( 001 ❱❱ VIDEO )

[coarse]

[The device clicks on the video recorder to reveal a pale man, tired but fully aware. There's always a sense of restlessness and a weight in his eyes that not even the technology of this ship could rid him of, but his current situation doesn't quite invite a lighthearted mood to begin with, does it.

He's been lost, confused for someone else, drifted away from the crowds and dealt with a headache he couldn't control, all the while trying to place a name on the idea that there was someone he was missing. Several hours later Bass has checked the network and tried to use his abilities to make sense of this situation and find out what happened to that someone -- Bonnie.

The tone is deliberately careful and his sentences slow.]

I need to know why we're here. The prophet couldn't do this. The sulfurs couldn't do this, either. [Way too fucking elaborate for a problem that could've been solved by just shooting him in the head.] So I need to know what you want, and I need to know what you did to my sister.

More importantly, I need to know that she's okay. [A beat. Suddenly he doesn't sound so careful anymore, tension growing in his voice.] Because if she's not, you're going to be in very, very deep shit.

[Silence. Having said that, Bass takes on a new expression, brows knitting only slightly, message carrying a much more personal purpose.]

Bonnie, if you can see this -- just say something. [She should know what he means: Call for me, even if it's just in your thoughts.] I'll find you.

[Click.]

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Comments

[wont]

Bass, [ says Alayne and then nods. An odd name, indeed. But this place was full of odd revelations, the least of which was a strange sounding name. ] Yes, Bass, I will do this for you. And if ever she and I cross paths again, you will be the first to know.

[ At the question of her name, Alayne's eyebrows lift in realization and she hurries to give something of a bow, the camera dipping as she curtsies with one half of her skirt in her hand. ] Pardon, I am Alayne Stone, Bass. I— I am sorry that you and your sister have been separated by the ship.

[ It sounds like a cookie-cutter response to loss, but Alayne feels the sentiment deep in her heart. She'd been so unhappy without Sansa's brothers and her father, but now— ]

[coarse]

Alayne. [There's a soft nod in acknowledgment of her earnest words, offering none in direct response. She's kind -- and peculiar, if not a little too seemingly deliberate about it. People like him are taught to take compassion with at least one drop of suspicion.] Why are you here?

[wont]

[ Again, the question seems to startle her and Alayne isn't sure who precisely to answer. It had been a question present in her mind when she'd first awoken aboard the ship, but with the introduction of Bran and then Robb, the matter had faded, eclipsed by other, more immediate things.

Warily, she shakes her head. ] I— I do not know.

I had thought, at first, that I was being punished. That, somehow, I'd earned to put in such a cold and unfamiliar place. But— then it grew less unfamiliar.

And it seemed less like punishment and more like— [ She flounders for the words. ] —an opportunity.

[coarse]

[He's quiet when he listens to her every word, despite the lingering disorientation.]

What made you think that?

[wont]

Reunion. [ Alayne says the word quietly, mutely. ] I've companions here I'd thought I'd never be given chance to see again. [ They're meant to be dead, is the truth of it. They died and I mourned, but they're here now. ] And— there are dangers where I am from. Dangers that cannot touch me here.

[coarse]

[After a brief pause, the reply is blunt.]

You think that's worth being locked up?

[Even if what she says about danger is true, and even if Bass's world is desperately full of it, none of it makes these walls any more comforting.]

[wont]

[ She does not tell him that she was already caged. First by the Lannisters and then by Littlefinger who, by some trick of the light or sleight of hand, had managed to transform himself into her father. If this is a prison, the walls here are less tangible, less frightening or perhaps more easily suffered given the comfort of her companions.

At length: ] —I do.

[coarse]

You've got 'brainwashed' written all over you.

[Blunt again. He could have it confirmed if he picked up her thoughts. And that's why he doesn't really like the network system's limitations very much.]

No offense.

[wont]

[ Blunt again. Too blunt this time and too close to the bone. Alayne smiles thinly, though not unkindly. (She's good at lying.) And though it is sarcasm with which she speaks, her voice is not harsh, simply sad. ] It is a comfort to see that offers of aid do not go without proper reward, even in this place. [ You should not offer kindness to strangers, she chastises herself. It wins you nothing, in the end. Father was right. ]

I wish you luck in your search for your sister, Bass. I will be sure to make mention of you, if ever our paths happen to cross.

[ And with that, she disconnects. ]

[coarse]

[His eyes are narrowed as her answer progresses and concludes, no intention of interrupting or asking the girl for an opportunity to defend his viewpoint after she's done. There's no room for kindness where he comes from, Alayne, only things worth fighting for with everything you've got.

That's why he's finding a way out.]