Hey everyone! Back again, you know how it is. Been on a roll lately, mostly because the plot is starting to get meatier and mightier.

This one is shorter, but strategically so. Please enjoy!


-Hours of Rest-

Given that clocks and calendars are everywhere (and it was curiously daytime when she arrived), merely checking her phone gave her the greatest shock. "I missed one day? I was there for like two months, this is timey-wimey b.s.," she moaned, though she's grateful. Now people won't think she's dead.

It's early afternoon, and the house is empty, so she shoots texts off to her parents. She hopes they'll get back soon, and that they won't bring a cavalry of cops with them. That would be a nightmare. She leaves the house and walks around the yard, smelling the sweet grass on the breeze and taking in the tiny trees around her house. She used to build blanket forts around them, and she was planning one last camp out with Carly before she left for school.

Her thoughts drift to the people she left as she heads back inside. Even if they're having communication problems, they're counting on her. She agreed to be their priestess, whether or not she feels she's doing it correctly. Once they figure out their issues, they'll be golden.

"I need to hash things out with Nuriko, and have a good sit-down talk with Hori-sama about why I can't accept his proposal ever. Then…" she mumbles, chewing on her lip. Her crush, if that's what it is, can't go anywhere. It's lasted longer and gone stronger than others she's had, but it's the end. He probably sees her as a kid, and it's not worth making things awkward between everyone.

"I guess I can't wait too long to get back, but at least I have some time to calm down. This time I'm going in prepared though," she thinks, halfway watching a YouTube video as she chews through an apple slice dipped in peanut butter. She's lost weight, so say her regular clothes.

"I mean, you know, there's probably gonna be a lot of other people who race ahead or do better, but you gotta keep doing what you want or need to. No one else can do what you can, and if you really believe that, and really build something with that belief, I think it's possible to get anywhere."

Her ears tune into the video just then. It makes her fingers tingle. She thinks back: "'... you can only control so much in this world, and it's not a whole lot no da.'"

Her phone starts to buzz, pulling her from her waffling. She lazily pulls it to her face to check, before hurriedly swallowing and nearly choking on the glob of peanut butter.

"Aw shit, I forgot! ...Hullo?"

"Tia! It's Dylan. We had a callout, you think you can come in early tomorrow?"

A grin, a tad too vindictive, spreads on her face. Time for payback. Those miserable shifts, the terrible gossip, the horrible hours tacked onto her regular schedule, it's all coming back! It's just like kicking Lady Miho in the shin.

"Welp, you have two. In fact, I quit. Unapologetically. Lose my number, please, because I would never want any recommendations for later job applications from you anyway." She hangs up with a satisfying tap and squeals. Her first job, the one she's had for a few years now, it's over at last!

Her phone buzzes again. She moves her thumb to swipe it away, thinking it's Dylan calling her back, but she glances at it in time.

"Ack! Hey mom!"

"Trianna! Trianna is it you, this isn't some prank, you got away?!"

"Yeah mom, but you knew where I was?"

"Tia, stay there I'm on my way home right now."

The call ends. Afterward she blocks the McDonald's number so she won't be bothered. She has enough on her mind now.

She starts packing a large bag. Her gut is telling her she's going to need a quick getaway.

"Can't miss home so bad if I take home with me. Ha!" Her reasoning speeds her up, palms growing sweaty as time passes. A trip to the garage for the immense roll of duct tape, the closet for the untouched first aid kit, and the kitchen for three forks ("My saviors in a dark world!") Her mom will be home any minute, and will try to stop her from going back. Any sane person would. The zipper barely closes, but she's satisfied with her packing work. She's prepared.

The front door knob jiggles familiarly, then opens. Tia, despite her nerves about the upcoming fight to return to Konan, speeds out. She hasn't seen her mom in forever!

"Mom!"

Her mom barely has time to get in the door before being tackled, not that she minds. Soon, both are full of tears as they hold each other tight.

"I'm so glad you escaped safely, Tia."

Tia pulls away, wiping her eyes and sniffling. She furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Do you know…?"

Her mom's severe frown makes her look at her toes. She's led to the kitchen table and they both sit.

"You're not the first in our family to be pulled into The Universe of the Four Gods, Trianna. The first was your great-great aunt Skylark on my side, back in the forties."

Tia wrings her hands in her lap, gaping. If she'd ever heard of this, she might never have clicked on that hyperlink. It would've meant no Konan, no priestess, and no meeting any of her new friends. She's never heard of, nor met her great-great aunt Skylark.

"We were supposed to watch for a book, and besides that we always thought it was a fairy tale. My cousin is finding out how it possibly found its way to you. Until then, you stay away from screens."

"What?! But mom-"

Both stand, heated. Hands slam. Tia's eyes twitch, because she hates these fights.

"Do NOT ARGUE. Skylark never came back from The Universe of the Four Gods, it will happen to you too, it's dangerous!"

"Mom-"

"Don't!"

"LET ME TALK!"

Her mom takes a step back, not expecting resistance at all, much less one so fierce. Tia's mind is whirring, firing on all gears, thinking of her friends. They're her people, now.

"I may have come back because I was stressed the fuck out, but I promised I would go back! They aren't dangerous, Chichiri isn't dangerous! Those people need me, and I took up the responsibility to save them! I won't be like her, I have my own shit to do!"

Her voice resounds through the house, just like their thunderous arguments about going to college months ago. Now those seem pretty petty. Her mom glares.

"You think any of that is even real?"

Tia's breath hitches.

"It's all a fantasy world, Tia. All characters. All made up. You still think it matters?"

Without a second thought, Tia slams her fist on the table, snarling. "Of course it does! It's real enough to me, it was obviously real enough to Skylark, and I…" Images of all those people, from Hotohori, whose entire empire balanced on her success, to the matriarch of the Ou Family who had such hope in her eyes, to that face. That beautiful face with a scarred eye and a lonesome, sad smile... "I love those people!"

She runs back to her room. She grabs the large stuffed bag, and turns to her laptop that already has Google search results on a tab. She hears her mom thundering after her. Shoving her phone in her back pants pocket, she scrolls to the link.

Her mom screams. "TIA, NO!"

After roughly seven hours in her own world, Tia waves goodbye with a sardonic salute, the holy light once again embracing her in red.

"I'm ready for the trip this time. Besides, my world was just pissing me off. I have quite the apology to make back in Konan, coming back so soon…" she thinks, feeling foolish and juvenile for making such a scene for her friends in the other world. "But I'm keeping my promise. I'll sit down and talk to Nuriko and Hotohori. Learn how to read from Chiriko. I'll see Chichiri."


"Hello, is anyone still in there? Ugh, honestly, this prank is lame," the teenager mumbles, already miffed because of their mandatory volunteer work for school credit (because school loves nothing more than oxymorons.) He slides the occupied sign off of the door and cracks the door open, hoping to high heaven that no one is inside making out or that no one was inside and left a disgusting mess.

Instead, it's a phone, its screen white on full brightness. He trundles to it. When his hand touches it, he yowls sharply, then slings a few expletives at it. It's blazing hot!

He goes a second time, this time with his hoodie over his hands as protection. With the same strain as a man smothering his victim, he squeezes the power off buttons. The phone screen darkens after he confirms the command. He breathes a sigh of relief, then chuckles a bit.

"I just saved the library from burning down, that must count for some major credit!"


That's how it feels to turn off a phone sometimes, right? I'm not the only one...?

Thanks for reading everyone, I'll be back with more soon.

Til Next Time,

-A