(no subject)

[the_lioness]

Alanna is pleased to find herself in Milliways today. She had been on her way back to the palace from the Lower City but hadn't really wanted her bed and the quiet of their rooms, not when Jonathan was no doubt elsewhere with Lady Delia. She hadn't wanted to stay at the Dove either, though. Things have been a bit strange with George since he saw her in a dress. Since he kissed her, actually, but Alanna is still doing her best to ignore those kisses and how they made her feel.

Restless, she bangs her muddy boots -- black like the rest of her city clothing, save the scarlet tunic -- against the door frame and heads straight for Bar and a mug of something, anything hot.

Better to spend another hour brooding over the Ordeal than tossing in bed and pretending she's not listening for the sounds of Jon's return.


[OOC: For car keys, but all are welcome! I'll be up and down most of the day.]

Comments

[1stwitness]

Ichabod gives her a sidelong look from further down the bar.

"Hello, Squire Alan."

[the_lioness]

It's not as if Ichabod knows he has caught her thinking about Jon, but Alanna feels her face go red anyway. She sighs, scratches her nose and turns to give him a smile.

"Mr. Crane."

Truly, she is happy to see him.

"How are you?"

[1stwitness]

"Very well, thank you", he says with a smile. "And yourself?"

[the_lioness]

Alanna chews on her lip and walks to him, aiming for casual. She looks older than the last time they saw each other.

Still short, but older.

"Well."

A swift inhale.

"How is your wife?"

[1stwitness]

He takes in the change in her appearance - and teenagers do show every passing year so clearly, more so than adults.

"Not yet free, but none the worse than she was."

[the_lioness]

Alanna frowns.

"Can she still come here?"

[1stwitness]

"On occasion. Not as often as I would like, but every time is a blessing."

[the_lioness]

"It must be," Alanna nods, quite literal in her agreement. "Someone must be helping. Must want you to succeed."

She sits, putting her sword on the bar with care.

"Any news?"

[1stwitness]

"I am no longer bound to the Horseman", he offers. "And we are planning a trap for him."

[the_lioness]

Spine straightening like she's ready for the Horseman to leap out at them here, Alanna sucks in a breath and holds it.

That's a good answer.

"I'm glad. I was worried."

Beat.

"What kind of trap?"

[1stwitness]

"Artificial sunlight", Ichabod tells her with a grim smile. "It seems unlikely he would allow himself to be lured into the real thing, but perhaps not so unlikely he will have no idea an alternative exists."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

An unassuming grey-haired figure- 5'3" at the most, and even that's a little debatable- dressed in a weathered, patched blue and gold jumpsuit makes her way up to the Bar nearby. "Can I get a bottle of Nuka-Cola?" she says to the Bar, and, "Is it all right if I sit here?" she says to the person next to her. "I don't mean to intrude."

[the_lioness]

Ah, a person of similar height. Alanna is so rarely around anyone who does not tower over her like a great hulking tree. Even before she speaks, Alanna is predisposed to like this person.

"Certainly. You aren't intruding at all." She smiles, appreciating the courtesy anyway; it's good to know that sometimes people just want to be left alone. "What in the Goddess's name is Nuka-Cola?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"An old drink from my world- do they have soda where you come from?" Ellen says, as the pale blue glass bottle of something dark brown appears. "It's a kind of sweet fizzy drink with no alcohol in it. Sometimes people mix other things with it, but it's fine to drink on its own."

She uncaps the bottle, pockets the cap, and rotates the bottle so the red-and-white label with the brand name on it is facing the stranger.

"I've only ever encountered it stale in my world, but they have it fresh and cold here, which is good after a long day in the heat."

[the_lioness]

"No."

Her eyes widen at the explanation. Even now, after quite a long time knowing about and accepting Milliways, people surprise her with their talk of different worlds.

Idly, her fingers pluck at the leather sword belt on Bar, glancing over Lightning's hilt.

"I do love how Bar can produce anything from home. The type of fruit tarts I had as a child, the tea my friend George buys from the Copper Isles... I'm from Tortall," she thinks to add. "We have a sad lack of fizzy drinks."

Curious, she glances down at the jumpsuit.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen smiles a little at that. "The name sounds a little familiar, but I can't place it," she says. "I may have heard it here once some time ago, or something- I'm not sure enough to say."

She considers for a moment before saying, "I don't... do you know, I don't think I've ever had tea? I mean, I'm pretty sure I've seen people here drinking it before, but if there's ever been any in the Capital Wasteland nobody's told me about it. Coffee, sure, somebody here introduced me to that. But not tea."

"Um. I'm from the Capital Wasteland- you probably guessed that already- which is on Earth, if that helps at all." She indicates the jumpsuit and adds, "This is an old Vault suit of mine. My usual uniform got ripped, and it needed to go for cleaning anyway."

[the_lioness]

Oddly relieved, Alanna says, "That's okay. I don't think anyone else from Tortall comes here. I'm glad of it, actually."

For many reasons.

"It does help, yes. Most people I've met seem to come from Earth, though not always at the same time? I haven't heard of a Capital Wasteland. It..." She trails off, chewing on her lower lip. Well, it doesn't sound very nice. "Vault?"

Uniform? Alanna is definitely interested.

"I'm Alan," she blurts out. "Alan of Trebond."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I think I have something of an idea," Ellen says. "I don't know that I'd be very comfortable if any of the people I grew up with suddenly turned up here, myself. Or anyone else in the Brotherhood- I'd never be able to explain..."

Well, beyond 'I'd have said something only Star Paladin Cross gave me orders not to, perhaps you'd like to argue with Elder Lyons' personal bodyguard, I didn't think so', anyway.

"Oh- my name is Ellen. Paladin 101 of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel," she says. "As far as I can tell, most of the other people here from Earth are from a time about two hundred and fifty years before I was even born, or something along those lines. The Vault is the place where I grew up- Vault 101, an underground shelter from before the Great War."

She rubs her nose and adds, "My world's not, um. Not even close to being one of the nice ones."

[the_lioness]

I'm sorry seems trite. Still, Alanna feels it. She is sorry, and she's sorry that she hadn't truly understood the meaning of war until her own experience with it, on however small a scale.

The prick to her conscience is not a new result of conversations here. In a lot of ways, Milliways has made her grow up faster than she might have otherwise.

"I'm glad to meet you, Ellen," she says, very solemnly, all grave and somewhat strange squire to the Prince of Tortall in that moment. "Is Paladin your rank, then? I'm a squire, in training to be a knight. I know something of steel."

A small smile on her face, she touches her sword again.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It's more than a lot of people here seem to grasp. Ellen's had pity from a lot of people, sympathy from others, and clueless suggestions that she move somewhere untouched by the War from one or two. Even if it's never spoken aloud, she'll take what understanding she can get.

"It is," she says, and fingers her suit's collar a moment. "If this were my uniform, there'd be a mark here for it, and my armor would have something painted on it to show rank and position. We have squires at home, although they wouldn't be carrying their own weapons yet, just using the ones from the armory."

At least, she's assuming that's Alan's own sword and not a mass-issued one. Squire Maxson is strictly under orders not to handle guns or sledges outside training until he demonstrates enough proficiency that Paladin Gunny won't break out in a cold sweat from imagining the boy lasering his own foot off by mistake.

[the_lioness]

There's something about talking to someone else with a similar calling -- no matter the differences in their worlds -- that makes Alanna sit a little straighter in her seat, makes her purple eyes glow with an intensity she hasn't yet learned how to rein in and make less... frightening.

"I've had Lightening since I was a page," Alanna explains, clearly fond of the blade. "I found it in the ruins near Sir Myles's fief. He allowed me to keep it."

A decision she has thanked the Goddess for many times since.

"Our armor doesn't usually differ too much from knight to knight, but when I win my shield, it will have the Trebond coat of arms on it."

Her jaw clenches at that.

"Do you have a sword? Or... other weapon?"

[singthesong]

There does happen to be a guy at the bar apparently stirring a mug full of something right now!

"Don't drink anything purple it offers you tonight," he advises the newcomer with a sidelong glance, holding up the spoon he had in the liquid. It looks like the bottom half has been dissolved. "Bar, can I get - actually, I'll just take some more silverware. It's fun to watch." Less so to drink, he imagines, but that's what he gets for continually ordering things from dimensions and species that are not his own.

[the_lioness]

Alanna blinks, startled.

"Goddess. I've not seen a drink do that before."

Not even one at the end of the universe.

It is sort of hypnotizing. She walks the rest of the way over and gives him a small smile as she removes her sword belt -- it makes sitting on stools much easier -- and peers at the spoon again.

"Have you angered the lady Bar in some way?"

[singthesong]

The Balladeer returns the smile briefly. "I don't think so." And he really is pretty sure he hasn't, though he acknowledges that it's entirely possible he just didn't realize.

"She knows I like alien drinks, though. Even if they aren't all palatable." So you know, maybe it was meant well. He's just gonna assume that. Offering her one of the newly-appeared spoons, he asks "You want to give it a shot?"

[the_lioness]

"Adventurous, are you?"

There's faint amusement in her almost approving tone. She hesitates before taking a spoon and, as suggested, giving it a shot. Why it is fun she can not say, but it is.

"Have you tried the Pan-Galactic... thing? Everyone was offering it to me when I first arrived."

Her fingers get a little too close for comfort and she drops the rest of the spoon in the drink, looking sheepish. "Sorry."