ᴡɪɴᴛᴇʀ ʟɪᴠᴇs ɪɴ ᴍʏ ʙᴏɴᴇs

[wolfchild]

[ She stumbles into snow. The cold slices into her. Soaked, filthy, with travel-stained clothes turned almost to rags on her skinny frame and matted, tangled hair only just growing out again, she looks little like a girl, much less like the missing younger Stark daughter.

She sniffles and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. Her face is uncomfortably hot yet she's freezing. Her shivering near knocks her off her feet as she clambers up the steps. ]

My mother…

[ Arya feels her eyes fill with tears. She was going to find her mother and her brother. She was almost home. It wasn't fair. ]

Comments

[secondchances]

[Steph sits on the floor, arms resting on the edge of the tub.]

Then I'll stay. My time is better spent here, anyway.

[wolfchild]

[ Sticking her head under the spray. ] Why?

[secondchances]

It's either spend time with you, or run errands. Obviously, you're the much better choice. The circumstances could be better, but... well. They'll get better.

[In other words: things will get better, whatever the hell happened.]

[wolfchild]

You won't get a reward.

[ It's a cautious warning. She doesn't think Steph is after money—she couldn't know what Arya was worth, could she?—but it bears stating. She has nothing and no family to be ransomed to. ]

[secondchances]

I'm not looking for a reward.

[Her eyebrows are up.]

This--isn't like that.

[wolfchild]

[ For some reason, the response makes her feel bad. Grabbing the soap, she starts cleaning off weeks of grime. She keeps her eyes on the water swirling dirty around her. ]

[secondchances]

You just looked like you could use someone, in that moment.

[wolfchild]

I don't. I'm fine on my own. If I hadn't been with others, I wouldn't have been caught.

[ It was all Gendry and Hot Pie's fault. But she was the one to drag them out with her. She didn't want to go alone so she made them come. And then they left her. She thought them her pack, but they weren't really. She was left utterly alone and when the castle tired of her here it'd send her back to the dogs.

She scrubs harder at her skin. ]

[secondchances]

Caught by who?

[wolfchild]

You won't know of them. You wouldn't want to.

[secondchances]

Doesn't seem like it.

For what it's worth, I'm sorry about whatever it is that's going on with you. [She's not expecting much from that comment, Damian never took sympathy well, even at his breaking point.] You look like a tough girl, so I'm sure you'll find your way through it.

[wolfchild]

[ It reminds her of what Lady Smallwood told her before she left. It'd have been better if she'd stayed with her at Acorn Hall. Arya only nods and keeps washing. When the water runs mostly clear, she shuts it off. ]

Where's the— [ She looks for a towel. ]

[secondchances]

Towel. [She gets up to grab one, holding it open so Arya can step into it, if she wants. Steph's pretty sure she can wrap it around her like three times, at least.]

[wolfchild]

[ Considering she weighs 90 lbs wet, probably. Arya stands still so Steph can wrap it around her. She bites on her lip as she waits. ]

[secondchances]

[Steph wraps it around her.]

There we go.

[wolfchild]

Are there always clothes in the rooms?

[secondchances]

Not the empty ones. You can wish up something in your size, or I can do it for you.

[Since wishing can have some negative results. Steph tries to avoid it when she can, but she's not that strict with herself, or in unusual circumstances.]

[wolfchild]

I don't like wishing. I'll just get a blanket.

[secondchances]

I'll do the wishing, then. What do you want to wear?

[wolfchild]

Tunic. Breeches.

[secondchances]

[Tunic and breeches coming up. Once they're dropped into Steph's arms, she holds them out for Arya.]

Anything else?

[wolfchild]

[ Arya holds the towel closed to her with one hand and takes the clothes with the other. ]

Smallclothes too, I guess.

[secondchances]

Smallclothes? [But her clothes ARE tiny!]

[wolfchild]

Yes. Smallclothes? You wear them under your clothes.

[ She cants her head. You wear underwear, right, Steph? Is that another thing modern people don't do anymore? ]

[secondchances]

Oh! Oh, we call that underwear in my time. Sorry about that.

[She grins, sheepishly, and wishes them up. Yup, underthings. She hands them to Arya.

And yes. She always wears underwear.]