Displacement (n) (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that transfers affect or reaction from the original object to some more acceptable one.
And that, at the end of the day, was what it was all about.
Instead of deriving pleasure from "zer heaving of zer bosom" or from... the B-word, you occupy yourself with something else.
So she crept on, following her 'victim'. The thrill of the chase sharpening every one of her senses, tapered to a razor-sharp point, honed to a knife-edge.
She reached her prey, and whispered in their ear.
"Boo."
Scaring Assassins never got old, thought Sally.