"I have the feeling everyday's going to be an adventure around here." Cora said, and you're not sure if it was a little sarcasm, some sarcasm, or mostly sarcasm. 

Lu-lu throws an apple at Cora, and giggles, “You’re darn right, Cora”.

Cora doesn't catch the apple, as she was cleaning when she made her comment to Lu-Lu and wasn't looking. Instead it poinks her on the head and toboggan's down her back, hitting the floor with a thud and a few bounces.

She stops cleaning for a few moments and ever so slowly turns and gives you a glare like this just might be the day that Trollskull Manor had one less occupant. 

Heishe raises an eyebrow back at Cora. "No, those of you without just kick ass with your blades," she points out with a shrug. "We all have our own strengths. And please don't kill Lu-lu just for having subpar aim," she adds calmly, plucking the apple from the ground and cleaning it with a wave of her hand before setting it on the counter.

As Heishe speaks, Cora does her best to remain calm during the situation, especially after being pelted with fruit. She stares at Heishe for another moment, as if trying to figure if she was being nice or arrogant, but let it go. She simply slowly returned to cleaning without another word.

Lu-lu walk slowly over to Cora, and sits beside her. “Cora? Is something wrong? If it REALLY is the fruit, then I’m sorry, I thought you’d pull a ninja move and catch it. But if it’s something else, I’d really like to be here to listen to you.” She smiles a warm, but gentle smile at Cora (her studies have included some meditation of late and it’s helping Lu-lu pick up on tension...every once in a while)

(So sorry for the late response! Had a wild time last night lol)

Vincent was surprised at just how quickly Lulu could speak, especially about something she was very passionate about, so the old man merely listened to her, letting her get it all out. He hadn't anticipated the hug, however, he nearly stumbling over, but he keeps himself balanced enough to give her a pat on the back at a small attempt to comfort the genasi. When she thanks him for the help, he simply chuckles and says, "No problem, lass!" Then when she turns away, he murmurs to himself as he turns to go help clean up, a hand going to scratch at the back of his head. "I didn't even really do anything."

When the talk of factions came about, Vincent's ears perked in interest. "Force Grey, eh? Looks like you 'n me got contacted by the same lass then. Said the same thing to me too, so I'll go with ya." He says with a grin. It was around this time that Lulu makes her interest, the fighter giving a two fingered salute to her before returning to fixing up one of the seats. From then on he simply listened to the conversation about, reminiscing of the times he and his squadron would sit around, have a few drinks, and enjoy each others company when not face to face with enemies.

Heishe returns Cora's gaze calmly before glancing at Vincent. "Sounds like we've got a meeting, then. And we should figure out that ghost, too, especially if we want to turn this into some kind of place of business - which we should also discuss," she adds consideringly.

Lu-lu snaps to at the reminder of the ghost, “Oh yeah! We gotta figure out what to do about the ghost! I could ask one of the priests of Lathander to come by and bless the house, or maybe Drusilla knows what to do? I’ve been learning about undead creatures in one of my classes: Undead 101, from Allips to Zombies. But Ghosts can be tricky, we could fight it, or appease it, or...” she trails off before releasing an exasperated groan, “ugh! I gotta do some studying before the next quiz. Drusilla, do you mind helping me run through my flash cards sometime before my next quiz at the end of the ten day?”

"I can do so." Drusilla says, although she finds it incredibly odd that a religious order would quiz its members.

Cora stiffened as Lu-Lu talked again. "No, Lu-lu. It's not the fruit, and i'm fine. Thank you. Go study with your...religious flash..cards." she suggested, and kept cleaning. With her hands.

The last thing Cora wanted right now was to talk about her feelings. She rarely did in the past - and in the future - and didn't want to do so now. Only a few people understood her deeply. Like Chubby, and Nia. Even Yasei and Bea. But they're gone now. 

Old habits died hard, it seemed, even though..someone - somehow - gave her another chance. So, here I am again, in Waterdeep. In THIS place. It's the same, yet different. No Chubby. No Nia. No Yasei. No Bea.

She stopped cleaning for a moment and became lost in thought at their memory. And, like always, grew frustrated that the rare times she loved someone, of course, now, they're gone. The notion annoyed her, so she ditched the thought and resumed cleaning.

Anything to distract her from feeling anything.

The more time you spend in the manor, the more you feel like the ghost is at the very least not aggressive. It just seems to cause bits of trouble, although one night it did decide to tie all of Cora's bed sheets together while she was sleeping. 

A lot of grunting and bumping was heard that night, and not in a good way - followed by some bad words.

Lu-lu would like to try and commune with the ghost. Experimenting with leaving gifts, and trying to befriend the ghost.

”hey ghosty, nice ghosty, can you tell us your name? We’d love to get this place up and running again.”

persuasion: 10

Lu-Lu, you see LIF written in dust, followed by Opening? 

The next time Lu-Lu goes to sit down, her chair is pulled out from the table for her to sit down. 

"Ok, so we've been contacted by three organizations who want our services. How about we describe each organization and based off of what we hear, each person can decide how many organizations sound good for them."

"I think this..Lif..is still in the mindset that he still owns this place, or that we're "open for business"." Cora observed. As Lu-lu crashes to the floor, she laughs. "I like his sense of humor, however." 

"A flying lizard the other night left me a message to come see a particular fellow at the Yawning Portal if I wanted to have anything to do with the Zhents. Otherwise known as the Black Network, their members work as unscrupulous mercenaries and the faction has had a storied history as a group of self-serving thieves, spies, assassins and malevolent wizards, who, believe it or not, for a time, were indentured by their leaders to serve the gods Bane and Cyric."

She sneers at the mention of the God of War and Tyranny, as if it was a dark subject matter to her.

"Most of their activities seem up my alley. I was thinking about paying one of their representatives a visit." she said. "Maybe."

"I was telepathically contacted by the lady of Blackstaff Tower, who leads Force Grey. Force Grey is an elite cadre of specialized adventurers. Whenever Waterdeep has an issue that can't be solved with conventional means, Force Grey is called in to act. In the circumstances where a member of Force Grey is arrested, Blackstaff intervenes and is able to get them released. They sound like a better fit for me than the Zhentarim."

Cora smiled knowingly, softly, so very subtle. "Sounds like my old.." but then her smile faded and she looked away. "..job." she whispered to herself.

It was dark, and raining.
Outside in the training grounds.
The day she was terminated.
She was on her knees. Broken. Beaten. Bleeding.
The rain that came down hid the tears she was weeping.
She choked on her anguish, her sorrow. It was hard to breathe.
Then the Commander, standing above her, grabbed her by the jaw. Forced her to look at him.
"What a disappointment you are." he rumbled at her. Like stones grinding. "When I found you, you were dying in an alley. Homeless, stealing food. Alley filth. You were an ANIMAL."
She didn't have the strength to push his hand away. She was completely devastated. Her heart ached with the coming consequence of her actions, and her unprincipled behavior.
But most of all, she drowned in the sadness of losing her best friend - and his family.
"But I took you in. I gave you a FAMILY." he growled. He let her go.

That was the day she was fired.

"The Lord's Alliance is a group of cities along the Sword Coast that protect each others' interests," Heishe explains. "However, I wasn't given any sort of meeting offer or anything of that sort, just a coin and a trial period."