driftfleet | ( #001 )

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( #001 )

Who: Hermione Granger and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva, baby
When: From now until shuffle!

[ When she wakes up, the first thing that's obvious to her is that this is not her house; it's nothing like it, and that's more than enough to have her drop her hands to her hip - where, again, there's nothing familiar. The next stop is around her neck and it's obvious that she finds some comfort there, her fingers sliding around a ring before she breathes out and moves to sit up. At least some things are familiar, and she recognises a video feed when she sees it, lifting her free hand to push her hair out of her eyes. ]

Well, this isn't the Drabwurld, is it.

[ She sounds remarkably put out about it, shifting to stand and adjust her weight, her fingers finally dropping away from the ring around her neck. It's only then that she really looks into her feed, wondering if it worked just like the lockets did - and, at the same time, wondering if she ought to be afraid. Considering the number of worlds and things she saw and went through in the Drabwurld, however, she thinks that it'll take a little more than this to put her on edge, even without her weapons. ]

I don't suppose anyone here has heard of Nimh Gleanne? Leathann? ... Anything like that?

[ There's a kind of awkward hopefulness in her voice as she tries to smile, the scar on her cheek shifting with her lips. ]

Anyone?

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[... Oh. She can't hide her face falling when she realizes what's going on, but...]

... Yeah. Granger, right?

That's right.

[ She shakes her head, looking apologetic. ]

I'm sorry. I wish I did remember.

It's all right.

[She takes a deep breath, and manages a smile. Above all else, she really is relieved to see a teammate again, memories or no.]

Amnesia was sort of the big point of the last place. Besides, I... didn't exactly make a good impression, back at the castle.

Well, maybe we can have a better go of it this time around?

[ She smiles, almost ridiculously gentle, before she leans forward into the feed. ]

Let's start over. I'm Hermione Granger - it's really nice to meet you.

[... The gentle look, the smile, it's all real. Even if it's not Rosella... It's still comforting. And, being honest, Nightingale is really weak to that sort of a look.

But she still can't help but laugh a little, genuinely amused at how ridiculous this is.]

You know, this is the fourth time we've done introductions, from my end.

I'm Nightingale- Gray Nightingale. It's nice to meet you, too.

Let's hope this time is the last time, then.

[ It only happened once or twice in the Drabwurld, Hermione thinks, but she gets the feeling it might be a little more prominent here than it was back there. If someone recognises her already...

She's going to have to be careful if the opposite happens. ]

That's a lovely name. [ And she means that as well. ] Have you been here a long time?

I hope so. Triple amnesia is about my limit, the next time I might just give up.

[It's said jokingly, at least, but... Well, compliments to her name always make her turn a little red.]

Th- Thanks. Our whole team named ourselves like that. Yellow Sparrow, Green Wren, Blue Raven... Gold Rosella.

It's been about half a year for me here, and then another half a year at the castle before, I think. I wasn't keeping track of time for a lot of that place.

Gold Rosella... Was that how you knew me before? Gold seems fitting.

[ Considering Hermione is wearing scarlet and gold now it's rather obvious why. ]

The world I was in before this wasn't my own, but I was there for almost three years. It became my home - I think I'm going to miss it. Do you know if people go back very often? To the places they came from?

Yeah. You did seem to like gold a lot, even though we were the purple team. Though, unlike most of us, you started to go by your real name again almost as soon as you remembered it.

[Though, at that second part, her face goes from cheerful to carefully neutral.]

... That's... That might not be a good topic for when you're just getting situated.

Names are important. I think it must have reminded me of home, or who I was, especially if I had lost my memories.

[ Hermione shakes her head, breathing out. ]

It can't be worse than having your tie to a world deliberately cut and a piece of you left behind for people to carry.

They are important. That's why I consider Nightingale to be my real name now.

[She takes a deep breath again before continuing.]

Okay. As far as I can tell, the people who vanish from the Fleet- which happens frequently- aren't returned to where they came from. I don't have any proof, exactly, but... I do have ideas, based on what we've uncovered so far. And it was based on the Atroma's own words.

I... wrote a guide, for new arrivals here, that explains a lot of what we know. Do you want to see it?

[ Hermione nods, understanding. Names, titles - she's learned just how important all of them are.

But now she's slipping into something a little more serious, leaning forward. ]

Atroma - that's the person that brought us here, right? What did they - she? he? - say about it?

[ And then, positively delighted at the idea of reading - ]

I would love to see it! Please!

Okay. One second. It's sort of eternally a work in progress, so tell me if you have any questions with it.

[She fiddles with the communicator, sending a link.]

.... When I first arrived here, a teammate had been here for some time already. Rainbow Lark- She's a child. I don't know if she ever remembered her age, but I don't think she could have been more than twelve years old. She was... too young for any of this to happen to her.

When we were all returned to the Marsiva for the heart games- Calibrations, they were called here- the Atroma allowed for two-way communication directly with them for the first time. It was a huge pain in the ass to get anything from them, but... I asked what had happened to Lark, when she vanished from the Fleet.

They told me she was 'safe'. And... The castle we were both brought from was anything but safe. She can't have been returned there, and... for certain reasons, her homeworld wasn't an option she could go back to, either.

If they were lying, they could have just told me they sent her back, but they didn't. I think they're trying to avoid taking any risks of someone having lie-detecting magic, or something, by avoiding direct lies. But... Instead, they insisted she was 'safe'. And wouldn't say anything more than that.

Edited (html is my nemesis) 2016-01-23 11:10 (UTC)

[ Hermione is quick to take the link and open it, settling down to have a read even as she listens to what she's being told.

Waking up in a strange new world isn't foreign to her. She had woken in the Drabwurld after the faeries had asked her for help and she had been there for three years, fighting and almost dying and loving people and making herself a new family. She had been nineteen when she had first become a Seelie and now she was twenty-two, bordering on twenty-three, and it was almost too much for her.

This space group, this fleet, could be as dangerous as the Drabwurld itself - if not more dangerous if she isn't careful.

Careful, Hermione hesitates before she breathes out. ]

I understand. In the Drabwurld there was a queen - her name was Solais. I trusted her, I did, but she did things and said things that hurt, in the same way that her husband Ridire did before he died. I wanted to believe in everything she said to me but I knew, deep down, that there was something more, something no one would tell me. The Seelie - that's what they were - wanted the end of the world, basically, but letting the world be reborn after it. It wasn't okay but she never really lied... She just talked around it with gentle words and kindnesses.

[ Pursing her lips, she shakes her head. ]

It sounds like she and this Atroma might be similar.

Yeah. I've got experience with someone like that, too, though I can't really talk about her.

... At least, they don't seem interested in harming us physically, which is a step up from where I was before.

That's miles better than the Drabwurld, then. We were at war for almost three years - hearing people don't want to kill you shouldn't be this much of a relief.

[That gets a laugh, though a bitter one.]

I know how that feels. I've been killed a couple times, and close to it so many more at the castle, I don't know how to adjust to this place. It freaks me out sometimes, honestly.

I've almost died more times than I can count - I was lucky that I had really, really good friends to keep me safe. [ Mostly. ] I think... It must just take time. The Drabwurld was frightening at first but I adjusted there - we can do it here, can't we?

Well... Maybe, though my main goal here is to kick the Atroma's asses, get everyone who vanished back, and then go home.

[she talks really big for a 5'1 twig of a nerd.]

[ She tries not to laugh, honestly, she does, and ends up smiling almost fondly instead. ]

That sounds like quite the plan.

I'm pretty fond of it. I don't need to adjust, I need to burn all of my magic in the Atroma's faces.

And if that doesn't work...?

If they're mortal, then nine casts of Fire 3 will work.

If they're not, we have bigger problems.

If I had my shard I might be able to help more, but...

[ She huffs a little noise. ]

I think they took it, or it was left in the Drabwurld.

[Well, that's interesting. She practically jumps when she hears that word.]

Wait- Shard? Like, a mirror shard...?