Devotion to Duty - Owl and Closed RP - Brienne and Simon, with special guest appearance by Dumbledor

[maid_brienne]

Even Brienne realized the utter futility of keeping a vigil on the popcorn room in case one of the handful of people she wanted to see should emerge from that state of being. Which wasn't to say she wouldn't, if she had to. After all, they were all gone, all those to whom she was bound by duty. Lady Katelyn. Sansa Stark. Ser Jaime Lannister,

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[superfraternal]

Simon Tam had decided he needed to get his bearings

[maid_brienne]

Brienne walked over to the man, having heard the somewhat desperate note in his voice. "No," she admitted. "I've been here a while. Is there something I can help you with?" She was glad of the reprieve from her own thoughts, at any rate.

[superfraternal]

This was a woman no one would mess with, surely. Simon decided he really didn't want to get on her bad side. He wasn't puny himself, far from it (as people who'd happened upon his shirtless unpopcorning could attest), but this woman could probably tie him into knots if she wanted.

"I'd be hard-pressed to think of anything I didn't need help with. Not that I mean to impose," he hastened to clarify. "I'm just ... lost. Really, really lost."

He gave her a self-deprecating little smile. "Also, I'm Dr. Simon Tam. Very very happy to meet you."

[maid_brienne]

Brienne gave him a slight bow. "I'm Brienne of Tarth. And you're not an imposition at all." Oh, good. Maybe she could be useful to someone, even if just for a moment. "This place is easy to get lost in. Where were you headed? I'd be glad to see if I can help you get there."

[superfraternal]

"I was hoping to find the library. Originally, that is. I started out in Ravenclaw, which is where my sister and I both live. Then I ran afoul of one or two moving staircases," he admitted, scratching his head. "You can see why getting outdoors seemed like a safer option."

[maid_brienne]

Brienne nodded sympathetically. "I can certainly understand that. The castle seems determined to make sure you never get where it is you want to go, especially if you're in a hurry and not paying attention. I was told once the castle used to have passwords to get into all the house common rooms. I'm glad they seem to have done away with that, at least, because that would be another thing to have to keep straight."

[superfraternal]

Simon coughed. "Ah, I wouldn't know. Our common room has a bar in it. The door's always left ajar, for convenience, I presume. What House are you in? I understand there are several."

Some more respectable than others. Sparklypoo? That one just had to be a joke.

[maid_brienne]

"I'm in Gryffindor. We don't have a bar or anything in our common room, but the door is generally open anyway." She was a bit startled to realize she was enjoying this conversation, which was about the time she realized she didn't have much else to contribute. "You said you have a sister?" she tried. "Did you arrive at the same time?"

[superfraternal]

"Gryffindor! That's a good house ... I think." Simon approved, albeit tentatively. "It's all fairly vague to me, I have to admit. Everything except River, of course. River's my sister. She says she got here a few days before I did, which might be a problem. She's not altogether well." Worry was plain in his voice. "Anyway, I went to sleep on Serenity and I woke up here, sitting on the floor of a room full of popcorn kernels."

He omitted the part about having been covered in butter. That was far too embarrassing, and he didn't think that he should inflict it on Brienne. She'd be embarrassed on his behalf, he suspected.

[maid_brienne]

Brienne nodded again. "Ahh, popcorn," she murmured. "I'm beginning to loathe that word, but I'm glad you survived the experience." A few things he'd said earlier struck her. "I hope your sister will improve. I'm told the healers here are excellent." Of course, she chided herself, he probably knew that already, because presumably he wouldn't wish to keep his sister in a state of being unwell.

She let an awkward moment pass before she asked, "What is Serenity?"

[superfraternal]

"Are the healers excellent?" He brightened. "I haven't met any of them yet. Forgive me for saying this, but I'm a little skeptical about magic. I'm going to talk to them anyway, naturally, when I can find them. I guess I ought to find out where the sickbay is. No, the infirmary, sorry. Serenity is a ship."

Might as well come out with it. "A spaceship, actually." He offered a crooked smile, hoping this wouldn't go over too badly. Earth-that-was, River had said. We're too early for space travel.

[maid_brienne]

Brienne nodded. "Where I come from, magic is not treated as cavalierly as it seems to be here. It's taken a while for me to wrap my head around the idea that magic isn't something to be avoided altogether." After all, magic had brought Lady Katelyn back from the dead and had changed her into someone Brienne hadn't recognized, and not for the better.

Her companion's talk of space ships had her frowning, trying to picture it. There were other people here who had mentioned similar things, but she couldn't help thinking of a normal Westerosi sailing ship gliding through the air, which didn't particularly seem practical.

"That's... interesting about the spaceship," she said. "I can imagine this was something of a shock, and probably wasn't where you were expecting to journey."

[superfraternal]

"I wasn't expecting to journey through time," Simon confirmed. "I'm not sure how it happened. I may never know. River has some mathematical theories about it. It's ... not precisely an unwelcome development, in that I think we're safer here than we were on Serenity. It does come as a shock all the same."

He shoved his hands in his pockets. Today he'd eschewed the eye-poppingly bright blue robe River found for him, and opted for the relatively normal clothes she'd given him to wear under said robe: woolen slacks, an unobjectionable dress shirt of mediocre quality; the closest approximation to what he might have worn elsewhere. No vest, though. He felt almost naked without a vest, honestly.

"It's a nice day out," he volunteered. "Would you mind walking with me a little? It's nice to talk to someone who can speak in complete sentences."

[maid_brienne]

Brienne, for her part, had never quite managed to get over the notion of not dressing in full Westerosi garb. It might have been exceedingly hot, not to mention heavy, but she felt comforted by the familliar, and she didn't think she could ever get over the idea of going anywhere without Oathkeeper strapped to her hip.

"I understand that," she answered. "I am a lot safer here than I was back home, but at the same time it's... odd... not to have to keep looking over your shoulder every moment. I've been here a while and I'm still not really used to the idea of relaxing completely."

At his question, she nodded, flashing him another quick smile. "I'd like that," she said sincerely. "It is a nice day." She started off in a random direction. She was finding that she was enjoying his company as well.

[superfraternal]

A funny thing about women: when they smiled, their faces transformed. They became more themselves. It was true of River, it was true of Kaylee, it was definitely true of Brienne of Tarth. She was a bulldog of a woman, but when she smiled, Simon could glimpse an unexpected softness.

It's odd not to have to keep looking over your shoulder every moment, she'd said. He wondered what had made her that wary, and that closed. What had shut away the Brienne so fleetingly revealed by a quick smile.

"You weren't a fugitive too, were you?" he asked curiously. "I'm sorry if I'm prying. You don't have to answer that."

[maid_brienne]

"It's fine to ask, I don't mind," Brienne murmured. She wondered what he'd been running from. "I wasn't a fugitive, exactly, but the place I came from was in the middle of a war and I had enemies." She reached an unconscious hand up to touch the place on her cheek where Biter had done what Biter did best. The wound had long healed, but that experience did not rate among her most pleasant memories. "It wasn't safe and even when I was careful, my companions and I were still caught unawares more often than I'd like." Her thoughts flitted back to quiet, awkward Podric Payne, and she felt the accustomed pang of guilt. Her life had been spared, but whatever had happened to him? She didn't know.

"What were you running from?" she asked quietly, mostly because she didn't want to think about poor Podric anymore, and also because she genuinely did want to know.