Tis the season...for a lot of boxes? [Presents!]

[turned_to_steel]

WHO: Sansa Stark
WHERE: The Inn
WHEN: December 20th
OPEN TO: Everyone!
WARNINGS: Will update if needed
STATUS: OPEN

Sansa had her jaw clenched and her hands buried deep in her pockets, hurrying towards the Inn as quickly as she could make herself go without running. It was tempting to run but she didn't trust the snow that clung to the ground and the fact that there could possibly be ice patches somewhere underneath. She didn't relish the idea of possibly slipping and hurting herself when she was supposed to be going to the Inn to get her first lesson in cooking breakfast.

So she was more than grateful for the heat she felt when she reached the front door and pushed it open to let herself inside the nice, warm building. Stomping her feet, she shut the door and looked up to see if she could spot Kate anywhere. What she found instead was enough to have her eyes going wide and her lips parting in surprise at the sight of boxes stacked everywhere in the main room. It didn't matter where she looked, there seemed to be a new stack of varying heights and sizes. So many of them that she wasn't even sure she could count them all.

It wasn't like the box she had found on her front step, though. These boxes were wrapped in pretty paper of different colors and designs, and all with a tag sitting on top of each one.

Unbuttoning her jacket, she moved to the closest stack of boxes and took a peek at the first tag that was visible to her. She recognized both names and found herself blinking in confusion while she glanced at the second tag. Had everyone else found a way to get presents to give to someone else and she had missed it? She wondered briefly if maybe it was something that had been planned from before she had arrived but why hadn't her brothers mentioned it to her? It was something she was still puzzling over until she found a tag that was intended for someone else but had her name on it as well.

A quick search at another stack had her finding a present that was intended for her.

Still curious and wanting answers, Sansa set her jacket aside and went back to the first stack of boxes. Plucking the first box off the top, she set it to the side and moved the second box to another area. By the time someone came downstairs or came inside, Sansa was making new piles sorted by the name of who the presents were meant for. She thought it would be easier for people to find their presents rather than everyone stomping around poking through every stack and reading every tag.

[ooc: This is a mingle post for people to find their presents if they are located at the Inn! If you wish to, please feel free to have your character find their stack of presents already sorted.]

Comments

[turned_to_steel]

"Those are good ideas." Sansa stated, smiling as she turned her attention away from the box while tucking away the suggestions to bring up to Robb later. She was sure that he would be able to help her.

"Thank you." Her smile grew warmer as she aimed it at Helen. "Would you like to take a couple more pieces with you?"

[notsocommon]

"I would, actually. I'm not much for sweets normally but I think absence, in this case, has made my heart grow incredibly fonder."

The little lemon cakes had been well made and now that she had access to tea and coffee, Helen thought they would make quite the treats on a dreary day. "But only if you don't mind my taking them."

[turned_to_steel]

"No, please, I don't mind at all. I have so many of them, it would be selfish of me to keep them all to myself." Sansa replied, stepping towards the box and then looking over. "Do you think it would be all right to borrow a dish for you to carry them home in? Then you wouldn't have to carry them in your hands."

[notsocommon]

"I think that might be all right," Helen said. "Besides, it's not like I won't return it once all the cakes are gone. Washed and dried, even. I wouldn't just bring it back all sticky with lemons."

She grinned a bit at Sansa. "Though, I would have done that as a small girl."

[turned_to_steel]

"I would have still done that just a few months ago." Sansa admitted almost sheepishly. To be fair (to herself), it was only because there had been servants who would clear away her dishes and clean them. She still had moments where she found it strange to have to clean up after herself like she did constantly these days but it was freeing too.

[notsocommon]

"Well, you are quite young. Barely out of your teens, I would imagine, yes?" Or younger, even. Helen found it difficult to ballpark age now that she'd been alive for so long. Everyone under fifty all seemed to run together a bit.

"I can imagine you hadn't had much responsibility before coming here, right?"

[turned_to_steel]

"I am a woman." Sansa wasn't sure what her teens were but she was going to assume that whoever was in their teens was considered young. Especially by someone who was close to her parents age, which she was assuming Helen was.

Then she hesitated, looking almost awkward in admitting the truth. "No. I would have had more once...I was married but things happened so quickly...."

[notsocommon]

"You're quite young to have been married. Of course, that said, in my day girls barely sixteen were getting proposals," Helen said.

"I'm glad those times have changed, though, because no one ought to marry that young. Why were you married at such a tender age?"

[turned_to_steel]

Sansa was mentally kicking herself for slipping up and revealing her marriage, especially since she hadn't talked about it with anyone else. Almost immediately she was looking away under the guise of moving her presents around, almost like she was trying to figure out what to transport first.

"Because I had to." She answered somewhat vaguely.

[notsocommon]

"You never have to do anything. I know sometimes women get forced into such things, I'm not implying you had a choice back home, but here? Here, you have a choice. No one can make you do anything, darling."

That was something that Helen herself would fight to the death if she had to. Freedom was a precious thing.

"You always have a choice now."

[turned_to_steel]

Sansa started to reply but stopped herself as Helen went on from saying that she never has to do anything. Pressing her lips together, she nodded slightly before looking up and sighing.

"I hope that you're right." She murmured before looking back at her presents. "I don't trust this place or the people that have us here but...so far, I have been lucky in the people I have met. I believe that none of them would force anything on me."

[notsocommon]

"No. And, if they do, you can always come to me and tell me," Helen assured her. She had helped many people over the course of her long life and Sansa was just one more. Helen had always had a soft spot for those in need of help. It was one of the things that drove her to become a doctor and, later, to take on the helm of running sanctuaries.

"I'll get you out of it. I promise you that."

[turned_to_steel]

Sansa could point out that she had her doubts that her brothers would ever force her to marry here but she also knew there was a lot of other trouble she could get into and so it was nice to know there was someone who would help her out.

"Thank you." She smiled again, seeming to relax. "I appreciate it."

[notsocommon]

"You're quite welcome," Helen said. "And if you have any other questions or reasons that you might need to talk to another woman versus someone else, well. I can make myself available."

Such a young girl might have questions that needed addressing by an elder woman and Helen was happy to take on that role if necessary.