❅ Fifteen (Video)

[stonebird]

(Her eyes are red rimmed and she looks like she has been forgoing sleep. There is a bunch of bound paper, neatly tied with pieces of leather, before her and she is using a quill to write. Yet the tip on the writing utensil has broken and so she is having to make another, sharpening it with a small knife.)

If it isn't asking for too much, will you please tell me your best memories? You needn't go into detail; you can even change some details if you wish. All I want to hear are good stories; stories that end with happiness.

(Some warmth to drive out the chill of Winter and loss.)

Comments

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[marmoron]

[Keith contemplates this for a good minute before responding. In the end, he just replies with a question of his own.]

Are happy memories hard to come by in Hadriel?

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[stonebird]

(She isn't sure how to answer his inquiry. She has had happy memories - to say otherwise would be an outright lie - but they feel few and fragile.)

At the moment, yes, but not always.

[marmoron]

What do better times here look like?

[Being new here, it's hard to imagine this place not being a shithole, really.]

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[soldier_blade]

[Sonya's not sure if she should respond or not. When she considered it, she didn't have many happy memories.] My best memories are at my dad and uncle's cabin. We'd go there sometimes during holidays or summers, all of us as a family. There was a lack just a short walk away. In the summer it was fun to swim in, while in winter we would skate or play hockey.

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[stonebird]

(That sounds a lot like home. Sansa smiles weakly, gaze distant.)

What is hockey? Is it some sort of game?

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[soldier_blade]

[She nodded, mimicking her expression. Her home life may've not been the roughest, but it wasn't easie either-except for those visits.]

Either one on one or split between two teams, usually played on ice, but it can also be played on grass, in which case it's called field hokey. Each player is given a stick, and the object of the game is using said sticks to move a puck into the goal net of the other team, while trying to prevent and block the team from getting the puck into your own respective goal.

Getting the puck into the teams net is what gets a point for the opposing team.

Those times in the cabin were the few times I felt part of an actual family.

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[themogget]

[The voice that comes through sounds very much like what a cat might sound like if it tried to talk. A purring, mewling voice that curiously asks-]

Why? What happened to yours?

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[stonebird]

(She can't help being struck by how adorable said voice sounds. She almost smiles, but then it fades rapidly.)

They feel...far. Too far for me to reach.

[themogget]

[The creature hums softly in thought, the sound rumbling gently around a purr.]

Yet reaching out for the happiness of others through such detached means may only confirm what you're lacking.

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[utulien_aure]

[There are the strains of harp music in the background as Fingon speaks- not up to Maglor's standards, true, but whose is?]

Do you have anything in particular in mind, Sansa?

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[stonebird]

(It's a lovely sound and she takes strength from it. Especially since it is coming from him. He is likely mourning worse than her.)

You are so strong. Teach me that trick and I will be content.

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[roseofthetyrells]

[Margaery's in the Sewing Shop and she doesn't look like her usual bright and charming self. in fact, it looks like she's been crying fairly recently as her eyes are red-rimmed and her nose is pink and the garment in her lap has a needle with thread hanging off of it, but she shows no signs of actually having worked on it for a while]

My. . . best memories? A story which ends in happiness? I suppose if I overlook everything which happened after, my lessons with my grandmother were happy memories.

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[stonebird]

(So they are in the same state. Poor Margaery. Sansa shifts to rise, ready to go to her no matter how abysmal the weather.)

Do not let the lions taint your memories of her. That's what they do, my lady. It's the only way they acquire importance.

[unphase]

[she remembers this young woman from their fight together in the Colosseum. it looks like she's having a rough time. so something happy is the least she can do, right?]

My best memory is of the day I met Jo, my boyfriend. We looked at each other and there was this--this connection, like we'd known each other our whole lives.

[stonebird]

(Only because Tinya is kind. Sansa owes her - not the other way around.)

That sounds so romantic. (She brightens slightly.) Do you think you are soul-mates or something of that like?

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[garbagemarvel]

I’ve helped save the Earth.

[A few times, actually, and it isn’t even his planet.]

What is your best memory?

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[stonebird]

How did you manage that?

(It seems like such a huge task.)

I...have many, but at the moment, they hurt to recall.

(Even so...)

I lived in a cabin once - in a forest - and I felt safe there. Those I resided with taught me all manner of things and they protected me. I had wolves too.

[dhamphirs]

[It takes him a while, honestly. But finally:]

I was . . . eleven, perhaps, or around there. My father taught me a skill I had been begging him to teach me for ages, months and months-- from the moment I learned such a skill existed, frankly. He had his reasons for his reservations, but he finally had decided I was old enough to handle such a task.

So we went out onto our grounds. It was May, I remember that. Almost summer. Nighttime, of course, and the moon was half-full. He showed me how, again and again, and then told me that was all I needed-- that given I had seen him, I could now do it. He had faith in me, he told me.

My father is an enormously proud, accomplished man, not prone to flattery. To hear such things was confidence as I had never known it. So I tried it, and lo, it took me a few tries, but I managed.

We brought game home for my mother, and she obliged my pride further by gasping over it, praising me to no end. We even ate it that night, all three of us, a rare enough occasion.

[stonebird]

(She is quiet for the story, curious about the skill - though that isn't the point.)

That sounds like a wonderful night. (Only a parent can make a child feel so warm and accomplished. When her mother had praised her embroidery, she had felt on top of the world.)

Your father knew your blood was strong; what he knew, you could learn. I thank you for sharing your story with me. (Sansa considers the politeness of her next query for a moment.) What skill did you learn?

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[iron_beneath_beauty]

Would you like a memory of your father as a boy?

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[stonebird]

If you feel comfortable telling me, Aunt. (She doesn't want to cause more pain.)

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[thanks_bunches]

[ Geralt doesn't normally just jump in and talk like to strangers like this. in fact, lately, he's been keeping more to himself than usual. Still, there was something about her and her request that compelled him to share. ]

Tossing snowballs at her.

[ His gruff, gravel-like voice starts to talk. Slow and steady with long pauses between each sentence as he recalls them in his mind. ]

Kaer Morhen was heavy laden with snow. The battle had been an arduous one and the survivor's hearts weighed down just as much as the snowfall. The mood needed lightening, I could see how it had drained her. So, I cupped a handful of the soft powdery snow and tossed it, right at the back of her head...

[ Geralt smiled a little then, the corner of his lips pulling up a tad. ]

This Ice land we're stuck on, kinda reminds me of that time too.

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[stonebird]

Her? (The question sounds like a bird's chirp and Sansa cocks her head to the side.) Did she return your generosity?

(A smile is tugging at her lips insistently.)

I am used to the cold and the snow. This land is the most like home, but that isn't exactly comforting when the rations run low. The North in Westeros is not for the faint of heart.

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[ragnarsson]

This one is bittersweet, but I unfortunately don't have a lot of memories with my father in them.

[Indeed, mentioning Ragnar brings a pained expression to his normal icy eyes.]

My father took me with him on his last trip to England, one that he knew he wouldn't survive. I thought maybe it was out of pity or because none of my brothers would go. But while we were there, he told me that I had the most potential to become a leader out of all of his sons. [And Ragnar Lothbrok had a lot of sons, so it definitely meant something.] He told me that I wasn't just some worthless cripple, but someone who had strength because of my legs, not in spite of them. That my fate was to be different than just being an object of pity my whole life. I've always remembered that.

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[stonebird]

I thank you for sharing it with me even more in that case, my lord.

(She smiles and nods in agreement to the late Ragnar's words.)

I have no right to agree with your father, but I do. My brother too cannot use his legs and his strength leaves me in awe. Being able to walk or run isn't all there is to life; you have a sharp mind and a good heart. Furthermore, you can show empathy to those who others reject. By doing so, you will earn their undying loyalty.