1 cuff | video | joint post

[barbarus]

[ The video turns on to reveal a large man, who is providing it with a close-up shot of about half of his face, and one strong, muscular shoulder. Most of his skin is bare, aside from a white tunic-like garment pinned at that shoulder. It's evident that someone is in the room with him, since he's focused on them and not on what he's doing. ]

Is it working? I cannot tell if --

[ Another voice interrupts, directing his attention back to the camera, and then Damen adjusts it so that his whole face is on screen. He is dark-haired and dark-eyed, and his olive-toned skin is well bronzed by sunlight.

He could not look less comfortable with a camera in his hand. His smile is a somewhat awkward attempt at friendliness, but it's obvious this is new to him. ]

Hello. My name is Damen. [ His eyes flick away from the camera at that, looking again at his companion. 'Damen', and not 'Damianos'. A pet name given to a network of strangers. He sees no reason to hide their true names - but he’ll do it, even so.

While he is introducing himself, the person who had his attention earlier decides to make an appearance. Or better yet, he decides to slide into the space by ending half on Damen’s lap, one hand lazily lifting to sweep a little of his hair back from his forehead. Where the original man is large and olive skinned, Laurent looks fair and slight in comparison. He isn’t actually in miniature, a fact he will press upon people at some point, when perspective is brought up. And where there is bare skin on show behind him, his is all covered up by the kind of clothing that looks restricting even by modern standards. ]

And mine is Laurent. [ He somehow manages to look like he’s smiling without following through, which is a power he possessed before the Porter ever decided to bless him with new ones. ] As you might have guessed, we’ve only recently arrived to this wonderful place.

[ Damen has rearranged himself to give Laurent space, and slide an accommodating arm around his waist. At that comment, though, he rolls his eyes up at his lover. Be nice, Laurent.

Laurent catches that look out of the corner of his eye, mouth twitching slightly like that smile he’s been curbing is threatening to break free. ]

We would like any advice you can give about acclimatising while here. This world is unlike our own, your buildings, modes of transport, ways of communication - [ Lifting his brows upward as if to indicate the device . ] - they’re all unfamiliar. We would not like to remain ignorant.

[ Then Damen leans in, tagging onto the end: ]

And I have need of a place to train. I prefer the sword. If any of you would test your skill against mine, I’d welcome it.

[ The glance they share then seems to be one of mutual agreement. Laurent shifts slightly, reaches out to turn off the feed. His sleeve obscures the view, but to those with extremely good hearing they might catch the as if anyone could best you before Damen interrupts his own smile to reach forward.]

Wait - there was something else. [ There’s a brief scramble for something beside him, and then Damen lifts his file into view. With his eyebrows lifting and expression dubious, he reads from the page. ] Can someone tell me what-- ‘Sunday School’ is? I am supposed to teach it.

[ He glances up at Laurent, nodding. ] That’s it.

[ It’s settled then, Laurent angles the camera once, so that his sincere ( no, really! ) expression can be caught. ] We appreciate the aid.

[ ooc: Damen is red and Laurent is blue. ]

Comments

oh no dany!!

[barbarus]

[ This woman - blonde, slight, pale - stands out more to Damen than any other thus far. There's a moment where he glances, quickly, between her and Laurent, for their colouring is so similar. But the eyes are different. Laurent's are set in sapphire, where this woman has violet in her gaze.

A smile quirks at his lips. ]

Already I have found this to be true. I favour advice from those who have it to give. If your world is like ours, then perhaps you know better than most.

How long have you been here?

this is fine 8);;

[jalan]

A month, [ she says, with a raise of her eyebrows. (The timbre of his voice is altered, just so, without the harsh, tectonic rumble of Dothraki vowels and consonants, but like his face, it's familiar. Her hands hold her communicator just a little tighter.) ] And I was fortunate to be greeted by men who came from the same world as I. There are almost as many of those as there are imPorts.

My name is Daenerys, [ she offers, without waver. ] And yours, Damen?

[ Are you sure??? You seem sure. ]

[barbarus]

Yes.

[ He nods, and manages not to glance at Laurent this time. It's still tempting. He would like to tell her that he is Damianos, but he will not. She's kind enough that he might have asked her to call him Damen anyway, in time.

She looks like a lady of the court. He cannot help but think it. Lucy had held that aura; this woman does, too. ]

Daenerys...I like that. Please forgive my accent. [ Because he's aware that he probably just butchered that name. It's an irritation, because Damen is good with languages. He speaks many, and yet this world is full of names from languages that he has never heard. ]

Will you tell me of your world? You said the sword was preferred. What of horses, and candlelight? [ Other things that he's noticed are missing here. ]

[jalan]

[ That gets a very subtle smile, despite the fact that there's a certain pervasive sadness about her. Could be an #aesthetic. They have, after all, only just traded names. ]

Plenty of horses. There was a time when I would never have guessed that I'd miss riding. [ Because there was a time when it felt like that was all she ever did. ] And candlelight, and braziers, and torches. The places I knew best were full of fire. Rock and sand, and cities with high walls.

[ So unlike the open sprawl of cities in America, ones that seem to bleed together. ]

And slower days. They count each moment down to the second, here.

[barbarus]

[ That description is familiar to him. Sand and rock and heat - desert territory. Akielos is far more green, but there are parts of it that are hot. What she says makes more sense to him than anything he's seen outside. ]

So it is where I am from. There are forests instead of sand, and high cliffs over the sea. But our cities are walled, and smaller than this - lit by fire at night and the sun during the day. The sun was how we told the time.

[ And honestly, do people really need more accuracy than that? Perhaps they have forgotten how to read the sky. ]

Do you like it here? Despite the changes.

[jalan]

It isn't my home, but it isn't without its wonders.

[ Her tone borders on dry. She has a healthy distrust of wonders, but the division between her understanding of the magical and the fact she can light a room with a touch of a switch is beginning, reluctantly, to settle.

Similarly, she relaxes, just a little. He is no Drogo. ]

Any one of the cities that opened themselves to imPorts prosper in ways my world's never truly seen, although I have hope it will, one day.

[ She probably can't promise flying cars to Westeros when she ascends the throne, but widespread civil peace? Perhaps that. ]

You'll become accustomed quicker than you think.

[barbarus]

[ Her words settle over him. The last time Damen was taken from his home, he was taken to enemy land, where everything he encountered had felt different and strange. He'd hated it, until he hadn't. Until returning home made him miss what had been different, complicating a worldview that until then had been as straight as a line. His own smile turns melancholy now, almost mirroring hers. ]

That's what worries me.

[ He knows how easy it can be. But then he thinks of Ios, and the sea, and the palace he said he'd take Laurent to when everything was over. That's where they should be now.

He should not think of it. ]

This is not where I thought we'd be. It is difficult to think of...these machines, these powers, in my world.

Is that the future you desire?

[jalan]

They look at us and say we resemble their history. The ancestors of these Americans, I suppose, wielded swords and rode horses as they haven't for however many centuries. Whatever the future I desire, I'll be long gone before my world sees one like this.

[ A thoughtful pause, and then; ]

But they call America something else, as well. They call it the United States. My world is full of endless wars, large and small. A peaceful existence between realms is one dream I would take with me, if I could.

[ And maybe indoor plumbing. ]

My concern, for now, can only be the present.

[barbarus]

[ Her words make Damen focus on her with obvious interest. The way she speaks of peace, the way she seems to yearn for it. That provokes something in him, reminding him of the resolution he’d come to in Laurent’s company.

Peace and not war. ]

So would I. I would see my country move forward without the threat of war, though I have been to war many times.

But the soldiers I met spoke of war, too. They spoke of a country far away, and a war for which they sought allegiance. Was that untrue?

[ It seems untrue. This is not war as Damen knows it, at any rate. ]

[jalan]

No, not untrue -- I have heard the same, although I've yet to see it.

[ Much like Damen, it isn't the kind of war she understands either. ]

It's a war between two great nations, of a scale I've not witnessed. [ Yet. ] But America is almost as big a land as the one I call my homeland. Westeros is made of fragmented kingdoms, endless civil warring, the kind that puts all lives at constant risk, whether on the battlefield or off of it.

Even if America has its conflicts across the seas, it knows peace amongst its own people. That is the sort of peace I would wish for, and hadn't yet seen.

[barbarus]

I understand. It is a question of scale.

[ The state where countries are constantly at war with each other - that is the world that Damen knows, and one he finds easier to understand. It's fair to say he doesn't completely have the sense of exactly how big America is, at least not yet. Their cities seem enormous to him. He hasn't yet found comprehension of the country as a whole. {

I am used to war, but it is not like this. And I hope for peace, despite that history.

If what you say is true, perhaps there is something we can learn from this place. At least then our time would not be wasted.

[ In theory, anyway. He's stretching really hard to find the silver lining here. ]

[jalan]

[ She can see that stretching, and her smile is a touch rueful. She doesn't touch on it, but steers the conversation back to speaking more directly, an underlying curiousity motivating her to say; ]

You have the look of a warrior, ser.

[ In morE WAys thAn onE. ]

Do you fight in your wars?

[barbarus]

[ That's something that couldn't have been hidden, even if Damen had wanted to. He's not very good at lying. The closer they can steer to the truth of how they are, the better he will be able to maintain the ruse. ]

I am. Akielos has known something of peace for the last six years. Before that, we were at war, and I have led men in many battles.

Laurent is the same. He may be smaller than I, but he is not to be underestimated.

[ He probably wouldn't mind being underestimated, though. ]

You say it is a constant in your land. Is that something you have seen for yourself?

[jalan]

I have.

[ No need, here, to get into specifics, but she can speak of abstractions, such as; ]

Sometimes such battles are necessary. Others are nothing more than the result of greedy men. When considering the price of such a thing, you must consider its value.

[ A little lighter, genuinely curious; ]

What does a warrior do in times of peace?

[ Eventually, she will stop herself. For a little while longer, she has questions. ]

[barbarus]

[ Her words are wise, and make Damen nod. Yes, there is a price that comes with war. He has seen it for himself, and he would do all within his power to keep his people from paying it again. Perhaps he and Laurent will be able to make that possible together. That's certainly the plan.

Never mind that only a few months ago, Damen would have laughed in the face of anyone who suggested it to him. Things have changed since then. ]

He must do whatever his people need him to do. There is always another form of duty.

[ Damen smiles. It wouldn't be appropriate to be too solemn, especially when their true roles are being concealed. ]

But a warrior in a new world, faced with a war he does not know and machinery he does not recognise?

Perhaps he must find his own way. He won't be teaching Sunday school, that much is certain.

[jalan]

[ He nods, kindly, she thinks -- and her smile, mild as it is, becomes a little more crooked, as if somewhat aware of the fact she is echoing rhetoric as if it were newly learned. In a lot of ways, it is. Wise though the words may be, it's taken practical experience to allow them to sink in.

Perhaps he is learning too. And she smiles, then, a smile that shows teeth, however briefly. Almost a laugh; ]

I wouldn't be able to tell you what that is. I was given the duty of a firefighter, which is, I've learned, exactly as it sounds.

[barbarus]

Fighting fires?

[ Well, apparently all their technology can't fix every problem. Still, he tries to imagine this girl at a task like that, and his imagination fails him. ]

Dangerous work. Am I wrong to assume you have foregone that duty?