And We Danced (Masquerade Overflow!)

[thespaceopera]

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margaery tyrell 🌹

[partialities]

[ it is an odd concept, a celebration with water rather than wine. odd, certainly but at the very least there is cheese supplied. margaery tyrell arrives at the ballroom on her own in the Southorn style of highgarden and a matching mask in gold tied just beneath long brown locks styled in the manner of her house.

she is as light on her feet at the butterfly she is dressed is, floating around the room, smiling and lacing arms and whispering tiny nonsense in people's ears.

still, the little queen is traditional. she will usually wait for others to invite her to dance.

She can also be found walking around the green museum, her look fitting right into the place. it's a tiny reminder of home and she can be seen tracing the outline of leaves with a finger or bending to look and smell the flowers, daring to pick one and lace it in her hair. ]

➥ tyrion;

[partialities]

I wonder what made you wish to travel to such distant parts of our realm. I trust fugitive queens are not easily found.

[ the dragon queen is an evident threat. there is little point in her acting against the little queen in this realm and yet. the ties that margaery is carefully weaving shall have to tighter in case madness shall take her.

is is the dragon's heritage, after all ]

have you found king's landing to be that dull?

Re: ➥ tyrion;

[tallasaking]

Oh, did my nephew never tell you? I always intended to travel the world, see new places, learn new things. My journey did take me ... very far.

[So did a false accusation of murder, but why bring that up in such a nice conversation.]

As for King's Landing ... I am about as much use there as a stump.

[partialities]

I fear he has not. What a wonderful ambition - to see our realm. So few of us travel, after all. I have always wanted to go as far as Dorne to see the markets and beauty of Sunspear.

[ she laughs at his words, shakes her head ]

that is not true. some of us would miss you.

[tallasaking]

Well, he should have. I would have thought he would want to let me leave with glee, all things considered.

[All things considered being, he wasn't going to let the King get away with being an idiot.]

Ah, Dorne ... I too would have liked to see it.

[And he might have, if his Champion had won.]

Oh, Margaery, falsehoods do not become you.

[partialities]

I would!

[ said in a little huff of protest that soon turns into a smile ]

Not that many in the Red Keep favor me that greatly. Am I so terrible as to wish to have a friend nearby?

[tallasaking]

Oh would you?

[Is his gentle tease in kind, quirking with a sly little smile.]

Well, asking for a friend like me, is sometimes like asking a viper to curl around one's bosum for warmth -- but I will allow that I am a charming friend to have.

➥ sansa ;

[partialities]

[ she has been tirelessly working, margaery was, weaving ties with the people she met, pouting when needed, smiling at all other times to create the bond that shall make them protect her if she will call for them. and yet there is a certain measure of uncertainty with all of them, all but sansa. she mislikes being without loras, mislikes the realm that does not know the tyrell name but this is but a new dance, a new game. as leto had told her when he taught her chess, it is the queen that must always be kept and move carefully, not her king.

the view changes from the crowded ballroom to the quieter green museum, the flowers and the plants and the hidden corners better for such talk. she takes off her mask, runs her fingers on the sidelines of it. ]

I am to be his lady wife. shall it not be my duty if our hosts would be silly enough to call him forth and bring him here?

[ a poor choice on their part, it would be and she does think them to be smarter. ]

can you imagine what he shall do if he meets the dragon queen from the Caprice? both her heads would be lost in an instant.

[ even without dragons, she would know better than to try the targaryen girl. ]

[steeledskin]

[ sansa's own mask is relegated to her arm -- hanging there, like one might hang a basket. it frees her expression and makes her vulnerable to honesty, but that isn't a fear she harbours with margaery. not with any intensity, at least. ]

You mistake me. Apologies, I haven't spoken clearly enough -- Margaery, you will only be his lady wife for a short time. Not even a day. You will be spared him. I promise.

[partialities]

Spared?

[ she smiles a little, dots connecting before her eyes like the fine lines of a painting. The clues all there for her to solve a riddle that she is very familiar with. ]

Lord Tyrion promised me none shall forget my wedding day. Tell me, how has my second husband found his death? By now, the realm must have named me cursed.

[steeledskin]

Poison.

[ she does not ornament the word. she does not couch it in pretty accompaniment, nor attempts to explain the circumstance. it ought to be enough to know that sansa had been present for the wedding -- of course she would have been. ]

Before the bedding.

[ she speaks in a whisper, as though afraid the very gods would hear her. ]

[partialities]

[ she entwines their fingers, allows the three words time to settle. Her first husband said to have been stabbed by a shadow, the second poisoned on their wedding day. She would be fortunate not to have any rumors spread on the ill luck of those who marry the rose of highgarden.

It also takes her a step backwards, again
]

I suppose I am to marry his brother then. The gentle boy.

[ even more of a child but at the very least, much kinder than joffrey ]

[steeledskin]

Queen Margaery, all the same. And His Grace is -- as you say -- gentle. [ and young, which buys margaery time should she care for it. sansa couldn't say, because that alliance has been broken off by politics and distance. but even know she wonders if margaery is simply a better liar than her. after all, it's her grandmother who...

sansa swallows. ]

I did not weep for him. But I wept for you.

[ twice wed and twice widowed. ]

[partialities]

How soon before they sing of Queen Margaery who kills all those who marry her?

[ she never cared for joffrey but she did for renly. He was dear to her for his gentle nature, for the happiness he inspired in Loras.

A third husband, then. ]

Of course you did not. He was cruel even more than he was foolish. Poisoned, you say? Did he die quickly?

[steeledskin]

[ quickly? oh, she couldn't say. sansa had not stayed to watch the horror of it all -- he'd still been alive when she'd left, unable to watch him on his knees and clawing at his throat. but margaery did not need the truth from her. only the gentle reassurance of one young woman to another.

sansa pats the back of her hand with a soft touch. ] Quickly enough, Margaery. Quickly enough. It wasn't long before the bells tolled.

[partialities]

We are both truly free from him, then.

[ but he will not know it if he is ever to come here, to be drawn from a place even the gods cannot return him from.

And there is his lioness mother, too. ]

All that we know and they would think us to be children.

[ a beat and she asks ]

Do you reckon I am cursed?

[steeledskin]

Cursed? [ she chokes out, buying herself time with an echoed word. and then she shakes her head. ] No, my lady -- no, Margaery. [ a soft self-correction. ]

You are far from cursed. I would swear to it.

[ only well-protected. well-loved by her grandmother, who was well-maneuvered by littlefinger. ]

[partialities]

[ she had lost much, margaery did, being here on her own but there are some things she can hold onto and keep, it would seem. Unmasked, it is easy to press her lips to sansa's cheek, frown turning into a smile ]

And you doubt me when I say you are by far my sweetest, most treasured friend.

[steeledskin]

[ and yet she feels the weight of being the catspaw whose motions now lead margaery to question whether she's cursed. it makes her heart ache to put any such doubt in the other lady's heart. her eyes flutter, her heart thuds, and she squeezes her fingers around margaery's wrist. ]

How good it would have been -- [ she betrays a rare moment of honest sorrow ] -- to have been sisters.

[partialities]

[ in a moment of rebellion and pride, she says ]

Why can't we be? Here we can surely be whatever we want, who would dare to tell us otherwise?

[ it may be an odd realm, too far from anything familiar but its distance may yet be a form of blessing ]

Let us be as we wish. It would surely not harm anyone, not here. We could whisper secrets in the dark and exchange tokens.

[steeledskin]

[ -- the other side of the sword what wields her brothers' protection is the edge that must always keep her behaviour in check. perhaps robb hasn't criticized her for her actions, but she is always waiting with held breath for the moment she fails to meet his expectations. add to this the rumbling fear in her gut that one day her lord husband will not be so loose with their vows, and will recall her to his side...?

oh, sansa fears being what she wants to be. but for margaery's darling sake, she will not protest. ]

Whatever we like. Whatever you like. You have no kingdom to mind, here. Nor seven besides.

➥ riona;

[partialities]

never! that would be unheard of. Anyone who would think you that lacks a pair of eyes, ears and a certain amount of wit and common sense. a very poor man, to lack all of them.

[ it's mostly said to make her laugh. ]

they shall never think you anything but wonderful, they have no reason to, my Lady.

Re: ➥ riona;

[bryces_pup]

Flatterer. If you keep this up, I'll have an ego the size of the Marsiva. [Said with a snicker. As they glide across the floor, Riona can't help but observe:] I suppose if nothing else, they will conclude that I have good taste in companions.

[partialities]

oh nonsense, you could not possibly and if you do, they shall still love you.

[ she cannot ever truly be vain, after all. margaery had seen vanity, the kind that the queen regent wears as finely as she does he silks. such things are born in a person and no amount of compliments can install that sort of notion in a woman. ]

they are certainly a fine company to keep, are they not?

[bryces_pup]

I would hope not, if I were ever to be such. They should be disdainful of me and rightfully so.

[She'd rather people keep her honest.]

The best. There are so many - here and back home - that I am fond of. I am quite lucky in that regard.