[video] un: toucan play that game

[revengeisalie]

[ So this is very off-center, but you will still be able to see the face of a young woman, her black hair parted into two braids, to each of which a ring is attached. She peers at the camera -- well, her pendant -- curiously and with uncertainly. ]

Hah -- uhm -- hello?

Hi. I was told by Miss Karsa, I think that was her name, that this pendant will enable me to talk to those who share my plight, even if they are far away. And I, uh, wanted to try it out, essentially. We don't have anything like this where I'm from. How strange!

[ A tentative, awkward smile. ]

Anyway. So there's a group of us who come from other... worlds? Several of them? And we're trying to get to the "beacon". That's what I remember.

[ She claps her flat hands together. ]

Well, then! My name is Rin. Nice to meet everyone. I hope we will get along.

[ A beat. ]

I have a question. Is everything in this place as if you were in a fairy tale? I never quite know what's real or not! It's really unnerving. A little guidance would be appreciated.

[ She gives a small bow in her seated position. ]

Thank you very much.

Comments

video; un: keystone

[daughterheir]

[The video function is so thrilling! She's using it every opportunity she can to observe how it works and also just cause it's neat.]

Yes, people do seem to have come from a variety of worlds. We haven't got anything like these pendants were I'm from, either. Aren't they wonderful?

My name's Elayne Trakand. It's very nice to meet you.

[revengeisalie]

They're so interesting! I think I'm definitely going to try using it a lot.

Nice to meet you, Elayne!

[daughterheir]

I'm afraid I can't answer your question about fairy tales. I'm not familiar with anything like this from my own world, but that's one of the exciting things about meeting people from new worlds, isn't it? I've been learning so many new things I'd never have encountered at home.

Is this place familiar to you?

[revengeisalie]

Really? No... folk tales? Creation myths?

Not at all! Well... it was winter at home, too, so I guess that's a common point. And we do have similar looking forests. But there's so many strange things as well!

[daughterheir]

I was being more specific, I suppose. There are folk tales and legends in my world. And there are forests and castles and things, of course. But no undead. No bestial princes locked in towers. At least not that I've ever heard.

[revengeisalie]

Yeah, those things we don't have at home! Though, I don't know, I've never seen a prince. Maybe one's a beast!

And there are some people who are immortal.

[daughterheir]

Immortals? You'll have to tell me all about that.

[revengeisalie]

Just like it sounds like! Immortal people. Not many of them. Two that are alive and fully immortal right now, as far as I know.

They're being kept in their state by so-called kessenchu, holy bloodworms that err... knit them back together when they're wounded. [ A small shudder. ] Or lose a limb or two.

[daughterheir]

Holy bloodworms? [That earns a nose-wrinkle. It sounds... unpleasant, to say the least. But she does find herself intrigued.] How do they work?

[revengeisalie]

Well, they live in his blood. And when he gets cut, they replace the missing flesh with their own and die there. [ She swallows hard. ] Yeah, it's gross.

[daughterheir]

That sounds horrible.

[Her tone of voice makes it clear that 'horrible' means 'horrible' but it also means 'I want to put one of those in a terrarium and study it.']

You don't have any here with you, do you?

[revengeisalie]

[ ... ma'am what is that tone of voice. Rin doesn't like that. Giving the camera a look that's supposed to warn Elayne off, just a little, she replies. ]

No, I don't. I'm not the one who dispenses those things. Why do you ask?

[daughterheir]

Curiosity, really. I like figuring out how things work.

[revengeisalie]

As long as figuring it out is all you're doing.

[ A wary stare. ]

[daughterheir]

Have you never wanted to know for yourself?

[revengeisalie]

Not particularly. It's gross enough to have to witness it in action.

[daughterheir]

You haven't got any anyway, so I suppose it's a moot point, isn't it?

[She smiles an absolutely genuine smile.]

You'll have to tell me more of your world. Have you simply never seen a prince, or do you not have them all?

[revengeisalie]

I suppose...

[ Still a little bit wary, but also glad to switch topics. ]

Oh, we do have them. My country has an emperor -- though he's not really the center of power anymore. That would be the shogun, a military leader.

[daughterheir]

I've never heard of a shogun before. Do you live under martial law, then?

[revengeisalie]

Uhm, it's like, the highest social class, outside of the imperial class, are the samurai -- warriors. Even though the country has technically been at peace for about two hundred years.

[ Her eyebrows knit together in consternation. ]

There are people who want to change this, unfortunately.

[daughterheir]

People who want to change the supremacy of the warrior class, or people who want to end the peace?

[revengeisalie]

This guy thinks samurai right now are pretty useless, and wants to... err... toughen them up, I guess? A lot of sword schools are very caught up in form and etiquette and all that, while he values victory above all else.

[daughterheir]

A military does need to be prepared.

[revengeisalie]

[ Rin stares, slightly aghast. Yes, she herself had considered before whether Anotsu didn't have a point, but it still stings, okay. ]

Maybe so, but he's going about it in all the wrong ways!

[daughterheir]

How should warriors be trained, if not with victory in mind? Proper form is important, so I'm told, but when life and death are at stake, etiquette only matters inasmuch as it won't get anybody needlessly killed.