If there are two scents in the world that Eve likes, they're the smells of freshly ground coffee and the bitter, pungent odor that rises from the end of a cigarette. The reason she likes these two smells in particular is because they can be related to a particular person in her life. This person--her father figure, rescuer, and fellow sweeper--just so happen to be the most important person to the young woman. So whenever she was around him, smelling these scents, the blonde felt right at home. Little did she know, however, that her days of traveling with her companion would be short lived.
Sitting in a diner one day, casually turning the pages of a book she held in her hands, Eve could hear her companion, Sven Vollfied, noisily slurp up the contents of his coffee cup while he occasionally mumbled a few things to himself that he read on a newspaper. It was a calm day, and the young female bioweapon found herself peacefully at ease. She only spoke when spoken too, hearing Sven address her after a few minutes of relaxing.
"Say, Eve, it's been a good while since we've had a day off. What do ya say you and me go grab a couple of ice-cream cones, take a walk through town, do a little shopping, and rent a hotel room with those really soft beds you like. I doubt Train will be back any time soon, so I figured we could do something together, you know?" he asked with a smile.
Not even removing her crimson eyes from the book she was reading, Eve replied,
"Is that so? And you can afford to do all of this?"
A huff of air escaped Sven's lips as he placed his coffee mug back down on the table.
"Clever girl. Why do you always seem to know when I'm broke?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"You're always broke," the girl reminded him, continuing to read her book as she spoke.
"T-True," the man agreed.
"But to be honest, I was going to sell something on my person, like my watch for example, to give us a little extra shopping money. I'm pretty sure if I sold it we'd at least be able to go shopping for a few--"
"No," Eve flatly stated, putting her book down.
"Sven, I won't let you sell anything of yours just so we can have one day of fun. You do enough for me. I'm happy."
Sven lowered his head, narrowing his eyes sadly.
"Yeah, but sometimes I worry it's just not enough, Eve. I mean, you've gotta understand where I'm coming from. There are so many fathers who can afford to buy their daughters clothes, jewelry, and lots of other things. I really don't feel like I'm the best guardian for you. I should be able to treat you to some good things every once in a while."
The girl shook her head.
"I told you, I'm happy. I don't need things to make me happy; being free is enough to make me happy. If you want money... why not take another sweeping job? We can do one together."
Sven furrowed his brows.
"I guess. It's just, these jobs are dangerous and I was kinda hoping to take a break today," he admitted with a small chuckle.
"How about, job first, and then a break?" she asked, a small smile starting to form on her lips.
"Or, I could take the job and let you take a brea--"
"Oh hell no!" Sven interjected.
"There's no way a true gentleman would make a lady do all of the work while he just lazed around all day. We'll pick out a job together and I'll go with you, end of story."
Eve nodded.
"All right."
And so, Sven and Eve set off together to take on a sweeping job, aka a bounty hunting job. The two of them would hunt down a certain criminal and collect their reward. Usually, the job was fairly easy, but this time not so much.
It all happened so fast. The two of them were on their way to catch a cloaked girl named Xion with a bounty on her head, and the next thing Eve knew she was sitting in the hospital at Sven's bedside.
"He won't wake up," a nurse told Eve, frowning sadly at the girl. During Eve and Sven's attempt to catch the mysterious cloaked girl, he had sustained a head injury that rendered him unconscious. That wasn't the only thing it did to him either; the injury sent Sven into a coma. The blonde girl was horrified to see such a thing happen to her friend.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Eve asked, worry glazing her eyes.
"Well, I suppose there is treatment, but it's very expensive. It's nothing you could afford."
Eve narrowed her eyes, remembering the bounty that had been placed on the cloaked girl's head.
"Not unless I find the money for it..."
With determination in her heart, Eve set out after the mysterious cloaked girl, very certain that she would capture her alive and claim the bounty on her head.
But instead of capturing her alive, Eve ended up chasing the girl. This girl, although Eve had no idea who she was or where she came from, apparently had the power to travel between worlds by using dark portals of some sort. The young sweeper followed this mysterious cloak-wearer through many worlds, eventually coming upon a place named
Columbia.
While in Columbia, this cloak-wearer, Xion, somehow
made a friend who helped her hide within Columbia. Tiring of this cat and mouse game, Eve tried her hardest to discover the location of the girl--eventually finding her hidden within some bushes in the outskirts of this strange town. Upon discovering them, the bioweapon thrust long locks of her transforming blonde hair at the black cloaked girl, wrapping her in it as if her hair were some kind of rope. She then dragged Xion out of the bushes so rapidly that no leaves even stuck to the girl's coat.
"You're coming with me!" Eve bellowed.
"N-No, just leave me alone! I haven't done you any harm." the captured girl replied.
Eve narrowed her eyes.
"Wrong, you hurt my friend. So I will capture you alive and receive my payment for you. I need that payment to... help him."
"Not if I can help it!"
Suddenly, another small blonde girl named Ilona, the friend that black-cloaked girl, rushed forward with a little sword to chop through Eve's hair. The girl wasn't very strong, or good with her sword, but the meager attack was more than enough to free the cloaked girl from Eve's hair-rope attack.
"I demand you leave my friend alone!" the little blonde challenger demanded, stepping in front of the cloaked girl.
Eve narrowed her eyes and shook her head. She wasn't backing down. She couldn't!
The cloaked girl took a shaky step back, waving a hand behind herself to make a portal appear.
"Fine, if you won't leave me alone, I'll just run away from you again!" Turning away from the blonde girls, the cloaked female jumped through her portal.
Scowling, Eve shoved the smaller blonde female who had assaulted her, rushing quickly to jump through the portal herself. Ilona, despite being shoved, quickly grabbed onto one of Eve's arms and clung to it, getting dragged through the portal as well.
And with that, the two females were whisked away...
---
The next thing Eve knew, she was waking up in a room surrounded by a multitude of strangers. She realized she recognized none of them until she spotted Ilona. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again when she realized the girl was asleep. It was irritating that Ilona was around, but Xion--the one she really wanted to find--was not.
Saying nothing, Eve stood up and brushed off her dark clothing, looking around to see what the others were doing. Being an observant type of person who said little unless she was spoken to first, it wasn't likely Eve would question the others unless they had something to say to her, or if she came up with something important to say to them.
"..."
@Anybody in Room #2