TEST DRIVE #6

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[impathy]

Sweet Sansa, why should I want to take what you have kept so well? But I would be negligent in my duties if I was to leave you alone. You need not obey me, but you'll find my counsel invaluable.

[Not that he particularly savored the thought of manipulating Sansa to gain power through this Cothromach. The poor girl did not deserve that, he knew. But he could scarcely be expected to stay in Caer Glaem chasing at the heels of some foreign and painfully absent king and queen.]

[steeledskin]

You are good and kind to offer it, my lord. [ she can feel it -- her heartbeat -- thrumming from her wrists to her throat. it causes her to shake and shiver; she's glad he can only see some small selection of her appearance, filtered through the locket. ] But I am afraid you --

[ no. she cannot be cruel. she cannot tell him that he will be the problem. oh, he's clever enough to know her meaning well enough. but she's kind enough to pretend it's something else. ] You would not be safe with so many wolves giving me council. Would you not be happier keeping your distance?

[ and for a bare moment she might appear a little less than open to his manipulation. ]

[impathy]

[This one has changed, he realizes. She's grown bolder, even if she still hides behind sweet words. He does not resent her that, though it does put him in an unhappy position. Now what else was it he had heard about the Lady Keeper...?]

Wolves, is it? I've met a few, my lady, and not all have tried to snap me up as a morsel. A few kind words and things might be honeyed for the better. Whatever my family has done, I bear no ill will towards your kin.

[Indeed he'd liked Jon, he had helped little Bran, and he respected Robb regardless of how tense their peace negotiations might have gone.]

[steeledskin]

And yet they bear a great deal against you.

[ mayhaps. she cannot be certain. but she thinks she hears it in the means by which the imp is now discussed amidst the starks. all that happened beforehand -- gifts and camaraderie all alike -- have been soured by the family feud. worsened by the marriage.

sansa inhales. ] Keep your distance from them.

[ i would hate to be the second reason why tyrion lannister was subject to such awful luck and accusation.. ]

[impathy]

You wound me deeply, my lady wife. But if you will it, so be it. This fairy castle is comfortable enough on its own, I suppose. [But don't think I'll forget this, Sansa. You're a sweet child, but you should know it's wiser to have me on your side than not.]

Is it a pretty city? If I'm not to see it, you can do me the courtesy of describing it to me.

[steeledskin]

You -- you want to know?

[ she stammers. just a little. she'd half-thought he might be settled with her not-quite-firm warning and therefore leave her alone. she swallows hard and has to think about what she'll dare tell him.

uncertainly: ] The Cothromach is underground. Everything is stone. But none of it looks dreary or...or oppressive. The elves of the city took what the dwarves here made and carved it into something -- something that seems bigger than itself. Brighter.

[ she speaks of dwarves -- her citizens, in part -- as though they are a most normal thing. over half a year in the drabwurld and she's come to adjust to such elements. she adapts. ]

[impathy]

Dwarfs, is it? And a city full of them? Are we so ill loved that we have to dig out our own cities where no one can see? A pity these elves took it from us and gave it to someone else.

[Not that this makes a whole lot of sense to him. Why should dwarfs built cities? Who were these elves?]

[steeledskin]

The Cothromach is a city of three races, my lord: elves and dwarves and men. If you want to speak of a city just for -- them [ she softly alludes that he is not the same as these dwarves. ] I could tell you of Troichean Beinn.

[impathy]

By all means. I've nowhere to go, as you've made clear. Do they have to live underground as well?

[steeledskin]

I cannot say it is a requirement, my lord.

[ oh. she takes his question at face value. answers it earnestly. tries to make herself even obliquely useful if only so that he will not lash out in frustration and tarnish her. ]

[impathy]

And yet they do of their own accord? How very charitable of them. Do you know, my lord father once tasked me to clear out all the cisterns and drains of Casterly Rock. As it happens, they never ran better than when I was in charge. Perhaps I've wasted my life away out in the sun. What do you think?

[steeledskin]

I think -- [ is it a trick? a trap? she sucks in a long breath and her gaze seems lost in the distance. ] I think you ought to waste your life wherever you will, my lord. In the sun or out of it.

[ just not in my city. ]

[impathy]

Ah. So it's a waste either way. At long last, you and my sister agree on something.

[It was a trap. Not a malicious one. Merely the bitter words of a man who presently has less than nothing but his wit to grind.]

1/2

[steeledskin]

Your s--

[ the echo dies on her lips. cersei. sansa swallows her surprise. she swallows her hatred. ]

2/2

[steeledskin]

A-as you say.

[ chin down. every shred of delight and courage drains from her. every piece of pride built up after moons in her own city -- sweet words in her ear; gentle hands on her arm; smiles in her hall. ] Go where you will, Lord Tyrion. Outside of my walls I cannot stop you.

[impathy]

[Ah. Perhaps that was too unkind. He would want nothing to do with his sister either and he imagines she has managed to torment Sansa just as much as she did him before she was sent off to be wed. Even so...]

You know? I think I will. I much prefer living on top of rocks and not under them. It's a large enough world out there, so I'm certain I'll find a place in it.

[steeledskin]

[ her next few words are careful. respectful, almost -- not because she cares at all for him but because she wants to keep him in a mood where he might even answer her. ]

In Glaschu? O-or in Dorchadas?

[ sansa stark speaks these names as easily as she does any name in the seven kingdoms. ]

[impathy]

You'll forgive me if I have not the slightest idea where either of those are.

[steeledskin]

[ a mumble. an apology, maybe -- a small word of humble regret that she should even pretend at knowledge that he doesn't yet have. she's over-reached herself (or else her lord husband's presumed vision of her) and that is a problem.

dully: ] Caer Glaem or Caer Scima? You know these two -- don't you?

[impathy]

I know one, at least. That would be the first. It's full of fairies and food, as it so happens. Have you been?

[He understands more than he lets on, at least. There are two sides to be on and even if they are asked along, they aren't necessarily able to pick the side they want to be on. He wonders if Sansa is meant to be ally or foe.]

[steeledskin]

I have, my lord. And passed some time there before I...before the Cothromach became my home. [ so they are both claimed by the same court. this is -- troubling. but less troubling than had it been any other lannister, she decides.

perhaps he ought to be told of what the queen has offered. after all, she thinks he is about as unhappy with the marriage as she has been.

so in a wholly different voice: ] You would appreciate its libraries. They are a horror to keep in order but -- beautiful. [ she never truly read much while in those halls and stacks. but she loved the smell and sight and security of kneeling by a shelf and focusing all her attention upon one simple task. lord tyrion, she knew well enough, would love the libraries more for their intended purpose than she ever could. ]

[impathy]

I do like a good book. Though now enough to take me from King's Landing, I think. But I've myself to blame that. It's not often a man is asked to follow fairies. If I had refused, well... I imagine I would have been terribly disappointed the next day.

Do you hate me, Lady Sansa? You need not lie about it. You are safe in your city and I have nothing now but my small amount of wit, so I'm not like to do anything about it. But I would like to know than not.

[steeledskin]

I --

[ hmm. she snaps her mouth closed. there is a certain amount of weight to his argument. what does he have here? and yet she arrived with so little and in time gained so much. what's to stop him from doing much the same? neither of them amount to very much as leaders of men, she thinks. and so if something as wild and ludicrous as her own ascension could take place, she's certain his luck might also change.

therefore she must not offend him. one honest answer might be to tell him she cannot help but hate a lion. another might be to explain how her feelings are less hate and more guilt. ]

If I did -- [ hate you ] -- I never would have warned you 'gainst the Cothromach.

[ she would have simply let him come and let her brothers dispense with the problem. either way, her answer still isn't given straight. ]

[impathy]

Cleverly spoken, to be sure. But true enough as well. I'll take you at your word. Though if we're to live so far apart, I think it wise we not make much of our marriage. If I'm not to step foot into your city, you will surely not begrudge me finding pleasures elsewhere.

[Crude, he knows. He had even begun to start to practice a kind of chaste respect for their marriage bed, even with Shae still around. He had not been vigilant at it, but he'd tried not to disrespect her. But in this situation, where they would not cross paths at all? Well, he'd just as soon pretend they were unwed and carry on as he always had.]

[steeledskin]

[ her insides twist and wring with the oddest combination of sensations. weighty relief, for one: relief that he would be the one to suggest how little they allow what is true back in westeros to appear as truth in these lands. oh there are enough people who know about that it might cause both of them some manner of trouble. and she could (perhaps) tell him immediately how the high queen has dissolved their union. her mouth opens; she is about to do exactly this. but...

but he reminds her that he is crude. awfully mannered. ill-tongued. and although the two are barely related, his poor behaviour urged her instead to keep that absolution pocketed. for once (for a first) sansa begins to wonder how she might in future play this one tied thread to her advantage. lord tyrion is not as awful as others are; if he does find success here in the drabwurld, he may yet be brought to bear upon other matters. she will not give up what little influence she may have on him so easily. ]

Wise, indeed. [ she praises him. empty hollow praise for an advised silence on the matter that she's already long since kept of her own accord. ] As you say. It's a very clever idea not to breath a word of it to anyone. Thank you.

[ sweet words with no weight and no feeling hitched behind them. ]