milliways_bar | (no subject)

Asmodean's smile did not merely touch on a smirk, it groped it.

"I always have melodies that I desire to play, my lady."

He readied his harp. With a small flourish, Asmodean began to play a lyrical tragic ballad. The melody spoke of love lost, or perhaps love never found. The song tore at the heart as the harper poured emotion into the song. The harper attempted to play at the listener's feelings and memories and pluck them like he did the harp's strings.

After some time, he finished with a flourish. He glanced up with a sad smile at his audience.

Love...well, that was an awfully foreign topic for Cassandra. She had never been in love. Hell, she never had time for it and it certainly wasn't in her agenda. She was too busy training and fighting criminals to clean up the streets.

But...she did know about losing. David Cain. Her...well, father, for the lack of a better word. She didn't hate him, even if he had raised her as a weapon.

When the song ended and the musician looked up, Cassandra came back to reality. It never did do well to dwell on the past. She clapped for the man.

"That...nice. But sad," she told him.

Asmodean gave another smirking smile. He knew the pain of loss and knew how to express it in his music.

"I am glad that you enjoyed it."

He paused.

"My manners have apparently eluded me. May I ask your name?"

Oh, yeah. Name. She should have probably said something about it as well, but it wasn't everyday that she mingled with people she wasn't already familiar with.

"Oh, it's...Cassandra." It still felt weird telling someone that name.

Asmodean gave a graceful bow.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Cassandra."

He paused.

"I suppose that it would be considered rude of me to not do likewise. Please address me as Jasin Natael."

"Jasin...Natael." It certainly didn't sound like a name she knew. It was rather...unique, after all.

"And...just Cassandra." Not Lady. It felt odd.

"Do you live here?" He seemed to be making money singing, after all.

Asmodean nodded.

"I am residing here for the time being. More as a matter of escape from the situation in my own world than anything else."

"Escape...?" Was there a war in the world he came from?

Cassandra was still having a difficulty with wrapping her mind around the whole different worlds thing. After all, she had only encountered relatively normal situations in her crime-fighting career, unlike other vigilantes.

Asmodean nodded.

"Indeed. The situation had become both hazardous to my health and an unpleasant work environment."

"Is there...fighting?" Cassandra asked, tilting her head to one side observantly.

Asmodean nodded sadly.

"Yes, and alas, in my world, I was shielded and could not participate."

"That's...sad."

And Cassandra knew about fighting. And in a way, she was glad that this man hadn't been in the midst of it.

Asmodean nodded.

"Indeed. I was betrayed by my allies, and so now I serve, as a prisoner, in a fashion outside my normal capacities."

There was the faint trace of a frown upon Cassandra's lips. Betrayal. It was something that she couldn't understand and didn't want to.

"At least...you can come here." It seemed that this place was peaceful for the most part.

Asmodean gave a sad smile.

"This space is a welcome reprieve."

He glanced away.

"Discussion of my past is a depressing affair. Perhaps another topic may suit you better?"

"I...don't know much about talking." Or small talk, anyway. Cassandra never had the need for it. She talked to Oracle sometimes and used to talk to Stephanie, but that was about it.

Asmodean gave a smirk and a dark chuckle.

"In all of my three hundred and fifty-some odd years alive, I do not believe I have ever heard that from a woman."

He paused.

"That was by no means intended as insult."

Cassandra shook her head as a sign for him not to worry about it. She knew what he meant from her interactions with Oracle and Stephanie.

"You...haven't ever met me," she said with a faint smile.

Asmodean smiled.

"That is quite true, and you seem to be a reasonably intriguing young woman."

Intriguing? How was she intriguing? She blinked a few times before furrowing her brows, looking confused.

"How?"

Asmodean smirked.

"The last comment already established, there is your concern for my health, and a strange way about you that speaks of an interesting past."

Interesting past? Well, she figured that was one way of putting it, but it was also something she didn't want to touch. When she did...well, as a general rule, bad things happened.

"But why...can I not be concerned?" She asked instead. It didn't seem all that out of place. It seemed normal, even.

Asmodean gave a rather chilling laugh.

"There is nothing saying you cannot be. It is simply not something most people are concerned about. They either believe that I can care for myself, or that the world is a better place without me."

Now Cassandra definitely frowned at that. It was a morbid thought, and not even most criminals deserved someone to think that about them.

"That's...not true. Cruel thing to say."

Asmodean was not most criminals. In fact, they would have to invent punishments suitable to his crimes.

"Oh, but it is. You see, though I am reformed now, I had an illustrious past."