two | video

[whichend]

[ Arya has gotten much better at using the camera on this thing since she arrived, and she's able to keep the camera focused on herself this time without much effort. Which is good, because she knows she needs to be taken seriously if this is going to work.

Arya is standing in the charred remains of what looks like was once a kitchen. The setting is on purpose -- it's a reminder to what happened, and what needs to be done because of it. ]

Hello, Hadriel.

You all know what happened last month. You know how the food was contaminated, and you saw the sickness that took many of us, and caused the sick to feed upon the healthy whether they liked it or not. This happened because we are too dependent on food from beings we do not see and do not fully understand.

[ She says, firmly. ]

We cannot afford to rely on the gods like we are children, and they are parents. There is enough of us here to survive on our own, all of us, if we work for it. We share one thing: whatever each person may think about this place, none of us were brought here willingly. That, I think, is enough to trust one another if not work together.

There are other ways to get food. There is a man named Newt here who knows how to grow it, and if that is your interest or specialty, it may be a good idea to talk to him. I can hunt, and I think there are a few more of us here who can as well. There is certainly enough of us to find food for everyone. Monsters can be meat, and more and more monsters are brought in every month. We need not go hungry, and we need not be helpless.

[ Arya swallows. Off-camera, she's digging her nails into her palms, not wanting to say her last piece, but knowing she can't keep hiding it forever. There's a brief pause before she gathers herself enough to continue. ]

My name is Arya Stark. If you would like to contact me. If you are interested in hunting, in learning, in teaching others, or even simply becoming independent as a city.

Comments

[whichend]

[ Arya sighs, just barely audible, but she's clearly irritated. Firo, she thinks, is extremely naive. ]

It is not a question of your memory, but of your will. Items are not the only thing that can be stolen. Guard yourself carefully.

[foundafamily]

...And you're saying this happened to you here?

[This has to be a joke. But it's an awfully weird joke--how could she expect anybody to believe it?]

[whichend]

Not here. Back in my own world. But it was the work of humans and desperation, not gods, and there is no reason why it can't happen here.

[foundafamily]

Well, you got it back, right? You just used a name. What'd you have to do for it?

[Kill the person who took it, maybe? With embarrassment, Firo realizes that's probably a little overboard. All you'd really need to do is start using it again, right? A name can't truly be stolen, he's sure.]

[whichend]

[ Arya shakes her head, visibly frustrated. This man doesn't get it. ]

By using it, I am trying to take it back. Calling myself Arya feels as strange to me as it would to you if you used that name, perhaps even more so, since it has been forbidden to me.

There is a lot of meaning in a name.

[foundafamily]

[He doesn't get it--not even close.]

A name's a word. There're important names, but power?

No offense, lady, but it sounds like something somebody'd make up to get at gullible people.

[Not that he has any idea how that'd work or why, but actually trying to figure that out would require critical instead of dismissive thinking.]

[whichend]

Perhaps they mean little in your world. They mean a great deal in mine.

[ Arya says, cooly, bordering on anger. ]

[foundafamily]

[He's undeterred by the undercurrent of anger; she's being a lot more civil than the mad people he's used to. And a lot of his own insensitivity is lost on him.]

In that case, you should just forget all about that stuff. Then you'd have an advantage over everybody else, wouldn't you?