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[code]Queen of Dairy[/code][/center][hr]

[color=DA70D6]“So,”[/color] Lila started as she watched Luca walk away, [color=DA70D6]“what now?”[/color]

[color=F08080]“That depends,”[/color] Lynn responded.  

[color=DA70D6]“On,” Lila asked with a raised eyebrow.[/color]

[color=F08080]“Do we get roped back into whatever the Coven is up to tonight, or do we take the night off and relax while we wait for further orders,”[/color] Lynn paused as she looked back inside the Dairy Queen and noticed someone who appeared to be Lyss.  Lynn thought about going inside and talking to her, but she decided against it. She had had enough conversations at a random Dairy Queen for one night, but she wouldn’t be upset if Lyss came and started the conversation herself.  

[color=DA70D6]“It is late,”[/color] Lila spoke as she glanced at her phone.  The conversation from before weighed heavily on her mind, as did Luca’s recommendation for her to reach out to Britney.  She tapped at the screen, first on the messenger app and then on the ‘compose new message’ button.  Typing in a specific name, she pulled up the old message history and noticed that it was still empty.  [color=DA70D6]“Britney,”[/color] Lila thought to herself as she considered whether or not to send a message.  She knew that Britney would be a good person to talk to about the sudden appearance of The Maiden, and she knew if Britney was in town still she would be able to at least give some semblance of an answer.  Lila exhaled harshly, and she quickly typed a message and hovered her thumb over the send button.

Lynn noticed the hesitation.  She turned her face away from Lila, facing into the Dairy Queen before she channeled her power and slipped into a possible future.  In this possible future, she grabbed the phone out of Lila’s hand and took a look at the message, and the recipient.  While the murder that followed was not pleasant, it still gave Lynn enough of a heads-up on what to expect with the conversation.  “All this for Britney,” Lynn thought to herself before she turned her head back towards Lila, and looked down at the phone.

[color=F08080]“Everything okay,”[/color] Lynn asked as she smiled.

[color=DA70D6]“Hmmm,”[/color] Lila asked as she looked up and noticed Lila looking at her phone, specifically at her inability to send a message.  [color=DA70D6]“Yeah, yeah it is not an issue.  I just feel… weird reaching out to someone like Britney.  It’s not like she ever did anything wrong to me, but Luca, Carol, and everyone else like them have been dealt a… terrible fate.  I understand times were desperate but she did horrible things.  If I seek her help I would have to brush aside those feelings, and that feels wrong.  I only hated her until she was useful, you know?”[/color]

[color=F08080]“My offer still stands, I would just need a place to crash and stay safe for a day or so until I can potentially find an answer,”[/color] Lynn paused, [color=F08080]“but something tells me that you may find a better one with Britney.  You don’t have to like her to have her help you,”[/color] Lynn paused as she shuffled her footing.[color=F08080]“I’ll tell you what, if you need it I can look forward in time for you, right now, and see if you get a response.  If the response is not what you need you can avoid sending the text altogether.  If it looks like it may be good, you can send it.”[/color]

[color=DA70D6]“No, no that’s fine,”[/color] Lila paused.  While she knew there may be an answer in the future, she would rather make that step in the present without knowing how it may go down.  Lila looked up at Lynn, resting on the first half of her last statement.  Lila remembered that Lynn moved away five years ago and she wondered where she would spend the night.  [color=DA70D6]“Where are you staying at,”[/color] Lila asked as she put the phone away, forgetting to hit send.  [color=DA70D6]“I can walk you there, make sure you get there safely.”[/color]

[color=F08080]“Actually, nowhere,”[/color] Lynn whispered, [color=F08080]“I may have forgotten to book a place in town to crash and did not follow up on it until this morning,”[/color]  she paused as she opened the Uber app on her phone, [color=F08080]“I was planning on just using an Uber to get back home if the Coven didn’t have any lodging.  Going to be expensive but I can swing it.”[/color]

[color=DA70D6]“You can crash at mine if you want,”[/color] Lila spoke as she crossed her arms, [color=DA70D6]“Gran is down south at her other home for a few months so I have the place here to myself.  I can put you in the guest room,”[/color] Lila paused as she looked over Lynn, [color=DA70D6]“we’re close enough in size, I should be able to let you borrow some clothes to sleep in if you did not bring any.”[/color]

Lynn was taken aback by the offer.  Lila was not someone she was particularly close with before she left town.  The two would talk, and occasionally hang out even after the Coven fell but they had not seen each other face to face in almost five years.  [color=F08080]“Yeah,”[/color] Lynn paused as she shook her head, [color=F08080]”yeah that would be awesome.  I don’t want to take away your night though.”[/color]

[color=DA70D6]“Don’t worry about it, I had no plans for it anyway,”[/color] Lila paused as she knew all she would be doing was scrolling aimlessly through TickTok while a random YouTube video played in the background from the TV.  [color=DA70D6]”Let’s go, we can walk home from here.  There should be a shop along the way if you want to grab anything,”[/color] Lila spoke as she waved her hand, motioning for Lynn to follow.  

[center][code]Victorian Village[/code][/center]

The two eventually arrived at Lila’s house.  It was an older Victorian-style house that had a wrap-around porch.  The lawn was well maintained, and that level of maintenance was evident on the house as well as it featured delicate gingerbread trim, ornate corbels, and decorative shingles.  The red of the brick was complimented by the purple paint on the wooden surfaces and window frames.  The door itself was a delightful mustard yellow.  Lila had tried to tell her Grandma that the color of the door may be at odds with the look of the house as a whole but she did not listen.

[color=DA70D6]“Hold here for a minute, I need to grab them a different offering real quick,”[/color] Lila said as she pointed to her crows before she opened the door and ran inside.

Lynn could hear the sound of drawers opening, and closing, and the sound of Lila rustling through the contents of the drawers.  Lynn looked around the area while she waited.  The neighborhood was nice.  All the houses were bigger than she expected, and they all seemed to have the same level of care as Lila’s.  There was another, even bigger, Victorian-styled house next door and a third one across the street.  It wasn’t enough to call this a Victorian village but it was plenty for Lynn to know that there is some history to this area.  She glanced to the doorway and noticed a ‘historical society’ placard.  Lynn leaned in and read it, [color=F08080]“built in 1882, old ass house.”[/color]  

A second later Lila emerged from the doorway, hands filled with various gems, crystals, and jewelry pieces.  “[color=DA70D6]Alright, you fucks,”[/color] Lila shouted to the crows above and received a *caw* in response.  [color=DA70D6]“I want you to stay outside, [i]outside[/i], tonight.  I want you to stand guard for us and alert us if anyone is coming towards the house.  If they threaten us, I want you to peck out their eyes.”[/color]  Lila placed half the pile on the ground.  [color=DA70D6]“I will come outside at midnight and I will give you all the rest, we have a deal?”[/color]

The crows all *cawed* in response as they swooped down and picked the ground clean in an instant.  They all flew up to the top of the house, to the trees surrounding the property, and onto the roof of the neighboring house.  The area fell silent a moment later as the crows fell into their mission.  

[color=DA70D6]“Alright, the house should be free of them and should be clean of any.. Crow accidents,”[/color] she looked down at her phone, realizing she had not hit the send button yet.  Lila deleted the message before she retyped it again.  After a quick review, she sent the messages before she put the phone away.  [color=DA70D6]“Let’s get inside,”[/color] Lila motioned for Lynn to follow.

[center][hider=Lila text message][img]https://i.imgur.com/eqUezSj.png[/img][/hider][/center]

[color=F08080]“Right behind you,”[/color] Lynn said as she quickly put a bag on the ground.  Inside the bag was an assortment of cheap snacks and a six-pack of beer.  She typed out a message to Auri before she too went inside, closing the yellow door behind her.  

[center][hider=Lynn text message][img]https://i.imgur.com/lZwbC7h.png[/img][/hider][/center]