Life made you a target. Tasha felt the punch of her choices at the Hunter’s Ball, with [High Alert] ringing constantly in her soul as it took every inspection-type skill and tagged those who used them on her, marking those who did with faint stars to her sight. The Ricort shooting range hosting the ball was now a sea of lit-up stars. Hit your marks before they hit you. Red hair, spurning all the boys for the girls, fighting to be valedictorian at Unseen Preparatory, a life of standing out for people to take shots at you, making Harmony’s choice of outfit cut deep into her soul.
The shooting target and control module were only part of the picture as [Precision Strike] kept her moving forward on those massive heavy weights the girl strapped to her feet. While [Hand’s Free] kept her ammunition circling around the mess of now even fierier red hair on her head. And the skin… so much skin… This was only half a dress.
“Ta-tasha?” Bently gasped.
The second-year student ran the trick-shot club. He’d suggested she dress up to stand out. This was the kind of party where you could make connections.
“You said there’d be girls,” she reminded him as he gaped like a fish on dry land.
This look had both the male and female gazes on her. Always pretty but not beautiful, this change was magical. What other hidden talents did their healer have? Animal training, a planar siren as a pet, authority, shadow travel, carries herself like a fighter, all the chosen nine had rumors with them, and hers were the most mysterious.
Harmony, nor her pet, had ever triggered [High Alert], a rarity of politeness. Taming the bear that Alex’s family had sent him to The Academy to deal with had been miraculous. And this dress… Tasha winked at a girl she’d normally consider tiers above her ability to catch.
Tasha rolled up Trixie’s address and tucked it into the bird's nest of a hairstyle she’d been gifted with, as it was as close to a pocket as she was going to get.
“Ms. Wainright, impressive attire, perhaps some attention for a lowly pillar as well as the ladies? Numatitous Haggarty, at your service.”
A pillar? The cornerstones of The Academy teaching staff! Twisted metal, she’d hoped to avoid any of them for a few years. Harmony had the bad luck to have classes with three of them. “A pleasure.”
“Such a unique outfit.”
Across the ball, many people went flashy. Several outfits of heatless flame walked about. A handful floated with wings. Tasha avoided those, so her halo of ammunition wouldn’t cause issues. Bright colors and odd shapes were normal. “I’m merely very on theme; others are sure to match it for similar events. I’m surprised it could attract the attention of one such as you.”
Haggarty smiled in one of those ways that made Tasha glad she didn’t like men. “I’m always on the lookout for outliers. Such a low ranking for an Unseen top graduate.”
“I’m still waiting on my body type.”
“Yes, plenty of growth. The right one and you’ll move on up. With the right friends and connections. I want to make sure you’re making the right ones.” Haggarty stated.
Sometimes you weren’t the primary target. Sometimes you were the secondary one caught in the crossfire. You couldn’t avoid dangerous shots around dangerous people. There was only one friend he could be talking about. The one who walked into a room, and every target shifted. Her teammates were already tied into her, Alex indebted, Xera Linked, Tun-knee hunting, and here she was balancing on stilts in threads she made, dodging connections that seemed inevitable. When do you admit you’ve been hit?
“I bet my life that I am.”