Jackie had to remind herself, that she was the nobody that the mega-celebrity wanted to meet. Correct posture, speaking only when spoken to, maintain eye contact, do every single thing in your power to take the best steps forward.

But it was Tabby Morrow—who puts up daily news reports dealing with the Shift Noumena, loved by many and new-aged icon—that was sweating, huffing, and not making any eye contact.

Her jet black hair, with various shades of navy, violet on the left side of it—all straightened and hit her shoulder blades. She in turn wore a light violet dress that was strapless, with a white cloth intersection to cover what would’ve been a cleavage window on it.

The girl soon turned away, but Jackie continued to look forward, towards her. She knew that this looked creepy, but for all what her mother taught her—she didn’t give the lesson on what to do if said famous person was also an awkward every-person.

Jackie did relent, just glancing around without completely moving her head, awaiting Tabby and giving her time. The silence, save from ambiance, was… Disconcerting. To be still that long. For “nothing” to go on for a “long” time. Stewing in the nighttime air, something she already has an odd discomfort for, despite baking within her suit.

She couldn’t mention anything to her, about what happened, not at all. Whatever Tabby wanted her for, Jackie knew heaping her problems onto her and asking for help was never an option to begin with.

“So uh—” Tabby said, causing Jackie to lightly jump. Her hands fumbled on top of each other, as she worked up the courage to continue. “Hey. Hi!”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Morrow,” Jackie said cordially, without missing a bit. “It’s almost surreal. Thank you—”

“Don’t call me Ms. Morrow—we should be the same age almost--!” Tabby coughed out at blinding speeds. Jackie was barely caught up before Tabby continued on, “Just. Y’know—Tabby’s fine! Tabby’s normal! I want this to be as relaxing and non-creepy as this should be…!”

Jackie cocked her head slightly, looking off to the side with her brow tight with slight confusion.

There was no way, she was sure of it. She was completely reading into things.

“Is this creepy—you are completely allowed to say, hell, ev-even, you can leave if you want—”

Jackie waved her hands, “No-no-no; you requested that I’ll be here, and I’ll see it to the end. You’re not being creepy, you’re being… surprisingly nervous, I have to admit.”

Something subtly changed in Morrow’s body language. Her right arm becoming limp, rubbing her forehead, the soft sigh that came from her lips…

“‘Surprising’, well, okay…”

“Well, yes…” Jackie still had her hands raised, but lowered gently. “You’ve always—well, that’s your appeal, what makes you so relatable—this sense of ‘im not ready but let’s do this’. That attitude in the face of, well, all the weird things that been happening—and yet I’m causing this reaction? I’m no one—”

“I guess I’ll nip this in the bud…” Tabby sounded filled with dread. “You uh… Like people? S-seeing people…?”

Even with the hunch she thought was out of the question, along with having her former best friend also having a crush on her—there was nothing to prepare Jackie for that. She could only blink in that moment, her mouth shut into a line with her eyes wide.

Tabby winced, giving herself a facepalm, “Yeeeeeah, see, sorry—”

“Don’t be!” Jackie walked over to her, causing Tabby to turn and face her with wide eyes of her own. This causing Jackie to wince a bit and back away a tad. “Really, don’t be… Trust me, this is nothing new to me. I’m flattered.”

“R-really…?”

Jackie nodded. “I grew muscle, voice got deeper, and got on the basketball team all in high school… Considering how I more or less forsake the idea that I’m attractive to someone before most of my team called me hot? And their friends called me hot? I couldn’t be more flattered. If anything, I’m sorry that I like the things I like, I always feel bad—”

“Hey hey hey…” Tabby closed the gap. “I may be a desperate bitch, but I’m not that much of a desperate bitch to force girls into liking me. Hopefully, a guy has actual taste and makes you honest one day, because c’mon.”

Jackie laughed. “Thanks. But that’s not gonna happen for a looong time…”

Jackie looked out to the city, her eyes lowered.

“Not when there’s so much to fix…” her tone got soft. “Not when I have to help fix this… Before I do anything for myself…”

“Funny how my shrink is advocating I do the reverse—damn it man,” Tabby shook her head, holding it by her forehead. “The one time I actually try and throw myself into the wind…”

Jackie looked to her.

“There’s gonna be a bit of trial and error…” Jackie soothed the girl. “One day, you’re gonna nail this and it’s gonna come to you as natural as it is to breathe.”

Tabby smiled. Before settling back into a nervous wiggle.

“See—like no, that was beautiful advice, I just, you’re already too good for this shit hole—but… The reason why I was moaning about this, about doing this… Because I still based this thing off of my job…”

“…Excuse me?” Jackie faced her.

Tabby held out her hand, revealing that there was an A.R. projector within her palm, but a round peg that seemed to come out of a high-end computer or device.

Soon, it projected a plethora of footage. Memories.

Jackie just stared at this compilation of her current life, in complete awe as she shakingly turned back to Tabby.

“So… Storytime,” she balled her hand into a fist, cutting off the distressing images. “I first saw you all, you were torn up, from your N’atural encounter? You were… All of you… The sight was just too sad. I had to know more about whoever you were. So, I snooped around… Surprisingly, got some key footage of your journey months ago. I sliced it together, to make sense of it…”

Jackie just continued to gaze at the girl, who shifted uncomfortably at the stare.

“I’m trying to like—make you girls into some ‘fail of the week’ or some laughingstock, honest to God, I’m not. From what I’ve seen, and… I just wanted someone to have your back for once. You all screamed at each other over what happened as it did and like—I just… The idea that you all could STILL be this lost and in distress…”

Tabby quickly rubbed her face with her free hand. “First thing I really should ask you—really the first thing I should’ve asked—but are you okay? Actually? Really…?”

Jackie swallowed the lead that formed in her throat, only for the wind to get knocked out of her due to that simple question.

“… That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Jackie said, remnants of the gravel in her tone. “How could you be? During right now?”

Tabby nodded, looking around before training her eyes on the tall girl once more. “But you’re… Home? Taken care of?”

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.”

A sigh of relief exited Tabby’s chest.

“We… I guess what we’re trying to do… Is make a difference. But so far—it only proved that what happened was a fluke. We can’t gain traction. We can’t—we can’t even handle something that we had a head start on. We’ve came out of that experience—and we felt that everything that held us back was gone and we can finally move forward… We can’t fucking move. We had to accept that everything we do is some form of continued loss. Just survival. False starts and survival bare minimum. It’s frustrating.”

Tabby studied Jackie.

“So, you want to… Make a difference how?”

“Being powerful enough to stop this crazy shit. And maybe people can do the same finally.”

“Using siVis not for your gain—but to use as a tool to stop crazy with crazy?”

“I get that sounds idiotic, but… What else can we do? Other than wait for more terrible things to happen?”

Tabby looked at her palm.

“…I could promote you all. Use the footage, tell your story. Finally, get you that win?”

Jackie then looked at Tabby’s hand as well. She stewed in the cold night air, as she was burning alive.

“… Keep it,” Jackie answered. “Hold it close. Feel free to… Find some more stuff if you can. If anything, cover your bases. If we’re gonna do this, then we’re gonna earn this organically. And if we fail, at least you have something to explain why for our families.”

Instantly, a sharp pain that weighed a ton slid down into her gut. Jackie couldn’t believe that she sounded so callous. It wasn’t a case of her control of her body betraying her emotions, but her mind moving so fast she could barely catch up.

Tabby looked just as caught off guard, her rubbery face—her big eyes looking like saucers, her small open mouth hanging. But she looked down, making a fist once more, nodding.

“I’ll respect your wishes…”

“Thank you.”

Then she pulled Tabby into a hug, causing the latter to freeze in place.

“Thank you so much. You’re one of the few that gave us outright kindness to us, something… I’m starting to notice. And appreciate. And I’m sure the others feel the same.”

Jackie then disengaged, gently putting her hands on her pale shoulders with an inviting smile. “How about we watch whatever Davenport’s gonna prattle on about? Together?”

Tabby could only nod herself into a blur, then stopping, her wiggling smile across her face. Jackie could only chuckle.

Maybe this could’ve been enough, for her. Enough light before plunging herself into darkness once more.

***

Everyone was told to say within the chambers. Stay Still, Stay Calm, Stay Sane. The rings slowly rearranged themselves, bending and fanning out to the point to folding into each other, aligning into a flat, steel plate. But it wasn’t over, as the sections that had the chambers rose at selective places and sunk at others—the new plate creating a ridge with what was entire rooms turned into large booths—the chambers tearing themselves open to create views for everyone within them. All faced towards the one thing.

The massive crystal that was at the center of the room. Yellow, but drenched in other various colors. The light emanating began to dim further, so much so that one could see the details of the crystal structure.

Then one wouldn’t be caught off guard when the crystalline structure began to open up.

Splitting into four, large chunks—it revealed a basic, white but reflective stage that bloomed with light as things settled into their place.

As A.R. screens flooded the air for good measure, it was strange. The room was well lit and perfect for what it was, but the darkness itself didn’t budge. Like it wasn’t being kept at bay, just waiting, adding to the mood.

Jackie’s eyes settled at the middle, squinting at what—who—she was seeing.

And of course, the guy who had to sign off, design, and organize this mood broke it as soon as he stepped on.

He wore the most gaudiest shade of shimmering gold. Glittering, but also covered in black stencils and a metal star-shaped tie that choked any credibility out of the man. His shaved mullet was loud, white, puffed up as if it was a rooster’s crest failing to stand up, slew all over the top of his head.

The most curious expect to him, standing there as he smiled, was he forgo his usual shades. His wild eyes, determined and piercing—as if he has nothing to lose, were illuminating the audience more than the lights did.

“I would like to thank you all for coming today,” his trademark overconfident showmen tone echoed across the place, as he rubbed his hands together. “It took a lot to get here. We can say too much—we had to take getting here. But we’re here. You’re here. And I’d like to take the time for you all to bask in that.”

He proceeded to lower his head, in an improv moment of silence.

Jackie got cut off by Tabby’s own, well done, groan from the gut—quickly turning her head towards the girl before she did the same for her.

“Sorry, I—” Tabby tried to apologize.

“Please, don’t apologize, that was amazing.”

“It’s just that he’s so—for such a complicated problem and they decide THIS asshat can solve it?”

Jackie looked on.

“It’s why I’m so concerned, making the issue into a loudness war. Matching crazy with crazy. We brand that and the only way to live, is to be this exact crazy.”

“Okay,” Davenport snapped his head upwards, his locks bouncing. “I know we got an earful about the entrance. It was too bold of us—and I get that, how that, could be so triggering… But I wanted to make a point.”

He gestured, continuing on, “To put things into perspective. This might be our greatest challenge as a people yet. There was nothing that could’ve prepared us for the sheer insanity that our reality has produced. And the part of the, our collective psychosis about this, is the fact that despair—that feeling that there’s truly nothing we can do about this. And uh. We—as a last defense for humanity—certainly added to that fear.”

Davenport’s arm shot upwards, his index pointed to the sky, as the arm itself was shaking. “But look around us. Past the destruction, debris, and despair—and there’s still the one fact: we’re still here. We’re not gone, and we didn’t instantly get wiped out despite dealing with this for decades. That counts for something, people. And that’s why we went ahead and did what we did—to show you as much as we could that we’re right. And more importantly, that you can trust us to prove this to you when you think we’re going too far."

Jackie reflexively balled her hands into fists. For the sake of the Enforcers that were still around her due to Tabby, she immediately let go.

“Fears, uncertainty—they make us forget. They make us forget what is truly important. Regardless of how unique this problem is, it does not change the fact that we have been in trouble messes before. I know I just said we never dealt with something like this before—this is the now we have to keep focusing on. At points in human history, we struggled, we were stupid, we sat in shit and deemed ourselves shit. Sounds familiar? And every single time—we got out by doing the one, sensible thing: moving forward.”

The man rose his arms into the spotlight, “What we have here is a new problem—a new layer of existence we couldn’t begin to imagine years ago—and that means a new era of human history where we have a completely fresh start.” He lowered his arms, then pointed at the audience. “It’s time for us to step up and step forward into it—"

Two black, tendril-structured arms then slammed into Davenport at both sides, grasping him with a sickening slap.

Casually, Mayhem of the new siVisTrends walked onto the stage. His body covered in the living mass of oil as he turned towards the silenced audience.

“Did I do it right--?”