[Isabel]

The sky was gray and overcast as Issy left her apartment that day wearing her trusty boots, a pair of well-worn jeans, a plain shirt and a hoodie. Very apt considering how the weather was matching her mood quite nicely. Cheat and Swindle had just about completely ruined her apartment by turning everything upside down - again. Not content with that, they just had to break in her kitchen cupboards and break all the only decent glasswares she had. She may not be the type who constantly entertained guests but she felt being prepared wouldn't be so bad.

As she entered the crystal caverns in the Underground half an hour later - after a futile attempt to cool her head, the majestic beauty of the place did little to lighten her mood; be it the winking crystals on the walls or the glowing stalactites above. The place was still as bustling as ever with all the shoppers going past and tourists taking in the view. The soft crunch of her boots over the earth could barely be heard above the din.

Issy forced herself not to look inside the fancy boutiques and walked past them quickly. She had not the time nor the money for that. She took a turn on one of the many similar corridors in the caverns where she knew Gabel Glasses were. She had the lucky opportunity to accidently find the shop before where she was able to buy a good set of glassware for a very good price.

As soon as Issy reached the shop, her first smile for the day broke out. She remembered how nice the old man had been when she first came into the shop, clueless about the proper glassware one should have in her home. The bell above the door tinkled as soon as Issy entered; a welcoming sound that brought another smile to her face. Too distracted admiring the displays behind the counter, Issy failed to notice the new employee and assumed it was still Mr. Gabel in the shop. Upon seeing a nice set of glasswares, Issy pointed at the set and called the attention of what she thought was Mr. Gabel without looking at him. “"Um... Mr. Gabel? I'd like a set of that, please?"”

[Nicolay]

Embarrassingly, it was Nicolay's ass Isabel saw.

A huge buyer had just come to practically swipe the display clean so the Therian had been busy restocking what he had lost for the past half hour and they came in boxes. There were two empty ones where the counter ended and the glasses tinkled as he carefully set his third box on the floor and tore the cover open.

“Mr. Gabel is out for the day,” he explained to the new voice as he began to claw at the stuffing around the glasses and toss them aside (if Gabel himself had seen how messy he did his work, he would be ashamed). “I'll be with you in a moment,” he went on to say as he slipped out a narrow wine glass from the checkered barriers that separated one glass from another and lifted it up to the closest light he could find. It was the last product he needed to restock so if the customer wanted that, he was at least ready to shove the entire box at her and be done with it.

He placed it carefully back in. Then stroking his bangs off his face, he wiped his sweaty palms down his black apron (the most essential part of his wear for work as it helped greatly in keeping glasses polished...and pens and notepads and quick snacks close by) and began to stand up. “How may I--”

bonk!

The edge of the counter came sooner to Nicolay's head than he expected that he dropped again to his knee after hissing an English curse word and rubbed at the part where he was bumped. Ahhh that was going to grow into a bruise.

Hopefully it doesn't come out in his animal form later evening, for when he practiced...

[Isabel]

The voice that answered Issy was by far much younger than what she remembered. Gaining her attention, Issy finally looked towards the owner of the voice. He was bent over behind the counter, rendering her incapable of seeing his face, busy with matters of the shop.

“How may I--”

A large thump sounded causing Issy to doubletake and peer behind the counter closely; not clearly registering the English word he had used. Concern etched her face upon seeing the doubled over boy - for he looked like a boy - on the floor. “Are you ok?” Still speaking in Elysian, Issy rounded the counter to offer her assistance and as she bent over to help him up, she froze.

Speachless, all she could do was stare. In front of her was a face so familiar that she doubted she would ever forget how he looked like the last time she saw him. Memories of the past, of her family, that she had tried not to think too much about came unbidden and tears started falling down her cheeks.

[Nicolay]

There were empty boxes barricading the entrance to the counter and parting it from the door that led out to the forgery. Nicolay's right side was turned towards that direction while he stayed doubled over under the counter, wincing, his hand on his head.

“Are you ok?” the customer asked with a voice that called from comfort although the tone was different, new.

“I'm all right,” he managed to say while he picked himself up and carefully straightened up from under the counter -- his head was only good enough for one bump, not two. He flicked his bangs off his face again as he wore a beaming smile and turned to the customer to his side. "Sorry for the trouble. Can I help you with anything?" he meant to ask.

But all that came of it was a thought, a simple thought. The memory of his bump disappeared from the moment as well as his lips parted and he found himself looking at the face he once considered was partly his own -- for surely, they should have shared some genes, right? They may not be identical, but they were still siblings.

That was what he thought -- months ago.

“Issy?” he whispered feebly.

It never occurred to him that if he ran and was not very careful, he could break a glass or two. Hell, the boxes that came in-between him and the woman had been disregarded when he stomped on them and tripped but his arms were out and as he collided with the woman, his fall broke, and his arms folded around her, pulling her tight.

“Oh my God...” he moaned in English, eyes stunned and unfocused as he kept his sister close to him.

[Isabel]

With tears still streaming down, all Issy could do was gasp. So he was real? He wasn't just some guy who concidentally had the same face as her twin? Was she sort of pulled into another dimension and was facing a brother from a parallel dimension? Because if she was, she wouldn't be surprised; not after what happened to her the first time she came to Elysia.

With a life of their own, Issy's arms enveloped him, hugging tightly. “Nicky? Is it really you? This isn't some dream? Wait --” A thought suddenly struck her. Pushing back a little to see his face, Issy looked him in the eye as if to make sure that it was really him that she was speaking to. “What are you doing here? Not that I don't like you being here but... How did you get here? How's mom? And dad? Are they here as well?” Issy was so surprised by Nic being here that she didn't realized that she had already bombarded him with so many questions.

[Nicolay]

“M, mom and dad are all right...” Nicolay managed to utter in spite of the blankness and the fullness of his mind. He looked so stunned and confused that anyone who would walk in and find him would have the enjoyment of their life just looking at him— hell, he couldn't even respond to Isabel in Elysian! As far as he was concerned, Elysian was not his first language and he never talked to his sister in that language so it was practically out the door now and never to be returned to him until such time he's managed to regain control of himself. When that would happen, no one knew. “M, mom and dad are all right,” he repeated with a more determined tone of voice. “Th, they're at home...I mean...a, at home.” Home, home, home... “E, Edinburgh. Th, they're waiting for us at Edinburgh...”

His eyes were still lost while sought his sister for...absolutely anything he might miss. She hadn't changed one bit — and to prove that, she even smelled like an old blouse squeezed tight at the back of their mother's closet, ancient fashion sense and all. It made him laugh a little bit — she has never changed one bit!

“I...I'm all right, I...” his smile seemed hesitant but it was clear that in spite of his intentions to be happy, the irony, the surprise, the coincidence was giving him a hard time deciding if a smile was appropriate for this merry situation. She was crying and he wondered if he should be but he didn't feel like crying! This was hard. “Y, you? Ho, how've you been? W, we, we've been looking all over for you! Oh my God, Issy,” he tossed his arms around the smaller woman again and hugged her. “Oh my God, Issy, you're alive...! A, all these years...!”

[Isabel]

What Issy still couldn't understand despite the joy she felt in seeing her brother again was what he was doing here in the first place. For starters, being able to find a portal leading to Elysia was fairly difficult. He couldn't have come here in search for her.

“I'm alright, I guess. Not the same old Issy you once knew though. Things kind of... changed.” Issy didn't even notice that she had unconsciously switched from Elysian to English. The whole moment seemed so surreal that her brain is kicking in overtime. “What happened Nicky? What happened after I... after I... left.” Issy didn't meant to be cryptic. The thought of her parents was the foremost thing that was bothering her. How her parents took it especially; badly, she supposed. Guilt overrode her feelings and she hoped it didn't show on her face. Thoughts like whether she should have gone back once she got back on her feet again came to her but she knew she couldn't -- not like this.

[Nicolay]

Nicolay found himself laughing when Isabel had noted a change in her character. “It's inevitable,” he said to excuse her difference. “These changes happen.” He spoke from experience.

“What happened Nicky? What happened after I... after I... left.”

“Oh, we looked for you, we looked all over for you!” Nicolay said with a hint of excitement -- if that was going to convince his sister that they did do what he said they did -- as he parted from her and held her by her arms, blue eyes looking into brown ones. “We, we...we went to the police, we called everyone, we even tried the TV, the radio...b, but we couldn't find you. And, and all along, you'd been here? I, Issy, what-- what happened? How did you get here? What happened two years ago?”