[Thread] It was like looking into a mirror.

[payitgladly]

Characters: OU John Preston, OPEN
Where: anywhere (make it clear one way or another, please)
When: sometime in the afternoon
Summary: Preston arrives and immediately starts to explore the compound.
Warnings: Possible violence? If anyone wants to try and beat up on the Warden look-alike, be my guest. He can more than defend himself.

Comments

[fullmet_al]

Alice still looked a bit worse for wear as she walked along the street, the empty sleeve of her coat blowing a bit in the breeze. She still had some healing cuts from when Judai blasted the cage apart. She shook her head a bit as she looked around and then stopped in her tracks as she nearly ran into someone.

"Oh...excuse me." She said politly as she blinked up at the man. It took her a moment to realize that he looked like the Warden, but the alchemist realized that he wore a cuff.

[payitgladly]

Preston was a bit busy studying the architecture surrounding him as he walked to entirely notice the girl at first. He buildings here were very different from the ones found in Libria; worse, they were a lot different inside. It took a lot of will power not to look for a match and start incinerating all of the EC-10 material around here

[fullmet_al]

She watched him for a moment. She didn't know if he had been here for very long or not. She gave him a friendly smile as she looked up at him, since she was rather short herself. "You must be new here." She said, trying to be friendly. She didn't bother trying to hide the fact that she was missing an arm, nor the fact that she was still hurting. She just wanted to be friendly enough.

[payitgladly]

The smile earned her a curious tilt of the head that was almost instantly superseded with a slight frown. Though he had seen the expression before he was uncertain what warranted it in this such case. Not to mention it was a little more than he was used to length-wise. His face cleared a moment later and he gave another brief nod. "Yes, actually."

The church's belltower, 4:00 PM

[puritanjustice]

A figure in the old black garb of a Puritan sat on the cold stone floor, using a wooden board for a table as he scribbled away at a sheaf of paper. The day of Albel and Sheifa's wedding was dawning sooner than he thought, and that meant he would have to redouble his efforts if this 'father' wanted to have his letter ready by then.

Footsteps echoed off the floor and Solomon Kane snapped his head up, reaching for his rapier. A figure stepped out onto the balcony and the wanderer narrowed his eyes, squinting against the sunlight twice for he couldn't believe the sight before him.

"What bringeth ye here, Sir Warden?"

OOC: Let me have been the first to say it. XD

[payitgladly]

Preston walked into the church with a hint of curiosity. He glanced around at the faded decorations and idly wondered what it was about the grand elaborations that sense-offenders liked so much. They were extravagant and... that was about it for him.

He was just stepping around a corner on the upper balcony near the belltower, his left hand running along the side of the wall, when he heard the voice and his attention snapped to the stranger in front of him. He began to nod in greeting when he realized what the man was calling him and paused with a slight frown.

"I'm not... the Warden," he said calmly. His eyes glanced towards the ready weapon and away. The significance of it was not lost on him.

((lol. Yep! XD))

[puritanjustice]

A shadow of chagrin fell across the wanderer's face as he rose. He'd truly thought the Warden had deigned to walk among them. "I beg thy pardon. Ye must be newly Drafted otherwise I'd have seen ye sooner." The same duellist's hand that had been on his rapier's pommel opened and extended now to the reticent stranger.

"I am Solomon Kane. Do forgive my mistake; thy resemblance to the Warden is most eerie."

[payitgladly]

Preston glanced down at the hand with a not-quite-amused look before hesitatingly reaching out to give it a very brief, but firm shake. It was an old custom he had not preformed in quite some time. Kane was just lucky he reminded it at all.

"I have noticed," he said as he took back his hand. "Grammaton Cleric First Class John Preston. We're not related," he assured the other.

[payitgladly]

Preston gazed up at the school building with little interest. If one thing all of multiple societies had in common, it had to be the blandness that most school related buildings all seemed to share. He briefly wondered if the inside were as like "home" as the outside, but he doubted it considering the rest of the place. Everything was so... offensive. Sense-offensive.

He glanced sideways at the sound of the voice. There was an imperceptible sigh from the Cleric and then he gave a curt nod. "Looking at my new surroundings," he said. If she didn't get the fact that he wasn't the Warden from that, then she was just out of luck.

((Technically you're the third. Second to say it out loud though.))

[payitgladly]

Preston nodded once at her apology. "A tour could be useful. This compound is much smaller than Libria, but the building design and placement is very different."

For now, Preston had been very good at ignoring the fact that everyone here was most definitely throwing his "sense-offense sense" to tingling on a most bizarre vibe.

[scarlet_tech]

It was quite unfortunate for the unfeeling John Preston that not ALL residents were emotionless. Especially one young Goddess.

"Why are you here?!" Skuld shouted upon seeing the man while on her way from the apartment to the hardware store to savage for parts and had spotted him on the road.

She quickly approached him, glaring up at him. "Decided to finally give us some answers then? At least you don't LOOK injured and the place doesn't need repairs, so you have to have SOME reason to be here!" The Warden wasn't exactly her favorite person. At least she didn't attack him.

[payitgladly]

It was probably a good thing she didn't attack him, because he wouldn't have hesitated in defending himself despite the cuff's machinations. He took a step back as the young goddess rushed up close to him and he blinked blankly down at her. His head tilted to the side in an almost likeness of confusion for a brief moment before he got what she was doing. She mistook him for the Warden.

The Cleric took the step back and stood his ground with an immense amount of patience. "I'm sorry," he said although his tone didn't sound apologetic, neither did it sound sardonic. It was just bland. "I don't have any answers. I also couldn't tell you why I'm here beyond the same reasons you yourself are here." A pause. "I don't believe I'm who you think I am."

[scarlet_tech]

Skuld frowned at the response. "What do you mean you aren't who I think you are?! You look exactly like the Warden! You even talk like him!" She said and paused for a few moments. An alternate? "...why would an alternate even be so....so cold like you?" She demanded. She was almost sure the Warden was the way he was because humans were cattle on this world.

[payitgladly]

Preston glanced down at the ground for a moment before resettling his unfeeling gaze back on her. "I realize this. But it is mere fluke of nature as far as I can tell. We are not related in any fashion." He shook his head minutely. "I am not an 'alternate' of him. My name is John Preston.

"And I am not 'cold,' merely unfeeling. It is due to the strict regulations of the Tetragrammaton--the government--of my world. It is with reason."

[hikariartangel]

Krad did not trouble himself with much that didn't involve him or something he cared about in the first place. The art spirit was a very reclusive person. However, even he, at times, had curiosity beyond his own little world.

This time, it was in front of the Church that it happened. He had been about to go into the once holy building when he saw a figure with a familiar face. "Warden?" Krad said, just loud enough for the man to hear. His own voice was calm and a bit indifferent, but one did not see the Warden often.

One might even say it involved everyone in the compound when he showed up, even Krad himself.

[payitgladly]

Preston gazed up solemnly at the edifice before him. It was obvious the solemnity had nothing to do with the nature of the building itself. Religion meant nothing to him. Instead, he viewed it as an interesting bit of architecture, and he was trying to place it in his limited knowledge of pre-Librian history. He heard the familiar name called out and turned around slowly.

The Cleric gazed at the spirit with a stoic look. His eyes examined the other man with an intensity though, one brought about from his career as an officer of the peace. His head ducked down a moment as he addressed the spirit. "I am not he."

[hikariartangel]

Krad raised an eyebrow, looking at him curiously. "You are an alternate of the Warden then?" He asked, looking Preston up and down slowly. "You are wearing black. It is said he usually wears white."

[payitgladly]

Preston paused. The only time he wore white was in his formal attire. And he had to admit, the suit the Warden had worn most certainly looked an an awful lot alike to his formal uniform. But as far as he knew he was in no way related to the Warden. And frankly, he would like to keep it that way.

"No, I am not. My name is John Preston. I am a Grammaton Cleric, First Class, of the Tetragrammaton in Libria. Our similar appearance is nothing more than a fluke as far as I can tell."