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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

[isinganyway]

The wars you know must be fought in a far more civilized manner than those I know of.

[onblackwings]

Your world sends children to war? Why? I can't imagine they make very good soldiers.

[isinganyway]

Some are young poor boys charged with crimes and sentenced to a life of service with the Night's Watch, who take whomever they can train. Others are squires to this lord or that knight, learning the crafts of war so they might be knights themselves in time.

As for the others... I do not speak for grown, armed men who slaughter defenseless children in the streets like animals, but I am told when a man's blood is up he might be capable of anything. When a city is sacked perhaps any living creature looks an enemy to a man with a sword.

[onblackwings]

[ ...huh. This information seems kind of in line with Sharpe's. But that's not war, not as she understands it. She frowns. ]

But there's no contest in that. [ Sure, slaughtering helpless things is a good tension-reliever now and then, but to do it in war, when there's so much else to fight? ] You're sure? Have you seen it?

[isinganyway]

Must I see a thing to know it is real?

[onblackwings]

I suppose not. [ dammit. ]

[isinganyway]

To answer your question: we in the Vale have been so fortunate as to be spared the ravages of the War of Five Kings, but that does not mean they are not known. I wish to still be spared that cruelty in this war.

[onblackwings]

Then find the right people to get to know, and ask for protection. My tales aren't cautionary ones.

[isinganyway]

Who would these right people be?

[onblackwings]

You could be talking to one of them now.

[isinganyway]

Do you offer your protection?

[onblackwings]

Not for free. What could you offer in return?

[isinganyway]

What is your price?

[onblackwings]

It's open to negotiation. But you would know better than I what objects or skills you have to offer up.

[isinganyway]

Only what any well-bred lady might offer: I am a deft seamstress, and a fair singer. I can read, and do sums, and manage a household with adequate skill.

[onblackwings]

[ considering that! those all sound like super boring skills, but then again, most of them she can't do herself. ]

What does managing a household entail?

[isinganyway]

Chiefly it involves keeping the household's accounts and overseeing the work of the servants.

[onblackwings]

I don't have servants or accounts, nor any need for singing or reading.

[ buuut... ]

Can you clean? [ cuz fuck if she's doin it, man. ]

[isinganyway]

I've never--

I mean, I suppose I...I could, in theory. [ how hard could it be??? ]

[onblackwings]

Mm. It's a sorry payment for what I offer, but I'm feeling generous. I'll take that.

[isinganyway]

What? No!

[ She doesn't mean the protest to escape her, but it does.

Alayne may be a bastard, but she is a high lord's bastard. ]

Haven't you anything else I might do?

[onblackwings]

[ and here she thought she was being exceedingly generous. She frowns. ]

You haven't made your skills sound very appealing so far. Is there anything else you can do?

[isinganyway]

Have you no need of clothes? Surely your garments must see some wear here.

[onblackwings]

[ a pause, a small, thoughtful frown as she glances away. ]

Some, I suppose.

[ all those stab wounds tend to ruin outfits ]

[isinganyway]

Any tears they suffer I can mend, no matter how detailed the work. If damaged beyond repair, I can make them anew so long as I've adequate supplies.