In the Author’s mind, a fight broke out.

“It’s on!”

“It’s off!”

“It’s on!”

“It’s off!”

“Look!” Nyx snapped, pointing at the flat screen TV’s power light. “It’s dim!”

Elmiryn squinted at it. “It isn’t dim.”

“It is!”

“It isn’t!”

“Oh my god you idiots it’s ON, okay!?” Quincy shouted from the couch. She held up the remote control and pointed at the power button. A little red light was on next to it. “See!?”

The redhead pumped a fist. “Yesss! I win!”

Nyx tongued her cheek. “Okay. So why aren’t we getting anything on the screen then? The DVD is in!”

Elmiryn kicked the TV stand. “I connected the HDMI cable right!”

Nyx pinched the bridge of her nose. “Did you plug it into the right plug?”

“There’s only one plug for HDMI!”

“No there’s not,” Quincy declared from the couch.

The redhead stared at her, hands high on her hips. “What?”

“There’s a reason there’s HDMI one and two, Cable Guy.”

Elmiryn glared at the TV stand, one eye twitching. “I’m not moving this fucking thing again.”

“You gonna let the furniture beat you?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure why I’m working so hard for a Michael Bay film. I may as well go to YouTube and watch a compilation of things exploding for the next two hours.”

Nyx tried to keep her face neutral as she went to flop onto the sofa chair. “Maybe we should just play Scrabble instead?” When the other women gave her withering stares, the girl shrank in her seat. “It was just a suggestion…” she mumbled.

“Why did we have to get a new TV?” Quincy groaned. She tossed the controller onto the coffee table and put her feet up. “The other one worked just fine!”

Elmiryn sat at the other end of the couch and leaned on the arm rest. “Because we’re Americans, and Americans go big.”

The wizard raised an eyebrow. “Does that go for stupidity, too?”

Nyx frowned. “Wait. We’re Americans?”

Elmiryn glanced at her. “Well, sure. The Author is in America. She started writing our story while living in America. Ergo, we’re Americans!”

“But that isn’t in our story!”

“Think of it as dual citizenry. Or…something,” the redhead shrugged.

“Technically, if the Author’s life affects us, then that would mean that you’re both bisexual!”

“The hell I am,” the warrior and wizard snorted in unison.

Nyx shook her head. “You can’t have one thing without the other. Elle, if you think you’re American, then you’re also bi.”

“No way.”

“I’m serious!”

Elmiryn laughed and leaned over to smack Quincy’s shoulder. “Are you hearing this?” But at the brunette’s look, she faltered. “Hey…Hey come on, don’t tell me you’re buying that!”

Quincy looked at her sidelong, her lips puckered. “Mmm…well. Her logic is sound.”

“No it isn’t!”

“If you’re going to arbitrarily pick details from the Author’s life and declare it applies to you, then what’s stopping a person from attributing all the other details too?”

“Do I look like the sort of fucker who would watch anime?”

Nyx curled up in her seat, her lips tilting up. “Actually, you’ve got that one video…”

Elmiryn held up a hand, her cheeks blushing. “That’s just the one! And I only got it as a gag. I mean honestly, how many things can a girl fit into her–”

“This is an example of the kind of things I don’t want to hear,” Quincy said loudly, hands over ears.

Nyx’s face drew long. “Oh… Oh no!”

The others looked at her with quizzical expressions. “What?” they asked.

She peered back at them with a wince. “If the Author is expecting a baby…does that mean that we…?” When she trailed off, she gestured at them all weakly.

Elmiryn jumped from her seat, waving her arms in a panic. “No! No, no, no! Can’t be! No way!”

“But why?” Quincy pressed, her eyes fogged in a curious far off look. “Why can’t…why can’t we have that too?”

“Because we’re not real!” A voice called from the kitchen.

All heads turned to see Lethia stepping out, a sandwich in her hand and some peanut butter and jelly on her cheek. She finished chewing with a loud swallow, then said next, “Obviously we are going to be influenced by certain aspects of the Author and not others. But we were created to be imaginary people with our own unique personalities and stories… So there’s no need to worry!” The blonde shrugged and started to walk away.

Nyx and Elmiryn let out a sigh of relief.

“Well that’s good to hear,” the redhead said with a grin.

The Ailuran puckered her lip in thought. “Still…I wonder what it would be like if the Author turned one of us into a mother in our story?”

Quincy stared at the black television screen, still on mute, still not displaying the latest blockbuster.

“Yes. I wonder…” she breathed despondently.