No, I'll continue helping myself.

You don’t even tease the thought of using Raiden’s body for anything else besides what its original purpose is. You step into the kitchen and see that Carly isn’t there. Keeping her company is Qamar, another one of your maids.

Unlike Carly, Qamar is a lot younger than her counterpart. She looked about 19. She had silky brown hair that cascaded just beyond her shoulders, a slender body, and soft brown eyes. Her almond-colored skin shimmered slightly in the natural light bleeding through the large windows.

When your eyes meet, her eyes widen, and she takes a deep bow. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” you reply as you maneuver around to Carly, holding onto a cup of coffee. You take the mug and take a tentative sip. The brew is refreshing, hot, and wakes you up almost immediately. The Raiden portion of your mind doesn’t move an inch, but all your senses are tugged up. The taste is very aggressive; despite the creamer and whip cream on top, a hard kick followed every intake.

Carly doesn’t say anything. Neither does Qamar. You tap the counter, staring at them; they both avoided your gaze. There’s untold tension in the room that makes you want to shift your legs uncomfortably. You clear your throat and ask them how their days were going so far. They quickly chase you with some generic answer that doesn’t satisfy you. They just shuffle around and play with the hems of their pale-blue maid uniforms and aprons. There’s another tug in your thoughts and a strong urge to yell at them. You stall yourself out and go blank for a couple of seconds. “I’ll see you two around, I guess.”

You go back out of the kitchen and make your way towards the garage. If it weren’t for Raiden’s knowledge of his home, you would have gotten lost otherwise. In the garage, you see a couple of Challengers, Mustangs, 370z; they were all the newest models and custom paint jobs: carbon fiber black, with crimson red stripes, either across the hood or on the sides.

Your hands moved to a key hanger and plucked off the first set while your legs guided themselves over the red-striped 370z. The engine roared to life and then started to purr. You rolled off the driveway and started to make your way to the city. Despite Raiden living an aggressive lifestyle, his playlist consisted of easy-listening tunes and pop genre girl-bands. No matter what you thought, Raiden’s brain mellowed out, allowing you to really gather your thoughts...

...How were you going to get Emily to dump her current total douchebag boyfriend? What were you going to do to get her even to start talking to her? Was she even OK with her boyfriend sending you videos and pictures? Was she in on all of it? You wouldn’t think a Fate would offer you such a chance if it Emily were in on it...would she?

You swerve to miss someone you had been unintentionally riding since you hit the highway. It felt natural going this fast, so you didn’t stop doing it. In fact, you embraced the speed. Before long, you were zipping into the parking lot and headed towards the area where most workers parked.

Sure enough, you drove past Emily‘s car. It was a Jeep Wrangler from 2000. The paint job could have been better, and she probably could have used some new tires-

“This isn’t helping me,” you said aloud. “I’ve gotta focus.”

You parked a fair distance and got out of your car—time to start interacting. You walked past your car too, which was weird. Raiden’s thoughts flooded your mind - Klaus’s car!

Was it allowed to see yourself? The Fate didn’t tell you it wasn’t - just that you were going to be on autopilot, whatever that meant. You guessed you’d be taken away if you weren’t supposed to, so you took the chance.

The store through Raiden’s eyes was different; he saw it has something dirtier and less pleasant than you did - the elitist itch made his stomach churn at the sight. The weirdest thing, though, was that you felt nervous for some reason, more so than you did when you passed cars on the freeway. The weight of your sidearm was the only thing that gave you the insurance of safety. You proceeded…

You wandered around for a bit of bit, mindlessly grabbing painkillers, bandages, and then reusable ice packs. Until fate happened. You ran into Emily, well, more or less at least.

She was stocking some shelves with a relatively blank expression, obviously thinking about something else as she brought products out from her basket. Raiden’s mind spurs. It’s nothing sexual, but he definitely knows her. You continued walking towards her, your mind quickly piecing together a plan.

As soon as you both made eye contact, you shot her a smile, which **** her to do the same.

“Hiya!” She beams. “Did you need help finding anything?”

You gesture to the items you are already holding and then shake your head. “Actually, I was wondering if you knew Klaus, he works here, doesn’t he?”

She nods, her smile straightening somewhat. “Uh, yes. We work together.”

You then gesture to her name tag. “Emily? He talks about you. Are you two...dating?”

She doesn’t even blush. She instead looks around. “No, I already have a boyfriend, his name is—“

Before she can even say his name, you interject. “You’re kidding me. You hung out with each other a couple of times, didn’t you? Tell me you’ve at least thought about it.” You ended with a slight chuckle, which triggered her to laugh as well. You knew she was chipping off the tension you were building with the conversation.

“Hah~ I— I mean not really. He was nice and all, but I...I don’t know…”

That’s not what I’m looking for, you idiot. Your mind spun with Raiden’s lingering conscience, but you caught yourself before you could be silent for too long.

“Well, if things fall through with your current boyfriend, I hope you maintain something with him.”

Emily’s smile had faded almost completely. She seemed to be thinking about what you said. “Did you…Klaus just isn’t my type, I guess.”

A small fire of anger started to burn in your stomach, so you answered her remark with sarcasm. “What's your type? Douchey and controlling?”

She looked up at you with an expression you couldn’t read that well with Raiden’s eyes. Her mouth bobbed like a fish, and then she stammered something before she made way for the stockroom.

“Real smooth,” you say. You perk and turn. You felt like someone was looking at you.

Peeking over an aisle, you saw a pair of hazel eyes staring at you. Another co-worker, but it was one you were reasonably familiar with. “Liam?”

Liam steps out, craning his neck awkwardly. “Ayyye, Raiden…”

You ran your fingers over your scalp. Untold anger boiled out. “Oi! Why the fuck are you watching me!?”

Liam steps back, surprised by your outburst. You hide Raiden’s anger by forcing a laugh. “I’m kidding. What’s up, dude?”

He starts with the regular “fuck this job” and “how has your life been” routine. He acted differently around Raiden, and you could tell he didn’t know him that well, which begged the question of why he took an interest in having this run-in.

Eventually, towards the end of Raiden’s patience, Liam tries to invite you to a party, a “last moment replacement” since you decided against going. You were going to make Raiden stay out of it too, but then he mentioned that Emily was going...with her boyfriend.

“That sounds like fun,” you remark, lying through your teeth. “You need help getting a girl, buddy?”

Liam laughs awkwardly and rubs the back of his neck. “I- I mean. I'm with Lucinda, from high school. She’s, uh, she’s been great.”

She hasn’t been great. If you had to guess, there was probably someone else he was trying to impress that was also attending the party. Liam noticed Raiden’s cars more than you did, so he probably thought this was a good opportunity to build his relationship with him.