[OPEN] When I was a child I'd sit for hours staring into open flames...

[dorzalta]

Who: Daenerys Targaryen (dorzalta) & others.
What: Chimera call to action in Wyver, post-kidnapping/torture, plus whatever goes down in April.
When: March/April catch-all.
Where: Wyver, Thesa Station, and others TBD.
Warning(s): Game of Thrones/Daenerys standard warnings, torture, self harm, etc.


Wyver
I. CHIMERAS
To get close to the dragons, Daenerys believes she must get close to the Beastmaster known as Thali. It would do her well to participate in this task for a multitude of reasons, the first of which includes keeping herself occupied. Her hair's braided back into one single plait, and whilst she's neither donning her Targaryen colors, nor wearing something entirely Dothraki, she is in leathers and pieces spun for practicality in the heat and humidity.

( a. ) Are you her partner in gathering the chimeras and feeding them? If so, have fun standing beside her as she stares at the creatures, frowning. "Which mouth do they feed themselves with? They're rather vicious looking."

( b. ) Or perhaps you're seated with her on one of the rocks near a spring. She's parchment with her, spattered in water and mud (is that blood?), with notes scrawled on the pages. Her legs are stretched out before her, hooked at the ankles, and she looks as if she is a queen in her element, not an onlooker studying a creature's behaviors. "It's a shame they've the head of a lion. That is a lion, isn't it?"

( c. ) Of course, living creatures--be it humans, dragons, or chimeras--can be spooked, and these are no different. One of the dragons in the nearby areas roars, and suddenly the chimera the two of you are guiding to a new location jerks. "Watch for its--mouths," she warns you, before ducking from the lashing snake tail. "Shh, friend, the dragons will not harm you."

II. FIELDS OF THE EXALTED (post-kidnapping)
She's reason enough to claim her spot in this place, having spied upon Thali during her work with the chimeras. After a few days of ignoring anyone and everyone, Daenerys is quick to reassert herself. It would do no good for a queen to show weakness. Likewise, she's determined to find a job to move out of her... less than acceptable living arrangements.

( a. ) If you're a friend visiting her, she may rope you into meeting a dragon--her dragon. For while Drogon is not free for her to ride as she'd prefer, he is still on the grounds, in the sanctuary. She can still interact with him. Which means you will, too!

( b. ) Work is good for the soul. When she was nothing more than a khaleesi, the khalasar kept her busy and exhausted. It might've been a simpler life, traveling with a nomadic tribe, but there were still things to appreciate. Do you help Dany gather meat for feeding younger dragons, lead in livestock for the adults, break up fights between dragons, tend to sick creatures, or training youngsters?

III. WILDCARD
HMU if you want some other interaction in Wyver prior to or post kidnapping!


Thesa Station
IV. STASIS
It's been some time since she's visited her people, and for that, there is a flare of guilt. Wearing her attire from home, she spends a vast majority of her time in the stasis room.

( a. ) She stands before ser Jorah's pod, staring up at him with a troubled expression. A palm rests against the glass of his pod, fingers gently smoothing the glass as if she would touch his face. It's intimate, but what of the stasis room is not? "I don't know what to do," you might overhear her telling her old bear. "I need you by my side. Please wake up."

( b. ) Missandei looks so peaceful, and that peace brings her peace. It's the first time she's smiled. "You'd have found them adorable. I know you've never seen a hatchling before."

( c. ) "You've left me with scars, brother," she murmurs to Viserys' slumbering face. No gold crown, not a crown for a king. No demonic teeth or flame-bright eyes. "But it was you who woke the dragon, this time."

V. MESS HALL
Wine and oranges--that's what Dany has as she sits in the mess hall. She's alone at her table, looking up, not at others. Up means she can gaze through the expansive glass lining the upper part of the room, and out into space itself. "Do you believe the stars are souls?" she'll ask someone, if they sit at her table.

VI. WILDCARD
Let's do it.

( ooc: Feel free to ping me on plurk to hash out some plans bubblytangerine or PM me on this journal. Will match format, so if prose isn't your jam, no biggie. Daenerys was kidnapped and tortured, so she will be absent for a period of time. )

Comments

[dorzalta]

"Or her," she says, arching her brows at him. Come now, don't be sexist, Jon. "Living on the outskirts of the city seems dangerous, especially so close to the border."

She drags her gloved fingers along a wall, wiping away dust and time with the motion.

"Give it a good cleaning, and it would be quaint." Not the expansive halls she'd grown accustomed to. Not even the locales where Viserys took them to, where lords housed them as children. Still, there's something curiously intriguing about the cottage--particularly when it's only she and Jon.

This prompts her to look over, considering him. "depends on who lived here."

[song_of_ice]

"Or them." He turns to meet her eyes, gazing down at her warmly. "Maybe it was him and her. Together." There's movement outside, but all he needs to do is look over his shoulder and see a flash of white with red eyes set against it. Ghost wasn't far from them, warding off whatever might have scared the owners away.

One of the broken table legs was at his feet. He lifted it up, testing its heft before twirling it idly in his hand, as if it were a toy sword. There was mold embedded against the wood, sharp and musky in the air.

"It would need a bit of work." More than "a bit." It would require a great deal of time and resources. The roof needed repairing, the trees would have to be cut back and the windows would need panes and shutters. All of these things he had a passing knowledge of, but wasn't completely sure how well he would do at repair...if it was him doing it.

"Aye, maybe someone who needed a place to call home."

[dorzalta]

"Or them," she concedes with a smile. The warmth in his eyes is reflected in her own. His message comes across quite clearly, near obvious enough to make her laugh. "We'd have better luck, in any case."

Only belatedly does she realize she suggested they claim the cottage. And when she does realize it, it's when he's' swinging a broken table leg. She twists around to further inspect the small space. Not very much, room for a bed, a bath, a small space to prepare meals, a hearth.

"Do you think there's water nearby?"

[song_of_ice]

A soft smile crosses his lips, even as he marvels at the difficulty they are choosing to inherit. This cottage was remote and there were creatures in these woods he had never come across before and would likely pose a threat to them. But in this moment, he couldn't see anything but what was now theirs together. His and hers.

He glances up from his fidgeting scanning the woods from the broken window. "I think there is a river. There would have to be something." Otherwise, this cottage wouldn't have been built here in the first place. But it's still worth looking into. "There was a well, I think, further behind the house." He had seen something that looked like one.

"We would need to make certain the water is clean."

[dorzalta]

"The river first, come." It's moldy and dusty and she'd rather not stand inside for too long. It's a beautiful day, besides, and one certainly worth enjoying. Especially when it would be one of the last few they'd have together. Who knew for how long?

Once outside, she notices that Ghost is skulking the outskirts of the tree line. Her silver snorts when she steps closer, running her fingers along the mane of pale hair. "Rest," she tells it, stepping further from the house to the bits of land their mounts had trampled.

"If there's water, we'd have that and fire. Then we'd only need food."

[song_of_ice]

"We would have to transport a supply of food and learn to plant the rest. I could hunt as well." It wouldn't be the finest meals of their lives, but given their previous conversations, it wouldn't be the worst either. It would at least be an honest life, something that they worked for together and built themselves.

Ghost watches with silent eyes, a deep red against the dark backdrop of the forest. If there was anything lurking about, it kept its distance at the sight of the large direwolf. Even Jon's horse didn't seem disturbed, feeding from the overgrowth and grass.

He paused, pulling his glove from his hand as he touched the soil and listened around them. "A bit further this way, I think." He nodded towards a rocky alcove. "Would you prepared for this sort of life?"

[dorzalta]

"Growing things can't be so difficult." Spoken with the confidence of someone who refuses to yield to a challenge... as well as someone who has clearly not attempted to grow things.

Dany steps after him, her eyes roving over the land. It's not very much appealing as of this moment, but that wouldn't have to be the case as time progressed.

He does pose a fair question, though. Would she be?

"Would you?" she shoots back. Their only alternative is for the shortened visits to the other's city, and who knew when those would be allowed? Not with tensions rising. "We work with what we have, zokla."

[song_of_ice]

"I would." How could he explain his thoughts on this when they were still new and muddled to him? "I never had a home of my own." There was Winterfell, but she had to have been made aware how out of place he felt there, even among his family. "This could be ours," he offered.

That was something he wanted, to be together and to share something that was just for them. Whether it was secret or not didn't matter, where it was located didn't matter. It was what this could represent. A balm against the separation and something that he could work towards, an actual goal.

"I want to make this ours."

[dorzalta]

She glances back toward the cottage, frowning. Considering. True, it didn't look like much, and perhaps it would be rather underwhelming when all was said and done with it... but it could be theirs.

After their discussion in his bedroom, where he'd declined moving to Wyver with her, she hadn't had much hope for much to belong to them. How could it when they resided in opposing cities? By the nature of merely existing in one space, they proclaimed their loyalty.

This, however... Still on Olympian land, but so far out of reach from widely treaded paths that it's near a distant memory.

"This is your way of beginning anew?" She doesn't turn to look at him, but it's clear she's addressing him. This small cottage. "What of our people?"

[song_of_ice]

"It is." He couldn't begin anew without her. They had to be away from the cities, away from the same sort of politics that tore at them to begin with. He was tired of that life and the unending war that he had given his life for, only to be forced back onto his feet again. He was tired, and while he had given in to Sansa's request and rejoined the fight in Westeros, this was a different place. He could finally rest and have a life, one that was completely his. No duty, only the two of them.

"We won't be leaving them. We could come here on certain days before going back." It wasn't ideal, but it was better than rarely seeing each other. He knew Sansa well enough to understand that she would be fine on her own. She made that clear when they reunited at the Wall.

"You don't want it?" It was hard to read her sometimes, especially in this moment. He wanted this so much, he couldn't be sure if she would trust him and accept the challenge as well. It was so similar to when he hoped desperately that she would believe him about the Night King. Only then, he was met with a simple, 'you better get to work, Jon Snow.'

Everything was different from when they first met, even if he still struggled at predicting her thoughts. "We aren't abandoning anyone."

[dorzalta]

That has her looking at him, brows pinched. This cottage would be a distraction, the irresistible sort because he would be here. How could she say no to that? They faced the prospect of few days together. Lonely days that simple messages would be unable to alleviate. She'd thought it difficult the day he'd left with Jorah to sail north... and that was before all they shared together.

But they would, in some ways, be abandoning their people. Would they fight as hard for peace between the kingdoms? If more woke from stasis, and the lands were overwrought with tensions still... well, it wouldn't necessarily be a failure on their parts, seeing as they weren't in positions of power. Power could be earned, though, and a cottage between both kingdoms could be just enough to preoccupy them from that.

"I want you." She steps closer to him, weeds snapping beneath her feet. There's nothing she's surer about. "If this means I can see you more, then of course I want it."

Distractions or not.

[song_of_ice]

It was hard to say what they would do going forward. They had no position in either city. Neither of them were rulers anymore, only people with strong ideals and convictions. They could make a difference eventually, but it wasn't something they had to factor in just yet. There were no followers to account for aside from family.

He reached for her, cupping her cheek with his weathered hand. Dark eyes gazed down at her, as adoring and amazed as that night on the ship. He still couldn't believe that she was here or the full force of emotions. She consumed him in a way no one had before. His heart beat harder as he pressed his brow to hers.

"That's what I want." This cottage would be the first place they owned. It wasn't a birthright, it wasn't seized by an army. It was forged with their own hands. They could be themselves, away from crowns and kings. It was where she could be his and he could be hers freely.

"We could have a life here."