Cora keeps herself folded when she first enters the world. She feels her way along into what at least seems like an abandoned alley before unfurling her body and standing on her own two feet again. She walks out and gawks a bit at the surroundings. A city, not her favorite place to visit, especially one as dingy as this one but first impressions aren't everything who knows what she'll find.

When she appears, a few of the lights hover closer to her, seemingly curious, although they move a bit away when she stands. Other than them, the city looks pretty mundane. The streets are more twisted than any modern city's ought to be, dividing off into many an alley like the one she appeared in.

It's in another one of those alleys that Maven lies, unconscious and blood-covered.

The lights are a bit concerning. She doesn't like being blind to things that might be important. Still, she stands in place and lets her senses spread through the weave.

And then she notices the body in alley. She walks calmly and deliberately in that direction. Is he injured? She should be able to get some sense of that even with him being unconcious. She's still too new to this area to get something as detailed as whether it's his blood from this far away.

The lights seem harmless.  They aren't too bright and will keep some distance between themselves and her, respecting her space. They also won't follow her much as she begins walking, only one or two lingering after her.

He is injured. It might feel a bit different to her than most injuries she's sensed before but it's still recognisable as one. When she gets close enough to know who the blood to, she'll notice that most, but not all, is his.

He's a lot less injured feeling than someone should be for having lost that much blood. Well, she was already pretty sure this place had unfamiliar magic. Should she try and heal him anyway? She needs more information. She does a deeper check, does he seem to be getting worse?

Nope! It does feel like his body is changing but it's not in a typical 'bleeding out to death' fashion. In fact, if she pays attention for long enough, she'll be able to feel the injury slowly close itself. He'll clearly survive and might even wake up soon.

Hmm, yeah there's definitely unfamiliar magic involved. She'll just wait and see unless the person seems to be in danger.

It still takes a few long minutes but it's obvious when he regains consciousness. His breathing suddenly more agitated, he quickly sits up -slightly faster than he expected himself to move, in fact- and looks around. 

"Hello there, do you know what happened to you?"

Once he realises that this isn't the same person that he half-remembers from just before things faded to black, he relaxes slightly.

"I'm- I'm not sure... I think someone... attacked me?" He looks down at himself, the blood fits with that story but the lack of pain or injuries doesn't. Everything feels a bit off too, so maybe he hit his head? That could be why he doesn't remember and why things are weird. It should still hurt more if he's bled this much though-

"Did you have the ability to heal before you were attacked?"

"What do you mean?", he asks, carefully standing up with a hand on the wall for support, just in case. 

"Your body repaired itself while I was standing here. I'm fairly certain it's some sort of magic."

“That’s- that’s new. Are you sure you saw it correctly? There isn’t much light here”, it’s much easier to believe this stranger has misinterpreted what she saw than that he’s somehow developed magic.

"I wasn't looking with my eyes. That's also how I know all this blood is yours."

He looks down at himself, “That’s a lot of blood”, he comments quietly. “And how were you looking without your eyes?”

"I have a different sort of magic."

"You do?", magic is usually uncommon, what the hell is today about? And, more importantly, what if she's got things right? Also- oops, he should introduce himself, he'll wait for it to be slightly less awkward though.

"I always wonder about questions like that. Do people often say they have magic in jest? Regardless it's probably not the magic you're familiar with. My magic couldn't create the floating lights I've seen around here and I can't feel anyone else with my abilities nearby."

"Sometimes to make themselves feel important, not just to jest, but yes? Maybe not often often, it's just more often than people saying it and it being true. I'm not very familiar with magic. It's not common enough for that and it's pretty varied. Oh, and the lights just sort off... appear on their own? No one goes around making them, as far as I know."

"They just appear... I wouldn't have guessed. I'm from rather a long way away."

“I guess that makes sense”, he nods. “Where are you from? Is magic more common there?”

"Most people have a touch of magic but they usually don't know that. For most people it's a vague sense they can't put their finger on or the fact that they just happen to be healthier than average. True Weavers are rare and many Weavers try to avoid letting people know we exist."

"I've certainly never heard of Weavers! What is your magic like, if it's not rude to ask? Oh, and should we go somewhere else?", he looks at the blood on the alley's floor and grimaces.

Can she take care of that? Yes it's been long enough.

"The core of our magic is still our extra senses we can feel the world around us and Weavers can effects parts of what we sense. For example, I could clean up that blood if you like. I can also fold myself into the Weave and move while I'm folded. As for going somewhere, I'm new to the area I don't have anywhere else in mind to go. I'm happy to follow if you'd rather leave though."

"So... you're magically connected to your surroundings? That sounds pretty cool. And I won't say no to seeing your magic in action but I don't know if that makes you tired or anything... It's not very important to clean the blood if we're going elsewhere anyway. We can just head towards a main street for now."

"That's a good way of putting it. And cleaning it up is no trouble." She doesn't appear to do anything but the blood bubbles and shimmer a little before shifting to be water, maybe a little more water than there was blood. 

"Shall we then?"

He watches in amazement as the blood turns to water and can't resist touching it, just to make sure it really has changed (as if he couldn't smell the difference... yep, he's pretending that's not happening, weird feelings can wait).

Maven nods and begins walking, "Should we introduce ourselves? I think we skipped it entirely."

"I'm Cora."

"Well, things have been pretty unusual but it's nice to meet you anyway, Cora! My name's Maven."

"It's been good to meet you too. It always helps to have a local guide in a new place."

"I'm happy to show you around! Although I might be a bit more distracted than typically, trying to figure out what happened earlier."

"Oh that's fine, I'm curious about what happened to you too. New magic is always interesting."

"We can try to puzzle it out together", he replies, smiling.

"Have you noticed anything being different?"

"I- uhm- yes", Maven admits, a bit reluctant, "everything feels sort of different right now. Sharper... maybe?"

"You feel like your senses are sharper then or does it go further than that?"

"I'm... not sure?", he shrugs, looking apologetical, "I'm still trying to understand and accept whatever has and is happening."

"We have time. There's no need to rush."

"That's good because I don't think I could convince my brain to rush on that unless it was life-or-death and maybe not even then."

"It's okay to not be okay. Being changed by a violent event would bother most people."

Maven nods, "Mhm- thanks. I'm usually a bit chattier."

"...Anyway, do you have somewhere to stay? I don't know if you'd planned on coming here or not."

"I don't. I can make do without but it's usually nicer to have one."

"It's late to find a hotel", he replies, gesturing at the sky (dark, the stars and a single crescent moon visible), "but, uh, one of us could sleep on my couch. If I can manage to sleep."

"That works for me."

"We're not too far." Maven nods. He keeps walking, now less aimlessly, and expects her to follow as she's been doing so far. 

"Okay." She does looking around the new environment as she goes.

As they pass through some larger streets (which are still windy and don't seem to follow a particularly logical or good design), they see less of the floating lights but a few more people. Most of those are walking either hurriedly or purposefully; and the rest either stand near bars or are out for an evening walk or jog. Aside from a strange plant and animal or two, things look quite mundane. 

Cities are often the most boring part of new worlds. Ah well.

This one is not an exception but in the meantime they've arrived to the right building and Maven opens the door.

"Thanks for letting me stay with you." She follows him in.

"Of course", he smiles, taking the stairs up to the second floor and holding the next door open for her.

She goes through the door and continues to follow.

It's a small and slightly untidy apartment. 

"So, which do you prefer?", he asks, grabbing a blanket out of a closet. 

"I'm happy with the couch. I might end up folding myself regardless, and you've had a hard day it'll probably be easier for you to sleep somewhere more familiar."

“Folding yourself? Oh, wait, that’s one of the things you said earlier about your magic, right? And okay”, Maven nods and hands her the blanket

"It's this."

Her flesh simply disappears leaving a mass of thin threads filling her rough outline before they retract apparently into the part that previously corresponded to her right foot and vanish entirely.

Maven stares at the place where Cora was a moment ago, left wordless. She just casually disappeared before his eyes. He's still not sure he isn't dreaming (or having a nightmare, depending on which parts of the evening he considers); his earlier theory about having hit his head also sounds more reasonable than the alleged reality. 

A few seconds later she reverses the process and is standing there again as if nothing happened. "From your reaction I'm guessing local magic isn't as dramatic as that. Or else just rare enough that you hadn't expected to see something that dramatic."

"Mostly the second, I think", he replies, resisting the urge to poke at her (people still feel real in dreams anyway, it wouldn't confirm anything).

"Tonight's been a lot for you hasn't it?"

“Yeah, it has”, he admits with a tired nod.

"I'll be okay, you can focus on you and we can talk again in the morning."

"Well, uhm, till morning, then, goodnight." Maven nods again and steps into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Goodnight." Cora will sit down on the couch before folding herself up again and drifting in the weave. Letting her mind wander to the others in the building and beyond. She's trained herself well enough that she'll notice when he gets close if she isn't already awake.

Maven sleeps deeply. He's never a light sleeper to begin with and he's pretty tired today. He doesn't dream anything, although his sleep isn't entirely peaceful either.

If Cora doesn't wake up before he does, then she'll be waken up by a muffled pained cry and, upon checking on him (either through her magic or by opening the bedroom's door) will find Maven frowning distrustfully at the sunlight streaming through the half-open blinds. 

She'll knock on his door. "What happened?"

"I'm not fully sure", he replies, looking up towards her for a moment before continuing to glare at the window. "I was just opening the blinds and the sunlight hurt."

Maven lifts his hand, "It doesn't look like it's done anything but it felt like burning."

"I can watch with my magic and tell you what I see if you're up for trying again."

“I…”, he thinks about it for a moment before nodding, “alright, I’ll try it. I want to know what it is.”

He takes a deeps breath and then, slowly, moves his hand closer to the light. When the two come into contact, he clenches his jaw. The pain isn’t gentler this time but expecting it makes it somewhat bearable. Maven holds his hand under the sunlight for a few more seconds after which, letting out a breath, he takes a step away from the window.

"Strange, I can tell that it's causing you pain but it doesn't seem to be doing any damage. It doesn't even look like you're being hurt and then immediately healing."

"Well, that's weird. I'm not really surprised that it's weird though, that fits the theme. And at least I didn't have any plans for today."

"What do you know about magic? Is there anything that seems like it might be a clue to all of this?"

"I know... embarrassingly little, really. ...werewolves are sort of confirmed to exist and they can transmit their wolf-ness but they don't have anything against sunlight, as far as I remember. What else... uhm... fae are a very confusing topic and if they're involved I don't have a clue where to start figuring things out. Oh, there's vampires. I can't remember if there's any evidence of their existence but there's plenty of myths of them. There's loads of other creatures that I'm not thinking about too for sure."

"Do Fae or Vampires have difficulties with the sun?"