Test Drive #7 - Ten Forward and Captain's Yacht

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprise's off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...





Option 02. The Captain's Yacht: Oooh, you sneaky stowaway! You've found yourself in a very exclusive part of the ship: Captain Picard's personal craft, used for short jaunts when a shuttle just won't do. (One must retain some decorum, after all.) It may not be as large as the Enterprise itself, but there are sure to be some surprises aboard once people start snooping.


[OOC: The Captain's Yacht is located at the very base of the Enterprise's saucer portion, so if you put someone in there you can also play them trying to get back to somewhere they know!]

Comments

[deadmanbusiness]

There's a twitch of a smile on his face. "I'm flattered that you would ask that of me, but I can't do it. I won't allow anyone to be my queen in such a way and I cannot bind myself in such a contract. It's a demi-god thing." He sighs a bit.

"I'd be happy to keep an eye on her and give you a break once in a while, as a friend."

[the_blood]

"I appreciate the aid," he said with a sigh and a nod. Without protocol of his serving her, however, he had no more rights than those of a friend, if he could become her friend. It would have been nice to have had him for a brother of the court, however...

[deadmanbusiness]

"I am sorry," Theo said, seeing the look. "But, there are rules for my people as well. And I can't break them. It seemed like there's a lot more to being apart of her court than just something mundane."

[the_blood]

He nodded. "I understand it, I do. I just regret it, that is all," he said, and extended a hand. "I would still be honored to call you friend, even if we cannot be court brothers."

[deadmanbusiness]

"What does court brothers mean?" The terms are important to know, because if they are to be friends and each other's company, he wants to know what they're talking about.

[the_blood]

"While it is not always a given, when two males serve together in a first circle, they often form bonds closer than simply friends. They become, sometimes, like brothers. Another male in the first circle is the only person you know you can truly trust with the care and protection of the Queen you serve. It is not as official a thing as serving the Queen, but it is real, all the same. At least, when we are lucky enough to serve with someone you can truly respect and like."

[deadmanbusiness]

For the briefest of moments Theo's mind wanders off into places. It's the phrasing that Theiorn uses. Not Theo's thing, but he does go there. "You don't have a choice in who you serve?"

[the_blood]

"What?" he asked, confused, then shook his head. "Of course we can choose. This is not... we are not from Terrelle. It is, usually, something that both sides need to agree to, the Queen has to want us to serve and we have to want to serve. To most it seems that the Queen chooses her court, but the truth is, really, we choose her. We offer ourselves, or do not offer ourselves, and from those who offer, she chooses."

He sipped his wine, made a face that it had gone cold, and finished it in one gulp because he had to, then vanished the goblet to be washed later.

"Protocol however, does allow for situations where a Queen has no one at all to protect her. She may request aid of a male on a short term basis who would not serve otherwise, but might agree to serve in this regard, and a male can protect her, if she has no one else to protect her, even if she did not ask him to serve. I have the right to protect her, to serve her."

[deadmanbusiness]

"Okay. I wasn't sure. Your world seems to very strict on protocol, especially on what males and females can do."

[the_blood]

He nodded. "Protocol helps us balance our society, and ourselves. It does not rule everything, and it is looser more and more as people develop personal relationships, however until that is established, protocol helps us know what boundaries we can and cannot cross."

Apologies on my end! D&D game other RL eating up time

[deadmanbusiness]

Theo nods and stares into his empty cup. He needs more coffee, he thinks.

"Out of curiosity, would it be acceptable to you for a woman to protect your lady like you wanted me to?"

Because Theo seriously doubts that they're going to be able to build Ailshiya her court here. Especially if they're depending on it to be all men. It will amuse Theo greatly if someone like Adrienne, who is a career soldier and a warmage wouldn't be acceptable but Theo, who while a powerful necromancer and demi-god, really couldn't put up much of a fight without a bunch of undead at his disposal, is.

He hopes he can keep his memories when he gets back home because he thinks Adrienne would like hearing about these two.

RL comes first :D And I'm envious, I miss D&D

[the_blood]

"There are generally women in the first circle," he said, choosing his words carefully, "but they do not serve as escort. You have to understand... Males are... Blood males are drawn to service, protecting females is instinct," he said, then hesitated and asked, "May I say something mentally?"

Aww.. .It was an awesome session too. Everyone was trying to kill me.

[deadmanbusiness]

That is an interestingly bred trait. But Theo doesn't say that.

Instead, he nods. "Sure." Since he knows it's coming that over presence that was highly offended last time isn't there.

Re: Aww.. .It was an awesome session too. Everyone was trying to kill me.

[the_blood]

*Something we generally do not share with the females is that most males, myself included, has a theory as to why we are drawn to protect the women because they are scarier when they go cold, and their rage lasts longer by far than the people that sparked their temper. Honest? Most of them are strong enough to protect themselves, and her? She's been trained by Lucivar Yaslana,* He said nodding to her. *There is no doubt that she could defend herself against most normal threats, but if she is pushed to? If she goes cold? Protocol can bring me back from the killing edge, it is far harder to calm female temper. In short? They're scarier when they're p*****d than males are.*

[deadmanbusiness]

There's silence for a moment on Theo's end. *So, like the time Adrienne got so fucking pissed off she collapsed an entire mine on top of some artifact thieves that were trying to kill us and would have collapsed a bit more if we hadn't clocked her out cold?*

That was an ... interesting experience.

[the_blood]

*It sounds like you have experience with the sort of female temper we are discussing, yes," he said, nodding. *Of course a blood female in cold temper is very VERY hard to knock out...*

[deadmanbusiness]

*I'm not saying it was easy to do it, but we managed it.* He tilts his head briefly. *But why would this prevent a woman - not of the blood- from serving in her circle as a protector? Say like Adrienne, who would be much better at it than me.*

[the_blood]

*Mostly two-fold; for one, my own instincts, and that of any other Blood male that might arrive will drive us to protect her as well as the Queen, a distraction that could lead to distrust among the circle. For two, if females serve as escorts, protocol could come into question, and if it falls apart, even if there are only the two of us here... if protocol ever breaks down, I hope I can trust you to kill me* He sent, quite serious.

[deadmanbusiness]

"I'm sorry?" The request is surprising enough that Theo has to respond out loud.

[the_blood]

"If protocol ever breaks down," he replied in kind, "I need you to kill me. immediately," he said. "Protocol is what keeps Warlord Princes from being monsters. It is the leash that holds us, it is needed, or I would destroy everything I might have ever held dear."

[deadmanbusiness]

Now Theo looks extremely uncomfortable. It's not the idea of killing someone for being a monster. He's helped taken monsters down before, human and not. The problem is in his own blood, so to speak.

"First of all, let me preface this by I understand what you're saying. Completely," he begins carefully, picking out his words. "But... I ... there's things that come with being a god in my world, restrictions. And while I'm not a full god yet, I'm inching my way over there. One of those things is that I can't make binding promises. And I won't make a binding promise here, in this place, where there's so much unknown. There might be something here that neither of us know about that could pull you back from that, but if you were to make me promise that, I wouldn't be able to let them do that.

"The second of those things is that gods in my world can't directly take a life. They have to use intermediaries, champions, mortals to do things like that. I'm not really sure what happens if a god were to directly kill someone, but that restriction has been in place for thousands upon thousands of years, so I'm assuming it's for a good reason."

[the_blood]

He nodded. "Then let us hope it never comes to that... and if it does... let us hope the Darkness gives me the strength to walk into the sun," he said softly.

[deadmanbusiness]

"What exactly causes it?" Theo asks, curiously. He's trying to figure out how a breakdown in Protocol would cause such a thing. Was Protocol magical in some way? Perhaps not actively so, but maybe a form of society based enchantment.

Out of his pocket, since he's coffeeless and a bit fidgety, he absently pulls out an ancient gold coin and starts flipping it through his fingers.

[the_blood]

"Causes what? The rise to the killing edge?" he asked.

[deadmanbusiness]

"Yes, what causes that?"