video | open

[alsohawkeye]

[ The device is already properly situated when the transmission starts, a young woman in a purple t-shirt framed from biceps up. Her hair is pulled back in a dark ponytail, and there's a bow propped against the wall just behind her. She lifts a hand and gives a brief wave, seeming at ease with this technology if little else. ]

Hi, [ she begins, with a smile that's just on the friendly side of polite, ] My name is Kate, I just got here in the last jump or whatever it's called. I'm looking for a couple of people, and hoping somebody might be able to help me out. I don't want to waste anyone's time, I'm sure I'm not the only one looking for someone, but I put together a quick list that's attached to this message and if you have a minute to take a look, I'd really appreciate it. They're all-- [ here her smile briefly warms and widens, ] --sort of distinctive? So you'll probably know if you've met them. Let me know if any of them sound familiar, I'll owe you one.

[ It's not a casual toss-in, that last line. She looks quite seriously at the camera as she says it. She will owe you one, potential future friend-spotter, and she will deliver on that debt. After a moment to let the important message sink in, she starts to reach to turn off the camera, saying, ] Thanks for your time.

[ Just before she hits stop, though, she pulls back, adding, somewhat less seriously, ] Oh, also. I heard there's a bar around here somewhere? Any chance there's also a diner?

Attached is a text file containing brief physical descriptions of her teammates along with first names.

Comments

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[favouring]

I'm afraid I haven't seen your companions, but I will bear them in mind and if I should, I will contact you at once.

( Nuala, after all, can certainly imagine how grateful she would be to be reunited with...well, all right, a few months ago, she might have been more pleased by news of her brother. still. )

[alsohawkeye]

Thanks! I really appreciate the help. It's Nuala, right? I saw a post from you below mine, I think.

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[servant]

[Merlin tries to pay attention; he knows how important it is for people to be reunited with friends and loved ones from their own words. But he keeps getting. Distracted.]

Uhm, I haven't seen your friends but I'll keep an eye out for them. Do you mind if I ask you where you're from?

[alsohawkeye]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I guess I hope they don't turn up, but in case they do....

[ She picks up on his distraction, and her smile is a little curious as she replies. Watching him, trying to guess at what's throwing him off. ]

I'm from Earth, I get the feeling we have to be specific about this sort of thing here. New York City, in the United States. It was January 2nd, 2013 last I remember. You?

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[chambermaid]

But you... [ she looks like morgana.] I apologize. You look like another I know. Another who is on this ship.

[alsohawkeye]

Really? [ Kate doesn't react to this with as much surprise as might be considered normal, no instant rejection of the idea as just too weird. If anything, she looks intrigued, leaning towards the camera a little. ] Can you tell me about her?

[favouring]

Yes - yes, that's right.

I'm quite happy to do it.

[alsohawkeye]

Nice to meet you, Nuala. Can I ask where you're from?

[favouring]

I am a Princess of Bethmoora, the city of the Sons of the Earth, beneath the land men call Eire.

( that's a slightly more thorough answer than is strictly necessary, but it seems ... prudent? useful? so much is different for so many. )

[alsohawkeye]

Interesting! I've been to Eire but only above ground. Is it a secret city? [ or just a different world? ]

[favouring]

( diplomatically: ) It hasn't been known to your kind for many generations, nor is it so well known to others as it once was.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate smiles, diplomacy easily accepted and reciprocated in the somewhat careful way she tries to ask, ] Is 'the Sons of the Earth' the name we'd know your people by?

[favouring]

You might know us as the Fair Folk, or the Good Neighbours.

( mortals have been historically a bit wary of drawing the fae's attention outright, but it isn't as if they don't know what they choose to call them instead. )

[alsohawkeye]

[ This isn't her particular area of fangirling expertise, but the names are familiar, and after a second Kate's brows rise. ] Like... fairies? Or elves? [ She looks uncertain, mouth opening and then shut again before she apologizes, ] I'm sorry, I can't remember which the fae are. If I'm not way off to begin with.

[favouring]

( Nuala simplifies matters somewhat: ) Yes. Fae is a term covering many of us, though not all are the same.

[alsohawkeye]

Ahh, okay. Cool. [ She smiles, a shade apologetic still. ] I'm sorry if this is nosy. I've met a lot of different sorts of people but you're the first fae I've ever run into.

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[allfatherissues]

[One of those names in that text file is very... well. Coincidental. (But things are never so simple on this ship, now are they.)]

One of your teammates is 'Loki'?

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[alsohawkeye]

Yes. Loki, of Asgard. He might've looked a kid, maybe twelve or so, or more like my age. Dark hair, green eyes, kind of a smart ass. Do you know him?

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[alsohawkeye]

More than kind of a smart ass, really. He's got a very punchable face, if you know what I mean.

text;

[inebriety]

[The only name with even the hint of familiarity is Loki and he skims the other responses to confirm it's an Asgardian Loki.]

Loki of Asgard appears to be a rather popular fellow in the grand scheme of universes represented here.

[favouring]

Not at all-- your interest is very heartening, for our peoples have been long apart and I know we're so much forgotten by your kind. I am glad to fill the gap, where I may.

( she's so earnest it's ridiculous. )

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[alsohawkeye]

Bad luck for the universes. Do you mean he's on board or just lots of people have heard of him?

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[allfatherissues]

[He almost laughs at that. A lot of that description can be applied to him -- barring the looking like the kid part of it.]

So I've been told. [By others he's annoyed, about having a punchable face.] I do know a Loki of Asgard, and yet something tells me it is not the same Loki that you are searching for.

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[alsohawkeye]

[ She doesn't lean closer to the screen or narrow her eyes in a squint but for a moment Kate's attention on him sharpens almost imperceptibly. ]

You are one, aren't you? A Loki. [ She gestures at her chin almost like she's stroking an invisible beard except she extends it to cheekbones as well. ] You're older than the one I knew even after he grew himself up but you've got the same sort of jaw happening. [ A punchable sort of jaw. ]

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[allfatherissues]

[Quite punchable, and likely he gives many people reason to feel that way.]

And you're very perceptive. [But he'll not play games with someone so quick on the uptake yet so he continues, truthfully.] Perhaps that is the universal constant of all Lokis: the jawline?

Yet unfortunately I have never "grown myself up" [well you know, except in the natural manner of things], as you put it, so I do not qualify as your Loki.