driftfleet | 002 ➳ audio + action.

Entry tags:

002 ➳ audio + action.

Who: Nyssa.
Broadcast: Fleetwide audio.
Action: On the planet.
When: When the Fleet makes planetfall.

[ Briskly, ]

I am leading a hunting party. One companion is ideal; I will take no more than three. Bring your own weapons and dress for the cold. We depart at sunrise, from the lodge at the foot of the mountains, and there will be trips every other day beginning tomorrow.

[ Beat. ]

If you wish to come and learn, you are welcome, but if you cannot keep up, you will be left behind.

[ ooc: action prompts in comments. let me know if you'd like a custom starter. ]

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You would know better, perhaps.

[ Sansa has been nothing but poised, careful with her words as Nyssa is with her own bow. It speaks of noble character. ]

I would. I do.

[ her watery smile falters -- fails -- and flees. there are truths she ought to share with the woman kind enough to visit her with any regularity. truths she ought to share with the woman who can wield sword and bow and (perhaps) keep sansa safe. ]

In Westeros, what I am is a traitor. A fugitive. Some day someone will arrive in the fleet who would see me captured. Or dead.

[ She is hurt twice: by the swift, unerring way Sansa doesn't smile, and by the words that mirror her own situation so completely. There is a time for confession, and speaking freely, but she doesn't want to draw attention to her own plight when Sansa is so clearly troubled. ]

That is a possibility. The certainty is that they will find others in their path to you, unwilling to see you harmed without just cause. Besides, it is a fool who brings such prejudice here, and seeks to draw steel when we have only one true foe.

My enemies are worse than fools. My lady, they are monsters.

[ desperation causes her to slip up -- too err, and fall upon the old habits of her courtesy. in her mind, nyssa is never anything less than a noble lady. ]

And they will tear apart the very ships in this fleet to hurt my family.

[ and sansa just may do the same in return. ]

Edited 2015-12-23 18:08 (UTC)

[ She stands, and comes over to sit next to Sansa, reaching out to hold her if permitted to do so. ]

Monsters are like any other beast, sweet one. Dragons fall to a lance. Jinns can be tricked and locked away. Everything has a weakness.

[ touch does not come easily to her. indeed, at its prospect, she freezes. she becomes a statue. ]

And lions. [ her teeth feel gritted between words. ] What are their weaknesses?

[ She withdraws immediately, sitting at a polite distance, but the desire is still there — to hold Sansa through this unexpected storm. ]

The same. If it bleeds, it dies. No creature can outrun or outwit death.

Not even kings. [ gentle, and with an exhale. it isn't a question. rather, it's a claim. almost -- almost -- a challenge. ]

Not even Ra's al Ghul, and he has lived for a hundred and fifty years.

[ An echo, an affirmation. ]

Your father. [ stiff, but thoughtful. ] Is he some manner of sorcerer?

There are those who would say such.

[ She pauses. ]

We have ways of restoring strength, and prolonging life, that are not for the weak of heart.

[ ...oh.

grief never left her. not for one moment since her lord father's head had rolled at her feet. and such indulgent grief puts foolish thoughts in a young woman's head. regardless of her heart, and its weakness (or else because of its weakness), she can only think of what a boon it must be to prolong the lives of those you love. ]

How?

You must put this thought out of your mind.

[ soft, gently as she can, though gentleness was always Sara's purview and not Nyssa's. Her heart cracks at the hope colouring Sansa's words, the wish held in them. ]

Whoever you wish to save, they are better off without it.

[ they stole my brother's head and replace it with that of his direwolf -- how could robb possibly be better, like that? and her lady mother, murdered and abandoned. her teeth grit, but ultimately she bows to nyssa's wisdom. ]

Such a miracle ought only to happen in stories, [ she answers in a whisper. compliant, in her own way. ]

[ Better than lost in the madness of a Lazarus Pit, wandering sick and crazed, with the souls of hundreds of others to haunt one's waking and sleeping moments. ]

Ay. Yet, even this miracle cannot hide weakness, or rot, and it can only cheat death for so long.

[ and so -- ] May I ask what befalls your father in its use?

[ a personal question. too personal, perhaps, and sansa's wince is preemptive for the likely possibility that nyssa will be cross with her for having asked it. but if this sorcery is so awful, she must wonder why the lord of nanda parbat permits himself its use. ]

Edited 2015-12-26 02:48 (UTC)

Madness.

[ She looks at her hands. ]

He has strong will, as he must, but I loath the use of such means. I would not wish it upon my greatest enemy, and never upon those dear to me, or to you.

[ a low and solemn nod. the curse of daughters, she decides, is to watch their fathers be cut down. eroded away. turned made, or imprisoned, or executed. it's a sin; father's should remain giants in their daughters' hearts. ]

I cannot imagine myself possessing half-so-much restraint as you.

[ She huffs a laugh. ]

I am not that brave. I would often remove myself from the room rather than watch, even now.

-- Were you permitted? [ to leave, to remove herself, to avoid it. ]

Yes, I was.

[ Because she was heir, and did what she pleased, no one questioned her. ]

Then you were fortunate. Matters of state and circumstance can be so...[ horrible. ] Distasteful.

Were you required to sit in to many, Sansa?

Nearly every one, when I was at court. Most were as boring as dirt.

It is a tedious proposal to run a kingdom. I have met your King Robert. He does not strike me as suitable.

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