video @nina

[neversmall]

[ You can make VIDEOS ON THIS THING.

Now that Nina knows this, no one is safe. Well, okay, not true, because she's still got to get the hang of it. You, the viewer, are once again treated to a vision of... the Aid Station wall.

Nina: "Where's the camera again?"
John, her long-suffering patient who isn't suffering as much as he is laughing at her: "On the corner, there."
Nina: "But that means I have to hold my wrist like--" Abruptly, the picture changes and now Nina's squarely in view, "--oh yes, you're right. That's a better idea."
John: "...so are you gonna say something or?"
Nina: "Oh Saints, is it recording already? Blast--"

Bright smile is go! ]

Hello, everyone! If we haven't met yet, I'm Nina Zenik.

There are so many of us here from so many different places. It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly two months, and now more of us are coming. I’m not used to making announcements like this [ some noise from beside her, Nina looks toward John and corrects: ] -- or, posts? Apparently they’re called posts. -- but even some the Adament crew I’ve spoken to are interested in my questions, so they’ve assured me they don’t mind if I - post - with this.

So tell us - what’s it like where you’re from? What are the legends that are most popular? What are the courtship practices? [ She’s absolutely not crafting this whole post because she’s searching for ideas on this, nope. ] Are you one of those of us have been fighting a war -- excuse the question if it’s rude, there just do seem to be a lot of us. I’d ask you to talk about your favorite foods instead, but that might be more depressing than helpful. Oh - here’s one: If you’re from an Earth, how do you know it’s a different Earth than all the other Earths? And if not, does your planet have a name or is mine the only one that doesn't?

Comments

[neversmall]

Uh - [ look, it's not every day you get to explain being what gets you hunted over five countries. Especially over a network where she doesn't want to plant that idea. ] To be Grisha is to be born with the ability to manipulate matter in different ways. In Ravka, when Grisha are discovered, we're taken for training before we join the Second Army. So it would be the Second Army that's the organization, while to be Grisha is just to be... different.

[psychometries]

[ Ah. There's a look of realization on his face, as well as complete understanding. ]

That sounds a lot like my own order. [ He hesitates slightly, because he's also been hunted—across the entire galaxy, actually. It's taught him to be cautious, and so he doesn't really advertise himself this way very freely. ]

I'm a Jedi. We don't manipulate matter, exactly, but we're also... different. I was taken in by the Order when I was young, and raised and trained at the Temple on Coruscant.

So... I get it.

[neversmall]

[ Nina smiles at Balthier's smooth moves; from one Practiced Flirt to another, she appreciates the way it greases the wheels. ]

Oh, I can't allow a monopoly on my time. [ She turns to John and smiles at him: ] At least, not by you. [ He grumbles back good-naturedly: I know who you will let monopolize you, though. ] Quite possibly! [ she responds, and standing, warns him to continue to rest and she'll be able to finish healing him tomorrow. Then she turns to Balthier. ]

Shall we?

[cryptoherpetology]

Sure. I'm not teaching tomorrow, so I can pick up a couple extra hours in the aid station to make meeting up easier. [ And he's reliably unsqeamish with a good knowledge of anatomy, human and otherwise. Not a bad second pair of hands, thanks as much to his mother's training growing up as his day-job academics. ]

[spalten]

No, I'm not here for a proposition. I just found it curious that it was part of your questions at all. It's not a topic one usually asks about in the network.

[portolan]

[ Balthier notices that John makes some comment that Nina laughs and agrees with, but doesn't catch the details. Does Nina have someone she's sweet on? Balthier vaguely recollects there are people from her world here, though he supposes it could be someone new. The problem with flirts is rarely knowing when they're serious; it's a tactic he uses often.

Balthier performs a flourishing bow usually reserved for over the top costume parties and offers his arm. ]

M'lady.

[neversmall]

[ Nina laughs. ]

It's not every day someone accuses me of being a lady. [ She smiles at him. It's fun to play this kind of game, when it's for fun and not for more nefarious purposes. ] I could get used to it, as long as it isn't catchy.

[portolan]

I have plenty more accusations ready and waiting, Madame. [ It's a relief to be playing silly games. He's glad he made a point to come see Nina instead of just written communication. ]

I don't think I knew that you were a healer.

[neversmall]

[ Nina, quite visibly, brightens with interest. She is making a determined decision to not get caught up in all the downsides of what being taken like this means, but it's interesting to run into someone who's been in a similar position -- across worlds, galaxies, and times. ]

Oh, that's interesting! You're the first person I've met here who's like that - besides other Grisha. What kind of order is the Jedi, if you don't mind me asking? Or - if you'd rather meet in person to talk about it, I'd be happy to do that instead.

[neversmall]

[ She smiles up at him. ]

Oh, I can heal - but I wouldn't call myself a Healer. My training was in a decidedly different direction. You've been using you powers to heal too?

[neversmall]

Sounds good. We can always do with some extra hands in here. Thanks, Alex! 😀

[ And so she will be there, in her morning-to-early-afternoon shift. ]

video @jon.snow

[northerndragon]

[One of those things is not like the other!]

I know that it is not my world because most had never heard of the lands I came from before they met me, or someone else from my world. Nor have they heard of any of the other lands or peoples.

From all I could find, Westeros is a little like Great Britain, but it is much, much larger. They had seven kingdoms there once. But no Free Folk, no Children of the Forest, no Andals come over from Essos, no Dothraki. If they had horse lords once, they went by another name. And so on and on.

[He is level and amiable as he explains all this, as if it's not his first time, or his fifth.]

1/2

[neversmall]

[ ...there is... so much about this... that Nina does not understand.

Congratulations, you have given her her very first exposure to a music video.

Or any kind of video, actually. ]

2/2

[neversmall]

[ After showing it to John, who collapsed on the bed laughing in a way that probably aggravated his injury, she manages to confirm the general gist. That's not going to stop her from asking: ]

I'm not sure what you mean. 😵

[neversmall]

[ She knows what Great Britain is because she found a map of Earth, but the rest of it -- definitely different. She gives Jon a bit of a wry smile and shakes her head. ]

I don't know what those things are either, I'm afraid. So are you saying you're not from an Earth, or just from a very different one?

[northerndragon]

We call the soil “earth” and we talk of things walking the earth, so I suppose it must be Earth. Never heard the world called much else.

As to legends, a lot of those I know are from the North. Our old nurse told them to us when we were children —- my brothers and sisters and I. There is Ser Wyn of the Mirror Shield, and Simeon Star-Eyes, and there is the story of the ‘Prentice Boys up at the Nightfort, or Brave Danny Flint. That was a girl who disguised herself as a boy to join the Night’s Watch, and had a bad end. The ‘Prentice Boys had a bad end, too.

[His amiable expression sobers a little.]

But some of the tales have proved to be true, and that is my war. One of them.

[neversmall]

[ ...Nina is going to put that in the 'Maybe Earth' column, which was not a column she was aware she needed until now, but so it is.

Nina's brow furrows slightly, ]

So you're a soldier as well. Most of the people I've met who've come from the eggs seem to be fighters of some kind... I'm sorry, I know it's not an easy thing to talk about, but did you say you were fighting creatures out of your legends?

[ And did he say that was one of the wars he was fighting? ]

oh no it’s time for a Jon Snow Speech™️

[northerndragon]

I am. I was raised to it: I am only a bastard, but my father was a lord and raised me alongside his trueborn children, and if you’re the son of a lord, they teach you sums, they teach you the history of the kingdoms, but they also put a wooden sword in your hand as soon as you can walk. You will fight for your House or your people or the king, or you’ll be ready to. I joined the Watch myself just before my eighteenth name-day.

[It is no trouble to talk of the White Walkers, though sometimes it is a trouble to think of them as they are, and to remember feeling the blast of ice in his face as he shattered the body of a White Walker with Longclaw. Sometimes he dreams of that. But if he didn’t talk of them, he would not be able to rally the aid to fight them.]

We do fight creatures out of legend. We did not think to, and people in the southron lands don’t want to believe it, no matter that they are in danger, too. There is truth to the stories of the White Walkers and their Night King. They’re creatures of the cold, always bringing snow and darkness with them, and they raise those they kill to march in their army and fight for them. They are death —- the death of every living thing. All I can hope to do is bring enough people together to stop them.

[And it might be that he has.]

[portolan]

Touché. Wouldn't call myself a healer, either, but I have training in white magick. Figure I should try to be of some use to the place that feeds me.

[ That and working in engineering is too painful. He feels exposed without Fran or the Strahl. ]

So, courtship rituals. You looking to run off with a new thessyx husband?

Re: 2/2

[skagzz]

[ Either this lady is trying to jerk Tina's chain, or she for real for real never heard "thirsty" before.

Both are amusing. ]

You wanna 🍆🍆🍆 cause you 💦💦💦

[neversmall]

[ At that question, Nina throws back her head and laughs. It's a real laugh, she's that amused by it. ]

Saints, no! After hearing that certain parts of the human anatomy had to be explained to them, I doubt I'd get much joy of that, no matter how many hands they have.

[neversmall]

[ ...why would the water droplets mean thirsty? Wouldn't that be the opposite of thirst? ]

You mean 🌵?

[skagzz]

Giiiiiiirl you do NOT want to put a cactus in your lady hole. I know a girl who knows a guy whose cousin did that it was not a fun time for anybody except maybe the cactus.

[portolan]

I like a lady who knows what she likes. Or a lad -- anyone consenting and of age, really.

[ It's nice to banter as friends. A month ago he wouldn't have predicted finding this so quickly, and he's grateful for it. ]

So if not a Thessyx, new beau in the Hatchlings? Your patient, John? Wistful thinking to keep the cold nights at bay?

at least the speech is new to her?

[neversmall]

[ She listens with attention. ]

That's a very pragmatic system. [ She sounds like she approves; she does. Grisha in Ravka are given similar options, and that's a sight better than in most neighboring countries. Most people in her generation, and in her parents generation, have been drafted, in fact -- even the lords 'fight,' technically. What he is describing is a lot more than Crown Prince Vasily's 'term of service.' What would it be like to be led by a king who knows the cost of human life?

But what he's describing is horrible; Nina knows a little something of facing the snow and darkness. ]

As horrible as that sounds, I think you have good reason to hope. Most people want to live, when it comes down to it, and will fight to do so. [ She shivers a little. A death of cold and darkness... ] What drives these White Walkers, do you know? Are they beings of intellect, or driven only by instinct?