o1 ⚢ video//action

[choseherownway]

[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.

Comments

[woahwoahawkward]

No, I was just stuck with a witch who liked to make threats for some time.

[choseherownway]

[Dryly] If there's one thing witches excel at, it's turning people into things. Who are you?

[woahwoahawkward]

And being sneaky...but I digress.

Alistair.

[choseherownway]

I can't disagree with you there.

Is that all?

[woahwoahawkward]

...Theirin.

Alistair Theirin.

[Nobody needs to know that's a royal lineage from home, right? Right.]

[choseherownway]

[The faintest hint of a smile tugs at her lips, but she swallows it down] I actually meant, what do you do here.

[SHE WON'T ASK IF YOU DON'T]

[woahwoahawkward]

Ah.

Well, I seem to spend a lot of time doing my own training. Sometimes, if you're good, the Initiative throws you into an unexpected and disastrous encounter!

Just like home, really.

[choseherownway]

I heard about that. [Her gaze drifts to her sword, sheathed at her hip] I suppose I should thank my lucky stars that I decided to practice with the swords I made, back home.

[A blink] Are disastrous encounters unexpected in war, then?

[woahwoahawkward]

The sort that I've seen here? Yes, completely unexpected.

[She's got his attention, though.]

You're a blacksmith?

[choseherownway]

What have you seen here?

And no, not yet. An apprentice.

[woahwoahawkward]

Oh -- time travel, memory manipulation -- you know, the sort of stuff you have nightmares about as a child.

[choseherownway]

I...can safely say I haven't had nightmares about either of those things. [witches really are scary okay] Did you say memory manipulation?

[woahwoahawkward]

[Oh, those are the nightmares he has as an adult.]

I did. Virtual memory manipulation, but -- still.

[choseherownway]

...Virtual?

[woahwoahawkward]

It's my understanding that it's 'non-real'. Or so I'm told.

[choseherownway]

Why can't they just say that? [a beat] So they...messed with people's memories, except they didn't really?

[woahwoahawkward]

Because they like to confuse the rest of us, I'd guess.

[He sighs.]

And -- yes, exactly. It felt real, but it apparently wasn't.

[choseherownway]

[She sighs as well] And they want us to fight for them?

[woahwoahawkward]

It would seem that way, yes.