(no subject)

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

Sansa comes downstairs, in a long dress of black lambswool. A cloak is slung over one arm - someone's planning to go for a walk after breakfast.

She sits at Bar, orders some porridge and milk, and begins eating. As she eats, she watches the crowd. It's such habit that she doesn't notice anything new until her porridge is almost gone.

Sansa sees the Door.

A startled motion tips her glass of milk, which thunks against the bartop and spills its contents onto the floor.

"Oh." If she can speak, this means this isn't a dream. You can't speak the words you want to in dreams. "Oh."

The Door.

For a time, Sansa sits on her stool, motionless. Then she begins wiping away small, stray tears.

Comments

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwen is sitting nearby, having breakfast, or toast anyway, when she hears the glass hit the bar. The sound makes her look up suddenly, and she recognizes the girl sitting a few stools down.

Tilting her head to one side, she clears her throat quietly. "Are you alright, dear?"

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

Sansa recognizes Gwen, too, but for the moment can't recall her name. Not that she'd say it even if she did. Things are far too raw for her to be a lady right now.

Softly, voice wavering, she says, "I don't know if I am." She wipes at her face once more.

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

That's fair. Gwen can't, for the life of her, remember this girls name either. She meets so many people in this place. She does remember embarrassing her, however.

"Well, want to tell me what's wrong?" she asks, offering a sweet smile. "Maybe, between the two of us, we can figure it out." The girl's polite and quiet. She likes that, but she doesn't like to see people sad. Especially women.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

Sansa takes a deep breath, managing a short-lived smile for Gwen at her offer.

The smile fades, you see, when Sansa directs her gaze to where it's rarely left.

"The Door. I can see it. Finally see it. I have been kept here all this time and finally, here it is. It-- I--" Sansa returns from her thoughts to the situation, and shoots Gwen a quick glance. Trustworthy? Not? It's hard to tell with a glance. Sansa takes a moment to measure how much she can say.

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwen blinks, clearly confused.

"Is this not good? Most people are happy to find their door, from what I hear." As trustworthy as any random person who might ask. She may have spent six-hundred years in hell, but she doesn't have any insidious plans. Not yet, anyway.

And Sansa, being female, is safe even then.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

"I am happy," Sansa protests, but faintly. Her tears make her words false.

"My land...the life I left...neither are at their best right now," Sansa murmurs. "I'm worried - no, not just that." There's a pause from the girl. She has to say this right. "Frightened. But by the small things. They could grow to be so big, and grow beyond me."

[burned-them-all.livejournal.com]

Gwen smiles sadly herself. She knows that feeling. Both from the first time she lived, and again now.

She misses the world, as it is these days, but it's not safe for her, she knows that.

"Then you'll need to grow too. Learn to cope and handle them." She sighs, adding, "no, it's not easy. My world was unsafe, during my first lifetime, but things have changed. They're better now. All you can do is try. And survive."

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

Mal doesn't quite say anything, not yet.

Just sits down next to her, requests napkins from Bar, and begins silently wiping up the spilled milk.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

Sansa notices the motion. There's some tension in her shoulders at first, but Sansa soon relaxes.

The girl just sits on her stool, watching Mal. Sometimes seeing her, sometimes seeing memories of her, sometimes seeing her own memories.

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

Mal finishes cleaning up, then rests her elbos on the bar, surveying Sansa calmly.

There's a pause, and then Mal reaches out to try and brush stray tears from Sansa's face.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

"I read about him," Sansa murmurs. She doesn't flinch away.

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

"Beg pardon?"

Voice soft, low, unassuming.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

"Satan." A look at Mal's face, to take in her reaction.

Then Sansa looks at her hands. "I could not understand everything. There were so many books, and all of them about Earth, and it was terribly confusing.

"But one thing I did understand is that he is evil."

[scapepig]

She is nudged by a concerned snout.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

She looks down after a moment. A little sigh escapes her. "Oh, Snowball. Oh, Snowball, I am terrible glad you are here, comrade." The tears are falling a bit more heavily now.

Because Snowball is representative of so much of Milliways - the strangeness, the unexpected, and the normal emotions that happen as you live life.

[scapepig]

"What is wrong comrade?" he asks gently, rubbing his head a little on her knee.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

"I can go back home," she says softly. "I see my Door. And my heart feels as if it will burst."

[scapepig]

Snowball looks over at the door.

"Will your home hurt you? Do you want me to come and protect you?"

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

The words take a while to sink in. Once they do, Sansa gives a little wail and buries her face in her hands.

[necessary_child]

Sam, too, has been eating breakfast and people-watching.

Having noticed her face, he picks up his plate and makes his way over.

"...Miss Sansa?"

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

The girl stares at Sam, thinking, then begins sniffling. She reaches blindly behind her for her napkin, then wipes her face.

"I'm sorry!" she blurts out.

[necessary_child]

...Sansa, it's the morning for Sam. Please try not to confuse him so much, he's not good with mornings unfortunately.

"...What?"

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

Sansa would be much less confusing if she herself wasn't so confused! Honest!

She twists the napkin in her hands, unable to keep still. "I'm weeping for reasons I barely understand. And you came over to speak to me. I've interrupted your breakfast!"

These are now the most horrible things in the world.

[necessary_child]

Firmly, "...Sansa, I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be. And you haven't interrupted my breakfast, I've just finished, look."

He shows her an empty plate, silently thanking his parentage for illusions.

[sansa-stark.livejournal.com]

She wipes her nose again. "Oh," she says, quieting some. "I'm sorry. I thought--" she shakes her head.

She sighs, trying to compose herself as she dabs at her face. "I'm just a bird, sir Sam. Please ignore my peeping." Faint smile.