sixthiterationlogs | i'm just a station on your way (closed)

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i'm just a station on your way (closed)

WHO: Raleigh Becket
WHERE: The Corydon #36
WHEN: 2 December, early morning
OPEN TO: Sansa Stark
WARNINGS: None at this time
STATUS: Locked post.

Raleigh still doesn't sleep well even after having lost Yancy years ago and, that being said, he's only in a light sleep when the knocks start on his door. He's not really the type to get visitors. In the whole while he's been in the village, he thinks this might be the only one he's had other than when the earthquakes had been happening; those knocks had been to see if he'd been all right, not for something friendly.

As far as he knows, this is something else. The world seems quiet enough in the way it always does when there's no cars around and there's fresh-fallen snow and he shimmies into his scrub pants and some socks before shouting out that he's on his way. Depending on what it is, he might end up needing to grab a coat before heading back out but if it's just something that's only going to take a few minutes, he's not bothering with getting dressed.

Yuki's meowing loudly and winding around his legs and he knows she wants to be let out. At least this is going to serve more than one purpose, opening the door. "I'm coming! I just need to get dressed!"

After what feels like an eternity (an eternity with background music scored by the yowling of his cat), Raleigh opens the door to reveal someone he didn't exactly expect. Oh. Sansa Stark. His face melts into a smile and he opens the door a little wider, motioning for her to come inside if she wants. As he does, Yuki rubs up against her legs, eager to mark the new person as her own.

"Morning, Sansa."

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Sansa will forever swear that it had only been by chance that she found herself standing in front of Raleigh's home in the early morning hours but she knows deep down that she meant to end up here. She hasn't seen him for a day or so because she had been focused on sewing and on her family but the urge to see him had lingered under the surface during those days. It had also grown stronger until she couldn't deny it anymore and it propels her to seek him out.

Of course, she worries that maybe it is a little too early when she doesn't hear an immediate reply after her knock. Fidgeting by twisting her fingers together, she is close to giving up and walking away when she suddenly hears him calling out that he is coming. Turning to face the door, she smiles as she waits for the door to open.

The sight of him shirtless causes her greeting to stick in her throat as she opens her mouth and then closes it again. Feeling a bit dumbstruck, she steps into his house when he invites her to and struggles with what to say next even though the words are rolling around inside her head like a jumbled mess. She knows how silly she looks too, which is probably another reason she feels her cheeks starting to heat until she feels something rubbing against her legs.

Grateful for the distraction, she looks down and finds herself blinking at the sight of the pretty cat at her feet. "Oh, she is beautiful. It is a she, yes?"

Look, Raleigh, she found her words while kneeling down to pet the cat.

"Yuki? Yes, she's a girl," Raleigh says, watching as the cat finds a new target for her desire to be petted. She's an affectionate cat, and loud about it, and Raleigh wonders if she just thinks Sansa is an easy target for food. Yuki is supposed to hunt and feed herself. She does this, most of the time, but she falls down on the job when there's a chance she might get a scrap or three.

"I got her in a box...has anyone told you about those yet? The random boxes you get sometimes that have your name on them? Nobody knows where they come from. I got Yuki in the only one of them that ever came to me but I know some people...they get clothes and things. No idea how they get here."

"She's beautiful." Sansa coos softly again, running her hand lightly down the cat's back as she gives into the animal's desire to be petted. The redhead enjoys the loud response that she gets from it, looking up and flashing a warm smile as she forgets for a moment that Raleigh is very, very shirtless. "The only cats I ever saw were wild ones that didn't seem to have an owner. They didn't like to stop and be petted very often. Probably for fear of being kicked or worse."

Straightening, she is unaware of the way she wets her lips as she looks at his chest and starts to blush again a little. She hadn't known that someone could be so...toned.

"No?" She shakes her head even though she knows her response sounds more like a question than an answer. Then she looks confused. "So people just get presents some someone they don't know or see? How do you know you can trust them?"

"You can't trust them, that's the problem. It's part of the frightening part of this place," Raleigh says. He bends down and scritches Yuki quickly behind the ears before moving out of the doorway so he can let Sansa inside fully. There's no sense she should be standing on the porch like this when he has a perfectly warm house she can be inside instead.

He doesn't have a fireplace but the furnace has been keeping things more than warm - a little too warm this morning. Still, he gives Sansa a concerned look. "Are you cold? I can go and put the furnace up a little higher. Just need to feed it a little more wood."

Grateful for the fact that he doesn't seem to notice that she is staring at him for an improper amount of time, she steps into his home while tearing her gaze away and shaking her head. Instead, she looks around his home or at least what she can see from where she is standing as he closes the door.

"No, I'm perfectly warm, thank you. This jacket actually keeps most of me warm." Her legs are cold through the thin pants she is wearing but she is working to change that. Turning to look at him when she figures it's appropriate to do so, she smiles again. "I hope that I'm not interrupting anything. I just figured that I hadn't seen you for awhile..."

"I don't mind if you come and visit," Raleigh says, giving her a slow, sort of sheepish grin. "Granted, I don't really wake up all that early anymore but I usually bolt awake pretty quick if you knock. I just felt a little tired this morning."

He laughs a little. "I think it's because my bed was really warm and I didn't want to get out of it. You ever get like that on a cold, snowy morning?"

While it is a touch shy in nature, there is no hiding the warm smile that appears on her face when he reassures her that he doesn't mind her coming to visit. Not that she thought there would be but it was still nice to hear those words out loud.

Pressing her lips together as he casually mentions that his bed is really warm and that he didn't want to get out, she looks around. "It is rather warm in here."

Or maybe it was just her.

"My mother used to tease me about not wanting to get out of bed." She starts quickly before she can embarrass herself or get lost in her thoughts. There is a twinge of pain at the mention of her mother but she pushes on with a smaller, amused smile this time. "I used to hide under the blankets whenever she came to get us up in the morning."

"Well, when it's cold like this there's nothing better than to get under a warm blanket and hope to stay in bed all day. One of the places I lived, up in Alaska? It would be cold for about six months of the year," Raleigh explains.

"Always snow and ice. You get used to it, after a while, but you end up getting to be really grateful for the spring. What about you? Is it like this back home? You said it was cold there."

"It almost sounds like Winterfell. Our winters can last a very long time. I have heard people call them unnatural as there was one that lasted an entire generation before." Sansa answers before shaking her head. "But it isn't always so bad. The summers can actually be very nice there but it's definitely colder than most places."

In other words, she is used to snow and ice but she had grown accustomed to warmer weather as well.

It's strange because she finds herself suddenly giving a little shiver as she wraps her arms around herself and tries to fight off the chill at her memories. "It was getting colder there before I came here."

Raleigh reaches out and touches her, rubs his hand along the length of her arm and squeezes her shoulder lightly. She seems a little cold and since he has a surplus of warmth right now, he's happy to share.

"Looks like you brought the snow with you here," he says, laughing softly. "I don't mind it. I've always liked snow."

The touch of his head and the heat of his skin sinks into her skin through the thin layers of clothes she wears but she doesn't mind. If anything, it causes a flutter low in the pit of her stomach as she looks at him through long, dark lashes and smiles. It's a shy smile as she thinks dreamy sort of thoughts that she hasn't entertained for a long time.

The realization of what she is doing has a sort of sobering effect too because she doesn't want to be that girl anymore but there is just something about Raleigh that makes her feel that way.

"You would be the only one, I think." She clears her throat gently, lifting her head to look him fully in the face. Somehow the smile lingers even with her realization.

"Well, snow is good for a lot of things. It makes the world seem pure and quiet, even when it isn't," Raleigh says. He smiles a little more; Sansa is a very beautiful girl, especially when she's looking at him like that and he has to remember she has two brothers and that's probably a bad idea.

"Besides, we don't technically have anywhere to be. It's a lot more of a hassle if you have to go out in it."

Biting her bottom lip, she wonders why her heart is racing faster despite the fact she is trying to keep a calm, level head. Of course, the heart and the head were often a sharp contrast to one another.

"What do you want to do?" She asks, intrigued. "Especially if I hadn't shown up, what would you be doing right now?"

Edited 2016-12-08 02:03 (UTC)

"I would probably be in bed still, trying to decide if it was worth it to get up and try and check the fish lines," Raleigh says. "Everyone's got to eat, so I would have done it eventually, but it would have taken some motivation to do it. I don't have any now that you're here."

That's more of a true statement than he's ever really admitted before now, even to himself. "I'd much rather talk to you than do just about anything else."

Sansa feels herself flush with pleasure at his statement that he would rather stay in and talk to her. She knows that she should offer to let him go or even maybe tag along so he can still get his job done but she can't bring herself to.

"That and you would have to get dressed." She motions at him before suddenly pausing and looking up at his face with a slightly wide-eyed gaze. While she had thought about what a shame it would be if he did get dressed, she hadn't meant to stay it out loud and now her cheeks are flushed for another reason.

Really, she is a lady and she should be better at this. "I mean, getting dressed and going outside isn't that enjoyable at the moment. It's rather cold and being in here is definitely nicer."

She can't help but give an internal sigh at herself.

"I would have to get dressed, yeah," Raleigh says, grinning at her. Sansa seems flustered and that's always a good sign. Still, she's a sweet girl and she isn't the type of girl he necessarily wants to be overly aggressive with, not like he used to be back when he was a Jaeger pilot.

"I mean, I could still go get dressed if you wanted but I'm comfortable as it is. I actually woke up kind of warm this morning. Isn't that weird? Considering how cold it is outside?"

"You don't have to." She tells him, deciding that her answer is based purely on the fact that she wishes him to be comfortable in his own home. She doesn't want him to think that he needs to rush off and get dressed just to make her comfortable.

She starts unbuttoning her jacket, a sign that she is willing to stay longer and to make herself comfortable. "I woke up quite warm this morning too. It was nice."

"No? Well, I mean, I don't want you to be uncomfortable," Raleigh says, stretching a little. He doesn't have a problem showing off for Sansa, if she likes it, but if she wants an out he wants to give her one. He gives her a little smile.

"I guess once we get up the courage, you could come check the fish traps and lines with me? We'll be walking, so maybe that'll keep it from being so cold."

"I'm not," Sansa tells him with a little shake of her head while sliding her jacket off. Maybe she feels a touch shy and aware of the fluttering sensation low in the pit of her stomach but, surprisingly, not uncomfortable. She wonders if she should be.

"I was going to offer to come with you but I wouldn't mind warming up first." She looks past him and then smiles. "May I come in the rest of the way?"

"Please do," Raleigh says, reaching out his hand to tug her inside. It's definitely cold out this morning and he doesn't want to be responsible for someone as pretty as Sansa Stark for getting frostbite on her nose. He barely resists the urge to touch said nose and check for said frostbite; instead, he shows her to a sofa and sits down beside her.

"It's not much but...are any of these houses? Other than the size, they're all kind of the same."

Laying her jacket aside, she smiles as she moves to the sofa and sits down while making sure to leave room for him to sit down beside her. She wets her lips while glancing around. "They are smaller than what I'm used to but that isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"Do you live by yourself?" She asks curiously, looking at him again.

"All by myself, yeah," Raleigh confirms. "I guess a lady like you is used to a castle or something?"

Raleigh's always done well for himself but he's a worker. He's spent years working along the wall for rations, after all, and before that he'd been a Jaeger pilot risking his life every day for the thrill and to earn his keep. The idea of just being wealthy is a foreign one to him.

"Wait. You really did live in a castle, didn't you?"

Sansa realizes the slip she must have made and quickly drops her gaze while biting back a little sigh. It isn't like she is trying to hide what her world is like or the role that she'd had in it but she has already surprised a couple of people with it. She doesn't want them thinking that she is a pampered princess that can't do anything.

But she won't lie to Raleigh either.

"Yes." She looks up at him again. "My father was the Lord of Winterfell."

"Should you even be talking to me right now?" Raleigh asks, a little shocked that Sansa literally grew up in a castle and her father was a lord. He's never really been anything like that. Jaeger pilots are celebrities, sure, and he hasn't had a hard life but he's never been wealthy like that.

"I'm not a prince or anything, Sansa. I'm just a guy."

Sansa's brows draw together in surprise as she looks at him, not surprised by the shock on his face but by his words. She doesn't know why it stings but she finds herself tensing as she folds her hands together. "I don't want a prince. Trust me, they're nothing like you would imagine them to be."

There is no hiding the hint of bitterness in her tone before she gives a shake of her head. "Plus it doesn't matter here. My father is gone and I am no lady to anyone here. I'm just a girl now. I can talk to whoever I want to talk to."

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