Chapter Text
The portal gateway glowed bright as a new set of diamond armor, with a teal hue that made everything the light touched look like it was submerged underwater. Jesse had no choice but to dive in, was it likely to be his home portal? No. But neither was any portal in the hallway. Inside the swirling vertigo was a strange occurrence, some sort of... music? Upbeat, melodic music. In all the various portals they had been inside, they had never heard such a thing. Where it was coming from, they had no idea. But once they were through the twisting and turning, they found themselves in a flowery field with sun draping onto every surface. The music had gotten fainter, but wasn’t all the way gone. It sounded like it was coming from ahead. Only a few idyllic ticks passed before they saw a pink blur skipping toward them, the closer it got the more they could make out about the figure. They were pink-haired, with mostly yellow and white clothing and a black cat tail. Strange though their appearance was, nothing like Jesse and his friends had ever seen, they didn’t judge. Other worlds probably had troves of different creatures thriving in their own little habitats.
“Are you guys lost? I haven’t seen you here before.” The part cat-part person inquired, tail waving around the air cautiously.
“Well, basically. We’re just trying to find our home.” Jesse was careful to not reveal too much information, as he didn’t know the moral compass of this stranger.
“Oh, well I can help! Call me Airi, that over there is where my town is.” She pointed to the distant bridge behind her, they couldn’t see much past it, just the faint bright colors of a new destination.
The serenity of the sights and sounds all around them was broken up by a loud, high-pitched sneeze. Then another, and another.
“So sorry, but uh, did one of you bring a cat here?” Airi asked, sniffling and trying her best to hold in a fourth sneeze.
Jesse furrowed his brow, surely a cat-human can’t be allergic to cats, how in the world would that work?
Lukas stepped forward, “It might be me... I have a pet ocelot at home and he likes to get his fur all over my clothes.”
Airi laughed, her pink pigtails tied with black-tipped yellow bows swishing with the movement. “Ah. Well I’m allergic to cats.”
“Wouldn’t you be allergic to yourself then?” Petra questioned, a deadpan expression on her face, her arms crossed.
“Nah, I got used to myself after a while.” Airi crossed her arms back at Petra as if it was a rude question. But she wasn’t mad or offended, just playful.
“I'm scared of cats. They just... freak me out.” Jesse said, unaware that this could be a very offensive thing to say considering their current company.
Airi and Lukas laughed. “I’m right here you know... hissss! Reow!” Airi joked, brandishing her claw-less fingers in a claws-out-and-ready-to-scratch-you pose.
“Right, my bad.” Jesse rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously.
Once everyone had finished laughing, a homesickness set back in, one that had been embedded into Jesse and his friends’ hearts since the day they ran into that first portal. Lukas in particular really missed his ocelot, being reminded of him by this new friend. He hoped that Olivia and Axel might be taking good care of him, but he had no way to know. He was usually pretty self-sufficient, but the ache of being without his owner probably deteriorated that ability somewhat.
“I know you miss your home, but Clovertown is really a great place for newcomers!” Airi exclaimed, seemingly reading their minds. “It's just across this bridge up here, I'll show you plenty of places you can stay while we track down your place.” Her tail swished with excitement, sending waves of air against her honey-hued overalls.
“To be clear, we're not from here at all, cat lady. We're from an entirely different world, we just need to find the exit portal here and get out.” Ivor said straightforwardly.
“Oh, I get it. Well my offer is still out there, I really will help you.” Airi said, it sounded as though she was not at all surprised by the revelation that there were other worlds out there, it was just like the nether and the overworld to her.
“We might as well accept.” Lukas stated, shrugging and looking to Jesse.
“Yeah. Let's go.” Jesse said.