Nailed it

"Do they even need stunt doubles at LuxTV? Not only are you not in an action movie -- I think -- but couldn't they just use magic for dangerous stunts?" Shay jogged across the rooftop, jumping over one of the ventilation systems. She nearly caught her foot and stumbled on her face. Luckily, she caught herself in time.

"Where should we go? How far? The next building is a larger distance; think we can make that?" She stopped at the edge of the roof, looking down and then to the next building over. Its roof was slanted, and the panels looked loose enough to be cause for worry.

"Want me to go first this time?"

"I don't think they use stunt doubles as much anymore," Shay answered. "'Cause they have all the green screens and stuff, so things aren't as dangerous. I don't know how Manta Carlos acting works, I guess they'd use more magic, which might be more expensive or cheaper than CGI, I'm not sure. Probably depends on the quality. If they did use a stunt double, they could just glamour them, so that's always nice."

Eroshay noted Addy's nervousness at her going first, but she didn't care. Shay could do this. She didn't need to be put in the safety positions or wearing the metaphorical floaties. If she couldn't keep up with this family, if she were always in the child-friendly rooms, it would drive her mad. No, she had to do this. Shay had to prove she could.

With one relaxing breath, Shay made the jump. This time, she landed the jump, but the shoddy panels came loose under her feet and had her landing on her stomach and sliding downward toward the edge of the roof. She caught the edge of the roof and hung over the fall, breathing hard and having screamed automatically. Shay wiggled, trying to get a better hold to pull herself back up. "I'm okay!"

Shay took Addy's hand gratefully and pulled herself up. When she was safely on the roof, Shay breathed a sigh of relief. "You're right. It's just... I feel so useless to you guys. I'm a liability most of the time, and I don't want to be. I want to be strong, too."

Another sigh. Shay stood and dusted herself off, forcing a smile. "What were we talking about again? Oh, yeah. Stunt doubles. Um, yeah, you should look more into those. Normie movies are pretty cool, and you'll probably have to use glamour like Vito and Klaus when in the normie world. Have you ever been out of Manta Carlos or Hell?"

Shay's muscles were already feeling sore, a mixture of tension and exertion were wearing on her, but the girl wouldn't stop. She could go on. Be stronger. Better. Like her new family.

Shay smiled and glanced at Addy, glad that her hair helped mask the slight blush that crept along her upper cheeks. It was hard to thank someone for a genuine compliment and, for a split second, Shay didn't know whether to believe Addy or not, but she supposed, right now, it didn't matter. They were together. She had a family. Times were good.

Eroshay relaxed back into her easy demeanor once the subject was changed. "Yeah, I hear the normie world is something else. Hey, that's something we'll get to experience together. I mean, if you go off to somewhere else, maybe I'll go aboard with you for a bit, so you don't have to be alone?"

Shay's body was beginning to grow sore from the exercise, but if she had been alone, she'd have continued. Pushed herself to the limit, until she couldn't stand and could hardly breathe. But she wasn't alone -- she was with Addy, and Addy was tired.

"Sure! Where did you have in mind?"

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