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[sb-r] French Tourism Board (Ekstrom x Joy) Goto Page: 1 2 [>] [»|]

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Rejam

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 1:49 pm


Joy found herself inexplicably a mess of nerves as she awaited Ekstrom at the appointed quiet spot, and had attempted to dispel them in the way she normally did - with sheer iron willpower. Sometimes that worked. It had not worked this time.

The idea of taking anyone else with her to the Garde had left her feeling strangely possessive, as if she was sharing some secret that gained half its value by being unknown to others. But this was categorically silly, and she felt, besides, that she owed Ekstrom the favor. And it might prevent her from receiving the worst of Nail's lectures, in the way that inviting your friend inside after school might keep your mom from yelling at you about your homework.

But she'd been keeping an eye on the database, and the reports of suddenly powering down had alarmed her. It was silly again, but before powering up she'd taken the time to hide her hair under a hat and do her best to put on the most generic clothing possible, right down to pulling on a face mask over her chin and nose - an absolutely laughable move, and one that she felt quietly humiliated over. But she had still not yet mustered the courage to tear down the barrier between who she was and who she'd been forced to become, and every bit, she supposed, helped.

So she waited, in the skin of the Joyeuse Garde, and it was not until she felt Ekstrom's approach that she realized that she had not seen the other knight since she had become a squire, and that she might be surprised in a pleasant and flattering way by the visible promotion that Joy still felt a bit of imposter syndrome over. It made her straighten her back a bit, smooth down the fur on her sleeves, and try to look as though she felt as imperious and confident as her new appearance suggested she ought - and which, in fact, she usually did.

It felt quiet, and it felt peaceful, and she could tell of no one near who ought to concern her. So she lifted her voice a little before Ekstrom stepped into view, singing out with careless and joking bravado: "Now boarding with service to the French Riviera - no wait, it just says 'a French river' here, actually, with a high chance of rainfall and lightning. What a shame."

its_p a o
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 6:56 pm


Ekstrom made a little noise when she felt the presence of a Squire’s aura as she approached their arranged meeting spot. It hadn’t been that long since they met, it felt like, so when she spotted Joy in the distance she was colored absolutely impressed. Picking up her pace, she was within conversing distance when she heard the other joking about boarding a plane.

“Oh no, all my hopes and dreams,” she said in a flat, completely undistressed tone, riding the joke just a teensy bit as she closed the gap. She was beaming and just brimming with excitement as she looked over her…friend. Colleague? Acquaintance?

Hopefully friend.

“Wow, look at you!” she cried out, looking and sounding thrilled for the progress she had clearly made. Given the state of things it might not have been the best time for pleasantries, but she didn’t want to overlook what must have been a lot of time and effort on her part to achieve.

“You look great, Joy. How’ve you been?”

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 8:18 pm


its_ p a o


She felt a girlish and almost irrepressible urge to reach out for a hug. But she did not, instead channeling the energy into giving a little twirl and then striking a series of poses, brandishing her new whip with each. She had her own thoughts about everything that had happened to her, but she couldn't really argue with the outfit, anyway. And then, with a wry little laugh, she dropped the modeling act and spread her arms in a sort of helpless gesture.

"Girl," she said, "I have been busy as hell. I'm pretty sure this is gonna count as a vacation, Riviera or not. I've never taken anyone with me, by the way, but I feel like I know how to anyway. I guess it works like that for most of this bullshit." She wrinkled her nose. "How've you been?" She asked it with a sympathetic sincerity, as if already foreseeing a similar answer.
PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 10:32 pm


Giggling, she leaned back and made a frame with her thumb and index fingers, catching Joy inside of it as she twirled and posed in her new, upgraded outfit, with her new weapon. It was exciting! And she was thrilled to have someone else climbing up the ranks. At least in her mind, more allies in this war certainly couldn’t hurt.

“I bet,” she replied, taking one last, long look at the Squire as she spoke.

The comment about how they just…knew certain things…got a little wrinkle out of her nose as well. She wasn’t a fan of the method, but then again…her experience with all of that had been an outright lie that she was still trying to unpack and understand. “Same,” she said after a second of thought. “Busy. Between school, work, and my Wonder. I haven’t had a proper social life since I became a Knight. Got these for my trouble, though,” she said, gesturing to the glowing marks on her. While she was genuinely thrilled about it, she didn’t exactly look the part. Rather, she sounded hesitant for the first time since taking up her mantle.

“It’s kinda a long story, but I can share later if you wanna hear it.”

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 10:45 pm


"Oh," she said, startled. "I met someone else with those - I just assumed they were sort of..." She made a vague wave of her hands, encompassing all the things she did not know. "On sometimes, off sometimes. I didn't realize they were things you got for your trouble." She paused. "I'm not sure whether to say congratulations or I'm sorry," she admitted with a wry laugh. "So I'm going to go with congratulations, because I have faith in you. But I do wanna hear that long story later, in its entirety, either way."

She hesitated. "But since you said later, I guess I should - do this." She made an expressive face. "There's um -" she hesitated once again, and longer. She could not find a way to phrase what Gouvernail was that wasn't distressingly strange to her ears, so she opted for a mysterious pronoun, trusting it would make sense later. "I know he can't actually interact with you but he may try to kiss your hand. Just roll with it. That's also a long story."

This would, maybe, explain why Joy's first reaction to meeting Ekstrom had been to laugh and expect her to do exactly that.

She held out a hand, although mercifully not for that purpose. "Ready? Any questions first, that I probably can't answer anyway?"
PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 7:23 pm


”More ‘congrats’ than ‘sorry’, yeah,” she laughed alongside Joy, grateful for lighter thoughts on the subject since it felt like a new weight on her shoulders since she’d earned it. But she was happy to push off talking about it to another time in favor of accomplishing what it was they set out to do with this meeting, so she gave another nod and was about to extend her hand, but stopped short as Joy tried to explain a bit about her ancestor.

She recalled the exchange during their first meeting, and as if a lightbulb went off in her head she made a little “o” with her mouth, putting two and two together there. And fought down a giggle, because it wasn’t supposed to be funny. Her smile broadened though, and she again bobbled her head.

“Will do,” she confirmed as she took her offered hand. The rare impish thought of wanting to tease a friend crossed her mind, but she quickly let it go with a shake of her head. “Not right now, but I can’t promise I won’t have any as soon as we get there, though.”

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 9:11 pm


“Well,” she said, almost grimly. “Let's go, I guess.”

The immediate sensation was one of fresh air: the kind of air that you only get where a river runs down and meets the ocean, and which seems to require the raucous noise of seagulls to feel complete.

But on a Wonder, of course, there were no gulls to wheel over the expanse of ruffled silver water before them, which stretched down between primeval banks towards an unseen sea. The sky overhead had the restless, heavy greyness of an impending storm - that sort of half-lit bank of clouds that makes the trees swaying in the wind before it almost unnaturally green. The lack of bird calls felt ominous and eerie, paired with the endless rush and susurration of the wind in the trees.

They arrived on a broad spit of stone, which a moment’s observation showed to be the remnants of a curtain wall, running alongside what might have been a courtyard once but was now overgrown to the point of wildness, from which there rose, to one side, the still mostly-intact keep with its towered corners. Fragments of white plaster still clung to the stony walls in scraps, and the high arches of the windows had been stripped of nearly all of their glass, save for one or two lingering panes painted with figures in bright and translucent colors, the towers still bearing the empty poles that had once flown massive banners - all of which suggested that while the Garde had always been small, it must once have been very beautiful.

They did not arrive alone. Only Joy had the moment to catch Gouvernail’s expression of surprise - almost alarm - at her having brought a visitor. She pretended not to have seen it, in her usual deference to his dignity, and wasted no time in making introductions.

“Gouvernail, This is Ekstrom, a Knight of Mercury,” she said immediately. As Joy had suggested, she engaged in a little pantomime: Joy lifting her hand, as if supported in his, to let him pretend to kiss the signet ring on her finger - a formal little greeting, unsmiling and detached. The movement was exchanged like it was old habit, without either needing to ask or offer. But Gouvernail - tall, greying, sober-faced - did not move as if to do the same for Ekstrom, instead bowing his head at her with more the respectful air of a soldier greeting an equal and allied combatant. “And Ekstrom, this is Gouvernail - the former Knight of the Joyeuse Garde. Ekstrom has come to - to learn things. About the storms, like I told you last time,” she added. She had a flush in her cheeks, a flustered uncertainty, or possibly a rising anger, at this difference in his way of addressing the two of them. Her warning to Ekstrom thus rendered useless and unnecessary and also embarrassing, she paused, apparently lost for direction, and turned towards Gouvernail a look of unmistakable expectation, as if expecting him to take the lead.

“It is good to see the Garde welcoming visitors once again,” he said. He made a movement as if to rest his hand on a sword that was not there, instead folding it over his side in an attitude of formal watchfulness. But he said nothing else, and Joy, again, looked a little at sea as to how to proceed, apparently having not expected to find herself, and not Gouvernail, in the position of host and guide.

“Well,” she said, with a little clap of her hands. “Let me know what you wanna see. Some of it's still too overgrown to get to.”

its_p a o
PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2025 10:39 pm


Ekstrom opened her eyes to beautiful, if lonely, scenery. In her mind’s eye she could only imagine what had once been there, though the war had been unkind. Time, and even nature, as well, as both pressed forward without regard for anything or anyone else. The Knight took it all in, in quiet awe. It wasn’t exactly in contrast to her own Wonder, but it certainly was brighter. There was more…color. There was more life, almost, with the greenery and all. There was even fresh air! And water!

Her attention immediately snapped back to Joy when she broke the silence, though the name that she broke it with was unfamiliar. She noticed her ancestor only then, and watched the exchange between the two of them–nothing more than a simple exchange of formalities, it seemed like. No fondness or affection she, without realizing it, had apparently been expecting. When he bowed to her next, she followed suit. She had no idea what she was doing, but it felt like the right thing to do.

At least, she was relieved he wasn’t trying to kiss her hand, too.

“Nice to meet you,” she said once the introductions were done, her smile small but as friendly as it ever was with anyone else. He seemed…dutiful…was the only word that came to her mind. Like an old, reliable bodyguard standing quietly in the background, but would jump into action without hesitation whenever he was needed. So she figured he wouldn’t break formality and left things there, and turned to Joy when she clapped.

“It’s gorgeous here,” she said, “it must have been a sight back in its prime. Probably could still be after some tending.”

Tapping her chin at the offer, Ekstrom turned her head to and fro thoughtfully. While she was here to see about the storm, it seemed quiet at the moment so…

She nodded toward the keep. “How far inside are you able to get?”

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 4:46 am


its_ p a o


She started moving along the curtain wall towards the keep even as she answered.

“All the way to the roof. You can see the ocean from up there when the weather's clear.” As if hearing her and spiting her, the rain began to fall in slow drops, hurrying her along to get them under said roof quickly. “So not today. But there's a lot underground, apparently, and I still can't get to most of it - there's a chapel down there.”

She was in a slow jog by this time, ducking through an empty doorway and into the main body of the keep to get them out of the approaching rain. She glanced back, an expression of confused relief flickering over her face as she realized that Gouvernail had stayed where he was, impervious, of course, to the weather, his back to them in an attitude of watchfulness, as if there was any need to keep an eye on a river that would never yield any boats. His absence perceptibly relaxed both her body language and her tone.

“There's crypts down there too, but I don't know if they're empty or if there's anyone in them. I haven't been able to get in without him around and it feels… I don't know. Insensitive, you know?”

There was a little pile of supplies by the door, and she scooped up a flashlight, tossing a second - kept as a backup, but now useful to a guest - to Ekstrom, an invitation to her to poke around. The empty windows were tall to let in light, but the clouds blowing up sank the room into a gloom. Scraps of painted plaster still clung to the walls and even the ceiling, suggesting that it had once been covered in murals; the single surviving pane of painted glass somewhat incongruously depicted a man and woman in flirtatious but chaste embrace. Ivy had crawled in through the open arches, and along with rotting threads dangling from empty tapestry bars was being tossed in the wind. Joy had to lift her voice over the sound of the rain.

“I need to bring a machete or something. I couldn't get one into subspace - it spat out a gun and mace, too,” she added nonchalantly, as if certain that everyone had tried this,of course, “and I haven't tried just - bringing it with me yet. I don't know if there's a point. All we do is talk. I ask a bunch of questions, he asks a bunch of questions, I get lectured, and then I go home.”

She made a beeline for the window, sweeping the flashlight around in nearby nooks and corners, searching for something, and then made a satisfied sound, aiming the beam at a large spider which crouched in a web. “The only living thing around besides me. And you,” she added. “Although I imagine she has to be eating something. They're all like that, right? Yours too? Everything is dead? Haunted by the ghost of some a*****e?”
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2025 11:18 pm


Ekstrom followed close and kept an ear out as Joy explained, doing her best not to trip over her own feet while doing so and glancing around to take in the scenery at the same time. It was her first visit to someone else’s Wonder, and it fascinated her how different it was from her own! She took as many mental notes as she could given the multiple ways she was splitting her attention, and when they came to a stop she was about to pull out her journal to start jotting things down when it occurred to her that it would probably be polite to ask first.

“Yeah, makes sense,” she commented, expression thoughtful for a moment. “Mm…maybe you can find other indicators that someone’s in them? Like an engraved stone with some info or something.”

Taking the offered flashlight, she clicked it on and carefully started poking around. Mostly with her eyes for the moment, just soaking in the details. The paned glass, in particular, held her attention, at least until Joy spoke again.

“Ooh, lemme know how that goes!” she said as she turned back to continue exploring. “I’ve only ever stuffed it with cleaning supplies and camping equipment. And I mean…I think there is, but I also spent the past year or so trying to get the lights to come back on in my Wonder so. Maybe I have a little bit of a bias toward restoring them.” Ekstrom flashed her a weak smile, thoughts going back to the immediate aftermath of that.

“Anyway, you have as much right to this space as he does, so if you’re wanting to clean it up and wander around I don’t see why he should be a reason to stop. I’m sure some small part of him would like to see this place look nicer.”

Ekstrom turned in time to spot the spider, and she managed to smile but stayed rooted to her spot. She didn’t hate spiders, but she didn’t like them either. So the more space, the better as far as she was concerned. She was happy to see that living things could be a thing, though! She’d…yet to see any on her Wonder, but maybe soon…

“Everything dead, yes. Haunted by a ghost…”

She bit back a sigh, the news still too fresh in her mind that it was still hard to think about, never mind fully accept.

“I only recently found out, also yes.” She swallowed the lump that had quickly taken its place in her throat, lodging in the most uncomfortable spot in her neck and defiantly refusing to go down. “When I first got started, I thought I was getting flashbacks and seeing memories of the old me. I only recently learned that that wasn’t it at all…”

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2025 11:32 pm


its_ p a o


She had been mentally preparing for the effort of deflecting the idea of what Gouvernail might or might not want, when the idea was thrust entirely to the side and instantly forgotten by this revelation, which actually had Joy turning towards Ekstrom in open incredulity. She had moments before been allowing the spider to crawl onto her hand so that she could deposit it somewhere drier before the rain blew in more than it already was. She stood there in the gloom for several seconds in astonished silence, and was only moved by the spider making a run for her sleeve.

She retrieved it, gently returning it - she, apparently, had no fears of spiders whatsoever - to a slightly more sheltered corner.

"What was - what's wrong with it? Can they be - like, broken somehow?"

It was a genuinely disturbing thought. To hell with spiders: it was this that made her skin crawl. The idea of there being some more literal form of ghost - some inertia-slogged echo of the past going around in meaningless silence - was making her feel vaguely ill.
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 12:00 am


Ekstrom was focused on something suddenly very interesting on her flashlight, and so missed out on Joy’s expression, and apparent lack of fear of spiders. She had gone back to that room, to that exceedingly far too brief a conversation about…everything she’d been led to believe up until that point. Her brows came together slowly, frustration starting to grow as tears again started to well in her eyes.

Joy’s voice brought her back, and she looked up, blinking the tears out of her eyes so they ran down, creating two clean streaks down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and sniffled.

“Mm…maybe? At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s possible. But not the case for me. After I got these,” she gestured to her new glowing marks again, “I got to have a conversation with the Code Piece on my Wonder. It…” Clearly it was still a little bit of a struggle, as if saying out loud, talking about it to someone else, made it actually real. That she hadn’t just hallucinated the conversation or had some kind of lucid nightmare after being given too much power all at once.

Or. Something.

Ekstrom sucked in a breath before slowly letting it out. “It said it had to…mess with my memories, so I could get to where I needed to be as a Knight in order to free my ancestor from where he’s currently trapped.” She waved her hand, as if to dismiss this as something unimportant. “I haven’t even fully processed all of it, to be honest. It was a lot. So far all I’ve felt about it is frustration, because I kind of get it?” Her face scrunched together as the words tumbled out of her mouth, like she was trying to understand her own thoughts. “Just. I mean. Knowing what I know now? It probably was necessary, but being lied to…”

The sigh that followed was one of defeat, and she ultimately shrugged. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t…feel good. Period.”

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 12:15 am


its_ p a o


Joy was silent for a long time. She was never much good with other people's displays of emotion (post-session outbursts notwithstanding), and she stood awkwardly, incapable of knowing how to respond until a sudden, especially violent peal of thunder shook her from her paralysis.

She spoke plainly, then, the only thing that she knew to say, which was - as it always was - the unvarnished truth.

"No. It's never necessary. ******** the Code," she said.
PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 11:09 pm


In her life she had always tried–and often failed–to keep her emotions off of her sleeve and under better control. Her skill with it had improved over the years, primarily showing only the better, lighter side of herself to those around her to keep anyone from worrying. Those closest to her knew better, and each had found their own way of supporting her without calling her out or anything like that.

Joy was a recent acquaintance, but the bluntness of her reply was as jarring as the thunder in the background. And jarring in the best of ways, really, because it felt…validating.

So it took a second for her to process her words, and another for her smile to return. Broad and bright, as it usually was, though there was a sadness lingering in her eyes.

“Mm…yes and no, for me,” she said, heaving a little sigh. “I get attached easily, and up to this point it’s been nothing but kind to me, giving me guidance and helping me out as much as it could given how limited it is, physically.” Another peal of thunder had her glancing outside. It was less violent, perhaps, but certainly louder.

“Now it just feels like a well-meaning family member that way, way overstepped and I–”

Another thunderclap cut her off, this time much closer and almost immediately followed by a strike of lightning.

Ekstrom blinked, her personal struggles forgotten as she stepped toward the window to see that the wind had kicked up outside, along with the rain. The gray sky had been taken over by now-familiar purple clouds, as dark and foreboding here as anywhere else she’d seen them, and accompanied by the same sound of rolling thunder. Lights flickered from within the purple mass overhead, and after another sliver of light touched down in the distance she looked back at Joy.

“That moved in quick,” she said, eyes flickering across the surrounding area. “Just more of the same that we’ve seen in DC, but still. Was there anything you maybe wanted to keep out of reach of the lightning? Like anything you saw on the roof, or anything outside that we could easily move inside?"

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2025 11:28 pm


its_ p a o


She had startled at the peal of thunder, and she had in fact made a sudden movement as if to see to something, quickly aborted.

But she had recovered, now, and she was simply looking at Ekstrom with a very strange expression.

"There's nothing here to save," she said. "There's nothing here at all. Just a dead man."

She hesitated, but she wasn't about to let her courage fail her in the face of a little lightning, magical or not, and stepped to join Ekstrom at the ruined window. Her eyes wandered up to the fragile, ancient glass pane, with its incongruous little piece of romance painted on it, and then back out to the skies. Nothing she could do to save a pane of glass, if the storm decided to take it.

She was looking out, down towards the curtain wall where it stretched to the water, and where there was no longer a ghost standing with his back to them. But if this put any uncertainty into her, she kept it out of her voice and out of her eyes, which were trained on the lightning as another bolt struck out with angry violence.

"It hasn't been nothing but kind to you," she said after a moment. "Messing with your memories isn't kind. But I'm not gonna argue with you about it." She said it with a bit of the dismissiveness you might find in an old friend who, disgusted with your shitty boyfriend and your excuses for him, was washing her hands of warning you anymore. It was a moment of looking past her easy, friendly exterior, and even past the frank empathy she'd offered her seconds before, to something a little uglier, and a little colder. Perhaps, if Ekstrom had problems getting attached too easily, Joy had problems in the opposite direction.

She stood for a second in silence, still looking out to the empty curtain wall and past it to the sudden and violent turmoil of the sky. "It looks like the end of the ******** world," she said at last, flatly, startling slightly at another peal of thunder that shook a chunk of plaster loose from the ceiling. "It's weird, isn't it? That it can come and find us here. I thought the Earth wonders were sort of - outside of reality, you know? But I guess they aren't, somehow. Or it wouldn't be able to find us." And then, without looking at her: "If I power down I'd appreciate it if you didn't look at me."
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