Zari was a in a better place now that she'd gotten more settled. She even had a job now. That's was weird. She'd never had a nine to five type of job like this before. Sure, she worked hard to get where she was back home, but it was a little different. She had her own schedule and was her own boss.
She liked having a job because it allowed her to continue her beauty routine. Okay, having other important things like food and utilities weren't bad, either. But it really felt good to wear a sleep mask over her eyes again. It was the one luxury she was allowing herself with a much more normal salary than she had back home. She had to save up here. That was weird, but she was adjusting.
She thought she was adjusting well to the weirdness this town often brought forth...but that all changed when she woke up. She had gotten a good night's rest, but she could not have planned for what waited for her this morning. She thought she heard something...like possibly someone breaking into her apartment. She immediately pulled her eye mask down...
"Who's out there? I have very strong mace and I am not afraid to use it!" she said as she climbed out of her bed. She was shaking as she said that because she did not, in fact, have mace. She made a note to get some later.
"Relax, it's just me...or should I say, you?"
Zari blinked a few times, trying to adjust her eyes. "Whaaat? How? Why?"
Standing before her was her identical self....give or take some pieces of flannel and highlights. It was the previous Zari, the one who had been living in her wrist totem, the one who existed because of weird time hijinks. She had to put herself back in the totem to save Behrad. She would have done the same for her little brother.
"I'm guessing dome weirdness," Zari 1.0 declared. "I...remember."
Current Zari just stared. "You have memories of being here?"
"Yeah," she said, her eyes welling up a little. "One minute, I'm in the totem, the next...I'm here."
Zari just sighed. "Of course you are. You really love to steal my thunder."
The other Zari just laughed. "I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, I know I am here because of some dome crazy. I've got, what, a week tops of being here? Maybe less?"
Zari watched the other her go from laughter to genuine conflicted sadness a moment later. She couldn't imagine what this was like for her. "It seems really crappy right now, but you've been given an opportunity not a lot of people get when they are sent home. There are still people here who loved and cared for you."
She knew it all too well. She still often felt inferior. "I do wonder how this is happening, though."
The other Zari just smiled. "I think the dome is turning objects into humans. I'm the totem made human."
Zari nodded. "Makes sense it would turn into you. At least no one will get the two of us mixed up."
Zari 1.0 chuckled. "Probably not."
One of them wore more stylish clothing and had highlights in her hair. The other wore flannel and more sensible shoes. But they were both Zari in their own ways.
"Come on, I'll take you to Horst's to get some donuts and catch you up on what's been going on. I'll even let you use my phone to use the network if you want."
Other Zari smiled warmly. "You know me well."
Of course she did. They were the same person, only...different. It was a whole thing.