EVENT: SPACE PIRATES ▒ OXYGEN GARDENS

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: Oxygen Gardens
WARNINGS: Camping.
SUMMARY: Hanging out in camp, discussing pirates, etc.
NOTES: Open to all!

Camping may not be an expected activity on a spaceship, but the gardens are large and have clear, grassy areas for people to gather together. You can help set up tents, inventory supplies or guard the perimeter — just keep an eye out for any strange faces trying to sneak in...

Comments

[wolfdreamer]

[Bran starts when she kicks his foot--and for a moment, he stares at her. He did not expect her to come back, not truly. Perhaps he had hoped, but he knew better than to believe in hopes.

And yet now Arya is here, and he cannot help but to smile as he shifts over as she commands. This is just like the old Arya--not Cat, but Arya Stark at Winterfell, when they would play in the godswood together and run between the trees.

Summer lifts his head when he realizes his sister's presence, and answers her with a little wuff of his own. Bran lays a hand on his direwolf's head, still smiling.]

You came back.

[He is pleased that she is safe, too, and--he looks her over--unharmed, so far as he can tell.]

Did you see the pirates?

[wolfchild]

I said I would.

[ Annoyance lines the words. She glares at Bran out of the corner of her eyes. That he doubted her irritates her some reason she cannot place. ]

I saw some.

[wolfdreamer]

[She is close enough that he could reach over and touch her--but he doesn't, even though he would like to. She would run if he did that. Her glare even feels a little familiar, and he holds to that as he looks over at her, still unable to completely banish his mile from his face.]

Did you only see them, or did you talk with them? Or did you fight them?

[wolfchild]

We talked.

[ She begins snickering to herself. ]

Then a girl hit one with a frying pan. Right in the face.

[wolfdreamer]

A frying pan?

[He looks over to see if she is only saying that to confuse him, to make him look stupid--and she's laughing, but it isn't a mean laugh, and so he begins to smile a little once more.]

That would hurt, even if it was a small pan. Did the pirates run away?

[wolfchild]

Yes. They're craven. I almost hit her with it too after, she would not shut up.

[ She hides her mouth with her hand, but the giggles keep spilling out. ]

You should have seen his face when she hit him. And the others too. They all looked like— [ She makes a stupid, dumbstruck face before dissolving into helpless laughter. ]

[wolfdreamer]

[Bran bursts out laughing at her expression. Perhaps he should try to contain himself--this is a dangerous time--but if the pirates are craven and can be chased off by girls armed only with frying pans, then they are no great threat. And he is too glad of Arya's company and her sharpness to make too much fuss otherwise. She can be cruel, but she is funny when she chooses to be.]

Craven! They must never have expected to be met with-- with a girl armed with a frying pan. They must be running scared still. And scared of you, and of Nymeria too-- [He says that part more loyally, smiling at the direwolf.] But they must be great cowards, to talk so big and run so easily.

[wolfchild]

They were there and then they were gone. I've never seen anyone run so fast. I'd have thought they saw all seven hells open in front of them.

[ She looks down at the wolf too. Nymeria blinks at them both before yawning. Cat nudges her with a foot. ]

She hardly had time to enjoy herself. Didn't you, girl?

[wolfdreamer]

[He laughs again at that description, as he regards Arya with just as much pride as he had Nymeria. She is strong and fierce and clever and quick, and he should not have worried about her--but of course he had, and he will, always. She can't say she is not a wolf. A wolf would be brave like she is. A cat would only run away.]

You both did well, to chase them off. But I am glad that it didn't come to killing the pirates. They are thieves, but craven thieves. There wouldn't be any honor in it.

[And the less violence their direwolves have to work aboard this ship, the better--though he does not say that, lest she think him a craven too. They should protect us, but the people of this ship should not fear them. The good people, anyways.]

Who was the girl with the frying pan?

[wolfchild]

[ Cat shifts to make herself more comfortable. She closes her eyes and sighs. ]

She's here somewhere. She got lost trying to get here so I had to get her unlost. Her name is Rapunzel. She has really long hair. Really long. [ She opens her eyes to squint at the branches. ] If she was standing here, it could loop 'round the highest branches and touch ground again.

[ The hair is also magical. Her hand slides under her back, scratching at scars no longer there. But she promised Rapunzel she would not speak of it so she won't. Not even to Bran. ]

[wolfdreamer]

Rapunzel.

[He repeats the name with some wonder, looking up toward the top of the tree as he tries to imagine such a thing.]

Her hair can't really be that long. What does she do with it when she walks places? Does she carry it in a cart?

[wolfchild]

Hers is. I told her to cut it, but she won't. It just...drags along. Like a train. You'll know her when you see her.

[ And then Bran and Rapunzel unite against her and Arya regrets this conversation, her life and her choices. ]

[wolfdreamer]

[Bran wrinkles his nose as he tries to imagine this--but he gives up after a moment, shaking his head.]

I will wait and see for myself. I'm sure I will see her before very long, if her hair is truly that long.

[SORRY ARYA your life is about to be ruined (8 ]

But it must not hinder her very much, if she can still fight.

[wolfchild]

If you call hiding behind me then leaping out at the closest one fighting.

[wolfdreamer]

Perhaps it wasn't fighting, for true. But she still hit one in the face. That was good.

[He tries to imagine how someone with hair as long as this Rapunzel might hide behind Arya. Surely her hair would get in the way? But he will wait, and see it for himself, and then he will know.]

Did you hit any of them, or did they run away too quickly?

[wolfchild]

[ She shakes her head. ]

I didn't have time.

[wolfdreamer]

[Solemnly, loyally, he nods.]

But you would have, if only they weren't such cowards.

[And she might refuse him--but then again, she seems in a fair enough mood--]

Will you show me your sword?

[wolfchild]

[ The good humor evaporates. Rationally, she knows she has nothing to fear. Bran would not take it. It's only a sword.

But it's not and there's a part of her still afraid she will lose it again. No one knew where she had hidden Needle. She had been certain she was alone. How it came to be here worries her more than finding herself here.

Her fingers touch the pommel, but she does not draw it. She glares at him out the corner of her eyes. ]

[wolfdreamer]

[Her hesitation stings at him, slightly--what reason would she have for hesitating? Because she doesn't trust me, he thinks, and that thought makes him sadder still. They should always trust each other. They are brother and sister, no matter what she says.]

I only want to see. I swear.

[wolfchild]

[ After another long moment, she draws it. Needle is clean, its blade honed to a wicked edge. It doesn't take an experienced eye to see she takes excellent care of it; better, even, than she does herself.

She does not surrender it lightly. Even after she holds it out for Bran to take, she keeps an eye on it. ]

[wolfdreamer]

[When she offers the sword, it is a surprise, and his gaze flicks up to her face first. Her eyes look narrow but her face is pinched with only a little wariness, and so he carefully reaches to take the sword from her, hefting it in his hand. His arm is a little clumsy, he is not used to lifting blades at all, but he does his best.

It is a smaller blade than Robb's or Jon's--but of course it is. They have larger arms, they are able to lift a broadsword. But Arya's sword is slender and clean and sharp, and he turns it so it catches the light.]

It's wonderful.

[wolfchild]

[ Her eyes stray to Mikken's mark. ]

It's mine.

[ She holds out her hand to take it back. ]

[wolfdreamer]

[He looks at it a moment longer--but he is quick to hand it back to her, lest she grow more wary of him. It catches in the light again, and this time he sees that mark on it.]

Where was it made?

[wolfchild]

Don't know.

[ Stupid. She should never have shown it to him. She slips back inside her belt with a little more force than necessary. ]

[wolfdreamer]

[His eyebrows lift a little. This is an easy truth. Will she really keep it from him?]

Then where did you get it from?