( 03 ) video ✵ i got six friends and they all know your name

[stacked]

So, look, I get everybody's all jazzed about that list or whatever, and people wanna do the mourning thing. All good, have at it.

What I'm wondering though, is what we got working to find out who helped the dead dude get that way. Still pretty new around here so I don't know what you got rigged up already, but where I'm from something like this happens we mount up before there's a dead guy number two.

[ so that was... kind of a job application. if you tilt your head and squint. and to seal the deal. ]

Wouldn't mind helping out.

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[hisfinestact]

I am "that dude," yes. I see you already know our Lord Snow, so I won't try to convince you that my word is worth more than his. In most circumstances, it isn't. In this... [ He trails off with a shrug. ]

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[stacked]

Met a lotta liars in my life.

[ a shrug of her own to match. everything to do with westeros doesn't seem real to her, like a story snow's just super into. so it's not like she cares if a guy in that story fucked his sister and had a kid-- it's weird, sure, but not like she's never murdered people and generally, that sin's the bigger one. (all right, depending on who you ask.) ]

No big deal to meet another one. [ ambiguously phrased because she's aware that hey-- maybe she's just a shit judge of character and snow's got a compulsive lying problem. probably not, but it could happen. ]

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[hisfinestact]

[ Jaime's mouth twitches. There'd be an initial rush of irritation with Snow for stepping so boldly over the lines his own family had drawn. But now it seems that if his tongue had to slip, there are worse people for it to have slipped around. ]

I'd say the Lord Commander meant it honestly enough. But my experience is that men can talk themselves into believing all sorts of things when power and a throne are at stake.

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[stacked]

[ moral relativism: it's a way of life. ]

Dunno, he seemed pretty convinced to me. [ just a tiny bit needling there, because she's never met a sore spot she didn't eventually want to poke at, again and again.] But that's your side, huh?

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[hisfinestact]

[ Jaime can take needling just as well as he can dish it out. Well, almost. ]

That is my side. For whatever it may be worth to you. And before you judge it, I ought to say that they call me Oathbreaker as well as Kingslayer. I'm sure someone would be along soon to correct me if I didn't tell you myself.

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[stacked]

Jesus, does everybody have fifteen different names where you two are from? Just saying, using the names you got makes everything real simple.

[ but kingslayer is pretty hardcore. ]

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[hisfinestact]

Fifteen? You do us a disservice. Twenty at least, for each man, woman, and child. And enough to spare that we can switch when we grow bored with the ones we have.

[ Yeah, Jaime finds this a pretty dumb feature of his homeland too. ]

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[stacked]

[ that gets a genuine laugh out of faith, husky and a little bit startled, like the sound even weirds her out a little. ]

Yeah, well. I just stick with Faith.

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[hisfinestact]

There's a big name all on its own.

[ If Jaime wasn't from the Ren Faire, he might add "But I bet you've heard all the comments there are to make about your name already." But he is, so he does't say it and just lets his face imply it instead. ]

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[stacked]

[ volleying back his an expression with an eyeroll of her own. yeah, she knows. ]

What can I say? Mom liked late night Jesus tv and wine coolers.

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[hisfinestact]

I'll do my best to pretend to know what those are. [ It's what he's been doing for months, after all! ] You may call me Jaime, if you prefer. Or Lannister. I'll answer to either.

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[stacked]

God stuff and booze. [ yeah, faith needs dictionary accompaniment for people from her world the ren faire is sol. ] Like I said, Faith works out fine on my end.

[ wait for it. ] Hey, you ever seen-- [ she wrinkles her nose and checks something on her comm. ] The High Tower of Oldtown?

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[hisfinestact]

[ Jon Snow has been telling stories, hasn't he? Or was it Stark this time? Either way, Jaime doesn't quite understand why she's asking, so his eyebrows lift even though he answers anyway. ]

When I was younger. The Reach, where Oldtown sits, is just to the south of my family's home in the Westerlands, along the Ocean Road.

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[stacked]

Super, I know what all that means. [ it takes her a second to gather up the courage to ask, and even then she's a little too casual about it. she's not great at asking for... anything, really. ] What's it look like?

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[hisfinestact]

Look like? [ Jaime's eyebrows furrow as he thinks back. ] It stands on an island in the centre of Oldtown, taller than any man could hope to climb. Or jump from and survive. Seven-stepped and seven-sided, rising out of the old castle of House Hightower. The fire at the top burns day and night. They say you can see it out at sea, long after you've lost sight of land.

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[stacked]

So it's like a lighthouse on a postcard but way more badass. [ this one is a poet. ] People jump off it a lot?

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[hisfinestact]

The fastest way to ensure you're immortalized in the song of some minstrel somewhere. A straight plunge into the open sea? What singer or harp-plucker could resist?

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[stacked]

[ faith's indelicate snort pretty well covers her opinion on that. ]

One who wasn't a freaking dumbass?

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[hisfinestact]

Ah, I can tell you've never met a minstrel. They only come in one kind.

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[stacked]

Screwed around with a drummer once. That count?

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[hisfinestact]

It could. Was he a [ excuse the pause; this is a new but extremely useful sounding word ] dumbass?

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[stacked]

[ faith lehane is teaching people words this will end badly. ]

Chronic case. [ ACTUALLY IT'S A LONG STORY AND HE MADE THINGS HAPPEN WITH HIS IMAGINATION because that's a thing, sure. but he was also a dumbass. ] Not as jacked up as the dude with a thing for little plaid skirts and a bullwhip, though. Guy had some issues.

[ this is totally appropriate first conversation material, what. ]

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[hisfinestact]

"The dude with a thing for little plaid skirts and a bullwhip." You've made a strange selection of conquests, if you don't mind me saying.

[ What are boyfriends? What is dating? ]

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[stacked]

And I didn't even get to the klepto. [ she shrugs, shoving some hair out of her face. ] Definitely not ready to give up driving stick and bat for the other team or anything, but men are pretty much dogs.

[ beat. ] No offense.

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[hisfinestact]

[ "Stick and bat." This conversation is just full of useful new phrases. Jaime shrugs as well. ]

I spend far too much time listening to soldiers talk about their whores and noblemen about their bit on the side to take offense at something as clearly true as that.