[𝔸𝕋𝕋𝔼ℕ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ] - Velvet and Veneer x Reader

X - CONJECTURE.

a/n: happy new yeaaaarrrrr! :) this chap is quite a bit shorter bc I've been busy (apologies pookies), but once things start speeding up we should be back to our regularly scheduled programming 

a LOT of you were calling Ritz your "wife" in the last chapter so congrats you get to go on what is basically a date with him in this one LMFAOAOAOAO

TW for manipulation (lowkey this should be an expected trigger from here on out), lying

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con·jec·ture

an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information.

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[LOG - November 30th, Year ????]

"Hm. I'm surprised, 88. Seems you really took our last meeting to heart," your supervisor commented, her body relaxing in her chair as she regarded you with a small smile, "I was very worried. Glad to see you're still on it."

Standing in the office of your supervisor around 2 in the morning, you were updating her in person for the second time.

And, thankfully, despite your anxieties, everything was going smoothly.

The first time you'd attempted to share information, you'd been met with intense disappointment and shame - an emotion you hadn't seen from your supervisor since your training days. She'd made you realize that you weren't meeting expectations, and knocked you down a peg or two. Humiliated you back into reason.

It was the first time your loyalty towards the agency had ever been brought into question. And for who? Two prissy pop stars that she'd believed you'd gotten a bit too familiar with.

That'd stuck with you, and you'd promised yourself afterwards that whatever happened going forward, you'd find a way to fulfill the mission in a way that pleased her - and, subsequently, get her prying eyes off of your back.

...That led you to just recently, where you'd found yourself beginning to fabricate clues.

If anyone asked you, you'd tell them no, that they're not really fake - just an exaggeration of your progress. Instead of saying that you'd accidentally run into your target's assistant and found the perfume bottle by coincidence, you'd say you snuck into their room and found it yourself. Instead of saying you only made friends with one person at their annual Halloween party, you'd say you'd made multiple connections that would make it very easy to traverse the social realm. You really had done those things, just...not exactly in the way you described it to her.

You'd realized that her anger towards you was less due to the fact that you'd grown closer with the siblings and more of the fact that she'd expected you to work faster. You'd always completed missions early, ever since you were first officiated.

That was what had made you "one of the best".

You supposed she'd expected you to do the same here, and when you didn't meet those expectations, she'd decided to blame your emotions for it. Your past obsessions.

It was quite the loophole - if you told just a few white lies, it opened up so much more freedom to do what you actually needed to complete your mission.

Of course, it made you feel guilty - but you'd also felt guilty when your honesty had gotten you yelled at. At least in this situation, the guilt was negated due to the fact that so many good things were happening around you.

It wasn't permanent, anyways. As soon as this mission was over, you'd stop.

The twins just...made things different. They needed their own special exception.