[sansa blinks. we buried alayne. this is the second time one of her own sworn swords has forgotten.]
It's Sansa.
[lady whines and rests her head in vi's lap. knight sniffs her for corruption.]
This is Lady. I can call back Smores. What happened? Never Mind said you'd been taken by cultists.
[she presses her lips together briefly.]
You'd better say Jinx when you see her. I don't think she's ready for that name yet. She's...gone out. I can track her down if you like, but––she's safe enough. She'll come back when she sees your message.
[there's a bit of a corruption feast here for knight, and though vi doesn't smell of violets, she definitely smells of rotting flowers under all the rest of the muck she's covered in.]
Sansa? [it's sansa stark not alayne stone. alayne fell down a well. no, that's not right. it's close, but it's not right. she feels her way over lady's fur, remembering the smell of seawater, and a debt owed but not the debt itself.]
This is Lady. [it sounds more as if she is trying to convince herself - there's a question in there that she doesn't think to cover, and she sighs, staring at the floor in front of her for a long moment - waiting for it to open, to move, for hands to---]
Jinx? No, I called her that once and it was a mistake. I made a huge---
---hands. Pulled down through some kind of portal. Trench was ...not ...it was different. I found here in ...there and it was a burned out shell. Almost everything there was. I wasn't alone.
[knight bows his head to drink. sansa clutches the needle end of her necklace.]
She calls herself Jinx. I don't know if it's like Alayne Stone...
[a useful fiction, or something deeper. either way she doesn't seem ready to give it up. sansa bows her head briefly. the idea of her home being burnt down...that vi had sought it out in the first place. well, it's fireproof now.]
My friend Fushiguro told me a little of what it was like. I'm sorry you were taken, and I'm sorry we weren't able to bring you back.
[the question hangs as vi tries to make sense of this - to reconcile the new information with the old. the past with the present. she'd given her sister a present just before she'd left - they'd been on the roof, the stars twinkling like little (firelights) fairylights, it had come from her own blood, what was it, what was it?]
---a ring. I gave her a ring before I---
---does she have it?
[a bit of panic creeping in now, but it's a distant fear, and it's almost as if it belongs to someone else. which is funny. she doesn't mean to laugh, but it comes out anyway.]
Don't be sorry. I'm fine. Faith and Mana Lana kicked a whole right through it and--- well, me too, the five of us got out just fine. I'm sure you tried. I...
...you did try, right?
[maybe it had been better with her gone? sansa and alayne are both expert liars, aren't they? this thought needles at her, and she can't quite let it go just yet. (one. two. three too many lies) a violent shake of her head as she reaches toward knight.]
[something catches in sansa's throat––her face falls a little. knight continues to drink the pollution from vi's blood.]
Of course I tried. I asked Never Mind, and he only knew how you came to be there, not how to get you back. I asked the Scholars at the School of Mutter, but they didn't know. That was when I saw Fushiguro, and he told me he'd found a way back, so I knew you would, too. I thought perhaps a Darkblood mage could summon you, but they've been having memory problems––Sasuke was half-mad––and I had to look after Jinx, too, I knew you would want that. She should have her ring, but she keeps leaving, and I have to track her down and keep anything from hurting her.
I'm sorry I couldn't bring you back. I don't think anyone has done it from our side. Everybody has come back on their own. I'm sorry.
[the panic ebbs and flows, but it doesn't feel ...she needs to think about it. reassess. how would it have been better with her gone? alayne would have jinx all to herse---
---no. that's also wrong.]
Never Mind. Yeah, I remember his ...he kept telling me the same thing over and over, that...
[a face. because now she can remember that yes, he repeated a thing to her, she cannot recall what that thing was.]
...okay. So that's ...something else I can't remember. [half a laugh as she looks up at ...sansa. that's sansa.] Maybe I'm a Darkblood mage.
Thank you for looking after her. I'm sorry for...
[vague gestures. a quick look behind her. an absent rub at her own face.]
[it's out of her mouth before she realizes vi was probably making a joke.]
It's all right. The corruption is interfering with your mind. Knight will help you. Jinx is––she isn't hurt, and she didn't hurt anyone. She's upset, but she understands what happened.
[vi nods. it's at least a confirmation that lines up with her own beliefs, so that's one more thing she's remembering correctly. not that she hadn't been sure, but this whole thing's a bit of a mess.
most important takeaway: jinx isn't hurt. jinx hasn't hurt anyone. okay, okay. the rest she can roll with, she thinks.]
It's different than last time.
[does sansa even know about last time? she can't remember if she'd told her - but she also can't imagine why she wouldn't have.]
I told ...my omen [???] I told Fang to stay. To go. To tell you what happened, and to watch her. To watch you, too. I'm ...sorry.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
It's Sansa.
[lady whines and rests her head in vi's lap. knight sniffs her for corruption.]
This is Lady. I can call back Smores. What happened? Never Mind said you'd been taken by cultists.
[she presses her lips together briefly.]
You'd better say Jinx when you see her. I don't think she's ready for that name yet. She's...gone out. I can track her down if you like, but––she's safe enough. She'll come back when she sees your message.
no subject
Sansa? [it's sansa stark not alayne stone. alayne fell down a well. no, that's not right. it's close, but it's not right. she feels her way over lady's fur, remembering the smell of seawater, and a debt owed but not the debt itself.]
This is Lady. [it sounds more as if she is trying to convince herself - there's a question in there that she doesn't think to cover, and she sighs, staring at the floor in front of her for a long moment - waiting for it to open, to move, for hands to---]
Jinx? No, I called her that once and it was a mistake. I made a huge---
---hands. Pulled down through some kind of portal. Trench was ...not ...it was different. I found here in ...there and it was a burned out shell. Almost everything there was. I wasn't alone.
no subject
She calls herself Jinx. I don't know if it's like Alayne Stone...
[a useful fiction, or something deeper. either way she doesn't seem ready to give it up. sansa bows her head briefly. the idea of her home being burnt down...that vi had sought it out in the first place. well, it's fireproof now.]
My friend Fushiguro told me a little of what it was like. I'm sorry you were taken, and I'm sorry we weren't able to bring you back.
no subject
[the question hangs as vi tries to make sense of this - to reconcile the new information with the old. the past with the present. she'd given her sister a present just before she'd left - they'd been on the roof, the stars twinkling like little (firelights) fairylights, it had come from her own blood, what was it, what was it?]
---a ring. I gave her a ring before I---
---does she have it?
[a bit of panic creeping in now, but it's a distant fear, and it's almost as if it belongs to someone else. which is funny. she doesn't mean to laugh, but it comes out anyway.]
Don't be sorry. I'm fine. Faith and Mana Lana kicked a whole right through it and--- well, me too, the five of us got out just fine. I'm sure you tried. I...
...you did try, right?
[maybe it had been better with her gone? sansa and alayne are both expert liars, aren't they? this thought needles at her, and she can't quite let it go just yet. (one. two. three too many lies) a violent shake of her head as she reaches toward knight.]
no subject
Of course I tried. I asked Never Mind, and he only knew how you came to be there, not how to get you back. I asked the Scholars at the School of Mutter, but they didn't know. That was when I saw Fushiguro, and he told me he'd found a way back, so I knew you would, too. I thought perhaps a Darkblood mage could summon you, but they've been having memory problems––Sasuke was half-mad––and I had to look after Jinx, too, I knew you would want that. She should have her ring, but she keeps leaving, and I have to track her down and keep anything from hurting her.
I'm sorry I couldn't bring you back. I don't think anyone has done it from our side. Everybody has come back on their own. I'm sorry.
no subject
---no. that's also wrong.]
Never Mind. Yeah, I remember his ...he kept telling me the same thing over and over, that...
[a face. because now she can remember that yes, he repeated a thing to her, she cannot recall what that thing was.]
...okay. So that's ...something else I can't remember. [half a laugh as she looks up at ...sansa. that's sansa.] Maybe I'm a Darkblood mage.
Thank you for looking after her. I'm sorry for...
[vague gestures. a quick look behind her. an absent rub at her own face.]
...is she ...is it bad?
no subject
You're a Vileblood.
[it's out of her mouth before she realizes vi was probably making a joke.]
It's all right. The corruption is interfering with your mind. Knight will help you. Jinx is––she isn't hurt, and she didn't hurt anyone. She's upset, but she understands what happened.
no subject
most important takeaway: jinx isn't hurt. jinx hasn't hurt anyone. okay, okay. the rest she can roll with, she thinks.]
It's different than last time.
[does sansa even know about last time? she can't remember if she'd told her - but she also can't imagine why she wouldn't have.]
I told ...my omen [???] I told Fang to stay. To go. To tell you what happened, and to watch her. To watch you, too. I'm ...sorry.