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"Haynes, Halifax, and Harriot," Mercy offered as she took the requested turn. "I've tried for years to convince them to shrink it to Triple H, but, dad says that sounds too close to 4H and would probably cause brand confusion."

"And, yeah, that's the plan," She said, not sounding at all upset by the prospect. "He wants me to focus on getting my studies knocked out - then for the first couple of years of Law School he's willing to let me intern as a paralegal - before giving me some time off so I can focus on passing the Bar."

"Then I get to find out what I'm good at and what I want to focus on - and weather I end up working with him directly, or with Mr. Halifax or Mrs. Harriot," She added with a nod. "He does mostly business law, but if my focus is elsewhere.. well... There's a part of the firm for that."

She knew this area of the city. Her Uncle Lucas and Aunt Mary had an apartment maybe two blocks further down in the slightly more bohemian side of things - but still in the "nice" part of the city. Lucas could definitely afford the rent between his boxing winnings and his day job... Mary on the other hand... well...

Mercy was expecting her to come whining to her parents that Lucas had changed the locks again.

The offer was tempting in its own right. Here was her chance to get to know one of the Delta Sigma Pi girls. One who had gone out of her way to save her bacon even. A part of her knew she should go home - maybe power up some Final Fantasy and grind out a few more levels to get the edge off...

"You know what, that sounds absolutely lovely," Mercy said with a nod. "I haven't had a good sleepover in ages."

Not since like... freshman year of high school anyway.

"Thank you, again, by the way, I know I've said it like - a million billion times," Mercy snorted. "But really, you've been entirely too kind to me, and I can't think of any sort of way to pay you back."

.

"Our Lady of Destiny," Mercy said. "Only - the best - as my mother would say."

There might have been a slight bitter note to her tone at the mention of her mother but it did not linger long as she punched in the code and drove through the carpark up to the required spot.

"But, they wanted me to focus on my studies and not boys - so all girl's finishing school it was," She shrugged. "I mean... it was an interesting four years for sure."

If the level of security - or value of the vehicles parked caught her attention, she certainly didn't show it, remaining rather nonplused as she talked.

"How about you?" She asked.

So Mercy was suddenly debating if she could find out if this building had any vacancies, because she would kill to have an actual guard in her lobby instead of a grouchy super. The second thought was the sudden realization that the guard had referred to her savior as Ms. White.

Now, White was not an entirely uncommon surname. That said - the odds of her host not being the heir of White Industries, given that she was a member of Delta Sigma Pi, and had gone to Our Lady of Destiny was... astronomically slim.

"Good evening," She said with a smile and a wave. "Been a quiet night?"

Part of her said that she should thank Delilah for the offer of her couch once they reached her apartment, then politely see herself out so as to not look like a trellis climber. Another part of her told her it would be RUDE to do so, even if only to save face.

In the end she decided that she would just see how the night went, and scream into her pillow at home about it later.

Once they were along in the elevator, and Delilah had spoken with a the smile, Mercy let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Okay, good," She said, her hands going up to her hair to comb through the rusty-red locks nervously. "I mean, aside from getting me out the door at the house you've been super nice so, like... I'm not expecting you to bite but like..."

She realized she was rambling, shook her head, letting the hair fall to cover her face for a moment before blowing it out of her face with a heavy puff of air.

"Sorry, just having that mental realization that you know - I made a complete idiot of myself in front of one of the most influential socialites in the entire city," Mercy said, turning and not so much leaning against the mirrored elevator as giving Delilah her full attention. "Granted - I've also realized that you're actually really freaking cool, kind, and probably a few other adjectives that I'm sure you here all the time."

"You know what - let me just... start over," She said, reaching up and running fingers through her hair again to fluff it back into some semblance of order.

There was a brief moment of silence as she watched the numbers go up as the elevator climbed.

"Real talk," She said. "The last thing I expected tonight was to crash on your couch. My plan had just been to make small talk and you know... Maybe scope out an actual college party for once, let me hair down, have some fun... Soon as I sniffed the punch I knew I'd made a mistake - and then I was surrounded... Then you showed up and saved my bacon."

Now she actually did lean lightly against the polished handrail of the elevator wall.

"Thank you, for tossing me a line - and helping me, you're good people," She said, giving the other woman a smile. "Like, sorry, for the whole... thing before... I just needed to get that out of my system and you seem cool enough that I can just... kinda... vent you know?"

Mercy followed without question, it was almost as if the older woman was pulling her along with the motion. Following her was easy - Mercy had to admit privately to herself that she wasn't hard on the eyes either - but she also exuded an aura that made it clear that, that tree was clearly not to be barked up - not to mention that she was an upperclassman, and Mercy had tried the dating up thing in high school and it HAD not worked out.

She'd try and stick to her age bracket - for now.

"Oh god, yes, please," Mercy replied to the last statement, looking around the apartment trying her best to hide her awe. She didn't even want to know what rent ran on this "demo" apartment. Probably easily double what she was paying at hers - and only because it had good internet. Everything was... just about up to code. "Something herbal if you have it."

She'd try to not be picky about it - but she could only hope that her host had a decent selection to pick from, but she'd make due until she could get home and raid her own stash.

The fact that the woman had already kind of... taken her under wing as a mentor was... an odd sensation to Mercy - but not a bad one. It implied that the other woman saw some.. potential in her. Or at least just wanted to impart in her some level of reasonable warning. Either way - she appreciated the kindness... It was more mothering than she'd had in several years.

Shame that it came from a complete stranger.

That question though - the what did she have to offer - was a tough one. Delilah had connections to money and important people. Mercy technically did as well - but not nearly to the same degree. Not to mention the biggest thing she brought to the table was...

"Clarify that for me," She said, carefully sitting on the couch and letting her hands slip into the pockets of her hoodie as she thought. "Do you mean in general, or specifically what I bring to a group?"

"Because my answer would be different for either," She added looking at the doorway to the kitchen.

Mercy listened to the other woman's words, and as the scenario was presented to her she closed her eyes and though hard for a moment. With only 24 hours and limited resources - as she doubted she'd have much in the way of being able to set up something quickly... But, she did have something she was pretty sure other people didn't. Something she could leverage for a quick influx of cash - something that could be mobilized quickly and would mobilize others.

She took a deep breath.

"Guerilla fundraiser livestream," Mercy said, pulling hands out of her hoodie to along with her phone. "I'd grab a handful of the more... physically and socially appealing girls in the sorority - ones that play the roles that I need them to play - and then set up a fundraiser livestream and encourage donations and certain donation tier rewards - nothing.... untoward or illegal obviously - that goes without saying - but it wouldn't be hard to... build up a very quick word of mouth from certain communities that like to throw money around."

No, she wasn't looking at her current donations payout numbers on her phone. You couldn't prove it.

"Wouldn't take more than... probably four or five hours - less if I... called in some favors for a shout out or two." She added.