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

I

[nineteenfortyfive]

[As much as Claire tries to (subtly) keep an eye on Sansa, during the hustle and bustle of recent events she simply cannot. Too many people to tend, too many to try and keep calm and hydrated, and then there are the few hours Claire finds an empty bed in the back to sleep in. When her wrist is grabbed as she's on her way to try and find a moment's rest, she starts--and only just barely relaxes when she sees it's Sansa. Clearly unwell.]

Sansa? What are you talking about?

III

[originallutece]

[It's not the words, but the voice that catches her ear first. Rosalind is wandering through the marketplace in search of something both edible and easy to consume when she hears Lady Sansa calling out. The words register next-- Father?, she says urgently, weaving through the crowd, and Rosalind turns, interested in a vouyeristic sort of way. It would be interesting to see what her father might look like, after all, and it's curious that he'd woken nearly a month after everyone else (and of course she feels the prickle of jealousy, too, but she'll keep that to herself).

. . . except Sansa isn't talking to anyone. She's pleading in thin air, and people are starting to stare, whispering and pointing. She darts away, and before Rosalind can think better of it she's following, hurrying after her into an alley.]

La--

[No. If she's hallucinating her father . . .]

Sansa?

WILDCARD - backdated and also warnings for Ramsay being terrible

[veneries]

[ooc: so many warnings!]

[It's a hunt, and hunting is what Ramsay loves best.

Whether the people named were actually complicit in the explosion or not doesn't matter, Ramsay is out to get them. It's what's brought him to the sanctuary today, here to track down anyone who might know where they are. Willem is offering his house as hiding place, waiting for someone to take the bait.

And then a glimpse of red hair out of the corner of his eye catches his attention, and he realises his lady wife is here today, tending to the sick.

He's a patient man when he has to be, but luck's on his side. When she leaves the room and he manages to be only moments behind her, stealing up to her in the deserted corridor and placing his hands over her eyes.]

Guess who!

[He'd seen a young man play this game in the market with his beloved. It had looked like a fun game.]

I

[inaurare]

[Linneus had only been checking on patients - 'making rounds' they said was the term - and caught he startles, pulled back by her hand. His own comes too, not to pry loose her grip but to cover gently. At least he's able to keep his voice low, as he speaks]

Miss...?

[he hadn't caught her name, though he had seen her around - her tall frame, the colour of her hair. She had been doing quite well, so far as he had heard... but then a number of the patients had taken a turn, as of late.

His covering hand gives a gentle squeeze]

You should be sleeping, miss.

I

[jettisons]

[Bellamy has been spending a decent amount of time at the Sanctuary because of Clarke. He never stays for long stretches, but he stops in to make sure everything is okay. He's not surprised to see Sansa there, of course, and he's about to ask her how she's doing when her fingers lock onto his wrist, her expression desperate. He's pulled to a stop more out of sheer surprise than from her grip. To his credit, but maybe unhelpfully, he doesn't automatically disbelieve her.]

What? Why isn't it safe?

2

[pricechecked]

[Victarion was in the marketplace gathering information about the fugitives. He was only too eager to settle the score with them, but the trail was running dry. However the attention of the guards had given him cause to keep himself robed and hooded to avoid being recognized. But then he had spotted a small boy that looked much like the one that had stolen from him weeks prior and gone after him to no result. As he was exiting the alley, a young woman comes stumbling up to him, calling for her father. This was a problem.]

I am not your father, girl. [He glares down at her with unfriendly eyes. She is a stranger to him, just as he is to her. He does wear the sigil of House Greyjoy however.] You would do well to turn around and leave.

III!

[vorrutyer]

[ The girl certainly isn't the only one who's been acting like this. By finds their madness...disquieting, but not perhaps excessively so. He'd spent time with his great-uncle Dono, after all, the mad architect, who'd whispered secrets to the air in between cogent statements - a pretty young girl, fever-flushed, talking to nothing in the midst of a plague, is horrible, but it's not horrifying.

And so By plucks gently at her sleeve, and smiles, his voice soft. No pretense of sarcasm or irony now; his warmth is genuine. ]

Dear young lady. Has someone been watching over you? Can I help you find them?

iii

[drinkupmehearties]

[ Jack is leaning against a wall at the mouth of the alley, idly peeling and discarding the rind from an orange, when a young woman rushes past him and ducks between the buildings.

His brow knits, puzzled, and he glances toward where she's come from to see who might be pursuing her. When no one is forthcoming -- and hearing her speaking to herself -- Jack tosses aside the last of the rind and pushes off from the wall. If nothing else, she could possibly have coin for him to steal liberate.

He finds her touching the wall, however, and realizes something might be wrong with her. ] You all right there, love?

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 eyes are bright, feverishly so, as she looks at Claire with the kind of desperation that only comes from true terror, a kind of paranoia that is not simply the product of a sickness-ridden mind. ]

He's here, [ she whispers, low and urgent. ] I know he is, he's been here before, I can't — I have to go. Lady Claire, please, you have to let me go home!

[unprays]

[ she hesitates only a second before turning around and facing Rosalind, her confused expression turning into surprise, then soft delight. she takes a step closer, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards into a smile before she halts — ]

Mother, forgive me, I lost Father. I tried my best, I really did, but I couldn't —

[ — couldn't follow him, she thinks, couldn't save him. she has failed him twice, now, and she hopes not to see judgement in her mother's eyes.

(in her mind, Rosalind's red hair is the same as Catelyn Stark's, and right this moment, she is convinced she is speaking to her mother.) ]

[originallutece]

[Oh, dear. Well, she can't say she's surprised, not when any passerby might make the same mistake, but this presents rather a sticky problem, doesn't it? She's almost certain this is because of that disease, and she'll have to think on that later, she'll have to go back to the Institute and delve even further into her research, but for now--

For now, what does she do? But that's a silly question. She knows what to do. She's done this before, years and years ago. Quietly:]

It's all right. You've no need to ask for forgiveness, Sansa. But come along, now. This is no place for either of us to linger.

[nineteenfortyfive]

Who, Sansa? Who is here?

[Maybe that doesn't matter. She's ill--and Claire hopes, almost, that she's imagining some sort of monster. No one should look so frightened.]

No one is going to hurt you. I promise. But you must calm down, Sansa.

iii;

[offthatpath]

[Alec happens to be in the marketplace stocking up on supplies for both himself and a friend of his who is sick. Multiple bags tucked under his arms, he's turning away from a booth nearby when a voice catches his attention.

It's just some girl calling out to her father, nothing to warrant more then a glance before he continues on his way. However, when he notices the absence of another person, his senses are quick to tell him that something is wrong.]

...Miss? Are you ok-[And she's taking off, following the spectre only she can see. Cursing under his breath, he sets his bags down with the woman running the booth, and takes off after her. It's easy enough to keep up with her, especially when she comes to a stop at an alley way.]

Hey. Are you feeling alright? [He tries to subtly block her path in case she decides to run for it again.]

[unprays]

[ she has almost forgotten. almost, for the threat is never too far at the back of her mind, but with the illness, with those suffering from the same sickness around her, with those she cares about exhausting themselves to help them... no, she doesn't think of Ramsay, doesn't even consider to be wary when she heads to the back room to get fresh linens.

(and to think, she almost didn't come here, because it meant leaving Ghost outside.)

there is no mistaking the cheery tone, nor the hands over her eyes; Sansa tenses up, breath lodged in her lungs like frozen there.

then, she forces herself to breathe out. forces herself to find a light tone, because anger? fear? they are what Ramsay wants from her... and the first and most important goal she has set for herself is to never, never give him what he wants. ]

Theon, you should have told me you were going to visit me. [ and to think she advised Rocket to never do anything to make Ramsay angry... well. maybe all the difference is in that she knows she's already made him plenty angry. what's a little more? ]

[unprays]

No, [ she shakes her head like the mere thought of sleeping is enough to unnerve her enough to send her near into panic. ]

No, I cannot sleep, not here! Please, don't make me stay, it's not safe here if I do, not for anyone!

[ the gentle tone and the squeeze of his hand seems to at least calm her down enough to keep her in one place, to make her tone a little quieter, if no less pleading. ]

[inaurare]

All right, not sleep.

[gently acquiescing, his voice still low and his hands still holding hers - whatever he can to give her a physical anchor, to keep her from spinning off further into her panic.]

I promise there is no harm to come to you here, miss. But perhaps you could tell me what it is you fear?

[it may not help. But he's hardly going to dismiss her fears with a "you're safe" and bundle her back into bed, either.]

[unprays]

He's always here, [ she whispers to him, her voice low and urgent as she glances over her shoulder. ]

He's always watching, he knows what I do, who I speak with — I can't be here, everyone is in danger!

[ paranoia or not? it's hard to say, especially as the place it comes from is something very real. ]

[jettisons]

[Her former husband, he assumes. And even if he has heard that people are starting to hallucinate, the fact that this guy wants her family dead and has her brother spooked enough to not want her outside alone means that this might be anchored in some truth. So, of course, it sets off the protective big brother in Bellamy, and he reaches for her shoulder gently.]

Has he been following you?

[veneries]

[She freezes in fear, and that's perfect... then she calls him Theon-

he catches himself about to backhand her, realising what she's doing.

He's given it a lot of thought, since they've been here. When they'd married, the lady Stark had tricked him, had hidden her treachery behind those doe eyes and tear-stained cheeks. She'd made him think she was like all the others, a shivering little cunt for him to have his way with and then forget. But she was clever, his Sansa. He was going to stay ahead of her now.]

Have I been away from you too long, my lady? You've forgotten the touch of your lord husband.

[Anyone watching might mistake the way he presses his face to her shoulder for affection. He wants to feel the tension in her, feel the way her body responds to him.]

III

[hylights]

[Zelda had been on her own provisions trip into the market, considering the (rather inflated) price of carrots, when the shout of the aggrieved apple-seller makes her start and turn around. She sees the red-haired woman head towards the alley, and the strangeness of her sudden departure prompts Zelda to follow.

She pauses at the opening of the alley, hearing Sansa's plea echo off the brick walls and feels suddenly self-conscious. Was this really something she ought to be hearing? But the woman seems distressed.]

Excuse me-- [Zelda's call is tentative but calm, and she shifts her woven basket on her arm.] Miss, are you well?

III

[song_of_ice]

Sansa?

[His initial fear for her, up and walking despite ill health, is shoved to the side by the mention of Lord Stark. Even hearing her simply call for him was enough to send guilt and sorrow racing through him. A part of him hoped for their father to wake, but it seemed unlikely and, as much as he wanted to deny it, there was a small wish for Lord Stark not to wake. After all Jon's failures and choices, he dreaded facing his father and seeing the disappointment in his eyes.

But that factored very little into his worry for Sansa. There was no sign of their father, but she stood and spoke to the air as though there was. He reached out to touch her shoulder, turning her towards him.]

You should be resting.

I

[stripebacked]

[ He's only here because he learned quite quickly that after all of this happened he'd never see his wife if he didn't come to her. That's his wife though. She'll work his fingers to the bone if it means someone else could carry on. He's only seen her for a moment or two, but that's enough. Enough to get him through to the next day or the next one after that.

Jamie's trying to navigate his way out when a hand comes around his wrist. Tightly. A desperate tone following after. Once he realizes it's Sansa he looks more than a little confused. She's a smart lass. He can't imagine she'd ever say something so frivolous. Which is why he looks around. His eyes scanning as his jaw sets. But for whatever it's worth he takes it incredibly serious. ]

Hold there, Mistress Sansa.

[ His voice calm and easy. He makes another quick scan of the people the move around. Any of them could be who she's afraid of. ]

Ye've got to stay here though. Tell me. Who're you runnin' from?

II.

[tactly]

( the tea margaery had been holding is placed down on the table, her brows furrowing. for a moment she simply looks the other girl over, at the half-eaten biscuits that lay between them, the almost empty cups of tea. it's obvious to her, it's in her recent memory, that the two have been here for a while, and she worries. )

I just came for a visit, to see a familiar face. ( of course she had loras, who she lived with - but even margaery, with her deep love for her brother, needed time to see other people rather than just him. sansa would always be one of those people, someone she would happily see whenever she could, and perhaps she came at the right time, considering sansa couldn't remember the visit at all. better margaery be here than a stranger. ) Are you well, Sansa?

[unprays]

[ she pauses and looks at him, blinking once, then twice as though there were two images battling in her mind, the one she thought she had seen and the one she saw in front of her right now. then, her eyes find a focus, a familiar sigil — Sansa takes a step back, her bright eyes looking at him sharply. ]

You're a Greyjoy. [ then, ] What have you done to my father? Where is he?!