Private Unmasked

The people of Grovefire Manor knew her as Violet Zatser. She had gotten a lot better at fake names, though to be fair she had spent a lot longer thinking about this one than "Zoey Grey." That was just embarrassing.

This morning, Violet had a dilemma. She could get a job that would give her a sense of purpose again - but in her mind, it might just end up killing her and causing a lot of people a lot of pain. Violet knew that Colten had a good head on his shoulders, likely a clearer and less troubled one than she had. So she set out to ask him for advice.

Colten was making sure some fancy new statues were getting set up properly outside of the manor. Violet walked up next to him. "Good morning, Colten. Is now a good time to talk?"

"I'm pretty settled on that name now." At least she'd never called herself 'Zoey Grey' here. That might have been too obvious. She'd mostly just considered the names 'Violet' and 'Ginger.'

Violet looked at the workers, and then at Colten. "...Some of it is kind of sensitive." She wasn't sure she wanted people knowing that she feared for her life, or any hints about why. She had already resolved to disclose that to Colten.

"I can wait until you have time."

Violet flashed Colten a slightly-relieved smile and walked with him to the gazeebo. Her tail swayed as she walked, accidentally brushing against Colten's once or twice.

She spoke as they walked. "On an unrelated note, though, I really love what you've been doing with this place. The aesthetic is just perfect. It's so dark and classy, and it's actually been a bigger comfort for me than I would have expected. I don't feel as much like I've fallen from grace, if that makes sense."

They reached the gazebo. Violet would wait for him to choose where to sit or stand as they spoke. She appreciated that his seats were designed with accommodations for tails in mind.

If Violet was being honest, she liked the contact. The situation she was in left her feeling touch-starved. She wanted to tell him not to be sorry, she didn't mind it at all... but that would be kind of creepy. She kept her mouth shut about that.

She sat down fairly close to him. She recognized this type of enchantment from a shopping trip she had gone on with her father, what felt like an entire lifetime ago.

"I was actually hoping to talk to you about some of the opportunities have here. I've already considered the possibility that I'm going to be here for a long time, so I've gone looking for them. First, of course, there's going back to school. I'm confident that I could get a bachelor's degree, between pre-arrival credit exams and one to two years of classes." It helped that she'd actually taken three years of college there already, but she didn't want anyone else knowing that.

"Secondly, I might even have a job opportunity there already, as a minder and language tutor for at least one of the children there - and possibly a dorm parent. I'm still not entirely clear on what the role would ask of me, but I'm one of the few people who can keep track of that boy. He has a habit of going invisible and wandering off by himself. I already have the boy's current dorm parent as a solid reference." So far, it would seem like Violet had a good handle on things. She had a lot more direction than most people who were so fresh on the island.

Now came the reason she wanted to talk to Colten about this. "My main problem with doing any of that is... well, I could get killed if I spend too much time there."

Violet fidgeted. Her tail also flicked with a similar nervous energy. She knew this line of questioning was coming.

"It's... complicated. And I have to operate on limited information, because finding more could either land me on the islets or kill me. Or both." She took a deep breath.

"So, here is the best explanation I can give. I used to be part of a demon lord. This demon lord is incomplete as long as I exist, so they probably want to assimilate me back into them, if they can. Their enemies would also probably want to use me against them, if they found out what I was. Any of them might want to kill me, or worse, and it's possible some of them might care more about getting at me than maintaining a presence on Manta Carlos."

She looked Colten in the eyes, studying his reactions. She was second-guessing even talking to Colten about it. He and Chloe talked, after all.