[Adrijana Evgeniya]

In crowded San Francisco the enormous apartment must have cost millions of dollars. The furnishings were of both the latest and the finest quality, chrome and bright colors dominating. It had a pool table, a bowling alley, and kitchen appliances that would not have been out of place inside Buckingham Palace. The entertainment system which the young blonde woman sat in front of was itself a work of lavish expense; every bit of computer and surround sound system lovingly optimized for every feature a young heiress could want.

It was also, currently, a complete mess. Dirty clothes, empty boxes, papers, half eaten food, and trash of every kind was scattered everywhere, leaving clear only those places necessary for walking. Yennefer had told Adri who to ask to come and clean it, of course, but it had been quite a while, and Adri's memory was somewhat hazy on the subject.

She sat in her ergonomic chair (another thousand dollars, easily) in her underwear and with the stick end of a lollipop protruding from her mouth. Her face was marked by a look of intense concentration, and her fingers blurred as they danced across the keyboard. On the screen, little robotic units moved in answer to her commands, building or turning to fight swarms of small aliens coming from the edge of the screen. Her brow furrowed in concentration. The aliens found one of the buildings surrounded by Adri's robots. They broke through. There was a graphic of an explosion, and then a flashing note:

GAME OVER – ZERGLING VICTORY

The girl tore her headphones off and hurled them to the floor. “F***!” she shouted. “F*** F*** F*** F***ITY F***!”

Her eyes lit on a nominally human ragdoll, skin quilted with scraps of blue, and she seized it and began slamming it over and over on the edge of her desk, while she continued to swear.

Sewn onto the back of the doll was a square of cloth, with these words embroidered:

Whenever things don't go so well,
And you want to hit the wall and yell,
Here's a little Dammit Doll,
That you can't do without.
Just grasp it firmly by the legs
And find a place to slam it,
And as you whack the stuffing out, yell
DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!

After a minute she got bored, tossed the doll over her shoulder and somewhere in a pile of dirty laundry, and walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer. She rifled through it, found a half eaten Snickers bar, and stuffed it in her mouth alongside the lollipop.

“Four basic food groups,” she muttered to herself. “Sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and pot.” A smile split her face; vicious and malevolent, like all her smiles. “If you want to stay successful,” she said, voice pitched to an artificial, childlike tone, “Stay in milk, drink all your school, don't so sleep, and get eight hours of drugs!” She cackled with laughter, swallowed the candy bar, then went and threw herself down on the thick and lavish couch and stared up at the ceiling.

“You should go out, Adri,” she said. “'Aww, but that'd involve putting clothes on.' 'It doesn't have to.' 'Yeah, but what if you get picked up for public indecency again? You're already got two strikes on your record.'” She protruded her lip in a pouting expression. “California's stupid.”

She tilted her chin up and her eyes back to stare at the ceiling. “WhatdoIwantodowhatdoIwanttodo...” She might have called Yennefer, but since getting out of prison it had become clear to her that Yenny had a lot of very important things going on and was even scarier then before. She always said that Adri could call her any time, and it was probably true, but.. well, sometimes it just didn't seem like the right thing to do.

A fly buzzed somewhere in the corner of the living room. Adri sat up slowly, cocking her head and staring towards the noise. She raised a finger. A sudden, laser-like blast of flame burst from it and vanished in that corner. The fly gave one last drone, then nothing. Adri cackled. Holding up her finger again, she began drawing pictures in the air with her flames. She drew a dog, then drew it being cut open, then drew a vase with flowers to go on a table next to where the dog was lying cut open, then she drew a naked picture of Yennefer and made it dance around the dog and the table, while Adri laughed and clapped her hands.

“I really have to get her on a date!” she exclaimed.

There was a knock at the door. Adri's flames vanished in an instant. “Who could that be?” She didn't get many visitors, at least not many she hadn't invited. Going up to the peephole she looked out, seeing a dark-skinned girl with an expectant look on her doorstep. Something about her seemed familiar...

Wait! This was the new Spade Yennefer had mentioned, right? It had to be! And showing up at her door at a time like this! Yennefer was so thoughtful.

She pushed the door open, leaving the chain attached. “New Spade?” She asked the woman, then on hearing her answer closed the door to push the chain off and throw it open again. “Great! You can get started cleaning right away.”

Taliah Dawson

[Taliah Dawson]

Before Taliah could turn to issue a fond farewell to the dark haired supplier, whom she now knew to be named Persephone had already disappeared into the crowd. Perhaps had the brunette not been so fixated on her grumbling stomach, she might have thought it strange that the younger girl whom had for the most part been keeping a wide birth for the whole of their interaction had suddenly leaned in so close to deliver her parting words. Still, the young woman supposed that she could simply chalk it up to the station being so densely populated that the duchess had merely wanted to insure that she would be heard over all the chaos. With this thought in mind, the twenty six year old munched happily on her pretzel as she shuffled down the platform completely unaware of the fact that her life as she knew it was about to change.


It had taken Taliah a full week to discover Persephone's parting gift which slipped from her pocket as she was doing laundry. Puzzled from whence the simple, black, matte card came and to what it symbolized, Liah had set it aside and likely would have forgotten about it altogether had she not received an odd visitor at the sports bar in which she was employed a few days later. Despite having requested her personally as a server, the enigmatic patron was a young man of very few words making conversation difficult if not impossible as she received mostly one word responses to all her inquiries. If anything he appeared to be there in more of an observatory role leading Taliah to believe that perhaps he was some sort of food critic.


After the patron had taken his leave, the brunette had set about the task of clearing the table when she discovered that the customer had left a rather generous tip despite their lack of interaction. As she attempted to pocket the stack of cash , much to her surprise, a small black card had been slipped between the bills. The twenty-six year old had to wait until she returned home in order to compare it with the previous one but she had been fairly sure that they were the same. Only the one that had been left at the bar had an address and time on it. So, it stood to reason that the first card she received had also been left for her intentionally and she was beginning to suspect that she knew by whom. While many would have thought it unwise to follow the directive of a stranger, the young woman's curiosity had gotten the best of her leading her to accept the indirect invitation.


However, it would seem that the invite sparked more questions than it answered as she arrived to find the area somewhat deserted. Save for a small diner off to the right. Naturally drawn towards the only sign of life on the street, Taliah made a beeline for the eatery. Though densely populated, there had been virtually no wait time as the hostess immediately led the young woman to a table where a well dressed middle aged man was seated. Uneasily, Liah lowered herself into the seat across from the stranger as he simply asked "Taliah Dawson?" Once her identity was confirmed, a large brown envelope was pushed towards her with the simple utterance of 24 hours and just like that, he was gone. She had been given her first task. Which turned out to be one of many as the brunette spent the next three months on a black card scavenger hunt before she was finally granted the honor of meeting the one who was behind it all. 

Two weeks later, the twenty six year old found herself a member of an organization that she initially didn't even believe truly existed. The Queen was an exceptionally brilliant whose rigidity often left one a bit at a loss when it came to gaining her approval which was one of the many reasons that Taliah had been quite pleased to receive the assignment that she had. It was no secret that the queen was quite fond of her little sister and wasn't likely to trust her well being to just anyone. If she were successful in this endeavor, she was sure to earn the queens favor. The mission seemed simple enough. Entertain the heiress and keep her company. How difficult could that be, Liah mused. 

The brunette had found the heiress's residence with ease and couldn't help but to admire the swankiness of the neighborhood itself as she waited for the young woman to answer the door. No introductions were made as the blond seemed content with referring to her as "New "Spade". Nice to meet you too, Taliah entered the heiress's domicile. Just as she was about to extend her hand in greeting to the queens sister, the heiress blurted out that she could begin cleaning immediately. She was beginning to see the family resemblance, Taliah thought to herself as she cast a cursory glance about the apartment. No one had said anything about cleaning. Hell,  her own apartment was a bit of a train wreck. Nevertheless, Liah sighed inwardly as she replied " Cleaning? Uh, yeah. Sure. I could do that. Do you have a vacuum cleaner or better yet a bulldozer?"

[Adrijana Evgeniya]

Adri leaned against the wall, studying the new girl who'd appeared in her apartment.  Brown hair, darker skin, a little shorter than Adri (though that wasn't unusual). The new girl looked around, apparently taken aback by the apartment. She muttered something about a bulldozer.

"Bulldozer?" said Adri, a severe look on her face. "Did you say-" then suddenly her face changed and she threw back her head and howled with laughter. "Bulldozer! That's hilarious. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Peeling herself off the wall, she smacked Taliah on the shoulder. "Awesome. Wanna have a seat?" She scooted over to the couch and took her spot, knocking the junk on the other cushion onto the floor with a single sweep of her arm. The junk jangled as it hit- candy wrappers and a Wendy's cup entangled in a mess of chain and leather contraptions.

"Sit and face me," said Adri. "Quiet." She stared into the new spade's face for a long moment, then made a circling motion with her fingers. "Turn around. Slowly." After a minute of watching the other woman rotate Adri laughed in glee and clapped her hands. "You're pretty! This great. You want a drink? A smoke?" She pulled a cigarette out of her top. "What'd you say your name was?"

Taliah Dawson

[Taliah Dawson]

Taliah's sarcastic nature was as natural to her as breathing and while the brunette understood that it wasn't always appreciated, Liah simply couldn't help herself. There hadn't been any immediate reaction from the blond which could mean anything really. Anything from the fact that her snarky comment hadn't been heard to the fact that it had and the heiress was now trying to determine the best way to punish her for her insolence. Whatever, the case might be Taliah wished Adri would just say something already instead of just staring at her like that. Liah was beginning to feel like an exhibit at the zoo or a fish in an aquarium when the slightly taller woman finally spoke.She seemed to be attempting to clarify that she had heard accurately before commenting further or taking any action. The look on the heiress's face was so austere that Taliah debated whether or not she should confirm what was said. 

Suddenly, a grin broke out across the blond's face as she tossed her head back and peaks of laughter escaped the woman's throat. Relieved, that Adri possessed a sense of humor, Taliah cracked a smile of her own as the quern's sister clapped her on the shoulder and offered her a seat. Which of course had to be brushed off before either of them could be seated. As she lowered herself down in the empty space that Adri had cleared for her Liah couldn't help but to notice the candy wrappers and soft drink cup which were all normal things to have in an apartment, but the chain and leather contraptions, in the other hand.... While incredibly curious somehow Taliah suspected that she may not be ready to know what those objects were and how they were used. As directed, the brunette turned slowly to face Adri and had parted her lips to inquire as to why she'd been given such direction when she was instructed to be silent.

Back to being on display, Liah mused to herself as the heiress requested that she turned slowly in the couch. Yep, not creepy at all the brunette thought to herself as she rotated while Adri laughed gleefully. Well, at least the queen's sister was easily amused. Much to her surprise, the blond then complimented her which thd Itoroughly caught Taliah off guard as she replied "Um, thanks. I'll take both as long as you're offering. My name is Taliah by the way." 

Adrijana Evgeniya

[Adrijana Evgeniya]

If sarcasm was Taliah's mother tongue, then cruelty was Adri's. Not necessarily even big cruelties- Adri found pleasure in doing small things to slightly inconvenience others, snickering to herself at the idea that her actions might cause trouble for someone down the line. Some people do random acts of kindness. Some people... don't.

"Cool," said Adri, extending the cigarette. Then she paused. "Hang on. Stick out your tongue and say 'ah'." After watching Taliah for a long moment, Adri said, "Hm," and set the cigarette in Taliah's mouth. The tip of it lit between her fingers and she blew out some smoke of her own, looking pensive. Then she smiled again. To be around Adri was to get used to rapid changes of emotion.

"Great!" she said. "The stuff for drinks is in the kitchen. I'll have a White Russian. You may have to wash some glasses." Adri made a motion of dismissal in the direction of the kitchen, then giggled. "There's supposed to be someone who comes and cleans here, but I keep forgetting to call her!" For some reason this statement struck Adri as hilarious and she threw back her head and laughed.

"So what do you do for fun? Do you play pool? Video games? Do you consider yourself straight, bi, or lesbian?"

Taliah Dawson

[Taliah Dawson]

Regardless of how much time they had spent together or how long they'd known one another, Taliah never ceased to be amazed by how two people whom so closely resembled one another could be so very different at the same time.  Unlike Liah whom was brash, sarcastic, opinionated, distrustful, and somewhat self centered, her twin sister Tanice was anything but. Being around her twin often inspired the brunette to be a better person. An aspiration, that even till date she repetitively failed to achieve. There were some people in the world whom were truly good natured, naturally so and regretfully the twenty three year old simply wasn't one of those people. Not that this realization was a bad thing, of course. People like herself, like Yennefer, Seph, and possibly even Adrijana were very much needed in today's society for they provided balance.


Seemingly still in a magnanimous mood, Adri briefly extended the cigarette before retracting her offer which prompted Taliah to quirk a brow at the blond. Then came the instruction to stick out her tongue and say Ah. A direction that while a bit odd, likely shouldn't have filled Liah with as much apprehension as it did.  Trust was already a difficult enough concept for the young woman to grasp without adding in an unstable component like Adrijana. Eyeing the heiress with no small amount of wariness within her hazelnut orbs, Taliah reluctantly complied. Liah had absolutely no idea what Adrijana was looking at or for when she peered into Taliah's mouth and frankly Liah wasn't altogether sure that she could really handle the answer. However, the new spade was left to assume that whatever the blond sought she had located or whatever query she was trying to resolved she had done so successfully as she then put the tip of the cigarette in Taliah's mouth.


Taliah watched curiously as Adrijana blew smoke out of her mouth despite the fact that the cigarette was no longer between her lips. A wry smile tugged at the corners of Liah's mouth causing the cigarette to dangle loosely from her mouth for a moment before she enclosed her lips about it and took a deep drag. As she blew out a puff of smoke, the blond informed her that the drinks were in the kitchen because of course she'd have to make them herself, the brunette thought to herself with a low chuckle.  Propelling herself upward from the  couch, Taliah pinched the cigarette between her lips as she replied "Drinks, I can handle. Dishes.... well that might be a problem." Taliah had just turned to make her way towards the kitchen when something struck her as curious prompting her to do a full turnabout to face the blond "Why not just tell her to come every day until you call her and tell her to stop coming?"

It seemed a rather logical solution to a fairly trivial problem, but something told Liah that the heiress didn't ddeal it logic as she resumed her trek to the kitchen without waiting for Adri's response.  A White Russian? White...Russian? Wait! She knew that one! She was fairly sure that Chris had shown her once or twice when he was trying to show off for some slutty coeds.  There were only two problems that Taliah could think of.;  The kitchen was as much of a disaster as the rest of the apartment was so finding what she needed was bound to be a bit of a scavenger hunt and there were so many ways to make a White Russian that it would be tricky to create one to the blond's liking without knowing her drinking preferences.  All of the candy wrappers strewn about the living room would suggest that the girl definitely had something of a sweet tooth, however she'd specifically asked for a White Russian and not a White Cuban. Maybe she would have the stuff to make both. She could always drink the Cuban if it wasn't the heiress's cup of tea.  Just as she tugged open the cabinet and withdrew a bottle of rum and a bottle of vodka, the blond's voice picked up again inquiring as to her hobbies.

It was a standard getting to know someone kind of question, but Adrijana's follow-up question was far more personal in nature and somewhat inappropriate for a first meeting and yet somehow Taliah didn't feel offended.  Glancing in the sink, Liah nodded to herself as she mused Yeah, she was definitely right about the glasses. Hadn't she seen glasses in the cabinet over the sink though, the brunette wondered as she replied "Actually, I play both. I'm probably better at the latter than the former. It's been a while since I shot pool, but I play video games daily." Ah, ha! Taliah thought to herself as she moved a bottle of Jack Daniels aside and withdrew two glasses. Moving over to the fridge, Taliah pulled the door open as she added "Wow, you don't pull any punches, do you? I don't really do labels. I like who I like. Male or Female. Doesn't really matter."

[Adrijana Evgeniya]

At Taliah's question about the maid, Adri  wrinkled her nose. "Ew. You want someone poking around, getting their nose in everything? Every day? Gross! I don't want anyone getting in my stuff!" She made a pouting expression, then brightened. "Maybe I could get someone who just stayed in the basement and wouldn't be able to talk! Oooh, great idea!"

She smiled. It was not a nice smile.

"Oh yeah?" She said when Taliah announced that male or female didn't matter. "Neat! I'm an anything that moves kind of girl myself. Though I've only done humans. So far." A contemplative look came into Adri's eyes. For a moment she stared at the ceiling before starting again. "You play Cuphead? I can start a game up! Two girls, one cup... head game!" She snickered.

@taliah

[Taliah Dawson]

As Adrijana expressed her disapproval of  her idea of the maid cleaning her home on a daily basis, Taliah couldn't help but to snicker to herself. After her unapologetic probing of her personal life, only minutes ago one wouldn't have expected that the heiress herself was something of a private person. In fact she had rather assumed that the sadistic beauty would deliberately leave certain things visible if for no other reason than to unnerve the housekeeper. A theory that seemed even more plausible as the blond somehow entirely misconstrued her suggestion to mean that she should hire a mute maid whom would be content with residing within the basement. As she attempted to sort out at which point in their conversation, Adrijana's train of thought had derailed so violently, Liah  pulled open the freezer door and grabbed a handful of ice cubes. Dropping a few into each glass, the brunette then grabbed the bottle of vodka and poured a little into each glass. She imagined that she probably should have used a shot glass but she'd seen Chris make the drink enough to feel fairly confident that she hadn't overshot her mark. 


Truthfully, ever since she had developed her ability, the idea of having someone violate her privacy had become less and less of a possibility. After all, it was difficult to be sneaky when one could know what you were thinking prior to you actually turning those thoughts into action.  Taliah had considered clarifying to the heiress that she hadn't meant to essentially kidnap a maid and force her to clean her home, but decided against it. After all, it wasn't really her business until the queen made it her business.  Eyeballing the glasses, the twenty three year old noted that something didn't look quite right about the drinks. Kahlua! That's what she forgot, Taliah realized after a moment. Shuffling back over to the fridge, the young woman had just placed her hand on the handle when Adrijana said something that cause her to freeze in mid step. Had she just said that she'd only done humans.... so far?  So... did that mean that she was open to other species and just hadn't had the opportunity to further experiment? 


Taliah honestly wasn't sure that she wanted to know the answer to her unspoken question as it would appear that 'anything that moves' to Adrijana meant just that. Smirking, Liah replied "Well, it's good to know that you like to keep your options open. I suspect that should you ever decide to venture away from humans, you'd find yourself in good company. Not mine of course, but company nonetheless." Thankfully, the topic switched allowing Taliah to regain her momentum, tugging open the door and withdrawing the bottle of coffee flavored liqueur. Carrying it back over to the pair of glasses she'd carefully set upon the counter, Taliah slowly added the liquid to first one glass then the other. A grin broke out across the brunette's face as the heiress offered to start a game of cuphead.  Taliah chuckled softly at the blonde's clever double meaning wordplay.  Wandering away from the counter in search of whip cream, Liah called out "Hell yeah, I play cuphead. Go ahead and load up the game. I am almost done with the drinks. Technically, it's two girls and two cups and a head game, but I think I like your version better."

[Adrijana Evgeniya]

Adri started up her PlayStation and and loaded up CupHead. It was the sort of game she didn't play very often, as it required more than one person and most of the people she had over had other things on their minds then playing video games. Of course, there had been that one guy she'd gotten at a bar who it turned out couldn't get it up at all (too much porn, Adri guessed) and had sat in her living room playing video games while Adri got angrier and angrier. Finally she'd taken him to her playhouse and at least gotten some use out of him. That was not a fate she could inflict on Taliah, though. Well, she could, but only if Taliah did something extra special bad that offended Yennifer. Then Adri might get her. But that didn't happen very often.

The game was already set up when Taliah came back with the drinks. Adri squealed, clapped her hands, and threw Taliah and beneficent smile. “Yay! You're the best. I love these.” Seizing her drink, she took a huge swig, then spat the whole thing out in a mist.

“WHAT THE F*** DID YOU DO TO THAT DRINK. THAT'S NOT A WHITE CUBAN!”

Taliah Dawson

[Taliah Dawson]

Truthfully, Cuphead had always been something of a guilty pleasure for Taliah as the cartoon characters had always given the game more of a kiddie sort of feel despite the rather insidious plotline. However, the fact that the game was multi-player had always presented a bit of a problem for the young woman as she rarely had company over; least of all company that tended to enjoy video games as much as she did. For a lot of men, a female gamer was still a difficult concept to wrap their minds around.  This was particularly the case when you proved to be a worthy adversary. She imagined that the game was far more interesting when being played with two players as was designed. By the time Liah had finished the drinks and carried them into the living room, the game had finished loading. Handing off the requested drink, the brunette had just lowered herself down onto the couch next to the blond whom had squealed with delight upon receiving her drink.


Taliah  placed her own drink down atop of... actually Liah had no idea what that strange looking contraption was and what was more something told her that she likely didn't want to know. The young woman had just reached for the controller when she caught sight of a mix of liquor being expelled into the air followed by the heiress's outburst. Calmly reaching over to the glass that she had just set down, Taliah lifted the glass from it's resting place and extended it towards the disgruntled meta saying "Well of course it isn't a White Cuban. It's a White Russian which is precisely what you asked for. This, on the other hand, is a White Cuban. Do you want it?"

[Adrijana Evgeniya]

She had ordered a White Cuban. She was sure of that, and for a moment she blazed (figuratively) with anger at the woman who made the mistake. Then a smile exploded onto her face, and she seized the proffered real Cuban and drank the entire thing in two gulps.



“Ahhh... so good,” she sighed, setting the glass back down. “Do you want to get drunk? I like getting drunk. Dancing is more fun when you're drunk.” She picked up her game controller, teeth gleaming. “Ready?”



Adri had not played Cuphead much. The biggest reason was that it was difficult, and Adri hated losing. Which, in Cuphead, you did a lot of.



They played, and they died. That was to be expected. Adri, however, grew more and more visibly frustrated with each death, even as they progressed through the levels. Finally as GAME OVER filled the screen yet again she hurled her controller at the wall. “F***! I hate this. Who made this stupid game?” Jumping up from her seat, she turned the TV off and turned to face Taliah, leaning against the stand. Her face carried an expression of childish anger.



“Pick something to do. Not something boring, something fun,” she ordered.



Taliah Dawson

[Taliah Dawson]

Taliah knew exactly what she'd heard and usually the hot-headed brunette would have continued to argue the point even while the contemptuous blonde glared icily at her. It simply wasn't in her nature to back down. However, it would seem that the younger's woman was rather temperamental as her fury faded just as quickly as it had arisen once she received the drink that she hadn't actually asked for but really wanted. Honestly, Liah was quite impressed with the heiress's palette. The preparation even down to the ingredients were practically identical with the only real difference being in the measurements. Making the White Cuban slightly sweeter than the White Russian, but still most wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. Being that the taste was so similar, the twenty three year old meta wasn't all that bothered about being left with the White Cuban as she preferred her drinks a little on the sweeter side anyway.

Tossing back the glass in two gulps that somehow felt like only one, a soft smile like the telepath's face as the blonde seemed content with her drink.  When propositioned with the idea of becoming inebriated, Liah empathically shook her head 'No' as she replied "I'd rather not." Despite what she was certain was the impression she gave off, honestly the brunette despised being drunk or anything for that matter that put her in a position in which she was in anyway incapacitated. She supposed that was the 'control freak' in her. However, as the heiress turned towards her inquiring if she was ready to make another attempt at beating the game, Taliah set her drink down on a cluttered end table with a loud thunk. Reaching for the controller, the brunette beamed as she said "Let's do this."

Despite the expressed confidence in their ability to beat the game, the pair failed miserably in their attempt. Numerous times in fact. With the younger woman growing more and more incensed with every loss until the final 'GAME OVER' screen flashed and the heiress's indignation finally reached it's boiling point causing the ill-tempered meta to launch the controller at the wall. The device slammed into the wall with a harsh thud which was immediately followed by a mild crunch as the battery separated from the controller. Well, so much for that, the telepath thought to herself with a mild hint of amusement. As Adrijana turned to face her, a childish expression formed on the young woman's face. It was one that she was actually quite familiar having spent so much time babysitting her sisters.

It was the look of a child whom was gearing up to throw a full scaled tantrum or whom had already done so and not received the desired result. It would seem that she got much more than she bargained for when accepting the queen's request to entertain or look after her little sister. Suppressing a sigh, Liah considered the heiress's request or perhaps demand might have been a better word for it. Her companion clearly had a lot of rage and in that the brunette found that she could relate. Which was surprising as she hadn't expected to be able to find any common ground with the pyro. Perhaps releasing that rage would do both of them a world of good and it was in that moment that she had an idea. "Alright, I have an idea of something fun to do. I'm not going to tell you what it is yet, you'll just have to trust me. All I will tell you is that we can't do it here, so you'll have to get yourself ready to go out." An impish grin consumed Taliah's face as her idea began to take root. What better place to be enraged than a rage room?

[Adrijana Evgeniya]

Always mercurial, Adri's attitude changed the instant Taliah said she had a surprise. Her eyes widened, and she said, "Ooooh." It was a childlike reaction, and in many ways treating her like a child was the best way to deal with her.

"I love surprises!" She was on her feet in an instant and made it to her room in a few short hops. "Come help me get dressed!"

Dressing Adri was quite an affair. She sent Taliah back and forth, digging through the mess to find things ("No, the other black one!"), sometimes deciding that, "Nah, I'll wear the other after all!" after two or three others had been tried.

Eventually, though, she got on a shiny black dress, a pair of black heels, a black choker, a silver necklace with a crescent pendant, dangling earrings with skulls on them, black, fingerless gloves, two silver rings, a leather anklet, rings in her nose and lip and left eyebrow, purple eyeliner and purple lipstick that she seemed pleased with. A brush run quickly through her hair and sime hairspray completed her preparations and she grabbed her pink purse and turned to face Taliah. "What do you think?" she demanded, giving a little twirl. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. Then a thought struck her.

"Hey, you wanna dress up? You can try any of my clothes!"

@taliah

[Taliah Dawson]

Just as she had expected, the revelation that she had a surprise for her had filled the infantile blonde with joy and exuberance. In fact, Adri's demeanor had shifted so abruptly that Taliah was beginning to suspect that perhaps the pyromaniac wasn't merely moody but actually bipolar. Rumors of the heiress's mental instability had always floated throughout the Spades ranks but no one had ever mentioned the specific illness that the queen's little sister possessed if any. On some level, it seemed wrong to speak to someone so close in age to her in such a manner, but the brunette couldn't deny that treating the blonde like a child seemed to be an effective tactic. Even without knowing what awaited her, the hot headed pyro had practically squealed in delight as she leaped to her feet and rushed to her room to get ready.

In a way, Liah found herself somewhat envious of the heiress's enthusiasm. Just the idea of being led to some unknown destination for an undisclosed purpose riddled the twenty three year old with anxiety. The telepath found herself wondering if Adri was too trusting or just that damn reckless. Once again her reverie was disrupted as Adri insisted on Taliah assisting her in getting dressed. Seriously? The woman couldn't even dress herself, the brunette mused. She'd signed up to be a friend or a companion to the heiress, not her damn babysitter. Sure, she'd helped a woman disrobe before but of course there had been an entirely different reason behind it at that time. Giving an exasperated sigh and a dramatic roll of her eyes, the young woman dragged herself off the couch and reluctantly followed Adri to her bedroom.

While Taliah was hardly a neat freak like her twin, the disaster area that served as the heiress's bedroom was far more cluttered than any room she'd ever entered. To make matters worse, the blonde was the most indecisive person that she'd ever encountered. How the hell did she accomplish anything, the telepath wondered. After, the blonde had sent her back into the stack of clothes that just nearly rose to the height of one of the bed's post for the third time, Liah was beginning to lose her patience. In fact, she'd been just about to insist that she wore one of the four outfits that she'd already demanded that Taliah retrieve or else the surprise would be forfeited when much to her relief, Adri settled on a shiny black dress with a coordinating pair of heels. The twenty three year old's sigh of relief was nearly audible as she watched the heiress putting on the finishing touches to her ensemble.

It was honestly a bit much for what she had planned, but Liah dared not tell her that out of fear that she'd once again change her mind on her attire and they'd never make it out the house. Offering Adri a soft smile as she twirled clearly proud of the selection that she'd made, Taliah replied "You look amazing! I love that shade of lipstick! You'll have to tell me what it's called." Liah had just been about to return to the living room when Adri inquired as to if she too wanted to dress up. It was an unexpectedly kind offer that Taliah was reluctant to turn down. Still...

"Well, I don't know. That could be fun, but do you think that you have anything that would look good on me?"

[Adrijana Evgeniya]

Adri had a lot of clothes.

With all the clothes that were on her floor, you might not have thought there would be many left to put in a closet. You would be wrong. She had designer outfits, preset and hanging on hangers together, dresses, blouses, sweaters, and an entangling undergrowth of shoes of all kinds. She had form-fitting clubware and ratty shirts that should have been thrown away long ago, formal dresses, graphic tees, tie-dyed slacks and jeans with holes in the knees. Then there were hats and scarves and bracelets and necklaces hanging from a rack on the wall, and a shelf with several purses on it beneath. She seemed to strongly favor silver jewelry. Colors were all over the place, with black taking up more then its fair share, but no lack of pink and and some “normal” colors presumably intended for dealing with muggles. There was a surprising amount of organization, given that the rest of her room was a wreck, or at least enough that Adri seemed to find everything she wanted without trouble.

She stared at Taliah for a moment, lips twisting in an expression of contemplation as she looked the other girl up and down. “Hmm...” Then inspiration struck her and she dove back into the closet. She pulled out a shirt, held it in front of Taliah, then shook her head and tossed it onto the bed. It took her a few tries but she finally emerged with a look of triumph.

“Try these!” she exclaimed. “You'll look great!”

Taliah Dawson