The Roguish Type

[cageunemptied]

It had all happened so quickly. She had finally, finally, gotten away from the gilded cage that had been her home for as long as she could remember. And Booker, while a bit on the enigmatic side (not to mention more than a little sour in the face), had promised to take her to Paris, which she'd been dreaming about her whole life. It had all been too wonderful to be true.

And so it was. Booker had killed a man - killed! - and Elizabeth had been so horrified by it that she'd fled from him. "Get away from me!" she had cried as he pursued her, and when she'd found herself at a dead end, something had happened.

She'd found a Tear, and without thinking, had opened it and run through - but what she had found on the other side hadn't been anything like what she had spent nearly her entire life looking at. It was beautiful, just as Columbia was - but it was more vibrant, more... innocent, somehow.

The young woman looked about herself in wonder and awe, completely oblivious to anything but the beauty around her.

Comments

[youstillneedme]

[It's not every day that new people just show up in the Garden. Sure, there'd been the old man that once, but the less anyone really knows about that the better. Sure, it might bmean he's keeping secrets, but what are a few secrets between friends in the long run?

Besides it means that he knows what to expect a little more when he comes across someone who's pretty clearly not someone he's seen around before. Curiosity sees to the rest, for the most part.]

Well now. What have we here? Another visitor?

[cageunemptied]

[Elizabeth gasps at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, whirling around to look at the stranger. He's dressed unlike anyone in Columbia, and that only serves to underscore the fact that she's no longer in the city she once thought she could know.

Still, better that than amongst the wolves of Columbia, right? So she smiles at him in a friendly way, giving a cheerful little wave.]

Oh! Hello! My name's Elizabeth. I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with this place.

[as if that weren't obvious.]

I think I'm a little lost. I'm sorry, but could you please tell me where I am?

[youstillneedme]

[Nowhere like indeed, and he saw the portal she came through besides. Not the ones he's most familiar with, but it's not like he knows everything about the other worlds. Just the best and pieces the old man has seen fit to tell him.]

It's called Radiant Garden. And I guess you could call little old me something like the welcoming committee.

[cageunemptied]

If you're here to welcome people, then why is there only one of you? Doesn't anyone else want to say hello? [Elizabeth gives Braig an amused, doubtful look, tilting her head to get a batter look at him. She twists the thimble - an unconscious habit - around her right pinky finger.]

It's beautiful. I've never seen anything like it.

[Not that she's really seen much of anything.]

[youstillneedme]

Naaaaaah. They're all too busy to bother with it.

[For given values of busy, but that's not something that Braig cares to share. Not when it's true enough that he's out and about more often than most anyone else.]

[cageunemptied]

Well, in that case, thank you for taking the time. I'm Elizabeth. May I ask your name?

[youstillneedme]

You can call me Braig.

[Which is quite possibly not like any name she's heard before, but it's his and that's all that's ever really mattered.]

And you don't have to thank little old me. I'm just doing what anyone would, under the circumstances.

[cageunemptied]

Oh! Okay. Braig, then.

[It's definitely not like any name she's heard before, but then, she hadn't really heard of any place called Radiant Garden, either - at least, not in any of her books.]

Thank you, all the same.

[youstillneedme]

[He's not surprised she hasn't heard of the Garden. The worlds are meant to keep to themselves, and the only reason that he and his fellow guards know anything about others is because they've had experiences that not just anyone would have had.]

No problem. And if you have any questions about our fair city I might just be able to answer them.

[cageunemptied]

Oh, good! I have so many questions about this place...

[And she goes into a list, asking about how their city floats (is is quantum particles?) what it's like here, and so on.

Braig, what have you done?]

[youstillneedme]

[There's a laugh at that, and one that's mostly well-meaning at that. He can handle a lot of questions, but not when they come all one after after another.]

One at a time, little warpsmith. I'm just one man.

[cageunemptied]

Warpsmith? What does that mean?

[youstillneedme]

Smith's someone who makes something. So, warpsmith.

[cageunemptied]

Actually, they're called Tears. [Oh, dear. So he's seen them. But he's not trying to capture her or anything, which makes a nice change.]

I've been able to create them ever since I was little.

[youstillneedme]

You don't say?

[He's curious even despite himself, but he doesn't press. She's here and there's no menace in his words. No risk that he'll cart her way for anything. No, he's simply expressing curiosity and continuing on the conversation, all at once/]

You don't often get people who can cross worlds.

[cageunemptied]

It's true.

[It's only natural, she thinks, that he's curious. She's never met anyone who can do what she can.]

Worlds? [Well, she wasn't expecting that. She'd just thought that she was... well, in another floating city or something.]

[youstillneedme]

Yep. But most people don't know about there being more than just the one.

[He leaves her to make her own conclusions about what that means. But he's certainly implying that he knows about other worlds, and might even know how to get from one to another.]

[cageunemptied]

Well... how many are there?

[She's not seen too many herself, and they weren't always terribly different. Daisies where the roses were, tea instead of coffee, a different sunset that evening.]

[youstillneedme]

See, that's just the thing. No one's got a figure yet. Just that they're out there.

[And if he sounds intrigued by the possibility, he has good reason to be, he figures.]

[cageunemptied]

Oh.

[And how lost she is has begun to strike her. What is she going to do?]

[youstillneedme]

[What anyone does, in a new place. Not that Braig knows very well what that might be, but well. Live and learn, he's always figured.]

Anyway, you wanted to know how the city does this, yeah? Because that's easy enough to show.

[cageunemptied]

[That gets a smile, and a cheerful little nod.]

Of course I do. I'd love to, Mr. Braig.

[youstillneedme]

I'm not a 'Mister'. But sure thing.

[And with that, he's heading off towards the entrance to the great underground pipeways below the city. True, that's not all of the how, but it's closer than the Rising Falls and it's as good a place to start as any.]

[cageunemptied]

Oh! Alright. Braig, then.

[She trots along happily after him, stopping occasionally to admire the flowers or the stonework.]

This place is lovely.

[youstillneedme]

It should be! Otherwise we'd have to change the name and that'd be terribly inconvenient.

[If only for the fact that no one would be able to remember which name to call it by. Not to mention that he actually likes the city as it currently is.]