006 ✳ day 98 ✳ video/action

[blackmagus]

[Fortescue is sitting in the gazebo as she fiddles with the wrist comm. Jazz is visible in the background, on one of the rails; he has a beetle pinned under one black paw, apparently for his own amusement.

She's staving off a headache by taking a break in her fishing. Using magic has its problems.]

Our worlds seem to share plenty of differences, but the similarities, I think, are just as interesting. Shared ideas amongst the multiverse. So, if you'd care to indulge me, what are some of your favorite things in popular culture?

[private to Donna Noble]

[She schools her expression into a more serious one.]

Given the recent disappearances, I think it would be a good idea to spring our 'list' plan into action. What do you think?

[private to Erik Lehnsherr]

I understand you've been teaching B— Dilandau how to cook? I hope it hasn't been too maddening.

Comments

[purplishgreen]

Yes. I am indeed lucky.

I am Shiala, incidentally.

[blackmagus]

Fortescue. Good to meet you, Shiala.

At least this is an experience... very different from most.

[It's... exotic. Yeah, she'll go with exotic.]

[purplishgreen]

I suppose so. If nothing else, meeting people from other times, other realities, well... it's a bit like science fiction, isn't it?

[blackmagus]

Quite so. [She nods.] Everyone seems to be from different worlds and times, although there seem to be one or two favored worlds by our captors. [Seriously, what's with the world where demons are a thing? Fortescue grins.] Do you enjoy living out science fiction?

[purplishgreen]

I think I would have preferred it under better circumstances. At least the company is pleasant.

[blackmagus]

No arguments there. [Well, mostly. At least one of her roommates is tolerable.] We could be stuck here with much worse people.

[purplishgreen]

Truly.

[She smiles again. There's something perhaps a little distressing about the idea that nearly everyone here is human, but she can't complain, for the most part.]

You seem pleasant, yourself. I hope I'm not mistaken in that. But I have, in the past, learned that sometimes you are thrown together with other souls who you would not have otherwise ended up with, and it is for the better.

[blackmagus]

Don't worry, I'm very pleasant. [She winks a little, unable to resist.] We all have very different background and skill-sets. Which makes this whole thing a great deal easier, I think.

[purplishgreen]

[She smiles at that wink. It's been... a while... for her.]

You certainly do seem very pleasant. Perhaps you can tell me all about your own background and skill-sets some time. I'm curious.

[blackmagus]

[The spy in Fortescue cringes, but then again, there's plenty to tell. She can skim the things she'd rather keep to herself.]

I'd be delighted to.

[purplishgreen]

Perhaps I can share the favour. There is much we can learn from each other.

[blackmagus]

That does seem likely. [There's nothing in her world that looks like Shiala.] I do love a good story.

[purplishgreen]

I am free now, if you are. But if not, then I can wait.

[She wouldn't mind satisfying her own curiosity, after all.]

[blackmagus]

[Fortescue shrugs lightly, still smiling.]

I'm not doing anything in particular. Just avoiding a headache. Do you know where the gazebo is, in the park?

[purplishgreen]

I certainly do. I will meet you there shortly.

[With a pleasant smile, perhaps bordering on flirtatious, Shiala hangs up. Within ten minutes, she's at the gazebo, sitting with her legs crossed, enjoying the sunshine.

[blackmagus]

[Fortescue smiles as she catches sight of Shiala, while Jazz looks at her curiously from one of the railings. The cat apparently can't make up his mind about the individual that's come to join them.]

Nice day, isn't it?

[purplishgreen]

It is. The climate on this planet is certainly agreeable to my way of thinking.

[Jazz catches her eye, and after a moment's puzzlement, she breaks into a wide smile.]

This creature is yours? It's... it's a cat, am I correct in that? I have seen only pictures.

[blackmagus]

[She nods, stroking his back. He continues to blink at Shiala, trying to make up his feline mind about what she is. An elf?]

That's right. Jazz was a stray for a while, so he's a little suspicious of people sometimes.

[It doesn't help that, generally, Fortescue deals with fairly unpleasant people, in her world.]

[purplishgreen]

But you have tamed him?

[She's intrigued. Cats seem like an interesting species to begin with -- small, mammalian predators. She leans over, beckoning the cat closer with her fingers, or at least trying to.]

There were no cats in Zhu's Hope. He seems lovely.

[blackmagus]

When he feels like it.

[Fortescue smiles - no cat is truly tame, in her mind - as Jazz looks at Shiala closely again before slowly navigating the railing over to her, sniffing her fingers carefully.]

Is Zhu's Hope where you're from?

[purplishgreen]

It is the human colony on Feros where I have been living. Originally, I am from Thessia, the asari homeworld.

[She lets Jazz sniff her fingers, more than a little fascinated by this creature. No doubt he's never smelled anything like her.]

[blackmagus]

Ah, I see. Are there many colonies, then?

[Jazz seems satisfied, even so, and sits down to look up at Shiala intently.]

[purplishgreen]

Yes, many.

[Carefully, Shiala reaches forward to scratch Jazz gently behind the ears.]

Most species do have numerous colonies. Earth perhaps has less than some, but you are new to the galaxy, still.

[blackmagus]

The Earth where I come from doesn't have any ships that can manage space, yet. Though after the War is over, I wouldn't be surprised.

[They go to other universes, so why not their own? Jazz purrs, approving.]

[purplishgreen]

Perhaps so. It's 2185 by your calendar, where I'm from, and humans discovered the mass relays and the galaxy at large thirty years ago. I admit I'm not certain how long you had short-range space flight before that.

[Okay, so she's a little spotty on human history.]