(5 Days Before the Switch)
Location: Downtown San Francisco, California, on Earth
Vivian stepped into the shower and adjusted the temperature before letting the water fall across her face. She didn't want to admit to Ben that she was also worried about that buzzing and dizziness. She only had four days until she was on rotation at the fire station. If she had another one of these dizzy spells during a call-out, it could put her team at additional risk. And if it was a Switch event, Ally would be arriving at the worst possible time.
Vivian decided. She would focus on the investigation and any preparation she would need in case she did Switch with Ally in this new way.
She finished her shower and threw on some comfy clothes, emerging with a desperate yearning for some of Ben's coffee. She filled a mug with her name on it, a gift from Ben on one of her birthdays last year with the words "Cat Lover" awkwardly undulating in an orange and fluffy font. He apparently made it himself at a maker workshop—and it always made her smile. Plus, the ceramic mug warmed her hands as its contents comforted her body.
She looked over at Ben, who was sitting on the floor in front of his couch with his laptop on his coffee table. He was looking back at her. Then they both spoke at the same time.
"Ben?" "Viv?" Then in unison, "I think I'm going to work from here today."
They both smiled and raised their mugs to each other like a distant toast.
Vivian set up at the kitchen table and pored over the images she took the day before at the GIG warehouse property. Ben worked on questions for an upcoming deposition at the living room coffee table. With that, the apartment settled into a comfortable silence, punctuated only by the soft clicks of keyboards and the occasional rustle of papers.
Vivian occasionally found herself distracted by replaying the morning's events. The buzzing, the blurring, the fleeting glimpse of what felt like Aethelgard. It was unsettling. It wasn't a full Switch, not like the abrupt, complete transitions she and Ally usually experienced.
Her mind was full of questions.
This was something new, a ripple, a tremor between worlds. What did it mean? Was it a sign that the Switches were becoming more volatile? Or was something actually forcing the Switch? And if so, what would that mean for Ally, currently navigating her world?
Vivian looked closely at a photo she had taken of the warehouse wall, a section where the charring had been particularly deep in a way that fire shouldn't move. It was almost a scar. Then the "too-clean" area still bothered her. Scientifically, it defied easy explanation.
The part of her that knew of magic, of Ally's world, wondered if it was a residual effect of some energy manipulation where the fire simply ceased to be. But as long as she could remember, magic had never crossed over into her world—no matter how much she really, really hoped that it could when she was growing up. Still, she couldn't bring herself to voice that thought. Not yet. It was too far outside the realm of science. And there would be no way of explaining any of that to her boss or Alex.
Her thoughts drifted to Alex. His sudden appearance on her running route, his ownership of Ben's building, his insistence on "our" runs. It was all a little too much, too fast. He was charming, yes, and undeniably intelligent, but there was a relentless pursuit of information that made her wary. She wanted to believe he was genuinely interested in solving the arson cases, that his intense curiosity stemmed from a desire for answers, much like herself. And he said he had lived in the building for months already; surely, his presence this morning was a coincidence.
At the same time, she was with him when she felt it the first time after they arrived at the GIG warehouse. And Alex was suddenly there right after she felt it again on her morning run, which meant he was nearby then, too.
I need to focus on this investigation, first. Right!
Vivian opened a new file on her tablet, pulling up a schematic of the GIG properties. Her fingers flew across the screen, adding notes, cross-referencing dates, and highlighting discrepancies. Like always, she followed the data and so far, the "testing phase" theory held. But what came next? What was the arsonist's ultimate goal? The fires were escalating, becoming more destructive, moving from vacant properties to those with active businesses, even if still empty at the time of the blaze. She needed to identify the pattern of escalation and predict the next target.
She started sketching out a timeline, marking each incident, trying to discern a rhythm, a signature. Was it geographical? Chronological? Or was there a deeper, more personal connection to GIG —to Alex— that she hadn't yet uncovered?
Across the room, Ben was hunched over his laptop, his brow furrowed in concentration. But every few minutes, his gaze would flick up, settling on Vivian with a silent, worried question in his eyes. He was trying to be subtle, but his concern was like its own presence in the room.
Ben's mind was a whirlwind of anxieties. Alex Greyson. The name tasted like ash. He'd known Alex was ruthless, a corporate titan who always got what he wanted. But this level of personal intrusion, following her on her morning run? It reeked of obsession, not just professional interest. And the way Ben had seen him look at her... it made Ben's stomach churn. He needed to talk to Mike, his investigator friend, about Alex. Discreetly, of course.
Then there was the buzzing. The blurring. Vivian's description of seeing "shapes from Ally's world." It was terrifying. The Switches were already a precarious balance, a secret they guarded with their lives. If they were becoming unstable, if there were "ripples" that could affect Vivian in her own world, it put her in even greater danger. He thought about Ally, too, wondering if she was experiencing anything similar, or if this new phenomenon was unique to Vivian. Ben needed to find out more about these possible "ripples."
He rubbed his neck, a familiar gesture of frustration. He felt so helpless. Vivian was so strong, so capable, but this was beyond normal threats. This was... something else. He glanced at her, absorbed in her work, a faint frown on her face as she studied the images. He had to protect her.
The morning wore on, the quiet of their work a fragile barrier against the unspoken worries that filled the apartment. Vivian, despite her internal turmoil, analyzed the fire data, a familiar comfort in the logical progression of an investigation. Ben, meanwhile, was already mentally drafting a new, more aggressive strategy to keep Alex Greyson at bay, even as he worried about the unseen forces that might be closing in on his best friend. The coffee, at least, was strong.
Marmalade didn't care about any of it as long as one of them was petting him.
Ben stood up and stretched. He looked over at Vivian and noticed how hyper-focused she was in her work. It reminded him of late-night study sessions in school and he felt a wave of nostalgia that brought a smile to his face. His eyes lingered for a moment, feeling warmth and affection for his best friend as he was reminded of how cute she looked when she was concentrating so hard that she was oblivious to the world around her.
He looked at Marmalade, who was staring back up at him. "What?" But Marmalade just looked indignant and padded away. The question, however, snapped Vivian out of her intense focus, along with the sound of her stomach grumbling.
"Yeah, I need some lunch, too," Ben responded as if talking to Vivian's stomach directly. "Let's walk somewhere and grab something. I need to stretch my legs."