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Arya reaches into her purse and checks the phone. It's Jay.

“Who is it?" her uncle asks.

“It's… It's my boyfriend," she responds and takes a deep breath, sliding her thumb across the screen to the call with a forced. “H-hey!"

“How are ya? You get home okay?" Jay's soothing voice comes through with the sound of people chattering in the background.

Her uncle picks up his water and gives it a sip, but doesn't take his eye off of her as she responds.

“Oh, yeah. Just got in. The trip did me good, you know?"

“Sorry I had to split, but you know how it is. Jack of all trades." He chuckles. “So, I was wondering about that offer. Think we could talk about it sometime, maybe over dinner or, you know, whatever."

Arya glances towards her Uncle, who gives her a curt nod. “That sounds great. Uh, how about a dinner? Something to sit down in and just… get used to my skin."

Her uncle pulls out his phone, typing away.

“Yeah, that could work. Give us some privacy without being too intimate, I suppose," Jay muses.

Her Uncle shoves the phone in her face. Looking at the screen, she can't help but shiver. It takes her a moment to gather her courage, to not have her words shake in her throat. “How's Salvatore's sound?"

“Didn't think you someone for Italian," Jay admits. “But that's far enough away from the viper's nest to keep us out of trouble. Sure thing. When we going?"

Arya knows very well that Jay refers to her uncle. She hopes that he doesn't realize Jay's intentions in those words. A quick look shows that he coils up, tightening his tail muscles to hold back his explosion of anger. He's always one to take offense to snake-based puns.

“That little brat," He hisses in a whisper. “I told you that no good comes from dating outside family. I'd bet he's after you for some sick fetish fuel. You can really do better!"

She sighs, hoping to have dodged that bullet. But Jay's voice brings her back into the situation. “Arya? You alright?"

“Oh, uh, just," she pauses, thinking of an excuse. “Checking my calendar." She sheepishly smiles at her uncle, who loosens up and mouths the words to her. She repeats those hushed instructions. “Next Friday. 8:00

PM. I'll meet you there."

“Sounds good to me. Looking forward to you really being in your element. You deserve to be yourself. See ya."

With the final farewell, Arya drops her phone onto the floor, the device clattering to the ground. She clenches her stomach, feeling like she could throw up her breakfast.

“Aw, you got some butterflies from this new date, huh?" Her uncle's words come from behind her, having shifted while she ended the call. His left hand finds its way to her bare shoulder, and she jolts.

“Shh…" he hushes her, tongue flickering by her cheek. “Don't you worry, baby girl…" he says in a gross parody of comfort. His fingers find their way to her throat, stroking along her scales. Her heart thumps at a breakneck pace, but his touch as his index finger strokes along doesn't get rough. Instead, he guides his hands back down to her shoulders. “Ooh, you're all tense. That ain't good at all. It's a fortunate thing I was here to help you set that one up, or you'd be left blubbering and making yourself look like a little girl who doesn't know any better than to listen to that guy. He probably would have taken you somewhere trashy."

She scrunches up under his touch, not loosening at all. He tisks and returns his hand to her neck, rubbing at her straining muscles. “You're just a bundle of nerves today. It's a good thing you got family who would slide off of his pedestal and offer you such a degrading service. I'd never massage a strange woman, just my baby girl."

His phone vibrates and he pulls away to the front of the room, answering with practiced ease. “Yeah? Oh, he does, does he? Sure. Put him on the car phone. I'm gonna head down there now."

He looks over his shoulder and shrugs. “Well, sorry about the short visit, baby girl, but it seems like uncle's got some business to take care of. Seems the data vault's finally been cracked. All our hard work is finally paying off. I can't wait to tell you what we've found inside."

Arya's thoughts pass over to Uma, and then to Jay. Jay just handed the data over to her. He knew she was working for her uncle, yet he gave it away, anyway. All that hard work going to the highest bidder, and Uma will never see a single cent.

Jay did say he would rather sacrifice Uma's work than Arya's happiness. Was he willing to also throw Arya under a bus if she proved less profitable?

Arya ponders this as she watches her uncle sitting in his car. He jokes and laughs, his finger stroking the neck of the dedicated car phone, holding onto it much like he had held onto her own throat. Her hand moves to her neck, imagining his finger stroking her in such tender, possessive actions.

He stops talking, perhaps listening intently to what is on the

other side, but after a moment of statuesque silence, he squeezes the phone, the power of his grip snapping the device in two.

Arya flinches as she watches the broken, useless, chunks drop out of his hand with no more regard from him than if he had swatted a fly.

With just one more word, the car speeds off, squealing as it makes the first turn away.

Arya's tail gives way and she falls onto her hands, just staring out into the late morning sun. Her whole being plunges into a chill that fills her up. All at once, the dam collapses, and so does she. Arya curls up onto the floor, crying in sickness and in disgust over herself, the anxiety that had been there since she first met Jay finally tipping. An insurmountable challenge has been brought upon her, and she fears, from the deepest pits of her soul, that she will never be able to sleep—not until the course of events she has set for herself have finally ended. It's not just her life on the line, and she's losing the game.