UNKNOWN / NTH.

jace tries not to let his surprise show as he turns toward the familiar voice. he'd only been passing by, unthinking when he'd stepped too close to one of the cabins. he'd not expected this meeting, nor is he entirely prepared for it when his grief still feels so raw. jace swallows hard, flattening his features into what he hopes might read as impassivity rather than all the indignation he feels. "uncle," he greets him tartly, his hand falling instinctively to his side, to the pommel of a sword that is no longer there. this isn't westeros, he has to remind himself, no matter how bitter it makes him, that he should be constrained by rules that would protect the slayer of his brother. "you would be wise to remember where we are," jace says mildly, his gaze on the other unwavering. "it seems here there is consequence for fools who think they may dole out death as they please."

"Then I guess we're shit out of luck, huh?" the sarcastic bite isn't hindered by their predicament. She couldn't help her irritation growing with every second that passed. "Not that I put any faith in you to begin with." Nesta groaned as she banged on the locked car, next time she wouldn't be giving rides to strangers who distracted her. Maybe then she wouldn't have locked her own keys in the car.

"yeah... that pretty much seems to be the recurring theme of my life." bob laughs awkwardly, but it dies rather quickly. "no, no, that's fair. i mean, completely fair. i didn't put any faith in me either, if i'm being honest," he quips, but even as he says it, an odd weight settles over him. normally, it would've been easier to let the words glance off him, but it's different hearing it come from someone who looks so much like yelena, who somehow always seemed to believe in him. "i mean, we could always call up a locksmith? i can cover the cost. i mean, it's the least i can do... after everything."

"Perhaps you can enlighten me?" Helaena asked, her words a whisper as she truly looked upon the other. A stranger with strange words. She had only been minding her own business. Keeping to herself seemed the easiest choices when strange dreams plagued her without laying her head upon a pillow. Then again, even she was well aware of the odd things she has said in the past. "If it isn't too much to ask."

jacaerys had realized too late that there's no recognition in helaena's eyes. to her he must be as good as a stranger, another empty face in the crowd rather than the family he had known her as before the rift of hate and war tore them apart. "you remind me of someone," he says, his words deliberately vague. "a familiar face from a past life, perhaps, if you believe in such things." a press of his lips, wondering if it would be cruelty or kindness to keep the truth of the past to himself. "forgive me. i'm being odd." he shakes his head, a small laugh escaping him to ease the stiffness in the air. "and impudent. my name is jace. and truly, i'm usually far less graceless with my words."

"Are you offering help? With any of these?" The druid felt the most at one with nature out in the forests of the island or traversing the beaches. But who was she to tell when and where help would pop up. "I am hoping to find an answer to at least one of these."

“your friend appreciates sea snails?” halbrand questions drolly, mostly for the plain courtesy of small talk rather than out of any true curiosity for the subject. "the secrets behind this place," he repeats the woman's words. "it does seem our interests are aligned in that, at least. though if it's help you need, i'm afraid there is little of mine to offer." he offers a half-shouldered shrug. "seems unwise to pry when those who keep us here seem of a mind to keep us blind."

"I haven't the faintest idea what I want." Eileen's voice rang out, not even thinking about it when she spoke out loud to no one in particular and entirely unaware of the people in her vicinity. "So many options and so little time to choose."

"me neither," anakin mutters, having stared at this menu for so long, he's starting to feel one of his eyes twitch. "we don't have anything like this where i come from." he'd been familiar enough with the foods of this different world in his false life, but with the memories of his past life returning, his false memories have grown increasingly more muddled. he sighs- then an idea springs to mind. "maybe we can pick for each other?" anakin offers, a ghost of a smile making the corner of his lip twitch. "that way, we can have someone to blame besides ourselves if we don't like it."

“you can.” obi-wan said confidently. maybe he lost hope when he had heard tales of darth vader, but this was anakin. “all that power you have, that stupid, reckless, stubbornness, use it to fight the dark side. up until the end i never stopped believing in you and who you could become.” obi-wan protested, meaning every word. “i’m sorry about your mother, about padme, anakin, i truly am. but you don’t have to be a jedi, or even a sith here. you can just…be.” he offered. though he still practiced many of the jedi ways, he was far from the life he once led. “people always have a choice. make the right one here.”

anakin shakes his head, half in refusal and half in disbelief. he wishes it were that simple, that he could simply shed that part of his past, but some evils are too great to ever be purged again. “you're wrong. it's too late for me to be anything else.” and in that moment, it's cold shame that overpowers his anger. “but i am free of sidious's influence, and the path of the dark side... i wouldn't like to go back to it.” but he can't promise he won't. at least, not yet. “so you can let me go. you can stop punishing yourself for the choices i made.”

She let out a sigh. "Last time it was that calm it turned into the biggest mess I've ever seen." And she preferred it stayed that way; a thing of the past. ❧ @icarianed

"might as well, right? pursue a bit of glory in the path of chivalry, you know, as knights do," bob says with a smile, letting his imagination run just a little in this hypothetical. "yeah, that's usually how it goes for me. just a big mess." he frowns slightly. "but um... it sounds like you might have a few stories to tell? if you wanted to share, that is."

@ivycovestarters

"so... you stole it just to show me that you can?" bob blinks, staring at the wallet the man had seemingly plucked from his pocket while bob was none the wiser. "that's... a lot of effort. effort that could probably be better spent on something, you know, actually productive." he frowns, hoping to keep some shred of his dignity intact in the midst of these mind games.

@icarianed

"for myself?" he didn't quite expect his words to be turned on him, but he ponders on the question anyway. "when it's to my detriment, or to someone else's, would seem the obvious answer." he shrugs, fingers tapping contemplatively. "or when it becomes about somethin' to prove rather than somethin' that holds on its own. no need to back up somethin' that should already be speakin' for itself." a hard-learned lesson on john's part, perhaps, many times over.

                lumine  hadnt  had  a  lot  of  time  for  shopping  back  in  teyvet  ,  nor  did  she  actually  have  the  desire  to  do  so.  her  dress  had  been  the  only  thing  she  had  left  of  her  brother  in  that  journey  to  find  him.  lumine  didnt  need  that  connection  here  ,  aether  was  here  with  her  and  thats  what  mattered  to  her.  part  of  her  was  excited  to  go  shopping  for  her  date  since  she  hadnt  had  this  experience  before.  ‘  i saw  a  section  full  of  jewelry  ,  im  sure  there  is  something  over  there.  ‘  lumine  agreed  since  she  couldnt  see  why  the  boutique  wouldnt  have  anything.  ‘  his  name  is  xiao  ,  hes  from  back  home  actually.  ‘  it  was  weird  calling  teyvet  home  because  it  wasnt  quite  home  ,  but  it  had  become  one  to  her  in  the  time  she  had  spent  looking  for  aether.  ‘  he  wears  this  color  a  lot  ,  im  hoping  he’ll  like  it.  ‘

"let's go take a look then," claudia says with a gentle hum and a smile as she loops an arm through lumine's and crosses the boutique to view their selection of jewelry. claudia's eyes glean over the jewels, silently trying to discern one her friend might find fitting. "from back home?" she repeats, thinking of her own home for a moment, torn between wistfulness and resentment. "he must have been quite important to you if you're keepin' him around in this life too," she teases lightly. "oh, he will. i'm sure of it," claudia assures her. "and if he gives you a hard time, well, you can just let me know." she smiles, clipping lumine's shoulder playfully.

"Forgive me. My head appears to be in the clouds. I had no intention waltzing you over like that." He hadn't yet somehow the inner need to politely step aside and take at least part of the blame seemed too strong to suppress. "Are you alright?" Politeness oozing from each pore, though Colin did not mind.

claudia had admittedly been quite eager to see the local market in town, mostly to satisfy her own curiosity, to see how times have changed, and to add something fresh to her wardrobe. in fact, she'd been quite keen on getting a better look at a scarf, at least until someone ended up running straight into her before she could so much as get to the stall. "well, i would hope you ain't runnin' into ladies on purpose just because you like to," claudia retorts with all her innocent southern charm. "but the harm's been done anyway. now, how will you make it up to me?"

“Being able to watch the sun rise like this. It almost makes me feel like I would be back in the Shire….” And, oh, how much Frodo was missing it. Even after leaving his friends there behind. Because he had not been able to adapt to his old life again as easily even after the ring had been finally destroyed….

"it is something to marvel at, to be sure," jace agrees mildly, his eyes likewise cast in the direction of the rising sun. he had needed a temporary reprieve from the noise of the waking city and had eventually found his feet carrying him to the rooftop of a building. he'd not expected company, though he doesn't mind it either. he's always welcomed the momentary kinship he could find with strangers. "was the... shire much like this? a retreat in the open air?"

"not in the slightest, to be honest." alicent speaks quietly, near awkwardly. "but i know her in this life, the life that everyone calls fake." but this life had never been fake to her. she had loved rhaenyra for years in her mind. she had seen a future, they had been living together for christs sake. but that makes her pause. rhaenyra has a son? "you do look like her." she speaks softly, she should have known those eyes from anywhere. "estranged? what do you mean?" she couldn't picture being apart from rhaenyra even in any universe.

"it's not an easy story to tell," jace says after a moment's pause. he feels like he must tread lightly here. "this place is much changed from the one i've known as our home. i suppose what had kept us estranged then may seem nonsensical in the place we know now." he keeps his words intentionally vague, unsure if it would be wise to dredge up old wounds, nor is he too keen on speaking plainly on his rumored bastardy here and now. perhaps there is a reason why his mother has kept alicent in the dark about the truth of their past. he had never agreed with his mother's partiality for the enemy, but neither does he find it his place to intervene in what seems to be a private matter. "perhaps it is less my story to tell and more my mother's, as it seems you two have already made close acquaintance here."

"Sorry for making this awkward." Finally her voice and brain decided to function again. "Still, nice to meet you, John. And, at least in my opinion, you fit in here just nicely." She shrugged and grinned a little. "Just do not make yourself smaller than you are."

"ain't nothin' to be sorry for," john says, a bit ill at ease by the twist in her expression. did he say something wrong? "likewise, miss. ain't sure the rest here would agree, but it certainly does me well to know at least someone seems to think so." at her words, he releases a puff of a small chuckle. it once used to be damn near impossible to make himself small. no matter how hard he tried, it seemed there was always the promise of trouble to follow wherever he went. though, again, he's more than aware it's only himself he has to blame for that. "doesn't sound too bad." he shrugs. "there's peace in keepin' yourself small. sometimes a bit of quiet is all some of us can ask for."

@ivycovestarters

"just passin' through. sorry, ma'am, i ain't from here. just had a favor to do for a friend," john says, offering the other an apologetic look. "it's a nice place, though. too nice for me. i'm sure i stick like a bad splinter." he shakes his head, still feeling out of place in this world no matter the long years spent in it. "well, it's a pleasure all the same, miss. the name's john marston."

"Perhaps more so the wind's fault rather than yours." Amy says and smiles softly as he looks at her, a warm blush causing her cheeks to go a little pink. "If it worries you so much, it must be rather important, and I cannot fault you there, if I lost Bess, I would be sick from worry." She muses as she watches her daughter smile over at the man and start toddling over to him, her tiny, chubby hands reaching up as though silently asking him to pick her up and Amy is momentarily confused, but for some strange reason, doesn't stop her toddler. "Bess...? Oh, I'm so sorry, she's not usually like this, but, we appreciate the offer and will happily take it, thank you, Mr...?"

"oh, you're too kind to save my pride, miss," laurie says with just a tinge of red to his cheeks. "ah, my grandfather may disagree with you there. it was only the scribblings of a rather rough piano composition i likely could've done without. my grandfather is quite the doting man, but he thinks i'm better off focusing my mind on more important matters, and i cannot argue to the contrary." still, laurie tucks away the paper with the rest. "bess! short for elizabeth, i assume? a smart name for a smart girl." he smiles softly at the toddling girl. it's almost strange how familiar this picture of them seems and, more importantly, how instinctive it feels, this urge to sweep the little girl into his arms. but that would be much too forward, he assumes. he is as good as a stranger, after all, and he'd already promised to relieve the woman of the weight she's carrying. "pleased to make myself useful," laurie says as he takes the two bags from the woman. "i'm mr. laurence, but please, call me laurie. and you are...?"