kismet_loop | [Video/action]

[This was not Braavos.

Arya stood quite still for a long moment, trying to assess what had happened. Was it a test of some sort? Was she dead? A bad dream?

Not even noticing the feed on her drone was active, not that she even knew what that meant anyways. She gave it an uncertain look, that frown she wore deepening into a suspicious scowl when the drone started piping up with helpful information, turning on her heel and stalking away once she realized that while it spoke a language she understood, she still didn’t understand what it was taking about.

She’d started to ignore her poor drone even as it hurried after her once she decided she was getting nowhere listening to it. Nothing it said made any sense to her, so she’d just as soon rather explore the area and find out what was going on for herself, find someone who could explain things in a way she could understand. Of course the ruins weren’t exactly the best place to be, especially once one finds the tunnels. And given they offered some shelter and relief from the heat, guess who was going to go edging into them? It was this kid with nothing but an oyster knife to defend herself with.

Arya Stark, making the best life choices.]

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[Sam opens without preamble, though a part of her has to wonder how old the girl going boldly forth actually is. It doesn't matter much---Haven's a hell of a trip at any age---but still, she wonders.]

Hey, kid. I'm going to hazard a guess; you just got here?

[Unfamiliar voice speaking with some authority? Arya jumps and whips in that direction, knife held at the ready. But... clearly there's no one with her but the thing that's been following her so far...

She peers at it, scowling suspiciously at the video feed.]

How are you doing that?

Doing what?

[She's got some suspicions from that scowl, but it doesn't do to assume.]

That!

[Gesturing to the screen and then more broadly to the drone itself.]

Is it some sort of golem? Are you controlling it?

Oh.

Not exactly, but it'll kinda function as one, following you around and doing what you tell it to---as far as it's able. It'll recognize some instructions, but won't have a way to respond to others. Mostly it'll supply some basic information and enable communication through the network we've got going, which is what I oughtta explain next. I haven't got anything to do with what your drone is doing, but I've got one of my own, and the two are connecting for our conversation.

I understand the words you're saying but... you still sound like you're speaking another language.

[Good luck with that Sam.]

I'm sorry, I'm not great at explanations. But, like...

[she's gonna try.]

The drones aren't really golems, but they kind of behave the way you'd expect a golem would. If it understands how to do what you tell it to, it will do that thing, and it will answer the questions it's been prepared to answer. I have no control over what yours does, but the one I've got over here is relaying what it sees and hears to yours, so that yours can present that to you. It's like when you whisper something to the person next to you, and they repeat it to the person next to them, only it's you, to your drone, to my drone, to me, and the other way round.

And they have their own language, but we won't get into that because I don't know how it works that well.

Is that more sense?

But how are they talking to each other from so far away?

[Sam considers.]

I don't actually know. We had things that worked sorta similarly at home, but I don't know how different the set-up here is. One of my roomies would know, but I'm not sure if he's awake to ask at the moment. I'll get back to you on that, how bout?

...Alright. [It was a start at least.]

Where is this anyways? [Into the creepy caves we go!]

They call it Haven, though right now I'm in the city proper and it looks like you're on the sketch-ass outskirts. How long have you been tooling around?

Never saw Haven on any maps of the areas around Braavos. [Was that a suspicious as fuck tone? That sure as hell was.]

Never saw it on a map at home, either. 'Home' being Canada's Northwest Terrirtories. We're a long way from the territories... and any place mentioned on any map you might know. Kicker is, Haven is a world unto itself---kinda sorta. The rest of the world that hosts it has been swallowed up by that black mist hoohah. Bad shit, that stuff.

...So what, I've been drugged then? [It's the only explanation that makes sense, other worlds are out there even for magic.]

Nah, it's wilder than that. And you're probably not going to like the scoop, so, again, I'm sorry, but here it is: you and I and the others were more or less pulled here by a force like... concentrated chaos. Kind of like being struck by lightning, but a bolt of 'fuck all your expectations' instead.

...You're right. I don't like that 'scoop.'

Seven Hells-

I wouldn't expect you or anybody to, but there hasn't been a whole lot of headway for finding a way home. I wish I had better news to tell you, but what I've got is 'it isn't all bad.' For being marooned, it isn't uncomfortable. People are actually pretty decent---few of us that there are---and the resources are ample. Perpetual summer is a plus.

Oh of course our new prison is 'comfortable', of all the bloody fool bullshit-

So what's the catch then? Aside from being trapped.

Hey, I mention it since resources seem like they should be a point of special interest to you, kiddo. Drone screens are relatively small, but you look like you could use a sandwich or sixty.

Being trapped until we aren't's the bulk of it---people slip out of this place the same way they turn up in it, and it's anybody's guess how long they're gone or if it's for good. If someone does come here, go missing, and appear again, they may have no memory of being here before, or very different memories of their entire life prior to this place.

What's a sandwich?

[Nope the rest of that is 100% Grade-A Bullshit]

Where do they go? I doubt it's as easy as 'home.'

Anything edible between two pieces of bread. Almost; it probably doesn't count as a sandwich if the edible thing is a third piece of bread.

That's one of the great mysteries of life. Probably home, in some cases; in others, it's uncertain.

Uncertain to us, maybe. [Paranoid? No whatever gave Sam that idea?]

Shame I can't scry worth scrap.

I'm no Seer either. Looks like it'll have to be the old fashioned way of doing things.

I'm all for that---like, look, I get daily reminders I'm apparently archaic---but it's probably a bad idea to go too deep into those tunnels unaccompanied.

Why? What's in there?

Dunno. Could be anything; found zombies in an underground chamber once, and that wasn't a whole lotta fun. Might have something more mundane but just as mean, and while you got your drone, sure, you probably want an actual light.

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