abraxasnet | To: everyone (a few days after all arrivals)

[She knows that style of penmanship well and feels at home reading it.]

Duty is all. I have known my duty since I was very young, as all women know their purpose. I was meant to marry where my father deemed I should and bring a strong alliance for my family. My duty was to become a mother, to expand my husband's House and to serve the Gods and the realm.

There are moments where we might all stumble or mistake our path, but duty is something that is difficult to ever truly mistake. It is a rigid arm to guide.

[So rigid and so suffocating. This is fine.]

Are you questioning your duty, Jon Snow?

More a guiding star than a fixed arm.

I do not question it, but what it is is not always clear. Not when we are far from home. It is different for a bastard son than a trueborn, highborn lady, Your Grace.

Is it only to do what is right?

Perhaps, but it has kept me steady at my more precarious moments. I do not think a lord or a swordsman needs a steadying arm in the manner a lady might.

[He's speaking on something that has already kept her up at night. Now that she's in this new realm, what exactly is she supposed to do? There are no children, no husband and no Westeros here. She's Alicent again, not the Queen.

She does her best not to panic, though it has seemed closer at hand of late. Her cuticles suffered for it.]

It is not clear, but perhaps you could look to the role you served before? You served your family, your gods and the realm. Could your duty not be to protect others here and guide them as they may need? There are many that will feel lost and will need someone with experience and honor to aid them.

There is nothing else but that. To cease doing what is right, it puts everything at risk and harms many in the process.

My family is not here. This is not my realm. I'm not sure that much of anyone here needs my protection or my guidance, or of what I can do for them.

But I try to act with honor. I try to aid my friends, and anyone else who needs help.

I'm not alone in this.

Why should a lady need more steadiness in her duty?

[Let's talk about that, Alicent.]

No, they are not, but there are many new arrivals that will need guidance and advice. You may not be certain, but it is a path to take, one that might give strength more than you might assume.

[Must we?]

It is not uncommon to be mislead or to waiver in the face of difficult decisions.

A lady is as capable of that as a lord or a king.

[ Eddie is trying so, so hard to restrain himself, but eventually, he cracks.

His handwriting is somewhat less graceful than Jon's. In fact, it has just been carefully crafted to look like the Slayer logo. Not that Jon would know. ]

I really don't think you wanna be saying duty that much.

Why not?

Duty is important.

[Well, that's where he stands, and he doesn't care if everyone here is privy to it.]

Sure is, man. Sure is.

[ He is laughing so hard, he might just die again. ]

You might wanna say it out loud a few times.

I say it all the time, when there is reason enough. It should be always in the mind of every man and woman.

Edited 2022-11-27 04:57 (UTC)

[ Stop, his spleen... ]

Oh, believe me, it's always there in the back of everyone's mind. Even if they'd rather it not be.

And you? Do you think it would be better to forget one's duty?

It can be a heavy load.

Edited (formatting!) 2022-11-29 07:25 (UTC)

[ He is howling now. Won't somebody please think of his poor roommate? ]

Duty sure is a heavy load--

[ From the way his handwriting trails off in a scrawl, it's apparent that he either just died, or he's laughing entirely too hard to continue. It's probably the latter, though, because he picks up again a few moments later. ]

Duty sure is a heavy load of SOMETHING huh?

( snow is a bastard’s name. it is not a thought that passes in particular judgement, as much as simple note alone.

but she can’t assume such a thing, not without knowing what realm he may be from. after all, such worlds of possibilities is now open to them.

the questions strike a sour note, however. )

I’ve had the disadvantage of being told my duty all my life. There were times I wished to be free of it, before I came to understand that I had come into my right of earning it.

If I were within my own world, I would answer you so: my duty is to my realm, as it has been for all those before me. Failure is not an option I care to consider.

What exactly is it that you seek to learn, Jon Snow?

— Rhaenyra Targaryen

( perhaps it’s overbold, name revealed. but she is just like everyone else here, and she tests the waters now, throwing out an anchor to see if it catches on something familiar. )

Edited 2022-11-27 05:12 (UTC)

[Oh, seven hells.]

[The mages have fetched up the princess and the queen, both at once, from so long ago. He wonders if someone is playing a game with him. But he has seen a flash of silver hair once or twice in the last few days, and... who in this place would think to play such a game? No one else but the Hightower woman is from Westeros at all -- no one he knows of. And there are nearer names to take than that of Rhaenyra Targaryen.]

I like your words, Princess.

I ask because people are different, according to the places they come from, and according to their needs and the needs of those around them. I do not expect that the answers are easy. Even those who care little for duty must have their reasons.

( there is a man impulse to bristle, and she has half a mind to correct him then and there — Queen — but what strikes her firstly is that he calls her anything at all. )

You know me enough to address me by a title. You’re from Westeros, then? Of the North, if I were to guess by your name alone.

Not all will care for duty. Not all will care for honor or loyalty, either. Within our own realm, or many others.

( not at all a charged statement.

she is still on her guard, the choice of words precise, and if tone cane come through the writing before him, in comes in sharply. she does not know who he swore to, if any at all. he called her princess, which means he either hasn’t heard or…or what? time works strangely here, too. too many unknowns and rhaenyra is too tired to be anything but on the defensive; a targaryen alone in a new world. )

Aye, I am a Northman. Lord Stark was my father. I was raised at Winterfell, but many years after your time. Cregan Stark was my great-grandsire's great-grandsire, or thereabouts.

[He really isn't sure: only that it was long, long ago, when there were still dragons. When the war he faces might have been easier, though it would never really have been easy for anyone.]

Of the ones who don't care for duty, how many of them know their duty? Do you think they might care if they did? Some men are evil, I do not dispute that, but others have had little chance in life.

If I have mistaken your proper title, I am very sorry for it.

[He has little and less concern for his own, except where he must. Does she think she must here and now? It wouldn't surprise him.]

( the initial defensiveness - that incessant need of armor, given the tension and the turmoil she was pulled from, where she had to scramble for allies - ebbs away into confusion, and surprise, by what he says.

princess had pointed to him knowing something, but not enough for her to tell. he’s - from the future? the possibilities make her heart leap to her throat. the answer comes in longer pause, and more to the point: )

No, do not apologize. Whatever my title might have been before I was taken here means little to anyone now. I am not so proud as to be blind to it.

House Stark has always been known for its honor, and duty. Your questions make more sense now.

— Might we meet?

[ It's her first time experiencing something like this and it comes as a confusing surprise. Eventually Hilda recalls Sylvain explaining that words might appear out of the blue with a broad stroke of, "It's just magic," and that's enough for her. She fumbles with her reply but manages to send something back in even, neat script. ]

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮! 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩?

Tea? No, but if you are in Castle Thorne, and you would prefer it, I would be pleased to talk in the dining hall.

I would ask you first what duty means to you. Is it important?

𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘯, 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘥. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺.

𝘋𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴.

[ Jo stares at that collection a long second, and then writes a single line back. ]

𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕒 𝕨𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖 𝕝𝕠𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕤, 𝕥𝕠𝕠.

So it is.

My duty is to my home, my family, my people. It is also to have a care for those who cannot help or defend themselves — to protect and aid them however I can.

I was raised to it. Not everyone is, and I cannot pretend to know anything about the lives of people from other lands unless they have told me, or I have seen it.

[ Jo knows enough to know this question could be taken wrong, but maybe that's part of the asking it, too. Unhedged response, where implications already lay long in blood-dried roads and burned-down fields. ]

𝔻𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕦𝕥𝕪 𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕨?

[The question he was hoping wouldn't come up, although he knew it might, if he asked. It's the question he's trying to figure out the answer to.]

Where are you? Do you count your duty to the people there? If you do, why?

[ Jo is incredibly good at that. There are several people from three or four years ago, that last time she was surrounded by people regularly, who would not be surprised in the slightest Jo Harvelle hit the heart of it in two, without trying to. It's who she is. How she approaches things. ]

ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕖. [ Cheeky, even when she can be unapologetically canny. ]

𝔸𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤, 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪, 𝕠𝕣 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕙𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖?

You're asking a lot of philosophical questions for somebody not providing any answers of your own.

[Shepard's own reply is square and flat, more consistent than any calligrapher could manage. She's not used to writing by hand, and even in this mental space it still comes out in the blocky standard-use font installed in every Alliance Datapad.]

I'm a soldier; back home, I'd say I am a marine. An officer: I'm Commander Shepard.

At the end of the day, my duty, my responsibility, is to do my best to follow orders, and to protect my people where I can, and to spend their lives well where I can't, rather than wasting them in either case. I like to think I've done a pretty good job, overall. But only time will tell if it was enough. Sometimes you just don't get to know.

Why do you ask, Mister Snow? It's not like we're not all due for a crisis of faith, but...

I have no trouble providing answers of my own, but I have learned that my own way, the way my father taught me, is not the only way or the only good.

I think it is my duty to do what is right. It isn't always easy to tell what that is. What is good to one man may be cruelty to another.

It's good to hear that you do your best not to waste the lives of the people who look to you. Does following orders always preserve them?

In my case, no. But this job isn't about saving our own skins, its about taking the risks and paying the price so that other people won't have to. What matters is that the goals those orders serve are worthwhile for the purpose, and that they do actually get accomplished.

Soldiers die in a time of war. That's unavoidable.

What do you do? I mean, professionally, not here.

I am a soldier. I have been a battle commander. My people have made me their king. It doesn't matter here — no man is a king worth mentioning without his people — but that is the way of it. It is a great honor.

When I was still a green boy, sometimes keeping one oath meant breaking another, or following one order meant failing another.

What sort of soldier is a marine? I fight with a sword, or with a bow or a spear, if I must.

A marine is a soldier who's assigned to a ship, or who has a ship assigned to them, in my case. It's not a ship that sails on water, it's a spacecraft— a star ship. We go between star systems and visit other worlds on our mission.

I usually fight with one of several guns, which is a technology you might have seen around, if you were to visit Cadens or any other part of the Free Cities. But I'm also a biotic, which I'm told seems a lot like magic to most people here.

Then again, anyone calling themselves a "king" would sound like a joke to most anyone from my homeworld, so I'm not sure I'm one to judge.

Where I come from, most lords get their lands, their castles, their armies, from their fathers. Sometimes their mothers. But I am bastard-born. My brother was meant to be the Lord of Winterfell, not me. If we had nothing to fight, they would have little need of a war leader. It's good to think of them living untroubled lives, but we must look after each other when the time comes.

I have seen your guns. [Well, not exactly "yours," but he's seen them about, and understands them to be a little like crossbows.] Don't know what a biotic is, though.

Even in peacetime, we've always had some kind of standing military. But then [She stops and considers. Whatever Winterfell is for size, it's almost definitely a lot smaller than the Systems Alliance. A small ground territory wouldn't have the kind of constant fire-fighting that came with a governance that spanned multiple star-clusters. Was it condescending to mention it? Shepard had not often been accused of having tact.] That's probably just an economy of scale.

People still inherit where I'm from, but when it comes to positions of leadership you have to either be elected by the people, or earn it; take me, I'm an orphan, grew up on the streets. Now I'm the commander of the most prestigious vessel in the Alliance fleet. Or, I was, anyways. But we're all doing different work, nowadays.

These ships that sail in the sky — there are others here who are used to such things?

I think it is better that we choose our leaders on skill, on wisdom, on who has a care for their people, not on whose son they are. You must have worked hard and led your people well. But this different work, it was before they brought you here? What happened?

No, no. Back home it was... complicated. But what I meant was, I'm working for Free Cities, these days. The army.

There are a couple of spacers around, but not many of us. You might notice Garrus Vakarian around in places; he's pretty obvious in a crowd, once you see him. He isn't human. What about you, anybody else from your end of the universe pulled in here?

Not until just now. Two queens — Rhaenyra Targaryen, and her stepmother, Alicent Hightower. They were brought here from a time long gone, compared to mine. I know only of what was written of them in the history books, and of that, I think it would be unfair to say. When I was brought here, I was on my way to meet a different Targaryen queen.

What do you make of the army in the Free Cities? You need not tell me if you believe it would be aiding an enemy.

If I told you something useful and you took it as face value, I'd say you were an idiot. That said, they're a hard-working bunch, and there's a lot of them. You'd have to be pretty self-destructive to deliberately provoke a war with 'em.

[The attack on Libertas looms over everything, recently.]

But since when has that ever stopped anyone from picking a stupid fight? Even in the face of bigger problems, people are still people.

[ his is a hand quite steady and beautiful. like the words themselves hail from a land where the art of the word is regarded highly. ]

Quite a heavy set of questions to be spread so far and wide. Is it your duty you so struggle with?

Edited 2022-11-27 09:23 (UTC)

( marc's handwriting is legible — probably the kindest thing anyone can say about it — and untidy in a way that says he doesn't write by hand often. )

I'm a priest. My duty was given to me by god.
It was explained in no uncertain terms. There's little room for error in terms of understanding whether I am fulfilling the mission given to me.

What are you hoping to learn?

— Mr. Knight

Duty is something that's imposed on you.

You follow it because you feel like you owe it to someone. You can choose to ignore your duty, yeah, but it comes at the cost of disappointing people who are counting on you.

Edited 2022-11-27 15:51 (UTC)

[ It took Jack a few minutes to realize how to respond, but after thinking on it awhile he did.]

Duty is doing what is right. Even when it hurts and feels wrong. And finishing what you start.

I don't really know how to know what my duty is, it always felt like protecting those that need help. Failure just means someone's died, and it's my fault. That's how I see it.

At least that's what I feel.

I don't know if that's the right answer.

Overrated.

Better to find what makes you happy (so long as harm is not done to others) and pursue it than bow to duty and expectations of family name, rank, or other societal ties.

If you must be bound, then do it and then step away so you can pursue your own true needs.

[ Elidibus knows a little something about duty. ]

Duty is the charge I have accepted to fulfill, whether it is one of my own making or that of happenstance. While there may be failures and successes in pursuit of one's duty, these are experiences that can be learned from. So long as one has stayed true to their duty until the end, they have fulfilled it.

Still, what is it you seek from your questions? I doubt you will find one definition for what duty is or means. Do you seek to learn from other Summoned or of them I wonder.

-Elidibus, Solvunn.

I've no trouble telling you it's a little of both. You cannot speak of your thoughts on something with such importance without also speaking a little of who you are, whether you will or no.

I should think that duty might mean something different to different people, depending where they come from.

What if you cannot fulfill your duty through no fault of your own? What then?

[ After a short while comes a response. ]

It is oft questioned whether their own actions and choices caused them to be unable to perform their duty. Just as there are many who can no longer continue when it is clear there is no personal fault.

If I have given my all in pursuit of a duty I can no longer fulfill, then I will accept I have done my duty to the utmost. Though regrets may linger. And only time will tell if the burden of wondering what might have been will ease.

That said, few duties are truly so fixed that one might find themselves without a way to fulfill it. Though if you speak of something which can only be fulfilled on the world you come from, I would think you have found an exception.

[He absolutely has some Thoughts on this, but it's not his habit to immediately reveal his most sincere feelings.]

Why? Are you struggling with yours?

Duty is... a burden. A weight, chosen freely and of one's own will; borne of the demands it places. And yet, for all that it is a burden, there are those who thrive under it. Who learn to bear that weight, be it of their own desires or to further a cause they deem just.

To: everyone (a few days after all arrivals)

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