Eliza Pancakes, Supervillain

https://i.postimg.cc/50W84s61/lair-show.png

"Have you ever noticed that this charming basement room is much smaller than the actual foundation of the house?"
"As a matter of fact, I had. I notice things about houses."
"Have you ever looked behind the Baron's armor?"
"What do you mean, behind the Baron's armor?"
https://i.postimg.cc/FzZyn0Fv/lair-behind-the-knight.png

"Oh..."
"It's amazing what you can hide from people if you put a big weird distraction in front of it."
https://i.postimg.cc/X7sKfKDc/lair-ever-wondered.png

Through the door was the rest of the basement. Or shall we say, the lair. For it was full of objects Jacques acquired and used in his criminal life.
Apparently the gold bars and duffel o' cash put Eliza in a flirty mood....
https://i.postimg.cc/GhLJTgzm/lair-inside.png

"Does that ATM work?" she asked in a breathy voice.
"Sadly, no," said Jacques.
"What are those urns on your desk?"
"I'd prefer not to talk about that," said Jacques.
(Okay, so obviously I built the lair, but I have no idea why those urns are in the Villareal household inventory. Bit spooky. Perhaps related to the wife who died in mysterious circumstances? If so, why are there two urns?)

"I always thought this would be my realm alone down here," Jacques said. "But it would give me great pleasure to have your company."
Eliza agreed. They had her desk brought down. Apparently, it got ever so slightly dirty in transit.
https://i.postimg.cc/mZNyDWYn/lair-clean-desk.png

Eliza continued to pick on Luna and Hugo, but she developed a soft spot for Max. He was so close in age to Iggy, but he didn't have Iggy's sweetly daydreamy qualities. Instead he was observant, intense, purposeful. More like Eliza herself. She read to him about great adventurers who seized opportunities.
https://i.postimg.cc/FzmbZT4G/eliza-reads-to-max.png

Winterfest came. Jacques the criminal tried to fight Santa for presents. And failed.
https://i.postimg.cc/CMNb0HYT/santa-fight.png

"Perhaps this would be more effective," suggested Eliza.
https://i.postimg.cc/yY8c8gYJ/santa1.png

He went down like a sack full of toys. Not that there was any way to get presents out of him after that. Still, Eliza found it satisfying. And hey, he had left a big pile of presents in the middle of the room anyhow.
https://i.postimg.cc/9FgTRmrL/santa2.png

They got the usual figurines and seed packets... except for Luna of course, the girl who gets everything handed to her, got a karaoke machine.
https://i.postimg.cc/Mp4y46wn/lunas-karaoke-machine.png

And then one morning, Jacques woke up feeling not so well.
Eliza, wipe that huge smile off your face. Perhaps she's thinking about becoming the lady of the house
https://i.postimg.cc/13zH27Nj/death-smile.png

When Grim arrived, Eliza managed to squeeze out one tear
https://i.postimg.cc/B62cHddX/death-squeeze-tear.png

And then she thought of the lost income now that Jacques can no longer go to work... and the tears really started flowing. She wailed to Grim
https://i.postimg.cc/Wb889ctZ/death-relented.png

Oh.
https://i.postimg.cc/h49pddBp/death-saved.png


"It's so wonderful to have you back, my love! You gave us quite a scare!" Eliza said, cheerily and shakily. They had a nice chat with Grim after that. Jacques' chilly breath was a nice touch, I must say
https://i.postimg.cc/yNMyJVpM/death-talk-and-breath.png

But when your number is up due to old age, it's only a matter of time... that night, Jacques came home partway through his work shift feeling not so well
https://i.postimg.cc/T1q0MZ9Z/death-next-day.png

Eliza tried the wailing routine again but Grim said "oh, stop it, we both knew you were faking the first time"
https://i.postimg.cc/rwYJkG1F/death-next-day-oh-stop.png

So now it's real.
https://i.postimg.cc/dtwnmVQv/death-lady-of-the-house.png

Feeling a little bit more bitter about "lady of the house" in reality

Course, now that he's gone, he won't stop calling

https://i.postimg.cc/43qBzvyF/death-club.png

I'll visit you, Dad, but I am not sure how
https://i.postimg.cc/V6t44Sbs/death-not-sure-how-to-visit.png

Thanks, Iggy, you're a good kid
https://i.postimg.cc/Xq0LPVwf/death-iggy.png

The slightly less good kid is more of a comfort right now
https://i.postimg.cc/CxdGmZ3y/max-a-comfort.png


Eliza leaned on Max more and more throughout the week. And then overcompensated by gifting Iggy a nice new toy box
https://i.postimg.cc/Hkfyz605/toy-box.png

and a lovely new sunny art room, as a surprise for when he came over for the weekend. Eliza had always wanted a house full of many, many big windows. It brought her some satisfaction.
https://i.postimg.cc/9Q49y69C/sunny-art-room.png