driftfleet | Semi-open!

Entry tags:

Semi-open!

Who: Robb Stark & others
Broadcast: yes
Action: also!
When: Between the 29th of May and the 1st of June

[text; open to all]
I wish to know who have been informed about the matters that will occur at the Twins.

You have my thanks.

Signed
Robb Stark

[Blue Fish]
[Robb Stark has been quiet after he has gotten the news from his siblings. Not that he forgot about his duties as head of security, not at all. He just gets up when people are still asleep and he returns when they are awake. The weapons inside the weaponry are always cleaned and so is the floor.

At night he sometimes sneaks out to get a bottle of soda out of the cold box, just so he could drink it until he had to piss and until his tongue would feel numb from all the tingles. Still, Robb is in no way a master in sneaking around. Eventually he will bump into a crewmate and eventually he should have conversations and eventually he would get questions...

Still, most of the time Robb is inside his room, not in a mood to be surrounded by people. Of course, he is sure he finally snaps out of it, like he also managed to stop sobbing over his father’s death to make plans to bring justice to those who caused it. He is also quite positive that he will finally manage to take action. To send letters to those who matter, to pick up his lady mother and throw her out of the window for the sake of her surviving a plunge into the Trident. Mayhaps he could thrust a knife through lord Frey’s twisted heart as some sort of revenge for such a vile scheme.

But for now he likes to spend most of his hours alone.]

[When Robb finds Theon he does not wait until the other would start his idiotic remarks. He approaches him fast with a grim expression on his face. Before Theon can speak Robb takes hold of his collar and shoves him against the wall of the ship.]

Do you wish to be forgiven for your treason, turncloak?

[He hisses the words as he speaks, looking Theon straight in the eyes.
Gods, he hopes the other says yes. And he hopes even more that he can trust him with this. Theon and trust barely go together in one sentence.]

[When he arrives he is rather quiet and he looks quite tired. His hair is a bit more messy than it usual is and it shows that he hasn’t slept well. In his hands he holds a couple of letters, carefully folded and sealed with wax from a candle. Above the seal he has scribbled the weapon of his house.]

Lady Granger... [He rolls his shoulders a little before he points the letters out to her.] ...I need you to...send these to Westeros. With...a spell. The way you explained me earlier. They need to be sent to different places.

[After those words he unfolds the piece of paper that is not a letter. He has drawn a map of Westeros onto it.]

I do not wish to hear about the impossibilities of it all. Unless it will not harm you I want to try. It is of great importance that we try. At the least.

[He would like it that his goodfamily would know of the disgusting pact lord Frey has made with Bolton. And his lady wife needs to be safe as well. And the rest of the North.]

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[ As soon as she hears the title - lady Granger, not just Hermione - she knows that it's something important and she's pushing herself away from her desk and her work to step up and look at Robb. The Direwolf around her neck is still present and her hand touches it, dancing under the ring and the dogtags that hang there, but she breathes out a noise as she makes her way up to step closer, to listen without judgement. ]

Oh. [ She takes the letters, the maps, and she knows in her heart that it might not be possible. There might be no way for her ever to take these letters to Westeros, to take these to Robb's home and pass them on to the people that he has thought so hard about. Her eyes glance up to look at him but she manages a smile, lifting her head and nodding once. ]

I'll do everything I can, Robb. I promise, I won't - I won't just not try. There'll be a way, I'm sure of it.

[ Even if she keeps hold of them and carts them back to the Drabwurld, finds one of the people she knows is from his realm and takes them back with her, using the power of the shards and the Gem - she had visited other people's worlds before. She could find Robb's, and deliver these things. ]

I'll do it.

[Robb also realizes that this might not work. But it is all he has. He can feel his heart pounding inside his chest and he cannot wipe the frown off his face either.

While she takes his letters and talks to him the words do not get through to him entirely. It sounds as if she is far away, down a hallway or something.]

Most are for Riverrun. Send them separated. The ones addressed to the Dreadfort and Harrenhal last.[Robb moves to walk next to her, pointing at the map.] I hope so. This is all I have.

[All he can do, really.]

I'll do my best, I promise. Don't worry, Robb.

[ Her hands are brushing along the paper and she takes them, moving to put them on her desk before she reaches up. Careful, palms flat against his cheeks, Hermione shakes her head and makes to draw Robb closer, soft and gentle in the movement she makes towards him. ]

I think you need to come in and sit down, okay? Just have a moment or two to rest. You look like you're about to fall asleep on your feet.

[ But also Hermione is worried about what his sudden urgency means, and her heart feels like it's in her throat. ]

[But Robb is worrying a lot. He frowns constantly and he keeps fussing with the letters. His head feels a little full and all he has is so little.] I will not blame you if it will not work. [The words sound hurried as he speaks them and when she puts her hands on his cheeks he startles a little, eyes growing large.]

I have many things to do. Arrangements. [He has to save so many people and he has no idea how to do it properly.] I will sleep when it is time to sleep. [Slowly he reaches upwards and takes a hold of her wrists.] I appreciate your worry.

[His eyes flicker from her face to the letters again.]

Must I mark them on the map?

[ Hermione's lips turn down into a smile and she wants to argue - her first instinct is to sit him down and make him take a few moments of rest, to shove him onto a chair or a bed and make him relax, but it doesn't come. Instead, she reaches up and grasps hard onto the Direwolf she wears around her neck before she breathes out and nods, forcing herself to be calm. She has to cling to it, otherwise... She's not sure. ]

Please let me know when you're done, at least. I'll worry me if I think you're out there running yourself ragged all around the fleet. [ Her eyes scan his face again before she steps forward, reaching up - the letters and things are placed to one side and her hands find Robb's, squeezing gently before she shakes her head. ]

I'll manage, I promise. I'll find a way to make it work.

[ She doesn't say she knows a little about Westeros already, that when she returns to the Drabwurld she could ask him to help her anyway. ]

I'll do this if I can. You have word, on my honour.

[The way she grasps the direwolf necklace makes him narrow his eyes a little. Yet he does not ask, he focuses his mind once again on everything that needs to be done. He knows she worries and that she wants him to catch some sleep but why would he sleep when he is about to lose everything? That he is going to lose his lady mother, his men, everyone.]

I will. [He hears himself murmur while she takes his hands, squeezing them reassuringly.] I believe you.

[Robb nods briefly at her before he steps over to scan through the letters again, marking each spot on the map. Three to Riverrun. Bear Island. White Harbor. The Vale. The Dreadfort. The Wall. Everywhere, really.]

I believe you. [The words come out in another murmur.] I trust your magic will work. [It has to work, it is all he has. Bloody magic and sorcerers.

After those words he stays silent for a long time while arranging the letters.]

They will kill me. [Robb looks over his shoulder.] I cannot prevent that. But I have to prevent everything else that will follow because of that.

[ It's difficult for Hermione to stand and act as though she doesn't know Robb, or Sansa, or even their father, the threadbare bits of knowledge that hang around her and make things feel strange and awkward even as she tilts and watches, making sure she listens to everything he says. She knows how the story is going to play out and she's afraid even as she listens, the sharp metal of the necklace digging into her palm. ]

Thank you, Robb. Really. [ Her eyes dart over his face and she knows - she knows it's not going to be that easy for him. She has to try and stand at his side, though, even if she feels uncomfortable. She has to be there for him because it's more important than her own worries and concerns. ]

There's always a way. [ Hermione can hope to use the power of her shard once she gets it back, or bring them to Robb, or do something - there's always something, something to be done that can make things better for the people she cares about. She'll run herself ragged if she has to and not care about it, especially when it's something as important as this.

Her hands squeeze his again and she steps closer, careful. ] I know. It's okay, I - I know that you'll do the best that you can to make sure they're alright. [ She doesn't realise that she's not reacted to his death in the way that she ought to, hearing it for the first time; instead she focusses on comforting him. ] You'll do everything that you need to and I can see it.

[Her kindness touches him deeply and he knows he has turned to the right person. Sorcerer or not.]

There is always a way. [Robb murmurs the words, trying to put hope into them. And gods, it is so hard to hope when everything seems lost. He stops rummaging through the papers when she holds his hands again, squeezing them softly and reassuring.

His blue eyes narrow a little as he looks at them and as he does that he realizes more than ever that he does not want to die. And that he has so much to do and then she tells him that she knows.] Of course you do. [The words sound bitter.] They all do but they never spoke up. Who has told you? Was it Sansa? [He nods at her necklace and it hurts. It hurts that he knows of his death and it hurts him that it was never no one's intention to tell him.]

[ As soon as he accuses her - though it doesn't feel like the right word - Hermione tenses. Her eyes search his face and she drinks him in, the pain of it weighing her down and making her hands want to shake. She knows what she said to Charles, she knows what she and her friend talked about, but it doesn't prepare you for the moment; it doesn't prepare you to come clean and speak the truth.

He nods at her direwolf and she knows. She can't hide it anymore, she can't pretend. ]

Sansa didn't tell me. You did. [ Lifting her head, Hermione turns and looks at him, trying to steel herself as much as she can. Oh, she had known Sansa, known her as the brave, loyal Keeper of the Cothromach, a beautiful lady that had helped her feel beautiful despite her scarring. It was nothing on her friendship with Robb, however, with their pack and their loyalty to each other, and she feels shame for having not told her earlier.

She has to fight her tears, because it hurts. ] In the Drabwurld I knew a few people from your world. You, Sansa, Loras Tyrell, Arya, and even Margaery, for a little while. I knew them all but, one by one, they left and went home. All of them except you. [ She moves, drawing the direwolf up from around her neck, holding it out in her palm and breathing a soft noise of hurt. ] You gave me this one evening when we sat with the wolf pack you had gained. It was a gift for Christmas, because we were friends and we cared about each other.

[Is he a ghost? Or still a young man? His heart hammers in his chest and it feels as if it is mocking him, urging him to admit to the fact that he is alive here but that he will never have a future anymore at home. His eyes shift from her face to her necklace. There is an urge to tear himself away from her, not wanting to have anymore of this. But another, more mature, part of him wants to stay and listen. Lady Granger has always been kind to him, she always helped him. This must not have been her intention...]

I have not. I did not know. [His eyes darken a little as he says that, a clear sign that her answer is not satisfying at all.] How can I speak of things I do not know? Why haven’t you told me? [Words seem to leave his mouth in a never ending stream.] Gods be good, what folly is all of this?

[Before he can talk on Hermione is speaking again, telling him of a Drabwurld and that she has been his friend there. Robb cannot remember a Drabwurld or meeting her.]

I have given you that? Is Christmas some sort of name day? [Finally he shakes his head and takes a step back, frowning deeply.] This has been a mistake. I should not have come. [His head really hurts now. He has been to places he did not know of? Having friends he cannot remember anymore?]

[ Hermione recognises the signs; she knows the expression of someone that wants their distance from her, that doesn't want to be around her, for whatever reason they might come up with. She had seen it, once, in Dorian's eyes, when he had tried to convince her that she was better off without him, that his madness and his pain would be too cruel a thing for her to live with. This was different, of course, but the comparison was there and it made her heart ache. She had never intended to hurt Robb, had wanted to protect them both, but she had failed and she knew it. ]

I don't think they want it to make sense. No one did. [ The Atroma, she means; how could it make sense that she knew Robb, a version of him that she had cared for and adored, and another stands before her now? Different points in time, different people - the man she knows can never leave the Drabwurld, is trapped there as surely as his shard had been ripped from his chest. This man could go home and Hermione wants that for him, desperately, even knowing the path his life is going to give him.

Her voice is quiet and shaky when she continues, her hands reaching for nothing and then dropping back to her side. ]

I didn't want to hide it from you. It's not as if I tried to lie, or pretend as though I was something I'm not. I knew a version of you, someone that had your name and your face but isn't you, the Robb I know on this fleet. What would have been the point in telling you I knew you when you had no idea who I was, when you weren't coloured by the same experiences? It would've been stupid and confusing and all it would have done is push us away from each other. I just wanted to be your friend.

[ Hermione bows her head, breathing in shakily, gripping at nothing. She will not cry; she is a Marchioness, a leader, almost a queen. She cannot cry. ]

It's a celebration of winter, and it was a gift, a token of our friendship. [ Reaching around her neck she draws the metallic direwolf up and away, holding it out for Robb. ] If you're going to leave then you can take it back. It's a gift for a friend, not for a stranger. I don't deserve it.

[It feels as if his mind is too tired to carry this burden. He has no energy left to put on a brave face or blink tears away. There is no way he can play the king or pretend to be the lord. All there is left is a boy who does not want to die, a boy that is at a loss and feels so completely powerless that it guts him.

He wants to go home and he wants to stay here with his siblings at the same time. Robb has to bite his lip in a hard way to prevent a sob from coming out, yet the way his shoulders shake give away that he on the brink of falling apart.

Another version of him? Like there were different sorts of planets that essentially are the same ones only slightly different.]

It makes no sense. [Robb isn't looking at her anymore. Instead of that he is gazing at his own feet.] Nothing here does. I would not know how to flee, save my family and my men at the same time. And they all know... [Another very miserable sob escapes his mouth and he moves to press his arm against his mouth.] ...they approached me as an ally. But I am a dead man in their futures. It is some sort of mummers farce.

[When Hermione presents the necklace to him he looks up again, obviously crying. He takes it from her and looks at it in his hand. This was a present from the other version of him. The one that lived inside that Drabwurld. It was fitting. A nice token for a friendship.]

It is a gift of the other me... And a token of your friendship with him. It would not be my place to take it from you. [More tears start to fall.] Please take it back, lady Granger.

Robb - Robb, please... [ Hermione has never been able to handle others being in pain, never been good at seeing other people hurt without doing her utmost to step forward and try to help them, to give her all and everything she had to make them feel better, to ease their burdens and take away their suffering. It's the same in this moment, shame curling around her and sending cold down her spine knowing that part of his suffering came from her, from her truth and her lies all tangling together.

It's easy, then, despite her hesitation, for her to move closer and, without thinking, wrap her arms around Robb, lifting herself up and holding him gently. It's too easy because she knows him and she knows his strength, she knows his pride, and she knows what this means to him - to break, to be hurt, to admit his pains and his suffering to someone he thought he could trust. She hates herself in that moment, for inspiring such hurt inside of someone she cares for so deeply, but she knows she can't take it back.

Instead, she can try to help him heal, to offer whatever she can to ease the wound. ]

Nothing here makes sense, Robb. None of it does, and it's awful. We're brought here as entertainment and they revel in our pain because - because it makes the people that watch more and more interested in watching more. It's all about stupid ratings and everyone seems to forget that we're human too. We're just people, and - and all we want is to be happy. I think we've earned the right to try.

[ Her hand lifts and takes the necklace from his hand, ignoring it for a moment and pressing it into her pocket. Instead, she wraps herself around Robb all the more, tilting her head up and leaving a kiss against his hair, turning her face so she can hold onto him with all her tenderness and all her heart. She feels so much older than her handful of years and it makes her burn, makes her cheeks damp with her own sadness. ]

I'll - I'll keep it. But, please, Robb, please don't think that my knowing him means I care for you just because of him. I care for you as you are, the brave, strong man that you've shown yourself to be, someone that loves his family and would do anything within his power to help them. I know that - that it's impossible, what we want, and that the future is awful, but you're here.

[ For a moment, Hermione is breathless until she can lean back, trying to look into his eyes. ]

You're here, and they need you, and - I'll be here for you, too. Whatever you need, whenever you need someone. That is what my friendship with you means to me. I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you.

[Robb doesn’t like to cry. And definitely not in front of others. But at this time he does not find himself able to keep himself together anymore. He is dead and everyone played pretend. Then a version of him lived in the world where lady Granger lived. But the biggest thing that bothers him is that they all knew this and that his words were falling against deaf ears. Maybe they just pitied him. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe they did not dare to tell him of his failures.

All these thoughts whirl through his head as lady Granger wraps her arms around him and speaks to him with a soothing voice.]

This is not their doing. [It is all he can say before sobs take over. All he wants her to know that this is not the doing of the lords of Atroma and their hunger for entertainment. In a way he feels betrayed by the ones who he loves the most. They should have told him. They should have called for him and told him slowly of what lies ahead. But they all kept quiet.] It takes my brother’s outburst to let the truth come out. I... [He silences when she presses her lips against his hair, a little bit taken aback by the tenderness of that gesture. It reminds him a little of his mother, of Jeyne, of some sort of warmth he knows he is missing. When she pulls away to take the necklace from his hand he presses the back of his hand against his mouth again, not looking at her at all.

One of his hand rests on his hip while he keeps the other over his mouth, trying his best to get a grip on himself. To stop the tears from coming and the sobs from filling the room. He had to create some clarity inside his mind. Something he could hold on to. But there was nothing.]

That matters not. [Slowly he removes his hand and looks at her with dark, tearful eyes.] They should have never... If they would not have... [The words are followed by a frustrated growl. Complete sentences come hard these days.] I cannot do anything for them here but hope that they will be able to stay here. In space. That is the only solution. That is...all I can do for them.

It is close to nothing. [The last word is nothing more than a sad, frustrated sort of hiss.] When they needed me most I was not there. I did not come. And now I cannot ever...they will all perish at home! [He hears her words half and he blinks at them but that is all. Robb Stark has no idea what he has to do with all of this except for crying like a little boy.]

[ At first, Hermione does no more than stand with him, support him, careful as she draws him closer and offers tenderness and comfort in the wake of her own misery and lies. She knows she should have told the truth, she knows she should have let him know, but she also thinks that Robb should have heard it from his family. It wasn't her place to spoil such a terrible tragedy, and she wasn't going to be the one to inspire pain when they weren't all ready for it. She was an outsider to all of them, after all; she might wear a direwolf around her neck but she wasn't a Stark and she wasn't from their world. She was nothing, really, in their eyes.

What she wants to do is make the pain go away, but she can't do that. There's no magic in the world capable of it that wouldn't damage Robb in a way she couldn't possibly undo, and she had used the spells enough times to know she was proficient. She just couldn't. She couldn't take the pain away and know, without a doubt, that Robb was still himself. ]

No one wanted to tell you because they were happy, Robb. [ Her voice is soft and quiet even though it hurts a little to speak. ] Having you here makes them all so happy, and there's no undoing that. I know - I-I know it's painful, that it hurts, but they are happy. I've seen it when I've spoken to Sansa, when she talks about you, about her brother. They're glad you're here and not just because it means the future hasn't happened yet. They're glad you're here because they love you, so much.

[ She does too, but in a way that isn't the same - platonic love and familial love are different, after all, and she has to draw back to look at him, her breathing caught in her throat as she tries to manage herself somehow. ]

You can do more than that for them here, Robb. You can listen to them, and support them, and take care of them. If something happens you can be at their side, as their brother and someone they trust and love. If you feel as though you weren't there when they needed you before then be there now. We can't...

[ It sounds cruel to speak like this, and she hesitates before she continues. ]

We can't change the future, at least not like this, but we can work out what we're doing in the present. I know it's painful, and it's not what you want to hear, but - you can be there for them now, and if you drown yourself in thinking about these horrible things then you might never come back out. Do you understand? If it's all you let yourself think about then you'll lose sight of what's important, and that's you being here together, as a family, able to spend time with each other and love each other. You can't take that for granted.

[When she holds him he relaxes a little, the tension leaving his body a little bit more with every breath he takes. Still, the sadness remains and in a way he finds it hard to believe that he makes his siblings happy. He wants to, he really wants to. He wants to give them Winterfell back and all those who lived inside of it. From their father to ser Rodrik. Vayon Poole, the kennelmaster. Old Nan. Even Hodor.

But the past cannot be changed. And could he truly change a future?

Carefully he places a hand on her back, fingers digging slightly into the fabric of her shirt. He sees the letters lying there and he sees the awkwardly drawn direwolves. All pleas and plans. Formal letters. Declarations of war. And amidst all of those there is a letter to Jeyne.

And that is the only letter that matters. Its a letter from Robb to someone he loves, not a letter from the King to his subjects.]

I will not. [A shuddering sigh comes from his mouth before he presses his forehead against Hermione's shoulder, watching tear drops falling down between them. Some land on her shirt and some on his. Some even make it to the ground. And then he finally looks up, eyes searching her face.] I will not abandon them again. [He shakes his head and for a moment he gazes at the letters again.

The world seems to spin a little when he takes a step again and he realizes that he is so tired that he could fall asleep right on the spot.]

My la...Hermione...just send this one... [He holds up the letter to Jeyne.] It is from me to my lady wife. [After that he laughs breathlessly.]

Gods, I am so bloody tired, lady Granger...Hermione...

[ It's impossible for her not to hold him, and Hermione's grip is gentle and soft as her fingers press into him, holding him against her and offering him her strength. That's what she's there for, what she's always been there for, no matter who the person was - to support, to guide, to help, to heal, a secondary character in the rest of the world's stories. She's not the type of person that wants to be a heroine; she just wants to help.

Robb lets himself hold her and Hermione breathes out, gentle as she strokes her fingers through his hair, trying to calm him and offer him whatever he needs without words. She knows it's not going to be easy, that this is going to hurt him for a long, long time, but there's no avoiding it. It was something he was always going to have to face, and he can't escape that.

He cries and Hermione wells up, squeezing her own eyes shut as she wraps herself around him and holds him, squeezing at him and not wanting to let go. Oh, she loves him, loved the man she knew in the Drabwurld and the softer version here, cares about him so much that she thinks her own heart is going to break. It'll get better, it has to, but until then she can be here to take his pain away. She can be here to support him in whatever he needs.

She is careful and resolute when he looks her in the eye and she smiles weakly, her own cheeks damp from the tears that had fallen for him, and for his family. ] No, you won't. You're going to be amazing, Robb, and I believe in you.

[ Shifting forward, Hermione tucks herself under his arm, settling there so he can lean against her even as she begins to urge him to walk towards the bed. ]

I'll make sure it gets to her. I swore, Robb, and - I'll find a way, if no one else can.

[ Reaching the bed, she nudges him forward, voice careful and quiet. ]

Lie down and rest. I'll be here when you wake up, okay?

[Robb is glad that she does not speak or asks questions he cannot answer. Or that she would try to soothe his trouble mind with words that would mean nothing. She is there and she holds him, touches gentle and her arms warm.

When she pulls back he can see the tears she has shed as well and finally he reaches out carefully, eyes slightly narrowed.] You do not have to shed tears for me... [He uses his thumb to wipe them away in a slow manner.] I will try to be. [Somewhat of a smile appears around his lips. It is small and a little sad but it is at least something.]

I trust you will do so. [While he says that he gazes at her for a moment. Could he sleep here? It would be convenient. Just to be able to have a quiet sleep. Not having to face others on the ship with all their questions and assumptions.] You have my thanks. [Finally he moves to wipe his eyes.] If there is anything I can do for you, let me know and I shall make it happen.

[Before sitting down on the bed he squeezes her arm softly.]

I cannot thank you enough.

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