exsilium | o1 ⚢ video//action

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o1 ⚢ video//action

[There is one very scowly looking blond looking at her surroundings, visible both on the network and in person outside the apartments. She mutters under her breath:] You piss off one mage...

[Clearing her throat, she tries and fails to force the scowl off her face] My name's Lena. I need to be - not here. Look, I'm grateful for the rescue, but it's a little too late. I made a deal, and I have six months - I have six months. None of which I can afford to waste here.

You people need to stop making other people fight your battles for you and learn to stand on your own two feet. It's not my job to hold your hand into a better future.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Look who is happenstancefully walking towards his apartment, when he comes across some angry scowling. There's a word that catches his notice—]

Lena? [But it's obviously not the Lena he knows.]

You can keep speaking, milady, but the people you're talking to aren't going to answer.

[She whips around, one hand going to the sword at her hip. When no attack is forthcoming, she relaxes very slightly] That's what I said.

I'm not - just Lena is fine. Don't call me that. [She shoves a hand back through her hair] What do you mean?

That's fine, I'm just Nash. [He raises both of his hands slightly, open-palmed. A peacemaking gesture.]

They monitor those things, they'd be foolish not to. But they don't jump in. It's just people like me.

Nash. Okay.

[There's a beat before a flicker of fantasy character uncertainty runs across her face. She stares down at the netbook] So what are these, then?

I don't know what they call them. I prefer messenger birds.

[Fantasy character uncertainty bros.]

[That makes Lena wrinkle her nose. She has some Issues with messenger birds] That depends on who's sending the message. And if you can get the damn things to leave you alone once they've done their job.

I train my own. Makes things go more smoothly. [He shrugs.] I like letters, too.

These things, though— [he means the netbooks] I think it's awful inconvenient to be able to talk to people whenever you want.

[She looks visibly startled] You do? [A beat] I don't know a lot of people who can read. [Her body language is still extremely defensive, but she's at least invested enough in the conversation that she's not about to walk off]

[He's not going to try any sudden moves. He doesn't blame anyone for being scared after a bout of kidnapping.]

I know I don't look it, but I've been to school. My dad was very strict about education.

I don't think there's a really a 'look' for being educated. [She glances around the area, the unfamiliar architecture]

What is this place? What can you tell me?

Spectacles, maybe. A lack of callouses on the hands. [But Nash wears gloves, so.]

I can only tell you the stuff I've fished second-hand, but this place… they're called the Initiative, and they're recruiting an army. Their plan is to change the past somehow, and we're going to fight for them. I haven't been here long enough to see any of their missions but— I don't think they'd be handing out swords without planning to put something on the other end of them.

[She doesn't change expression, but she holds out her hands. They're calloused, with a few marks here and there that look like burns. There's almost something like a smile about her lips, but she's still in a bad enough mood that it doesn't come out]

Not everything in that room looked like a sword. Or any other kind of weapon I've seen before. Is there any sort of rhyme or reason to who they're picking out? I mean-- [she shrugs] I'm a blacksmith's apprentice. Doesn't strike me as the go to person for fighting a war. Unless they need a lot of nails.

[If she won't smile, he will.] You don't have to prove anything to me. [He shakes his head.] I try to judge covers by their books, not the other way around.

And I'm not a soldier either— I do clerking work for a bishop. I haven't seen much fighting since the days of my misspent youth.

I was speaking a bit poetically about the swords, but yeah. [He was kind of frightened by the vast selection of weapons they had.] Wars are always paid for by the common people… but you're right. Most of the people I've met here aren't common. All rules have their exceptions, I guess. [He's not going to prod into her "just a blacksmith" story, even if her guardedness tells him there's probably more to it.]

Edited (how do i html) 2012-08-27 07:35 (UTC)

I wasn't. [She's quick to say it, tugging her hands back to her body] Disproving that theory, is all. I don't have anything to prove. [This is a lie]

[Blinkblink] A...bishop. [no gods, no priests in her kingdom :'D]

[And then there's a brief hesitation here, because she's just been informed that she's on the verge of causing a war back home. The idea that it's going to be taken out in common blood isn't one she wants to face] What kind of people have you met here, then?

A bureaucrat with a fancy hat. [He's from a militant theocracy. But he will also pantomime a large hat for purposes of… edification.]

Let's see… there was the elf, the ghoulish elf, and the girl who said she was the reincarnation of a thousand past heroes. There was another girl who was quite insistant I make her tea— a born aristocrat if I've ever met one.

[She coughs to cover a smile, because NO THAT'S NOT FUNNY except it totally is]

Elves. As in - small creatures that sneak into shoemakers shops at midnight, elves?

I think it makes him look very dignified. [He says this so brightly he can't possibly be serious.]

They're about as tall as I am. [He's six foot nothing, for the record.] But their ears are large and pointy.

I'm sure.

[She eyes him for a moment] ...I guess I already met one myself. [Who looks almost exactly like the person she's running from] Have you come across anyone who looks like someone you know? But - isn't?

Someone that I know? [He shakes his head.] I once ran into someone I thought I knew— and I was right, I only thought I knew him. But that was a long time ago.

...Sounds like something different from what I'm talking about. [She rubs a hand over her face] You've - been helpful. [A beat] Thanks.

I don't like any of this, you know.

Being kidnapped to fight somebody else's war? I'm shocked.

[He laughs at that, and it seems genuine.]

No. I'm not fond of it, but like I said, wars are always fought for somebody else.

I don't like not knowing the how or why. And I don't like that they've made it so easy to talk to each other, without giving up much reason to trust. I don't like how that adds up.

Have you seen many wars, then? My homeland - it's not very common

[She taps the netbook] You don't have anything like this either? I mean - there are magic mirrors, but both magic and mirrors are expensive.

There's always a war, somewhere, at least where I come from. I've seen a few; I'm older than I look, you know.

We have magic, too, and mirrors. Rarely together. Nothing like— whatever that is.

o1 ⚢ video//action

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