<!-- Everything was different in this new reality, but in weird, subtle ways: The logos for Coca-cola and McDonald’s, staples of her old reality, were in garish reds, yellows, oranges. Not the cool blues. The cars that moved past her had a strange alchemical sleekness that unsettled her.
As she made her way to the party that was her best chance at finding jij, the neighborhood had the same houses but with a sense of decay her old world did not. And the faces: so many people looked so familiar, yet looked at her like a stranger. Was there even a Wren here in this reality? Was there a chance she would run into herself?
And, with everything that was so changed here, could she even stop the upcoming calamity that would take jij’s life? Yet she knew, as part of the ritual, that she was bound by fate to stop it just as jij was bound by fate to die.
Fate had done her old love wrong. She would make it right here.
Somehow. -->
It was late on a Saturday night, and the party was absolutely raging. Loud music enough to draw noise complaints, people drinking, having fun, enjoying the best time of their lives.
Wren entered, trying to quell the sick feeling of anxiety. She was so close, she couldn't mess up now. Dressed in a tight black dress and a lacy shawl, fishnet stockings and some broken in steel toed boots, she knew she'd attract attention. She tugged at her favorite choker anxiously, hoping it brought her luck. They have to be here, she thought. I'll see you again. And this time...
Almost immediately after stepping over a passed-out partygoer, an oafish dude put his arm around here. "Hey there, you look beautiful, what's your name?"
She glanced up and smiled brightly. "I'm Wren! I'm actually looking for someone. Do you know jij? It's super important I find them!" She hoped her cutesy, 'perkygoth' persona would be disarming enough to get what she needed.
To her surprise, the big guy ended up pointing her back down the hallway. But what, actually, could she expect down that hall?
She stepped through the door to the back, feeling flush but uncomfortable with the looks she was getting. She scanned the back area. There, she thought. jij looked so different than the person she knew, but... it was the same individual inside. It... had to be.
"jij!" she called out. Her heart caught in her throat when jij turned to look into her eyes. She brushed past a wave of melancholy, determined to not let the past interfere with what she had to do.
"Hey! You don't remember me, but I'm Wren! And, um, you maybe never met me, ha ha," Her laugh trailed off, a little too high pitched and anxious than she would like. "But I knew... I've heard so much about you! And, um, I have a really weird request. Don't take this the wrong way but..."
Her smile was half of a wince, realizing how ridiculous this all sounded. "Do you, um, have a place I can crash for the next week?"
Her laugh was sharp and anxious as she uneasily waited for the response. Everything changes, she thought, grimly. Starting… now.
