001 ☯ Alma [VIDEO]

[alma_karma]

[The camera lens is partially blocked when the feed clicks on, fuzzy pinkish edges suggesting fingers to be the culprit. Whoever it is holding the device is moving if the shifting light and soft padding sounds are any clue. After less than a minute of traveling the footsteps stop and a small voice cuts through the silence.]

What’s going on?... Doctor Edgar? Yu? Where'd you go?

[When no answer comes, movement begins again, slightly faster than before as a steady light source from one direction becomes apparent. Maybe a window or a door...

There's a little gasp and the camera's view suddenly blurs, the faciliberry clattering loudly as it hits the ground. A cloudy sky comes into view, as well as an extremely foreshortened view of a young boy. He's staring up at the sky with an almost disbelieving expression, apparently unaware that he's dropped his device.]

Comments

[tothelastbreath]

[Been there, done that. Have a disarming smile to make up for the brain breakage.]

Er... Hi there. [small wave] I assume you're new here.

[alma_karma]

Hi... [He doesn't pick the communicator back up again, instead crouching down near it to get a closer look.]

... How'd you get in the box?

[tothelastbreath]

Ah, I'm not actually in it. It's sort of a golem― [wait, golems are from his world] I mean, something like a broadcasting device.

[alma_karma]

[He perks up at the use of that familiar word, looking just a little more at ease than he did before.]

I didn't know there were golems with pictures...

[tothelastbreath]

[...hold on.]

You're familiar with golems? [and then a pause ― this really isn't the time for small talk] Actually, listen, this place can be dangerous. We need to get you somewhere safe. Do you think you can describe your surroundings?

[alma_karma]

Yeah, but they don't usually look like this...

[He finally picks the device up again, turning it this way and that. Where are the wings?]

There's, um... a bunch of green things and a big... there's a big staircase where I was. [Trees are what he's talking about, but it's kinda hard for the kid to describe what he's seeing when he's never seen them before. :\]

And books! They're all dirty, though.

[tothelastbreath]

[Hello dizzy video feed. This box person seems rather unaffected by all the spinning, though. Greenery, a staircase, and books? That's... vague, to say the least, but wait ― isn't there an abandoned libary around somewhere? At least the kid sounds like he's indoors, he'll freeze to death in those things he's wearing.]

Would you happen to mean a library, by any chance?

[alma_karma]

[Well, he's almost inside, anyway. A quick spin of the communicator reveals the still open doors of the library behind him, but he hasn't wandered far.]

It doesn't look like a library. It's all messy.

[tothelastbreath]

[Is that... Yes, that's definitely a library. Or what's left of it.]

Yes, that's the library alright. I'm afraid most of the buildings here are a mess, except for the place where other people like us are staying... I can come for you if you don't mind waiting a bit?

[alma_karma]

How come it's so messy? [Really, he's seen the science department get messy, but never like this.]

.... I guess so. Who're the other people? Is Branch Chief here? 'Cause I don't think I'm supposed to be.

[tothelastbreath]

I'm still trying to figure that out myself, but it looks like the entire city's been abandoned for some reason.

[Aaaand here it comes. He'd been hoping to deliver further brain breakage after he gets the kid somewhere safe, but...]

I don't think any of us are supposed to be. This place isn't your world anymore, it's called Nesreca and it's been pulling people from other dimensions here.

[And hey, speaking of other dimensions? Golems, branch chiefs... What are the chances, really?]

[alma_karma]

[Different worlds? That... does not compute. Not for a boy who's only just now seeing outside for the first time.]

So... Branch Chief isn't here?

[tothelastbreath]

No, I'm afraid he isn't. We're all trying to find a way out though.

[alma_karma]

Branch Chief's a girl.

[tothelastbreath]

Oh, my apologies. Is she a friend? [talking in auto-pilot mode now, he's trying to see the library from his window]

[alma_karma]

Um... yeah! I guess so.

[tothelastbreath]

Really? We also have branch chiefs where I came from. The one I know is a guy, sort of a friend too. [Still distracted... Oh look, there's the library. He probably won't get lost if he travels by rooftop and keeps moving in a straight line.]

[alma_karma]

[You can do it, Allen! Defeat that terrible sense of direction of yours!]

What branch of the Order are you from? I'm from Asia Sixth Laboratory!

[tothelastbreath]

[Timcanpy will remember the way back, he just has to keep to this straight-line strategy― Okay hold it right there. Here's Allen's head whipping around so fast it looks kind of painful.]

The Order? You mean the Black Order?

[alma_karma]

[Blinkblink. Someone still isn't quite grasping that he's not somehow where the Order is, or that not everybody here is a part of it.]

Yeah.

[tothelastbreath]

[O-Oh. That explains some things.]

I er― So am I. I mean, I'm from the Order too.

[alma_karma]

Which branch are you from? 'Cause I've never seen you before.

Oh, and I'm Alma!

[tothelastbreath]

I'm serving at Headquarters. Allen Walker, Exorcist. [courtesy kicking in now] Sorry for not introducing myself earlier, by the way. It's nice to meet you.

[alma_karma]

[BIG EYES. BLINKING RIGHT AT YOU.]

... You're really an exorcist?

[tothelastbreath]

[That's... endearing, even if the enthusiasm is sort of alarming. Have a smile in return.]

Yes. [We'll save the whole suspected traitor thing for another day. Turning away briefly to grab his extra coat, Allen heads outside.] Alma, was it? Please stay where you are, I'll be right there.