un: lady; video (semi-accidental)

[dohaeris]

[sansa means for this to be anonymous, unfortunately she hasn't really figured out usernames yet, let alone how to hide hers. she also means for this to be text, but the video is already recording when she starts speaking.

she's visibly younger, though not much (a little over three years, now); smaller and slighter and more wide-eyed, with her clothes not quite fitting right and her hair braided simply to one side. lady remains the same size, half in her lap on the couch, with blue ribbons around her neck rather than her fancy padded collar. sansa, too, wears the silvery-blue dress she wore to the rinne festival tied very tightly, her padded collar slightly askew.

and she looks somber. something has clearly been troubling her. she's not quite looking at the camera. her voice is low and a little bitter.]

What happens to us when they come back?

Comments

video | un: graham crackers

[possessum]

( Oh.... it's happened to Sansa, too. Maybe she doesn't look as small as some of the others have gotten (and a version of Peter, too, though he doesn't remember it), but she's still smaller and he doesn't think twice about turning on his own Omni feed to respond.

He doesn't know yet if she'll recognise him; it's different for each case, but he lets a little smile find its way onto his features either way — friendly, if not barely masking the dose of concern that lingers in his eyes. )

When who comes back?

[dohaeris]

[sansa starts a little, and turns wide-eyed towards the omni. she is hideously embarrassed, but acknowledging it would only make it worse.]

Oh, the other girl. ['the other sansa' sounds too ridiculous to say out loud...] The one who was here before, and shed her skin. Aren't they all going to come back soon––the people we're supposed to be?

[possessum]

( Oh — damn. This isn't an easy thing to answer at all, is it.

It's a perfectly valid question, but it's the first time Peter's seen someone voice it. It sits uneasy in his chest, burrows in and feels too tight against his ribs. )

Yeah— they do come back. ( He already sounds apologetic, regretful. He's gotten glimpses of the kind of world Sansa came from, and.... thinking about this version of her, smaller and wider-eyed, makes his stomach hurt.

(He thinks about the version of himself he left back home, sixteen years old and stepping into a treehouse illuminated by flickering candlelight. No longer "Peter", but what if some of him does still exist? Is he trapped and aching? Screaming inside of himself, for the rest of his life?) )

I, uh. I think you'll go back. Back home. But I don't think you'll remember... being here.

[dohaeris]

[sansa's face goes hard and impassive.]

King's Landing is not my home. If I had been in Winterfell, I shouldn't mind going back.

[would it be better or worse to remember this place? it would be nice to remember the people that were kind to her...]

Did it happen to you, before?

video; un: clarke

[romancekiller]

[well clarke definitely recognizes sansa though she can see that she's been affected by turning younger too like most people] Who are you referring to coming back?

[dohaeris]

[sansa is embarrassed to be caught on video instead of text, but she's determined not to let it show.]

The people who shed their skins. I'm sorry, I should have said. I'm ill-used to talking on these magic crystals.

[romancekiller]

Oh— it's okay, it does take some time to get used to talking on these things.

I'm not sure though what happens when they come back though. Maybe we go back home? [it's what she hopes for when it happened to her in the past for these other versions of herself]

[dohaeris]

[that's exactly what sansa didn't want to hear. her frown deepens. lady whines and snuggles closer.]

I wasn't home. I was a hostage in a city under siege. I don't want to go back there.

[she looks down briefly, biting back 'I can't go back there,' because of course she will if they make her. she'll always do what they make her. it doesn't matter what I want. at least she has ser dontos and his promise of rescue...at least robb and her mother are fighting their way down to king's landing. she can still go home, someday.]

I'm sorry.

[she's not sure what she's apologizing for, except this girl doesn't deserve her ire. but nobody ever seems to get what they deserve.]

Does anyone know?

video, un: kickflips

[strongroots]

[ Robby's found out (and read) a little more about the ritual since he and Sansa last spoke. He's seen more people affected about it, and his feelings haven't really changed, and he wonders if to say anything at all--he doesn't have an answer for her.

...but something pulls for him to try, and so he shows his face, though he can be seen from his chest up-ward. He's dressed in a green-plaid shirt, with a lighter green one under that, his fringe down from its usually pushed back state. ]

Hey. I don't know if anyone'll have an answer for you, [ he's offers softly, apologetically, ] but...is there anything you'd like to do? There isn't a time limit.

This isn't the best place, but it's not where you were. [ Since yes, he's nosey.

And maybe that's all that can be offered, even if reality is always around the corner. A slice of optimistic, wondering if it'll help. ]

[dohaeris]

[sansa's eyes widen––so many handsome boys robb's age being kind to her!! but she had thought joffrey handsome and kind, too, in the beginning.]

What is there to do here? There was never anything to do in the Red Keep.

[except whatever stupid thing joffrey wanted. she pauses, briefly.]

Can Lady come? She won't be any trouble, I swear it.

[as if lady hasn't been following sansa everywhere in trench.]

Oh––I'm very sorry, I haven't asked your name. I'm Sansa Stark of Winterfell [she suspects he already knows this, many people do, and he seems to have some idea where she's from––could he be from the north? he sounds foreign, but perhaps his family came to white harbor to trade or something.], and I'm very glad to meet you.

[strongroots]

[ Robby gives her a nod and a smile, the talk from one thing from another cute, in a harmless way. ]

Robby Keene--nice to meet you too. [ Manners first, and all. ] I'm sure Lady can go most places; people around here are used to companions, so you're in luck.

[ And he thinks it was Lady who said they were going to keep an eye on Sansa, didn't they? Good on them. ]

But what's the kind of stuff you'd like to go and see? Willful Machine's a good place to go if you wanna check out the shops and different businesses, just to see what they're like. That's one district; then there's another called Cellar Door that's got a lot of shows or open parties.

All good to go with someone, if you've met many people around here. And Lady too, [ he adds with a pinch of a smile. Of course! ]

[dohaeris]

[sansa smiles, excited and only a little wistful.]

I should like to see the shows, and any kind of music and dancing. I've been living in Cellar Door, and everyone has been kind there. You'll go with me, and Lady?

[big, shiny, eighth-grade eyes...]

( video | un: duckling )

[danserai]

[ does lady sansa look younger? ahiru squints, trying to parse that. ]

Are you worried about someone?

[dohaeris]

[oh, a friendly girl close to her age. sansa smiles self-deprecatingly.]

It's me. [sansa's the problem it's her] I don't want to go back to where I was.

[she pauses briefly.]

There might be other people. Nobody would want to be in King's Landing right now, or any other place with a stupid war.

[danserai]

[ oh. ahiru briefly clasps her pendant. sometimes she misses gold crown town. like an ache, like a wound. mytho was there. rue was there. pique and lilie was there.

but this place had given her so much too. ]

I feel that way, sometimes. It's hard. And there isn't a good answer.

un: enpawnsant

[hearthebell]

So you don't remember.

Please don't be alarmed by the strange man who lives with you. The others in the Rookery can vouch for me until you return to yourself.

[dohaeris]

[sansa doesn't know what to make of this. has he been lurking out of sight, trying to figure out how much she knew about the other girl's life in trench? honestly that's...pretty harmless, as far as things in her life go. she frowns at the display.]

You could just talk to me.

[but she can't help but ask, on the off chance he isn't just trying to determine if she knows him, because that is a weird way to behave, even if it isn't particularly upsetting:]

Has it happened before?

[the shedding ceremony. to her. she thinks winter might have mentioned that, but there's been a lot of information to get through.

she hopes no one saw her when she was stupid and infatuated with joffrey...]

text---> audio

[hearthebell]

I didn't want to startle you.

[The voice coming out of Sansa's device is so soft and resonant it's difficult to imagine it being attached to anything at all startling, but Sansa knows better than most that things that seem harmless can be anything but.]

It happened before, roughly a year ago. It affected me then; this time I seem not to have suffered it.

[He doesn't mentioned that what he "suffered" last time was being truly classically handsome, for the first and likely only time in his life.]

text post; un: peerless_hobo

[xiaoxiuya]

I think it varies from person to person. Some people go back to where they came from, but others seem to merge with the person they replaced after Shedding, or just turn back at the end. For you...

Maybe it will be just like growing up, but faster?

[dohaeris]

[sansa wonders why he might think that. she knows the other girl is an older version of her, but she doubts she made up her years in trench. she schools her face in an expression of polite interest.]

Have you spoken with many people who've come back here after shedding their skins? I should be very interested to hear what they've told you, if you don't mind.

[xiaoxiuya]

[Honestly Shen Yuan has no basis for that theory other than wishful thinking. The idea of any kid having to go back to face what Sansa does is too horrible to consider for long.]

Not specifically, but I've heard things in passing and of course I have my own experiences and those of my friends to go on.

In my case, I spent nearly three weeks in the home of the other version of me, while he was here in Trench. I feel very fortunate that he was a benevolent person who spent his time here trying to improve my life and assist others.

text | un: noh_offense

[meds4sale]

Many simply go back to where they came from, and live the lives they left behind.

Or not, as the case may be if they came here after they were deceased.

video | un: ilikemeat

[velvet_teen]

Oh, I know all about this one, this happened to me last year twice, and my older self was really good at all this going between places stuff.

[ Alice speaks with the bossy tones of someone who has missed being the bigger sister. ]

You go back where you came from. Unless you have swapped places and Big Sansa is killing people she knows are going to mess with her later.

[dohaeris]

[any discouraging information is mitigated by someone very authoritatively stating their belief that her older self is capable of killing her enemies.]

I don't think she'd be able to do that.

[because if sansa could murder her way out of king's landing, she would have done it. and also littlefinger isn't back yet.]

Do you?

[velvet_teen]

[ Alice goes hmm and gives it a little bit of thought. ]

Maybe! If you kill someone important in your past, then that makes the future into something else. So she could definitely get one, but then she would be a different Sansa.

[ This is the question you assume needs answering if you come from a life in which the boundaries of time are fuzzy in places. ]