TEST DRIVE #6

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[falconkick]

[ sam grins, amused by kou's response just as much as he is relieved that there's at least one person with a sense of humor in all this crap. ]

Nah, I'm not that big on literal shit, and I'm definitely not serving it up to a stranger.

[ he's an honest man, aside from the whole lying about the food thing, 'cause he isn't sure he trusts it yet. but - if kou's gonna eat one, sam probably oughta eat one first to make sure he doesn't kill the man. he pops one into his mouth, making a low sound of approval and relief that it actually does taste pretty decent. nice one, wilson. ]

Mm, yeah. I'm tellin' you, that's some good stuff right there. Whether these guys are for real or not, they know how to cook.

[trainable_lout]

[Kou grins around his bite and adds one more of those things to his plate. It's the first he's eaten since his arrival, though he has had a lot of wine. He pulls a handkerchief out of a uniform pocket to wipe his fingers.]

I feel like I shouldn't even be here, [he confides.] Too low-class. Or too middle-class. Like any minute someone's going to ask me to leave.

[falconkick]

[ sam watches him pull out a legitimate actual handkerchief and has to try not to laugh - at himself, mostly, because yeah, let's talk low class here. ]

Really? 'cause I feel like we should be in a park with a lot of bad pirate costumes getting offensively drunk.

[ ren faire, always a good time, and the closest sam's got for comparison to all of the clout being thrown around here. he looks away from them to everyone else bustling around, royalty and knights and things straight out of his childhood stories, and sighs. ]

But yeah, I think I feel you on that one. I'm still not sure why they'd be asking me for help.

[trainable_lout]

[Kou's smile falters. He's a big guy, six foot four and properly proportioned, but there is a slump to him, the sort of thing someone in constant pain would have. He used to be athletic, before, but his legs in particular have taken on a thinness he thinks is more visible than it is. Sam, on the other hand, is muscled and fit. Isn't it obvious why they'd ask you? he wonders glumly. Jealously.]

Lieutenant Koudelka, [he says, carefully setting down his plate and holding out a hand.] Call me Kou.

[falconkick]

[ 'lieutenant koudelka.' sam doesn't wanna leap to any conclusions without word from the man himself, but - a soldier, an officer, young by rights and leaning on a cane for support - sam's seen a lot of men in his position, worked with them every day at the va. he knows what that can do to a man. what it can take away from them.

he ain't a soldier anymore, but he knows how to show respect. he snaps to, setting down his plate and holding himself just a little bit tighter as he shakes kou's hand firmly with a light smile. ]

Sam Wilson. It's good to meet you, Kou.

[trainable_lout]

[Kou sees the attention. The respect. It's what people show to real officers, not just spastics who got lucky and piloted a desk so they could stay in active service. But Sam gives no rank of his own, despite having the bearing of a soldier. Why wouldn't an able-bodied man still be in service? Of course, not every planet is Barrayar, where the only real honor comes from service. Lady Vorkosigan is a retired soldier in her thirties, isn't she?]

A real pleasure. Would I be mistaken if I guessed retired military?

[falconkick]

That obvious, huh?

[ he doesn't wear his tags and he didn't accept his uniform when he retired, though he still wears a sweater or a shirt here and there. it's not that he isn't proud of it or that he's hiding it or anything; sam has just spent a lot of time trying to pull himself away from then. ]

Did about a decade of time before I figured my services might be better used elsewhere. I work with vets, helping them with whatever they need to get back into the world, so - still a little military, but more like the frontlines of a different battle.

[ said with the slightest cheek in his smile. who's taking bets on which side of war is more important to him? ]

[trainable_lout]

[Koudelka could go green with envy. If he were sober, he might go a bit stiff and defensive, but he is not sober. He is drunk, so he just looks glum.]

Oh. [A pause.] We don't...have anything like that, on Barrayar. Usually we don't retire at all until we have a decent pension waiting for us.

[Or if they're medically discharged. That had been Bothari's fate and would have been Kou's as well, if Vorkosigan hadn't swooped in to the rescue.]

[falconkick]

[ sam isn't on-board enough with the whole magical multiverse nexus thing to jump onto the other world implications here, but he can work with cultural differences on a general level. he takes note of kou's body language, the small cues of upset ringing over the reminder of 'lieutenant'. ]

We got a few guys like that, that'll go career for one reason or another. Way I see it, though - if you've given your time to your country and you need a minute or two or ten to breathe, that's your right. You earned that.

[ not to pass judgment on a foreign nation or anything, but if there's anyone you oughta take care of when they need the help, it should be your servicemen first and foremost. ]