to Victoria.

"Understood." Larry said in his usual monotone. He walked towards the building and went inside, then turned around and stood motionless, staring at Victoria with his camera eye. Victoria felt bad for the small robot, who had accepted the sudden change in living space without a single complaint.

Victoria heard someone approaching her from behind and turned around to find that the person in question was Lorelei. The younger Sheridan was expecting Amy, so seeing the oldest Sheridan sister was a bit of a surprise.

"I didn't think you'd actually go out and buy a shed to put Larry in. I thought it was just an exaggeration." Lorelei confessed. Larry looked on in silence.

"I didn't expect to do that either, but I didn't have much choice in the matter thanks to a certain someone pressing the issue." Victoria replied dryly. While she had a problem with Lorelei taking Amy's side in the dispute, the Sabertooth mage did not have nearly as much of a problem with Lorelei as she did Amy.

"You probably think I was just throwing my weight around earlier. You probably think I didn't care about how you felt just so long as the arguing stopped." Lorelei continued.

"Yeah." Victoria replied tersely in a response intended for both statements, letting Lorelei know exactly how she felt before the two talked any further.

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"I'm trying to keep the peace between us. We've finally got back together and I don't want us to fall apart again because we're fighting each other." Lorelei explained her motive for what she had done earlier. The younger Sheridan was not moved by that claim. If the older Sheridan had really wanted to keep the peace she would have tried to find a solution that was acceptable to both Amy and Victoria, but as it stood Victoria felt like she had been thrown under the bus to appease Amy.

"Whatever." Victoria made her dissatisfaction known with a laconic remark that was laced with a lot of "annoyed younger sister" energy. Lorelei frowned.

"Look, if we're gonna stay together and be a family compromises need to be made and one of them was relocating Larry." Lorelei asserted in a somewhat firm voice. Victoria wanted to say something really sarcastic to that but reined herself in. She would instead settle for a less cutting remark.

"Fine. Amy got what she wanted. Larry's moved now. Let it go." Victoria dryly requested.

"Fine!" Lorelei snapped back. The two Sheridans stared at each other for several seconds before Victoria shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm going to get a drink. You can come with me if you want or you can stand out here. I don't care either way." Victoria issued a sort-of invitation to Lorelei before turning around and heading for the Sheridan Estate. She was going to go to the mini-bar in the basement and get a bottle of Albino Gander and make a Screwdriver or two or three.

-Inside the Sheridan Estate, the basement, seven minutes later-

Victoria sat at the mini-bar and had a half-empty bottle of Albino Gander sitting to her right. In front of her was a shotglass that needed refilling. To the right of the bottle of vodka was a container of orange juice. She had everything she needed to make a Screwdriver but had not even bothered to mix the drink, instead pouring shots of vodka. She was halfway through the bottle and was not even feeling buzzed.

Victoria looked at the shotglass, then at the bottle. She decided to just drink straight from the bottle and reached for it. She grabbed it by the neck and took a swig from it, feeling the strong alcohol burn her throat as it went down. Victoria took another swig moments after the first and was finally starting to feel something approaching a buzz. It was a mild one because the brunette had a tolerance for alcohol that had been built over the years.

"Hey Victoria!" Lorelei greeted the younger Sheridan. Victoria looked to her left to see Lorelei walking down the stairs. The younger Sheridan grabbed the vodka bottle and took a third swig.

"You're already halfway through the bottle? That one's obviously brand new... or it was brand new before you got it. You might wanna slow down a bit." Lorelei suggested. Victoria grunted dismissively.

"Are you gonna drink with me or not?" Victoria asked, pointedly ignoring her sister's "advice."

"Yeah, I'm gonna grab a bottle of wine." Lorelei answered. She walked by her younger sister and went behind the bar, grabbing a green bottle and walking back around to the counter before removing the cork and taking a long drink. The Sabertooth mage was amused by the sight of the prim and proper Lorelei drinking like a pro.

"About earlier..." Lorelei started off before Victoria held up her left hand.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I'm already over it." Victoria shut down that conversation before it could get started. Lorelei looked annoyed for a moment before accepting what she had been told.

"I don't think you're over it if you put it that way." Lorelei pressed her point. It was Victoria's turn to show annoyance for a few moments. After that time was up the younger Sheridan's face softened.

"Look, Amy had a point. Maybe Larry shouldn't have been in the garage. But why did Amy care so much all of a sudden? Was there an ulterior motive like finally getting to put her car in the garage?" Victoria conceded that the middle Sheridan sister had a point before asking a couple of questions. She did not bother to wait for an answer to either of them before speaking again.

"When I had to move Larry to the backyard it felt like I was kicking out Uncle Lawrence." Victoria added a confession that was not sarcastic. The Sabertooth mage waited for her older sister to respond to what she just had been told.

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Lorelei looked at Victoria for a moment before responding.

"I know that you didn't want to move Larry, but it had to be done. If something had happened and Larry fired his weapon and damaged someone's property we'd all be in deep trouble. Don't even get me started on the trouble we'd face if another person got hit." Lorelei started in an apologetic tone before shifting tone to a warning of what would happen if Larry were to accidentally or purposely discharge the beam cannon and miss the target. Victoria sat in silence and took another sip of vodka straight from the bottle before she spoke.

"Yeah, you're right." Victoria conceded. The sisters had hashed out the subject so many times already that the Sabertooth mage was not going to change her mind on it. Lorelei was right, but her being right still did not take away the feeling that the younger Sheridan had kicked a family member out of the home. Victoria kept that to herself, though.

"I think we've discussed this subject enough. Maybe we should move on." Lorelei suggested. She would get no argument from Victoria.

"Yeah. Let's move on." Victoria concurred in a neutral tone of voice. Gone was the irritation that had filled her earlier suggestion to let the subject drop. An awkward silence lingered for a minute or two before Lorelei spoke again.

"Now that you've built the shelter for Larry, what are you gonna do from here?" Lorelei asked. The younger Sheridan did not immediately respond because she did not have an answer to that question. That and she needed another sip of vodka.

"Beats me." Victoria replied laconically. She had been so irritated at what she had to do to accommodate Amy that she had not really planned for anything after that. She considered going to sleep, playing Malevolent Tenant, or drinking another bottle of vodka before calling it a night and going to sleep.

"You're not one for planning ahead, are you?" Her sister asked playfully. The Sabertooth mage clenched her teeth for a moment before letting her better judgment win and not saying anything sarcastic. Instead she took a swig of vodka and softly sighed.

"Not really." Victoria replied as calmly as she could. It was hard for a former street kid to "plan ahead" when she had spent so much time living in the here and now out of necessity. Despite the fact that concerns such as food and shelter were no longer big concerns Victoria still had trouble thinking ahead because living in the moment was all she had known before meeting Lawrence and finally getting some semblance of a normal life going.

"Eh, no big deal. I thought that you'd have something going on after building the shed. I figured that a mage like you would be constantly on the move." Lorelei commented. Victoria had to take a drink to keep herself from saying something sarcastic for a second time.

"I'm frequently on the move, but not always. Things slow down on occasion and I just go with the flow because I've saved so much money that I don't need to be constantly scrambling for work. Besides, things tend to pick up again soon enough." She answered her sister's question about why she was not out looking for a job or not already on one. Lorelei looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I also can't do much mage work until my left arm fully heals. It's hard to fire a large-caliber handgun with only one hand... trust me on that. The recoil is bad enough with both hands, but when using just one it's absolutely murderous." Victoria added. Lorelei appeared intrigued by that statement and leaned forward.

"Now I wanna know how you pulled that off." Lorelei stated plainly. The Sabertooth mage was tempted to tell her, but that would have to wait because it was a tale to be told over drinks and both Sheridans had been drinking for awhile. Victoria had a strong tolerance for alcohol and would be fine if she had a few more drinks, but she was not sure about Lorelei.

"I'll have to tell you some time. Over drinks, of course." Victoria gave a sort-of promise to tell that story whenever they had not had any alcohol. The older brunette stopped leaning forward and smiled a little.

"All right then. I'll have to hear it later." Lorelei accepted the sort-of promise without a complaint. Silence filled the basement again as each Sheridan took a swig from their beverage of choice.

[Post Word Count: 758]
[Total Word Count: 12,058/11,000]