Knock-knock-knock. Lulu. Knock-knock-knock. Zofi. Knock-knock-knock. Waywards.

  After but a moment, a weary, nearly-breathless reply was proffered: "C'me innn-nnn... Oh, wait, fuck, who-"

  Unfortunately for the voice, which was almost certainly Lucretia, Purity worked at the speed of consent — and once it was given, the door handle was turned and its great wooden slab cast wide for entrance to be availed. La Scission's pink princess strode in confidently, hardly waiting to even survey the scene before charging forth with boldness and beauty, elegance and grace, and... well, the confidence of someone walking into their own home. Wasn't too far from the truth, was it?

  Lucretia and Zofia were both laid atop the bed, both haggard, their hair mutually messy and their outfits more than a touch disheveled. Thankfully for the both of them, and for the Purity party, they yet remained fully dressed - save for a few minor accoutrements, like the headpiece of Zofi's habit. That offending obstruction had been cast to the wayside, now resting atop a bed of plush shag.

  Lucretia's pink lipstick, borrowed from Purity earlier that evening, was smeared across both her and Zofia's faces; more than just Zofi's face, as well, the bared parts of her neck weren't spared from the bubblegum-colored markings. Esper James absentmindedly thought that it was pretty ideal that synthetic skin and muscle probably didn't get hickeys... Or, at least, not that she'd seen. Her eyes flitted over to Esthrielle, making a mental note to try something once they had a little free time...

  Est said nothing as she entered, her lips drawing taut in a thin smirk; she couldn't help but allow a chuckle to escape herself, though she did well to keep it curt. Purity, however, was offering the two bed-bound beauties a smug expression that bordered somewhere between Machiavellian satisfaction and vicarious pride. She tossed her hair triumphantly, a self-assured "hmmph~!" escaping her as if to cement her imagined success.

  "Hello, ladies! We hear that you two have been quite busy recently! In more ways than one~ So! Me and my bitches," and here she gestured to EJ and Est, "Are here to congratulate you! On all of it! It must have been exhilarating, taking out the trash so thoroughly and effortlessly! Really, great fucking job, girls—"

  Here is where Lulu tossed the nearest thing she could find at Purity's head — that being a wadded up towel, that landed with a soft impact and draped itself over the most unaltered of the attendees. Purity was silent, then, clinging to her pride and the hands-on-hips position she had taken. Here, however, Esthrielle burst out in raucous laughter, and Esper James soon joined her.

  "Shut it! We can discuss the moral implications and potential satisfaction with corpocide later — some time when we've all had a little more time to process it!" Lulu had taken up an indignant pout, like a young girl denied sweets at the corner store. Her arm-candy, however, was red as a cherry and had her gaze locked on her own lap.

  EJ quickly shut the door behind herself and her lovers, double-checking that it was locked and secured. She was the first, then, to approach the bed, while Est went through the aftershocks of her cackling, and Purity removed the very-much-used towel from her face and hair.

  "So, Zofi, Lulu..." EJ began to speak once she had sat at the foot of the central furnishing, her torso pivoted at the waist to face the Waywards. The two Easterners silently indicated their attention, Lulu shifting her stern gaze to meet EJ's own and Zofi drawing her eyes up from her lap.

  "...the current game plan, as far as I know — and Purity, if anything here's incorrect, please interject — ah, the current game plan? You two, Est, and... And me, we'll all be working together. Doing, uh..." It was here that she faltered a tad, thinking of how immediate Lucretia's reaction had been to Purity's glorification of Zofia's sudden violence. Were they gonna punch her next, if she broached the topic? EJ doubted her face would look good splattered across the carpet... even if she knew she'd wake back up from it, eventually.

  "Doing hits. Killing Tsang fuckers. Right?" Lucretia finished Esper James's sentence on her behalf, edge still present in her tone but notably dulled from her admonishment of Purity. She looked on confidently as EJ nodded her affirmation; Zofia yelped as she was pulled in that much closer for an affectionate squeeze.

  "Good. Good. We accept. The more Tsang bastards die, the more their filthy blood paints the streets, the better this entire world will be. The kinder the whole of Earth will find itself. Zofi and I... We already spoke on it, a little bit. And, of course, Zofi... If you disagree, then..." Lucretia trailed off, then, her head swiveling down as her mask of stoic vindication melted to a soft concern. Zofia nodded once, forcefully, gathering up her strength and courage in the blink of an eye.

  "Yes. Yes, yes, yes. We..." Her words and voice slipped off as if carried on unseen wind - not for lack of conviction, but as though she had become distracted halfway through her response. Those chocolaty brown eyes glazed for a brief moment as something unreal overtook Zofia's vision. It released her after a second longer, her eyes shutting tight and brows furrowing as she squeezed whatever it had been from her mind. "...we were given these bodies, these skills, against our will. Made into soldiers in someone else's war. Now... now, it's time we make use of what we've got, yeah?"

  Yeah. Esper James didn't say it aloud, but Zofi's sentiment resonated with her more than the Pole would ever know. It wasn't quite the same, not at all — the unwilling transformation from first-living to second-living, versus from unaltered to Wayward — but they bore broad strokes of one another. Neither she, nor Lulu, nor Zofi, nor even Esthrielle, had willingly chosen this. It had been thrust upon them, an ideological imposition to make of them pawns in a conflict so high above their heads that it may as well be nonexistent.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Silence lingered, without any additional input from any of the ladies in the audience. Gazes shifted from one to the other all across the assembly, words unspoken yet understood — that there was no coming back from this once they began, but also, that none of them would want to go back. There was nothing left for them in the world they would be leaving behind: nothing but cowardice, anyways. Cowardice and suffering.

  Purity was the first to break the silence, her eternal bluster and social grace smoothing over the tense needles in the air. "Okay! So! Now that that's covered — I'll let Khetnep know, don't worry, we'll hear more in early January when they're ready for ya — now, aha, I have something fun. Giii-iiift monnn-eyyy~"

  From within her cleavage she drew out an unmarked envelope, one that was much thicker than a mere letter would imply. She held it up high for communal inspection, showing it off like a gameshow hostess, before drawing it back down to herself and slowly, performatively, tearing it open.

  Rrrip. The envelope was torn open, paper flap bent aside so that Purity could reach in with her free hand and draw out the contents. A thick stack of bills was drawn out, held together by a single band that strained beneath its combined enormity. Purity tossed the empty envelope to the ground, using her newly freed hand to flip through the bills as she purred.

  Esper James's jaw practically hit the floor. She had never seen so much paper money in the flesh in her entire life, not in one single place as this — and this was, what, gift money? From Khetnep, for Christmas? EJ's brow began to furrow, curiosity overtaking her like a flash-flood — what had Purity done to secure this kind of funding? What kind of debt had—did-

  "So!" Purity's voice punched through EJ's mental processes before that familiar cloud could form. "So, this is abooout... a thousand dollars. Not a whole lot! Not for five people, not in this economy! But... Well, it's all I could get Catnip to cough up. She said she'd have given us more, but the rest went to cleaning and cover-ups for that fucker in the bathtub..." Purity giggled softly, visibly holding back the truth of the joy that sprung boundless in her heart. One look at Zofia, and how nauseous she had become from what passing mention Purity had made, was enough to know discretion was ideal.

  The other women waited for Purity to elaborate, painstaking moments tick-tick-ticking by as their collective eyes swapped between the wad of cash and Purity's face. Eventually, Purity realized that she was expected to have more to say — and, after a momentary clearing of her throat, she continued on.

  "So, pretty easy division, each of us gets two hundred. Five bills a lady; these are all twenties, so they're less conspicuous. She said that, ah... well, we've got two options for actually spending it. Zofi? Lulu?" Purity looked to address the cuddling Easterners, taking a few steps forward to reach out and distribute their funds.

  "You two? Are free to leave and buy stuff in-person. I am, too... but Est? EJ? You two are on house arrest. Either get one of us to buy your gifts for you, or?"

  Purity drew back a few steps from the bed, turning to look now at her lovers. Her non-money hand reached into one of her pockets, drawing out a small black rectangle wrapped in a thin slip of paper. She held it out for someone to take — and Est was quick on the draw, snatching it up with a knowing grin.

  "This is a pager. The paper has codes. Cinna's gonna be you two's go-between if myself, Lulu, or Zofi can't get it for you. He's a gentle little guy, good at keeping out of sight and out of mind... and his face isn't on any wanted list for Product Reclamation or anything like that. Just page him that you wanna see him, he'll show up when he's free... and, well, you know. You aren't dumb girls." Purity winked at her lovers, blowing them both a singular kiss.

  Esper James's head was spinning just a little bit — sure, Purity and Khetnep had been chatting for a while, but still! This was... well... It was awesome. Really, really awesome. The blonde could feel her heart beginning to swell with confidence and honest-to-goodness delight, the prospect of getting to buy Christmas gifts? With money that was barely even hers in the first place? It was a marked change from the low-profile misery they'd all been subjected to in recent times.

  Purity distributed the rest of the bills, then proudly returned her hands to her hips. Another ‘hmmph~!' escaped her, head angling back an inch so she might look down at the others with a faux-superior expression. "Excellent! Catnip said to consider this an, ahaha... an advance on your first paycheck. Plus, it'll be a good way to get used to how things are gonna work once you actually start getting paid from her directly. Tax-free, of course~"

  Of course. EJ could no longer suppress the wicked grin that had been nagging at her lips ever since the money began its distribution; once given free reign, her joy tugged the corners of her lips wide to display as much ivory as the little ghoulette could, fang-filled mouth sculpted into the grinning maw of a contented predator.

  Est piped up, then, voicing a concern that Esper James hadn't even considered — but that she was glad someone was addressing. "So, Purity, once we start our, ah, 'jobs', are we paying rent? Buying our own food? Paying utilities? Like, what's going on with that?"

  Est had never 'paid utilities' in her life. She was only aware of the concept of these things from her education on Western society during her training. Back home in Venice, everything had been 'paid for' — if it had even needed to be paid for, considering the Doge's privilege — by Luca, or their adoptive father's estate. It was better to familiarize herself with these things now, at least, before suddenly her paycheques were being garnished for rent.

  Purity snickered, stepping close to Esthrielle and gathering her up in a big, warm embrace — one that held a playful lick of condescension at Est's comparatively privileged lifestyle under the Doge. "No, no, babe, don't worry — we agreed, Khetnep and I, that the work the five of us will be doing is payment enough. We'll be making her money indirectly, you know? The less Tsang can press its boot onto her business's neck... the higher her profits will go. So, don't even think about stuff like 'rent', yeah?"

  EJ could have passed out. For the first time in her entire adult life, she didn't need to think about rent? Mother fucker. She must have died back in the convent, because this was like Heaven.