March Mingle Madness (aka SURPRISE it's another mingle)

[bryces_pup]

Who: Crew members and visitors of the SS Blue Fish
Broadcast: nope
Action: On the Blue Fish, naturally.
When: Throughout March!

[Another month, another mingle. Once again, any visitors on the ship should bear in mind that there are locks installed all over the ship, so someone on board's gotta let you in. Or you can just stand there. And stare. And hope someone takes pity on you.]

Comments

[revivo]

[sara's used to the stares -- she got used to them from her mom, and especially from her dad and laurel. even ollie, at first. they'd look at her like they'd seen a ghost, let their eyes linger too long or brush her hand for no real reason besides the confirmation that she's really there.]

Don't be sorry. This smells great. [she breathes in the tea, nodding her thanks when sansa pours it.] How'd you two meet?

[steeledskin]

[ a rational question -- and yet sansa betrays it as a difficult one by the silence she suddenly keeps. she takes her chair, rather stiffly, and invites sara to do the same. ]

In a strange sort of way, I saw you before I ever saw her. Whatever sorcery the Atroma wrought, it was the first time she and I knew anything of each other. I was a stranger in her memories -- and we did not meet properly until I apologized to her for that trespass.

[revivo]

[sara sits, keeping her eyes on sansa. not staring, exactly, and not trying to unnerve her either. just -- paying attention.]

I can't even imagine that. I've heard of a lot of strange things, but seeing other peoples' memories is a new one.

[even if the choice of memory had been out of nyssa's power, it makes sara's heart hurt to think what was chosen had been the day they met. sara was nearly dead, delirious from sun and thirst and the certainty that oliver was dead, that she was never going home; nyssa found her, nyssa saved her, and nyssa gave her a new life and identity. gave her love.]

[steeledskin]

I confess -- I'd never done it before, either. But Nyssa's thoughts were the most welcoming. There was a pretty song-bird. And silk. [ a thoughtful almost-smile. ]

[revivo]

[a song-bird.]

A canary, [she says, soft.]

[steeledskin]

Yes -- precisely so. [ a quick sip of tea to hide her enthusiasm. ] I think the bird reminded her of you.

[revivo]

[ta-er al-sahfer. the name had been sara's idea, spurred by memories of her father; but nyssa had supported the choice, found it fitting somehow.]

I wouldn't mind seeing something that reminded me of her. [if it were the other way around -- but it is, now.] She's...

["i loved her." maybe it was past tense; maybe it wasn't. or isn't, anymore. going back to her, back to the league, was a deliberate choice. it meant something. she'd fled nyssa as much as her life in nanda parbat, seeing them as inextricably bound; to love nyssa meant to go back, to be that person.

(to be with oliver had been to stay in starling, to be the hero she saw him shaping up to be. she made her choice.)]

We were close. Are close. She's important to me.

[steeledskin]

[ her smiles seeps away. like running paint, or tree-sap. slow but inexorable. without standing, sansa raises her wrist and unclasps one golden bracelet of a pair -- identical, with a soft motif of golden leaves. ]

Nyssa was kind enough to gift me these. But I have two, and mayhaps you ought to have one. Something to remember her by, I hope. [ she slides the bracelet to the centre of the table. ]

[revivo]

[sara hesitates, but her eyes stay on the bracelet. it's formal, beautiful, not the kind of thing you'd usually find her wearing. she can imagine nyssa picking something like this out.]

I couldn't take this from you.

[steeledskin]

Please. [ sansa isn't merely being friendly; she's near pleading with sara to accept it. ] I feel -- I feel she would have wanted me to offer it. And she has given me so much. [ too much. ]

[revivo]

[she looks at the proffered gift for a long, long moment; but she can't resist taking it for long. the tie to someone dear to her, to home, is too much to resist. so she picks it up and turns it over in her fingers, looking at the workmanship.]

She must've cared for you a lot. Nyssa doesn't give things lightly.

[steeledskin]

There are words -- written in the gold. But it's a tongue I don't speak. A-and I confess I never noticed them until after she was gone. They're hidden, following the edge of the most central little leaf. Do you know their meaning?

[ it's arabic. when the wind blows, ride it. sansa regrets not discovering them sooner, so she might have asked nyssa what her secret message had been. ]

[revivo]

[sara holds the bracelet up to her eyes to get a better look, and it's not long before she recognizes the familiar script.]

Arabic. That's the language. [she's not sure the name will mean anything to sansa, so she doesn't pause before reading aloud.] 'When the wind blows, ride it.'

[then she looks back to sansa, soft.]

It's a proverb, about taking chances. Making use of opportunities.

[steeledskin]

-- Seems an awful lot like something she might have said. [ advice she might have given. ] Whatever tongue it is, it looks beautiful.

[revivo]

[she reads the inscription aloud without translating this time, enunciating carefully and slowly for sansa's benefit.]

Sounds beautiful too, don't you think?

[there's a pang. she's not sure she's ever been homesick for nanda parbat, but she is now.]

[steeledskin]

It sounds bold. [ sansa exhales. ] It must take a lot of bravery to be half so bold as she.

[revivo]

Boldest person I've ever known, Nyssa. [pauses, then slowly offers:] You know. I don't know what you and she used to talk about, but if you ever want to learn more about Arabic...I could give you a hand.