"Might be able to get some stuff in town, too, when you're pawning, to help fix it?"

"And gas. But I want that coffee and shower though... Four, maybe five days I was in there?"

"Yeah, let's get that first." He points towards a smaller building separated from the rest of the thing. "That's Miss Gloria's. She knows English, but I can go with you?"

"If you've got nothing better to do I don't object...?"

She grabs her backpack. She leaves the pipe gun (after disarming it by taking out a bobby pin). She steps gingerly over broken glass, filthy jeans and hoodie and sneakers more evident in the outside light.

"Alright!"

He leads her over to the building, only slightly bouncing, and knocks. The door opens to reveal an elderly lady, probably Latina, who looks at Walta over the edge of her spectacles. "Who's this?" she asks. "A dream-walker? She doesn't feel like an entangled."

"Me and Ink found her in some ruins, she fell from another Earth and is really clever. She was thinking she could help fix some of those mechanical problems you've been having for room and board?" Nereus says all in a rush.

The woman hums, and looks at Walta. "Well? Is that the case?"

"I hooked an engine that hadn't been touched in like decades up to an old tram car and got it to run, depending on what the problems are exactly I can probably figure something out, might need tools and parts. What's a dream walker, and what's an entangled? Different kinds of capes?"

"Impressive. And don't know what you mean by capes, but a dream-walker's someone who goes between places, Earth and the Dreamlands, Dreamlands and Magelands, or such. An entangled's someone with powers that don't fit where they are. Magic in the Dreamlands and such."

"...Well, I am so very extremely lost, guys. I don't think your Earth works like mine. There are plenty of people with powers where I'm from. Teleporters, people who can make metal spikes come out of things, people who are invulnerable and can fly, who can turn invisible or fire off lasers or make shields. Sorta like you and Ink, Neurus. But just... On Earth. Earth Bet. They found an alternate Earth a while ago, I don't know the details, that's Earth Aleph. They're called capes. And I've never heard of the Dreamlands."

"Huh," Gloria says. "Wouldn't be surprised by an entangled doing any of that. But I'm not one, don't really know what any can do."

"I can explain stuff later," Nereus says.

Gloria nods. "You do that. For now... Let me show you what's broke."

"Sure, let's see it and I'll see how tricky it would be to fix. No diagnostic fee. Heh."

"Right this way, then."

The main thing in question is an air conditioning system. The woman also has an old car that hasn't run in over a year, but the town's in walking distance, so, she doesn't care as much about that. She knows cars are more specialized, though - six days room and board for the air, ten for the car, how about? Now or on credit for later.

"Well, let's have a quick look at what exactly's wrong before I agree to that... And if I need to find or make parts I might need more. Car probably needs new oil by now if nothing else."

At least she should be pretty good at making parts, or at least makeshift replacements, with her bonkers weirdly-altered tinker power. Handy, that. And the immediate problem of fixing something to earn room and board is nice and distracting from the larger problem of what the hell this world has turned into.

What is wrong with the AC unit and car?

Nothing she can't fix, though she'll need some tools and a few new parts - nothing that should be expensive, and Gloria will cover any costs for that sort of thing.

"Yyyyes... I can fix this. The AC first."

And this kind of stings - taking payment before doing the work but she's really tired and grimy, so, "I'd appreciate it if I could get a little settled first before getting started, if you don't mind. Find some clothes, eat something, and shower."

"Oh, of course. Wasn't expecting you to dive right in."

"Yeah. Thanks. I'll be back later - going to, uh, go into town real quick."

Into town it is, with her backpack and small bag of watches and jewelry. She got a few pieces from the ruined city, not an entire sackful but maybe a dozen things. She can probably fix the watches, actually, but the jewelry is destined for a pawn shop.

She looks around as she heads 'into town', walking the don't-mind-me city 'hood walk, fast strides and closed-down body language. What are people like here? What are they doing? How are they carrying themselves? Any signs of gangs or violence? Is it a small town or are there three-story buildings? Secondhand clothes shops or other interesting stores?

The people seem to be fairly diverse racially for such a small town, but lean some variant on 'ambiguously brown.' Not all of them seem to match up neatly to an Earth ethnicity. They're mostly walking around, talking with each other, postures open and relaxed - but a few are glancing worried at the horizon, and one mentions something that makes her companions all shush her and make a strange hand sign. The streets, though, are clean. No broken glass, nor graffiti, nor even much indication shop owners expect shop lifters to be a problem. The buildings in downtown are sometimes three stories but most are two. There's a second hand clothing shop between the pawn shop and an antiques store, across from an art gallery and a public library. There's also what's probably a shrine with an altar stone the color of blood and a human-sized statue of what vaguely resembles a dragon, if dragons were made out of eyes.

...Weird. It's like the Boardwalk or Downtown, but all over? And no enforcers.

Makes it easier to pawn old jewelry for probably nowhere near what it's really worth and buy a few vaguely fitting outfits in as close to modern style as possible, and a couple of specific tools. The dragon-thing reminds her of Ink. Shower, coffee, food, decompressing, sleep not in fear of not-quite-zombies breaking through her window (though she still has a nightmare).

The next day she fixes the air conditioner and pokes at Gloria's car a bit and cleans up the broken glass in her tram-monstrosity, boarding up the broken windows for now (which nobody seems to have touched, imagine that!) and is overall in a much better mood... But still very lost on an alternate earth where things don't work quite right and now feeling sort of at loose ends. Immediate problems solved and running out of short-term productive things to do, she wanders around looking for Ink or Nereus.

Ink's the easiest found, sitting under a tree and reading. She glances up when Walta approaches, raises an eyebrow.

"Hi. Do you think - We could talk? I'm- Uh. I would appreciate it. And thanks, for yesterday."

She nods, and waves a hand a bit at the thanks. "I don't - talk much. But I can some."

"I sort of know that feeling. I can just look for Nereus instead?"

She shrugs. "I don't mind?"

"I want to know - I think your Earth is different from mine. We knew about alternate Earths already, and someone said nobody has powers there... Lots of people have powers there where I'm from. There are superhero teams and gangs of supervillains. And Dreamland is... Not. Anything I'm familiar with at all."

"Earth is - normal." She pauses. She's probably the best one she knows to explain this - she can see the threads spinning out, defining what's possible. But putting that into words (that don't drive their listeners insane at least) is... Hard.

"There... Is a thing. It says what's possible. On Earth - it's defined. Set. Powers are not. Here it's... Looser? And farther it's looser. Entangled have - a piece of farther. They can do more."