Second floor common room, late Sunday night

[cheminthehead.livejournal.com]

The genet dashed into the common room, Gladys following, and leapt onto the couch, the TV, then bounced back. "You Have Too Much Energy," she told it, holding out a hand. It leapt into it and started sharpening its claws and trilling.

That meant it was hungry (Gladys had not let it eat any of the tiny monkeys) so she started opening cupboards, looking for something to feed it. The genet immediately ran inside and started kicking things out. "That Is Not Helpful."

It ignored her, pounced on a cereal box, dragged it to the middle of the room, and started disembowelling it. "Your Manners Need Some Work."

[ooc: Beware of chaotic genet.]

Comments

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"That's helpful, at least," Alice said. "The traveling. Does your family vacation a lot, at the far reaches of the galaxy? I'd never been further than London before. I expected Virginia and got Greece, and now we seem to be on a bit of a tour. I rather approve, I must say. Very helpful of the island to turn nomadic."

She shook her head, trying to get back to her point; it did so have a way of wandering off on its own, stopping to pick flowers and getting lost in the woods. "There seem to be so many things that came between my time and this that have become ... necessities, an ordinary part of everyday life. Taken largely for granted, to where it astonishes others that I've no idea what the word even means. I try not to ask the unintelligent questions, such as how the musicians get on the plate-discs. That's quite simple: magic again."

[solo_sword]

"My family's sort of politically important, so I grew up traveling all over," said Jaina. Which was the nice way of putting it. "I've been to more planets than I can count now, but I have to say, I like the island's location changes. Keeps boredom away."

Another small smile and she said, "If you want to know something, feel free to ask even if you think it's unintelligent. I think by now most people- at least the ones who've been here a while- remember what it was like to be new."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice smiled back, flushing faintly again. "Thank you for that. I shall remember it. I hope, in that case, you don't mind me asking: how exactly does one travel across galaxies? Spaceships? Doorways? Aliens always had spaceships, in books I read, but I'm not certain if being from another galaxy makes one an alien, exactly. I'm a bit unclear on the delineations."

She bobbed her head. "Are you royalty, then? I can give a more proper curtsy."

[solo_sword]

"Oh, no need," Jaina said quickly. "My mother used to be a princess. Still holds the title but not the job and I've got nothing to do with it."

She had to think for a minute to remind herself not to into a long detailed explanation of how exactly starships worked, to save Alice's brain. "My boyfriend calls me a visitor. I'm human, and we have plenty of other species out there, so 'alien' has never felt fitting. So I like his version," she explained. "We use spaceships. It's completely common for people to go planet to planet, though space travel's not always quick. Sometimes you can travel for a whole month if you're traveling from one end of the galaxy to the other."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Visitor," Alice said, musing on it. "I think I like that term. And you've certainly got the right to determine your own terminology; if you say you aren't an alien, I shall take your word for it. Space travel sounds a bit like traveling by train, in that sense. I expected it to take much longer to get here than it did, but then I suppose we didn't have an ocean to cross, from London to Greece. Still, in another sense it took a hundred and fifty years, so there's that."

She tilted her head at the other girl, curiously. "I didn't realize princessing was something one could resign. I suppose that makes sense."

[solo_sword]

"It's sort of like that, actually," Jaina said. "The scenery's a little different. And I think you just got the special trip."

This was one of those things she hadn't had to explain to many people here, and those back home all knew what happened to Alderaan, so she was never sure whether there was a way to phrase this well. "Her planet was destroyed. There's nothing left to rule over. It's less resigning, more honorary discharge."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice flushed, and then dipped her head again. "My apologies," she said. "And my condolences to your mother, though I doubt she'll want them from some strange girl she's never met before, so you're free to not pass them along. And to you as well, those you don't need to convey to anyone. That has to be ... difficult, to lose so much. How did she survive, if you don't object to me asking?"

[solo_sword]

"There's nothing to apologize for," Jaina assured her with a little wave of her hand. "It was a decade before I was even born. But I'll pass along the message. There was a war on at the time, my mother was being held on a space station as a Rebel conspirator. They picked which planet to destroy because it was her homeworld. Not a fun story."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice flinched. "No, it isn't. I didn't intend to make you retell it. I hope your war is over, then. War is always brutal, especially so in cases where the enemy is ... so highly fond of civilian casualties."