asgardmeridiem | JUNE INTRO MINGLE

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JUNE INTRO MINGLE

Who: Newbies and anyone who wishes to greet them!
What: Getting used to the city
When: Days 274 and forward
Where: Anywhere in town!
Rating: PG-13 tops! If it gets worse, move to a private log please.

[Please include your location and the IC day (ex. Day 275) in your top-level comment or your subject line when starting a thread! It can be any welcome hall, major attraction, or just out an about in any district. For newbies making a top-level thread, you may include your character's name/canon/house in your subject line if you'd like, to make housemates easy to find! :) If a God is needed or wanted, please ping the mods and depending on availability we might be able to throw them in where asked.

Also, keep an eye on the event schedule for June! If you're ICly introing during an event, make sure you take that into account. Thank you!

Have fun!]

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She lets out a tiny huff of amusement at 'terror farming', but is polite enough to not outright laugh since she understands what he's trying to say well enough and it's obvious that it's just him doing the best he can with an expression he is unfamiliar with and doesn't quite understand.

"Life on Arrakis has evolved to adapt to the harsh environment. When the climate changes it becomes harder for these life forms to survive. We were killing the desert, destroying an eco system that had been in place for ages because humans dreamed of turning Dune into an Eden..."

She breaks off momentarily, searching for the right words. She doesn't want to speak of all the blood that has been shed in the name of her father. She doesn't want to speak of the terrible sacrifice her brother had to make to save the desert after the years of effort to extinguish it. It all feels too personal, and the wounds in her heart are a little too fresh for her to want to rip them open in casual conversation, even if she could hide her pain well enough.

"I suppose I'm not certain it was worth all the sacrifices it took to make it happen when in the end it was all a very grand attempt to fix something that wasn't broken. Well, nature wasn't broken."

There had certainly been many things broken about the people on Arrakis, but how much good had the Atreides family readlly done in that regard?

She smiles a little at Jamie, seeming slightly apologetic.

"Forgive me, I'm telling this very poorly, am I not?"

As they walk, Jamie tucks his thumbs behind the belt that holds his sporran in place, but it's an unconscious gesture, most of his attention on what she's saying rather than the way he's walking. When she finishes, though, he shakes his head.

"No, I think I understand what ye mean. Your world's supposed to be the way it was, and when people tried to change it, thinking they were making it better, they'd only wound up making things worse in some ways."

He's seen that happen before, more than once, while traveling with the Doctor. And while they'd managed to set most things to rights, it wasn't without a cost. Sometimes that cost was very high indeed. If the people who had started things in the first place had realized what they were doing before it was too late, maybe things would have been different.

"And those people who made sacrifices, well, they wouldn't have had to do that in the first place if they'd realized what it was they were doing. Am I right?"

Ghanima nods a little.

"Partially right. It's a rather long and complicated story involving many peoples' separate ambitions and dreams that all ended up converging and creating the situation as it was when I was taken from my home."

She sighs and rolls her shoulders as if trying to rid herself of tension or fatigue.

"Some of what happened was perhaps as inevitable as the people involved thought it to be. And as you say, I do think the dream of an Eden on Arrakis would not have been quite as popular if people had known from the beginning what it would bring."

"Aye. Sometimes there's things ye just can't change, no matter how much ye want them to."

He catches that roll of her shoulders, though, and even though he's curious, decides not to ask for more details about the story. If it's as long and complicated as she says, they could be here for a long time - and that's even if she wants to talk about the subject at all. It could be she doesn't, and maybe he'd pushed her enough on it as it was.

"Look, I'd not meant to bring up something that's an uncomfortable topic for ye. We can talk about something else, if you'd like. Or just look at the park. It's just around this next bend here."

She gives him a reassuring smile.

"It's all right, it's more that I'm not sure how to talk about it."

At least whilst still keeping her family out of it, which is something she wants to do for the moment.

"Have you ever been to a desert?"

Jamie nods, because that makes sense to him. There's been things he's had similar problems talking about as well, given when he comes from. Sometimes he can work around the problem but associating it with something more familiar in his head. But other times he simply winds up accepting without understanding, which makes explaining more difficult.

"Not really, no. But we'd been to a place once where they'd tested one of those atom-bomb things and it was a bit like a desert in some ways, with large areas where you'd see nothing at all. It's not exactly the same, though, is it?"

"Not really, no. The desert seems like a wasteland but... there is life there. There are even people. My people."

There is obvious pride in those words.

"I have always found it very beautiful, actually."

Even if she only has memories that are not her own to compare it to.

"Yes, I suppose that'd be true, in that case."

There'd have to be something there to help sustain them, even though he couldn't imagine it'd be an easy life. But he could hear that note of pride in her voice, and he knew the feeling behind it quite well.

"But I believe ye when ye say ye do. There's a lot about my home, back in Scotland, that I feel the same way about. And no matter where I've wound up, it's never the same as it was back there. Although there've been some bonny places, to be sure, like this one."

'This one', in this case, was the park, with the ornamental gardens visible from where they stood. Jamie ignored them for the moment to point towards a spot a little further in.

"The lake's over there, but there's woods here as well, or some other things if you'd rather take a look at those first."

"I think most people carry where they are from with them in one way or another, even if it isn't always with fondness."

Ghani looked over the park and saw the vision so many of her people had died to bring to life, and in that moment she thought that she could understand it a little.

It was wrong for her home, but it could not be denied that it was beautiful nonetheless, this abundance of life.

"I would very much like to see the lake."

"Aye, I think ye may be right there," he agreed, before letting his eyes wander back over to where they stood.

The park wasn't exactly right for his home either, but it was still a place where there were green and growing things - things he had missed sometimes on his travels. And the fact they were here now had helped him to get a little more settled. Whether that was true for Ghani, being from such a different place, he couldn't say. But if nothing else he could show her something new, and sometimes that was good as well.

He started off down the path leading to the lake, which wasn't so far from where they were. And as they got closer, he could see the small stand on the shores of the lake that rented rowboats - and that gave him an idea.

"Hey, I have an idea. What would ye say to going out on the lake itself? There's boats ye can rent, and I've enough to spare to cover it. I could row us out there so ye could get a proper look, if ye like."

Ghanima had memories of boats and large bodies of water. She could even remember the sea.

None of those memories, however, were her own. She herself had never been on a boat, even if there might be places on Arrakis where one could technically go out in one after the many changes enforced on the planet by her family.

"I think I'd like that very much."

She reached out to touch his arm, just a friendly gesture of appreciation.

"Thank you for being so kind to me."

"Och, it's no bother."

But a small, somewhat crooked smile had made its way onto his face - she liked the idea, and he couldn't help but feel a little pleased because of it. It stretched a bit wider at the touch, because he didn't mind helping here at all, and while he didn't say so, it was there in the smile all the same.

"Here, let me go see about getting one, then. I'll be right back."

True to his word, he wasn't gone long, returning with a pair of oars in one hand, and a small receipt in the other. The latter he tucked away in his sporran, then he gestured towards where one of the boats had been pulled up on shore. Placing the oars inside, he pushed the boat until it was just barely in the water, then he held it steady as he turned back to glance over his shoulder towards her.

"I can row us out no problem. Do ye think ye can manage climbing in this way? It'll be easier to get us started with the boat already in the water."

She has no trouble getting in the boat, even if the rocking motion of it is somewhat unfamiliar to her. She takes a seat, immediately reaching a hand down to touch the surface of the lake with her fingertips. She isn't sure what to feel, really, since it both delights her and brings home that much clearer the point that she is very far from home.

"Are there many lakes like this where you're from?"

Once he was sure she'd gotten settled, he climbed in himself - although carefully, so as not to run the risk of rocking the boat too much. Ghanima might be delighted with touching the water, but suddenly being immersed in it by Jamie capsizing the boat might not go over so well.

"Aye, although we call them lochs. Back where I come from, in Scotland, there's all sorts of them about, in different shapes and sizes. Here, let's go out a bit further."

While patience wasn't his strong suit, he did wait long enough for her to finish exploring the water before he dipped the oars in it, pulling them through the water with long, smooth motions and propelling the boat out further into the lake.

"They're grand places to go fishing if you've the time to spare for it. Although there's tales of other things that live in the water too, not just fish."

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JUNE INTRO MINGLE

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augh sorry it took me forever to get back to this thread ;_;

Ah, no worries. Would it be easier to wrap it up?

I really like it a lot so I'd love to keep it going even if I'm a slow poke

I'll be happy to! (even if I might be a little bit slow myself)

We can be glaciers together

Nothing wrong with that. c: