Day 20 of the 25 Days of Tf-mas! (contains girl to puzzle tf, flattening)

From barista nobody to some sort of deific conglomerate of unfathomable energy and power, Elliott sure had one packed day so far. She was pulling into the home she and her mind...? Body...? Self-mate? Kat, the source of her newfound power, had appropriated from Kat's first victim of the holiday season. Having taken both her abilities and the new car she'd turned some unsuspecting girl into for a spin, she was finally in a good mood again. Elliott stepped out of Elizabeth after shutting her off and pocketing the key, so pleased with her little bout of spontaneity that she didn't even notice that her sister, whom she'd only just recently changed into a donkey, was no longer there. Nary a thought was spared for the sibling as she strode into the home and settled back onto the sofa with a self-satisfied sigh.

'Starting to enjoy ourselves, aren't we?' came Elliott's inner monologue, as voiced by Kat dwelling within their shared mind and body. It was true, especially after their latest outing. Elliott well and surely enjoyed herself nearly every step of the way. The selection process straight through to the transmogrification itself and, of course, the joy ride she'd taken the brand-new, unique vehicle on. It dawned on Elliott that that may be why they were called joy rides to begin with. Now, though, the adrenaline and novelty were beginning to wind down, and something else dawned on her.

"The holiday gathering," She spoke aloud, as was her newly acquired habit, "It's just around the corner isn't it? The one we'd promised to take care of for... that one?" She gestured to the wrapped gift on the coffee table. More accurately, her indication was to the wrapping paper itself, which had been made from the previous owner of this home by Kat when the self-appointed wish granter had just arrived. Elliott sighed, "We just had to make all these rules for ourselves, didn't we?" she lamented, standing and surveying the home. It wasn't bad, per se. There were plenty of decorations and other festive adornments up and ready, including those made from what were once human. Another boon to the state of the home was Susan, Elliott's former boss that she'd turned into quite the little housewife. The place was perfectly immaculate, thanks to her obsessively obedient efforts. Still, though, something was missing to Elliott. Some intangible, difficult to describe essence was lacking. She thought back to her own childhood experiences of the holidays and holiday themed parties. What had been the best aspects of those? The dichotomous being snapped her fingers. Of course! Traditions! There were the trappings of a lovely and lively holiday household here, but there was no soul - no indication of long held and perhaps odd traditions carried on from year to year. Thus, Elliott set right back out into the city to rectify this gross oversight by inserting her own flair.

The time just before the holidays were paradoxically the busiest and least busy times of the year for certain stores. Overall, of course, it was the undisputed champion of sales and packed aisles, but in the day to day it was much more volatile. Hostile weather and routine pay cycles meant that while certain coordinated days saw tides of shoppers of biblical proportions, some days were like today; it was eerily quiet. This suited Penny just fine. Generally speaking, Penny was actually pretty extroverted. On the whole, she gained energy from the swaths of people, and burned out much faster on the duller, slow days. That being said, there was an upper limit to the stimulation even Penny could endure. After one of the busiest rush hours she had maybe seen ever, it was nice to just breathe and stock the little games and toys the hobby store she worked in sold. Besides, it was even nicer to be able to interact with the few customers and get a feel for the kinds of things they really enjoyed, guiding them to the perfect activity book or fidget toy or what have you. The fit twenty-something dusted her hands off one another and planted her fists on her hips to admire her most recent little slow-day project. She'd completely reorganized the puzzles. Before she could get too far in her own head about what an adventure that had been, her attention was called by the jingle of the door. A customer! Interaction!

Penny strode over with a bright pep in her step, "Hi! Welcome, can I help you find anything in particular? Ooh I love your hair!" she greeted the woman that walked in. She was taller than Penny, with gorgeous long hair that faded to a pure white near the ends, and seemed to be scanning the store in the hunt for... something.

"Uh, Puzzles. A good one. Something... hard." Elliott said, not quite impatiently. She was starting to feel the time crunch now, and only had so much time she was willing to allot herself for each thought she had to spice up the home in preparation for Vanessa's wish.

"Oh! Right over here, ma'am! I just reorganized them all so feel free to look around. The higher piece-count ones are near that end," Penny said, happy she was looking for just the thing that she herself was so focused on for the last several hours. Penny led Elliott over to the wall of puzzles, watching her survey each one with sharp, decisive movements, as though she were offering each box just one opportunity to impress her before moving on to the next. Unfortunately, she'd burned through the wall without so much as lifting a single one for a second glance.

"Don't you have any... specialty ones? Something tough like an abnormal shape or maybe ones that are all clear so there's no picture hints?" Elliott asked. "I'm sort of trying to keep up a tradition, and I want to go big this year, I don't think standard is really gonna cut it." She explained. A family puzzle was indeed something from Elliott's own childhood she was hoping to take to the next level this time. The idea was that it was simply out and available to all the family to take little cracks at throughout the last several days leading up to the holiday, with the goal being to finish it before new years'. Despite hosting a stranger's party, Elliott figured it would be a waste to go for a simple puzzle only for it to be solved by the first relative or friend to arrive.

"Hmm... Sorry, ma'am," Penny sympathized, "We don't have anything quite like that... Your best bet is probably going to be one of the 5,000 piece abstract puzzles. The picture isn't super recognizable in small chunks, so it may suit that second need you listed."

"That's fine, I'll just make my own," Elliott said dismissively, unwilling to waste time by checking out other stores.

"Make your own puzzle? How exciting! How do you go about that?" Penny asked, lighting up at the opportunity to learn about a new hobby she hadn't heard from any previous customers.

"Would you like to help?" Elliott asked suddenly, seeming pleased by the idea.

"Oh? Sure! What do you need?" She asked, figuring a little first hand experience wouldn't be so bad. It was slow anyways.

"Just stand right over... here." Elliott said after a moment of looking around. She selected an innocuous spot against the wall. Penny obliged the request, standing with her back against the wall and facing Elliott.

"Should I strike a pose or something?" Penny asked, standing with her legs apart and placing one hand on her hip while throwing up a peace sign over her eye. She was grinning, anticipating that maybe Elliott was planning on using a picture of her as the base or something to hit that 'abnormal shape' idea she'd mentioned. She was right, in a way, but not in the way she would've liked to be.

"Perfect. Just hold that pose..." Elliott said, walking just out of sight around the corner along the wall Penny was standing against. Before she could ask where she was going, a large, wooden object swung from around the same corner and slammed into her and the wall.

WHAM

Elliott whistled; she was stronger than she thought. She moved the display bookshelf with the flat backing she had swung into Penny, peeling it off of her in the process. Luckily she was still mostly holding the post Elliott had told her to, though her expression had changed from jubilant to mild concern as she had just begun to wonder where Elliott was going. It worked out as far as Elliott was concerned. It added a certain authenticity to the piece. If she were to maintain honesty, the work was already nearly done as-is, but there were still some minor alterations to make. First, Penny fell forward, clattering to the floor as a rigid plank painted in her own image, albeit not for very much longer. Elliott strode over to the arts and crafts section of the store and selected a color. Red felt festive, so she returned with red paint and a big brush. The paint was cold to the touch, and before long, Penny's silhouette was all the evidence left of the girl, her defining features callously painted over to add difficulty to the puzzle. Elliott was nothing if not thorough, having painted over both sides of the flattened girl. Next was the tricky bit. She divided Penny in her mind, tracing basic puzzle shapes, plus some with irregular curves to match Penny's contours all over her. with each tiny bit her finger traced, Penny felt that shape separate from the rest of her being. It was an excruciatingly long process, and positively torturous for the girl with the boundless energy to be utterly immobile for the entirety of it. Eventually though, she was done. An impressive 8,500 piece monster of a puzzle with one of the most ludicrous shapes out there, plus the added difficulty of being completely monochrome and opaque. Penny's senses and thoughts were scrambled by Elliot dumping her many disparate pieces into a box and carrying her out of the store. Just one lingering question remained for the Penny Puzzle; How long would it be before she would be made whole again?