Chocolate-flavored Dessert Cream on the House

[thespaceopera]

[The bunks are filling up, but the new faces just keep appearing!

Are you a travel-weary passenger having trouble keeping your crew roster straight? Perhaps you are a fresh new recruit, finding themselves dumped into a new (and much less shiny) home. Or, maybe you've been around for a little bit and just haven't bothered meeting the other weirdos on this ship yet--what is their problem, anyway?

Well, this is the place for you!

All new passengers from the last few Shuffles, especially those who haven't met their crews yet, are welcome to post starter-comments here to invite those living on and visiting your ship to come and interact. Newbies could be just arriving on the ship, busying around where others can find them, or you can offering multiple options for interaction--however you'd like to set up your thread is fine. Just make sure to include the name of your ship in the header, so your crewmates can easily find you!

Everyone else-- go meet those newbies! Whether they are new to your own crew, or on ships you frequently visit, now is a great time to bump into them.]

Comments

shhh no it's perfect

[reek]

[ There was a time when he and Robb loved nothing more than to exchange japes about Roose Bolton and his leeches and soft voice. To think that those days are gone hurts more than any punch Robb can throw at him.

If he could have stayed, if Robb had only never sent him home, none of this would have happened. Perhaps he could have helped to foresee the Boltons' true intentions, and Winterfell would have been saved. ]

Ramsay Bolton has no reason to capture me.

[ For such strong words, he sounds incredibly uncertain and worried. Even under the guise of Reek, Ramsay had been bother clever and sadistic. If he managed to infiltrate Winterfell so easily, he would find a reason to hold Theon hostage. Ironic, isn't it? He almost has to laugh again. A prisoner half your life and likely a prisoner once more. ]

You know they'll never let you return home. All you have is my word, however much faith you put in it. I've been truthful about taking Winterfell. Why would I lie about everything else? Those boys-- [ He hates thinking about them. He was desperate and made an awful decision. ] They weren't your brothers. I couldn't find Bran and Rickon. I wouldn't have... [ But I could have. I might have. ]

thanks bro

[kingofbadlifechoices]

You are the heir to the Iron Islands who has seized Winterfell. [Really, Theon, really?] You are important to many lords. Northern or other. [A pause.] And their bastards.

[Robb realizes once again that it is urgent that he returns. Lord Bolton is present at the wedding and he should speak to him after all the apologies towards lord Frey are over and done. Speak to him and put him in chains until he speaks the truth.

The look in the eye that is not swollen sharpens a little when Theon says that. He wishes that this were all truths and somewhere deep inside he wishes that he could just call the other his friend again. He hates losing all those he loved and he hates the fact that he feels as if he is responsible for that.]

You would have. If you’d find them you would have... [A sound between a chuckle and a sob escapes his mouth.] ...I should not have... [Robb cannot even finish that sentence anymore and all he does is shake his head.]

Just leave my family be.

[reek]

[ That first statement earns another bark of laughter, seeping with bitterness. His teeth clench into a pained, twisted smile as he fights his own emotions, but there's a slight quiver in his voice that betrays him. ]

Am I? My father named Asha as his heir. My sister.

[ Or at least raised her to be his heir. It still feels like a slap in the face. Did he ever even once think about the son he allowed to be taken from him? ]

The Ironborn do not abide by the laws of the green lands. I have no birthright. [ Again, he laughs. ] I have nothing at all.

[ He's been a fool. He can't possibly recover from the awful decisions he's made. He's made an enemy out of his only friend and lost the one place he truly could call a home. Worst of all, Robb is right. If Theon had found Bran and Rickon, who knows what he might have done? Perhaps Luwin would have been able to talk him down, or perhaps his anger and frustration would have gotten the better of him. If the bastard of Bolton has truly taken him prisoner, it's a better fate than he deserves. Oh, how little he knows about what's to come for him. ]

After all this time, you're finally correct about one thing. You should not have. You should not have sent me home to Pyke.

[ Again, a laugh, this time somewhere between a sob and a chuckle. ]

Will you ever stop being so dense? It's done. I mean your family no harm.

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[If Robb were truly cruel he would’ve laughed and called it Theon’s problem and his alone. And if he were truly angry he’d tell the other that it is nothing but fitting. But all he feels is a heavy sort of sadness lined with guilt. Always guilt. Of course lord Balon would do such a thing. Why wouldn’t he? It wasn’t planned that Theon would return to him, now was it?

Would that mean he took it all by sending him back? He knew some things about Ironborn but nowhere enough to anticipate this.]

I hope it is not pity you want from me. [Robb hopes his voice sounds stern enough. Because he definitely heard that soft waver in the older man’s voice just yet.] You have never been a craven. I... [Once again words fail him and he coughs briefly.] So you had to take Winterfell instead, is it not?

[Theon is right about that. He should have never let him return. Then Winterfell would be safe and all the people living inside of it. His fault.]

I wish I could believe you, Greyjoy.

[Robb realizes he should go and wallow in his guilt alone.]

[reek]

[ It isn't pity he wants. It's understanding. He wants Robb to understand that none of this was done out of spite or hatred. He want Robb to understand that he never intended to harm Winterfell in any way, that Balon had forced his hand, that Theon had tried to make reason with him and failed.

It's better to be feared and hated than to be humiliated and made a fool of. ]

What does it matter? You'll only be pleased if you hear that I took Winterfell out of hatred for your House. I can tell you differently one hundred times, but you will never take it as the truth.

[ Again, he bares his teeth in an awful grimace of a smile. ]

I was treated as a stranger when I returned to Pyke. My own father--he thought I'd become too much like you. That I'd grown too close to your family. [ His smile becomes tighter, teeth clenched to prevent himself from screaming. He was right, but was I meant to nod my head and agree with him? ] He would not even contemplate the words in your letter. How was I to defy him?

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[In return, Robb wishes he could understand. That he could justify this to the feelings he had towards the other. But Robb has grown frustrated over all of it. How his house slowly perishes and he cannot do anything. He could not stop Wintefell’s siege, he could not come to his brother’s aid, he cannot come to his sister’s aid either.

All of these thoughts make Robb utter a frustrated sigh, moving a hand through his hair as he does.]

It is not that! You tell me you do not hate us...yet you act the opposite of that!

[Now Robb had expected that Balon Greyjoy would not listen at all. That he would not agree to any form of an alliance. And he had hoped Theon could convince him. But he had been underestimating this situation greatly.

Foolish hopes of a boy, probably. A king should know better.]

You should have turned to me. [Was he really asking a son to abandon his own father?] I could have helped. I could send a ship for you. [But it isn’t that easy. Or that simple.] If he thinks you a Stark... [This is foolish, I am behaving like a bloody boy. I cannot ask for such things.]

You did not want to turn your back on your lord father, is it not?

[reek]

[ On his journey to Pyke, Theon had harbored a foolish hope that his father would listen, that he would consider Robb's attempts to form an alliance at least enough for Theon himself to persuade him to agree. Gods, he had tried, and what did he get for his efforts? Cruel words and assumptions and Balon questioning to whom his only living son was loyal.

That's something that even Theon himself doesn't know the answer to anymore. There are so many "if"s muddling his thoughts. If Robb had never sent him home, his loyalty to the Starks would have never wavered. If his father had never given him up, the Starks would have always been his enemies. If he had acted more quickly, he could have gone to the wall where he could have dropped all ties to any house. If, if, if.

Loyalty is such a flimsy thing. ]

You think everything so simple. [ Teeth still clenched, his voice comes out in a hiss. ] But at least you have the right of one thing. You know how deeply blood runs. I could not turn my back on my own blood.

[ It's strange to think about. One way or another, he was destined to become a turncloak. Turn his back on the Starks, or turn his back on his own family? There was never any right decision. ]

The entirety of the Iron Islands would have branded me a traitor. And if I had returned to your family-- [ A soft, forced bark of laughter as he puts on a voice to mimic no Northman in particular: ] 'That Theon Greyjoy--who else would choose to return to the life of a prisoner? It's all he knows, ain't it? It's all he's ever had.'

[ It's better to be feared than to be made a fool of. ]

Imagine yourself in my place if you care to.

[kingofbadlifechoices]

[It could very well be some sort of foolish dream. A hope Robb had while he should not have that in the first place. War twists everything and turns friends into enemies. He should have known. Things he thought that would be forever vanished as well. Of course, he knew of Theon’s position as his father’s ward, he knew where Theon came from but he never realized that there was more.

He was being a fool and a boy and he cannot stand it.

This is not something that could be mend and maybe it has been broken from the beginning. And he did not know. He never knew. A long sigh escapes his mouth and he crosses his arms.]

I have been a fool to think... [Or hope. Or anything, really. Even more than ever he feels as if he is on the losing side. Losing the war, losing all he thought he could trust. Robb finally clears his throat.] ...Aye.

[The last words Theon speaks make him feel more sad than angry. Something heavy settles in his heart. A prisoner. Has it been like that for him? All that time?]

Have you always felt a prisoner? [Robb can imagine it, though. Theon has never really been home. He has been used as a tool to keep Balon at bay. In a fact it was exactly what Theon was. The only difference is that the boy never wore any chains and that he had a soft bed with furs on top of them.]

Ah...never mind... I think I know the answer. [Robb has to force himself to look stern again while straightening his shoulders.] Mayhaps it is so...that we could never stay friends and I should... [He should stop hoping and wanting things he simply cannot have.]

We were meant to become enemies eventually.