teenyoda | Eachdraidh IC Inbox

Are you never afraid? [ ... ] Of what happens to rule-breakers, wherever you're from?

[There's a moment where he's trying really, really hard not to laugh, face strained with the effort of it.]

Of all the things I'm afraid of, Alayne, getting caught by tweaking things isn't one of them.

[ she can see those tics! don't think she can't! ]

...What does frighten you, then?

Losing the people I love.

[It comes out with almost no thought; Stiles' number one fear always present at the forefront of his mind.]

Being alone. Like, really, really, alone. Dying. Pain. Needles. Spiders. Low test scores.

[ loss. loneliness. pain. she knows these things. she can trace their lines with intimacy and can feel the ridges they've left on her soul, if not her skin. it feels like there are great chunks of her missing, although she's found family again in this world. somehow, the holes don't seem to mend...

but she's shaken from her contemplative mode by a simple scrap of disbelief: ] Needles! You cannot possibly be afraid of needles.

Oh, but I am. Not those ones you guys sew with or whatever pretty girls do up in towers in castles, but the ones they give you shots with. They go in your arm. They hurt.

Of course it hurts if you prick your arm with one. [ seriously stiles get it together. ] An excellent reason why it shouldn't be done.

Except we have to do it for medical reasons. The needles I'm talking about are hollow and they're attached to vials to either extract blood with minimal damage or inject things in for health reasons like antibiotics or immunizations.

[ a moment to swallow this thought. digest it. ruminate on it a moment. ]

It's no small wonder they frighten you. [ she's just learned about them right now and she's a little uncomfortable with the idea of something piercing her skin and siphoning her blood. ]

See? Hah. And I get crap because 'they're just needles'. Pff.

[He had a somewhat vindicated look on his face.]

Is this fear not a common one, then?

[He thought about that.]

I'd say it's a coin toss. Some people are afraid of them, so it's not like it's unheard of or anything, but a lot of people aren't.

[ wonder and awe grip her with equal measures of fear. uncertainty. everything she learns puts a new feather in her cap -- a new scrap of trivial knowledge. ]

It must hurt. To be needled. [ she has eaten her two token dates and now retires to sit comfortably in the chair. ]

It does. And there's blood. I'm not a fan.

[Hey, he'd only passed out once, and that was under extenuating circumstances.]

Would you say the hurt is more or less than -- say -- needle-needles? Because I've pricked my thumbs a hundred times embroidering. [ this is a shameful confession, to be certain. ] I used to. Such slips are rare, now.

[ a point of pride to contrast her past folly. ]

Depends. The fingers are generally more sensitive because they have more nerve endings in them, but needles for shots usually go in deeper than just enough to draw blood. I guess it's up to your pain tolerance.

None. I have no tolerance.

[ lies. or truths. sansa has learned how to take a blow, but taking them has made her less and less tolerant of the pain each time. but alayne must be a wide-eyed girl, easily frightened of a little jab. ] And so I give thanks to the Gods that we have no such hollow needles in Westeros. Or else I would fear them too.

[He felt bad. The last thing he wanted to do was have her thinking everything in his world was shitty and painful.]

I'm sure you'd be able to handle it better than me. Girls have a higher pain threshold than boys anyway.

That can't be true.

Pretty sure it is. If men had to have babies, the species would be extinct. We're giant wusses.

How cruel you are to your fellow man! [ a slight laugh. her face possesses some vestige of playfulness. ] I believe some of you are quite brave. Only a very many are craven.

Hey, I'm just telling it like it is.

[His hands spread wide in innocence as he grinned at her.]

We can be brave, no lie there. But we're still wusses when it comes to pain. Especially, ah, that kind of pain. It's for the best of the species that women deal with everything they do and I respect and admire them for having to go through any of that.

['Any of that' being the whole kit and caboodle; menstruation, childbirth, menopause, putting up with guys...]

[ he speaks in ways near foreign to her. no. not foreign. stiles's respect and dare-she-think-it honour reminds her of the tenets taught by her father to her siblings. fair shakes and understanding for others. ]

What a fine husband you will be. [ ... ] Some lady of your lands will be very fortunate.

[ she cannot help but think in such narrow parameters. not after she has herself been so unfortunate in matrimonial matters. ]

Hah, right. Yeah, okay. I have to make it past the boyfriend hurdle first before marriage comes into it. But, ah, thank you?

[That was a compliment, right?]

-- But you and I are friends, aren't we? That was what you said.

[ sorry, stiles. she's having a hard time unpacking the word boyfriend. ]

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