eachdraidh | 002 ☙ [video]

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002 ☙ [video] | OTA

[War changes people, Mary Crawley included.

After her midnight ride from Caer Glaem the night of the jabberwock attack, she arrived a frozen mess in the land of the Elves. Nearly dead, they had taken her in and helped nurse her back to health. The whole experience had been surreal. Being in their realm made her wonder if this was what heaven was like. Everything seemed so bright, as if someone had turned the contrast up on the entire world. Whatever medicine they used on her worked, because she was as good as new within a week, feeling stronger than she had in years. They helped equip her and her horse before she set out. She owes them a great debt and she knows it.

She has since arrived in Parrais, where she knew that Anne would be, in order to seek shelter since the castle at Glaem has been damaged. Truth be told, she'd rather not go back there for a while anyway. While in the Elvenlands she had a lot of time to think and was subsequently able to act in Parrais. Mary has cut her hair, partly out of deference to the latest style back home and partly for practical reasons. She realizes that finding someone here to do her hair every day will be difficult. Mary also hasn't worn a corset since she fled Glaem and after several weeks without one, she has no plans to go back. A camisole suits her fine and again she's met with the obstacle of having no one to help her tie a corset anyway.

Congratulations. The war has successfully pushed Mary into the twentieth century.

She appears on the locket looking well-rested and back to being herself again.]

Hello to anyone who may be seeing and hearing this broadcast. I was not able to properly introduce myself last time I used this device. [Since she was fleeing on horseback through the frozen landscape.] I am Lady Mary Crawley, daughter of the Earl of Grantham. Firstly, I would like to thank the Elves for their hospitality and care after I arrived in their lands following the attack on Caer Glaem. Your generosity will not be forgotten by me. Secondly... [She pauses here for a moment, gathering exactly what she wants to say.] I wish to know if I may help in any way now that the battle is over. I'm staying in Parrais for a while so anything in this region would be well-suited. I know... a bit about farming, actually, and the running of an estate. I also have a small bit of nursing knowledge thanks to my sister and the experience of a war back home.

Please let me know of a way that I might be helpful.

[Not only has the war pushed her into the twentieth century, it might also have caused hell to freeze over. Mary's not usually the helpful type, though maybe the healing she received from the Elves is causing her to want to pay it forward. Or maybe she just doesn't want to sit around bored all day. There are only so many shops to visit and books to read. They don't even have formal dinner here. At least back at Downton she had responsibilities and tasks to complete.]

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[Well, now he's being charming. Any kind of compliment is going to produce a smile from her.]

My ears are normal, I assure you. I am a human. An Earl's daughter but not a princess.

(He's always charming. And it'll just be amplified now that he's gotten a smile.)

I'll believe you, for now, but I still have my doubts. A beauty like yours can't be entirely human. (smirking just a little.) That's almost the same thing.

[Flirting is her favorite game. She also happens to be very good at it.]

I did spend a week with the Elves but I don't think their immortality has rubbed off on me. And may I ask the name of the gentleman who thinks me so ethereal?

(There is little better than a woman who is willing to play it with him, even if it leads to nothing. Though of course, it's preferable to lead to something.)

Maybe it's something else, then, but there has to be something. Natural beauty like yours doesn't seem possible. (smirking. just a little now.)

Howard Stark, and you can call me whatever you want.

Mr. Stark, are you always this incorrigible or am I just lucky?

[Please don't stop being incorrigible though. Mary hasn't flirted like this with anyone since she's gotten here and it feels wonderful.]

(People around here must be blind, then.)

Oh come on now, Lady Mary, you must get this all the time. I can't imagine a world where men don't turn after you in the streets. Hell, I'd probably run straight into a lamppost. I would if I wasn't so fortunate to have the great view I've got right now.

Most men are more subtle, Mr. Stark. But Americans haven't really mastered that art, have they?

[Though he did get her title right, so points for that. She does get this all the time though. At home, two men are currently competing for her, though not in a bare-knuckled fist fight. Mary might actually enjoy seeing that.]

I've always felt that subtly tends to lead to confusion, and often disappointment. Better to be upfront and personal from the starts. Saves a ton of time, in the end. If you weren't at all interested, you would have turned me off.

(He does know something of how the whole British system works, considering his two best friends and the time he spent there. Though he would call her lady to flatter her, too, even if she wasn't.)

Interested in what?

[Yes, she's playing innocent, partially because she wants to see if he'll actually say it or not.]

(Oh that's just cruel. Innocence has always been a weakness of his. But he can play with it, too)

In me.

Oh. [She blinks. He actually said it.] Well, Mr. Stark, I believe I've known you approximately five minutes. That doesn't seem to be enough time to form an opinion yet.

(He's suave like that. Now he's going to shrug his shoulders, remarkably relaxed about it all.) That doesn't mean you can't still be interested. I didn't state the nature of your interest, after all. (A small smile plays at his lips as he speaks.) There are plenty of times I've been interested in people I haven't spoken to. Take Nikola Tesla. I'm very interested in him, but I never got the chance to meet him.

[She sees you backtracking, Howard, trying to make her look silly, but she'll go along with the change of subject.]

He is a scientist, yes? Something with electricity?

(At least it's a kind of smooth back tracking. He's certainly done worse.)

The father of modern technology. (nr 1 man crush.)

I wasn't aware of that.

Although I guess that depends on what is modern to you.

[Her way of asking-not-asking what time period he comes from.]

I would think it would transition through the ages.

(At least it's something he's vaguely familiar with, the whole, time concept.)

Everything after 1946.

Oh, you're from more than twenty years after me. [She's met people from other planets here, so when meeting people from twenty years in her future she kind of just rolls with it at this point.] It's 1923 back home. We have the telephone, the wireless, and airplanes.

(Honestly? He seems relieved more than anything. Most he's met so far are either hundreds of years behind him, but more often seemingly lightyears ahead of him. Technology develops real fast, and at least he can relate to her a little more, perhaps.)

Airplanes are my specialty.

Edited (gdi html fail) 2015-03-01 20:56 (UTC)

Oh? You.. fly them? Build them?

(Have a dazzling, and charming smile, miss mary.)

Both.

How interesting. [She means that too.] Mostly they're used for military operations and what seems to be rather uncomfortable travel. I would prefer the train, I think.

(He could go on about it for hours if she let him. But for now he'll just talk about it loosely.) The come along way from the twenties to the forties. It's still mostly used for military ops here too, my interest was mostly for my own personal pleasure until the war broke out, but during it I played a heavy hand in developing them for the military. (This is, general knowledge where he's from, after all, so it's not something he needs to hide.)

I assure you, my planes are very comfortable. And you can't travel across the ocean in less than fifteen hours any other way.

Would that we had one of your comfortable planes here. The lack of trains and automobiles is frustrating when one is trying to travel in comfort.

[Then something that he said so casually hits her.]

Wait. Which war?

I feel the exact same way. And I come from a place where they're used even more than where you're from, and I can hardly imagine how frustrating it must be for those who come after me, too.

(Oh. Right. That. He gives her a sheepish shrug.)

World War Two. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[Her reaction to that is silence, as she contemplates what that means.]

Then my son will also fight in a war. [The idea of that makes her nauseated.] For God's sake, why is there so much war? Everywhere I am, there seems to be constant war.