[Amelia Lynsdaughter]

She had bitten.

At this point Amelia had to take a leap of faith and assume 'Kitty' would in fact show up the following brightening as she had promised. Chances were she would, if the Adjurator had correctly gauged the greed in her eyes. The prostitute reminded her of her old self for real, of the spineless woman who had first entered Nexus, afraid of her own shadow, except that she had never sold herself off to a man. She watched her off as her prey left, so quickly that Amelia suspected she was afraid of her changing her mind and wanting her money back.

"Sorry, little one," she murmured. The same line spoken to a dead goat. There, it was done. A horrid deed, yet one Amelia was not going to cry over. She would cope with it by comparing it to lions and gazelles. Then she was off as well, not wishing to draw too much attention to herself. She spent the rest of the brightening on some errands around the city, buying some rope and a couple small torches, just in case it came down to having to tie her victim up before Shiandi arrived. She did not look like she could put up much of a fight, that tiny slip of a girl. Amelia's blades and the muscular tone built from carrying out Shiandi's housework tasks would be more than enough.

One strange thing she did buy was a drug whose trade she had witnessed once before at Longbeard's. A dose of Blisspad, a happiness-inducing construct. She had learned more about it in time, and while she would never use such things herself, her instinct told her that there would be a passing to be eased within the crypt of the restless dead. Even though Amelia was playing the predator, it did not mean that she wanted her prey to suffer beyond the inevitable minimum.

When she showed up the following brightening, Amelia had no choice but look her very best, too; the backstory required it. Clad in the light brown silken dress - her most elegant one for the summer season - that Viskyia had given her as a gift with her credit at Nexus Fine Clothing, she had paid particular attention to her makeup, a medium amount of it accentuating her normally secondary Elven traits and making her decidedly more interesting and exotic-looking. Not one for aggressive perfumes, she was wearing a delicate flowery fragrance that had something cryptic to it. She was still keeping her hair loose and in one of those seemingly 'wilder' styles that actually took a long time to prepare, creating an interesting contrast to the serious depth of her eyes. A cute-looking lace umbrella hanging from her wrist, and two bags were flung over her shoulder.

"Serale, Olga," she said, less mischievous and more protective than the last brightening, as she noticed her nervousness. Then again, there could be nothing bad coming from a girl that looked like she was going to a high-profile party, right? And she was her protegée now, so that explained why her new 'Mistress' was being nice to her, right? "I'm glad you came." Words could not describe how true that was. If Olga had decided to just enjoy her money and stay Kitty, Amelia would have found herself in major trouble, forced to abduct pretty much the first person on the road.

"Gods, but you look gorgeous," she smiled appreciatively, looking her up and down once, "you'll be perfect in the right dress." She slipped one of her bags off her shoulders and allowed Olga to take a peek at the content. There was another silken dress inside, this one white. It was one of the first dresses she had bought in Nexus in her first period there, and as such she had been thinner and less healthy then. It was no longer exactly comfortable for Amelia, but she thought it would fit Olga just fine... if she ever got to put it on.

"Shall we go?" she asked, making sure not to sound urgent. "I'm sorry we can't go there on a carriage, not today at least. Not until they accept you... if it can be any consolation, they had me blindfolded for secrecy the first time, but I know you wouldn't run around telling people about us." She was even giving her full trust and bending the rules for her sake, so it couldn't be bad, right?

If Olga - for Kitty was going to retire after tonight, right? - accepted to follow her, Amelia would show her the way to the crypt. The first leg of the journey would be the more critical, she knew. Once they were outside screaming distance of Nexus, she would be hers. With nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no-one to ask for help, this kind of people usually collapsed in a trembling heap. What she needed until that time was a distraction, and she thought of the perfect one. She gave her lots of advice on how to be more ladylike. This was one topic in which you could not get a more eager teacher than Amelia. She explained how Olga needed to stop chewing on her fingernails, that she needed to take on a more straight posture without stooping forward. She pointed out the flaws in her Highland accent, teaching her how to spell words in a more pleasant manner. She dissected the way Olga walked, and informed her as to the most ladylike ways of sitting at a table - all things that added to her aura of legitimacy and came from living in a noble household for eras.

It was scary, thinking that Amelia could give out courtesan training.