The sound of breaking. (Broadcast)

[decisiveconquest]

WHO: Daenerys Targaryen
WHAT: She can only rant at walls for so long.
WHERE: A haphazard, dilapidated building.
WHEN: Either very late or very early. What is sleep?
NOTES: Madness. Targaryen madness.

(Her patience has worn thin. With each day, the Iron Throne is further and further from her grasp, her sons could be dead for all she knows and her friends and allies could be in the same position. All for what?

She flicks a lighter - a recent find - bringing forth a flame. Exhaling a foggy breath, she catches the pile of papers and wood she had collected at her feet on fire. The crackling of the flames can be heard, catching onto other tinder, before she speaks.)

Everyone is dead and my kingdom has turned to ash. (Though it cannot be seen, she is holding her fingers directly into the fire.) I am the last Dragon and here I am, stuck in a cage. I can't melt the bars with my breath or tear my foes to pieces with my teeth.

I wonder if any of this is real.

Comments

[snikthatch]

[ It takes him a moment to realise that it's a real broadcast and not another bit of strangeness. He sounds pretty tired. ]

I dunno, darlin'. I've been thinkin' about it too and I can't work it out. Might be real. Might not. Figure all we can do is act like it matters.

[decisiveconquest]

(Fatigue clouds the mind, doesn't it? Daenerys is at the point where she doesn't feel the exhaustion anymore, but it exists in every step she takes.)

Which part of it matters? The strange letters? The buildings?

[snikthatch]

Nah, that stuff's just window dressin' for whatever's keepin' us here.

[decisiveconquest]

I don't have a clue how to unveil our hosts. (Or host.)

[snikthatch]

Probably for the best. Didn't work so well last time someone tried it.

[decisiveconquest]

But that leaves us like this, confused, lost and barely clinging to life.

[snikthatch]

Sometimes the best way to track somethin' is to sit and wait for it to come to you. As soon as whatever it is that's runnin' this place shows itself, I sure as hell ain't waitin' around before I sink my claws between its teeth.

[decisiveconquest]

How do we make ourselves attractive bait? (If she can set things randomly on fire, that would be really therapeutic.)

[snikthatch]

I guess that depends what it wants. Not sure you oughta be thinkin' like bait, though.

[decisiveconquest]

What else can we do? If being bait speeds things along...

[snikthatch]

You got any bright ideas?

[decisiveconquest]

Other than lighting these buildings on fire, no, none at the moment.

[snikthatch]

Well, I ain't gonna stop ya. As long as you can walk out of it again, I guess.

[decisiveconquest]

I would sacrifice my clothes and I would rather not go without them in this environment.

[ragnarsson]

Something we both have in common. Both used to power and now powerless.

[In Ivar's case, he'd been the one to burn everything he touched. He had no one to blame at the end of the day when he lost it all. It had all been his own doing.]

[decisiveconquest]

I won't stay powerless. (She can't accept that state.) I've never been powerless and neither have you. We can't start to think that way.

[ragnarsson]

Ah, but how to gain the power back? That is the real question. Power comes from force and force comes from having people behind you.

[decisiveconquest]

Can we not support one another, King? (Is she encouraging him? Taunting him? Both?)

[ragnarsson]

We could. But experience has taught me royalty often has trouble sharing with one another.

[Ivar would only ever trust King Harald as far as he could throw him and King Alfred not at all even though they'd been friends when they were younger.]

[decisiveconquest]

What choice do we have? I am certain we can fight for power after our circumstances are better, but until then, such things should be set aside.

(There isn't any point in putting this in writing either. Everything is chaos.)

[ragnarsson]

Perhaps we can. I have managed to work with others in the past for a limited amount of time.

[Before he inevitably betrayed them, killed them, or drove them away with his usual bullshit.]

[decisiveconquest]

So there is hope. (Maybe. Slightly. If they squint.) Are you prepared to work with a foreign Queen?

[ragnarsson]

I'm prepared to work with anyone so long as they allow me to keep on surviving.

[decisiveconquest]

That is the point. Survival. We can sort out our differences after we have either discovered peace or an exit.

[ragnarsson]

Then I will listen to reason as long as you are willing to do the same.

[But with Ivar's volatile temperament, who can even say how long that will be?]

[decisiveconquest]

I make a point of listening to reason as often as I am able.

(Which has been less often lately. Oops.)

[ragnarsson]

Good. I don't think most of the people here are used to following rulers, but it might be time to organize ourselves a little bit better.

[decisiveconquest]

Then I encourage them to speak their minds. We can find a way to unite; our desires can't be so very different.

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

No, no, no, sorry-- Everyone isn't dead.

[decisiveconquest]

Everyone I called a friend...

They could be.

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

[ There's a furrow in her voice. ]

Here? Sorry. Or back - -

[decisiveconquest]

Back on Westeros. (She sounds...broken.)

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

Oh. Pardon.

[She's...not especially good at comforting others. People don't usually come to her for that purpose.]

They, no, they might not be.

[decisiveconquest]

I have no guarantee. (So it's difficult not to jump to the worst conclusion.) The Long Night has descended on Westeros; my allies are either fighting or dead.

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

Then they're pardon, they're fighting. Yes-- If they're strong?

[decisiveconquest]

They are stronger than I am. But they're not invincible.

[sorrypardonyesthankyou]

No one thank you is. [A pause.] Yes. But we still try.

[decisiveconquest]

Do you need help? I don't know what I can do for you, but I can try.