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karen

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It's been a couple weeks since this hole in the world had shown up in Darrow. Han had considered crossing over into it, had come awfully close more than once, but he's heard stories about people meeting their doubles and that's pretty much all that's kept him from taking that step. He'll never admit he's worried about what he might find, that he doesn't want to face a possible alternate version of himself that's either far more successful or just a complete idiot. Han doesn't want to have to deal with either one.

Then there's the possibility of who else he might find there. Another Luke or Rey or Poe, maybe even a Leia, and it all seems a little too daunting. For a man who's spent his whole life smuggling and fighting and getting out of sticky situations, it's stupid to be worried about something like this, but Han hasn't been able to overcome that block. Until today.

Today, he'd gotten out of bed, made himself a coffee, and walked straight to the cemetery. What's changed, he's not too sure. All he knows is there's no way he won't regret if he doesn't cross over at least once to the other side, just to see what he might find. There are a few other people crowded around the breach, maybe having the same kinds of thoughts he is, and that's when he sees her.

"Karen." He calls out her name, heading toward her with a hand lifted, then nods toward the breach when he's close enough to her. "You going through, too? Guess I shouldn't be too surprised." Han flashed her a smile. "We like getting into trouble, right? Doesn't seem like there's any better way than doing this."

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Her life since showing up in Darrow has been strange, even more so than in New York, which is saying something, but these past couple weeks have been something else entirely. During them, Karen has been going back and forth from one Darrow to the other, spending as much time as she can on the other side of the breach, coming back at night to try to piece together something coherent out of what she's learned. Just what she's trying to accomplish, she isn't yet entirely certain, but it's an impulse she can't help, either. There's something going on and things there might be even weirder than they are here, and that's enough to get her curiosity piqued.

She's getting ready for another trip over, messenger bag slung over her shoulder, when she hears her name, and smiles at the sight of Han. What he has to say isn't wrong, either. Just like she has a knack for figuring out shit that people are trying to keep buried, she likewise has one for getting herself into trouble. They might as well do so together. "I am, yeah," she says, nodding. "And I'd say you're not wrong about that. Have you been over yet?"

"Not yet," Han admits, shifting on his feet as he eyes the breach. "Been busy, had places to be, you know how it is." It's better than saying he's a little bit afraid of what he might find, that's for damn sure. "Thought it was about time I gave it a shot before it was too late."

He glances over at her, observing how prepared she looks, how she doesn't seem unnerved at all. If he had to bet on it, Han would say there's no chance this is her first time going through and frankly, he appreciates that it doesn't come as a big shocker. Karen had probably been one of the first in line to get over to the other side, and Han wonders what she'd found that's taking her back.

"You've been there, I'm guessin'," he says. "Good thing, now I don't have to ask around for a tour guide."

"I have," Karen says, the slightest bit sheepish, though at least in this case, it might work in their favor. "I've probably been spending more time there than I should, actually, I just... I figure I should try to find out as much as I can while I can." For one, it's fascinating. Even setting that aside, though, there are clearly things going on there that are different to their Darrow, things that should probably be brought to light. If it comes to that, she has no problem being the one to make that happen. At least she has an interdimensional breach to potentially help keep her safe.

In the meantime, that's far from a priority, and she isn't going to pass up a trip, especially with a friend. "So, yes, I'd be glad to show you around."

She admits to it like she's done something a little bit wrong, but Han just smirks at her, a knowing brow raised. If he hadn't been so concerned about what might be on the other side of that breach, Han would've already crossed the line, too. Besides, there's nothing wrong with looking for some adventure, and if Karen's still standing, it's a good enough indication that there doesn't seem to be too much danger involved. Not that he's run at this point, even if there was.

"Well, I guess we shouldn't waste any more time," he says, taking a deep breath before stepping forward. "Though if I don't make it over, for some reason, if things get nutty all of a sudden, it's been real nice knowing you."

"Likewise, if either one of us doesn't make it, it's been nice knowing you, too," Karen says, more teasing than not, though it's true. There are few people here she'd really consider friends so far, but Han is undoubtedly one of them, the way he helped her the night she showed up nothing that she could easily forget. That he'd been there when she needed someone, even if she wouldn't have been likely to admit it, goes a long way as far as she's concerned. "So far I haven't run into any trouble, but I also don't have a lot of experience with traveling between worlds like this, so who knows?"

At least it's just a city on the other side, and not like the hole that opened up in the sky during the Incident. Whatever structural damage has been done, however strange it might be, it's a hell of a lot better than that.

Han's been to all kinds of different planets, run into different life forms, seen all the different ways beings in the galaxy live; but somehow, there's just something different about this. On the other side of that breach, he's not going to find another Jabba or Greedo, there's just the possibility of facing a version of himself he's really not going to like.

Or hell, maybe there will be a Jabba and Greedo. Maybe they're really nice and not at all looking to kill him on that side of the breach. Then again, Han shouldn't hope for that because he thinks he might just drop dead from the shock.

"You met anyone you know on the other side?" he asks her, and it's a selfish question because what he really wants to know is whether or not he should expect that himself. "Anyone who, you know, reminds you a little too much of yourself?"

"Not met in person," Karen says, shaking her head. "One of the council members over there is… the same as someone I’m friends with over here, except different. If there’s a me, though, I haven’t seen her." That, as far as she’s concerned, can only be a good thing. Whatever another version of herself might be like, she isn’t too interested in finding out, or learning what they do and don’t have in common. If there were one, she doubts she’d be so eager to continue making trips over to the other side, spending as much time over there as she possibly can.

Then there’s the article about John, too, but she’d promised him she wouldn’t say anything about it to anyone, and she means to keep her word. There isn’t any reason to bring it up now anyway.

"I haven’t met another you, either," she adds, smiling crookedly at him. "So all things considered, it could be worse."

"Well, that's unfortunate for you, meeting another me would probably be the highlight of your day."

Actually, hearing Karen say that comes as a huge relief, but he just smirks and steps through the breach without another word. Han doesn't know what he'd expected, maybe a tingle or something while passing through, but he blinks and is suddenly in a Darrow that suddenly feels less familiar. There's no fanfare, no significant change in the air, and if it weren't for the way the city looks different from what he knows, Han would think nothing had happened at all.

Somehow, that seems even stranger than the alternative.

"Okay," he says, scanning their surroundings like he's looking for something, though Han wouldn't be able to say what. "Where to?"

She's grown used to this by now, crossing through the breach, finding herself on the other side, facing a mirror image of the city she just left. It's almost strange to think about, how she could find it normal, but then, for her, at least, the world has changed so much in the last few years anyway that it really should be no wonder that she's gotten used to this, too. Superheroes and aliens and shit like that — there might as well be a hole between dimensions. It's not pushing things any further than her showing up here in the first place.

Having a friend here with her, though, that's new, and she smiles as she looks over at Han, just this side of mischievous. "I guess that depends on what you want to do," she says. "Usually I find somewhere to hole up and work, but there's plenty to look at."

"Where's the fun in that?" Han teases, stepping forward, even if it's a bit cautiously. It's not like he thinks anything's going to happen, the ground isn't going to open up beneath them and swallow them up, but that doesn't make him any less suspicious of what they might end up finding. Sure, Karen's already been here and lived to talk about it and yeah, even if they do get into trouble, Han's confident they'd be able to get out of it one way or another; but there's still that possibility, however slight, that he'll see something he can't unsee. Learn something he won't be able to forget.

It's that kind of stuff that freaks him out, the stuff that'll get under his skin. Everything else, he can handle. Hell, he's up for the adventure.

"I have no idea what I want to do," he admits, shrugging a shoulder. "Didn't really know what to expect. Maybe something a little more exciting."

"Yeah, it's really the portal, or whatever it is, that's the exciting part," Karen admits, pulling a face, though she's laughing as she does. She finds excitement in far more than that, too, but she doesn't expect everyone to be as taken with all the details as she is, or to want to try to document them. This city, like the one they just stepped out of, has its own definition of normal. She wants to understand what that is and why it came to be, to take in every last bit of information she can, to maybe figure out what's going on under the surface. She's picked up bits and pieces of things, but it isn't enough yet, her picture an incomplete one.

Today, though, isn't about that. Her journalistic pursuits can be temporarily set aside in the name of having fun with a friend. "I mean, aside from the buildings and some of the technology — and, God, the clothes — it's not really too different. Or it is, but not in the ways you can see. But I'm sure we can figure something out."

"I'd suggest a drink but that's pretty much what I default to every time we meet up," Han says, which isn't actually a problem as far as he's concerned, but they can probably find something else to do here. Something that might even actually be worth taking back to their Darrow.

"You learned much about this place yet?" he asks. "Does it pretty much run the same way as our city or what? We could go poking around for that kind of information. We're just a couple of upstanding citizens trying to understand our history better, right?"

"That's what I'm always trying to tell people," Karen says, half-teasing, her nose wrinkling as she smiles. "Sometimes, if I'm lucky, they even believe me." She's done alright thus far, but she'd also started with the very basics, getting her hands on everything she could that's public knowledge and working her way up from there. In both its similarities and differences, it's hard not to find this place fascinating. Even if she weren't looking to try to really understand it — to make sense of what's under the surface and put that information out there — she suspects curiosity alone would have her doing the same thing. "It's not totally different, from what I've figured out so far, but it's worth trying to see what we can find out."

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