001 [video]

[dogsanddaughters]

[Have a wide-eyed teenager fussing with her phone. The video is a little shaky. She's sitting in one of the apartments, Barnaby's head in her lap, and seems to be sincerely cheerful despite waking up someplace far from home. Miriam waves.]

Hi! Looks like we're all stuck here for a bit, so I figured I'd introduce myself and what not. It kinda sucks right now, but that doesn't mean I don't wanna meet you guys! Anyway, I'm Miriam, and this handsome dude is Barnaby.

[Barnaby sneezes.]

He's my guy, so don't shoot him or anything. He won't do anything bad.

Two things.

First, uh, I know it's a long shot and all, but anybody seen a lady named Bethany? She's really tall and she's got brown hair and she's my mom, so it'd be really cool if I could find her. Maybe she's not here, but I gotta ask.

Secondly--

[Miriam holds up a crude drawing to the phone. It's the logo for the Sons of Plunder - a human skull with blue roses for eyes.]

--anybody walking around wearing this? Asking for a friend.

Comments

[tongueamok]

Trees. Bugs. An endless landscape of things looking to kill you. Even the water was hostile, where we were.

[dogsanddaughters]

But there were trees? They had roots and stuff and they weren't just growing out of pots?

[tongueamok]

Who would try to grow a tree out of pot?

[dogsanddaughters]

'cause they don't have any dirt? [Miriam pauses.] Well, I guess they did one time. There was a park. But the Sons burned it down.

[tongueamok]

Why would they do something like that?

[dogsanddaughters]

'cause they're assholes, that's why.

[tongueamok]

Who are they? Aside from that, obviously.

[dogsanddaughters]

Oh. I guess you wouldn't know. [She's quiet for a moment. Barnaby whines and bumps his head against Miriam's legs until she starts petting him.] The Sons of Plunder. They're slavers. And other things. Bad people.

[tongueamok]

Slavers? That's... that's awful.

[dogsanddaughters]

Yeah. But I don't think they're here, so that's---something. I guess.

[tongueamok]

And if they were, I supposed they'd be as trapped as the rest of us. I suppose there's not much to be done about it either way.

[dogsanddaughters]

Guess not. At least not right now. Maybe we'll think of something. You look smart. Any ideas?

[tongueamok]

Me? Ideas?

[He looks horrified by the prospect.]

[dogsanddaughters]

Unless you wanna stay here, or something? [He's an adult, therefore he has Knowledge. Right?] I mean, you've got tech and stuff back home, so you must know something about weird stuff like this.

[tongueamok]

Ah. Well, the technology we had in Bear Den wasn't like it was on the Tranquility. I'm more or less unfamiliar with such things. Not that staying here is an appealing option, either.

[dogsanddaughters]

Well, then what do you know? Everybody knows something. [Miriam brightens.] Like, I can find things! I'm really good at finding stuff. And Barnaby can fight, or he can track stuff. So what can you do?

[tongueamok]

I'm a trained cleric and could probably drink a man twice my size under the table, though I'm not sure how useful that second skill would be.

[dogsanddaughters]

What's a cleric? [It sounds important.]

[tongueamok]

I, ah. Work for the church. [He says that as though it should have been self-explanatory.] More specifically, I'm a healer.

[dogsanddaughters]

Izzat like being a medic? [Miriam's world doesn't have clerics.]

[tongueamok]

Something like that, though I use magic to heal rather than medicine or alchemy.

[dogsanddaughters]

Wait, like real magic? You can do magic?

[tongueamok]

Yes, of course.

[A pause.]

I'm, er... assuming by that reaction that magic isn't common where you come from.

[dogsanddaughters]

Nah. I mean, we got weird stuff, but people don't call it magic.

[Miriam looks intrigued.] You said you can heal, right? Can you do other stuff?

[tongueamok]

[He turns a little red. Most people aren't interested in what he can do beyond healing, and even then, they're not usually invested in his skills because of his condition. Not unless they need them, of course.]

Oh. Well, um. I can do some minor conjuring. Nothing any other magician couldn't do, though.

[He holds his hand before the camera and curls his fingers into a fist. There's a second of concentration, then his fingers are pushed open from the inside, revealing a tangible ball of light held in his palm. It crackles, the glow bright against him.]

It's not terribly useful sometimes, but a little conjuring can go a long way in the right circumstances, I've found.