bakerstreet | ( insomnia )

( insomnia )

the i n s o m n i a meme

It happens to everyone - sometimes, you have nights where you just can't fall asleep, no matter what you do. It could be for a number of reasons, or no reason at all. And this is what's happened now: you've been laying in bed for what feels like hours, just tossing and turning, and nothing seems to help. So what's left to do? Get out of bed and go wake someone else up, of course. If you're not getting any sleep, then why should they?

i n s t r u c t i o n s

• Post with your character (note the name and fandom in the subject).
• Other people reply to you by generating a number from 1 to 10.
• Have fun!

o p t i o n s

01 • FEAR. Maybe you're hearing strange, indeterminable noises; maybe there's a severe storm happening outside; maybe you watched a scary movie before bed? Whatever the reason, you're terrified and it's keeping you awake. You just want to wake someone else up so they can protect you from the monster in your closet.
02 • HUNGER. Your stomach is growling and it just won't stop. Or perhaps your throat is so dry you could cough up a tumbleweed? Well, you've gone to the kitchen to remedy this and hey, that was a pan that just dropped on the floor. It was loud enough to wake the dead! Oops.
03 • PAIN. Your body is completely worn out, be it from exercise, battle, sickness, or what have you. Either way you're in enough pain to keep you from sleeping, so maybe someone else has a home remedy or something, or can at least help you take your mind off of it.
04 • SOLITUDE. For some reason, your bed just feels so empty at the moment. You're feeling terribly lonely and really just want someone to keep you company for a while. Maybe it'd be easier to fall asleep if you're with them...
05 • DISCOMFORT. Your room is an oven. Either that or a freezer. Or maybe this bed is just really uncomfortable? Who knows why you can't get to sleep, it feels like it could be anything. Why even bother trying? Maybe someone else can preoccupy you until you feel tired enough to ignore your discomfort.
06 • PENSIVE. Something's on your mind, and no matter how hard you try to focus elsewhere, it's just not going to work. Your body may be tired, but your mind is incredibly busy and it's virtually impossible to get to sleep. Surely, talking it out with someone else will help?
07 • SADNESS. Something terrible has happened that day, perhaps; or you could just be severely depressed. Either way you're trying your hardest not to cry yourself to sleep, and it's not working at all. Better find a way to get it out of your system somehow; you need a shoulder to cry on.
08 • ANGER. You are just... fuming. Who knows why - that annoying dog is barking again, or maybe the people next door are getting busy and keeping you awake. Whatever the reason for your ire is, you'd better put an end to it so you can get some damn rest already! Go wake up a friend so you can complain to them.
09 • RESTLESS. You're far too energetic to sleep right now. Maybe you're just trying to do so out of necessity - you have to be up early tomorrow! But you just don't think you'll be able to fall asleep for a while now, so why waste the time trying to sleep when you could be doing something else? Namely bothering someone else - you're totally jealous because they're getting more sleep than you.
10 • WILDCARD. Choose one of the options above, or make up your own scenario.

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Home.

Part of her just wanted to collapse sobbing in the entryway, the part that had been increasingly pushed aside as time had passed after that awful, fateful day in King's Landing when everything had changed. Wooden sticks and water exchanged for cold steel and hot blood, and no tears allowed, no matter how she might want to. But staring at the stone keep that meant home, and safety brought it up to the surface. Making her almost feel like the same nine year old girl that she'd been when she'd left, but not quite. She knew she'd never be that girl again, even if in the grand scheme of things it hadn't been that long.

She'd just been lucky that Jaqen had known the way she needed to start heading North, or who knew where she'd have wound up. It almost made her feel bad for manipulating him by naming him as her third.

But not quite.

She should have simply gone to the gate and spoken to a guard to be let in, but something held her back. A wariness, with a healthy dose of paranoia that led her to finding a quiet point where she'd be able to climb the wall, not nearly as dangerous an undertaking as Harrenhal had been. She wanted to be invisible, just another refugee, a scruffy daughter of some serving girl or new stable hand until she determined just how things were. If her family was safe, if they were even here, wouldn't that be her luck?

Once her feet hit carved stone, she simply started walking, noting with some growing sliver of hope that while some of the men she passed were unfamiliar, others were ones she knew to be loyal to the Starks. They'd not stand by idly were something amiss here. Making her way to get inside, through the kitchen entrance so she'd not bump into anyone who might protest her presence. Safe or not, she found herself loathe to make a scene, just wanting to find her family, reassure herself that they were really here, and well.

Robb couldn't sleep. He wasn't sure what the hour was, as everyone had left early in the evening as meetings were becoming inconclusive. He spent some time with Bran, going over the events that took place the days before with the wildlings and to share with him the letter he had received from their sister Sansa.

Only the candles were lit at the table, casting most of the Great Hall in shadows as Robb pooled over the letter one more time and looking at the map to King's Landing when the desire to sleep was starting to strike him. With a yawn, he began his leave from the Hall when he thought he heard something. It wasn't necessarily close by in the corridors, but most certainly there was something.

Standing there silently, Robb strained to listen to every creak and groan the old castle made to make sure he was alone. "Hello?" He asked, feeling rather silly addressing the darkness, but he was certain there was movement somewhere.

It was simple enough to be silent. She'd learned well enough in Harrenhal how to move quietly through drafty great stone castles without drawing attention or making noise, and so she heard clearly when someone else moved into the hall. The voice of her brother brought a fresh threat of tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, but she gave herself a shake to try and dispel the feeling before rounding the corner quietly.

And seeing him there, any thought of what she might say or do to greet him, to draw his attention was gone, and in it's place the blinding urge to just fly right across the remaining distance between them to all but dive and wrap her arms around his waist, which before she'd even thought it through, she found herself doing.

"Robb!"

There was a dash of movement when he released an unceremonious Oof! and glanced downward in shock at the scene before him. "A-Arya!?"

How was this possible? Was it a trap and the Lannisters followed her and forced her to come inside, waiting to release an ambush on Winterfell? He hadn't rallied up his men just yet - that would most likely happen soon - but his excitement overwhelmed his myriad of questions.

Dropping to his knees to be more at her level, he wrapped his arms around her before pulling back to look at her face, "Were you followed?"

She was almost reluctant to let go when Robb pulled back, but did, just keeping hands on his arms, studying him in turn. She herself was a lean, whip of a girl, more so than she had been when she'd left. Skinnier than she should be, normally long hair kept chopped short and messy.

It was much easier travelling as a urchin boy than a girl, she'd noticed quite quickly. She shook her head at the question with a bit of a grin, a sharper version of the one that always seemed to accompany some trouble or another growing up.

"I wasn't. I doubt that the Lannisters even know that I'm still alive." Truth enough, she'd heard some grumbling while serving as cup bearer. How easier things would have gone with the two Stark girls to hold for good behavior from Winterfell.

"And Sansa? Is she alright? I received a letter from her yesterday." He had so many questions to ask and realized he was bombarding her with them, but he was the Stark of Winterfell right now; it was his duty much to his chagrin.

Looking around them, he takes her hand without another word, quickly walking through the halls to his room where he knew it'd be safe. He trusted his men and his advisors, but times were questionable right now; he didn't want any suspicions of her arrival until he got the full answer himself.

"What happened to your hair?"

"Sansa is... I think she's fine. I saw her in King's Landing when Father was..." She trailed off, expression flashing briefly over the conflict she felt before she shoved it aside. "She wasn't happy, but she was alive and well. When I was in Harrenhal they spoke of trades as if she still was, so I imagine that to still be true."

She certainly wouldn't argue at this point, letting her brother lead her to somewhere he felt was safer to converse. It was better than talking in the halls, where anyone could hear. Once the door was firmly shut behind them would she reply, running a hand through the mess of her hair at the question. Yoren's idea, but one that honestly did help to keep her unnoticed. So the moment she was away from Harrenhal, she'd taken her knife to it again.

"I've been cutting it. The Lannisters don't know what happened to me, they assume that I escaped King's Landing when Father was arrested, that I might have died after, but without a body they can't be sure. A girl traveling North alone would have been noticed."

A smile broke out on the young king's typically stoic features. He always thought Arya as clever, perhaps too clever for her own good, but seeing her safe and sound made him more at ease.

If only it were true of Sansa and, hold up -- father? "What of father?" There were many ravens sent with messages throughout the day, but he hadn't received one over updates about father just yet.

He didn't have the decency to mention they would be going to war most likely at dawn. Perhaps with Arya back, it could be delayed.

That question? It erased any pride that might have come from the smile she'd gotten from Robb, eyes widening as her face went a few shades paler.

"Robb... you haven't heard?" It wasn't entirely surprising, from what she'd heard, he'd been very busy. A raven's message could easily be missed in all of that. And in some ways she was a bit grateful, for all she knew he might have already been gone when she got to Winterfell had he known. "He... he was brought to the Square, to confess his crimes before the Seven. I assume he was doing it to protect Sansa... Cersei suggested that they show mercy and allow him to take the black..."

She had to stop a moment, jaw clenching, gaze darting away as she collected herself. When she continued, there was a venom there, a spark of something that had never before been attributable to Arya, but that now seemed all too part of her.

"Joffery had him executed on the spot." It took everything she had to keep her voice steady, but she managed it. Watching Robb at this point, waiting to see his reaction to the news.

In that moment, Robb had gone deaf as if he was suddenly tossed in the ocean and drowning. His hearing was muffled, and suddenly there was an ache in his chest that he couldn't describe or name as his lungs felt as if they were on fire.

"That can't be possible." He whispered, gaze transfixed on the ground and his hands clenched into weak fists.

But when he peeked up through his curled locks and saw Arya's face, he knew his sister wasn't lying. She had never lied to him before and now wouldn't be when she started.

His legs threatened to buckle under his weight and quickly motioned to sit on the edge of the bed, his façade crumbling. Robb didn't want to appear weak before his youngest sister, but how else should he look after learning the murder of his father.

She didn't bother to argue with him. She'd the same denial when she heard what was going to happen, the horrified disbelief that what she was hearing, what she was seeing was going to happen.

Simply remaining silent, grappling with her own feelings over what had happened, the ones she'd been forced to shove down deep under her anger to continue on and survive, boiling to the surface with a vengeance in the face of Robb's raw grief. Coming in closer without a word to just throw her arms around him and hug tight, pressing her face in against his shirt.

Just offering her brother the comfort he plainly needed, and that would be the story she stuck to.

His arms wrap around Arya, holding her tightly as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. It was difficult to hold back the emotions, and he was certain it was strange for his sister to see him like this, but the love and respect all the children had for their father was immense.

And then the tears burned at his eyes, while he tried to hold back the sob wanting to escape. It wasn't fair. "I'll kill them all; every last one." He muttered in his raw anger.

He was the seated Stark in Winterfell, afterall, it was his duty. Already in his mind, he planned it out - find Bran, tell him to look after Rickon and he'd call his bannermen and march off to the south.

Not if I get to them first. But she wouldn't say as much out loud at this point, merely hanging on tight to Robb, comforting him as she comforted herself with the thought of ending the Lannisters on the point of her blade.

"They'll pay for what they've done." She agreed in a thin, tight sort of tone, fingers curling in the fabric of his shirt, unwilling to pull back just yet.

It had been too long since she'd been with family, and there was still that little flicker of irrational fear that if she let go, she'd be snatched away from them again.

"We need to get Sansa back from King's Landing; there shouldn't be any Stark's with the Lannisters." He never had much liking towards them, and even moreso now after their betrayal.

Robb looked up to his father just as much as any of his other siblings, and he hated to know what Arya possibly saw. He couldn't even stomach the idea. His fingers knotted in the back of her clothes, remaining a tight hold on her, never wanting to let her go.

"How did you manage to escape?" He wanted to be distracted, and just wanted to know no one laid a finger on her.

She certainly wouldn't argue that. Steal back Sansa and burn everything the Lannisters loved to ash, that sounded like a perfect idea. Just nuzzling in a bit more securely to her brother, taking comfort in the fact that at least he was safe.

"I was training with Syrio when Father was arrested... he noticed that they'd sent Lannister men rather than ours to collect me. Held them off so I could escape. I knew a lot of the back routes out of the castle from chasing cats before so I slipped out." Killing a stableboy in the process, pointy end in just like Jon had told her. But she wouldn't be telling Robb that.

"No one was looking for me in Flea Bottom, they were more focused on watching the gates to make sure I wasn't trying to escape. So I hid there, waiting for the search to fade off. When... I was in the Square, Yoren found me." In the Square, much better than mentioning Ned directly for that point in time, but it certainly told Robb what she'd seen. "He smuggled me out with a batch of Night's Watch recruits."

Robb was in disbelief what his youngest sister had gone through and seen. It shouldn't have happened and made his blood boil even more that he wasn't there to do anything about what happened.

There always must be a Stark in Winterfell be damned! Father should've taken him along! Irrationally, Robb had ideas that things might had been different if he was there, there to protect his sisters or help their father.

"I'm glad they didn't harm you." He replied softly, but there was a darkness in his voice. Anger, of course, brewing to the point of boiling over. It was a shame he wasn't able to get to sleep, because now he never would.

"They wanted us as bargaining chips I imagine." She knew the thoughts, had gone through them herself. That if Robb had been there, Father would have been able to fight off the betrayers. That no one would have been arrested, that everyone would have been home safe.

But logically she knew. The Starks were strangers to the politics and underhanded dealings the South seemed to thrive on.

"You would have been arrested if you'd been there. Father thought he'd found allies, and they're who turned on him."

"I never felt you could trust the Lannisters." Robb confessed. There was a certain air about them that he was wary of and had always been as such. The imp, especially, even though he had been kind towards Bran, Robb felt there was something underneath the front he presented.

"You must be tired, sweet sister. Coming all the way from King's Landing is no easy task." Robb did want to monopolize all her time here, knowing she'd probably like a bath and rest. Although, selfishly, he'd like her to stay after learning of the news of their father. His grip around her had not eased yet.

"That's because the whole lot of them is rotten." She replied, expression darkening as she just held tightly to Robb still, not wanting to release her grip.

"I should have killed that mewling little git when I had the chance. Stuck him with that precious little sword of his rather than throwing it in the river." She'd have been punished for it obviously, but at the same time, would things be different? Would they be better? Would Father still be alive?

It was hard to say.

"Don't say that." Although Robb was contradicting himself from just a moment ago, "You wouldn't have been able to get away with it." He received the letter about Sansa's direwolf and a brief description about the event written by their father, but he wasn't there to know what happened.

"They would've lynched you if you managed to." But Robb didn't even think of the consequences for him if he was successful of the boy king's assassination. He hadn't thought that far in advance, but it didn't really matter to him, as long as the Stark family was safe back in Winterfell.

"I don't care. Sansa wouldn't be with him and his harpy mother, Father would be alive. I meant it, so I'll say it." She responded, nudging in closer with a tightening of her grip and an irritated huff.

"Tywin as well. I should have shoved His Lordship down the stairs or out the window." She curled her fingers more securely in Robb's shirt, fighting back the urge to cry by battering it back with anger, hot and raw. "No one would have seen me do that. And then you wouldn't have to fight their army with him at the head of it."

Robb's smile was hidden behind Arya as he gave her another squeeze, now realizing this anger was her lashing out from the pain of everything that's happened to them these last few months. It hurt him to see her like this, to see her innocence lost and talking of foolish things such as murdering the Lannister king.

What have they done to you, Arya? And of Sansa? He thought to himself. If Arya was in this sort of state, he hated to see how Sansa was, given they both secretly knew she was the softer of the sisters.

"That day will come. This I swear to the gods." Perhaps he shouldn't be making false promises, but knowing it was his duty to avenge his father, he felt confident enough to know what his next role would be.

"If I'd been smarter about it they'd both be dead." Said in a quiet tone, definitely at odds with how she'd been speaking before. Something that had been rolling through her thoughts since she'd named her names and given back the lives she'd saved. What would have happened if she'd named Joffery? If she'd named Tywin? Or any of their other enemies, would things be different?

"No one would have known it was me. Tywin didn't even know I was in Harrenhal serving his wine, he wouldn't know it was me that gave his name."

Robb shook his head, "You shouldn't have gotten that close to him; that was very dangerous of you, Arya. He's as they say, a tyrant and not one to be trusted." Of course, Robb had never met him, but heard from rumors and stories of others.

And his hatred of the Lannisters ran deep.

"And if you carried through with this plan, by yourself, you'd be killed on the spot."

"I didn't have a choice in the matter. As far as anyone knew I was just some blacksmith's daughter taking refuge in the keep. If I'd said no, that would have been noticed." She grimaced, grip on her brother tightening as she shook her head in reply. "I know I'd never get away with trying anything myself, he'd see right through that. I don't think he entirely believed I was who I said I was, but he never really pressed the matter..."

"I didn't get caught for the others that I did name, no one knew they were even assassinations." A soft irritated huff at the idea, brows furrowing. "I had a Faceless Man waiting to kill for me and I wasted it before I realized what I'd had at my disposal."

( insomnia )

/the game of make things up

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Totally AU, but I love it.

Oh my heart

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