vivalaethernet | 01 | New Phone Who This

Entry tags:

01 | New Phone Who This

Looking at this a bit, it seems like introducing oneself is normal here, so. Greetings, Crimson Corsairs.

I'm Kaitlyn, a Chosen of Winter. Skipping the details you can ask about over drinks or something if you're really curious, I'm a 'skirmisher'. Sneak around enemies and hit them where they don't expect to be hit from with light-fire ice abilities. Or complete a goal without hitting them at all because they never saw me in the first place. (I love it when I get loot that way honestly.)

I'm not new to working in a team, I'm not new to adventure and combat... But uh I am new to both at once, so. Help adjusting to the combination might be good.

Looking forward to meeting people and doing stuff, and, uh. Not sure what else to say?

So. Hi.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"... Not the Sunshine Bakery, then," she notes, more for her own later consideration than because that was where they were going.

The actual place they came to, the Rising Flounder, sold fish stew, rolls, small beer, and, of course, sausage and pickled cabbage. Or, at least, that's what the slate at the sidewalk said. "The menu changes a little day to day, but..."

"Hard to say," Kaitlyn responded. "Bakeries are sometimes more Winterly due to... I think it's at least partially psychosomatic to be honest."

That said... She does seem more interested in the basic idea of what the Rising Flounder has in mind.

"Sounds good to me."

"Because there's a comfort in warm bread on a frost-bitten day?" Natalia guesses wildly with a shrug. "Regardless, shall we?"

The place is busy, as promised-- there's not much space inside; more a sop to the workers' cold than the eaters, whose line would be remarkably familiar to anyone who had withstood the fast food lines at their local city in a relatively modern Earth. Just behind the counter, cauldrons of heated soups and water baths of sausage and warmed pickled cabbage fill the air with a slightly clashing smell once combined, and a small oven kept piles of bread rolls warm.

Natalia closed her eyes and breathed it in by proxy.

"Yeah. Let's," Kaitlyn responded, looking over the soups and sausages.

"... Yep. Time to get some stuff."

She soon winds up with a potato soup, some sausage and some cabbage. And, this part was important to Kaitlyn apparently, a few rolls of bread.

"I don't suppose you have a beet-vegetable soup?" Not that she particularly enjoyed borscht-- she preferred a good blin-- but a good soup goes a long way to recover one's spirits.

"No joy, Penguin," the man behind the counter says. "Beets won't be up for a few weeks, yet."

They've really just taken to calling her that, huh? "Perhaps then, then. The bream soup, sausage, cabbage, two rolls. Oh, and--"

"Your usual to-go order for your workers?"

"Yes, thank you." She takes up a seat among the benches and waves Kaitlyn over if she's still looking.

Kaitlyn joins Natalia quickly.

"They just refer to you by the name of the company now, huh?", Kaitlyn quietly observed...

"Also because i moved like one a bit, a little earlier," Natalia admitted. "Add in my cold demeanor, and..."

"... That's. I don't know. It feels mocking, but."

Natalia shrugs. "If they think of me like that, it's fine."

She'd never seen one in person, but in the books she'd read about them, she'd seen photos of them swimming, gracefully, underwater.

"... I guess I just. I dunno. My Patron may have gone by 'foxybara' because she had a fox's ears and tail and a capybara's love of sitting in a hot spring with water dropping onto her head, but it never sat right with me."

... Man, Kaitlyn's situation sounds kind of odd when she describes it aloud.

"... No, I understand that. Who would not like sitting in a warm hot spring on a frosty day?" Still, she thinks about what Kaitlyn said. "Business doesn't wait for accidents."

"Nor the heat of battle, for that matter," Kaitlyn responds, before taking a first spoon of soup.

"... This places knows what it's doing. That's nice at least."

Natalia nods. "The soups are clearly paid attention to while they're made, and even if they sit out some time, they're meant to take the beating. The herb selections especially stand out, but not the salt. And who can argue with warm bread, yes?"

... Does she do this to every meal she likes?

"... Very true, all." Kaitlyn just smiles a bit.

"There's more I could ask, of course. But perhaps that'll need to be in time."

Natalia nods. "I understand. I'm hardly the easiest person to get along with."

"No, no, it's more like... I don't want to pry and be invasive, you know? It seems like there's been quite a tale even before you got pulled to this world, so..."

Kaitlyn blinks a bit. "... Rushing stuff isn't the best way to do it. Learned that one a few times in the Dungeon."

She stops, and looks, but no one's staring, and nothing went quiet, so instead she shrugs and says, "Everyone's tale is long, or so I am learning. I think yours, too."

Kaitlyn paused. "... I guess, by the standards of Chosen, I don't view myself as particularly exceptional. I got Chosen, my old life was basically gone, I learned a way to fight and explore, and I got something like results. Nothing too extreme, I don't think."

"I might say it's exceptional you got as far as you did at all," Natalia says, "But I don't know enough of your story to say. As for me..."

She eats more for just a second, and adds, "Exceptional isn't everything."

"... Yeah. I've seen enough 'exceptional' people to recognize that," Kaitlyn responded, before taking a few more bites herself.

"The Dungeon didn't really allow for breaking other people. Not like the Empire favors from what I've seen, at least. It's... Never mind. Should try to take some happiness here, not think about that side of things."

"Mm. Yes, let us not dwell on this." Spoken like a woman who at least appears to be a staunch supporter of the Empire (she swears), but unwilling to start an argument with a new friend... albeit with a wink to Kaitlyn.

"Well, that circles back around to-- is there anything in particular you enjoy doing?"

"... Used to be big on theatre, but not much of that where I was," she admits, catching on enough to return to operational security. Right. Stealth of words, not just of form.

"Fighting. Partying. Wondering where I got some of the clothes in my collection from."

"I used to fancy myself a star of grand melee," Natalia says. Maybe 'gamenlic geflit' is a bit of a key thing, because someone nearby calls, Boast! and soon enough the call runs round the benches.

Natalia sighs, facepalming. She holds up one finger, then stands, putting her strong leg on the bench and leaning against it as she shouts to all assembled. "So! You wish to hear the boast of Nathalie, the Frozen!? Very well! Truly shall I tell you this: eight years I fought in those melees, in the hue and cry! Many men your size and more were fought! When the hues and cries were done, i stood uncarved by man and beast, strong of arm, hale of body! Best that if you can!"

As they laughed-- and set to topping that story again and again, mostly with tales of the sea and sky-- Natalia returned to her seat. "Popular sport, it seems. But I would not mind testing my melee skills with you."

"... I could be up for this at some point," Kaitlyn says. "Not that I've got a boast on that tier. Best I've got is 'escaped some shit that statistically no one escapes from'. Hydras may hate fire, but freezing still works."

She leans over, conspiratorial. "they don't either, and even i'm stretching the truth a little. It's why they laughed."

She hummed, impressed. "That said, a hydra? I'm impressed. Don't think I could beat a hydra."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject