Cast Adrift (open)

[Regina Mills]

Despite the fact that she typically did present herself as someone who was rather aloof, Regina knew that she made things unnecessarily difficult for herself by inwardly worrying too much - but it couldn't be helped, really. She shot Mithos a brief, concerned glance when he mentioned that he wasn't particularly hungry, wondering whether the grief and shock of all that he'd been through would keep him from eating. She certainly wasn't going to push him, for now - but hopefully ordering him the sandwich he'd mentioned would get him to eat something, so she proceeded to do so when the waiter came by next.

The implications of what he meant when told her he'd had to learn to cook for himself were perfectly clear, and it made her clench her jaw slightly. Why had this simply been allowed to happen? Had everyone around Mithos really been content to simply let things play out this way? This was a child who'd lost his entire family, who'd been forced to learn to fend for himself. Why had no one helped him? Biting back her slight indignation, she gave him a brief, distracted smile. "Well, that'll certainly come in handy. But really, you won't be any trouble anyway. No need to worry." Regina reassured him. It was mostly true, after all. Taking care of a child was nothing she wasn't used to doing, and it would be good for her to keep busy and distracted from her brooding for awhile. However, his next response made her raise her eyebrows in surprise. Everything she'd braced herself for - disbelief, uncertainty, even fear - Mithos was showing none of it. In fact, he seemed rather intrigued.

"You're familiar with magic, then." The question came out as more of a statement, a faint trace of relief edging her tone. "Most people in this world don't even know it exists, really. Or if they do believe in it, they seem to have difficulty tapping into it." Storybrooke only thrived with magic because its residents, along with the town itself, were a product of another world. Outside of it, Regina really had seen no signs of magic at all - but admittedly, she hadn't really made a point of investigating. She hadn't expected to discover that Mithos came from a world of magic as well, but it was lucky that he did. It would make all of this a little easier for him, hopefully. Although...she blinked curiously as she considered the last words he'd spoken. She was unfamiliar with the term 'mana', but she could infer that it was linked to magic in some way. And what did he mean, he'd thought everything had died? That was vaguely concerning. "Mana?" Regina prompted inquisitively after a moment, allowing a bit of her curiosity to shine through.

[Mithos]

Failure or not, at least this was a success.

"Well, if you're sure..." he allowed, as she assured him that he would be no trouble to care for. Of course, he was good at effacing, making himself seem far less than he actually was. This would be different than having an inventor and his failure of a vessel look after him - for one thing, Regina clearly noticed more than just metalwork - but she had never heard of Cruxis, or his kind of angels, or Miths the Hero. Didn't that make it all easier?

She had never even heard of Martel, the goddess. Of his sister.

That... hurt, more than he had thought it would. Her ignorance was almost an affront - he had done so much, and now it was all nothing and it made him want to kill something, sear the land with light and block out those memories. He could still go back. He could still return to her, and hear her laugh, and see her smile at the world and -

And this train of thought just hurt more, old wounds that had never healed bleeding out without leaving a trace. Mithos frowned and forced his attention back to Regina again for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He hadn't always been so distracted, but... it was just disorientation, surely. At least she asked a question he could answer truthfully, and he let himself relax a little, drift away from his problems and promises. "Mana is the essence of all life, and what allows magic to exist. In... In my own world, mana flows through everything, like a river - and certain people can reach out and tap into that flow and shape it. Like... making a canal, but once you use it, it just reverts back to the same flow." That was how it had been in the early years of his life at least, when the tree had still lived. "But it's not like that here. I think I can still use my own body's mana, though..."

That, he was certain of. Having a Cruuxis Crystal did grant certain abilities after all - and wings and light magic aside, it meant his own mana was far greater than any normal being's. It surpassed even full-blooded elves, but then... was that really a surprise?

[Regina Mills]

Regina couldn’t help but be genuinely intrigued by what Mithos was telling her, and for once, it showed. Her expression shifted to one of careful curiosity. She’d visited other worlds on more than one occasion, even before the curse – Wonderland, Oz, Neverland – but all of those operated on a system of magic that was more or less the same as the one she was used to. But she’d never even heard of mana before, which was enough to tell her that the world Mithos was from was unlike any she’d ever been to. Magic itself was a topic that never failed to capture Regina’s attention, but foreign magic unlike any she’d ever experienced before…well, it was enough to make her want to ask about fifty different questions at once.

...She doubted that being bombarded with inquiry after curiosity-driven inquiry was something that Mithos really needed to deal with right now after everything else he’d been through, however, so she made a mental note to keep the questioning to a relative minimum. “Perhaps you’ll have have an easier time with it in Storybrooke.” Regina suggested, even as she considered whether or not this might be possible. “I’m not sure how compatible your magic would be with ours, but magic is everywhere in Storybrooke – the town thrives on it. It’s worth investigating, at least.” And what she wasn’t going to say was that looking into something like this would, if nothing else, give Mithos something to do – as a child who’d lost his entire family, his sister most recently, and suddenly found himself alone in a foreign world, Regina had a feeling that even a brief distraction would certainly do him good. For now, that and a relatively safe place to stay were all she could offer him. There was no spell she knew that could take away a person’s grief, no words she had that could erase sadness or bitterness, nothing she could do to change the fact that this twelve-year-old boy had been so violently robbed of his childhood. So she’d simply have to stick to the little things and hope that in some way, eventually, they might accumulate enough to help.

For the moment, Regina pushed those thoughts out of her mind and instead focused on acknowledging the knowledgeable way in which Mithos had spoke of the mana that existed in his world and how he made use of it. It surprised Regina, because it implied that he had quite a bit of skill with his own magic – she herself hadn’t even begun training with magic until she was eighteen, and even then it’d been difficult. Rumpelstiltskin, sharp and mocking and judgmental as he was, hadn’t made it much easier. “You must’ve had an excellent teacher – you’re very young, and you already seem to know so much about the power you wield.” she observed, her tone a bit lighter now. Perhaps not everything in Mithos’ recent life had been horrible, if he seemed to speak so enthusiastically on the subject of mana.

[Mithos]

"That... that would be nice," he said slowly. Of all the places he could have ended up in, to be invited to one that still had magic - clearly, he had chosen the right person to approach. Regina would be useful, and her town just as useful if his assumption was correct.

"Then, it would remind me of home, a little," he continued, eyes narrowing. He never really had a home - Welgaia had been too silent and echoing and entirely a place he had made for himself. A seat of power, of course, but hardly a home. And before that... anywhere Martel had been had suited. It wasn't as if they had ever stayed in one place long enough for them to really call it home - humans had been all too quick to chase them away if they lingered. Still, the complete absence of mana was a little disconcerting, and he could use that.

He would use everything possible, if it got him closer to going back to Martel.

Regina was speaking again, noting his familiarity with mana, and he looked down, faking shy embarrassment. "I... I was really good at using magic and casting spells. My sister said I was a prodigy. Someone learning as much and quickly as I did was really rare." He poked at the table with a finger, wondering what else he could say. He didn't want to seem too enthusiastic too quickly. "I guess it was just my specific talent... my sister could heal almost anything." He swallowed and kept looking down, his finger now tracing a random pattern on the surface of the table.

"So... no one else uses magic here? Except in... your home? I can't even imagine that. Not everyone could use magic but it was still something everyone knew about." She seemed fairly interested in this topic - and all the better for him, as learning about this world's magic could only help him. If this place only had normal weapons, then... no one would be able to match him in battle. That would be useful.

[Regina Mills]

She was glad to hear that Storybrooke might remind him of his home - in circumstances so bizarre, Regina imagined that even the faintest amount of familiarity might be comforting. So as long as Mithos wanted to stay in Storybrooke, she'd make sure he'd be welcomed there, whatever the townspeople might think about her taking in another child. They hardly trusted her with Henry as it was, and she'd raised him. As if the fact that she hadn't given birth to him made her any less his mother. She fought back a scowl at the thought.

It was fortunate, at that moment, that she had their magic-related conversation to distract her. Mithos seemed...hesitant at first, no longer meeting her eyes, and at first Regina wondered whether it was best to just drop the issue - but then she realized that he was evidently more shy and humbled than reluctant. She remained silent, waiting patiently for him to go on, and undeniably interested in what he had to say. A prodigy? If he was this skilled already, she could only imagine what sort of power he might be capable of wielding when he grew older - and she made a mental note not to let Mr. Gold get at him. She knew all too well what that imp was like once he noticed someone's potential and set his sights on a new 'student'. "It is rare," Regina agreed with a nod, somewhat thoughtfully. "There are only a few who can use magic properly, where I'm from - and most of us have had to train many long years to obtain any real skill." She paused, considering for a moment. "Perhaps now you'll find an opportunity to get even better at it." There wasn't any real reason not to encourage such a thing, that Regina could see - even as young as Mithos was, he struck her as being somewhat responsible. There was clearly plenty of potential here.

And there was the question - exactly who else could use magic in this world? At one point in time, Regina had strictly believed that Storybrooke was the only source of it in this world, but the things she'd seen since the curse had broken and she'd been able to venture outside her town left her a little more uncertain. "That's what I was told, when I initially came here." she replied carefully. "That this was a world without magic. And it's true enough - this world doesn't seem to have its own natural source of magic, although people from other places are still capable of using theirs here." She'd had to bring the magic from the Enchanted Forest here, and it had been no easy task. This world certainly was a strange one. "But as for this world's native inhabitants...no. I don't think most of them know it exists - and people like us prefer to keep it that way. There's no telling what trouble might break out if it were to become common knowledge." The people in this world had a history of holding trials and burning 'witches', for crying out loud - and though Regina had no doubt that things had advanced considerably since that time period, she still had her misgivings. People tended to have difficulty accepting things they did not understand, after all.

[Mithos]

The only potential problem here was if Regina really did try to get him a teacher of magic. Though seeing how she worked magic would be interesting and useful, if anyone realized just how powerful he was, and how skilled...

It could quickly become problematic. And a teacher who she trusted would cause attention if they just disappeared suddenly. Of course, he could limit himself to minor spells, but - if they could sense mana, or magical potential, then... that wouldn't hold for long. But those were just potential problems - it was likely he wasn't going to be bothered for at least a little while, if he used grief as an excuse.

"Maybe," he said quietly. "But it'll... be different now. Without my sister..." He let that trail off - it was likely enough to make sure that the extent of his abilities wasn't something anyone would take an interest in any time soon.

Besides, there were more important things to consider right now, like how she easily mentioned other places. That meant... what, exactly? She had not heard of mana before, so likely people from his own world hadn't come here. But people from other worlds happened, and she spoke of it as a relatively normal event. "So there are... a lot of people from other places? Other worlds?" he asked carefully, trying to project the right amount of confusion. "How... how did they get here? I..." Maybe he would tell her that he remembered dying, if he ever needed to incite more sympathy.

But for now, he had more than enough.

[Regina Mills]

Regina fell silent at the mention of his sister. ...Of course. If learning magic was something he associated with her, then naturally doing it here was going to be painful. Daniel had been the one who taught her how to ride a horse - and she remembered how it had been difficult for her to even look at one, let alone ride one, for some time after his death. This was not something she wanted to push. Mithos would go back to learning magic when he was ready to, if that was what he wanted to do. She shoved her curiosity about his abilities aside and gave a small nod. "If it's not something you want to pursue, then forget I mentioned it." she reassured him quietly. "It's up to you." She'd leave it at that, for now - wryly, she reflected that she seemed to have an unfortunate talent of bringing up things that only reminded Mithos of that which he wanted to forget. So, with that in mind, she was only too happy to move on to a different subject when he brought one up.

...The people from other worlds. Well, Regina hadn't met too many of them, and she couldn't say for certain how it worked for each of them, respectively. Oswin had mentioned something about rifts, though, something which she and the Doctor had apparently been looking into - and while Regina didn't know as much about this as she would have liked to, she supposed it was a start. "It seems very common, for people to be taken from their own worlds and brought here. No one I've met seems certain of the reason for that, and...they've yet to find a way back to their respective worlds, as far as I know." She frowned slightly, but didn't see any point in withholding this piece of information. Mithos needed to know the facts, and she didn't want to give him any false hope about an easy return to the world he'd come from. ..If he even wanted to go back. From what she could tell, Regina wasn't sure whether or not he had anything (or anyone, more specifically) to go back to.

"But most of them seem to come here through the rifts that have been forming - holes in space and time...windows between worlds, I suppose you could call them." It was probably a lot more complicated than that, but given the situation, she supposed the simplified explanation would be best. "The people in my world are a little different. We arrived here through means of our own magic." Regina added as an after thought. Elaborating further didn't seem like a particularly good idea - despite the kindness she'd shown him thus far, she...somehow doubted that a twelve year old child would take the knowledge that she'd cursed everyone in her former world and sent them here in stride. She had to ignore a twinge of guilt, because it felt a little like deception, leaving that tidbit out - especially when it was Storybrooke she was bringing him back to, and he'd probably learn the truth from someone there sooner or later.

But they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

[Mithos]

Hmph. She had really fallen for all of it, and he felt a flicker of satisfaction for that - no matter which world he was in, people would be taken in by the same act regardless. He would still have to be careful, even if Regina seemed willing to believe everything he said - she was intelligent enough that telling her too much might lead her to uncover something he didn't want.

She really did remind him of Raine -

Mithos hastily tore himself away from that train of thought. Dwelling on that, on those people, would only weaken him. And thinking of Raine meant thinking of Genis, and Lloyd, and what they had said to him, and... and it hurt. They had been wrong, all of them, but they had killed him regardless, and that wasn't how things were supposed to happen. But he was alive now, alive, and he could get back. Somehow.

At least she had some useful information - even if none of it was very good. Multiple cases of arriving from a different world, and... "They... haven't found any way back?" he repeated, not bothering to hide the waver of fear this time. No way back. Not for them, at least - but he had accomplished the impossible before. Many times before, and even without the Eternal Sword... he was still an angel. He was still more powerful than almost anyone else in his world - and surely he was hardly any weaker here. Perhaps the others would be trapped here forever, but he... he had goals. He needed to save Martel. Derris Kharlan awaited them, a place where they could be free from the hatred of humans, from the worlds who had turned their backs on them.

"There... there has to be some way. No one's found it yet, that's all. And... until they do, I can... stay with you, right, Regina?" It was important to not seem too fixated on his goal, to make sure she knew how grateful he was for her kindness.

[Regina Mills]

Previously, she could not have said that she could relate to Mithos' fear that he would never get home. She'd used the curse to come to this world intentionally, and never had any intention of looking back - not when she had the opportunity to put so much tragedy behind her. But it'd been many years since the casting of the curse, and these days she admittedly caught herself thinking about the Enchanted Forest occasionally. This world had things hers did not - technological and medical advancements being the most notable - but what it did not have was its own source of magic. Its own sense of enchantment.

Sometimes, even now (especially now, perhaps, now that her own magic had returned), it was easy to feel a little out of place.

She wanted to see Mithos get home. It didn't sound like his world held any more good memories for him than Regina's did for her, but what mattered was that he wanted to go back anyway. If there was even the slightest chance of him finding happiness there, well...he deserved it. She really did believe that. "For as long as you need to." she reassured him. It wasn't as if she could expect that he had anywhere else to go, after all - how could a child his age be expected to support himself and find his own place to live? The alternative probably involved him getting shipped off into some foster care system, and that...that would only make things harder on him. Not to mention rip his focus away from what was important.

"And of course, if you need any help, I'll do what I can." Regina added. As a child who'd lost his parents, his sister - everyone who'd ever taken care of him - she imagined that Mithos had probably grown accustomed to being independent. But she didn't want that to keep him from speaking up if he needed anything - she wanted to make that clear. "I'm not sure if I could use my magic to get you back to your home, the way I used it to take me from mine - even so, it may be useful to combine our efforts.

[Mithos]

He sagged in relief, and it was sincere as well - not only did she agree, she was willing to work together to cross the gap between dimensions. He couldn't have asked for a better choice of host, and he was grateful. Grateful for her gullibility and compassion to an orphaned child.

This way... everything would work out. He could feel it.

Mithos looked up at her, and managed another smile. "Thank you... thank you so much. Maybe if we work together then I can... I can get home."

There really was nothing he could think of - his deception was solid now, she was fully caught up in her belief that he was lost and needed help... there wasn't much else he needed to do. He finally took a few bites of the ordered sandwich, which he had been leaving alone until now, too preoccupied with speaking to even pretend to eat. Now he did so mechanically, not even tasting it - it wasn't as if he needed to know how it tasted, let alone needed to eat it in the first place. But he'd have to go along with trappings of mortality for now, until he knew exactly how to leave.

At the moment, Regina was irreplaceable, and he needed a place to stay, a way to avoid notice anyways.

"If it's... no trouble to you, could we... leave? I'd like to get out of here, and I'll need to get used to your home..." he asked tentatively. There were so many humans here - it was terrible. And he tired of this place with its gaping abyss where its mana should have been - he really did need to get away from it.

[Regina Mills]

It appeared her reassurances had succeeded in comforting him at least somewhat, and she was glad for that if nothing else. It felt good, to help someone for once. And that wasn't typical for her - neither the helping nor the wanting to help, but she could empathize with Mithos for more reasons than one. Returning his smile, she accepted the thanks with a tiny nod. "I only hope I can be of some help. It's worth trying, at the very least." Any solution they could find to counteract the rifts or create a passage between worlds would probably be incredibly useful to anyone who'd encountered this problem, actually - not that Regina particularly cared for most of them. Regardless, it would be refreshing to have something to work towards again, and perhaps they would even both learn something in the process. She couldn't deny that the idea of magic from other worlds fascinated her.

She blinked when he mentioned leaving - of course, she imagined he must be eager to relocate to somewhere that was at least...vaguely less disorienting, as Storybrooke hopefully would be. Being able to settle in and get some rest probably wouldn't hurt at this point either. "Of course - if you're ready, we'll go right away." She counted out the money to pay for the sandwich and set it on the table, before standing and motioning towards the door. A moment of hesitation followed, however. After a brief glance around the diner to make sure no one had ventured within earshot, Regina continued a bit more quietly. They'd managed to avoid being overheard throughout an entire conversation about magic and traveling between worlds - and if they had been overheard, their sanity probably would have been questioned more than anything else. Still, it was her first instinct to be careful - attracting unwanted attention was something she very much wished to avoid.

"My home is far from here," she began after a pause. "It would be much easier to use magic to travel there - teleporting, I suppose you could call it." She was unsure if his world had anything of the sort; if there was any spell that could do something similar there. Even if there wasn't, hopefully Mithos was accustomed enough to other forms of magic that this wouldn't make him uneasy, but she thought it best not to spring it on him all the same. Of course, they'd have to head somewhere were no one could be able to spot them abruptly disappearing into thin air. Perhaps an alleyway would suffice.

[Mithos]

He tried not to look too anxious or eager as she counted out the money for his sandwich and began to leave. He wanted to leave now - he had a goal, a means of achieving it, or at least one possible path to reaching Martel and bringing her back. But rushing her would only look suspicious, and besides, he was clearly confused and nervous - suddenly gaining the apparent confidence to ask her to hurry up would ruin all of his effort.

Mithos didn't want to wait. But this plan - acquiring knowledge meant he had to be patient. Eventually, he'd work out a way back, and Martel was still in the seed of the Kharlan Tree. Her soul would remain suspended there until he could find another vessel. His subordinates might have been dead, Kratos might have turned on him, but if he waited, and planned... he could still do it.

Everything was still under control.

He ruthlessly shoved away the memories of something else, something different - that had never happened, Martel had never awakened in the first place, it had been the fault of the defective Chosen -

It took him a moment to realize he was trailing behind, and he quickened his pace to keep up with Regina as she left. He couldn't let himself get stuck in the past - not right now.

"...Teleportation? My world... we had... technology that could do that, when working with mana, but not... actual spells. So we can leave now?" No one seemed to be looking at them at the moment, but... hopefully she had some way to shield them from view. Or maybe they'd find a quieter place to teleport, first, if it wasn't normal in this world.