[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

[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.

1/2

[revengeisalie]

Yes, but we're not at war! And he -- he does it by trampling all the sword schools in Edo. Giving them the choice: join us or die.

[ A shuddering breath, and she blurts out: ]

Including my parents.

2/2

[revengeisalie]

[ Catching herself, she goes on: ]

And the thing is he's not official military. He's not. In fact, the government is hunting him down for his actions. Not that I'm on good footing with the government right now, but...

Point is, he's wrong.

[daughterheir]

[Ah. She really put her foot in her mouth there, didn't she? She tries to gracefully nudge the subject in a different direction.]

I'm sorry for your parents. It's so difficult to lose a parent, isn't it? [She sounds completely genuine in her sympathy, but also just the tiniest bit like she's repeating a line she's heard repeated ad nauseam.]

[revengeisalie]

[ Ah. The rote sympathy. Not the first time Rin's gotten that reaction; people are sometimes stumped for words when they hear her story. Especially when she blurts it out without meaning to. ]

Mmhh. It is.

[ A pause as she mulls over what to say next, then: ]

So... how long have you been here?