Topic: Gods Might Not Play At Dice, But Wizards Do

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:11 EST

Stepping through the portal was like a brief dip into insanity.? There was a flash of light so bright it hurt even through closed eyes.? His guts twisted like someone was rearranging them into new and bizarre patterns.? Sharp pains lanced through his head, accompanied by a sensation of painfully uncomfortable pressure.? He thought his skull might explode if it kept up for long.? He started to scream, and then it was over.? The light faded, his guts stopped their conga line...but the pressure inside his skull remained.? And there was nausea.? Big-time nausea.? He collapsed in an ignominious heap on the ground, retching.? Instead of losing his dinner, though, a stream of harsh, alien syllables ripped from his throat, and the pressure in his head abruptly diminished...a bit.? He lay there, trying to breathe as bodily sensations slowly began to return.

The floor of Doug's living room was a lot colder than he remembered, lumpier, too.? It felt like, like...stone?? His ears informed him that someone was making a panting, keening sort of noise.? A second later, he realized it was him.? He closed his mouth, trying to think past the throbbing pressure in his head.? Finally, he forced his eyes open, and was rewarded with a close up view of what looked like bricks.? They were lit by odd, flickering colors. He swiveled his neck, slowly looking upwards.? A twisting pattern of discordant, coruscating colors wove through the air above him.? Seeing it brought the nausea into full awareness again, and he clamped his mouth shut before something more substantial than words poured out of it.

Oscar was pulling hard on his leash tonight, a fact Lelah accepted with both a bit of irritation and thankfulness, all rolled into one complicated emotion.? The past few weeks had been hard.? Possibly the hardest she'd endured since before entering Last Chance.? But it had firmed her resolve to put her career and the studios before anything else - men, relationships, even friendships. Dealing with Oscar and his impatient exuberance at least served to keep her mind occupied and away from the dangerous subject of certain demon hunters and whatever the hell Gideon was.?

As they rounded the corner of the wall that separated Mr. Oxley's estate from the road going through New Haven and began up the bricked circle drive that led to the carriage house at the rear of the estate, she spotted some awful-looking lights flashing in front of her loft.? "What the hell?" she murmured.? Then Oscar spotted them and started dancing around on his rear legs and yodeling, the way he did when he sighted a rabbit or a squirrel.? "Oscar, knock it off," she said. Yanking hard on the dog's leash, she pulled him to heel, and carefully approached the light show.? Trying really, really hard not to look to closely at them ? they made her want to ralph something horrible ? she saw something that looked like a body in the middle of things.? "Hello?" she called out.? "Are you okay?"? God, please don't let him be dead!

Abruptly, the lights vanished without any trace they'd ever existed.? He groaned softly and shifted, wondering if there was any possibility of sitting up.? Standing was entirely out of the question, but sitting...there was potential for sitting.? Someone was yelling something from what sounded like far away.? He couldn't make out the words.

"Holy sh*t," she said, stopping some ten feet away from the guy.? "You're totally hired!"? She looped Oscar's leash around the nearest tree and went over to the guy, kneeling next to him and cupping his elbow to steady him.? "That was freakin' awesome, man.? Was that magic?? Do you know if it'll show up on film?"

With help from that steadying hand, he managed to push himself to his knees.? Someone with a rather nice voice, smooth and feminine without being annoyingly high-pitched was firing a stream of exclamations and questions at him.? He wasn't really sure what she was asking, but listening to the voice was pretty good in and of itself.? She sounded like she should be on TV.? She was from the City, clearly.? He opened his mouth to say something, anything at all, and felt those alien syllables well up again, ready to spill forth and do god knew what.? He clamped his mouth shut so hard his teeth clicked.

She rose with him to her knees as well, her hand still under his elbow. "Hey, you okay?? Do you want some water or something?? My place is up there," she nodded to the stairs that led up to her small front porch.?

With an effort of will he didn't know he was capable of, he forced those unfamiliar words down his throat and dredged up something resembling English.? "Water...yeah."? His voice sounded strange to his ears; hoarse and oddly deep.? He looked around, trying to make out details through overtaxed eyes.? He thought maybe he could stand now that he had help.? His legs trembled as they pushed him slowly upwards.? It seemed to take longer than it should have.

"Woah, you're a tall one," she said, barely coming up to the man's shoulder.? "Um, you okay to stand on your own for a minute?? I gotta get my dog."? She glanced over her shoulder to where Oscar was sitting in the grass at the base of the tree she'd tied him to.? There was a definite look of annoyance on the little dog's foxy face.

Him, a tall one?? She must be?a midget or something.? He nodded in response to her question, very slowly and carefully, just in case his head started to fall off.? When it stayed firmly attached, he smiled thankfully.?

She patted his bicep comfortingly and went to retrieve Oscar.? As she untied his leash, she sneaked a look at her guest.? He was hot.? Smokin', actually. Tall, dark, broad shoulders; long, glossy raven black hair that positively screamed out to have her fingers stroke through it, a light beard that would rasp deliciously against tender skin...? Down girl.? Remember - the studios and your career first.? No more complications. You have enough as it is now. She returned to the man's side, a firm hold on Oscar's leash.? "I'm Lelah, by the way.? This is Oscar.? Just a warning, he hates strangers so don't be offended if he growls a lot."

He still couldn't make out more than a silhouette of the woman, but she did look kind of short.? If she looked like she sounded...yum.? It was getting a little easier to keep from speaking those bizarre words lodged in his brain.? "I...my name is Ori," he said slowly.? What was wrong with his voice?? Had he landed on his throat or something?? He sounded to himself like some of the old recordings of his grandfather back in Israel, even down to the accent.? Which was weird.? He'd never even been out of the States.

"Ori.? It's nice to meet you.? Well, c'mon.? There's water - or beer, I think I've got some scotch, too - upstairs."? She hovered close to him, letting him pick their pace.? "Are you from the Middle East?? My father's from Iran.? You sorta sound like him."

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:12 EST

"I'm from upstate New York," he said, but the strange accent remained.? Hadn't he seen something on PBS about how brain trauma could result in a person developing an accent they'd never had?? He reached up and felt his head, searching for signs of damage.? Nothing.? After a second, he took a step towards the indicated stairs, and immediately stumbled, grabbing onto the woman's shoulder to stop himself from falling.? He felt like he was walking on stilts.? What the hell was wrong with him?

"Easy there, guy," she said, hooking her hand beneath his forearm.? Good thing she did Pilates every day, otherwise that grip on her slight shoulder would have hurt...and the guy's sudden weight would have knocked her on her ass.? "Upstate New York.? Huh."? She frowned thoughtfully.? Had he knocked his head when he arrived on her drive?? Was he a creepy stalker guy who thought that being from the same state as her would endear him?? That thought gave her pause and she delicately disengaged herself from him and took a large step to the side.? Her hand slipped into her pocket and brought out her phone.? Carefully, secretively, she dialed Rhys's number but didn't hit send just yet.

He wobbled again when she stepped away, but stayed up this time.? "Crap.? Sorry.? I don't know what's wrong with me.? I was in Doug's living room, and he told me to go through the 'portal' and it was like...like nothing I can even describe.? It really hurt, though."? He was aware that he was babbling, and tried to tell himself to shut up.? "I don't even know where I am...," he finished, running down finally.

Oh, sh*t.? This guy had fallen victim to the Nexus thing everyone was always complaining about.? "Well, let's go upstairs and you can have a stiff drink, and I'll attempt to explain everything.? And whatever I don't know, my friend Rhys will know."? She led Ori up the stairs slowly, pausing for a moment in front of her door.? "He has a gun.? Lots of guns.? And knives.? Probably a sword, too.? He's sweet on me.? So..."? She left the threat hanging and slotted her key into the lock.

Oh, great.? Now she thought he was a psycho or something.? At least she hadn't kicked him in the nuts and called the cops.? Or her friend with guns, knives and maybe a sword.? The stairs took most of his concentration to manage, but when they reached the top, he finally got a good look at her.? Holy crap, she was gorgeous.? She didn't just sound like she should be on TV, she looked like she should, too.? Even if she was practically a midget.? This wasn't the time to be staring, though.? "Uh...I can just sit down here if you're, you know, not comfortable with having a strange guy in your house."? You smooth-talker, Ori.

She frowned softly, torn between being careful and taking care of this guy.? She finally relented and nodded to the small patio across from where they were standing.? "Go sit over there and I'll bring you something to drink."? She stepped inside and locked the door behind her.? Taking Oscar's leash off him, she hung it up on the peg beside the door and went into the kitchen.? She grabbed a bottle of cold water from her fridge, two highball glasses, the bottle of Laphroaig, and her cell phone.? Then she went through the house and exited onto the patio through the french doors in her bedroom.

He walked carefully over to the patio and dropped heavily into one of the chairs there, leaning forward and resting his head in his hands.? I need a shave, he thought, feeling the rasp of beard on his palms.? Wait, I just shaved this morning...how long was I in in that portal thing?? He lifted his head when the french doors opened, venturing an uncertain smile at the woman as she approached.?

She returned his smile and settled down in one of the wicker chairs.? The bottle of water, the scotch and the two glasses she put on the table between them and then went about fixing them both generous scotch and waters.? She sipped hers and studied him for a moment before saying, "You're in Rhy'Din."

"I'm in where?"? He took a swallow of the drink she'd put in front of him, and immediately started coughing as it burned his throat, covering his mouth with his hand until the coughs subsided.

She nudged the bottle of water towards him, dark eyes brimming with concern.? "Rhy'Din.? It's like..."? She broke off with a frown, trying to find something familiar to explain her new home.? "Oh, I know!? You ever read the Chronicles of Narnia?"

It was hard to look away from those eyes.? They were big, and dark, and, like the old detective mysteries said, a guy could get lost in them.? He reached for the water, taking a gulp of it to clear his throat, and to break the eye contact.? "Uhm...Narnia?? The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, right?"? He'd read them like he'd read almost everything fantasy, though the overtly Christian message had bugged him more than a little.?

"Yes.? Exactly.? You know that place that Lucy and the others went to first?? Where the lamp post was?"

He nodded slowly, wondering what she was leading up to.? It was a really weird way to explain where he was.? But hey, she was talking to him, and that was more than any girl who looked like her had ever done.?

"It was sorta like...a gathering point, right?? And from there, they could go to the Witch's Castle or to Aslan's table, or wherever they wanted."? She nodded, proud that she'd lighted upon a good analogy.? "That's what Rhy'Din is like.? From here, you can go anywhere in time and space.? You could go visit Frodo or HAL 9000 or hell, I'll bet you could go see if Jesus was a real person."

It was, he reflected, really fortunate that he was such a nerd.? The ideas of other worlds, parallel universes, time travel and other such staples of sci-fi and fantasy were nothing new to him.? He'd spent the majority of his life reading about them, watching the movies, and playing the games.? Not to mention dreaming about how cool it would be if they were real.? According to what Lelah had just said, it was real.? He wondered if maybe she was the crazy one.? It seemed like the most likely explanation.? But she was really hot, and she'd brought up Frodo.? In his estimation, Lord of the Rings ranked far above Jesus.? Being Jewish probably had something to do with that.

Considering the portal Doug had somehow caused to appear in his living room, and the fact that this clearly wasn't Doug's living room anymore, he had to at least entertain the notion that she was telling him the truth.? Even for a nerd, it was a little overwhelming.? He fumbled for the glass of scotch and gulped down a much-too-large swallow, promptly coughing and choking again.

She was staring at him, watching as he choked - again - on the scotch.? "Man, you gotta go easy on that stuff.? It's like $90 a bottle."? Holding out the water to him, she gave him a soft smile.? "Stick with this for a while.? Hopefully, it'll go down smoother."? She sat back, pulled one foot up on the seat of her chair, and rested her chin on her bent knee.? "So...? You must know already about alternate worlds and what not, right?? Or at least the possibility of them?"

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:12 EST

"Sorry," he said hoarsely, once he got his breathing under control.? "I...uh...don't drink alcohol very often, except for some Manischewitz on Passover."? He took a sip of the water, which went down a lot more easily than the scotch.? Her smile made his face feel hot.? You're blushing, aren't you?? Oy vey.? You really know how to make an impression on a girl, Ori.? Eventually, he realized she was waiting for an answer.? "Well, sure.? I mean, I've read tons of books with that premise."

"Grimoires or whatever?? What do they look like?? Are they really old and covered in human flesh?"? Now she was letting her imagination get the better of her.? She had the scene blocked in her mind - this hunk standing in front of an open book that was bound in the flesh of his enemies, shouting out the words to an ancient spell while all around him, lightning stabbed the ground, hurled with force from whirlwinds of black clouds that covered the sky like a fresh bruise.

He gaped at her for a moment.? "Uh...I was thinking more like Frank Herbert or Jim Butcher.? But I've read about the Necronomicon," he added hastily, since she looked so interested.? "It's supposed to be made of human skin."

The scene in her mind collapsed to a green screen and a wind machine. She frowned, a bit confused.? "Wait.? Isn't the Necronomicon in that movie with Bruce Campbell?? 'Hail to the King, baby', right?" Her impression of Elvis as done by Mr. Bruce Campbell was passable at best.

He nodded enthusiastically.? "Yeah!? Army of Darkness.? That's a great one."? He heroically ignored the less-than-stellar impression; she got a pass for being gorgeous.

Her eyes narrowed in sudden realization.? "You are a wizard, right?? That light show earlier?? That was you."

He opened his mouth, then closed it.? There was no denying those harsh and unfamiliar words that had come out of his own mouth, and they did make those lights appear.? There were more of them in his head, too.? He could feel them like they were pressing against the inside of his skull, trying to find a way out.? Thinking about them made it worse.? He was on the verge of saying another one, he realized, and there was no chance of stopping it this time.? With an effort of will, he picked one that he (somehow) knew wouldn't hurt anyone.? The alien syllables spilled out of his mouth, and a glowing, rainbow-hued pattern of interweaving colors filled the room, twisting hypnotically.? They were bright, intense, and all but impossible to look away from.

After about half a minute, the lights silently faded away.? "Yeah," he said softly to himself.? "I'm definitely a wizard."? A big grin spread across his face as he contemplated the thought.? He'd almost always played a wizard or sorcerer in their campaigns; the idea of being able to use magic just fascinated him.? And now, somehow, Doug's portal had given him the power to do the things his characters could do.? Unless this was some kind of crazy dream.? If it was, though, he wasn't sure he'd want to wake up.?

She stared at the lights, all other thoughts swept from her mind.? They were so very, very beautiful and quite fascinating. When they faded, she stirred slowly, blinking her eyes as if waking from a dream.? She stared at Ori again and drew a deep breath.? "So, yeah.? Definitely a wizard then.? And I know what you're doing here, too."? She gave him a triumphant grin.? She was on to him now.

And now it was back to gaping at her.? "You what?? You do?"?

"Sure," she said casually and threw in a nonchalant shrug for good measure.? "You read the article in the paper about me wanting to run the FX department with wizards.? And since you missed the career fair, you thought you'd just come here and dazzle me with your illusions."? She sat back, smugly proud of her powers of deduction.

Article?? FX department?? Career fair?? What the hell was she talking about?? He shook his head slowly.? "I have no idea what you just said.? One minute, I was in Doug's living room, the next I was on the ground out there.? I didn't read anything."?

She narrowed her eyes slightly in disbelief.? "Seriously?? You're not, you know, here for a job with the studios?"? She couldn't decide if she was disappointed or relieved by this turn of events.? It would be really, really difficult to concentrate on her career and the studios if he was around all the time.? Inwardly, she cringed.? Just thinking like that made her feel guilty. Maybe she'd have to hire Rhys and Gideon just to complete the trifecta of distractions. And then immediately join a nunnery, 'cause that was the only way she could ever possibly resist that much concentrated hotness in one area.

"I'm really not...wait, studios?"? He wasn't an idiot.? He could put two and two together, and nearly always get four.? Studios, FX departments, her yelling 'You're hired' at him when he lit up the block...? "You make movies."? It wasn't a question.?

"Not yet, but that's the plan, yeah."? She didn't mention the nine films, four screen plays, two Golden Globes, and one Oscar she had under her belt back home.? None of that would matter here.? Here, in Rhy'Din, she had to rebuild her reputation of excellence from the ground up.

"...and you want me to work for you?"? His eyes got a little bit wider with each word.? He couldn't believe his ears.? All these years he'd spent in film school, and now he was getting a job offer because his Dungeon Master had somehow made him into a real wizard?? It damn near boggled the mind.

"Well, sure.? That's what I thought you were doing earlier.? Auditioning."? She stood up abruptly, motioning for him to follow her inside the loft.? "C'mon.? I'll show you what I'm talking about."

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:13 EST

He barely wobbled as he stood this time, though he still had the disconcerting feeling of being on stilts, and followed obediently after her as she went through the french doors.? They led to her bedroom.? It was very pink in there.? That was good; it meant his blushing again was harder to see.?

She led him through her bedroom and out into the living room.? As she passed by it to the desk against the far wall, she nodded to the couch, said, "Have a seat."

"Thanks," he said gratefully, sinking down into the couch.? It was getting better, but he still felt like someone had disassembled him and then forgotten the right way to put him back together.

She went over to the desk and picked up a copy of the article about her and 21twelve in the Post.? After settling down on the armchair next to the couch, she handed Ori the paper and sat back quietly so he could read it.

He read quickly through the article, picking up a few interesting tidbits.? "You've got the first movie studio in this place?? Wow."? And she was an award-winning actress back on Earth?? He didn't think he'd ever seen her, though, and he couldn't imagine not remembering her if he had.? He realized he'd thought 'back on Earth' without any sense of weirdness or fear.? He was adjusting to being on another world quickly, it seemed.

She nodded and gave him a lopsided little smile.? "So now you see why I thought you were auditioning earlier, right?"? Oscar, who had been curled up on his pillow by the hearth, was now alert and staring at Ori, his little foxy face intent and wary.? The dog really did not like strangers, especially strangers who got too close to his mistress.

"Yeah, I can totally see how you'd think that," he said. Wow, that smile.? Quick, think of something else.? He took a moment to look the dog over.? He'd always wanted a dog, but his mother had been too allergic to them to get one, and then when he went off to school, well, the dorms were strictly a no-pets place to live. "Oscar's a pretty dog.? What breed is he?"?

"He's a Basenji," she answered.? "Very sweet, very loyal, very protective."? She patted the seat beside her and Oscar jumped up from his pillow and hopped onto the chair.? He pushed his way into Lelah's lap and settled down.? There was, somehow, a look of smug triumph on the pointed face, as if the dog was lording his enviable position over Ori.

He smiled openly when the dog climbed into her lap.? "I've always wanted a dog."? He shifted on the couch, relaxing a little now.

"You're really from Upstate New York?"? She was idly stroking the dog's back and his eyes were slowly closing, only every once in a while springing open as if he expected to catch Ori in the act of moving to ravish his mistress at any moment.

It was kind of cute, how protective the dog was, and only slightly scary.? He was pretty sure Oscar wouldn't dive off Lelah's lap and bite his face off, though.? "Yup.? I was born in a little town called Port Jervis, though I like to think of it as 'The Land That Time Forgot.' "? He grinned.? "You're from the City, I can hear it in your voice."

"Manhattan, yes.? But you don't sound like Upstate.? You sound like the Middle East.? Like my father and that one actor who was in the Mummy movies, you know?"

"I...yeah...it's weird."? That brought the self-consciousness back again.? "I never sounded like this before...the portal.? Maybe it did something to me. Uh...so...you were really serious about wanting to hire me?"

"Yeah, I was.? Do you have any experience?? With film, I mean.? Not magic.? 'Cause it's sorta obvious that you have experience with magic."

In fact he had a lot more experience with film than with magic, but he wasn't about to tell her that, at least not right now.? "Well, I'm a grad student in film and TV at the Tisch school," he said, figuring she was sure to know it.? "I'm still in school....er, I was...before all this," waving his hand around to encompass the world they were in.

Her brows flew up in surprise.? "Really?? Wow."? The Tisch School was one of the best film schools in the world. It was a part of New York University, a place Lelah had always wanted to go.? She was quite impressed that Ori was attending such an important institution.? "I never went to college.? Hell, I barely graduated high school," she admitted and then wondered why she told him this.

"My mom wanted me to be a doctor," he admitted, feeling like he should reciprocate the confession.? "I've always been fascinated by film, though.? Well, special effects, really.? That's what I love."

She gave him a little smirk, reached out and patted the back of his hand.? "You're a good Jewish boy.? Of course your mom wanted you to be a doctor.? It was either that or a lawyer, right?"? Then she sat back in her chair and slowly shook her head.? "This is really weird, you know?? First of all, you ending up on my driveway, and second of all, you being a film student wizard, right when I need one of those.? It's like...Fate or Destiny or something equally silly."

Okay, don't blush.? Yes, she just touched you, but it was just a pat on the hand.? Don't lose your head, Ori.? Concentrate on what she's saying.? "Picture it from my side!" he said, giving a little chuckle that was only partly forced.

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:13 EST

She nodded.? "I don't know if you've thought about practical stuff, like where you're going to stay and how you're going to get home, but I've got both things covered."? She paused and shifted a bit in the chair, getting more comfortable.? Oscar grumped at having his lap taken away as she slid him down onto the seat next to her, but soon he'd returned his head to his paws and was once more dozing.

Home.? He blinked in surprise as he realized that he hadn't once thought of his mom, and how she'd react if he turned up missing.? But...if he went back, would he lose the magic?? A mask of shock that he was quite unaware of covered his face as he tried to sort out what he should do.? "I...I...can I use your bathroom?" he managed to stutter out, needing to be alone for a minute.

Her brow furrowed in concern and she nodded, pointing to the door closest to the hearth.? "Yeah, it's right through there.? Ori," she said softly, "it'll be okay.? Somehow."? She gave him a confident smile that went all the way to her eyes.

"Th-thanks," he replied, even managing a shaky smile in return.? Though he barely knew her, it was strangely reassuring to hear her say that.? He went into the bathroom and straight to the sink, leaning down to splash some cold water on his face, then rest his head on the cool porcelain for a moment.

Oscar had picked his head up to watch Ori with wary intensity.? Lelah chuckled softly and scratched the top of the dog's head.? "I don't think you need to worry about him, buddy.? He's so freaked out, I'll bet he's scared by his own shadow."

Maybe not his own shadow. He picked up his head and looked into the mirror.? A stranger's face stared back at him, dark and bearded.? A strangled gasp escaped his throat, and he stumbled backwards, catching the backs of his heels on the lip of her shower stall.? Arms flailing, he fell into the shower, head bouncing painfully (and loudly) off the tiled wall.

Oscar let loose a stream of his odd little yodels at the sudden noises from the bathroom and shot off the chair as if he'd been fired from a pistol.? He bounded across the room and went up on his hind legs, dancing and yodeling up a storm of indignation at the closed door.? Lelah was up on her feet just seconds after.? "Ori!"? She went to the closed door, a hand on the knob, and said, "Are you okay in there?"

The impact sent an explosion through his head, and before he could stop it, some of the alien, swirling words slipped out.? A spray of brightly colored lights shot from his flailing hand and bounced off the tiles and mirror.? When Lelah called out, he stifled a groan and called back, "I'm okay...I just...tripped."

Her hand slipped off the door knob and she leaned down to capture Oscar, hauling him off the floor and shushing him with a kiss to the top of his muzzle.? "You sure?" she asked Ori.? "Do you...um...need something?? There's towels under the sink."? Gah.? She had no idea about male bathroom habits, never having a brother or a live-in boyfriend.

"An aspirin," he muttered, too quietly for her to hear, holding his now aching head.? "Thanks," he said, to reassure her, and picked himself up off the floor of her shower stall.? Cautiously, as though expecting it to attack, he approached the mirror again and hesitantly looked into it, hoping maybe he'd been hallucinating the stranger's face.? No such luck.? The bearded visage wincing back at him was completely unknown to him...yet strangely familiar.

Then it hit him.? "Holy crap," he whispered, as he realized that the face in the mirror was exactly like he'd always pictured his wizard character.? Hot on the heels of that revelation was the memory of describing his character as having an accented voice, 'Like someone from Israel.'? And he was tall, significantly taller than Ori's unimpressive five foot seven.? "Oh my god.? I'm him."? The face, the body, the powers...it was all like he'd imagined.

With Oscar calmed now, she bent and put him back on the floor.? Still hesitating uncertainly in front of the closed bathroom door, she pursed her lips in thought, then said, "Are you hungry?? I could make some pesto and linguine really fast.? Maybe throw some chicken into it, too?"

Despite his pain and shock, a smile twitched his lips involuntary.? His mom might've said the same thing.? To a Jewish mother, food was the cure-all.? He caught himself thinking that Lelah was a lot nicer than any of the other pretty girls he'd ever met.? Oh, hell.? Should he tell her about this...this...new face?? He stared at himself in the mirror.? He thought it was probably better looking than his old face.? And he was taller, more muscular.? His stomach growled suddenly, and he realized he actually was rather hungry.? "That sounds great," he called back.? "Thank you."? He should tell her.? She was being so nice to him, even offering him a job.? But what if she thought he was insane??

"Okay."? She stood for a moment longer, straining to hear what was going on in there.? Finally, with a bewildered shake of her head, turned and headed to the kitchen.? Bewildered seemed to have become her catch phrase since relocating to Rhy'Din; she had never been so confused and lost and over her head in her life.

Hell.? What if he was insane?? What if this, like he'd already thought, was just some crazy dream, or mental breakdown.? What if Doug had slipped something into the soda they'd had before he sent Ori through the portal.? He cradled his head in his hands for a moment, then shook his head.? No...it was too real. Lelah was too real to be a conjuration of his own mind.?

Soon, she had water boiling for pasta, two chicken breasts grilling, and was washing a bunch of basil leaves for the pesto.? Oscar was right at her heels, following her back and forth with his unloved, mistreated, hungry puppy dog look, hoping to cadge a bit of chicken or maybe a noodle, which were his favorites.

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:14 EST

Well, he couldn't sit here in her bathroom forever.? And he had a decision to make.? Tell her or don't.? If he did, she might tell him to get the hell out.? If he didn't, and he ended up working for her, how would she react if she found out later he'd been hiding something?? Yeah...that clinched it.? He'd been raised to be completely honest, and not telling her would be just like lying.? He nodded to his reflection.? "I'll tell her," he said firmly, watching the unfamiliar mouth move.? Okay, that was weird.? He pulled his gaze from the mirror and went back out into the living room.? Wow, it smelled good out here.? "That smells amazing," he said, taking a deep breath.? "Need any help?? I'm pretty good in the kitchen."? Small talk was a lot easier than confessing to being inside a body that was previously just a figment of his imagination.

She glanced over her shoulder as he came out of the bathroom, eyes moving from head to toe to assess for injuries or any other clue as to what had gone on in there.? Finding no obvious detail, she smiled and shook her head.? "No, I'm fine.? I like to cook.? It's relaxing."

"I bet you're really good at it, too, judging by the smell."? He hoped she didn't think he was just sucking up to a pretty girl, saying that.? It really did smell great.? He just sort of stood there awkwardly near the table, not sure if he should sit back down, or wait.

"Thanks," she said.? Then she glanced over her shoulder again, and nodded to the table.? "This'll be done quick.? Do you want to set the table?"

"Sure," he said immediately, glad to do something other than stand there like an idiot.? "Just point me to the tableware."? He wondered what Doug or any of the others in their group would say now, seeing him looking like his character, getting ready to have dinner with one of the hottest women he'd ever seen.? Not that it was a date or anything, he told himself hastily, trying not to blush again.? But still.

She nodded to the cabinet next to the fridge.? "Plates are there, silverware in the drawer beneath the counter."? She was suddenly acutely aware of just how hot this guy was...and just how little she knew about him.? Reflexively, she glanced down at her phone, which was sitting on the counter next to her.? Rhys's number was still displayed; all she need do was press 'send' and if he was still accepting calls from her, he could be there in five minutes.? Of course, a lot could happen in five minutes.? She could be horribly dead in five minutes.? She could be a newt in five minutes. She looked back up at Ori and flashed him a brittle smile.

"This is a little weird," he said, picking up a bit of what she was feeling.? A lifetime of being an outsider had left him better than most at reading people's emotions just by watching them.? "I, um, feel like I'm somehow intruding.? I hope I didn't ruin any plans you had or anything."? He said all of this without looking at her, concentrating very intently on the plates and silverware he was setting out.

She felt a pang of guilt and shook off the feeling, replacing the brittle smile with a genuine one.? "No, no plans.? I have a staff meeting in the morning, but I've done all the preparing I can possibly do."? The pasta was ready, so she drained it and dumped it into a big bowl before adding the pesto and tossing it.? Then she removed the chicken from the grill pan and grabbed a chef's knife to slice the meat.? "This must be really hard on you, Ori," she said softly, eyes intent on the carving board in front of her.

"It's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me," he said truthfully.? Then he cracked a little smile.? "It's not all bad, though."?

She blushed under his implication and turned away quickly, hoping to hide it before he caught it.? God, all these incredibly gorgeous guys around!? How was she ever going to concentrate on the studios?!? She dumped the chicken into the bowl and then brought it to the table.? "Do you want something to drink?? I've got wine, beer, water..."

Holy crap, was she the one blushing now?? That was a first for him.? "Uh...a beer would be good," he said.? Maybe it would help calm his nerves a bit.? He sat down in one of the chairs, landing a little too hard because his legs were longer than he was used to.? Which reminded him...he was going to tell her about what had happened to him.? He wondered how to bring it up.

She nodded, grabbed two bottles of Silver Mark out of her fridge - God bless you, Alain DeMuer! - and brought them to the table.? Before sitting down across from Ori, she popped the tops off the bottles, tossed them into the trash, and handed him a bottle.? Then she reached into the bowl and fished out a small piece of chicken with her fork and fed it to Oscar.? She glanced up at Ori, smiled sheepishly.? "He's the man of the house," she explained.? "He eats first." The little dog, wholly aware of his elevated status, wolfed down the piece of chicken in under a second and then settled down, adopting a sphinx-like posture, honey-brown eyes moving from Lelah's face to her plate and then back again.

"That's sweet," he said, grinning at Oscar.? He picked up the beer and took a swallow.? It was pretty good, though he'd never heard of the brand.? Taking the drink gave him some time to try to figure out how to tell her.

She reached for his plate, picking up the serving spoon in her free hand so she could pile on food.? "You'll need somewhere to stay tonight,? she said.? ?There's a public house, like straight out of Victorian-era England, called the Red Dragon Inn, not too far from here.? After dinner, we can walk down there are see if there's a room available."

"You don't need to do that," he protested.? "You've already been so nice to me.? I can find somewhere to stay."? He didn't want her to think he was completely incapable of taking care of himself.? Heaven knew he hadn't done much to dispel that notion so far.

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:15 EST

She flashed him a cheeky smile.? "Wait until you see the place before you decide that I'm being nice."? She chuckled and handed him his plate, filled with chicken linguine pesto, and began serving herself.? "And if you do want to go home, we can take care of that in the morning.? Or at least try to.? I'm not sure how everything works with the Nexus."

"Thank you," he said, taking the plate.? It looked delicious, but he didn't start yet, waiting for her to eat first.? "Did you ever see Freaky Friday, with Jodie Foster?" he asked suddenly, hitting on a way to explain to her what had happened to him.

She stabbed a piece of chicken, twirled a bunch of noodles around her fork and then popped the whole thing into her mouth.? She chewed thoughtfully - probably could have used a bit more garlic - and nodded in response to his question about the movie.

He took a deep breath.? "This is going to sound crazy, but...when I went through that portal, something like that happened to me." He took a bite, found the food delicious, took another.

She paused in mid-chew and arched a brow.? She blinked, finished chewing, and swallowed.? She stared at him for a moment, then said, "Well, that explains the accent, doesn't it?"? While it may have seemed on the surface that she'd taken this with a surprising lack of surprise, inwardly she was torn between casual acceptance of yet another bizarre facet of her new home and complete and utter disbelief.

She'd understood right away, he thought with relief.? Smart and pretty both.? Oy.? He was committed now, no choice but to go ahead and spill everything.? "When I...uh...freaked out in your bathroom, it was because I saw myself in the mirror and it wasn't my face.? I mean, not my usual face."? He reached up and tugged comically on one of his ears.? "It's not like a mask or anything."

She giggled a little at that, a sound that was only slightly tinged with hysteria.? She put her fork down and took a long, deep drink of the beer, draining half the bottle before replacing it on the table.? "So...where's your real face?? Is this guy," she nodded to him, "in you then?"

He grinned, glad she hadn't thrown something at him, or sic'd her dog on him.? "Uh...I don't think so.? See, um...well, he's not real."? That's just going to confuse her, he snapped at himself, and hastened to explain.? "I mean...he's a character I made up for Dungeons and Dragons."? Then he wondered if she'd ever heard of the game, and if she had, he hoped it wasn't the ridiculous Satanic crap.

"Dungeons and Dragons," she repeated.? "Oh!? The game thingie.? With those weird dice and goblins and stuff, right?"? On one of her films, the sound and lighting guys had tried to convince her to play a game with them.? She'd watched twice, but hadn't understood any of it.? It had seemed incredibly complicated and they were always arguing about hit points and mana and things like that.

"That's right!"? He gave her a big, genuine smile.? It really was a lot easier to talk to her than he would have expected.? "Me and a group of friends from school get together every weekend to play, and my character was a wizard, who looked and sounded like he was from Israel."? He waved a hand over his face and chest.? "This is how I imagined him, exactly."

Her brows rose and then furrowed again.? She shook her head.? It was all way too much for her to understand right now.? "So...? It's you, but it isn't you?? You don't look like this? You're not actually a wizard? And inside that -" incredibly hot, sexy, scrumptious "- body, you're still you?? I mean, you have all the same knowledge and memories and stuff as before?"

He nodded slowly.? "Yeah, I'm still me...only more than me.? I know things I didn't know before, like how the spells in my head work, how to shape them and how to brew a potion, or even forge a magic ring.? I think, somehow, Doug gave me all the skills and powers of my character, as well as his body.? I know how to bind a book or cut a diamond, and neither of those are things I learned at Tisch."

Lelah · Date: 2011-04-23 21:16 EST

She took a deep breath and went back to eating again, giving herself time to process this.? The one thing that she kept going back to was how alone this guy was, just like her - alone and lost in a weird place without really any friends.? She felt for him.

"I don't...I'm not sure if I want to go back home," he said slowly, unable to stop himself now that he was confessing everything to her.? "Back...home, I'm no one.? Just an average grad student no one would look at twice; no one has looked at twice.? I've never had a girlfriend who wasn't just using me to cheat on essays."? Why the hell had he told her that?? He felt the blush creeping up from his neck towards his face, but pushed on.? "Now, I have this amazing magic inside me.? I know things, and I can do things."? He stared down at his plate, face flaming now, voice dropping to just more than a mumble.? "I'm taller, and better looking."

She sighed deeply, his words plucking her heart strings as if he were a master luthier.? "Ori," she started but had nothing to offer, no words of wisdom, no platitudes of comfort.? She briefly toyed with the idea of telling him that she would have given anything to be a no one, to be able to walk down the street in her own hometown and not be followed by rabid fans screaming her name, to open the paper just once and not see her name and face splashed across the pages.? Gideon's words haunted her - poor little rich girl, indeed.? "Look," she said, pulling herself from her selfish thoughts to focus on something more important than self-pity, "take tonight to think about it, at least."

"Yeah," he said, nodding.? "You're right.? I need to think about this.? It's not all perfect for me here, either.? This magic that's in me...it wants to get out.? I have to fight to hold it back.? I know that if I give in, I'll use it all the time."? With that odd insight he'd developed over the years, he had a feeling she'd get what he meant.

She nodded, keeping her face carefully blank.? Oh, she knew exactly what he meant.? She darted a look towards the bathroom and the secret stash of white pearls hidden under the sink, feeling a tug of the need as she did so.? Exhaling sharply, she returned her focus to her mostly empty plate and then down at Oscar.? He tilted his head to the side, looking plaintive.? "Oh, fine," she said and set the plate down on the floor next to his own dish.? "Have at it." And have at it, he did. With an enthusiasm that bordered on slightly maniacal, Oscar wolfed down the remains of Lelah's dinner, his curly little tail wriggling back and forth briskly as he licked the plate clean.

He laughed, her utterly ordinary move breaking the tension that had been building up in him.? "Thank you," he said sincerely.? "For, you know, everything."? He glanced at her clock and continued.? "It's late, and you've got that meeting in the morning.? Maybe I can give you a call or something after I've figured things out, let you know?"

"At least let me walk you down to the Inn and make sure you can get a room there."? She stood, reached for his plate, and began to clear the table.

He stood, too, picking up their empty beer bottles to help her clean up.? "Well, alright," he replied.? One of the spells swirling around in his brain was telling him he didn't need anything as mundane as a room at an inn, but...what kind of idiot would he be if he passed up some extra time with a pretty girl?

She whisked away dirty dishes, stored leftovers in the fridge and then went to the front door.? Calling Oscar, who would definitely need another walk after his treat, she hooked his leash to his collar and slipped into her coat.? Then she pulled the door open and they were soon on their way to the Red Dragon.

((Thank you to Ori Simon's player for this scene.))