***

  [How long are you going to replay this?]

  ‘I don't know what you mean.’ I watch Daisy graze her fingers across my cheek from third person. Even in dream land where nobody has faces, it's still hot. I watch myself practically squirm.

  [This is the sixth time you have rewatched this event.]

  ‘I’m trying to become inoculated to Daisy's charm.’

  [Elaborate.]

  ‘Daisy is painfully hot, a full on ice queen bad bitch. She could not be more my type.’

  [Correct, we fail to see why that is an issue?]

  ‘Lots of reasons! We are classmates, I shouldn't make things awkward. She has a whole noble family thing going on. They probably aren't into the idea of their daughter being gay.’

  [These are not the real reasons.]

  I lean back as I watch dream Daisy shuffle closer to dream me and lay a hand on dream me’s leg.

  ‘I won't share. I don't hate the whole free love thing.’ My Mum flashed to my mind. ‘People can be with whoever they want to be with. But it's not for me.’

  [So you are trying to inoculate yourself.]

  ‘I can't have my horny brain making bad decisions and end up in a place I don't want to be. Daisy really brings out the horny in me.’

  [Every woman brings out the horny in you.]

  ‘Yes but Daisy is doing it on purpose. She’s dangerous. Can we run the dream again?’

  [No, we are bored now. Wake up.]

  ***

  It's Truday. Which does seem kinda like a Tuesday, what with it being the second day of the week and all. So I’m on my guard.

  I have started holding my gun in my domain, it takes me almost a full hour of concentration to push it in when fully loaded. I use real bullets when it is in my domain. It's safe there.

  Maria won't let me out alone and she has given me enough warnings about the city that I feel like it's best to be prepared. Better to have it and not need it.

  Plus it's so cool when Maria just pulls guns into her hand like that. So hell yeah I'm going to copy her.

  Another bath day today. I’m dragged into the bathroom by two of the maids. Olivia and Susan.

  Olivia is only a little bit older than me, pretty too, in that girl next door kind of way. Susan on the other hand must be nearly fifty, a large lady with big grandma energy.

  When I try to get them to leave. Susan stops me. “Now deary, this is part of our jobs. I understand things may be different where you are from, but here a young lady is prepared properly.”

  Is she judging my ability to wash myself?! “I can't, I…”

  Fuck how do I explain this without saying, you can't stay, you are too hot, and I will embarrass myself.

  Well I guess my raging blush did it for me. Because Susan does a little ohh face and then whispers something into Olivia’s ear. Olivia looked a little surprised, then turned to me, cocked her head and gave me the biggest smirk. “I think I need to restock the mana crystals.” She said and promptly left.

  With just me and Grandma Susan in the bathroom. “Is that better?” She asked.

  I just nod my head. Barely looking up from the ground. I’m still not in love with the idea of someone else washing me. But I could handle Susan.

  I was wrong. I could not handle Susan at all!

  Not for horny reasons, but because she absolutely scrubbed the shit out of me. My skin is raw.

  It didn't fucking end either. Hot water, soap, scrub. Cold water, different soap, different scrub. She had a weird soft file for in-between my toes. I think my hair had about twenty products put into it. Apparently bath time is a whole thing here, they take it very seriously.

  Olivia returned once I was mostly dressed. She painted my toe and fingernails. The girl is an artist. A perfect two toned gradient on each nail. It was only a subtle color shift, a dark purple to a deep blue. But the effect was stunning.

  Susan did my hair. I've been wearing it down a lot lately. I used to find my hair annoying, but long black hair really works with my new victorian goth style I have going on.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Make up on the other hand… I am good at make up. When I was a younger teen it was a full on hyper focus for a while. I got really good at all sorts of styles. But my preferred was putting on so much make up it didn't look like you had any on at all.

  Olivia let me put eye liner on her. Gave her a little flick on the outside, nothing outrageous, just a slight point. A little blush, a dab of eye shadow. I managed to turn Olivia from girl next door to bitch of the street.

  I did get caught staring. Susan gave me a slightly disapproving look, but Olivia just laughed the laugh of a straight girl who is flattered.

  Fucking straight girls. Should be illegal.

  I walk out of the bathroom raw, sensitive but stunning. Not my words. Susan said that and a grandma wouldn't lie.

  The maids had woken me up early for the bath so I didn't miss breakfast. Just porridge today.

  I show both Derek and Maria my reloading trick. I’ve refined it further. If I hold the gun facing down and just hover a finger over the chamber, I can drop a bullet in straight from my domain. As long as I get the timing right I can reload the weapon in a matter of seconds.

  Maria looked fascinated. She had never tried before, because why reload when you can just have more guns. It didn't take her long to be able to mimic what I had done. Though I was still slightly faster.

  Derek looked on with a mixture of pride and jealousy. He wasn't a mage, and didn't have a mana core. So he was unable to join in.

  I was a little worried that today was going to be another boring day. But luckily it turns out that Maria had plans for us.

  “Tangerine, I would like for you to accompany me in collecting the last member of your class. The journey will take a few days.”

  “Of course.” I said because as much as this house is starting to feel like home, I’m still a guest and I won't be causing a fuss. “...I have a question though?”

  “Yes?” Maria replied.

  “If we are rift walkers why is any journey long? Can we just hop over to where we want to be and be back by dinner?”

  She smiled at this. “Good question. The simple answer is that creating rifts is expensive and time consuming. And then once a rift is open it needs yet more mana to be closed or kept stable. An unsupervised rift can slip its anchor points.”

  “Slip?” I ask.

  “Let's say you create a rift to the Eternal Forest, that rift's anchor can slip and fall into another realm. Maybe the lava sea of Infernus. You now suddenly have a lot of lava in a very burnable forest.”

  “Oh yeah, I could see how that would be something you wouldn't want. If creating rifts is difficult, how were you able to find me so quickly on the cliff's edge?”

  “A number of factors. Your rifts were extremely unstable, which makes them very bright for tools looking for Rift creations. That instability gave us a ready made anchor to latch onto. Also Gideon burned through nearly all of his mana reserves putting together a rift so quickly. He is now suffering from mana burn which can be uncomfortable and exhausting. The Academy has him on paid leave until he recovers.”

  “Oh. I didn't know. He looked fine on the train.”

  “Gideon has always been overly stoic. Ever since he was young. Mana burn is quite recoverable, and honestly the rest would do him some good. But to get back to your original question, we will take a number of rifts to get closer to where we need to be, and then I will create a small rift for the last leg of the journey."

  "I guess I should go pack then." I said.

  The maids kindly give me a suitcase and I pack up what I would need for a few days trip. I also spend an hour to make sure that my weapon is loaded and safely tucked away in my domain. I didn't think I would need it with Maria around. But better safe than sorry.

  Once I am all packed I head down to the lobby where I meet a familiar face.

  "Hey Tans!"

  I smile. "Hey Lils." I notice she also has a suitcase, one that seems to be bulging a little. "You coming with us?"

  Lillian is practically bouncing up and down. I don't think I have ever seen the girl be still. "Yeah, yeah! Good to meet classmates, plus the new girl is from my realm."

  "Which realm is that?" I asked.

  "Arthurian. I don't really spend all that much time there anymore. It can be a little backwards compared to the City."

  Emily turns up and spots Lillian. The two of them are a mess of squeals and giggles, as Lillian picks her up and proceeds to throw her around a bunch. Emily is laughing so much I'm worried she might puke.

  "Backwards how?" I asked, trying to get a handle on the rambunctiousness.

  Lillian puts Emily down, almost gently. "Very set in their ways. Resistant to change, an awful lot of rules. Especially for a girl like me." She said while slapping her trousers. "I won't be able to get away with these there. You'll be fine though, my mother is going to love you. You look like a proper lady."

  "You would be surprised. We are seeing your mother?"

  Maria cut in at this point. "Lillian's family home is the last step of the journey. That is were I will construct the rift. Well then ladies, shall we be off?"

  After some tear filled goodbyes from Emily and some promises to bring her something home, we make our way.

  Lillian walks the city like she owns it. "How long have you been in the City, Lils?" I asked.

  "Ever since my rift core took. I live here with my aunt and uncle. They are merchants, mostly selling stuff that our family produces back in Arthurian. I fit in a lot better round here."

  I guess Lillians core isn't natural then.

  We make it to one of the main train stations in the city. We are catching a train to a realm called Morgoth first. There is a rift train that takes you straight to Arthurian. But according to Maria the it takes us to the wrong side of the realm. So instead we are Heading to Morgoth and taking some smaller rifts through into Arthurian.

  I just take her word for it. Its not like I know any better. The train ride is an overnight trip, so we get ourselves set up in our little train cabin. Well not little, we are riding first class. Being rich is so fucking good.

  Lillian and I spend the rest of the day going over Arthurian customs and what is expected. The place seems real medieval, but in the knights and dragons sort of way. We also, of course, spend a fair amount of time messing around and eating.

  Once night falls Maria kicks the two of us into our bunk beds. Lillian called dibs on the top. She looked so happy up there, so who was I to refuse?

  All in all, pretty good day, maybe Trudays aren’t as bad as Tuesdays after all.

  ***