The Docks, Saturday Morning

[not_every_mage]

Francis couldn't make any sense at all of the place where he had woken up. It was much smaller than his chambers, filled with unfamiliar possessions -- and, he couldn't help but notice, none too clean. And not only was Mary missing, but there was no sign of her in the room at all.

If it was the kidnapping attempt he suspected, the kidnappers seemed to have done a piss-poor job of it; all the people he saw on his way out of the castle were either asleep or seemed busy with their own affairs. He slipped out a side door and stood blinking in the cold sunlight. He didn't recognize any landmarks, but eventually his walk took him to a harbor with a few docked boats.

Could escape and getting home really be so easy?

Happy he'd put in so much time learning to sail, Francis found an abandoned dinghy and pulled it onto the docks to inspect it for seaworthiness. It wouldn't do for the king of France to survive a kidnapping and then drown himself trying to get away.

[OOC: Open post! Anders is Francis II from Reign.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

It also wouldn't do for the King of France to starve to death before making it out to see! Fortunately, there was someone pulling up to the dock with a rickshaw that could keep that unfortunate possibility at bay.

"전설의 번개에 의해 전달! 일부를 원하십니까??"

You know, assuming he could understand her.

[not_every_mage]

Francis squinted at the exotic woman uncertainty. A peddler of some sort, he could tell that much, but as for what she was saying...

"What?" he asked, in the British-accented English everyone obviously spoke in Renaissance France. "Can you help me? I don't know where we are."

[spin_kick_snap]

What else would they possibly speak? The language was as accurate and authentic as the garb they wore!

Lightning had no idea what he was saying, but he sounded very nice! Was he asking for something to drink? "내 국수에 대해 물어 있습니까? 그들은 매우 좋은 왜냐하면! 당신이 배 고플 경우에는 몇 가지가 있어야합니다!"

[not_every_mage]

Francis opened his mouth to respond, but was hamstrung by the fact he had absolutely no idea what she had just said.

His rumbling stomach reminded him he hadn't had breakfast, so he decided to take a different approach. He came closer to the cart, pointing at its contents.

"Food?" he asked, and rubbed his stomach in hopes that would make it clear. "Please?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Oooh, that kind of pantomime she could understand.

"예 물론 지금 당장!" she said hastily, reaching into her rickshaw to take a bowl out of the warmer. Pulling the lid off, she held out a bowl of fragrant, steaming noodles. "여기 요! 검은 콩 국수 한 그릇!"

[not_every_mage]

Dear God, that smelled fantastic. Francis grappled in his pockets for a few unfamiliar coins and offered them to the girl before reaching greedily for the bowl.

"Thank you," he said. "I was so hungry, and that looks fantastic."

[spin_kick_snap]

"음..." Lightning looked down at the coins in her hand. They weren't won, that was for sure. She had no idea whether that would cover the price of the bowl or not. "뭐라고 요...?"

Except...except he looked so hungry. She could make up the loss of a bowl with other sales later. "신경 쓰지 마," she said gently, offering the coins back. "내가 알아서 할 수 있습니다. 걱정하지 마십시오. 이 작업을 계속."

That's right, Francis. You had a food peddler offering you charity.

[not_every_mage]

"No, please, I can't take things without paying for them," Francis said, before hunger won over pride. "Perhaps those aren't the right type of coins anyhow."

He put the money back in his pocket and accepted the soup. "Thank you," he said, very slowly and clearly. "What's your name? I'm Francis."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Francis," Lightning repeated, stumbling a bit over the unfamiliar phonemes. She pointed to herself. "Kang Min-Kyung." She paused, then pointed again. "Lightning."

Because even in an AU, Kathy needed to have a codename.

[not_every_mage]

"Lighting," Francis repeated between slurps of soup. The spices were unfamiliar, but he enjoyed them anyhow. "That's quite a name, isn't it?"

[spin_kick_snap]

If he'd seen the speed of her usual deliveries, he'd understand completely.

Watching him eat the noodles, she grinned and gave him a V-sign. "맛있는, 맞습니까? 그들은 매우 합리적인 가격에 최고 품질의 국수입니다!" And then she was shaking her head at him, sounding worried. "하지만 당신은 그것에 대해 걱정할 필요가 없습니다! 당신은 더 이상 배고픈 아니에요, 그래서 그들은 당신을위한 무료입니다!"

[not_every_mage]

"I'm sorry, I have absolutely no idea what you're saying," Francis said. "Good noodles, though."

A pause, then: "Do you speak French? Latin? My German is bad, but if you could stumble along in that..."

[spin_kick_snap]

Wrong continent entirely, Francis.

Lightning was taking her inability to understand him in stride, though. "당신은 모든 권리를 먹어?" she said, bringing a hand up to pat him companionably on the shoulder if he'd let her. "그렇지 않으면 모든 꽤 머리가 빠지는 것, 그 슬픈 것입니다."

That's right, Francis. You were too pretty to let starve.

[not_every_mage]

"Thanks," Francis said dryly, understanding the tone if not the exact meaning. "I appreciate that."

[spin_kick_snap]

It was your hair. Who didn't like pretty hair like that?

After giving him another companionable pat, Lightning returned back to her rickshaw. "Bye-bye!" she said, one of her few bits of English, and waved to him.

She had other customers to feed. Ones who could pay, even!

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin was following after his roommate turned blue, blue dog to prevent any harm from coming to her. For some reason she really wanted him to find random things.

None of this made sense to Thorin.

"Anders?"

[not_every_mage]

"What's that?" Francis asked, frowning and giving no sign he recognized the name. "And would you happen to know whose boats these are?"

[dwarvenswagger]

"To their captains, I would assume," Thorin replied dryly. He was giving this Anders-shaped person a bit of the stink-eye to figure out just what he might be dealing with here. "Did you wish to sail west?"

Elf jokes that no one got. Hilarious.

[not_every_mage]

Francis frowned at the stink-eye. Had he been recognized? There was something familiar in the dwarf's manner, and it puzzled him.

It hardly mattered what a dwarf thought of a king, anyhow. Francis straightened his posture.

"I do if this is England," he said. "I'm afraid I'm a bit confused, but I need to get back to the French court. "

[dwarvenswagger]

RUDE.

"...I do not believe us near to either of those courts," Thorin replied slowly. From what he had learned of the geography of this world, that is. It seemed there was a massive freaking ocean between here and there.

[not_every_mage]

Francis muttered a curse. "Well, then where the devil are we?" he asked, in the manner of a man expecting bad news.

He feared he'd need to pay some kind of ransom to get home. He loathed paying ransoms.

[dwarvenswagger]

Well maybe stop being to kidnapp-able. Just saying.

"An island off of America." Which, hey, should be the right time-frame to know of. But then again, CW show.

[not_every_mage]

It was a very historically accurate CW show! You could tell by the way the characters were named things like Lola and Kendra.

"Well, but that doesn't make any sense," Francis said, as if he could argue the dwarf out of this being America. "It takes weeks to get to America, and it's all forests and savages anyhow."

[dwarvenswagger]

So, they were elves? HE WOULD NEVER STOP MOCKING ELVES, OKAY?

"Be that as it may. You are still here."

And this dwarf was stubborn enough to keep up the argument. It was a racial trait.

[not_every_mage]

"I see," Francis said, annoyed. "And if I want to stop being here, what should I do?"

He could hardly sail all the way to France on his own.

[dwarvenswagger]

"Perhaps you might hire a crew to sail for you," Thorin replied. "Though it may be difficult at this time."

With people not being themselves and all.

[not_every_mage]

"I can't imagine why not," Francis sighed. "What with me having no money and being dressed like a common farmer. I suppose I'll have to write to some governor or other to get the funds to bring me home. It'll take weeks."

He sighed again. "Mary must be frantic."

[dwarvenswagger]

"I would wager you are dressed like a successful farmer at the very least." Thorin's sense of humor was the worst. "Perhaps a rescue is already underway."

[not_every_mage]

"I can only hope," Francis said, and leaned back against a convenient railing. "Though I'm still not sure what to do in the meantime."

[dwarvenswagger]

"There are establishments in town where you might make your lodgings in the meantime." Maybe just don't go to the sushi place.

[not_every_mage]

Francis shuddered involuntarily. He wasn't much of a snob for a king, but the idea of weeks in some rooming house brought it out in him.

"I suppose that will have to do," he said. "It'll be an adventure, won't it?"

[dwarvenswagger]

Human kings. Ugh.

"Perhaps. I am Thorin, son of Thrain. At your service," he reintroduced himself with a little bow.

[not_every_mage]

Francis acknowledged the bow with a gracious nod of his head. "A pleasure," he said. "And I'm Francis, son of Henry."

Announcing he was a king did not strike him as particularly safe in the current circumstances, but he wasn't either clever or cowardly enough to come up with an alias. His given name would do.

[dwarvenswagger]

It certainly helped that Thorin had no idea about British or French royalty.

"Francis. You look like a friend of mine. Do not be surprised should anyone mistake you for him."

[not_every_mage]

"Oh, is that who you took me for when we met?" Francis asked. "Send him my way if you see him. I'd like to get a look for myself."

And a king could always use another body double.