Scarlet leaned back on her couch and let out a sigh. The couch was made up like a bed with a pillow and blanket, particularly even a blue blanket to match Vega. In the kitchen, Vega and Libby were cooking dinner together while two small babies crawled at their feet. From her living room, Scarlet could hear the annoying giggles of Libby and the endless fact checks of Vega. It was a sound she hadn't heard since she was living in Starland, and it was making her feel uncomfortable. She looked around a little without getting up to see where her grinder of weed was.

Libby had cleaned her whole apartment, which obviously included Scarlet's living room, AKA the Smoking Area. With reasonable confusion, Scarlet noticed that Libby had laid her bongs and makeshift smoking tools on the little shelf under her table. Not only lined up but lined up from biggest to smallest. On top of her table, Libby had lined up the 24 lighters that Scarlet had bought over the past few months, only lined up in sync with the colors of the rainbow. Scarlet then opened the little cupboard and found that's where Libby put her mason jar of marijuana and her grinder. She's never seen her home so organized since she first moved in and it was empty.

Vega walked into the room as Scarlet started putting some ground up pot into a bong she made out of a SunnyD bottle. Vega plopped down on the couch next to her and instantly started trying to find a lighter on the table that worked, unaware the one she used earlier was in Scarlet's hand. She was using it now to light up her bowl, taking a slow inhale to fill it with smoke then took out the choke so the filled chamber would fill her lungs. She held it in as she slowly leaned back into her couch and continued to hold it. She counted to ten in her head and blew out the giant cloud of smoke that instantly filled the space around her and Vega. Scarlet lazily looked over at Vega, who was sitting up and smoking her cigarette and just looked like a big blue blob.

"ₗᵢbby'ₛ fᵢzz, bₒₒₖᵢₙg ᵤₚ ₐ ₛₜₒᵣₘ ᵢf dₐᵣₑd."

"What?" Scarlet actually paid attention as Vega repeated herself,

"Libby is cooking up a storm in there" Scarlet blinked a few times to try and focus her eyes on Vega. Yeah, it smells good is what Scarlet said out loud but just in her head. She lifted the bong towards this big Vega shaped blue blob to offer it a hit.

"Oh um, no thanks." Vega said from behind her shaking hands, "Y'know marijuana kills brain cells."

"Wh- Y'know how many brain cells you're killing with smoking cigarettes constantly?" Scarlet protested.

"Yeah! I know! Do you really think I can afford to lose anymore?!" Vega snapped back, actually screaming. Scarlet quickly stood up, put her hands on her hips and stomped on the floor, getting ready to lay into Vega harder than ever before. Instead, she instantly sat back down when the head rush struck her. She decided it wasn't worth her time to yell at Vega.

"Whoa, you okay?" Vega asked after seeing the strange scene Scarlet just played out, "Maybe you shouldn't get high so much. Y'know prolonged hemp use can cause impaired thinking, memory, and learning functions."

"Y'know smoking cigarettes causes cancer way harder than pot does," Scarlet replied trying to defend herself. "That may be," Said Vega, "but that doesn't change the fact prolonged use of marijuana can impair thinking memory, and learning functions." Scarlet just blew the bangs out of her face and rolled her eyes. Vega stayed beside her, smoking as quickly as possible, almost so she could fit two cigarettes within the same smoke break.

Now that Scarlet's vision wasn't blurry anymore she was able to see that Vega was wearing matching blue pajamas that she actually recognized. They had a certain glow to them and they shimmered in the light. Vega's hair seemed to do the same and had the same sky blue hair she had when she was a Starling. It took Scarlet an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize the reason Vega looked so much like her Starling form was because Vega was in her Starling form.

It made Scarlet even more uncomfortable seeing this shaking, anxiety-ridden, baggy-eyed Starling who used to look... actually surprisingly similar. Vega had always seemed way more uptight than any of the other Star Darlings, now she was just going about life as a Wishling and sadly seemed to succumb to their illnesses. She coped with smoking now instead of using magic, she used to be a fashionista and now she wears sweatsuits to fancy bars.

This just freaked Scarlet out more so she decided the best solution was to do more drugs. "What're you doing looking like that?" Scarlet asked though she didn't mean to say it out loud.

"It's comfortable," Vega said, "I don't hate my old self as much as you do, so I find this form comfy. It reminds me of home." Scarlet shuttered, as she just listed off every reason looking like a Starling would be the definition of uncomfortable to her. She remembered Libby earlier and how she was also in her Starling form. Did the other Star Darlings who landed a life on WishWorld stay in their Starling form when nobody else was around?

Scarlet pondered and tried to remember what she looked like as a Starling as she sat back down. She looked to her side to realize Vega must have gotten up without her noticing because she wasn't there anymore. She loaded another bowl in her makeshift bong and took another heavy hit. The world tilted on its axis for a moment, causing Scarlet to fall back into the couch. The world became muffled as if she was underwater and slowly around her things got a little darker.

Scarlet stayed dead to the world for a couple seconds, but instantly awoke when she saw the huge glow of light approach her from the side. She looked over to see Libby happily swaying back and forth and said something that Scarlet couldn't hear because the light was too bright. She ran back into the kitchen, leaving Scarlet sitting alone in the living room.

"What?" Scarlet asked nobody.

Libby came back in with a plate of Sheppard's Pie. "Here, I made it just for you and Vega." Scarlet awkwardly took the plate. "I don't really have a dining area..." Scarlet said in response. Libby just gave her a smile and went back to the kitchen, probably to prepare a plate for Vega. Then suddenly they were all sitting on her couch with Libby in the middle of the other two. Scarlet rubbed her eyes, not sure if she could possibly account for the time between Libby grinning at her and whatever else was going on.

Across from the three, it appeared one of them had put on some weird obscure anime. Nobody was paying attention too it since Libby was talking so much. Both Vega and Libby were in their normal Starling forms and it was giving Scarlet a bad feeling. Scarlet stood up and the world quickly started to spin around her. She dizzily walked in front of the blue and pink glowing specters on her couch and somehow made her way to her bathroom.

Upon entering the bathroom the world spun backward in the other direction, causing Scarlet to fall over onto the floor. Her heart began beating out of her chest and in order to keep up with her rapid heartbeat, she began breathing just as fast. Her thought process became just screaming as the light in the bathroom started glowing a light that was blinding.

There was a knock on the door and Scarlet knew she had to start catching her breath. "Go away!" She yelled back at the knock. She heard Libby's voice ask, "Are you okay? You got up without saying anything." Scarlet was breathing as quiet as possible, almost as if she breathed loud enough for Libby to hear, some big doom would fall upon her. "I don't need to announce when I have to pee in my own home!" Scarlet snapped back.

"Are you okay though?" Libby asked. "I'll be okay once you fuck off!" Scarlet shouted back, desperate to be alone so she could handle what was happening to her. She stayed on the floor awaiting Libby's response but heard no answer. Scarlet instantly started to calm down knowing that she could be alone at least now, in her room. Half of her hated this, it was only now dawning on Scarlet that she had to stay with those other Starlings again. Yet another half of her somehow liked it, the felt nice having somebody clean her apartment and cook for her, it also felt nice having somebody to actually talk to.

She stared up at her ceiling, feeling her body and mind go numb. Her breathing slowed down and she stayed almost immobilized on the floor to the bathroom. She stayed lying down for a long time, nearly 15 minutes past before she stood up again. Upon standing she got lightheaded again and stumbled to her sink. She opened her mirror (which looked like it was recently cleaned with Windex) and took out her prescription Valium. She put one in her mouth and turned on her sink and took a drink from it.

When she lifted her head back up she noticed that all the pills in her medicine cabinet had been assorted to alphabetical order. Scarlet couldn't help but laugh at this.