02 | OPEN

[shri]

FORM: Sending Crystal.
SENDER: Lakshmibai
RECIPIENT: Any one and everyone.
WHAT: Head of Community Outreach & Are you a rifter? Do you know how to weave? Want to turn a profit and help out the inquisition? Please inquire.
WHEN: Time is a flat circle.
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: nothing too serious

Greetings... It is Rani Lakshmibai.

[ Right, that out of the way. ]

I have two matters which I need a moment - [ Here we go. ] - I have recently been made Head of Community Outreach, for which I'm honoured. I wish to a little more to understand where I might be applied in helping others, but as yet many things still escape me as where help might be best applied to those that need it. If you have a moment to speak with me, in person, I would be much obliged. My Quarters are in the Gallows.

[ Onwards then, because who works and doesn't overwork? Not her. ] Secondly, and for rifters amongst us... I have spoken with Master Barnabas, a merchant here in Kirkwall, and I realised that whilst what many of us bring in terms of items here can be desirable and turn a good profit for it's... foreign nature. Such things are short-term investments. [ And that as far as she's concerned, is a waste. ] As such, I am looking for women or men, of moderate skill in weaving textiles and who can take direction easily, to join me in such work. You will be paid, though primarily, all extra earnings are to be funded back into the Inquisition. I intend to work things that no part of Thedas has seen before, and feel we are uniquely qualified for such an endeavour.

If such a thing is in your ability, please enquire.

[ Somewhere, her husband is following her about, tugging at her hair and laughing. ]

That is all. My regards.

Comments

[periastron]

Yeah, g'day. ( Said with the least interest in actually issuing a good day of any kind, apparently. )

If any surgical supplies or medical equipment comes through a rift, I call fuckin' dibs on it. That shouldn't be for profit, it should be for doin' its bloody job.

( The accent is broad, Australian, and probably obnoxious.

Nice to meet you, etc. )

[shri]

[ She responds in agreement, a firm voice. ]

It is yours. I will make sure it is catalogued and sent to you, so you know everything that comes in.

[periastron]

Alright. I'm Alexandra Karahalios. Veterinarian and sorta-kinda people surgeon, now.

( She sounds... so... thrilled... can you tell... 8| )

You a rifter?

[shri]

I am. I come from Hindustan - [ wait, wrong language. ] - India.

[periastron]

Oh.

( Surprised, kinda. )

My baba was from Persia. Not the same, obviously, but just— most people I meet knocking about here from Earth are from Europe. Nice to meet you, Rani.

[shri]

Ah - [ but pleasantly surprised. ] Salaam. Yes, there are ... a lot. A great deal of Americans, too.

[ It's a little chuckle, bemused to herself. ]

[periastron]

Ah, well. ( a sigh, melodramatic. )

At least there aren’t any bloody Kiwis, eh?

[shri]

... Pardon, who?

[ Welcome to talking to your grandma. ]

[periastron]

New Zealanders, mate. Dodgy lot.

[shri]

[ Foggy, thinking on the map. ] Isn't that near to Van Demien's Land?

[ Yeahhh, someone's still stuck in convict days. Or near enough to them. ]

[periastron]

Oh, shit. ( Her laugh is surprised, not quite tipping into incredulous. Just... surprised. )

Ain't been called that in a while, mate. Van Diemen's is called Tasmania, now, one of Australia's states. I mean, in... in my world, at least, it ain't been Van Diemen's since the... shit, the mid nineteen century, maybe? Before Federation, anyway.

One of the worst states, for the record. Full of mutants.

[shri]

Australia achieved Federation? As it's own country? And Britain allowed it with no conflict?

[ W h a t . ]

[periastron]

I mean, we're still part of the Commonwealth, so good ol' Queen of E is our queen too, but yeah. Mostly there was just a lot of talking. Let's be honest, I mean, Australia was somewhere to send poor people who nicked a loaf of bread. And then I reckon it was just easier to let it go, wasn't like it was producing shit that they was interested in taking back to England.

[shri]

Ah.

[ She doesn't dare ask. Not what she really wants to. She cannot, not after what Kitty had told her. Not when she has work to do and cannot let herself linger. ]

It is unfortunate about Tasmania, then. I did not think Lycans could... mutate further.

1/3

[periastron]

Wha—?

2/3

[periastron]

( aka its a shame there's no video function, because the face she just made )

[periastron]

No, I— we just call 'em mutants because they're weirdos from the island state and we're from the mainland. I'm a dickhead, basically.

[shri]

... Is the... country not just one island?

[ She's just saying. ]

[periastron]

( you can hear the squinting, basically )

Australia has over eight thousand islands in its maritimes borders.

[shri]

[ Well, it has certainly gotten further than 'that place at the end of the world'. ]

A worthy number for any land.

[periastron]

Yeah yeah yeah, advance Australia fair, whoopee.

( Flat af.
Looping back to her question, and contemplating that mention of Hindustan, she asks— )

When are you from?

[shri]

[ She has to be careful, here, for it is one thing to half the people here - they here, Rani, and England and years and don't know what she means from the sky. ]

I... get a little muddle between the Englishman's calendar and my homelands, my apologies. [ particular in her tone, to say it like she's embarrassed. ] I was born in 1828, I believe.

a reasonable reaction;

[periastron]

That's a load of flaming dragon dicks.

( An incredulous outburst, and: ) Are you fucking for real?

Why does this place keep getting weirder? First that one chick saying "no, Australia's still a prison colony," and now you're from the past, and next I bet some dipshit's gonna rock up that says they're the humanoid descendent of a kangaroo and a narwhal.

[shri]

... That seems... extreme. Is that... possible?

[ ... ]

Never mind. I did not think to cause you such distress. I had thought myself far beyond these people, you see, only to learn I am far behind you as well. [ She sighs. Damn. ]

[periastron]

You literally just thought I was being serious when I said Tassie was full of mutants. We're in a world where fuckin' trees can go get themselves possessed, and I have a pet koala from a dream that's chewing on a bit of steak instead of eucalyptus.

Forget the narwhal person. Me being a able to go, "hey, Rani, mate, your country's been independent for seventy years and regularly kick the shit out of England at their national sport" and that being a surprise to you instead of something you just know is fucking— it's messed up.

( And then... ) Oh— fuck.

( That is the sound of realisation. And of someone realising she maybe was just kind of a dick. And... maybe there was a better way to deliver that nugget of info. )