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[ofthegrey]

I find it difficult to believe that I'm the only one who has chosen to remain behind on the night of the party. I've spent the better part of a month on the streets of our illustrious host city. [Bone dry.]

I'm finding myself in the mood for some company. I don't suppose anyone here knows Wicked Grace or Diamondback?

If not, I'll settle for a decent drink. I'll even buy the first round.

Comments

[ofthegrey]

That's all right. I believe I understood what you were saying. Most don't seem to have a preference for where we're going, but we have one definitive vote for the cleaner bar.

Are you familiar with the city at all?

[encourage]

No, I can't say I do. I got in just today.

[ofthegrey]

You have my condolences for joining us in this situation.

In that case, do you know where the training rooms are in the compound? You should have passed by them on the way to your housing. I could meet you there. We can travel to the bar as a group. It's a little safer that way anyway.

[encourage]

I can always appreciate a little added safety. I'm familiar with the training rooms. When should I be there by?

[ofthegrey]

About fifteen minutes should suffice. I'll meet you in the one closest to the exit.

[encourage]

( Sakura sends off a short note, "See you," before heading out. She hasn't had time to do much more than find something to insulate against the weather, playing out the probable scenarios of extended stays here and her own prosthetics.

Though it's strange, finding herself here with the designs for something she'd never seen finished. If Bruce Wayne existed still, anywhere in these worlds, she owed him a tip of her hat for ingenuity.

She wishes she could tell him that in person. Sakura wonders if it'd matter to him.

When Duncan arrives, there's a young woman in a trench-coat style rain jacket keeping casual watch. Her hair is unmistakably pink, dulled by the relatively grey lighting of everything in this city. Something of bronze catches the lower light when she moves her head, exposing her throat.

Noticing anyone in particular heading her direction, she'll lift a hand and wave, drumming up a polite and friendly smile for her face. At nineteen, she's hovering on that brink of looking almost firmly adult while the echoes of baby-faced youth. )

Duncan, sir?

[ofthegrey]

[Duncan is hard to miss. There aren't many in the city who travel in silvirite mail with divided cream colored skirting over the leg plating. All of those straps must be useful for something.

As he draws closer, it's obvious what. The metal doesn't clank with his steps. He's a man firmly set in middle age, although there's no gray in his jet black hair or beard.

He smiles slightly and finally comes to a halt at a polite conversational distance. Two dagger hilts protrude above the pauldrons and breastplate of his armor, tall and easy for him to reach.]

Indeed. You're Sakura?

[It's a safe bet. He had seen the rest of the ones to whom he had spoken.]

[encourage]

I am.

( She offers him a hand, having taken in the sight of his armor. It reminds her of what the samurai wore in distant memories, though she knows the feel is closer to what would be called Earth Middle Ages than anything from her own home.

She "knows" this because she read it in several books, and saw examples of fantastic styled armor of a similar sort.

She smiles. )

Nice to meet you face to face. What's the name of the place we're heading to?

[ofthegrey]

[He takes her hand carefully for a shake, his gauntlet clad against the cold. He has every intention of removing them once they reach the bar.

Her hair is unusual to him, but not so much that he feels inclined to comment. For all else that might be lost, his manners are intact.]

Likewise. It's called "The Third". The third what I'm afraid I don't know. The barkeep I asked didn't have an answer.

[Whether that was from not knowing or not wanting to tell a transport, he had no idea.]

[encourage]

No one says creativity is a necessary trait of a bar.

( Not that she knows so much from the past, which is still so oddly hazy when she thinks of anything before Siren's Port. )

Who're we meeting here?

[ofthegrey]

A gentleman named Rick and a gentleman whose name I didn't get. However, he made the request for the clean bar. [Perhaps that speaks well of him.] Four is a good sized group for Wicked Grace.

[encourage]

I'll admit the name is more interesting thank Poker for the contrast alone.

[ofthegrey]

Poker? That sounds potentially dangerous. It doesn't involve fire irons, does it?

[There's a suspicious looking gleam in his eyes, the corners slightly crinkled. He might be teasing her.]

[encourage]

( She smiles, startled into laughter. )

No, sadly it doesn't. Just cards and attempts at keeping your expression misleading. Fire irons?

( Guess who has never run across a fire poker before... not by such a name. )

[ofthegrey]

Ah, bluffing? There's a good bit of that to Wicked Grace, as well.

[It's one reason it's easy to learn to play but difficult to master.]

Yes, fireplace tools. The poker is good for shifting around the logs.

[encourage]

Bluffing seems fairly standard with most card games.

( She smiles, nodding her head. )

Right, then I know what you're talking about. THe terminology was throwing me off.

( Though while they're waiting... )

That's an interesting set of armor you're wearing. Is it common to your world, or did it come from somewhere around here?

[ofthegrey]

It does. It's one of the aspects I find most enjoyable. [The beard helps a lot.]

It's not at all uncommon to see people in armor in my world. This particular suit is unusual. The breastplate is part of one of a few different uniforms people in my order might wear. Our dress armor is much more ostentatious, I fear.

[encourage]

It wouldn't be dress armor if it wasn't.

( She says while smiling, though she wouldn't know. Formal gear for shinobi was becoming more uniform, not more polished. )

What's this order you're a part of?

[ofthegrey]

True. At that point it's as much about making a statement as it is about protection. Do people wear armor in your world?

[From what she said it sounds to him she's at least familiar with the concept.]

It's called the Grey Wardens. We're an...international group, for lack of a better way to put it. We don't involve ourselves in local politics. A greater threat is what we prepare for.

What is it that you do in your homeworld?

[encourage]

Mm, different groups do for different purposes. Full body armor more like what you wear is something out of a past time for my home, but is part of present history for the samurai.

( She almost starts explaining the samurai without prompting, brushing some of her hair back behind an ear. In the end she holds off on the explanation. There'll be enough if he wishes to hear it. )

What sort of threat, if you don't mind me asking?

Ah, I'm a shinobi. A medic and a fighter, specializing in hand-to-hand combat.

[ofthegrey]

Interesting. Is it part of their present because of tradition or another reason?

[He already believes that the armor he wears has little merit when it comes to some of the weapons he has seen at play in this place, although not completely useless.]

I don't mind, although you might find the answer strange. We fight against evil creatures that come from under the ground. Whenever they manage to awaken an old god, they rise and blight the land. They're known as darkspawn.

Armed or un?

[encourage]

Tradition. Not to say the shinobi haven't clung to their own traditions, but ours have shifted in looks if not so much practice from country to country.

( She cocks her head to the side as she listens, taking the information in. )

Not so strange as some things I've heard or seen. Are they infectious, or deadly by force alone?

Ah, both. Weapons just don't happen to be necessary.

[ofthegrey]

Interesting. It seems that for many worlds armor is a lost part of the past. What are some traditions of the shinobi?

[He frowns.]

Both. They blight whatever they touch, killing vegetation and mutating beasts and people in terrible ways if they don't kill them outright.

What's your weapon of choice?

[encourage]

Outdated and antiquated.

( She says it with humor, but doesn't offer actual insight into the traditions of her people. There's a nod of understanding as he explains this version of corruption, reminding her of some varieties of zombies she's encountered both in person and through friends. )

Sounds like your order would have a high risk of short careers among its members.

( As for an answer to his question, she almost looks embarrassed. She shrugs, then holds up her hands. )

After these? Kunai when I need them. I know some short-sword work, but it's not my field of choice.

[ofthegrey]

[He notices the deflection without drawing attention to it, instead chuckling and nodding.]

It would sound that way, wouldn't it? It's not the safest job in Thedas. I'm sure there are worse. Somewhere.

[His turn for some humor. There are some things not meant for the ears of strangers.]

I'm afraid most of my hand to hand unarmed training comes more down to brawling than anything with finesse.