happiness is a warm gun; open & closed.

[clothed]

Who: Sansa, others.
What: Wolftimes, Aurora Feat shenanigans, Sansa freaking out about electricity, others to be added.
When: Throughout July-August.
Where: Milton, especially around the community hall.

Content Warnings: Please see individual prompts for warnings!

[ Sansa's catch-all log for July through August, covering the events of the month/s and the aftermath of the previous ones. General and closed prompts in the comments; please hit me up on plurk (weirwood) if you'd like to plot something out! ]

Comments

[clothed]

I hardly keep court here, my lady, it would not be any trouble.

[ that said, on the matter of keeping house: ]

I should be honest, though. I am unused to keeping house here. You may need instruct me on what to do. Would that please you?

[meadqueen]

I think my methods would be more familiar to you than most, but I am not opposed to instruction. I can offer you a room if you'd like one.

[Edward had sworn he’d move into it but even then they had both known that he would not be returning.]

[clothed]

I would like it, if it's not an imposition on my lady.

[ that does mean sansa would need to learn how to actually clean, on the other hand. she doesn't balk at the idea, but she does worry about how she might seem. she's supposed to be a commoner; what commoner doesn't know how to keep after themselves? ]

Would you not mind Lady indoors?

[meadqueen]

I am certain that Lady is more well-behaved than the wolf we have at home!

[She does not know yet that soon there will be another small wolf in the house.]

It is no imposition.

[clothed]

I appreciate the confidence in her, my lady. But she is still a wolf, and will grow much larger than most wolves. Direwolves grow as large as a horse.

[ just in case there are precious things that might break. ]

We would be honoured to join your household, Lady Randvi, if you'll have us.

[meadqueen]

[Incredible. Randvi would like to see that, someday.]

In that case she may have trouble navigating the staircase someday, but we can face that day when it comes.

I will be happy for both the help and the company.

[clothed]

Are the stairs here so narrow?

[ she has concerns. that said— ]

When would be a good time to come by, my lady? I don't have much to carry with me, if...?

[meadqueen]

They turn, as in a tower. I have never lived in a separate home so large.

[Yes, a longhouse is bigger but her living quarters had only been a small part on a single floor.]

I am simply walking for my health, if you would wish to come by today I will be returning shortly.

[clothed]

Stairs that turn... but for the household proper? That doesn't seem practical at all. How would you manage your furniture?

[ do people here just build things inside the homes? that's so much dust. ]

We'll be by in time for the evening sup, my lady. Perhaps we might help as well?

[ like a direwolf would know how to cook. ]

[meadqueen]

In this case, it was all already there. Perhaps it was constructed inside. I suppose they would have some electrical means of cleaning up the mess.

[Randvi has not seen such a thing so far, but these people use electricity for everything.]

I’d like that. I will stop by the hall on the way back and see whether anyone has rabbit.

[clothed]

I still do not understand what electricity is, or how it works. How can you trust something that you do not understand?

And my lady, we can find our own rabbit. [ lady quietly but happily huffs, reminding them of her. ] Simply ask her, and if she can find one, she will bring one.

[meadqueen]

You are wise to be wary: these devices can harm you severely under the wrong circumstances.

[Randvi had barely escaped harm in the mines from a malfunctioning device near water. They still hold a fascination for her, however, on aurora nights. How amazing that people just like her had created such things.

She smiles down at Lady once she draws attention to herself.]

Of course, your caretaker here likely has all of us beaten in this category.

[Kneeling, to the wolf:] My lady, we would be terribly grateful if you could procure a rabbit for our evening meal.

[clothed]

[ one thing about wolves that most find surprising is that they do not bark the way their tames cousins do. true that they howl, either to call on their pack or to make their distress known, but a wolf that barks is doing so as a warning: it will be brief, same as a man's life that dares to cross it.

more that a wolf, and a direwolf especially, will make a rumbling noise or loud huff than bark its pleasure. and lady is properly behaved; she make a throaty sound, almost as a purr, as lady randvi comes down to her eye level.

in two turns of the month lady will be as large as a small horse; already she comes up to the middle of sansa's thighs.

and sheds quite a lot. ]

I think she would see us back into the town proper first before she leaves our company, my lady.

[meadqueen]

[Randvi is thinking about the shedding as well as she stands. Lady must be keeping her winter coat much longer than normal due to the strange weather in this place. A common girl with a wolf no doubt spends a not-insignificant portion of her life cleaning up after her. Another way that the two are bonded.]

Of course. She really is lovely. Taming a wolf is no small thing.

[clothed]

Oh, she’s not tamed, my lady.

[ she can no more tame a direwolf than she can call to her a dragon. No, lady means her as an equal. If sansa cannot respect a direwolf, then she has no business treating with one. ]

She listens to me because she is among people. Were we in the wild, it would be me listening to her instead.

Lady belongs to herself.

[meadqueen]

Ah, my apologies.

[It's hard not to smile, the way she sounds is so familiar. One would think Sýnin Eivor’s sister, the way she speaks of her.]

It must be helpful to have such a protector here.

[clothed]

Truly. And a friend, one so missed.

[ sansa smiles, though it softens as she remembers why she lost lady in the first place. ]

A petty and stupid prince took her from me. He and his vicious queen mother.

[meadqueen]

[That's an almost shockingly frank way for a common girl to speak of royalty to a lady, but considering the context perhaps Randvi shouldn't be shocked. No wonder she had been so afraid on arrival if she had refused a prince and already suffered for it.]

You were right before to call it a gift.

[clothed]

[ anger makes her forget herself. Rage, purified fury that only comes from a great wrong witnessed so young. Ned Stark’s head on a pike, the mockery of Robb’s death at Joffrey’s wedding. Ramsay, all of him. In that moment, Sansa is alight.

She is made stone, iron, forged steel. ]

I would not have her taken from me again, if I have the power to prevent it here. I’ve met little kindness since being taken from—

[ Too close. ]

I forget myself, my lady. Forgive me.

[meadqueen]

I hope that you know that we would not allow harm to come to either of you here if it is possible to prevent it.

[Though that steely look in the young woman’s eyes implies that she might not require the external protection. It reminds Randvi of her father’s descriptions of her own wildling spirit.]

No one will take you anywhere you do not choose to go while I live, and I'm sure others feel similarly.

[clothed]

I believe you, my lady. It's the fear — I cannot seem to be rid of it, no matter how hard I try.

[ she shames herself for the thought; her fear had kept alive, why want to be rid of it now? she wants to be brave like her father, like robb, even her mother. she wants to be strong enough to not need fear anymore. ]

What do you do? When you have so much fear it chokes you?

[meadqueen]

I wish that I knew.

[It's not fear that climbs with its clawed fingers up Randvi’s throat until she's sick with it, but a useless and occasionally cruel anger. In the end, though, she feels like it's the same. What can they do except endure it?]

The heart and the head do not always align. There are things to fear here, but all we can do is try to shield one another from them.

[clothed]

That requires a lot of trust in a great number of people. Not so great as with a kingdom, to be true, but— I do not have the measure of many of the people here. Not the way I would have liked.

Is that cruel of me to think? Am I– Do I judge too harshly?

[ how damaged has she become that she can only trust so few? ]

[meadqueen]

You're a young girl alone in a strange land, it is difficult to judge you too harshly for that.

[Randvi had tested all of her food for poison for months after her marriage.]

I would hope that in this place, people would recognize that all of us are needed for survival. And if they do not, your companion has grown quite large.

[clothed]

But there are those who would judge.

[ she says it with no heat to her words. it's a statement plain; men especially might not treat her with kindness or even civility, having taken to their hardened hearts and minds as a mark of their betterment. for such people, softness has no place in either court or wilderness.

sansa knows well to be wary of them. she also knows now the advantage of playing to such expectations. ]

Lady will grow even larger, if she keeps apace. She will protect you too, Lady Randvi. I know she would.

[ i promise. ]