text || un: IAMNEDSTARK

[learned_to_die]

IT APPEARS THAT THIS IS SOME VERSION OF COMMUNICATION, AKIN TO MESSAGES RECEIVED VIA RAVEN. I CANNOT YET UNDERSTAND HOW SUCH THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, NOR CAN I UNDERSTAND HOW I AM EXPECTED TO SO ACCURATELY PRESS MY FINGERS TO SUCH PAINFULLY SMALL LETTERS ON THIS THING CALLED A "KEY BOARD."

[Ned is part of the Old Dads club; he has accidentally turned on his caps lock and has absolutely no idea how to turn it off, nor does he have any social precedent for understanding how hostile this makes him look.]

I AM TOLD THAT I AM IN A CITY CALLED WYVER, A NAME AS FOREIGN TO ME AS THE REST OF THIS IS. THE LOCALS HERE ARE NOT INCREDIBLY FORTHCOMING WITH ASSISTANCE OR INFORMATION, AND AS SUCH, ANYTHING THAT YOU MIGHT OFFER WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

THANK YOU FOR WHATEVER YOU MIGHT PROVIDE.

-- EDDARD STARK, LORD OF WINTERFELL, WARDEN OF THE NORTH, HAND OF THE KING

Comments

[video]

[bentbloodline]

Olympia was only temporarily inhabitable due to a terrorist attack. That land is further north than Wyver and was actually the first to welcome refugees. There is a King in Wyver, and an Empress in Olympia. Olympia has a nobles district, but from my understanding, not everyone who lives there is necessarily a noble. Some are wealthy merchants and otherwise people who have worked their way up to positions of some importance.

[He doesn't mind trying to offer some useful information, and he's glad that Ned has learned to access the video feature. Now that he can hear the man's voice, he can see there was no intention to yell.]

[learned_to_die]

[Ned stays quiet while the man talks, nodding appropriately and only offering quiet murmurs of confirmation. Once he's finished, he considers the video for a moment.]

And, in your experience of Wyver and Olympia, both of which you seem very knowledgeable, what thoughts do you have of each? No need to hold your tongue for fear of offense; I'd much rather prefer the truth, however harsh it might be.

[bentbloodline]

Well, I wouldn't say I'm very knowledgeable, but I've paid attention and asked some questions, at least.

[He doesn't have nearly enough knowledge of either place for his liking, really. It's why he's planning an initiative for the refugees to work together and share information.]

I find I have a slight preference for Olympia over Wyver, if only because of the climate. My childhood was spent in a rather cold place. Until very recently when the weather began to cool down, it was unpleasantly hot in Wyver.

[learned_to_die]

[Ned offers the faintest glimmer of a smile; if it weren't for the lack of Northern accent, he'd have taken the man to be from one of the houses of his bannermen, perhaps.] Aye, there is a particular unpleasantness in warmer climates, is there not?

I'd much rather the fur pelts and crackling fires than the blistering sun and lighter leathers.

[bentbloodline]

[Tarrlok offers a pleasant smile in return.]

I have no fondness for weather that's so hot that one must walk about half-naked to be comfortable. I did enjoy having the opportunity to see dragons at the Sanctuary first hand in Wyver, at least. I would recommend visiting there at least once before you go to Olympia.

[learned_to_die]

[Ned lets out a huff of laughter at that, nodding in agreement.] Would that one would be so shameless to do so.

[He looks ... less enthusiastic at the mention of the dragons.] Aye, perhaps I will.

[bentbloodline]

There was one man with an odd sense of humour and a mischievous streak who seemed to think that a number of us refugees would be not only shameless enough, but also foolish enough to do so while helping to get errant dragons back into their pens. Suffice to say, my fellow refugee and I were able to manage the task fully dressed. The dragons at the sanctuary are tame.

[learned_to_die]

Where I'm from, they're the stuff of myth and legend, stories passed down through generations. There are skeletons, though none of us have seen any alive in almost two hundred years. It is .. startling to think that they exist here, even if tame.

[bentbloodline]

I've come to accept that many of the things I would have thought impossible are entirely possible here. I befriended a young woman from my world and we discovered she's from a point in time about seventy years earlier than my own.