[CLOSED] Mission log for sanity

[wilder]

Date & Time: December 14th (May 2010)
Location: North Shore, MN, USA
Characters: Zelos Wilder & Arya Stark
Summary: Mission for sanity, or fishing. Whatever.
Warnings: None!

[It was a beautiful late summer day on the Superior shore when they arrived. The trees and grass were green, and the waves moved in and hour peacefully with the sound of gulls. With the skies clear except for some clouds, the sun shone brightly and warmed the beach to much warmer temperatures than what the winter had been doing]

[They had come up on on the excuse of gathering supplies, but really it was more for a break of sanity. Zelos had promised to go fishing with the kid, and it was really nice to get away from everything back in Exsilium.]

[Zelos, promptly on arrival, took in the warm, snowless scenery, took in a deep breath and fell back into the soft sandy beach]

...Yeah. I don't think I wanna move for awhile.

Comments

[wolfchild]

[ arya continues eating. nymeria is nowhere around but arya is not worried. there is little that can threaten a direwolf. she removes the slender fish bones from the meat. ]

Could you make needles out of these?

[wilder]

Needles?

[he considers]

I'm not sure. They might break pretty easily. Why?

[wolfchild]

I'm curious. Might have been a good use for them.

[ she tosses the bones into the sand. ]

[wilder]

Don't worry. I'm sure we can find you some real needles if you need them.

[wolfchild]

[ she makes a face. ]

I don't care for needles. I've one of mine own.

[wilder]

Just one?

[wolfchild]

I only need one.

[wilder]

Is it...a special needle or something? Because I've never heard of someone only needing one.

[wolfchild]

[ still holding her fish with one hand, she thumbs needle's pommel with the other. ]

My brother gave it to me.

[wilder]

[he glances over at what she's thumbing. Oh, a sword named Needle? It was clearly small, so the name fit]

Oh.

Robb?

[wolfchild]

[ she shakes her head. ]

Robb would rather I never had it.

[wilder]

Heh.

I know that feeling.

[wolfchild]

[ arya nods to curry. ]

She's waiting.

[ totally smooth subject change get ]

[wilder]

Oh-

[He sets the fish out for Curry to take. She grabs it with her mouth and runs off to start gnawing on it somewhere]

How's yours?

[wolfchild]

It's good. I thought it'd be more fun. [ the fishing, she means. ]

Mayhaps tomorrow we'll have better luck.

[wilder]

Sorry. Maybe if we had spears or something instead.

And heh, hope so! That was pretty embarrassing.

[wolfchild]

Can you make spears? [ she blinks at him over the snapping fire. arya leans forward in interest. ] Could you show me? I've never had one. Do you know how to use it?

[wilder]

Me?

Well, I had basic training on how to use one a long time ago, but I wouldn't call myself an expert. As for making one...I've never done that.

[wolfchild]

It can't be too hard. It's a long stick with a pointy end.

[ arya eats while she muses out loud. ]

Mayhaps if we get our fishing done early, we can try. Find some sturdy branches, tear off all the leaves and little sticks, use stones since we don't have metal heads. We could practice. I bet we could do it, me and you. We could make it out here. I can show you how to hunt and you can teach me to use spears and bows and such. It'll be like an adventure. And everyone would tell stories about us and songs...

[ she notices too late she has been talking too much. and silly things too. none of those things could come true, and she knows it. arya abruptly falls quiet, focusing on her fish again. she pulls the meat apart. ]

[wilder]

[Damn wow Arya. He was listening to her talk, so he definitely noticed when she meandered off into a fantasy. A fantasy of a fun life, away from the war and wherever she came from.]

[A life that Kaneis would never know. He knew that now. His last life had been riddled with strife and problems. Had he stuck to it, had he stayed Zelos, it sounded like he would have found peace. But he didn't. He ripped that chance away with his own hands and died. And now in this life, there would be no peace. He would be stuck in this war until the day the Initiative feels him no longer needed, and then he would return to the grave. That was his existence, he had accepted it.]

[He didn't dare let himself dream of anything else anymore]

[And so in response to her words...he stays quiet. He pretends he didn't hear them and instead focuses on poking the fire. It's only about a minute later does he speak up]

How's the fish?

[wolfchild]

It's good.

[ she makes herself keep eating. a stray bone pricks her gums and she removes it from her mouth and flicks it into the fire. ]

I missed fish. Used to be I could get whatever I wanted if I only walked out a bit.

[wilder]

Oh that's right, you lived at a harbor.

[Even Meltokio, they'd only be able to get older fish that were shipped from the coast]

You miss that town?

[wolfchild]

Braavos is a city. It's the greatest of the Free Cities.

[ it is not cat speaking. the once hidden city infected arya with a sense of pride. her nights are filled with smell of oak and pine and a hundred wolves, but in her waking dreams she keeps the sharp smell of brackish water and the click-clack of wooden wheels on cobblestones. ]

It was founded by escaped slaves fleeing from Valyria and its dragons. They found the lagoon and it's bordered on three sides by tall mountains here and cliffs all around here.

[ she draws the shape of the lagoon leaving one small opening between the cliffs. ]

That's the only way into it now. The Titan of Braavos stands over it. They carved it out of the stone itself. It lets out a bellow every time a new ship comes in to let the Arsenal know. [ arya scratches an x where the arsenal, a citadel housing the defense fleet, is located. ] They can make a new war galley in a day. But no one could even get into the lagoon. There are murder holes under the Titan so they can set any enemy ship afire and slits for arrows and trebuchets and spitfires. The Arsenal is also bristling with them. But first whoever it is would have to defeat the Braavosi fleet.

[ she draws wavy lines around the outside to represent the ships on the ocean. ]

No ship has sailed as far as the Braavosi purple ships. They are all purple. Hull, mast, sails.

[ a wordless expression of the exorbitant power and wealth braavos wields. ]

They dock in the Purple Harbor and only Braavosi ships are allowed there. All foreign ships come to Ragman's Harbor. [ she draws both their relative locations in her sandy map. ] That's where I worked. I sold clams and mussels and oysters there. I knew everyone. There was one man, Pinto. He owned a tavern and he never washed but he would let me sit inside during the evenings and would tell me stories of when he was a pirate and he would give me a little food and ale when there weren't many patrons. And this whore Merry, her name is Meralyn but everyone calls her Merry, she would buy everything I had left and share it with her girls. She'd tell me stories too and say when I got tired of selling clams I could go work for her.

[ a thief friend of hers promised her the same, but arya protects his name. he could lose a hand for what he does. ]

[wilder]

[Wow okay he was not expecting a monologue! But he listens! He likes hearing arya talk about herself even if it seems pretty grim]

Wow...that sounds impressive. Why do they make them all purple?

And...you're not gonna take Merry up on that offer right?

[wolfchild]

No.

[ she turned down merry's offer. she turned down the kindly man's too when he promised he could situate her among the courtesans where she could sleep on satin and pillows with real feathers and eat as richly as any king. what she wants can only be achieved with the point of a knife, a drop of poison.

arya continues drawing. canals start to take shape, and a half dozen bridges. ]

I think it's to identify them. There's no confusing a Braavosi ship for any other no matter how far away it is. You'll hear tales of purple ships as far away as the Jade Sea.