tushanshu | [Console] (Video) ❅ The First

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[Console] (Video) ❅ The First

(She waits until she is sitting primly in a chair, her back straight and her hair braided neatly over one shoulder. Appearance is everything - or so she has learned time and time again. No matter how uneasy she feels, she cannot show it. Alayne Stone won't break.)

I am new to the kingdom of Keeliai, but I have been well-informed. (A small smile - one which doesn't reach her eyes - follows before she continues:) My name is Alayne Stone and I am from a world called Westeros. Should my world sound familiar to anyone, I am eager to speak with you.

(Though perhaps not meet. The fact that is standing on her own hasn't escaped her. She no longer has Littlefinger's protection.

The next part is strange to word, so she decides to just say it.)

Is it true that we are on the back of a giant turtle? I find that hard to believe. Even the largest of turtles are not spacious enough to hold a world, surely?

(What happens when the turtle turns the wrong way?)

Are there other creatures of such a considerable size? I should like to avoid the predators.

(The turtle should avoid them too.)

There are items which I will eventually need. Where might I procure them? Is there a market and some sort of currency?

(Yes, she knows she needs to focus on the things she can control. Otherwise... Otherwise...

She will lose the hope she has been able to retain.)

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[Tony shrugs. His demeanor becomes slightly more subdued.] He. And he used to be able to, but now we're not sure. And doing favors for him kind of bit us in the ass last time. It's a long story. [The moral of which is: somebody probably should have seen that "the mysterious mystical boons are a trojan horse" plot twist coming.]

Well, what are you good at? My boyfriend cooks, and I pay my rent by promising to stay out of the kitchen. [His grin returns. He's joking. Mostly. He has been politely encouraged to find employment that does not involve cooking, though.] And I help keep all the appliances running, too.

I have the time to listen. (She is the sort that would leave offerings to him - if only to cultivate peace between the residents and him.) His past is important and it will give me insight into what my future in this world might bring me.

(Boyfriend? As in...two males? Her cheeks flush and she looks away, collecting herself.)

I know how to cook. (Fairly well.) I am also skilled at knitting and mending fabric. (Then...) I can read.

[First things first: logistics. Tony nods at her list of skills - though the inclusion of reading is a little weird.] That should work. You can get by patching clothes and cooking for the other foreigners, until you find something more permanent. Like you've probably heard, we're not getting along all that well with the locals at the moment, so... we help each other out. No matter what, you're not going to starve or be homeless.

[Worst case scenario, she can participate in the venerable tradition of couch-surfing and fridge-mooching. By such means has many a poor college student endured.]

As for the turtle... How much do you know so far?

(Reading isn't a common skill - or, rather, it's not as common in her world.)

I would be open to helping others. (She likes doing that, actually. There is a certain mothering quality to ~~Sansa~~Alayne - a quality she was never able to show to her younger siblings.)

Once I have stability, I believe I can be helpful. (Her head cants to the side.) I know his shell isn't endless; I know this is a single city and I know there is a great world beyond him.

Did anyone give you any info on what's been happening recently and why you're here?

[Tony's pretty tired of giving the introductory speech, and honestly, he's not very good at it. But he'll do his best, if no one has filled her in on the details yet.]

Not as of yet. (She winces sympathetically. It must get tiresome to repeat the same speech over and over again.)

[Tony sighs, though any annoyance or disappointment he's feeling is not directed at her.] We used to have a welcome center where new people got the whole rundown, and a starter kit of maps and money and that sort of thing. If foreigners are going to keep getting pulled in, we should probably get it up and running again.

[But that's not Alayne's problem right now.] The basic story is, this world was getting infected by an evil force, entity, god, whatever, and the old emperor used magic to snatch up people from a bunch of different worlds to help defeat it. The bad guy managed to kill the emperor and her replacement, but we beat it in the end. Unfortunately, after the big fight, all the foreigners were trapped in the Dreaming - that's like, a, uh, dream realm [no duh, genius] - for a year. When we made it back, the kedan - they're the locals - weren't too happy with us. There was a lot of political stuff that went down during the war, and when we were gone for a year, they decided they were better off without us. [A small wince. There's obviously some personal experience there.]

And that's where we are now. Obviously we don't have our old jobs anymore, and pretty much everything we owned got looted. And the kedan aren't exactly falling over themselves to help us out.

What we don't know, [and here he frowns,] is why new foreigners are still getting pulled in. There must be some residual magic, but we're not sure how it's grabbing people, or... how to send anyone back.

(As he speaks, she closes her eyes and lets the words wash over her. She will have to take time and think them over, but her over-all impression is that this world isn't much different - aside from the turtle, the different people and the magic - from Westeros. Political upheavals and living amongst suspicious, potentially violent people isn't anything new.)

Thank you for taking the time to explain. I will do what I can to aid you in regaining what you lost. I do not plan on being a nuisance. All I require are the necessities.

(Pants or shirts simply won't do. If she must, she will seek fabric and make her own dresses.

Her pale eyes grow thoughtful and she frowns.) Are resources limited for the Kedan by any chance?

Edited 2015-01-04 07:27 (UTC)

Um, yeah, sure. Don't worry about it. [He's a little thrown by how formally she talks. Being warily polite is pretty normal reaction to the situation, though. Definitely better than freaking out. Or, uh, immediately running off to beat the shit out of the first person you recognize from your world. Ahem.]

And yeah, resources are scarce all around, but it's a lot better than it was during the war. There's a whole lot more agriculture and industry all over the turtle.

The Kedan's reaction to foreigners could be due to the lack of resources. People become insular when they feel a need.

(She has watched the poorer people struggle in King's Landing. She was even been attacked by them because of Joffrey's negligence.)

There's not even forty of us, [Tony says, a little grumpily. Resources aren't that scarce.] Mostly I think they're just pissed about how the war was handled. Even though we were kidnapped to fight their war, and we won it anyway. Seems a little petty, if you ask me.

Perhaps they have experienced want before. Their fear is interfering with their logic and, after a year, they stopped thinking of you - the foreigners - as people.

(It doesn't have to make sense. Large crowds operate on instincts alone.)

Pettiness is a human trait.

I guess so. [Tony's a little taken aback. It's easy to feel persecuted and victimized as a foreigner, but it's true that the kedan have had plenty of their own problems. Alayne just got here, and she's already defending the kedan - it's a small but sharp reminder to Tony that the world doesn't always revolve around him. ~~He needs to be reminded of that pretty regularly.~~

He doesn't bother pointing out that the kedan aren't technically "human." Her point is valid, and that kind of pedantry isn't his style.]

Anyway, [back to slightly more comfortable territory,] if you, uh, need someone to show you around the market, I'm free. I can show you where to get the basics and then find Anton to get you set up with a room here.

(She strove to understand the needs of those in King's Landing - even if she couldn't do anything about them. It's all part of training to be Queen, though that isn't a goal she is pursuing currently. She isn't sure what she wants anymore - beyond safety and a place to roost unmolested.)

I would be grateful for the tour. Where shall I meet you? (The sooner she can have some stability, the better she will feel.)

Cool. [Tony smiles warmly.] I can come meet you. Where are you?

I am within the city, near the market, I believe. I did not travel far when I arrived. (Assuming everyone arrives in the same place?)

[They don't, actually, but—] Just stay right there, I'll pull up your console's location and meet you in a sec.

[The feed clicks off, and he shows up in person about five minutes later.]

Alayne? [He grins, waves, and approaches.] Hey. My name's Tony Stark, by the way. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself over the console.

(While she waits for him, she rises from her seat and smoothes over her gown. Her heart is beating uncomfortably fast and she has to clutch her hands together to keep them from shaking.

But then he arrives and he looks as nice as he sounded over the console.)

... (The beginning of a smile curves her lips until she hears his surname. Stark. Oh.) I'm relieved to have met someone as knowledgable as you, Lord Stark.

(His name rings oddly in her ears, but she purposefully pushes back the emotions.)

You had no reason to be patient with me.

[That startles a chuckle out of him.] Whoah, there's no "Lord" in there. The employees at my own company don't even call me "sir." Tony's fine. And seriously, it's no problem.

You ready to go? I think I managed to scrape together enough cash to at least get you started. [Maybe not enough to buy more fancy gowns, but enough to by some extra pairs of underwear, at least. There is nothing more poignantly inconvenient and demeaning about being poor in an unfamiliar place than having to wash your only pair of underwear in the sink every night.]

Tony...? (First names are not something she is accustomed to and they sound odd on her tongue.) Thank you.

(She gives him a little curtsy, biting her lip.) I spoke to Mister Shudder and he said he has extra fabric and sewing supplies. I know how to put all fabric to good use.

(There is no such thing as spare or wasted fabric - even in Winterfell.)

Are you going to make your own clothes?

[Dang, that's impressive. Tony's learned to patch up simple rips and holes, and he's not actually terrible at it (he has the dexterity for much more precise work than sewing, after all) but making clothes from scratch? He wouldn't know where to start.]

I plan to. I am practiced with a needle and thread. (She has made dresses before. In fact, the one she is wearing was made by her.)

Nice. I can make a suit of power armor, but I have no idea how to make a shirt. [He shakes his head and grins self-deprecatingly. He can't cook, either. He is not, shall we say, domestically skilled.]

I can still take you to a good seamstress if you want, but if you've got your wardrobe under control I guess I'll just give you a tour of the market.

Power armor? What is the difference between regular armor and power armor? (Her skills are mostly domestic. She has spent her life preparing herself to be a important, noble lady.)

I should like to see their shop. I like finding new patterns and new ideas.

A couple gigajoules per second, [Tony replies lightly. And unhelpfully.] I'll show you later. [He would love (L O V E) to show off his armor, but from the way she talks and some of the stuff she's said, Tony's starting to think she's from a time point in her world that is relatively far in the past, compared to him. He doesn't want to freak her out with crazy tech right after she's arrived. He can get a little ~~what's a tactful way to say "dangerously over-invested"~~ enthusiastic when he's joking around, but he's not mean-spirited, and he's not going to bust out the armor just to try to catch her off-guard. She's a little stiff, and he can't get a good read on how well she'd take it.]

Okay, the shop I know is just a couple blocks from here. Come on.

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