>>19000826Meanwhile in the Divine Mansion, a guard folds his arms as he looks Nikki over.
"Like my costume?" she asks. "It's from an anime. I just hope Sapphire's spirit doesn't realise, she'd never let me live it down if she knew I watch Japanese cartoons."
"It's very nice Ms. Kade but uhh.. well, we allowed this year's trick or treaters onto the premises as you requested. But if Madame Divine finds out..."
Nikki shushes him with a finger pressed against his lips. "Don't worry! She won't begrudge us a harmless prank."
The guard visibly panics. "Us? Don't drag me into this."
Nikki frowns. "I'm not talking about you, stupid. Go away!"
As the guard leaves, Nikki heads toward a window, looking down at a crowd of trick or treaters outside the mansion. As she does so, Coco's shrill voice echoes in her mind.
>Come on! Get us down there, let's do this! I want to see their faces when the little gift we put in the sweets takes effect!Nikki grabs a basket full of candies. "It won't work instantly, so we won't get to see that. But if enough trick or treaters come around, maybe it'll be in the news!"
She starts laughing as she skips down the stairs and toward the mansion's main entrance. Just as she's about to grab the doorknob and pull the door open she pauses. Coco increased influence within her life isn't something she has any way of changing. But what if instead of letting her situation devolve into an internal battle for control that she may not even win, she showed her other half a desire to share willingly? Surely she'd reciprocate. After all if nothing else, Nikki was sure based on Coco's influences on her life that her other half cared about her.
"Hey, Coco... would you like to take control for this? It was your idea."
Coco's laughter echoes in Nikki's head.
>Yes I'd like that. I'd like that very much 