001 | Video: What was that about a road to positivity, again?

[neverwasanyone]

[The young boy peering at the watch is dressed in clothes that don't fit him at all properly, very much looking the part of a nameless, filthy street urchin in a dirty white t-shirt that is obviously several sizes too large and dingy pants with the cuffs rolled up several times. Still, they serve their purpose well enough

Comments

( video )

[practiced]

[ Perhaps it is that quietness that catches Sansa's attention, that thoughtfulness that seems to make the boy seem older than any boy his age should be. Or perhaps it is something in his eyes, the shape of his face - a familiarity. He is her brother's age - younger than Bran, older than Rickon - and that alone is enough to give Sansa pause.

She peers worriedly into the camera for a moment - his voice had been so very soft - and then finally speaks. ]

The path back is not open, sweetrobin, [ Sansa says. Sweetrobin was what they called her cousin, the son of Lysa Arryn. This boy does not seem frail the way that sickly Robert was, but it is as good a name as any for a little boy, especially one whose face endears him so quickly to her. ] Nor is it clear to us.

-not yet.

( video )

[neverwasanyone]

[At first, he doesn't register that there is a lady talking to him. For one thing, he's not used to anyone addressing him with anything other than an angry shout or a demand for him to clear off, if they speak to him at all (and more often than not, they don't). Once he realizes that someone is somehow answering his question, he looks around as if to see both where the voice is coming from and just who this Robin person is that it's speaking about.]

[Before long, he catches sight of a pretty woman on the watch, and gives one slow blink before following it up with a second just for good measure.]

[It then strikes him that she might be speaking to him, since she's on his watch--though he's never seen one do that before--and he leans close in an attempt to better recognize her.]

[Unfortunately, he does not, and that almost stops him from responding, but...]

...I'm not Robin.

[It would be polite to let her know. She might grow upset with him for continuing to pretend to be someone else if she's mistaken his identity.]

( video )

[practiced]

[ It is a child's error, of course, a misunderstanding that Sansa is quick to forgive. She has spent the past fortnight observing the strangers, listening to the way they talk to one another. There was no habit amongst them of calling the little ones 'sweetling' or 'dove'; she curbed the impulse from her own language - not difficult, given how practiced Sansa was at wrangling herself to properness and stillness. But the boy had so reminded her of her young brothers. ]

Not Robin but robin, [ she says and hazards a small, forgiving smile. ] Not the name, but the bird. You are a boy, yes, but robins are small and feathered brown and red. So too are you small, and though lacking feathers, you hair is as brown as warm wood.

( video )

[neverwasanyone]

[He listens very carefully to every word the lady says, thinking that she speaks like one of the very rich people from his home world--the ones that never seem to notice he exists--and that he should probably try to pay very good attention to her if she's bothering to address him. She's smiling, at least, and that doesn't tend to mean bad things.]

[The thought of being called a kind of bird is strange, and he doesn't really know why anyone would want to think of him that way, but it's... pleasant, somehow. She could have said that he was any number of horrible things, or worse, chosen to avoid speaking to him at all, but she didn't. It's odd, but he decides that it means a conversation with her might turn into something nice.]

[Not that he's the best when it comes to talking with others.]

Birds are nice.

[Were he any other child, he would be fidgeting while he gathers his thoughts. Instead, he spends a few silent moments just staring at her before furrowing his brows just a bit.]

...I don't know what you are.

video

[neverwasanyone]

[Oh, and another person? This is certainly a very strange watch. He was almost sure that they were only meant to tell time--maybe the day--but this one says No Name and Trapper on it (though he wonders how he could have no name and be called Trapper at the same time, and anyway, who on Earth or the colonies would call someone something like that?) and shows him people he's never seen before.]

[Initially, he waffles between replying out of a need for comfort and staying silent in case the people on this watch are wicked and have bought him from the mercenaries while he was asleep, but his desire to figure out his situation wins out in the end. He can hide out after that, if he needs to.]

...Remus, [he parrots, turning the word over in his head. No, it's nobody he knows. But if this Remus person doesn't know where they are either, then he probably can't be someone dangerous

video

[neverwasanyone]

[He shakes his head 'no' to the request for his name, the question barely even registering. It's more of an ingrained response than anything at this point in his life, and doesn't require much thought from him. Not like the rest of Remus' comment, anyway.]

Where?

[The boy stops to look back over his shoulder. He was fairly sure he didn't see anyone else in his wagon earlier, but this Remus person had said there were, and--oh. They were probably... where-ever the people he could see on the watch were.]

[How many of them were there? How far away were they? Was everyone in the wagons kidnapped this way?]

But... the cows.

[They go where they want to go, and he isn't strong enough to use force to make them move. How is he supposed to find the others?]

[Video]

[whistleconcert]

[If nothing else, Blues has definitely met quite a few children in his traveling around. His voice is gentle and calm, an attempt to soothe the child, and he even pulls his sunglasses down enough for the little boy to see his blue eyes.]

Not forever, but unfortunately we aren't going anywhere but Oregon right now. Are you all alone?

[Video]

[neverwasanyone]

[The boy stares into his watch, a little more willing to listen to someone who will look right at him rather than from behind sunglasses. It helps that Blue isn't standing there with him, as he can just turn the watch off if he doesn't want to hear anymore, whereas he'd have to leave the wagon and hide if they were in the same place. The thought provides him with some sense of safety.]

[And this is the second person who's mentioned Oregon--meaning that he'll trust Remus and Blue to be telling him the truth about where they're all going, for now. That is, unless he finds out that they're working together to lie to him. Which is a possibility, of course, but he's still not in any immediate danger for now and so will believe that they aren't.]

[He gives Blue a slow nod as his answer.]

[Video]

[whistleconcert]

[Damn. He was afraid of that. This trail didn't seem to like putting people together -- he and Tango seemed to be a unique exception.

Still, the boy's wary, and as much as Blues wants to help him, there'd be no use in terrifying the boy by just running out.]

Would it be all right if I came to keep you company?

[It's a neutral way of phrasing -- Blues hopes that making it sound like a request for himself rather than outright wanting to protect the little boy will keep from wounding any pride he may have, or making him feel uneasy.]

[Video]

[neverwasanyone]

[The way the question is asked makes him stop to think, turning things over in his head. To others, the difference between being moved to a place with more people and having more people move to where he is probably wouldn't seem like much of one at all. To him, it is enormous. If he does not like Remus, and changes his mind about seeing other people, he can escape and go back to his own wagon, alone. If he does not like Blues, however, then he has nowhere else to which he is sure he could run.]

[Perhaps it's Blues' lucky day. By confirming what someone else had said regarding their destination, he'd accidentally given enough reason for the boy to trust him a little bit. That was enough, for now, and at any rate, if Blues turned out to be horrible, he could still make an escape. True, he would no longer have guaranteed shelter and transport, but he never had them before now anyway. A return to what he considered normal was not the worst thing that could happen

[video]

[priestessbound]

[Here, have a worried Japanese schoolgirl frowning at her phone.]

...Are you alright? Can you see our wagons?

It's too cold to be wandering around on your own.

[video]

[neverwasanyone]

[The boy takes a few moments to try and remember her from somewhere, hoping to figure out how he got on the wagon, but she doesn't strike him as at all familiar.]

[He won't argue the fact that it's cold--and it is--or point out that he's wandered around on his own for pretty much his entire life. There'd be no point in that kind of behavior. Instead, he chooses to focus on her questions, figuring that they're more important at the moment.]

[Even if he does exercise caution when speaking.]

...I see some wagons.

[He's not about to claim that they do or do not belong to anyone. She might be trying to see if she can take them, after all.]

[dreaming_oflove]

Oh no, not forever. I'm certain we'll find a way home.

[neverwasanyone]

[His expression begins to edge toward frowning territory. That is entirely too hopeful a tone to be taking in a mysterious place when people don't know where they are.]

How do you know?

[dreaming_oflove]

Well...I can't say that I know. I just believe that we will.