Arya Stark (nothorsefaced) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-10-23 21:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, arya stark, katniss everdeen |
Who: Arya Stark and Katniss Everdeen
What: A talk in the woods
Where: Woods near Arya’s house
When: Backdated: Mid August
Rating: PG (Mentions of certain events from both fandoms)
Status: Complete
Katniss was sat on a log near the entrance to the woods waiting for Arya to arrive with Nymeria. Katniss had text Arya earlier that day after she’d woken from some particularly disturbing Dreams and asked if they could meet up. Kicking a pebble near her foot, she waited.
After Arya had gotten the text from Katniss, she’d gotten ready to go out and headed towards the wooded area they’d planned to meet at. Nymeria by her side, Arya walked through the trees, glancing around and keeping track of where she was headed so that she wouldn’t miss the other girl. Finally spotting her, Arya jogged over, sidestepping a rather large fallen branch, “Hey. How’s it going?”
Katniss looked up as she heard Arya approaching. “Hey, you alright?” she asked as the girl came closer. She stood from the tree stump she’d been perched on and dusted her rear end for any twigs stuck to her trousers. She tossed her plait over her shoulder and stuck her hands in her pockets. “You find the place ok? Figured it would be a nice place for Nymeria,” she told her friend.
Arya nodded as she finally reached the spot Katniss had chosen for them to meet, “Yeah, I found it pretty easily. I think Nymeria recognized your scent too, so she kind of led me out here.” That was one good thing about owning a wolf. They were so much better than dogs in so many ways. “So, what’s up?” She could tell when Katniss had asked her to meet her out there that the other girl wanted to talk about something and Arya didn’t usually beat around the bush.
“That’s kind of...creepy, yet, reassuring I guess,” Katniss admired the wolf as she stood on the other side of Arya. “If I ever get kidnapped at least I know someone will be able to find me,” she smiled at Arya. She felt the urge to put her hand out and stroke the wolf, but let’s face it, Nymeria was pretty damn big and she wasn’t sure how well the animal would react to being petted. Instead she shrugged, plucking a twig off a nearby tree and starting to play with it. “My Dreams got really bad. I don’t know if I’ve told you much about them before, but they’re pretty messed up,” she told her friend as they walked slowly through the woods.
Most of the time Nymeria didn’t mind being petted, but that was usually by Arya or even Bran and sometimes Damian, so she wasn’t sure how the wolf would react to Katniss just yet. She appeared to like the other girl, considering she hadn’t growled at her since that first day they’d met when Katniss almost shot Nymeria with an arrow, so that was a good thing at least, “Yeah, she’s a really good tracker.” As Arya sat down on a fallen log near Katniss, Nymeria began wandering around, sniffing at anything she could find, “No, you haven’t really said much aside from the games thing.”
Katniss took a deep breath and sighed, throwing the twig she’d been playing with away. “They’re awful,” she started. “I’m just...trapped, in this god awful place, running for my life while twenty three people are trying to kill me. Just because some idiot in government decided that the best way to keep the masses in check is to do this hunt every year,” she shook her head in disgust. “I killed a boy...literally a boy, not much older than me and they...they lauded me for it! Crowned me and Peeta the winners like it was something amazing that we’d achieved, killing all those people,” she spat angrily, running a hand over her hair that was tied back in its usual plait.
Arya’s brows rose as Katniss talked about her dreams. She’d thought her dreams were bad, but that was almost worse, “Shit. I couldn’t even imagine that. I mean, I did kill another boy in mine awhile back, but I was trying to find my father and escape the city, but being forced to kill other kids would be awful.” The stableboy would have alerted the other Gold Cloaks if she hadn’t killed him, but had the situation been different, she probably wouldn’t have killed him. “So, if you guys won, that means everyone else was killed?”
Katniss nodded sadly as she looked away from her friend and through the trees. “Yeah, everyone else,” she repeated softly. “Now I’m terrified of picking up my bow in case I...forget where I am and shoot someone or something. I’ve not been sleeping well and things get...confused,” she admitted quietly. She shook her head and turned back to Arya and in an attempt to divert her friend’s attention asked, “You’ve killed someone in your Dreams too? What happened?”
“You have other people around her from your dreams, right? Have they dreamt? Could you talk to them? Maybe talking to someone else from your dreams could help. I know it helped me to talk to Bran after I dreamt about our father’s death.” Arya hated thinking about watching Ned’s death in the dreams, but there were times when she couldn’t help it, “After the King died in my dreams, everything went wrong. My father had been the hand to the King, but when he died, the Queen took over and my father was accused of treason. She had the King’s Guard come for me and I was looking for my sword amongst our things that had been packed up, because we were going to leave and the stable boy tried to stop me. It was an accident, but if I hadn’t killed him, he would have alerted the King’s Guard.”
“Yeah, I mean I have Portia, but I can’t keep going to her. I’m worried she’s got enough on her plate, y’know? She did give me the name of the guy who was my trainer throughout it all, I just...haven’t had the nerve to call him yet I guess,” Katniss shrugged. “I’m sorry about the stable boy. That sounds like an awful thing to Dream about. I take it you got away though?”
Arya nodded, “So the guy who was your trainer is here? He’s a real person?” There were lots of other people from her dreams that Arya wished were real people that she could talk to about the dreams, but so far it was just Bran and Myrcella who knew what she was talking about, “It’s okay. That’s not the worst thing that has happened in them. And yeah, I did.”
“Yeah, Haymitch Abernathy’s his name, you heard of him?” Katniss asked, looking over at her friend. “Not the worst thing? I’m almost afraid to ask what was worse,” she grimaced.
Arya thought for a moment then shook her head, “No, I don’t think I’ve heard of him.” There were so many people on Valarnet that she couldn’t possibly know everyone, “Well, I saw my father get beheaded then while I was trying to get back home, I was taken hostage, but I just escaped.” There were other things, but she wasn’t going to drop all those horrible things in Katniss’ lap right now. She had her own stuff to deal with.
"God...I'm sorry," Katniss turned around and looked at her friend. "There's me rambling on about my crap and you had to wake up with that bombshell. That must have been awful. What did you do when you dreamt about that?"
Arya shrugged a bit, “It was awhile ago. I mean, that doesn’t make it any better, but at the same time, I know my father is fine in real life, so that helps.” She glanced over at Nymeria for a moment before looking back at Katniss, “I had woken up in the middle of the night after that dream and went to my brother’s room. He’d been having the dreams before me, but he didn’t really talk about them much, but I didn’t know who else to go to. We talked about the dreams for awhile that night.”
Katniss nodded as Arya talked. “I’m spotting a common theme in what you’re saying,” she gave her friend a little smile. “Keep talking to people, especially the people who I share the Dreams with,” she summarised.
Arya nodded, “I totally get wanting to talk to someone who is removed from your dreams and that can help. I’ve done it before, but talking to people who know and can relate first hand, is also good.” Arya couldn’t imagine not having talked to Bran that night she’d dreamt about Ned’s execution.
Katniss drew in a deep breath, then let it out in a huff. “Alright sensei, point made. I’ll talk to Haymitch,” she cast an amused smile at her friend. “What about you? Do you still Dream?”
Arya nodded again, “Yeah. I haven’t had one in a few weeks, but my dreams are still ongoing.” The last thing Arya had dreamt about was leaving Harrenhal with Gendry and Hot Pie and running into the Brotherhood. She assumed things would end up getting worse after that, because when did anything good happen in her dreams?
“Have you ever written any of it down?” Katniss asked curiously. Maybe that would help her document it and make the distinction between what was real and what was Dream more real.
“Not really, but I can’t really sit still long enough to write stuff in a journal.” Arya had thought about writing down her dreams when she’d first started having them, but that idea had gone out the window pretty quickly, “But a dream journal wouldn’t be a bad idea if you can find the time.”
“I suppose,” Katniss considered the idea for a little while. “Any way, let’s give this wolf some exercise, shall we?” she asked, feeling lighter than she had in weeks.