cursednet | video | un: desdemona

video | un: desdemona

[Nancy's looking a lot better since her arrival. Her black eye has faded, the cut on her lip has healed, and the damned headache is at long last gone. She sits with a straight back, and occasionally glances off-screen to make sure she's doing it right. Not like she'd really know. But it's fun, to be a part of something new like this, these video messages. These videos.

In the background, The Smiths play quietly. She takes a drink of what could be anything. It's not. It's tea. And gin.

Mostly gin.]

Hello, I'm trying this for the first time. It's all so incredibly new and exciting. [Her accent remains unchanged.]

Which is why I'd like to ask everyone something: How many of you are out of place? And how many are out of time?

I was speaking at the roller rink with Captain Bonnet and we were wondering if there were others like us here, not just dragged from a few years or across the country, but across the ocean, hundreds of years out of the past, into this ridiculous future and have no idea what cars or neon or arcades are let alone jeans.

If so, I propose we have a meeting of sorts. Try to learn all these new things together. Or if anyone is willing to explain the last two hundred years in history, I'm really curious. I know some of you are from the future future from here, but I imagine that'd be easier. [Now she feels like shes' excluding a huge chunk of the population, but come on. People like her and Stede were at a distinct disadvantage.]

Er-- My name is Nancy, and I'm from 1838 London.

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[omg more praise! best day!]

I'm still not all that used to trousers, truthfully, [she's worn them, of course. But jeans are weird. At least their are still skirts and dresses readily available.]

Wet and rainy are par for the course back home. Though I'd love a bit of sun. I've heard it's like a paradise over there.

[Well this is all just cute as hell.]

Trousers are good. Don't get caught in things. Not very airy, though.

[So a point both ways, really. Belatedly, he raises a hand to wave at Nancy from where he's squished in next to Stede.]

I'm that Ed he's talking about, by the way. Hiya.

Oh, yeah, this is Ed! Ed, Nancy, Nancy, Ed.

[ World's most necessary and helpful addition. ]

I guess the new fashions would be a bit more of an adjustment for you, wouldn't they? Trousers and all. [ Stede hadn't considered that even a little. Head empty no thoughts. ] Well, if we all want to get stocked up on wardrobe options, we're gonna have to add learning the weather patterns to our list!

Lovely to meet you, Mr. Ed. Are you a captain as well?

[She's got no idea.]

At least they've done away with corsets, I'm not too proud to admit that. [While people didn't actually wear them as tight as one would imagine, they were still restrictive. But now there were bras to figure out, and she's not prepared to talk to two men about those unless they were paying her.]

We are! I'm used to the rain, so that won't be any bother, at least. That should be at least one of the meetings- understanding the modern fashions and weather patterns of our new home.

How'd ya know?

[Ed grins, clearly pleased by her guess. It's nice to think he still gives off captain vibes when not actively threatening someone or being all scary. He elbows Stede, as if the guy isn't sitting right there with working ears.]

Y'hear that? She called me Mr Ed. Fancy. [and back at Nancy-] Don't gotta call me that. I'm just Ed. Never had a title outside of captain, and I can't have you calling me that when I don't even have a ship.

S'far as I can tell, the fashion here is uh... bright. Puffy. And that weird material everyone's wearing, all stiff- [He waves his hands around, trying pretty fruitlessly to emphasise the shape of it.] Looks like something blue you left out in the sun for too long.

[ Ed deserves many things. To feel fancy is chief among them. All part and parcel of Nancy being a good bean. ]

Yeah, it's everywhere. [ He leans in like he's sharing with their cool past-people club a Great Secret. ] Meanwhile I've heard that velvet is very 'last decade.' But I don't see why the future needs to sacrifice good texture when it's finally having some fun with colors!

[ Truly patterns out here in the wild that he would have died to have in the wardrobe. And then he touched them and went "ew." ]

Some of them feel like... Like paper! But a very crinkly, fabric-paper. [She shudders]

I will never complain about velvet. I had a velvet ribbon, once. I'd tie my hair with it often enough. [She smiles, touching the back of her head where she would have had such ribbon.]

If only the future had your good sense.

Hand-feel is important. Dunno why you'd want to feel like crinkly paper. [as an aside, he murmurs to Stede-] I like what you choose. Stuff what's 'this decade'.

We can keep an eye out, I reckon. Bet we could find a velvet ribbon. Or velvet to cut up into ribbon. Either of you know how to do that?

Hand-feel is so important!

[ Also, aww. This is what validation feels like. Thank goodness for Nancy and Ed and their good taste. Stede doesn't pick favorite people, obviously, except that he absolutely does and they're his favorites here. Ed gets a grateful shoulder nudge because he's in proximity for it. ]

I'm sure we could work it out between the three of us. Bit of cutting, bit of measuring. A little creative outlet. Nancy! What's your color preference?

Absolutely! I know my sewing and mending. If someone gets fabric, I don't see why we can't all have one.

I'm partial to red, truthfully. But I'll take green, in a second.

[She beams at these two men, who have seemingly adopted her with ease. Good men, for once in her life.

[Ah geez. Free shoulder nudge. Love those.

Ed can't help but grin at the thought of them all wearing matching ribbons. Bit cute.]

Would be nice to have something to get all this outta my face next time I skate.

[He has bruises everywhere and a weird new ache in his knee and still can't wait to go back.]

Excellent colors. Really solid choices. And Stede really knows his shit, he'll find a shade that suits.

[ The old-timey gang out here doing the most important work. Adoption, gossiping about weirdo modern fashion trends, and arts and crafts. ]

I absolutely will. Red and green are fantastic. Always wanting a bit more of them to fold into the old wardrobe. You know, these could be real statement pieces for us. Really make an impression!

[ Which his theatrical ass absolutely loves. ]

[You do realize this means there have to be proper tea parties, right? Also she's never had a birthday party. She's going to be so posh! Dads!]

Perfect! Perhaps there's some sort of fabric store about, yeah? I only had two dresses, back home- a red one and a green one. Couldn't afford much more, not when there's rent and food to get. [And they'd had a dog to care for.

She would like a dog. Or a cat.]

You are both so kind, Captain Bonnet, Captain Ed. [Nope, it's formal titles until someone tells her to stop]

[Yeah, those are definitely 100% both in her future. Ed has known Nancy for five minutes but if anything happens to her he's setting everyone else on fire and then himself for good measure.]

Bit hard to steal that much fabric, I spose. Hm. Might require some planning.

[Said as if he's already thinking on it. Mission "find a scrap of velvet" has morphed into mission" singlehandedly stock Stede's and Nancy's wardrobes with color.]

Ffff. What. Nahhh. I'm in this for purely selfish reasons.

[ Reasonable and fair. Nancy is a sweetheart. Stede is pretty sure that's a huge contributor to the fact that she and Ed are getting on so well. They're both lovely. It's basically personality science. He'll be the feral little weirdo lined up to bite ankles for them. ]

They do say being kind is its own reward. [ The selfishness of selflessness, a truly complex labyrinth of emotional mystery.

Anyway, ] But I've also always wanted to do a heist! So if anything, you've done me a huge favor on this one, Nancy. It's gonna be great.

a heist?

[She'd never said anything about stealing. But, as luck would have it, she happens to know a thing or two about stealing. She smiles.]

Alright, well first we best find the store. And see if we can map it out, so we can devise a plan of action. Ain't any good to go in blind, if you want to do this proper. And I imagine you two do.

[There's a twinkle in her eye- time to find out why she, too, is infamous.]

Heist. Heist! [Ed clicks his tongue a couple times, really enjoying the sound of that one. The word, the idea, all of it. Great all round. He's so excited, in fact, that he kind of has to catch himself last minute before he drops an F-bomb on this little lady.]

Ffffff-un. Fun idea. Yeah, hell yeah.

[Sometimes a crime family is actually two pirates and the child they just met.]

Exactly what I was thinking. Mind, maybe we should plan the rest of it in a way we're sure other folks can't spy on.

You leave the actual heist to me and Stede, Nancy. Could always use a scout, though.

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video | un: desdemona

un: desdemona

Leaps in!!! Ed > Stede > Nancy ?

i'm down with anything 🤺

well now that's dangerous and I have to finish OFMD.

yesssssss please do

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