Prolgue/Intro:

A/N: Hey everyone! Back with another Star vs. story here. Now, I was originally going to post this as the latest chapter of my "Across the Star(s)" anthology. But then I realized the explanation might be long enough to cover an entire chapter in its own right and decided to publish it as a stand-alone. So, I apologize in advance for the long explanation and I promise the story will come soon.

So, one of the things I've always liked most about SVTFOE is the context clues it drops about how much time has passed. We know based on the Season 2 finale "Starcrushed" that the Pilot to the end of Season 2 lasted about one full school year since the finale focuses on the start of summer break on Earth. We also know then that because Marco heads to Mewni in the Season 3 episode "Sophomore Slump" at what looks like the start of an exchange program, that the Battle for Mewni arc and the subsequent episodes like "Scent of a Hoodie" through "Demoncism" and the return of TomStar, take up a summer vacation.

We can also tell that most of Season 3 between "Sophomore Slump" and "Marco Jr." takes place over several months since Angie gets pregnant, and several more months pass between then and "Doop-Doop" where we first see Mariposa who appears to be at least a couple months old by then. And lastly, we know the final few episodes take place of the course of just a couple days.

But… there is one section of the Star vs. timeline we don't really know anything about, and that's Tom's trip. To recap, in the Season 4 episode "Doop-Doop" Tom and Star are getting ready to leave on the trip Tom had proposed in the previous episode, only for the plan to fall apart as Star decides not to go because she doesn't know where she belongs anymore. Tom decides to leave on the trip alone while Star heads back to Earth. Now, in the show, only an episode and a half passes before we see Tom again in "Sad Teen Hotline" where he breaks up with Star, which always struck me as rather sudden in show time, unless he was gone for a long period.

We do have a couple context clues here, but there aren't many. To start, Marco and Janna leave Mewni in "Doop-Doop" and, at least in Marco's case, that's presumably because his "study abroad" session has ended and it's summer time again, along with Mariposa being around now. There's some evidence of this in the "Britta's Tacos" episode where Marco points out that he got his GED and the fact that Jackie is also back in town having spent the school year in France. So let's say it is the start of summer, how long until "Cleaved" then? Among the final shots of the show when we see Earthni for the first time, we can see a crowd of characters from the first two seasons gathered outside Echo Creek Academy, perhaps suggesting it's the start of another school year, and we do see a school bus driving around town after the merge. But that's… really it. The only line we get from Tom about how long he's been gone is in the "Jannanigans" episode where, while collecting tennis balls, Tom offhandedly remarks that a week prior he was in the dimension of a thousand sunsets. But given how many goodbyes there were in "Doop-Doop" it seemed like this was supposed to be a long trip, so I don't think it would have only lasted a week. This, of course, all makes a big difference in the end of TomStar. Did Tom decide to end things after a short trip because he was just fed up with Star not wanting to move forward with him, or was it a longer, more soul-searching trip (no pun intended).

All of this is a very, very long-winded way of saying that I think it was a long trip and I think exploring what Tom was doing and thinking in that time is an important part of his character. So, with that, welcome to "Where in the multiverse in Thomas Draconius Luctor?" I'll be spinning out some stories about what Tom did while Star and Marco were eating Birtta's tacos and finally getting to Beach Day. Suggestions are welcome, feedback is encouraged, favs/follows/reviews are appreciated.

Sorry to tease with just the explanation right now, but I'm already working on the first story so there's that to look forward to.

Until then, hope everyone has a good time reading some other great stories on the site!