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

[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.