lostnetwork | 001 . video . psa

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001 . video . psa

[The video clicks on to reveal a small, slender, nervous-looking redhead. She has a frilly white blouse on covered with a leather bomber jacket, more stylish than functional, and she's fidgeting in her seat.

She takes a visible breath and says, somewhat stilted,] Hi. Willow. --That's me, Willow, my name, and. You should call me that. And you should email me?

Wait, sorry, I'm doing this in the wrong order. [She looks embarrassed, but then shakes her head and starts over, calmer now that she's getting into the rhythm.]

I'm Willow Rosenberg and I'm the official Darstone liaison to the newcomers. That means you, cause, if you're on this network, you're a newcomer-- a dimensional kidnap-ee. It's probably not government approved to say kidnap-ee, but that's okay because I work for them so I'm allowed to be especially disgruntled. Actually, even though I work for them, I'm in more or less the same position as you, I just got here earlier. When they needed someone for the job about a month ago I said yes.

Anyway... [Pause as she tries to recover her conversational thread.] Being the liaison means you should come to me if you have problems settling into the city, or if you need to talk to someone official and don't know how to reach them. I can get you in touch. I'm not responsible for deciding who gets to go home, so don't bug me about that or you'll make me cranky and mildly disapproving, and I don't like to be cranky.

But you really should email me if you need something. That's what I'm here for. I also do emergency response sometimes if something goes wrong with one of us, and trust me, I can handle it. So don't cause problems or you'll have to deal with me. [This is half bluffing and half honest confidence.] That means whoever sent those shadow things around during the festival, I better not see that happen again or I'm going to track you down, and there will be consequences.

[Her eyebrows go up in open evaluation.] Got it? Oh, and whoever's sending out the spying snakes, that's just creepy, but not illegal. So keep it not illegal or I'll sic the police chief on you, and she's scary.

... Any questions? About me or about what's going on? It's really mostly answered in the guide on your mirror, but I am answer girl if you have something else.

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::East Germany as in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik? Not until after his time. So if asked, he wouldn't be able to answer. However, if the reason for her confusion is his nickname for Germany... That, he can answer.::

Ja, I kinda noticed that it's taking forever for anyone to get anything done over there. You'd think they'd've planned a little better, or does the right hand have no fucking clue what the left is doing? Which, you know, is all well and fine when it's something that you want to keep secret, but the last time my government strongly encouraged people to move to my lands, they let the relevant departments know what the fuck to expect.

Mostly.

Taking forever is one of the decided traits of bureaucracy. [She's frowning again. Willow might get frustrated with it too, but she does feel some protectiveness for Darstone, the place that'd taken her out of Animus. It was just doing its best.]

If you're planning on trying to help, you might want to put it a little more delicately than that, [she suggests.]

I know, I know! I've only been doing this for, what, six? seven? centuries? Diplomacy is really more Lutz' strong suit, but I didn't get this far without knowing something about talking to people.

You should consider using it, cause I don't know how it usually works for you, but most governments don't appreciate foreigners messing around with their paper pushing.

Well... Sometimes I don't appreciate foreigners coming in... ::He may mutter something here to the effect of "Goddamn Voltaire". Maybe. Possibly.

Okay he does. Prussia: Can hold grudges for centuries.::

But look, I promise. I will be wholly and entirely diplomatic. I wouldn't want to cause problems, especially not if a cute girl like you is gonna have to clean up after them~

[She may not technically be gay anymore, but she sure feels that way most of the time, so hearing a man call her a cute girl does nothing more than make her fold her arms. It doesn't help that she just spoke to England and is very much annoyed that Prussia was trying to convince her to give him a chance right after he'd gotten into what looked like an extremely one-sided fight.]

I wouldn't so much have to clean up as give you a verbal warning, which is even less fun for me than it is for you, [she says shortly.] But if you can get your foot in the door, be my guest.

::He picks up on that sudden change of tone, which definitely catches his attention. Huh? Why is she suddenly so curt?::

Then why not come up with something that's more fun for you than for me? Keep in mind I've heard my fair share of 'verbal warnings' over the years, even before West thought he was big enough to scold me.

But, ah, did I offend you? We were getting on oh so well~

[Now that he's opened the conversational door, Willow can't keep her indignation to herself, and puffs up like a cat as she goes off on him.]

We weren't getting on, I was giving you a chance! A chance you already blew before I even talked to you! If you really want to get along with me, don't put people in the hospital. Especially if they're people I like.

::He stares at his communicator in obvious confusion, rendered speechless. It takes him a few long moments to respond, and even then, his words are neither the most coherent nor well reasoned.

Prussia is angry, and doesn't care who knows it.::

You were giving me a chance. You. Were giving me. A chance?! You know who you give chances to? Criminals! Untrustworthy people! Uh... uh... Bad guys! So what you're saying is you decided I was the fucking villain without even a how do you fucking do!

You don't even know- All you know is what England told you! How do you- What makes you- How can you like him?! You've only just met him! I've known him for centuries; ally and enemy! We've fought together. We've fought against eachother! And it's never- He's never- Not like this! ::He almost loses steam for a moment, staring off at some point above the communicator.::

But he talked to you first, huh? Warned you about the big, bad Nazi, ja? You know, I can see why you might take to him so. He's got his charm, ja. His good points. I'm quite fond of him myself when he's not being an arrogant, warmongering ASSHOLE who BOMBED MY CIVILIANS!

::By the end of his rant, Prussia is standing, leaning towards his communicator which is now obviously on some sort of table or desk, breathing heavily.::

He brought the war here, Fraeulein. Not me. Nicht ich.

[Okay, no, she's mad. Because she'd told him it was personal for her, and apparently he couldn't guess what that means. So if she's in for a penny, she might as well go in for all of it, because this was way more than a penny already.]

I only see one person injured here and it's not you! You can say whatever you want, but the second you start hurting people-- I don't care who it is-- you lose my sympathy.

And for the record, I'm Jewish. I'm also gay, or, or kind of gay. I'm pretty much gay! So yeah, I decided you were the villain. What else was I supposed to decide? Are you trying to tell me I shouldn't be scared?

It has nothing to do with charm or who bombed who. It has to do with you hurt someone, in the city I'm living in.

[She feels like Buffy, saying this, defending her town. She'd never envied her the job before, but having to do it now makes her more and more understand just how hard it was on her. It's not fun being the bad guy. Willow hates it. There isn't really a good guy, sometimes.]

::Prussia is noticeably paler by this point. So much of her response is bringing his suppressed rage to the surface. (Though that has nothing to do with his pallor.) He doesn't even know where to begin, so he just begins where he feels like and hopes he hits all the points she made eventually.::

Am I trying to tell- Am I trying to- OF COURSE I'M TRYING TO TELL YOU NOT TO BE SCARED! ::Dramatic pacing goes here.:: Do I look like I'm gonna hunt you down and shoot you or any other gays or Jews?! ::He begins to make a pointed sweeping gesture at himself when ...Uh, wait, shit, is he wearing his... whoops. That is that uniform, isn't it? Prussia pauses mid-motion, glances downwards, frowns, and clears his throat.:: Don't answer that. ::The look he gives her is somewhere between kid caught in the cookie jar and annoyed.::

My point is... my point- what the fuck was my point?! ::His expression deepens into a scowl as he snaps his fingers, trying to recollect his thoughts.::

Oh!

Get off your bloody high horse. He started it. I ended it. I broke his arm. He broke my ribs. Do you even know how much it hurts to yell right now?! ::He does seem to go white every time he starts really yelling...:: We kissed, we made up, we are okay with each other now. ::He'll leave it up to her how she interprets that sentence, since the probability of her choosing the literal -and most correct- meaning is approximately zero percent.::

[She wilts a little, not thinking anything of the 'kissed and made up' reference. It was just witty talk.] Oh, I... didn't realize you'd gotten hurt, too.

I-I'm not on a horse! I told you I didn't think there was a hero here, and-- and I really don't mean to take sides. But telling me not to be scared doesn't exactly... help, with all the yelling and shouting and getting into fights already. [That said, she is a lot calmer now; more morose than anything.]

Me being scared is totally justified, so you'll just have to be patient if you want my personal sympathy. Though I don't really see why you want it in the first place-- what does little old me even matter? As long as you aren't hurting anyone, the most I'll do is be rude and cranky in your direction.

Ja, well, there's not anything a doctor coulda done that I couldn't've done myself...

::He rubs his head, trying to keep a little quieter now that she's mentioned the yelling is not helping. Not that Prussia meant to scare Willow; it's simply... he's loud. It's a German thing.::

Not necessarily sympathy, Fraeulein. I've known thousands of government sorts over the centuries. I'm well aware you could make life very difficult for me if you thought me a threat. ::He may be overestimating Willow's political pull, but sometimes it's better to overestimate than underestimate. Especially if you're not at all familiar with the societal and governmental norms.::

Besides, I'm the most awesome! Everyone should think well of the great and wonderful me! ::...Aaaand there's the ego. We knew he couldn't stay serious forever.::

That's not true. They use a lot of healing magic here-- better than anything I can do. You could just go make sure. [Willow's innate desire to help people overtakes any lingering resentment in at least this instance.

Ironically she could make his life difficult if she wanted to, but not politically. Darstone city council doesn't trust foreigners enough to let them be so influential, not yet; but magic wise she's something to be reckoned with. Not that she wants to do any reckoning.]

Well, you don't need to worry about it, because I don't start fights and I don't retaliate against people just because they make me mad. I have enough trouble on my own, I don't need to go personally requesting it show up and make my life hard.

[This is very much true. Willow is trying desperately to turn herself around, to be a different person, someone that embodies goodness and purity and moral ideals. All that white hat stuff that used to come so easily to her, back when the worst thing she'd ever done was cheat on her boyfriend-- bad enough-- but not in the league of tearing someone's skin off, or erasing her girlfriend's memory.]

M-magic... ::With him, it's hard to tell whether he finds the idea appealing or not so much. Either way, it's roughly the same facial expression.:: Well. If I ever get hurt badly I'll remember that. Broken ribs? Wouldn't be awesome of me wasting anyone's time, right? Right.

Well, now that that awfulness is settled I should let you get back to work~ ::After all, Prussia is aware how easily he can send a conversation towards a bad end. Which is not going to help his long term plans any. Nope nope.::

And don't worry, I'll stay out of trouble and be a good boy like West.

It's not wasting someone's t-- [Oh, he's trying to end the conversation. Willow cuts herself off, and frowns uncertainly at him.]

I'll be happy if you stay out of trouble, but I don't want you to be hurt. Go waste their time if you have to. It's a hospital, they're all about time wasting.

[He really doesn't seem like a bad guy when she's not looking at his uniform and he's not yelling at her. Especially if he made up with England.]

I'll heal fine on my own, really. This is hardly the worst I've gotten hurt in my life. Now, a bullet wound? That I'd go to the hospital for. Those are nasty and then if the bullet stays inside you it's just annoying as fuck and really makes me miss arrows because I can get those out myself usually. ::His tangent reminds him of something.::

Oh! I know I was gonna go, but can bullets be found here or am I gonna have to invest in a sword if I wanna do any of the monster killing quests?

[Willow is very much not a fan of guns based on personal experience with them, so this makes her go quiet for a moment, but she keeps her thoughts to herself and just answers his question.]

They don't really use them, but if you want bullets you might be able to convince a blacksmith to make some for you? [she suggests, swallowing her dislike of guns.] It might be a little pricey, and I'm not sure how well they'd work... but check the crafter's district. I'm sure someone would give it a try if you gave them enough money.

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001 . video . psa

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