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WHO: Raleigh Becket
WHERE: 6I, 7I
WHEN: 19 October
OPEN TO: Sansa Stark
WARNINGS: sap

Raleigh's talked about living with Sansa for a little while now but it's been more of something they've talked about while laying in bed and dreaming and it hasn't actually felt real until right now. He's gotten his things out of his house and Sansa's bringing hers over and they're going to start moving them. He's moving the cats too, so much as the cats go anywhere (they hunt and range about freely so he's not really sure that Yuki or Miho belong to him so much as occasionally come back to beg for treats) and Sansa's bringing Akira.

They're doing this. They're going to be together, for better or worse, and for the first time since they brought it up he has a little pit of terror in his stomach that he wants to will away. They work well together and he has no reason to believe they won't continue to do so but there's always so much different about living under the same roof that can make or break a couple.

He's made the first of a few trips before the snow starts and he blinks at Sansa, giving her a little mock-frown.

"Last year, when you showed up, you brought snow. Now you're moving in with me and the snow starts up again? Is it always going to be Sansa Stark bringing snow out of the sky?"

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Sansa can't deny there is a tiny ball of nerves sitting low in the pit of her stomach over the idea of moving in with Raleigh. It's not the idea of moving away from her family that makes her nervous because she has done that before but she has never lived with a man like they were married. Not that she is married to Raleigh but they will be sharing a house just the two of them and no one else.

Still, she feels almost content with the decision too. She knows that she wants to be with Raleigh in a way that she has never wanted with anyone else before. This is an adult decision and not born of a childish infatuation. She loves him enough to try this and, really, her family isn't that far away.

Walking with him as they move the last of her things, she glances curiously at the sky before looking at him with a little blink. For a moment her expression is blank until she recalls the first night that she met him. The night of her arrival when she crawled out of a half-frozen fountain into a snowy world that would become her home.

She chuckles sheepishly then, watching him with a small smile. "Maybe it's a good sign? The snow brought me to you the first time and look where we ended up. Maybe the fact that it's snowing while we're moving into our own home is a good sign for our future together."

“I didn’t think of it that way, exactly,” Raleigh admits. “I was just wanting to complain about the cold and wet. I guess that means we probably need to get a move on with our stuff and get inside.”

The new house has a fireplace. The old one didn’t and while it had a furnace, there’s something nice about having a source of heat in close proximity. There’s not a lot of boxes to be had in the village and Raleigh’s saved his from every gift he’s gotten to bring his things over and, even still, there’s a lot he simply carries in his hands. He doesn’t mind doing most of the work, though. Not at all.

"It's okay." Sansa smiles sweetly, knowing full well that most men wouldn't think that way but she has always had a bit of a romantic soul. Or she used to before the cruelty of her world started to beat it out of her. Somehow though, Raleigh brings it back.

"Do we have wood to build a fire?" She asks, trying to move quickly as she looks back at the sled she is pulling behind her with some of the other boxes. Akira is right beside her, keeping even with them despite the fact that she pauses every now and then to sniff the ground.

"We do. It had been getting a little chilly before the snow," Raleigh explains. "So I went ahead and chopped some wood for the new house instead of chopping it for my old one."

He's glad that he had the foresight considering the snowfall that's coming down now. He leans in and bops her nose quickly. "Still think it's your fault we have all this white stuff falling from the sky."

"Good." She sounds relieved as she looks ahead to focus on their path again. "Having a fire would be nice tonight. It's almost a shame we can't bring a bed down to sleep in front of the fire tonight."

Then she blinks, looking briefly taken aback when he bops her on the nose but she quickly relaxes into a laugh. "It might be, you never know. I'll have to ask my father if it's possible that winter just follows us everywhere."

"Starks bring winter and that's why they say winter is coming?" Raleigh shifts the bundle of things in his arms and cuts a path ahead of her, wanting to make quick work of the rest of this before the snow gets too thick and heavy for them to continue. If it's anything like the last winter, he knows the snows will be deep and won't melt and he doesn't know if they'll have many more good days to move things around.

"If you can get the door, I'll get the stuff inside for you."

"I wouldn't be surprised right now." Sansa chuckles again, slowing her gait as he cuts across in front of her to walk a bit faster than she had been moving which suits her fine because she's ready to be done as well. She looks around the immediate vicinity of their home, wondering briefly about their idea of moving right as winter descends upon them.

"Okay." She hurries past him, moving up the front steps to the door so she can open it up and move aside for him to go in first.

Raleigh heads inside and puts his armload of things down in the center of the sitting room. They can go through them later but, for now, it's good enough that he's just gotten them inside before the snow's coming down too heavily.

He finds that he likes snow. Snow, now, reminds him of Sansa and every time he sees it falling it reminds him of when he'd met her last winter. It's a pain when it doesn't melt for months, sure, but it's beautiful when it first starts falling. He gives her a grin.

"It's the first snowfall of the year. If you want, we can go walk in it for a while and then come back and light a fire?"

There is still a hint of embarrassment whenever she thinks back to the first time they met and how she had lied to him about her name. It's something that she confessed to after and even offered an explanation for but she still feels silly every time it crosses her mind. Thankfully, Raleigh never bugs her about it...too much.

As for the snow, she finds a strange comfort in it. It reminds her of home, of good times and her family being close. Plus there is the added bonus of staying inside and cuddling up to Raleigh whenever it gets too chilly.

But it isn't too cold yet which makes her smile when he suggests a walk. "I think that sounds lovely."

Raleigh offers his arm to Sansa. He loves her more than he’s ever loved a girl before and he knows that her world has different morals and standards than his own.

He’s been thinking about asking her to marry him for a while now and the conversation he’d had with Ned Stark a while back about Sansa and how much he cared for him gave him hope that the question he wanted to ask would be well received.

The snow is falling softly as they walk along the riverbank and he stops for a moment, taking both her hands in his.

“Sansa? Can I ask you something?”

At one time in her life, Sansa had thought she knew what love was but she knows now that she had been naive. It wasn't like the stories she had read but in some ways, it feels better than how she had felt reading them. She knows that is largely because of the man at her side.

She knows now that she is more in love with him than she had ever fancied herself to be before. It isn't perfect, of course, but it's close enough that she knows she will never be happy with anyone else. She doesn't see how it could be possible.

Distracted from her thoughts when he stops, the expression on her face turns mildly curious as she slides her hands into his. "Of course, anything."

Raleigh squeezes her hands in his. He wishes he had a ring or something but considering the nature of this place, there's no jewelry to be found. Instead, all he has are his words and the benefit of the softly-falling snow, something he knows that both of them cherish. Perhaps this will make it memorable enough for Sansa. He hopes so.

"I wanted to ask you to marry me," he says softly. "I don't have anything to give you here but if I did, I would. There's no ring and no jewelry but we could still have a little wedding, if you wanted? Invite your family and I could invite Peggy?"

Staring at him as he holds onto her hands, Sansa's heart starts to race even though she doesn't understand why right away. It's just one of those moments where she knows something big is about to happen but she still stares at him like she doesn't quite understand what he is saying when he starts talking about not having a ring and inviting her family.

Then it starts to register in her mind as her eyes widen, her heart fluttering in her chest. "You want to marry me?"

"Of course I want to marry you. You're...I've never felt about a woman the way I feel about you, Sansa. I've never even considered asking someone to marry me until I met you and it just felt natural to ask. I don't know if we're going to be here forever or not but as long as we're here, I want to be your husband."

Raleigh doesn't know if this is the kind of proposal a fine lady like Sansa expects but he hopes she likes it all the same. It's plain and heartfelt, which is always his aim with her.

"I talked to your father about it a little while back. He just wants to be sure you're happy and that I make you happy."

To her, it's the most beautiful proposal she could have ever gotten. Especially hearing that he has talked to her father already causes a blooming of warmth to spread in the center of her chest at the same time a shimmer of tears temporarily blurs her vision.

"You do, you make me very happy!" She rushes into his arms, throwing her own around his neck as the surge of emotion causes her throat to tighten. "Of course, I want to marry you. Nothing would make me happier."

Raleigh is a little stunned by the outpouring of emotion but he's glad that Sansa is saying yes to him and saying yes to a life together in this place, whatever that may hold. He wraps his arms around her to support her, tips his head up a bit so he can kiss her forehead.

"There's nothing that will make me happier in this world than to call you my wife. When do you want to have the wedding? After there's snow on the ground, right? Don't you Starks all love winter?" Besides, he thinks she might need a little time to prepare a dress - even if she's making it out of furs or curtains or whatever.

Sansa is already considering the fabric that she had gotten during the last holidays when there had been snow on the ground. There was still enough of it that she could make a lovely dress for their wedding day but she wonders if that is a foolish desire too. Especially given that it could probably be used for better things.

"I would marry you tomorrow if you wanted." She tells him, smiling up into his face when he leans back from kissing her on the forehead. "But when there is snow on the ground would be nice. Maybe at the Inn?"

"I was thinking we could have the ceremony in front of your weirwood," Raleigh says quietly. "I know it means something to your family. I don't...the God where I'm from? I don't believe in Him much anymore. Too many bad things have happened. But I know that tree is important to you and your family and so I thought we could go out there to do the actual ceremony and then go to the Inn?"

He doesn't know if this is what Sansa wants, or anything, but he's been thinking about how this ceremony will go for a little while now.

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