Chapter 59

Learning New Tricks

Watching a man get torn to shreds for his winnings, Alastor chuckled to himself. Oh, how he should have taken that deal for protection; but even as scraps on the pavements he brought the wendigo entertainment. The sinners that shredded him scattered to the wind with whatever tokens they could carry, not that he minded. The offer had been a simple one; the lowlife would be kept safe until Count Day if he shared half of the spoils, but the man had been most unwilling to part with his future investment. The internal struggle had been magnificent to watch, but in the end Alastor didn't mind the loss. Watching these fools fight with their inner demons only to lose either way was so satisfying, especially for something as simple and boring as money. Still, when a single token rolled away from the carnage and landed at his feet face-up, he picked it up with a gleeful squint of his eyes. A lucky token; how quaint in Hell.

Tucking the little trinket away in his inner coat pocket, his internal radio's jazz rang pleasantly in his ears as he sought other opportunities. Carnies cried out loudly as winners walked away with nick-nacks and stuffed animals while quietly dismissing the losers that followed, bringing in far more money than they were losing on cheap merchandise. Tokens were the currency of choice; such a beautiful trap. People needed to pay for a chance at tokens, and tokens were the only way to get anything else, but they also needed to keep some for a chance at greater riches for the upcoming holiday. More often than not, few actually leave this place with more than they brought, and most leave with far less.

What a wondrous circus.

Still, he was a bit miffed; so far he saw no sign of the hotel guests, which was odd. Granted the area was crawling with sinners, but he had a good eye for finding a target in a crowd. Where in damnation were they?

"Right this way, everyone!"

Hearing Charlie's voice, his head snapped to the side in surprise, his face drenched with curiosity. Sure enough, the princess was marching along with hands down the most annoyed band of sinners in the entire place.

"Alright everybody! Let's go over this one more time, OK?"

Appearing at her side with no warning, Alastor didn't even tell her he was standing there as he watched silently.

Charlie pulled out a small wad of bills. "Does everyone have their budget?"

As everyone held up their measly wads of cash, Alastor could have laughed.

"This. Is. Bullshit," Matiu growled through gritted teeth.

"I got extra tucked away," Lakavi whispered in his ear. "Wanna go treasure hunting?" The mongoose suddenly looked far less sullen about the situation as he started looking around for the nearest alley.

"Alright, good! Now remember; stick to the budget, OK? If you get tokens, spend them however you like! Have a fun day; no killing, no stealing-" she shot a meaningful look in Erpa's direction, and the woman huffed, "-and no cheating! Now let's have some fun." Turning on her heel, her smile widened when she found herself face-to-face with their resident overlord. "There you are, Al! Do you have a budget?"

"Ah, my dear, I assure you I almost never spend money here," he told her, confidently.

"Good for you!" she cheered. Vaggie's eye squinted in suspicion as literally everyone else nearly facepalmed, knowing full well it wasn't an act of self-restraint. Still, everyone ran in separate directions, and Alastor scanned the crowd only to realize that someone was missing.

"Where is Eliza?" he asked. "Surely she feels well enough to come by now."

"Oh, she's… um…" Charlie scratched her head as she couldn't spot the woman. "Well, she was at the back of the group. Maybe she went off on her own? I hope she got her budget!"

Remembering their visit to the Emporium, Alastor shrugged. "Well, she should have a week's worth of pay to waste on the day, at least."

Charlie's eyes furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Why, she recently spent all her money on her new garden attire!" he informed them with a chuckle. "So this week's pay is all she has, I do believe." When the princess' face fell, he cocked an eyebrow. "Is something the matter?"

"She didn't work this week," Vaggie told him, angrily. "Even if she's here, she's completely broke!"

"Aww, I didn't know she didn't have anything," Charlie whined. "I could have given her an advanced payment or something if I'd known that! It sucks being broke at the circus…"

As Vaggie calmed down her girlfriend, Alastor processed what they were saying. It hadn't seemed like she took his advice at all! He saw so little of her this week and had assumed that she had kept up business as usual, minus a day or two at most. Even after taking her shopping she had disappeared for the rest of the day. Why keep it from him that she was resting?


Eliza wasn't sure if she should be impressed or mortified.

This circus was clearly a success if it's short-lived and seeing this much traffic, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out why. Fizz kept his mouth shut under orders, but she was beginning to think he might need to explain it to her. As far as she could tell without asking, everyone was rushing to gather tokens. Tokens required money to buy, and at a very high price, so most people could only walk away with a few, most often not even a double-digit number. Then the tokens opened up the rest of the circus, and everything gave them an opportunity to earn more tokens. Whatever these things are, they seem to be highly coveted.

No one dared be careless with their earnings, because no tokens littered the ground unless a winner was shredded and robbed. Then the assaulters went around on their own, gathering as many as they could, often only to lose gloriously or be shredded themselves. That's the impressive side of things.

The circus itself is another matter entirely.

Not that it looked completely terrible; while wobbly, the rides looked decent, the tents were torn but tidy, and the buildings were mostly structural. And yet people seemed to be dying left and right from the rides alone. But then again, those who survived gained a few extra tokens, so perhaps that just par for the course?

It was all rather confusing.

Unfortunately for her, her current penniless state relegated her to the position of onlooker, as she couldn't buy any tokens for herself. Probably for the best though; the rides looked hazardous even when not actively trying to kill the riders. If she was to enjoy her first roller coaster, she'd prefer one that didn't carry a ten percent or less chance of survival.

"You know boss, I can always get tokens for you," Fizz crooned in her ear.

Turning with a raised brow, she asked suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on boss; you know exactly what I mean," he teased, throwing out his arms as if to display himself. "It's what I'm built for, after all!"

Recoiling slightly, Eliza actually looked away for a moment as she considered his suggestion. Honestly the idea of whoring him out, whatever his purpose, just rubbed her in every wrong way. "Fizz, I, um… I don't think I can do that."

"Aw, why not boss?" he asked, circling around behind her back and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I know I'm not broken in yet, but I know my way around a di-"

"That's not what I mean," she interrupted, walking forward so that there was space between them. "I mean, you really don't feel… demeaned by that? You 'purpose', I mean?"

"Nope!" When she turned to look at him, she didn't see a trace of shame on his cloth-covered face. She wasn't sure if that was legitimate or just a by-product of being robotic.

"And… you're not just programmed to say that?"

Fizz's head tilted for a moment. At first, she expected him to lunge at her; to wail or whine, or maybe laugh it off and make a joke of it. Instead, he scratched one of his cap-and-bells in confusion. "I may be programmed to obey, boss, but I'm not programmed to be happy about it."

For a rather embarrassing moment, Eliza just stared at him with her mouth hanging open. Once she realized this, she promptly shut it and cleared her throat. "You're not?"

"Well, yea," he answered, his tone suggesting that this was some obvious bit of information. "A Robo-Fizz can feel different things. The Robo-Fizz that worked at Loo-Loo Land? He was a pompous ass, but even he got depressed when no one was looking."

"How do you know?" Eliza inquired, deeply confused by this revelation.

The metal jester tapped his head. "Fizz-link, remember? We share stuff with each other all the time! His last post was him getting eaten by a dragon!" When his boss just looked deeply puzzled, he shook his head. "Look, just forget it, alright? Let's have some fun; we're at a circus for Mammon's sake!"

"Well, I don't know about using you to get tokens," she admitted. "You may not find it insulting to be sold out like that, but I do."

"That's fair," he said with a shrug. "Hey, wait, is that why you won't let me have sex?"

"Believe it or not, that was an accidental command," she told him with an apologetic smile. "I actually meant no sex with the people in the hotel, but it blew up into a no-sex rule."

"Wait, WHAT?!" he bellowed, leaning over her in a frenzy. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Honestly, I wanted to see if you could break a command. It was a very informative accident."

"What have I done for you to be so cruel?" he whined, leaning back dramatically with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead. "I have been so very faithful…" Then, peeking back around at her with a mischievous grin, he teased, "Unless it's just because you'll be jealous. Then I'll completely forgive you."

"What's the robot equivalent of 'don't hold your breath?'"

He pouted. "Fine, be that way. But unless we do something, we're just here to people-watch. I did that once at a party for you, but doing that at the circus is too far!"

Realizing that he was correct, she took to looking around for inspiration. There were many who ran out of tokens pretty early, and many took to stealing and mugging to get more. It would be a straight-forward solution to her problem, certainly.

But where's the fun in that?

Then she saw something else; men and women walking around and flaunting themselves. Some were succubi, most were sinners, and all were trying to get tokens. She didn't really want to prostitute herself, but maybe there was potential for something more her speed.

Maybe.

"Hey Fizz, have you seen Angel around?" she asked.

After a bit of searching, they heard the telltale sounds of moaning in an alley, and there was no mistaking the voice. Fizz leaned in toward his boss and chucked. "Told you it's a good way to get tokens."

Giving him a flat glare, she stood there waiting for a moment as Angel finished up his 'business.' After another moment, the pornstar walked out, stashing two tokens in his chest fluff with a grimace. Then he noticed Eliza standing there and his signature smirk returned. "Hey there, shrink! Did you need that alley for somethin'?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask you for some help with something," she told him, not even acknowledging the red-skinned sinner walking past them from the alley Angel Dust just left.

To her surprise, he gave her an annoyed huff. "Look toots, I like ya, but not enough ta fuck for ya."

"What?" she snapped, her inverted eyes pulsing as tendrils snapped behind her back. "Why in mercy's name would I ever ask you to do that?"

"Yea, she won't even ask me!" Fizz sulked.

Angel's smirk faltered when he saw how pissed she was. Rubbing the back of his neck, he glared into the alley just to have somewhere else to look. Damn it, why did his brain always have to kick in after his mouth? "Oh, yea… my bad."

"Just… nevermind," she droned, turning to walk away. "Go do your own thing."

"Nah, shit, just… I'm sorry," he groaned, brushing his hand through his hair. "Ya just caught me in a mood, alright? Fuck, just… What did ya need?"

Glaring back at him, Eliza looked away awkwardly after a moment. "I was hoping you and Fizz could, um… I mean…" As the woman continued to falter, the two of them just glanced at each other, an eyebrow raised in both confusion and worry.

'Repeat after me,' Id instructed as the therapist's bravado quickly depleted. 'I want you to-'

"-Teach me how to flirt," she told them, her voice almost robotic as she fought past her annoyance.

The two prostitutes just stared at her for a moment. Finally, the silence was broken by both of them asking in unison, "...What?"

"Flirting is not exactly my forte," she informed them, maintaining her poker face for all she was worth. "I can talk my way out of things-"

"Could talk her way into Vag's panties the way she plays the bitch," Angel joked quietly, making Fizz's smile widen cheekily.

"-BUT," she emphasized in annoyance, "flirting is something of an empty space in my toolbox."

"Well, shit," Angel cooed, leering over her along with the excited metal jester. Eliza felt so many regrets as she looked up at the two shadows with glowing pink and green eyes. "Looks like we'll be using this alley after all."

Both boys grabbed her and carried her off into the shadows.


She felt ridiculous.

Walking out of the alley without her shoes, she felt their eyes on her from behind as they evaluated her walk. Using the balls of her feet, the idea was to emulate wearing high-heels, seeing as she didn't own any. Her already straight-back posture was even more exaggerated to puff out her chest, which was slightly on display because the top two buttons of her blue blouse were undone. Angel had suggested running back to the hotel to get her skirt, but she vehemently refused. She was uncomfortable enough; therefore, the pants stayed.

Honestly, the hip sway was the hardest part. Tense beyond all hope of this feeling natural, she was required to consciously move them side-to-side, though her current stride helped slightly.

It wasn't long before she returned to the alley, rubbing her temples. "Are you sure I'm doing this right?!"

"You're a knock-out, boss!" Fizz praised, holding up a ripped-up side of a box with a '10' sloppily written on it.

"Come on, bitch; get back out there and work it!" Angel encouraged, shooting a couple finger guns her way with a wink.

"I feel like an idiot," she grumbled, glancing warily at the alley's entrance. "Is there a more subtle approach we could explore?"

Angel strutted over and put an arm around her neck, leaning on her shoulder. "Nah, exaggerated is the way to go! Ya gotta strut your stuff, capiche?"

"I don't 'strut,' Angel," she drawled. "Absolutely everything about this feels…"

"Alright, hang on." Angel leaned up against the wall, his eyes narrowed as he pulled out a cigarette. Without lighting it, he pretended to take a puff before looking up, as if seeing Eliza for the first time. "Hey, hot stuff. Those tits just for show?"

Eliza froze. Is… Is he serious right now? Roleplay? What does she say to someone like that?

'Well, typically we ignore them,' Superego mentioned. 'I suppose we could try for a witty retort?'

'Damn it, this is a flirting test!' Id seethed. 'Why do you have to suck at this so much?!'

'Alright, what would you say?' Superego spat irritably.

After a moment, Id commented, 'Why don't you figure that out for yourself?'

Eliza's eye twitched as she looked away. Damn it, she couldn't say that! It's hard enough trying to say it to Angel during a roleplay scenario, but the thought of going up to some random stranger and just spouting nonsense like that just felt disgusting. "I… I can't do this."

"Hey, babe," Fizz piped up, invading her space and staring straight down at her rack. "Twenty bucks says I last more than five minutes."

"W-what?!" she squeaked, her expression falling in horror. "What does that even-"

"Hah!" Angel interrupted, stepping forward. "Fifty says you wouldn't last longer than two in those."

"Come on, babe, what do you say?" Fizz probed, pressing his cheek to hers. "Wanna break in those tits?"

'It's just roleplay!' Id reminded her as her mind went into overdrive. 'Play along!'

'What do we say?!' Superego shrieked.

'We can't just say anything,' Id stressed. 'Don't blurt out something embarrassing!'

'Everything we could say right now is embarrassing,' her lighter half hissed.

As the two men watched her frozen internal struggle, Fizz sighed while Angel shook his head. "Damn, this is gonna be harder than I thought."

"How does someone with tits like you not know how to flirt?" Fizz asked, flatly. "Seriously, did no one flirt with you in life?"

"Have ya eva seen someone else flirt?" Angel added sarcastically. "Y'ain't that bad at mimickin' shit; got anythin' good?"

Frost crept along the floor, climbing up the walls at a rapid place as the temperature of the alley continued to plummet. The pornstar backed away with all four arms up, and the jester jumped back to hide behind him, peeking out from his right. "Uh, boss? You good?"

"It was just a question!" Angel exclaimed as he summoned his third set of arms to warm himself. "What the fuck?!"

"I need to go," she told them, the echo hiding the tremble in her voice. "I'm sorry, I can't continue this."

When she disappeared around the corner, Angel's arms lowered slightly but didn't fully fall to his sides. Fizz stood behind him, scratching his head with an incredulous expression. "I'm not even sure how we messed up."

"Not a fuckin' clue."


Eliza sat down at a cheap table, her elbows resting on it as her clasped hands supported her head, thumbs gently rubbing the bridge of her nose just under her sinuses. The frosty air kept away most curious onlookers as she mentally kicked herself for running out on Angel and Fizz. It's not like it was their fault; how could they know why she was so upset?

Have ya eva seen someone else flirt?

Angel had no idea that the only image that popped into her mind was her father. How many times had she seen him flirt? Supposedly innocent kisses to the hand, meaningful gazes when no one was watching and hushed conversations away from crowds. He had the perfect job for it.

Everyone comes to the pastor with their problems, after all.

'Fairly certain the only place he didn't flirt or fuck was his office,' Id grumbled, now in as bad a mood as the rest of Eliza's psyche.

'He didn't have sex in the church,' Superego corrected in a dull tone. 'But he flirted a lot.'

'It was effective.'

'Do not defend him!' her better half snapped.

'You can't deny the guy was good,' Id argued, though her usual energy felt depleted. 'If the guy wanted something, he could fuck his way to success better than anybody. Maybe Angel has a point.'

I am not him.

Both halves of her brain paused as, for the first time, Eliza spoke on her own behalf. Finally, Id sighed. 'I know, but if we want to enjoy this circus, we have to do something.'

'We could always find Alastor,' Superego suggested.

'We didn't want to tell him we took time off; you think we're gonna ask him to pay for us here?!'

Eliza sighed; no, asking him was out of the question. Last time she spotted him he was somewhere near the front, luring in a sinner who was close to winning a jackpot. Speaking of men who could work their way to success. Even if sex wasn't his tool of choice, she wasn't entirely sure there was a difference.

Then her eyes narrowed as a thought came to her; was she falling for Alastor just because of the damn Electra Complex? No, that can't be right. She hated her father even more than her mother; at least she just kept the abuse physical and somewhat psychological. Besides, the updated and more heavily studied understanding is that infants learn to love based on positive stimulation from the parents. Not that she probably had any, now that she thought about it. Still, the father does tend to influence the men their daughters are attracted to, as women with abusive parents tend to fall into patterns of settling with abusive partners. And he is showing jealous tendencies, which her father did as well in his own weird way by driving off all the men in her life.

One of the few cases where she refuses to dive into the psychology of something simply because she doesn't want to know.

Standing up, she realized she should probably hunt down her friends, if only to get her shoes back. It was only then she realized that the top buttons on her blouse were still undone. When she reached up to close them, she paused and rested her hands on top of her breasts curiously.

How does someone with tits like you not know how to flirt?Seriously, did no one flirt with you in life?

Maybe she just never noticed how big they were in life, because she never really saw herself as all that beautiful. Plus, anyone that spoke to her often thought she was weird.

A whistling sound broke through her thoughts, and her head swiveled to see a carny giving her a lustful stare and wiggling his eyebrows. At first, she considered using a wing to knock his lights out.

Then she looked at the stuffed animals people could win and saw something adorable.

'Do it,' Id encouraged darkly. 'And do it your way.'

'What is our way, exactly?' Superego snarked.

'Let's find out!'

When the imp motioned for her to come over, she picked a motif and went for it. Batting her eyes, the corners of her lips turned down slightly as her brows furrowed. Pushing in her chair, she turned and made her way over to him, her hands to her side and pointed out.

"Hi," she greeted, sweetly. "Can I help you?"

"Hmm, I think ya can, sweetheart," he told her, his raspy voice rising in a teasing fashion. "Think ya can pop another button for me?"

"Huh?" she asked, putting a finger to her mouth and tilting her head. "How will that help you?"

"Oh, there's lots o' benefits ta what I want," he promised, his half-lidded eyes finally rising to her face. "Ya look flexible; wanna try some positions with me?"

She wasn't sure if this was going to work, but if she was going for the 'dumb and oblivious' act, she was going to commit even if it failed. Though from the vibes she was getting, failure seemed unlikely. "Oh, you like yoga?" she asked, clasping her hands with wide eyes. "I love yoga!"

Blinking for a minute at her stupid answer, the smirk that followed told her she struck gold. "Yea, yea, a little yoga helps everybody, don't it?"

When she giggled, she glanced over his stand curiously as no one was playing at the moment. "Do you have a mat, or- Oh!" Mentally gritting her teeth, she threw her hands on the counter and leaned forward, giving him an eyeful of her cleavage as she honed in on the cute toy that made her decide to try this in the first place. "What a cutie!"

Reluctantly tearing his gaze away from those boner-inducing jugs, he followed her line of sight until it landed on a three-eyed fox doll hanging near the back. Turning back, he asked in a disgustingly flirty tone, "Ya like it, doll?"

'OK, seriously, what is with everyone calling us doll or dollface?' Id asked in annoyance, a tendril flicking out of sight of her target.

"Oh, it's so adorable," she answered in her most girly voice she could manage. "I just want to squeeze it! I'd do almost anything for something so cute!"

Pulling her arms to her chest as if to hug something, she watched as he cleared his throat before hiding something behind the desk. She had a pretty good idea what that something was. "Well then, you'll have to play, sweetie."

When she pouted, he felt opportunity. "But… I don't have any tokens…"

Leaning forward, he beckoned for her to come down to his level. When she did, he took a deep breath of her smokey scent before telling her, "First game's on me."

Standing up, she put a hand up to her mouth with wide eyes. "Really? You mean it?"

"Just make sure ta give it yer best, doll," he told her, almost leaning back before glancing down at his pants and remembering there was a reason he was huddled into his post.

Picking up the little gun, she glanced at it curiously before holding it out and aiming at the small target. She missed, but just barely.

The target fell anyway, and internally Id was laughing her fool head off. 'Why even hide that it's rigged, right? We're in Hell!'

Deciding to go the extra mile, she gave a couple small jumps as she clapped happily. She didn't have to look at him to know he was watching her tits bounce. "I won! I won!"

As she started to make a commotion, other sinners started to surround the stand, many with tokens in hand ready to play. Snapping his fingers, another imp popped out from a nearby alley and switched out with him. When he made his way around the desk, he quickly tucked it up before revealing himself. Eliza had to look down pretty far; the guy was half her height! "So, about that yoga we were talkin' 'bout… That alley work for ya?"

By the time Eliza walked out hugging her prize, he was yelling muffled insults at her from the back, his tail tied around his body and restraining him as he struggled inside a trash bag.

'That was exhausting,' Superego groaned.

'But fun,' Id added excitedly. 'Let's do that again!'

No.

As Eliza looked down at the fox, she smiled as she petted its head fondly.

This is enough.

Thinking that there had to be free entertainment of some kind, she walked around until she found a fun-house. No one really seemed to care about it, which meant it was either incredibly dangerous or just didn't involve tokens.

Since her wings were already out to deal with the horny imp, she simply wrapped them around herself, the little fox peeking out just above her chest. "Let's go see what's in there," she said to the little doll.

And with that, she strolled inside.

In the alley, the other imp at the stall ran back and helped his boss out of the bag. When the enraged carny spit out a sock, he growled, "Get Tawny and Nox; that bitch is gettin' fucked whether she likes it or not."


"What do you mean you're pulling out?!" Vox demanded a few blocks away from the circus.

"Look, it ain't personal or nothin'," the man told him, putting up his hands. "But after the club was leveled by the Radio Demon, business has been sketchy 'cause we're associated with it."

"That relic has nothing to do with your other investments," the media demon seethed. "That was a one time problem!"

"Y-yes, well, that's not how the higher-ups are viewin' it, ya see," the man cowered, becoming one with the black leather chair he sat upon.

"Get your bosses on the phone now, or this building will be the next one leveled."

The man started dialing furiously, and the phone rang… and rang… and…

Rang.

When electricity started to build with the tall demon's temper, the man desperately dialed another number. This time, there was an answer.

"I told you not to call unless-"

"It's an emergency, ma'am," the man said quickly, handing the phone to Vox.

"If I have to tell you my name, we're through," the TV growled.

"Oh, Mr. Vox, what is this-"

"Don't play dumb," Vox interrupted. "You pulled your money out of three business ventures with no notice and thought no one would notice? Who the fuck do you think I am?"

"Ah, yes, that was-"

"I'll tell you what that was," Vox growled. "That was a stupid mistake that you will be fixing immediately."

"But if the Radio Demon is involved in-"

"He is involved in nothing!" Vox slammed his hand on the desk, his narrowed 2D eyes flashing red and blue. "Fix. This. Now!"

"This will take time, sir." Even as the person on the other end of the phone made their excuses, the terrified secretary watched as electricity started to build. "The encounter with the Radio Demon has made some clients nervous, and-"

"STOP STALLING ME, BITCH!"

The secretary didn't survive long enough to watch the windows blow out and the building burn down, and power went out for miles as the TV demon's fit triggered an EMP blast.

The enraged overlord stormed out of the building, exhausted yet calmed. That damn fight with his rival was still haunting him, and he was done fucking around with every coward trying to tuck their tail and run. Calling Valentino, he climbed into his limo and rode back to the studio for a stiff drink and hopefully some peace and quiet. Though from the venom in Val's tone, he doubted he would be so lucky. He couldn't even go to the circus now; power would probably be out until tomorrow.

Fuck today.


Eliza wandered slowly through the strange structure. Oddly placed spikes, deranged carny music, dim lighting… It was a rather pleasant place. One area had a small sort of carousel, but riding alone didn't sound too fun, so she moved on to the next space, which was called "Maze of Mirrors."

Surrounded by reflective surfaces, she saw the little fox face sitting on her wings and giggled. It really was such an adorable little thing, and managing to flirt her way to success was a bizarre yet satisfying victory. Besides, she said she'd do almost anything for the cute thing. Not her fault the imp had selective hearing.

After a moment, she found herself in the center of a ring of mirrors. It was so pretty, seeing the multitude of reflections within reflections, the endless viewing angles…

Flash!

A brief flash of light, and suddenly every bulb in the room went out. Now she was alone in the pitch-black, the only thing she could see being the reflected light of her inverted pupils; hundreds of floating white lights in the dark.

The silvery glass frosted over as she froze in place, the very air around her becoming almost unbreathable. Her wings tightened around her as she became paralyzed, unable to think as her thoughts scattered.

Help…


Author's Notes

Just a heads up, I am thinking of starting another FanFic. Mostly because, for some reason, I've been having extended writers block issues with this story and think switching gears might help. I'm stuck between ideas for the other story, but I may need to take a little break from updating this one for a bit. Kind of evaluate where I'm going with it and see if either it's just not going a direction I like or if this is just burnout. I mean, I started this story two years ago, so it's always possible. Still, so proud I've made it this long; I've never been able to carry on a project like this and I love it.

The stories I'm torn on writing are a Monster Hunter/Pokemon one where the Pokemon are hunted MH style, and the characters are Ash and Goh from Pokemon Journeys and later shows. They are friends (no ship for them) and I think it would be fun to write a more light-hearted story. Thing is, I also have my heart set on a Star Wars story taking place in the SWTOR game universe. A Chiss padawan (an oddball for so many reasons) catches the eye of a Sith Lord, who takes not only an interest in her as a potential apprentice but also a love interest. Both have tons of story potential as well as general fun for my geeky brain, and while I want both, I know better than to think I can keep up with both with my crazy life. Sad but true.

Also, as a response to a request: Someone asked if I would do a short of Eliza seeing Wednesday Addams from the Netflix show Wednesday as a client. My answer is: Not yet. The only reason is that I love the show, but want to see how Wednesday develops before writing her into anything, as she's evolving as a character. But thank you for recommending the show, because it was so much fun to watch!