When it had come to running the burlesque, Samantha was rather surprised by the way that she had completely thrived at it. While she was full of shortcomings at waitressing and dancing, she found that she was astonishingly good at doing the paperwork and payroll and orderings. She knew to let Lyrica handle the girls and their routines â€" and she wouldn't interfere with that in the slightest. Truly, she'd found herself loving going to work more and more â€" especially since the job paid a little higher than she has as a mere waitress. Still, even in her new role, she wasn't entirely immune from the overwhelming way the emotions inside the burlesque assaulted her senses. The simple nature of the business led the patron's emotions to be on the stronger side â€" after all, who wouldn't be deep in lust with the beautiful, half naked faeries running about â€" and tended to overwhelm the girl more than she would have had she merely been in a crowd. Even though Nadya's office â€" her office now, she supposed â€" was definitely helpful in escaping the overwhelming sensory overload, sometimes the young girl had to step outside and get some fresh air to clear her mind.

It was with that in mind that Samantha stepped into the cool night air from the employee door backstage, letting the heavy metal door shut behind her. It was only once the door clicked shut that the bursting feeling from inside her mind seemed to ease up. She loved her empathic ability, she truly did, but there were moments in which the onslaught of emotions made her head feel as though it was going to burst from the inside out. Slowly, the young faerie sat with her back against the brick wall, pulling her favored hoodie on around her. She put her head in between her legs, taking deep breaths as she fought to control her power. It was as though every emotion in the world crowded to fit inside her skull, bending and breaking her head until there was no room for anything but the pain and fatigue it caused her. It wouldn't take long for her mind to return to it's normal state, and at that point she'd go back in and get back to work until the discomfort caused her to be unable to focus once again. It was the real reason that she couldn't dance, though she didn't want the other girls to know that. Too often she'd get on that stage and feel the overwhelming urge to faint. To the other girls, it looked like stage fright. She hardly wanted them to know her power nor her weakness, so she was content to let them think what they thought. That she was weird. That she was a coward. And perhaps she was. Her fear of the other faeries made her weak among her own species. The protection that her relationship with Aiden Tetradore offered her among his pack meant nothing to them. Other than the desire to not piss of Nadya, there was nothing stopping them from taking advantage of her.

Aiden. It was his name in her thoughts that caused the girl to look up, a smile plastered on her features. It was as though she was a silly school girl, hopelessly drawn to her silly crush. Though it wasn't a crush, was it? The feelings were mutual. It caused her to bring the jacket further around her, lifting the fabric to her nose. She didn't have a Were's sense of smell, but even she could smell the way his scent clung to the fabric. After all, it'd only been a few hours since she'd seen him. Since he'd held her in his arms in that way that made her knees feel wobbly and her heart race with joy. The young girl buried her nose in the fabric, taking several deep breaths. It was his scent that calmed her now. It was the thoughts of him that made her head feel less achy and her body to calm. She couldn't contain her thoughts of love for the man, though truly, she was alone, and why would she care who could hear her thoughts?

Samantha Cassidy