01 ❆

[needlebearer]

Who: Arya and YOU
Where: Around Gravity Falls
When: February 8-9th
Rating: G, though will update if this changes
Summary: Arya realises she's not in Westeros any more
The Story:

a) Forest
One minute she'd been on horseback, clinging to Sandor Clegane to stay mounted as they plodded toward the Eyrie. The next she found herself quite alone, in the middle of thick woodland. To say Arya was confused was an understatement, but she'd put that to one side for now as the relief and wariness of being on her own warred in her - she wasn't exactly sorry to be away from the Hound, but she couldn't be sure what was lurking in the trees. As if on cue a twig snaps loudly a little way away, and Arya missed having Needle at her side more than ever.

She makes her way over cautiously, expecting at worst a gang of raiders and at best a small animal she can kill and eat, and is bewildered instead to find a blond teen with the whitest teeth she's ever seen, frolicking about the forest floor like an oversized rabbit. She stares for a long moment, unsure if she's hallucinating, but then the boy locks eyes with her and gives a relaxed, friendly smile before calling to what Arya can only assume are the other members of his pack.

Soon Arya's storming through the trees at quite a speed, looking thoroughly irritated and casting looks over her shoulder to the boy band that's singing and clicking and bopping in time.

"I said stop following me!"


b) Gift Shop
When she comes across the oversized Mystery Shack, Arya darts inside and slams the door behind her, leaning back against the wall while she tries to get her breath back. As she does so, she glances around and takes in the assortment of oddities on display. A jar of eyes stare unblinkingly at her, and it takes her a moment to break her gaze from them, feeling a little unnerved. When she turns away she distracts herself with some of the other curios, turning over plastic tchotchkes in her hands, giggling as she pokes at a bobblehead and watches it wiggle about, staring in confusion at a fish nailed to the wall dressed in bright, odd clothes.

When she hears footsteps she jumps, throwing everything back on the shelf quickly, afraid she'll be accused of trying to steal them.

Comments

[krmvgivv]

"Arya?" He's heard that name, and from someone else from Westeros too. He's been here long enough not to believe in coincidences. "Are you from House Stark? Sansa's sister?"

[needlebearer]

Arya feels the blood drain from her face at mention of her sister's name, and she looks at Dipper as though he's just punched her in the gut. "How do you know that? Is Sansa all right? Is she alive?"

The last Arya had known, she'd been at King's Landing fawning all over her precious Joffrey and seeming not to care what happened to her own family.

[krmvgivv]

"She's fine! She's fine. We're--" he cuts off, face going a little red. "I mean, she's good friends with me and my sister. She told me about you." His expression softens. If there is one thing Dipper understands, it's sibling relationships. Not everyone can have a twin, and even all twins aren't as close as he and Mabel are. But there's no one more important to him than his sister. He can't imagine the same isn't at least a little true for Sansa and Arya.

"She misses you. She'll be really glad to see you."

[needlebearer]

"No she won't," Arya replies, her voice tight and tense. She has no idea what to even say to Sansa; though she's relieved that at least she's still alive, she also feels angry with her sister for all that had happened prior to their father's execution, and even more angry with herself for the vulnerability she feels at the thought of seeing a relation again.

"...How is she? What has she said about ... about our family?" About me, she nearly says, but changes tack at the last.

[krmvgivv]

"She's... good. I know you guys are like, royalty or something." Though Arya sure isn't rocking the princess look like Sansa does. But that makes sense with what she's said of Arya. "Oh, and that more of you guys are alive than you probably thought! Like your brother... uh..." Oh man, a better boyfriend would probably remember all the names of her siblings, but to be fair, she has a lot of brothers. "Bruce? Or something?"

[needlebearer]

"Bran," she corrects sharply, then adds as if by rote, "And Robb and Jon and Rickon." Although she's certain that Sansa will have neglected to mention Jon to anyone, or even acknowledge that they have another brother. Then the gravity of what he's saying hits her and she just stares at him, unable to believe it. "...Bran's alive? And here?"

[krmvgivv]

"Bran." He nods. And tries to commit the other names to his memory as well. "No, not anymore. I mean, he is still alive, I assume! But he left before I even showed up. Sansa just told me about him."

[needlebearer]

"Did she tell you about me?" He knew her name, at least, but she didn't trust Sansa to say anything flattering. In fact given how they parted ways, she doesn't expect anything positive whatsoever.

[krmvgivv]

"Sure, a little bit. She said that--" he pauses and squints at her. "Wait, are you trying to get sibling gossip from me?"

[needlebearer]

Arya's nose wrinkles up at the thought of anything so petty -- and so typically girlish, she reflects, remembering how Sansa and Jeyne as well as the female servants back at Winterfell had always tripped over one another to be the first in line with the latest gossip. "I just want to know what everyone here's going to think of me, before they've even met me." She's certain Sansa won't have said anything very nice, and she doesn't want to deal with everyone jumping to conclusions.

[krmvgivv]

"...oh, you're worried she'd badmouth you?" Dipper blinks, looking... kind of shocked. It doesn't really match the Sansa he knows, who is really sweet and has been great to him and his sister. It also gives him the usual jarring realization that not all siblings are him and Mabel. Logically, he knows it. He's even seen it with his great uncles. But he's never had to worry about what Mabel might say about him. It might be horribly embarrassing, but it wouldn't be bad.

"Well, so far she's told me you're really brave and that I'd like you, so I don't think you've got anything to worry about."

[needlebearer]

Her brow furrows over in confusion. The last thing Sansa would think of her is that she's brave. More like stupid and annoying and an embarrassment to have around. "That doesn't sound like her."

[krmvgivv]

"Really? Cause it's how she's been as long as I've known her." Dipper tucks his hands into his vest pockets, frowning a little. "How long has it been since you last saw her?"

[needlebearer]

Time hadn't really had the same meaning on the road, weeks blurred into months, and even though she remembered it vividly every day, it was difficult to know just exactly how much time had passed since that fateful day at Baelor's Sept. "A year, maybe. Perhaps a little longer."

[krmvgivv]

"And are you the same person you were a year ago?" Dipper knows he sure isn't.

[needlebearer]

"Of course I am." It's an immediate, decisive reply, one she knows to not be true at all. But she's fought so hard to keep her core self, a Stark of Winterfell, alive despite the need to disguise it on her journeys and her fears that she's no longer the honest and honourable person her father would wish her to be, that she can't bring herself to say anything else.

[krmvgivv]

"Really?" Dipper raises an eyebrow. He's changed a lot. But he shrugs. "Well, maybe you don't remember her too well."

[needlebearer]

"She's my sister, of course I remember her." She remembered how devoted she'd been to the monster that killed their father, lied for him and lost her own wolf in the process, remembered how she'd looked at Arya as a source of embarrassment rather than with the affection that Ned and Jon always gave her. "Maybe you don't know her as well as you think you do."

[krmvgivv]

"I know her plenty! We're--" he goes a little red. "Umm... we're, you know..." Dating? Romantically involved? Kind of vaguely seeing each other? Relationships are complicated, especially when you're trapped in another dimension. But this is Sansa's sister. As much as Dipper's tempted to just... super not talk about it, he's already come this far.

He rubs the back of his neck and glances upwards. "Apparently the word in your world is 'courting.' Which makes it sounds way more formal than it is, I mean, that's got all these weird marriage connotations which I am way not ready for, I mean, we're kids. But anyway. Yeah. I know her. For those reasons."

[needlebearer]

Arya wrinkles her nose up at the idea of courting, but then the full impact of what he's said hits her and she bursts out laughing, doubled over and slapping her thigh, as though he's just told her a brilliant joke.

"Sansa's..." she breaks off as another fit of laughter overtakes her, gasping for air. "Sansa and you?"

[krmvgivv]

"What?" Dipper crosses his arms, glaring at her. Something inside him twists because this is honestly how he keeps expecting Sansa to react. He knows by all rights she should be miles out of his league. But she's dating him anyway. She doesn't have to be.

"It's not that funny."

[needlebearer]

She goes on a little longer, wondering when the last time she got to laugh like this was, and enjoying the novelty of it, how light it makes her feel. It's only on seeing how upset Dipper looks that she realises he's deadly serious, and the laughter stops as abruptly as it had come on.

"You're right. I don't know her at all if she'd choose to be with you instead of pining over her Joffrey."

Not least because one look at Dipper told her that he wasn't of the high nobility. She couldn't imagine Sansa sparing him a second glance.

[krmvgivv]

"Joffrey?" It's not a name Sansa's mentioned, though that's not entirely surprsing. He knows her past has been rough, and he hasn't pried too much, partly cause he doesn't want to bring up painful memories, partly because everything he's heard has been terrible enough that he's a little afraid of what he might find.

"And come on, I'm not that bad. Um. Am I?" Wait, when was the last time he showered?

[needlebearer]

Arya's surprised that she hadn't mentioned Joffrey, thinking she'd brag about her betrothal to the King. She felt a great deal of satisfaction at the thought that she might be ashamed of her conduct and her former allegiance, followed by the bitterness of knowing it's too little too late.

She doesn't have much in the way of tact, but there's enough to know that she shouldn't be the one to explain things that Sansa has kept hidden, and that Dipper should ask her about Joffrey, about all of it.

"You're the sort of person that I would have made friends with, while she stood and watched embarrassed that I would give you the time of day." Harsh? Maybe a little. True? Undeniably.

[krmvgivv]

"Really? Cause she's never been anything but nice to me and you've been laughing at me for like a minute." Dipper scowls, crossing his arms over his chest. "Maybe you're not the kind of person I'd make friends with."

Honestly, she does seem like the sort of person he'd make friends with, besides the fact that she's wounded his pride. She seems interesting, and Dipper always likes interesting people.

"Is this cause I'm not royalty or whatever? Cause she said that doesn't matter."