(no subject)

[ruin_mania]

[Good evening, explorers! After departing from Cair Paradisa, the path was south at first, but turned west fairly early on. Skirting well south of Eldritch Forest, the travelers had camped near the edge of the Amber Steppe, not quite within sight of the forest that marks the Totem Coast. The grasses are parched brown by the heat, though greener patches mark the presence of water. It's near one of these - a small, bubbling stream leading west that Raine has chosen to follow as it will almost certainly run into the river marked on her map - that the travelers have made their camp.

The carts and wagons are arranged in a defensive circle, though the campers are free to set up their tents outside them as well as inside wher ethe rest of them are. There are small cooking fires scattered around as well as a large bonfire in the center for socializing.

Play music? Sing? Teach those poor non-Earth kids how to make s'mores? Or just sit around and socialize with others.

Or hide in your tent and ignore everyone, if you really want to.]

Comments

2/2

[whichwayyoulean]

Anyway. Thanks. Is Winterfell some important place in your world?

[persequor]

Winterfell is my home.

[whichwayyoulean]

Really? [He looks genuinely interested] What's it like?

[persequor]

[ She's been asked that a few times. Always, she never knows how to begin. Should she start with the grey walls, solid even after so many years and warm even in the depths of winter? The godswood with its hot pools and carpet of moss and leaves that always hush your steps and the heart tree with its red face and red leaves stretching to the sky? The summer snows she and her siblings played in that could blanket everything in white in a night? The whistling of the northern wind in her shutters, the soft whickering of the horses in the stable, the crackling of fire and banging of metal from Mikken's forge? Her father's voice and her mother's smile and her brother's games and Sansa's castles and Jon Snow's warm embrace?

I'll never see Winterfell again. Her eyes are suddenly stinging with unshed tears. She blinks them all away. ]

A dream.

[whichwayyoulean]

[He falls silent for a moment, mulling about his own home. How it was before he willingly destroyed it. It's an answer that seems to suffice, he notices that blinking, young lady. But...he doesn't pry further. He understands, in his own way]

The sort you only get once in a lifetime, huh?

[persequor]

Yes.

[whichwayyoulean]

Well...you'll get to go back to it, after this whole Paradisa mess is over, right?

[persequor]

No. It's gone.

[whichwayyoulean]

[Well, that's horribly familiar]

Oh.


I'm sorry.

[persequor]

[ She nods in acknowledgment she heard. ]

[whichwayyoulean]

[Yep. Stealthily moving away from that subject]

So. Have you eaten anything yet? Or have you been too busy preparing your attack wolf for mauling innocent residents?

[persequor]

She's not an attack wolf. And she hasn't mauled anyone. She's still a pup.

[whichwayyoulean]

...

That's a pup? How big do these wolves grow?

[persequor]

Big. She's a direwolf, not a wolf. Direwolves are much bigger and stronger than wolves.

[whichwayyoulean]

Well there's a happy mental image I'll carry with me every night.

Anyway, you didn't answer my question about eating.

[persequor]

She doesn't eat people. Direwolves do, but I taught her not to. She won't attack unless you come too close or try to do anything to her. She wasn't really trying to hurt you. If she was, you'd be missing your arm.

[ aka reassurance ]

[whichwayyoulean]

...That makes me feel so much better.

Anyway, I was talking about you eating. You the girl, not the wolf.

[persequor]

Oh. I've not eaten yet.

[whichwayyoulean]

You hungry? I could whip you something up.

[persequor]

All right.

[whichwayyoulean]

Great. What would you like? I've got some pancakes, some bacon, uh, probably some vegetables somewhere...

[persequor]

What are pancakes?

[whichwayyoulean]

...You don't know what pancakes are?

[OH YOU POOR CHILD D:] Well, I've got to fix that right away!

[persequor]

What are they?

[whichwayyoulean]

It's a fried batter...thing. Look, I'll make one it's the easiest way to explain them.