elnysa | video | c.fraser

Entry tags:

video | c.fraser

[Is this not about a medical thing, this time? Seems so. Claire's a bit more relaxed than she usually is when using the network, and it might have something to do with that glass of wine in front of her.]

It's my fifty-first birthday this weekend. Do I win the award for most elderly amongst us refugees?

It's hard to believe I was in my late twenties when I first came to Olympia. Stasis is... strange, to say the least, but I'm sure any of us here for an amount of time realize that.

[Now, let's see who's going to be a smartass and make a grandma comment. She's waiting. It's there, in her smile. Do it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He does tend to like the things Claire likes him. In fact, he can’t say he hasn’t liked a single thing that Claire’s gotten him. She seems to understand the type of things he likes to wear—and that he enjoys wearing nice things to begin with.

It still seems wrong, though. Claire’s birthday has come and gone, and Theon couldn’t think of anything to give her as a gift. He still can’t. There’s nothing that could possibly repay what he’s done for him.

So instead, he just glances around the beach, making certain that they’re the only ones present, and he hugs her. She seems to like when he does that. ]

Thank you.

[She does like it when he chooses to hug her of his own free will, and especially so when they're not in some state of crisis. This might actually be the first joyous hug they've shared, and there's a small, startled laugh from her before she returns it. He's still thin, but no longer does she feel like too tight a squeeze might break his ribs.]

This is the best gift you could have given me.

[A hug. Material things can be lost, taken, but she won't ever forget moments like these.]

You're very welcome, my love.

[She lets him go, not wanting to embarrass him in case someone wandered down onto the beach. Because she saw that he most definitely checked. He really is like a teenager, sometimes.]

I really do need to stop spoiling you with gifts. Had a bloody hell of a time figuring out something for today.

[Except she won't stop with the occasional gift of a coat or an embroidered shirt if she happens to see one he'd like.]

[ He’s not an affectionate man. Everything and everyone in his life has taught him not to be, but he’s been denied a mother figure for so long that he really can’t help himself. Even if he is embarrassed by the idea sometimes, he doesn’t loathe it.

He doesn’t believe it’s the best gift he could give her, but he doesn’t say otherwise, especially when he likes material things. ]

Why would you do something like that?

[ Another vague smirk. He may have the title of “prince”, but he hasn’t ever been properly spoiled like one. ]

[Theon's rather obvious when he dislikes something. He might not seek out the affection, but he's grown much more receptive to it. A good thing in her books. He's spent so long without a doting parent that it's fallen to her to make up for it and it's all so much easier when he simply accepts it.]

You're right. That's ridiculous, isn't it?

[Called her bluff. Claire grins, hugging her knees to her chest. They're actually having a good time.]

[ He nods in agreement and shifts his gaze back to the water. For once, his mood doesn’t instantly darken, but he does seem contemplative. ]

I haven’t been here in a long time. Not since before my sister returned to stasis.

[ Literally that long. All Starks had still been present, and Ramsay hadn't been a thought in anyone's mind--except Asha's. She had known. Theon hadn't. ]

She wanted to build a boat. That way, we didn't have to live in Olympia or Wyver. We could just live between, and not with anyone else.

Is that still a tempting idea? I hear living with others, especially in Olympia, is rather awful.

[Claire does know the things Theon likes. Fine clothing, dogs. Archery, when he had the fingers for it. She wonders if there's something in the blood that would make him drawn to the sea--or if it was simply assumed, because he's a Greyjoy.]

I don't make it a habit of coming here. [She had her fill of the sea and beaches while searching for young Ian.] Just now and then. Don't know why I didn't think to take you with me until now.

[Obvious enough: he wasn't in a good enough place, in her mind, to properly enjoy it.]

Sometimes.

[ He may be less of a typical ironborn than his sister, but the sea is still in his blood. He always yearned for it when he was inland, telling himself that he would return to it someday. He always lied to himself. He never truly believed he would; not until Robb sent him back.

But Asha knows sailing better than he ever will. The things he learned, he learned as a child. This isn’t something he can do on his own. All he can do is sit on the shore and watch the waves, and while that not be good enough on some days, it’s enough for him in this moment. ]

You didn’t think to bring me because you thought I would throw myself in.

[ Blunt, but true. There are still days where he could do it. He's better than he was, but some wounds are too deep to heal. ]

[Claire picks up the cupcake, deciding that it might take more fingers than he has to unwrap it without dropping it or making a mess. That, and maybe she wants to try it, too. She nods along with what he says--well, he's not wrong, and she doesn't lie to him.]

You weighed less then, but you'd still be a pain to drag out.

[With the expectation that he'll want it, Claire balances the cupcake on her palm and holds it out for him. Maybe next year she'll do a real cake, with candles. And singing.

Assuming they're both awake, that is.]

Do boys that grow up in Winterfell know how to swim?

[ Theon isn’t terribly motivated by food. He’d grown so used to starvation and to the pain in his teeth, he’s almost forgotten how to enjoy food and simply eats more out of necessity than anything else. But Claire went through the effort, and the cake is small, so he takes it from her and nibbles away at it hesitantly.

He doesn’t comment on the first statement. He wouldn’t have wanted to be dragged out at all. That’s the thing about him and how his mind works on some days. It goes to dark places, and sometimes he can’t escape those places for days. ]

There were pools in the godswood, but they were shallow and calm. I guarantee you if I pushed Robb Stark into the sea, I’d have to rescue him immediately afterwards.

[ Is it really a terrible thought, though? Might make up for things. Or not, because Theon would be making himself as the villain just to paint himself as the hero. ]

Let's not.

[Too soon, Theon. Too soon. Claire's quick to carry on:]

Your proper name day is closer to summer, here. [Because his proper name day is the one she made up for him.] Next time, we'll go swimming.

[ He glowers, slightly peeved that Claire won’t let him continue. He obviously means no harm. Cruel, dark japes are just one way he expresses himself, and Ramsay had taken that from him for a time. He doesn’t continue, though. His expression is enough to voice his displeasure at being cut off. ]

My last name day was in autumn.

[ The last name day he can recall, at least. But seasons are different in Westeros, longer and not always consistent. ]

I'm used to the cold.

[Oh, that look. Claire bites back a sigh. She promised him a good day, and no good can come of him looking like she's gone out of her way to slight him. So, after he speaks, she musters up her manners.]

I'm sorry. About the pools--you were saying? I only asked because I wanted to make sure you could swim. I don't know if it's something you learned as a child before you were taken to Winterfell.

[See? Someone cares about being polite. She has to set the example, after all.]

Ironborn are born knowing how to swim.

[ He makes it sound like more than it is, but it’s hardly a lie. You learn to swim quickly on the Iron Islands. The seas are turbulent and the winds are rough. Those who don’t learn simply don’t survive. With brothers as terrible as Maron and Rodrik, Theon certainly wouldn’t have made it after being thrown into the sea for the first time if he weren’t a good swimmer. ]

When a child is born on the Iron Islands, he’s given to the Drowned God. It happens before his first name day. Sometimes before he even has a name at all. Then, the priests bring him back.

[ It's a rough place. Truly, it is. ]

[Drowning babies. Lovely. Claire likes to think herself an open minded woman, but there are some things she can't find a way accept. This conversation is drifting dangerously close to things that could dampen the day, and so Claire corrects the course instead of voicing her displeasure.]

Tell me something I don't know about you, Theon.

[She knows some things about his Drowned God, about the Ironborn. Parts of him. And she knows more of his story than anyone else awake in this land. But surely there's something.]

[ The Iron Islands are a hard place to live. It’s no wonder Theon didn’t feel particularly welcomed when he returned home. ]

You know everything about me.

[ He’s sure of that, even though she really doesn’t. She simply knows more about him than anyone else does. ]

Then ask me something.

[She might always be troubled by the day he pointed out he knew Ramsay better than her. She's tried to be better, in her own little ways, but she still knows far more about him.]

You see, the game is that we take turns asking one another questions. I was going easy on you that turn by letting you volunteer something.

[ He still holds to that. He does know Ramsay better than he knows Claire, but there aren’t many layers to Ramsay, and if they are then they’re hidden beneath the layer that hurts and flays and molds someone to fit a different identity.

He genuinely cannot think of anything to tell her about himself. She and Ramsay both know him too well. Ramsay knows him to the point that it’s uncomfortable, but at least Claire knows him because of what he chose to tell her. ]

Even if it’s a question you won’t like?

[ He's going to be a lil shit. ]

[She'd expect no less. But today is for him, in a way that isn't some sort of medical procedure or erasing some of the physical evidence of what was done to him. So, Claire nods.]

Even if it's a question I won't like. I'll answer.

[He's always been able ask her anything.]

[ He considers for a moment, as though weighing some heavy question in his mind. ]

How many husbands have you had?

[ It's seriously just Theon being a lil shit. ]

[Claire sees that. He knows. She clicks her tongue, and for that, will take a piece of whatever is left of his cupcake.]

Two. You've known that, Theon. Please.

I think you would like the Iron Islands, given a few changes.

[ He doesn’t say why. He simply smirks impishly and chuckles beneath his breath. This is apparently the most hilarious concept to him. ]

I might if it means I get to dunk you into the sea. Brat.

[Only Claire could say that fondly.]

Tell me why.

Only the priests can do that.

[ And his cruel older brothers, all of whom are long dead. Sometimes he forgets just how easily they could easily make a reappearance here. They've been dead to him longer than all the others, and he never did like them very much to begin with. ]

On the Iron Islands, a man can have only one rock wife, but he may have as many salt wives as he pleases.

[ There's a more sinister idea behind it; salt wives are typically women who have been captured on raids, but Balon had no salt wives, and Theon's image of the Iron Islands is still very much one he's crafted from bits and pieces of his childhood. ]

If you're trying to say that I collect husbands like saltwives, you're mistaken.

[She only ever wanted one. Frank, and then that one turned out to be Jamie.

Now, she has none. It's a terribly lonesome feeling, but she's endured decades alone in that regard. It's just more of the same. Though, some part of her wonders if it's not her punishment. All these times torn away from Jamie in one way or another, then reunited, only for the same fucking thing to happen again.

Is it a sign?]

Of course, that isn't what your saying, is it?

[Answer wisely, Theon.]

[ When has he ever done anything wisely? He’s never been married. He’s never even felt that type of love for one person, let alone multiple.

But he neither confirms nor denies, even though he most certainly was saying exactly that. ]

You did say I could ask a question you wouldn’t like.

video | c.fraser

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)