The portal from present day San Fran to here is currently open.

::The portal closes behind Petunius as he rolls out onto the dirt ground. Uh oh!::

::Petunius coughs before getting to his feet and dusting himself off. He turns around to face the portal...only to find it's not there.::

(Great. Just great.)

::He wanders around the non-descript area looking around for any signs of something, with no awareness of what time it is or where he is. Eventually he winds up in the forest.::

[Petunius is in a secluded clearing within the forest. He can hear the sounds of shouting and fighting from thataway. Sounds dangerous. Better be careful and lie low for now. What did he learn from his past self about what's going to happen? Anything? Oooh...]

::Sharon appears from the portal and immediately wishes she'd chosen another one.::

(Oh great, in the middle of a war.)

"Wow."

::Piper's glad they haven't appeared in the midst of all that firing and shouting over there.::

"... hot."

::She wishes she was wearing less.::

"Isn't it?"

::Sharon takes off her shirt (she has a vest underneath) and ties it around her waist.::

"Where do we start?"

"Over there!"

::Pitcheoooowww! A bullet whizzes past Sharon and Piper. Swiftly followed by more.::

::Piper screams like a little girl and freezes the bullets and those firing them.::

"Uhhh... let's run that way!"

::She grabs Sharon's hand and hauls her off in the opposite direction.::

"What are the chances that whoever came through this portal is even alive now?"

::Sharon pulls Piper towards the forest.::

::Piper arrives with Sharon and Petunius.::

"Bet you're glad to see this."

"You've no idea how much. And uh...well..."

::Petunius shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs.::

"Thanks. Both of you."

::The portal closes!::

::...::

(...)

"Okay, what the hell?!"

::Stares at the spot that formerly housed the portal.::

"No... no, no, that wasn't supposed to happen."

"What? What wasn't supposed to happen?"

::Panic slowly beginning to creep up on him, he begins to frantically scrabble around the spot with his hands, as though that would somehow make it magically reappear.::

"We've gotta find it!"

"Tempus must've got out of my freeze. Oh my god. What do we do?"

"Tempus...the guy holding all the portals and the fourth dimension together?"

::Petunius sighs and closes his eyes for a moment to collect himself.::

"Can't you, I dunno, do a spell or something to bring it back?"

"Uhh, uhh, I can try. Um. Okay a spell. Spell spell spell."

::Holding onto the bridge of her nose, Piper paces.::

::Petunius purses his lip anxiously and casts a glance in the direction that they just ran here from. Surely it wouldn't be long before the soldiers tracked them down...::

"Okay."

::Piper wrings her hands, still pacing.::

"This time is not where we belong
Return the portal so we may go
Back to where we're meant to be
And our time won't change at all."

[Dun dun dun! Nothing happens.]

"It didn't work..."

::Petunius stares at the spot helplessly.::

"Why didn't it work?"

"I don't know. Oh god. What're we gonna do?"

::Piper stares too, then snaps.::

"Andrea! She'll... she'll think of something. She's bound to get us out."

::The futility of it all!::

"Does she know you're here?"

"Not... here here. She knows we're in one of the portals and, and she must know what Tempus has done. God knows why she didn't stop him."

::Piper stops that line of thought, not wanting to worry Sharon.::

"I'm sure it'll open again in no time."

"Let's hope so..."

::Petunius casts a worried glance back in the direction of the forest once again.::

"Uh...not to put up the dial on the crap-o-meter any further, but...we just left a bunch of very angry and very violent soldiers back there. I don't know how safe we're gonna be here...or anywhere for that matter."

"Then we should move. Or... at least hide, somehow."

"We need to stay and watch the portal."

::Sharon's not going anywhere.::

::Piper turns and glances around.::

"There's no sign of any of the soldiers."

[Hours pass...]

::Piper is now all dirty. She's been searching for the portal elsewhere and a sweaty face and muddy hands don't go well together. She sighs and flops down on the ground, still listening intently for noises made by anything other than them.::

::Sharon's been busy worrying about what the hell has happened to Andrea. She doesn't know if it'd be better if she's gotten stuck in Clare with Chloe or if she's back in the fourth dimension because she could get hurt either way and oh my god. She looks at Piper.::

"Is there really nothing?"

::Piper lifts both hands to indicate her helplessness.::

"I wish I could get in touch with my sisters. I don't even know what year we're in."

::Petunius on the other hand had been pacing back and forth, thinking over ways of how they could get out of here. By now, he'd discarded most of his ideas on the basis that they were just pure crap. As time passes on however, he doesn't seem to care about whether they're good ideas or not. They could either sit here and panic or they could try and come up with other solutions.::

"Can't you use that Power of Three thing to send them a supernatural SOS of some kind? If your magic is interconnected, surely they'd be able to sense some kind of signal coming back to them..."

(Kinda like the bat signal.)

"From however many years in the past? I don't know if they're even born yet. I can't... I mean, unless I can send some kind of message into the future..."

::Piper frowns. Maybe she can.::

"Yeah, something along those lines. Maybe you don't need to focus on when we are, but rather on when and where they are. In 2006."

"If I can send them a message... maybe... maybe I can... if I write them a letter and send it so it arrives in the present, they'll, they'll know. And they'll come and get us out of here."

::Petunius nods, slowly beginning to feel encouraged by the slight glimmer of hope.::

"It's definitely worth a shot."

::Piper nods.::

"Petunius, do you know when we are? Is it worth looking for paper or should I... write something on the ground with a big stick?"

(There's enough dust. Cough!)