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

[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.

[dohaeris]

[sansa is already bitter enough to mislike false hope (though rarely cynical enough to recognize it). that's not what stands out to her here, though.]

You shed your skin, and came back?

[she frowns a little.]

I don't think she went where I was, though. She'd already been there. She had my things.

[no one is westeros is ever just...swapped out like that. if they had, the maesters would know about it.]

People don't just change places in the Seven Kingdoms.

[xiaoxiuya]

I did return, but I and my counterpart had both already changed worlds at least once before. We're used to it in a way many other Sleepers are not.

That's why I wonder if things won't be different for you. Perhaps you didn't really swap places with anybody. When the other young lady shed her skin, she became younger and lost some of her memories, right? But already you are older than you should be considering the brief time you've lived in Trench. Perhaps you will continue to grow quickly, your memories will return, and by the end of the month you will have simply turned back into her.

Do you see? Nothing has really been lost, and you won't really "go" anywhere. You're simply a different phase of the same person.

[dohaeris]

[sansa reads this carefully and maintains a polite, neutral expression.]

Have you spoken about this with anyone who changed ages before?