TEST DRIVE MEME #7

[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 not with mirthful revelry, this time around dear friends. There is a seriousness in the air, though the food is still hearty and the imps still mischievous. 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! Be mindful, though -- the monarchs are watching and cross court communication should be done with the utmost secrecy.

Comments

[unnatural_animal]

"I can't say I'm overly shocked to hear that," he replies, his face fairly neutral. In his mind there may be a brief moment of celebration, but not much. Though it is nice to hear confirmation, he had guessed as much. It's only right that he should eventually become king, just as it stands to reason that John will continue to be a stupid, sniveling, spineless thorn in his side.

"The stories one hears about John Lackland aren't very complimentary."

[commemini]

"He inherits after Richard. Things don't hold together as well under him." To put it mildly. As, indeed, he is doing. If Eleanor had been regent for both her sons, he wonders how England might be different.

[unnatural_animal]

Richard has to retreat into his beer for a moment, the act of drinking hopefully masking the rage that threatens to overtake him. He isn't as bad Henry, no one goes around telling stories of him rolling round on the floor biting at the rushes, but he still has the sudden desire to smash something.

"What does he lose? What does Philip take?"

[commemini]

It is difficult to tell if the other man's anger is weak or held down, and so Cromwell makes no assumption. Does his new acquaintance have a title? In France? Possible. He is fairly certain the other man is noble, though he will not say so unless it is confirmed.

"Normandy, Anjou, Maine." He pauses. "Most of Poitou."

[unnatural_animal]

The only outward physical sign of Richard's anger is his hand, clenching a little too tightly around his drink. The silence is long and heavy. He is keeping his rage in check for the other man's benefit and for this whole game that he is playing at, but when the time comes that he can safely release it the results likely will not be pretty.

"My home is Poitiers. I learned quality at the queen's court there." How on earth did Eleanor allow such a thing to happen, he wonders. The idea that she is truly mortal and may have finally died by that point hasn't struck him. "Its loss is unwelcome news."

[commemini]

"I am sorry." He imagines what it would be like if he learned the Emperor took London a few decades hence. The lands reshaped by different laws, the inns smelling of different food (admittedly, likely to be an improvement), the people speaking different languages and subject to new taxes, the Church dominant.

"I understand the queen was a worthy woman."

[unnatural_animal]

"She was beautiful once and so was her court." The Court of Love. The most glittering, cultured, refined court in Europe. What a place to call home. And it is his home, as much as any place can be. His expression is slightly wistful, slightly rueful. "She would have me sing for her and her ladies. It wasn't hard to be one of her favorites. I was prettier then too."

Some part of him is enjoying this. Geoffrey would have likely spun a web of lies around himself by now. Richard, however, is telling the other man nothing but the truth, though it may be the truth with some rather important omissions.

[commemini]

His brows rise. "You must have been well-trained in quality."

He sits back a little. "I enjoy music, but I could never sing so well." A song to himself, to hum or sing softly, but he will leave public performance to the professionals. Even if, alas, they do not know Italian.

[unnatural_animal]

"Music is something of a family profession." Also true after a fashion. After all, don't they call his great-grandfather Duke William the first troubadour? "It isn't that difficult if you're trained up in it."

And Eleanor did see him trained in it, just as she saw to it he was taught numbers and languages and dancing and all the arts that she could. She would have settled for no less in her favorite son. But he rather doubts any of those skills will prove themselves useful here.

[commemini]

"It's a great benefit to learn when young." Not that he learned much when he was a boy. But he moved past that, and Gregory...Gregory does well enough.

Some small part of his mind forces forward a memory of Anne attacking her Greek.

"Were you long at court?"

[unnatural_animal]

"When I was a boy. War pays better than poetry these days."

And that will likely be the situation here. He will have to build his reputation through battle, not music.

"And you?" He doesn't look sharp. He doesn't look particularly clever. He doesn't look at the other man at all, focusing on his drink instead. But he has noticed that he has answered quite a few questions about his (false) background while his companion has given away very little about himself. If he is just a cloth-merchant, he is a very canny one. "Were you at the court of your Henry?"

[commemini]

"I'm afraid war typically does." A shame, but poetry is much cheaper to produce.

He takes a sip, places him mug down carefully. His connection to Henry has consistently proved to be what shardbearers from the future of England have connected to his name. It is not common knowledge, but it is not something it would be useful to hide. "I am a member of his council."

He can train a hawk and hunt with it, he acquits himself well at the archery butts, he knows Aristotle and Erasmus, he can find good wine. But for all this, he is not a courtier.

[unnatural_animal]

Richard nods, considering. To his mind it is only natural that clever men would find their way into the employ of a lord. He thinks of Marshal and Becket and Longchamp. Back home he managed to snap up Longchamp as his own man after his brother died. Here he knows he will have to start from scratch and it's always good to keep his eyes open.

"And now you're a linen-merchant." There's half a moment's pause before he speaks again. This time he holds out his hand with a simple, "My name is Richard." There is no surname. Princes and nobodies don't need one.

[commemini]

"I have prior experience with the trade." One must have capital, even in a place where magic can transform things. And it provides and excuse for travel, for finding knowledge and allies, for understanding the world beyond its newest inhabitants. Little, he believes, may be accomplished without that.

"Cromell," he says, as he shakes Richard's hand. It is a habit to rely on his surname, even if here not every other man is Thomas.

[unnatural_animal]

"Well met, Master Cromwell." The name means nothing to Richard. It is English and so is its bearer. That is all. He won't hold it against him.

"Have you traveled far with your wares?" It's his way of asking where the other man comes from. He could have been more clever and discreet about the asking, but why bother? There isn't any need to play that sort of game here.

[commemini]

"Well met." He seems to mean it, and he does. Part of the purpose of his dealings is to meet people.

"In this world, or on Earth?" In both cases he has made a point to travel, but one has afforded more opportunity than the other.

[unnatural_animal]

"In this one." He doesn't particularly care about the world they've both left. He's traveled it enough himself. But this place is still largely a mystery. He is traveling it himself, but it's always good to hear what others have to say.

"Comparing opinions of Paris won't be very useful here."

[commemini]

"I would be more use with Amsterdam, in any case." Florence and Rome as well, but it has been long enough that his knowledge would be somewhat lacking.

"I traveled here from Treun." He had, after some hesitation, made use of fairy rings. They appear to be trustworthy enough, and reluctance to rely on magic is merely foolish when such magic is so practical.

"I had attempted to visit Leathann, but it proved difficult." When Treun had wares imported from the other city, obtaining entrance was more difficult than it was worth.

He does not mention the journey from his Court. He does not wish to advertise his shard. He is not here to risk making enemies, and there is enough wariness of the Courts in this city that he is willing to bet on going unreported, should membership of the opposition be the case.