Errant sips her coffee, because that's something she can do to delay this. It's sweeter now, but she's got even less taste for it than she had when it was straight. She forces herself to laugh, which feels harder than winning a staring contest with the Shogun. It's awkward as hell. But she does it anyway, because the alternative is screaming. 

She watches the mirror. Right now, it's just a mirror. It could stay a mirror, if she wants it to. That's a choice that she can make. She doesn't have to do this. She doesn't [i]have[/i] to do this. She can sit down, crack off a reference or three, and ask for her next assignment. 

This is a good job. It's a good job that pays... well, not [i]amazingly[/i], but the health benefits are otherworldly. More importantly, it's a job she loves. This is a place she loves, full of people that she loves. Isn't she allowed to put her faith in her home? Can't she trust the people who raised her up from a cripple to keep their souls? It's only a new boss. She's had new bosses before. All she has to do is smile, promise to find Victor, and her life will snap right back to normal. Maybe she can ask to shift her focus to future Fitness Corners and more programming-centered jobs and just hand the position of Champion over to Maria full time. 

She could do that. All of it. Any of it. Almost anybody would. Almost nobody would blame her.

...But a True Princess would never, [i]ever[/i] look away. 

Errant reaches up and clicks her visor on over her eyes. Loving something means that you can't look away when it starts going bad.