towerofanimus | We won't be home till morning

Characters: Neal Cassidy, and OPEN!
Setting: Floor 12
Format: I'll match
Summary: Neal explores his new surroundings and finds something mystifying.
Warnings: Season 2 spoilers within

He supposed that others might have more trouble that he had.

Well, that was a bit of a lie. He would never get used to the idea of world hopping, even if this would be the third time that he had done so. This one was different in any case. It was dark, foreboding. The man couldn't help but feel uneasy, and he hadn't met enough people to have a good grasp on what was going on. Sure, he had been told almost immediately about the fact that his soul was in the collar around his neck (though he wasn't quite sure he believed that), but finding information about this new Land was something that he needed to do, sooner rather than later.

The monsters roaming the tower scared him, but the man was good at running. He'd be reasonably safe, he assured himself. Doubly so because of the drawn sword in his hand. He couldn't let his guard down. His father could be here, somewhere. Emma could be here. So could Henry. He didn't trust to ask for names over the terminal. Someone could lie, or someone who would want him hurt could find them first and he couldn't have that. Better to keep as low of a profile as possible.

This floor was interesting. Definitely not safe, but interesting. It was full of stars, of galaxies. Things he had seen in books during his time in the Land Without Magic, but different. Never quite the same as the pictures. It was pretty. He felt like he could reach out and touch one of the large nebulous clouds of light. And then, without warning, the light started to fade away. "What... what the hell?"

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He couldn't hide it fast enough. His face brightened at her admission. He wasn't alone! Even if he had been brought here against his will instead of jumping through a portal, it didn't matter. "Trust me, it's not like the average person would believe you even if you were honest," he said with a shrug, watching as the last bits of color vanished from the projection. "I guess I figured it would be different than this."

She definitely caught that expression and her own twisted into a confused consideration. Don't tell her... oh hell. She had totally called that one, dammit.

"The average person probably wouldn't find themselves in this hellhole in the first place, let's be real," she said with an outright scoff. She finally lowered herself to the floor, crossing her legs and holding onto her ankles as she watched the projection start all over again. "It might be different, but it might also be exactly what we're seeing. Problem is that no one actually has the first-hand account of destruction like this since it... well, you know." She put a hand to her neck and let it flop to the side with a gurgle to imitate horrible death. You get the idea, Neal.

He noticed the look, but didn't say anything do it. She was probably used to the idea of people not knowing about world jumping, after all. It was incredibly refreshing for him to know that he had someone to commiserate with, however small. The entire concept of a universe was still something that he was having trouble getting used to. Sure, he had spent hundreds of years knowing about different Lands, but universes? Well that added an entirely new layer of complexity. "Someone must, though. Unless these are all simulations." Which was certainly possible.

That too, Neal, and for once she was glad it was that assumption someone made rather than ping on to what she was really feeling. It was an interesting thing, to realize there was someone around that she could probably speak frankly to without having to hide a whole lot for fear of letting all the wrong felines out of the bag.

"Maybe?" Misha shrugged. "Creepy, I'll give it that, but if these are recordings instead of simulations, then they aren't giving us enough context and it loses all meaning anyway. So," she added, "you know a thing or two about different universes?"

Fortunately, the alternative didn't even cross his mind. He watched her for a long moment, not sure what to say. He was trying to be a bit more upbeat about things, trying to look for a bright side where he wasn't sure that there was any. "It's not like the people in charge would say what it is, from what I've heard." Not that he had been told much at all. Something about some dead kidnapper.

"Been in a couple myself," he admitted, if only because he knew that she would understand.

Misha regarded him for a moment, a tentative grin spreading across her face. "I like you," she decided. As far as she could tell, he was an honest man, if thrown off by their current circumstances (and who wouldn't be?) and someone she could probably talk to without worrying about being ratted out. Not that she ever intended to tell him all that much about herself, but any leniency at all was welcomed in this ridiculous, magical and impossible place. Being able to talk about this subject specifically would probably be the most beneficial to share.

"Name's Misha," she introduced. Eying the sword in his hand, she neglected to offer her hand for a shake. "You got a name, Stranger? How many worlds are a couple?"

Edited 2013-03-11 05:38 (UTC)

Neal shuffled, grinning back at her at the comment. He was glad, in this moment, that he was not alone. Even if his entire world was gone-- though there was still a large part of him that thought that it was a lie, another part of him thought that it could be the truth and that terrified him.

"Neal," he said, noticing her reaction to his sword as he set it down against the wall as to not appear so threatening. "This would be my fourth, counting where I grew up."

Confusion flickered across her face. Fourth? That would make three before he got here, and she only had two possibilities to choose from. That was beyond interesting. What sort of secrets were you hiding, Neal?

"Nice to meet you," she said perfunctorily. "Look at you, you're like a baby worldhopper! What were those places like?" Nothing in her stance seemed overly forced or faked; Neal had triggered some pretty strong curiosity in her regarding that impossible fact. Having the real deal right here was, at the least, a blessing in getting through that pesky spoiler tape.

He stared at her confusion. Was she... someone he knew? But that was impossible. She most certainly wasn't one of the people from the Enchanted Forest, though he had been away from there for so long that everyone he had ever met, save for his father, were all long gone. And even then, his father was...

"One was my homeland. I'll be honest, though, I don't remember much of it. Lots of wars, though. The second one... well I guess it's kind of hard to talk about in all honesty since everyone in the third world knew about it already. You never aged, there. It's not all it's cracked up to be. The third was modern Earth. Spent most of my time backpacking across America."

We won't be home till morning

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just realized she has no idea about hook, omg.

Oh man