Woohoo....

11:22 PM: The Daily 'Dote

Lemme tell yah, coffee + overtired + stress + For Good = A very pathetic Wulf.

Okay, introducing 1 more character. After this, I promise there will be actual advancement of the story.

UNIVERSITY COMMON

Feeling rather shaken after her encounter with Irene, Kassandra decided to go hide in the second floor den until dinner. Her plans of sulking alone were ruined, however, as she entered the room and saw it was already occupied. It was Trisha, the token African American character. Trisha was currently absorbed in killing some zombies on the state-of-the-art game system, but as Kassandra turned to leave, she called out and patted the floor next to her.

"Hey girl, have a seat. Ridding the word of the zombie menace can be quite cathartic."

Kassandra whirled around, surprised, and took a couple steps into the room.

"How...I'm not upset..."

"Sure you aren't. I can sense the mopey vibes from here, Miss Rich. Sit your ass down and grab a chainsaw, alright?"

Somewhat chastened, Kassandra stepped forward and sat down a respectable distance from Trisha and half-heartedly poked at a controller. Seeing this, Trisha hit pause and turned herself to sit directly in front of Kassandra.

"What's the deal, girl?"

Kassandra was not used to opening up to almost complete strangers -- it was unbecoming of a lady to confide in anyone other than her mother or hairdresser -- but she needed to talk to someone, and neither her mother nor Paolo was available.

"It's this girl who's moving in. Irene. She's my step-cousin, and she's absolutely dreadful. She had this whole inheritance scam a couple years ago, where she tried to get my grandfather to make her the sole beneficiary of his will."

"She sounds pretty greedy."

"You don't know the half of it. But all the rest of the family seems to have forgiven her for everything. But the rest of the family didn't..."

"Didn't what?"

"I...can't say. It's -- I got too involved. She didn't like it." She felt her eyes well with tears, and forced herself to hold them back. She had already cried too much over Irene.

"Did she do something?"

"I'm not going to talk about it. It's just going to be hard, you know? Having her around."

"Well you can come and talk to me anytime, girl."

"Why are you being so nice?" Kassandra was a little bit confused.

"Because you own where I live. I don't want to get evicted. And you seem kind of smart, for a rich blonde girl."

"Hey! I was on the honour roll."

"Teacher's pet, huh? I'm just teasin' you. You're cool, okay? Now c'mon, let's blast some zombies!"

And Kassandra did her best, mashing buttons in an attempt not to get killed. She felt better than she had all day; she had a new friend.