driftfleet | 001 ♛ Video;

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001 ♛ Video;

Who: Daenerys Targaryen
Broadcast: Fleetwide video.
Action: She can be found on the Hospitality Deck of the Marsiva if anyone wants to find her wandering around.
When: Today!

[Daenerys hadn't even had fortnight to settle in, to take in the situation she's found herself in. One moment she was in the almost safety of Drogon's company and the next she was surrounded by Dothraki. Now? She was.... looking at a strange speaking device? She learned enough that people could communicate with it, but not enough right away on how to do so herself. It takes her a moment to figure it out and when she finally does, her violet eyes are still wide with concern on the video feed. Once she realizes it's working, she tries to go for a more calm and assertive outward appearance.]

To think that such a place would be capable of stealing so many from their homes. I can't imagine the ransom they'd be seeking. I wish to speak to whoever thought it wise to attempt such a feat and if any others can provide valuable information, mayhap you'll receive a reward from me in return.

[Mostly her eternal gratitude, given that she had little else on her person in the way of money. Carefully, she tucks a stray silver lock behind her ear. She wanted to ask where Drogon was and yet she knew outright asking her captors where they'd taken her dragon might be too foolish of a thing to attempt.]

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[Oh sweet summer child, you're in for a ride.]

Oh, it's no ransom they're seeking. They want you to be a part of their little troupe to provide entertainment for the nebulous masses that are apparently watching us. And unfortunately you won't be speaking to them anytime soon. Atroma doesn't seem keen to speak to any of us.

[As long as it's not nearly as bumpy as clinging for dear life on the back of a dragon, it probably isn't going to be too bad or too hard to find her feet.]

Do they take us for dwarves or slaves? I don't parade around in costume on some unseen master's command.

[She actually sympathized with the way dwarves and slaves were treated in Slaver's Bay. She'd put a stop to the fighting pits until it was promised no violence would continue in her streets if she allowed it to resume. That hadn't gone too well in her favor.]

We have at least one dwarf in the fleet so I doubt they don't know the difference. But no, it's nothing quite so overt as that. They just like to stick a bunch of people on a ship, make them work together and see what happens. The worlds and stations we make stops at provide a different backdrop, but aside from the people they bring in and a few other odd things, our "hosts" don't interfere terribly much, it seems.

[This comes from only a couple weeks' worth of experience. And Atroma has been unusually quiet lately.]

And what exactly do they get out of it? Entertainment, yes but is that all? That seems a bit simplistic.

[But not unrealistic. The fighting pits functioned much of the same way.]

Well, we receive a stipend during our time in the fleet. I assume they get a share of it as well. But if they have ulterior motives, I could not say. I don't know if anyone knows for sure; I myself have only been here a few weeks.

[She smiles.]

And I'm forgetting my manners, as usual. I'm Riona Cousland, a fellow captive like you.

I can't say I'd have much use for a stipend unless it were given to my people back home who need it more than I.

[She smiles a bit too, glad at least the two of them can share in their mutual situation. She wasn't alone, she's found, and the thought made her feel for the people around her. They had all been displaced, just as she had.]

Daenerys of House Targaryen. It is a pleasure to meet you.

Ah, sadly there's no way to send money home. All communication is shut off. Besides, you'll likely need it for clothes and food, at the very least. The food they offer here looks like mush and you'll have a pair of very unattractive if not durable set of clothes. That's it.

[She nods.]

Pleasure to meet you as well, even under the circumstances.

I see. I should hope the rest of the food we happen upon is a lot better tasting than it looks, then.

[Not even gonna start on the clothes thing. If she could just get her hands on cloths and a seamstress she'd be fine enough.]

[Don't get her started either. Fortunately they're currently docked at a station that sells that sort of thing.]

The ships themselves do not provide better food, I am afraid. However, you can buy actual food on the worlds and stations we visit. Hopefully whatever ship you're assigned to will have some stocked already.

Have you had the fortune of finding others from your world here?

Hopefully the ship I am assigned to will not be so full of questions as this one.

[Everywhere she turned on the Marsiva, there were other people that were just as confused as she was.]

I have, though I don't know yet that it is a fortune or someone's cruel joke.

[Tyrion Lannister had sworn fealty to her, but Sansa Stark and whoever else of her house might be present could pose a small issue. She didn't know of anyone else.]

Well you are on the designated newcomer ship, so they will be just as befuddled as you are. Hopefully the veterans of this fleet can give you more answers over this device. And your future crewmates should be of assistance as well.

[Riona grimaces sympathetically.]

I take it they weren't your bosom friends?

Hopefully I find a crew as capable of answering my questions as you have been.

[Now it's her turn to grimace, only hers is more of a look of discomfort and disgust.]

Most were enemies of my family. I am the only one left after they'd all been murdered.

[Though Tyrion claimed otherwise.]

[Murdered.

So she's lost her family to such a crime as well. Riona almost wants to say something, but she is not sure if she has the strength to talk about that today. Perhaps at another time: there's no reason to bring up such a heavy discussion when this young woman is so new and has much more pressing things to worry about.]

Were these enemies the ones who killed your family? Do you feel unsafe?

[She takes a steadying breath. She doesn't blame Sansa for what mistakes her father had made, just as she can hardly blame Tyrion for his father being a tyrant. It still aches, though, to know that had they not stood by as her house bled and burned perhaps she would have had a different life.]

It's... complicated. They did not have a direct hand in what happened but we are far from friends because of what happened.

[House Stark surely blamed her for Lyanna Stark as she blamed House Baratheon, Lannister and Stark for the deaths of her family.]

One of them is but a young girl and I can hardly blame her for the circumstances that divide us.

[Though she wishes she could convince her to join her cause. If their houses could just see eye to eye the Lannisters would perish and they both could go home.]

[She nods, moderately appeased at her clarification. As long as Dany does not feel like she is in danger, then Riona will take her word for it. Especially since the direct culprits were not in the fleet.]

I understand. [More than she lets on.] For what it is worth, I am... so sorry about your family. Were you the only survivor?

My brother took care of me when we were young. My mother- she died bringing me into the world. I don't think he ever forgave me for it, but he forgave the ones who stole his throne even less.

[She felt as if she was holding her breath when she spoke of Viserys. She hardly ever spoke negatively aloud about him. She didn't want to sully his memory. He had madness in him that their father had given to him. Often times she wondered if she had it too.]

He died - ah he... he killed himself not long after I was married.

[A lie she told herself. In a way, it had been his fault for drawing a blade in the sacred city but at the same time, it made her heart hurt to know he had gone. Viserys had loved her once, she wanted to believe. But his words and deeds had not always been kind to her. Her Khal - her sun and stars - had punished him for his arrogance in the end.]

They say that there is madness in my family's blood and it makes them do terrible things.

[The Mad King... of course when you're born of Dynastic Incest it tends to bring about inbreeding. Viserys had often cursed her for being born too late, for not being the one to marry Rhaegar when he had clearly been unhappy with Elia Martell. The one time she had countered it with saying he should be the one to be sorry for not marrying Rhaegar for he hadn't been born a girl, he'd beaten her.]

[Dany's mention of a brother just about brings a smile to Riona's face - after all, she can't help but think of her own brother in kind - but it fades as Dany talks more about her own brother. Though a "madness" in the blood certainly wouldn't help matters, it doesn't excuse holding a person responsible for events beyond their control. Flinging blame at the helpless was an exercise in futility.

Though in his case, it sounded like an outlet for misdirected anger. A stolen throne? That implied royalty. Certainly something to note, if nothing else. And if others from Dany's world are here, and their families were responsible for her family's murder...

Hoo boy. Riona will definitely have to keep an eye on that.]

At least you had him for a time and were not alone, especially so young. But I am sorry you lost him too, even with his misguided blame.

Was he ever able to reclaim his throne?

No, he was not. The line of succession fell to me with his death and I intend to reclaim the throne myself, but it's been no swift feat.

[And she would make the Usurpers dogs pay for it in blood. The Starks had already shed enough of it and so it was the Lannister's turn.]

I have an army amassed and am trying to liberate three of the largest slave cities across the sea from my home. I suppose one could call that practice for learning to rule properly.

[And she was failing miserably, honestly. Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion had grown out of her control, her people were being killed by the Sons of the Harpies left and right and things were quite complicated in trying to reclaim Yunkai from the masters again.]

Though I suppose that matters little here while we're in the fleet.

[A wry smile, because the fact that she is even farther from home than she's ever been isn't lost on her.]

[She carefully keeps her expression composed, though in the back of her mind, she's intrigued, if not a bit concerned. Hopefully Dany will let old family grudges fall by the wayside here, as she has the right of it: none of that matters here in the fleet. And hopefully the others from her world here will be amiable to letting those fall to the wayside as well. The last thing she wants to see is something kick off in the fleet because of bad blood. Innocent bystanders would get dragged into it, and the fleet has enough crazy as is.]

Such goals usually take considerable time, especially if you've got an ocean between you. It sounds like you're off to a good start, if you can hold those cities.

[She nods.]

No, they don't matter. Nothing can be done about such matters here, so there's little point in dwelling on them. Out of curiosity, though, what is your world called? [She wants to check to make sure it's not one any of her crewmates hail from.]

Currently, my home is in Mereen, one of the three largest slave cities in Essos. Mereen, Yunkai and Astapoor belong to me and the three of them helped me amass my army and my followers so that I might sail to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

[She figured someone had to know Sansa and her siblings besides herself. If they had made friends, well, then she'd have more to contend with in trying to win the Starks over to her cause.]

[None of the names ring a bell at first, and Riona's almost assured they're in the clear. Then Dany utters the word "Westeros" and her heart drops. If she's from there - or, specifically, from the world Westeros is in - then that could complicate things. And naturally she wonders if the people she mentioned earlier, the ones related to those who killed her family, are Sansa and her siblings.

Maker's blood, this is why she hates politics.]

I see. [For now, she'll keep her familiarity of the world to herself. It's not like she knows much, but she does not want to complicate matters. She will not get involved in that world's affairs unless forced.] So Essos and Westeros are two separate countries? Divided by a sea? That will make getting your army to Westeros a tad more difficult, I imagine. Ships are not cheap.

Yes. In Essos there are many cities and the culture itself is vastly different. There's slave trade, assassins, and a great deal more culture and history. Westeros is young by comparison.

[She'd thought of staying as long as possible to rule Mereen and stabilize her three cities but patience was hard when all you wanted was to go home.]

I have some ships but not many. And I want to stabilize the cities under my control before I do anything else. I won't abandon the people to whom I promised freedom.

Your Essos reminds me of a land called the Tevinter Imperium where I am from. They still have the slave trade as well, and the Imperium has existed in some form for over two millennia. Much of what Thedas is today is in part due to Tevinter, even if the country is not what it once was.

[Riona nods, mentally taking a note of all of this.]

As you well shouldn't. A ruler is hard to take seriously if she cannot control a handful of cities. [If Dany's plan fails, at least she'll have places to flee to safety.] How long has your campaign been going?

I have been ruling Mereen just shy of a year and the other cities a bit longer. But I had been traveling well over a year before that in an attempt to gain what I need to cross the Narrow Sea and reclaim what is mine.

[And she would do whatever necessary, short of killing women and children, to achieve her goal. If she had to fend of Lannister dogs in the streets or in the sea then it would be done.]

And how have Mereen and these other cities fared with you? And how have you fared learning how to rule?

[Asked in genuine curiosity, though she is keen to see how well Daenerys has done being a ruler. She knows it's not an easy task.]

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