This sucks.

I tap my finger impatiently on the shop's wooden counter, waiting for a customer--ANY customer to show up. Of course, it's not as if I need them to buy anything, I've been making negative profit for a few months now, but I have more than enough funds to make this shop last for a century--so money isn't the problem. None of this means I can't be fucking bored.

I won. I have the money, I have the power, I have enough soul matter to last me a few millennia, and I finally achieved an old dream of mine--which was setting up my own shop. I should be ecstatic, I don't need to fake who I am just to fuck the soul out of some guy anymore, I don't need to worry about money or being killed in my sleep, and yet all I can think of is...

Now what?

I never had time to think back on my immortality before, and it's only hitting me now how old I truly am--seven hundred years is nothing to scoff at, you know? I'm older than most kingdoms, and yet I don't feel like I have much to show for it. I'm usually not one to mope around, but there's not much else to do but think in my situation.

Worrying isn't going to help; I need to take my mind off things.

I lazily look around the shop, no one's here, so maybe I could... no, not in a public space like this that would be... but no one will see me do it; if no one entered the shop these past few days, why would they start now?

A blush creeps up on my face. I usually only do it inside my bedroom, but if I'm quick enough, I'm sure no one will notice?

I take the big frog plushie out of my inventory, my heart is beating faster, I stare into its big cotton eyes and a big dumb smile spread across my face.

I hug the plush, pressing its soft green cuteness against me as hard as I can. A high-pitched squeal escape my mouth as I twirl around the shop, this is heaven.

"I love your cute little dumb squishable face" I nuzzle the plushie. "Cute! You're so cute!"

Someone clears their throat.

My fight or flight instincts kick in; I shove the plushie back into my inventory and snap my body back into a combat stance.

Listra looks at my with a bemused smile. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, my dear," She says with her usual derisive tone. "I find it adorable that you are still in touch with your inner child."

My eyes twitch. I'm quite proud of who I am--but my love of plushies is very recent, and not something I'm quite comfortable with people knowing about just yet.

"Tell me why the fuck you're here before I shove that dress up your ass," I reply, not in the mood for pleasantries. I really want her to get out as soon as possible, but attacking her is more trouble than it's worth.

"I see your language is still...quite flowery." She smirks. "Perhaps too flowery, perhaps that is why he left too."

I roll my eyes, it's not even a surprise anymore. Every time I get attached to someone, and it doesn't work out, she comes back to rub it in. "Yeah, well it worked out quite fucking well for me, didn't it?" I gesture around me. "I'm living the life right here, chill job, chill life. Don't even need to fuck anyone anymore, I'm fucking free!"

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She raises an eyebrow. "Is that so? You? Stuck in that small little shop of yours? That's the life you want?"

"To.each.their.own," I say through gritted teeth.

She snorts. "Yes, to each their own." She grabs a random potion from the counter. "How much?"

"Fifty gold," I reply. It's actually 12 silver, but the price of everything here shot up the moment she entered the shop, inflation works in mysterious ways.

She shrugs and throws a gold purse my way. "Buy yourself something nice, you certainly need it." She struts out of the shop with her overpriced potion, and I make sure to slam the door shut behind her.

I could've killed her, but Listra is the type of person to have thirteen clones, six phylacteries and two or three resurrection potions for good measure. She wouldn't come to my shop with no backup plan when she knows I could snap her neck at any moment. I really can't stand the bitch; I think what I hate the most about her is how she never says what she thinks, it's always backhanded compliments and pretending to be nice, the worst kind of person.

Even though I'm used to it, her making fun of my last failure hit me a little bit harder than I'd care to admit. I've been through my fair share of breakups, but this time felt different; he didn't have a problem with who I was, and I didn't have a problem with him. We knew each other's secrets and didn't bother hiding much. Don't get me wrong--he was annoying as shit, but being able to trust someone like this is.... it's nice. Even if he was only able to trust me because he didn't have anything to fear from me, it didn't make that trust any less precious.

Was I in love with him? Who knows, who fucking cares really. All I know is that spending time with him was fun, and that the sex was pretty cool, and that I could count on him. I couldn't care less what stupid ass label people want to attribute that to; call it love, call it friendship, call it friends with benefit--labels are useless when it comes to the nitty-gritty of a relationship anyway.

But even though we had a good thing going, he still left. He said it had nothing to do with me, that this was just how he did things; I can't get mad at that, how could I? He was honest and upfront with me, and that's more than any other 'friends' can ever say.

Still, I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt a little; having someone see the real you and still leave. Sometimes it makes me wonder if there's just something wrong with me as a person, maybe I just don't deserve to be loved.

Damnit, I'm thinking too much again, where's that frog?

Hyper Communication

ORIGIN: LEAVE

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MESSAGE: Sorry for lying to you, turns out I can communicate between universes, are you doing okay? I'm not doing too good, but I'll manage.

A menu window blocks my way, and the first thing I notice is that this color scheme isn't from my menu.

Hyper Communication

TARGET: LEAVE

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SEND MESSAGE BACK?

Heh, so that asshole did miss me.