July Arrivals

[sixthiteration]

WHO: Arrivals
WHERE: The fountain park
WHEN: July 1, 12:00 PM
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: N/A
STATUS: CLOSED

---

In the snug circle of an old park, a fountain sits burbling beneath a broad, midday sky.

Once-neat paving stones have buckled and cracked from the slow nudge of wayward roots. Benches stand covered in lichen and rust. Three paths push into the underbrush like the spokes on a wheel, the encroaching forest creating lush tunnels through the dark.

But the fountain stands singular and pristine, brightly splashing in open rebellion of the deep, muffled sounds of a place long ago gone to seed. A vibration hums through the ground, there and quickly gone, and the water in the fountain trembles, lapping against the high walls of its cool, pale reservoir.

It is the first of July.

It is precisely twelve o'clock in the afternoon.

Comments

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[thesavior]

Emma turned her head slightly, flexing her hand trying to get feeling to come back into it from the cold water. She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be at home with her son and family, not stuck God only knows where.

She attempted a slight smile, just to let the man know that she wasn't hurt or dying, but it definitely did not reach her eyes in any way, shape, or form.

"Emma Swan. I can't help but feel that I'm cursed you know?"

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[tooktheblack]

"Cursed? How's that?" Jon had not had the easiest of lives up until this point and this was yet another difficulty to overcome. Still, in light of that, he still didn't exactly feel cursed. He felt that his name gave him a burden than his trueborn brothers and sisters didn't carry, certainly, but it wasn't inherently bad luck.

"Has something like this happened to you before, my lady?" If it had, she might be a valuable source of information once Jon was able to help her to her feet and to somewhere safe where they might talk. He wouldn't bombard her with questions just at the moment. He'd let her get her bearings first.

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[thesavior]

"Do you have a decade or two?" Emma responded sarcastically. She realized quickly that Jon might not appreciate her tone or humor, so she quickly changed tatics.

"Sorry," She stated quietly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you probably, but yeah bad luck follows me around. The price of being abandoned I guess." She said, so off the cuff that it belied how deeply Emma felt about being left.

"Let's just say my parents had an interesting way of doing things okay?"

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[tooktheblack]

Jon laughed a bit, a muffled little sound. He had his own experiences with that, truth be told, considering he'd spent the entirety of his life as a bastard. He'd just been named a king at Winterfell before coming here but he hadn't had a chance to wrap his mind around it; he was and would always be Ned Stark's bastard.

"I never knew my mother. I was my lord father's bastard, raised alongside his trueborn children. I might understand it a bit better than most. Still, is there anything I can do to aid you, my lady? I could at least help get you to a shelter."

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[thesavior]

Emma looked up quickly, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. Was he laughing at her? He didn't seem like the type of person to do that, but who knew, maybe she read him wrong.

She closed her eyes. Wait, she didn't do that ever thanks to being a lie detector.

"Why do you keep calling me my lady? I'm not a lady."

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[tooktheblack]

"Sorry, it's just my natural inclination," Jon said, flustered and embarrassed. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable but clearly he had since she had pushed back against him calling her lady.

"I don't know what titles you hold, if any, so it felt better to just...be safe. What would you prefer that I call you?"

Jon had never been entirely comfortable with women and certainly not beautiful women. He'd always been the bastard, the boy in the shadows, and then he'd been part of the Night's Watch and sworn to have no woman. Now he found himself in a new place entirely.

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[thesavior]

Emma smiled at Jon, a reassuring smile, reminiscent of her mother. The last thing that she wanted to do was make the man feel bad, especially since he just about saved her life.

"Emma works, but I'm sorry. It isn't my place to dictate what you should call me. I just have issues with my family, but that's not on you," Emma sighed softly. "I'm not really comfortable with who my parents are, you understand?"

Re: Arrival: Emma Swan

[tooktheblack]

"More than you could ever know," Jon said, laughing a little. It was truly laughable, honestly, the amount of issues he had with not knowing who his mother was and that his lord father had never told him. It was something he could understand more than most people.

"I could never fault a lady for being uncomfortable with someone she's just met, either, so it's all right. It's nice to meet you, Emma. Truly."