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[onblackwings]

[ This lady's looking a little different, for anyone that's spoken with her before. Not any older, but there's a sort of crooked quality to her nose, like it'd been broken and healed some time ago. She's lounging in the Initiative apartments, looking like she's recently made friends with a superiority complex. ]

I want to speak to those of you who have seen a war before. Not the skirmishes that the Initiative sends us on here, but actual war.

And failing that, I'll take anyone that knows magic — and can teach it. That part is important. Don't waste my time if all you can do is cast it.

Comments

[freewoman]

They kneel t'their king.

permavoice.

[isinganyway]

What of war?

[ladyspitfire]

It wasn't...really singing. But that's all I can describe it as. It was loud, hypnotic. You wanted to find and follow it.

[flamberge]

[Answering a question with another question. How nice. Still, Kratos does reply.]

The first had been a millennium year old conflict which had only recently been put an end to; the other had taken place in a world not my own, the conclusion for which I had not stayed long enough to witness.

[imperfect]

Yeah? And what makes you so sure?

[heirwithouthope]

It would disgrace me to offer anything less.

There is but one term to this agreement.

[onblackwings]

What is it?

[heirwithouthope]

If my tales are to be yours, they will only be yours. I will not say a word to this contrivance where others may hear.

[onblackwings]

Fine. Then where do we meet?

voice;

[frombrooklyn]

What would you like to know about it?

[onblackwings]

Don't worry. I really doubt you have any of the stories I'm looking for.

[onblackwings]

That depends. Have you fought in one?

[isinganyway]

You're probably right. Might you be so kind as to share the wisdom others have given you with me? If this is truly a war, ignorance won't preserve my life or my innocence for long.

[frombrooklyn]

Almost did, before getting here. I had a relative who fought and died in one, though.

[ any inhabitants of room 1001 might notice that the voice is coming from right outside the entrance -- ]

[onblackwings]

I'm looking for tales of battlefield glory. Unless you're planning to pick up a sword, I doubt you would gain much from them.

[onblackwings]

[ nope totally oblivious, too busy being a social butterfly with this tablet here. so she keeps on talking, probably over any sounds of entry. ]

I almost did, too. Rather disappointing, isn't it?

[frombrooklyn]

Yeah, it is. [ fumbling at the door, do dee do ... ]

I mean, not in the sense that I wanted to fight. Or kill. I just -- [ ... and he enters, the door closing shut behind him. ] -- wanted a chance to do my part.

[onblackwings]

[ Well, now she's paying attention, when there's suddenly unaccounted-for noises and fresh smells in her territory. She picks herself up from the couch, tablet suddenly forgotten, and... blinks at the stereo effect of voices. There's no one in sight yet, but she would swear the voice that just came from the entryway was reflected in her now-forgotten tablet.

Does that mean he...? ]

...Hello?

[frombrooklyn]

I'm still here.

[ ... echo. He frowns, trying to figure out what that means, and ... huh. Could it be? Steve makes his way into the shared living room quarters, slow and curious with the tablet still held in both his hands, stopping when he sees -- ]

Uh, hi.

[isinganyway]

Were wars a theatre merely for warriors, women would not be brutalized, children would not be butchered, and innocent blood would not run like rivers through streets and fields.

[onblackwings]

[ She bristles as the stranger comes into sight, wishing she had fangs to bear and scales to ruffle. What sort of impudent human — this is her lair — 

That she was talking to a voice remarkably like this one just a second ago appears to have been forgotten. ]

What are you doing here?

[onblackwings]

[ a beat, and she looks a little puzzled. ]

Children don't fight in wars. Women do, now and then, but they're hardly brutalized, if they're any good.

[frombrooklyn]

Well, I --

[ This must be one of his roommates, then. Annnd ... she seems angry. Not good. Steve holds up one hand in a placating gesture, palm forward, the tablet (still turned on) held in the other. ]

It's the room I was assigned. By the Initiative. I'm sorry, I didn't intend to intrude.

[onblackwings]

[ Well, the apology is a step in the right direction. She stops casting about in her mind for the right spell to kill him with, even if she doesn't look any happier. ]

They sent you to replace Lord Prestor? [ She snorts. ] Someone among our captors has a poor sense of humor.

[frombrooklyn]

[ Oh, phew. ]

Don't know about any Lord Prestor, but ... [ He shrugs, thinking the same thing about poor senses of humor leading him to be here, and then nods to where the rooms are. ]

... anyhow. Should I take my leave? We can always continue our conversation another time, if you're interested. [ Though his voice, quiet, resigned, indicates that he's pretty sure that's not gonna happen. ]