milliways_bar | (no subject)

Ulfin blinks.

"...you're studying King Arthur?"

"Well, sort of." She shows him the book. ~~Now the mun has to decide which book it is, doesn't she...~~ "It's all about, like, whose father was whose and who owned which castle and stuff, there aren't any knights or anything in it yet. But I'm totally getting there!"

"...why?"

~~As long as it's not Mary Stewart, the mun is golden.~~

"Because I've served him since he was a boy, and his father before him", Ulfin says, looking faintly shellshocked.

Cue Steph going :o!!

"...really? That's totally cool!"

~~It can be Malory. How's Malory sound? Or Zimmer Bradley, maybe. Or an anonymous Really Boring Book.~~

~~There's no shortage of them. And I think Elaine inna bar is from Malory - or else read it and disapproved of her depiction.~~

"...I suppose so?" he ventures, looking more confused than startled now.

"What's it like? History, I mean?"

To Steph, there's Her Time, and then there's History.

...yeah, the humanities weren't a strong point at school. Not that she finished school, but y'know.

Blink.

"...could you narrow that down a little?"

"...probably, yeah," Steph admits, with a grin. "Um. So, this book's all about, like, who lives where and who hates who. Is it like that really?"

Mmm, clarity. Sparkles, dunnit?

"I haven't read the book", Ulfin points out. "So I don't know. Probably?"

Steph giggles. "Cool. I guess. So what do you do when you're not at the Bar, then? Like, are you a - lord, or a knight or something?"

"Oh, no." He smiles. "Just a servant. The king's chamberlain."

"Cool! - what does a chamberlain actually do, then?"

"Whatever I'm told. Mostly I'm his personal servant, but I carry messages he won't trust to the courier, and anything else he needs me to do."

"That's pretty awesome. Must be a lot of responsibility."

Of course, Steph's idea of 'carrying messages' translates a lot more to 'drops a letter in the postbox' or possibly 'emails' than what Ulfin is thinking of, so she's understating a little.

Ulfin nods.

"I try to live up to his trust."

She nods. "That's totally cool. Does he, like, wear a crown all the time and stuff? And are there, like, girls in pretty dresses around and stuff?"

"Not all the time", Ulfin says, amused. "Only on state occasions. And yes, the ladies of the court dress well."

"I'd like to visit," Steph says, thoughtfully, "but not to live there. Melou was totally a jerk about how girls are treated there. I'd have to beat people up all the time."

"...I wouldn't advise it. There are better means to get your way."

"Yeah, but hitting people's just easier," she says, with a grin.

"And likely to get you beaten, in most cases."

"Nah." She grins, just a wee bit cocky. "I was Robin before I died. It'd take a fair bit to beat me."

Ulfin eyes her dubiously.

"There's hardly a man in my world who isn't trained from boyhood in the fist and the sword."

Well. In the circles he means, anyway.

"Bet they weren't trained by Batman, though," Steph says. Steph, overconfident? Never. "I'm pretty good. I mean, I beat up a whole gang once, during the war."

She did, too! She was very proud of herself. And then she died, because DC sucks like that.

"Hm. Perhaps."

It's not like he has any experience at all with women like this. Those women who did fight back in his world, chose different methods.