Niko Bellic | Network 001

[vengeance_driven]

[Public | Audio]

[Niko hates having to ask for stuff. He still feels bad for imposing on Roman so much for so long, but he needs money to get what he wants, and he can't do his job (either job) if he can't go into the woods or the caves.]

So uh...

This hasn't been an issue until now, but I didn't bring any armor with me. I wasn't really expecting so many explosions [or to get wrapped up with gun-runners] and I'm really need to get back to work. If anyone has good suggestions, please give them. I could use something, maybe have it imported in.

[There at least doesn't seem to be a shortage in people that would be knowledgeable in different armors, but probably all of them types he hasn't heard of.]

Comments

[tawarwaith]

[It would be a learning experience.]

Pool? Do you mean playing in a pool? [Was that a translation glitch?]

Foot races usually and sometimes horses on the edge of the forest. The trees are too dense to do much more than that.

[vengeance_driven]

No, uh... is a game with a felt covered table with holes on sides and in corners. You take the end of a stick and poke a white ball, and use it to knock certain colors and numbers of ball in the holes. If you knock the right ones in, you keep going. If you knock the wrong ones or the white ball in, the next person goes. If you knock the black one with the eight on it in, you lose.

You have to think about what will hit what. I'm okay at it, not great. But I like it. [He likes it because he likes hanging out with people that play it.]

[tawarwaith]

[She tilts her head slightly, puzzled at the description of the game.]

This sounds complex but it seems to have nothing to do with water. Why is it called pool then?

[vengeance_driven]

I have no idea.

Some people call it billiards.

[But when he says "billiards" he lays into that "r" comes out pretty heavy.] In my native country it is closer said to that than pool.

[tawarwaith]

[And now she will be saying it with a strong R as well.] Billiards sounds less of a confusing term than pool. It is certainly less misleading!

Thank you for clarifying what pool is as well. It seems I still have much to learn.

[vengeance_driven]

Hey, no problem! Before I meet you guys, I thought that elves were just old stories. [Not particularly good ones, either.] But is nice to learn something new every once in a while. So far? Not so bad.

[Not like Liberty City, though this talk has oddly reminded him that he wants to visit the brothel to see if there are any dancers there.]

[tawarwaith]

It seems we are fairy tales in a lot of different places! [She smiles a little clearly amused.]

I agree with you that learning something new is very good. Not all from Middle Earth share this sentiment though. Some would prefer to remain blind and jaded to anything new.

[Which garners a small sigh from her as she thinks back on her King.]

I myself try to learn at least three new things every day now that I have found myself here.

[vengeance_driven]

I am also trying not to get my hopes too high.

The last time I came to a new place, things did not go well for me. I thought I would be escaping a difficult life and difficult men back home, finding something new. I had heard good stories, but things were not that good at all. They were mostly lies.

[But not everything was bad. He still made friends.]

I can understand what it is to be jaded. This is me as well, but I might as well live with what I am given for as long as I am given it, right?

[tawarwaith]

I do not find you at all jaded, or at least you are not jaded in a way that I am familiar with.

[She was used to her King being insular and enforcing that insular behavior upon everyone else without a care for the world outside the borders of his kingdom. ]

I hope here you might make new memories and better ones than previously. Wherever it is that you have come from, I hope that i will not plague you here.

[vengeance_driven]

I will consider that a compliment. [Really, Roman never stopped harping on him for being a giant drag to be around. But he at least still took him bowling and drinking.]

I don't think the old ones will go away, but maybe a few good new ones would be nice. Maybe I teach you to play pool or billiards sometime?

[tawarwaith]

[She smiles then glad that she had managed not to say something to upset him. She sometimes could trip up over her won words and end up saying the wrong thing.]

I would like that. I think it would be a good experience for me. One thing I promised myself when coming here is that I try as much as possible and learn all that I can.

[vengeance_driven]

It's not the most exciting thing to learn but here's hoping something better comes along.

[tawarwaith]

I'm certain there will be a lot more things to learn from this place. Is there anything you're hoping to achieve while here, or is this just a way station?

[vengeance_driven]

[He sort of chuckles awkwardly.]

When I was growing up, there was many countries sending people to the moon. I wanted to be like them, but I was too little to realize that poor farmboys from the Balkans don't grow up to be astronauts.

Well. Here I can learn to fly a ship, and if I can do that one day I can go to any moon I want to.

It's something to do, anyway.

[tawarwaith]

[She did not know what an astronaut was. It was something else she would have to look up as well, but she did not wish to ruin the moment by having to ask for clarification. Even without knowing, she could understand his dream to do more since it echoed strongly with her own desire. ]

You have a point. Here it seems there are no limits on the things that we can achieve. I had thought about returning to my king with useful information about technology or a greater understanding of the grander scheme of things, but I have never thought about what I might do for myself. You have given me something to think about.

[vengeance_driven]

[He remembers what she mentioned before, about being jaded. And then thinks of the mention of the king. He guesses it would be good to give his opinion, even with his piddly lifespan and the ridiculousness of advising an otherworldly creature.] It is my experience that many bitter leaders make poor choices with what they are given, and are even better at making angry people to follow them.

I would be careful, if I were you.

[tawarwaith]

I hope my King will take what I bring him and find some small joy and sense of wonderment out of it rather than using it for ill.

[She looked down towards the ground for a moment, mulling over what to say next.]

I have no desire to bring him anything that he might use against someone else, even if it is our most hated enemy.

[vengeance_driven]

The orcs that the other one like you mentioned. Sort of like you. About as like you as I am to Croat, I guess.

[tawarwaith]

Yes Orcs and other such foul creatures that plague my home.

[She smiles a little when Lindir is mentioned, even though she has no idea what a Croat is.]

You could say he and I are as different as night and day.

[vengeance_driven]

Maybe less different then. Same country but little bit different heritage, different culture.

But he does seem more like a home body than you.

[Thankfully his smile is hidden by audio, because he doesn't have a face made to wear smiles well. He's friendly enough, he's just bad at looking it.]

[tawarwaith]

If you wish for our direct differences, I am a Silvan elf from a place called Mirkwood which is as dangerous a place as it's name suggests while Lindir is from Imladris, a place sheltered in a valley hidden by mountains.

[She laughs when he calls Lindir a homebody.]

That is an apt description.

[vengeance_driven]

Don't worry about impressions, at least. You both made pretty good ones, even if very different.

[tawarwaith]

[That makes her smile, glad to hear that. She had been worried about coming across as too cold or too impersonal to others.]

I'm glad to hear that. Some of my race can be very off putting.

[vengeance_driven]

You know, for the whole legends of mystery woodland creatures thing. Might steal us in the night. [He says it lightly, though. He's joking.]

I mean just as new people. I've come to a lot of places and not met very good people.

[tawarwaith]

[This is a new one to her. Although it is true that the mortal races back home do share such legends about some of the Elves of note. She just never talked much with them.]

Why would anyone steal you? Is this something mortals often fear?

[She does like being called good people though. It makes her feel like she has accomplished something here. Especially since she is pretty low tech compared to everything else.]