The New Arrival

[eighteensouls]

Who: Simon, anyone who finds him.
What: Simon Dark finds himself in an unfamiliar place that isn't Gotham...
When: Around 11pm
Where: The grounds and rooftops of Cair Paradisa
Rating: G...ish? Rating will change if the content does.

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[eighteensouls]

Normally, Simon would have at least detected someone getting so close to him, but the tiny blue-haired one managed to escape his notice. It probably had a lot more to do with his fascination with the strange book he'd found than anything else though, new curiosities always captivated him. Especially since he could sense magic around this one, too. And she wasn't a book! Which was not to say that Simon was not grateful for the conversation he'd been having thus far of course, it was just that a book that happened to be magic wasn't quite as interesting as a person who happened to be magic. It all made perfect sense to Simon of course, but fortunately for him it was unlikely he'd have to explain his reasoning any time soon.

Having to explain why his hair appeared to be attached to the mask and why his eyes quickly changed from a pale gray to hazel as soon as he turned to look at his strange visitor on the other hand, might become a point of discussion somewhere in the foreseeable future.

"Hello," Simon answered, pausing a bit as he looked over his visitor. She was small. And not like most of the people he'd met...perhaps that meant she was like him? She didn't seem to be possessed by a demon of any kind, and his only experience dealing with the strange and unusual had been Tom and evil cultists. The lack of black robes and a hood meant she probably wasn't an evil cultist, so perhaps she was like Simon and Tom? No...no stitches. But Simon was curious nonetheless. Fortunately, questions regarding the nature of her current existence were temporarily withheld for one far more relevant to the evening's events. "Can your book speak too?"

If he was at all unnerved by her decidedly strange voice, Simon did a good job of hiding it. Then again, this was the same boy who had only recently learned what the internet was, so perhaps he was just unusually open to new things.

[skullish]

Ordinarily, Sera would be creeped out by this guy's appearance. But, after having seen other, more creepy people in the castle for the past seven months that she'd lived here, she had become a bit more open to ... creepiness.

Sera blinked a few times at that question before she answered it. "Um ... yeah. The journals? They're not really talking, it's ... other people talking, um, through it. So ..."

Oh boy, was this guy new here? She was probably not the best person to be on welcome wagon committee.

[eighteensouls]

Fortunately Simon already had that bit explained to him, he'd just been less clear than he should have been when he'd asked the question. He'd try harder the next time. "I know...I meant does that book talk too?" he asked, indicating Sera's sketchbook with a brief gesture from his right hand before he returned to flipping through the pages of his own journal. Just how Sera had managed to get onto the roof seemed to be a matter Simon was ignoring for the time being, likely far too distracted by the new magical object that presumably did not have the potential to unleash a horde of dark magic infused beasties to devour the world of the living, like the last book he'd come upon.

There were other matters to be addressed with far too little subtlety for the time being anyway. Simon was observant enough to notice the sort of small things most people would overlook, or at least take a while to notice. Unfortunately for Sera, he also lacked the social graces to bring up such observations with any amount of sensitivity or tact. "You have no eyebrows," he stated, in the same sort of tone one would expect to accompany a statement such as 'it's raining today.' The blue hair was something he didn't seem to address at all, if only because one of his faces just so happened to have green hair, so unusual hair colors wasn't something that would take him by surprise. The makeup might have, if he didn't also spend so much time in Gotham, and encountered far stranger things. Like people who could remove their own eyes, or shapeshifting demons who could speak conversational Latin with a Southern accent. The absence of eyebrows only caught his interest because it was the absence of something normal, rather than the presence of something unusual.

"Do you have to make them too?"

[skullish]

It took Sera another few seconds to figure out what this guy was talking about. Did ... what book -- oh, her sketchbook, she realized, looking down at it in her arms. "Umm, no, this is a regular book ..."

She had her own journal under it, though, and held it up. "This is my journal. So ... not all books talk, here. Just these," she said, and then kind of made a face when he said that about her eyebrows. Why, yes, strange man on roof, she is aware of that. Seeing as it's, you know, her face.

"Nnnooo ... I just don't ... have them. So ... yeah. Wait, what are you talking about, 'make them too'?"

[eighteensouls]

"Oh," Simon remarked, clearly feeling somewhat let down at her response, though it was hard to tell if his disappointment stemmed from the fact that her sketchbook didn't talk, or just at the revelation that no books other than the peculiar journals were capable of such feats of communication (even if he knew full well it was only accomplished due to someone, somewhere, speaking through one). Personally, he thought it would have been a wonderful thing indeed if all the books in this strange new place could talk, but it appeared it was not to be.

"Nnnooo ... I just don't ... have them. So ... yeah."

"Oh," Simon answered, and as poor as his social skills were, he was at least able to detect that he might have upset her by asking. Not angry upset though. That sounded different. He still didn't quite make the connection himself that bringing up missing eyebrows that bluntly might have been in poor form though. "Sorry."

"Wait, what are you talking about, 'make them too'?"

Beneath his mask, Simon's eyes had turned gray again. "I thought maybe you had to make a face too," Simon explained, with a slight bit of sheepishness in his voice. Rachel had told him that a shapeshifting head was unusual, so...he didn't quite know how to feel about it. He did think it was past time to change the topic though...he remembered how Beth and Rachel reacted when they saw his face, he didn't want to scare strangers too. Perhaps he'd ask her about what he noticed earlier. "Your magic feels different. Not like the book's, either. Why?"

An innocent enough question, though Simon was clearly unaware that the girl probably wouldn't be able to answer it, just the same as he'd be unable to answer the same question himself. He just knew that the book and the castle felt different from what he was used to, and the blue haired girl with no eyebrows felt different from the book and the castle, and different still from what he was accustomed to in Gotham. Not surprisingly, he was curious as to why...

[skullish]

It wasn't that she was upset by the question, it was just such a weird thing to say! Granted, she was used to people automatically knowing why she didn't have eyebrows, back home. And here, nobody else really seemed to notice. Except this guy. Which maybe said ... something about him. What, she didn't know. But something.

Maybe crazy. Maybe that's what the something was. Because for serious, 'had to make a face too'? What the everloving fuck?

"Umm," she said, tensing up slightly and preparing to maybe zip up into the air if this turned, well, bad -- after all, Paradisa did not seem reluctant to pull serial killers or "super villains" or whatever here, so maybe she'd just found one.

"I don't ... you can feel my magic?" said Sera, colorless eyes widening slightly as her body went a little slack in shock. That was weird, certainly. Though, again, considering the kinds of people this place liked to pull to it, she shouldn't really be surprised. "Um ... I'm not from here. Same as you, I'm assuming. The castle's magic is different from anybody's, um, represented ... world's ... magic. And stuff. So ..."