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It hadn't taken much to find him. Shun, that was. Knowing his name and profession made it pretty damn easy to locate the man in the town like Ashdown. All it took was a note addressed to him with her number on it, a brief message about needing to talk to him and she received a call. It had been a bit nerve wracking actually. She hadn't been sure if Shun would even bother trying to call her, but thankfully the man must have found some way to get over her mistakes in the past. That or he was just a bleeding heart who wanted to help people.

She wasn't so sure about the latter.

Still, it was 8pm, the sun was down, and Juniper was enjoying the cool evening on a bench just outside of a coffee shop she had suggested for their meet-up. Though she was on a terribly, terribly tight budget she wanted to give the man some kind of token of appreciation for his time, so offered to buy him a drink while they chatted. She had already informed him about her want to learn more about the Other Ashdown and how he had seemed like the most logical starting place. After all, he had been there on her first foray into the other world and had seemed to know a bit about what the hell was going on.

The light sweater she wore over her tank top did a good job of covering up the bandage around her upper left arm. She wore a pair of jean capris, obviously well loved with holes in them, to fend of the autumn crispness that was beginning to eek into the air. She still wasn't ready to give up her flip-flops though.

She was just about to glance down at her phone to check the time when a familiar figure caught her attention coming up the sidewalk. Juniper rose up from her seat to meet Shun. "Hey." She called, as she walked over to him. "Thanks for coming out. I know you're busy and all."

"Right." She smiled and led the way into the coffee shop. There was a reasonable crowd for this time at night, but nothing overly obnoxious. Many of the people there seemed to be working on their computers or were focused on books while sipping away at their drinks. Probably students or something. She mused to herself as she walked up to the counter.

She ordered herself a a basic coffee, nothing fancy, to keep the cost down. Shun, she let order what he wished, and handed over her bank card to the cashier to pay. She took the proffered receipt and tucked it neatly into her wallet, before dropping it back into her purse.

"OK. Um, how about a seat towards the back? It doesn't seem quite as busy back there." She gestured to a small booth that was nestled in the corner of the shop. "They'll bring our drinks once they're done. It's one reason I like this place." She shrugged. "It's the little things."

She led the way to the booth and slipped into the closest seat. Leaving Shun with the seat that faced the rest of the coffee shop. She plopped her purse next to hear and pulled off her sweater. The shop was a comfortable enough temperature that the sweat was no needed. She was careful at peeling it off of her wrapped up arm since she had no desire to have to try and wrap it back up again. Once free of the clothing though, she dropped it unceremoniously on top of her purse.

"Right." She sighed. "I guess the first question I want to ask is how long you've known about this Other Ashdown? What is the point of it?"

"Blackfriars?" Juniper raised a brow before sighing. "I pretty much know nothing besides what happened at the theatre and the ball. Hell, I don't even know what happened at the end of the ball after I was carted away with the other tithes." She flicked a hand to emphasis her point. "I am pretty much walking into all of this blind and well...after the ball, I've realized I am better off not being ignorant."

Sure, Juniper was the kind of gal who liked to just take things as they came, but she also wasn't a complete idiot. Sure she had her blonde moments and could be terribly headstrong, but contrary to what some may think she didn't do things willy-nilly. When she did something there was passion or purpose behind it, but up until this point there was more passion. She needed to know what the hell she was getting pulled into.

"OK. So magic is a real thing. It's....strange to say that, but my inner child can easily get into it. But do we know why it's contained in this Other Ashdown and why it's leaking? How much magic can we actually perform over there and here, if any here?"

Juniper wouldn't lie and say she wasn't thinking about the fact that magic could possibly make her life a bit more easier. If it was able to be used, that was.

"Very vaguely." She admitted. "I don't have have cable, or get the newspaper, and my internet time is very sparse. So it's safe to assume I probably know nothing useful about that. Just whatever I heard mumbled at work which was probably all bullshit speculation anyway." She shrugged. "Retail workers hears all kind of strange stories."

A brow rose. "The Enemy?" God how much was there to this other world? Shun was beginning to make it sound like she was stepping into a darker and creepier version of Harry Potter.

"Alright, so Magic is super powerful on that side and meh on this side. Easy enough to remember." She rested her head on her hand which was propped up via her elbow on the table. "So when I am over there I could shoot fireballs from my hands or even fly?" That was an interesting concept.

Hmmm...I wonder if I could sprout wings or something. Now that would be fun.

"Yea. That whole cage thing was....confusing to say the least." She shrugged. "But I began to piece stuff together the more I heard. But over all, the cage was to keep The Enemy well...caged up. What happened with that? I didn't exactly see the end result of that whole ball thing."

She toyed with the stir straw in her coffee. When -I- had released the Destroyer. Guess he hasn't forgiven me for that yet.

"I tried magic again at the ball to heal someone who had gotten hurt. It was tiring, and I feel like I couldn't do a proper job since I am not well versed with the human anatomy." She shrugged. "But at least the guy wasn't going to possibly die anymore once I finished."

"Is it usually draining? Doing magic? Can we possibly hurt ourselves by doing too much?"

"Hm. Alright. I assume it's in our best interest to strengthen this cage? Or did I miss something? I wouldn't imagine having someone called 'The Enemy' getting out would be good."

Like, Shun, Juniper took a moment to sip at her coffee as she collected her thoughts. She felt sort of bad to be bombarding the man with all of her questions though. Carefully she set the coffee down, placing the stirrer that had been in it on a napkin.

"Alright. So, being tired after trying to heal someone is probably normal. I can't imagine feeling the pain of the injuries as you're trying to heal someone. That's intense."

She leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "I feel like I am bombarding you with a ton of questions. I am sorry. I guess this sort of feels like an interrogation." She gave him a wry smile. "I do appreciate the fact that you're helping me out, even if you aren't too keen on me." She shrugged. "I didn't really give the best first impression I suppose."

The cage was also our cage? Interesting. She'd have to think about that one and perhaps see what others say about that.

"And this is why I am trying to fix my ignorance." She admitted. "Otherwise I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of contacting you and just kept going on with life the way I was." She shrugged as she lifted her coffee up to sip at again. "I figured that wasn't in the best interest of myself or others." Sipping at hte hot liquid, she leaned forward on the table again, cup still in hand. "I don't think there's such a thing as being too compassionate though. Sorry. I don't see what's wrong with worrying about others and trying to help."

"Their system over there is...weird. I can't say I agree with it. I mean, just look at the nobles and their tithes. They were practically used like slaves. It's despicable that they were abused the way they were. I don't much care if our rules matter or not over there. I know what is morally right and what isn't. I don't think anything will change my opinion on that. I also won't apologize for being this way. It's who I am as a person." She shrugged. "But, getting as much information as I can will help me to at least put more thought into what consequences my actions may or may not have."

Juniper was surprised. She had no idea that Melany had been close to death. What the hell had happened towards the end of the ball? Something unexpected, certainly. Still, she knew her answer to that question without having to really think about it.

"No." She sat her cup on the table in front of her, both hands clasping the warm cardboard mug. "I am not compassionate to a default. I can hold grudges. The s**t that woman did was horrible. I do believe in karma, and karma can be quite a b***h."

"Damn. I had no idea that Melany had been 'saved' let alone possibly close to dying." She huffed and sat back in her seat again with an audible thump.