first entrance

[karolina]

She's been standing outside the door for ten minutes now.

Karolina's used to weird things. Kind of goes with the territory, being a daughter of the Pride. Everything with them is weird, including, apparently, the house that she and the others are currently squatting in. Half an hour or so ago and bored, she'd decided to explore -- which is how she ended up here, in front of this door.

It was one door of many in a long, long hallway. They all had plaques on them, but Karolina couldn't read them; they were written in some kind of foreign language. Probably not an Earth one, at that.

All of the doors had been locked, except this one. Karolina had tugged it open, pleased when it gave way --

And found herself looking into a bar.

Which, okay, wouldn't be so weird, if there weren't people actually sitting in it. Sitting there like it was no big deal at all, just drinking and talking and not even noticing her standing there in the doorway, gaping.

She'd promptly closed the door.

Ten minutes later, she's still staring at it. She's debating whether or not to go inside; on one hand, it might just be an illusion. The Pride did that a lot, for various reasons. (Most of them not good.) On the other hand though, it could be real. Not like she'd know what to do if it was. But now she's dying of curiosity, despite herself.

Screw it, she thinks. Whatever this bar-thing is, she can handle it.

She pulls open the door again and steps inside.

Comments

[asynja]

Sif knows that routine.

Very, very well, seeing as how she just did it herself a week or two ago (has it really been that long?).

She's sitting at a table right near the door; she's dressed in Asgardian armor for the most part, but has her chest plate off. Spear and shield are leaning against the table, and she's got a pint of something with smoke coming out of it -- that gets raised in Karolina's direction.

"I can sympathize," she says.

[karolina]

"Oh. Hi."

Guess that rules out the idea of this bar being some kind of complex illusion -- but with that knowledge comes the fact that everyone in this bar is very, very real. And judging from her quick glance around the room, there's no one here that she knows.

(Not like she was expecting that. Obviously.)

She turns back around to leave, but the door has disappeared. She doesn't even know why she's surprised at this point.

"So." She smiles tentatively at the woman. "Um, hi? Again? Do you know where -- what this place is?"

[lady_mary]

A young woman in a grand looking black dress is seated at a table near the entrance, and she looks up at the newcomer.

"I saw you opened the door before but didn't come through. You're not mad, if that's what you're worried about."

Mary quirks her head to the side slightly and smiles.

"Or so everyone else here assures me."

[karolina]

"Oh, well, that's good to know, I suppose." Karolina laughs a little at that. "Unless, of course, you're just a figment of my imagination and I really am, you know, crazy. That's what happens, right? Or maybe we're all just sharing one sort of like, mindspace and being crazy together and telling each other we're not."

She stops babbling and shoves her hands into the pockets of her jeans, suddenly feeling awkward.

"I like your accent," she says lightly, to change the subject. "It's pretty."

[lady_mary]

Oh dear. The girl looks to be just about the age of Mary's youngest sister Sybil—or perhaps slightly younger, on second thought—and is entirely out of her element.

"The thought had occurred to me." Luckily, Thayet had convinced her otherwise. "I prefer to trust in my sanity.

"And thank you. At home my accent is quite unremarkable, I assure you."

Mary rises and gestures toward the extra chair at her small table.

"I am Lady Mary Crawley. Won't you please join me Miss... ?"

[karolina]

Karolina sticks her hand out. "Karolina. Karolina Dean. And you're -- ?"

[lady_mary]

Mary raises an eyebrow—the girl is either in shock or extremely thick—but raises her hand to shake Karolina's nonetheless.

"Mary Crawley, Miss Dean."

Mary takes her seat and waits for Miss Dean to do the same. Or skitter away in fear.

"Welcome to Milliways."

[karolina]

"Nice to meet you."

Karolina gets the impression she's meant to sit down, so she does, after another quick look about the bar, folding her hands politely in her lap. This Mary Crawley woman is kind of intimidating.

"So, Milliways, huh? That sounds like a pretty ordinary name for a bar that just showed up -- presumably -- out of nowhere. How'd you get here?"

[lady_mary]

Mary has plenty of sharp edges, which can put people off, but she's good at acting like she doesn't care. Really, though, she didn't intend to frighten the girl, but isn't quite sure what she's doing wrong. Best to just carry on.

"I arrived here the same way that you did... through a door. For me, the door came from my home. Presumably, you came through from somewhere else. Is that right?"

Karolina doesn't look or sound like anyone from Mary's world.

"Milliways is located at the end of the universe, and it's clientele comes from many different worlds. I confess I don't understand how it all works. Some sort of magic."

[karolina]

Karolina smiles, suddenly feeling relieved. Magic is something she gets, thankfully. "Well, from what I know of magic, you can't really get too deep into how it works, you know? If you think too much about it, you'll just give yourself a headache."

She leans back, twisting her long hair over one shoulder. "So you came through a door too, huh? Cool." She surveys Mary, wonders if it's polite to ask someone where and when they came from, and then does it anyway. "You said you found the door in your home -- where's that?"