There is someone else in the room. She's sitting against one of the walls, kind of huddled there. When she notices someone come in, she looks up, then stands up, composes her facial expression into something people tend to have.

 "Hello."

Alex notices the other person when she moves and speaks. "Hi," they say. "What, uh." They gesture at the room in general. "What is this and what has it done with the outside?"

She gestures to a napkin on the bar. 

"Interdimentional bar, according to - itself. She'll answer questions if you ask. What she said to me was that sometimes doors become doors to here; while you're here time should be stopped where you came from. She'll give you a first drink for free." 

"Interdimensional bar, huh." They go over to read the napkin and read the additional one that appears. "... Huh. Interesting." They turn back to their conversation partner. "So I can stay in here long as I like and go back when I'm ready?"

"As I understand it, if you wish to. Time will - keep passing for you, if you stay enough you'll get older? But I do not think anyone currently here would - try to stop you."

"And I have to eat and everything past the first drink costs, so can't stay too long." They shrug. "Hour or two's long enough."

They turn to the bar. "What kind of drinks do you serve?" Napkin. "Oooh. I'll take a recommendation."

They get some kind of thick yellow-orange thing and turn back. "Thanks for your help. What's your name? I'm Alex."

"Shen." She watches the drink for a moment before noticing she's doing that and that it's not very appropriate, and stops. Tries to cause her mind to apply itself to these kinds of conversations well enough. "Is the drink good?"

They sip their drink and nod brightly. "It's really good." They pause, looking thoughtful, maybe having noticed Shen's look. "You got your free drink yet?"

She shakes her head. "Saving for when I want one more." (The actual answer is 'saving so that if she ends up staying here for a while without other caloric access, she can time it better for that', but that she doesn't say.)

"That makes sense." They have some more of their drink and find a chair to sit down in nearer Shen. "Since this's an interdimensional bar... what's your world like?"

She also sits.

"I'm from - two, now. You could say. Or maybe that doesn't count.

My homeworld -" (she usually tries not to think of this much, because it will not help. She thinks of it now, and then does not know what to say, really). "I'm - not sure how to describe a whole world. Is there something you wanted to know -?"

"Just curious. Maybe it was too broad a question. I know Earth -- that's the world I'm from -- is complicated." They shrug and sip their drink. "In what way are you from two worlds?"

"I - moved? World and a half might be - more accurate? My homeworld -" she's generally default allowed small illusions; makes one of the interspace map, Reyna and Eara highlighted. "is a universe. Other universes you - usually can't get to, they often have different rules of magic, sometimes of other things. I travelled to a - half universe, it's - smaller, and it's more connected, but it does have different rules of magic, some..."

"Ooh. That makes sense." Alex peers at the illusion, obviously a little impressed with the magic. "Universes can have different rules of magic? Is magic common?"

"Can have different magic, can have different rules...

We don't really know enough to say what's common...

...The bar might know more, maybe.

What is where you come from like?"

"Hmm." They think for a moment, then say, "Far as I know Earth has no magic. There's people who claim they can do it, but I've never seen any proof."

Nod.

(She's thought of this already; trying to go through and 'help' without more for it is not a good use of her...).

"Is there - anything you might need? That I could - help with, I mean. Magically."

They have to tell themself very sternly that magicking their mom to make her stop being a bigot would be wrong. What else...

"That... really depends on what you can do," they say slowly after a moment. "What do you have besides illusions?"

"I'm - not sure how to say it all?

But I can do healing, and scry, and put magic on items..."