All's (Not) Right With the World [Open]

[lunacat16]

He had heard of places like this. The Gothic architecture and narrow streets gave the impression of some dark, fairy-tale land. Yes, he had certainly read about towns such as these. Seen them? Never. All he had known was the cold steel and concrete of modern architecture. It was cold, too. The Earth (or was it just his earth?) had been trapped in an eternal summer since the Second Impact. He had never gotten the chance to experience the seasons of winter, or fall, or spring. This was most certainly not the Earth he knew.

Kaworu looked towards the horizon. Here there seemed to be simultaneous beauty and ruin. A full, starry sky was marred by broken buildings and structures in the process of reconstruction. Just what had gone on here? Parts of the town looked like they had been former battlefields. His curiosity was highly tempted to approach these areas, but his more rational mind held him back. He was completely lost, and going into an area filled with danger was not a wise choice, especially at night. Perhaps the day would shed some light on the situation.

He continued walking down the street. The windows were either closed or darkened. It must be rather late at night. He was starting to feel rather frustrated. At least in what he assumed would be his final moments he knew exactly what the situation was: he would die and the Lilin race would continue. Now he literally knew nothing. Was this some strange afterlife, an entirely different world, or even a jump back in time, considering the style of architecture? He remembered feeling a strange pull around him, like a vacuum, and then he had found himself here.

What if something else had come through with him? He shuddered to think of what might happen if the citizens here obtained Unit-01 or even Lilith. Though maybe...If he was here, then just maybe there was the slightest chance that Shinji had been taken here as well! That would be wonderful! Here there was no eternal summer, and - he dared to guess - no Angels that he would have to fight. He could be happy. Yes, he knew what to do now. He would find about about this town and then he would look for Shinji! This was turning out to be a far more fortunate situation than he initially believed!

Of course, he would have to start somewhere, and right now he had no idea where to look for answers. Kaworu sighed, and kicked a stray rock in his path. He must have hit it with a bit more force than he thought, as it traveled through the air and looked as if it hit another person walking along the streets. Mortified, the Angel hastened to apologize. "Did I hurt you? I was being careless with that rock..." If there was anything he disliked, it was unnecessary conflict. He hoped that such a thing wouldn't show up here.

[Saasha]

The rock was unintentionally well aimed as it soared right for the stream of long red locks of a passerby. The woman had been so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't even hear the projectile as it whizzed through the air in it's flight to met the back of her head. Well... it was not heard until the very last second when her reflexes jumped. Leaning just a bit to the side with unintentional ease, the stone brushed through her hair harmlessly, and landed into her open right palm. As the lithe fingers closed over it, deep brown eyes turned to the loose fist with quiet and internally exasperated scoldings. She needed to keep her mind open... but that was getting increasingly harder with the passing days.

Suddenly, she realized she was holding a stone that had once been airborne. Rocks don't fly by themselves. That was when she heard the voice.

"Did I hurt you? I was being careless with that rock..."


She turned fully to face her 'attacker', fully revealing her features. On this particular day, she was clad in a light pair of jeans, a tank top, and a pair of soft leather boots. A grey coat had been thrown over her shoulders but not put on fully to allow for easy removal. Around her waist, a thick white sash had been tied, and slipped into this was her katana. Her left had had also been tucked into the obi loosely around the hilt- again for easy removal and for old habit's sake. She was nothing if not typical of her lineage.

But the most notable feature on the woman was on her face. but it wasn't exactly a feature. A large white patch had been adhered to her the left side of her face, nearly covering her whole left cheek.

She blinked a few times in slight confusion, "Oro?". It was said so softly that it was doubtful that the habitual phrase was heard. but then she remembered that he was in fact speaking to her and so recovered her thoughts back to the present enough to give a kindly smile and a shy chuckle. "Oh, there is no need to worry. No one was injured so no harm no foul." The horrible pun she made caused her to internally facepalm herself. "No harm no foul"? Really Melany?"

[lunacat16]

The 'attacker' would have seemed to just be some unaware kid at first glance. The black pants and white button-down shirt gave the appearance of some type of school uniform, a very casually worn one at that. He carried no visible weapon like her, and for all the world seemed to be an innocent. Yet there was something inhuman about the boy, not only in his silvery locks of hair, but in those red eyes that were simultaneously piercing and serene.

He was quite thankful that she didn't seem to be bothered by his thoughtlessness, and his concerned expression resumed its usual content smile. "I still think that almost harming you would be a foul thing to do, but if you say that it doesn't matter..." As a being that was not one of the children of Lilith, and not raised in what one would consider a normal environment, Kaworu had not had much experience with puns.

The Angel took a few seconds to observe the almost-victim of his thoughtlessness. She was a rather pretty lady in his opinion, though the white patch on her face made him curious. It must have covered up something, and he would have inquired about it, but such a question to someone he just met would be rude. Maybe once they started a conversation.

He also took note of the sword on her waist. He recalled how she had been able to dodge and even catch the small rock with such ease, and the pieces started filling in. "Are you a fighter of some sort?" He doubted that she would be a soldier, seeing as those had guns. Then again, this was an entirely new world for him.

Speaking of which, this might be a perfect time to get some questions answered. "Ah, just one more question. What town is this?"

[Saasha]

His in-humanness did not escape the demon and vampire hybrid in the least. But it did make her wonder exactly what he was. She was still getting used to her new state despite the fact that she had been this was for some time now. But still, intuition and senses work differently as as human than they do as most any other species. And so, Melany had been working to get used to all the different types of beings that found themselves in the town and surrounding it.

Unfortunately that meant a bit of travel and so she had not been present for the bomb but a few days ago... However, now that she was back, she planned to be a lot more present. In fact, she had half a mind to go to Sparda and the queen to ask where she might be needed. Might as well do something while she was here and not just sitting back on her haunches. But that plan was still in the works, she was not quite certain of it just yet.

"Are you a fighter of some sort?"

She let the thumb of her hand lay over the woven hilt gently as she smiled. "Of a sort I suppose. Yes. Though I don't think fighter would be the right term, stereo-typically." No she wasn't a fighter. Not in her mind that was. The terms fighter, warrior, and protector all had different meanings to her. No, she was not a fighter. But for simplicity's sake she kept it at that.

"Ah, just one more question. What town is this?"

She mentally shook herself to remind herself that she was speaking to someone and he had just posed a question that revealed something about himself.

She tilted her head a bit in slight curiosity as he asked, only the slightest move, but it was mostly meant to show that she was paying attention. "This is Hallowton. I take it you are new to these parts." She sampled the air as she breathed normally. "Perhaps even farther than one might think?" She offered an encouraging smile to him.

[lunacat16]

The question of the girl's humanity never crossed the mind of the Angel. In his mind she still looked very much like any ordinary Lilin, and as of now he had no reason to assume she might be otherwise. After all, things such as demons and vampires were naught but fairy tales and fiction in his world. If he had known of some other species than the children of Adam and Lilith he would have been absolutely fascinated. Sadly he did not know, nor did he believe.

"Your role is different, then?" Simplicity's sake was never enough for him. He enjoyed hearing as much about other people as possible, following a few basic rules of etiquette of course. Humans were so fussy about information concerning themselves.

"Well that's a strange name." Hallowton. It sounded almost exactly like that one October holiday, or like something out of a children's book. At the same time it did give him a slight clue about his location. He knew of no town on Earth that had that name, especially one that might have appeared in 19th Century Europe. There was no way that this could be a normal town name. Amusement park/reconstruction? But what about the wreckage everywhere that looked all too genuine? This was most certainly out of the ordinary.

A bit of suspicion crossed his mind momentarily - he was not used to being the one that information was pried out of - but it soon disappeared, giving way to a more hopeful feeling instead. This lady sounded as if she knew the situation he might be in; definitely a turn for the better. "You're correct. I really don't know how I got here. One second..."

One second he was about to die. He was about to save humanity. His words trailed off a bit, but he soon remembered that there was someone there.

"...I just ended up here for some strange reason."

He resumed a smile, one that was a little less genuine this time.

[Saasha]

Melany smiled a bit at the comment of her 'role'. But she didn't answer, now was hardly the time for her to start digressing. Instead she waited for him to finish asking about the town. It was a strange name. In fact, it sounded much like a holiday that she had in her world and home country- before she had moved to Japan that is. She had always enjoyed it before. but now that she was practically living it, the tame holiday would have been a welcome change to what this world held.

Her liquid chocolate eyes softened sympathetically as he trailed off. She knew all too well what is was to be snatched from one's existence and dropped someplace else- especially when lives were on the line. If only she had known what he had been through...

"I am afraid it is a rather long explanation. One that is rather... difficult to believe if you do not know of such things as interdimensional travel." This being said, she turned to the horizon, setting her eyes upon the tower that loomed in the distance. "Suffice to say that you are not the only one to be pulled to this world." She turned back to him.

"To be plain and simple, your world is not the only one in existence- if you believe in that, that is. There are many others. And they are all merging. Welcome to Genesis."

It was so bluntly yet kindly said that one would think she had said it many times before. That was not the case, but still. She had only hoped to get most of the explanation out of the way as quickly and painlessly as possible. After all, it was not every day that one gets dumped into a new universe. Then again, for this world that was a normality.

[lunacat16]

If she had asked, then he would have gladly gone off on a tangent about his situation, largely consisting of exposition and maybe a few minor pseudo-philosophical observations injected here and there. When Kaworu talked, he had a tendency to talk 'big', not necessarily in a loquacious manner but in a way that felt important and incredibly meaningful no matter what the subject was. Of course, while the Angel did not know it, there were many people who would see his manner of speaking as very annoying. Perhaps it was better that he be kept quiet for a little while.

"I understand the concept." Interdimensional travel was not a thing in Kaworu's world. In fact, travelling through planets was a nearly impossible concept as well. Despite all of humanity's knowledge they had still not managed to unlock the keys to the cosmos. The moon and various satellite probes? Yes, they had done that, though after the Second Impact a large part of scientific funds went to the Evangelions and protecting themselves from space rather than exploring it. As a result, it, as she probably expected, had not occurred to him at all. He did get what she was going for, however. "So you are saying something brought me, and others, to this place?" That was the best conclusion he could think of.

Oddly, the boy took the explanation without much hesitation at all, as if he understood perfectly what was going on, or was at least completely alright for it. The latter was more accurate. He did believe in different worlds, at least ones that other Seeds could or had already give to their progeny, but some of the concepts still confused him. "Wouldn't the unity of so many worlds cause a massive disturbance on this planet? Their collisions would bring about the end of billions of lives. More importantly...why is this happening?"

His expression became troubled again. It wasn't every day that events of apocalyptic proportions happened just because they could. Most of the time there was always someone behind it. The classical villains of Lilin entertainment, SEELE, NERV...There was always someone. At least, always in his world. Maybe some rule was different here. He didn't know whether to be relieved by or dread that concept.