Either the Otherworld had a sense of humor, or Leila had some odd magic or luck around the circumstances in which she found herself there. The first time she'd strode in there awake and aware of it, she was setting out to the gas station down the block to get some ice cream. And now she was there again after grabbing an apple out of the fridge -- its interior occupying her sight entirely before closing it served as a transition point just as well as physically moving through a doorway, apparently. Maybe she would start asking Eve to fetch stuff from closets and cupboards for her so there wouldn't be as much of a risk of these spontaneous disappearances in the future. At least she had her snack this time.
The rain quickly stuck her clothes and hair to her arms and body, making her cold and irritable; she briefly considered taking refuge in one of the buildings nearby. Smol had spoken of doors being a common exit back into the 'real' world. If she were lucky, she'd be back there in just a few minutes and be able to dry herself off. She took a first bite of her apple as she started up a walkway to a small house, and was surprised at the door being open. That meant safety from the rain while she gathered her bearings, at least. Even if there was no luck on her plans for a quick escape so far.
That didn't mean some
other door in this same building wouldn't be Leila's ticket out of here, though. She remained hopeful that it wouldn't take much searching to find a true exit if she kept at it a bit longer. It was especially dim inside, but the need to find more doors meant that finding the light switch was a quick and simple matter. There was
always a light for her lately. It was handy magic. Dim orange incandescence flickered to life in a moment, just enough to clearly see the details of the sitting room -- and also that the room was
crawling. Other folk probably would have screamed in terror. As it was, though, Leila's face merely took on a lopsided grin and she said, "
Huh!"
The hardwood floors and furniture were overtaken and being methodically stripped down by termites, all spotted over with an unusual
something bubbling out from under the cracks between their segments. It looked perhaps like a fungal infection at first glance, but the familiar pattern of ommatidia -- the functional units of insect compound eyes -- gave Leila a reason to cautiously second-guess that assumption. It was other Ashdown. One visit had been enough to make it apparent that incredibly weird s**t lived here. So what if they
were eyes? In the real world geneticists had cultivated mutant fruit flies with a similar appearance, eyes over every segment, and whatever forces that governed life in the Otherworld may have induced the same mutation in this colony... even though termites were usually eyeless in the conventional sense.
All over the room, wood was being stripped of finish (which took a lot more cleverness than regular termites had), splintered down, chewed up and carried in an orderly fashion to... elsewhere, under another closed door. It was very obviously not a way back, but Leila was curious. So, she carefully followed.
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