[ COMING SOON — NOT tomorrow and I actually mean that this time ]

MARSALA RIVERA — Mars, according to her friends — always had a giving heart. Except when it came to her older brother, of course. She wouldn't even let Javi have the last slice of pizza growing up, pulling the 'baby of the family' card with their parents.

In college, the young girl majored in NonProfit Studies in Florida while her brother was away in the army — not that she'd heard from him in nearly five years. But she could hardly blame him after the traumatic disaster he'd gone through while in grad school.

But along the way, she accidentally created a large social media following. So large, in fact, that she started up a YouTube channel focused solely on highlighting nonprofit organizations and charities that needed more attention.

She was able to travel around the world, working with different nonprofits and showcasing what made them special while working for them. She'd built houses and volunteered after lives were destroyed in hurricanes and raised money for endangered animals. Mars wouldn't trade all the enriching experiences for anything in the world, and her favorite videos were the ones when she collaborated with other YouTubers.

So, she was thrilled when someone named Dani who worked with the famed Tyler Owens as a Tornado Wrangler reached out to her first, asking if she'd like to work together for a few weeks. They used their merchandise sales to purchase food and supplies for tornado survivors, and they'd appreciate it if more people knew they could donate to help them out.

That was why Mars packed up her green Honda CRV that used to belong to Javi and drove from Florida to Oklahoma, where the Tornado Wranglers were headed — driving was cheaper than flying even though Tyler Owens offered to fly her out.

Technically, the Wranglers were still in Arkansas, which Mars drove through on the way to Oklahoma. But they were on their way because of a recent outbreak of tornados that would make for great content, and she'd only have them beat by a day.

And after hours of driving, she pulled into a little motel across the street from a bar, having no clue that her older brother was in the room five doors down from her own.

☆︎

[ if I thought editing two people into a gif was hard, editing three is inane and impossible to make it look good ]