#saithebatguy

He hadn’t been in town long, but Charlie had learned to have a certain level of suspended disbelief in things around town in Wicked’s Rest. But when Charlie was walking through the downtown commons, the last thing he expected was something that looked like a Pokemon walking into a fucking portal. Like, an actual portal. A portal. Charlie rubbed his eyes, trying to see if what he was seeing was actually real, and it was. It wasn’t going away. And that funny-looking dude with the paintbrush was finishing the details on it before putting a foot through the portal. This was going to be his only chance to follow the thing. 

A few things went through his mind the moment he realized he could follow the creature. One, he could very easily get trapped in there. Two, the colors that were coming out of that portal? Trippy. Reminded him of Alice in Wonderland, which instantly enticed him for all the wrong reasons. Three? He wasn’t alone in watching this portal. He looked to the others in the commons before wiggling his brows at the familiar face of Felix and stepping into the portal. No way he wasn’t going to go check it out. 

The first thing he realized was that he was much too small for this world. Like, actually mini-sized. Charlie blinked, tempted to rub his eyes again, but he kept his gaze on the lamoodle. He searched the room, looking for something to explain what was going on. He’d stepped into a room, and the table was so high up, he barely came up a few inches on the leg of the table. There was a crumb of something on the ground, and once again thinking back to Alice in Wonderland, he thought about eating it. The crumb, of course, was a full-sized cake to the small Charlie. He continued to ponder on whether or not to eat the fallen food when he noticed someone else walking through the portal and stood up from the small cake on the ground. 

_____

When they were a little kid, Felix’s mother used to read them storybooks. Some were familiar, classic tales — things like Where the Wild Things Are, or Harold and the Purple Crayon — but others were more obscure. There were balam-specific books that Felix figured must have been family heirlooms, things passed down from one generation to the next with such great care to avoid tearing the yellowed pages or smudging the hand-written ink. Felix had adored them, had asked to have them read in place of anything else more often than not. And their mother, more often than not, had complied. They’d had some of them memorized by the time they were old enough to lose interest in bedtime stories.

There had been one in particular that seemed a play on Through the Looking Glass, though Felix’s mother swore that her book predated that one. It had been bright and colorful, and while it hadn’t been Felix’s favorite, their sister had adored it. She’d begged for it to be read nearly every night and Felix, when they shared a bedtime with her, had begged right alongside her just to make her happy. It had been a good story. It had followed the misadventures of a balam who found himself trapped in a fantastical place, stuck in a shift but with his consciousness still at the front of the mind he shared with his jaguar. As time went on, the balam in the story — Chester — had slipped more and more into an in-between state. His human mind and his jaguar’s mind had merged, slipping him into a quiet madness. In retrospect, it was a pretty horrifying story, but told with bright pictures and silly turns of phrase, it had seemed so much more tame. Felix still remembered the illustrations in the book.

They looked an awful lot like that painting on the wall up ahead.

Curiosity drew Felix towards it, their head tilting to the side. Was there someone else who’d read about Chester’s adventures, they wondered? Their mind went immediately to their sister, who they hadn’t seen or heard from since leaving home years ago. On some level, they understood the more popular version of the story was likely what was being referenced here, but… Hope was a dangerous thing. People talked pretty often about the dangerous effects of curiosity on cats, but it was hope that made an easier noose. Felix stepped up to the painting — the portal — without thinking, stepped through it with a quiet sigh. Oh. All right. 

Ahead, they spotted a small creature moving, and they recognized it. “You’re the guy with the ducks,” they murmured, more to themself than to anyone else. Then, a little louder: “Hey! Wait up!”

—

Thea was slightly less bald now. To most people, that meant nothing. To Thea, it meant she coveted the soft strands on her scalp. It was a little more like mowed lawn than luscious locks but she’d take it. It also meant that every few steps, she paused to find any reflective surface and admire her hair, which was hard to do at night, but this too, she would take. She was finally happy enough to not use the strange hair serum; finally happy enough to stop crying about her lack of hair. Finally ready to forgive Cass. When she saw a man with a lot of beautiful, curly hair in the commons, she didn’t think about how she wanted to steal his hair at all. And when he went into a portal, she thought ‘that’s his problem’ and she was ready to leave. With a few strands of hair, she had reached inner peace. 

But nothing—not hair or a lack of it—could change her admiration for Felix. When they went in too, the only natural thing to do was follow. “Felix! Portals are bad! Usually!” Thea turned around, offering the person behind her—Oh my god, that was Sai, wasn’t it? The myth, the legend, the bat enthusiast who faced the end of an admittedly suspicious clinical trial together. Sai was a comforting presence, insofar as she could be confident that he wouldn’t make her bald. Well, that wasn’t the point now; Felix went through a portal following a man—with hair she did want to steal, actually, and she couldn’t pretend otherwise—and the two of them were still standing in the commons and Thea was going in too. Where Felix went, she would go too. She could only offer Sai a shrug before she was off. 

Thea loved stories. In them, she felt the best of humanity's instincts: the need to speak, the need to create, the desire for connection, the ability to listen. There was a reason most stars had real names and stories to go along with them. If given the chance, Thea thought anyone could create their own story. So when she stepped through and found the end was a clear Alice in Wonderland rip-off, she was a little disappointed. All that endless creativity and now Disney would come after them for the costumes. Costumes? “We look weird,” she said. They were weird: that table was definitely not their size and that crumb made her feel like they were ants that needed to carry it off for their queen.

Thea turned around. “Sai? Are you okay?” 

—

Sai was walking across the commons when he caught sight of a familiar face walking up to what looked like a window, showing a completely different world on the other side. One full of colors. “Thea?” He said, but she’d already disappeared into it. He probably should just move along with his day, he thought, and hope for her sake she made it out of wherever she went. But Sai’s curiosity got the best of him. He wasn’t planning on going in or anything, just take a quick look. He poked his head through, but his foot caught on the edge of whatever this thing was, and the next thing knew he was tumbling through the window and out on a tiled floor, patterned in an off-kilter green and red-brown. The papers he’d been holding spilled out in a flurry around him. 

“I’m fine,” he told Thea, picking himself up gingerly. He started to gather his spilled flyers, and glanced around. Above them towered a giant table. The whole room was giant, it looked like, except for two other strangers in the room with them, who were normal sized. So it was just that everything else was abnormally large, then. Somehow that felt more comforting than Sai shrinking himself. “Where are we?”

The whole place rang some distant bell. He’d read Alice in Wonderland, or at least his mother had read it to him, when he was just a kid. But he tried not to think about that sort of thing. That was another time. Another person, really. And Alice in Wonderland and books like that hardly captured his attention now. Except of course, unless he was in it. Sai looked back at the portal behind him, thinking of leaving. Whatever was happening here, it didn’t seem like something worth sticking around to see through. But just as the thought occurred to him, the portal closed with a zap, like an old school TV turning off. “And how do we get out of here?”

__

Blinking owlishly and turning to see Felix and two others follow after him, Charlie waved a hand. “Hey, Felix.” He greeted his friend with a smirk. “See you also like to frequent mysterious, other-worldly portals.” He got up from his crouch next to the cake-sized crumb, then looked to the others he didn’t know. “Name’s Charlie.” He started with, knowing that they should probably start with knowing each other’s identities at the very least. “Thea, we spoke… online!” Charlie finally spoke, nodding his head with a look of recognition in his eyes. “Nice to see you in person, though I’m sorry it’s under strange conditions.” He turned to Sai, having never interacted with the guy before. “Sup,” was what he settled on, then turned back to the crumb. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but it’s giving Alice in Wonderland,” Charlie spoke, pointing to the group, then to the cake that practically screamed at him to eat it. “You think if we eat it we’ll be normal-sized?” He asked, raising a brow before scooping up a peace with his hand. “Momma didn’t raise no bitch,” he muttered before biting into the pastry before anyone could tell him it was a bad idea. As soon as he did, he grew in size, up and up and up until he felt like he fit into the room. He looked down at the smaller people, giving a thumbs up. Nothing deadly had happened. 

Charlie was careful not to tap his foot as he waited, suddenly aware that he was fully capable on stepping on his friends in this moment. So instead, he looked around for the Lamoodle, who was standing in the doorway, watching them with a knowing gaze in its eyes. Charlie pointed to the creature, who quickly walked away as soon as it had noticed that Charlie had seen it. “I think it wants us to follow?” He found himself saying after the others had grown to his size, taking a step in the direction of the door. 

As soon as he walked out of the room they were in, Charlie’s jaw dropped. It was nighttime, but still, the colors of all the plants were vibrant. Things looked like they were drawn instead of real, but Charlie could still reach out and touch them like he was on the page of a real storybook. “I took something crazy, didn’t I?” Charlie found himself saying, blinking rapidly as he tried to get things to make sense to his eyes.

__

“Oh, hi, Charlie.” They shouldn’t feel disappointed. On some level, Felix knew that. It was a stupid thing to think that this otherworldly portal had anything to do with a sister they hadn’t spoken to in years just because the world inside of it looked a lot like her favorite bedtime story from when they were kids, but the brief flicker of hope the sight had brought on had formed the prettiest noose. They glanced back as more people joined the fray, offering Thea a small smile. “Thea,” they greeted. They squinted at the man next to her. “Oh, hey, you’re the bat guy! Hi.” 

Looking to the giant crumb Charlie pointed out, Felix shrugged. Before they could stop themself, they started to correct him. “Actually, I was thinking it looks more like…” They trailed off. No one else had ever read Chester’s nightmare story about slipping into madness with your mind split in two. Not for the first time, Felix felt a little lonely. He wondered if Syd had ever read the book, wondered if she’d remember it if they called to ask. Shaking their head, they offered the group in front of them a small smile. “No, actually, you’re right. It’s like Alice in Wonderland.”

And then, before anyone could stop him, Charlie was eating the crumb. It seemed like a bad idea — hadn’t eating the food been what caused Chester’s shift in the story? — but there was no time to argue. In an instant, Charlie was a giant (or a normal-sized person?) and Felix was expected to eat the crumb just the same. They racked their mind, trying to remember the beginnings of the storybook. Chester fell through a waterfall, landed in a tree, ate… a fruit! It had been a fruit, not a crumb. So… the crumb was probably fine, wasn’t it?

Felix hesitated just a moment longer before taking some of the crumb and sticking it into their mouth. It was sweet. It was good. Before they could make an attempt to pinpoint the flavor, they shot up, hoping that they were growing to normal size and not… giant size. It would suck to step out of the portal again and be a Godzilla-type version of themself. (The Grit Pit would probably love it.)

As everyone else joined them and Charlie pointed out the little painter, Felix nodded adamantly. “I met him before!” They exclaimed excitedly. “He made ducks!” They rushed off to follow the creature, slowing as they exited the room into the cartoonish night. “Um, everybody should — be really careful not to eat any fruit, I think. You know, in case it’s rotten? Also, watch your step! There might be more tiny people. We don’t want to step on anyone!”

—

The guy with the hair was Charlie? The dude she had talked to at length about how she ate people and how he didn’t eat people yet, but would at some point in the future, definitely start eating people? Thea frowned; now she didn’t want his pre-zombie hair. “I don’t really like Alice. People say it’s actually about math, but really it’s just a story about a little girl going through a stressful situation and instead of helping her, people here are just really mean?” Thea looked around for Alice-hating confirmation from the men but Charlie was asserting that he wasn’t a bitch, and Felix seemed enthused. She turned to Sai. “There are no bats in the story,” she said, hoping to convince him at least. 

Alice was a story without logic. Or, was it a story that operated on its own logic? Regardless, they existed in the real world and the real world had rules. For example, no portals. For example, people couldn’t just grow or shrink. Thea tried to parse the science of it but by the time Felix grew full-sized, her brain sizzled like a fried microwave. This was a dream, surely. A strangely vivid dream featuring two men she knew, and one man she actually didn’t know very well and couldn’t have possibly conjured up an appearance for. Thea took a bite out of the crumb and felt herself launched up, skin tingling. Thea sighed; she wanted that dream where she had tea with Roberta Bondar, not this. She didn’t want this. She stumbled behind Charlie and Felix, trying to find the thing they were staring at. It was not Roberta Bondar and so, she quickly lost interest.

“I don’t think you took something,” Thea told Charlie. “Because then, why are we here? I don’t do illegal drugs. I mean, like, I wouldn’t know where to get them, that seems scary.” lt was silly to explain anything to a dream apparition, but she didn’t want him to be stressed about it. She nodded at Felix’s warning not to step on other tiny people. Thea moved forward on slow, careful tip-toes. “Does anyone know what happens next in the story? Does Alice meet the cat now? Or the caterpillar? Is it the tea party scene?” Thea sighed again, finding that she was increasingly disappointed by her surroundings. Yes, her brain was doing a nice job of painting an Alice in Wonderland landscape but she didn’t want Alice in Wonderland. “Do you think we can ask that thing if it’ll do Star Trek instead? Or uh…” She gestured at Sai, wanting to be inclusive to his interests. “Bat Trek? Star Trek but with bats?” 

—

“Uh, hi,” Sai said back to the other person who’d clearly recognized Sai. Although Sai didn’t recognize them. Maybe he’d come to their door about the petition? He’d seen too many faces then to remember them all, but supposed he might have been memorable enough. Especially if he’d managed to sway this person to the cause. 

Why did the answer always have to be eating something, Sai wondered, as the other three took turns eating from the crumb, and grew to match the size of the room. He looked at the scrap of bread with trepidation. But quickly set that aside as soon as one of them – the petition signer – mentioned stepping on someone. Not wanting to end up underneath someone’s shoe, he took a generous bite off one corner and joined them. He left his stack of now-mini flyers on the table. They weren’t the most important thing right then, anyway. 

Sai shrugged when Thea looked to him to weigh in on the story. “I’m not really a fiction sort of person. I’d rather be back in Wicked’s Rest than in any story, Alice in Wonderland or otherwise,” he said. “It’s definitely not drugs, though. I’m pretty sure, anyway,” He didn’t think drugs would have much effect on a vampire, not that he made a habit of testing it. And he definitely didn’t remember anything like that. The doorway seemed the most likely culprit, and it sounded like Thea thought that creature might be somewhat responsible. “You think the creature opened up the door to this place?” He contemplated that. “Do you think we’ll go back to reality if we kill it?” There were four of them and one of it. That could be good odds, but there were its reality-warping powers to consider. “Although maybe that’s too risky to try. At least as a first option.” 

He followed the others out the door, and onto a path. In the distance, there was an odd looking forest. But in the matter of a few quick steps, they were at the outskirts. Sai looked back behind them, but couldn’t see the cottage they’d stepped out of moments before. Hopefully, the way back wasn’t there, because he wasn’t certain they’d be able to find the place again. 

Up close he could see there were no trees in this forest. Giant mushrooms towered over them, while smaller ones lined the path beside them. The scene rang a bell in the back of this head, as clouds of smoke began wafting down from one of them. “The caterpillar, maybe?” He said out loud to the rest of them. Only hadn’t Alice been able to see the thing in the story, talk to it? All Sai could see now was the gilled underside of the brown-capped mushroom above them. 

—

Not drugs, that was clear from the multiple points of view that stated the contrary. Charlie nodded his head slowly. “Alright, fine. This is painfully real,” Charlie muttered. Despite being able to take the weirdness in stride, sometimes it was a lot to deal with. Like right now, it was a lot. He looked toward Felix, then to Thea and Sai. “Felix, if you know more about this world, you should tell us.” Charlie probed, nudging his friend with an encouraging expression. “Seriously, maybe you can help us get out of this mess.” Charlie continued to look around at the world around him, and then… he saw him. The creature that made the portal in the first place. 

“Oh, it definitely wants us to follow it.” Charlie told the others, watching as the lamoodle tapped its foot and pointed to its pocket watch, playing the role of the white rabbit. “See?” Charlie hissed, pointing towards the creature who waited at a distance. 

“Come on, let’s go!” Charlie was more insistent this time, quick to follow after the lamoodle, who only dashed off when Charlie got close enough. He swore the flowers were… talking as he passed them. “Do you see his hair? It’s ridiculous.” One pansy whispered to a rose, who snickered in response. “My hair makes me happy,” Charlie muttered to himself in defense of his hair, though a hand still went up to it, wondering if maybe he should cut it off…

__

“Why — Why would I know more about it? I don’t know any more than you guys do! I just know that fruit is rotten, sometimes! And — And eating rotten fruit can upset your stomach, and I don’t think anyone needs an upset stomach right now!” Or to be stuck in a shift. Felix quietly hoped that whatever was going on here wouldn’t trigger the jaguar or prompt him into forcing his way to the surface. The last thing any of them needed was that. The jaguar would probably eat his way through the others, and then Felix would end up stuck here, and then…

They shook the thought away. Now wasn’t the time to catastrophize. Their head whirled towards Sai the bat fan at his suggestion, eyes widening. “We’re not going to kill him!” They protested loudly. “Why — That’s your first suggestion? He’s just — He just likes to draw!” Belatedly, they remembered that the others might not know about this thing. “I mean, I don’t know what he’s called, but I know he likes to draw. He made ducks once! They were rubber! And alive! I took one home, and it ate my dish sponge and then disappeared out a window a few weeks later. So maybe he just wants to make more ducks. Except, uh, this time instead of ducks, it’s Alice in Wonderland.” Was that a natural next step from ducks? Felix wasn’t really sure.

They also weren’t really sure that the little guy with the paintbrush tail genuinely wanted to be followed, but Charlie seemed pretty insistent and he was already heading in that direction and shouldn’t they try to stick together as a group? Felix scrambled along behind him, turning to usher for Thea and Sai to do the same. As they moved past the flowers, they heard whispers rising up to meet their ears. “Look at how they walk,” one of them murmured. “Like they’re not sure which way is up.” 

“You, uh, you should really try to be nicer,” Felix said, squinting down at the flowers and stepping carefully. Were there more tiny people down there? “We can hear you, you know, and it’s not, like, cool to be rude. But, hey, there’s cake back that way, and if you eat it, you won’t be small anymore! So that’s — a thing you could maybe do. Instead of saying mean things. You get me?”

—

“You’re right. We should totally kill it.” Normally Thea was against murder, except the multiple murders she had (accidentally) committed, but morality didn’t apply in dreams! She could be as mean as she wanted. Not that she wanted to be mean, but she could! “And then we can have our collective StarTrek fever dream. I call dibs on being second in command!” Many would desire the Captain role, but Thea knew the truth of StarTrek was that the second-in-commands were cooler: Spock, Kira (okay, Sisko was pretty cool), Riker (ew), Chakotay, Worf (that one time it was Worf), Annika Hansen (prev. Seven of Nine). Also, leadership seemed scary. 

While it did sound like Felix knew more than they were letting on, Thea didn’t press it. Mostly, she was hoping to manifest the StarTrek dream she was not preoccupied by. Sai would be the doctor, Thea was certain. Felix would be the commander and, even though it meant demoting herself, she thought Charlie would be a slutty second-in-command like Riker. Realistically, Thea knew she’d be one of those background characters that run around the ship doing errands and then gets murdered by evil aliens. She tried to focus back on the Alice dream. She followed Sai’s attention to the mushroom caps above, and the smoke, and then, the mean flowers. “I think we’re out of order,” she said, looking at the impatient creature beckoning them. “Maybe we’re going too slowly for it?” 

The flowers started up, insulting Charlie’s hair, which Thea had a healthy jealousy of. And then Felix, which Thea simply could not tolerate. “Hey! Felix knows which direction is up!” The lilies in the back murmured something about how she was bald, giggling to each other. Even though Felix had advised against it, Thea lifted her foot up, hovering above the flowers. “What if we just, like, killed them?” she asked. She turned to Sai, who seemed—to her—to be the most sensible. “We could just like, bypass everything if we trample the flowers, right? What’s the worst that could happen?” She looked to Charlie. “Don’t you want revenge for the hair comment?” She looked at Felix. “You…actually I can’t justify this to you, but clearly this will have no consequences!” Murder was bad, obviously, unless it was a dream (or you sometimes turned into a hungry, hungry wolf, or if someone tried to kill you in a grocery store). “I wouldn’t do this in real life, to be clear. I would never murder anyone. But…” She looked down at the flowers; were they trembling? 

— 

Sai wasn’t so sure why everyone was so quick to defend the creature. It wasn’t human or anything, and hadn’t talked to them once as far as he could tell. It didn’t make a difference to him either way, but clearly it did to the rest of them. Except for Thea, maybe. “If it just sends us to a different world, I think we definitely shouldn’t kill it,” Sai said, to make sure that was clear. “I’m mostly just concerned with how to get out of this one. We are all trying to get out of here right?” He was starting to wonder if that was the case. For all he knew, some of these people wanted to stay. That didn’t bode well for Sai’s ability to get out.

“Do you have other ideas how to stop… whatever this is,” Sai said Felix, gesturing at the storybook world around them. “Since you know the most about the thing we’re following. Was there something that made the duck disappear or did it just run away?”

Sai shrugged at Thea when she picked up one foot threateningly. “I don’t care either way. If it makes you feel better, but I don’t think it’s going to change the situation,” he said. They were annoying, muttering insults under their breath and tittering to each other. Maybe some of them were directed at them, but he was only half paying attention. “Unless these flowers are important to that creature or something. Then maybe it would help us in exchange for leaving them alone.” He didn’t have a lot of great ideas here, especially with others wanting the pacifist route. And hopefully they were in this together. 

Although he felt like he should clarify. “But I’m pretty sure this is real,” Sai added to Thea. “You’re not hallucinating or anything.” At least as far as he could tell they were all really here. Could vampires hallucinate? Probably not. That sounded like something for the living. 

__

Feeling a bubble of annoyance deep within him rise to the surface, Charlie rolled his eyes. “We’re not killing anything,” Charlie decided then and there. “I mean seriously, he’s just having a fun time. Felix, you know this guy, right? Has he done anything to warrant harming him? I don’t think so.” Charlie shook his head as they kept walking, realizing that Thea clearly thought that she was stuck in some kind of fever dream. 

“Thea, this is real. We’re all awake right now.” Charlie tried to tell her, though wasn’t all that certain he’d be able to get through to her. “These actions have consequences, and I’m not about to fucking find out that the flowers spit fire and become the size of skyscrapers, alright? Stick to the path and don’t fucking kill anything.” Charlie found himself walking a bit closer to Felix, brows furrowing as he tried to find sight of the guy with the paintbrush again. 

“You think we’ll run into the queen?” Charlie found himself asking, eyes darting around at the sights around them with a feeling of fear. “I mean, I like my head attached to my body, is all. And maybe pissing off the flowers is a surefire way to get our heads chopped off!” He hissed, whipping his head around to glare at Thea.

__

At least Charlie agreed that they weren’t killing anything. Felix was a little surprised at Thea’s insistence that killing was probably fine, but… it quickly became clear that Thea thought this was a dream or something, and Felix wasn’t sure they could fault her for being okay with killing a creature in a dream. Turning back to Charlie, they shrugged helplessly. “I mean, I don’t know him personally! I just — I just ran into him one time, because of the ducks! I don’t even know if it’s the same guy. Like, he could have a brother.” 

They rubbed at the back of their neck, a little uncomfortable as Thea, once again, suggested murder. At least it seemed as though everyone else was against it, albeit for different reasons. Sai and Charlie both tried to convince Thea that this was real, but Felix knew well enough to know that that would be a hard sell. After all, she still thought they were a very dedicated furry, despite having seen him shift more than once. 

“Everybody just — You know, take a breath,” they suggested. “It’s gonna be fine! We’ll figure out what’s up, we’ll get out of here, we won’t kill anybody, and then we can just, um, watch Star Trek. Right, Thea?” They offered her what they sincerely hoped was a comforting smile, then turned to Charlie as he walked near them. “I mean, um, the queen isn’t very hard to trick. From what I read. You just have to fool her.” Chester had done it, in his story. Felix remembered the heroic tale fondly, the way the cat camouflaged his body and made his head the only thing visible in order to spark a debate on whether or not a disembodied head could be beheaded. From there, escape had been easy. They could probably replicate that simply enough. 

They pointed at the paintbrush-tailed creature, which continued to beckon them to follow but danced just ahead of the group, putting distance between them each time they got close. “I think he’s trying to show us something. Maybe he just wants to show off his art, you know? He put a lot of effort into all this. Maybe we just need to appreciate it a little.”

—

Disappointment fluttered in Thea’s chest like a swarm of bees. She set her foot down, safely away from the flowers, and buzzed with regret as they perked up and continued to jeer. All of this was just a dream, and sometimes—if she was being honest with herself, which she was always inclined to in a dream—she’d like to know what would happen if she just let it all go for a moment; not the wolf, but her in all her human glory. But Sai was right, it wasn’t going to change the situation. And if he was right about that… Thea looked over at him. Was this real? How could it be? What was the science here? Yes, of course, scientific understanding was constantly evolving and yes, of course, it could be possible—somehow—that they’d end up in some Alice in Wonderland knock-off land but how? It was easier to accept dreams but, of course, she was a man-eating wolf and where did that knowledge go? It was too late to think it was a dream. Sai was right after all. 

Thea slumped as Charlie said it too: this was real; they were all awake. The ever spinning black hole in her chest pulsed with indignation but the wolf that slept inside of it remained there, too beaten to push out of her. “Fine,” she mumbled, wincing at her own petulance. How were they going to get out of this? It seemed so unfair to her that they were subjected to some uninspired game; her desires leaned towards rage and rebellion. She thought, at least, Charlie would understand—okay, maybe that was a musician stereotype. “Hey!” she snarled back at him. “What’s better? Trying something or just like, going along with whatever this is! What if they want to eat us! You can’t just—you can’t just—” Thea slammed her mouth shut. It was important to turn a bad situation around. It was important to fight. It was important to believe there was a cure out there for bald girls who turned into people eating wolves. She thought Charlie would agree; there had to be a cure out there for inevitable zombies too. Thea held that hope for the both of them.

“Fine,” she mumbled again, finding that Charlie’s bouncy hair (it really would make the best wig) was easier to be angry at than Felix’s sad eyes. “If you’re familiar with the story Felix, do you have a plan for getting us out? I mean, like, can you think of anything?” Thea also promised herself she’d hold them to the idea of watching Star Trek. What better entertainment for a boiler room, anyway? “Appreciate it?” Thea glanced at Sai—her only shred of sanity here, embodied by that man who she clung to the sane ideal of—and blinked. Well, it was something. “Paintbrush guy! I really appreciate your artistry! Wow!” Thea brushed a leaf. “So cool! Just like a real leaf! I’d spend VBucks on this in Fortnite, like, for real.” She hoped the queen would show up soon, to end the endless leaves at least. The last thing she’d ever do was spend VBucks on this. 

—

Sai followed the rest of them as they chased after the creature. What they were going to accomplish by following it, Sai wasn’t sure. But letting it out of their sight didn’t seem like a great idea either. That might be the easiest way to get stranded here, wandering lost through giant mushrooms and rude flowers.

He hadn’t contemplated the danger of running into characters like the Mad Queen, before Charlie said something. Sai could only hope the world was free of them. He wasn’t prepared to fight off an unhinged monarchy. Not to mention the possible danger of the creature, Thea had a point there. And all they knew about it so far was something about rubber ducks. Who knew what else it could do? “Thea does bring up a good point, we should probably consider if this is all an elaborate trap or something,” he said.

Flattery though, the others might be onto something there. It had worked on the pizza, so why not a paintbrush monster. “It’s really impressive,” Sai added on, when Thea started to compliment it’s work. “I, for one, love the oversized cottage and all the… talkative flowers. I’d also be impressed, too, if you had the ability to summon another door back out of here. That would be some feat of artistry, right?” He glanced at the others with a shrug. That was the best he had. Maybe the kitsune had been right, that acting really was a life skill. At least in Wicked’s Rest and it’s adjoining worlds.

__

Charlie huffed as Thea and Sai began complimenting the creature’s work, finally getting on board with not murdering the guy who just wanted to flex his creative muscles a little bit. “Well I’ve been impressed since the beginning,” Charlie spoke aloud in order to continue with the compliment train they seemed to be doing. “Say, you think we can learn names? I’m Charlie, and this is Felix, Sai, and Thea.” He pointed to each person as he named them. “What’s yours?” He waited for a moment, watching the creature before it drew out a white rabbit, which quickly hopped away. “I think he wants us to call him the white rabbit. Dude’s in character.” Charlie muttered to the rest of the group.

Charlie decided to walk toward the creature, who scurried further into the world. Charlie looked around, appreciating the attention to detail. The creature was a real fan of this world. It was easy to think up situations that the creature was in to come to loving Alice’s world. What if he had a friend who read the stories to him? What if he was lost in a library once and that was the book they latched onto? There were endless scenarios that Charlie could think of. “I’m so writing a fucking song about this.” Charlie decided aloud, looking around in awe as he came into a fancy garden of white roses dripping with red paint. 

Squinting at the flowers, Charlie wracked his brain to remember what this was all about. He looked into the distance, and that’s when he saw it. A giant gothic castle surrounded by card guards. “Oh, fuck.” He grumbled, falling back in line with the others. “I think he wants to kill us with the mad queen,” he whispered to Felix, not wanting to tip off the other two who were already a bit murder-happy. 

__

Everyone seemed to have given up the idea of killing paintbrush guy, at least for now, and Felix found some relief in that. They dealt with enough violence in their day to day life at the Pit already; the last thing they wanted was to add to it here, to bathe themself in more blood than they had to. They were sure there was a peaceful resolution to this story; they just needed to find it. Thea was asking them for an answer, but Felix was more familiar with the version of Wonderland his mother had read to them than the more popular one. Chester’s story ended only when he accepted himself as both cat and man, allowing him to shift back to himself enough to climb the tallest tree and turn the doorknob at the highest branch to exit. He’d had to be fully jaguar and fully human to manage it, and such a thing was impossible outside of children’s stories. Add to that the fact that Felix was definitely the only balam here, and they’d probably have to find another solution.

Maybe complimenting the paintbrush guy was the way to go. “Uh, also, you — your tail is good,” they added, flashing the little guy a thumbs up when he turned back around. “Very — Very cool tail. Um, ten out of ten, Mr. White Rabbit.” If that was what he wanted to be called, it seemed like common courtesy to allow it. After all, Felix preferred it when people called them what they liked to be called, too. Maybe White Rabbit would be more willing to help if they were kind.

Or… maybe he’d lead them to a big, scary castle. Felix hesitated, glancing to Charlie. They didn’t want to believe that White Rabbit had brought them all this way just to let the Red Queen kill them. If he wanted them dead, couldn’t he have just drawn a bottomless pit for them to fall into? “No…” they mumbled, brow furrowing. “No, this — this whole thing is about the story, right? It’s like you said, he’s really in character. And — and the Red Queen doesn’t succeed in killing anybody in the story, does she?” Not in Chester’s tale. And, considering the more human version was touted as a children’s story, Felix doubted the Red Queen decapitated anyone in that, either. “We’re supposed to defeat her,” they said, feeling strangely confident. “We’re supposed to trick her, like Ch — Like Alice did.”

—

Murder! Now things were making sense to Thea. Wait, no. She was not happy about murder. No way—well, other than the flowers, she was happy to squish those but that was when this was a dream! Now that it wasn’t, now that it was something she couldn’t explain, murder made her stomach flip. Instinctively, she tucked her body behind Sai, as though he could somehow protect her from the uncomfortable truth: she was a murderer, and some part of her really did find the convenience in it and another part really wasn’t all that bothered. It was the horror of murder that churned in her stomach, it was guilt. She watched the green scenery transform as they approached the castle, lined with its playing-card-guards. The lush bushes turned to tangles of pointy red brambles; beautiful white roses, with sharp thrones, dripped with wet red paint; the tall, dark castle ahead snuffed out the painted sun. The Red Queen—or was this the Queen of Hearts? Why did Lewis Carroll think it was a good idea to have a Queen of Hearts and and Red Queen—was unequivocally an evil figure, and if they killed with her, that made them…evil? But if they killed her, then they would be…good? But murder in general was always evil, right? And Thea was…

“Wise white rabbit, thank you for putting a narratively compelling moral conundrum in your knock-off story.” Thea was not thankful at all; she liked Sai’s idea of goading the creature into making a way out instead, but the feeling that they’d have to see this through dug into her skin. It felt inevitable as they were led through the dark halls, dozens of red playing guards marching behind them. The halls echoed with their footsteps against the stone below. “White rabbit, can you give me an antacid? No? Okay.” Her stomach burned and she swallowed back rising bile. “Defeat her how, Felix?” Thea whispered to her friend, weirdly afraid one of the guards would tell the evil queen their plan. Not that they really had one, and not like they hadn’t been talking loudly before. “Like with murder? Do we murder her?” If this wasn’t a dream, but it was clearly created by the White Rabbit thing, did these creations have life? Were these all the White Rabbit’s children? 

What did Alice do? Thea couldn’t remember. Alice in Wonderland had stressed her out so much she never really paid attention to it—the book and the various movie adaptations. “Um, who do they want to behead? Isn’t it, um, the Cheshire Cat?” Did that mean Felix? But Thea liked their head. “O-or was it the Mad Hatter?” Was this one of those things the movies changed? Who amongst them was the Mad Hatter? Asking herself that, her gaze drifted to Charlie. Yes, okay, but maybe the beheading wouldn’t even be one of them! Sure the guards were marching ominously but they probably just did that! The answers were no clearer to her and finally they reached the large red doors of the queen’s throne room which opened with a squeaky wail. “Oh! It was just everybody, right? The queen was always like ‘off with their heads, off with their heads’ because she liked it! I remember now! She hates everyone!” And the red-faced queen, sitting on her playing card throne, did indeed look like she hated everyone. She gripped her heart scepter as if she wanted to snap it. 

“Off with their heads!” She bellowed, bouncing on her throne. 

“See?” Thea whispered. “Like that! She likes killing people.” But perhaps Felix was right, the queen didn’t actually kill anyone…right?

—

The compliments were clearly not working. All they’d gotten out of it was a name. And he didn’t remember the white rabbit ushering Alice into the queen’s castle, which seemed to be what was happening now. Sai slowed as they approached, rethinking the wisdom of following the creature. But as he glanced back, a group of playing card guards folded in behind them. Apparently, they’d found the book characters. 

Thea was rambling about the queen, as the group was ushered into the throne room. It sounded like she was maybe in favor of trying to kill the queen, but Sai wasn’t interested in that. The numbers were definitely not in their favor. Only with the execution directive, maybe they wouldn’t have a lot of choice. 

Sai didn’t remember what part came next. “Is the execution right away, or do they bring us to another location?” He asked, glancing around them for any clue about what might happen next. That might be the time to make their escape. He took a few steps back to stand a bit closer to Felix and Charlie, and lowered his voice to whisper to the other three, “I’m thinking when the time is right, we should make our escape and run. Unless one of you all has a better plan. We might not know how to navigate the world or anything, but I figure being lost is better than losing our heads.” 

__

A surge of panic went through Charlie, suddenly unsure what to do here. Well, he never knew what to do in any given situation, but especially not one where his head could be detached from his fucking body. Charlie took a deep breath, then turned to Felix, who he trusted. “I have no fucking idea what to do, here. And I kinda like my head where it is, you know?” There was an edge of hysteria to Charlie’s voice that wasn’t there before like he was finally in way over his head and he couldn’t handle it anymore. Either the cosplaying lamoodle picked up on this or decided it had had its fun, and waved to the group, then gestured for them to follow it into a side room. “What?” Charlie found himself mumbling before turning to Felix and Sai, then shrugging and following after. It was either this or losing his head, right? 

Once Charlie was in the side room, he nearly collapsed with relief. A portal. The lamoodle gave a mock salute to the group as they entered, then disappeared through the portal it had created. “Fuck, he took pity on my pathetic ass.” Charlie found himself speaking with wonderment before scurrying through the portal. No way he was staying in here a second longer.

As soon as he walked through, he found himself right back where the whole adventure had begun, in a park back in Wicked’s Rest. “Oh thank god,” Charlie exclaimed as he collapsed to the ground and hugged the grass rather dramatically. “There’s no place like home!” 

__

“I don’t think we should kill anyone!” There was a hint of panic to Felix’s tone but, really, when wasn’t there a hint of panic to Felix’s tone? The world kept throwing strange situations like this one in their direction, and Felix could only cope with so much before things started to crack. The Wonderland thing had been almost fun before the threat of beheading came into play, and while they were pretty sure no one was going to lose their head — that wasn’t in the story! This was about the story, it had to be! — it was hard not to feel anxious at the possibility. “And no one is going to lose their head! We just need to…”

The queen was yelling. More specifically, the queen was yelling off with their heads, and Felix didn’t think that kind of command left much up to interpretation. Chester had only survived his tale shifted, and Felix was afraid to try that solution. Chester kept his wits about him in the story, but would Felix? Their jaguar was so volatile, so unpredictable. What if he hurt their friends? It was too risky and, all at once, Felix’s confidence that they’d be fine began to waver. 

When the self-proclaimed white rabbit waved them towards a door, Felix felt that following was the last-ditch effort they had no choice but to make. They scrambled along with the group, rushing through the door behind Charlie and sighing at the sight of the portal. There was every chance that it would take them to yet another strange world — there were plenty of stories with cat protagonists that Felix would like to avoid getting trapped in — but they were willing to gamble that none of those stories would involve a queen ready to immediately remove their heads from their bodies. So they rushed through the portal, though not before pausing to thank the lamoodle for taking pity on them.

On the other side of the portal, the grass was still green and the sky was still dark. Felix had no way of knowing how long they’d been inside, but it didn’t seem that they’d been away long enough for the sun to rise. They sighed, sitting heavily on the ground beside Charlie. “I’m so glad we’re not giants.”

—

Thea was working up the courage—and the internal logic to condone—chopping someone’s head off when the White Rabbit scurried away and opened up a new portal. By the time Charlie and Felix had run through, Thea had decided that beheading someone would be morally okay because this wasn’t real and she was being forced to do it. Nevermind that no one was actually forcing her. If it had to be done, ethically it was okay…right? When she noticed where her compatriots had gone, her exhale of relief threatened to suffocate her. “Come on, Sai!” She called out and sprinted through the portal—accepting for now that she wouldn’t find a satisfactory scientific explanation for all this and would promptly shove this experience into the back of her mind, where all the trauma went. 

Thea flung herself onto the grass beside Felix and Charlie, rolling around in the beautiful, real, not-Alice-in-Wonderland greenery. She flipped onto her back and looked up at the stars; all beautiful, all still in their places. “Eh, I think I give that like…a three out of ten. What do you guys think?” She heaved. “Yeah, being a giant seems scary. But being super tiny seems fun!” Glancing around and comparing their size against the objects around them, she deduced they were pleasantly normal-sized. Above, Polaris winked at them. “Is anyone else, like, super hungry?” She sat up as Sai walked through. “Milkshakes? Donuts? On me!”

—

Sai followed Thea and the others through the new portal. Even if it led to another fictional world, it had to be better than an execution, right? But instead of a fresh novel, he stumbled out onto grass. A glance around confirmed it was the park they’d come from. They were back in Wicked’s Rest. He didn’t embrace the grass like Charlie was doing, or roll around like Thea, but he knew exactly where they were coming from. He’d never been so happy to see a lawn before in his life. 

Sai walked up to Escape Your Fate Comics, this time with a set of posters in hand. They were all bat week branded, featuring bat photos and fun facts along with calls to action that sent people to the conservation society website. He’d have to make a Bat Week page for the occasion. Maybe detailing the local business, and the ways to participate or support the animals. 

He was looking forward to talking about Sam again and hearing more of her ideas. He had plenty of his own, but it was always good to breathe some fresh life into projects. The only thing he wasn’t sure on was what to tell her about the comic she’d so kindly gifted him. Fiction never really interested him. The real world was always more interesting, to him at least. The comic hadn’t been much of an exception. He made about half-way through before giving up and skimming the rest and confirming there weren’t really any bats in the comic. The branding was a bit misleading. He probably wasn’t the first one to be thrown off by the batman name. 

He was stopping by a little before closing this time, but the store was still pretty empty when he got in, except for one person browsing through comics in the back. Seeing Sam up by the front counter, he walked up. “Sam?” Sai said to catch her attention, and then held up the pile of posters he brought with me. “I’m back to talk more about Bat Week. And I brought a few posters with me too.”

—

Things had been going rather well with someone in town, until they hadn’t, and the relationship just ended without any notice. And while her heart ached, Sam figured there was no sense in dwelling on it all and to just continue one with life one day at a time. Luckily, today hadn’t been so bad, and when she heard the bell over the door and saw it was Sai coming back, a smile came over her face, “Hey Sai!” She had honestly forgotten about Bat Week, even though she had started working on poster and flyer ideas herself not too long after their first meeting, and when he held up his own pile, it had reminded her.

“Right! Bat Week. Hold on.” Running to the back office, Sam rifled through the papers on her desk, until she had found what she was looking for. It was a sketchbook filled with some ideas and layouts she had in mind for him. Nothing finalized, but maybe a start to something that could help.

Coming back out to the front, she laid the sketchbook down on the counter, “You reminded me that I had some of my own stuff I had started working on, and I wanted to get your thoughts.” She smiled warmly at the man, just grateful to have another distraction to take her mind off of another failed attempt at a relationship.

—

Sai flipped through the sketchbook that Sam had brought out. They were good. Better than anything he could come up with. He wasn’t so much for the drawing parts of design. Moving photos and text in Word, he felt more comfortable with. “Wow,” he said. “These are pretty incredible.” He’d expected her to just come up with a few activities for her store, but she’d really taken the idea and run with it. “I’m thrilled you’ve gotten so excited about this, honestly.” He laid the posters he’d brought on the counter. “Not to discount my own work or anything, but I’m thinking maybe we don’t need these, then. If you’d be open to finishing some of those, at least. I could get them printed, and they could be the official materials. I’d be happy to put the credit to your art and all of that.” 

“Do you do this art professionally? In addition to,” Sai gestured to the store around them, “all of this.” It would make sense to have a couple of income streams, after all. He’d read that having physical businesses with storefronts could be a risky endeavor. The costs were higher. And the work she was showing him did seem professional caliber to him. 

—

Sam was flattered by his compliments. Almost embarrassed. She didn’t know why it was so hard to take a compliment on her art. It was one of her passions after all. And she did do self-published comic books on the side for fun, but not in the hopes of making more money. It was just a hobby. Plus, she had found a little more muse lately in her budding relationship, until it had just abruptly ended. But the art had still been there, and even in her saddest moments, it was something she could get lost in. Just like the pages of a comic book.

“Thank you, and I would be more than happy to finish these up. They’ve been fun, and they’ll be a nice distraction.” Sam looked down at the sketches, before looking back up at Sai, “It’s more of a hobby. I took some art classes in college, and I love sketching, but my heart veered towards owning my own shop, so I could share other people’s work. Like my friend, Maggie’s.” She motioned to one of Maggie’s comics on the counter. 

—

Sai glanced over at the comic, but didn’t bother to pick it up. His foray into Batman had been enough to convince him comics weren’t for him, as much as novels weren’t. But he appreciated the sentiment behind what she was saying. He’d seen for himself how generous she was, with ideas and with her work. “That’s nice of you, to support your friends,” he said. “And other artists too. Although with your talent, I’m sure people interested in comics would love to look at your stuff.” 

“I did read the Batman comic, by the way,” he said, deciding he might as well rip the band-aid off. “It was… not bad. Not my thing, really. I’m not so much of a fiction person, and I guess the comics are no exception. To be honest, with the name, I did expect a couple more bats.” He glanced around the store. It amazed him that so many people would get this excited about comics. Adults, even. But to each their own, right? “But it was interesting to see what this all is about,” Sai said, nodding back to the store. “So, thank you again, for that.” 

—

Sam blushed softly and looked down. Thinking back to the night she first met Sai, the young woman had been glad she had given him a chance. He was a nice guy, and she loved the idea of supporting the bats, and getting the community on board. For as long as Sam had lived in Wicked’s Rest, there were still times when she felt so distant from her neighbors and the people she had grown up around. They all seemed nice enough, but community was supposed to be about closeness and helping each other out. And while she had gotten that from the people her parents knew, the day her store was wrecked, no one nearby had offered to come over and help. It took a passerby to come in, and she would forever be in his debt, “I actually do have a few self-published things stuck around here somewhere. I don’t advertise it, but if people want to buy it, I’m more than happy to sell it to them.”

Sam wasn’t surprised by his answer. In fact, it was refreshing to hear his honest opinion. Comic books weren’t for everyone, and she understood that, “Well I appreciate you being honest with me. I get that they’re not for everyone, and I could see where the title could be misleading.” She laughed softly, “But if I ever do come across one that’s purely educational about bats…” Sam paused, an idea coming to mind. “Actually, what if that’s what I contribute? A comic book about bats. The animal. Not the superhero.” She was curious to know Sai’s opinion.

—

The polite thing might be to offer to buy a couple of Sam’s comics too. Although since Sai already mentioned he wasn’t into them, it would clearly be an empty offer, so he didn’t bother. But he was surprised to hear she made people go looking for them. “I mean, you are the owner of the store,” he pointed out. “I’m sure people would be excited to see your work if they knew about it. It might not seem humble, but a display or something like that could help add local character. There’s nothing wrong with a little self-promotion.” It seemed like maybe she didn’t want the spotlight, but from what he’d seen, she definitely deserved it. 

And her idea for a bat comic was a stroke of genius. Sai might not like comics, but plenty of people did. What better way to bring those people into bat conservation? “I think that’s an amazing idea, if it’s something you’re willing to do. I’m always looking for new ways to engage people. Something like that could really get people excited about Bat Week and our local bats. What are you thinking the comic would be about, exactly? I’m happy to contribute any factual information.” 

—

Sam liked that Sai understood where she was coming from with her not wanting to display her art, and maybe one day she would get there. Self-promotion was definitely a thing these days. Just ask any social media influencer, “You’re right. I might consider it. Maybe the next time I have an in-store event or something.” She had contemplated displaying it before, but hadn’t gotten into the business of selling her own work. Still it would be a big boost in the area of self-confidence, and Sam knew she could always use more of that.

“I was thinking the comic could be just about bats in general. Interesting facts and figures. More educational than anything. Help you to spread the word about your conservation efforts. If you want to email me a list of facts, I could pull from that?” Sam was already having character ideas in her head and couldn’t wait to sketch them out. Her comic book that was an ongoing project for her may not have been center spotlight for this event, but a fun bat comic would be, and it made this whole Bat Week thing look even more fun. Life may have been crappy lately, but Sai and his beloved bats were easily making it a lot more interesting. “Was there anything in particular you wanted included?”

—

“Well bat week might make a good reason for an in-store event,” Sai pointed out. “And at this point, the whole thing’s going to be a big feature of your work, between the flyers and the comic. Which is not a bad thing at all or anything. I think this all is really going to help it succeed.” The posters were the perfect thing to make people stop and go what is that about. And the comic would be the push they needed to engage further. Publicity was the least he could offer Sam, since he wasn’t paying her. “I’m sure people would want to see more of the artistic talent behind the campaign.” 

Sai drummed his fingers along the counter, thinking. Of course, there were endless possibilities of what he wanted to include, but he wouldn’t want to overwhelm Sam or the readers with too much. “I think it would be great to include some key takeaways for readers in there somewhere. Building bat houses, not using pesticides, advocating for bat-friendly policies, that sort of thing. But other than that, I’d really defer to your discretion on how to engage people,” he said. “I can provide you information about the local species, hibernation and migration habits, diet, anything really, that you think might be good to include.” 

—

Sai did have a very solid point. Maybe Sam could showcase her comic during Bat Week. Kind of a segway for people who might’ve been interested in her work. She’d consider it, “You do have a very valid point. I’ll consider it, but this is about Bat Week and all the good your idea is going to generate. So you, too, should be proud. Have you gotten any other businesses on-board with the idea?” Sam mindlessly picked up a nearby pencil and began sketching out more ideas as she listened.

“I think that’s a great idea. Thinking maybe getting people to fall in love with the bats with facts and then include towards the end all the information about how people can help out. And send me all of that. You’re the expert at bats. And I’m an expert at drawing.” It felt weird calling herself an expert. Sam had been drawing most of her life, but to say it outloud was just different. But also a small boost to her self-confidence and something that made her smile. “I’ll get a rough comic worked out and then I can send it to you to see what you think, and we can go from there?”

—

“Some,” Sai said. “I’m working on it, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get a good number.” It had been a mixed bag really, of interest and flat nos. And there were, of course, establishments with community bulletin boards, who would be supporting it one way or another. Getting the bulk of businesses in town to participate would really come down to persistence in Sai’s eyes. That he had plenty of. “No one who’s matched your enthusiasm yet, though. But I think that’s a pretty high bar.” Besides, with new and improved materials, it would be an even easier sell. Sam work’s captured the vision of the event well, he thought.  

“Really, I think whatever you come up with will be perfect,” Sam had a knack for this sort of thing, Sai could tell from the way she talked about it. He didn’t feel any hesitation about leaving the project in her hands. “But I’m happy to take a look partway through, if you like. You already have my email, right?” 

—

Sam could only imagine how hard it must have been getting businesses on board, but she admired his dedication, “Well thank you for considering me and coming in that night. I’ve really enjoyed this side project so far. It’s given me a chance to really flex my drawing skills.” She laughed. “But I will keep trying to send more people your way. I know this is probably a pretty daunting task to be taking on alone for the most part.” She really wanted to help him as best she could.

Finishing up a rough sketch of something, she put her pencil down and shut the sketchbook, seeing that it was getting close to closing and there was still one customer remaining, “Thanks for putting that kind of trust in me. And yeah, I’ve got it from our last meeting.” Peaking around Sai, she spoke to the other customer, “Hey Nicky, I’m closing up in ten. Final selection time, yeah?” Sam turned her attention back to the man in front of her, “He’s a regular. He knows the drill. But yeah, I’ll start working on that and get it emailed to you soon. And if I have any other leads or ideas I’ll let you know.”

—

“Oh, I’m not alone or anything,” Sai said. “I have my co-founder of the Bat Conservation Society, who’s helping some, and I’d consider you pretty much an equal partner in this project at this point too, if you don’t mind me saying so. Considering how much you’re contributing. But the more people the better. And a personal touch can really make all the difference for getting people involved. So if you know anyone, definitely let them know about it.”