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— » 003 » 005 QUARTERS | THIRD LEVEL SEAMSTRESS | FIFTH LEVEL PETYR'S LIBARY | FIFTH LEVEL DEVICE, IN-PERSON, BY RAVEN

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[starked]

[ When Tony sees the smile he almost forgets why he actually sent this message. Alayne looks better as well (something that lifts a small weight from his chest, if he's honest). When the corners of her mouth fall he almost feels bad, but then she smiles and he can't help but quirk his own lips into a half smile before tilting his head to mimic her bow. ]

As are you, Alayne. It's good to actually see that.

[ And it is, Alayne might not be able to tell but he looks relieved to know that. She may not be blood (he's starting to believe his lie has a grain of truth in it though) but she is a Stark and therefore Robb's and Bran's sister. She deserves to be healthy, if not for his sake, but for theirs.

(He thinks he will move heaven and Earth to protect the Starks (and the lone Snow) because they are the closest thing he has to a real family, if only by name.) He looks at her for a long moment before he speaks again. ]

I was worried about you. Which, yeah, I know, maybe I shouldn't have been, but that was a particularly nasty sickness that stuck us. [ A pause. ] You are well, right? My eyes aren't deceiving me?

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[ Courtesy dictates that she should tell him not to worry, that there is no need for it. But the Southern Stark seems to offer the words with a kind of awkwardness, as if such earnestness does not readily come to him; as such, Alayne does not wish to rebuff such heart-felt attempts at sincerity and so simply smiles in her tired way and dips her head in quiet thanks. ] We are still counted as acquaintances newly-made and already you offer your concern for me, Anthony. [ There is something secretive in her smile, easily dismissed or overlooked by someone who doesn't know any better. But now that Tony does know Alayne's secret, it shows clearly to him, the love she holds for all Starks — hidden in plain sight. ] You grow to be a Northern Stark by the day. [ It is the greatest compliment she knows how to give.

She reaches to brush a dark brown lock of hair from the side of her face. Of all the Stark children — hidden and revealed — the dye in her hair makes her look more related to Tony than any of the others, save perhaps Jon Snow. ]

I am better, thank you, though tiredness lingers where others seem to have made quicker recovery. It is— frustrating. To say the least.

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[starked]

[ Courtesy is typically a concept that is lost on Tony, it's not that he doesn't know that people follow it (after all, Steve is a walking talking mountain of courtesy) but he never has entirely mastered the art. (Charm is most definitely a different beast.) Even now it shows with how he tries to offer his words of worry. When he sees her smile and dip her head it relaxes him just slightly, though in the back of his head he remembers Sansa. ] True, it is slightly odd isn't it? You shouldn't tell anyone, because everyone knows I'm hardly the type to do that to everyone. [ He can see the smile, though if anyone asks he'd offhandedly tell you that maybe Alayne cares for the Starks. But now that he knows that she is a Stark, it paints the smile in a different light. She's a girl who loves her family fiercely. At her words of being a Northern Stark, Tony can't help but beam before letting out the smallest of pleased exhales. When he looks at her it's plain as day that even that makes him a bit happy. ] You're trying to flatter me and it is most definitely working. It's been so long since I've even had someone say that. I've always been the Southern Stark for as long as I remember.

[ There's a part of Tony that wonders if the hair he sees Alayne brush away is the correct color. She's a Stark, but does she perhaps take after Robb in coloring (he remembers the dye, and how it was for her). Selfishly, he hopes she never stops dyeing it, if only because if she can be a Stark with that hair then he can do the same. ]

It's understandable, even I'm still a little sluggish. Your body might jut take more time, it's a horrible wait to get up to full strength again, but I've heard the end result is kind of worth it. [ There's a small pause. ] You didn't deserve to get sick in the first place. At least in my personal opinion. [ And then: ] Have you been resting? And by that I mean, actual sleeping. With your eyes closed.

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[ She wonders about this Anthony Stark — not often, but sometimes. Wonders if he is truly a Stark in blood as well as name, wonders if the same tenets of honor and duty run through his veins as it does Robb's and his father's before him. Alayne wonders about his family, whether or not he misses them, or if he is much as Sansa had been — the last living Stark, sole survivor of a once-great legacy. Beaten and broken by the tides of time. (If he was, oh how her heart would sing sorrow for him, for it is never a friendly lot.)

She wonders what makes him sad and what makes him happy. Be a Northern Stark — that prospect seems to cheer him — and then Alayne wonders instead if Anthony understands what precisely that means. ] I think I would like to hear of your south, and of you Starks — if ever you are taken to telling stories. Some Starks are and others aren't. Some prefer the listening to the telling and some do not enjoy stories at all. [ A beat, and then she adds:] Or so I am told.

[ The tendril of hair that'd been tucked behind Alayne's ear slips forward again and gets tucked a second time. She almost laughs. ] How else might one sleep? With one eye open? Sounds like something a giant would do, in a tale.

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[starked]

[ If the same tenets of honor and duty run through his veins, he hides it well. Perhaps it took him a while to discover his duty (I shouldn't be alive unless it was for a reason) and even if he isn't nearly as honorable as some, he does have his own code. Tony misses his mother more than his father, truthfully, but it's been so many years that it's just been him as the only Stark that he almost feels disconnected from it. He nearly destroyed what his father built and spat in the faces of those who would call him the second coming of Howard. (The truth what he's always kind of wanted is a family like Robb described. One he could feel sorrow for losing. One he could feel broken for losing.)

What Tony won't ever tell Alayne is that being a Northern Stark to him means having a real family. Having a family where the members taught their children how real emotions worked and how even the smallest things were rewarded with a pat on the head. ] I like them enough. Sometimes I've been told my stories are a bit over the top, but they're true, even if others don't seem to realize it. [ There's a pause where Tony shrugs. ] We're different, you know. We know of how Winterfell was where we came from, the seat of our power, but- times change and I have to confess I've never seen it in the glory that I think Robb has. We're- We've had to adapt.

[ Once again Tony watches Alayne tuck her hair and he actually does laugh. ] Possibly, I swear I've heard a rather interesting tale about that once or twice. No, I meant, sometimes when I sleep it's just me dozing off and it proves to be incredibly not restful when I wake up. And it's really bad for when I need to heal.