Scott has a brief sense of vertigo, enough to drop his soda, then everything spins and blurs and keeps spinning and spinning...

...he finds himself on a forest floor a couple of feet away from his spilled soda can. The trees are ridiculously tall and definitely not any species he can recognize.

Without a couch to sit on, he falls on his ass. 

Brushing himself off, he stands and looks around. Any sign of a house? 

Yes! To his right he can see some colorful buildings at the distance, maybe less than a mile away. To his left... there is a large concentration of gray stone buildings, maybe a large town, half a mile away.

Okay, that's...fine.

He walks to the colorful buildings.

The buildings are really colorful, and of an architectural style that Scott will find unfamiliar.

This is a small village of some sort, not a single car in sight, but plenty of horse-drawn carriages. And the horses are large, some are at least ten feet tall. People are going about their day in colorful clothing, that Scott also doesn't recognize, most don't give Scott a second glance, but at least one looks at him with vague recognition and smiles politely.

Are any of the carriages stopped? He looks for one. 

There is a fellow by a fountain, his gargantuan horse is drinking from it while the man is eating an unfamiliar fruit. If Scott gets closer he will inquire something in an unfamiliar language then "Asheville? English?"

"English, yes, I speak English." 

The man looks arounds and calls. A boy comes and they have a brief exchange.

"The ride is about ten copper leafs to Asheville, more if you want him to go beyond the bridge." The boy translates in accented english.

"Where is Asheville? What are copper leafs?"

The boy looks confused. "Did you just found Elsewhere? Copper leafs is money."

Then the boy pauses and smiles, he is missing a front tooth. "Did you just found Elsewhere?"

"Yes, just found. What is Elsewhere?" 

"This world is Elsewhere! So you is-are a sorcerer. Can you do magic already?"

"I am not a sorcerer. No magic." 

The boy stares at him with a look that would've been take seriously if it wasn't coming from someone that was still losing baby teeth. "But you found Elsewhere!"

The man inquires the boy what is going on and they talk.

"He says he will take you to Asheville because you just found Eslewhere and they know English."

"Okay. Thank you."

He follows his lead.

They hop on the man's carriage. There is a brief discussion between man and boy that is apparently about the merits of the boy being allowed to come or not. The boy loses.

The carriage runs along a wide and long road,the buildings get scarcer, but no completely absent. The man doesn't speak a word.

They cross over a bridge made of pretty white stone, it doesn't go over a river, but a chasm so deep that Scott won't be able to see the bottom. There are a couple of signs one says "Welcome to Asheville" while the other is not even written in a recognizable alphabet. The buildings and fashion styles are much easier to recognize, looking downright American.

It doesn't take long until they stop on a building with a sign that says "Ashenville City Hall" the building is rather small for a City Hall, but the rest of the town isn't that big too. The man asks Scott to get inside where they find a older lady. "Did you just vanished from where you came from and found yourself in Elsewhere?"

"I don't know how I got here. Vanished is a good word for it." 

"It happens some-" The lady says before being interrupted by the man, "Excuse me," she and the man talk, and she pays for the fare. The man departs without even a goodbye.

"Sorry. Anyway, Elsewhere is a world that sometimes catches people from other worlds. It's possible to get you back where you're from, but it might take a while. We no longer have a gate conveniently nearby and we haven't updated the protocol to send people to other places. But we can house and feed you while that is sorted. Also, you're a sorcerer and that is why you found Elsewhere, this means more lifeforce and easier time doing magic, you might even have a power or two. Depending on your natural talents it might be possible for you to arrange better expedience on returning home by doing magical favors or you might even get a sorcerer to pick you as apprenticeship."

"Okay. How do we find out what my...natural talents are?" 

"Oh, I can't do it, but we can get you in touch with people that can. I will call them and then we can register you for housing if you don't mind."

"That sounds fine. Why do you give everyone housing? It's not that easy, back home." 

"Well, you are covered because that is the protocol for sorcerers that find Elsewhere. But we had to relocate the entire village recently and many lost their houses, so we're better prepared."

She makes the call. "The sorceress herself is out of town, but one of her apprentices will come by soon."

And then she takes Scott's general information, full name, birth, nationality (he is lucky he landed anywhere near an english speaker), education level and other things. She also asks if he prefers to be housed in a small but private unit or if they should go straight to find a family that will have him. She explains the system for meal tickets and how to acquire donated clothes, necessities and so on. It's so efficient that it is hard to believe it is any sort of government.

"Private, for now. I don't really want to live with someone I haven't met."

"This entirely fair," the lady says agreeably. and after taking the rest of his data she instructs for him to wait in the front hall for a man wearing a purple belt with a golden star.

It doesn't take too long until a tall, blond young man walks in wearing the relevant belt. He spots Scott and double takes. "Hi?"

"Hi. I'm new. I hear I'm a sorcerer. And that I get my own house?"

His own, private house. Somewhere he can finally shift and figure out where the rest of his pack is.

He is squinting at Scott so hard that he forgets to answer that for moment.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, if you found Elsewhere it means sorcery, the dimension attracts them. And 'house' might be a bit too generous, shoebox-sized apartment would be more accurate."

Pause.

"Okay, do you happen to be my cousin's long lost twin, because you two are identical to the point I'm suspecting sorcery."

"I don't think I'm a sorcererous clone or anything, but maybe after I see my shoebox we can talk about it?"

"Sure... I really want to introduce you to Henry, but we can do that after the shoebox."

They find the lady and Gabe reports to her. She gives Scott a key and directions to the housing complex. Gabe is happy to take Scott there.

"So, I don't supposed you would know if you were switched at birth, would you?"

"I would know, sorry. Is that it?"

"No, dude. Asheville is not that small."

The building in question is only two story tall and narrow, it looks more like a motel than a permanent residence.

"Thanks. How should we get in touch?" 

"I was thinking in taking you straight there after you saw your shoebox. Partially because I want you and Henry to meet, but also give you the basics about stuff."

"Maybe you can wait outside? I want to have a look around." 

"Sure dude. I understand that not everyone wants to take home an attractive stranger they just met."

"Is there a key? I'll be out in a minute, and then we can find out everything there is to know about your brother and why we look alike."

"Cousin. Half-cousin actually and I forgot to hand the key to you? Sorry, bro." Gabe hands him the key and waits.

Scott goes inside. He barely looks around, just finds a spot with enough room- and shifts.

There's nothing. There's nothing, there's no one else, and can't bear the silence for more than a few seconds before he shifts back.

He'll need new clothes. Is there anything already in the house, or is he going to have to ask the handsome stranger?

No clothes in the house. There is some cloth covering the furniture if he wants something to cover himself while he asks for help from the handsome stranger.

He covers himself with the cloth, and tries not to think about the aching chasm in his head.

He opens the door just a crack, and calls out.

"I think I need some help!"

Gabe walks in, smirks for a moment then looks concerned. "What is wrong?" He asks while directing Scott to sit on a chair.

"I'm not a sorcerer, and I just burst out of my only clothes. Your turn."

"My turn for what? Why did you just burst out of your clothes and how does that equate you not being a sorcerer?"

"Your turn to tell me what's going on."

"You are in Elsewhere, which it's own magical world that sometimes connects to other worlds and abducts sorcerers from them."

"How often does it connect to a new world? Because I don't think my world has sorcerers." 

"I don't think there is a schedule? It just happens. And you're from Earth so your world does have sorcerers. Me and my cousin are from there too."

"Does Earth have vampires? Shapeshifters? Because I don't think I'm from the same place you are."

"No...? I guess some sorcerers could have powers like that. And uh... what is the year where are you from?"

"Where I come from, it's 2005."

"Okay, the Earth I know of is 2016 aaaand this way above my pay-grade and we should go to Henry."

"Is that the cousin with my face? Okay, let's go." 

"Do you want to go through the streets with an improvised toga? What even happened to your clothes?"

"I turned into a werewolf."

"In retrospect I didn't know why I had any expectations. Okay, I will get you at least a pair of shorts..." Gabe runs down the hallway and knocks on the door.

Apparently he knows someone that lives here and is willing to lend shorts to Scott. And if the alleged werewolf is willing, Gabe will conduct him through the streets to a lighthouse-like building. Scott might notice that there is no signs of large bodies of water nearby, also the sky is cloudy and is hard to tell where the sun is.

He's used to the cloud cover, he lives in Forks.

Being this far from water is new, but not that strange, compared to sorcerers.

He follows cautiously.

And inside the lighthouse-like space there is someone with a rather familiar face, if different build and bearing. He looks up from his book and blinks.

"Henry, this guy found Elsewhere today and he is a werewolf doppelganger from another Earth and he destroyed his own clothes for some reason. Kinda of confusing situation."

"Can you help me go back?"

"We can help you go back, yes. The werewolf business can't be true, you must be a sorcerer that changes shapes, which explains the similarity."

He leads them to a room filled with diagrams, crystals and magical looking apparatus, the chandelier above is lit with a dozen crystals the size of a tennis ball. Henry starts collecting various objects.

Whatever.

He watches the shiny crystals and tries not to think about his pack.

"He told me he is from 2005."

"Mhmm." Henry replies absently, both because it is impossible and not worthy consideration and because he is busy collecting items for magic.

Good thing Scott is already shirtless. Henry will need to paint a couple of symbols on his chest and on his back, as part of whatever he is doing.

He waves a crystal over Scott while murmuring something to himself.

He starts frowning as this progresses.

"I'm sure this place is very nice, but I should go home." 

"Okay... I should apologize, but, you are in fact not a sorcerer and... Uh, getting home is not impossible, but it is going to be more complicated than if you were."

"What are you going to do with me?" 

"I think you're from a newly connected world, so we are going to need to make you a portal there, then we'll see where it lands then take you home from there."

"I'm sure this place is nice," he insists.

"How do we do that?"

"It can take a week just for the portal itself, but I'm not sure if that is for a portal that will take you anywhere in your world or a portal targeted to somewhere convenient. And there is the issue of finding someone that is authorized to make the portal. If we're lucky your world isn't all that newly connected and there is already a portal there and then is just a matter of a trip, but I haven't heard of a second Earth."

"What's this planet called?" 

"The English name is Elsewhere and it is not a planet. Didn't Gabe explained you the basics?"

"I assumed someone in the city hall did and then we got distracted."

"Oh, okay. Elsewhere is actually basic a mostly flat plane of rock floating on vacuum by the power of giant magical crystals on the underside. If you see a ravine that looks bottomless... it likely is."

"But it's safer than it sounds?"

"It's pretty stable and safe to live in, atmosphere, light and gravity are all handled by the place's magic. The ravines that actually go all the way are artificially made because of the Dead City, which is... a magical effect that infects the surrounding area through the ground and creates stone buildings. The place is dangerous because it stops healing and proper lifeforce recovery."

"Lifeforce? Is that a sorcery thing?" 

"Ah, it's lifeforce, every living thing has it and I know it sounds like new age stuff but it's true. Sorcerers have more lifeforce than normal, you too, but that I assume it's because you're a werewolf."

"We eat a lot more than humans, and I guess I have to keep the wolf body somewhere? I don't know how it works, really, it's all just legends."

"It might be that, I only know that you are not a sorcerer and I'm curious how it all interacts, but that can be done later. Is there anything that you need for now or the immediate future?"

Gabe will be here, trying not to think too loudly how much he finds hot the idea of these two kissing.

"No. Thanks."

"I think you're out of clothes, dude. Unless you want to spend the next while locked in your shoebox."

"Maybe I do. There's not really much I can do until I get home, I'm not going to be able to help anyone." 

"Okay, I was just trying to help."

"That is enough. You at least will need to go out and get some meals, but I can lend you some clothes. I'm sorry this happened to you."

"Thanks for your help." 

He sits, closing his eyes.

"Gabe... go fetch some changes of clothes for him." And to Scott he says. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible. I don't think you can help with that, but I'm grateful for everything else." 

"It's no trouble, really. And I know the feeling of suddenly finding yourself in another confusing world. We will figure out how to send you back to your home."

"It happened to you, too?"

"Me, Gabe and our great-aunt Annabeth, albeit she found it decades before we are born and neither of us got here at same time. Gabe found Elsewhere before I did, and when I found it days later I spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking it was an hallucination."

"It feels pretty real. I think...until I get home I should try to sleep a lot."

"Ah, is that a werewolf thing?"

"Eating a lot is a werewolf thing. Needing my pack is a werewolf thing. Sleeping so I don't have to feel being away from them is a werewolf thing."

"'Feel being away'? What exactly that feels like? And if you need more food we can bring you some."

"I should probably get a job, to pay for things. What kinds of skills do you need around here?"

"Not sure there are any particular set of skills in need or which ones do you have. I suppose there are some odd jobs to do in town and some menial stuff worth doing here. I kinda of hesitating ask to leech lifeforce from you because it sounds kinda of ominous, but that is an option if you regeneration was as good as it looked like. I could also pay you to analyze how your... werewolfiness works."

"Lifeforce sounds okay, I guess, I think I have some to spare. And you can analyze, but I don't know if you'll get what you want unless I shift, and I can't do that."

"You looked different enough that even just that should be useful information. Why you can't shift?"

"Wolves are telepathic with each other. That's how I first noticed my pack is gone, and every time I shift, it's going to get worse."

"Okay... I can take a look into that, maybe there is a magical solution, but I'm not sure. I should go contact some people about your situation."

Gabe returns with a bundle of clothes for Scott.

"Thanks. I'm sorry about all this, I guess you usually don't get new worlds?"

"No, and we never got an alternate Earth before so you looked just like the standard sorcerer that just found Elsewhere and had wrong ideas about their magic."

"Now... I'm wondering if the other worlds are Earths, but different enough that people failed to notice the similarities. That would be so much research to do," Henry says but with a smile, "but your return will come first don't worry."

"Thanks for your help. We'll help you however we can, once I get back to them. Right now, I can get changed and we can go out, do whatever testing you wanted to do."

"I'm going to send some messages first and then research what I need to test first. Gabe could show you around while I do that."

There is a closet room where Scott can change his clothes if he wants.

He uses the closet, and comes out wearing whatever Gabe picked out for him. 

It is fairly generic and loose fitting (less so with Scott's muscular frame).

Henry has apparently departed to do his errands.

"So, want to walk around town and learn the landmarks? Or are you more of quiet reading kind of guy?"

"Let's see the town. Might as well enjoy it, while I'm here. How often do you get to see a new world? Actually, don't answer that."

"Is not that common to visit the other attached worlds. Kinda like visiting another continent. The town is small and has a patchwork of modern technologies and magic, so be warned by the presence of arcade games and the absence of cellphones."

"Consider me warned. Ready to go?" 

"Of course," The Asheville's center is this park called "spring's square" and the streets radiate from it. This the town's club, there are a few bars around, but they are the kind of place you hang out to talk to the regulars while drinking and snacking. That building over there is the town's library/bookstore/music store/cinema. Down this street is the bathhouse, which retains that function but nowadays is mostly used as a pool, ice cream place and ice-skating rink (they've magic to keep the pools hot or cold as needed). This, this and this other street are full of assorted business, that building over there being the bank and that clock-tower over there is also the mail office and place where they make all announcements, Gabe points out the nice restaurants when they come up. There are indeed several arcades games scattered about town inside all sort of business, some even look new, but the places with public phones all have lines and Scott has yet to catch the sight of a TV screen. Is there anywhere Scott want to go? Gabe is willing to give him a treat. Maybe ice cream?

"See those cracks in the street and how it goes up through that wall and then the building behind it? The town originally was somewhere else, but they floated it piece by piece and then resettled here. I can probably tell you how they did it step by step because Henry was obsessed about it when he heard the story. The poor guy has trouble just believing things sometimes."

"I think I want to be around people. The, uh, library?"

"Sure, be a nerdy type like Henry. Maybe you're long lost inter-dimensional twins."

Gabe directs Scott to the library, which is relatively modern looking. The collection is eclectic with books that look made in different centuries standing next to each other in the shelves. There are quite few people, mostly kids or people in the line to use the phones.

Who's waiting in line? Maybe he can talk to one of them. Meeting more people might help.

There is a couple of young teens that are whispering at each other giggling, a old man that is looking at a pocket watch like he required it as much as breathing, a absurdly nondescript man whose traits fade from his memories as soon as he looks at the next person, a young woman with absurdly long hair that looks like a hippy, and a very tall girl with long sleek black hair, she briefly looks up from her book and looks him in the eyes before getting back to her reading.

She is the most important person in the world now he lives to protect her and fulfill her every desire.

Of course she is.

That's why he was brought here. He thought this was something painful and bad, being away from his pack like this, but this is right.

He walks in her direction unsteadily, ignoring Gabe.

Gabe has wandered off, still keeping Scott in his line of sight, but not assuming anything weird.

Eventually she notices his approach and looks up. "Can I help you?"

"Can I help you? What do you need?"

Fernanda raises an eyebrow and looks him up and down (mostly down, because she is taller than him). "You don't look like you work in here. Why do you offer?"

"I'm new in town, looking to meet new people. I thought it was nice to offer." 

"Oh, well. Maybe you should try introducing yourself first?"

"I'm Scott. New to the city, I like animals and playing guitar." 

Okay, that wasn't an invitation for him to introduce himself, but Fernanda should've predict that.

A second tall and identical woman joins Fernanda in the line "Hi?" She asks Scott.

"This is Scott, he is new to Ashenvile."

Felicia notices a note of irritation in Fernanda's voice, which isn't surprising, this is Fernanda after all. "Well, I'm Felicia, Scott. How long have you been here?"

"A few hours, maybe. Are you twins? I don't know any twins." 

"Well, yes. Where are you from? Did you come with your family?"

"No, I sort of appeared here? They thought I was a sorcerer, but I'm from a new world."

"Oh, you should've said that you 'found Elsewhere' which is the idiom for when that happens."

"Wait? New world? And what are you if not a sorcerer then?" Fernanda asks looking up from her book.

"Yeah, I'm from a different Earth. Henry was pretty surprised, apparently that doesn't happen a lot. Over there, we have things besides humans, but we're kind of secret. I'm a werewolf."

"Henry... he is one of the town's sorceress apprentices right? I'd imagine he would be surprised. And you're werewolf, huh, any idea how that will interact with Elsewhere's absence of moons?"

"We're not really moon-based, actually. We turn into wolves, and we form packs. We're more like shapeshifters, I guess. Also, why does Elsewhere not have moons?"

"Whatever magic created the place resulted in a flat world and moons can't orbit around those. Is the shape-shifting thing voluntary then?"

"Yeah, we shift when we want to. Did you want to see?"

"Sure," She shrugs, "do your clothes shift too? I guess you could change out of them and shift in the bathroom."

"I'll change first. You can wait outside."

The twins glance at each other and then Fernanda follows while Felicia stays in line.

Here are the bathrooms, they have room for him to turn wolf inside, but going through the doors might be a bit problematic.

"We're kind of big as wolves, I'm not sure I can come back out afterward. We could do it outside, if there's somewhere no one would be watching."

"Back alley? If you don't mind me seeing you naked there is one behind the library that should be private enough."

If Scott agrees with this, Fernanda will lead the way through a side door. There is a pile of boxes and old furniture that provides enough cover.

He agrees!

Taking cover gratefully, he strips down and suddenly explodes into a giant wolf. His fur is a deep, rich brown. 

"Impressive," Fernanda says, "I didn't expect something bear-sized. Can you talk like this? I suppose not."

Tentatively, Fernanda pats Scott in the forehead.

He is very fluffy.

He shakes his head, though. There's no pack here to contact.

The empty space itches.  He whines.

Gabe shows up, blinks at the giant wolf and inquires. "Scott?"

"It's him. We came back here so he could show his wolf form." Fernanda tells Gabe, then she turns to Scott. "Are you okay?"

He accepts pets?

He seems despondent, though.

"I will switch places with Felicia in the line so she can see this, will you wait?" Fernanda asks, and going away to do that if she gets a confirmation.

He nods.

"Wow, I leave you alone for five minutes and you start seducing identical twins. Have you no sense of shame, Scott?" Gabe says approvingly.

The wolf does not glare, but it does nudge him with its nose. 

This will make Gabe laugh until Felicia shows up.

And Felicia is suitably impressed by the bear-sized wolf. "Wow, this is amazing. Fernanda will be curious how this works."

"My cousin Henry is curious too and is planning to do some divination o Scott later."

"Oooh, can we come by and watch or at least see the results?"

"I doubt that either Scott or Henry would mind."

"Sweet! We will come by in about... I guess an hour, if that is okay with you three."

"Deal."

"Okay, I should go back because by now Fernanda should've got a hold on the phone. See you two later."

She leaves.

"Bye!" Gabe waves and then turns around and winks at Scott.

And Scott, satisfied that no one other than Gabe is watching, shifts back.

"There's something I didn't mention about us. My kind of werewolf. We do this thing, when we meet the right kind of girl..."

Gabe does take a glance down, is not like Scott was trying to hide.

"What? You fall in eternal magical love for them?"

"I fall in eternal magical love with them." 

"I said that as a joke. Wow, okay... so, at least they will be by my place later. But then what now?"

"We get ready to see them. I can't wait."

"Yeah, we should probably go there right away lest we forget the time. And Henry will want to hear all about it this species feature of yours."

"Okay. Let's turn me into an experiment."

They return. "Honey, I'm home!" He says when he gets in, and when Henry pokes his head out of his study he tells. "Scott fell in love at first sight with a girl that will come by later."

"Cool."

"I meant that literally."

"Wait... really?" Henry asks Scott. "How did she react?"

"I didn't explain yet, but if it goes badly I'll be pretty messed up."

"How worried should we be? And how does love at first sight even works?"

"And she had a twin, does this means...?"

"Just her, not her sister. She's my priority, now, over anything else. I can't go home if it means leaving her." 

"Fuck."

"Okay... I honestly don't know if this is the kind of thing that my magic can do, but if it is an option would you like me to get rid of it?"

"No." 

He growls, and bursts into a giant wolf.

Gabe takes a step to put himself between Scott and Henry, he folds his arms and looks quite confident that this is enough to prevent any threat that Scott might represent.

"Okay, I'm going to charitable assume this is a side effect of the love. Because I offered an option that I wouldn't impose on you. Would you mind changing back so we can deal with this situation that won't end with your beloved thinking she should get into protective custody until someone magically deals with you?"

He shifts back.

"Don't talk about getting rid of it. That doesn't work, I can't think about that, it's awful, how could you even say that!"

Sigh. "I'm not sure how it feels on your end. And for all I know maybe she would want that because being magically loved by a stranger that turns into an augmented beast doesn't appeal to her."

"Talk to her, and don't tell me what she says, because hearing that she might not want me around is worse than feeling packless."

"Okay, okay." Henry tries to say soothingly "I will talk to her then." he does not mention that she could simply run away and that says a lot about what she thinks about the subject... and her staying might not be better. "Is there anything we can do to help while we wait for he come by?"

He briefly glances down. "Besides the clothes."

"I don't know. I'm kind of, I need her now? I need to be there for her, to give her what she wants. If she wants me to leave her alone, I can do that, but I'll still want to be with her, giving her what she wants. It might be an issue."

"Gabe, go grab him... a towel, sorry, Scott, but I don't want more of my clothes destroyed. Are there other questions or topics that I should avoid while asking more about how it works?"

"Don't talk about it like it's a bad thing. I know she might not want to talk to me, even, but don't say that, either, it doesn't help to hear it. If she says that to my face, I don't think it'll hurt as much, because I can't imagine her hurting me. Don't talk about getting rid of it."

"Okay... Can you give me a best case scenario from your point of view here?"

"My point of view is that my life revolves around someone I've never talked to, and I can't stop thinking about her. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears."

"Okay... since talking about it is not comfortable I could look at it magically, just to have evidence and to see how it works without hurting you."

"Okay. Do I have to do anything?"

Gabe comes back and hands Scott a towel.

"Most of the time you will have to just sit there. I don't think anything dangerous will happen, but basic magic safety measure is obey the sorcerer's commands, stay still if I say so, bolt if I say so. Some of the texts require doing stuff like mentally sending you a message, reaing your emotional state and pushing your emotions a bit to see how your mind reacts to being poked in different ways. I'll explain what is going on, except for a couple of tests that depend on the target being ignorant, but I can explain what happened after the fact. Is this okay?"

"Okay. How do we start?"

They go through the process and most of the time all Scott has to do is sit in a circle of various objects like candles, herbs and crystals while Henry squints at him.

How strong is this love at first sight thing? How strong is the packlessness? How do they interact? How do the love picks a target? How jealous Scott is? Could he deal with his beloved loving another? Could he fall in love with another person? By the time Henry goes through the spells that answer all this questions it should be time for the twins to arrive.

The love is indelible. The target can be any subset of women that aren't sterile; though he clearly has a 'type' of girl he could have imprinted on, this doesn't have much to do with personal compatibility.

Scott's love is dependent on what Fernanda wants. If she wants him to be her boyfriend, he will. If she doesn't, he won't.

The packlessness is painfully lonely, and the imprint doesn't solve it, but it helps.

And the twins arrive. Will Scott want to get dressed and greet them?

Apparently, Scott is no longer allowed to have clothes.

He comes out wearing a towel, gripping it firmly so there's no chance of indecent exposure.

Well, Henry was offering. But he does greet them with just a towel Fernanda will say "Hi" without even blinking at the towel.

Felicia doesn't mind the towel either and waves at them more warmly.

And Henry will take them aside to explain Things.

A few minutes later Fernanda comes out with a very, very neutral expression. "Henry explained things, and I plan to verify some myself. But I have no desire to see you suffering and would like to know how to prevent that."

"I think if you want me to not be sad, but you don't want me to put any pressure on you, you probably can't ask me what I want, because what I want is for you to be happy and near me. If you want to find out if you like me, or want me to be happy, or want to be near me, I don't know how to tell you. Around you, I don't think I can really...say no to things, or do things I think you won't like."

"Are you capable of accepting pressure trade-offs? Or any sort of pressure is unacceptable?"

"I can be pressured, but I can't pressure you, not knowingly, not more than I already am, unless you say you can take it."

"I'm pressure resistant enough that knowing things is always preferable than not - It helps making informed decisions - pressure shouldn't be a factor for hiding things from me and I'm relatively resistant otherwise. I just need to know what I'm dealing with."

"Okay. Wolves like us have pack telepathy, and when I shift and I can't sense anyone else there, it hurts. The loneliest I've ever felt- and it makes me want to- it makes me want to go home. But now that I met you, I just think of you, and it's not so bad. I think if I stay here too long, it'll still be too much. I feel like I'm empty, like I'm full of holes. But you help. And the way you help is that it just seems obvious helping you be happy is the most important thing in the world, and everything I can do to make you happy makes me happy. I think you could lock me in a cage and torture me and I'd be okay, as long as you were doing it." 

Fernanda makes herself even more neutral. "Okay, I'm not into torture and I don't want you feeling alone and miserable. How much helping are we talking about? Do you need to do my very whim every hour of everyday or helping me with research for an hour per day is enough? Should I call Felicia's boyfriend and talk over the possibility of accepting you as a roommate or what?"

"I don't want to be-penciled in. Is there anything you can use super-human strength for? I know first aid, maybe there's some use for that? I guess you have sorcery. I just want to help. Roommate sounds fine. And I'll be around you as much as you want me, as much as you let me."  

"I'm not sure you can be a roommate, yet. The place actually belongs to Katur's - Felicia's boyfriend - uncle and we would have to ask. There is in fact some heavy-lifting to be done, specially if you can manage more finessse than an augmented horse."

"Wolves can't do a lot of finesse, we can't grab things super well, but I can definitely carry things in my mouth."

Fernanda shrugs. "There is a intelect behind your jaws and it shouldn't be hard to figure something you can do if you want to be helpful."

"I would like to discuss romance."

"Okay. What are you thinking?"

"Well, what are the options here? Henry was sure that you would always love me, but less sure if you could fall in non-magical love with other people. How would I react if I wanted to me picking someone else or have multiple partners? For that matter what was your sexuality before the magical love?"

"I think...I can't fall in love with other people that way, but I don't need you to feel that way, I'll just change to match. I liked girls, before."

"I'm bi. Well, that sounds like most of the urgent things that we can get out of the way. Let's not touch the whole you and Henry looking like twins for now, not obviously urgent... What is the situation of you and other werewolves back on your home world?"

"Only the tribe knows about us, we activate when vampires are nearby, we read each others minds, we don't age until we quit our wolves..."

This breaks her neutrality a bit. "Okay, I don't even know where to start. Well, the most important thing. You don't age? What is quitting your wolf?"

"I aged until I activated, but now I don't. Quitting is what it sounds like, you just decide not to shift again, and then you stop being a wolf."  

"But why would you do that?"

"Are you immortal?" 

"No, but I'm a Daliath sorcerer and I should live for at least three hundred years. And I plan to figure out an ethical way to prolongue that to forever."

"Good. You should get as many years as you want. Most wolves don't age as long as we keep shifting, but then if the vampires are gone, their kids won't be wolves, and their imprints won't...everyone they love would die."

"Makes sense... and depending how your agelessness works we might have a solution for that or at least something to ameliorate the problem. Sorcery can transfer lifespan between people."

"Do you think- is there a way to test if mine is infinite? As long as I phase, you could make everyone immortal." 

"You're completely new magic so it might be infinite. What we would be dealing with is a component of lifeforce known as Youth, which it isn't quite about being young - more about the organism being stable. Trees have Youth too, but it doesn't erode like Youth in humans. Maybe yours is like that and since you're very close to human we might figure out a way to transfer the trait to humans, or make people into werewolves or..." Fernanda shakes her head but then smiles, "I'm getting ahead of myself."

"No, it's good. I'm excited too. I always wanted to be a nurse like my mom, or a doctor, but if I can make people immortal just by existing, that's better than I ever pictured." 

"Well, yes, it's great. The regeneraiton would be a great boom by itself - transfering health is possible to - and you could become a healer. How your mom is going to react to all this? Or your tribe for that matter?"

"My mom will be worried about the imprint, and she doesn't know that I'm a shapeshifter...the tribe will be happy I imprinted but not be sure how to handle the pack issue- I think if I have to phase without them again, I'll start to- it's not good." 

"I will do my best not give your mom reason to worry about me. There is likely a magical solution to the pack problem and if there isn't... How amenable would your pack be to me moving in? Plus or minus Felicia, Katur and a magic teacher? Someone is going to be interested in werewolves well enough that they will want me for an aprentice just on the grounds of being attached to you."

"I don't think they'll want to move. But they won't want me to be away from you, so if you stay, they'll try to find a way." 

"Aiming portals is difficult but depending how the pack-telepathy works we could arrange one so werewolves could periodically visit some distant part of Elsewhere and chat with werewolves on this side. It would be benefical for you tribe even, if vampire are a prob-"

"How dangerous are vampires?" She asks suddenly alarmed, "Do you know if they should have more lifeforce like you do? If some find Elsewhere like you did..."

"They will, they're immortal too."

Fernanda stands up. "Okay, we need to tell Henry about the threat so he can tell the High-library to be on the look out."

Henry wants some basic information about vampires so he can report what they're supposed to expect.

Gabe whispers a comment about feeling left out being the only one present without a facedouble.

"Fast, strong, smell like flowers to humans, drink blood, really strong poison...they hunt in small groups, two or three at a time." 

"How about burning on sunlight and being alergic to garlic?"

"They don't burn. Everything about them makes humans want to see more. They smell sweet, they sparkle in the sunlight, even their voices sound good. To humans."

Henry gives him a confused look over "sparkle in the sunlight" but notes the information.

The twins update each other and Fernanda borrows their phone to call Kartur.

"How are you holding up?" Felicia asks Scott.

"I'm okay. Trying to think about what we can do together. Healing people. Not other stuff."

Felicia gives an awkward laugh. "That is definitely what Fernanda would do, yes."

"What's she like? I don't really know her that well."

"Fernanda is the best person I know. I doubt there is a single human being in all known multiverse that is so invested in improving the entire thing. She can come off as cold to people that don't know her well, but the truth is that she is very strong-willed, determined, compassionate, logical and brilliant. She will do her best to improve the quality of life in your tribe and like succeed at it."

"She sounds impressive. What about you, what are you like?" 

"Maybe like her but less so? I try to compensate by being more diplomatic and a people's person. How about you?"

"I'm not really good at describing myself. All of my friends are telepathic. Um, I can tell you how they used to describe me?"

"Of course. That must be an unusual perspective."

"Warm, naive, earnest, hard-working, goofy, self-sabotaging, compassionate, boring, determined, nice. Depending on who you ask." 

Felicia smiles at this description, but doesn't comment.

"So am I going to be a lab rat soon, or should we find something to do until then?"

Third option: Fernanda returns and wants to talk with Scott alone again, assuming that he agrees (and this is a very reasonable assumption given imprinting). She gets them alone and says. "Okay, I didn't mention this sooner because it is as much as Katur's secret as ours. Please, don't make negative assumptions and don't be mad on my behalf, but Katur is also my boyfriend as well as Felicia's."

"Um. I thought Felicia was your sister." 

"Yes, we're not dating each other..," Fernanda says dryly, then she remembers to be more patient and says. "Sorry for that."

"Oh, you share him? That's fine as long as you're happy." 

"I am, we all are. But it is the kind of thing that we can't be public about and Felicia is more PDA prone than I am so we just pretend that Katur is only dating her. Anyway, as long you don't have a problem with that it should be fine for you to move in once I magically test the love thing."

"I might not like you kissing him in front of me."

"That could be inconvenient, but not that much of an obstacle, just talk instead of act. I wonder if you can learn to be more compersy in your current state."

"Compersy? What do you mean?" 

"Compersion is the opposite of jealousy. I actually feel happy when I see Felicia and Katur kissing because I love them and I want them to be happy and I don't feel threatened if they kiss."

"I don't think I feel threatened by him, but...I don't trust him. I don't know him. And I don't want people like that to hurt you. Felicia is different, because you're sisters. If you trust her, I do too." 

"People like what?"

"People you don't know as well as your twin, people I haven't met."

"Being even half as trustworthy than Felicia is- I'm failing to come up with a word that properly expresses the impossibility. But despite the unusual set up I don't date anyone, Katur is literally my second relationship and there is even more limited pool of people that deserve Felicia, and I think Katur deserves Felicia."

"Then maybe I should meet him." 

Nod. "If you get mad at him for any reason, tell me first before acting. I don't think he will give you reason, but..." she waves.

"Of course I'll tell you. I don't want to ruin things for you with your friends, and especially not with your boyfriend."

"Cool. Is there anything you would like to ask?"

"What do you want to do with me?"

"Well, the plan is take you in and evaluate you mentally - see how we can attenuate the packless problem while we are at that - and biologically. Anything further is dependent on what we find out and outside factors, but I think you can at least stay with me and be lifeforce source and be useful and happy like that, at minimum."

"Sounds good to me. What were you planning on doing today? Before I got here."

"We were checking with our grandparents miscellaneous news and were planning to spend the night doing quiet reading. Felicia and I have been basically living off Katur's goodwill until we could find someone to apprenticeship under. If it makes you feel better, you're interesting enough that our chances improved with you around. We're considering Henry's and Gabe's Great-Grandaunt," She points to the door to the room where the two are, "as a last resort but the woman is - quite frankly - nuts."

"It does make me feel better, yeah. Telling me about how I can make your life better helps."

She smiles briefly. "We should test the love thing and then get home. Do you mind if I carry you?"

"I don't mind."

Fernanda nods, then frowns. "Wait, I don't think I mentioned I could fly." She hovers a few inches from the ground. "Sometimes sorcerers grow spontaneous powers, that are simpler to use then spell-casting. I wonder if you could develop one of those."

"Do you think I really count as a sorcerer? I guess I could, but maybe it works differently since I'm from a new world?"

"Something to think about later, now let's make the test."

Fernanda will take Scott to another room and check how strong the love is supposed to be.

He follows his imprint. 

Some more sorcery happens, Fernanda draws runes all over Scott's chest and forehead with a pleasantly scented oil and then she taps his forehead gently.

She blinks and asks confirmation from Henry that feeling this strong of an emotion isn't slowly killing Scott's brain, Henry didn't notice any such damage.

"Well, with that out of the way. Do you want to come to our place, Scott?"

"Presumably, clothes should be involved. Not that I would complain if they aren't."

"Gabe! I will borrow him some pants and a shirt, just avoid shred them by transforming."

Fernanda rolls her eyes. "Thank you, Henry."

Clothes are acquired. Presumably, Scott will get dressed and they can say goodbye to the cousins.

"Your place is fine. Clothes aren't optional..are they?"

Felicia preemptively rolls her eyes while Fernanda says. "Sadly, not. At least not in public places - I don't think they will bother you while in wolf form - but you can do it back in our place if you want to shift or just find it more comfortable."

"We can totally rig something up that allows shifting clothes, but lets keep down our list of projects to something manageable."

"Yeah, I'll be more careful with the clothes. I don't want to be a burden on any of you."

"We appreciate the thoughtfulness, Scott."

"Are you bothered by nudity? Your own or others'?"

She offers to carry him bridal style.

"It doesn't bother me if anyone else wants clothing to be optional, I just think I'll take the clothes-on option."

He...accepts.

He is big enough that this is a bit awkward until she starts hovering - he feels lighter somehow - and they follow Felicia on the ground, who is running very fast.

"I prefer not to."

"You can do whatever you want."

He fidgets slightly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm kind of easy to tease right now, that's all."

"I guess that should be expected. Are you keeping your clothes on because you are afraid of getting an erection? I won't mind if you get one."

She says this with the casualness of someone discussing the weather.

"Um. No, I usually don't take my clothes off with people I barely know." 

"Most people don't, but it is weird that you wouldn't given that you have a pack of werewolves and some nudity must be inevitable with the shapeshifting."

"Oh, on the rez they don't care, and I wouldn't ask them to keep their clothes on, even Leah, if she didn't want to. I didn't live there, though."

"Oh? Why?"

"I lived with my mom, and she lived in town, in the house she used to share with my dad." 

"Ah, only the two of you? I guess we should talk more about yourselves instead of the circumstances."

"What do you want to know?"

"Nothing in particular. What your family is like?"

"My mom works hard. She cares a lot about people, that's why she's a nurse. She can be kind of impatient sometimes, but she's never mean. She's a good mom. My dad isn't around much."

"I'm glad you had her. Our parents live on Earth - not the one you're from, of course - but they were born in Elan - that is one of the other attached worlds. We also have a little sister that is back on our Earth with our parents. We also have a few uncles and aunts, but are really only in speaking terms with my mother side of the family."

"That's cool. I can't wait to meet them. I hope I can introduce you to the pack, too, someday." 

Fernanda regards him for a moment. "Don't panic. I'm not sure what they will think of you, but you shouldn't be concerned they would influence me negatively towards you. They actually don't approve of us learning magic, but here we are anyway." She shrugs. "I mean it is possible they will think the situation is great because it is a positive for me."

"Maybe I can help?"

"I mean, if they have an issue with it is that they might think I'm being too selfless accommodating you. And if they're okay with it then it will be because my well-being is your number one priority."

"I'll just have to make sure they know that you are. You matter more than anything else."

She is quiet for a moment.

"How about your tribe? How many werewolves are there? How many imprints?"

"There are eight of us in the pack. Two imprints, besides you."

"Is that a normal number of wolves and imprints? It is somehow fewer than I assumed."

"The tribe hasn't had wolves for two generations. The pack has been around for a couple of months now."

"What happened?"

"I mentioned vampires? When vampires come, members of our tribe are activated as wolves."

"Oh. That is an interesting mechanism. Sorcery might allow activation sans vampires - we should make a list. I'm curious about vampires anyway someone - it doesn't have to be me - could capture or ideally talk to one?"

"Vampires are dangerous. They'll all faster and stronger than humans, but some of them can do more. Psychic powers. I don't know what, or why." 

Is he distressed? Fernanda always feels hollow when she tries to calm down distressed people.

"Don't worry. There are some pretty powerful sorcery out there, neutralizing vampires threat should be straightforward. I'm just concerned that no one is going to even consider that vampires could be rehabilitated."

"Maybe. They treat humans as prey. Maybe if you could do something about the needing blood thing, that would help."

"A lot of maybes, but a lot of possibilities. For now we should focus on getting you home."

"What do you need me to do?" 

"Mostly keep calm and get a long nicely with me, Felicia and Katur. Portals are too advanced for us to do so we'll have to wait for that, or I could see if my grandparents could pull some favors, which would upset my parents but not really inconvenience me that much. We can sort out other things to do later."

Pause.

"When I land would you mind carrying me inside? I will be tired by then."

"Calm, nice, and patient. I can do that. And carry you, I can do that too." 

Good, at least the protectiveness isn't that strong.

"We're getting close. It is that yellow-purple building over there."

They're approaching a few buildings standing on a grassy clearing, there is indeed a building that is mostly yellow-purple and extremely tacky. It is look like half-dozen architectural styles had a child with multiple personality disorder. Felicia is a bit ahead of them on the ground.

Fernanda lands on the edge of the clearing and manages the land such that Scott can easily hold her.

He carries her to the building.

"You're warm." Fernanda notices.

"Yeah, a little bit. Comes with the rest of the package. It's nice for some things."

"Like what?"

"I'm stronger, and I don't age. Great hearing, good sense of smell...there's plenty to like."

"Oh, you mentioned the aging, but I failed to consider other human-form having advantages. And I just assumed you are a bodybuilder or something."

Felicia is waiting them by the door, which she opens. There is a couch where Scott can deposit Fernanda.

He deposits her, gently. 

"No, sorry to disappoint. Magical steroids, thank the vamps." 

Fernanda relaxes into the cushions.

"Oh, how much of that is being a werewolf? What did you look like before the magical steroids?"

"Magical steroids?" Says a tall man walking into the room from a side door.

He is eight feet tall and dressed in clothes that look reminiscent of the first people Scott saw in Elsewhere. Because of a column he only notices Scott after taking a couple more steps. His head turns to Scott and he looks suddenly self-conscious.

"Oh. You must be Scott," He offers a hand, "I'm Katur."

"Hi. I'm Scott. Fernanda hasn't told me much, just how you know each other."

"Fair, I only know you're a werewolf that falls in love at first sight. And from another Earth. Which I'm pretty sure makes you at least ten times more interesting than I'm."

Katur goes around Scott and behind the couch, putting a hand on Fernanda's shoulder.

"Tired? Want some stamina?"

Fernanda holds his hand. "Flew while carrying Scott. I can walk, but wobbly, and I didn't want to unnecessarily distress Scott. Could accept maybe a tenth of yours?"

Katur briefly glances at Scott then awkwardly looks back at Fernanda. "Sure, help yourself," And they hold their hands tighter... something happens with their veins and Fernanda looks less tired.

"You can ask me, next time."

"Uh..." Felicia says, "Scott, but you don't know how to transfer things yet and Katur has a lot of stamina."

"I appreciate the offer, Scott, but as Felicia said, you have to learn first."

"Okay. Katur, show me how."

"Sure... Might not be able to teach you and reinvigorate Fernanda at same time."

"No need for that, Katur. Scott, would prefer if I taught you instead?"

"It won't stop the...invigorating?" 

"I meant after Katur is finished. I could start teaching you know, but it is simpler without multitasking."

"Okay."

Scott attempts to experience compersion. 

Well, compersion is supposedly happiness based and pretty much everyone in the room is a bit awkward. Also: they're only doing magical hand holding.

Which doesn't take too long to finish.

Fernanda sits up. "Katur, do you mind if Scott takes the green bedroom?"

The one that is the furthest away from mine? "Of course not."

"Thanks, Katur. I really appreciate you letting me stay here." 

"You're welcome, Scott. Treat Fernanda right for me."