Notes and an EP

[soldier_blade]

When Sonya enters the Bar, she has with her an army issued duffle bag and a note pad. To stay a few days in this place, much as Bar was nice about giving clothes along with board, she felt more at home with her own clothing and supplies: a trait that came with moving around nearly several times a year.

She asks Bar for the key to her old room, the one she lived in when she was Bound, and a few days for boarding. All signs pointed to the invasion happening soon, and she needed a few days away to better plan. They'd transferred her to another Base, her skills as an officer too promising to risk ghosts being raised: as such, she wasn't sure about those living here. Staying in milliways would be a good chance to get away, without actually getting away.

After having taken her bag to her room, Sonya's sitting at a table by the fire. Though her talk with Cadfael had her consider recruiting a number of people for their aide, closer inspection had her think otherwise. She was special forces after all, they were used to functioning within small numbers: and considering what they had to do, a smaller group would be tighter and easier to hold together. There was also the matter that to work as a team, they needed to be able to know how everyone fought and functioned-and the matter of communication would be easier to get across with a smaller team.

There was a matter of working without Bar's translator spell, but she hoped a certain thunder god could take care of things.

Raiden,
The Outworld invasion is happening soon. The exact time is still unknown, but all signs and my own gut say so.

I've been working on trying recruit a few warriors from Milliways to aide in our defense, and have a few more in mind already. The problem is that some of these warriors don't speak english and to teach them outside of milliways would be too long and things can be forgotten in battle. I need your help to 'fix' several head devices that would allow these warriors to understand english and to have their words translated as needed. I know this probably isn't want you're called for, but this is a matter of practicality.

Sonya Blade, lieutenant.

That done, Sonya folded the note and proceeded to write another one.


Cassie,

The invasion's coming. I don't know when, exactly, but call it a gut feeling that it'll happen soon.

I've been working on recruiting a few warriors who would be willing to fight for us, and with any luck, Raiden could find some way to allow them to speak and understand english. One of the warriors is Ragnar Lothbrok, the man who's family we helped save, his brother is Rollo. He said he would mention it to Rollo about possibly joining us.

There are two things I need from you. One: the names of anyone you think would also help our defence, and photo copies of any and all information you could get on past Outworld armies. Any sort of diagrams or medical photos would be ideal since there might be a few people who can't read, but any sort of information you could gain would be helpful. If those files are high priority, getting to them won't be easy, but..for once I'm going to go with the 'who you know' way of working'.

While we survive the invasion in your timeline, as I told Ragnar, I'm not about to tempt fate like this.

Thank you and good luck,
Sonya Blade.

Name signed, Sonya folded both pieces of paper. "Ms. Bar, could you see that these get to the people meant for them?" Both notes disappeared from her hand. She took that as an affirmative.

That done, she ordered herself a cup of tea, pencil once more on the pad, watching the room for a familiar face. So far she had an idea of who could help them, especially after fighting along side Rollo, but she could only recall a few names from the time. If she wanted to talk with them, she'd have to find them herself-with Cassie's help.

Comments

[patterns_bloom]

Alana comes down the stairs in a hydrangea print wrap dress, looking for all the world rested and relaxed. She orders a chai tea at the bar, and, noticing Sonya, offers her a nod.

[soldier_blade]

She saw the woman nod in her direction and returns the greeting. The dress she had on was surprisingly nice looking, but not something Sonya could bring herself to wear: Nowadays, if it wasn't something she could move around and fight it, she usually avoided it.

Sonya took another sip of coffee, making a face when she realized it'd gone cold. How long had she been sitting here?

[patterns_bloom]

"Cold coffee?" Alana asks, shaking her head. "There's nothing worse. Hi, I'm Alana Bloom."

[soldier_blade]

She nodded, setting the cup aside. She was looking to stay awake, but she wasn't that desperate.

The woman's name made her look up. "Bloom-would you happen to be the same Bloom who's treating a man called Athelstan?" She'd meant to find a way to contact her earlier, but thoughts of the invasion always took the front seat in her brain.

[patterns_bloom]

"I am," Alana says, nodding. "How can I help you?"

[soldier_blade]

"I'd like to know what you specialize in." She'd spoken with several people already about what happened, but neither seemed to have the qualifications to help her. "I've..things have happened back home. I tried to get help, but said events that happened-no one believes they happened. If you're able to help Athelstan, I'm hoping you could do the same."

She was good at hiding it here, but there were times she wanted to fight something or somone for no reason, simple things back home just seemed to piss her off to no end-and the nightmares.

[patterns_bloom]

"I specialize in family trauma and consults," Alana says, looking at her with concern in her eyes. "I hope I can help Athelstan, and I'd be willing to try to help you, too, if you'll let me. You say no one believes you about things that have happened back home? Why? Are they supernatural in nature?"

[soldier_blade]

She nodded. "Super natural, and taking place in a..dimension, that only myself and a handful of others know about." She ordered herself a fresh cup off coffee, but to keep her hands steady as well as the now strong need for caffeine. "I'm an officer in the US army special forces, not exactly the most imaginative group out there, and without any solid proof-can't say I blame them for not believing."

The military was hardly one for believing in the supernatural. Sure, there were 'stories' of the military hiring those who were 'gifted', but even she didn't know how exact those stories were.

[patterns_bloom]

"Sure," Alana says, sipping her chai tea. "I can see why they might have some trouble believing you. If you don't mind talking about it, what sorts of things happened to you?"

[soldier_blade]

She can smell the tea even over her own drink and wonders if she should've ordered the same. This is beat down by the assurance of a stronger caffiene dose.

"It's a long story, but I'll try to give you the cliff notes." Olivier was right atleast about this place: there was no way a patron here could call what happened as 'just stories'. "We were on the trail of a criminal drug and weapons lord when he led three of us to this island where a death match tournament was taking place, held by a sorcerer. My men and I were captured and I was forced to participate and win the tournament, or they would be killed."

She's told this story before, each time not getting easier, but if she told the same story and just worked through it. There was some relief in repetition. "I didn't win, the tournament master had them killed. When the tournament was won by one of my allies, the island collapsed in of itself, I found myself in another realm called Outworld. Several days hiding and trying to send a distress signal, I was captured by the Emperor's guards. When he found i survived the tournament and my own roll as an officer-he ordered them to use any method to convince me to join them."

Brainwashing essentially, though the word wasn't used: she knew the steps well enough to fill in.

"Time passes different in Outworld. When my CO was able to reach me, I found I'd been gone for..several months, to a year..everyone assumed I was MIA believed KIA while going after the crime lord."

"More then that, we found that the reason for the tournament, for all of this..the Emperor means to invade Earthrealm and absorb its power into outworld. We tried to warn our superiors, but even with myself and Major Briggs, there's no solid proof they'll accept-the Emperor's counting on the element of surprise, and he's right on the money."

Without a united military force, Sonya knew they were sitting ducks.

[patterns_bloom]

"I'm sorry that your men were lost," Alana says, her gaze soft. "Do you have a rough idea of when the Emperor will invade?"

Then she switches gears. "And are you having any nightmares about all of this?"

[cassiefuckingcage]

Cassie's notice appears with breakfast.

She lingers over it, dropping her fork. She'd known it would come eventually. But knowledge and preparation are two different things.

Her sausage and egg whites grow cold as she scrawls out a note. "Mom," "Lieutenant," and "Sonya" are all scribbled over completely at the top. Instead it's unaddressed.

You can trust these people:

X-23
BJ Blazkowicz
Adrian Shephard
Harry "Hotspur" Percy
Brienne of Tarth

Ask them if you can find them. I'll see what I can do about the other stuff. Be careful out there.

- Cassie

She trusts the Bar will know what to do with it.

[soldier_blade]

Sonya didn't get the note until sometime that afternoon. Being back in the stables felt good, even if it was just a means of keeping busy.

Her expression is set when she reasons over the scribbles, resigning herself to the fact that their relationship will never 'not' be complicated. Then she reads the list and lets a slight smile show when she realizes she recognizes three of the names: two from when she fought with Rollo, and the other from her own experience.

She pulled out some paper. Whatever their distance, she felt in this case she could still address her by her first name: a sort of 'thank you'.

Cassie,

Thank you for the list, it helps that I recognize a few names there. I'll be staying in milliways for a few days, so I'll keep an eye out.

I'll try to be careful. You also look out for yourself.

Sonya

The note disappeared when she asked, replaced with a chicken stir fry. The smell turns her stomach, but it doesn't stop her from trying a few bites.

[maid_of_tarth]

[ooc: if it's not too late?]

Brienne wanders in, clutching a heavy book with illuminations.

She sees Sonya Blade, and feels shy about going to talk to her, but--it would be discourteous not to. And Brienne is intrigued by this soldier woman who comes here both as a grown woman and as a girl younger than Brienne.

"Good evening," she says, stopping by Sonya's table.

[soldier_blade]

ooc: not at all, just will be slowtimed.

Sonya had just finished writing a response to Cassie when she heard Brienne's greeting and looked up. This was one of the names on her list, and while she had no doubt of the girl's skills, Sonya wasn't sure about her abilities in war.

Well, only one way to find out. "Evening." She eyed the book she was holding. "Light reading or informative?"

[maid_of_tarth]

"Informative," says Brienne. "It's...a book of maps. I believe they're magical."

She sees Sonya has been writing. "Are you working? Am I disturbing you?"

[soldier_blade]

"If you found them here, I wouldn't put it past this place." Sonya swore the library held books not even found on Earth.

She set the list down. "In a matter of speaking, yes, but far from disturbing, I'd like a moment to talk with you." She motioned to the other chair at the table.

[maid_of_tarth]

Brienne raises her eyebrows, a bit surprised. "Of course," she says, sitting down and laying the book on the table. "Is something wrong?"

[soldier_blade]

There will be if they don't do something. "Not with you." That's all she needed to know. "I should ask first, how's your mission going? Any lead on where Miss Stark is hiding?"

Best to get her real duty out of the way. Much as Sonya was willing to take her on and the way the milliways worked, if Brienne was that focused on finding Sansa, Sonya doubted she'd be of any real use for long. Those sorts of distractions could be fatal in combat.

[maid_of_tarth]

"These maps may prove helpful," Brienne says, eagerly. "They're of the Seven Kingdoms, and many other places, strange ones...I think if I spend a few days here with these books, I can return to my world knowing exactly where Sansa is."

"You look troubled, though," she adds.

[soldier_blade]

"At the very least you'll know the name and terrien of where you're going." That didn't sound like much, but traveling and not knowing the area could be as dangerous as traveling without any gear.

"Because I am." And after her talk with Dr. Bloom, there was little point in denying it. "My world's about to be invaded by the Emperor of another dimension. My commanding officer and I tried to warn our superiors, but while we witnessed the threat, we don't have proof and thus they don't believe us. Whatever offence we have, it won't be with an organized military force."

All of this may've sounded technical, but then it was effort on her part. The only way to explain this clearly was sticking to facts. "I asked Cassie Cage if she could list the names of warriors I could trust would be willing to aid us in pushing back the invasion: yours was one such name."

[maid_of_tarth]

"Yes--it will be helpful, especially if she's gone into colder, harsher lands. Winter has come, where I've come from."

Brienne stops short when Sonya talks about the invasion. She remembers what Sonya and Cassie have told her--wars against a god? Sorcery, and the like?

"Your superiors are unwilling to take your word?" That seems deeply foolish. Of course she knows nothing of Sonya, but...she seems like an honorable woman. Why would anyone dismiss her so casually about something so serious?

"I..." She had a duty to Sansa Stark, but a knight would have a duty to anyone who sought her help along her journey. Wasn't that why she'd protected Pod, and the Mouse, and Dick? "I would help anywhere I was needed," she says, "but what sort of help did you have in mind? I know no sorcery."

[soldier_blade]

"Why would they." Sonya's voice spoke of a cynical pragmatism. "A year ago, I had no idea Outworld even existed, let alone see them as a threat, so why would the military believe it." She took a deep breath. "I was..captured by them..while on another mission. My superiors believe I was imprisoned, there was no way to deny it, but they think the story of Outworld something I fabricated to cope with the torture."

Not that she could blame them-half the time she wondered if it was true. Then of course, everything pointed to 'yes'.

"Neither do I, but we need fighters-warriors-skilled enough to push back the invasion. So far our allies number just seven, not enough for a full on battle, but if I can gather enough aid, we should be able to start a guerrilla war long enough to make it to the Emperor's stronghold. We defeat him, the rest of his forces will fall back-and it'll provide ample proof that what I was telling my superiors wasn't bullshit."

[thunderbasedgod]

Raiden is arriving for his shift watching over the Bar when his note arrives. His face acquires a sickly pallor. He looks away to the window. Then down at his feet. He closes his eyes.

Then, mustering all his strength:

Sonya Blade,

I believe what you ask is possible, though I shall need time to prepare. Should you meet my counterpart from your time

His pen quavers. A blotch of ink marks the spot where it stops. He exhales deeply, closing his eyes once again. Were anyone watching him, they would surely denote it as the most frail and human he has ever looked.

...tell him he must be prepared to defeat Shao Kahn permanently, by any means necessary, however unorthodox those means may seem. He must

This time his pen freezes. He cannot move it. His hand trembles like an earthquake. At last, he relaxes, resigned to his words.

...die.

[soldier_blade]

Sonya takes the note, frowning not at the content, but the state of it. Ink blotches usually meant a shaky hand-not what she expected from the god. Then of course there was 'unorthodox means': her career in the Special Forces involved 'onorthdox means', but considering how much Raiden was both a stickler for rules and Earth's defense, that could mean anything.

She folded the letter and headed back through her door, returning with five wireless head pieces. These she sends in a box along with her response.

Raiden,

Enclosed are the headsets I meant to had 'modified'. I plan to spend a few days within Bar already, so time's not an issue just yet.

She paused, before fishing with-

Duly noted.

Sonya Blade

She asked Bar to take both the letter and box before heading to the stables.