open | october event log

[unprays]

Who: sansa stark (unprays) & open!
What: october plot — stage 2 hits Hard
When: early october until mid-october
Where: vaguely waves hand around?
Warning(s): your usual "this is game of thrones we're talking about" warnings go here


I — PARANOIA — the sanctuary

[ she is a familiar sight in the Sanctuary, for those who have spent more of their time there, either as patients or helping those suffering from the sickness, but as the days pass, Sansa turns more restless, glancing around her like looking for something, startled looks directed at the windows or doorways that seem empty.

it is nearing nightfall when she finally speaks, catching the wrist of the person who is passing by her, her grip desperately tight, her eyes bright as she looks at whoever she's managed to stop. ]

Please, you have to help me. [ her voice is frightened, pleading. ] I have to leave, it's not safe here. I can't... I can't stay! [ good luck trying to convince her it's just in her head... especially when it isn't, at least not entirely. ]

II — MEMORY LAPSES — the stark house

[ once back in the house, her mind calmed down, she feels silly — of course it was safe in the Sanctuary, as safe as she is here, in their house... at least there, she was surrounded with more people. and though her head feels dizzy, she lets in whoever comes by the Stark household, whether looking for her brothers or visiting her, insisting they stay for a while, giving them some tea and cookies with a slight smile and a wry don't worry, eating them won't make you sick.

but for those who stay any longer, the visit may take a turn to the worse, or at least more worrying, as Sansa falls silent for a moment — and when addressed, will look at her visitor with a confused, wary gaze. ]

... Forgive me, but what are you doing here? [ all the warmth that may have been in her voice previously is gone, gone with any memories she has of knowing whoever is there with her. ]

III — HALLUCINATIONS & ENERGY — the marketplace

Father? [ surely, the sight of a young woman speaking to her father might not be such a surprising sight, in the marketplace, but when the woman in question seems to be speaking to empty air, answering someone who no one else can see... maybe that is slightly more concerning. especially as she starts to move, leaving the old lady she had been enthusiastically haggling with over some very fine-looking apples yelling after her to come back for her purchase — Sansa doesn't care, though, walking swiftly like chasing someone, refusing to stop or slow down before she's turned to an alleyway that seems to be a dead-end.

there, she slows down, head turning swiftly as she tries to see where her father has gone, moving to touch her hand to the bricks that are cold and unyielding beneath her fingertips. ]

Father, where did you go? Why did you leave me behind? [ her voice, starting strong, quietens into barely a whisper as she starts gasping for breath, sudden exhaustion catching up to her. ]

IV — COMMISERATION — the sanctuary

[ back at the Sanctuary, it's fair to say Sansa looks miserable, sitting on her bed with her hands on her lap, red hair falling like a curtain that hides her face from anyone that might be looking at her. the sickness she could handle,the pains and the cough and the dizziness, but the whispers she keeps hearing? the way she will see someone from home walk past and never quite knows if they're real or not? the way she knows she can look at someone and not remember them at all?

Gods, it is a pain worse than she imagined, and she could imagine much.

when she hears the bed next to her creak to signify someone sitting down on it, she lifts her gaze, a softer look in her eyes even though her mouth cannot quite remember how to smile. ]

Is it happening for you, too? [ the hallucinations, your memory failing you, the paranoia... take your pick. ]

V — WILDCARD — choose your own adventure

[ if nothing here catches your fancy, hit me up over on plurk at celen and we can plot something, or just leave me a blank comment and i'll write up a customized starter for us! c: ]

Comments

II

[reek]

[ Theon’s trust in the Starks has been wavering since his conversation with Ramsay, but his care for them is as steadfast as it ever was. So easily, so quickly and efficiently, he’s been led to believe that they’ve all been lying to him, manipulating him, trying to confuse him. He wants so badly to hate them for it, but he just can’t. He had begun to grown distant just before the explosion, though, speaking and even japing less around them, his arguments with Robb not nearly as vigorous as before.

But now Asha has fallen ill as well, and it feels as though he may lose everyone dear to him if he can’t do something about it. He’s hardly taken a break from helping to hunt down those responsible, so his returns to the Stark household have been brief and infrequent. A change of clothes here and there, occasionally dropping off or picking up his dog Nagga, seldom passing another face—but this time, he’s surprised to see Sansa. He’s checked in on her in the Sanctuary once or twice, each time unsettled by her condiction. He means only to stay for a moment, but he can’t imagine this has been easy on her, so he agrees to stay for a handful of moments longer, until she begins to act strange.

At first, he takes offense, opens his mouth to respond with anger, but he realizes quickly that something is wrong. He can see no spark of recognition in her eyes at all. Even Nagga seems to sense something is wrong. Rather than jumping enthusiastically as she normally would, she curls up at Sansa’s feet. ]

I live here, most days.

[ He manages a halfhearted smirk, but his voice and eyes are both full of concern. ]

Sansa, it’s Theon. Theon Greyjoy. We grew up together. In Winterfell.

[ He hates it, hates how much he cares, but he can’t rid himself of it. It’s something that’s ingrained within him, carved so deeply into his bones that nothing can wear it away. ]

Do you remember?

[unprays]

[ her paranoia has been slowly growing over the weeks — she doesn't know how much Ramsay has been speaking to those she knows, doesn't know if he's spoken to Theon; she suspects, though, and meant to speak to him but then the explosion happened and her health took a steady decline, and she had forgotten.

not that there had been much chance for her to talk to anyone in their house, as her brothers and Theon were all out, chasing after those who were responsible for the chaos and the illness that had afflicted to many of the people already. in the Sanctuary, there had been more people around her, more to speak with... but after meeting her husband there, she'd begged for the Maesters to let her come back home, refusing to give any explanation for it to anyone who asked.

Theon had come in the house during the time she's feeling stronger, more alive, and she insists for him to stay and sit with her... perhaps had she expected something like this, she would have told him to go.

she looks at him, wary and puzzled. ]

You're lying, [ she says, aiming for a steady, accusatory tone, but her voice wavers. ] Why would a Greyjoy grow up in the North, away from the sea?

[reek]

I’m lying?

[ He bites back a laugh, clenches his teeth, smiles too fiercely. He lets his mind dwell of how many lies she must have told to him in he past few months, and on his part, it’s a sharp and cruel accusation, softened only by the knowledge that he knows Sansa is ill. He recognizes that she isn’t being purposefully malicious; this is merely the illness at work.

He wishes he were lying. If he could lie about such things and truly be as confident and sure of himself as Asha and Victarion, he would do it. His family members know who they are, but Theon—Theon struggles to fit two his two upbringings together, his two sensibilities: ironborn and northman, but the halves don’t fit, they clash, they conflict horribly. ]

It wasn’t my choice. You’ve known me for nearly your entire life.

[ But his anger slips away as he realizes just how confused and lost she really seems to be. He can’t be upset with her for that. He knows the feeling far too well, and his voice takes on a gentler tone when he speaks once more. ]

Sansa…perhaps you should return to the Sanctuary.