Young Writers Society

Sally whirled around, already nodding so fast she probably resembled a bobble head in that moment.

“Coming, coming. I just wanted to make sure it was all… it was all in the right place and all. You never know with these rooms sometimes.”

Anna frowned. “Sally, you, okay?”

“Why would I not be, okay?” Sally asked, trying to sound like she absolutely didn’t know the answer to that question.

“Because the Sally I know can come up with better excuses than that for staring off into space for no real reason.”

Sally gulped. Anna was far too good at turning all the tables on her. This was absolutely, utterly and completely unacceptable.

“I did have a reason. That was a real thing. You can’t prove otherwise, no didn’t you say we had an urgent matter to tend to. Why don’t we go ahead and tend to that one instead of worrying about me.”

She looked up to see Anna smirking, sharing a glance with Serafina. Before Sally could visibly shake a fist at Anna like a cartoon character she marched over. Maybe she needed to take a week off and avoid Anna. That seemed like a smart play here. She couldn’t be this off in balance, and in front of trainees no less.

“Hush you,” was all Sally managed before she got herself to the where the three of them were pointing to the large map at the front of the room.

“No, unfortunately I’m going to have to do this briefing here, so I can’t actually be hushed.”

Sally tried not to respond to that. The less words she used here, the less words were going to end up being thrown at her even more effectively than the ones already used.

“Alright, now that that’s all sorted. Let’s get to work. Before we completely get underway, I have to ask. You two are ready to potentially head out, well who am I kidding, to actively head out and take part in field work. I know you wouldn’t actually be here if you didn’t sign all those forms, but I know very well its one thing to be doing and then to actually be standing in front of your first deployment, especially in an emergency like this one.”

“We are ready to go Anna.” Said Serafina, her voice still that perfect monotone.

Safi, in a fashion that really, really shouldn’t be surprising Sally anymore, just smiled. “Oh, it’s going to be terrifying, but then we did sign up for exactly that so why would we back off right now when we actually get the chance to do something. I’m really excited for this.”

“Well, its potentially a horrifying case of a homicide,” said Anna. Sally had to refrain from jumping up and punching the air in triumph. She wasn’t the only one that Anna was going to be doing that to.

Safi predictably spluttered. “I. I didn’t mean it like that. Its. Umm field work. Excitement. Detective. Training.”

Serafina patted the girl on the shoulder. “Relax, Anna’s just messing with you.”

There was a squeak from Safi, which was a good thing because Sally was about to squeak herself. She did not see that coming. Serafina actually helping Safi out there. Now that, that was… going to get her another jab from Anna. Sally really needed to avoid being distracted right about now.

Anna, meanwhile, was too preoccupied laughing. “I’m so sorry, but the opportunity was just right there and there’s the irrational urge that one simply can’t ignore.”

Safi was nodding along, taking her turn as the room’s resident bobblehead while Serafina gave her two more pats on the shoulder before returning to her stiffer normal stance.

Sally absolutely did not stare for two seconds too long at the very sweet smile Safi flashed Serafina and she absolutely, definitely did not look at the very tiny twitch in Serafina’s own posture before she returned to normal.

Sally took a deep breath. This mission was going to be even harder than she’d initially though, although this particular side quest was going to be a lot more interesting that those normally tended to be.

Before Anna could call her out for being distracted again, Sally gestured to the blinking dot on the screen. “So, homicide. Tell us more. You did say this was urgent after all.”

“I did. And it is.”