Looking For A New Home

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 303

-Talonia, In a hotel room, 7:05 A.M.-

Dressed in the same black t-shirt and long skirt with pockets she had worn to Solemn Park for her unexpected interaction with Medeia, Lucia had had the skirt repaired by a local tailor with Cloth Make Magic yesterday afternoon, so it looked like it had never been torn. She was now sitting on the edge of her bed in a hotel room she had rented for the next three days. The room itself was a small but comfortable one with enough room for her keyboard, a nightstand next to her bed which had enough space for her iLac and Shining Light to sit on, and a small closet to house her modest wardrobe. There was an old but serviceable television sitting on a dresser positioned on the wall facing her bed.

Lucia had returned to Talonia to stay somewhere familiar while looking for a new place to call home after Luminous Rose had disbanded. She was surprised that the guild she had been a part of for almost two years had disbanded so suddenly, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. Aside from a decent chunk of money Lucia had made a friend in the mysterious Eyir and seemed to be on good terms with Nita Fortune, so material gains were not the only ones she had made during her time in Luminous Rose. She hoped that the two mages were doing all right wherever they were.

Now that the blonde was back in Talonia for at least the next three days she was going to look for a housing situation that was a step up from a hotel room. Maybe she was going to look into sharing an apartment with a roommate or two. If that did not pan out and she was feeling extravagant she might set down roots in Talonia and look for a house to buy. Lucia did not know what she was going to do, but she would figure it out later.

Right now the blonde was going to go to the hotel's breakfast buffet and hope that the coffee was good. If it was not she would go buy some coffee at the local supermarket and make the blend Armina had been forced to give her the recipe to by Medeia. That was a good coffee that she needed to make soon, but she could do that once she had found a more permanent place to live. Lucia doubted that the hotel's other residents would like the smell of strong coffee in the morning, afternoon, or even night. In her opinion any time of day was a good time for her favorite drink.

-Talonia, 7:35 A.M.-

Having had a few cups of the hotel coffee earlier, Lucia had found it to be not quite as strong as the kind she had drank while a "guest" of Medeia's, but it was still strong enough to satisfy her craving for the beverage. Now that she was caffeinated she was out and about looking for apartment complexes that might have openings for new tenants or an affordable home to buy. Lucia was carrying her iLac but had left Shining Light back in her hotel room... she had hidden the pistol in the nightstand and had made sure that the door to her room was securely locked before leaving the hotel premises. She carried the device in case she needed to give a contact number to a potential roommate... or Angela Helton called her with a job opportunity.

Lucia calmly walked through the bustling crowds while looking for what she was after and noted how much busier the town had seemed to have gotten since she was last a Guildless mage. Way back then Talonia's streets had not been nearly as crowded as they were now, but she had learned shortly after being resurrected that change was a constant part of life. The blonde had learned to cope with an unfamiliar world and she could cope with the uncertainty of being a Guildless mage again. At least Lucia was staying on familiar ground, so she had that fact to give her comfort as she began the effort to get back on her feet.

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-Talonia, the hotel room, 8:36 P.M.-

Sitting at the head of the bed, Lucia was eating a late meal consisting of a salad that she had gotten from the hotel's salad bar. It was a bit dry, but it was still good enough to eat. As she ate she lamented her lack of success in finding another place to live... the blonde was hoping to find a more permanent housing arrangement before she had to vacate the room in three days, but so far the only apartment complexes that had openings were ones that were too expensive for her to afford.

For example, there was one named Talonia Heights that was a gated community with apartments that were less than a year old and a host of amenities like tennis courts, a fully equipped exercise facility, and an indoor swimming pool, but the average rent for a "basic" apartment was 6,000 Jewels a month. The high-end private apartments were 36,000 Jewels a month. Lucia could afford to live in the best apartments the facility had to offer if she constantly worked because rent was far from her only expense... she had food, clothing, and other expenses to consider and they all added up fast.

Lucia was not going to give up just because the first day was unsuccessful. She still had two days in which to find somewhere else to live and she would take advantage of that fact to try and find a location that best suited her needs instead of grabbing the first available place and learning the hard way that she had made a poor decision. Perhaps she would have better luck tomorrow.

- Day 2, Talonia, outside of Talonia Coffee, 3:06 P.M.-

Wearing the same outfit she had worn yesterday and clutching a to-go cup of coffee from Talonia Coffee, Lucia was on her second day of searching for an affordable apartment complex and had not come up with anything yet. She had checked out another gated community named Olympian Fields and it lived up to its name. The housing was all high-end and there were plenty of amenities available to residents including meals in a dining hall that were prepared by a kitchen staff headed by a professional chef, but the rent was exorbitant because the least expensive apartment was 30,000 Jewels a month and the most expensive was 250,000 Jewels a month. It went without saying that the blonde was not going to live there.

At first Lucia was trying to find a place where she could live by herself and had already found two places where she could do that, but the options at Talonia Heights and Olympian Fields were a bit too expensive for living alone to be feasible. Perhaps she would need to aim a little lower and try to find somewhere more affordable, then either find a roommate or become someone else's roommate. That was likely her best bet, but the challenge was finding a decent apartment complex to begin with. Her idea of "decent" was a complex located in a relatively safe part of town and rent that was affordable without having to work all the time... details like amenities and aesthetics were negotiable, but she was less willing to budge on the first two points.

Having decided to lower her expectations a bit, the blonde resumed her search with a cup of coffee in hand.

-Talonia, the hotel room, 9:32 P.M.-

The second day of Lucia's search had been a little more successful than the first day in the sense that she had obtained a brochure for a location that had caught her eye. As luck would have it an apartment complex named Talonia Terraces was advertising openings for new tenants and the blonde was going to check it out. She had missed her chance for today because the tours ended at 6:00 P.M., but she would head there first thing in the morning... or early afternoon, depending on when she woke up, got dressed, and went for coffee.

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-Day 3, Talonia Terraces, 10:35 A.M.-

Dressed in her older outfit of gray long-sleeved shirt and long pleated white skirt with brown boots, Lucia had woken up at 5:30 A.M. to get ready to visit Talonia Terraces in the hopes of getting a chance to tour the apartment complex and see if there were any openings for new tenants. If she failed to find a new home today she would have to rent her hotel room for awhile longer, something which was hardly a punishment but something she wanted to avoid doing if she could. The blonde had already tired of living out of a suitcase and wanted to set down roots somewhere more permanent.

Today luck had been on Lucia's side because she had managed to travel there in time for the first tour of the complex, had been able to see the inside of an apartment, and had even been able to learn about how much it would cost to rent a room. The cost would be 1,200 Jewels a month, but she would be living with a roommate, so that would defray expenses a bit. Lucia had even been lucky enough to meet her roommate, a young woman named Francine Larson.

Lucia had found the apartment complex to meet her primary criteria of the rooms being affordable  and the complex being located in a reasonably safe part of town. It had also managed to meet the secondary criterion of having a reasonable amount of amenities, amenities which included a tennis court, a public swimming pool, and well-maintained apartments. There was also the bonus of it being populated by people around her age, so life was definitely not going to be boring.

After reading the terms of the lease and signing the paperwork Lucia was permitted to move into the apartment right away, something she was going to do today in order to avoid having to rent her hotel room for another night.

-Talonia Terraces, Apartment 421, 2:47 P.M.-

Lucia had hired a moving service to assist her in moving her belongings to the new place and the price for their help was 2,000 Jewels, but it had been well worth it because her keyboard and clothing had arrived safely. So had Shining Light and her iLac along with its charging cord. Now the blonde was in her new room, which was a fairly small one with a small but serviceable en suite bathroom of her own and a small walk-in closet in which to store her clothing.

The carpet was beige and showed signs of having been used well before her arrival, but that did not bother the blonde at all. What did bother the blonde was not having any furniture of her own. She would have to remedy that very soon, but for now she was content to just have a place that was more permanent than a hotel room. Lucia was admiring the new space when she heard footsteps and turned to face the source.

"Hey Lucia!" Francine greeted her. Francine was a young woman who was a few inches taller than Lucia. She also had long brown hair of a shade that looked to be auburn with part of it held aside by an unusual choice of hair scrunchie, but her most striking feature was her blue eyes, which seemed to reflect light. Francine was dressed in a simple and tasteful outfit of a white short-sleeved blouse, black skirt, and black dress shoes with a red neckerchief. She also had a magic signature that was considerably weaker than the blonde's.

"Hello Francine." Lucia greeted the brunette. The latter walked into Lucia's room and looked at the empty space.

"I don't know what your budget is, but if you want to get some furniture today I know a good place that can sell you some that won't cost an arm and a leg. It's in downtown Talonia and the prices aren't too bad. I can take you there in a bit if you'd like." Francine offered to aid Lucia in locating furniture for her room. The blonde needed furniture since she really did not want to sleep on the floor if she could avoid it.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks." Lucia gratefully accepted the offer. Francine smiled.

"Great! We'll go there in an hour or so. I just need to get a shower and change into some casual clothes before we go downtown!" She said. Francine took her leave to get ready and Lucia turned back to look at her room. Even though it was currently empty she would soon have a bed and a desk to place in her new room.

Francine Larson:

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-Talonia Terraces, Apartment 421, 7:06 P.M.-

Two hours ago Francine and Lucia had returned from their trip with a single wooden bedframe, a single mattress, pillows, a white bedsheet and pillowcases, a light brown wooden desk, and a matching chair. Lucia had paid a moving company to deliver the bedframe, mattress, desk, and chair to her apartment and had paid extra for same-day delivery. Now they were standing in Lucia's room admiring the furniture, which was a bit chipped in places due to being previously owned. For example, the desk had chipped legs and the bottoms of the legs were a bit worn, possibly from being moved around so much.

"I like the look of this room already." Francine told Lucia.

"Me too." Lucia replied.

"It's not the best furniture money can buy, but it's a good starter set until you can afford what you want." Francine opined.

"I'm not complaining at all, Francine. I got all of this at a reasonable price plus I got it delivered and hauled into the apartment, so all we had to do was arrange it how I wanted." Lucia told her roommate that she was pleased with her purchases. This was indeed a good starter set for the blonde mage, who had been surprised by the disbanding of Luminous Rose and needed to find a new home on short notice. Lucia had lucked out by finding a reasonably priced apartment and a friendly roommate who was kind enough to help her get furniture that would do the job until she could get the money to buy what she wanted.

"I'm glad I could help." The brunette said. Lucia had known her for less than a day and Francine had already been a big help. After a brief silence the brunette spoke again.

"Did you want to go to Solemn Park in a few minutes?" Francine asked Lucia out of the blue. The blonde paused when she heard that name.

That place was where she had met Medeia not too long ago.

"Certainly." Lucia replied calmly despite her misgivings because she did not want to upset her roommate. She hoped that the pair would not run into the Warlord tonight because Lucia did not want to meet the Dark mage again any time soon. Maybe luck would be with the blonde and she would be able to walk in the park without incident.

"Great!" Francine exclaimed.

-Solemn Park, 7:48 P.M.-

The pair had walked through the fairly busy streets of Talonia to reach the park and it had more visitors than Lucia had anticipated. That did not bother her, though. The park now had two more visitors. Francine and Lucia started walking along the path and as they walked the brunette started speaking.

"You're a pretty strong mage, Lucia. Stronger than any I've met before." Francine commented on Lucia's strength.

"It took awhile for me to get to this point. It took time and a lot of encounters with the undead." Lucia explained that she was not a prodigy who had went from novice to magical powerhouse in a short timespan. It had taken her a couple of years to get to this point and it would have taken her even longer had she not been a part of Luminous Rose. Working to pull her weight in the guild had given Lucia a reason to become more powerful and she had done so thanks to frequent battles against the undead and frequent rescues of people who were in bad situations.

"The undead?" Francine asked.

"Yes. Zombies, ghosts, poltergeists, and even a necromancer." Lucia listed the enemies she had fought to become as powerful as she was. She had not fought against any world-shaking threats, but she did not have to participate in anything worthy of heroic stories that would be told for generations to come to feel like she was doing something worthwhile. Just pushing back the darkness whenever she could was enough for Lucia.

"Really?" The brunette asked again.

"Really." Lucia answered without getting angry.

"How can you face those sorts of enemies by yourself without turning running in the opposite direction?" Francine inquired.

"I've gotta pay the bills somehow." Lucia made another calm and factual reply. Even though it sounded sarcastic that was not her intent. Even a mage who was on the legal side of the alignment spectrum had bills to pay and the best way to get a decent amount of money was to take dangerous jobs. Fortunately for her Francine simply laughed at the response.

"I hear that." Francine replied with a smile. Lucia was relieved that she had not alienated her roommate on the same day they had met, but she had better watch herself in the future. Feeling that she owed Francine a bit more of an explanation than the one she had given, Lucia threw in another bit of information.

"I also have Holy magic and the kind I use is especially powerful against the undead, so that makes it a lot easier for me to fight them." Lucia added.

"You have Holy magic?" Francine asked in amazement.

"Yes." Lucia replied calmly.

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"How did you get it?" Lucia's roommate asked without skipping a beat. The blonde was not sure if now was the time to tell Francine about her death and resurrection because it might sound like she was making something up to sound more important than she was. As far as Lucia knew no cosmic entity had special plans for her and she had no special destiny... she had just been very fortunate to receive a magic that seemed like it was custom-made for her.

"I was born with it." Lucia replied truthfully... from a certain point of view. Over four years ago when she was spending her last moments of life dying of asphyxiation after drinking poisoned wine she could not have predicted that she would be resurrected. She also had no idea that she would be granted Holy magic upon returning to the land of the living.

"I was born the first daughter of a pair of mages and the magic my siblings and I were born with didn't follow any kind of pattern. For example, the second-oldest sister had magic that let her conjure rope out of nowhere. Another sister had magic that let her repair clothing anywhere without needing any special tools." Lucia told Francine, alluding to her sisters Melody and Gloria. Francine gave a small smile in response to what had been said.

"I don't mean to sound insulting, but I'd say that being born with Holy magic was pretty lucky." Francine replied. Lucia was not offended at all because that assertion was the truth and the blonde had told both Medeia and Francine that she was lucky to have the magic she did. That was a statement she would stand by without hesitation.

The pair walked on the trail that went around the park and were content to walk in silence that was broken only by the sounds of other park visitors walking the trail. until someone found a way to naturally revive the conversation. As they walked past a bench where an elderly couple were seated and facing the young people strolling around another Lucia could not help but to notice her roommate stealing admiring glances at her from time to time, but the blonde did not say a word. After roughly nine minutes Francine brought the conversation back to life.

"What brought you to Talonia, Lucia?" The brunette asked.

"The guild I was part of disbanded and I decided to come back to familiar territory to look for a place to live. I used to live here when I first started my career as a Guildless mage, so I chose to stay somewhere that I knew as opposed to going out on a limb and trying to find a home in Capital Crocus or Hargeon Town. I was looking for a place to live that was affordable and in a fairly safe part of town and Talonia Terraces fit both criteria." Lucia answered with a version of the story that cut out all the boring details and focused instead on just the essentials.

"I've always been Guildless because I like the freedom. Sure, there's no safety net of any sort, but I don't mind because I'm living life on my terms. It's a cliche you've probably heard countless times before, but it's true. Being a freelance mage is a good fit for my lifestyle." Francine informed Lucia that she was a freelance mage because of the freedom that the lifestyle offered. Lucia had felt the same way when she was not part of a guild. She liked being able to choose when she worked and what jobs she took and she liked not

"I've also got three younger sisters to take care of and my parents can't do it by themselves. They certainly appreciate the income from my mage career, but they need me to be there to help them care for my siblings more than they need money." Francine added another reason why she was Guildless. Having been the caretaker of nine younger siblings back when she lived in Bellum, Lucia knew exactly where Francine was coming from. Taking care of younger children was not an easy task, especially when there were multiple younger children who were all clamoring for attention at the same time.

"Once upon a time I had younger siblings to take care of." Lucia admitted. Francine turned her head to face the blonde and made eye contact. She looked like she wanted to ask a question, but she hesitated for a few moments before working up the nerve to ask.

"I know it's a personal question, but if you don't mind me asking, how many of them were there?" Francine asked.

"I had eight to help care for. Six sisters and two brothers." Lucia replied calmly. Francine's jaw dropped when she heard that number.

"Caring for three little sisters is hard enough. I couldn't imagine how hard it must have been to care for as many siblings as you did." The brunette sympathized with her roommate.

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"It was definitely a challenge." Lucia told her roommate that raising eight siblings had not been an easy task.

"Definitely. And you had the extra challenge of raising siblings who weren't all the same gender. I got lucky to have to care for just girls." Francine opined that the blonde had it more difficult by virtue of having two brothers in addition to six sisters. Lucia could not deny that that added to the challenge because Lucius and Albert had different needs than her sisters.

"Thankfully the first brother was old enough to do basic things for himself since we were born only two years apart, but my other siblings were born slightly further apart from us, so I was almost always caring for a younger child." Lucia explained a little more about the ages of the Winchester family siblings so that Francine could better understand the magnitude of the task that had been dropped into the blonde's lap by her parents.

"Wait, you said that you and your first brother were born only two years apart. Did you have to start caring for your brothers and sisters when you were still a child yourself?" Francine asked. Lucia nodded.

"I was ten years old when I started having to care for them." Lucia stated the exact age when she was "given" that vital task by her parents. Francine's face showed sympathy for her roommate.

"Once again I seem to have gotten the luck that you didn't seem to get. I was fourteen when my first little sister was born. I was eighteen when the second and third sisters were born... they were twins. I'm twenty-six now." Francine informed Lucia of the ages of her younger sisters. Lucia had also learned that her roommate was older than she looked. She thought the brunette was in her early twenties, but as it turned out the latter was in her mid-twenties.

"This isn't a competition to see who had it worse, Francine. It sounds like both of us had challenges that we weren't ready for but had to face anyway." Lucia gently reminded her roommate. During the course of the conversation it probably sounded like the blonde was trying to one-up the brunette with details such as having more siblings, having two of them be a different gender than the rest, and having to start caring for them earlier. That was not Lucia's intent at all and she needed to remind Francine that both of them had difficulties and that the challenges Lucia faced did not make Francine's struggles any less valid.

"That's true, but I think there's a difference between you being ten and me being fourteen when we had to start helping raise our siblings. I had the benefit of a little more life experience when my first little sister was born, but it sounds like you didn't have that. You had to care for your brothers and sisters when you were only ten. You also had more of them than I did and two of them were boys." Francine politely but firmly stood by everything she had said. The blonde, seeing that the brunette was not going to budge on those points, decided to keep the conversation moving.

"I admit that I wasn't ready for the big responsibility I was given when I was ten, but I had to do it anyway because my parents were frequently busy with work to take care of their children." Lucia admitted that she did not expect to have to handle such an important responsibility at so young an age.

"This is another really personal question and one you're free to not answer, but what exactly were your parents so busy doing that they pushed one of the most important duties of a parent onto you?" Francine asked a second personal question of Lucia. Hesitating for a moment before deciding to invoke her right to not given an answer, the blonde soon voiced her refusal.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not answer that particular question." Lucia stated politely, hoping that that response would be enough for the matter to drop. As much as she did not like sounding rude she really did not want to talk about her parents if she could help it. George and Elizabeth Winchester were her parents and they had given birth to her, but a lot of problems that the Winchester family had suffered could have been either mitigated or avoided completely had they made a serious effort to rein in the behavior of Lucius and Melody.

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"That's fair. I was probably pushing my luck just by asking and I should quit while I'm ahead." Francine accepted the refusal with surprising calm. Lucia did not say a word as the two followed the road around the park until the blonde paused in a spot that had a special significance to her. When she paused to look at it her roommate followed suit and turned her head to look at the blonde.

"Hey Lucia, are you all right? Are you mad at me for asking about your family earlier?" Francine asked two questions in rapid succession. Lucia did not answer right away because she was looking at the place in which she had met Medeia not too long ago. The blonde flashed back to everything that led up to her being taken to wherever the Warlord of Lust had taken her and could barely hear Francine asking about her well-being.

"...Lucia? Are you... all right?" Francine inquired hesitantly.

"I'm fine. Just having a moment of deja vu." Lucia answered while facing straight ahead. What she did not tell Francine was that she was recalling everything that Medeia had said and done to her before and during her time as the Warlord's "guest." Lucia had really not wanted to go with the Dark mage, but when the safety of Talonia was threatened the blonde could not risk the lives of an entire town full of people just to avoid an unpleasant evening with a Warlord.

"Did you meet someone special here?" The brunette asked.

"You could say that." Lucia gave an answer that was more than a little evasive. She did not want to tell her new roommate that she had spent part of an evening with Medeia while wearing nothing but her undergarments. Lucia wanted to avoid giving the impression that she was into that sort of thing, so she hoped that they would move on from the current topic soon.

"I really don't want to press my luck tonight, so I won't ask any further questions about that." Francine stated that she was not going to press the blonde for more information, something Lucia was grateful for.

"I'll tell you this much... being with that person's not an experience I'd care to repeat." Lucia volunteered. While Medeia had not mistreated the blonde the latter did not like waking up wearing nothing but her underwear and she really did not like the repeated probing into her family life. Her family life was something Lucia was not going to freely divulge information on unless Medeia threatened to return to Talonia and attack its people or made another threat of that magnitude.

"All right then." Francine said awkwardly. It sounded like she was tempted to ask for more information out of morbid curiosity but knew better than to actually do it. There was silence for almost a minute until the brunette spoke up again.

"Hey Lucia, are you ready to move on?" She asked. This time Lucia turned her head to face her roommate.

"I'm ready, Francine. Let's keep walking." Lucia replied. With that the pair walked past the spot where Lucia had had her fateful encounter with Medeia and the blonde put the details of that encounter out of her mind. With any luck she would never have to go through that again.

-Talonia Terraces, Apartment 421, Lucia's Room, 9:07 P.M.-

The pair had re-entered their apartment a minute or two ago and had went to their rooms. Lucia was standing in her room and looking over it again. Despite how small the space was the blonde could not help but to feel a sense of pride knowing that it was hers.

Lucia had come a long way since she had first started her mage career... she had started out living in a hotel room and was now in an apartment she shared with a roommate. The apartment was located in a decent part of town and was a fairly nice complex, but the biggest gain was getting a good roommate. So far Francine seemed to be a good person who she had a bit of common ground with, but it remained to be seen whether the brunette would continue to be pleasant company. The blonde had a good feeling that Francine would turn out to be someone she could call a friend.

Lucia would likely get another chance to learn more about Francine tomorrow, but for now she would stay in her room and stay up for awhile before going to sleep.

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-Talonia Terraces, 1:33 P.M.-

Having gotten off to a later start than she normally did because she had overslept her iLac's alarm that had been set for 11:30 A.M., Lucia forced herself to get out of bed and get a shower, then get dressed. When she emerged from her room the blonde was wearing a mint green t-shirt and pleated long white skirt with brown boots, which was hardly the most fashionable outfit but was one she felt like wearing today. She had left her apartment roughly an hour ago and accompanying her was her roommate, who was dressed in a baby blue t-shirt and long white skirt that was not pleated along with white sandals. Lucia was taking a tour of the apartment complex with Francine as her guide and they were currently near the front of the complex.

"How do you like the neighborhood so far, Lucia?" Francine asked as they passed by the front office, which was more than a little busy. Applicants were lined up outside the white wooden door and the blinds on the office windows were open to show people filling out forms attached to clipboards.

"I like it here, Francine. Everything seems so lively, but in a good way." Lucia replied truthfully. She had noticed that most of the residents were people her age or a little younger and that demographic gave the neighborhood a sense of vitality even without any exciting activities like a party or concert going on. As she and Francine passed by the front office they could see some young people walking out of the neighborhood to go to town while others gathered on the small front lawn to their apartment and talked with friends and neighbors.

"It is pretty lively here, Lucia. That's why I decided to live here. As nice as it is to be around my family it gets kinda boring in suburbia with all of the older people in their fifties and sixties." Francine stated that the youthful energy in Talonia Terraces was why she had chosen to live in this apartment complex. Studying the brunette' body language told Lucia that her roommate was being completely truthful.

"I can't say that I've had the pleasure of interacting with my neighbors when I was back home." Lucia dropped a hint about the nature of her family life. Francine had a look of surprise on her face when she heard that confession.

"My mother demanded that I stay home and take care of my siblings. She was the ruler of the household and ruled with an iron fist, so I didn't have any choice but to do as I was told. I never learned the names of any of our neighbors." Lucia volunteered more information about her past and family life, outright stating that she was kept in a sort of isolation by her domineering mother. Her roommate looked like she did not know how to respond to that and kept quiet as the blonde talked. Realizing that she might have dragged down the mood with her admissions, Lucia moved quickly to try and restore the good mood that had prevailed between them only moments ago.

"That's in the past, though. I'm in a better place now physically and mentally and I've got a good roommate. Things are looking up for me." Lucia commented on her present situation in a more cheerful tone of voice than the one she had used to drop hints about her past. Francine did not look entirely convinced that the blonde's upbeat demeanor was genuine and that compelled her to speak.

"Are you really sure that you're OK with your past, Lucia? You don't sound like you are. It sounds like you're just putting on a happy face so that I don't think you're fishing for sympathy." Francine asked plainly. Lucia was disarmed by how frank her roommate was and was visibly grasping for something, anything to say in response. Seeing that she had made a statement the blonde could not easily refute, the brunette continued to press her point.

"You talk about your past in short snippets and when you do that you give the impression that everything wasn't sunshine and rainbows. When I ask you about it you clam up and try to act like everything's fine. I can tell by the way you're acting that everything's not fine." Francine pressed Lucia harder. Again the blonde had trouble disputing the brunette's statements. Her past had been far from pleasant and while she had not endured nearly as much abuse as her younger siblings had she had still suffered her share of unpleasantness at the hands of her mother, Lucius, and Melody.

"I can tell that you've had your share of troubles, Lucia. I know that you're trying to avoid getting into a competition to see who had it worse and I appreciate that, but it's OK to admit that you've had problems." Francine gently told her roommate. Lucia responded by taking a quiet breath before speaking.

"If you want to continue this conversation, I'd like to take it somewhere where it's just the two of us." Lucia requested.

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-Talonia Terraces, Apartment 421, 2:13 P.M.-

Choosing to go back to their apartment to have the conversation, Francine and Lucia were standing in the living room of their apartment, which had two gently used white cloth chairs to sit in. They were positioned on opposite sides of the room and faced each other. The two young women sat down and Francine made eye contact while waiting patiently for the blonde to speak. Taking a quiet breath, Lucia would oblige the brunette.

"As you've learned from what I've said, my family life wasn't the easiest and it wasn't just because I had eight siblings to care for nor was it because not all of them were the same gender." Lucia started off. The brunette did not say a word as Lucia continued the conversation.

"My mother was a strict and domineering woman. My father was too weak to stand up to her, so she got to say what she wanted and do as she pleased. Her word was the law and she was harsh on everyone but her two favorite children, my younger brother Lucius and my younger sister Melody." Lucia laid the foundation for what she was going to say next. Francine sat and listened patiently to what was being said without comment.

"My mother favored Lucius because he was the first male child and favored Melody because she could play the piano, the violin, and the flute at the level of an expert musician. Lucius and Melody were aware of their privileged status and got away with a lot of cruelty directed towards my younger sisters." The blonde stated the source of one of the problems in her family life.

"Lucius would punch, kick, slap, and shove anyone who got in his way as he walked down the hall. If they weren't near him he'd deliberately go into their path so that they'd end up in his way and he'd have reason to hit them. His favorite thing to do was to kick or shove someone down a flight of stairs." Lucia gave a brief explanation of Lucius' brand of cruelty. Francine's face showed dismay at what she had been told, but she did not say anything... yet.

"My sister Melody was much worse. She'd take one of my younger sisters to her room and tie them to a chair, then slap them, threaten to destroy one of their belongings in front of them, or threaten to give them a bad haircut with a pair of scissors. She treated my sister Gloria especially badly. You see, Gloria had light brown hair like our father while the rest of the Winchester women were all blondes and Melody would exploit that difference to make her cry. She'd call Gloria an adopted child who was around only because our mother felt sorry for her and she would call her that until she cried." Lucia explained the cruelty Melody doled out to her hapless siblings. Francine looked horrified to hear that, but the blonde was not finished yet.

"My youngest sister Diana got the worst of it. Melody would tie her to a chair and threaten to cut off the head of her favorite doll until she cried and begged her not to. Sometimes Melody would take a page out of Lucius' playbook and shove or kick Diana down a flight of stairs, then watch her fall while laughing like she'd heard the funniest joke that had ever been told. One time I found Diana at the bottom of the stairs lying on her side with her right arm under her... I thought Melody had actually killed her, but thankfully she was only unconscious from the fall." Lucia told Francine that her youngest sister routinely received the worst treatment from her abusive siblings. At that point the brunette raised a hand in a "Stop!" gesture and the blonde obliged.

"I think I've heard enough, Lucia. I don't want to hear any more." Francine finally spoke, imploring the blonde to stop telling about Lucius and Melody. Lucia was willing to grant that request. In fact she was so willing to grant it that she was not going to say a single word about her mother Elizabeth and what she did to anyone who was not her two favorite children.

"I can see why you don't talk about your family life very much. It sounded absolutely awful. I don't get how your two younger siblings were allowed to treat the others so badly and I probably don't want to know." Francine stated that now she understood why the blonde was so vague about her family.

"They were Mother's favorites and they knew it. They knew that if anyone stood up to them Mother would punish them harshly." Lucia stated bluntly. Francine's right hand shot up with the palm held out.

"Don't go into that. Please. Just stop there." Francine again implored Lucia to stop discussing that particular topic. The blonde did as she was told and stopped talking. Francine's face showed sympathy for the blonde as the former sat on the edge of her seat and looked like she was struggling for words.

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"I won't tell you anything else about the abuse that went on, but I'll tell you this much. My mother was a strict woman who made sure that my life revolved around caring for my siblings and keeping the household running. Cooking, cleaning, repairing clothing, giving first aid when someone got hurt, reading stories... most of my time was spent at home doing tasks my parents should have done." Lucia changed the subject... to an extent. Instead of regaling Francine with still more tales of how her mother, Lucius, and Melody terrorized the rest of the Winchester family Lucia told the brunette some information about herself, information that did not involve physical abuse. Francine stood up and walked over to Lucia.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that, Lucia." Francine said with total sincerity. Lucia stood up so that she did not have to look up at her roommate for the rest of the conversation.

"Those were responsibilities that I couldn't just walk away from because my brothers and sisters were counting on me to care for them. If I didn't step up to the plate no one else would have." Lucia replied without much regard for the sympathy she had been given. She would tell Francine exactly like she had told Medeia... no matter how tough things got she had never considered neglecting her obligations. Once Lucia had held most of her siblings in her arms when they were infants she knew that she could not walk away from her duties even if she had never wanted them to start with.

Francine did not say anything. Instead she reached out and hugged Lucia, who had not been expecting that sort of response but did not pull away or fight her roommate. Lucia let it happen and a few seconds later Francine ended the embrace and stepped back to give the blonde some space.

"I know that we don't know each other very well yet, but you've given up a lot for your brothers and sisters and I'm sure that they appreciate what you did for them." Francine told Lucia with a smile in an effort to lighten the mood after all of the unpleasant truths that had been discussed. The blonde did not have the heart to tell her roommate that all but one of her siblings were dead, so she did not tell her about that. Instead she chose to reply to the brunette's assertion.

"They likely do." Lucia replied calmly and laconically. She remembered how almost all of her siblings saw her as their mother, not the aloof alcoholic Elizabeth Winchester. Their oldest sister was the one they went to for advice, a helping hand, or just to be around someone who cared about them a lot more than their real mother ever did. Their mother only really cared for Lucius and Melody, so it fell to Lucia to look after the rest of the Winchester children. Looking after six younger sisters and two brothers had caused the oldest Winchester daughter a lot of headaches, many sleepless nights, and even a time or two where she felt like crying because she had been abandoned by her parents and expected to accomplish the impossible task of keeping a family running when she was not even a teenager yet.

"I know that what I'm about to say sounds heartless, but it sounds like too much of your identity is wrapped up in your family." Francine opined. Lucia looked at her roommate and the latter looked at her with concern, concern that the blonde might take offense and retaliate with a spell or a slap. She did not get mad and did not take any physical action... instead she chose to talk about what had just been said to her.

"Like I told you earlier, a lot of my life was spent at home. My mother wouldn't let me leave home very often and I can't even recall the name of a single neighbor of ours. I also didn't get to date anyone because my mother controlled that too. She said that I could date only when she allowed it and not once did she give me permission to date someone." Lucia calmly repeated statements she had made earlier and added new information both to describe how much her family was a key part of her identity and to make the point that that arrangement had not been entirely by choice. Francine seemed to get the point and moved close to Lucia again.

"I'm sorry that you didn't get a say in your own life for so long. I know that you had to care for your brothers and sisters, but you never got a chance to care for yourself. You had to give up so much of your life and that wasn't fair." Francine offered sympathy in a gentle voice. Lucia analyzed Francine's body language and learned that the brunette was being sincere when offering her sympathy, so the former kept quiet and waited for Francine to continue talking.

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"I'm not saying that you should forget about your family. It sounds like they're important to you and I don't want you to suddenly drop that like a hot potato. What I'm saying is that you try to start doing things that you want.... you know, like a hobby. Ideally it'll be an activity that's completely separate from anything you did for your family." Francine got to the point she was trying to make. Lucia knew that Francine was trying to avoid sounding insensitive and appreciated that, but the blonde was not quite understanding what her roommate was trying to say. Perhaps sensing that the other person was not quite picking up on the message, Francine spoke again.

"For example, if something you did with your family was cooking, you might want to cut back on that... unless you really enjoy it." Francine said, trying to make her point by giving an example of what she had meant.

"I wasn't very good at that activity, but I did it because I had to. My younger sister Gloria was much better at it... in fact she was so good that I had to take lessons from her just to make something passable. Even when I used what I learned from her everyone liked her food better." Lucia confessed that she was not very talented in the culinary arts. Francine gave a look of sympathy that indicated that she knew exactly where the blonde was coming from.

"Me neither. My mother usually handles all of the food preparation, but I've been slowly learning how to make food my sisters will eat. The keyword is slowly." Francine informed Lucia that she was not an award-winning chef either.

"I can play the piano and know quite a few pieces of music like the back of my hand, but my sister Melody was a lot better than me. If you named a piece of classical music she could play it for you, but she could also play the violin and the flute in addition to the piano. I wasn't dexterous enough to play any of the other instruments Melody could, so I chose to stick with the piano." Lucia offered a little more information about her talents and her family. Francine gave another look of sympathy.

"OK, that's a small start." The brunette commented plainly. Lucia knew that that hobby was tied to her family and the whole point of the line of conversation was trying to find something separate from that, but if the brunette did not understand what Lucia was saying about her family being a large part of her identity she would learn that soon enough.

"What about sewing?" Francine asked with a slightly desperate edge to her voice.

"I did that for my family." Lucia replied calmly. The brunette gave a long sigh.

"All right, I get what you're saying. Whether I like it or not your family's what a lot of your life focused around." She said in defeat. She looked down and away at the floor for a minute or two until she got a look that suggested she had come up with an idea. Francine made eye contact with her roommate.

"OK, here's another idea. I could be wrong, but from what I've gathered so far it sounds like you like to help others, so instead of fighting that I'm just gonna run with it. There's a few places around here you could volunteer at if you wanted." Francine suggested in another effort to find something for Lucia that did not involve the Winchesters. Lucia gave a look of genuine interest in response.

"Where?" She asked a one-word question. Knowing that she had finally said something that caught Lucia's attention, Francine continued with that line of conversation.

"There's the hospital. Then there's a local preschool. If you like working with animals a local animal shelter is always an option. Finally there's a local orphanage for girls that's always willing to accept volunteers." Francine listed a few local places that were looking for someone with the time and the willingness to help out.

"Tell me about the orphanage." Lucia requested.

"I've volunteered at the local orphanage a couple of times in the past and working there's been a good experience. They don't expect you to be there all day every day, just when you're able and willing to pitch in. And I've done a lot of research into the place and as far as I know it's all above board, so you don't have to worry about any shady business like the orphans being abused behind closed doors or donated money somehow landing in an employee's pockets." Francine informed Lucia about the orphanage using information gained from personal experience. Lucia liked the sound of that.

"Do you have a brochure or anything that I can read?" Lucia asked. Francine simply smiled.

"I can offer you something even better than reading material, Lucia. Someone I've been friends with since elementary school is a staff member there. I could get her to talk to you about the place if you'd like." Francine offered to arrange a meeting with an employee of the facility.

"I'd like that, please." Lucia replied with obvious interest in the idea.

"I'll talk to her in a few days. She tends to stay busy because she has a lot of children to care for, but I might be able to get her to make some room on her schedule for you." Francine stated that she would do her best to make the meeting happen. In the end a chance was all Lucia could ask for and she was content with that.

"Thanks." Lucia replied gratefully.

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