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]

[something like a soft smile flickers briefly across sansa's face. he sounds sincere, and this sansa is a little more trusting than the one he knows.]

That's very kind.

[and strange, but it would be rude to say so.]

I wouldn't be frightened.

[it's more startling to know there's been someone hiding in her house this whole time, but again, it would be rude.

what do you say to someone who's been hiding in your house?]

...do you have enough to eat?

[hearthebell]

I come and go at odd hours because of the nature of my work, and try not to cause a disturbance when I do. I'm not exaggerating when I say that, although I regard you highly and consider you a friend, we go weeks sometimes without seeing each other.

[That being said...]

I'll come right home if you've been cooking something.

[It's also not an exaggeration to say that while L is out on his citywide adventures, his momentum is a force to reckon with. It makes hunger and exhaustion subject to erasure until his vision blots mid-step. Even in those cases, a few packets of sugar and creamer are viewed as acceptable solutions.

Sansa's lemon cakes transcend being merely "acceptable," though.]

[dohaeris]

[now she giggles incredulously.]

I'm not a cook. I've never even worked in the kitchens.

[it seems unlikely someone could know her and not know that...still, she has a lunch tin from madame generosity.]

I haven't asked the magic box for dinner yet, though. I could ask it to make something for you. And there's food here from before.

[mostly sweets....]

[hearthebell]

[L knows a far more somber version of Sansa. While she has her moments of lighter humor, he doesn't know that he's ever heard her giggle.

He feels an impulse to let her have what happiness she can muster. If that means providing for a housemate, who is he to say no?]

Magic box?

[Very dangerous, in the hands and minds of some. Point in case...]

I don't suppose you could get it to produce some tiramisu with eighteen sugar cubes and a side of espresso with whipped cream?

[dohaeris]

[sansa does giggle occasionally when she's not focused on her studies. he should probably come to more housemate outings, or movie nights, or family dinners...

sansa blinks at his suggestion, full of unfamiliar words. she can guess at what a sugar cube is, but otherwise...she composes herself very carefully.]

Well, I can try, but I think it might help if I knew more about tiramisu and espresso.

[like, what they are...]

[hearthebell]

If you have to know, for it to work... do you have coffee as a frame of reference?

[dohaeris]

[great question!]

I'm afraid I don't know coffee. I might not have to know, but I can only use the box once a day, so I shouldn't like to try it.

[hearthebell]

It's very kind, but if you can only use it once a day, don't let me take food out of your mouth.

[For goodness' sake, she sounds young enough to still be growing.]

I can go buy my own tiramisu and espresso, you know. And whether or not you're cooking, I'll in fact be home soon so we can be properly introduced.

[dohaeris]

[she has reached her full height in king's landing but is still childishly skinny, and she unconsciously brightens somewhat at the chance to explain the magic box.]

Oh, no, I can ask for whatever I like, I only have to do it all at one time. I can get mutton and beef for Lady, and I always ask for bread and jam for the morning.

[also so much cake]

I could get your tiramisu and espresso and a whole roast aurochs if I like.

[lady picks up her head at this, but sansa is unfortunately not going to order a whole roast aurochs tonight...]

[hearthebell]

It sounds like Madame Generosity lived up to her name.

[Cake is always, always good.]

I'm near a lamp point. Lady knows me, if that dispels any further unease.

[dohaeris]

[sansa gives a snort of sardonic laughter closer to her older self's.]

Lady is very well behaved, but I think she would growl if there were a stranger in the house.

[she glances towards the door.]

There's a lantern outside the manse, with imps.

[in fancy outfits??]

network----> Actionspam

[hearthebell]

[L doesn't pay much mind to fancy outfits, for himself or others. Even he couldn't really resist buying the imps little hats.

He's traveling far lighter today, though. Wearing only a coat sewn by Sansa over some simple working-class clothes, he looks like his typical pale and disheveled self when he arrives, a little short on both food and sleep.

Lycka glides ahead of him to announce his presence as he steps into the front all, kicking his bony bare feet out of his stiff steel-toed leather boots.

He glances around to see if Sansa has been waiting. If he doesn't see her immediately, he tentatively approaches the hall. In all their time living together he's never entered her room without an explicit invitation.]

[dohaeris]

[sansa has never invited him up to the third floor; she's had no reason to and it would be embarrassing.

regardless, this sansa is still downstairs. she emerges from the back room into the front, and marvels a bit at lycka. lady pads along behind her.]

Your leviathan is very beautiful.

[but she very quickly realizes that lycka is a spirit like her raven winterfell, and should probably be addressed as such. she flushes a little and curtsies at lycka.]

I must beg your forgiveness; I'm afraid I'm ill-used to talking with spirits in the form of animals. You are very lovely, and I meant no disrespect.

[she directs her gaze back at lazarus. he does look very tired and rumpled. and perhaps a little hungry...she smiles faintly.]

There's plenty of cake and biscuits in the kitchen already, and bread and cheese.

[hearthebell]

Thank you.

[His response is quiet and earnest. Lycka is everything he likes best about himself, after all; he's probably incapable of taking anything said about her as anything less than a compliment, in truth.]

Is there really? The cake was fresh out the last time I was here.

[On account of him. He goes right for it, Lycka acknowledging Sansa with a lowering of her enormous head. He returns with a slice held in his hand not unlike an apple.]

[dohaeris]

[sansa considers the mystery of the missing cake, frowning a little.]

I think Vi might have been hiding food in her room.

[when she was also shrunk down to middle school age...also jinx just eats things in the kitchen sometimes. now sansa considers the last time she noticed an absence of cake. she looks at lazarus sharply.]

That was days ago.

[not that many, but still...]

She's older, now.

[hearthebell]

Days ago when I was here, last. I sleep at the office often these days.

[A pause while he bites into the side of the slice, again, like an apple. Then he seems to consider something.]

It wasn't because of anyone in the household. Vi, or Jinx, or otherwise. My work just keeps me busy and, often, away from home.

[It's not as though he can just squat in front of a computer here and have access to all the information he needs on the other side of the city. L's thinner these days in large part because he gets so much cardio in tromping all over Trench after his cases.]

[dohaeris]

[the older sansa might try to determine where he means by at the office––the archives, an abandoned building, his evil ex-boyfriend's house? and if it was clean and safe, but this sansa has enough trouble figuring out from context that he means a place of work.]

No, Vi was stealing food. She brought some of it back.

[what sansa was unsure of was where she was hiding it...or why.]

I can get you tiramisu, if you tell me what it is.

[hearthebell]

[It might be best, that the older Sansa is not the one asking these questions and determining this meaning. It's complicated with L at the best of times.]

Why was Vi stealing food? Was it not plenty?

[He asks like someone who knows, already, that the reason is probably a lot more pathological and less practical. But in so many ways, isn't he just getting to know this version of Sansa?]

I'll tell you what it is. Do you know about coffee and cream, yet?