aryaunderfoot | 1st Winter [Action]

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1st Winter [Action]

[Early this morning, somewhere deep in the woods, there is a wolf howling.

It's a long, mournful howl, and the wolf doesn't seem to want to stop. Occasionally, she'll pause for breath, and then throw her head back again after a moment's rest. This place isn't right. Her cousins aren't here, the smaller ones of her pack. The air is too warm, too full of the smells of spring. And the more she searches, the more she howls, trying to get some sort of answer out of these unfamiliar trees.

Around mid-morning, the crumpled form of a small girl can be found on the path leading from the village to the Battle Dome. She's not hurt, just very much asleep (and scrunching up her face with each wolf howl) and very much covered in grime (and smelling faintly of fish cart). And there's also the fact that she's in a New Feather dress. As the howling reaches a higher pitch, she awakes with a start, freezes, and tries to figure out what this place is. There's a chill in the air, yes, but it isn't winter building up to full strength. It can't be the Summer Islands, and it most definitely isn't Braavos. This place...

...is less concerning than the fact that there is a journal right next to her with "Arya Stark" printed right on it. She gives it an incredulous look for a moment before deciding that this must be a test of some kind. The kindly man must be behind it. With a shake of the head, the girl stands, pushes the journal with a foot until it's tucked out of sight under a nearby bush, and then turns back to the task at hand.

And tries to ignore the mournful howling that is practically tugging her in its direction. That's not something she needs to worry about. That was Arya Stark. Not her. She's nobody.]

[With so many things glaringly wrong with this place, she figures it's time to try scoping it out. The girl very cautiously approaches the village, keeping to the trees for cover until she's sure there aren't any Lannister banners flying anywhere. When there aren't any, it isn't much consolation; the buildings are huge, and the architecture isn't anything she's ever seen before. This place may not be full of lions, but it's not exactly a safe zone, either. She's not even sure what it is.

Eventually, she finds her way into town, going around to see what exactly there is to see here. She doubts she'll spot any familiar faces, but she still makes her way through all the shops in the main square, trying to get some kind of sense of what kind of town this is. The smith shop is familiar, the fashions in the clothing shop completely outlandish, the foods in the indoor marketplace entirely alien.

And she is so, so very lost. As she makes her way through town, the old phrase starts repeating in the back of her mind: Fear cuts deeper than swords. She can do this. She has to do this.

Towards nightfall, after much exploration and poking around, the girl makes her way back to the stables she passed by at some point. The horses are horses. That much is familiar, at least. This much she can understand completely. And the familiar, earthy, horsey smells are something of a comfort when you're trying to wrap your head around what in the world happened to bring you to a place such as this.]

[[ooc: Feel free to run into her at any point!]]

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[She bites her lip, uncertain for a moment as she thinks that over. It doesn't take her long to decide, and once she has, she's more determined than anything.]

When I get it again, can you show me how to do that? I can work to pay off the lessons.

[She's definitely willing to exchange some kind of service if it means a way to keep whatever she writes hidden from people she doesn't trust.]

[Natasha gives her a faint smile and shakes her head, a wry look in her gaze.] You don't have to pay off anything, Cat. When you find your book again, come find me. I'll show you how to use it. That tall building over there? I live on the sixth floor. Although more often than not, I'm training in the Battle Dome. You're welcome to come find me there, too.

[The girl glances at the mentioned building, sticking it in her memory. Sixth floor. Or the Battle Dome, which she thinks she remembers seeing a sign for out on the path this morning. She nods a silent thanks. This woman seems like she'll understand the meaning of it well enough.]

What kind of training do they have there? It sounds like you'd be fighting bears.

[Which would be just as impressive as it would be terrifying.]

[That draws a laugh from her, her lips curving crookedly.] I suppose you could, if that was what you wanted. The Battle Dome is... it's more magic, basically. You tell it what you want and it makes it... well, almost real. It feels and looks and smells real when you're in it. You can set it up so you're fighting enemies or just build a room that you can practice certain skills in. There can be any sort of training you need, since there are people here that use all sorts of skills and weapons.

[The girl stares for a moment, suspicious that all of that was made up because it sounds way too good to be true. Magic that creates whatever kind of practice you need? That's even better than sparring against trees or straw dummies or even anything the House of Black and White could throw at her. Magic that creates instead of just an illusion?

She needs to go see this for herself.]

Any sort of training? Really? [Wait, wait, there's a catch here, she knows there must be. Suspicious frown.] There must be a drawback. Some kind of price or something.

Any that I've found. [Natasha answers her with one shoulder lifting in a faint shrug.] Sometimes the enemies it makes aren't quite as intelligent as real ones, but you can make them as challenging as you need them to be.

As for price... well, it's the same as everything here. They drop us in a cage and give us everything they think we'll want or need. And in exchange, we occasionally get called on to fight. Or they experiment on certain people, or the village as a whole. It's always different. Sometimes its easy, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes we know it's happening and other times we only find out after its over.

[Experimenting on people. So it's not just as simple as being their caged birds, then. Suddenly, all she can think of is the Tickler and everything he used to subject people to.]

So they torture us. And sometimes we don't even know it.

[Somehow, that makes it all so much worse. Malnosso. She can't forget that name.]

Not using the Battle Dome doesn't mean they won't choose you to fight for them, does it.

[A whole group full of Ticklers.]

[Okay maybe that came across sounding a little more extreme than she'd intended.] It's not... torture in the typical sense. Apparently once they made everyone forget everything for a few days. Here, home. All they had were some clues to follow to try and figure out who they were and who everyone else was all around them. Another time the village split into different times and lands. You'd pass between one and the other and everything would change. There was a frozen wintry district and a desert one and one in the city with gangs fighting over territory.

[She shakes her head at that question though.] No, it won't. Sometimes you get chosen, sometimes you don't. You can also volunteer to go on extra ones, if you wanted. Some people do that for the points, to try and get strange or rare things from home, or from the Malnosso themselves.

[Whatever they can offer, she doesn't want to ask them for any of it if she can help it. Besides, can you really trust a gift from your jailer?]

I don't have anything back home for them to bring here, anyway. [She doesn't even have a home, for that matter. It comes out as just a small, cold, hard fact, any deeper emotion locked away out of her tone.] They can fight their own stupid battles.

[Even though. Y'know. She apparently doesn't have a choice, if they do call her in.]

[She's very independent and Natasha's intrigued by her, her stubborn reply earning a faint, understanding smile.]

Well, if you do think of something, the option's there. Otherwise, if there's anything you need, there's people here in the village who are usually willing to help. We're all in the same cage, after all. That's not to say everyone's a good person here, but a surprising majority of them seem to be.

[Somehow, she doubts that this place is as nice as everyone claims; at least, not when it's down to the wire and everyone starts putting themselves first. But Natasha at least seems sensible, so the girl just nods along.]

And who are the bad people?

[So she knows who to look out for.]

If it were as easy to pick them all out as that, I doubt they'd be here anymore. [There's a dry note to her voice now as her lips quirk] I think that's something you'll have to discover - and decide - for yourself.

[Small frown. She doesn't argue, though; she just nods.]

The worst ones are always the ones who hide. They're always around.

[Queen Cersei. The worst is at the top of the list and hasn't budged from it. And she's so good at tricking people that the girl doubts the queen will be going much of anywhere. She'd cover up this thought process more if she didn't get the feeling that Natasha here completely gets it. It's rare that anyone opens up about the negatives around a small girl.]

If they're still here, it's probably because nobody realizes yet.

{That gets an intent look, because the girl does know more than she probably should at her age, that she recognizes that so quickly, can see it so clearly.]

The worst ones are often the smart ones. They wouldn't be bad guys for very long otherwise. Especially here. There's a surprising amount of good people who wouldn't stand for it. And sometimes it's not quite so clear as 'good' and 'bad'. Not for everyone.

[She shakes her head.] I know. It's almost never that clear.

[The lions and wolves and bandits tearing apart the countryside proved that once and for all.]

It's never so black and white, is it? [Natasha's lips quirk faintly, but her gaze is steady and serious. It's unexpected, but the girl seems to know far more than she should at that age. She tilts her head to the side, eyeing her curiously.]

Is there anything else you want to know about this place that I can answer for you?

[She's silent for a moment as she thinks that over. Natasha has already given her so much information that she knows will come in handy that she's not sure there's anything particularly important left to ask about. There's a war, but it's being fought outside. There's a place to practice, a book to communicate with, and a way to make sure people she doesn't trust won't see what she writes in said book.

Which leaves her with one major question that has been nagging at her since she woke up, even though it might seem like a silly one.]

Is it really spring? Not just a false one?

[The night wolf could smell the green and things awakening in the ground, but she's not sure how much she can trust those dreams.]

A false one? [Natasha's not sure what that means. Her head cocks to the side as she regards the girl.] It's not quite spring yet, but it should be more noticeable in the next few weeks. It will be by then.

[She's silent for a moment, biting her lip absently.]

Where I come from, we sometimes have warm days in the middle of winter that trick people into thinking that spring started. Winter was only just starting before I woke up here.

[Successfully evading her first winter seems suspicious to her.]

Well, you came at the right time then. [She gives the girl a faint smile.] It's just ending here. I expect it to start feeling a bit more like spring any day now. You don't like the cold?

[She bites her lip.] No, I like the cold. But it was supposed to be a really long winter. A bad one, too.

[It was surprising, to say the least, to wake up to warmth and springtime.]

Well, it may still be there waiting for you when you get back. Just so you know. I've heard that can happen. That when you get sent back, it will seem as if no time at all has passed. And no one will realize they should have missed you.

[Natasha's not sure if that's a comforting thought or not.]

[No one would realize anyway, except possibly the kindly man. It's not much of a comforting thought. But still, she nods.]

How does that happen? That time doesn't seem to pass back there when it passes by here?

[Natasha gives a faint shrug.] I wish I had an answer for you. I'm not sure anyone knows, any more than they can explain how the Malnosso are able to pluck people out of a timeline in past, present or future without anyone else being any the wiser. There are still many things we can only speculate at. But you're welcome to ask around and get opinions from the other villagers. Everyone seems to have them. Another thing the book can occasionally be useful for.

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1st Winter [Action]

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