It’s a strange sight to see a fictional creature floating in the office halls, but Tikva can’t do anything about it now but see things through to the end, whatever the end may be.
“And that’s how Tik Tik came to be here!” the kobold chirps, stopping in front of the stairway. “Ah, here we go.”
“Wait!” Tikva says, pointing to the elevator. “We can take this.”
“Ah, right, like in Anteronia!” Tik Tik presses the button and hops off of her disc. “Tik Tik cannot sense much magic in this world. Didn’t think lift would work.”
“It’s electric. Many things here are.”
“Oooh, smart!” Tik Tik says, rubbing her hands together. “Most things back home use magic to move everything. This cruder but can work in nonmagical places.”
The elevator dings and opens up, and a twinky red-headed intern stands inside, a tray of coffees in one hand and his phone in the other.
Tikva follows the kobold inside, tensing up as the doors close.
“Let’s see… the biggest people in charge are at top, yes?” Tik Tik says, and she hops up and presses one of the top buttons.
The young man momentarily looks up from his phone, frowns, and then looks back down. A moment later, the terror of seeing a reptilian creature standing right in front of him seizes him, and he screams in holy terror.
The coffee falls, splashing its hot contents all over the floor, making a mess all over the three passengers, including the little lizard, who leaps forward, practically head-butting the emergency button.
For a moment, the two humans in the elevator gasp and brace themselves for the stopping of the car and the blaring of an alarm, but it doesn’t come.
Tik Tik groans, rubbing her head as the car stops, the doors opening to a gentleman in a suit, his eyes wide.
“I, uh, I’ll just take the next one,” he says, stepping aside.
The doors close, and the intern yelps, rushing towards the front, slamming into it, and knocking. “Fuck, shit, bitch, tits!”
“Oooowie,” Tik Tik groans, rubbing her head.
“Get me out of here!” the poor young man says, knocking on the door in some desperate and mad struggle.
“Uugh, Tik Tik has headache,” Tik Tik says, flicking her fingers in his direction.
The youth’s eyes roll back, his lids flutter, and his body goes limp, falling to the floor in a snoring heap on top of the spilled coffee.
Tikva shakes her head and kneels beside him, checking his pulse. “You can’t just assault people!” She hisses at the kobold.
“Why not?” Tik Tik says, the elevator coming to a stop. “Ah, here we are!”
The doors open up, and Tik Tik scampers along the carpeted floor of the executive offices of the building. Tikva takes a step forward, but she steps back, staying in the elevator.
“This… this is her story,” the woman says. “I have my own life to worry about.”
And so the doors close on her, returning her to some semblance of everyday life… if one ever existed in the first place.
Tik Tik hops onto the secretary’s desk, crossing one leg over the other, leaning in, and fluttering her eyes. “Hey there, cutie. Want to tell Tik Tik who in charge here?”
The woman sitting at the desk scoots back with a yelp, scrambling for her phone, which she juggles in her hands in a fit of confusion.
Tik Tik snaps her fingers, drawing the device towards her. “Electric, too? Hm… not just. Neat thing, but not what Tik Tik here for.” She hops off the desk and heads to the back. “I think boss must be behind door.”
The Chief office is extensive, with windows that look out to the ground below, spreading from floor to ceiling. The cave-dwelling creature who steps inside pulls her hood over her eyes as she approaches the desk. 
The one sitting at it faces that beautiful view, rocking back and forth on their seat as they speak. “No, I don’t care what they said. You have to do it now. Yes, Hold on. I think something’s going on. I’ll call you back.”
The CEO spins around, folding hands together and nodding. “Ah, Tik Tik, so you’ve come, have you?”
The kobold folds her arms over her chest, puffing out her cheeks. “Oh, so you know me?”
“Of course I do,” the CEO says, motioning to their computer. “My people have been monitoring you for some time.”
“And who are you? What is this place? What does it have to do with giving you my money?”
The CEO chuckles. “Oh, Tik Tik, you should know everything revolves around money. If it weren’t for money, you wouldn’t even exist.”
Tik Tik tilts her head. “What do you mean?”
The CEO turns their monitor. “You see this website? People pay the artist to create things, and the thing they create is you.”
“Oh, I jumped out of something like that,” Tik Tik admits. “Is this a portal? There are lots of those where I’m from.”
“Oh, no, no, no. Let’s not get too deep in the weeds there. All you need to know is that money is important, and it’s essential that if the person who makes you doesn’t get money,  you don’t exist.”
“Tikva?”
“Let’s go with that,” the CEO says. “So, if it's important for this… Tikva, to make money, then we must make money. Just as you need to make money. It makes the world go ‘round, after all.”
“But you know everything about Tik Tik. Why not just charge me and take your cut? What does this have to do with taxes!?”
The CEO stands up, arms outstretched. “Don’t you get it? It’s all about the spectacle of the thing. You, me, Miss Harrison. It’s a story, a tale, all to intrigue people to get them reading more! They want to know what happens next!”
“They?”
“Oh, wait and see… wait, and see…”