tushanshu | video;

[Well this sure is a video post. It opens on Kidd, who's looking rather casually bored, dressed up in all the stolen finery one might expect of a pirate. His accent is vaguely British-y, and his tone is casually bored.]

I've heard tell this turtle of ours stops off at locations along the course of its journey. And these shores— would anyone say they at all resemble the Caribbean? Nassau, perhaps?

[He assumes otherwise, but it never hurts to ferret out little bits of information. If nothing else, mention of Nassau might weed out any who know the region and what it stands for. Stood for. He cocks his head to one side, there's maybe a hint of something predatory to his expression.]

I find it curious, aye, to be plain, that we can be so long at sea without fear of outside attack. Pirates, and the like. This place is grand enough, but hardly impregnable. Has anyone considered proper fortifications for it t'all? A blockade, perhaps, or cannons? Or something a sight more modern, I understand there's all manner of things not common to my era.

Thanks be to you, listeners.

[A casual salute, and cut feed.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Una likes the way you think, Kidd.]

Fortifications—not as such. The Emperor's barrier is what's been relied upon, but perhaps, in light of recent events, we ought to be rethinking that.

[A beat; then, deadpan:]

We do have dragons.

[Kidd's eyebrow twitches.]

Dragons, aye. I've seen your Temeraire.

[The fellow seems to be taking it in stride. Good.]

There's another one by the name of Iskierka as well. And at one point we had someone looking into the possibility of a navy of sorts, but—I'm not sure what's become of that.

I'm Una, by the way.

I'd feel a sight more comfortable with a rolling deck beneath my boots, make no mistake of it.

[But a navy, now. Kidd's left one navy behind already, and isn't looking for another.]

Kidd, lass. James Kidd. Friends call me Jim.

[Not many people get away with calling Una "lass", but Kidd gets a pass on this.]

Kidd. Any relation to the [a slight pause as she selects the word; perhaps it's been used for effect] privateer?

[That gets a very amused look, now.]

Calling a spade a shovel doesn't change its meaning. But aye, I'm his eldest and only.

[Una chuckles, maybe even relaxes visibly a bit.]

Well, with that information, I don't really need to ask when and where you hail from.

You're a historian then, judging by your knowledge of the subject.

[And that vaguely detached way she talks about it. She's too pretty and polished - and bold, in her way - to have lived in the times themselves, there's something worldly about her that resonates, and Kidd knows without reason or cause that she'd have a faint blue to her aura. Hm.]

My interest's not quite so academic, but I take an interest, you could say.

[It isn't as if Una's been completely cagey about who she is or what she does, but lately she's taken to giving out the information as if titrating a solution.]

I suspect you aren't the only one. Privateering is easy to romanticize, for those who've not lived it.

[Which isn't casting aspersions, hardly that.]

What year did old Bill die, by your reckoning?

I've run across many things that look prettier from a distance and through rose-coloured lenses. I try to take a more practical view, myself.

[She frowns, trying to remember the date. That period lies well outside her usual areas of expertise.]

1700? Give or take a year on either side, I believe?

1701, aye. You've a keen memory, I'll not begrudge the year.

[In fact, colour Kidd impressed that it's not just a show or bluster. There was no real reason to believe it to be, given the woman's overall demeanour, but it's always a pleasant surprise when people turn out to not be lying.]

So while we're on the topics of time, which is it you hail from?

[Time to test the waters on what this piratical fellow can take, seeing as how they've taken dragons in stride.]

The simple answer to that question is "the late twentieth century", but it's not the only answer.

[Kidd's been patched up lately by a doctor from the 23^rd , that particular classification doesn't leave him fussed none.]

Is that an invitation, then? To ask for the other?

If you're curious enough, then yes.

I've been little else in all my life, fair lady. Tell me your stories.

You may be sorry for asking, as there's quite a few of them.

But the important bit—though the late twentieth century is where I'm from, it's not the only temporal zone in which I operate, nor am I restricted to one particular timeline or version of history.

[Well, that's an interesting wrinkle in what Kidd knows about Life, the Universe and Everything, even being here. It's not the twentieth century that's cause for a slight, faint expression of incredulity, it's the temporal zone.]

There's versions, now? Beyond what's represented here, I suppose?

[Faint incredulity is better than outright shock or disbelief; Una will take it.]

Just so. You might think of history as a sort of vast river, with many tributaries on one hand and a nearly infinite number of splits and diversions along the way. A particular decision might create a fork in the flow, where a series of events results in different consequences. And this is happening forever, at all times, in infinite variations.

Bloody hell.

[It does make sense, in a way. It's the only reason Kidd doesn't just turn off the feed to go outside.]

So how does it work? All this journeying of yours.

A combination of tools that allow one to traverse the time-streams, and a certain amount of native talent. [A small, wry smile.] Methods and theories are changing all the time, based on the discoveries we make and things we learn. Every answer about Time invariably opens up any number of new questions.

Any talent worth having can be learned, if you've will enough. Leastwise that's how I've always looked at the matter.

[And that? Would definitely be useful. But some matters are better left alone, and almost this sounds like something better favored by the Templars. Controlling a man's life, their thoughts and will, that's one thing, fair and true. But to be able to wipe them entirely from the scope of existence? That's another matter.]