THE MOMENT
In the span of a few short weeks Tiffany's world had changed completely. She won a literal chance at a new life and she got to design everything about where she lived and who she was. Of course, she had no idea she was entering any sort of contest, and the claims seemed unbelievably suspicious at every step. And yet now, three weeks after winning, she was on a more fantastical Earth learning magic like she'd always wanted to. She even chose a younger body for herself, but not young enough to be reliant on others. Her renewed youth and magical training weren't even the best part. She was rooming with a dragon.
"Wait, hang on, that can't be true," Marilla shook her head at Tiffany's answer. Tiffany made herself 18 again and Marilla was the same age, enrolled in the same magic academy. She looked human with tan skin, but she had bright neon yellow hair cut short and unnaturally yellow serpentine eyes. The two had only met in passing the previous day as they got settled in and this was their first actual attempt at getting to know each other. "You're saying you won the Chroma Corp. Isekai House Sweepstakes, you got filled in on the multiverse, visited a few different ones before deciding on this one, and it's been three weeks. And what, you didn't eat in that time?" Marilla laughed. "HOW could you NOT have visited Donna Chang's yet? We're so going tonight," she added.
"I just didn't," Tiffany shrugged with a laugh.
"Well, I don't know what passes for Mundo's advice these days," Marilla giggled. "...but there's three rules in the multiverse that you need to follow." She held up three fingers as Tiffany nodded.
"Yeah?" she asked. She was already feeling comfortable with Marilla and was positive about the rest of the year.
"They're not in any order, but they're all supremely important," she folding a single slender finger and her orange finger nail caught a beam of light as she stated the rule. "If you want Chinese food, Donna Chang's is the best in the multiverse." She folded another finger, the nail on that one was green. "If you want Pizza, Mundo's Pizza is the best in the multiverse."
"He has a Pizzeria?" Tiffany asked, then immediately shook her head. "Wait, different one, right?" she still wasn't used to that. Mundo was the person who explained the multiverse to Tiffany, and as far as she understood it, Marilla wasn't talking about the one she'd met. 'Mundo' was a singular name taken by a wide variety of people.
"Yeah," Marilla nodded. "It's an entire Earth that only produces pizza for multiversal delivery. And the third one," she folded her third finger and dropped her hand. She had an orange fingernail, continuing the alternating pattern. "If you want fried chicken, find a Glory, or a Gloria. If they've got a diner, they've got good chicken."
"I'll keep them in mind," Tiffany nodded. "So, you know all about the unspectacular life I eagerly left behind. What's your backstory?"
"Eh, you know. My mom's an orange dragon and my dad's a green dragon. I was born extra special and got sent here to mage school; kind of boring really. I haven't given it a lot of thought."
"Wait so your mom's an orange dragon and your dad's a green dragon," Tiffany hoped she wasn't making an insensitive assumption. She was confident Marilla had specified she was indeed a yellow dragon when they met shortly the previous day. But, the classes had been more overwhelming than she expected, and she might have been misremembering details. ".. but you're a yellow dragon?"
"Yes, I just got both their yellow halves," Marilla nodded confidently with a smile.
"That's not how colors or genetics work," Tiffany shook her head.
"What?" Marilla laughed. "What does that have to do with the AlterNet?" The AlterNet was explained to Tiffany as a network of alternate Earths, and saturated with nanos to give reality a game-like experience. Tiffany was cognizant where she was, she was indeed in the AlterNet and she'd chosen the Wizard class. She assumed Marilla was aware of that too, but maybe she wasn't.
"Because.. that's not how reality works?" Tiffany said. "Are... are you an NPC??"
Marilla's jaw dropped and the slits in her eyes narrowed as she stared at Tiffany. She was silent for almost three seconds as she processed the accusation, then she erupted with obnoxious laughter.
"HAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!" Marilla stepped closer and gave Tiffany a friendly punch on the shoulder. "You've got a lot to learn. In all seriousness, this is a real rule," she said as she met Tiffany's gaze.
"You need to be very careful about what you say. You asked me for my 'backstory', that's my AlterNet Character's lore. If you want to know about the real me," she shrugged. "It's not too different from yours, I left behind an unspectacular life."
"You won the Sweepstakes, too?" Tiffany asked.
"Well, I guess in hindsight I can say that," Marilla giggled with a nod. "But, at the time, it just felt like getting hit by a truck."