nysalogs | open | your name is on a lot of quotes in this book

Who: Claire Fraser (

nineteenfortyfive) & you
What: May things, lots of moping Claire... forgive me.
When: May
Where: Olympia
Warning(s): General Outlander warnings.

I. THE MARKET

[Her marriage is in an unpleasant place and she doesn't know how to fix it. Percy is in stasis. Ramsay is back. Theon was, for a brief moment, back in stasis as well, but only returned in a worse state than he was. It's been a lot to contend with on top of being so recently tortured (her her hands remain in gloves as her nails grow back, the last of the damage left), and one afternoon as Claire's in the market, standing before a fruit stand, it all catches up to her.

For someone who urges others to confide in someone, anyone, often herself, she doesn't follow her own advice.

She pushes other shoppers out of the way as she suddenly finds it hard to breathe, hard to keep her eyes from welling with tears, and if she slams into anyone there's no apology as she stumbles out and away.

She stops when she comes to a fountain, gasping and sobbing, a hand clutching at her neck as if there's something suffocating her, chest heaving rapidly. No, nothing physical, just an overwhelming sense of sadness. A sadness that turns into more of a frustrated panic as she tries to calm herself, leaning over the water.]

II. THE TRAIN/FLONA COVE

[Percy did have an affinity for water.

Claire knows she can't watch over Theon 24/7. He needs to stand on his own, and he can, and so Claire takes some hours for herself and heads to the beach. She's always enjoyed train rides. Perhaps she's even in the mood for conversation with whoever happens to sit by her.

At the beach, instead of collapsing on the sand and considering letting the waves wash her away, she takes a stroll, skirts tied up over her knees so she can walk in the small waves without getting drenched.

Now and then she stops to pick up a shell. By the end of it, she's got a hefty collection held in her skirt, and dumps her prizes where she's left her shoes.

Well. Now what to do with them?]

III. STASIS

[She spends more time here than she'd ever admit. She makes it sound like her visits are brief. They're not. On leave from the Sanctuary, she's had a lot of time to simply be.

Today, she stands before her daughter's pod. What she'd give to be able to touch her red hair, or at least feel her skin, make sure it's warm. All she can so is press her hands against the glass.]

Sometimes I think you're luckier, in there. Though you'd probably throw a fit at me saying that. I know you'd rather be here, too. I know.

[[ooc: pls choose your flavor of sad mom, or hit me with a wildcard! Oooooor send me a PM if you'd like me to whip up a starter, and I'd be happy to.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's her second time seeing this beach, her second time seeing a beach at all really. And under much different circumstances than the last time she'd visited. Briefly, her eyes stray in the direction of the rocks surrounding the fight pit, where she'd spent her first night here... and where somebody else had spent his last.

But now she's nowhere near there, instead just sitting on the beach. She'd gotten herself some clothes that match the style of Olympia, a simple blouse and a skirt. She's not quite going anywhere near the water though, just sitting back to watch the ocean when she catches sight of the woman walking through the water. Vin watches for awhile curiously as she stops now and then to collect something or other from the waves. For awhile, she stays quiet until the woman passes close by enough and she can't contain her curiosity.]

What are you doing?

[That is actually a very good question. Claire looks surprised by it, and then, suddenly, she laughs. It feels like ages since she last chuckled.]

I... have no idea. Collecting shells, I suppose.

[She shakes the sizable collection gathered in her skirts, the shells tinkling against one another.]

I don't know what else to do down here.

[Vin just continues to look a touch confused. Maybe a little extra confused at the laugh. She'd kind of assumed that the shells had some kind of value but just picking them up?

The clattering of shells gets her to blink, the sound sharp and clear to her Allomancy-enhanced senses. It's odd but then again....]

Neither do I. [She admits with a shrug, drawing up her knees and resting her arms across them.] I just came to see the water. I never would have thought of pulling shells out of it.

[Sentimental value, maybe.]

Really? [She seems surprised.] It's what a lot of people do at the beach, actually. Have you never...?

Visited one? [She shakes her head.] No. I grew up in the city and it was nowhere near the ocean.

[Luthadel had been landlocked afterall, located in the very heart of the Central Dominance. There had been sea far to the west but she'd never made it out that far.]

And so you only came to look?

[If it were Claire, she'd be trudging right into the waves like it was a God-given mission. But, she's seen plenty of oceans, and so the novelty has faded some over the years.]

[... Well, when it's put like that. She glances aside, looking a little bit sheepish. In actuality, it's... intimidating. Which is a strange thought for somebody like her but she's used to cramped streets and dry ash-covered ground so an expanse of water that wide and open is completely unfamiliar territory for her.

Plus, she's seen the size of those waves and she can only imagine the force behind them. She can't quite shake the mental image of being carried out to sea by one.]

That's... about it. I visited here once before but it was at night and I wanted to see what it looked like under the sun.

[The ocean at night even gives Claire the willies. It's just a black expanse, if you're not by a port.]

And? What do you think of it?

[That much is true, but even then the sky above it makes up for any amount of intimidation it could have. All the stars shining so clear up in the sky, more than she could ever see on the clearest night of her homeworld.]

It's amazing but... [how to put this into words] a little bit scary and kind of hard to believe. It's like... I know how big it is and how far down it goes but I still can't quite imagine it.

That's about how most people should feel, I think. The ocean can be terrible and cruel, when out on it. It's why sailors and seamen have so many superstitions to protect themselves from the wrath of the sea and bad luck out there.

[Sorry, someone's just spent three months at sea. It was a new world to her.]

[She listens carefully, nodding slowly in understanding as Claire talks about superstitions of the sea. Leaning forward, she wraps her arms around her knees.]

Where I came from we had mists that came out every night. People used to think that spirits and creatures lived in them and many of them were afraid to come outside or did little rituals to ward them off.

Did you think that, too?

[The way she says "people" makes her think perhaps not.]

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