(seventh lemon cake) video ✧ (sorta) open to both courts

[steeledskin]

( SEELIE ONLY )

I -- [ hmm. sansa presses her lips together and wonders (briefly) whether it is a foolish request in the face of war. and yet she pursues it for an honourable cause. she wishes to gather certain tales for certain purposes. ] I want to hear stories. Stories of grand adventures undertaken by brave Seelie heroes. I cannot be the only one who's struck by such curiousity. Please -- share what you've learned.

[ and for every legend well-told and well-lauded she will make a point to include it within a very...pointed celebration in treun. perhaps encouraging even the shardless to think upon the bright bold tales of the seelie court will further endear that court to their hearts. it's a little like letting the right song be played at the right moment, falling upon the right ears. she wants to inspire treun -- or else certain parts of it -- to think more kindly on caer glaem. and she needs fellow shardbearers to help her. ] Tell me of the Seelie court's fabled champions and its well-mourned martyrs. What have you heard recounted by the hearth-side? Whispered on the road? Stories even the natives have told for centuries, mayhaps.

( BOTH COURTS )

[ some hours later in the day an 'accidental' feed broadcasts. it consists of the locket falling open and catching sight of a pile of books. sounds of rustling. a cleared throat. and at long last a mild: ] Seven have mercy. What a troublesome thing you are and how -- [ sansa addresses the locket she had flipped open on purpose, pretending to be clumsy. this is a quiet way in which to invite conversation with those she might not otherwise feel brave enough to seek out -- unseelie friends, soon separated from her by a roiling oncoming war. ] -- How stupid of me.

[ a novice ruse! however, she has such an earnest and gentle face it might just be worth believing by most, if not by all. ]

Comments

Seelie Lieutenant | Voice

[fairyfoes]

Is the Keeper of the Cothromach a child, to ask so for stories? Has she no more pressing duties? No?

Then soon they will be singing of the dreaming girl who lost her lands and people to Unseelie sorcery, and how Reul cast her skull in silver and made its restless spirit sing ceaselessly to him of all her failures.

[steeledskin]

[ her throat is dry. but her shoulders are square. if her question invites such wild repercussion then she knows she's asked correctly -- wide-eyed enough that none suspect how those stories can be sharpened and honed and spun into weapons. weaved into banners and embroidered onto pennants that might win hearts among treun. so many of its citizens sit shardless -- and she wonders whether losing that shard is like losing a horse in these races.

she wants to inspire them again. but it will never work if it is obvious. so -- contritely: ] Said thus, I imagine it's no less than I deserve. [ there isn't a single tick of emotion in her voice. whoever he is, he does not need to know that she does this at the behest of ser lancelot, and thereby (she thinks) the monarchs themselves. ] Your name, ser? So I might remember who speaks so wisely to me.

[aliased]

[ in short? oh hells no. ] Do not speak to my sister that way.

video;

[greywater]

I once thought to get your brother Bran such a book of stories. [Though she has little to tell herself, but it is an interest of hers. She would be eager to learn what Sansa finds out, though it is an odd request at such a time. Especially with her Lady Keeper in Treun.]

video;

[steeledskin]

Perhaps by the time I return, I'll have such a book in my possession.

Video, locked, the usual

[gordianknots]

[Waver's taking a brief break from his training with Alyosha, and seeing Sansa on the network is no small delight.]

Sometimes I think the lockets are more slippery than soap.

[steeledskin]

Gold is -- it's tricky in that way, isn't it? [ her expression betrays no playfulness -- but perhaps the slight lilt in her question says all. ]

( video )

[graciousness]

[ this actual face. ]

-- My Lady?

( video )

[steeledskin]

Gwen. [ her pause is too perfect. too planned. ] Good day. You're well, I trust?

Video

[dyingisnotdead]

...would you like to hear the story, of how I came to be at Dragonstone?

[Would you love to hear the story of his (supposed) death?]

Video

[steeledskin]

[ ah. she smiles. in truth, sansa aims to collect stories of heroes of the long yore. those are the stories that will add to her ammunition. but in this instance? well! it is sansa stark the girl who wants to her ser loras's tale -- not sansa stark the politician. ]

I would. Yes. And who better to tell it than you yourself.

video; private

[boutant]

They really should have given us a way to communicate that can't open on accident.

[ Ariadne looks tired, but she offers Sansa a smile; she's certainly less tired than she has been, settling into her own role within the Drabwurld. ]

video; private

[steeledskin]

I cannot imagine there will ever be something both foolproof and immediate. The two seem to...contradict each other. [ ... ] Good day, Lady Ariadne.

video; private

[notyetlegend]

Troublesome indeed, m'lady. An inconvenience to some.

[Still, she smiles, even if it does have a bit of a mischievous smirk to it. It's been a while since their last talk, and with Jon's comments on the Cothromach becoming a safe haven for Seelie and Unseelie alike, she had to admit she was worried about Sansa.]

video; private

[steeledskin]

An inconvenience to many, I would imagine.

[ oh boy don't get her started on her brother's announcement. she will be trying to smooth over that gruffness for ages. she agrees with jon's stance, she simply believes a gentler hand must be taken to it. ]

Private - Video

[scorchedchivalry]

A moment of your time, Lady Keeper?

Private - Video

[steeledskin]

[ hmm. she can never be certain when saber talks to her -- whether she is about to be charmed or insulted. and so she feels her pulse quicken with some need for survival. the choice of fight or flight coursing through her veins.

in a soft voice: ] You may have a handful of moments if you want them, ser.

private voice

[bullhorned]

Treun must be terribly dull if it's stories you're after.

[They've not spoken since she's left. Not truly, in any case. There were messages in text back and forth, so he could still get his practice in, but they were not letters of substance. It's been a bit too long since they could talk like this.]

private voice

[steeledskin]

[ --hmm. she relishes the small moment to speak without her face being shown. and in that moment, she doesn't smile. but she doesn't grimace either. sansa retires to a cushioned chair beside a wide window on the guest house's second floor. how good it is to watch the trees while she speaks with him. ]

On the contrary! Treun is fascinating. I only want to equal it in history and lore so that it might not find me dull in turn. [ sorta. in any fashion, it's about as near as she's come to yet telling anyone outside her immediate proximity the truth of her efforts. ]

video; private

[steelminded]

...Ah, well, there's nothing you can do if it opened like that, right?

[ They hadn't met ever since that party, but either ways he's responding nonetheless. It's a miracle he could find the time to communicate at this moment either ways, but he'd die of boredom if he doesn't talk to anyone right now. ]

video; private

[steeledskin]

-- I suppose you're correct. [ it takes her a moment to place him. to remember him. ] Good day.

[Video]

[dragonring]

[Dave has no stories, not from this world at least, so her first message goes ignored. But later at night, when he and the group of people he's escorting stop to rest, Dave sees her other message and can't help to worry a bit.]

Lady Sansa? Are you alright? [He's so tired (visibly so) that he doesn't think of using just voice or locking the conversation. He just goes with what she used.] Is your trip going ok?

[Video]

[steeledskin]

It might yet be called a success. [ a brief pause. ] And I am fine. Unhurt. Thank you, though, for your concern. I trust I find you well in turn?

video.

[andallbite]

[ He doesn't know her, so naturally he doesn't think anything of her ruse—or that it's one at all. But her reaction does get a subtle frown out of him, mildly puzzled. ]

It's just a locket. Dropping it isn't worth worrying about that much.

video.

[steeledskin]

And yet I hate to think the outburst might have disturbed anyone. Bothered anyone.

video;

[playmakings]

[ Forget the locket, Kelsi's honed in on something else. It's the playmaker in her, she knows. The one that sets everything up and reads everything just right and makes everyone else look good. That's why her voice is soft and almost musical when she responds to Sansa. She's sure that slip wasn't just being clumsy. Nerves, perhaps? ]

Lady Sansa? [ That was the proper name, right? ] Are you feeling alright?

video;

[steeledskin]

As well as can be expected, Kelsi. [ it's a judicious decision not to add a title in place. one she does not take lightly. ] I trust I find you well?

video;

[slugout]

[ ???? ]

Hey, come on, just dropping something doesn't make you stupid... It'll take a lot more than that! Like failing an entrance exam or something, which is totally different. [ of course junpei tries to cheer her up with a joke... which unfortunately might be missed after all. ]

video;

[steeledskin]

-- An entrance exam?

[ do explain please. ]