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[There's a young blonde on the screen, her hair painstakingly combed and braided to perfection, but the 18th century dress she wears, although equally painstakingly washed, is frayed and torn at the hems, with a few stains which couldn't be fully removed yet. She looks pale, her cheekbones a little too sharp, deep shadows still under her eyes. These signs of her recent captivity couldn't be washed away as quickly as the grime, or as she had demanded for a lady in the Welcome Center to teach her the proper use of this - still uncanny - device.

Eleanor may hate appearing in public looking less than perfectly poised, but every inquiry for suitable clothing got her pointed to Fayren, and she's not quite daring enough yet to brave a town everyone keeps telling her is full of real, actual magic. First things first then.

My name is Eleanor Guthrie, formerly of Nassau, New Providence Island. I'm not going to waste your time with complaints about being taken captive, as I'm sure you hear them from every new arrival. I'd rather sate my curiosity. I've been told a woman may own and rule equal to any man in your towns, even in Fayren, and that quite a few of the most powerful citizens are indeed women. Is this more than just the letter of the law?

[Old wives' tales come to life or not, Fayren is the only place that seems to hold any comforting familiarity in this bizarre, foreign world she has been thrust into, and she's not going to let sorcery or any kind of bizarre otherworldly creatures stand in the way to that.]

I also have another, more trivial question for you: Can we hope for it to get warmer yet? It's a little bit nippy for this time of the year, compared to what I'm used to. I'd hope Fayren, at least, is warmer; I'm planning to settle there if all goes according to plan.

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That should be easy enough to find, I'll be on my way right away.

[ She can indeed be seen getting up, and as the camera shifts with her, you can see she's been sitting on her bed in Commonspace. ]

I've never heard of karaoke, but that's one more question you can answer me when we meet in person.

[ And the screen goes dark, she's not going to waste time before hunting down these answers.

Getting to the bar is going to take her a little longer than expected, she's too distracted by all these bizarre sights of modern technology, but she'll soon be there looking only a little frazzled for her latest encounter with cars. ]

[That delay is fine, Peter had intentions to be fashionably late. Which, here, means that he probably arrives at the same time she does; except from above. He hadn't used the rockets the whole way over, but for the final surge...he just liked to make an entrance.

His mask is off, and he's smiling in greeting when he lands - on his feet, thankfully enough.]

Hey. You really look like you could use that drink.

[ That... She steps back from him, for two steps anyway before she catches herself. Her spine snaps to perfect, rigid straightness, head held high. No more backing off. From anyone or anything. ]

What devilry is this?! You didn't tell me you're one of these magical people!

[ And she's more than a little outraged. ]

[Okay. On second thought Peter would admit that he maybe should have known better. Too late now, he holds out his hands in front of him, palms out in a 'hold on' gesture.]

Whoa. Hey. Not magic, okay? It's just a thing. Look, see this?

[Peter bends over, pulling the booster off of one ankle, and hopping on one foot just a second to do it.] This just kind of gives off this blast when I tell it to with these. [He gestures at the controls on his thigh.]

I'd show you but this puppy would probably either crash through a window or drag me through it, and I don't have that kind of money right now. I promise though - it's all just metal and plastic and stuff like that. It's as magic as- as the communicators, or [He gestures towards the street.] a car. Just a little more personal.

[Her mouth opens and closes once, twice without her being able to think of anything coherent to say in response. There's a whole lot of screaming in her head, and she kind of wants to rip the metal thing out of his hands and throw it at him. But she doesn't have that kind of money to spare, either.

In the end she huffs, and turns her back on him, facing the entrance to the bar.]

You promised me a drink, and so far all you've done is try to give me grey hairs!

Then let's go get your drink.

[He reaffixes the device to his boot, then stands up straight. Hesitating for a second then moving forward to get the door.]

Hey. I'm sorry. I just kind of figured you're going to end up seeing way weirder than that around here. Thought a friendly face might help.

It's fine. I know I have to get used to these sights.

[ And really, now that the first shock has passed she's more mad at herself than at him. she walks ahead briskly, entering first just to show she isn't afraid of doing so. ]

I know I'm going to see a lot stranger here than metal shoes that let you fly like a bird, but... [ She huffs. ] I'll get used to it. [ Eventually. ] Is that something many people have? I have seen others use these metal boxes. Cars. [ Eleanor grimaces. ] I hate them.

[Peter smiles - a little amused he'll admit but it's not like there was anything wrong with that.]

Nah. Brought them with me, but if you ever go to Nova City they've probably got stuff like them. Cars though - yeah you're gonna see a lot of cars.

[He follows her into the bar, more relaxed now by far since she seems to have calmed down herself.]

My advice? Learn to drive one and I think you'll like them a lot more.

[ She wrinkles her nose a little; no she isn't planning to go to Nova City anytime soon. Too unnerving.

Eleanor walks up to the bar to order rum, and turns around to Peter, leaning against it. ]

You want me to drive one of these things? Well, if you think that'd help... Better to be inside them running over people than being run over, right?

Edited 2017-06-23 14:45 (UTC)

[That's okay. It reminds Peter a little too much of a completely different Nova.

Peter joins her there, gesturing to the bartender to just make it two - the better to slowly try the different options the place had as far as alcohol went.]

That's the theory. Even better if you don't hit people though - you'll be able to go much faster.

I'm not sure yet if I'd want to go any faster, these things are already very fast... but it would save me trouble with the authorities, wouldn't it?

[ She grins at him, and raises her glass for a toast. ]

To new places... and new freedoms. I was fully expecting to end this year dangling from the gallows, you know.

Usually the authorities don't like it if you can go too fast. And they can go pretty fast too.

[Someone, Peter figures, has to break the bad news and not just the fun news - but it doesn't keep him from raising his own glass to clink against hers.]

That right? What'd you do?

Ultimately, I trusted the wrong people, and didn't have enough security. But the longer story would be that I was a merchant and traded with the wrong people. It made me unpopular.

[ That's the longer story, but still not the full one, of course. That would involve piracy, for one thing. ]

I know that feeling. Wasn't really a merchant, but I used to do a lot of delivery and acquisitions. Picking stuff up and taking it other places for people. [He shrugs a little, innocently. His own story is obfuscating as well, though he catches her eye like he half-expects her to fill in the blanks.] People'll come up with all kinds of reasons to have a problem.

[ Picking stuff up and taking it other places. Uhuh.

She leans forward, a gleam that is half playful, half challenging in her eyes. ]

I know a little bit about that myself. People can be so finicky about the origin of your goods, or how they were acquired. Mixing morals and business is bad for business, if you ask me.

[He doesn't turn from the challenge, though his expression turns that much more mischievous.]

Ha. I was working on a happy medium, before I wound up here. My friends and I'd just saved the galaxy, gotten a complete pardon. [He shrugs it off, for all his expression is a little smug.] Opportunity knocks on different doors. [At least, according to the fortune cookie he'd had the night before.]

And sometimes it closes them for you when you think you're finally winning, but that's the game.

[ She leans forward, as amused as she is challenging. ] Tell me more about that saving the... galaxy. Must have been impressive to get you pardoned.

Right, well -

[Peter starts to talk, a grin on his face before something of the hesitance before she says 'galaxy' strikes him and he bites his tongue.]

Well first, [He leans back, more to be dramatic than to back out of the challenge, and keeps eye contact.] You've gotta know that a galaxy is made up of just tons of places like Earth - or here, with all this empty space between them you need special ships to get through. What I'm saying [other than a general description for someone he wasn't sure would get it, and didn't seem to like not] is that it's freaking huge.

Now, for the next part. I want you to imagine a weapon so powerful it could blow up an entire world. Like that. [He does a mediocre job of snapping his fingers.]

[ She's listening, and she really appreciates that he isn't just dumping all of this on her at once, but... ]

One weapon, which could blow up the entire earth.

[ Her voice sounds incredulous, and she squints at Peter. ]

I... I would have told you that you've had too much rum, but I just saw you fly.

[ More like, she hasn't had too much rum to handle this. ]

Keep going.

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video to action - Then you're ahead of me, I've never looked /coneofshame

Re: video to action - Then you're ahead of me, I've never looked /coneofshame

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