eachdraidh | video; open to both courts

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video; open to both courts

Good afternoon, I am Doctor Hannibal Lecter. It is a rare pleasure to have the opportunity to meet so many new and interesting people. I must admit that I have had some difficulty adjusting to this brave, new world and I can only hope that you are doing better than I.

[ The image-feed shows a neatly dressed man somewhere in his late forties standing in front of the curtain wall around Caer Glaem. As he speaks, he walks on with the burrowing faeries and climbing rose-vines looping behind him. He's chosen his direction well and the late afternoon suns highlights the angles of his face, but doesn't glare into the locket or blind the viewer. ]

I have spent some little time thinking about why we have been brought here - there is the story of the shards and I do not need that repeated - but do you really believe that these gems nestle in the breast at random? Or is there a skill one court or the other needs from you? What gift do you bring your king and queen?

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[ Lovely. If there are a certain group of people who have Alice walking on eggshells next to lawyers, it's doctors. She's glad that she doesn't have to deal with that. Alice pushes her hair back, behind bruised cheeks.

Well, she can be polite. She's in the station, not over there. ]

They are, indeed, inside of you. I've seen it first hand when they are extracted. I do not know what your monarchs prefer, but ours favor actions against the opposing court apparently.

[ Pleasant enough, but not too bright. Lecter's expression isn't troubled by her inability to follow basic instructions. ]

Yes, I've been informed of this. What I would like to know is how, exactly, do you think your skills allow you to act against the other court?

[ Must not be rude, must not be rude. ]

The war has pulled in many of different skillsets and backgrounds, doctor. There are warriors, but I am sure as a doctor your skillsets would be beneficial in any conflicts, especially with how many have been wounded.

[ Unless he is the other type of doctor she particularly doesn't like. ]

I know of someone in the unseelie court who is an architect and the queen has given her boons in aiding her and the armies here.

You ought to buy a girl a drink first before you go off askin' about her breast, mate.

[She jokes.]

I dunno. What do you think makes you so special?

[ He'd much prefer something with a bit more weight to it, like Sichuan Tea-Smoked Duck, but there's no denying that his cupboards are bare. It's a challenge to safe for another day. Cherries are in season though and he could surely get the supplies for a nice glaze and seared breast. ]

I've spent time as a medical doctor and while it's not what I currently practice, it is a useful skill.

Oh, definitely. Good to know there's a doctor around.

You make it sound as if it must be so personal.

[There's a little scoffing emphasis in that, but it's confidence in her own opinion - as polite-sounding as it can be. She's got a reflectively smug yet reserved smile.]

I would assume that whatever gift we bring is part of or reflected in the presence of the shard itself, and that it can only be accessed here in the Drabwurld, where all magic works.

It's virtually the only thing that's not random between us.

[Her voice had floated up a little there; it polishes itself again.]

My name is Alexia Ashford, also. And what sort of doctor might you be?

Have you not heard of the man who was killed to give his shard away in turn for something precious of his home?

[ Capers are pickled nasturtium buds. What? We're not just trading non sequiturs? ]

I have. And?

Perhaps that is all it is about. They have brought me, and it was not until the Queen of my court granted me an ability that I even had anything to offer. [And she is still trying to do what she can with what she was granted.]

There are many ladies such as myself that have no battle experience, and yet here we are.

I don't believe it's either random or necessarily logical in a way most people would recognise. If there's a pattern, I would be surprised—disturbed, alarmed—if it's one as easily-followed as people merely being plucked for their useful skills.

[ The thought of being an unwilling participant in some multiversal temp agency is almost enough to turn his stomach. ]

It is a particular interest of mine to pull apart the outer layers of a strange mind, a unique worldview.

Really.

Ever heard of the neith? Ah...what else do they call it...furiach-yajh-hett, in some places. A Weaver.

[ At least someone manages to be polite. It makes a difference, he thinks, from the usual fare of these networks. ]

I should like to think I bring the gift of diplomacy, if nothing else. Others may suggest that they bring a strength of arms. I am not sure that our kindly monarchs are so specific in their desires, however.

No, I think not.

[ Lecter was more interested to know how other people tackled the problem of their arrival. What lies did they tell themselves about why they were chosen? ]

Have you had much luck with your gift?

Not particularly. I have spent more time caring for my allies than I have attempting to negotiate warfare. I do not imagine that many care about negotiations, however.

[ first, there is hair. and then, a girl who mostly looks uncertain. what gift do you bring? he asks and rapunzel have never thought of it that way, have never thought that maybe, the King and Queen have an interest in her hair.

She has never looked upon them. so it couldn't be.

Could it? ]

They never mentioned anything about gifts. N-not that I necessarily have none but I somehow guess baking and being great with a guitar are not really what they need for a - battle.

Believe me, wish I knew the answer to that. I'm the last sort I'd want in a war.

[Even with the help of a few fairies, it takes Athelstan a moment to learn the magic of the lockets and once he does there is pure fascination that such a thing could exist.]

Hello, Doctor Hannibal Lecter, I am Athelstan.

[A smile, slightly uncertain, is offered. Can the other man really see him through this locket?]

I would be most interested in hearing your own thoughts on the shards. I must admit that I've been too awed by this new world to put much thought in these shards, but... [He thinks for a long moment. The question posed by the Doctor is very serious and deserves some thought] Father Cuthbert would say that it is not our place to question the will of God, if indeed it is God's will that we be brought to this place.

[Athelstan can't honestly say that God has any hand in this place. There are things that roam the air that are more inline with what some might imagine demons to be. Perhaps there is nothing in this world that speaks to a higher power. He's not sure which truth would be more frightening]

What we must do is learn from this world and find out how we can best help our leaders. They say we are at war, but perhaps it is a war that can be won through words of diplomacy instead of sword and ax.

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