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[blondrussianspy]

The snow was gone. All of it, gone. It was hot out, mostly sunny, though every few days they'd be pelted on and off for hours with fat, warm rain drops falling from barely-grey clouds that would then be blown on out over the water by the breeze off the sea

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[a_royal_bastard]

Alistair never was comfortable not knowing the lay of any land well. He knew enough that half of the island was off limits because of strange beasts there, but this other half, the inhabited half, had more than enough for him to explore for now.

He'd been walking along one of the paths, Duncan at his side. The hound was taking well to this environment, though his daily presents of dead animals was getting a little old. It was he that noticed the stranger walking toward them.

"Greetings," he said politely, glancing at Duncan to make sure he wasn't going over to the woman. In Ferelden, a Mabari wasn't something to be feared unless you were purposely attempting to anger it. Here, though, he knew the dog's size alone might worry some. "Nice day, isn't it?"

[blondrussianspy]

Natalya stopped walking and closed her eyes, frowning. It was going to take a lot not to be snappish at people who didn't deserve it, friends and strangers both. She dropped her hand from the back of her neck and looked at the young man who'd addressed her- and hesitated. He was the spitting image of, what was his name. Sarah's boyfriend's sister's husband.

She had to spare a moment to be impressed by the complexity of her social network here, at least compared to how things had stood back home.

"So it is seems everyone think, save me," she replied. She paused in her next step, eyes falling on the... dog... beside him. He was comparable in size to the large wolves that were running about, but his build was completely different. It had to be all the Americans- everything seemed to grow larger, here.

[a_royal_bastard]

"Not a fan of the climate?" he asked, and if he noticed the frown, he didn't act like it. "I think I might appreciate it a little more after nearly getting frostbite here not long ago. Waking up in an unfamiliar, snowy place with nearly nothing on tends to do that, I was told. Funny, that."

Duncan, sensing they weren't moving on, sat down besides Alistair, eying the woman with an obvious interest.

[blondrussianspy]

She felt her lips tugging up a little, and had to allow herself a smile. It was nice, finding someone who was amiable about it and not trying to proselytize the glories of the tropics. She was also amused that he'd apparently turned up naked in the snow.

"Where I am from, is much snow. To be with nearly nothing on is unwise, unless you are having hot spring or warm place that is- close by hands." She was was eighty percent sure that was the correct expression.

[a_royal_bastard]

It was an odd accent - one he'd never heard - but considering his current situation, he wasn't so surprised. Apparently this entire place was from some other worlds, which was hard enough to imagine.

"To be with nearly nothing on outside period is probably a bad idea in general," he agreed. He certainly hadn't meant to be like that. "There's a reason why those sorts of situations are what nightmares are made of. Or, some of my nightmares, anyway. Wow, I just admitted that outloud, didn't I?"

[blondrussianspy]

Natalya didn't quite laugh, but her smile remained, wry but genuine.

"This heat, is hard for be blaming peoples," she said, ruefully, and walked farther down the path until she was standing opposite the man and his dog.

"You are very new arriving, then."

[a_royal_bastard]

"The heat. Right. That's exactly it," he agreed, a grin creeping up as she approached. "And yes, very new. I suppose that's practically written all over my face, though."

[blondrussianspy]

"Practically," she agreed, albeit with an extra syllable or two.

"I am not being here so long as many of residents, but even now I am better at seeing who has and who has not. Longer, though, than ever I had anticipation of," she added after a moment.

"Being here. Well, anyway, welcome," she said, absently murmuring to herself first in Russian, and offered her hand.

"I am Natalya Zamyatin."

[a_royal_bastard]

That was something he'd heard before. The stretches of time he'd heard people have had so far were worrying. He knew he was needed back home, and here, he not only couldn't help, but he also couldn't find out what was going on.

It was nothing he was going to bring up with a complete stranger, of course. It was actually something he just kept pressing to the back of his head in general.

"Thank you. My name is Alistair," he replied, taking her hand and shaking it. "And this is Duncan. If you don't mind me asking, what was that language you were just speaking?"

[blondrussianspy]

"Privet, Duncan," she said, and offered her hand out to him, fingers gently curled and palm flat, facing up. This was how she had always greeted the dogs they trained at camp. Kneeling would have been pointless, any creature that size knew perfectly well they could take you. It was the courtesy, she'd been taught, of letting them examine your scent and form their own opinion. She had worked with dogs on missions, although she had never liked to. They were not as complicit in their participation in operations as human soldiers were.

"Is Russian," she told him, eyebrows raising up as she turned her face back toward Alistair's.

"Is where I am from. Russia." It was hard with English speakers to not say Russiya, sometimes, but she managed.

[a_royal_bastard]

Duncan sniffed her hand, though Alistair had a feeling he'd formed his opinion long before the offer.

"Is that another place on...Earth, was it?" he asked. He was trying to get a bit of a handle of all the places that apparently weren't even on his world, nevermind near his land. "I've heard about a few places there."

[blondrussianspy]

"Ah, you are come from... other world?" Natalya said, moving to sit on a low, mossy rock, tucking one heel beside her knee and leaning back on her hands, after absently- or seemingly absently- setting the long slender canvas bundle slung over her shoulder to rest leaning against the rock off to one side.

"This I am seeing. You no are alone in this. Even being from the Earth, as is- yes, Russia is there, I am of Earth- is many peoples being from Earths are not the same. Is same world, different in histories. Events are change, so what comes after also is changed. As you are notice, this language, no is my... first." She smiled a little, abashed despite her general air of confidence.

"Most people they are speaking- like you. Where your home is?"

[a_royal_bastard]

"Oh, I didn't know that," he said. It felt like he learned something new every single moment here. "I'm from a place called Ferelden. I don't think anyone around here knows of it. Well, unless the blank looks I get mentioning it is for something I don't know about."

[blondrussianspy]

Natalya shrugged a little, and shook her head apologetically.

"I have no heard of Ferelden," she said, working her way carefully through the word, unfamiliar as it was and filled with a lot of not-Russian-friendly sounds.

"But give this time. You will be taken with surprise, how people from home can will all of sudden be arriving."

[a_royal_bastard]

"As long as it's people I like, I'll be fine with that," he replied, trying not to shudder at the very thought of being stuck anywhere with Morrigan. It would be worst than his worst nightmares. "For now, though, it's just me and my dog here. And I didn't even know my dog back home. Are people where you're from here?"

[blondrussianspy]

Natalya glanced again at Duncan, who seemed to be following along with their conversation rather more closely than one might expect. Or maybe she was paranoid.

"Only there is one. Yorick. He is- good boy."