One of the walls of this dilapidated place is now adorned with an incongruously nice-looking door, made of green-painted wood with a brass doorknob. Something about it feels promising.

Arthur squints at the door.

That was not there yesterday. He checked the entire building for weird shit, since you never know what might've gotten left behind after a fight like the one that cleared this building out.

The angel isn't tugging him away, even after he waits a couple minutes for it to scope things out. Presumably there isn't any immediate danger.

He shrugs. If someone can just make doors appear wherever decided now's the time to try and recruit some random teen, then running probably isn't going to help. At least this spares him the effort of needing to decide.

The angel opens the door, just in case, and Arthur follows its invisible footsteps beyond the threshold.

Inside is a room, with wood floors and plaster walls in good condition. It's empty besides a few bare coatracks and covered lamps mounted on the walls. The soft sounds of indistinct conversation and the flickering of firelight emanate from the bend in the hallway connected to the other side of the room. The door silently closes behind him.

His first instinct is to try and leave something in the way of the door, to keep just ajar enough that he could barrel through if he needs to run, but when he turns around he sees the door's already fully closed.

He shrugs again, then inspects the coat-racks. It's been a chilly spring in the city so far, so he does have a jacket on, and he's got all of his gear in his big camping backpack. It might be polite to drop it off before he goes tromping in. He'll hang up the jacket and drop off his bag in the least conspicuous place he can find.

He feels a bit naked without his stuff, going into an unfamiliar...secret base, he guesses. He does his best to calm down. He can almost hear the angel in the air, going back and forth between him and his stuff over and over, as he walks through the hallway and turns down the bend.

The hallway opens up into a large room with wood-paneled walls, high coffered ceilings, and a large fireplace at the end. Comfortable-looking chairs and couches line the walls, while the center of the room is filled with round tables surrounded by chairs, some of which look like they aren't designed for humans. Most of the tables are unoccupied, except for one where an old man plays cards with two cats and a scaly snake-headed humanoid. At the end of the room, in a chair next to the fireplace, sits a woman in a cream-colored dress with a veil draped over the top of her head.

When Arthur enters the room, the old man waves to him, and the woman sits up to approach.

Huh. An odd-seeming bunch, but what group of presumed supers isn't? He'll do his best to not seem too afraid as he waves back to the old man. He tries to keep himself clean at the gym, but he did sleep in an abandoned and fire-damaged build last night, so he might be a bit dirty compared to everyone else...also possibly a bit younger, since unless the cats or the snake person are kids or teens (which he can't deny is a possibility) then he seems to be the youngest in the room. Hopefully his height and build can cover that up a bit, at least.

He's not exactly sure what to do next, though.

The angel, however, thinks that now is a good time to start snooping. Does anyone here have bags or pockets it can check the inside of? Is there anything hidden under the cushions of the chairs and couches? Where are the exits, other than the way he just came in through? Any windows or doors? Any grates or ducting? If he takes a peek inside the walls, will he find any secret doors or passageways?

The old man and snake-person have pockets. Nothing particularly remarkable in them, although the lack of any electronics might be noteworthy. Nothing under the cushions. There are several doorways along the walls, but no windows. One opens into a large kitchen, the others to hallways, most of which don't seem to take a straight course for very long. The fireplace has a chimney, although the angel can't find its exit. No other ducting or any grates.

He can't actually get through the walls. Beyond the wood paneling and paint is some impervious substance that bars his way. It doesn't seem to have any gaps, besides the overt doorways and chimney.

The woman reaches Arthur.

"Greetings, and welcome. I am called the Hearthkeeper. I suppose you'd appreciate an explanation of this place."

He'll give that wall a solid kick, half to test if it's something he can batter down and half because he's kind of pissed that there's something he can't just ghost through. Then he'll see if he can take a peek through the doors, before going back to anxiously patrolling between the body and his bag.

Assuming that kick makes any sound, he'll flinch at it with genuine surprise. The angel doesn't normally make much sound when other people are around.

"Yes ma'am, I would."

Kicking the wall does not break it down, nor does it make noise. He can peek through the doors. Inside there are more rooms.

"When you entered that green door, you left the world you inhabited behind, almost certainly forever, and entered my refuge. Those who pass through that door, without fail, have something to flee from, and nowhere else to go. This place is a sanctuary for them, and for those who are born here. I do not choose when and where the green door appears, and it is not by my will that you came here or that you are unable to return, but I do control the refuge and endeavor to make it a hospitable place for my guests. Do not harm any of them. If there's anything you need, you can ask me, and I may be able to assist you."

"If you want to get food or claim a room, I can show you how. If you have any books or other written material in your possession, it is customary, though not required, to lend them to the librarians for them to make copies. You may also wish to meet with our resident physician, Ton'guni, for a checkup at some point. If you see a red door, do not pass through it unless you wish to leave my refuge behind and brave the dangers outside. Do you have any questions so far?"

Something to flee from? Yeah, he guesses that fits. He'll have to wait and see what this place is like before he's sure he likes it, but it really wouldn't take much to be better than where he was last night, or bouncing between c-list gangster cribs.

No harm to anyone, either. That...hm. He might need to focus on just...not being around other people too much, then. There's always a risk of the angel lashing out if everything isn't totally copacetic.

He wonders what she'd say to someone colorblind. Cats are colorblind, aren't they? Though, maybe these aren't normal cats. They're playing cards after all, which is not something he's seen normal cats do before.

"I'm awful at thinking of questions, but if I come up with any later I'll be sure to mention them."

The only calories he had today was the sugar from those energy drinks, which wasn't terribly filling. "I think I could do with some food, first. Then I'll go bring my books to the library," presuming he can find it, "then find somewhere to sleep."

"Very well. Follow me."

She leads him through the doorway into the kitchen. A few large pots are simmering on one of the stoves.

"Some of my guests enjoy cooking, and when it's convenient for them to do so, will cook in large batches, so you'll usually be able to find hot food in here. There's stew and rice on the stove. You can also get raw ingredients for cooking or eating from the pantry. It should be capable of providing you with anything you're familiar with, but it isn't always cooperative. If you're having trouble getting something specific you want, let me know and I can help. Dishes are usually in those cabinets, and utensils in those drawers. If you find anything you like, you can keep it."

He nods, initially giving the stew and rice a quite look-and-sniff to check if either seems palatable, which unfortunately neither do.

When she mentions that the pantry should be able to provide ingredients, he asks, "Would it be able to give something like blocks of instant ramen, or frozen pizzas?"

"It should. If you open the door with a firm idea of what you're looking for, you'll usually be able to find it."

He nods again, steps over to the cabinet, and takes a moment to visualize as much as he can remember about his favorite frozen pizza brand, back before he ran away. The imagery on the box, the feeling of the cardboard and the plastic wrapper inside, the cold firmness of the pizza itself that always softened just a touch as he let it thaw while the oven preheated, the smell both right out of the wrapper and as it cooked, the look of the cheese as it went from pale to black-spotted yellow, the taste on his tongue and the heat of the fresh pizza on the roof of his mouth. Then he opens up the cabinet and hopes that it's there.

It's there, several boxes in an icebox, along with his favorite brand of ramen and various other foods he's familiar with.

Score! It's even got some of those weird eastern European candies and chocolates that the grocery store by his parent's house had. He'll definitely grab some of those for dessert. This'll be a nice nostalgia trip.

He grabs a frozen pizza box and starts working through the box and wrapper as he asks the Hearthkeeper another question. "Does the oven have any tricks to it, or is it all normal? Or is it, uh..." what's a polite way of putting it... "fantastical, like the cabinet?"

"It's heated by magical fire, but isn't especially difficult or unpredictable to use. What units are you used to for time and temperature?"

Good to know that magic isn't a bad word. He knows some supers are touchy about that, especially the ones who build gadgets.

"Minutes and degrees Fahrenheit, though I can do conversions on my phone," he retrieves it from his pocket to show before quickly stowing it again. "That does remind me, do you have electricity here?" A moment later, after he's considered the oven's controls and started it preheating, he asks further, "and what kind? I think remember it's on a different frequency, and with different plugs, outside the US."

"You're from an Earth then? We've had more than a few people from Earths, and know the units. You'll want to consult that table to determine how many minutes the hourglasses last for." There are a series of different size hourglasses on the counter near the oven, labeled in units of time he's never seen before, and apparently no other way to time things. The oven itself has one knob for temperature with a metal plate on which is engraved a table describing the various temperature levels in a dozen different units, including Fahrenheit.

"We do have electricity, but no wiring in the walls yet. You'll have to find the electrical engineering workshop tomorrow and ask them for help—they have generators and equipment to supply electricity with the parameters your device is expecting. Fortunately, we are also familiar with Earth electrical units."

Earths, huh? He remembers reading something about multiverse theory a while back, and that supers have something to do with it somehow. This place must be on that level. Especially if she's talking about Earths like they're just one kind of world. He guesses that makes sense though. It'd be a little weird if every world were like Earth.

He nods. "It's not a big worry, I've got some solar panels too if the generators are already mostly spoken for. Just need to find a room with some good sun."

He'll take his phone back out, and assuming it doesn't not-work because magic, he'll just a set a timer on it rather than figuring things out with the hourglasses.

"Any rules about where I should eat, or how much clean-up I should do after?"

"The generators are in use for various purposes, but they do have spare capacity. Though you should also be able to find a room with good light without too much trouble. Don't eat in the library, masoleum, or someone's private spaces if they don't want you to. Some things the house will clean on its own, but don't leave any larger objects lying around one of the permanent spaces. Garbage is most often disposed of by leaving it in a temporary room, because those will later be destroyed. I can show you how that works when you're done eating. We also have a common wastebasket in the great hall to spare everyone from making the same trip when they eat here."