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Who: Sansa Stark, and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide; Anonymous
Action: Blue Fish, Iskaulit
When: Afternoon to late evening

( ANONYMOUS TEXT: )

What should you do if someone you have never met -- never in your life -- hates you? What should you do if they are rude and horrible and ill-mannered and they won't tell you why?

I have done bad things. I know I have. But nothing to deserve this.

( ACTION: )

[ when she isn't indulging in her very self-centered sort of misery, sansa is aboard the blue fish. she has finally decided to make a brave attempt to decorate the door to her room, and so far has only managed to paint the bone-white bark of what will eventually be a tree.

and then -- well after the hour when she ought to have been in bed -- sansa does something unanticipated. unexpected. she takes a shuttle all by herself! and she lets it pilot her back to the iskaulit, where she walks the halls with slow and careful purpose until she arrives at the garden. she makes a seat for herself far from the door, and she breathes in the smell of soil and plant-life. already, and despite its bewitching magicks, she misses the well-wooded planet so recently departed. ]

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[He catches it, remembers that Sansa has her own boundaries and he's crossed them. Damnit. He winces, raising his hands in surrender and gives a small, apologetic smile. ]

Sorry.

[His shoulders drop, and his gaze falls to the floor, his brow furrowing. ]

She felt it was her destiny. When she was born, she was really sick. She nearly died. Her parents took her to the oasis the moon and ocean spirits lived in and put her in it. The moon spirit gave her some of its life force, meant she could live.

When the moon spirit was killed in the war- the moon died with it. The world would have been destroyed. She did what she had to.

[It still hurt, though. He had come to the realisation a while ago that it would always hurt. No matter how many years got between him and that happening, no matter how much distance he put between himself and the North...it never stopped hurting. ]

[ she wants to be gracious. and she wants to smile if off. most of all, she wants to assure him it's not his apology to make. but the words are like dry twigs in the back of her mouth: they scratch, catch, and sting.

instead, she edges the side of one finger against her own cheek -- imagining where the smudge must have been (for it must have been a smudge). without looking up, sansa answered: ] She was a part of the moon. And the moon was a part of her.

[ it sounds like a story. like a tale one might tell a child. but sokka said he was there. is he lying?

she thinks not. ]

They completed one another.

[He doesn't expect any more from her. An apology, nothing. He has no idea what she's been though, but he knows it's bad, and the last thing he wants to do is make things any harder for her than they already are. ]

They did. She saw it as the moon had given her some life to return back one day. I guess she was right.

[He would have given anything for it not to be that way. Anything. ]

She was a really wonderful person. She really cared about her people. She only wanted what was best for them. She was even going to marry someone she didn't love, to keep them strong.

[ she really cared about her people. sansa hooks her attention into those words, and starts to lace together an understanding of the young woman based solely on them. they help her understand sokka better, too. each note he makes about yue reveals something about him.

good things, of course. good things. ]

Was he terrible? [ she assumes. she projects. ] The man she was meant to marry?

[There were so many reasons he could list why that was exactly the case. Hahn was vicious and cruel and would have hurt her. In fact, Sokka knew the guy would have absolutely broken her heart if things were different. But Sokka is also acutely aware that his judgement on the guy is...clouded.]

He didn't love her. The marriage was arranged, and he only wanted it to gain rank. To become chief of the North one day. He was also a complete idiot and it's a miracle he didn't get himself killed in the battle that hit their home. Reckless, you know?

[Sokka exhales steady. He hated Hahn, so much. For making Yue feel the way she did, for not seeing her for any more than a step on a ladder. Someone to be used. Like a pawn. ]

He thought about himself more than anyone else. I kinda punched him in the face.

[Or tried to, anyway. At least he doesn't sound proud of it. In light of everything, it was a pretty hollow act. ]

I think -- I think there are worse husbands to have than a reckless ones, Captain. [ and yet there's ghostly approval behind her eyes. especially when he admits to having punched the man. sokka's violence doesn't frighten her, for it was clearly done in service of affection.

sansa crouches for a moment. she collects her brushes from where she'd left them drying on the floor. ] But I'm also happy for her. Maybe it was better...to be more than the woman someone marries to claim the North.

[ wry wry wry. oh, she doesn't know this woman but she feels for her. deeply, and intensely. and she wonders if whether faced with the same choice she would also, happily, become the moon spirit. ]

[He realised a while ago that something made Sansa the way she is. Now the pieces are slotting into place and he understands that it was probably a someone. He rubs the back of his head awkwardly. Of course. Of course she'd know this kind of thing. Why hadn't he seen it before? ]

...There really are.

[And he is endlessly sorry if she ended up with one. He resolves to absolutely punch that guy in the face, should he ever show up. Maybe even twice. Sansa is good people.

He wishes he could say he was willing to take her away from all of it, but he knows he can't. Not that he wouldn't - he absolutely would have - but he knows she never would have gone. She never would have left her people, and it wasn't his place to stay. He had to travel onwards with Aang. He couldn't stop in his own duties. ]

Yeah. I don't think she could have got out of it and she never would have put her people after her own desires, so-

[At least she was free. Eternally free. But it didn't make any of that hurt any less. The loss is less raw that it once was, but it's still there. ]

I just wish she'd of had a better chance. That her choices and opinions mattered for anything. That she could have made her own choice on who she wanted to marry.

It doesn't do anyone any good to wish for anything different. Not now. [ her voice is taut, and tight, and like a knot that's somehow gotten far too knotted.

gently, she runs her fingertips over the paintbrush bristles. ] She did a brave and wonderful thing. What better chance did she need? The chance she got was -- was amazing, wasn't it?

[ sansa knows she will never be able to give that much of herself to her north. instead, she's left to bounce from husband to possible husband -- all of them ill-suited to claim her home. ]

You're sad. But you're proud of her, too. Aren't you?

Edited 2016-08-12 00:41 (UTC)

You can't change the past.

[He gets it, oh boy does he get it. He'd change so much, if he could.]

She was amazing, and so brave. I don't know if anyone else would have been able to step up and do that like she did.

[He smiles, it's sad and fond at the same time. He loved her. A part of him still does. But what she did...she saved the world.]

I'm so proud of her. I miss her, a lot, but she did an incredible thing.

Maybe I will add a moon to my painting. [ she speaks on instinct -- something she rarely does, and it shows with a flicker of uncertainty in her eye. ] This tree, [ she taps the white bark, ] is precious to my North.

She is precious to her North. And us Northerners must stick together. [ and in one fell swoop she feels a kinship with a woman she's never met, except in story. but the north is the north, no matter what its world. ]

[He's not getting teary eyed, you are. He looks like he could hug her, but he refrains, he knows she wouldn't like that. ]

Really? [That comes out a little squeaky, he clears his throat to try and man up a little. ] I mean. That'd be...really great actually. She'd have approved of that a lot.

[Yue would have liked Sansa, he knows that much. Probably sensed in her someone who knew what she was going through more than anyone. Someone she could offer support to. It's a real tragedy they can never meet. ]

And -- and it might be that, one day, she will be here to see it. [ sansa's voice shakes. she isn't so close to tears, but she is moved. even so, she keeps herself under remarkable restraint. ]

The Fleet is strange. It can be charitable or it can be cruel. Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah...maybe, one day.

[H'es missed her, so much. To be able to see her again...it would be equally wonderful and heartbreaking. He knows it will be an emotional minefield, but to give her more life...it would be worth it. ]

Absolutely! I mean, I wish it would make up its mind one way or another, but getting some good stuff now and again isn't something I'm about to complain about.

-- I'm sorry, Sokka. [ she breathes out her fear and simply reaches for what must be said: ] About your sister. I'll pray that she comes back, if you like.

[Oh. That's sweet. He gives a little shrug. ]

It's okay. I think she's better off back home. She's got a whole future ahead of her.

[ ~~when her sister leaves~~should her sister leave, sansa would be torn to pieces. she knows she would not wear it as well as sokka does -- but maybe it's because he speaks the truth. his home could be better.

she nods. ] She's kind. I hope the future treats her kindly in turn.

[His home is absolutely better. He genuinely wishes he could bring the Starks there with him. They could really make a go of it there. ]

From what I've heard? It sounds like it'll be pretty sweet for her. She deserves that much.

[ this conversation is going well. well enough. so she gets braver.

she gets bolder. ]

-- Do you wish you'd go home, too?

[He doesn't mind answering this one at all. ]

I sure do. But I want to make sure everyone else gets home first. Or if not home, somewhere you could all feel safe.

What about you?

[He knows Westeros isn't exactly Giggles Central. He'd already planned to offer to bring the Starks to his home, if they wanted. Somewhere they could really be safe, maybe even happy, one day.]

I think -- [ she catches herself in a stammer. is it safe, now, to tell the truth? sansa's brows knit into a frown that doesn't quite reach her lips. ] I think I should be very fortunate indeed to never see Westeros again. I will always miss my home, but...

[ ... ] It's not my home any longer.

[ usurpers and traitors and monsters have taken it for their own. ]

[And there it was. Sokka can't say he's surprised by her answer, but he does feel sad for her. Maybe if the war hadn't gone the way it had, if Ozai had won...maybe he'd be in the exact same place she is right now. ]

I can get that. It sounds...really hard there.

[And it just seems to get harder. He offers her the tiniest of smiles. ]

Well, if you guys ever want- when we actually find a way to defeat this whole dumb Atroma business, and get a way back. You can come to my home world. It's not too far removed from what you're used to, aside from the Bending, you guys could probably make a real go of it there. It's a good place to start a new life.

As offers go, Sokka, it is...exceedingly kind. [ and there are parts of his world that sound beautiful. certainly better. but -- ] I would go where my brothers went. And my sister, too. Though I cannot imagine any of them wanting to return to Westeros, either.

I can understand that. I'd never leave Katara, either. Family's important.

[He gives a tiny shrug with his smile.]

I mean, I doubt it's anything any of us have to think about for a while. If you and your family ever chose it, my home is absolutely open to you.

-- Have you only the one sister, Sokka?

[ curiousity makes her bold. as does his kindness. ]

Only the one. It as just me, Katara and Gran-Gran for a while, after dad went off to fight in the war.

Action

steeledskin - 2016-09-11 15:31 (UTC) - Expand

Action

alwayscomeback - 2016-09-11 21:35 (UTC) - Expand

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