driftfleet | 003 winter wonderland

Who: Sansa Stark
Broadcast: Fleet-wide
Action: down on the planet
When: 20 December - end of the month

> > > carol singing

( Sansa enjoys the systems that are cold and this one is no exception. This planet is full of ice and snow and the people are warm and kind the way she remembers the North being when she was a child. They do love music, impossibly so, and so she decides to sing a few of the songs she knows down in a cafe when some others are singing their own. It's nice to learn new things to sing and she has one of the new songs on the tip of her tongue as she goes to get a cup of warm tea, needing to stave off the chill. When she sees someone she recognizes from the Fleet, she steps back a bit and allows them to step to the counter first. )

Oh, did you want anything? Far be it from me to be in your way - how rude of me.

> > > stitching time

( Lord Akeldama's waistcoat was coming along nicely and rather than sew up in the Fleet, Sansa has chosen to do it down in a cozy corner near a fire in a bookstore down on the planet. She has a little basket of sewing things she's bought from her small supply of credits and she's hoping a few others will take her up on the offer to make things for them. She sends a message out to the Fleet indicating the same, that anyone can come and put in a commission. She sews fast and accurate; Sansa doesn't think it will take her long to turn out a few pieces and earn a bit of money. For now, though, it's Lord Akeldama's waistcoat and she's just pricked her finger. She makes a soft sound and brings the wounded finger to her lips to suck it. )

Ouch! You'd think I would be better at this.

> > > wildcard

( Have another idea? Leave me a start below! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They’re given everything at a command or the snap of a finger. Everything seems a game to them. At least it has been that way in my experience.

( Sansa hasn’t thought of Joffrey in a long while but she cannot help but think of him now. Such a stupid, spoiled boy. )

I'm sorry to hear you've had to deal with so many like that. I assume there's little hope they can be reasoned with?

[She knows better than to assume they will change, but she can still hope.]

No, no hope at all for reason. Not with people like that. I think the houses in Westeros have rot in them, bad leaders, and there must be better ones from other houses.

( It's just a fleeting thought, though, and harder to put into effect than just a few words. )

The great houses became great through wars and conquest, not election.

It used to be that way for us, ages ago.

[Well there's still war now, naturally, but that's not the war she's talking about here.]

Alderaan didn't stumble upon a peaceful government just overnight, it took ages--long before I was born--for families to settle down. They got tired of fighting each other, I think, and we're the better for it.

That is what I hope happens in Westeros. If we could find a way to work together instead of squabbling amongst ourselves, we would be happier overall.

( Still, though, Sansa thinks they're a long way from peace. At the moment, the North is trying to be independent of everywhere else; she doesn't know how long that will be sustainable with winter on their heels. )

I'd hope there are enough from your home with a similar mindset that such a thing would be possible.

[At least in that Leia is idealistic, and she knows it, because despite fighting because she has to, it's not something she enjoys doing, and she assumes nearly everyone else is of the same mind.]

You could always find a way to lead the charge, so to speak.

I think I have enough to do putting the North back together - I don't know if I could or should be entrusted with putting the entire Seven Kingdoms back together. I do think I will suggest the idea of some sort of representative government, though. It might work better than one king over it all.

( Or Queen, if Daenerys Targaryen gets her way. )

Well, one person can't do it alone. Uniting two kingdoms, let alone seven, would require several people working together, I'd imagine.

[Recruiting for a rebellion isn't quite the same, she knows. Uniting people to work together, even briefly, in the senate was difficult; uniting a group permanently is something different altogether.]

Are there many different groups that live together with you in your North?

Well, we're all the same, I suppose. We used to want to keep the Wildlings out and it was part of the reason why the Wall was built but now they're our allies. My brother saw to that.

( That had been no small victory, really, and Sansa is grateful for it. )

They used to raid our lands and steal our women. Not any longer.

[She'd ask what Wildlings were, but she has some idea of what they must have been from the rest of Sansa's explanation.]

It sounds like your brother is talented when it comes to people as well.

He's good with a sword. He has an honest face and a plain way of speaking, which people tend to respect. He doesn't seem the sort of person to try and trick you, if that makes sense?

( Sansa, meanwhile, is too clever with words by half. )

It does make sense, yes.

[Sounds a lot like Luke, in a way. While she isn't sure she'd say he's good with a sword, he's certainly someone with an honest face and a plain way of speaking.]

I've met a few people like that in my time. That sort of honesty inspires confidence and brings out the best in others.

I just fear that he needs to become a little less idealistic if he intends to survive. Politicians are everywhere and men seek to take down those above them.

( Sansa has learned this the hard way over and over. )

I don't think it's a bad thing to remain idealistic, so long as he balances it with realism. Idealistic is one of the nicer criticisms I've heard about myself when I was in the Senate.

[In the Senate, and perhaps from people criticizing the Alliance, but that part is something she's still reluctant to talk about openly just yet.]

It's a good thing to be but in the end, others use it against you. Still, that way of looking at the world...it's something we need more of, I think.

( Sansa certainly does. )

003 winter wonderland

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