(Untitled)

[practiced]

DATE: November 4th, midday.
CHARACTER(S): Sansa Stark and anyone who happens across her | OPEN
SUMMARY: Question: how does a medieval princess adapt to life on the prairie? Answer: not very well.
LOCATION: Independence, Missouri.
WARNINGS: Curtseying. Lots of curtseying.
FORMAT: Paragraph to start. Responders get to pick their poison!

Comments

[no2ndbreakfast]

At first, Pippin hadn't realized the landscape had changed. He'd been sleeping in a fine tent, provided by the Elves as they all journeyed back to their homes. Elrond and his household would return to Rivendell, and the Hobbits and Gandalf would travel on to the Shire

[practiced]

It was from a distance that Sansa spotted a small cloaked figure pull himself up into the back of her throat. Immediately, she froze and tasted fear upon her tongue. There was only one man she knew that cast such a short and stunted silhouette: the Hand of the King, Tyrion Lannister himself, the one they called the Imp. Sansa's heart sunk, a leaden weight in her chest. Surely if Tyrion was here, the Joffrey, his king, could not be far. For a long while, Sansa did nothing but hide behind the prow of a particularly large and unwieldy-looking wagon, a shawl pulled up over her bright red hair so as to keep from garnering too much attention.

She watched as she hid, and waited, and only after it became clear that no Lannister guards accompanied him did Sansa emerge. If they discover me hiding, they will only punish me more, she told herself. Perhaps if I make myself eager and glad of our reunion, they will show me a mercy.Hesitantly, she approached the back of her wagon, pausing only to make note of the 'S' that Jack Kelly had

[no2ndbreakfast]

Pippin had been dozing off again when he heard the voice coming from outside. It could have been meant for anyone, but he felt it was being directed towards him, so he was quick to hop up and hurry to the open back, popping out his head.

There a lovely young woman there, wearing a wardrobe similar to what he'd seen in Minas Tirith. Settling his arms upon the wooden back, he grinned.

"I am sorry, my lady, but I am not this lord of whom you speak. Peregrin Took is my name, though most call me Pippin. And who might you be?"

[practiced]

Twin ripples of confusion and relief disturbed the fine prettiness of Sansa's face as she was met by no Lannister lord but a person of dwindled stature who was neither imp nor child. In her chest her heart leapt and sang out with a cry of you are still free and its song was so strongly heard by Sansa that her face flushed and her eyes grew wet, though she forbid herself to cry. One of her delicate hands clutched at her skirt. Poise and grace, she reminded herself and then lifted her chin. Her bright red hair shone as she slipped the scarf from her shoulders and held it loosely by her side.

"I am Sansa Stark, daughter of Eddard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell. And you, Peregrin Took-" She lifted her eyebrows now, though she felt too much mirth to be properly sharp. "-are in my wagon."

[no2ndbreakfast]

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Sansa," Pippin replied, though he looked rather abashed. "I am terribly sorry for the mistake. I thought perhaps my friend Sam carved his initial here."

Quickly, he climbed over the edge and made he way down, large hairy feet dangling until he let go and landed soundly on both.

Then he turned towards her, smiling kindly before giving a bow. "At your service, my lady."

[practiced]

How very odd, Sansa thought, bending now at the waist so that she and the small man named Pippin were once again eye-to-eye. Never before had she met such a person, so dwindled and size and yet untwisted; his mouth did not curl unnaturally nor did his eyes bulge. No, in fact, Peregrin Took's face was quite sweet, given its size and proportion. She wondered if perhaps he was not just some clever child with overgrown feet. Asking, however, was nothing short of rude, so she bit her tongue instead.

"I have walked among the carts and made acquaintance with some of the other travelers. Many find themselves lost and without their companions from home. Forgive me, but I heard no mention of a 'Sam' in all of my wanderings. It is possible, Peregrin Took, that you are to face the trail without him."

[no2ndbreakfast]

Pippin was disappointed, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd been separated from his friends.

"I wonder for what purpose we have all been brought here," he mused, crossing his arms and tapping a foot on the ground, mulling it over.

Noting the cuff on his wrist now that his arms were crossed, he held it out.

"Oh! Do you know the meaning behind this strange thing?"

[practiced]

"Oh, yes!" Sansa quickly exclaimed, eager to offer what little information she had already gleaned during her time awake. She paused only once to consider how to continue - whether Pippin would be best served with her stooped low as she already was or if it were better to kneel instead. In the end, she chose the later, rearranging her skirts neatly beneath her so as to not dirty them too badly. The morning's mud had dried to dust in the midday sun and so there was less risk at ruining the fine cloth.

Kneeling then, she extended her arm and peeled back her sleeve to show her own cuff to him. "It is a binding of some sort, they say that it is not to be removed, nor can it be. Some say 'science' and others 'magicks' but whatever the means, it allows you to speak to others who have been taken. See now how I can make it talk?"

With the press of a few buttons the screen winked to life and its speakers sputtered, the voice of a young woman declaring: " I have been given this device. Whoever has a corresponding one, tell me where I

[no2ndbreakfast]

Pleased that not only she knew what it was for, but also that she was so willing to share her knowledge with him without calling him a fool, Pippin listened eagerly to her explanation, jolting in surprise as the voice came through.

"Stars above!" he exclaimed. One could hear a person that wasn't right there with them! Without meaning to, Pippin thought back to the palantír and how it could show a person far off places and one could hear the voice of another with a palantír echo within their head.

"Is it evil?" he asked warily.

[practiced]

Sansa saw how the voice startled him and quickly clamped a hand over her chattering shackle, muffling the voice that came from it with the flat of her palm. There were those among the strangers that did not like magic and others that thought themselves cursed; she hoped that Pippin was not among them, for fear that she had somehow offended him by making the heavy cuff speak.

Fumbling with the buttons, she hurried to switch it off again.

"There is no way to be certain." She mumbled out an apology. "But they have brought together many who have gone searching for their companions. And more still have found some comfort in knowing they are not alone in their plight."

Lifting her wrist, she studied the cuff again dumbly and then dropped her hand to her side once more. "It does not seem evil to me, but truly most evil things in the world never do. They are honey sweet and radiant in face - alls the better to hide their treachery."

[no2ndbreakfast]

His lips drooping into a frown, Pippin considered all he was learning. A quick tug on the cuff showed that it wasn't about to come off, and he decided he couldn't waste time worrying about it.

"I suppose the true purpose of them -- whether they are a help or a hindrance -- remains to be seen. But if it is helping people find one another and soothing fears as they find others to speak to, than I cannot believe it wholly evil."

[practiced]

"Then we are in agreement, Peregrin Took," Sansa said and nodded her head primly in lieu of another bow. With a hand, she reached out and touched the cuff around his wrist. Funny, she thought, how his seemed smaller than hers, as if made for his shorter, stubbier fingers and his tinier arm.

"If truly you mean to find your dear 'Sam', I can teach you what little I know of our shackles in the hope that another voice may answer your call. Or, if it would please you better, accompany you in your search of the town. There are many among the lost who look to find their own, and in hoping to see the deed repaid to them, are eager to provide assistance."

[no2ndbreakfast]

"Oh, I would appreciate that greatly, my lady, for it is not just Sam I have lost, but Merry and Frodo and Gandalf as well! He brought his eyes down to his wrist, wondering if they could be reached through it. If they were even out there with him somewhere.

[practiced]

Sansa lifted her eyebrows. What a curious collection of names they all had, Merry most of all. She wondered if Pippin's friend was merry at all, or if it were some sort of joke that he were called that. "You have many friends upon which to call on, Peregrin Took," she told him. "That makes you all the more richer, though their loss in this place may be greater as well."

Standing, she took the time to brush her skirts clean again and rearrange them around her, neatly. "Are you hindered in walking?" Sansa asked, for the Imp oftimes complained if he were forced to talk or to ride at great lengths.

[no2ndbreakfast]

"I quite agree with you there, my lady," Pippin declared. Hobbits were all the richer for surrounding themselves with good company, but on his travels, he felt the lost of his friends most keenly in his heart when they were separated and he thought he might never see them again. But he had kept pressing forward. That was all he could do.

"Hindered?" he asked, then he laughed heartily. "Oh, no no, not at all! Hobbits love a good walk, and I was just returning from a long journey when I found myself here." Lifting a foot, he wiggled his toes a bit. "Our feet are made for walking."

[practiced]

It was astounding, how large and hairy his feet were and Sansa felt both amazed and repulsed by the sight of them. As a child, she had never cared much for Old Nan!s stories of giants and white walkers and all of the beasties of the long winter and the dread night. She could not help but wonder if Pippin was part ogre or giant, though the latter suggestion was ludicrous, of course, given his small size.

Again, she did not ask outright, but instead inquired: "A hobbit? I have never of such a thing before."