oh sunshine in an empty place ( ota )

[persequor]

Who: arya and you!!
What: arrival + wandering
Where: emerald sanctum + silverglen retreat
When: pre-kidnappings and post

a. emerald sanctum

[ for having been recently abducted to an entirely different world, arya stark is handling it remarkably well. joy had replaced her fear when she found nymeria returned to her. the direwolf is no longer a pup and had bowled her over, licking her neck and face while arya laughed and hugged her.

following the reunion, girl and wolf had taken to exploring. arya had tried climbing a tree, but the canopy was up too high and nymeria worried. after so long separated, she is loath to leave her wolf’s side. but there is plenty to see on the ground too. strange broad-leafed plants their green so dark and rich and beautiful flowers the like of which arya has never seen.

and the dragons!

she drew to a stop when she saw the first one — only for a moment before it vanished again among the green. her mouth dropped open into a perfect little o, her eyes wide and unblinking. dragons! real, living dragons!

even faced with such beasts, her fear feels like a distant thing. there are no guards and she has needle and nymeria and a thousand places to hide. she wanders in a state of half-curiosity, half-awe. giggling, she grabs a branch and swings herself back and forth. ]

b. silverglen retreat

[ she was warned of the dangers outside. still, arya awakes one morning and sets off after she and nymeria have eaten to the town. she has both her swords at her hip, needle gleaming and sharp and syrios’ heavy wooden blade, and a quiver of arrows and a bow at her back. she debated long moments whether to take a crossbow; she finally settled for the promise that she would practice with it when she returned.

on the way she practiced shooting at nearby targets. arya would grin after the arrows hit and run off to recover them. at the town, she and nymeria both got their fair share of looks, but nothing compared to how arya stared at the night elves.

they’re purple. it was all she could think and she made the mistake of voicing her observation. she apologized profusely and tried not to stare at anyone else once she was allowed in but—

they’re purple.

it has to be dye. but arya doesn’t ask. she wanders the streets, trying to keep her eyes on the houses, the shops, the wares. whenever her eyes slide over another elf, she drops them quickly to the floor. nymeria remains at her shoulder, growling at any that strays too close. ]

c. forests around silverglen retreat

[ make your own adventure! or ask me for a starter :') ]

Comments

[persequor]

There isn't a lot that will fit me.

[ not that she looked too hard at the armor. she had weapon tunnel vision. ]

[theshadowkissed]

I'm positive there will be. And if not, I'll kick Morpheus awake and tell him you need it.

He'll make it happen then.

[persequor]

Is he-- the steward?

[theshadowkissed]

The what? [What the hell is a steward?] He's the dragon mage of our flight.

[persequor]

I know that, [ she says quickly. ] But what does he do. Is he like a steward?

[theshadowkissed]

I have no idea what a steward is. He's basically the liaison between us mortals and the dragons. He can heal us, get us things, answer questions, and help with all sorts of things.

He also falls asleep constantly like most of the dragons in our flight. [Yeah, that irritated Rose so much.]

[persequor]

[ doesn't know what — arya almost laughs. it has to be a jape. rose must think her some empty headed urchin. arya doesn't try to disavow her from it. ]

Why is that? The stories never tell of dragons sleeping so much.

[theshadowkissed]

From what I've been told [by Ysera] is that our flight protects the Emerald Dream. From what I gather, that's the special dream world that connects everything on Azeroth and if bad things happen to it, it'll be worse than the demons.

So, they sleep a lot. Drives me nuts.

[persequor]

[ arya wrinkles her nose. ]

Must we sleep as much?

[theshadowkissed]

Not unless you want to play around with the Emerald Dream. [She shrugs.] I don't recommend it, though. Dreamwalking isn't an easy thing to control. It really sucks when you can't find your way back right away.

[persequor]

Dreamwalking? You can do that?

[theshadowkissed]

Yup. And so will you with practice. It's part of being Green. Just, um, don't mention it to the other flights. It's kind of out trump card.

[persequor]

[ what's a trump card. whatever she can infer from context. ]

I won't. [ even without needing to be told, she knows better. ]

[theshadowkissed]

So, you going to give me a name or am I going to have to make one up for you?

[persequor]

[ arya lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug. ]

You can make one up if you want. I don't care.

[theshadowkissed]

[Well, that didn't work the way she'd planned it to. Why wasn't the girl giving her name? Really, Rose could just pop into her dreams one night to figure it out, or kick Morpheus awake and ask him, but really...

Rose decided not to kneel down to the girl's level - mostly because that always pissed her off when she was the girl's age and people thought she needed to be treated like she didn't understand how things were. Instead she held her hand out to the wolf to finally sniff.]

I'd prefer to use a name you like. I've kinda become the dragonsworn leader of our flight, so I want you to know that I'm around if you need me. I'm not going to tell you what you can or can't do; just don't endanger the Sanctum and watch out for the death knights of the other Flights.

[persequor]

[ death knights. she tucks that away to ask about later. arya looks at nymeria, her house's sigil living and breathing, who bares her teeth at rose. her grip tightens on the wolf's scruff. ]

You'll lose the hand you do that again. My name's Nan.

[theshadowkissed]

Most animals don't like dhampirs, but it would be good for her to learn I'm your ally and mean you no harm.

[persequor]

[ arya relaxes her grip on the wolf. she balances on the balls of her feet. ]

If she thought you a threat, she'd have already killed you.

[ she doesn't say it as a boast but as a fact. ]

[theshadowkissed]

Yeah, we're not going to get into a who has the bigger dick contest, so we're just going to let this go. Did you see anything in the marketplace you wanted?

Society here doesn't run on money. It's a barter system. I usually trade apples or physical labor for things here.

[persequor]

[ arya shakes her head. she doesn't look for things she might want, but things she might need. for the moment, her needs are met. she's only curious in what is available, and nothing needs to be offered to see. ]

[theshadowkissed]

Alright. I'm going to head off then and take care of my own business. Try not to go too far from the village limits; the demons are closer than you'd think.

See you back at the Sanctum.

[persequor]

[ she gives a little nod and watches rose leave. only then does she scurry off.

disappearing was so much easier when she wasn't followed by five foot tall wolf. ]