July Arrivals

[sixthiteration]

WHO: Arrivals
WHERE: The fountain park
WHEN: July 1, 12:00 PM
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: N/A
STATUS: CLOSED

---

In the snug circle of an old park, a fountain sits burbling beneath a broad, midday sky.

Once-neat paving stones have buckled and cracked from the slow nudge of wayward roots. Benches stand covered in lichen and rust. Three paths push into the underbrush like the spokes on a wheel, the encroaching forest creating lush tunnels through the dark.

But the fountain stands singular and pristine, brightly splashing in open rebellion of the deep, muffled sounds of a place long ago gone to seed. A vibration hums through the ground, there and quickly gone, and the water in the fountain trembles, lapping against the high walls of its cool, pale reservoir.

It is the first of July.

It is precisely twelve o'clock in the afternoon.

Comments

[tooktheblack]

"I've had some experience fighting," Jon said. He thought it might be modest, considering he'd just come off the biggest victory of his career, but that had only come with aid from the Vale. He hadn't done that alone. He might have been made a king by the lords of the North but he wasn't born a king and the mantle set heavy on his shoulders.

Here, his title meant nothing. His name meant nothing. It would be the skill of his hands and the strength of his back that would carry him through here and he hoped that he would use them well and aid those around him. This man was tall and looked capable enough; he would make a fine ally.

"Not afraid to do that if I need to. I hope it doesn't come to it, though, since we've all just shown up. Hopefully whoever brought us here isn't looking to start a fight but if they are, I'm not afraid to finish it."

[andrend]

"Good. That is the kind of thinking that I like to see." Ren studied Jon as he spoke. If the man was a skilled enough fighter, and with the temperament he seemed to carry himself with, Ren was certain he could find uses for Jon. There were plenty of reasons to want to keep a fighter around and more or less on his side. Perhaps he could do with a few temporary allies.

Longer, if they did not disappoint or betray him.

"If they were looking for us to be fighting one another, they would have left us with weapons. I think the motives behind this are a bit different than that." He still believed they were captives of slavers.

"Did you have many enemies in Westeros?"

[tooktheblack]

"A fair few," Jon said, thinking back to the betrayal on the Wall. He was King in the North now, yes, but that didn't mean his enemies were less. On the contrary, he probably had more enemies now than he'd ever had. A bastard did not normally rise so high in the world, not even Ned Stark's bastard.

"Enough that I wouldn't want them to follow me through to this place but if they do, I'll find a way to deal with it. I'm not afraid."

[andrend]

They shared that in common. The commonality was almost reassuring to Ren. There was something to link them, however small, and that was a start. Whether Jon knew it or not they appeared to share a common enemy.

"There is a chance that one of our enemies is the cause for this relocation. Whether that is the case or not, I have no fight with you." Not yet, at least. But anyone who did not recognize the names he had mentioned seemed unlikely to know him or the missions he had for the future of the galaxy. Jon was not his enemy until he gave Ren a reason to view him as one.

"If your enemies do happen to emerge, you will not have to face them alone." It wasn't a selfless offer. He expected the same from Jon. The man seemed to understand a code of some sorts, and Ren had no fear of fighting. The unknown was just a different kind of challenge.

"What weapons are you familiar with?" He didn't sense any other force users, but it was hard to tell just how much of his own use of the force had been limited by what was holding him back.

[tooktheblack]

"The bow and the sword, mostly," Jon said, confident in that response. He would use either to defend someone against their enemies until he had cause to rise against them so for now, he was considering Ren an ally. They had the common enemy of this place, after all, and Jon wanted all the help he could get in defending himself.

"I have some knowledge of knives and siege craft, too, but that's for a big battle. Up close, it's better to use fists and smaller weapons. Who cares if you have a trebuchet if someone's in your face? What about you? Sword, I assume?"