The will of the universe

The person started walking, expecting Freya to follow. Wasn't a norwegian goddess called something similar or the same?. Hm. They doubted it was related, but still, suspicious.

"I don't know how far it is exactly, thirty minutes by train with ten stops or so." They answered with a little shrug. The best bet when strangers arrived like these was usually to take them to see Ezrael. He either knew what to do or how to direct them to their actual destination.

"What we did was just return to a hotspot. I can't travel back to the city because we don't have any presence there. I was going to meet some friends when reality got distorted and you came out." They added, taking a phone out of their pocket and starting to send some texts. About how they wouldn't make it to the movie they were going to be watching, mainly. But it'd be fine, they could just hang with Klaus instead.
 
Freya followed Abee, partially on instinct, being the only person she somewhat knew in a place she very much didn't. She had hoped for a measurement of distance rather than time, though it very possibly could have been in some system she didn't know. "That sounds like a fair distance." She replied, silently wondering how long it would take her to fly to that city if she needed to.

"A hotspot?" She asked. she frowned a little at the mention that Abee had plans before her arrival. "I'm sorry I messed up your plans." She apologized sincerely. "Thank you for your help." She added. With the initial shock mostly worn off, she started to wonder if Sirenhead had been transported to the same location or if he'd been transported at all.
 
They walked past house after house, shadows moving on the inside. Life, homely, that they could only watch through the windows. Some had clothes lines in the yard, some discarded toys or little makeshift swimming pools. All empty.

"Hotspot is where there's a lot of monsters, It's easier for us to travel there. Dunno why, just works that way." Said Abee with a shrug. "And it's fine, I didn't really want to go. I can just hang with my boyfriend instead." Their boyfriend who didn't really want to be, but couldn't say no to the body and the face they were currently inhabiting. So he was along for the ride anyway.

"Where'd you come from anyway?, you look like a dragon." They said after a bit, slowing down their walk so they were next to Freya instead of just leading the way through the buildings.
 
Freya watched the occasional shadow in the window as they walked past homes, wondering to herself just who all might be inside them. She tilted her head a bit at Abee's explanation of a hotspot; it was an interesting concept that if facilitated the travel she'd just experienced. "Could you travel to any hotspot like that?" she asked curiously. It seemed extensive knowledge on the phenomena was not something Abee had, so she held onto her other questions. "Oh, okay then. Well, I hope you're able to enjoy your evening either way." She replied.

She chuckled at the question of where she was from, though she addressed being a dragon first. "I am a dragon." She replied "My lineage calls themselves Wayfarers." She explained. "Where I came from? Well, that's a bit complicated." She started. "The world I was on before I came here was called Tempus. The world I was born on was Falcia." She paused a moment. "The world my people came from was called..." She made a series of more guttural sounds with growls and hisses that one could infer was the draconic of her people. "There have been many worlds in between as well." She added.
 
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They listened to her and thought about how to answer her questions without really looking at Freya, and continueing to text someone else. But Klaus either wasn't awake or he didn't want to talk to them and it wasn't like fucking Ezrael gave anyone other than his cervi-boyfriend who didn't know how to use phones anyway and his sort of secretary, his phone number.

"Not anywhere in the world, but I don't know the limits. Like... We can travel between the forest, the outskirts and the town, and the- uh, a couple other places that are pretty close by. And that's it." They said whem asked about hot spots. It wasn't like they knew much more anyway, history and the physics of enerjumping weren't their favourite subjects. Or topics. This body wasn't a fan of learning the theory of anything it didn't consider fun. It was barely growing into adulthood though so it kind of made sense. The real Abel had been a party loving highschool dropout, after all.

"I can't say it, like, what you said your world is called, with this kind of throat. But I've like definitely heard it before?, somewhere. You'll have to ask someone else though." Please, literally anyone else. "And you look a bit like a mix of a dragon and a human, If I'm honest." They added, just as they reached the last line of houses before the forest began.

The Rhonda forest, separated from civilization by a thin electric fence with a grid-like pattern and sharp wire over the top. A pathetic, sad little attempt of stopping it and its content from spilling into society. if you could call the outskirts that. The evergreen and birch trees started at a regular height but grew into more distorted and almost mutated versions of themselves. They grew tall as mountains after a kilometer or so, and formed a thick canopy that blocked the sun from reaching the inside, which grew strong, springy and lively anyway. A thick fog was already curling around their ankles, thick enough to butter bread with. Not literally, but one could try. Abee had heard someone say that once and it was so funny to them that they kept the sentence archived in recent memory. Ready to give it as many uses as they could get away with. The lights of the last line of houses were off. Specifically, the one Abee was walking into. They just sort of opened the fence-gate and stepped into the front yard. A dog, a rottweiler came to say hi.

"This is Sophie, she's forty percent slobber, sixty percent love." Said Abee, walking up the steps on the porch and starting to ring the bell like it wasn't late as fuck. But this was technically an emergency.
 
Freya continued following along, not really sure of their destination. She listened attentively to the answers she was given. She was a little disappointed that Abee didn't know the limits, but knowing it was usable to at least get to other nearby spots was still useful. She also decided to set her expectations a little lower for future questions.

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise that they had heard the name of her people's home world spoken. "Really?" she asked. They told her she'd have to ask someone else, and her ears drooped a bit. "Right." She replied. She gave a shrug at the comment about her appearance. "All my people are bipedal. some can assume a more primal, much larger, quadruped form. I'm also shorter than average." There were other ways she differed from average for her own kind, that made her look more humanish, but she wasn't going to bring them up.

She looked at the fence and forest in front of them. The forest had an allure to it; something about it made her want to explore. It was a much more welcoming sight to her than the city's skyscrapers had been. She couldn't help but chuckle at the fence. It just seemed like such a paltry thing compared to that forest. She also knew it couldn't stop her from entering that forest if she wanted to.

She paused as Abee opened a gate to a darkened house, unsure if it was their house or someone else's. The dog, on the other hand, had her smiling again. "Hi there Sophie." She said cheerfully as she bent down and offered a hand to the dog. She noticed Abee rang the bell so she was now assuming it wasn't their place. "Who are we waking up?" She asked carefully.
 
The dog, sweet as an angel, sniffed Freya's hand and proceeded to lick it up and down. She didn't bark, so she was probably well taught not to do so at night or she didn't feel the need to. Abee noted that the animal didn't even pause to consider if Freya was a threat. So she must be pretty sure that she wasn't. Sophie may slobber over everything and be kinda gross most of the time, but she had surprisingly good judgement.

"Boyfriend." Said Abee quietly. Ezrael lived in the same house, sort of, but that man didn't know what sleep was and only partaked in that particular human ritual once a week or so. Before his body went insane or whatever. Or when Estraven could convince him to go down for a nap. After a couple more minutes of waiting at the door, another tired and grumpy looking not quite teen, opened it.

Klaus was taller than Abee by a head and a half. He had long sort of wavy sort of curly hair, messy and dark brown. Also brown skin and eyes the color of the forests' evergreens. He was wearing an oversized grey t-shirt, black boxers and no shoes.

"It's fucking late..." He groaned, not seeing Freya in the beginning. Until he did, and his eyes opened wide like full moons. "Wha-" Abee stood on the tips of his toes to kiss him hello, and Klaus closed his mouth then pressed his lips into a thin line. He looked a bit annoyed and resigned at the gesture.

"Found you another traveler~" Said Abee in a singsong tone. "Come in" They told Freya, walking into the house as if it was theirs. Klaus sighed and also walked back in, turning on lights that hadn't been on before. So he must have lived there for a while if he could just navigate it in the dark.

Just as you walked in, there was a door to the left and a divided hallway. The left half were stairs that went up into the darkness. The right half was a way that led to a small living-room to the right, and a kitchen to the front. Klaus led them towards the kitchen.

"Welcome I guess. I'm Klaus. Give me a summary of your situation?, like how you got here, from where, what were you doing and who you were with." He said, straight to business. Abee giggled and took his hand during the seven steps it took them to get to the kitchen. There was a small dining table there.
 
Freya grinned as Sophie licked her hand. "You're just the sweetest baby aren't you?" She said to the dog as she began petting and rubbing her. "Oh...okay." Freya replied with a bit of distracted confusion as she continued petting Sophie. She wasn't quite sure why they were waking up Abee's boyfriend, but she wasn't about to stop them either.

She heard the door open, and Abee talking to Klaus, but continued to focus on Sophie until she was asked to come in. "You be good, and keep protecting the house. " She told Sophie before she turned and headed for the house. Klaus seemed in a state she would expect from someone woken up in the middle of the night. It seemed he had not been expecting visitors either. "Sorry to impose." She apologized as she followed Abee inside.

She pulled her wings in tight against her back, and bent down a bit going through the doorway in an attempt to keep from knocking them into the door frame. Inside, she momentarily winced against the sudden light as her eyes adjusted. They found their way to the kitchen and Klaus asked for information. She took a chair, spun it, and sat down on it so she was leaning forward against the back of it.

She gave a brief sigh before beginning to explain the situation as she knew it. "Thank you." She said with a small smile. "I'm Freya. I'm not really sure exactly how I got here. I was having a drink with a friend called Sirenhead in a bar in Tempus, but when we left it was just me and it wasn't Tempus anymore." She offered a small shrug. "I'm a bit worried about Sirenhead. We left one after the other, but they were nowhere to be seen once we got outside." She added. She realized it wasn't a whole lot of information, but it was what she had, at least off the top of her head.
 
The two young people before her exchanged slightly confused looks. Freya's words were new, a bit concerning and... well, strange. They had no records of a world called Tempus. The only sirenhead they had ever heard of was a local legend or creepypasta, and they doubted this dragon woman was friends with a megaphone on very tall legs.

"Well, we haven't seen your friend, sorry. At least not yet. Are they also a dragon?" Said Klaus, because then it'd be easy to both find them and to learn if anyone else had found them. Aka the police or some other scummy human faction.

"Hey look, you're already making the rounds on social media." Said Abee with a snicker, letting go of Klaus to step forward and show Freya a very unfocused video of her next to the bar she had supposedly stepped out of. Abee wasn't in it themself. It was just Freya looking confused and looking around for the threat she thought the humans were running from. And then the video got cut.

"Ugh. Well, you can stay here tonight, this is not your fault and all that..." Said Klaus, facepalming but not sounding angry, more like just tired or mildly inconvenienced.

"Let's just call the Ezman, isn't he in the time room?" Said Abee lifting an eyebrow. "Yeah and I don't want to know what he's doing in there if he's even awake, because Estraven came over." Answered Klaus. The albino's eyes almost popped out of their skull.

"Estraven WHAT?!, since when does he leave the village at all? doesn't he have like five fawns running around?" They exclaimed, looking a bit distrustful, but also excited.

"I guess? but they are looked after by the whole village. I'm pretty sure he jumped over the fence, because he almost knocked down the door while, uh, knocking. Anyway, we're waiting until tomorrow morning. Are you hungry?" Said Klaus, getting back to their main focus. Freya. Abee sighed, because they loved gossip and how had a like, eight or nine feet tall cervitaur even come into the house and gone down the stairs into the basement anyway??. But they'd have to wait for another time.

"Yeah and what do you even eat? so we don't fuck up your stomach or something. I'll go prep the bed in the living-room." Said Abee, leaving Freya alone with Klaus in the kitchen.
 
Freya shook her head as they asked about Sirenhead. "No, not a dragon." She replied. "Pretty sure they were human, at least they told me they were." She added with another small shrug. "I also suspect Sirenhead might have been a nickname they were using, maybe an alias, possibly a call sign."

She frowned a bit at the mention of social media. "Social media?" She asked as she looked at the device Abee held out. The image was perplexing, to say the least. It was blurry, and she didn't understand why or how someone had created it if they had been running away in fear. "It's not a very good image, now is it?" She asked

"I can stay outside if I'm imposing too much." She offered when the subject of staying the night came up. She was used to spending extended amounts of time away from what people called civilization, and the prospect didn't really bother her.

She tilted her head a bit at the discussion that brought up two more new names. "Who are Ezman, and Estraven?" She asked curiously. "And what village are you talking about?" It didn't seem like they were talking about where they were now when they mentioned the village. She knew it couldn't be helped, being an outsider and all, but she felt very much out of her depth at the moment.

Food was mentioned, and that brought her back a bit. "Sure, I could eat." She replied, a bit of cheer coming back into her voice. She paused a moment as Abee asked what she ate. "Well, I can eat most things." She replied. "Wouldn't do well for a Wayfarer to have too many dietary restrictions." She added. "That said, I prefer and do best with meat, cooked or raw. Cooked tends to taste better though." She added. She paused a moment, ears drooped a bit, and looking around before asking. "Is there anything I can do to help? I don't want to be a burden. I can offer payment at the very least." She offered.
 
With a hum, Klaus made sure to remember what Freya mentioned about her companion. Human enough to pass, and possibly using an alias. The video was bad, so he didn't have much insight to offer on that particular topic.

"Nah we have a bed in the living-room for a reason, don't worry. It's one of those couches that turn over and into a bed." Of course she had more questions about the village and their people in it. Klaus was tired, too tired for extense discussion of their lore. But It was only logical she'd ask a bit after jumping universes. At least she wasn't asking them shit about the quantum continuum. He didn't understand any of that.

"We're talking about Verno. A village in the forest that you must've seen behind the outskirts. Ezman's name isn't Ezman, that's just Abee being weird about names and made up nicknames. His name is Ezrael, Ezra, and he's my... sort of uncle. I call him uncle, but we aren't related by blood." He said, going to the fridge to check if he had anything she might find appealing, to eat.

"Estraven is a teacher at the village, and he's a monster. Like Abee and you. He's part deer, and he is good... friends, with my uncle so they spend time together." Said Klaus, sounding a bit bitter. Or at the very least, annoyed.

"I have hamburgers?, they're made of beef, bread crumbs, garlic and some herb. I can cook you a few if you'll eat that. Otherwise we do have a dead rabbit but uhh it's not clean yet. No guts, but the fur, bones and other less accessible organs are all in there still." He added, ignoring her offer to help, for now. He had a pretty good idea of how she could help them. But it'd be Ezrael asking for her help later, not him.
 
"Oh, okay." Freya replied as it was explained that there was a bed in the living room for a reason. "You get strange visitors a lot then?" She asked reflexively. She tilted her head a bit as she imagined what a couch that turned into a bed might be like. She figured probably better than the ground, but not as good as a real bed. She had hopped worlds enough, both by choice and not, that the minutia of how wasn't a great concern for the moment.

"Verno is in the forest? Interesting." She commented. She wondered to herself just what a village in that forest might be like. It might be a little closer to what she was used to than the city in the distance. "Ezrael." She commented quietly, committing the name to memory. "And Estraven is part deer." She continued to quietly voice things she was wanting to commit to memory.

Something struck her, and she tilted her head a bit and looked more closely at Klaus. He said Estraven was like her and Abee. "Are you and your uncle not monsters?" She asked curiously. The distinction made little difference to her, but she was curious that the distinction had been made.

The thought about the options for a couple moments. Raw rabbit was pretty much the same wherever she went, and while not bad, it wasn't particularly exciting either. "Hamburgers wound interesting." She told Klaus "If preparing them isn't too much trouble." She added. "Thank you. For the food and shelter." She added. Her offer of payment had been ignored, but she still wanted to voice her gratitude. "What is Ezrael's role here?" She asked. Ezrael seemed to have an important role of some sort if they were waiting on him.
 
"Not always strange visitors, but we do have plenty of overnight guests." He answered her first question.

While she took in what he had just said and answered, Klaus had already taken out a big iron pain, turned on the gas stove and started heating oil. It'd need to be left to heat up for a bit so it wouldn't stick, and even if she ended up not wanting any, he was going to have one. Since he was already up. There was a bit of background noise from the living room while Abee set the couch, but he didn't pay it much mind.

"My uncle is a monster, I'm human. But he has looked human since forever so I kinda forget he isn't, sometimes." He said in response to her next question, leaning against the counter next to the stove. "he's a wisp like Abee, they can shapeshift or inhabit bodies that they make for themselves." He explained, a bit proud of his knowledge about monsterkind. Since she wanted the hamburgers, he took several out. One for himself, one for... eh. There were like six of them so he'd make them all. Estra and Ezra might get hungry later after all.

"It's no problem. And my uncle is like... super old, and part of the village's council. He knows a lot about multiverse hopping and time travel as well, as far as I know. But he doesn't share that knowledge with anyone, sorry." He said, starting to put the meat in the pan to cook the hamburgers.

Abee came back. "The bed is ready for you, later. Anything you want to drink? do you still have tekimelon?" They asked Klaus, who groaned. "We're not having tequila with dinner, she can have water or a coke or something." Abee snickered mischievously. "Okay fiiiiine, buy only because you're cute." They said, crowding Klaus' space and leaning in to nuzzle his cheek before stepping back a bit so he could cook. Klaus was blushing very lightly, and didn't say anything else before focusing on their very, very late dinner.
 
Freya nodded in understanding as the question of guests was clarified. She watched Klaus's preparations for cooking. The gas stove was interesting, and she found herself briefly wondering what it was using for fuel.

"Oh, you're the only one?" She wondered. "All the humans in the city ran away in fear. How'd you end up living amongst the monsters?" She asked with a small chuckle to inject some levity into her question "Wisps huh...that's interesting. I didn't know they could do that." She spoke as she took mental notes.

She chuckled again before asking. "How old is super old?" She was very aware that what was super old for one species might be considered a child for another. "He knows how to travel the planes then, and time manipulation as well?" She was clearly interested. "Its a shame he doesn't share." To her that just meant she'd have to be careful what she shared, and watch for what interested him when they interacted. If information wasn't shared, then it might become currency to be traded. "I'm fairly well versed in traveling the planes, but manipulating time does sound interesting." She added.

Abee came back in, and she smiled. "Thank you." She offered her gratitude. "I wouldn't mind mead if there's any available." She frowned a bit at the conversation about tequila. "What's a coke?" She asked. "Water is also fine." she added with a warm smile, and a small chuckle at their interactions, and Klaus's blushing. "Do you expect Ezrael to be available soon?" She asked curiously.
 
“I guess you lose the fear when the monsters become your family. I was abandoned by the fence that surrounds the forest when I was little, they found me and kept me.” Said Klaus with a shrug and without turning to look at Freya while he handled the burgers that would be done in no time. “Plates, Abe” He said, nudging the wisp with his elbow. They snorted and went to get said plates from one of the cupboards. Then they took out three glasses and set it all on the table where Freya was sort of sitting. “How old IS uncle Ez?, like… in our years it was more than five thousand i think. He has also traveled between timelines and shit so It’s likely not even he knows his real age. And he kind of doesn’t share for a reason… can you imagine that kind of knowledge in shitty hands? You could fuck up entire worlds.” Klaus mused, still not turning around. The meat was starting to smell really, really good and it would be done soon.

“I don’t think Ezrael or Estraven will come up until tomorrow morning, sorry. A coke is like a fizzy drink, but we’re all going to have water I think.” Said Abee, who had set the table without table covers or cutlery. But they did fill the glasses with tap water. It was drinkable and fresh so no need to get fancy and open a bottle from the fridge.

When the meat was done, Abee came around with the plates and after both them and Klaus washed their hands at the kitchen tap, with dish soap. Two burger patties for Freya, one for Klaus and half for Abee. The rest were set to the side in a container for whoever came later or in case any of them ended up being more hungry than anticipated. The two of them joined Freya at the table. She could wash her hands if she wanted to as well.
 
Freya smiled. "That would be a good reason not to be afraid." Her expression slipped into a sympathetic frown at the mention of being abandoned. Even if one grew up in a happy environment, the knowledge that they were abandoned, and possibly not knowing why could weigh on a person. "I'm sorry you were abandoned." She said quietly. a bit of her smile returned as she continued. "Though it seems you're doing pretty well." She offered. She watched as plates and glasses were grabbed.

She tapped a claw against the tip of her snout as Ezrael's age was given at least an estimate. "More than five thousand. So he does have some age on him." She commented. He was certainly a good bit older than she was. "Being over five thousand, or hopping timelines?" She asked about the idea of dangerous information. She figured it was probably the latter Klaus meant. "Knowing the future is always dangerous no matter who you are, if you ask me." She offered her opinion.

She smiled and gave a slight shrug at the idea they would have to wait till morning to converse with Ezrael or Estraven. "I'm not short on time." She replied, indicating that she didn't mind waiting. "A fizzy drink huh, water is fine with me." She assured. The food smelled delicious. Freya wasn't really one for hand washing. It hadn't been a thing growing up, nor in most of the places she had visited to this point. Add to that a extreme resistance to disease, and she was perfectly comfortable waiting for the others to be ready before digging into the meal.

"Thank you. It smells delicious." She said before taking a bite. She chewed and swallowed before following up with. "And it is." Another bite before she spoke again. "So, what's the story with this place and the forest?" She asked, feeling that there was probably a history there. The immediate proximity struck her as a little unusual. Most decent sized settlements she knew usually had a band of farmland between the more densely inhabited portions and the wilder lands.
 
Klaus was, in fact, doing fine. There some problems as always but they were mostly superficial stuff. So he shrugged when she said she was sorry he had been abandoned. He didn't really know what to say about it when people said that. He liked his current family and wouldn't change it for any other. Not even to know what his life might have been with if he hadn't been abandoned. He stayed quiet, since he wasn't the most social person and let Abee do the talking.

"The story is... Monsters traveled to this world because their previous one was dying some decades ago and humans aren't huge fans." Said Abee with a little shrug. "We think there's something Ezrael keeps trying to avoid in our future and that's why he time hops but he won't tell anyone else much about time stuff." Klaus elbowed them on the side then. That info wasn't for strangers. Abee half glared at him while eating a bite from his burger patty.

"Yeah anyway, let's just eat and you can talk to them in the morning." Or to him. To Ezrael. But since Estraven might also hang around, they spoke in a more generic tone.
 
It was some relief to Freya that Klaus seemed more or less unaffected by the abandonment in his early years, and since he said nothing else about it, she left it at that.

She was a little disappointed by the brevity and lack of actual story to the story of the area. there was so very much in that short statement that could be unpacked. She wanted desperately to ask more detailed questions, but there was an insistence on finishing the meal and continuing discussions in the morning. She gave a bit of a nod in response, and concentrated on eating. As she ate, she thought about what little she knew so far of this world, and the "monsters" in it. It sounded like the world Sirenhead had described, but there was far less evidence of war than she had imagined. She wondered if this was indeed the world he had come from, and where he had ended up when they left that bar.

She finished her food, and briefly thought about going for more. Eventually she decided it would be best if she didn't, especially if she wanted to sleep well. She finished her water as well before standing up. "Um, where would one go to relieve themselves?" She asked in tentative tones, not sure what was done in this world.
 
She received a confused look from Abee, while they finished their meal. "To whagh?" They asked, mouth full. Klaus elbowed them on the side and they winced. "Bathroom's over there" He pointed to a little room to the side of the kitchen. It had utilities like a dishwasher and a washing machine, and also access to a small bathroom. "And if it isn't... suitable or whatever, there's the back yard." He told the dragon woman also pointing out how to acess it, so she could make the judgement herself. Abee snickered, like a child, thought Klaus. But they were barely out of their teens anyway.

They left Freya to use the bathroom while the two of them cleaned up in the kitchen, and when she came back, it was only Klaus waiting to show her to the living-room where she would be resting.
 
Freya offered a smile and a nod. "Thank you." She replied as she got up from her seat. She didn't like leaving a mess for others so she used a quick but of magic so clean her plate before she headed for the bathroom Klaus had pointed out. She couldn't begrudge Abee's snicker. It was easy to take something as simple as a bathroom for granted, especially if the form and presence was ubiquitous. Freya though, in her travels, had learned that it was not always as simple as she hoped. After a couple embarrassing situations, she had learned to ask well before it became an issue. It was a little cramped with her wings and tail, but she shut the door behind her.

She emerged a short time later, and seemingly she had figured it out without issue. She approached Klaus, ready to follow him to the offered bed and some rest. Again, she found herself wondering just what had happened to Sinrenhead when they left the bar. She also hoped he was okay wherever he had ended up. "Thank you again for the meal, and bed." She told Klaus as she followed.
 
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