4th Battle | VIDEO

[robb]

[ Okay, you feeling lucky Asgard? Robb and Dany have decided to band together to encourage people to fight. Behind them, they have the banners of House Targaryen and House Stark fluttering in the background. There’s a direwolf and a baby dragon sitting on the background too, to add ~intimidation~. ]

If we may have the attention of this realm! I speak before you all to seek favor. The gods have sounded off a call to arms, and though we owe them no favors - think about what they had promised us. We are to return to our worlds if this war is won, are we not?

Then let us find a way to band together. To work against these giants so we can return home to those who are dear to us. Khaleesi and I are seasoned in war, and we can both claim that war is not won by men who do not work together. Victory is not something one man can claim. Those who wish it, let us find a way to assemble troops. There is strength in numbers.

[ And at his side, Dany watches, violet eyes shrewd on his face, features set in grim resolve. Overhead, a green dragon, small of size circles them, and on her shoulder is the red-eyed Drogon, of like stare.

She faces the screen when he finishes speaking. ]

People of this city, those who are trapped as we are, we do not ask you to throw your lives willingly into harm. If you feel you cannot fight this battle, whether by lack of strength or that you have never known the ways of war, no one has rights to stop you.

[ a pause ]

Yet if you would fight, you would not fight alone. For the homes you hold dear, and for those that await you in them, let that be what leads you to battle, not these gods and their words.

To those that may heal, myself among them, I would ask if we might arrange you around this city, so that you would be there when those have need of you--there will be need. In that I ask of where you all might be, so that we may be watchful of you.

[ and when dany finishes talking. ]

Put faith in us both as battle are not foreign to us. I am Robb Stark, King in the North and the Trident and I am determined to make sure this city will not fall. I will make sure we’re safe until every one of these creatures are without head and they know never to come back to Asgard again, let us let them know that winter is coming.

And I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen. The Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Khaleesi of the Dothraki of Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Shackles, Queen of Mereen and rightful Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men. For the winter these giants bring, I would melt them with blood and fire.

[ OOC | replies from both Robb ( robb ) & Dany ( emblazing ) ]

Comments

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[burping]

You have a dragon. [ That is... Not. Okay. DRAGONS ARE BAD. ]

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[emblazing]

[ SOB. ]

Three, my lady. Only children.

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[burping]

Are they not... dangerous? [Unpredictable? Murderous?]

[robb]

[ w-what. he's admittedly kind of jelly, why don't you notice the direwolf mithiaaan. thats badass too. ]

Are they a rarity even in your realm, Lady Mithian?

[burping]

They were killed off. [ Look, she does see the direwolf.] Nor do we have wolves of such... size. That I know of.

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[needlebearer]

[Arya can't help but feel a fire stirring inside her as she sees the banners of House Stark and House Targaryen side by side. She knows it's probably useless to say anything, knows that Robb will object most vehemently, but still.]

I want to help.

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[emblazing]

[ dany won't deny the strangeness of being on speaking terms with starks at all. there's still much and more to make of before she can consider trusting arya's brother, but for arya herself--well, that is an easier thing.

she can't help but smile a little at her boldness. ]

Is this what you've trained for, Arya Stark?

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[needlebearer]

Not this exactly, but ... I don't want you and Robb and my friends here to get hurt fighting for me, not when I can fight too.

[robb]

[ he wants to keep arya and sansa safe. at the root of it, it's the real reason as to why he allows himself to fight. to join a battle for a realm he holds no loyalties too. it's for them.

arya's always been like this. there's a resigned sigh, enveloped in fondness. ]

Alright.

[ don't make me regret this, arya. ]

You're not going to battle, Arya. But you can help.

[needlebearer]

[Wait, what? Arya looks surprised and delighted. She'd expected Robb to insist on locking her up somewhere with Sa--- with Alayne - until the fighting was over.]

What can I do to help, then?

[A little relieved, as she had no desire to experience battle. But she didn't want him riding off to war, either.]

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[secondborn]

[Oh he's ready. He's so ready. He's so much more ready than he thought he'd be, actually. He thought he'd shy away from it, that the memories of his past and the thoughts of his sister would keep him from fighting.

But he's ready to put his anger to good use.

He has a sword, it's not an exceptional one, but it's sharp, and he can use it.]

I am ready, but... I'm not sure where I'd be of the most use.

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[emblazing]

[ there's a face she was wondering if she'd see. on his part he seems authentic enough in his words that dany does not find him distrustful. earnest, something she understands well. ]

It is hard to know where to find use in battle. I am no warrior, but a leader. Have you known battle before, Alastair?

[secondborn]

[His brow furrows. After a slight hesitation, he responds.]

Not like this.

[He looks a little guilty about it. The last time he saw anything like this was when his city was stormed and his family murdered and he was only ten then, and was no help to anybody.

He's had ten years of running and anger and guilt to drive him, though. He might not be a warrior, but he's ready to fight.]

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[robb]

[ robb gets it, anger is good fuel when it comes to finding a passion in winning. he wants to request alastair to use it. ]

What do you know, ser? Can you fight?

[secondborn]

I'm no soldier, but I can fight.

[He wouldn't want to be a soldier anyway. Not by the definition he's used to.]

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[meant]

( it's her banner that flies in this video, the sigil of house stark with its colours of white and gray. alayne had sewn it at robb's request, ignoring the ache in her heart at the remembrance that she had once called this banner her own. that it had been worn as a maiden's cloak draped over her shoulders, until it was replaced with lannister crimson. all of sansa's memories are still within her, and she can never get rid of them.

now, watching robb and his new ally prepare to go to war, alayne feels that events are moving in a direction that she has experienced before. and what an odd alliance it is, targaryen and stark. how strange it is that their banners would be flying together, when rhaegar targaryen had stolen lyanna stark for his own, when the mad king aerys had burned rickard stark alive.

they used to say that the young wolf couldn't be killed. alayne knows by now that the stranger waits for no one.

do you know what you are doing, robb? she almost doesn't want to be parted from him again, in case the fates of westeros follow them here. )

I will pray for your safe return.

PRIVATE ;

[robb]

[ he doesn't trust dany with anything, but they've made enough of a truce to leave matters of Westeros to Westeros and robb needs allies in this. you cannot win a war alone and if anything, cat's taught him to make enough sacrifices. this probably runs along the line of things his lady mother wouldn't approve of, but he needs this alliance. he needs to know he will not fall in seconds and he needs to know that he can fight this war.

more than anything robb just wishes for safety, their safety. robb wants peace.

perhaps the unburnt is less mad, and he can only hope for that. she didn't swear fealties to house stark and she requested to stand as equal - so he's doing what he can. ]

Thank you.

[ prayer? there's no godswood or sept here but he considers it. before war. he considering finding a quiet place and asking the Warrior for guidance. ]

Are you worried, Sansa?

PRIVATE ;

[meant]

( her prayers seem small and weak and entirely unheard of, and alayne should know better. she should know that they're no use. but the words give her comfort nonetheless. just to say them is something sansa would have done, kneeling in the sept every night - but alayne does not give them up now, not when she needs them. )

I would not doubt your courage, or your skill.

( they said you were invincible. they said you rode into battle on the back of grey wind. they said you were half a direwolf yourself, and could change shape whenever you wanted. alayne remembers all of this, but she holds her tongue. she wants him to recognize how fraught the situation is, without giving any of her own lies away. it seems like a wretched thing, to have to lie to your own brother, but she has little choice. as always.

robb, who is working so hard to return to westeros, a place where sansa would never want him to return. it makes her want to weep, but she doesn't. )

But...I beg you to take caution, brother.

( the word seems right. even if she is no longer a stark, even if that identity has let her down spectacularly. it feels right at this moment, and what harm could it do? )

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[emblazing]

I am told of a shelter here, in the city, Lady Alayne. Are you safely there, now?

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[meant]

I am. I only wish that there was something else I could do.

( she's scared, but that is still a desire that she holds, regardless of that - to be a little more than a frightened little girl, this time, hiding in a dark room with the noise of battle all around her.

power is not always kept in a sword, and alayne knows this now, but the power of tales of knights and glorious battles is hard to wash away. )

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[bitofajerk]

Did they really say that we would get to return if we fight with them?

[ he might not be so averse to it if that's the case ]

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[emblazing]

There is a chance of that, yes. If we are to solve the plight of this land, if they are right in assuming it affects all our homes--then I would think it the surest course to take.

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[bitofajerk]

How strong of a chance are we talking here? [ Would you trust it Dany? That's what he's essentially trying to ask without outright asking. ]

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[robb]

[ a beat. ]

That is what the gods speak. That they will return us to our realms when all is done. Is that enough of a reason for you to take arms, ser?

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[bitofajerk]

If they're not lying? Yeah, it is.