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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 15, 2018 17:09:23 GMT -7
It was strange to think that she was sitting here opposite him again, how long had she imagined this happening? How long had she hoped to see him again? For him to walk back in her life like he never left it? But here they were sitting and drinking tea and all she could think about was the fact that she had to find a husband how everything had changed for the both of them. Mia had been forced to grow up the day that Ro had left. In the end she had quickly became a Princess, there was no point in fighting against it anymore when her best friend had left her.
He then asked her what was new and she was quickly pulled away from her thoughts and to the room they were in. "Oh" she said and grabbed her tea before taking another sip of it. "I have new gowns now, I'm getting ready for my next name day and my mother is trying to find me a husband" she said the last bit quickly and took another sip of tea but even with the quickness she knew he had heard her, knew that he would probably laugh at her with a husband. This was from the girl that had poked her tongue out after they had kissed once and promised never to do it again.
But at the same time she did like to boss men around so she would probably do well with her husband, whoever it may be. "So what is new with you? Other than the fact you look completely different from the last time I saw you" she admitted and put her cup back down before leaning both arms on the table, it was considered rude but honestly she didn't care.
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Post by Ray on Jan 15, 2018 22:23:30 GMT -7
Ro sips at his tea as Mia takes a moment to think before she replies, keeping the news short and brief and to the point. A smile tugs at his lips at how simple her new gowns sound, as if only a few days had passed since they last saw one another rather than half a decade, but he nearly chokes as the word husband suddenly falls from her lips, the tea catching in his throat, forcing him to cough between tightly closed lips only grateful the tea didn't come out through his nose.
A great part of him knows he should not have been so surprised, not by this. Amelia is a princess after all, heir to what's left of the Northern regions of Westeros and a Stark. He's sure lords have had their eyes on her since she could walk, the prospect of future ties with the future Northern Queen more appealing than just about anything in the midst of a dying country. But he still remembers her as a child. Wild and carefree and hitting him with a stick. The thought of a husband soon attached to her arm doesn't quite connect.
He swallows, painfully, as Mia directs the question back at him in an effort to avoid the previous subject. Ro sets the cup down and presses his fist to his mouth, giving another tight, subtle cough to clear his throat. "I've...I'm..." He begins, shaking his head once and setting his dark blue eyes back upon her. It's clear she does not want to speak about the impending list of betrothals, but looking at her, he realizes just how clear it is that she hasn't heard. Her expression is curious and eager, and that plus her surprise at seeing him in this state...
Maybe none of that news ever reached the Westerosi shore. Maybe he should be glad of that.
"Grew a beard," Ro finally says, clearing his throat and sitting a little straight as he sets his hand at his jaw and gives the short growth of hair there a comical stroke, "Fought a...bear or two. Don't have any parents trying to marry me off, or at least that I know of. A husband, then?" Ro asks, looking at her with raised brows, changing the subject back again. A smile cracks across his mouth, "What are the options? The...Duke of Cranberry Sauce?"
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 15, 2018 22:55:41 GMT -7
Mia started to frown when he started to choke, she wasn’t sure just what it had been that had made him start to cough but whatever it was she put her hand out towards him and then after a while he was able to clear his throat. If it was down to the comment of her mother finding a husband for the young princess then it really shouldn’t be that surprising.
No doubt marriages were being arranged just after the war with the South had ended, and when she was finally back in her mothers arms. Mia knew about the fact her aunt Cersei who everyone had said was a big mad had taken her from a secret family who had looked after her while her mother and Jon had gone to war. There had been so many different stories of Cersei but they all lead to the fact that she was mad.
It wasn’t surprising, sometimes her mother could come over a little bit strange but she came to expect that from the woman who still looked like Mia’s sister rather than the woman who had brought her into the world.
She cleared her mind of that and looked back at Ro when he spoke about the fact that he had grown a beard, fought a bear and didn’t have a parent who was trying to marry him of, to which there was a part of her that felt good by that news. These two different people had been friends for a long time and then she had felt something a little more towards him when she was in her teens but she knew that she couldn’t ever tell him. Couldn’t ever have anything more progress.
Mia sighed when he spoke about her getting a husband and honestly she didn’t want to think about him. “More like a Lord who looks like a horse, everytime he laughs his mouth opens wide and his teeth show and it reminds me of the horse my parents gave me when I was younger” she always called Jon one half of her parents because even though she was Robb Starks daughter it had been Jon Snow who had brought her up and she was sure that he nearly had tears in his eyes when she called him father for the first time.
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Post by Ray on Jan 15, 2018 23:25:34 GMT -7
Ro snorts out a laugh, picturing this horsey lord in his minds eye like some grotesque caricature. Mia seems so aggravated by the very idea of this man, so much like her younger self, that he finds it hard not to get some amusement from it. "Well, that makes the wedding feast much easier to decide upon. Just bring in a crate of apples and a few bales of hay." He teases, a wry smile finding its way to his mouth as he watches her, half expecting her to chide him like she used to or even splash her tea in his face. Both of which he would probably deserve for that joke.
But he lets the smile simmer down faintly as he reaches out with a hand to lazily twist the cup of tea round in slow circles, keeping his dark blue eyes upon her face. "But if he's that annoying, send him away disappointed." He says, returning to seriousness and inclining his head a degree to the side. "I'm sure for a woman of your status, the list of options has to be long. Horse-lordling can't be the cream of the crop." Or so he hopes. But he knows nothing of what truly remains of this country. From what's been told, the war destroyed a great number of the houses -- leaving only those who could hide within their walls when the slaughter came, which wasn't many. And even more have died since then, killed by old age or mutinies or people trying to seize what little power still remains.
Even Sansa had to marry a man from Rohan.
"But not that I would know," Ro comments, shrugging a shoulder and glancing down to his cup.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 15, 2018 23:39:29 GMT -7
Mia picks up her tea and is in the middle of taking a sip when Ro speaks about apples and hay and she snorts and almost chokes on her tea. In fact she had to put the cup down and check see if she has any tea on her gown but thankfully not. When had this become what she was now? This was a woman who loved to run in the mud and lay in the grass. Amelia was never like this but sadly she had grown up. Grown up to be a princess in all of the meaning of the word.
“I have put him off twice and if I stay long enough then I’m sure a third and final time will make it so that he doesn’t come back” she said and grinned at him. “This is all my life is now, Ro, finding a husband. I’m not as fun as I once was” she admitted and shrugged up her own shoulder. Her dark hair tickled her and she moved it away from her face to against her back.
“We had the best times growing up but I can’t be like that anymore, I have to assume the role that I was given at birth and that is a Stark and a Princess. No I don’t like it and I have put it off for so long but the future of my family line is at stake if I don’t marry I have to make sure that at least some part of my family survives” she knew that marrying into a family would mean her taking the males name but she needed to make sure that a part of her side of the Stark family lived on.
Mia watched him and remembered there had been times when in her teens she’s had wondered if there could be more between them, maybe if her mother saw how much they cared about each other then one day in the future she would let them marry but after he left she gave that up and put all of those thoughts aside.
She put him aside and moved on.
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Post by Ray on Jan 15, 2018 23:56:58 GMT -7
"Third time's the charm," Ro replies with a half grin, lifting his tea cup as if it were a pint of ale ready to toast. But as he moves the cup back to his mouth, ready to finish off the last few dregs, Mia continues speaking. And Ro finds his smile slowly fading.
He's well aware of the universal truth that women in this world don't have the same opportunities as men. He's seen it, time and time again, in different ways. Especially for poorer women of simpler means. They are mothers and wives, servants and tavern girls and whores, always reliant on the men in their lives to give them some semblance of the life they want. While their husbands and their fathers and their sons run off to wars, to other women's beds, to do as they please, they are left behind with this hanging matronly duty over their heads. And though he feels it's more prevalent here in Westeros than Rohan, he knows that his home is not all that better.
But hearing Mia talk this way, as if there is no other way, not even for her, leaves a sour taste in his mouth.
"Now," he begins, leaning forward to set the cup down and rest his forearms upon the table, blue eyes back upon her face, "That's not something I expected Wild Amelia to say in a hundred years. I always expected you to pick up a sword before I ever did."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 16, 2018 0:13:58 GMT -7
While Amelia was growing up there wasn’t a lot of stress on her shoulders because she was a young girl but as soon as she reached the age of teen hood there was definitely a lot riding on her shoulders. Her mother wanting her to make the best impressions and she had fought her every way that she could. Sometimes to the amusement of her father but in the end she gave in and took up the role in which would secure a future for her.
She saw the look on his face and honestly she want sure what it was and before she could ask her eyes dropped down to his arms and she chewed on her lip because she was now imagining what it would feel like to be in those arms, to have them around her and holding onto her. To what they would feel like having them around her while they were in bed holding on to her as they moved together in rhythm and at that thought she cleared her throat and looked down to her tea. A princess must never think of those things.
But a woman always did.
She slowly lifted her eyes up when he spoke and a smile pulled at her lips. “Some people said that I was like my Aunt Arya, she was a bit of a wild child and was forever running off and getting into trouble.” She said and nodded. Arya was another Stark she wished she had met because Mia was sure that Arya would’ve shown her a few things too.
“I’m surprised you can even lift a sword with those little arms that you had” she said around the rim of her teacup and then finished up the drink inside before smiling at him once more. It was odd to think that these two had been childhood friends but they were and they only relied on each other as they walked through fields or ran through the halls of Durinhall or even making a mess at Bilbo’s house. Those times were the best and now she was here stuck with her mother breathing down her neck about making an announcement for her engagement.
Then she said something that even surprised her. “Did you think of me? Did you even miss me?” She said and watched him. Amelia wasn’t sure shs had the right to say that but she wanted to ask either way and look him in the eyes as he finally not answered questions that she had wondered for a very long time.
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Post by Ray on Jan 16, 2018 18:56:43 GMT -7
Robin smiles faintly, at least relieved to know that she hasn't dismissed those years running wild in the hills of Ash or leaping into drifts of snow or hiding in the darkened corridors of Durinhall. It's at least reassuring that Amelia hasn't changed so much that those memories no longer come with a hint of happy nostalgia. But even so, she has changed. In more ways than one. The first he noticed as soon as he saw her just within the hall, Mia no longer that little girl in dusty, torn skirts. She'd grown far more beautiful that he remembers -- hair laid perfectly down her back, gowns pressed finely. She looks more like her mother, more refined, more noble.
But she talks more like the girls she'd scoff at when they were younger. The little ladies, with their sewing and their fretting and their dreams of duty. There is nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with wanting to be a princess.
But it's not the Mia he remembers.
He looks down to the table and clears his throat, shaking his head slightly and those thoughts free from his mind as well. "Not so little anymore." He comments, cracking a half smile as he brings his dark blue eyes back to her face. With his right arm exposed, the muscles that give them shape are also exposed, built from years of hardship. A few healed scars mark along his bicep, like jagged claws.
Ro's smile fades once more when Mia abruptly changes the subject with a question, catching him off guard. His dark brows press close as he looks at her, wondering why she would even question that. "Of course I-"
"Little Robin!" A voice suddenly booms into the hall, breaking the silence that had filtered in around them, bringing back the noises of the castle, the footfalls of the servants, and, most importantly, the sight of big red-haired man stomping into the Great Hall. He hadn't changed at all in the years since Ro has seen him last, save for the grey now streaking his ruddy beard and hair. He walks towards where they sit with a big grin and his arms held out wide.
"Tormund!" Ro smiles again, leaning off of the table to rise slowly to his feet. Tormund looks him over, surprise bouncing his brows high.
"Oh. You got to be a big bastard." Tormund snorts, before grabbing Ro in a bear hug so tight he's nearly lifted off his feet and squeezes the air out of his lungs. "What they feedin' you in Rohan?"
"Easy, easy, my ribs." Ro strains to say. But Tormund gives him another, tighter squeeze and a bounce before he lets Ro go. Stars dance in the edges of his vision.
"Let me look at you, Champion." Tormund grins, setting his big meaty palms of Ro's shoulders and pushing him back so he stands at arm's length from the wildling. Ro clears his throat faintly at the slipped name, glancing briefly towards Mia before setting his eyes back upon the red-haired man. "Ack. Just like Snow. Pretty armor."
"We all can't look good in four layers of furs like you, Giantsbane."
Tormund gives a low laugh and winks at Ro. "Fuckin' right, you are."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 16, 2018 22:22:02 GMT -7
"No," she commented after him "not so little anymore" she watched him and then slowly looked down at the table. Things were changing so fast that sometimes it scared her. When she was younger Mia didn't want to grow up, didn't want to rush herself into being a Princess but now she was sat here in the gowns that she would have turned her nose up with hair that she never would've kept tidy. Maybe things weren't changing, maybe they were still the same but she had changed. Maybe it was Mia growing up.
Ro was about to speak when they were interrupted by a voice and she moved her eyes away from him and over to the third person that had come into the room. Uncle Tormund had been around for as long as she could remember. Growing up she had gained a lot of family members but she guessed that was down to their connection with her father. There were times when Tormund would swear around her and would have Katherine chastise him and his answer would be "Well she has to learn it sometime", it would make her eyes roll before telling Mia not to actually use those words but it never worked. She had grown up knowing a lot of words that a little girl probably shouldn't but that didn't make her any less of a Stark just because she did know them.
Mia watched her uncle walk over to where they were and then Ro stood to his feet before he was being engulfed by the giant man. It had been then when all the sounds of the castle had filtered in through her hearing and she had been lost from the moment with Ro but then there was something that caught her hearing and she raised up an eyebrow before setting her blue eyes on Tormund and saying "Champion? Of the bears that he fought? You never said that you were the champion" she said and moved her eyes from her giant uncle and over to Ro, her eyebrow still raised.
"He needs that pretty armour to protect him from all of those women" a smirk pulled at the corner of her lips and she poured herself another cup of tea. "Being a champion and all" she teased softly.
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Post by Ray on Jan 16, 2018 22:43:29 GMT -7
Tormund claps his palm roughly on the unarmored shoulder, reminding Ro all at once why he had been so intimidated by the wildling as a child. Even still, the man is a great giant -- though he's more belly now than Ro remembers -- and to a kid from Ash, such a man was terrifying. Loud and roguish and never without an ax at least attached to his hip. Even now, he carries a small hand-ax at his belt, as if he plans to leave the hall and find some wood to chop. Or some heads.
But at Mia's question, Tormund lifts his brows and looks to her. "Bears?" He guffaws in amusement, lifting his palm to smack lightly at Ro's cheek to the same beat of his rough, deep laugh. "From what I've heard, bears were the least of this boy's fuckin' troubles."
"Have to watch out for those trees as well." Ro says quickly, cracking a forced smile and keeping his unyielding eyes locked on Tormund.
The man might be from the wilds of the North, scarcely knowing how to read other than the few short, recognizable words taught to him when his patience would allow it, but he's a smart man. Smarter than most, particularly in the ways of killing. But Tormund notices the look, and Ro sees a flicker of curiosity and recognition in his fading enthusiasm.
"Ah...right," Tormund says, slowly, tipping his chin upwards and narrowing his small eyes, "You small-folk never quite get the hang of things that stand taller than you, do ye'?" Tormund laughs again, playing along, giving Ro's head a light push. Ro rolls his eyes, exhaling a steady breath, just as unsure as Tormund why he's playing his charade. Maybe it's a little bit of comfort speaking to someone who doesn't know. Maybe it's a guilty want to still be the boy she remembers from long ago. But in just a fraction of a second, Tormund is latching on to Mia's tease and letting loose a long and loud laugh, "Little Robin? Women? Is that why you've got all these pokey's and hair?" He teases, flicking the iron plates on Ro's left arm and then motioning towards the short beard. "You're goin' to have to grow it out longer if you want to make any kind of impression."
"I'll heed that advice." Ro replies in a resigned sigh.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 16, 2018 23:00:02 GMT -7
Mia honestly didn't know what to make of these two, they were so complete opposites but maybe that is what made them so great. Uncle Tormund continued to have his fun with Ro and she rolled her eyes when he said about the trees but again she must admit that when she had fallen from a tree just outside of Ash, it did hurt. She guessed that Ro wasn't the hard man that he looked if he still had to protect himself from the trees.
Tormund spoke about the fact that Ro was small-folk and honestly she raised an eyebrow at that because now he stood taller than she did, there had always been a height difference even when they were children but now it was like he had grown so much in the time he was away and she was still stuck at the same height, it made her feel self-conscious about the fact that now he could probably tease her for her height. Would they still go back to the same way they were? Or did things change so much in the time that he had been gone that it changed their friendship too?
Mia couldn't ask mostly because there was a part of her that didn't want to know because she wasn't sure she could actually survive that too. Tormund spoke about Ro's beard and how that he needed to grow it out if he wanted to make an impression and she looked over his face and before she could even stop herself Mia was speaking. "I don't think he needs to make it longer, I think it looks good as it is" she said and let her blue eyes stay on his for a moment before she cleared her throat and dropped her eyes away to look at Tormund "I mean Uncle, no one can pull off a beard as great as yours" she smiled and then looked down too.
Her heart was pounding hard in her chest and she took another sip of tea to hide the fact that at this very moment the words that had been said was the last things she had meant to say but for some reason her words kept coming out before she can even stop them. Maybe she just found it easier to talk with Ro around again or maybe... just maybe... She didn't want to think about that. Didn't want to think that she felt anything like that for her childhood friend especially when she knew that nothing could come of it.
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Post by Ray on Jan 16, 2018 23:24:13 GMT -7
Ro gives a small smile, his blue eyes turning towards Mia, when she interrupts Tormund's goading. The comment is innocent enough, a nice way of sparing him from the wildling's joy at teasing him as he always has, but Ro is not blind to the way she clears her throat and looks away, quick to add on a complimentary comment thrown in Tormund's way.
Or perhaps he's letting himself see what he wants.
Tormund lets a short laugh rumble low in his throat before he's patting Ro's cheek once again, more fondly this time. "He'll get there one way." And then the man winks. Dropping his hand from Ro's face, he sucks in a deep breath. "Well. Wife's waiting. Just had to see Little Robin Returned, myself." Tormund says, sidestepping calling him champion. "Don't fuckin' leave again without saying your goodbyes." Tormund adds on in half a threat, pointing a meaty finger right in Ro's face.
"I won't." Ro replies with a small nod.
"You better not." Tormund huffs. He turns his eyes towards Mia, tips his chin as politely as he can, and says, "Princess," with another wink. And then, straightening his belt, he turns and stomps back out of the Great Hall.
Ro watches after him for a moment, letting his shoulders drop an inch as the tenseness releases. Shaking his head, he sighs long and low, before turning in half a step to look back at Mia. "I should probably expect more greetings like that throughout the day." He says in a slight laugh. He had not told anyone other than his fathers that he was traveling to Winterfell, not even sending a letter to the Queen herself in advance. But the royal seal of Eoin still sits in his pouch, should he need it.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 16, 2018 23:41:06 GMT -7
Mia smiles when Tormund laughs before she chews on her lip, she's aware that Ro is watching her and for a moment she's tempted to look at him but she's not sure what she would see if she did. Would there be something in his eyes that made fun of her because she was being complimentary? Or would there be something else? Something that neither of them could do anything about. Either way she kept her eyes away from him for a moment.
Then Uncle Tormund made Ro promise not to leave without saying goodbye and she knew that at some point she would have to say goodbye to him again today but there was another part of her that was tempted to hide him away in her room so that her mother wouldn't find him for a while, she didn't want to share him with anyone until they had properly caught up on everything.
Tormund tipped his chin towards her and then spoke before winking and she smiled and tipped her head before watching as Tormund walked out of the Great Hall and left the two of them alone again. From what she had heard about Brienne and Tormund's relationship it had been a rocky one in the beginning with the lady knight not wanting to give into the red headed giant but in the end she did and finally they got married. Winterfell hasn't ever thrown a bigger party according to her mother, it even beat the day that her mother came to Winterfell with her father all of those years before.
"Well they are surprised to see you alive, so they might come up to you" she said moving her eyes over to look at him. She chewed on her lip once more and pushed the tea away from herself and got up. "Let's go for a walk" she said softly and smiled. Even if they wandered around the castle, even if they got outside of the castle and just got lost for a moment at least it would be the two of them again.
Just like old times.
Mia wanted for him to collect his blade before they set off in a walk. "You see surprised that I had changed" she said after a moment of silence.
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Post by Ray on Jan 17, 2018 0:04:59 GMT -7
Ro smiles faintly, looking down for a moment. He'd returned home to Ash little over a month ago, and still he is not used to it. The surprise, the looks. He knows that most of it is based solely on his appearance, his armor, his great sword. Most of the people he sees on the streets have no idea who he is or where he came from, only seeing a man dressed for a fight like the sky itself might rain down upon their heads. But the few who do... the few who whisper behind cupped hands, who give him guarded looks, who stare with wide eyes...
He would be lying if he said that that was not what he hoped for when he left all those years ago, the desire to be a hero, to live up to his father's name, to be something more driving him out into the night. But he would also be lying if he said he truly thought he would ever be here, like this. Even before he'd packed his bag for the road ahead, he'd known his fate would likely result in death and stupidity.
He's just as surprised to still be alive.
He should have died more than a few times.
She breaks the moment of silence, drawing his eye when she rises to her feet suddenly. Ro's brows bounce upwards at the request, but Mia leaves him very little chance to question or argue. Not that he planned to. "As you wish," Ro replies, stepping forward. He reaches out out with a hand, grabbing hold of his spear-sword with a sure grip. And, with the same fluidity as before, he extends it out wide to the side and spins it back round, sliding the blade into the sheath across his back with a careful click. And then he follows.
The quiet lingers for another moment, Ro walking along her side, letting his blue eyes skim over the walls and floors once more until they step out into the daylight. He looks towards her when she speaks once more, arching a dark brow.
"So do you," he replies, smiling around the edges of his mouth.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jan 17, 2018 0:24:02 GMT -7
Mia had to admit that she definitely was surprised that he had changed, there were times when she would sit and wait for him to walk through the gates of Winterfell but he never did, until today. They stepped out into the sun and she looked up at the sky for a moment before looking at him the silence had lingered between them again and then she sighed.
"It's been years that we've been friends and we've gone through everything together and then... suddenly you're gone and it feels like all of that had been a dream" she said and then started walking again with him at her side "then suddenly you come back into my life and I've not been the wild child I used to be for a very long time and you're not the skinny boy that I remember either and it just feels like we're heading in two different directions and who knows maybe that is where we've been heading all along" she finally looked up at his face as they stopped again.
For a long time it felt like Ro had been her right hand man, they played together, laughed together and would argue when he didn't do what she had told him to do. He would stomp off in the direction of Bilbo's house and they were friends made in heaven and for a while after he had left she had tried to find someone new to talk too, someone who would enjoy being her friend but most of it just felt forced so in the end she finally gave into being a Princess, to wearing the pretty dresses and the smiles and having her hair brushed.
It felt like she was breaking from him, like their friendship stopped the day he walked out of her life for whatever reason and it hurt her to think that. It hurt to think that maybe it was all over especially when she had cared about him so deeply.
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