»１［video/action］

[hopelessdreamer]

[this entire thing screams of the kind of prank the Emperor would pull, and she managed to find her clothes and sword, so she's not as worried as she could be. Still, the tall young woman keeps a careful hand near her belt as she crouches down to greet the cat that approaches her, not noticing the mirror at first.]

Where did you come from? One of His Majesty's...?

[she unrolls the scroll with gloved hands, frowning at it.]

Queen of--there aren't any Queens, so what--

[a metallic clanking sound interrupts her, and she turns, instantly on guard. She relaxes, however, when the source of the noise comes into view. The metal dog waves its tail creakily and sits down on its haunches, one of the few stray robots left over from Antikythera's unintentional invasion.]

[The woman's expression changes from suspicion to fascination in a matter of seconds, the scroll forgotten. The cat regards her with an offended flick of its ears and wanders off.]

Look at you. You are gorgeous. Could use some oil on those joints, and a good polish, but...what kind of motor are you running on? It must be tiny, and everything's fit together with such precision--

[she crouches by the automaton, reaching out to lift a paw, pat its head, tilting her own to study it from different angles. So much for being concerned about getting kidnapped.]

Comments

[notvitiligo.livejournal.com]

Supposedly, weapons are harder to pull off, and a lot of the time things get... Valentined. But yeah. It's useful, in the way that makes you want to pull your hair out.

[hopelessdreamer]

I've got my weapon, I'll be fine, but-- "Valentined"?

It sounds pretty amazing, actually.

[notvitiligo.livejournal.com]

Gets all... pink and frilly and romancey and creepy. You should see what happened to my Monopoly board. [Remembering the cultural differences, she adds:] It's supposed to be a game about buying property with money. It's now a game about buying people here with "kisses."

[hopelessdreamer]

It's a theme, I'm guessing? Why romance? It seems like a strange reason to kidnap people.

[notvitiligo.livejournal.com]

No real idea; we have some hypotheses, but the general consensus is "the Queen is out of her freaking mind."

[hopelessdreamer]

That's as good a hypothesis as any. And considering the only options we're given are other women, it seems awfully...

[she searches for a word that isn't rude.]

Specific?

[notvitiligo.livejournal.com]

Yyyyeah. Whoever's picking people isn't exactly discriminating. There are so many straight people here...

[hopelessdreamer]

Straight? [she's never heard the term used in such a way before, but she can make a good guess.]

So...The Queen must be pretty upset things aren't going according to plan, huh?

[notvitiligo.livejournal.com]

Well, she was a while ago, but she's trying to play nice for now. Not that I trust her, but... [shrug] Nothin' I can do.

[hopelessdreamer]

So you've seen her? What's she like, exactly?

[notvitiligo.livejournal.com]

Insane? Not all there? Sort of like a kindergartener in an adult body. With magic powers.

[hopelessdreamer]

[she knows what that looks like, a little, and cringes.]

Sounds like fun if she's the one running the place.

[notvitiligo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a regular barrel of laughs. Like I said, there's the rundown in the library, along with some other details if you're interested. Not a lot, but...

[hopelessdreamer]

I'll check out this library, then. It's appreciated.

[she'll try asking the cats--but only once there's no one else around so she doesn't feel stupid.]