Video - Seelie/Unseelie

[teenyoda]

[He might have thought to lock it if he hadn't been so excited with his news.]

Oh my god! Okay, okay. So maybe this place isn't so bad. I got magic. That's apparently my gifty boon thing for getting my ass handed to me by the invading hoard.

[He pauses, blinking and grinning down at the locket.]

I'm actually living a video game now. I feel like I just leveled up. Now all I need's a familiar. But look. Look!

[He waves around a staff, then points the locket at the books that had arrived with the staff, symbols emblazoned on them and looking exactly like what they were; spell books.]

Dude, I'm a freaking magician. Wizard? Sorcerer? I don't really know yet, but I can do stuff. See?

[He'd already poured through part of a book and had memorized one incantation. He repeated it, the tip of his staff glowing before the comforter on his bed caught fire.]

Oh... uh, no. No, shit. No, wait I didn't, hey! Hey! Stop. Finito! FLAME OFF! FLAME! OFF!

[He drops the locket and the staff and goes to pull the comforter off to toss in the fireplace. Have fun watching that debacle.]

Comments

[steeledskin]

Not hurt. [ a brief pause. ] Only lost.

[teenyoda]

Lost? Wait... where are you? What happened?

[steeledskin]

Near Caer Scima, last. I was -- [ huff. she has to stop shirking this responsibility. ] I got myself left behind, I'm afraid. After the battle.

[teenyoda]

What the hell are you doing all the way out there? Jesus, Alayne. There's bears in the woods. And other things. Worse than bears. Crap...

I can look in my books and see if I can figure something out?

[steeledskin]

[ her voice turns dejected: ] I didn't choose it; I was commanded to go by the High King and Queen.

[teenyoda]

Well, they can shove their commands up their asses. How the hell are-- god, are you okay? Are you alone?

[steeledskin]

N-no.

[ a brief pause. a flicker of her gaze -- she's looking at someone out of frame. ] I'm accompanied by a worthy knight; I assure you.

[teenyoda]

You assure me, huh? What's his name?

[Now he's peering into the locket, like he can see this mysterious knight. Congratulations, Sansa Alayne, Stiles officially has taken you under his... not-wing.]

Are you sure you're okay? Because I can try to figure something out here or go bang on the king and queen's door until they magic up a ring to get you back home.

[steeledskin]

Ser Gendry. [ she doesn't offer up a surname. does he want to be called waters? she can't say. but she does try and instil some sense of devotion, even if she doesn't actually feel particularly pleased with her escort: ] He's very strong. And...sensible. He will look after me.

[teenyoda]

[He almost splutters, but he manages to pull himself together.]

Yeah, I know the guy. Big guy who likes waving a sword around. You tell him he better get you back here in one piece, or else.

Not so sure about the sensible bit.

[steeledskin]

Tell him that? N-no. Gods, no. I could not tell that to him.

[ if for no other reason that she suspects gendry knows his duty now that he's committed to it, and to remind him would be rude and crass and patronizing. ]

[teenyoda]

Well... fine then. I'll tell him that.

[And someone would be sending someone else a message to their locket inbox now, thank you.]

[steeledskin]

Please -- that really isn't necessary. He's very --

[ but she's too late, really. too slow. too cautious. ]

[teenyoda]

Sure it is. And now he knows I'll roast his butt if anything happens. Win-win.

[steeledskin]

...I didn't want to cause any trouble. Not for anyone.

[ not for stiles. not for gendry. and least of all not for herself, for now she fears what bitterness will come her way from the knight. he seems such a sour sort. ]

[teenyoda]

Hey, don't worry about it. No trouble started.

[They were guys, Alayne. They did guy things like beat the shit out of each other and then go have a beer after and be cool with it all. Boys were weird.]

[steeledskin]

...I don't want him to feel offended.

[ and now the knight is laughing. and she does not know why. sansa frowns -- feeling a little boxed in. a little frightened. ]

[teenyoda]

Alayne, it's cool. If he's offended by that, he knows who to talk to.

That's me, by the way. He can talk to me.

[steeledskin]

-- Do you make a habit of such -- chivalry?

[teenyoda]

Um... what's that supposed to mean and why does it sound like you're making it out to be a bad thing? I'm all for women's lib and tough girls. Trust me. But...

['But you don't seem the type who can just go for leisurely month or two long strolls and be okay with it' didn't quite leave his mouth.]

[steeledskin]

It's not a bad thing, only --

[ she bites her bottom lip. ] I don't want Ser Gendry thinking I have no faith in him.

[ and her so much as entertaining stiles' criticism seems to lead her in that direction. or at least paints her with that brush. ]

[teenyoda]

Tell him you'll have faith in him when he gets you home in one piece. Faith in people isn't exactly supposed to be a blind thing, Alayne. He can earn it or he can suck my--

He can just be a good boy and get you back here.

[steeledskin]

[ she wants to say that it is not so simple. that for this journey to work, she needs to support gendry as openly as he might shield her. she can give him no reason to resent her -- and with ever step, this feat grows more and more difficult. ]

I suppose -- I suppose I'm surprised you care so much. [ she comes from a different world and she is nothing to stiles. why should gendry's ability to look after her even matter? ]

[teenyoda]

[Of course it's simple, Alayne. They were guys. Neither of them were noble. Sure, they had egos and they could be fragile and prickly, but as far as she was concerned, both of them had the same train of thought; get her somewhere safe.]

Why wouldn't I? You're stuck here, same as me. You don't want to be here, same as me. You didn't do anything to deserve being here, and you're not one of these fairy people. That makes us sort of the same and that means we stick together. Look out for each other. Even though I'd give Gendry sourface a hard time, I'd still have his back if it came down to it. Just like I'm about... eighty percent sure he'd have mine, if only he could rub it in my face later that he saved my butt.

It's just logic, Alayne. And you seem like a nice person.

[steeledskin]

[ those...are a lot of words. a lot a lot a lot of words. she follows most of them -- despite the occasional modern phrasing. and she absorbs the rest for future reference.

but at one point she cannot help herself. in a fit of girlish surprise, her worries flutter away and she laughs. or (at least) she offers a muffled giggle. and in a careful whisper: ] He does have a sour face at times, doesn't he?

[ oh. she shouldn't have said that. ]