video — (ง •̀_•́)ง

[cetos]

Who: Asha Greyjoy and errybody
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Paisley 
When: Today

[ Asha Greyjoy stands in a nondescript hallway aboard the SS Paisley. She is not so foolish as to think there are not those who would harm her among the fleet and would rather not fight in close quarters, if it should come to that. For now, she leans against a wall, unflinchingly gazing into the communicator, more comfortable than curious. Once sharply cropped black hair falls unevenly about her face, too long and shaggy for her liking. Though she would prefer to wear the ship-issued clothing, she dons her weathered, salted leather for this broadcast. It is important that she bear the look of her people when lost in space.

However, she has added her security issued automatic weapon to her ensemble, holstered where her axe once glinted in the light. ]

[ Lazily — ] I believe I’ve arrived in perfect time to represent my people. [ a pause (for the drama tbh). Is this a reference to Tyrion’s broadcast or her brother’s misadventures? Both, perhaps. Evidently, she did some back-reading before announcing her presence. She tilts her chin up, as if challenging her viewers. ]

I am Asha of House Greyjoy, daughter of the kraken, Captain of the Black Wind, and [ an abrupt laugh. ] wife of an axe. [ not some rusted man of the Crow Eye’s choosing. ] Now, I mean no disrespect to my dear captain of the SS Paisley when I mention my titles. You have my service and loyalty, Captain Russo, if only out of respect for the institution of a ship. [ Which is mostly true, if partly for diplomacy’s sake. ] I introduce myself as such so that I may not lie by omission. Secrets in close quarters make for silly disputes, don’t you think? And I’ve nothing to hide. [ She shrugs. ]

On the Iron Islands, we must drown before we may live. And if death has already taken me once, why should I fear life among the stars? Or the animals twinkling with them, at that. [ Shout out to her fellow Westerosi. ] I will not bore you with history, but if you should like to learn more of the reavers of isles, who trade as well as take, who travel to the farthest reaches of our realm but return to the stony shores because none but us survive there, well — [ Her face splits into a grin. It is an easy thing to be happy when you’ve escaped cannibals and burnings and your only worries are green men. ] — I’ll oblige you, provided you regale me with tales of your own adventures. A fair trade. [ because she isn’t some godless pirate please and thank you!! ] I’ve need of drink and laughter after enduring snow and somber company.

[ Her smile thins into an unreadable expression, certainly more weary than before but too neutral to truly judge. ]

— And Theon, it is time we meet again.

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[steeledskin]

[ she spends a long time saying nothing. the network captures the captivated face of a copper-haired, fair-skinned young woman. one might think she's southron through and through. there's very little stark about her -- leastwise, not in her appearance. she watches asha greyjoy with outright curiousity wending across her features.

after a great many heartbeats, she cannot help her question: ] How does one marry an axe?

[cetos]

[ southron, surely, with that hair, though asha classifies her more generally -- as a greenlander. from north to south, the greenmen do not not understand the ironmen. but this green girl tries, in a way, which is more than asha expected.

though she's always prepared for sansa's question. ]

When one courts battle over child-bearing, it's an easy thing to do. [ said without contempt for the latter, mind you. she laughs in anticipation of her own joke. ] There's less blood involved.

[steeledskin]

I believe it.

[ the queen had warned her, hadn't she? that woman must be hardened against blood, for they must see more of it than most men. at the time she had been stony in the face of cersei's 'lesson', but now it comes back to her with a biting vengeance.

sansa clears her throat: ] And you are truly Theon's sister?

[ he will always be 'theon' to her, not lord this or greyjoy that. maybe, on occasion, he is 'turncloak'. but habits learned in childhood are hard to shake, and she talks about her father's ward with an almost informal tone. ]

[cetos]

[ yet another familiar with her brother. no one has ever preceded her in this way — where many know of her through a connection. even her father's bannermen knew her well from a young age, from laughter on the sand and axes splintered in the halls. arriving in the shadow of her brother is not something she ever expected.

is this how the boy felt on pyke? ]

Why should I claim him, if not because of shared blood? [ a wry smile. ] My welcome has not grown warmer for it.

[steeledskin]

[ a smile ghosts behind her expression. sansa understands by observation, if not by experience. theon is not a popular soul aboard these ships -- it would take someone who honoured blood to own up to the connection so readily, and so casually. whereas she is always too quick to name her brothers and embrace them, assuming the rest of the fleet should love them as dearly as she does. ]

Blood is all we have, here. [ her head tilts. ] Old alliances and politics do not always survive this journey to the stars, I think. But blood is blood.

[ family. duty. honour. and in that order. she is half-tully, after all. ]

[cetos]

[ blood is all we have, she says, and asha suddenly feels very grateful for a courteous southron girl standing out from those demanding answers and reparations from her. i'm not his mother, she keeps thinking, and that only makes her heart heave. their mother might give her life to see him again. she certainly would have given balon's.

she would not so readily swear herself to captain russo if she, too, did not think politics and alliances meant nothing so far from home.

and asha doesn't want more than her stony shores anymore, anyway. she wants the seas and storms and warmth of harlaw. justice for balon and theon for alannys. that would be enough. when she speaks, it's softer than before. ]

You've the right of it, and I'm grateful for that.

[ she's so so tired. ]

[steeledskin]

[ she does her due diligence. she snoops and sneaks a listen to the other conversations, and it only takes a moment to understand from whence asha greyjoy's gratitude springs. what strikes sansa most is how pleasant theon's sister is, so far -- not rude, nor crude, nor difficult like she might have been led to believe by whispers about the iron born. it begs scandal (of course) that a woman should consider herself wed to an axe -- and the men and women from the iron islands are strange to her in so many ways.

but, somehow, sansa had expected worse. perhaps it's a testament to how much this place has mellowed her expectations. it promptly inspires her to introduce herself. ]

How honoured I am to meet you, Lady Asha. [ courtesies, courtesies, always her remember her courtesies! ] My name is Sansa. [ ... ] Of House Stark.

[ i grew up knowing your brother, too she almost says. but such a claim treads on a tie she dare not exploit. after all, blood is blood is blood. and she and theon never shared that. ]

[cetos]

[ asha has corrected two of sansa's brothers for naming her lady, but she allows the girl such pleasantries. it is harder for a girl to lose them.

perhaps it's a silly thought, but she first notices how none of these stark children look terribly alike. the arya she saw with theon bears little resemblance to sansa and neither has any of jon in them.

you can tell a greyjoy from their salty skin and bottomless, black eyes. how curious. ]

Lady Sansa. [ stark, she says, not lannister, likely in the same way asha says greyjoy over ironmaker. asha nods as sign of respect. ] I had no idea the north held such warmth.

[ which is more of an observation than a compliment. why are the starks the least indignant toward her when they have the greatest claim? all other complaints reek of stupidity, not cruelty. the starks alone have substantial grievances to air against house greyjoy. and even asha won't defend the child murder that occurred in winterfell. ]

[steeledskin]

Winterfell is marvelously warm, my lady. There are hot springs that run beneath its stone -- some think we froze in the North, but... [ her words stop. should she have said winterfell was warm? truth be told, she doesn't know how much of her ancestral home remains. she has been cut off from it -- away from it -- for so long.

she only learned to ache for it after it had already been lost to her.

a hard shake of her head. ] It has been a long time since I have been to the North.

[cetos]

[ asha thinks of the stretches barren but for snow and trees, footprints and corpses. this north is not sansa's north, it seems. in the same way that pyke is not as before, stained with her mother's tears and father's blood. ]

I wouldn't recommend it, at present. The only warmth remaining radiates from Stannis' flesh-fires.

[ which is maybe meant to be comforting?? it sucks now u don't wanna be there, homegirl. ]

[steeledskin]

[ flesh-fires. what a dark concept. it makes her blanch, and for a moment sansa appears to look away from the device. steadying herself in the face of horrible stories that haunt behind those words.

a little frightened, she shakes her head. ] There must remain something. [ some loyal house. some godswood, somewhere. ]