Considering that it saved my life and seems to be a useful skill in general, I’ve been practicing sneaking around and loitering without getting caught the past month. A lot of it was just eavesdropping and trying to go unnoticed while in public with large groups of people as cover. It was a bit anxiety-inducing at first, and I thought for sure I was going to be arrested or worse, asked what i was doing there. Thankfully the worst I got was some weird looks until I started actually getting good at it. I still dunno what I’m doing, really, I just imagined I was in a stealth game the whole time. There’s always a kind of suspicion bar that you just have to stop from filling up. I didn’t find out anything interesting from all that eavesdropping I’ve done, seems like my life will remain boring (Hold on, I didn’t mean that, Please don’t give me a conflict) average as always until another Contract happens. 

Also did I mention that I now have a gun?

“It's not exciting, but it works.“

I suppose it makes sense that my new gift was immediately useful in my next Contract. It’s a gun, which is boring but practical. Just how I like it. Honestly, it makes for a pretty good fidget toy when it’s a keychain as well, I’ve noticed that I clutch at it when I’m nervous. I’ve nicknamed it Chekhov’s Gun for obvious reasons: I just think it’s neat. I have been practicing aiming (without actually shooting anything unfortunately) at targets to make up for my failure during one of the fights in the Contract. I feel my skill in firearms increasing. Guess I’m the tropes and gun (singular) guy now. 

While I’m glad my new skills have been sufficient in powering me through Contracts, I do kind of wish I got powers that could give me another method of fiscal gain. Rent has been rough on me this month. 

You know what, I think it's time to be a bit more proactive here. I'm sick and tired of things going wrong because we were slightly unprepared. There seems to be plenty of Contractors, and it's a damn shame there hasn't been an archive or method of communication between different Contractors-with-a-capital-C. No one's interfered with us exchanging numbers, so I don't see why I can't just make a site to do what I've just been waiting for. The only downside is all the time it might take me, due to obvious reasons of recovering from life-threatening situations I haven't been fully up-to-speed on my side gigs. But it'll be worth it. My placeholder (but probably final) name for it is The Contractorpedia, and you bet I'm making it an open encyclopedia. 

Contractorpedia isn't the only idea I've had recently though. I do need more money, especially since the Harbingers aren't gonna give me more free rides anymore, and there is this one trope I've always wanted to try... Hmm...

Update: Ohhhh that was not a good idea. In my search for knowledge I have found the Idiot Ball. Someone showed up at my apartment soon after the site got DDoS'ed, and I am unsure of their intent, but they left me a bag of survival gear and a sound mixer? I am devastated at the easy resistance against my goal of collaboration but once the clarity hit I was not surprised. I am unfortunately way in over my head. THANKFULLY, Adrannis is letting me room with them. I ended my lease on the apartment and after moving my personal belongings to Cam's house (They didn't ask too many questions thank God) I could book a flight to Vancouver with the money I 'saved' from not having to pay rent. I really owe them my life and so much more. Having their protection still won't be foolproof, but they are much more physically capable than I am and narratively it just makes more sense for me to survive if there's two of us.