#p: patch

She could say she didn't know what had made her think about it, except that would be a lie. She'd been carrying the thought around with her most of the day, remembering a promise to stay safe and carrying around a vague sense of guilt for the amount of time that had passed since the last time her finger had curled around a  trigger as she'd taken aim at worries that weren't solely in her imagination. 

She'd worked hard to make sure she wasn't defenseless, worked her schedule as best as she could to get practice sessions with any available hitman. She'd ended up with bruises from being flipped onto a mat, but learned how to fight back, torn the web of skin between her thumb and first finger by catching it in the slide of a gun, but found out how to lodge a bullet into the pretend brain of a cut-out without flinching. That had been the hardest part of her lessons with Silver, more so than sinking a projectile in a target area. Every time she heard that bang, she'd wince, even when she knew it was coming because she'd applied the pressure or watched the hammer drop as Silver took her own shot. 

But she got over it. She practiced with the other woman and by herself, but lately she'd been slipping, relaxing and forgetting how important it was not to. Stella didn't intend to let all of Silver's training go to waste or slip into a situation where she was defenseless, but didn't have to be.

"Scoot over, Patch."

"What are you doing?  You didn't bring pajamas!"

"Guess I'll have to sleep naked then, hm?"

"I found an elephant, Miss Bones!"

"...where did you find an elephant, Patch?"

"Miss Edie said it was okay to steal if it was from stores, and so I found a store with many tents around and lots of bright colours, and I found our new elephant, and he's going to sleep in the Loft with all of us."