Josh Holliday did not want to go home, but... he couldn’t help it. He didn’t understand the creepy tentacle space tunnel. He didn’t know what an ultraplanar space was; where was he, how could this possibly be a space between that clearing and his own front door? How did that even make sense?

And yet, he did know that if he left this space, that would be it. 

That would mark the end of his adventure, the end of his friendships... the end of his chance to do something different, something unusual, something... strange with his life.

But there wasn’t anything he could do. It was like a nightmare, a nightmare where you couldn’t move, like walking through molasses with a horrible monster chasing you. Except in this case it was reality, and he was trying to stay the hell away.

Just like the last time he was here, eventually something latched onto him, and this time sent him forwards, faster and faster, his arms and legs flailing out behind him, wind roaring in his ears, the clinking sound of glass all around... 

Choking on his tears, he finally closed his eyes, accepting his fate. He would have to be a lawyer after all. Truly, the worst outcome.

...Before he suddenly came to a hard stop, leaving him still decidedly in kaleidoscope land. Except it wasn’t really moving that much anymore, and all the dark tendrils were kinda just hovering at the dark edges staring out at him.

Looking around behind him, he found that a lone tentacle had been responsible for shoving him along, and it had simply gone as far as it could go. Wh-what? Why did it stop? Not like he was complaining, but... he had assumed that the push was due to Ulisa, and Ulisa had said that he had enough time... didn’t she? Even if only barely.

...

Now what?

Beeboop.

...He had a cellular connection?

Beeboop. Beeboop. Beebebebebebebebeeboop.

Nervously pulling his phone out of his hoodie pocket, Josh opened his text app, which had... a very large number of notifications, all from his mother. Texts, voicemails...

3 missed calls

“Where are you young man?!”

“You did not have permission to go out! You didn’t even shut the door and you made a massive mess of all the candy!”

1 missed call

“You had better get home right now and clean up this mess!”

“I’m sorry, please come home? You don’t have to clean up the mess.”

8 missed calls

“Where are you you ungrateful brat?!”

“When you get home you might as well go straight to your room! There’s no food for you!”

2 missed calls

“Where are you? You’re worrying me, it’s not good for my heart...”

“You’re grounded!”

“How dare you! Running away when I do so much for you! I’m going to have to go out of my way to call the police to find you. You shouldn’t scare your mother like this!!!”

23 missed calls

“ANSWER YOUR PHONE”

“I’m sorry for whatever you think I did wrong.”

1 missed call

“How are you even the child I raised?”

1 missed call

“I hate you sometimes.”

Squeezing his phone, his knuckles white, Josh stared at the messages his mother sent, trying not to let his heart to beat out of its chest; trying to make his stomach stop doing flips. 

That was what he was being pushed back to. That was what he was in for.

He realised then, that... maybe he had been trying to run away. Maybe that was what he was doing, by trying to stay in Oculum. It wasn’t about the people he’d met there, and it wasn’t about the things he could do there. Well... maybe somewhat, but no. Mostly, it was because...

It was because he was afraid of his mother. It was because he didn’t know how to stand up to her, wasn’t it?

Tears rolled down his cheeks; the first tears he’d had in a long time. 

He really was afraid. Not of Oculum, not of cosmic horrors. Not of magicks beyond his comprehension. 

He was afraid of his normal, human mother, and of her expectations of him.

Josh Holliday could not go home. He couldn’t do it. Turning around, he tried grabbing onto the tentacle, clawing his way up it, only marginally surprised at its easy-to-grip, plush-like surface. 

The tentacle did not, however, like being gripped, or pulled on, and an eye opened on its surface to glare at him angrily. It began wriggling around and batting at him, and managed to push him a ways further into the kaleidoscope. “Stop it!” he cried, whacking it with his phone. “I need to go back to Oculum!”

As he probably should have expected, in the midst of the shuffle, his phone was knocked straight out of his hand, zipping right out of sight into the endless kaleidoscope before he even had a chance to lament the loss. It was... admittedly, not much of a loss.

He stared at the tentacle, and the tentacle stared at him, and then he poked the tentacle right in the eye, and it snapped shut. Suddenly it was retracting, and he was flying faster and faster, and he could barely hang on... wind roared in his ears, the clinking sound of glass all around...

Thump.

👁👁👁👁👁👁👁

Just like that, he was on the ground again, the wind knocked out of him. Grass. He felt grass under his fingers. This had to be Oculum, right? He was too afraid to open his eyes, too afraid of seeing his own house, too afraid of facing his mother.

“Um. Am I hallucinating? Or...” a voice asked.

“No,” a gravelly voice said. “You are definitely not hallucinating.” Josh’s eyes shot open and he looked around. A forest in the distance... Nebulae in the sky... Two moons; one small and bright red; the other large, a pale blue. 

He was... he was back!

“Why is your plane so far away, extraplanar?” Ulisa cried. “We did the maths! I was supposed to be able to return you this centimillenium! I exhausted all my power, and I... I couldn’t do it...”

“It’s...” Terisse whispered, her voice hoarse as she uncovered her third eye. “It’s too late,” she said. “We were thousands of years late, somehow...”

He hadn’t even been in Oculum’s plane for thousands of years, let alone that single trip! But whatever, it didn’t even matter. Jumping up to his feet with a sudden burst of uncontrollable excitement, he shouted, “No! No, no, it’s okay! I promise it’s okay!”

“How is it in any way okay?” Ulisa scoffed at him through... actual tears. “Are humans truly that dense?”

“I don’t think it can be, and I don’t believe they are,” Terisse said, her voice a hoarse groan.

“Oh, sorry, Terisse,” Ulisa said, wincing. Terisse shrugged, looking away with a frown. “I just... Extraplanar, you realise, I can no longer send you home the normal way. I don’t know how.”

“No, it really is okay,” he assured her. “I was trying to say, before you sent me back, that... I... I don’t know if I even want to go home.” He didn’t say, though, that now he did know... or why he knew. Even just the idea of it made his stomach churn with guilt. “I know I don’t really belong here, but... I... I like it here. It’s fun, and... I like hanging out with all of you.”

Ulisa opened and closed her mouth a couple times, shocked, and Terisse looked at him with the widest smile he’d seen yet from her. Ludi, on the other hand, burst into laughter. “Okay then. An extraplanar object that would rather be extraplanar than where it truly belongs. They definitely don’t teach this kind of stuff in Planar Mechanics,” she snorted.

He crossed his arms at her, for once not actually feeling afraid of her, the complete opposite of earlier where it had felt like she had so much power over him, earlier, when she’d had that horrible glamour over him. “It’s not weird.”

“It’s definitely weird,” Ulisa agreed, still suffering from her shock.

“It’s my kind of weird,” Ludi grinned. “Let’s be real though, extraplanar. The real reason you want to be here is because you want to stay Ulisa’s pet, isn’t it?”

Ulisa and Terisse’s eyes both widened, and he looked away, incredibly embarrassed. 

“Wow, what a vibrant shade of red,” Terisse thought aloud.

Ulisa finally shook her head. “So... the extraplanar is staying. Hmm.”

“Trying to work out the logistics, I assume...” Ludi said. Ulisa nodded, looking down, rubbing her chin with her fingers. “...Of pet products you need to purchase,” the girl finished, her toothy smirk back. Ulisa gave her a glare and she burst into another bout of laughter.

“We’re probably going to draw attention on the way back unless we disguise the unbelonging energy again,” Terisse spoke up.

Ludi cracked her knuckles and cackled maniacally, looking towards Josh again.

“Stop,” he said, holding out his hand. He maybe couldn’t stand up to his mother, no, but he could stand up to his friend. He’d wanted something more before, and now he’d gotten the chance! He knew now... if he was too afraid to take that chance, he would lose it. 

“Wh-wha—” she began to ask, surprised.

He wasn’t going to let her give him that awful disguise again, or a worse one, for that matter. Still energised by finding himself back here, finding himself here again with the chances he’d nearly lost... he shook his head. “I... have a better idea.”

“You do?” Ludi tilted her head. 

Josh opened his mouth, and then closed it. Okay, so, maybe that idea was a little harder to say than what he’d been energised for. But... he wasn’t stopping now. Here, in this plane, at Oculum, with glamour magicks... the stuff his mother said simply wasn’t true. He could be exactly who he’d wanted to be. 

“You’re a group of eldritch girls...” he began, carefully.

“M-more or less?” Ludi said, confused. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

He shook his head. “It’s relevant because... I... I’m not. Not right now, anyway. So disguise me as one of you.”

“You just were disguised as an ocuman, though.”

He shook his head.

“So you want to be disguised as someone’s twin, then!”

He winced. “No, I...”

“Someone’s sibling!”

“No, I...”

“Someone’s cousin!”

“No, I want—”

“Someone’s exact clone?”

Frustrated, he finally just spat it out. “I just want to look like a girl!”

The three girls stared at him, eyes wide. Terisse didn’t look particularly surprised, though, just nodding along as if it were completely expected.

“Oh,” Ludi said. “Well, why didn’t you just say so?”

He pouted. 

“Well, do you have any other requests, then?” she asked, crossing her arms at him. “You want to be an ‘eldritch girl,’” she said, using air quotes. “What else do you want? Since you seem to want to be picky about it.”

And then his cheeks began to feel warm. “Definitely... ummm... smaller.”

“You’re already small,” Ludi said, pantomiming the difference in height between her and the rest of them. “You all are.”

He had a feeling that his blush was getting pretty intense. “I want to be Terisse’s size. Or a little smaller.”

“Hmm. Okay then. Is that it?”

“P-purple hair...”

Ludi sighed. “Okay, princess. Purple hair. You sure are picky, you know that?”

“I-I’m just...!” he stammered, not sure how to explain what he was doing. He just... he had this image of a girl like him in his head, but... dressed up as the Violet Witch, and... maybe with a third eye? And, honestly, the tentacles might be interesting too... 

“Right, right,” Ludi said, and then a moment later he was wrapped tightly in the dark cocoon again, except this time with excitement rather than fear. What would he look like on the other end? What would he feel like on the other end? Would he—

Pop!

The extraplanar fell to the ground, breathing heavily. This time, it wasn’t just the height and the eye that was weird. This time, everything felt weird. Good weird. Everything felt... softer, like the entire plane was suddenly giving a gentle hug.

“Wow,” Terisse said. “Good work, Ludi.”

Ulisa didn’t say anything, looking away with very red cheeks.

Ludi was just staring, though, kind of confused. “Huh.”

“What is it?” the extraplanar asked, and that... that voice... it was soft and high and melodious, and... perfect.

She eventually shook her head. “N-nothing. I’m glad you’re happy, I guess? I... don’t know why you were so particular about a temporary glamour, though.”

“I-it seems like a better idea to always keep the glamour up,” the extraplanar said, hesitantly. “I’d actually fit in at Oculum...”

Terisse nodded in agreement and it sent a shiver of happiness through the n-new girl’s entire body. The corners of the goth girl’s lips twitched upwards at the sight, and she said, “This is definitely for the best. It does mean you will need a name, however — we won’t be able to call you ‘extraplanar’ anymore, or it will reveal the truth.”

Blushing as sh-she looked at h-her feet, the extraplanar thought for a moment. Sh-she could... always use the Violet Witch’s name. Her secret identity. “Cynthia...?”

“Cynthi...a...” Terisse hummed. “Cynt-hi... A shortening of hyacinthinus, perhaps. Meaning blue, or violet. A bit on the nose.”

“Cinthi,” the new girl smiled widely, feeling a flutter of happiness in her tummy. “I like that.”

👁👁👁👁👁👁👁

Walking through the park without having to worry about the world she was in, or what was going to happen...? It was like a breath of fresh air. And that was on top of the freshest breath of air that was even possible, given the exciting new person Cinthi got to be while she was here. For the first time in her entire life, she actually felt like she somewhat fit in somewhere... and not hating her body was really helping. She did idly wonder what her boy body would have needed to feel comfortable, but, well... she’d evidently gotten lucky on the first try with a girl one, so she was excited to stick with this for as long as she could; ride the high, and such.

Oh! There was the cliff! Boing! Cinthi jumped right off the edge, and landed lightly on her feet on the other side, spinning around before skipping down the path on the other side, grinning back over her shoulder at her friends.

There really was a spring in Cinthi’s step that she’d never had before... She kept skipping along the paths, for god’s— err, Odd’s sake. Wasn’t that kind of childish and silly? But at the same time... honestly, she supposed she didn’t really mind. And Ludi kept laughing at her, so clearly she didn’t either. Even if she just thought Cinthi was ridiculous. Terisse’s smile hadn’t gone away in a while, too, so... Cinthi wondered whether her excitement might be infectious. A new disease, just as dangerous as hog warts, probably... Lorge smiles!

Wait!! Speaking of diseases... she wasn’t tall anymore! She skipped forwards to Terisse, then whispered in her ear... “I’m cured!” 

“Pffff—” Terisse burst into a fit of giggles louder than Cinthi had heard from her before, and couldn’t help but feel extremely proud of herself. Spinning around excitedly and hopping backwards again, she found her eyes landing on Ulisa next, and...

Even she had a smile on her face, but also a blush, and she was still looking away. 

“Is everything okay, Ulisa?” she asked, only at the last moment remembering how it had gone last time she had asked if the other girl was okay. And then quickly thereafter realising that the idea of her doing it again now was making her feel  v e r y  weird.

“Y-yeah,” Ulisa mumbled. For once, she seemed nearly completely tongue-tied.

“Why are you so quiet?”

“Shut up!” the villainess girl said, but with none of the usual weight behind it. “I just...” she mumbled. “...you’re really cute, okay?”

Cinthi froze in her tracks. “C-c-c-cute...” she repeated, her entire body turning warm, then cold, then warm again, shivers running down her spine and her tummy doing flips. “I’m cute?” 

Terisse sighed from up ahead. “Yes,  you’re cute, Cinthi.”

“I’m sorry!” she called. “Wait, do you have to tell the truth when you’re riddleriddled?”

“Usually,” Terisse replied, groaning. “Odd damn it, Ulisa! She was being so respectful of me and you ruined it!”

Cinthi was a cute girl. It had actually happened. She actually got to be a cute girl for Halloween. Maybe even cuter than Christy and Whitney... she’d have to see her reflection first. But like... it had actually happened! She really got to be cute! Take that, mother! Cinthi was cute and there was nothing her mother could do about it! She couldn’t help but bounce up and down excitedly, spinning in a circle, dashing forwards to catch up and giving Ulisa a hug, causing her to sputter, then Ludi, causing her to pat Cinthi’s head again, then Terisse, who hugged her back and smiled despite her double-mistake. 

Cinthi was cute!

“W-wait. Look at her unbelonging energy, Ulisa,” Terisse said suddenly, shocked.

The two of them just gaped at her for a minute, and Cinthi looked away, kind of embarrassed. It was... honestly an upgrade from feeling like she should hide or run away.

“There is no unbelonging energy,” Ulisa finally whispered, shaking her head. “Getting chased the whole way here... somehow losing thousands of years and not being able to send her home... And now... None of this makes any sense!”

Ludi snorted. “This is so out there it’s like the chinchilla incident all over again.” Chinchillas? Like... the cute little rodents?

Ulisa froze in place and hissed at her. “We don’t speak of the chinchilla incident!”

“Chinchillas...” Cinthi murmured. She wasn’t wondering about the chinchilla incident, though... instead, she was wondering how her own cuteness compared with the cuteness of a chinchilla.

The new girl never did quite figure out the answer to that question, either; her brain instead latching onto other new and exciting topics such as what life might be like for her in this plane. As they continued on, Cinthi wondered... Would she be able to attend Oculum with the rest of the girls like she did early that day? She really hoped so. And if so, she was endlessly excited. It just felt like there were so many possibilities now!

They arrived at the gate, then, and she couldn’t help but think of it like a starting point. Going through that gate would be like a new phase of her life, an exciting new adventure of some kind!

She skipped forwards excitedly, and then...

Thump!

Cinthi bounced backwards, only just catching herself before she fell to the ground. She’d... she’d run into someone, a figure cloaked in dark clothes that they’d passed by on the way in. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I should’ve been watching where I was going!”

The very tall, cloaked figure stared down at her for a long moment... before suddenly spinning around and taking off the path down from where they’d come, click click click’ing on the sidewalk as they went.

Ludi burst into a fit of laughter. “You’re going to keep drawing attention to us even without unbelonging energy, aren’t you? Admit it, you’re a chaos oddling just like me.”

“I was maybe a bit too excited...” Cinthi pouted, and Ludi patted her on the head again, still chuckling. She couldn’t help but blush. “Hey, wait!” she suddenly realised, “If I don’t have unbelonging energy... that sounds like it means I don’t need to worry about the snap!”

“Until we figure out why, that is,” Ulisa corrected, and a quick glance  showed worry across her features again.

Cinthi shook her head. Pointless worry. Weren’t there supposed to be thousands of years, or something? It’d be fiiine. 

And until then, Cinthi decided... this place, and this her... was something she could call home. She did really really like getting to be a cute girl, for once, and did not in the least mind stretching it out a looooooooooooooooooong while.

Josh Holliday was dead, and gone. For now.