Event Log: Home Sweet Home

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Home Sweet Home event
Where: All over the city
When: June 20th-July 2nd
Warnings: Nothing bad could ever happen now that you're home

It could happen at any moment- any action you do could be cut short by a sudden trancelike state, and so hopefully it happens when you're safe in your surroundings. And of course you're safe... after all, what could happen to you now that you're finally home?

Whether you don't remember Hadriel at all, or you just believe that this entire ordeal is over, you're home for good now, which is something worth celebrating. What happens in your home? Are you treated like royalty or just cast aside and forgotten? How are your friends doing? Your family? Everything is just as it should be and it's easy to get lost in it, even for an unlucky onlooker who may find themselves drawn into your trance and able to interact with you as you mill about your world and your reality.

Snapping out of it is the only way to end this trance, and you've got to eat and sleep at some point, but how can you go back now that you've been teased with what you desire (or maybe even fear) the most?

► This log covers June 20th-July 2nd.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you die of homesickness let us know here.

Comments

Sansa Stark | Open

[stonebird]

She makes a funny picture sitting outside, her embroidery laying forgotten in her lap and her fingers holding fast to a single pin. The wind blows her auburn hair into lazy waves and curls, but her Tully blue eyes remain unfocused; empty. She is elsewhere. A touch will bring you along for the journey or you could simply be standing too close to her.

Winterfell (Snowy Keep)

The air is cold and crisp, yet there is a bite to it that suggests it will be much colder soon enough. Sansa can see her breath fogging the open air and she can feel the prickly, pin-like sensation on any skin that is exposed to the chill. Fat snowflakes are falling fast all around her and soon it's hard to tell the true color of her hair or her wardrobe. She comes back to herself with a small gasp of surprise and turns quickly, walking down the path that will take her to the Keep.

She pauses at the old, familiar doors, her pale hands shaking as she pries them open. She is home, but at the same time, she isn't. There is a cold lump in her stomach - composed of regret and guilt - and she can't quite bring herself to believe the vision before her eyes. The Keep is just as she remembers it. The building was built to withstand the strongest of Winter storms and within, the walls and floors are grey. However, a merry fire is crackling in the fireplace and the light calls to her; when you live in a place that constantly snows, you appreciate the warmth of a good fire. Stiffly, Sansa walks towards the bright flames, shedding her cloak and brushing out her snowflake laden hair with her fingers.

I'm home?

The words echo hauntingly in her mind and she can't even bring herself to respond when Jon asks her a question.

I don't know...anything.

Maybe she never did. She is exactly where she is supposed to be - for the first time in almost two years - and yet this isn't where she wants to be.

Winterfell (Hot Springs)

The ache in her stomach doesn't subside and she is finding it difficult to eat, to drink, to think and so she takes herself to the hot springs. She hasn't visited them since she was a child and now she is looking at them with new approval. Perhaps the heat can do what all other methods have failed to do. She glances around warily and then slips into one of the pools wearing only her shift.

While the heat does relax her body, her mind is still wandering, unhappy and conflicted. She should be grateful to be home; she should be thankful that she has made it back in one piece! Yet her experience hadn't been all bad and there were - are - parts of it that she wishes she didn't have to let go.

"I had another family...for a time." she whispers to no one, "They were very like the Starks." she extends a leg under the water, glancing down at it, eyes unfocused, "But I lost them too."

All around her, the snow falls softly and the trees of the godswood watch silently.

Winterfell (Library)

The smell of parchment, ink and books fills the room. All things considered - such as the rarity of bound volumes and the price of them - there is an impressive amount of books in the Winterfell collection. Though, once, there had been more. A fire had claimed some of them, but, thankfully, not all of them. Sansa is seated in a nook with a pile of said volumes at her side. She flips through one, smiling faintly - almost sardonically - to herself. Once, these books had been her picture of the outside world. She had thought that knights were always true and that maidens were always rescued. Reality has been - and continues to be - a bitter reminder that no one can be trusted. At least not...fully. Utterly.

Even those she loves could turn on her and, in some cases, she might let them do as they pleased. Yet, at her core, Sansa realizes that she wants to survive. As close as she has come to death, each time she has been grateful that it hasn't come to pass. However...

That doesn't mean she isn't prepared to see to the deaths of others. In her tale, the maiden, the lady or the princess will have justice without any pesky knights interfering. Then she will know, without a doubt, that Westeros - and the world - have been freed of a handful of monsters. Oh others will rise and take their place, but they won't hurt her or her family as much as the current ones did.

Closing the book in her lap, Sansa looks out one of the windows, watching the grey sky beyond. How close are the Lannisters? How close are the White Walkers? She shivers and draws a blanket around her shoulders.

[magician_king]

Quentin is in the library with her, moving quietly among the shelves, putting a book back here, pulling another down there.

He rounds a corner and sees her, and jumps a little, adding quickly;

"I'm sorry, my lady."

Staff technically shouldn't intrude.

[stonebird]

Staff are not something Winterfell employs. At least not in the librarian sense of the word. Oh they have servants, guards, soldiers and so forth, but they are...different. Sansa has never seen anyone fussing over the books so much.

"Why are you here?" her brow furrows and she watches him curiously.

[magician_king]

"I'm looking for a book."

Quentin answers, simply.

"And- putting one or two back, while I'm at it. You have a beautiful collection here, as I'm sure you know."

[stonebird]

"I suppose you are in the right place, then." but still she puzzles over him being in Winterfell at all, "I have never seen you before."

The compliment earns a small smile.

"My father enjoyed collecting them every chance he had." which wasn't often. Peddlers did not make it this far north often, but when they did, they generally had items Winterfell prized: books, different foods/spices from the South and fabric.

[magician_king]

"Quentin."

He supplies, returning the smile, reservedly.

"Can I ask, what are you reading?"

As much as he's enjoying his research, even better is hearing people talk about their books.

[stonebird]

"Well met, Quentin." she inclines her head, "These are...old...silly stories that I used to believe."

That might be a bit blunt. She laughs softly, shaking her head.

"I was naive and I believed knights were always true and ladies were always rescued."

[magician_king]

"Stories like that are sideways-true."

He reasons, quietly.

"They may not come to pass. But they're a way of teaching our children the way that good people wish the world would be. They instill a sense of justice and fairness, and show us what to strive for."

[stonebird]

"Maybe we should be teaching our children how to survive instead." Sansa states without remorse, though she does look sad, "Forgive me. Life has made me...bitter."

Too bitter? She isn't sure.

"Is your world kinder? I assume you do not call Westeros home?"

[magician_king]

He blinks, shaking off the very last of the belief in the dream, and glancing around himself in confusion.

"I'm from a few places. None of them are easy. I suppose I've just always believed that it's our responsibility to be the secret spring out in the sand."

[stonebird]

"That is easier said than done." she rises from her cozy nook and brushes out the wrinkles in her skirt absently, "This is Winterfell, the seat of the Starks in the North. We must be...springs..." her lips curve just barely, "...or we will be conquered by our enemies."

[magician_king]

"Being good doesn't mean being soft."

He still believes this, somehow, against considerable odds.

"Not even in times of war."

Hot springs

[bythewaves]

"You still have us, little firebird. For as long as you hold us in your heart."

A quiet scuff announces his presence nearby.

[stonebird]

She jumps and turns, immediately trying to lift herself from the spring.

"Uncle Maglor! How are you here?"

Not that it matters!

[bythewaves]

"I don't know."

He smiles and gestures for her to stay seated, coming to sit nearby.

"So this is your home, Sansa?"

Winterfell (Hot Springs)

[am_i_a_monster]

Abigail looks at the snow and the trees.   They remind her of Minnesota, especially the places that her father would bring her to hunt deer and elk.  But this isn't a place that she's ever visited before.  She turns when she hears the voice and approaches the edge of the water.    She doesn't worry that she'll embarrass the woman in the hot spring.  Girls back home wore bikinis that covered a lot less than a shift.   

"I'm sorry for your loss."   She says just loud enough to be heard.   "I lost my family too, my mom and dad."

[stonebird]

Sansa is very cautious about not showing too much - even when wet. The shift is thick enough to conceal her, but seeing Abigail is still a shock. She immediately recognizes the young woman, however, and that helps.

Or maybe it confuses her more.

"...you are welcome to join me." she decides to ask her questions later, "We can keep one another company."

[am_i_a_monster]

Abigail gives a nod.  "Yeah, I'd like that."   

It certainly beats the idea of being along in the strange place, facing whatever Hadriel is doing to them now.  She glances down at herself and notices that somehow this dream has given her clothes appropriate to the place, with one exception - the scarf around her neck.   She takes the clothes off carefully, until she was in the shift and scarf.   She folds the rest of her clothes neatly and places them in a pile, then moves into the pool.   

"The water's nice."

Library

[roseofthetyrells]

[so many books! many titles she's never heard of and would very much like to read, but she knows she'll have time to do no such thing. she sees Sansa in her nook, the stack of books at her side, and a book in her lap.

she hesitates at first to approach her, assuming she must be content enough, but then she sees that smile. then she knows that Sansa feels no such thing.

fortunately, she seems to have been transported here wearing warmer clothing and with a shawl around her shoulders, so she approaches Sansa, smiling]

Hello, Sansa.

[stonebird]

(The sight of Margaery lifts her spirits immediately. She frees herself from her nook and pulls the other woman into an embrace.)

My lady, you should stay here with me! (If it's possible... Her logic says it's not, but the offer is open. Always. Winterfell would love the Tyrells in general, but Margaery in particular. It's a shame their families weren't brought together sooner.)

[roseofthetyrells]

[she returns Sansa's embrace gratefully.

warmly] I shall. [and a teasing note enters her voice] And how many times must I tell you to call me Margaery?

Hot Springs

[outofthefire]

[Laura isn't exactly dressed for this weather in a simple sweater set and plaid skirt. the snow is falling all around her and it shows no signs of stopping.

as Laura wanders, she finds her way to the hot springs. she shrugs and ducks behind a tree, stripping down to her bra and underwear, quickly slipping into the water across from Sansa and in enough time to hear her words]

Why'd you lose them?

[stonebird]

(She gives a small gasp; to her it seems like Laura materialized from behind the trees! But that's silly. People don't do that. Besides, she recognizes the other woman. Albeit she is usually wearing...more clothing.)

I came back...here. They remained in Hadriel or...

Perhaps they went home too.

[outofthefire]

[well, she can't honestly say that Sansa was wrong, given how Laura herself has no idea how she got here. she's glad to see a familiar face, though]

And I bet you miss 'em a lot, don't you? But there's no way to visit them? Either in Hadriel or their homes?

Library (this is such a late tag in, I'm sorry, feel free to ignore me!)

[demonsional]

Hayden, clearly a young servant, enters quietly. Or, well, mostly quietly. He's not a very silent person, and the tea he carries clatters in his hands as he nearly trips over himself. Recovering quickly, he tries to make himself smaller as he places the refreshment beside her, but can't help himself from glancing toward her face as he bows and starts to draw away.

Seeing the look on her face, he hesitates, wavering, and finds himself staring, even though he knows he shouldn't.

"My Lady, are you, um, is everything...are you troubled?"