driftfleet | .03 Were you dazzled by the same constellation?

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.03 Were you dazzled by the same constellation?

Who: Rogue
Broadcast: Voice, Fleetwide
Action: Aboard the Marsiva
When: Tonight! Sometime after normal dinner hours.

[Bored. Bored. Bored.

Right, okay, so there was tension and so much suspicion and perhaps the ship falling apart and perhaps clues toward Atroma's past and specific directions to not look into suspicious circumstances (Ha!) but to bond with fellow passengers (double ha!) and real food and real coffee and actual sleep at night (vague or startlingly vivid dreams not withstanding, but... but it was like being a kid at the end of a long summer. You didn't want school to start up again. But Gawd, you needed something to do.

At least on the ship she had people to cook for, things to do -- same thing in Luceti. There was responsibilities, routine, some measure of purpose even if it was mostly self-imposed.

Here there was nothing except the blackness of space, the press of strangers, and of course -- all the mindless entertainment and access to punching bags a girl could want.

Rogue can be found making use of that punching bag, or flopped into one of the entertainment cubicles with a pile of questionable reading material beside her. She is clearly getting fed up with one of her favorite pass times - laughing at bad romances, muttering underneath her breath, until finally she makes a broadcast:]

Okay, if you're not bored you can just turn this off right now. There is absolutely no strategic value in what I'm going to say.

[She pauses a long moment and waits. Then continues:] But if ya are bored then maybe ya can relate ta wantin' ta lose yourself in a good book. Me too. But okay, I'm not sure I'm actually bored enough for this. [Rogue picks up a book and began reading at random.]

"Besides, friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”
“Drunk?”
"You’re intoxicated by my very presence.”

See, that'd be funny if it was sarcastic, or if she smacked him, but I'm not seein' it. An' then there's:

"I loved him with every cell in my body, every thought in my head, every feather in my wings, every breathe in my lungs. And air sacs."

Air sacs, people. Air sacs. Somebody's gotta help me out, I'm drowin' in this stuff here an' it's not even funny anymore. I either need someone ta come mock things with me, or -- I don't know. Has anyone tried pourin' soapy water on the floor an' goin' sliding yet? 'cause I think that might be my next step...

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[Rogue snorted, amused.]

I don't really think that'd be a good look for me.

My dear ... whomever you are. You have the face and form of someone who can pull off sackcloth, if you so desired. Needless to say, the history of my home ... world will be far more entertaining than the drivel you are currently trying to choke past.

[Pff. Flattery. Well, that was definitely more amusing than what she was trying to read.]

Appreciate the compliment, though I think my point stands.

[Honestly, though...] Think yours does too - wouldn't take much ta be better than this, an' mockin' it is only fun for so long.

Compliment? Fact, my dear lady. [Certain people could of course, pull off just about anything. Tyrion was never going to be one of those people, alas.]

Precisely - besides it is always better to mock people over books. People have much more interesting reactions to verbal jibes.

[Simply shaking her head at the press of the compliment. Of the many things Rogue did not like about herself, and there were many, she'd never really had much of an issue with her appearance. And so she used it to work through other of her various issues, such as that pesky little 'living my life without being able to touch anybody' thing.]

Might be more interestin', but they tend ta take it more personal.

[Well, if she was going to ignore it then he wasn't going to press any further. Women rarely took compliments from he anyways.]

True ... but I find what people to consider personal to be the greatest of use to me later.

Edited 2015-11-28 04:27 (UTC)

[Eyebrow raise.]

So you're sayin' your mockin' is a pre-manipulation technique? [Just clarifying. Because she's pretty that's what he's saying. And she has such issues with manipulation.]

No ... usually it is a defensive mechanism. People are saying horrible things about me, around me, about my demeanor or my crippled walk. I mock them in kind, and they show me further weaknesses that I can use against them later. Until lately -- I have played a purely defensive game of words.

[...ah. Well.] That, I can understand. People tend ta be annoyin'ly predictable when it comes ta facin' people different than them.

Oh, how much gold would I give, to be surprised by that statement ... [Tyrion sighed.] Naturally, I am not.

[A half shrug, a small smile.] That does come with predictability.

[And, as she actually is rather enjoying this conversation so far, and has a certain affinity for people who are different, she does the rare initiation of an introduction:] The name's Rogue.

Such is the way with ignorance. It is terribly predictable.

[He put a hand to his chest, bowing deeply.] Tyrion Lannister, of House Lannister. A title, I have been told, means nothing ... but habits are habits.

An' ya are who ya are. Even in space.

[Pause a beat.] ...though, yeah, whoever told ya that was lettin' ya in on somethin' that'll help ya get by. Titles don't mean much ta most of us folk in places like this. So ya are who ya are, just... without the title.

Even in ... space. [There is a faint shudder there, but as long as he does not think on it too long, he is all right.]

I see. Well, if it helps any ... I am of noble birth, but never accepted as such. I rather prefer the company of people who are more ... [He thinks for a moment.] Real, if that makes any sort of sense.

More'n you know. [Let her tell you about high school sometime, Tyrion. Though 'real' ...yeah.]

Though, yeah, can't say noble birth means much ta most here. Me, I'm from a democracy. So we don't have any 'nobility' at all.

There does seem to be a common thread around here, I must say ...

[One eyebrow raises] What is a ... democracy?

[This is the sort of cultural stuff she has learned from dating Loki that is very, very important - and potentially horrifying - to people from a functioning monarchy.]

I ain't the best person ta explain it. [See: Captain America, any version.] But the idea of it is that our leaders are put into power by general election, with a term limit. Every four years there's an election. An' presidents -- our nation's leaders -- can only serve for two terms.

[Tyrion is just going to stare at you for a long, long moment. These words in which you are saying ... just ... don't seem to make any sense to him.]

...are they executed after their two terms in office if they do not comply with your law? [Is what he comes up with. How else would they willingly cede power?]

Never had a case where anyone didn't step down. [Simple.] Time I was taken from my world there were... three? I think three former presidents still livin', havin' nothin' ta do with government that I know of, an' the current president is just in his first term.

[She pauses and then offers:] The country's been runnin' this way since it was founded. 'bout two hundred years or so.

[So, not that long, she knows. Still. It's not like it was a total baby either.]

...so. They just ... did it? [What.] Without war, without bloodshed?

[Aaaah - so this was relatively young. Something in him relaxed.] I see. So you are ... well, you are just starting this.

...maybe true, but. It is catchin' on. Nearly every monarchy in the world has switched over to it. [She paused a beat.] I can only think of one, maybe -- no, two, two monarchies. An' I'm pretty sure even they have some kinda Congress... I don't know, never really learned that much 'bout 'em.

[She paused a moment, considering him.] Not ta say there aren't still dictatorships, but it's not 'cause anyone's claimin' their blood is better'n anyone else's, for the most part.

Fascinating ... [And it is. He doubted those were bloodless relations, but to think this kind of change - the sort of change that put the power into the hands of the people instead of the nobility.

Well, perhaps there was a chance for Westeros, some day down the line.]

...then you are truly blessed.

[An eyebrow raise, light amusement and surprise:] S'nice of ya ta say so. Most nobility I talk to 'bout it seem ta think I'm a savage an' are generally horrified.

I don't mean ta paint some -- idealistic picture of the way folks treat each other. People are the same all over. But I'll admit, I do like it better'n what I've heard 'bout most monarchies.

I am not most nobility .... [To say, he was an outcast as the nobility, as he probably was among the common folk.] And I have met savages - some of them related to me. Trust me ... a political system that actually thinks of the peasants is not something I would ever disparage.

You would like it a great deal better than Westeros...