The Elsewhere Omnibus

The Conveniently-Placed Door

The Conveniently-Placed Door (known widely among the Elsewhere and friends thereof simply as the CPD) is an access portal between the Elsewhere and Mainstream Reality (Note: while it has in the past been used as an accessway to the Realm, the resulting access was highly unstable. As such, it is advised that those seeking direct access to the Realm use more conventional means to do so.)

Put simply, it's a door that has one side permanently affixed within the Elsewhere (though its exact location can and does change) and the other side anchored within Mainstream reality. It is a valuable resource to the Elsewhere, especially for those Dreamers without other means of teleportation. 

In terms of appearance, the CPD most often appears as a wooden door with a worn bronze handle, bearing both the mark of the Anti-ka Maru and a placard reading, "Please use Other Door." The paint and materials of the door itself often shift to match their surroundings, but they will always bear both the sigil and the placard in some form. I've seen it take the form of garage doors, mech hangar shutters, manhole covers, revolving doors ... once I even saw it appear in a dollhouse, no bigger than three inches tall. It appears to adapt to the needs of whoever's passing through at the time. 

The Elsewhere has no problem with other people making use of the CPD. There are, however, a few aspects of which those interacting with the CPD should be aware.

1. Always check the other side before stepping through the doorway. The sides of the door can affix not just to walls but to floors, ceilings, and other objects. I once saw a CPD affix to a tree branch. Sometimes the CPD won't affix to anything, simply appearing in mid-air. As such, I advise anyone using the CPD to carry a few small objects on their person: pebbles, pennies, anything you aren't particularly attached to that can be affected by gravity so that you can tell the door's orientation before stepping through yourself. 

2. Do not close the door behind you until you are certain of what lies on the other side. This goes hand-in-hand with the first rule, as the door will close behind you once you move through it. It can be stopped easily enough, just as anyone might stop a door closing, but once the door is fully shut it will likely vanish as well, leaving whoever passed through it stranded.

3. Don't complain about the CPD, especially within earshot of the CPD itself. There's evidence to believe it might either be sentient itself or is connected to some manner of sentience. More than that, I've witnessed more than one instance of the CPD repeatedly and deliberately pranking those who've criticized it in the past. 

4. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HARM THE CPD. While truly damaging the CPD is likely a possibility (I have witnessed the CPD withstanding nuclear blasts, direct fire from orbital Reyl Cannons, and even an extremely pissed-off Fate), it seems to take attempts to do so quite personally. Remember that the Mainstream side of the door can connect to anywhere in the Mainstream, including the bottom of oceans, in the middle of black space, and five-thousand feet in the air. The CPD does not take attacks likely and can carry a grudge for a really long time. 

5. Watch out for liminal spaces. This taps into another topic and rule one, but be aware that occasionally the CPD might open up into a liminal space such as the backrooms. This one can be hard to avoid given the high number of gray rooms within the Elsewhere, but it may help to bear in mind that Elsewhere rooms do have some purpose. Even the Hedge Maze can be solved, whereas liminal spaces truly are random in nature.