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[golder]

( When her image appears, she may immediately be recognizable to some. She is young, with healthy colour in her cheeks and a brightness in her eyes where not long ago there had been neither. )

Where I come from, there was an entire epoch in history where great heroes walked the land. One of my forebears, Durran Godsgrief took to wife the daughter of two deities of wind and sea. They rained down such a tempest upon the wedding party that Durran's family and guests all died.

One after the next, he built successfully larger castles to weather their grief. Until finally the seventh, built with the aid of either the Children of the Forest or Bran the Builder finally survived and withstood the gods' rage. He was known as Godsgrief ever after, for having caused them such a bother.

( She is wise enough now not to speak of Lann the Clever instead, as she assumes her secret must ever remain precisely that. Her green eyes hold the camera, as she tilts her head, effecting a thoughtful façade. )

The word 'hero' carries a different sort of weight here than what I am familiar with. Is it simply this world, or others? ( She wonders if hers is merely an anomaly. ) Is the definition of heroism someone with godlike powers in the songs and stories of your realm, or are some ordinary people who manage to accomplish great things?

( Myrcella is, for now, putting on the impression of wide-eyed curiosity to stem her panic at having not only been resurrected, but with the ability to maim others if this file is correct. Her features soften apurpose, and she gives a sweet smile to her audience. )

Thank you.

Comments

[couldbebeautiful]

Oh my god, that is badass. [Like, classical hero badass, only without the godlike power.] You've talked about songs and stories. Does he show up in any of them?

[Because, look, a guy who slew a mad king and is also a great swordsman? That sounds like the stuff of epic movies starring Harrison Ford or Sylvester Stallone.]

Don't get me wrong, the public can still hold a grudge if you screwed up badly enough and it was in the news. But for the most part there's just too many scandals for them to last very long. [She shrugs.] And, seriously, your world kinda sucks.

[Veronica, you're from a musical about murder. Your world sucks too.]

It's pretty damn big—there's fifty states, though Hawaii's not really anywhere near the mainland. They've all got their own governments, but ultimately they're under the federal government of the United States. It's sort of like, uh, multiple tiny regions with their own governor and administration under one king.

[That works, right?]

Except every leader is elected by public vote, so it's not actually a kingdom, per se. [Which is where the analogy kind of falls apart.] But you're getting that so far, right?

[She groans, puts her face in her hands again.] It hurt like hell, and trust me, American high school's more like a jungle than a paradise.

[Kings, queens, princesses, conquerors—this is the furthest thing from anything Veronica has ever known. The closest thing she knows is the Heathers, with Heather Chandler as the bitch-queen of her school, but that's dwarfed by the actual princess she's talking with right now.]

Wait, wait—what conquest? And who are these First Men you're talking about?

[golder]

I think so, too. ( Because this is her father she speaks of. But more than that. Aerys had been mad. She draws her lips together, and shakes her head. ) None. He is falsely called a man without honour for slaying the king, but I know better.

At great risk to himself, he came into a country which had no love for him to rescue me when a threat was made against my life. With only one other accompanying him. No army. It was a brave, honourable thing.

( Isn't it something right out of Lord of the Rings? )

I, ah. ( A flicker of amusement enters her eyes, the first since she'd made her initial broadcast ). Can't help but agree with your opinion. grudges last for generations there.

( And now, she leans forward, displaying her interest. ) All united under one banner? That is admirable, and not wholly unlike the Seven Kingdoms. they did not each preserve their own monarch, but they traded amongst themselves and worked together in peacetime. What you speak of sounds like a dream.

I imagine it has its own faults, with such diversity among its populace.

( Close enough that she has the general gist of it, yes. )

So who votes—everyone? Chooses their king? That would be a dizzying amount of choices, then, would it not?

( Myrcella, not every state puts forward a leader to be 'king'. But this is what she's assuming right now. )

Like a—how is it akin to a jungle? Is it full of wildlife? I don't understand.

( Blinking, she schools her expression to one of calm neutrality, wishing she were able to smile more often than what she is capable of now. )

The First Men were the first humans to reside in Westeros—the name of the continent my country encompasses. We have been invaded several times, and introduced to a new religion along the way. The most recent, though, stemmed from Old Valyria. After the Doom, a family fled and took up residence on an island off the west coast, called Dragonstone.

That was the beginning of House Targaryen. Eventually their descendants Aegon, called the Conqueror, and his sisters Rhaenys and Visenya took to their dragons and razed Westeros until six of the seven kingdoms bent the knee and surrendered to their rule. Dorne remained independent for a further century and more before they were conquered.

[couldbebeautiful]

[How would Veronica know, she hasn't read anything by Tolkien yet, and the blockbuster movie is far beyond her time. However, she does think it something right out of the movies Martha loved so much, the ones with happy endings.]

Wow. People in your kingdom sound like dicks. [SORRY.] He seems like a stand-up guy to me, honestly. A little reckless, if he went into a whole country that hated him with one other guy as back-up, but he doesn't sound like a—what did they say? A "man without honor."

[Oh, look, she's finger-quoting. Sweet summer child.]

Yeah, usually, anyway. [Just going to gloss over the Civil War here, because hoo, boy, that is a long story. Also a terrible one.] And—no, not everyone votes, you'd have ten-year-olds lining up at the polls casting votes for their favorite action hero. If you're eighteen and up and you're registered, you can vote. And you can't just vote for anyone—there's a list of candidates on the ballot, and you just have to pick one for each position.

[She huffs out a little laugh.] I mean, if everyone chose whoever they want, we'd have crashed and burned a long time ago.

Close enough. [The way Veronica smiles now is tempered with bitterness, the kind brought about by someone who's been in the middle of high school drama and has had Enough.] It's more like an every man for himself type of deal. If you're not with the in crowd, you're pretty much a target for them and everybody else.

[Wait wait wait back up back the fuck up.]

Dragons? Your world has actual literal dragons? [A disbelieving breath.] You've gotta be shitting me. Holy shit, really?