The irony! Of all the people she might encounter in this new world—for Asriel to be the one familiar face… Marisa swallowed yet another scowl. Inside the leather bag looped over her shoulder, her dæmon chittered to himself. Expressing some of the tumult of emotions that she wouldn’t let herself feel or show. Not here. Not now. (Never. She knew better.)
The lack of other dæmons didn’t surprise her. The official had mentioned a few of the major differences, and she suspected Carlos’s portal had opened into this same world. So she wasn’t entirely surprised by the lack of animal counterparts strolling behind their humans as she made her way to the coffee shop where they were to meet. A neutral ground outside of the apartment building. It was probably safe to let her dæmon out, but until she had confirmation, she wasn’t going to do anything to attract unwanted attention.
Upon entering the small cafe, she scanned the room for his unfortunately familiar face and didn’t spot him. She lingered by the door for a moment, reading the menu scrawled on the chalkboards above the counter. Fortunately “coffee” was a substance that was the same in any world. She stepped into line to order, and to wait for Asriel to make his grand entrance.