Hmm... control freak huh? Explained the daughters' eagerness to have sex with her, probably the 'mommy' bit too. Doll knew it was scary to let your children have their freedom, particularly when you had a job that made you a gigantic target - such as being a<em>police officer</em>- but it would happen one day whether you liked it or not. The goal was to prepare them for when it happened, not keep it from happening...<br/><br/>'Attempted assassination' was a interesting choice of words; her 'death' was certainly suspicious, certainly planned, but why 'assassination' and not 'the attack' or 'the accident'? Accident implies taking it at face value as coincidence, attack implies awareness of the circumstance and intention, but 'assassination'? Well, that suggested far more than just intention, but plan, knowledge, involvement, and most of all<em>reason</em>...<br/><br/>Doll now had reason to suspect he knew more about her 'assassination' than what he'd know from an information dragnet. She would remember this.<br/><br/>For all his boasts and bluster, one thing was clear: this dragon read like a textbook criminally malignant narcissist. His concerns extended to what was his, he was the what was right, the<em>only</em>right, and if it wasn't his it had to be his, or it was to be eliminated, and of course she should feel 'honored' at his professed brilliance and grace. Explained the hold on his daughters, though she kind of suspected prior to this, but the whole spiel boiled down to two things:<br/><br/><strong>"So Redscale and Darklight are causing you problems, and you want me to make them stop being one?"</strong>she reiterated, having been taking a long series of drags from her cigar at his proselytizing.<strong>"Interesting... I think it's quite a stroke of luck then that I happened to almost meet an untimely demise and you happen to have the gold to fund my revival and rehabilitation, all while I'm still legally both disabled and <em>dead</em>."</strong><br/><br/>She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed; what a glorious frustration this was going to turn out to be...<br/><br/><strong>"Whatever; you need me to work <em>with</em> you and not <em>for</em> you, and I'm thankful for what you've done for me whether I'm enthused or 'honored' or whatever. So let's talk specifics: what are you actually expecting me to <em>do</em> now? And what type of numbers am I looking at regarding my 'debt' and it's 'forgiveness'? I don't expect to be working on vagaries for either."</strong><br/><br/>For the moment she was signed onto this arrangement, but considering her new situation, and her 'partner' in this arrangement... well, they'd see how long it lasted.