driftfleet | Є002

Who: Elena Gilbert and YOOUUU!!!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Starstruck if you wanna??
When: rite meow!!!

I just want to say that I really appreciate everyone's who's answered my questions about this place, but now that I've had a little time to get settled, [and stop silently panicking] I'm curious about what home is like for everyone.

And since you've been here, have you seen anything like home?

[And since she doesn't really expect to be able to ask and not give an answer herself,]

My world's nothing all that special probably in comparison to some of yours. It's 2012, Earth, with modern-day technology that's nowhere near as advanced as all of this. I live in Mystic Falls, Virginia in a country called the United States.

We do have magic, but I can't do any of it. I only know about it because my best friend was a witch. [And it's invaded every part of her life for the past couple of years, but ssshhh.] Magic where I come from has a balance, it's rooted in nature and spirits of ancestors. So the further down the line of witches you are, the more power you can have. But you have to maintain the balance of nature or the spirits of your ancestors will cut you off.

There are other kinds of magic, but they're bad news and not something you want to mess with. It has some really bad consequences for the user since it ignores maintaining the balance.

[And she leaves it there. She's not willing to out herself as a vampire or acknowledge the existence of other supernatural beings beyond witches and spirits.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Okay, she can't help but grin at that. That's about the cutest thing she's ever heard about plants.]

I'm not really good at drawing either. That's always been my brother's thing.

Plants are even easier than animals. Animals need more than plants.

People don't see angry, or fear, or happiness. Not like I do. So when I draw what a nug looks like, I need to just draw the body. Not all of it.

Is your brother good at art, or just better than you?

[She does pause to wonder how exactly he would draw things like anger, fear, or happiness, but those are such abstract concepts. They're always put in with symbolism, not with something a little more tangible.]

He's really good at art. [And thus, way better than her. She can manage maybe a stick figure.] He's had a lot of his work shown off at school shows. I think he could make a career out of it if he wanted to.

[It's fairly obvious even without being near her or getting into her mind that Elena is incredibly proud of her little brother.]

What is school shows?

It's where students show off their work.

School is where students show off work.

What students?

You don't have schools where you're from?

... I don't know.

What is it?

School is a place where kids go to learn. We learn all sorts of things, math, science, history, other languages, that sort of thing.

Oh.

[He thinks on this for a while.]

I don't know where people learn in Thedas. Dorian had tutors.

I'm sure he learned similar things. Just, you know, more applicable stuff to your world. Obviously he didn't have to sit through U.S. History.

[Although it does make Elena wonder if he learned math and if it was the same as the math she learned. They say math is a universal language, but they weren't taking into account the idea of different worlds.]

I don't know. I don't know what they learn in Tevinter. Cole never had a tutor. And he was in Orlais.

What's Orlais like?

Big.

Val Royeaux is loud and bright, white marble and sandstone. People wear bright clothes and speak with rounded accents. The city bubbles with emotions, so much hope and promise.

The White Spire reaches up to the sky and dig its roots into the bedrock, festering and wet and letting the shadows from the brilliance steep.

Val Royeaux...that sounds French, [she notes lightly, more to herself than to Cole since French probably doesn't mean a thing to him.] What's the White Spire?