Part of meet cute Mondays
Marinette was glad that she was in cute street clothes rather than her old pajamas or something that would stand out. She walked along the path trying to get clues about her current location until she could get answers without drawing attention to herself.
Based on the building clusters and the age of people all around, many with backpacks or textbooks, she thought it had to be a university. But they were speaking English so she wasn't in France. She moved with the crowd and searched until the crowd thinned and she found a deserted spot.
"What happened? Where are we?" Marinette asked urgently.
"I do believe the potion was correct but you also started me as I drank it." Kaalki said.
"I'm sorry. I sneezed. Do you know where we are?"
"I am quite certain it is a variant." Kaalki considered.
"Variant. Where is that? I think the English I heard sounds American."
"I do not know what name would be used to describe it. We are no longer in your world. It is a variation, a different plane of reality. It may look much the same or very different but it exists separately from our realm."
Do you mean like parallel universes? A world that looks the same where there could be another me who may have done things differently or had other things happen?"
"Precisely. But it would not be a good idea to go find her."
"I'm only interested in getting home."
"That would be best. But I will need more potion to accomplish that."
She worried about what her friends and family would think the longer she was missing from her life. It was taking longer than she had hoped to gather what she needed without being caught. It had taken her long enough in her own universe to gather the ingredients. Here she knew no one and had started out with no money or even a place to work on it. She also constantly had to worry about a place to stay and finding food. She hated to do it, but she had been managing by stealing. Kaalki had helped her steal a new loadable credit card and had been able to get into the system to trick it into having money. That had felt better to her than taking from an individual. They did the same with a place to stay. The ability to teleport into unoccupied living areas after phasing through to check that it was vacant made that a fairly easy thing to get.
Marinette stayed close to the campus because it was an easy place for her to not look out of place or be questioned. She was the same age as the university students and it was acceptable for her to wander around with a backpack. She kept her interactions with others minimal so she would not need to explain who she was or how she had gotten there. Still after a few weeks she had started to recognize some of the people she would see frequently when she was getting around and trying to find ways to locate what she needed without drawing attention to herself.
She was almost finished. She found how to get a hold of the last ingredient she would need and she excitedly jumped up to head there. It would still take several days to make the potion following very specific and timed out steps. She made sure to get extra of everything just in case she was misremembering the steps she had used the last time or if it didn’t turn out right.
She tried to walk away as she shoved her books back in her bag half failing and almost dumping them before she paused to get them in properly. She zipped it and looked back up before heading off. Good thing she looked first because there was a boy standing in front of her. She would have walked right into him. She looked right up into his eyes and he was looking back at her. She had definitely noticed him before. They had gotten to the point where they would smile and nod when they saw each other but this was the first time they had been this close. He smiled at her and extended his arm until he rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Hey,” he said with a slightly husky voice.
Marinette hadn’t paid enough attention to the greeting customs of this reality. Maybe this is how people behave when they first meet someone. She extended her arm and rested it on his arm and repeated the greeting. His smile faltered and he blushed sheepishly. Guess it looked a lot more like she was making fun of him than giving an appropriate greeting. He started to back away a bit. She thought he might be planning on abandoning his plan of meeting her. She should just let him. That would be for the best.
“Wait,” she said as he backed away. She grasped at his arm gently to stop him but without holding him there. “Sorry. I’m not really from around here.”
He tilted his head at her before responding. “I know I’ve seen you around here.”
“You have,” she dropped her hand from his arm, “but I should be going back soon.”
“Before dinner?” he asked.
“No. In a few days, hopefully. It's complicated."
“So you are free tonight then?”
“Well, yeah. I have to do some things and then I will be available.”
“That’s great. I’m Miles.” he grinned at her.
“Well, Marinette. We should have dinner together. I know a great spot that is only known to those who have lived here a long time. Can I take you there?”
“I’d like that,” she said smiling back at him.
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