Disease flower

The golden compass.

A now taller and mature redhead hummed and bobbed to a song coming from an old and staticky radio with the fan running in the background. She spun around in an old and squeaky office chair, picking at the rusty fabric and pulling out pieces of stuffing to play with as she thought, every once in a while typing relentlessly and clicking away, her face lit up by a computer screen in the dark room. She moved her chair back slightly until it hit the iron bars of a bed frame, reaching onto the mattress and grabbing a bag of chips, keeping her eyes glued to the screen. The only time she took her eyes off of it was to look at a rabbit plush beside the monitor and stuff the rabbit with the foam she'd torn from the chair, eventually stitching it back up. "Gosh Mr. Flops, your stitches keep on coming undone." The redhead sighed, stuffing a needle in her mouth as she focused intently on precision. "Eth really isn't as good as he likes to think." She said, finally getting in the last stitch before tying it up and giving Mr. Flops a small pat on the head with a content smile before switching her focus back onto the computer in front of her. Her focus was cut off however when she heard knocking on the door, opening moments after it and revealing a tall and beautiful girl with long blonde hair.

"Hi Lilith!!" She beamed excitedly with a small wave, "Have you fixed Mr. Flops yet?" The redhead nodded with a small smile, grabbing the plushie from her desk and handing it to the other.

"You should just ask me to fix him instead of Eth, he obviously does a weak job." Lilith said, the other giving a shrug in return.

"Anyways, don't come out yet!" The blonde one–Alice winked with a smirk.

"Oh right, you guys are planning a surprise," Lilith rolled her eyes with a fake sense of suspiciousness when in reality she was quite excited and curious as to what they were doing.

"Yes! And It's almost done."

"Okay well just let me know, I'm just getting some extra work done." Lilith scooted her chair back into the worn out desk she worked on, it was a wooden one she'd found at some thrift shop, still surprised it hadn't broken due to its condition.

"Work? Oh come on now Lilith, you truly are no fun." Alice sighed with exhaust, ignoring the glare she got from the other and instead walking out and clicking the door shut. Lilith continued typing, occasionally taking a break to sing the lyrics to a song if she knew it. It was a normal Saturday vibe for her to be listening to the indie rock playlist on the station, something she looked forward to every week. The perfect time to sit back and relax, get some work done which usually consisted of background checks of targets–It was an assanination organization. Albeit, not a very big one, but it did have a great reputation and efficiency under its belt. Probably because Ethanol had only hired the best killing machines and raised them to be such since a young age. Alice was known for amazing charisma and gymnastics, she was undoubtedly attractive and that made her job for distracting and unexpected kills much easier, meanwhile Ray was an amazing computer expert, he would do most of the electronic communication and hacking if necessary. Overall the group consisted of 5, Lilith, Alice, Ray, Ethanol, and somehow Mr. Flops. Lilith looked over to Mr. Flops who was discarded by Alice onto Lilith's bed, he leaned over to his side, his large and floppy ears covering his eyes. Lilith was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of the wooden being knocked on again, "Yes?" Lilith spun her chair around to the door watching as this time Ray, a frail boy with fluffy and fairly long brown hair opened the door. "Your surprise is ready." He said calmly with a smile. Lilith jumped off her chair, curiosity peaked more than it had been before. She followed Ray down the hallway of the small apartment, looking at the yellow painted walls that were hung with children's drawings and boards with pins on pictures, both making their way to the main living room where she was greeted by banners hung from the walls saying "Happy birthday!" and "Celebration". On the dining table there laid a homemade cake with pink frosting on top and lit up birthday candles. Next to the cake stood Alice and Ethanol, both in sync saying "Happy 17th birthday!" Both with very different tones, Alice's being energetic and Ethanol's being more monotone and less excited–Still, Lilith held a large smile that spread from ear to ear with a warm and fuzzy feeling residing in her heart.