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?"

“Fae… not that I can think of but they are pretty varied and even more mysterious than magic in general so who knows. Vampires might? It’s relatively common in stories but those aren’t necessarily true. And now I’m worried about the blood-drinking thing if I that’s it.”

"The blood drinking thing?"

“Vampires usually drink blood?”

"That does sound inconvenient. Usually it's not too widely available."

He chuckles, “Yeah, exactly.”

"Are there other signs that make you think you might be a vampire?"

“Maybe if I looked up some information about them,” he shrugs. “And I guess I could check if I’ve got any bite marks, although I don’t know if they’d still show.”

She thinks back on what she can remember of his injuries and then looks over his body with her magic. "Did you have a scar on the left side of your neck before yesterday?"

“… and that’s the answer to that, I guess.” He’s pretty sure he didn’t have one but he still finds a mirror to take a look at it first. Yeah, that scar is certainly new and it looks more or less like he’d have imagined a vampire’s bite’s to look like.

"Do the stories of vampires go into any advantages or special abilities they have? Also, is it alright if I open the door? It's a bit awkward to talk through it."

“I think they’re a bit inconsistent. We could look it up now? And go ahead, I’m all dressed and everything.”

She opens the door and steps in. "I'm happy to go along with that. Also, there is a chance I could restore you to how you were but it's fading. I can only change people in ways that take them closer to how they feel they're supposed to be and I can tell you're already adjusting to your new body.

"It also might not work at all, the vampiric magic might fight me and I don't know if I could overpower it or if it would have side effects."

He blinks slowly, making sure he's understood her correctly. "Do you think it'd be dangerous to try to do it...?"

"There's always some risk with unknown magics but I can fix most problems short of death and I don't think it would kill you."

"Then I think I'm up for it as long as you are too. If it can't reverse it, I imagine that at worst it'll hurt while your magic and the vampiric one argue and that seems like an okay-ish risk. So, uh, do I need to do anything?"

"It will be easier if you lie down. And I'll also need to touch you to have the best chance."

"Alright." Maven nods and sits down on the edge of the bed. Then he lies down, legs hanging over the side. He doesn't think it'll affect things but closing his eyes feels appropriate and so he does it anyway. 

She puts a hand on his side and closes her eyes to focus on her magical senses. She looks for places where he's especially unhappy with the changes and based on his recent experience his skin seems to be a good starting point. As she looks deeper though it isn't really enough. "I don't think this is going to work. I don't usually look this closely inside people but I can see changes that you seem to have accepted. I might be able to reverse the changes in your skin but I don't think a partial reversion is going to be stable. I can still try if you want me to."

"Huh- I guess the changes to my senses have been okay. And blood-thirst hasn't shown up yet, if that's a thing," he replies quietly, talking mostly to himself. 

"By my skin, do you mean pain reaction to sunlight? Because that I'd really like gone. So, uh, we can try and even if it isn't stable I don't think it'll make things worse."

"Okay then, try to focus on that. It'll make it easier for me."

She doesn't wait for a response she just starts coaxing his skin into taking on it's previous state.

Maven nods and does as instructed. He has recent memories that he can use to focus on how not-nice it is!

The vampire-magic does feel opposed to Cora’s, even if not about that change in particular. But it’ll partially (and begrudgingly) give up if she keeps at it for long enough.

She's patient enough. And it's an interesting thing opposing a new sort of magic. "I think that did it. I can't be sure it won't turn back later but it seems stable for the moment."

"Thank you." He opens his eyes and sits up, stretching. "Should we test it?"

"Of course."

Maven chuckles and walks up to the window, placing a hand under the sunlight.

Cora watches with her eyes and her magic. The sunlight doesn't hurt him.

Yay!

“Thank you!”, he’s already said it before but it’s still very much true!

“So, what would you like to do after breakfast?”

"I'm not sure, are there interesting landmarks or places you'd suggest someone new to the area visit?"

"One of the parks has a most-likely magical tree. And a variety of other interesting plants and animals. There's some areas with nice architecture? Nothing else I can think of right now."

"I like trees and magic so a magic tree sounds great. Otherwise I can just wander around a bit. What would you usually be doing?"

“Well, I usually have class but this week we’re on holidays. And I didn’t have any plans for today,” he shrugs, “so I don’t mind going for a walk with you.”

"That sounds like a plan then."

“Great! But let’s have breakfast first.”

"That works for me too."

“I think I’ve got cereal and fruits”, he says, checking the cupboards and fridge, “or I guess we could cook something.”

"Whatever is fine, it might be mundane for you but it will be novel for me."

"Do you think the fruits here are different from yours? Because I don't have any unusual ones."

"Food is usually different everywhere I go. Even when people look like they're the same species."

"Well, you can tell me after you've tasted some!", he tosses her an apple and grabs one for himself.

She watches him for a clue on how to eat it. It wouldn't hurt her to eat it whole but people often don't eat fruit whole.

He rinses his apple and then bites into it. Noticing that Cora is watching him, he asks, "Do you want a knife to peel it?", while opening the relevant drawer to give her said knife.  

There's some barely perceptible sparkle on the apple in her hand. "I just wasn't sure how to eat it." She bites in. "Is good, do people usually eat the whole thing?"

"Not the stem," he gestures at it, "it's basically a twig. And the core and seeds are edible but not very good. Some people remove the skin but I like to eat it too."

"Okay." She nods and takes another bite.

Maven nods and does the same. "I've also got bananas and an orange or two. You can taste those later if you want to."

"I'd like that."

“Before or after we go for a walk?”, he asks between bites.  

"Do you usually just eat a single piece of fruit for breakfast? I'm all for trying more food but I don't know how valuable it is and I'm not in a rush on either count. If I have to pick I'll go with after."

"Yeah, but that's mainly because I'm used to being on a rush to not be late to class." He chuckles, a bit awkwardly. "I usually just have some other snacks throughout the morning. You can have some more fruit now, or cereal, if you want to." Maven takes a box of (chocolate) cereal out from a cupboard.

"Food is something I enjoy, not something I need. I'm happy to go for a walk."

Maven shrugs, “Well, then we can go see the tree and, depending on how long we’re out for, we could get something to eat.”

"That sounds like a good plan to me."