The day had already left the stage a few hours by now. But that meant the night was in full swing, with its peculiar night dwellers to come out and play. Many folks remain active during the shadowy depths of these hours, and tonight was peculiarly dark too. There is not a single star in the sky, with the only source of light where a few commercial buildings but mainly the entertainment area. Many will either party hard or drink in the pubs, while others want to see something raunchy.

The last one is basically my job as of late. And honestly? I still don’t know how to feel about this job. Not that I had a choice in the matter, and a bit too late to change course at this point. Only got worse as I felt the shift of my weight gravitating even further down to make room for my rent-free occupants.

“Look at her go!” one voice of a patron was heard within the crowd.

“Dang, I am surprised she is still moving with a gut like that!” said another.

Oh, being a dancer in a strip club is not exactly the career change I had in mind. The sultry looks of some of the patrons over my overly large dome were strange at first. But I kind of got used to it after a few months. Tho if only my ears weren’t that sensitive to not overhear some of the remarks they made. This establishment had a history after all.

“Aww, what happened to Colette?” a different patron asked towards a friend of theirs.

“I thought this place shut down months ago?”, said another.

“Nah, they got a new owner apparently,” a third butt in to clarify.

“For real?”

“Yeah”

Ah yes, I forgot to mention I am the new establishment's owner, for now at least… But yet..

“Another poodle gal? Are they trying to replace Colette or something?” another patron said, clearly miffed not seeing her prior favorite dancer.

“Who does she think she is, owning the place.”

So many doubts. And the occasional slander from some of the old regulars doesn’t help from time to time. Why do they think I was trying to replace her? I got this job because of her!
And yet, this wasn’t exactly as planned either. I was supposed to work with her, not take her job! A secretary that was meant to help her until her situation with the kids was manageable again. Why did she decide to ‘retire’ after getting the kids? Right after I got here too…

Was I supposed to keep the business while ALSO working alongside my employees at the same time? That’s gotta be crazy. I am not sure how she did it but it's stressing me out. I should have denied the offer. But why didn't I? Probably because the pay grade is too extraordinarily good to pass up I guess? Now to top it off I had a “little” accident during my stay, so I have to feed my litter somehow. A rather immense litter to boot. But also, seeing all of Colette’s employees' reactions all those many, many months ago…

“Will I lose my job?” said one of the dancers

“This is my only income… How am I going to pay rent now?”

“The extra money helps, but you know, kids gotta eat…”

“I don’t know how long I’ll stay like this, but will I find any other job if I get too big?”

That resonated with me to this day. And I hate to see the other dancers both normal and expecting mothers without a job too if I refused…

“I am not replacing her…” I keep telling myself in my mind. I had a reason to be here. Colette is my sister after all.

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Late patreon reward for  SpyingRedfox

Cherie belongs to  Spyingredfox

Art by  Derrysome

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