( CLOSED ) and an open cage

[unprays]

Who: sansa stark (unprays) & a buncha people
What: holiday ball & january plot things
When: december & january
Where: olympia, the south outpost, somewhere around wyver
Warning(s): your standard game of thrones warnings apply, just in case

( individual starters in comments!! feel free to either write up a starter for us, leave a blank comment and wait for me to write us something, or poke me @ celen for more specific plottings!

just as a heads-up, i'll be in japan from dec 21 to jan 5, so tags will be very slow going until i'm back! please bear with me in the meantime ♥ )

Comments

[song_of_ice]

I can't promise that. I'm a swordsman, not a dancer. [It seemed so long since either of them danced. It was a lifetime ago, in a different world. Even if Westeros still existed, it wouldn't be the same place they had known as children. The place he considered home had died before he had.

But he doesn't want to think about these gloomy things. He wants to enjoy having his sister with him and not having to think about the looming prospect of the Dead or Storms or whatever else. He just wants some quiet.]

What do you think of all of this? Does it remind you of Winterfell?

[unprays]

A swordsman can't step on the feet of whoever he's fighting with, right?

[ so it works out! it's half a joke, really, to lighten the mood — it's good to see Jon smiling like this. she knew he never really wanted to rule, but to see him here, away from the burdens of the heavy responsibilities that rested on his shoulders in Westeros, in Winterfell, it almost makes her regret ever placing all those responsibilities on him.

almost.

she smiles as she looks around them, at the grand display of the gala and everything that's been prepared for it. ] Yes, and no. It's so different... and yet it's the closest we've seen so far, isn't it?

[song_of_ice]

Unless it's to his advantage.

[He taps her toes with his foot purposefully, not hard enough to actually hurt her, but to tease her instead. If Arya were here, she'd likely stamp his foot in return with a bit more force than he offered. Sansa had a different sort of humor.

He nods, looking around as well. She had probably seen more of this than he did. He didn't spend very much time at the celebrations as it was, but after leaving Winterfell, everything was grim and harsh. This was a different world than what he had become used to.]

It's not as cold as the North. I wonder how Winterfell would have looked if we decorated it like this?

[unprays]

[ she gives him a look of mock outrage, before her eyes narrow and her mouth tilts into something like a smile. ]

I see — that must mean you still need more practice... and so you need to dance another dance with me. Otherwise, how can I see your improvement?

[ she nods with an air of satisfaction to have tricked him into dancing some more with her — it feels like they have spent less time together, lately, what with Jon's work and their father's arrival and all of it. it's nice, to just be here, with him. perhaps it is silly of her, to miss Winterfell, miss the time they had there, but she can't help it. ]

Silly, [ she says after some consideration. ] Think, what would the people have thought if we'd spent all that time and gold on decorations, instead of preparations for the winter? [ it would have been a disaster.

then, ] ... this reminds me more of King's Landing. Everything there was very grand. [ her words could be mistaken to be a compliment, were they not said with a disdainful tone — grand, yes, but for what cost? the Lannisters didn't care for the winter, for preparing for it, for the common folk. Cersei would have let them all starve. ]

[song_of_ice]

[He groaned, as though it were agony he was facing.]

I know if I refuse, you won't let me hear the end of it. I have no choice.

[While he wasn't fond of dancing, he was glad to see Sansa happy and he would do whatever he needed to for her. Which apparently meant another dance, but he was someone used to suffering.

Still, he is glad that she came and that she is enjoying herself. She would have others wanting to dance with her, as she was never short of friends or admirers. She had greater skill with people than he did and he could imagine her being occupied for much of the night. It was nice he had a chance to have her all to himself, even for a little while.]

This is better than anything we could have done at Winterfell, but I was thinking more of the mood and music.

I never saw any place so large as King's Landing before.

[Did he tell her he visited it? He couldn't remember.]

[unprays]

How convenient, [ she says lightly, happily — it's nice, this, joking with him without any kind of immediate threat hanging over their heads. and despite both of them being somewhat out of practice with dancing, they move on the dance floor seamlessly, her with the grace of someone trained in the art, him with the grace of someone trained in the art of fighting, a different sort of dance.

her eyes widen, though, when he speaks of King's Landing. ]

You've been to King's Landing? When? Jon, you never told me about that! [ possibly because she was too busy asking questions about Daenerys... ]

[song_of_ice]

[So he hadn't told her. It was difficult to sometimes remember what he had shared and hadn't. They had different memories again and it was confusing to sort through what Sansa might recall and what she didn't.]

I went with Daenerys to parlay with Cersei. [Which he can already predict Sansa's reaction to.] With the Dead coming, we couldn't fight a war on two fronts. We needed to arrange a truce.

[Which he put into jeopardy, but everything seemed to fall into place before everything was destroyed by the Storm.]

I saw the Dragonpit.

[unprays]

You did what?

[ her voice rises, and the dragonpit means very little to her at this moment. ]

Jon, I can understand the need to ally with Daenerys, her I trusted, here, but Cersei? She'd never agree to a truce, never. She doesn't care if the Dead are coming, not as long as she knows you're there, fighting the war! To her, we're as much of an enemy as the army of the Dead!

[ she forces out a breath, tells herself to calm down. it doesn't matter, anyway. not anymore. ] ... but I can see why you'd do that. Father would have done it, too.

[song_of_ice]

We had to.

[He knew she'd object, just like she might have, had he written to her before the idea was finalized by Tyrion. She made her opinions on Cersei completely clear.]

It was the only way we could guarantee Daenerys' help. She was waging a war against Cersei. If she moved her troops and headed North, all of the lands she claimed would be taken back. We needed the men as well, not just Daenerys' forces, but all of the southron houses. The dead is growing and we couldn't fight them alone.

[Not that any of it mattered anymore.]

I know. [A beat.] It was Tyrion's suggestion.