OPEN POST.

[moondancer]

Comments

@ i have no idea if she's her stepmom or niece or both

[moondancer]

[ from here ]

[ Sheepishly, she reluctantly offers as the first syllable is already out of her mouth before she can think better of it - ]

Father?

cousin of some degree, step-mom, former-aunt-in-law, future mother-in-law... I think?

[suchstrangepower]

[Father. How does she sum up Daemon in one word?]

Complex.

this family's gatherings are wild

[moondancer]

[ Let Baela add on a descriptor - ]

Frustrating.

truly!

[suchstrangepower]

Frequently.

[It's not bad stepmoming if Baela said it first, right?]

[moondancer]

[ She cracks a smile. ]

Pigheaded.

[ He truly is… ]

[suchstrangepower]

[A family trait, to be fair. Although he has reached entirely new levels with it.]

Irreverent.

[moondancer]

[ What else? What else? ]

Inattentive.

[suchstrangepower]

Self-preoccupied.

[Cheating a bit, but not losing, like 'you deserve better' would be.]

[moondancer]

[ Baela considers her next word, unsure if she wishes to pry into affairs that are none of her business. But isn't Rhaenyra her business now? ]

Absent?

[ Is that what he is? ]

[suchstrangepower]

[Ah, tricky question. Absent certainly is one word for it, but didn't she also, in a sense, send him away?]

Divided.

[moondancer]

[ It takes Baela a moment. ]

Oh.

[ That's not her word. She inhales through her nose and narrows her eyes as she considers what she wants to offer. ]

Unsupportive?

[suchstrangepower]

[Maybe she ought not discuss this with Baela. But... then again, maybe Baela will get something useful from it.]

Uncertain.

[moondancer]

[ Hm.

Her father can be pigheaded and stubborn, while he can see the cracks in the world no one else has spotted. Perhaps it isn't her business to know what has transpired between Daemon and Rhaenyra, but… well, can't she at least ask? ]

Doubt.

[ Rhaenyra doubts him. Baela isn't completely unfamiliar with such a concept when it comes to her father. ]

[suchstrangepower]

[Another difficult choice - tell a truth she does not want to, or tell a lie she does not want to.]

Unwillingly.

[moondancer]

[ If she breaks out of the one word, would this conversation end? It's a risk she can't take. ]

Broken?

[ Is that what she and Daemon are now? ]

[suchstrangepower]

[There's a question that has been haunting Rhaenyra for quite some time now. She's loathe to speak it into the universe as a certainty, though. For multiple reasons. Although it is hard to come up with any other accurate word.]

...Fragile.

[moondancer]

Sorry.

[ Though Baela understands it's not her fault. She's capable of empathy, isn't she? ]

[suchstrangepower]

Kind.

[Especially kind, since they are discussing her father.]

[moondancer]

[ She pauses, considering. ]

Desire.

[ That's what she wants to be. Ferocious, fiery, and kind. Can Targaryens be that? ]

[suchstrangepower]

Goal.

[It may be a rarer trait for their family line, but surely it's not out of the question. Surely everyone agrees Queen Alysanne was kind?]

[moondancer]

[ You know there's that one Targaryen who needs to be different… ]

Struggle.

[suchstrangepower]

Effort.

[moondancer]

Unrewarded.

[ She doesn't mean to be such a downer! ]

[suchstrangepower]

Is that really how you feel?

[moondancer]

[ She presses her lips together, considering the question. She could lie, but what would she gain from that? ]

Not always.

[ It's the truth, isn't it? She's luckier than Rhaena, given she has a dragon and is seen as a candidate for… what? Inheritance? ]

But it's certainly harder, given we're women. Sometimes, I think it's made harder because of him.

[ Daemon. ]