Nill wakes up feeling air on her face, something she most definitely didn't when she was trapped down in that basement. Her eyes flutter open and she looks around. The breeze makes her realize that she's most definitely not in the basement, and as she climbs to her feet she takes notice that oh - it's cold. But cold is better than being crushed in a basement, and she just stares at the snow with a slight hint of awe.
She's never seen snow before, but her focus rests on something else entirely as her eyes scan over the area. On her tiptoes, she seems to float her way over toward the arch. Her wings perk up curiously, and her head tips off to the side. Her arms outstretch as she reaches it and she pivots on one foot to try and get a full view of the area around her.
Where's Heine?
She briefly wonders, and the thought is fleeting because she realizes that there's something more important at work here. She tips her head back in order to see the full thing, and sees the crack down the center. Her mouth drops open into a look of shock, and her wings tip downward in concern. This isn't anywhere from home, she knows. Worry travels through her and settles in her stomach, and she knots her fingers into the fabric of her dress.
Neal is still studying the archway himself, trying to keep his mind off the fact that once everyone is awake, they're going to need to move. Whatever is keeping the snow out of this little area isn't keeping the cold out. They need shelter, food, and information.
He rubs his face, mentally commanding himself to focus--before he sees the teenage girl inspecting the arch. He smiles at, saluting her with the hand holding his towel while trying very hard not to wonder what kind of place she was wearing that outfit to. Maybe she's from New York. Wouldn't be that weird.
Nill freezes in place as she hears the man's voice, and slowly cranes her head to glance over in his direction. Her first instinct is to run, she doesn't know him - strangers are dangerous without Heine or Naoto here - but her legs won't cooperate with her thoughts. So she just stands there, her breathing becoming coming out in rapid little gasps, and her eyes grow wide as she stares over at him. The tip of her wings become more visible over her shoulders as she tenses, she's on high alert as she realizes that she's not alone.
She isn't sure if he's good or if he's someone that wants to take her away, back to where she comes from. He's smiling, though, something she isn't used to from strangers where she's from.
Unable to ask who he is or if he knows what's going on, she simply nods in responds to his question. Her breaths were still quick and irregular and she still looked like she's bothered that he exists, but she's trying to communicate.
She takes a few steps back and away from the arch then, which are also two cautious steps away from the stranger. She extends her arm, as if she's going to wave, but then points up at the arch. She mouths a word then, although she knows he probably won't be able to pick up on it.
A ghost of a frown crosses his face, both at the... are those wings? and at the fact that she's not talking.
"Danger?" He looks back and up at the arch, then flashes another crooked smile at Nill. "Dunno. Not exactly friendly though, is it."
He crouches, letting her have the high ground and hopefully helping her relax. "I'm Neal. You must be cold in that. ...You want my vest? It's not gonna be much better, but it's something."
She shook her head then, and bit at her lip, staring over at him still. As he crouched, she took another step back and shook her head once again, a silent plea for him to not come in any closer. She wasn't ready to deal with strange men up close yet, even if this one was talking nicely and being kind. At his offer to use his vest, she shook her head for a final time, and her wings fell downward, the tips now pointing at the ground.
She really disliked whatever was going on here. And where was Heine? He was supposed to protect her, he was supposed to be here. He was going to come and find her and get her from the building before anything bad happened. He had promised.
She forced herself to calm down, and took in a few deep breaths. She glanced up at the man as if she were about to say something, and then promptly flopped her mouth shut once again.
'Lost'
She mouthed the word with a deep frown, and looked down at him. Maybe he was too.
Him a little more than her, maybe, if those wings were any indication. He tucks his hand into his pocket, looking for something small he can play with. He finds a bullet. Great. Here's hoping she doesn't know what it is.
He holds it up, still smiling at Nill in the most disarming way he can manage, walking in back and forth between his fingers before making it 'vanish' with a dramatic swish of one hand. "Can you tell me your name? Or spell it for me?"
He keeps his hands moving while he talks, making the little silver tube appear and disappear in various ways. If he can get her curious or entertained, he can hopefully help her calm down.
Oh, she knew what bullets were. She watched Heine and Badou play around with them just the same as this man was doing, and she even had a small collection of shells that she had found around the church. They were tucked inside a cigarette carton Badou had left behind, and were hidden up under one of the pews. It was with a sad realization that it dawned on her those things were left behind, and she probably wasn't ever going to see them again.
She watched him move around the bullet, surprisingly put at ease with how well he was able to make it disappear and come back into sight again. Bullets were something she knew, something she dealt with on a daily basis. Familiar things put her at a slight ease, and she was able to relax just enough to nod her head in response to his question.
She didn't want to touch him, though, so she held up a finger signaling for him to wait. Flat footed, she crouched down toward the ground, and used her index finger to try and dig her name into the dirt.
N - I - L - L
She didn't do a very good job, considering how the coldness made the ground hard, and the snow kept blowing over her hard work. She frowned, and kept trying, over and over again.
"Neal and Nill." He winks at her, tossing the bullet in the air, apparently catching it, and then opening both hands to reveal that it's vanished yet again. "Nice to meet you, Nill."
He eases to his feet again, holding his hands up in a gesture of placation as he takes a step away. "I'm not going to hurt you. Cross my heart. I just want to find out where we are and get home. You too I'll bet, huh."
Relieved that he had managed to catch her name, she nodded in response to wanting to go back home. Home wasn't all that great of a place for her, but at least people she knew and loved were there. Here, she didn't have anyone that she recognized, and she knew that she couldn't trust any of them. Someone could easily snatch her up and take her back to the men that had originally owned her, and that thought downright terrified her.
She leaned forward to look at his hands, trying to find the bullet. Looking for that was easier than looking directly at him, because she knew that her fear was showing and probably rolling off of her in waves. The distraction from it was nice, and she braved herself enough to reach out and very lightly poke at his hand.
That minimal contact was enough, however, and she scurried back until she felt she was a safe distance away.
'Bullet'
Maybe she'd try to hold onto it, to give her some kind of reminder of home.
His smile stays steady, despite his own brief, bleak pang at the fact that she identified the object without any difficulty. So whatever she is, wherever she's from, there's guns. Of course there are.
He pulls the towel from his shoulder, gives it a flourish, and drops it on the ground. When he picks it up again the bullet's there, standing upright. He picks it up and offers it to her. Not like she has a gun to use it with--she doesn't really seem the type, for one thing--and besides, if he can encourage her that he doesn't mean any harm, so much the better. "Are you from around here, or are you lost like I'm lost?"
She smiled for the first time as she reached over to take the bullet from him. She held it tightly in her hand, which was closed in a fist, and brought that hand up to rest over her heart. The longer she stood here with Neal, the more she realized that Heine wasn't coming to her rescue.
Not this time.
She pointed at him in response to his question, making sure to keep the hand with the bullet against her chest. She was lost the same was he was, there wasn't anything like this where she was from. She had seen Bishop writing about the name of where they were from, and she recited it from memory. 'Germany'
Where Germany was on a map, she wasn't sure, and she also didn't know what Germany meant in relation to where they were now. But that was home, and she felt a pang of pride in being able to call it that and actually mean it.
Neal's throat tightens at the site of her holding the bullet like that. Lost, like him. For a second he wished for Peter, all the worries and anxiety of the part few days pressing in on him in an enveloping wave.
Focus. Focus on the moment at hand, just... forget all of that. He orients on Nill again.
"Germany." It's the tone of enlightenment. "I've been there. I-- uh. Actually, I probably shouldn't tell you what I did there. Do you know what part?"
There were parts to Germany? Nill stared at him blankly for quite some time, her feet shuffling. She felt ashamed, since obviously she should have had an answer to that question. At long last, she realized what he was probably asking, and then pointed up.
She was from up above, not from the underground. Not anymore, not after Heine took her away and up above.
'Church'
She tried to explain her home to him, but it was difficult to do, and she let out a silent sigh.
He nods, making a mental note of her gestures and attempts at at explanation without really putting together what she's trying to say. The 'church' part is clear enough. Which... might explain the wings. Maybe.
Unless the Germans have much better surgical technology than he's aware of.
"I live in a big house in New York City. It's beautiful." He moves to sit down, still talking. "At night, you can see all the lights climbing up the buildings like ladders up into the sky. You want me to show you how to do one of those tricks?"
She has no idea what or where New York City is, but the thought of being able to see so many lights makes her smile in appreciation. She didn't get to see things like that where she was from, most of the buildings are lucky to still be standing with all the fighting that's going on around and within them.
She was so lost in comparing her own home to Neal's description of his, that when he asked about learning one of the tricks she was taken by surprise. She raised her eyebrows in a silent question, unsure if she wanted to learn. Part of the magic of the trick was not knowing how it happened, after all. But he seemed to genuinely want to teach her, and she knew that it had to be difficult to keep communicating with her, so she eventually nodded.
The hand holding the bullet opened from the fist that it had been in, and she tossed it up for him to take.
When Toph senses the feather-light steps around the arch, for a second she breaks out into a giant grin and runs around the Arch because there's only one fancy dancer who walks like th-
But after the first step she can register the subtle differences and she skids to a stop in front of Nill. The grin fades quickly as she realizes and then she's just standing there awkwardly.
"...Oh," she says, trying to mask her disappointment with a shrug. "Sorry, I thought you were somebody else. Never mind."
She's never seen snow before, but her focus rests on something else entirely as her eyes scan over the area. On her tiptoes, she seems to float her way over toward the arch. Her wings perk up curiously, and her head tips off to the side. Her arms outstretch as she reaches it and she pivots on one foot to try and get a full view of the area around her.
Where's Heine?
She briefly wonders, and the thought is fleeting because she realizes that there's something more important at work here. She tips her head back in order to see the full thing, and sees the crack down the center. Her mouth drops open into a look of shock, and her wings tip downward in concern. This isn't anywhere from home, she knows. Worry travels through her and settles in her stomach, and she knots her fingers into the fabric of her dress.
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He rubs his face, mentally commanding himself to focus--before he sees the teenage girl inspecting the arch. He smiles at, saluting her with the hand holding his towel while trying very hard not to wonder what kind of place she was wearing that outfit to. Maybe she's from New York. Wouldn't be that weird.
"Hey. Kind of a rude awakening, huh."
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She isn't sure if he's good or if he's someone that wants to take her away, back to where she comes from. He's smiling, though, something she isn't used to from strangers where she's from.
Unable to ask who he is or if he knows what's going on, she simply nods in responds to his question. Her breaths were still quick and irregular and she still looked like she's bothered that he exists, but she's trying to communicate.
She takes a few steps back and away from the arch then, which are also two cautious steps away from the stranger. She extends her arm, as if she's going to wave, but then points up at the arch. She mouths a word then, although she knows he probably won't be able to pick up on it.
'Danger?'
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"Danger?" He looks back and up at the arch, then flashes another crooked smile at Nill. "Dunno. Not exactly friendly though, is it."
He crouches, letting her have the high ground and hopefully helping her relax. "I'm Neal. You must be cold in that. ...You want my vest? It's not gonna be much better, but it's something."
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She really disliked whatever was going on here. And where was Heine? He was supposed to protect her, he was supposed to be here. He was going to come and find her and get her from the building before anything bad happened. He had promised.
She forced herself to calm down, and took in a few deep breaths. She glanced up at the man as if she were about to say something, and then promptly flopped her mouth shut once again.
'Lost'
She mouthed the word with a deep frown, and looked down at him. Maybe he was too.
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Him a little more than her, maybe, if those wings were any indication. He tucks his hand into his pocket, looking for something small he can play with. He finds a bullet. Great. Here's hoping she doesn't know what it is.
He holds it up, still smiling at Nill in the most disarming way he can manage, walking in back and forth between his fingers before making it 'vanish' with a dramatic swish of one hand. "Can you tell me your name? Or spell it for me?"
He keeps his hands moving while he talks, making the little silver tube appear and disappear in various ways. If he can get her curious or entertained, he can hopefully help her calm down.
Reply
She watched him move around the bullet, surprisingly put at ease with how well he was able to make it disappear and come back into sight again. Bullets were something she knew, something she dealt with on a daily basis. Familiar things put her at a slight ease, and she was able to relax just enough to nod her head in response to his question.
She didn't want to touch him, though, so she held up a finger signaling for him to wait. Flat footed, she crouched down toward the ground, and used her index finger to try and dig her name into the dirt.
N - I - L - L
She didn't do a very good job, considering how the coldness made the ground hard, and the snow kept blowing over her hard work. She frowned, and kept trying, over and over again.
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He eases to his feet again, holding his hands up in a gesture of placation as he takes a step away. "I'm not going to hurt you. Cross my heart. I just want to find out where we are and get home. You too I'll bet, huh."
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She leaned forward to look at his hands, trying to find the bullet. Looking for that was easier than looking directly at him, because she knew that her fear was showing and probably rolling off of her in waves. The distraction from it was nice, and she braved herself enough to reach out and very lightly poke at his hand.
That minimal contact was enough, however, and she scurried back until she felt she was a safe distance away.
'Bullet'
Maybe she'd try to hold onto it, to give her some kind of reminder of home.
Reply
He pulls the towel from his shoulder, gives it a flourish, and drops it on the ground. When he picks it up again the bullet's there, standing upright. He picks it up and offers it to her. Not like she has a gun to use it with--she doesn't really seem the type, for one thing--and besides, if he can encourage her that he doesn't mean any harm, so much the better. "Are you from around here, or are you lost like I'm lost?"
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Not this time.
She pointed at him in response to his question, making sure to keep the hand with the bullet against her chest. She was lost the same was he was, there wasn't anything like this where she was from. She had seen Bishop writing about the name of where they were from, and she recited it from memory. 'Germany'
Where Germany was on a map, she wasn't sure, and she also didn't know what Germany meant in relation to where they were now. But that was home, and she felt a pang of pride in being able to call it that and actually mean it.
Reply
Focus. Focus on the moment at hand, just... forget all of that. He orients on Nill again.
"Germany." It's the tone of enlightenment. "I've been there. I-- uh. Actually, I probably shouldn't tell you what I did there. Do you know what part?"
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She was from up above, not from the underground. Not anymore, not after Heine took her away and up above.
'Church'
She tried to explain her home to him, but it was difficult to do, and she let out a silent sigh.
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Unless the Germans have much better surgical technology than he's aware of.
"I live in a big house in New York City. It's beautiful." He moves to sit down, still talking. "At night, you can see all the lights climbing up the buildings like ladders up into the sky. You want me to show you how to do one of those tricks?"
Reply
She was so lost in comparing her own home to Neal's description of his, that when he asked about learning one of the tricks she was taken by surprise. She raised her eyebrows in a silent question, unsure if she wanted to learn. Part of the magic of the trick was not knowing how it happened, after all. But he seemed to genuinely want to teach her, and she knew that it had to be difficult to keep communicating with her, so she eventually nodded.
The hand holding the bullet opened from the fist that it had been in, and she tossed it up for him to take.
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But after the first step she can register the subtle differences and she skids to a stop in front of Nill. The grin fades quickly as she realizes and then she's just standing there awkwardly.
"...Oh," she says, trying to mask her disappointment with a shrug. "Sorry, I thought you were somebody else. Never mind."
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