driftfleet | And We Danced (Masquerade Overflow!)

Eight years of nothing growing must be hard to manage. You must have huge stores of preserved foods or trading with places that don't go through the same kind of winter?

[She smiles slightly.] I wouldn't call deep space or a polluted moon familiar for me either.

[It is a bit of a slow dance and Robb manages to adjust himself quite well to the modern music..]

Well, we have long summers. A lot can grow during a long summer. [Even though Robb has never seen a true Northern winter yet he adds:] We Northmen grow up with winters. We come prepared. [Then he nods.] And we ask others to provide us with food as well.

You do not know of space either? [She seems from a more modern society. Just like a lot of the people here.] I know of space because...well...it is put inside my head. [Robb is no brilliant scientist at all, just a boy with more interest in swords than large books.] Inside that device we all have.

From what you said you only grow up with the idea of them. [But she moves on to answering his question with a soft smile.]

I've been to space. [She headcanoned.] I just didn't live there. [Some of what the augment tells me is brand new or she'd only know it in speculation otherwise.]

Well it is not that. My lord father raised me to become the next lord of Winterfell. Space and matters like that, it is not part of what I have to know of. I do not study at the Citadel. [If they really do study that at the Citadel.]

Well, it seems I have been to space as well. And I live there now. [It is a bit of a jape and he smirks after he has said that.] Is it common to fly to space in your...time?

Cute. [Raising an eyebrow back at him.]

I wouldn't call it common. There were expeditions and things tended to be pretty short-range and only certain, trained people ever went on them. Then that program fell apart and there was still some travel, but it tended to be more...customized to people with abilities for it like long-range teleporting.

...Following that at all? I assume you know about people having powers by now.

[Robb frowns a little at the cute, not being able to connect it to the things he has told her. Is it meant as some sort of insult?]

I guess it is...?

[After that he cocks his head a little to the right to listen to her story. It sounds farfetched to his ears. People teleporting out of themselves? Gods. Briefly he wonders if his siblings have just as much trouble understanding all of this.]

I know of many who can perform magic. You refer to magic, not? Spells and sorcery?

[Powers? Powers as in being able to ride a dragon or handle two swords at the same time? Or powers akin to all of the stories from Old Nan’s mouth combined?]

Or is there something different?

[Not literal, but not an insult.] I mean well played. [Is that better? She needs to old timey language better.]

Magic is a kind of power, yeah. [She's not sure she believes in "magic" exactly. To her it seems more like a word used when the source or science of an ability hasn't be parsed. But she's also not about to go up to a coven of witches and tell them what they do isn't magic. People can use the terms they want.] It's not the kind I'm talking about, but something like that. Back home, some people are just born with certain abilities. Like the way someone might be able to write with either hand easily or be really good with music without training? Except for us [yes, us] it's more like being able to control the weather or run so fast you can't see them or heal almost instantly.

Odd. [Now Robb could curse like a sailor at times, but he has never heard of cute meaning ‘well played’.] In Westeros that is not the case, I think. I take it is a modern thing. [And Robb is no expert on languages. Languages aren’t swords.]

Controlling the weather is not the same thing as being able to write well. People are probably going to notice when someone has the ability to control the weather. Not when someone writes a nice letter.

[Robb’s eyes narrow a little as he watches her.]

I would not put such abilities on display if I were you. [Finally he lowers his voice to a very serious whisper.] I have seen a necromancer here. Such abilities are not natural.

Maybe if it was a really good letter. [Okay, it was a stretch, but its a hard concept to explain to someone with less science in their background.]

[She whispers back.] My power isn't as controversial as bringing people back from the dead.

[Her voice returns to its usual volume.] And why would I hide? Because it's safer? There are things to fear more than death like living your life pretending to be someone and something you're not. But that might be easier for me to say considering I'm already dead back home. Guess they were fresh out of necromancers.

[Robb smiles and nods his head afterwards.] It is not like that, my lady. You know it is not.

That is no power, that is necromancy. It is forbidden. [He knows Old Nan’s stories and he has never believed them. At least, not until he noticed a young maid bringing life back to fishes on the poisoned planet. It had scared him.]

Gods be good, are you telling me you are a walking corpse? [How awful to be dead at home and alive in here. Would that mean that the lords of Atroma were necromancers as well?] I do not fear death... I fear... [Robb frowns.] I think I fear everything I cannot explain. And...that is a lot, I am afraid.

[She just smiles back at the first part, letting it go. She turns the second over in her mind, wondering who this necromancer was. Even wondering if he was just confused by what he saw because it was unfamiliar to him. Maybe a resuscitation? But for now she'll focus on his question so he doesn't think she's a zombie.]

Do I look like a corpse to you? No, I'm alive. Never been killed. I'm saying that if they had waited another few seconds before abducting me I would be dead instead. [JUST IMAGINE WHAT THAT WOULD BE LIKE, ROBB!] The other person from my world is from years into the future and remembers my death. Seeing me was a surprise. He accused her of impersonating myself. [It's a more concise way of wording things. She knew before then too, but Kurt's arrival certainly added another level of confirmation.]

Fearing the unknown is a pretty common response. I think it gets to be dangerous when it turns into hating the unknown instead of trying to learn about it and understand. [She wonders how much of Apocalypse's rise to power would have happened without it.]

[Robb laughs softly.] No, you are not. If you were you’d smell quite differently. [He also realizes he has been a little out of line with that comment and he flushes a little.] I should not have said that...I must say, matters like this. I like it not. [As in: he has been living under a rock for quite a long while and does not have an open mind like his brother Bran has.]

Ah... [Gods, that must be awful. To know that you will be dead when returning home.] ...that is truly horrifying. It saddens me to hear that. [Kitty seems like a nice young woman but he also knows that death does not have mercy on those who are kind.] I hope there will be a chance for you to undo it now you know of it.

I rather not be close to it. [Robb shrugs.] It is not for me to judge people’s abilities but I do not want to get involved. [He shakes his head, thinking of his brother and his skinchanging abilities.

To be fair, he is afraid of it.]

That's okay. I'm pretty sure you followed up by implying I smell good. [Of course that could be the part he shouldn't be saying.] There might be time to make a change when I return. It's in my power to do so as long as I remember the outcome. [Literally in her power. All she ever had to do was phase. She just believed so strongly in their love that he would never hurt her. She wonders sometimes if it was a test too after what happened to their students. Did some deep part of her mind decide she would either live with the man who loved her or die at the hands of the one who'd stopped? A matter not for a dance or this dancing partner.]

What do you think will happen if you get involved? [Acceptance and tolerance are critically important to her. They were even before she learned she was a mutant. But she knows he's facing these things for the first time and there is something of a learning curve. Or maybe it's just the joy of being at a dance that makes her feel more apt to be forgiving.]

[Robb laughs at the remark.] I have to come closer to determine the truth of that. [The laugh silences when she speaks of her fate again. Death. How dreadful would it be to know that death awaits at your return? A shiver goes down his back when he thinks of it.]

I have met a man who has written the coordinates of his planet on his arm. Mayhaps you can do that as well to never forget. It is not a bad idea.

[He has to contemplate that. What would happen if he would be more accepting? Could he be more accepting?] I am a king, my lady. My men would not take that lightly. [He remembers the discussion with Bran rather vividly. How his brother had told him about his warging and how he warged into his fox in front of him. And he had felt something close to repulsion.] My siblings and I are no wildlings, my lady, we are of noble birth.

I could try to be more...accepting to others. [Because he is stubborn and tends to cling to his values way too hard.] I try to. But when faced with warging and necromancy I cannot be supportive. [He could not accept Bran’s ability. Gods, he could not even accept the wolf dreams he has at times, knowing what they could mean.] It is not how things should be. It is not right.

[He shakes his head.]

[She smiles back. It is a dance. They aren't that far apart, but she's not inviting him any closer either. The coordinates are an interesting thought, but she was looking right at Piotr in that moment. Maybe something to think about though.]

As a king is it your job to be popular or your job to lead? Some things—like people—are worth the trouble of reexamining what you believe. We may all be different, but we're all alike too. [His list of things that aren't right seems to be growing.]

What are wildlings and warging?

Both. And that makes it difficult at time. [That is a bit of an understatement. Robb absolutely struggles with his crown. There is never a right that isn’t wrong and never a wrong that is right either. Lines seem to blur and decisions come harder and harder every day.

And she is right about that. He should accept Bran’s ability and maybe Robb could, but the king can’t. And it has been a long time ago since he has chosen the side he wants to be on.] It is not that simple, my lady. [He shakes his head slowly.] I wish it were...

Wildlings live behind the Wall. I rather not have them crawling through the North. [He starts to look uncomfortable.] Warging is when... you change skins. It is... [It are those wolf dreams and the thing Bran did.] ...I do not wish to speak of it. It is something Wildlings do.

Well, I've never been a king before, but I have been different all my life [A genius, Jewish, and a mutant] and it's not a way to treat a person. As if you're wrong just for being born. And I think it's better to make friends than enemies.

[She doesn't push him on warging specifically, but it sounds like shapeshifting to her. Or possibly what her student Paige did.]

[Robb looks at her.] I do not see anything different about you. [But then again, you could not see anything different about wildlings either.]

You cannot fight a war without making enemies, my lady. [And it is true that Robb has a hard time making friends. Here as well as in Westeros. In Westeros he has lost everyone close and here the differences were too large to overcome.

And he simply did not trust everyone.] And things are not as simple as shaking a man’s hand and calling him a friend right off the bat.

They aren't visible unless I want them to be. [She's always had that ability to hide what she is if she's needed to and always hated it. She wants people to know. She wants to be upfront. Hate her if you're going to hate her and get it out of the way. Part of her wants to thrust her hand into his chest now to demonstrate one of her differences, but there is a line between being yourself and purposefully pushing people away. She decides not to demonstrate at all.]

True enough. [There were precious few outside the X-Men who were her friends in the war. Certainly not Apocalypse's people. Not the human high council who tolerated the X-Men at best since they shared a common enemy. Not even the humans directly in harm's way they were fighting to protect.] But we're not fighting a war here. You're part of a fleet of the abducted. A man at a dance. And dancing goes a long way to building bridges. [She manages a soft smile. Ready to leave the rest of the conversation behind and concentrate on the good part of tonight.]

[Robb cocks his head a little at her words, wondering what she meant by that. Would she have horrible sores hidden underneath her clothes? Or would it be something more like sorcery? Suddenly he realizes how uncomfortable it is to live in world dominated by sorcery. Robb really likes it to be able to explain things to himself.

He decides not to ask about it. It is her choice to show him or not.]

You have the truth of that as well. [When she smiles at him he smiles back in a halfhearted way. His thoughts are somewhere else and he is too stubborn to give up on what he knows.] But I have to be fair with you... I do not perceive myself a wary man, yet I do not trust everyone I meet. And I do not trust many here either.

[Not that he doesn’t want, but he feels terribly out of place in this world.]

Adjusting is not a simple thing to me. It is not just...doing it while knowing that there are far more important matters going on at home.

[Kitty really likes being able to explain things too. She just has a much larger vocabulary for it with something of a background in science, though not as deep of one as she'd prefer. Hard to finish school when everything is in ruins.]

I don't trust everyone either. I don't think trusting everyone would be any safer or better than trusting no one, but there's a happy middle in there somewhere I bet. [A place where you can have friends and confidants and teammates and even just someone trusted enough to be close for the span of a song.]

I understand what you mean though. I've been bouncing around these not-home places for over a year, so I've had some time to reprioritize.

Especially not when we star in some show. Can you imagine who will see all of this? And hear our conversation as well?

[Robb has been thinking about that lately, wondering how all these spectators would see him. Others. Would they inform others about his moments of weakness? About his fights with Bran?]

I do not think a secret is truly a secret when it is shown to everyone who watches the...reality show. It makes me feel uneasy, my lady.

I try not to think about the audience. Not that it makes them go away. [She knows that's a dangerous way to be, but the paranoia, fear, and restriction that would come from censoring her life all the time aren't worth it to her.]

I get the uneasy. If it didn't make you uneasy you wouldn't be paying attention.

Indeed. Not thinking about them won’t make them leave. I am sure they are watching us now through ways only modern people know.

[There were times he has been less aware of it. Not entirely busy with what his role actually is. But now he feels uncomfortable, looking over his shoulder a couple of times.]

In Westeros we do not have these reality shows. Gods be good, I haven’t even seen a play in my entire life. [Artists never came to Winterfell. Eddard Stark had always seemed rather adamant about it...]

Not even a play? This isn't your first dance is it? [Wondering if all the arts were held back.]

And We Danced (Masquerade Overflow!)

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I'm just bad at ending things is the moral of the story

Haha same here :")

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