Maid with Necromancy

Tess Again -14

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Serving drinks on autopilot was easy mode. Just relax and let the suit switch between different serving programs. She'd set up seven different ones and added on the cycling option. To perfect it, she'd practiced among the staff during manor lunches. This allowed Tess to watch the party and listen to conversations.

"Outrageous or diabolical, I don't know why Kelly is playing these side characters. I wouldn't say she's overshadowing the stars of the show, but she's certainly elevating who she is playing."

A Kelly fan, not worth watching.

"Are they really making a play for the counsel? It's less that they're unkind to new members, and more that new members don't last long after being unable to maintain the requirements for a position. High standards are what we need running this city, don't get me wrong, but I still question the value of the attempt."

Charles Morris of the Tine corporation. Considered an expert at deals. Tess took notes with twitches of her fingers on what he said.

The people at this party were a mix of those curious about the new House White, fans of the beggar queen, and those invited for Ambrosia and Bates to evaluate possible working relationships with.

Serving was only part of the job here. Gathering information was the primary one, and one she intended to take seriously. Notes piled up, drinks loosened lips, and deals got done. Two hours in, and everything was as smooth as a well-plotted equation.

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"I'm here, everyone!" Kelly white announced with a late splashy entrance.

Her fans cheered.

"Response ecstatic," Tess murmured.

The verbal cue projected even more fanfare from both the Peters and her suit, giving good coverage of the room. You could stroke Kelly's ego, then shame her about it being piped in noise later.

Dusty looked half dead as she trailed the woman a few steps behind. There was a good chance Bates might notice and swap her with someone else soon. Poor girl. What if Bates picked her? What programs would be needed?

"Wee! Beep! Wee! Bee!" PeterTwo's alarm set Tess's head ringing and ripped her out of her introspection.

At least it was contained to her hearing devices.

Tess tried to move to ask, "What!"

While her head was free to move. Tensing her body to switch away from the current program had her arm fighting the engineered suit. Against her will, it kept moving. Exosuit ThreeD wasn't serving drinks anymore.

The suit lunged forward through the crowd. Plugging into a visual display showed the target. Not hag White, but Charles Morris was almost as bad.

"Abort! Freeze Function! Malfunction Junction!" Tess yelled, the programs fizzling against whatever slipped into the programmed settings for the party.

Outside of her control, the suit yanked the businessman up, lifting him up into the air. Only one option now. "Mom was right!"

Using the phrase she knew she'd never utter except in extreme circumstances did the worst. Every invention she had with her froze and started to deconstruct. A tear started to form as she silently said goodbye to PeterOne and PeterTwo. They had backups, but it wouldn't be the same.

Exosuit ThreeD exploded off her as an extra safety precaution, ripping her uniform from her body. It shredded her underclothes in the process, leaving her nearly naked. With the suit, she had the strength to lift Charles. Without it, the sudden addition of weight had her crashing down, and the man landing on top of her.

"This is certainly a party," one of the guests commented to her shame.