Chapter two, wow, I'm on a roll. Anyway, if you don't know the Elsewhere by now you need to read the book Wicked.
The swirling black portal opened up in the tearoom outside of Shiz. Raven stepped through without looking or even the slightest hesitation. This is usually a bad thing, as one never knows what might be lurking in a new unknown dimension. Usually Raven doesn't use her portals as an escape. Usually when she happened to be anywhere for more than a nanosecond it was uninhabited, with no resemblance to Earth - or very little. However this time she did not look first. This time she did feel the need to escape to another dimension and this time she found herself in a dimension that for all intents and purposes, seemed to be exactly like Earth in the late 1800s.
The furniture, clothing, and general attitude of the place gave Raven the feeling of being sent straight back in time. Realizing that she was in her leotard, and deducting that if this world really was anything like Earth two centuries prior, she could be arrested for the amount of skin she was showing. The portal had closed behind her - habit, a safety measure that had become almost ingrained in her powers. She didn't know where she was or how to get home.
She was stuck and not in a good way. She needed someone who knew what they were doing where dimensional travel was concerned, or she could be stuck here a very long time. In the meantime she wrapped her indigo cloak tightly around her and hoped she wasn't showing too much ankle. She also tossed the hood of the outfit over her unnatural hair. Her eyes darted around the room looking for a way out. Fortunately, no one had noticed her arrival because of some clumsy dwarf, who, Raven noticed, was just managing to climb up off the floor. Had she not been distracted she would have noticed that the people were not looking at this young man but at his companion across the table who had covered her face about half a minute two late for Raven to see her.
It was not, however, too late for Elphaba to see Raven. Under the hood of her thick woolen cloak Miss Elphaba's brows furrowed. "Hey!" She hissed to Boq who had regained his upright position, though Tibbett was still chortling occasionally at the floor where the young man had been.
"What?" Boq asked angrily, brushing himself off. He was sure that Elfie was going to poke fun at him for falling as Crope and Tibbett were sure to do all through the week.
"Did you see that girl? The one by the wall," she asked, gesturing slightly not wishing the strange newcomer to see her.
Raven was not looking towards the back of the room where the four scholars sat, anyway. She had her lavender eyes fixed on the door. She had to walk slowly; if her leg came out from under her tightly wrapped cloak it could mean trouble. Carefully, she set one foot out, keeping her head covered and her eyes on the packed dirt floor so she could spot an indiscretion before anyone else. One step, then another, then another, each one brought her closer to the door. She didn't know what she hoped to find once outside but she did know that it wasn't in this café. Maybe this dimension only looked like the 1800s, maybe they were more accepting, maybe she could find a magic store in the city and figure out how to get home. There were too many maybes for Raven's tastes and all of them because she'd been careless.
"No!" Boq answered. "Why would I be paying attention to some tavern girl in the city when Miss Galinda's at the cottage?"
"Oh, get over that already!" Elphaba insisted. "This is important. That girl just came through the wall! And she's wearing practically nothing. I think we should find out what she's doing here at Shiz. Make her explain herself."
"Oh come on Elfie - you don't even know the girl. Since when do you want to go help strangers?" Boq asked puzzled.
"Practically nothing?" Crope asked, cleaning out his ears to make sure he'd heard correctly.
"Where is this woman of our dreams…I've never met a real girl before," Tibbett added jokingly, making Elphaba huff and cross her arms.
"She's over there, but I won't have you two taking advantage of her," she commanded.
"Well fine then…if you're going to be that way," Crope said and slumped in his chair. With a nod toward Elfie, he muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "You shouldn't have said she wasn't a real girl." He chastised Tibbett.
Raven had completed her slow march to the door and stepped outside. She looked up the street one way and down the other, and there was nothing to suggest a way out of here and back to the Tower. She was trapped.
"Well if you two are going to be that way, and Boq's too lovesick to think, then I might as well go get her myself." Elphaba stood and pushed in the chair in a manner that dared the boys to argue with her.
She hurried to the door so she wouldn't lose her quarry but had to stop to fix her cloak and gloves because of the misting rain. By the time she had reached the door, the stranger was a good twenty paces ahead but she seemed to be going nowhere.
"Excuse me!" Elphaba called, keeping her face hidden. She got no response. "Hello, miss?" Again the girl kept walking. "Hey!" Elfie had caught up and reached out to the new person.
Raven turned around sharply, her grey skin dulled in the rain, her violet hair swinging about her face as her hood fell down.
A/N: Well now they've met. What do you think will happen next? Let me know. If you can't already tell, this is a desperate cry for reviews.