six impossible things before breakfast

Okay, that made a bit more sense. Otherwise she would have gone to Narnia several times every day, which clearly had not been the case. Still, the whole notion was ridiculous. Granted, she was not adverse to the idea of ghosts and supernatural occurrences, and more than once she had dreamed about finding her way off to some magical land... but those were escapist fantasies brought on by depression and boredom, and she didn't actually believe it.

Which.... made his next statement even more of a gut punch than it could have been.

She blinked. Actually laughed, if weakly, because... well, what was she supposed to do? "What do you mean, I can't go home? If the portal could bring me here, it should be able to bring me back too." It sounded very logical, and her tone was calm, reasonable even. "Listen, I'm sure it's lovely here and all, but I can't stay. I've got a job interview today, and a doctor's appointment, and I can't afford to pay the fee if I don't show."

Rather unsteady still, she got her feet under her and got to her feet. Wobbling a bit as the whooshing resumed in her head, she stared at the barrier of impossible water, her mind refusing to accept the reality of what she was seeing.

"I really need to go home." She was impressed with how firm she sounded.

All Loren could do was shake his head. "I'm sorry." For a moment, his own grief overwhelmed him and he had to swallow, hard, against the lump in his throat. Standing up as she did, he kept shaking his head. "I wish...I wish I could help you get home. But...it's...it's a one way trip." The despair in his own voice was evident. He had to take a deep breath to regain some semblance of coherency. "I was brought here over two years ago, and I would've gone back in a heartbeat if I could." He hesitated again, rubbing his hands on his thighs nervously. Still, he forced himself to meet her eyes, even if his own had grown sad. LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat

"Two years!?" She stared at him, incomprehending, then spun towards thr building, hissing and staggering as the uneven ground hurt the soft soles of her feet. Stumbling towards it, she shied to a stop as she came to the place where the rain acted oddly, but then plunged through, half expecting some electric shock or other unpleasant sensation to punish her for the carelessness.

She wasn't sure what she was doing. Just, if any place held a way back, it would be this building. Maybe. Possibly? Yet the entryway was dark and imposing, and she slowed even before coming halfway towards it. Courage never was very strong in her, and her knees were still awfully weak.

And there was a cold, prickly touch of despair running its fingers down her back. It made her breath pick up again, the panic a living, writhing thing inside. Tears welled up in her own eyes, as the reality of the situatuon began to finally dawn on her.

Trapped? She was trapped. It was cold, and rain pattered against her head and shoulders, streaking down the face. Very wet. Very real.

A wordless, terrified sound slipped from her throat, and her fingers dig deep into the bare arms as she clutched herself tightly.

At the woman's exclamation, Loren eyes widened. He opened his mouth, but before he could respond, she was staggering towards the entrance to the Spire. Cursing under his breath, he darted forward. Reaching out, he tried to block her, but she stopped before too long. Having forgotten his spell in his haste, the rain began pelting them again. Skidding to a halt on the slippery ground, he brushed his hair out of his eyes. "I know this is hard. I know, I know how difficult this is. I promise I will help you through it." He parted the rain with his magic again. "There's a settlement not too far from here. Why don't we get you inside, and into some dry clothes?" He gestured in the direction of the distant buildings, currently hidden by the trees. LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat

Her whole being screamed the wrongness of all this to her. Nothing about it made any sense. Her head was hurting, her lungs struggling, and it really was a fortunate thing that the whole business happened after her trip to the bathroom. Or she probably would have soiled herself.

But hey, at least she wasn't alone? The man came rushing after her, and cut off her path to the building. He kept talking, offering reassurance and help, and she really should be grateful, she supposed. But his own distraught state didn't really offer that much comfort, and she wasn't the type to throw herself around the neck of the first best individual that showed up. This wasn't a fairy tale after all, and she always hated the trope that said the first guy to appear was the one who got the girl in the end.

"I... uh.. " It was a strangled sound, and she cleared her throat. Tried again. But..  what could she really say? It was cold and wet and she was only dressed in a pyjamas, drenched through and clinging to her in a way that showed off every unflattering bulge and roll on her body. Even in the midst of a crisis, she grew self conscious, and rather pointlessly tried to suck in her stomach. It didn't help.

"Okay," she finally said. Rather weakly. Unable to come up with any better alternatives. The notion of examining the building and looking for that portal flitted through her mind, but lacked the courage - and frankly, the willpower - to insist on it.

Shelter and some decent clothes sounded... agreeable. Easier.

"Okay."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Loren nodded slowly. "Okay." He continued to part the rain, and gestured for her to follow him. However, he paused. Holding out his hand, he somehow managed to smile faintly. "I'm Loren, by the way. I'm...I'm so sorry this has happened to you." Whether or not she took it, he would begin to lead her through the trees towards the very distant sanctuary. Rubbing his hands together nervously, he stole glances at her every now and then. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me. About...magic. And Caido. And, well, everything really." He pressed his lips together, then forced himself to smile though it didn't reach his eyes. LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat

For a moment, she stared at his outstretched hand as though it was a viper. He had made water move with it, and for all that her mind refused to accept the reality of magic being real - even as he kept making the rain behave very strangely - she was a bit wary too. And not really used to shaking hands. It seemed so... formal. Old school.

But being rude was possibly even worse, so she took it, and shook it, and found it shockingly normal. Solid, not very warm, except compared to her own icy fingers. "I'm Petra," she mumbled, and quickly let go again. Retreating back into her bubble, where it felt marginally more safe.

Answers to life, universe and everything, indeed. "Fortytwo," she said automatiskt, and laughed with a note of hysteria as she realized he wouldn't get the joke. "Sorry, that was, ah... yeah, questions." She picked her way gingerly over the ground, bare feet proving slow and tender over the stony ground. Her head was woefully blank.

"Uhm.. Why? Why am I here, I mean. I really hope this isn't some divine call for heroes to fight evil, because I'm definitely not the fighting type." Which her squishy body and wild grimaces as pebbles ate into her feet should prove beyond any doubt.

Loren's handshake was firm and polite, nothing more. He also took a moment to send a pulse of invisible healing magic through her. Not too much, just enough to prevent her from catching a chill. He also warmed up the water on her a little more, after feeling how cold she was. "I'd say it was nice to meet you but...I imagine it's anything but that for you." Smiling sadly, but sympathetically at her her, he brushed the hair out of his eyes again. His brow furrowed in confusion for a moment as she said a random number. However, he nodded slowly at her actual questions. "Honestly? We're not really sure." He shrugged, still rubbing his hands together. "The portals seem to select sort of at random. All we really know is that the um, the one who set it up did have a reason behind it all." LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat

Her body and mind were such a mess that she hardly noticed the cold, shivering as much from the mental strain as from the weather. All she noticed was that she felt a little more relaxed after the handshake, which... she chalked up to be some primate response of the brain to physical contact in a time of need. Base biology.

"Right... yeah. Any other day I'd probably be charmed," she admitted, with a lopsided grin that didn't reach the eyes and faded right away. Honestly, she doubted she would even be talking to him if she wasn't helpless and uselessly unable to deal with the situation on her own. She wasn't the type to attract attention. Especially not from guys like this.

Of course her pop-culture reference fell flat, which was discouraging. Stumbling along as best she could, she tried to coax some intelligence out of her strained resources.

"So... someone is behind it then. Not just a natural phenomenon? That's freaky. Would that person send me back?" It was impossible to give up the notion, and just as hard to appreciate the wonderful possibilities of a place where magic possibly was a real thing, when her feet was hurting and her boobs sloshed around with every staggering step.

At least walking seemed to keep the panic at bay. It was hard to freak out when half her focus went towards navigating the ground to avoid the bigger rocks. "A kingdom for a horse," she muttered under breath, thinking wistfully of shoes, bikes or perhaps a nice, cushy car.

Despite the situation, Loren couldn't help but let out a huff of slightly bitter laughter. "Doubtful." His tone was self-deprecating. "I'm not really a charmer." Smiling at her, he found it fading away almost immediately. He paused again, giving her an awkward and embarrassed look. "It's...complicated, and really hard to explain. Long story short is, they can't. Again, the way it's set up it's a one way portal." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, but better that than add the explanation about her being a copy to everything else. At her comment, he frowned. "I don't know what that means." However, he took a closer look at her, saw how tired she was. "I can um, summon something to...help. But only for a little bit Or you can lean on me." He held out his arm for her, if she needed it. LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat

She gave him a dubious glance, but didn't argue. Maybe he wasn't, maybe she just assumed based on his good looks... most people were charming compared to her anyway.

Her brief moment of hope was quashed right away, and it made her sigh. No luck then. Not that she fully believed the part of having to stay forever,but at the very least she had to admit that her plans for the day were ruined.

Glancing up when he responded to her muttered eloquence, she blinked. He'd never heard the phrase..? Oh, right. Wrong culture. This was going to be awkward. "Oh, sorry. It's a quote from a famous play. Something about a king who had to get somewhere, but was away from all his possessions... so he lamented 'A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!'... and I can relate to that right now. Not used to walking barefoot." Flashing a quick grin, she shrugged. "What do you mean by ''summon something'?"

She waved off his offered arm. Sure she was tired but it was more that her feet killed her, and leaning on him wouldn't really help. Besides, it would feel... awkward. She would manage, somehow.

Nodding in understanding (though he didn't, quite) Loren glanced down at Petra's bare feet. Her question had him looking up again. "Right. Summoning. It's...more magic. I can summon animals." Pausing for just a moment, he held out his hand, palm up, though he didn't stop moving. A swallow appeared in it, and he ordered it to hop around for a bit before dismissing it. Then he gestured for her to stop as he did the same. His brow furrowed in concentration as he stared down at her feet again. "It also means I can do this." A pair of leather moccasins appeared in his hands. They were obviously shoddily made, and he held them out to her almost shyly. "I don't know if they're the right size." LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat

More magic? She sucked in a breath, steeling herself. Waited for a flash of light, or a wave, or something that was at all visible... But all she saw was a bird. A bird that popped out of nowhere in his palm, and then disappeared. Letting out an explosive breath, she tried to untangle her arms from around herself and act like the back of her... well, back... wasn't crawling like an anthill.

"That is so cool and so weird and I don't even know where to begin," she muttered. Stopping, like a good girl, when he asked her to - because why move if you didin't have to? - and stared at him as he stared at her feet. Feeling distinctly.... weird. Her feet weren't bad, but they weren't very interesting either. Hopefully. Unless he was one of those people... Gods, she hoped not.

The shoes did bring a look of astonished exaltation to her face though. "Oh, My God, you are an angel!" She grabbed them quickly, jumping on one foot as she tried to measure one against her foot. It was a bit big, but once she'd gotten it back on, the sweet relief of having something between her bare sole and the ground was enough to make her groan, chuckling in pure delight. "Okay, I'm good now. This is fine, I can think again. How about you just tell me everything? If I freak, I freak, let's deal with it then."

For all the frazzled nerves, there was a frank practicality about the look she leveled on him. Not... exactly prepared for the worst, but maybe to at least laugh hysterically at the absurdity of the whole situation.

Looking away at Petra's words, Loren shrugged. "It's really not a big deal." His tone was more than a bit embarrassed and awkward, and he found himself unable to meet her eyes. When she took the shoes, he just nodded. "You're welcome." Running a nervous hand through his hair, he felt a drop of water and realized his water magic had faltered. He focused on that in lieu of having to listen to her complements. Hesitating, he finally gave her a concerned look. "Are you sure?" Sighing, he rubbed his hands together. "Everything is well...everything. It's a lot and most people have trouble adjusting to it in bits and pieces." He smiled at her almost apologetically. LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat