01.

[shri]

FORM: Sending crystal.
SENDER: Lakshmi Bai
RECIPIENT: Anyone and everyone.
WHAT: Polite requests.
WHEN: After the recent group of rifters arrives back.
WHERE: The Gallows.
NOTES: Tired Queen is tired.

[ There's a little laugh of wonder and then - ] To think I spent all my time hungering after Tesla's machines... [ Clears her throat with the end of that wistful sigh, no time for what-ifs, and she adopts a far more even a tone. Dry, clipped and careful to not muddle her words. Not Tesla's machines, no, but she has heard plenty of poor announcements across radios, to want to make sure that she doesn't do the same. ]

Greetings. I am... Rani Lakshmibai, the, ah.. widower of the King, Maharaja, of Jhansi. [ There's a hesitation, unsure. But like the titles she just gave, she brushes over it quickly. ] I have a request for an individual, who would spend a few hours telling me of this place and its manners, so I might be a better guest of this... Inquisition. I have no more than what I am to receive you, but I can provide honest company in return for yours.

[ pause, and then a moment later. ] And where may I exchange jewels and gold for coin, find a decent cloth merchant and tailor, and whether the weapons the armies here supply are worth the metal they're made from. I prefer a shamsher or talwar, by preference, but any long, heavy blade suffices if its decent enough quality.

Comments

[strangel]

( As their boat pushes off and begins to cross the harbour, Helena watches the queen intently. Partly she is happy to let her gaze be obvious and unsettling. Reactions are enjoyable, and Lakshmi is hiding the reactions.

Helena will need to be more dramatic. )

Do you not like seeing other people faces?

[shri]

[ And this is exactly why she does it, really. Staying mild as anything in the face (haha) of other people's reactions. ]

Oh, I see just fine.

[ She lifts her other hand to crook a finger, calling her closer. Come on then. ]

[strangel]

( Helena's head cants to the side, and her hands move across the base of the boat, moving like some cave creature, some primate - almost on all fours, the sinew and slink of something feline in it.

Leaning forward, Helena does not hesitate to set aside appropriate distance to peer to the queen intently and make a study of her. Helena's own skin is sallow, unhealthily red, raw, around her eyes. Her hair is dry and fragile, a wild, messy mane that seems to glow as the light shines through it. )

But do you wish you did not? Would you like better if others were covered?

[shri]

[ Lakshmi's own face this close, could be discerned. Warn, old and young all at once. Old eyes as much as more gold than brown, much too old for her face, set in the deep line of black kohl around them. The dot of the bindi between her brows. The pull of a mouth that might have smiled so quickly once. A broadness, an easiness in herself. A little too blunt to be strictly handsome like a woman might like, but striking enough to make up for it, and content in that. Like she knew each limb and digit exactly as much as her own. Sated in that knowledge as she blinks at her behind the soft linen that took away the sharpness of her own gaze.

She does not pull away from the inspection and she offers no remorse for it, she takes in as she is taken in. She looks over this half-starved wild thing in front of her with stillness. The faint clink of bangles echoing softly as the boat rocked. Faint as bells against the lull of waves, the splash of water against the side of the boat as it was rowed. ]

I care little, how people dress is their own business. Just as I am my own business, and not theirs.

[ A weight to the words, and warning. She does not mind questions, but press too hard, little one, and she will bite back. ] We all wear masks. Orleasians wear feathers on theirs, and my own people use silks. There is little difference to me.

[strangel]

( Her fingers reach out, instinctive, to brush the bangles. Her eyes are hazel, surprisingly warm despite the wild terrain surrounding them. Everything about her speaks to wildness, the spidering fingers and the batlike curl of her shoulders.

Helena's smile is slow, and dance s the line between childlike wonder and impishly dangerous. )

And many people wear smiles.

( As her smile widen it seems more like the baring of teeth. ) Smiles and niceness and lies.

[shri]

[ She lets her, passively so, deceptively so. The gold means little weight, but everything in her heart of a mother-in-law who blessed her every day and showered her in gifts. ]

They do. It is why I have ever preferred my battlefields, and to take what shielding I may from their deceits.

[ In the civilised world, she cannot just strike down those who would mean to hurt her. But that does not mean she should not protect herself through other means. Gangadhar had taught her that. There could be as much danger to beauty, softness, and sweetness as there was in the hard edge of a blade. ]

[strangel]

( Huffs out a laugh, and scoots back. The trip is not long, and they are fast nearing Kirkwall proper, moving past the statues of slaves, arms over their heads and bodies tormented. )

Why do you think they made these statues so?

[shri]

[ Her eyes slide over them and the disgust is palatable in her voice. ]

To remind people of their place.

[strangel]

( A little snarl, though it is one of agreement, if such a thing is possible. )

Yes. Owning other bodies. Doing with them as they like.

( She makes a grizzly sound, and slinks to the other end of the boat, to wait for their landing in Kirkwall, and knobbly curve of her spine pulling her skin taught. )

I think slave owners, those who break— they should be the one broken.

[shri]

Do you know? I much agree.

[ her tone is nothing less than contempt. Utter disgust over such a notion.

But it's settled for now, as they pull into dock. Rising out of boat to cross over to the jetty in light quick steps. ]

[strangel]

( Helena moves onto the docks on all fours, crouched down low. )

If you are telling truth, perhaps you are good queen.

( A big if. Authority is rarely trustworthy. )

[shri]

I do my best, as only anyone can.

[ Firm, if she was to be respected for herself, it would be by that. By acting, moving, deciding, and refusing to compromise on that which was monstrous.

But to a slightly more pertinent issue - ? ] Do you ... not prefer to stand?

[strangel]

( She holds a hand up to Lakshmi, just a moment, just wait, as Helena slinks backwards into the shadows of a crate. Waits a few moments.

Lunges out to snap at the ankles of a passing merchant who makes a sound of undignified terror, and laughs as he scurries away. Only then does she straighten up, looking at the queen curiously. )

Both good.

[shri]

[ She steps back when prompted, watching - seeing what she was up too with a curious gaze. What on earth?

The merchant goes squealing and she's glad for the veils not for the first time when she laughs. ]

None of that. I am told we have to be on our best behaviour.

[strangel]

( Her smile is very, very innocent. )

This is best.

( Ah, wait: it's not innocent at all. Helena unfolds, straightening up, and begins to lead the way through the docks to lowtown. )

On left, you have Kirkwall. On right, more Kirkwall. Moody people.