Athena was one of the more interesting girls in the town. For many it would seem that was because she wore extremely elaborate, dark, and bizarre clothing, which she would tell you was taken from the classic Victorian Gothic movement of the mid 1840s, popularized by Mary Shelley herself (though at the time it didn't appear nearly as outlandish, simply a darker take on what her contemporaries wore and Athena wore her clothes in that exact way for that exact reason, they were her clothes.) She was the only goth in school, and for miles around, it seemed that lacking Zoe who had been shifted 5 years older than Athena and so they had never met, and therefore a goth clique never really formed at the school. There were still "outsiders" but none of them hung out together, bound by a similar identity which was most crystallized in Athena's commitment to it, here it was just her, being herself as she knew how to be. Being a goth felt right to her in a way that nothing else ever could. Maybe that's why she was so nice about it.
Karyn on the other hand just was looking for a job and ended up at the local bookstore. It was her last shift that the strange girl from school showed up to help her shelve books. Karyn had never talked to her, but had certainly noticed her...everybody noticed her, and many feared her , Karyn was one of those that did.
Athena smiled at Karyn.
"Hi, I'm Athena, you're Karyn?" She said pointing at the name tag. Athena had mastered the art of disarming people with the tone of her voice, which was moderated between sweet and motherly, a more practical magic, but an effective one she had had to learn.
"Yeah, I've seen you around." was what the exceedingly normal girl responded.
"I've noticed you too, it's the red hair, you stand out in the halls" Athena related
Karyn's face turned sour at the comment because it was true. Karyn had a big mess of red hair, which you couldn't help but notice. Karyn often felt like she was a lighthouse, a bright point that people could see from anywhere. It was for this reason she tried not to stand out, to blend in, to go as unnoticed as possible. She didn't like people looking at her, and because of her hair she often felt like they were. She did what she could to prevent this. She kept it short and tamed it as best she could. She didn't dye it because she felt like that would only make it worse by being unnatural, plus it was expensive to keep up. In other worlds Karyn wore a green jumper as a sort of costume or uniform, in this world it was a full on hoodie, and whenever she could, she hid behind it.
"It's cool" Athena tried to recover. "it's what's 'you' about you." and there was a kindness to the way Athena said it that seemed to calm rising nerves in Karyn.
For the first time Karyn actually took stock of the girl in front of her. Dark, was the first thought, mysterious, was the second, but as she looked at her, trying to get a handle on what she was dealing with, natural was strangely the other thing that came to mind. As if this was what this girl was, but also what she was always meant to be, as if there was no other way that she could be. Karyn had often spent time wishing she could have been different, that the world was different than it is, she always felt like if things had been any other way.....but this girl she seemed to have a permanence about her when you really looked at her that was almost regal. As if no matter what changed about the world, she would be a constant, a rock, unmoved and unchanged. This oddness was simply Athena in any and all cases, across worlds and multiverses, she was always going to be her .
Athena picked up a book and shelved it, breaking the moment, and became an odd girl in a bookshop again, which is what she was.
"Thanks" Karyn said as a friendship started.
Outside the bookshop, through the window Sarah's eyes watched distracted. She had seen Jenny's confused face as Karyn had walked by, and had followed that girl with her eyes into the store. As the girls all talked she had kept one eye on the store, when she saw Athena there too the color drained from her face a little. This was all going terribly wrong.
"lets go back to my place" Sarah offered in the middle of the conversation about who was dating who. (Biff was with Tiff now it appeared, the names suited each other)
She started to leave, but it took a second for anyone to start following her....they wanted to know who Jenny was with...and so did Jenny.
