Evening

The door to the apartment swings open. Katherine stumbles in, about to flop down onto the couch (which she typically does after particularly exhausting days such as this one) but decided to not, to allow her guest somewhere to sit.

Annabelle (who had explained that fae are alright going by either Abigail or Annabelle), walks in after her, carrying a a bag of groceries and Katherine's bag with them. Fae had insisted to her that they be the one to take them up, strangely.

"The kitchen's over there, and you can dump my bag whenever. I can find like. A spare tank top or something for you to wear tonight if that works for you. Hell, maybe I actually have something your size somewhere."
Katherine lets out a cackle, and Anna follows suit.
Fae speak in a soft, quiet tone. "Do you want me to put them away?"
"You sure you know where everything goes?"
"I'm sure I can figure it out.."
Katherine nods at them, and then goes into her bedroom to sift through the closet.

Abigail slides the backpack down her arm, and places the grocery bag onto the kitchen bench. Taking out the ingredients that they had gotten. Tomato, lettuce, cheese, mince, taco seasoning, and some tortillas. Katherine didn't have anything in mind, but Anna said that fae wanted tacos, so she got together the ingredients for them. Even though fae aren't particularly fond of cheese, but they could leave that for their host.

There was a few other assorted things in the bag, for breakfast tomorrow and some general things that Katherine was needing to get soon anyway. Annabelle looks around, spotting the fridge and opening it. It looks relatively empty. Katherine must not have guests over often.

Speaking of her, she peeks her head around the corner again.
"Found some stuff that isn't too bad I think. Should be comfy enough for you at least."
Anna yells back a thank you, and Katherine goes back to put it in the bathroom. She was going to let faer shower first.
...As much as they aren't looking forward to that.

Later that night, the two of them sit on the couch, Abigail with one of faer legs crossed up under them, and Katherine fighting the urge to sit on the arm rest beside her while there's a guest over, hugging one of her legs to her.

Katherine had put on the news channel. Her thought process was that Annabelle wouldn't have much idea of the current happenings. She really had no idea where fae came from, or how much about the city fae knew of.

The cafe that Katherine works at isn't quite a normal cafe. There's no menu. No trucks come in with food and supplies each week. Everything needed for the day simply appears in the storeroom. In exact quantities too. No more than needed, no less than needed.

Katherine had her suspicions. There was always one story or another about the mystical or unknown happening in the city, despite what the people in charge would prefer. Some think that everything's a hoax. Some adamantly believe that all of it is real. Many have too many other things going on in their lives to pay attention to it.

Katherine does not question the cafe. She doesn't report the strangeness to anyone. She doesn't even know if the Cafe has an owner. She had seen an opening on a job searching site one day, and went in for an interview, only to be met with a sheet of instructions on the counter top and an unlocked door. No boss or employer greeted her. Just an empty cafe and a storage room with a few boxes in it. It at least pays well.

Today was the first time that anything living had appeared in the storeroom, and for it to be a strange girl of all things is... weird. Well, her whole job is kinda weird but. Why faer? Why now. Who are fae?

Katherine snaps her focus back out of her own memory, and looks sideways at the girl.

Annabelle sits there, leaning on the armrest, distant. Zoned out.

Katherine grabs the remote and shuts off the TV.
Abigail makes a little questioning noise at her.

"You didn't seem to be watching it."

Fae dip their head back down. "Yeah, I never really liked the news."

The air is still and quiet. Katherine forces herself to speak again.
"So... um..." she pauses to think, and to mentally prepare herself. She has no idea if this is, like, the right thing to say? But...

Their eyes meet for a moment, Abigail looking inquisitively at Katherine. Directly at her. Both of them realise at the same time and turn away.
"Sorry, it was a dumb question."
"No, go on, I'm interested."

...Fuck. Okay, fine.
"I wanted to ask..." Katherine lets out a sigh. "To ask... what you remember, just before... you know, waking up. Where you came from."
Annabelle takes a deep breath. "I don't quite remember. I think I was in my parents house, but... I don't know, those memories feel... so distant. Like... they're... not..."
"Don't strain yourself trying to remember. It's okay. Just..."

Katherine readies herself to explain.
"Where you woke up, isn't... it's..."
"A cafe."
"Yes, but it's. Not quite a. Usual one. I think that it's like. This sounds stupid but like, a magic cafe. It's weird. It's unusual. Every morning that I go to it, I open the door to the storeroom and there's just food in there. Food that wasn't there the night before. Exactly enough food for the day. Even some stuff you wouldn't find in a cafe." She laughs a bit. "There's this one guy that shows up every Tuesday and orders a fucking pizza. And every Tuesday we have exactly one pizza for him. It's fucking weird."

Katherine turns to Annabelle.
"So imagine my surprise when-"
"When I show up, crying on the floor..."
Katherine pauses.

Abigail curls up, hugging her legs to herself.
"I remember wishing that I was somewhere else. That I could just get away. I remember that."
Katherine shuffles a bit closer.
"Where are you from?"
A sniffle escapes the girl.
"I don't remember. Well- no. I do remember. But it feels like I shouldn't. Whenever I try to say it my brain just... I can't. It's like I'm not supposed to remember."

Katherine reels back a little. She doesn't consider herself the best at comforting people.
"You remember anything like. Not specific? Or like-- the landscape, do you remember that? Like the way the buildings looked?"

Annabelle shifts a bit, still hiding in herself.
"I remember... trees. Lots of trees around my house. And bushes. I think we were like... well it wasn't a densely populated area. Outskirts of the town. Early on in my life I remember being scared of climbing the trees, despite all the boys around me always getting up to shit like that. I remember one person's house had like these stairs that I was terrified of. I'm better with heights now but stairs can still be scary sometimes..."

Katherine listens intently.
"Wait so... you don't live in the city? You lived in the forests?"
"Oh, the closest city was an hour away. State's capital city was like... two and a half."

Katherine has no idea what a capital city is. She just knows of the city.
"There's... more than one city?"
Annabelle looks up towards her, confused and a bit concerned.
"Yes... of course there is? What are you talking about?"
"I've never been told about like. More than one city. This is just the city. Everything else after it ends is just forest, apparently. Supposedly it gets denser the further out you go until there's just. No space to move. Some say that the trees swallow you whole, but there's probably just like. Animals out there that eat you or something."

Annabelle is maybe more confused than Katherine is, giving her a blank stare.
"Look out the window if you don't believe me." She rises from the couch, and Abigail uncurls herself and follows.
"We're pretty close to the city limits so you can just see the hills and forests. They're prettier at sunset, trust me."

She pulls up the blind, and Anna sees them. The cities turn to housing, then to a grassy field, then to forest. Forest that stretches on as far as the horizon goes, even covering the occasional hills that she sees, all shining in the bright moonlight. Abigail looks forth in awe.

"And you're saying..." fae ask, "that there's nothing out there?"
"Apparently."
Anna simply continues staring. Both of them remain silent.