video -> voice | un: sharpshooter (april 2nd)

[azurestar]

( cw: alcohol/substance abuse and visible corruption symptoms. )

[At first, the post opens with video. Lance is using his omen for this because he's probably too intoxicated to operate the omni. Corruption has started to increase again and rapidly given what he's trying to announce. The scar over his left eye looks a bit bigger and his iris of that eye is a glowing, crackling electric blue. He's not looking at the 'camera', his expression trained hard on the table in front of him as he grapples with the pain of loss.]

So… Hunk's gone… [In real time, the scar over his eye grows length-wise and cracks open horizontally and the darkness of space seems to be underneath: black void with stars and a nebula. The glowing light of his eye flashes brighter and seems to overtake the rest of his eye.] …baaaack to th' sea.

[His speech is a bit slurred and his hand comes up to his forehead as he leans to brace his elbow on the table. He looks at his omen and his brow furrows.] Valor, this's audio, right?

[What sounds like an 'oops' comes from his omen and then the video cuts out. There's the sound of a heavy, rattled breath being let out from Lance before he continues.] Whatever, not like it matters, [snort] as if I'm even gonna remember, right?

…Oh yeah… anyone in town got some memory findin' powers? I'm missin' some, so I need you to like… reach into my head hole or whatever.

[A breath is heaved, but it sounds shallow and wet, like there's something wrong with his lungs. Then the sound of a glass clinking on something.] Anyway, here's to th' ocean! I'm gon' go yell at her to give me my bro back. Later.

[There's the sound of a scraping chair as he gets up, and then the loud thump and crash of someone immediately fumbling their footing because they're too messed up and falling to the floor.] Oww…

Comments

[dohaeris]

[she walks in the direction of the beach. lady gently tugs knight's leash into her hand.]

It was a nice dream, and then when I woke up I had Lady. I should've liked to find my brothers there. Your brother will be very glad to have you.

[azurestar]

[He's glowing with arcs of energy coming off of him sitting there in the sand and he lets out a shuddered breath as he tries to concentrate it to his hands which are fisted in the dark grains, heating up and melting it into black glass in a slow spreading deadly heated pool.]

… What d'you mean? He's out there… alone. [He won't have him. Doesn't have him. He can feel himself destabilizing more and he bites his lip before asking a ridiculously mundane question given how everything feels right now.] How many brothers d'you have?

[dohaeris]

[sansa smiles ruefully, her mouth tugging to one side.]

I meant the next time.

[she clicks off her omni, the boardwalk in sight. it's not hard to spot a glowing boy. she leads knight down the boardwalk and onto the beach.]

I had four brothers.

[she chooses a spot more or less 10 feet away from lance to sit, neatly tucking her legs under her skirts. lady and knight sit to either side of her.]

I lost three of them, and my sister too. I am the last true-born Stark, and I'm very sorry I lied about it. My name isn't Alayne Stone. It's Sansa. My Lord Father Eddard Stark was murdered by the false king Joffrey, and when my Lady Mother and brother took up arms against him they were betrayed, and murdered, along with most of their men. Our little brothers, too, when our enemies took our home, and my sister was lost in King's Landing trying to escape. Only Jon Snow was left, because he went to the Wall and swore to take no part in the politics of the realm. If I ever want to see him again, I'll have to take back the North myself.

[she pauses to draw a breath and glance briefly out at the ocean.]

I have to hope my brothers are out there in the ocean with yours. I don't know that there's anywhere else for them to be.

[she smiles sadly at lance again.]

So he isn't alone. I'm sure he and Robb are friends already. Perhaps Jon's there, too, since I was. And Arya always made friends with everyone, she was always meeting new people I didn't even know existed. If there's any kind of adventure to be had underwater, I'm sure she has them all in on it. I think about it sometimes, when I miss them too much.

[lady whines and pushes her head into sansa's lap. sansa pets it absently.]

And Lady helps me not to feel alone. Perhaps Edelya could help you as well.

[azurestar]

[The next time? He still doesn't really understand… or perhaps part of his mind doesn't really want to understand right now. He just wants to be angry and hurt that Hunk isn't here with him right now. Even if on some level he knows it might be safer for him in there… he wishes he were back home. With his family. Like the last time he disappeared in Deerington and just woke up from a bad dream back home.

Then she's here and keeping her distance. He looks over at her, strain at the corners of his eyes as he tries to keep his shit under control. The ocean is right there and he badly wants to give her a piece of his mind, but not while people keep coming to try and stop him. That might get ugly. And he does want to hear Alayne's story.

He notices her use of past tense. But it was already pretty clear earlier in their conversation that she'd lost her brothers. The more details she gives, the sadder it is than what he was cautiously picturing already. Her story reminds him a bit of Allura's, though she was an only child, she lost her parents and whole planet in one fell swoop and then vowed to take back the Universe's freedom when she woke ten thousand years later.]

…You don't have to apologize for using a different name. It kinda sounds like being Alayne was what you got used to… to survive. [He looks down at his hands in the glassy heated sand.] Everyone here knows a little something about that, I think…

[In one way or another. He picks up a clump of the melted black sand in his hands and idly starts shaping it. His hands are shaking, but it's something to focus on.] If this Joffrey guy ever shows up here, I'll turn him to dust for you… y'know, if you want. I'm sorry he took so much from you, I can't… even imagine losing my whole family like that.

[He has lost them in a different way, of course. But he does have some small comfort in knowing they're safe… at least as much as they could be the last time he saw them. He swallows thickly as she talks about how she imagines her family in the ocean together. Again, it sounds like a nice dream to him, but he struggles to believe anything created and maintained by Pthumerian forces could be so nice.]

…Maybe. I wondered for a long time if she was even real. Since I found her in Deerington. [He swallows, a flare of energy releasing from his shoulder briefly.] …people left from there all the time too. But… we knew what happened. It was a nightmare, we… weren't physically there, just asleep while our "souls" were trapped. So when people left, they just… woke up from a bad dream back in their own worlds.

[He lets out a shuddered breath as another flare comes off his thigh.] Hunk's left before, but… it was easier because he just… woke up and got to go home. [A shake of his head.] I like the sound of the ocean the way you tell it. But I dunno if I can believe in it, myself… 'm sorry.

[Not after he's personally experienced almost four years of Pthumerian "hospitality" as a trapped soul. But he's not going to argue about it and list out a bunch of reasons why or anything. He wants her to hold on to that comfort. Shakily, he stands and bends over to carefully place a black glass creature on the sand that isn't heated and melted as close to her as he dares to get. It looks like a wolf. Not the best, but decent enough. He's not an artist, but sculpting is easier for him than drawing at least.]

It probably needs to cool off, but… [A vague gesture to say 'it's yours?']

[dohaeris]

[sansa listens––a huff of laughter escapes her when he offers to murder joffrey. would it were only him. she dips her head graciously, but snaps to attention when he mentions the dream. she's heard a fair amount about the world before, but this is the first time she's heard their bodies were literally asleep. that sounds familiar.

but she lights up at the wolf.]

It's like dragonglass!

[it looks to her like a precious gem made in the shape of a wolf. she leans foward, hovers a hand out above it to test the heat.]

It's beautiful. Thank you.

[she withdraws her hand into her lap. she'll have to make him some nice clothes. perhaps a jacket with edelya, or an ice dragon.]

Was it nice, where you were? If I woke up now I wouldn't be home. I would be very far away, and alone, with half the Seven Kingdoms after the bounty on my head. And I wouldn't have Lady.

[her mouth twists.]

For a long time, a dream of a wolf was all I had.

[she'd dreamed of lady, after she'd learned about the red wedding.]

[azurestar]

[He blinks in small surprise at her reaction to it. He doesn't know what dragonglass is and it's far from a professional artist's glass sculpture, that's for sure, but you can tell it's a wolf. The fact that that's good enough for Sansa has him feeling a little choked for a second. It's small and stupid and he's probably just already full of a lot of emotions and that isn't helping, but…

He nods.] No problem. I 'unno what dragonglass is, but… I turned into a dragon once so I can probably take a guess.

[It's a dark joke to himself. Being a dragon wasn't as fun as you might think, not in the aftermath anyway. He and Chloe had kind of a good time from what he remembers. Then he looks down at his feet surrounded by molten black sand as he's still a living solar flare of roiling emotion. He swallows, the question about what it was like at home causing the energy to stutter around him as it surges and he uses all his focus to keep it in.]

Last I saw home… it was being invaded. And my sister and I were about to die. [Normally, he doesn't talk about all that, but his fucks are pretty gone right now. He crouches down, bracing his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands tightly, like he's physically containing himself in an invisible box.] I never got around to… asking Hunk if everything turned out okay. I had a feeling he was brought here from farther in the future. I dunno… we just never talked about home. It hurt too much.

[He swallows thickly. There's also Keith, he could ask him… but that's harder because of their complicated… "situation." He looks up a bit, the corruption on his face not getting worse, at least. It means a lot that she came, but he's concerned he's going to harm her at this point.] …I'm sorry Al- Sansa, I… I have to go…

[dohaeris]

[sansa blinks. knight stands and dips his head, drinking the corruption from lance as best as he can.]

Oh––obsidian. The Maesters say it comes from volcanos, not dragons. It's just a name.

[she offers a small wistful smile.]

It must be wonderful to fly.

[her mouth twist sympathetically. it occurs to her that she has no idea what she'd say to her trueborn siblings, if they turned up.]

I know I should go back and save the North, but I'd rather stay here where people are kind to me. For me, it's easier to try and solve curses and treat corruption than to fight wars and keep everyone from wanting me dead. Of course I know what it is to miss home, but I don't know that one kind of danger is better than another.

[she waits, holding a hand over the wolf statue to test its warmth. knight continues to drink. if lance wants to leave, he can. lady is not afraid, so neither is sansa. she smiles grimly.]

I'm afraid I must ask you to call me Alayne where other people might hear, though, until I'm able to tell everybody my name. I should like the chance to explain myself, if I can.

[azurestar]

[The efforts to suck out his corruption have slow but visible results, but are not like to last long.]

Oh… dragonglass's a way cooler name.

[Or hotter. And her wistful look about flying and the way she says that tugs at his chest in a dangerous way. He looks down and then answers in a hoarse voice.]

Y-yeah, it's… there's nothing like it.

[He takes some time to compose himself as she talks about the North, which he assumes is her home that this Joffrey guy took. Along with her family. It makes anger boil in his gut just thinking about it, and he has to try and tamp that down too.]

If it helps… there's no going back. According to some people, anyway. [It's clear that he personally does not… like that at all. Then he nods at her request.]

Alright. Thanks for coming and… [He vaguely gestures to her corruption eating dog. He really has to go, his emotions are still all over the place, and so are his powers.] I'll see you later… uh, my lady.

[He's probably never gonna get used to saying that. Sure, he always called Allura 'Princess' but that came out easier as sometimes it is used as a pet or nick name where he's from.]