entranceway | 006 ♒ ᴛᴇxᴛ + ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.

Are you alright, Sansa?

[ look who's back. ]

[ how odd it is to be called so and he does it so casually. it gives her an odd sense of thrill. ]

Good doctor, how kind you are for asking after me.

I am alright. They say that in a few days I will be quite healed. Are you alright? Please tell me you are safe.

[ There is power in a name. Hannibal wields it with intention. Call someone by their name and they are more likely to become endeared to you. ]

I'm alive, well, and able to eat solid foods, yes. As for checking in on you, I consider it a moral responsibility. I'm glad that you're alright.

Might I ask what happened?

how fortunate I am, that one as kind as you feels that kind of responsibility.

[ fortunate, indeed. she is much too used to being thought as a political asset. a piece and not a player. ]

I am not certain. it happened so fast. my mirror she pulled me and all at once I was on the other side.

I saw it. the beast they speak of.

What was it like?

I dared not look upon it. I only heard its roar.

It was a dreadful thing, one that should only be kept to songs and tales.

[ why, she wants to ask, why are the good things in the tale are always a lie and yet the evil is always true? ]

I fell and hurt my leg when I ran from it. My mirror she - she is a craven.

[ but isn't alayne also that? ]

[ The answer to her unasked question is, of course, because we are human, and we will always, in one way or another, put ourselves first. That is their curse, the human condition. ]

I've come to find that our mirrors are simply versions of ourselves that we could have been. How does it make you feel, knowing how she is?

Edited 2014-12-31 00:21 (UTC)

I do not know.

I barely know who I am, Doctor.

[ alayne or sansa or an odd mixture of both. one moment she wants to say she is the lady sansa stark, daughter of the north - say it with pride. the next moment, she wants nothing more than to be safe and safety is alayne stone. ]

Not knowing who you are is a terrible thing, especially when there is no one around whom you trust to help you.

I can help, if you would like.

you are wise and learned.

but I do not understand; how can you help me?

I can help you figure out who you are. In my world, what I do is called psychiatry. We guide others in need towards a better understanding of themselves.

I fear I've never heard of it in my own realm.

I don't know that I can repay you for such a favor.

I'm sure we can figure out something eventually.

You are very good to me, Doctor. However I can repay you this favor, I shall.

lady sansa? have you been hurt?

It will heal quickly, they say.

Your Grace, are you well? please tell me you have not gone to search for it.

have your wounds been treated, then? not at all. i would not try something so reckless. and i have no weapon.

Yes, your Grace, they have.

Are you well? would that I could come see you.

at the very least, we know that our numbers are not without its doctors. well enough. though you need rest. where are they keeping you to recover?

the medical clinic on the first floor.

they are very kind. I am only happy that most people are safe.

And I am certainly glad you are safe, your Grace.

i have yet to visit this clinic but i will determine its location and visit. you may needs be patient as the mansion is vast and still confuses me.

you are too kind, your grace.

but please, make certain you are not harmed or in danger. I shall never forigve myself if you are hurt on my account.

i will.

[ A small stretch of time later, the young queen emerges in the doorway, expression light and curious, inclining her head slightly when she sees Sansa. ]

I hope I am not interrupting your rest.

Your Grace - !

[ not knowing when she'd come, she had taken to measures to at the very least braid her hair. would that she could rise up to give the queen of dragons the honor she deserves. as she is, all she can do is dip her chin down, inclining her head in a manner of a curtsy. she sits up, a small smile sitting on her lips. ]

You are never an interruption. You are so good to have come and see me.

I would not neglect the last of Westeros, Lady Sansa. [ Let it not be said that she forgets her curtsies, though Dany had been raised... a little differently than the other girl. Unsure of what to do with herself, really, and never having been in the clinic before, she glances around with curiosity. ]

Are they keeping you in good health, here? Or, good spirits, at the very least.

[ It would not do to have one of her only friends (she may not admit the word to herself, not yet, but it's true all the same) without the care she might need. ]

[ how odd that sansa will find herself in such company. they are truly the last ones from their realms, the dragon queen and the ladt of house stark. she thinks that the queen, much like herself, is hardly a stranger to loneliness. ]

Yes, your Grace. They are doing all that they can.

[ but she has many hours to spend on her own with none but her thoughts for company. she is truly, though secretly, happy that she had come to visit. ]

Do you reckon it will all end soon?

[ Dany wonders distantly what Sansa knows of her father, the "Mad King," who she herself had never met. She wonders what the Stark girl thinks of her family, her house. Wonders how she might see Daenerys herself, young, stubborn, and willful. Does she think me foolish? ]

I cannot say. [ Truly, Dany doesn't understand Wonderland, its workings, its people. There is so much confusion day in and day out, strange words over strange devices... it's a little much to handle more often than not. ]

... I have very little company here, I-- [ She flushes faintly, almost embarrassed to say it aloud. ] I feel... lost.

I am not a Queen, your Grace, nor am I strong or - wise.

[ she looks down at her hands ]

I was a silly little girl once. I thought the world was beautiful and sweet as the songs said. I know what it feels like to feel alone. In King's Landing -- I had no friend. No one.

[ there was margaery, yes but even she had become distant after they made a lion of sansa. ]

They've killed my Lord Father and my brothers, I've lost my sister. But you are not alone here, Your Grace. I do not know my worth, truly, but you are a friend to me and I to you.

That is only on your word. [ Alayne--Sansa--reminds Dany of the girl she'd once been, of the frightened princess alone in a world of strangers and enemies. Where everything was a danger and her window of understanding was terribly narrow. But, now... ]

I was much the same. [ Both naive, at first, then very... very alone. ]

... I am sorry to hear about your family, Lady Sansa. [ "They?" She wonders distantly who it might have been, if it was the Usurper, before his death, or some new enemy of which Dany could not know. ] I did not know.

[ Though, that last piece... Dany looks surprised, taken aback, even, and is silent for a moment as she collects her thoughts. ]

I... Thank you. It is a comfort to know that I have one, at least, with whom I can speak freely.

They've taken everything from me. They've - they'll kill me, too, if they ever find their way here. They would not see Alayne, only Sansa and the Queen shall certainly have my head.

[ as she had my father's and brother's she thinks and the words she speaks taste bitter on her tongue. ]

She is naught like you. She's cruel and merciless.

[ she would never speak those words to anyone in westeros. now, she dares, for the queen cannot be more horrible than the jabbkerwocky.

it feels like sweet relief. ]

They will not harm you here. [ They are both safe from those who wish them harm in their home world and, perhaps naively, Dany believes that even if they were in the mansion, there would be means to keep them at bay. ]

You do not know me, Lady Sansa. [ Dany says sadly, gently, turning her violet eyes on the other girl. Though she hardly considers herself cruel or merciless, she has perpetrated her own violence on those she felt wronged by. On those who had wronged others. It was justice, in her eyes, but... ]

You have been nothing but good to me since you arrived, Your Grace. You did not - raise your hand to me or called for my head for who I am. You've been good to my brother Bran, too. I remember.

[ it's never taken for granted. wolves and dragons have a bloodied history, sansa knows. ]

Goodness is often a veil for further deceit. [ She knows it too well, thinks of Jorah and Set Barristan. ] I believe myself just and good but we are often... not perfect judges of ourselves.

[ She remembers Bran Stark, the first of Westeros with whom she'd spoken upon her arrival. ]

... I hope that I do not prove to be otherwise.

Even monsters can appear kind.

[ she nods her head, thinks of joffrey, of the queen. ]

Those of my house favored you company, I do not differ.

[ she looks at her for a moment ]

Why do you wish for the Iron Throne? It is an awful thing, all sharp and filled with edges and the whole city -- it is a terrible place. No secret can be kept there, it is ugly.

[ she holds no affection for king's landing, not anymore. ]

They usually do, I've found.

[ She thinks of Xaro Xhoan Daxos, of Jorah, of the dozens who had claimed to be friends and allies and had only meant her ill will. ]

Not all of them, Lady Sansa. Your house proved an ally to the Usurper, who, with the Lannisters, murdered my family and took the throne.

[ She still is heavily conflicted over stories of her father, but nothing could shake Dany's faith and love for Rhaegar, or for his wife and children. ]

I want what is rightly mine. I want to restore peace and goodness to a lost kingdom.

You don't need to thank me.

How are you healing?

I am resting. It would not take long, they said.

please. I must speak to you in person.

Stay where you are. I'll come.

[ He was only in the clinic long enough to deliver her there, before. It unsettles him, and without the distraction of another, even more so. The clinic itself is friendly and innocuous, but the moment he steps inside, he feels needles under his skin.

He shoulders his way past, ignoring the questioning glances from any doctors or volunteers. He tells himself he won't be long. He has a fight to get back to, once he's seen that the ones who have lost their memories are still safe on this side of the glass.

When he steps inside, he lingers by the doorway, his arms folded across his arms across his chest. ] What is it?

[ she sits up the moment he enters, hands placed above the blankets. despite being pale and scared and worried, alayne attempts and mostly succeeds in looking like a little lady.

she is used to the pretense in the face of pain. joffrey taught her as much.

when he comes, though, she puts alayne asides, she tries to focus on sansa. ]

I wanted -- it would sound odd, perhaps but I am forever indebted to you for saving my life. I cannot hope to repay this debt.

Sansa.

[ He steps a little closer to the bed, despite himself. The Jabberwocky is the stuff of literal nightmares, but he sees the way she sets her shoulders and her mask in their proper place. She reminds him of another girl he knew, a long time ago.

He stops by her bedside. His arms are covered by the sleeves of his jacket, but his hands are bare. The fingers of his left hand are bright silver; they make a soft scraping sound as they curl against the rail that surrounds her bed. ]

Getting to you on time is the only good thing I've done in the last -- in a long time. If you insist that you owe me a debt, then I'm gonna insist that you've already repaid it.

[ he has changed so much that she wonders if this is what has happened to arya, if that is what happened to sansa. the girls who would bicker and hear old nan's stories in winterfell, are they truly gone? arya wielded a sword as any man would do and her hair was short, a girl disguised behind a boy and sansa --

sansa was silly and foolish and happy and now, what was she truly? older and sadder to be certain; hidden behind a different name and not knowing how to be without wanting to hide in shadows.

is that the fate of us all to grow to be sad?

she looks at him before shifting, not letting the pain show; she is lady stark, daughter of the north and this, now, is important. ]

I am the last of my kin remaining here; perhaps I am the last of my kin to remain at all.

[ an edge of bitterness there before she tidies down her dress. ]

You have given me my life. Perhaps we must not speak of debts then.

[ she wants to look at her hands, wants to shy away as suddenly she feels so young - but no. this must be done in a proper way. ]

I would name you my bannerman.

[ He meets her gaze when she looks directly at him. It strikes him strangely, how young she is, for all that she's lost. It's strange because he knows that age is a number, and no one is safe simply because they're young. It's strange because the feeling it stirs in him is a mix of understanding and regret, and some of that same impulse that keeps drawing him back to her.

He's glad enough to drop the subject of debt. She owes him nothing. Saving a life, even one as good as hers, is one mark in a ledger washed with red.

The next thing she says softens his features. A little of it is plain confusion, but not all. ]

You'll to have to tell me what that means, princess.

Sansa.

[ a soft reminder. at most, she's lady sansa, lady stark. but with the king in the north dead, she dares not name herself as princess. though perhaps it is a debt she owes robb. it is hard to remember all the debts and all the lessons. ]

it means that we will vow to keep one another safe.

[ a silly thing since lady sansa stark holds no power in wonderland and even less so in westeros but perhaps one day. ]

[ Bucky would have meant the nickname affectionately, as formal as it was. James doesn't think too much of how he came to use it, but he nods at the correction. He'll remember. Names are important.

The vow is an unusual one to hear and at the same time, not. Safety is a tenuous thing, easily lost. He knows that regardless of this incident, there will be times when she's as far beyond his ability to protect her as he is beyond hers.

Still, a part of him understands that the literal meaning of the words is not necessarily the reason people make vows like this. He knows because he has made vows like this twice. One, he thought he would never break, and another he only hoped to keep even when he knew his will wasn't always his own.

This is a path that will end in blood. He knows this. The fact remains that he has still made two vows. The fact remains that he looks at her and wants to make a third, and wants to keep it. He's tired of losing.

He moves his hands and holds the right open to her, in easy reach. He tries not to think very much beyond the gesture. ]

[ sansa is less used to formalities. alayne had been naught but a bastard girl from the vale, polite and sweet in her way. but this, this is not a vow made to alayne stone. it is made to lady sansa stark of the north, the last of her kin and it must be done right.

it is sansa, not alayne who requested this and it is sansa who answers. a lady who could have been a princess, who some might say might yet be queen, bends her head to press a gentle kiss on the hand offered to her. ]

[ It isn't what he expected. He had meant to take her hand in his. Though he doesn't try to pull away when she leans down, it's a near thing. The soft brush of her lips against his scarred knuckles feels like a brand.

When she straightens, he follows the impulse to lean down and presses a light kiss to the crown of her forehead. It's something that Bucky would have done, but sometimes he's more ghost than machine. ]

Get some rest, Sansa.

What if it comes back?

[ it slips out and for a moment, she looks exactly her age. three and ten and far too young to have seen the number of monsters she had seen. sansa is no longer a fool; the jabberwocky is a monster, yes.

she knows some monsters hide behind human appearance, too. and those monsters have won against her far too many times. ]

The Jabberwocky. What if it'll come here?

[ He can't promise her that it won't, or that she will be perfectly safe. She's seen too much for that, and a lie like that is a blanket; a comfort, not a shield. ]

Then you get as far away as you can. Hide. If it comes to this side, I'll come too. I'll find you.

006 ♒ ᴛᴇxᴛ + ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text; not late

text; never late

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text;

text; --> action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

text;

text;

text -> action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action