OPEN; how could anything bad ever happen to you?

[clothed]

Who: Sansa and others
What: test drive catch-all and may event threads
When: throughout may for the event
Where: all over!

Content Warnings: Will add as things progress!

We all have a hunger.

It's easy to fall back into rhythm with Lady. The direwolf is a miracle, even though Sansa's stopped believing in things like miracles; she knows it is her, and Lady remembers her. During her first few nights in Milton Sansa slept with the wolf curled against her body, the two of them nested together like they used to do back in Winterfell.

Warmth, especially body warmth, can spell the difference between life or death during winter.

These days Sansa finds herself in something of a routine: she wakes early, lets Lady out to do her business and stretch her legs, and then says a quiet prayer to both the Old Gods and the Seven. For her father, and her mother, and her brothers and sister and everyone else who have died.

Then she goes through what reading material is available at the community center. She'll run out eventually; it's a lot like studying, only without a septa or a maester guiding her, but she'll make do.

Sansa's easy to find like this: either walking with Lady as the direwolf maps out the town, sitting by a window and reading, or trying to help with something. Anything.

Just try not to come up from behind when approaching her; she always has her knife with her.

[ Happy to write a closed starter for the event! Send me a journal PM or ping me on plurk (weirwood) to plot something out. Also moving test drive threads here just to keep things neat. ]

Comments

Community Center

[lilredvamp]

With the weird fog, Jessica had to suspend her weekly travels from Lakeside to Milton. It’s hard to see in this fog at night. And lately the fog had started to become unforgiving. It gave her pain she hadn’t felt since she was alive.

But that’s neither here nor there. She’s here to give what few deliveries she had, sleep away the day, and get up in the evening and return back to Lakeside and stay there for the foreseeable future.

By the time she arrived at the community center people were getting ready to eat dinner. Jessica groaned. Ever since she turned vampire she hated the smell of dead flesh, especially when it’s being cooked. Human food just looked so bad to Jessica. It’s so awkward as she’s not exactly out of the coffin for everyone, so it becomes a song and dance routine.

Jessica sits down on the furthest end of the table with a grubby book for company. It’s about a boy who got tired of the suburban life and ran off to the woods to live a wild boy. A little bit on the nose but better than nothing. Before she settles in, she sees a girl with red hair. For a wild moment, she thought she saw her little sister Eden. The same red color, the polite face, and the blue eyes. “Eden?” Jessica blurts out.

Then Jessica realizes her mistake almost instantly. Her little sister have the same shade of red and blue eyes, but she’s smaller and far more innocent, despite the pain their father gave them.

That, and Eden wouldn’t certainly never have a wolf sleeping near her ankles.

[clothed]

It's Lady who notices first, turning her head towards the noise and pulling Sansa's attention to her along. She almost asks out loud what the matter is, but force of habit has her following Lady's gaze first. Realization dawns, and the fleeting look of recognition - and shock, perhaps? - that gives away to seeming disappointment on the stranger's face tells Sansa a little of what has just happened.

She approaches first, keeping her body language polite and her gestures small. They both have the same red of hair, the striking colour standing out against the interiors, and they're both long of bone, with sharp features. If Sansa were less informed, she would think the stranger a cousin on her mother's side. Perhaps a Tully by way of Uncle Brynden, or a bastard by Uncle Edmure, though Sansa recalls no daughters by them.

"We have hot soup," she remarks first, half-turning to where the kitchen is. "I'm sorry if I've reminded you of someone. I'm Lyanna."

[lilredvamp]

“It’s okay. It’s not like us redheads are common around here. I’m Jessica Hamby.” Unless one is from Ireland. Or is it Scotland? Jessica has no idea.

“Thanks for the offer but I actually ate earlier.” Ha. Jessica can’t help but peer over to look at the wolf again. “I’m sorry but I have to ask - is that a wolf? Or is it one of those dogs that just look like them?”

[clothed]

"She's a direwolf, yes," Sansa agrees, reaching down for a brief moment to brush her fingers along Lady's scruff. "She's behaved, but she is still a wolf. She won't bite without provocation, I can promise you."

Lady whines for a moment, rubbing her muzzle against Sansa's knee. She wants a treat, and Sansa doesn't have any. Lady turns to the other girl - to Jessica - and makes a small sound. Sansa shakes her head, and offers, "Would you like to hold her?"