03 ❆ Her sister had known all the songs, and she could even play a little, and sing so sweetly.

[needlebearer]

Who: Arya and OPEN
Where: Around the mansion
When: June 1
Rating: PG for now?
Summary: Arya finds out Sansa is gone, and doesn't take it well
The Story:

a) Sansa's (former) room
She was reluctantly beginning to accept that she'd been avoiding Sansa far too much. Arya had got the bare bones of what had befallen her in Westeros since that fateful day at Baelor's Sept, but she hadn't prodded her with further questions, partly because she knew the memories would be painful for her sister; partly - and it took a lot for her to admit this to herself - because her own image of Sansa having a grand old time sipping tea and nibbling on lemon cakes with the Queen had long become a sort of shield for her, made her able to pity her own situation in a way she couldn't otherwise allow herself to do. But they were here now, both of them together, and they were going to have to get along. Maybe Dipper was right and Sansa had grown up. Maybe she had too. There was only one way to find out.

She heads over to Sansa's room unannounced, the balls of wool she'd retrieved as her prize in the Deep Roads tucked under one arm, thinking how deft her sister was with the other sort of needle and wondering if she might like to make something with the brightly coloured yarn. She knocks, but there's no answer. Gingerly pushing the door open, Arya finds the room deserted, as though Sansa's never been there at all. The yarn tumbles from her grasp and rolls away down the corridor, unravelling colours that seem far too bright now.

Her sister is gone.


b) Around the mansion and grounds
Perhaps she's just decided to move rooms, Arya thinks. She could be anywhere. She'll likely turn the next corner and see her standing there, that familiar look of consternation crossing her features as she regards Arya's dishevelled appearance and her boyish hair and the axe that hangs at her side. She searches high and low, resolving to leave no stone unturned, poking her head into people's bedrooms and even beginning to look in closets and under tables in her desperation. This had to be some sort of sick joke. They wouldn't reunite her with Sansa just to take her away again, would they?


c) Training room
The reality has begun to sink in now. Arya is stuck here, alone again, and Sansa has returned to Westeros to -- to what? Live out her days pretending to be Littlefinger's bastard? The thought made her burn with an impotent rage, knowing how debased Sansa would feel, knowing there's nothing she can do about it.

She shows no mercy to the training dummy she's attacking, the look on her face positively vicious as she channels her anger into whacking away at it, both with the axe and her bare fists. There's no technique in her movements at all, she's not really concentrating on training at all, she just needs to get some of the anger out of her system. Every time she strikes true she recites a name, something she's fallen out of practice of doing since she got here, but now once again the names are all that's left to her.

"Joffrey. Cersei. Walder Frey. Meryn Trant. Tywin Lannister. The Red Woman. Beric Dondarrion. Thoros of Myr. Ilyn Payne. Polliver. The Mountain. The Hound." And another name, tacked on the end and said with even more venom. "The Queen of Hearts."

Comments

[goeth]

Bonnie nods, adding it to the little list of knowledge she has about the girl. She's not sure she should ask after Sansa's name-- since she keeps reading Arya's hesitation as more of a stranger-danger effect rather than ignorance.

"Well, if you checked her room, and she's not answering her phone..." Ugh, this sucks. "I hate to say it but she might have been sent back home. But-- let's at least keep walking around. Would that be OK?"

[needlebearer]

She nods eagerly, glad to find someone at least willing to humour her here, although she knows deep down that Sansa must be gone. "If you don't mind. I don't want to interrupt..." she glances down at the flower bed, unsure of how to describe it, "...whatever that was."

[goeth]

"Oh-- I was just practicing, it's fine. I need to stretch my legs anyway." The bag slings over Bonnie's shoulder with practiced ease and she moves to walk with Arya and keep her eyes peeled.

"Were you going to circle the grounds?"

[needlebearer]

"Yes, just to have a look." Although Sansa definitely wouldn't be hiding in the bushes. It was just too painful for Arya to admit that she was alone all over again, and in a completely different world this time to boot. "I don't know if there are any good hiding spots out here."

[goeth]

Bonnie moves with Arya, keeping her eyes peeled for a flash of red, even if it's clear Arya herself doesn't believe. She'd even offer to perform a locator spell, but maybe this is the only closure the girl will get.

Who is Bonnie to deny her?

"We should definitely look through the maze. I've gotten lost in there before..."

[needlebearer]

"Is that the hedge path?" She'd never seen a maze before arriving here, though she quite liked the idea of hiding in wait until people ventured in to spring out at them at a dead end. "Why would she want to go in there?"

[goeth]

"It's a good place to be alone, if you don't want to be inside. That's why I go, anyway." Is that not good logic? Bonnie will leave it up to Arya to decide...

[needlebearer]

"Do you ever get lost in there?" She could imagine Sansa wandering around in circles for hours, and decides it's probably a good place to check after all.

[goeth]

"Oh yeah. But it just gives me the chance to practice finding my way out. It's kind of backwards, I guess-- when I'm worrying about too many other things, getting lost in the hedge helps me." She's starting to sound like a crazy person, isn't she?

[needlebearer]

Arya shrugs, not really getting it. "If I'm worrying about too many things, I find something to hit until it goes away." The training facilities here were a godsend for her stress relief. "But it sounds like the sort of thing Sansa might do to sort out problems. It's worth a try."

[goeth]

The hitting comment gets a bemused look from Bonnie, and she can't help it. She needs to know more.

"What kind of things do you normally hit?" Is Bonnie in danger of being hit by a small, hyper-rational little girl?

[needlebearer]

"Here, I tend to go down to the gym and whack at the training dummies." She's still impressed there's an entire room for that here that she's not chased out of for being a young lady. "Before, it was usually a tree."

[goeth]

"Really? You punch trees?" Bonnie's heard of some pretty bad ass people in Wonderland, but there's nothing like hearing someone say they beat up trees when they get upset.

She rubs at her knuckles, just at the thought!