maskormenace | [Video]

[Duncan looks like a perfectly ordinary Earth dude, if you ignore the fact that he's dressed in some fancy looking leather armour that makes him look like he walked straight out of a fantasy MMO. Mostly what's visible is the gold mantle of his cape and a black hood, both trimmed with white. He's got the hood pulled up, but it doesn't hide his face. Behind him, you can see the obvious decor of a bar.]

So, I would be doing this over text, but apparently good keyboard layouts and slide-out keyboard phones haven't been invented yet and this is too fucking urgent for me to have the patience for that shit.

[deep breath, intense look into the camera]

How the fuck are you supposed to get drunk with a healing factor in the way?

I timed it. I fucking timed it! Three shots, completely sober in five minutes. [he holds up five fingers to emphasize that] Five minutes! That's fucking ridiculous! How am I supposed to live like this?!

[With a frustrated groan, he sets the phone down against the table; the picture goes black and stays that way for a few seconds.]

[then he lifts it back up and gives the camera a more subdued, resigned look]

Heimdall, by the way. Welcome to here, me, I guess.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're not missing much.

Uh, sort of? I went into the sciences instead of history, but I guess you'd still file that under "scholar." I was on my sixth-ish year of university before I came here.

[unfortunately, he has no fucking idea how to explain genetics to someone whose world doesn't even have comic books yet, sooo.... he is just not going to bother to specify which science in particular unless he's asked.]

Any man who gives himself to education would be a scholar to me, Monsieur. It is a noble profession. [ He would have made a good one too, but he chose to do away with his noble breeding and become a soldier instead. It's worked out in his favour. ]

You will find no shortage of allies here. It seems the Porter is fond of scientists.

Aw, thanks. [he sounds like he's half-joking but it's also half-sincere. he's never had it called a noble profession before, it feels nice.] I went into it so I could help find a way to cure, uh... [how do you explain genetic defects without talking about genes...] The kinds of illnesses that people are born with. So it is kind of noble, I guess.

Anyway, that's good to know. Maybe I should ask around, see if anyone can recommend me to a lab where I might be able to get a job in my field, because god forbid the government assign me to a job that actually requires the education I have.

It's not just me, right? They're really bad at this job placement thing. What'd they give you, did it actually fit your skills or what?

[ Athos nods. Science is something he doesn't necessarily understand. He has a rudimentary knowledge of first aid thanks to Aramis, but curing a sickness would not be something he could do all on his own. He thinks this boy's desire is commendable and it warms him.

Both the alcohol and the worthy use of skills. ]

I was given the task of Sommelier. I am a soldier at home. [ It was insulting. ] Thankfully my friends and I chose to re-establish the Musketeers here. I was able to leave the hotel as soon as we were set up.

[eyebrow arch. yeah, that does sound insulting.]

Well that's--

[wait a second.]

Musketeers? Like...the Three Musketeers?

[DON'T TELL FICTIONAL PEOPLE THEY'RE FICTIONAL, DUNCAN. he learned that lesson the hard way. at least he can play this one off as historical knowledge if necessary.]

Well, there are certainly more than three of us. We could hardly defend the King with so few. [ Actually, usually they can with four. But Athos doesn't want to defame his company like that. ]

You have heard of us?

[Duncan is vaguely aware that there's usually a fourth even if all the movies and books and such call them the three, but he's not actually all that familiar with the story beyond the most common pop culture basics]

Uh, yeah, you guys are famous. I mean, I don't know too much beyond the name, like I said I'm not a historian [or a classic literature buff] but there's been books written about you.

I can't vouch for the accuracy, obviously. I do know enough about history to know its retellings are usually pretty creatively edited.

[ Athos seems vaguely pleased by that knowledge. ] So I've been told. [ And yet. ] We do not rely on prior knowledge of our company, however. We only want to prove ourselves in this world for as long as we are here.

Every time someone has mentioned that they know of my company and I, there is always a slight difference to what I know. That is why I ask that people merely judge us on what they can see.

That's fair. I'd hate it if people judged me based on inaccurate historical records.

[...which is...actually a thing he might have to worry about, now. being that he just became a political leader back home and all. huh.

well, hopefully nobody from the far distant future of his world ever winds up here.]

So what services are y'all providing here?

[ Well, as far as he's aware the only person who wants to talk about him is Dorian Grey and that's just to insinuate things about his sexual activity. ]

We are primarily an investigation service. Both imPorts and the native of this place may hire us. We also provide personal guarding services. It is what we did in Paris, and we did not want to lose that.

[wow rude dorian]

Cool. I'll keep y'all in mind if I ever need any of that.

[it's not an empty offer. he's pretty likely to want those bodyguard services at some point in the future.]

Please do.

[ They have uniforms and everything! ]