My big mouth... Susanne thought. She tried to think of something to tell her best friend, but in the end just shook her head in frustration. "Can we change the subject?"

Meredith saw the tears threatening to appear in her friend's eyes and fell silent. Roger had been replaced... and Susanne had somehow ditched the replacement... yes, something was very not right.

"Oh! Kristsi got her Guardian!"

Not really a change of subject... but it was off the direct spotlight subject of Susanne's Guardian. "Oh, yeah? Tell!"

"He's a dragon... acts like a butt a lot of the time, but, y'know, he's kinda cute..."

"Mr. Darcy?"

"Well, I don't feel that much of an urge to slap him... and he's not acting mean to her, he's just..."

"Acting mean to her?" "Something like that!" Meredith grinned, happy that Susanne was joking around. "I mean, he's cool enough, but they started out on the wrong foot."

Meredith proceeded to tell Susanne any and all news about the other girls. How Mercy had allowed her to be soundly beaten by Nyx.

How Orion couldn't seem to keep his hands off Mercy.

How funny Orpheus looked in human form.

How Kristsi had tumbled out of HammerSpace black and blue from the flat of Celly's blade.

Susanne barely managed to suppress a smile at this.

"What?!?" Meredith said as she saw the expression on Susanne's face. "You think that's FUNNY???"

"No, no... well, slightly amusing, perhaps... I guess... I've just found out a lot about Celly. She's not well, but I'm wondering about whether or not she's just a loony. She's actually quite amiable."

"What's this?!? Please, don't turn on us!"

"Don't worry. I won't. As for teams or whatever... I never said I was on a team. Anaera and I were both scared out of our socks by Celly, and we called a truce between us and decided we felt better with the other to watch our backs. Then Mercy started tagging along. You came to London and turned out to be Otaku. Kristsi showed up. I don't know why, but... we still have to fight. The only thing I can really promise is that I won't fight you."

Meredith's eyes widened in shock. This was... weird. Insane. Not right. What had happened? Susanne had never wanted to fight. "Are you okay?" she said softly as they walked.

Susanne nodded. "I'm fine. Maybe I've just been in the Game too long... I'm starting to lose my conscience." Her grin told Meredith that she was teasing, and Meredith responded in kind, but she kept in the back of her mind the thought that Susanne often said things in a teasing manner when she was dead serious.