Video - Seelie/Unseelie

[teenyoda]

[The image that comes onto the lockets is an almost peaceful one. The blue sky and white fluffy clouds that bob a little from the POV of the locket. A little movement shows that that's because the transmission is clearly coming from a boat. The locket, with a little more jostling, is shown to be resting in fabric on what appears to be the deck of the boat. One might be curious as to why a transmission was coming suddenly from seemingly nowhere on a boat, but the answer shows itself soon enough in the form of one suckered tentacle flipping the locket around. If it was ever possible for an octopus to look both pissed off and surprised out of its mind, this one was doing a very good job. One of its many arms clutched at a small feather, the other limbs flopping around and smacking at the deck as the thing clearly tried to actually go somewhere. It couldn't walk to save its life and wound up rolling out of the pile of clothes, taking the locket with it.

Heavy stomps could be heard as boots came closer across the deck to the cephalopod, a shadow coming between the sun and the locket as a large man loomed over it. "Well then. What's this? How's you get aboard, ye slippery little thing. Back to the sea with you."

A hand bent down to try to pick up the octopus and there was a flurry of lashing arms as it latched onto the man and refused to let go. Curses were spat and the man called out for a fellow sailor, but before the other man could come closer with the knife it held to free his shipmate, a third voice joined. One others might find a bit familiar. A naked seventeen year old was clutching the man's arm and looking up at him with fear and horror. It took Stiles about five second to remember about the locket and he dropped to the deck, scrambling for both his clothes and to turn the locket off.]

~*~

[It was about twenty minutes later when a red-faced Stiles showed himself on the network.]

Um, about that...

Sorry? I... have no idea what happened. One minute I was standing looking over the rails and the next... um... aha. Let's just pretend that didn't happen, okay? Okay. But, if anyone can tell me what just happened, that would be really, really helpful. Especially in making sure it doesn't happen again.

Comments

[steeledskin]

I did not always call him brother. Not as I should have.

[teenyoda]

Why not?

[Yep, now you got him curious, Sansa.]

[steeledskin]

Because he was my half-brother. I knew it; we all knew it, when we were old enough to know.

[ but she does not call him so now. he is brother entire, and she is adjusting to the friendship. to the love. to the reliability she ought to have felt years ago. ]

[teenyoda]

Oh.

[Maybe he should have been able to figure it out on her own, what with their conversations when she was Alayne regarding bastards, but...]

What about now?

[steeledskin]

Now he will be my kin and my captain of the guard. [ my best champion. ] Whatever it takes, I will show him how sorry I am.

[teenyoda]

Sansa? I, uh... it's probably not my place-- aw, hell, I know it's not my place, but Jon doesn't really strike me as the kind of guy that needs a lot of asskissing. Just... talk to him. Tell him you're sorry. Tell him you changed. I swear, half your guys' stuff could be fixed with some actual talking.

[steeledskin]

Are all hurts so easily mended in America, Stiles? By talking?

[teenyoda]

Hah, no. Sometimes it can make it worse, depending on the people involved. But with you guys?

[He shrugged, giving her a half smile.]

I think it'll work for you guys. Communication is a hell of a thing, Sansa. It fixes more than it breaks.

[steeledskin]

Jon's always been terrible at talking to girls--

[ even sisters, she supposes. guess who had to try and teach him how when she was still young and happy and unbroken? ]

[teenyoda]

Enh... sisters aren't girls. I mean, they are, but not the same way that a, ah, another girl is. There's a whole level of nervousness talking to a girl who's not your sister than one who is.

[steeledskin]

[ sansa shook her head. she'd been a lady in her father's house and jon had been the bastard. society had separated them after a certain age, and he'd never quite learned how to talk to her as he ought to. she'd never quite learned how to talk to him as she needed to. and now at the wall-- ]

Mayhaps you're right. But we are speaking better and more than we ever did before. I suspect it will still take time. These things cannot be rushed...?

[teenyoda]

No, no. I wouldn't really push rushing. But... it's not like we have all the time in the world here, either. So don't, you know, drag it out too much. Jon doesn't really seem the type to initiate little heart to heart's, so you're going to have to be the one that does it. If you want.

[steeledskin]

I suppose... [ she hesitates. ] He and I. We aren't so different. [ what a strange thing to think! ] Neither Arya nor our Lord Father knew the things we know. It has made us confederates.

[ in their secrets. ]

[teenyoda]

See? Common ground already. That's the first step to conversation. You're both smart people, good people. You'll figure it out.

[steeledskin]

And he will come with me to Cothromach. I --

[ her voice falls into a stammer. a stall. ] I wonder if I might require someone in that court if only to remind me when I ought to be that brave girl who must speak up and speak to Jon first.

[teenyoda]

Oh?

[He might have just had eight legs and been naked on screen, but his brain wasn't made of jelly. Or wait, maybe it was, but it still worked.]

Is that, ah... an invitation? Or were you referring to like, Arya? Or Gendry?

[steeledskin]

Arya! Gods, no. [ she would have laughed if she'd been happy. ] And I don't think Ser Gendry wants to --

Yes, Stiles. It's an invitation. For you. I would be honoured if you would join us. I've never stayed in a court with a magician present -- but what is there to stop me, now?

[ only his refusal, which she genuinely feared. ]

[teenyoda]

[He thought about it. He'd seen the maps and knew where Cothromach was in relation to the Seelie castle, where Lydia still was, and he knew he could get there within a day if he needed to by carpet. He thought about Jon and Arya and Sansa all in some castle with no one there to show them how to lighten up. Not that they'd die or turn into squabbling idiots or anything, but they didn't really... talk. Jon was prone to sullen silence and Arya... he didn't really know Arya well. Sansa would suffer in quiet by herself, he knew that much about her.

Plus... he liked them. They'd all, even Gendry, become his friends since he'd arrived here. Not going seemed less an option than going.]

Then I'd be honored to tag along. I've never been a magician in a court before, so hey, new experience for both of us.

[steeledskin]

[ a thin smile. this, at least, is good news. ]

I won't ask you for the oaths. [ perhaps it sounds egocentric to a modern ear, but this is deeply magnanimous to the westerosi heart. ] Not unless you want to give them. My Lord Father bid me earn the vows of those who might colour my court.

[teenyoda]

Oaths?

[Entirely new concept to Stiles, here. He wondered if it was like writing lines in school.]

What, like I write out a 'I will not try to kill Sansa' a hundred times?

[steeledskin]

There are words. [ here is the sound of a soft breath. ] Old and reverent ones. Shared between a liege-lord and those for whom he cares. But I don't presume...I cannot presume they will be wanted.

[teenyoda]

How about this; how about you write me out the words and I'll take a look at them and when we get to Cothromach, if I think it's something I should say and that you need to hear? I'll say them.

Or I could edit them to say what I mean instead of what a bunch of people from a land I'm not from mean.

[steeledskin]

For my part? I would...I would pledge to never ask any service of you that might bring you into dishonour. But I will copy out a text of them when we've made the city proper and you may decide for yourself.

[ she will not press him into service. gods -- she doesn't even know if she can. she is not the powerful lord protector her father once was. ]

[teenyoda]

Maybe you should do that for here. I mean, I don't really know what the whole fealty procedure is where you're from, but... different places. And with us being jerked around by the fairies all the time, it might be a good idea not to make anything too binding. I don't know what kind of fairy tales you have where you come from, but where I come from? We've got a bunch. And a lot of them warn against making deals with the fae because they can bind you to them in really, really bad ways.

Man, I wish I had access to some of them here. I'll see about trying to copy them from the Station the next time I go. If it's not still messed up.

[steeledskin]

All oaths ought to bind us. [ but she thinks upon all the mindless promises she's made. all the lies. ] I've sworn nothing to the fairies. But I took promises to my father -- solemn ones. I am not ashamed to be bound by them.