a welcome;

[mallowmods]

Who: Everyone and everyone!
What: Welcoming in the new members to Mallow Hallow
Where: Everywhere!
When: March 2nd.

[ Once everyone’s settled in their particular districts, no doubt thousands of questions running between each individual mind, there’s an announcement. Not over the devices, but rather in speakers all over each and every district. A familiar voice should ring out—you did, after all, hear the voice of your Queen earlier today. ]

Ahem! Can you hear me? Ah, right then.

Hello loveies! You might recall this particular visage which speaks before you—that is, I am your Queen. Call me Queenie, if you must! I’ve met you all on this particular day, and I find it important to bestow some of my boundless knowledge onto you, sweethearts.

Now! Done with formalities, let’s see where we stand… ah, yes! Might I be the first to welcome you all to Mallow Hallow, our wonderful little country. Not too big, not quite too small either! It’s just lovely, isn’t it? Oh, how all my new babies will love it here! Or—perhaps not. [ She clicks her tongue. ] Either way, it doesn't really matter. You're stuck here for the time, so do try to make the most of it, dears.

Of course, there are our sectors within Mallow Hallow. Six… [ There’s silence for a short moment. ] Yes, there are six, aren’t there..? Well, six different communities you might stem off from! Surely you remember the name from our meeting earlier? If not, I’m sure one of the regular inhabitants of each particular district will assist you in naming your new home!

Live where you’d like, eat what you’d like, do what you’d like! Our homes are now your homes, so please, consider us all a big happy family to you! Remember you can reach me or any of the other rulers of any of the districts, over at our voicemails! [ Somehow, that seems sarcastic… ]

Also, don’t cause any trouble, or I’ll personally end you. [ There it is. ]

I suppose that's all. Well then, bye now, dears! And let the word spread—Mallow Hallow is up and rising once again!

[ ooc: Quick links: Lochwell | Mallowhallow | Orlea | Astralfield | Crystalden | Highcrest | Whitewood | Network ]

Comments

[garwin]

Nope. Sounds foreign though. [He shrugged.]

Your colleagues. [He wasn't exactly making fun of Balfour, he just never really talked to many people who used such proper sounding words as that. Meanwhile, Reid was rude and hadn't even introduced himself yet.]

Pretty sure it's not. Because if I was, I wouldn't be having to search for my friends. [And worry about them while not knowing if they were alright.]

[blueeyedflyboy]

_{[Balfour frowns when Reid says that it sounded foreign, the name of his country. Perhaps it was foreign to him, but to Balfour, it was home.]}

Your friends often feature in your dreams?

_{[Must be close friends. When one of Balfour's colleagues featured in his dreams, it was a nightmare.]}

And yes, colleagues. I don't know them well enough to call them 'friends.'

_{[Well, most of them.]}

[garwin]

[Well Volstov totally sounded foreign, at least to Reid. Not like a place in Massachusetts or something.]

Not exactly. But I mean, if I did, I wouldn't dream about trying to find them. They'd be here. [He had totally had dreams of the other guys before. Nothing scandalous, just typical weird dreams most of the times.]

Colleagues then. So like, work shit or something?

[blueeyedflyboy]

You know that for sure?

_{[He's curious. What kind of dreams did this guy have of his friends, after all?]}

And yes, work shit exactly. _{[Except the part where his work was his life. And would cost him his life soon enough.]}

[garwin]

Do I know what for sure?

[Yeah, getting Reid to talk about his dreams. That would be a little hard.]

Sounds like fun. [His tone was vaguely sympathetic though, because it didn't sound like happy work shit. Not that Reid had ever had a job before. Well, not for very long, at least.]

[blueeyedflyboy]

What you dream. It must be nice to know for sure how your dreams will go.

_{[He's not being a smart-ass. Actually, he sounds a bit wistful.]}

And it was fun. I mean, what's not fun about flying around on large metal dragons?

_{[And though he says it with a smile, he can tell you exactly what isn't fun about it.]}

[garwin]

Oh. Yeah, it is. [That was a lie. But he sure as hell wasn't going to say that he wasn't sure about all of his dreams, and that not all of them were pleasant, that sometimes they were nightmares about what if he got out of control, and what if he hurt someone, what if it was one of the other three. Things like that weren't something he was going to talk about. At least, not to someone he'd just met. No matter how much they looked like Tyler.]

On...what? [No, seriously, what?]

[blueeyedflyboy]

Must be nice. I've...had some rather...surprising dreams.

_{[Nothing he'd admit on the outright, but yes, there were some surprising dreams, especially about his chief sergeant. Especially those.]}

Dreams I could have certainly lived without.

_{[Without the awkward early-morning rushed shuffle to the showers and the quick, rushed load of laundry to eliminate stains to keep himself from getting teased. He'd been seventeen the first time, eighteen the last time it had hit him quite that hard, maybe had just turned nineteen. Recently, he'd been waking up before anything happened but still wanting.]}

Ah.

_{[Did you not hear him?]}

A metal dragon. Her name was Anastasia.

[garwin]

I'm pretty sure everyone's had dreams they could live without.

[He knows he has, but he's a little more interested in the dragon part right now.]

Planes weren't good enough? [Unintentional sarcasm or not, he's honestly curious.] Why a dragon?

[blueeyedflyboy]

_{[His ears are a little red as he nods his agreement.]}

What...are planes? And the dragons are an integral part of our military forces. Without the girls, the soldiers would be in even more danger.

[garwin]

[Now there's a suspicious look being sent Balfour's way, accompanied by raised eyebrows, because what. He caught that look and does that mean what he thinks it means. Reid's not entirely a jerk though, so he won't actually question it in words, just with a look.]

You seriously don't know what planes are? [Seriously, where are you from?] I guess dragons would be cooler anyway. [A beat, while something finally occurs to him.] Wait, so you're...?

[blueeyedflyboy]

_{[And he's going to ignore that look, only blush a little bit more, the red spreading to his cheeks, no longer contained in his ears. Stop looking at him like that, Reid!]}

I'm a what?

_{[He blinks, a little suspicious of that trailed off sentence. What was he going to say?]}

[garwin]

[Make him. No, he's not going to stop looking at Balfour like that, he's going to continue doing it. Because it's getting a reaction.]

A military boy.

[See that smirk? Teasing is imminent at this point. It is not if, it's when. It is going to happen.]

[blueeyedflyboy]

Oh.

_{[Relief!! That wasn't nearly as bad as what he thought you were going to say.]}

Yes, I am. Or.. Well I don't know if was is appropriate. But yes.

[garwin]

[Nah. Military boy is the only thing that's occurred to him. Honestly.]

You're too cute for that, you know. Lookit this face.

[Just casually reaching up to pinch Balfour's cheek now, yup. He does this to Tyler sometimes...in fact, he has to keep constantly reminding himself that this guy is not Tyler, because this whole thing is very...surreal, right now. It's hard to actually process still.]

[blueeyedflyboy]

_{[Wait, wait, what? What are you-- Why? No! Why did you just do that? Have a traumatized look.]}

Uh.

_{[Wait. There are words. He just has to find them.]}

Ah... I, ah... I agree. I'm not exactly...military material...

_[WHYYYY]

[garwin]

[Because he can. Reid does a lot of things just because he can. The question of should he usually doesn't stop him.

He laughs.]

Yeah, you're definitely not. [He doesn't mean that in an insulting way, honest.] Why'd you join, though?

[blueeyedflyboy]

No real choice. If I hadn't, we would have been down a swift for longer than we could afford.

_{[He doesn't realize that that probably sounds like gibberish to Reid.]}

[garwin]

[It does sound like gibberish. Down a swift, what the hell does that mean.]

...Now say that again in English. Because I have no idea what 'down a swift' means.

[blueeyedflyboy]

The man we lost rode a swift, a comparatively small, fast dragon used for reconnaissance.

_{[He takes a breath. These words are hard for him.]}

She insisted on me as her rider and would take no other.

[garwin]

Oh. [Well shit. This isn't the turn he was expecting this conversation to take. But at least it gets rid of his teasing smirk, now. Well, he could make another teasing comment, but he won't, because he understands this is not a time for that.]

So...they choose you and...that's it? You're stuck with it?

[blueeyedflyboy]

Yeah, pretty much.

_{[Stuck with it? Inherited it? Same thing, really, to him.]}

Long story short, yeah.

[garwin]

Sounds like it kind of sucks. Not having a choice, I mean.

What if you wanted to do something else with your life?

[blueeyedflyboy]

_{[Reid wouldn't understand and Balfour knows it. He wouldn't understand why it was no real choice, even though it seemed like he'd had a choice. He could have said no.]}

Ah, well, these things happen.

_{[His tone is light, airy, dismissive.]}

At least it kept some good men out of trouble, right?

[garwin]

[He shrugs a little.]

I guess.

Like you're not a good man, though? [Because he's really got the impression that you are, Balfour.]