<span style="font-style: italic">After taking a few steps away from the boy, a portal appeared before her and Rose did not hesitate to enter it, to disappear from this world. When she stepped through the portal, she came out in a large penthouse, a place she used as a sort of “base” between travels. It was hardly a home, with no real personal touches to be found anywhere, but it served its purpose, giving her a place to return to when she had no further destination in mind when leaving a world. She had probably had another destination planned after this one, but if she had, it had been temporarily forgotten. <br/><br/>She immediately slipped her shoes off, placing them neatly near the door before shedding her coat and hanging it on a nearby rack. From there she headed into the kitchen, pulling a glass and a bottle from the cupboard and pouring herself a glass. She swirled the liquid only briefly before downing it all in a single swig. She took a second to enjoy the warmth that temporarily spread through her before heading to the bedroom. <br/><br/>As she entered the bedroom, she freed her hair from the bun it had been pinned in and let her straightened dark hair tumble over her shoulders. Moments later she found herself in the bathroom, where she turned on the water before shedding her clothes and then stepping into the shower. She let the warm water wash over her, hoping that this, combined with the rather potent alcohol she had just downed might help her to start to forget this night ever happened, that such a part of her existed. <br/><br/>Who would have ever thought she would do something like that? She certainly wouldn’t have. She’d done several rather uncharacteristic things today, including using her abilities to help someone, giving away money, and worse, giving away something far more valuable, the pendant that she’d worn around her neck. It was custom-made, with a gem she had collected herself from an uninhabited world. All that time and effort spent and for what? To give it away to some kid she met on the street? Not that it held any sentimental value at all, it didn't, really, but it was essentially priceless, especially to the right buyer.<br/><br/>The worst part was knowing that she’d done all of this knowing full well that she would most likely never see that money again. Sure, she’d left that kid a note telling him he could pay her back later, but that was for show more than anything. The likelihood that she would ever visit that miserable version of earth again was very low, and the chances that she would run into him if she did were almost nonexistent. She didn’t believe in fate or any such nonsense, so the possibility that this meeting was destiny never once crossed her mind. <br/><br/>She stood under the water for what seemed like an eternity before she finally turned it off. Even then she didn’t move immediately. She simply stood there, watched as drops of water fell to the tiled floor below. Eventually she snapped out of it and exited the shower, willing herself to move on, to forget that her moment of weakness had ever happened. It was difficult and for a long time it seemed damn near impossible. She was reminded of that day far too often, and a few times she’d even briefly wondered what had happened to the kid. <br/><br/>Time moved on, though, and so did she. As the years passed, the memories of that night faded, not showing themselves often, and becoming easier to dismiss. She never truly forgot, but at least she moved on, convincing herself that it was a moment of weakness and nothing more, that it had meant nothing. After all, why should it mean anything? She had acted on a whim, as she always did, and as she continued to do for the better part of two decades. <br/></span><br/><br/>Ambrosia woke early from a dreamless sleep. She hadn’t slept but a few hours, yet she couldn’t fall back to sleep. She simply laid there, between the silk sheets that covered the king size bed, which sat in the middle of the large master bedroom that bore no personal touches at all. The decorations were minimal and the place almost seemed cold and lonely. Not that it mattered anyways. Today would be her last day here.<br/><br/>She tended to get bored and change the location of her “home base” every few years, if not more frequently. She never found any reason to stay in any of these worlds, so leaving when her minimal and fickle interest changed was never difficult for her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had actually felt attached to anything or anyone. Without those attachments, places tended to get boring quick. She had barely been here two years and she was already bored, ready to move on. So when one of her acquaintances had contacted her to let her know that they had found a place they thought she might be interested in, she had been all too happy to accept. Now, she was ready to get things moving, to live in a new place on a new world. Not that anything would really change, or that a new place with the same minimalism and lack of homeliness would really change anything at all, but it would at least feel a little different for a little while, anyways.<br/><br/>When she saw the early morning sun peeking through the thin curtains that hung over the large glass windows, she finally decided to get out of bed. She slid out from between the sheets and walked to the kitchen. She was alone, so she didn’t bother to cover herself with the robe that hung near the bedroom door. Instead she strode into the kitchen, rubbing her temples lightly, trying to ease the headache that had set in. Whether it was because she drank too much last night or because she had been traveling so much lately, she couldn’t say. She might be an immortal being, but she was not immune to the effects of overusing her abilities, especially for inter-dimensional travel.<br/><br/>Either way, it hardly mattered why she had the headache. What mattered was easing it as soon as possible. She opened a cabinet and retrieved a glass before filling it with water and retrieving some pills from another cabinet. She popped a few into her mouth and washed them down with the glass of water. She then ate an apple from the bowl on the counter before finishing the glass of water and heading into the bedroom.<br/><br/>She dressed herself in a pair of fitted shorts, a loose tank top, and a pair of running shoes and headed out on her morning run. She wasn’t sure how long she ran, but eventually she ended up back at the penthouse. She sighed as she unlocked the door and dropped the keys on the small table near the door, shedding her shoes and heading for the bathroom. Her shower was short today, as her mind tended to run away with itself a bit if she allowed herself to relax in the shower, and she didn’t particularly feel like thinking.<br/><br/>After drying herself off, she headed back into the bedroom and flopped herself on the bed, not bothering to dress yet. She picked up a small, skinny object that, with a wave of her hand, split in two, revealing a screen. She checked her messages and then the news, finding nothing that really interested her. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling, debating what to do. She was moving today, so she could pack. Who was she kidding? She would be packed in all of 2.5 seconds. Even if she didn’t have these powers, or didn’t want to use them, she would simply pay someone else to move her things. What else could she do?<br/><br/>She could call one of the men or women who were always trying to get close to her, they would probably be happy to come over and entertain her. But even that wasn’t really appealing right now. She knew that none of them would possibly filled the void inside of her, the emptiness that just kept growing, and she kept denying. She groaned and stood from the bed, grabbing the robe off the wall on her way into the kitchen and slipping it on. She opened the cabinet and pulled out a different glass, and a bottle, pouring herself a drink before putting the bottle back in the cabinet, for now.<br/><br/>Was it too early to be drinking already? Probably. Did she care even the slightest bit? Absolutely not. She headed toward the couch, glass in hand, when the small device from before alerted her that she had a new message. It was the real estate agent she was working with, confirming that she could move in today and asking if they could meet early to close on the property, as something had come up. She shrugged and sent a message back, agreeing to meet in an hour. She downed the liquid in the glass and headed back to the kitchen, rinsing the glass out and leaving it on the counter.<br/><br/>She then headed into the bedroom to get dressed. She chose something casual (at least for her), a short black skirt that fell about mid-thigh, a pair of wine red boots, a fitted and somewhat low v-neck top of the same color, topped with a light-weight black jacket about an inch longer than the skirt. She put her hair up in a loose bun with a hairpin, put on a little make-up, and then picked up a mid-sized tote. With a snap of her fingers, all the things she planned to take with her disappeared, finding themselves safely within her bag, which felt no heavier for it.<br/><br/>She then opened a portal and stepped through without so much as a second’s hesitation, or a single last look around the penthouse. As she stepped through the portal, she came out in an alley off a main street, less than half a block from the café where she would be meeting her contact. It was less likely to draw attention if she appeared somewhere with no foot-traffic than if she appeared in the café itself. It took only a second for her to adjust after the portal disappeared, and then she was walking toward the café, her footsteps not making so much as a sound.<br/><br/>The café was small but upscale, serving only the wealthier members of society. She had only been in this world once before and during that time, she had not spent much time here at all. She remembered it well, more than any other world she had been to, and not for a lack of trying to forget. She tried not to think of it, tried not to remember what she had done, her moment of weakness. Yet she never forgot, not really. It wasn’t as though the memory haunted her, exactly, it simply did not fade from her memory as the other countless worlds had.<br/><br/>Perhaps that was why, until now, she had never revisited this place, because of what it represented in her mind, because of the reminder it would bring. And yet here she was now, buying a place here. The world where she lived had never mattered before, and it still didn’t. It was simply a place to touch down and rest between her travels. It wasn’t as though she would spend much, if any time with the people here. And even if she did, it was unlikely she would meet any of the same people she had met before. That was what she told herself, anyways, whether or not she truly believed it.<br/><br/>When she reached the café, she was seated at a small table outside, as she requested, and ordered some tea. She wanted to enjoy the cool breeze and the warmth of the sun for a little while. It seemed unlikely that she would find pleasure anywhere else in this world, so she may as well find it here. “Thank you,” she thanked the young woman who brought her tea, giving her a polite smile that held no real joy. When the woman left, she picked up the cup and sipped the hot liquid slowly, letting the warmth spread through her, closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth of the liquid, of the cup, of the sun, and the contrasting cool breeze against her skin, trying to relish this moment where she felt content, for however brief a time it may be. She was early, so she had at least a little time to enjoy it before her acquaintance arrived.