[video] An Open Query

[northerndragon]

[Jon has been in Hadriel for a few months now, and because he's a member of the Guard, and Sansa Stark's brother, most other residents have probably seen him around. Still, he's a quiet man, however affable, and using the network is not second nature to him. It's likely that most people don't know much about him, except that they might be able to accurately recognize him as coming from a world where the technology is still set at "medieval." If they've heard him speak, they might also assume he's from Northern England, but the truth is that he's not from England at all.

He's dressed as he usually is, today, in a dark brown brigandine and a gorget with two facing wolf heads at the front center. His expression is curious and interested, while his tone is serious.]

I have a question for everyone -- for anyone who's willing to speak to me on the matter.

To some extent, I know what we face here. I'm always learning, but I'm beginning to have a better understanding of it.

What I want to know is: what do you face at home?

Comments

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[lemontree]

[ There's a little, dry chuckle. ]

I believe you already know it well.

[ Hey: you asked. ]

[northerndragon]

I do.

[Better than almost anyone, he expects, if they're talking about the same things: Cersei, the Army of the Dead. He still isn't sure that she's convinced that the latter is a greater threat than the former, though, and Cersei herself is no small threat.

He gives her a small, rueful smile, through the video. ]

Before that? Tell me a story of Meereen, if you're willing.

(Video)

[stonebird]

A stubborn brother who I love, a feisty sister who can kill any man, another brother who is wiser than the oldest of men and approaching Winter. (But he knows all of that.) Wars don't seem to be a rarity for many worlds, I've noticed.

[northerndragon]

Am I the stubborn one? Can't see you admitting that you think I'm wise. [That's gentle brotherly teasing, and he half-smiles at it before he continues.]

It's winter that worries me. [But she knows that.]

I ask in the hope that we all find ways to help each other.

[Not the only reason, but the other reason will stay closer to his chest for the time being.]

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[smoketendrils]

[There's almost zero hesitation, which is funny for reasons Percy cannot even begin to fathom..]

Dragons.

[northerndragon]

[That... could be good, could be bad; it might depend which side you're on.]

What sort of dragons?

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[knifecollecting]

[This is a post that makes Jo pause. Eventually, she turns on her phone to answer.]

For me, peace. [Technically, she's done fighting. That's usually what happens when someone dies. She isn't going to get into that much detail.]

I might be alone in that. Lots of people have rough stuff waiting.

[northerndragon]

What sort of peace, my lady?

[It doesn't sound like something to have to face, it sounds like a great relief. Unless --

Well, he's been wrenched out of peace once before.]

[utulien_aure]

It seems my war finished without me, but I suppose I can tell you something of it.

What would you care to hear of?

[northerndragon]

Anything you're willing to tell me.

Who were you called upon to fight?

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[sneaklizard]

Well, back where I come from, we dealt with staving off the end of all things, so there's that.

But there's also, like, monsters and bandits and stuff.

[northerndragon]

[He half-smiles at that, and his tone becomes less hesitant, more warm.]

Only monsters and bandits and the end of all things, aye?

[His mild, rueful amusement is at the understatement.

But then he sobers: his question was serious, and the answer he's been given has its seriousness, too.]

What form was the end going to take?

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[am_i_a_monster]

[She looks at him sadly.]

Nothing good. A life spent on the run or in hiding in a basement with no freedom. Or much worse if the wrong people find me.

Why do you ask? Was there bad stuff at home for you too?

[northerndragon]

There was -- there is. An army of dead men and a general who will make new soldiers of anyone they kill.

[A trickle, then a flood.]

Who are you hiding from?

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[thelastjoy]

Corporation sponsored genocide. People so full of pills and static they didn't even know who they were tryin' to kill. Fat cats sittin' pretty in their offices, laughing at all the body bags. 'lest that's how it used to be.

[northerndragon]

I don't understand much of that, but what I do understand doesn't sound good.

Is there any way of fighting it?

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[kingforboth]

Marriage, probably.

[Didn't Kelson sound thrilled? Then again if your bride was butchered during your wedding and your second betrothed ending up marrying your treasonous cousin and becoming a nun, you might not be so quick to jump back into the matrimonial sea either. Kelson has beyond terrible luck.]

Politically, I face trying to change a people from prejudice and biogry that have been rampant for over two hundred years.If I go too slow, I don't make changes, if I go to fast, I face riots, or risk creating religious zealots that will once again plunge my kingdom into war and hurt my people.

[It was a fine line, Kelson was straddling the need to fulfill his oath as king and protect his people with every power he had, with the notion of using too much power and being accused of heresy.]

The situation in Gwynedd is much improved over the last few months at the very least. Many of those who .....disagreed with the course Gwynedd should take have been dealt with. If they were still in power I would not be able to make any changes at all. But changing the minds and attitudes of the people is not easy. It goes against everything many of them have been taught.

[northerndragon]

People are always stubborn.

[He sounds empathetic about this, because he is. There had been the men of the Watch to convince of one thing, and some of them had remained unconvinced enough to kill him; now it's the Northern lords to convince of another thing, and they're fractious and argumentative. His subjects, at least, probably won't murder him, but even one rebel lord could doom them all nonetheless.]

You have to get them to work together. Going too fast... well, you do what has to be done, but you're right about the dangers: rebellion or worse. Why would the changes create religious zealots?

Can't help you with the wedding. You can always refuse until you feel the time is right.

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[sonofacesius]

[There's a fifteen year old staring back at you, a relaxed, happy smile on his face, despite everything going on. Will was hard to rile, but if you did succeed, gods help you. Unlike Jon, Will has a slight Texas accent, mitigated no doubt by years at Camp in New York.]

Most likely? 3 legged death races, reattaching limbs, digging out shrapnel. And hoping my father isn't going to get himself killed.

[northerndragon]

[In light of an answer like that, the lad seems too cheerful.]

Why those things? They sound like parts of a greater whole.

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[dreamsallotted]

[To say Seel is androgynous is an understatement, he seems to be a shifting blend of male and female, muscles, hard angles and soft curves.]

A parents sorrow that their child may be lost forever and there is nothing you can do to bring them back to that empty shell.

[northerndragon]

Your child?

[It's true that it's hard for him to tell whether he's speaking to a pretty man or a handsome woman, and the use of parent and child, not mother or father or son or daughter, doesn't really help. But it also doesn't matter much: parents love their children, he knows that much, even if until recently he hadn't hoped to have any children of his own. It may also be that the two of them are speaking of the child of a third person, and it's the third person's sorrow that's of concern.]

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[abbatis]

Adventure.

[northerndragon]

What sort of adventure?

[He's interested! Adventure called to him when he was a lad, and apart from that, he's curious to know what someone in Hadriel might consider "adventure." It might not be the same thing.]

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[bythewaves]

Ah, now that is a broad question indeed. But in a general sense, I suppose, in my world tis the beginning of the Fourth Age of the Sun, and there is a King again on the throne of Gondor and Arnor, and the Elves are Sailing.

[northerndragon]

Where are you sailing to, my lord?

[thechristmasnazi]

War.

[ She sighs. ]

Four of us against I don't know how many.

[ Of course it's a much more complicated story than that. Isabel's planet has already been conquered, but the Royal Four remain. Apparently, even if snuffing out their lives is less than necessary and more of a symbolic gesture, the skins are still keen on doing it. Isabel, her brother the king, and the others give rebels hope just by being alive. Dead, they pose no threat. ]

[northerndragon]

Who are they?

[It's so easy to feel like you're the only one who stands against an onslaught -- you, and whatever companions you may have found on the journey, but small enough in number that it feels like the enemy has ten times your strength.]

I also face a war against a greater host.

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[thanks_bunches]

[ For the first time since being here, Geralt saw someone that could have come from his own world. The wolves he wore, much like the wolf amulet Geralt donned, dangling from his neck, though he didn't have the eyes or skin of a Witcher. A bit too old to be training too.

Then there was his accent. Geralt had always gotten along best with those in the North, Temeria, Skellige and obviously Kaer Morhen. It was almost refreshing to hear and see something resembling home. ]

The Wild Hunt. A search for a loved one, though she could be anywhere, even here for all I know, unlike me she has an affinity for portals... Possibly scolding from two, maybe three women depending- And a battle I'm not sure I can win alone.

[northerndragon]

[The scar over the man's eye makes Jon wonder if he also had the misfortune to be the target of a warg's hate through the warg's eagle; Jon himself has two similar scars, one on each side, though not as deep. He looks into the camera with interest.]

I don't know what a portal is, or the Wild Hunt, but I understand battles you can't win alone.

Who's your enemy, my lord?

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[widow_of_the_crag]

I face being escorted under Lannister guard to the Crag where I will be kept in isolation for two years to ensure I am not with child. After, I will be forced to wed a Lannister.

[permaprivate | video]

[northerndragon]

They may lose those lands before that time, Jeyne.

I don't think I'll be able to help you. Not from the Wall; maybe not from Winterfell either.

[But he doesn't look or sound happy about that fact.]

Tywin Lannister may not want any more upstart kings, but he was dead within a year of Robb. So it will be Jaime Lannister, or Cersei, or one of their men. It may be Margaery and Tommen, but her grandmother sided with Daenerys after Margaery's death in the Great Sept. It may be that the Tyrells can help you, but they'd have to want to help you.

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[soldier_blade]

In general, recovery from a war. Personally, the dubious honor of having to inform the families of those killed in combat.

[northerndragon]

[He's quiet for a moment on the video, looking into it, troubled.]

That's always a dubious honor. Whether their families care, or don't care, but I'll warrant most of them likely do.

What kind of war, Sonya?

[private video]

[madambutterfly]

That's a very broad subject, darling.

[And a very vague inquiry. It doesn't keep her from responding, to any particular end, because getting to know people here is a necessary evil.

He's young. Searching.]

Although generally conversations like this exist as an exchange.

[permaprivate | video]

[northerndragon]

[The look he aims into the video is just as questioning, but a little more shrewd than it had been a moment earlier.]

It is. I don't want people to tell me what they think I want to hear. Maybe we'll remember what happens here, maybe we won't.

What I face at home is a little like the Null, in that it's a force that comes in huge numbers and doesn't negotiate, and will kill every living thing if we don't stand against it. If I can learn anything that will help my people, so much the better. If not, then I've gotten to know people here a little better.

[Is that enough of an exchange? If not, maybe she'll name a price, and he'll decide if he wants to pay it. In a good bargain, neither side feels like they got everything they wanted exactly how they wanted it.]