[OPEN] I'm just looking to live to learn how to live

[ylgr]

WHO: Lyanna Stark (ylgr) and YOU
WHEN: Last half of May
WHAT: Lyanna has found Winterfell 2.0 and is decorating and settling in
WHERE: All over Gazin and at Winterfell 2.0
WARNINGS: None, probably
NOTES: Feel free to find her wandering anywhere in the market or in Gazin proper, at the tavern. Or wildcard it and choose your own adventure!

The moment Lyanna had found it she’d known. A manor house on the water, with gardens and plenty of space. She knew it was the place for her. She would never be able to have Winterfell, here, it’s impossible... but this was close enough. A second Winterfell. Somewhere that’s hers, for her to call home, for however long she’s here. And Ned, if he ever returns. (Gods, let him return.) There’s room enough for her wolves, and both her horse and Ned’s, and room enough that if she chooses to invite others to live there, she can easily.

And she’s going to. Part of the reason she liked it was because it was on the water and nearer to the coast. She thinks Finnick and Annie would like that. She doesn’t know everything about where they come from, but maybe if they have somewhere that’s theirs, away from strangers, they’ll feel a little safer here. She can make the offer, at least.

Thanks to Ned, she has more than enough gold to make the purchase. Once it’s done... it’s time to move in. She’ll probably end up keeping her room in the inn for those nights when she doesn’t want to make the journey out to her new home. And for when she’s needing supplies. But mostly she thinks she’ll be spending a lot of her nights when she’s in the area in this new Winterfell. She’s commissioned a few things from artisans in town. The most important of which is the Stark Crest, to mount over the entranceway. She doesn’t need much in the way of furniture, thankfully, but she still wants to purchase a few pieces. She wants to put her mark on this place. Make it her own.

She wanders the market with her wolves Suvion and Jelmor padding along beside her (and other than the occasional surprised glance they don’t draw much attention, which is nice), picking up supplies and looking for things that strike her fancy, to use to decorate and furnish her new home. Not that she knows what she is looking for immediately, but she knows it when she sees it. Pottery, chairs, seeds for the garden, a dining table with wolves carved along it and several small side tables and a bookshelf to match that she absolutely has to have. There’s a bouquet of winter roses that one vendor is selling that she buys, tucking a flower into her dark hair. They look just like the ones in the glass gardens of Winterfell. She has to. She even persuades the seller to part with a few packets of their seeds, with the promise that she will buy more bouquets. It’s a trade she agrees to readily. It’s worth the gold to have a reminder of home growing in her own gardens.

She has to get a small cart for Sona to carry everything when she’s done. And after she’s delivered everything there, moved it inside and gotten it where she wants it, she sets back out for Gazin. To the tavern, for a meal and a drink. Alone this time, Suvion and Jelmor staying behind.

Comments

[fishermansweater]

Lyanna's seemed better lately, but that doesn't stop Finnick wanting to check in with her. She's one of the few people here that he feels confident he can trust, at least to a certain extent. She'd been kind to Annie when she'd had little to gain from it, and she could have turned on them when they'd encountered her and the wolves out in the forest. So when he sees her in the marketplace when he's selling his catch to the fishmonger, he lingers by the stall of flowers as she's talking to the vendor.

Finnick's not familiar with the flowers she's buying, though they look like some variety of rose. (He doesn't much like roses, but at least they're not white, and if he hangs back a little he can't smell them.)

"Just picking up a few things?" Finnick asks, giving Lyanna an easy smile so she knows that he's joking about the large number of packages she has with her.

[ylgr]

Lyanna grins at him. “Just a few things,” she echoes, teasing. “I’m supplying an entire manor house on my own. I may have gone just a little... overboard.” For the first time, truly. It hadn’t fallen solely on her in Winterfell, and after running away with Rhaegar there hadn’t been a manor house to supply. So it’s all new. And she’s being thorough.

But it’s good that they’ve crossed paths. She’s been thinking about them, and her new home, and come to some decisions. So she doesn’t waste any time in mentioning it. “And I’m glad to have run into you. I wanted to make an offer to you and Annie. My home is large enough for three people. Four, should my brother return. More than large enough. And I thought. If you both wanted to. You could claim a room as your own. Move in with me.”

She finds that she’s... hopeful, that they will. “It’s removed enough from town to be secluded and with plenty of privacy, but close enough to not make getting supplies a chore.” She likes it. She likes it a lot. And she hopes they will, too.

[fishermansweater]

He hadn't had any real expectations when he'd struck up the conversation with Lyanna, but if he'd had any, then her offer wouldn't have been one of them. Not because he wouldn't have expected generosity from her; she's shown plenty to them already. But Finnick's still not used to the way Lyanna (and some of the other people he's met here) offer so much, expecting little in return. He's used to people expecting everything from him in return for any small favor, wanting his fame and beauty to reflect back on them. But Lyanna is kind without expectation, and the generosity of her offer surprises him enough that it shows for a moment.

"I don't think we can. Annie's just made a deal to start renting a house here in Gazin, and we can't really back out on them. It's a good location for us, because we need to be close by while we're still getting established selling to the fishmongers here."

That he really is a little regretful that they probably can't stay with Lyanna is audible in his voice; he likes her, and the thought of having even part of a large secluded house to themselves again is very appealing. But Finnick and Annie have talked a lot about their future here, and the best living situation for them, while Annie was looking for somewhere they could rent.

"It sounds like a great place for you, though." He gives her a small smile, hoping that shows that it's not anything against Lyanna, or her brother, if he returns. "Especially if you're used to living somewhere like that," he adds, a hint of self-deprecation in his tone. "Downsizing's been a shock."