un: man's greatest treasure [video]

[reparo]

Since we find ourselves in a new location, and seem to have picked up some, maybe some introductions are due. I'm Hermione Granger, and I'm from England. I'm currently assigned the role of a tax collector, it's going great. [Sarcasm.] I'm sure it'll be fine - I was a modiste in Taravast, for heaven's sake...

[Quickly, a smile! Nervous, but a smile.]

What else - oh, I'm also a witch. [Which reminds her!] I'm going to start brewing potions again, since the ground isn't being rocked from side to side by the sea and the sea monster... Supplies are limited, and alternatives to the ingredients that I normally use can be weak on the ground, so I can't brew as many as I'd like. I'd ask that we all exercise some caution and not need them as much until I can get the reserves back up.

[There is a pause, as she opens her mouth to say I also don't like being treated like a child, because-] Huh. I...don't know how old I am.

[A frown, and she seems to forget that she's recording herself now, lost in her own musings:] Let's see, it was May when I come from, but was it the same month here? [To the screen, to her audience, the question:] Does this world even work in twelve months in a year? Seasons? It was quite crisp when I woke up in Taravast for the first time, maybe autumn? [And she pales.] Oh, gods, it's been almost a year...

[A shallow inhale - I want to go back home, we just ended a war, I need to see my friends, I need to grieve my friends, I need to - and a very shaky exhale. She cuts the feed off.]

Comments

voice; un: owl lady

[traaaaaash]

Breathe, kid.

voice; 1/2

[reparo]

[Like she hasn't even considered to just stop.] Maybe I'm twenty?!

voice; 2/2

[reparo]

[A WHILE LATER.] Sorry, hello Miss Eda.

voice; un: polaris

[chromiums]

[ hermione's situation looks familiar to lorna, who's had this kind of awful realization before. fairly recently, as a matter of fact. her voice is soft when she sends her response. ]

Hermione?

voice;

[reparo]

[She hears it, but is slower to respond, needing a few moments to just pace her room and think about how long until she actually goes home, and what the consequences of that will be.]

Hi - I'm okay.

voice; un: dr.mccoy

[biomed]

This place asks too much of y'all.

But you made it. Don't lose sight of that.

voice;

[reparo]

Yes, well. That part isn't new.

un: daozhang | audio;

[binghua]

[Oh. Oh that's the sound of an impending crisis. Xingchen speaks softly, keeping his voice even and calm, as if speaking to a spooked animal.]

Take a breath. Center yourself. You will be fine.

audio;

[reparo]

I'm fine! It's fine! Just trying to figure out how old I am now, like that's something that matters. Haha! I'm fine.

video; un: wooden horse

[gautiheir]

[ He was all ready to do the usual introductions thing, but that last - ]

Whoa. Okay, uh, so if we've got people who have been here long enough to lose track, I am really not liking my odds of getting home in time for - anything.

[ He's still fighting a war! Was. Probably only one war, since they just finished slapfighting the Sreng and those invasions usually have a decent respite between, but -

- his own moment of oh, shit is probably not helping hers, so he pauses for a breath and pushes that to the side. ]

- sorry, I may be screaming inside but that doesn't mean I'm going to be rude. [ His best Dazzling Smile™. Aaaand there's that old Gautier charm. ] Sylvain Jose Gautier, a pleasure to meet you despite...everything.

video;

[reparo]

[Sir, that's a lot of enthusiasm for an introduction. This is a Wendy's.]

Hi - hello. Welcome to the group of unfortunate travellers East, I guess? [She pulls a little face, sheepish and distressed.]

Sorry about the screaming inside you just witnessed.

un: qishan (voice)

[silverneedles]

A meeting in the Sanctuary, when we can find the time. I have some salves to pass to you.

[ And then softer, less demanding: ] If it is possible to sneak into one of the cities, we will have tea.

(voice)

[reparo]

[Such reassurring messages - one of the reasons she likes Wen Qing so much.] It shouldn't be hard to manage, I think my role affords more more movement around the place, but... I just realised that this might be the first time we've been so separated.

It will be strange to not brew together, Lady Wen.

un : dappled peals of the parted seas (voice)

[beitangmoran]

A tax collector, hm? That should prove interesting.

Maybe you should sit down and have a spot of tea, though. Seasons are hard to gauge, especially given that we have bene travelling over rather considerable distances, but I wager by my count, I have been here over a year and a half.

(voice)

[reparo]

A tax collector. They didn't even give me a book on it, I have no idea what I should be doing - but I'll figure it out, can't waste the background story they're giving us. [Uneasy laugh here....help.]

Tea would be good. Company and so many people telling me to take a breath is...illuminating. [Is she high strung?]

video; un: iwannahexyouup

[incantates]

When you come to collect my taxes, I want to go on record stating I have no assets whatsoever, and I have definitely absolutely 100% not been getting paid solely under the table. Also, can I register my emotional support flask of whiskey as a dependent?

[ He’s here to ask the important questions. ]

video;

[reparo]

I've never collected tax in my life, but I'll say you can do whatever you want as long as you don't take from the less fortunate to make yourself rich?

video. un: nah.

[growlies]

Shit. ...that seriously sucks. Sorry.

I didn't even think about the differences in time or that this place might have its own calendar or something. ( Granted, the Underworld didn't really have a calendar or anything either - no seasons, not living at all or time passing in any way like the mortal world. But at least Red knows the mortal world's calendar - the 12 months in a year thing. )

video.

[reparo]

[Yes, compassion is good, but have you considered:]

Did you really get a device registered under 'nah'?!

[How? And also: teach her.]

Anyway - thank you, for the kindness. I don't think we've met before.

un: wei laozu | audio

[weifinder]

You know what this means.

( no no one wants to talk about what this actually means. instead: )

I need to take both you and Sizhui out for drinks!

( ... since you're both older by now, and he's ignoring that this is likewise true for himself (it's complicated) and his husband (less complicated). )

audio

[reparo]

[Groan]

I'm assuming you don't mean to taken us out for tea, do you?

private ; @taken for granite

[rumorate]

You want to hear something really trippy?

[She knows that she's spiraling, but a distraction could help.]

When I left 2019, my siblings and I were all the same age - except for Five, but Five was a special case. But I left 2019 at thirty, time traveled back to 1961, left in 1963 at thirty-two, and have now spent a year here, so when I hopefully return back to 2019, I'll be arriving on the same day I left but three years older than I was before - thirty-three.

But Diego, landed in September of 1963 rather than '61, so we had a birthday, thirty-one, and we left in November of '63, he's coming up on a year here, so while we were all born on literally the same day, when we get back to 2019, we'll now be a year apart.

Don't even get me started on Klaus.

private ;

[reparo]

[Of all things to loosen up a knot in her stomach, it's the time travelling shenanigans of the Hargreeves.]

You're right, that is a trip. Several time trips, actually.

I can't believe you've been through that much, and when I told him about time travel in my world Five had the hypocrisy of giving me a lecture.

un: Black Prince; text

[blackscales]

Age is important to you?

[reparo]

The passage of time is important to me.

video | un: dollhouse

[thedreamer]

Hermione Granger! Oh, that's a perfect name. Magnificent. Like a story. Hermione Granger. Very good to meet you. I'm the Doctor! [ Said in an enthusiastic rush, his energy totally mismatched with the general tone of her introduction. He's a bit clueless sometimes, whoops. ]

Okay, introductions sorted. What else - there was a lot in there, all grand stuff, I don't want to forget. I took notes, hang on - [ He actually looks down at his lap briefly, as though he really did take notes. ] Witch, got it, very good. I've met many in my travels. Brewing potions - that can be very good, too. We'll circle back to that later, I'll have follow up questions. Tax collector - boring. Forget that, you have potions to brew!

What else, what else - oh, your age and the passage of time. I circled this bit, should have started with that. Sorry! [ He looks at the camera now, a softness in his features suddenly because he remembered her sounding upset there at the end. Sorry Hermione, he got a bit distracted with the other stuff; should have led with that. ]

You don't look a day over a hundred, so you're still quite young. [ He means this to be comforting, said with so much earnestness and warmth. ] Being trapped here, though, for that much time, especially when time is all linear - which is just wrong - well, it would drive anyone mad. It's nearly done that for me already and I've not been here nearly as long. We'll work it out, promise. Get you home.

video;

[reparo]

[There can only be on reaction to all that rambling, and it's to stop having a near panic attack and just blink at the screen and watch the guy go. She sounds like a story. He's the doctor of something. Apparently he thinks just calling out his job qualifies as introductions.

He took notes? Of her rambling? Gods above, what a bookworm, taking notes - who does that?

Behold! Disarmed her right into a smile.]

There have been theories that time is loopy. A sixteenth century witch called it 'a weird broth', though we didn't linger on that chapter too long in school - anyway. Hello. The doctor of what?

un: headless ragdoll (video)

[matermali]

[ All of that strikes a chord in Vanessa. She'd rather not linger on these implications of losing time, but that's all she can do; that is, until she braves speaking up. For once, she'll opt out of writing, thinking it only fair to meet another witch face-to-face...such as it is. The young woman had been upset, and so perhaps she won't appreciate it, but it still seems only fair to try after some time has passed for her to regain composure.

Vanessa is careful in how she speaks in an open forum, but her curiosity is earnest, and her grating voice is softer than it would be for most. Whatever kind of witch this young woman is, she's certainly no Nightcomer. ]

I think you carry yourself with remarkable grace given the length of time that you have endured here, Miss Granger.

[ Should she not assume it to be Miss? Has she ever known a witch to be married? Perhaps to the Devil, but those women are nothing like this.

Another pause with slightly parted lips breaks her introduction, and Vanessa will glance down with furrowed brow before shyly returning her gaze to the young lady so boldly claiming her skills for all. ]

My name is Vanessa Ives. I'm curious what sort of potions you've been so generously providing for those in our company. Is the flora here recognizable to you as it would be where you hail from? I've sought out herbs that I may recognize at shops, but admit that the regional classifications are lost on me, and I am wary to trust my eyes in such a foreign realm.

(video)

[reparo]

Oh - thank you, Ms Ives. I received as a gift not long ago a book on local herbs that I've been using dilligently, the book explains the uses for each herb, and the rest is... honestly, experimentation. Trials and errors.


Of course, if the flora of Serthica is any different, I'll be in trouble.