Page of Tortall and Earth

Once I trained to be a knight. But I've lost all contact with my world. Perhaps I will become a different sort of knight... ((Independent AU RP blog for Alanna of Trebond, from Tamora Pierce's "Song of the Lioness" novels. Currently set in the Marvel Universe, but will RP with anyone! Faceclaim, when I use one, is a young Natalie Portman.))

[alteredarts]

[lannalioness]

She shrugs in return. “Started school again. Won my age bracket in swordplay, at the fair-“ where I looked for you. I looked in the audience, and I was so proud, and you weren’t there. 

Her eyes close. “Maglor hasn’t had much time for training, lately. Family things.”

[resurrectedtonystark]

The fair. Tony remembers a fair that seems like ages ago, eating cotton candy with his fingers with a tiny little girl next to him that just happened to grow into a young woman when he wasn’t looking. 

The flinch is almost hidden, but not quite.

"I’m sorry. It’s rough…when people…" Tony sighs. "I’m just sorry."

[lannalioness]

"It’s fine." Alanna wants to say "next time", give him an out, she wants it so badly - but who knows when she’ll have another opportunity at that, even next year. “Dad, it’s alright. Mama didn’t make it out most days, either - the heat was too much for the baby.”

[resurrectedtonystark]

"I’m proud of you." Maybe it won’t mean a thing to her. But it’s the words Tony wanted most from his old man. The least he could do was give them to his little girl. 

[lannalioness]

That gets a smile, and she turns to face him, resting her head on her knee. "Thanks. It's not even a very good trophy. The figure on top has terrible form."

[lannalioness]

She shrugs in return. “Started school again. Won my age bracket in swordplay, at the fair-“ where I looked for you. I looked in the audience, and I was so proud, and you weren’t there. 

Her eyes close. “Maglor hasn’t had much time for training, lately. Family things.”

[resurrectedtonystark]

The fair. Tony remembers a fair that seems like ages ago, eating cotton candy with his fingers with a tiny little girl next to him that just happened to grow into a young woman when he wasn’t looking. 

The flinch is almost hidden, but not quite.

"I’m sorry. It’s rough…when people…" Tony sighs. "I’m just sorry."

[lannalioness]

"It's fine." Alanna wants to say "next time", give him an out, she wants it so badly - but who knows when she'll have another opportunity at that, even next year. "Dad, it's alright. Mama didn't make it out most days, either - the heat was too much for the baby."

[resurrectedtonystark]

lannalioness replied to your post: The lab is quiet, save for the soft humming of…

Alanna steps to the door of the lab - and then she hesitates. Phil had let her know that he was back, but after all this time…

"Hey."

Hey. What a stupid thing to say. Hey was not the response to the daughter you’ve helped to fuel her greatest fears by disappearing regularly. Hey didn’t cover the grief and the incredible weight of being a worse parent than Howard.

But it was all he had.

[lannalioness]

"Hey."

Running to him for a hug will only make it worse, says some dead part of her heart. She lifts herself onto the edge of a worktable instead, watching him out of the corner of her eye. “Where did you go?”

[resurrectedtonystark]

Down the rabbit hole? Down to the bottom of a bottle? “Vegas.” What better place to blend in during his spiral than the worst fucking place on Earth?

[lannalioness]

She pulls one knee up to her chin. “Was it nice?”

[resurrectedtonystark]

Tony shrugs. Twists a useless screwdriver in his hands. “Tell me about your life?” It comes out a question, because he doesn’t have the right. He doesn’t deserve to know, but that doesn’t stop him from asking.

[lannalioness]

She shrugs in return. "Started school again. Won my age bracket in swordplay, at the fair-" where I looked for you. I looked in the audience, and I was so proud, and you weren't there. 

Her eyes close. "Maglor hasn't had much time for training, lately. Family things."

[resurrectedtonystark]

lannalioness replied to your post: The lab is quiet, save for the soft humming of…

Alanna steps to the door of the lab - and then she hesitates. Phil had let her know that he was back, but after all this time…

"Hey."

Hey. What a stupid thing to say. Hey was not the response to the daughter you’ve helped to fuel her greatest fears by disappearing regularly. Hey didn’t cover the grief and the incredible weight of being a worse parent than Howard.

But it was all he had.

[lannalioness]

"Hey."

Running to him for a hug will only make it worse, says some dead part of her heart. She lifts herself onto the edge of a worktable instead, watching him out of the corner of her eye. “Where did you go?”

[resurrectedtonystark]

Down the rabbit hole? Down to the bottom of a bottle? “Vegas.” What better place to blend in during his spiral than the worst fucking place on Earth?

[lannalioness]

She pulls one knee up to her chin. "Was it nice?"

[resurrectedtonystark]

lannalioness replied to your post: The lab is quiet, save for the soft humming of…

Alanna steps to the door of the lab - and then she hesitates. Phil had let her know that he was back, but after all this time…

"Hey."

Hey. What a stupid thing to say. Hey was not the response to the daughter you’ve helped to fuel her greatest fears by disappearing regularly. Hey didn’t cover the grief and the incredible weight of being a worse parent than Howard.

But it was all he had.

[lannalioness]

"Hey."

Running to him for a hug will only make it worse, says some dead part of her heart. She lifts herself onto the edge of a worktable instead, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "Where did you go?"

[alexncotrufo]

[o3orianna]

The helmet slips from her hands as gently as she can manage, freeing her up to give her sister a hug tight enough to make her side throb.

The ISO pulls back, face spread in a grin. She’s quite certain that if it weren’t for her boots, she would need to be on tiptoe to hold Alanna. “Oh, Lanna, look at you! You’ve really grown! Is this what you’re wearing all faire? It looks good on you!”

Alanna isn’t the only one to have changed. While the natural dark around the eyes remains, Orianna’s face is no longer the pristine, cold pale of the Grid; her forehead is splattered with freckles that fall down her cheeks and form an abrupt edge where the zagging stripe of cold-white should be. It’s clear she’s enjoyed the outdoors in her time in the Real World.

[lannalioness]

She grins when they pull back, and laughs when she gets a real look at Orianna's face. "You've gotten sun! Are you enjoying it?"

They're nearly at eye level, how strange. After so many years of wishing she'd grow, the last few months have been a blur. 

"Isn't it great? And this isn't even the best part, I think Sir went mad, I don't know how he managed it." She takes Orianna's hand to tug her into the tent. "You have to see the full set - oh, and you should meet the horses too - how are you enjoying things Out Here? How is everyone back Inside?"

[dearlittlealice-archive]

Magic!

[lannalioness]

*gasps appreciatively* May I see?

[o3orianna]

After the relatively urban sections of the Real World she’s seen, the park is something to throw her for a loop. There are plenty of people, yes, but the smell of dirt and grass is pervasive compared the the familiar dust and hot metal of the city. She has to cover her nose first; but after some time she becomes accustomed to it, enough to even approach a tree and stare at the bark and irregularly regular splay of branches spreading from its peak.

Another marvel of the world of Users, she thinks, finally stepping away from the tree and pausing her mathematical analysis to focus on the matter at hand.

On the plane, Jarvis had told her a little about Alanna’s knight master, a tall thin man with long dark hair. (Was it Michael that was his name? Or Markl?) But she needed to be looking for red and gold, and a diamond-shaped heraldic device—whatever that was—with a radiant circle in four colors.

To her pleasure, she only has to give the description once and someone immediately points her to the campgrounds. The grass there is bent and half-dead from all the foot traffic, but the dirt is dry enough that her black boots don’t sink. Helmet under her arm, she hesitates as soon as she reaches the banner and the outer cluster of tents.

“Alanna? Are you here?”

[lannalioness]

Alanna is there - tending to Joey, lovingly on loan from Tony. She's combing his silken mane and cooing over how handsome he looks today. He has as much of an ego as his owner, and nuzzles her hair affectionately.

She's gained an inch or two in the last few months, and pounds of muscle. The Powers That Be for the festival have recommended avoiding full armor today due to the heat, but she's in her chain shirt and the tabard with Maglor's device, and hardly minds the temperature. With her hair tied back she looks as fair as any young knight in a storybook, and she very nearly feels it.

But at that voice she lights up, and again looks like a young girl. She hangs the comb on a tent-peg and runs around the tent, beaming as she throws her arms around her sister. "Ori!"

[lannalioness]

She’s very good with littler creatures, so I think they’ll be lovely friends. 

*The giant cat bumps her nose against the kitten’s face, then grooms down her back with one lick.*

[dearlittlealice-archive]

(Dinah mews, swatting a paw up.)  Like us? 

[lannalioness]

*Alanna giggles and kisses Alice's head.* Something like, I suppose. How have you been?

[lannalioness]

Little kitties are always welcome! *hugs the younger girl, and offers her hand to Dinah. Hugs the giant cat peers around the corner and mews in greeting.*

[dearlittlealice-archive]

(Giggles and hugs Lanna tight, while Dinah sniffs at the girl’s hand curiously and bats it with a paw. When Hugs turns up, Dinah jolts to attention, staring in awe for a moment before bounding out of Alice’s arms and out onto the floor towards the huge cat.) Ah! It would seem Dinah is quite eager to say hello!

[lannalioness]

She's very good with littler creatures, so I think they'll be lovely friends. 

*The giant cat bumps her nose against the kitten's face, then grooms down her back with one lick.*

[dearlittlealice-archive]

lannalioness replied to your post: The giant cat misses you.

You must. She’s been sorely lacking in kisses, I’m worried she’ll get sick for want of them.

(Some times passes, and she’s knocking on the door.) I’ve brought me, and my kisses! And a little kitty to join the party!

[lannalioness]

Little kitties are always welcome! *hugs the younger girl, and offers her hand to Dinah. Hugs the giant cat peers around the corner and mews in greeting.*

[talentedliarloki]

[resurrectedtonystark]

lannalioness replied to your post: (covers bedroom floor with set mousetraps)

*strolling past, leans in the door to tell him something, and immediately forgets it* What.

…I may or may not have pissed off a God.

[lannalioness]

Never a good move. *draws her sword and nudges a mousetrap, setting it off with a SNAP* What are these?

[resurrectedtonystark]

They catch mice. They’re spring loaded and pressure sensitive. *Tony sighs.* He started it.

[lannalioness]

Whatever happened to cats? *kneels to begin nudging them aside with the tip of her sword, trying not to flinch when one or two go off* Oh, I’m sure.

[resurrectedtonystark]

Remember when we watched Willy Wonka and the girl turned into the blueberry? I just told him that he looked like that. 

[lannalioness]

Unless he is actually a blue balloon and alright with that, I think that means you started it. *edges forward a little as she clears a space* This was not what I expected when Mama started teaching me stealth.

[resurrectedtonystark]

lannalioness replied to your post: (covers bedroom floor with set mousetraps)

*strolling past, leans in the door to tell him something, and immediately forgets it* What.

…I may or may not have pissed off a God.

[lannalioness]

Never a good move. *draws her sword and nudges a mousetrap, setting it off with a SNAP* What are these?

[resurrectedtonystark]

They catch mice. They’re spring loaded and pressure sensitive. *Tony sighs.* He started it.

[lannalioness]

Whatever happened to cats? *kneels to begin nudging them aside with the tip of her sword, trying not to flinch when one or two go off* Oh, I'm sure.

[resurrectedtonystark]

lannalioness replied to your post: (covers bedroom floor with set mousetraps)

*strolling past, leans in the door to tell him something, and immediately forgets it* What.

…I may or may not have pissed off a God.

[lannalioness]

Never a good move. *draws her sword and nudges a mousetrap, setting it off with a SNAP* What are these?