(first lemon cake) voice ✧ seelie & unseelie

[steeledskin]

I offer my gratitude to those fighting the worms. [ here is a voice both measured and composed, albeit young. ] And gratitude is all I can give, barring my prayers. And they are given whole-heartedly for all of us. May the Warrior give you the strength and courage required for your victories. And may the Mother bless us all.

[ sansa stark has long come to doubt the efficacy of the seven new gods. she isn't entirely certain the old gods listen, either -- but their rustling leaves and independent ways give her more peace of late than anything the seven offer: incense and rituals. however! she has resigned herself to being alayne stone to those who are not immediately known to her or trusted by her. and alayne stone worships the new gods, not the old. she is meant to be exactly as petyr baelish described her: a pious bleater, whose ardent faith discourages unwanted questions. so she speaks of blessing of the seven, but holds the old gods in her heart. she only hopes that arya and her allies will forgive her this identity fraud across the lockets.

most of all, sansa doesn't want to disappoint the people to whom she'd promised her help. like in maegor's holdfast during the blackwater, sansa hopes to lift spirits and rouse bravery. perhaps if she voices her thankfulness, others will follow in kind.

before she ends, she has only one question -- the paranoid fugitive in her needs to know: ] These pendants are truly remarkable. Magic, is it? But more efficient by far than any raven. [ ... ] Can they be used to talk only to one person, and privately? If anyone has managed it, I would thank you to tell me how.

Comments

video.

[steeledskin]

It is. [ she doesn't even fight the verdict. ] Wolves have had a hard time of it, in my lands. They are hunted and they are hurt. Maybe it's better off not to be one.

video.

[decked]

They're hunted where I'm from, too, but most of them survive.

[keyword: most.]

I guess it just depends on survival skills.

video.

[steeledskin]

...Even the ones who change?

video.

[decked]

Yeah.


Why? Is that a weird concept for you?

video.

[steeledskin]

No. Or -- yes, of course it still is. But I think they sound too formidable to hunt. They sound like the sort of creatures or people you would not want for enemies.

video.

[decked]

Trust me, you don't. But there are more humans and hunters than werewolves, so ... if they wanted to gang up on them, they could. And they have.

[it's easy to take werewolves down with the right gadgets and poisons.]

video.

[steeledskin]

But why?

video.

[decked]

small>[isaac shrugs, pressing his lips together as he finds the right words.]

Because they can. They think the werewolves are dangerous to society. I mean, some of them are, but most of them aren't.

video.

[steeledskin]

I knew a man who thought -- he'd said...oh, Gods, what was it?

[ she's seen canting her head back and looking at the ceiling as she tries to remember the hound's words. ] That the gods made sheep so that wolves could eat mutton. But I think he was wrong. Wolves are brave and beautiful. They need protecting just as much as the sheep do, some days.

video. oh no how did i miss that html fail

[decked]

[isaac is ... mesmerized, almost, by the way that sansa speaks of wolves. it's interesting to him to hear what she thinks of them, how she understood, in a way, the ways of life between the supernatural and the human.]

Yeah, you're right. I'm kind of surprised you get it.

[steeledskin]

[ and (of course) she realizes that she ought not to understand. alayne stone shouldn't care two figs about wolves. her eyes should be set on falcons, or else on the pebbles below her feet. but sansa has been goaded into showing her affection for the creatures. and now she feels guilty. ]

I have a lot of time to think. I'm not certain my Lord Father would approve of such philosophy.

[decked]

[isaac frowns at the mention of her father, shaking his head.]

Think about whatever you want. Who cares what he approves of?

[steeledskin]

I care. He's done a lot for me. More, perhaps, that most would.

[decked]

Dunno. If someone told me how to think, I don't think I'd take it.

[steeledskin]

[ what she cannot say is that petyr baelish's advice and discretion is what keeps her alive -- safe -- out of lannister clutches. and what she can say...? ]

Telling someone how to think is not so bad. Telling them what to think, on the other hand...

[ from sansa's limited perspective, she sees baelish as giving her an array of facts and letting her come to her own conclusions. it's what she believes. ]

[decked]

Not so sure about that. I think either can be bad depending on how it's done.

[manipulation comes in many colors, and isaac is a victim of both emotional and physical. he'd rather steer clear of the conversation entirely, but if he can warn a girl to watch out for being told how and what to think depending on the situation, he will.]

[steeledskin]

He's teaching me. Is it a crime to teach?

[decked]

Well, no.

[this is getting awkward fast. isaac should really learn how to compartmentalize his emotions towards fathers.]

But it doesn't really matter what I think about it, anyway.

[steeledskin]

Perhaps not. [ a soft sigh; she's been rude. ] My apologies. I should not have argued so. Your opinions are your own and who am I to meddle in them?

[decked]

It's no problem. We just have a lot of differences. [he puffs out his cheeks, then sighs-- exhaling the tension.] Plus, I have no idea what it's like where you're from. It's crazy. You could be from hundreds of years before me.

[steeledskin]

[ something about that assumption sours her. ]

I'm from my present -- I'm not sure I want to think of myself as someone else's past.

[decked]

Why not? I think it's kind of cool to think about. I could be in the past for someone, too, but not their past. You could be in the future, for all I know.

[he shrugs,]

Time is pretty crazy.

[steeledskin]

Do you really think it possible that our lands might be the same -- only our times different?

[decked]

No, probably not. I'm no history major, but I think I would have remembered the part about dragons being real.

I don't think I exist, where you're from.

[steeledskin]

Does that alarm you?