#《 ♘ 》 a song of ice and fire ( ASOIAF )

[arysoakheart]

even though arys has always dreamed of being a kingsguard, he learns with time that he doesn't really... like it. under robert's reign, it's not all that bad. he certainly doesn't agree with all of robert's decisions or commands, but it's not all that hard to follow him, comparatively.

but when robert dies & joffrey becomes king, everything goes south. having watched joffrey grow up for almost a decade, arys has seen how spoiled & cruel he is. with each passing day, he finds it harder & harder to follow the king's orders. after all, he became a kingsguard to be a protector, not a sword under a vengeful child's command.

so when tyrion chooses him to be myrcella's sworn shield & go with her to dorne, he is extremely grateful.

& even aside from the kings he serves, his fellow kingsguards are not people he would want to befriend. except, perhaps, for barristan selmy. his other shield brothers are oathbreakers, for certain, but more than that, he thinks they are unkind people.

so when he's alone, arys spends a lot of time thinking about why he became a kingsguard & why he chooses to stay. but he thinks it's not so much a choice as a lack of an option to leave. he swore an oath & he would not break it. but even if he did decide to give up being a kingsguard, none in history have ever done so. he imagines the consequences would be like that of desertion. but sometimes, he wonders if death would be better than being a weapon for cruelty.

[arysoakheart]

as they walk, arys tries his best to keep from making too much noise, but it's proving to be a difficult task. no matter what he does, whenever he takes a step, the armor clangs hollowly. it seems near impossible to damp the sound.

but when the children come into view, his attention turns to them. joffrey is running full-speed with myrcella toddling behind him, arms outstretched toward him. it seems he has his sister's doll & is TAUNTING her with it.

a small frown tugs at the kingsguard's lips as he watches the small girl's frustration grow. her brother keeps yanking the doll away just out of reach, before running away down the hall. eventually, she begins to cry, but luckily, her septa appears to comfort her & chide the boy.

if arys had been charged with watching over the children, he thinks he would've spoken up long ago. but then again, it's not his place to say anything to the young prince, & he's certain the boy would let him know that.

instead, he looks to lord stannis. " i think you're right about that, " he mutters just loud enough for him to hear. " the prince, i mean. i think the queen would be opposed to my guarding them so soon. "

he tried telling robert a guard was unnecessary - especially one whom WADDLED about the Red Keep sounding like kitchen pots.

stannis kept his focus down as he walked, too entrenched in reading & too familiar in ser arys' inclination to follow, so he needn't bother to tell the younger man to come along. his jaw is tight as he walks, teeth LIGHTLY grinding together.

& for a moment, there was peace - other than the kingsguard's noisy armor, the day was bright & the heat wasn't too stifling. even stannis - cold as he was - could admit to the day being favorable ...

... until the sound of screaming children brought his attention up, & his brow tightens upon seeing the golden heads of prince joffrey & princess myrcella bobbing & weaving from one hall to the next.

" they ought to be the ones you should be guarding, " stannis says, watching the laughing children disappear with a HURRIED knight running after them. " one day, that boy is going to cause trouble. "

[arysoakheart]

@ofperzys said: ‘ don’t get in my way. ’ ( meme | accepting! )

" my apologies, my lord. " arys takes a step to the side. he was trying to stay out of everyone's way, but it's proven a bit difficult in this narrow corridor with this somewhat oversized kingsguard armor. his own armor was to be forged, but in the meantime, he wore a spare set loaned to him by another. it didn't quite fit, so he was having a hard time judging the space around him.

fortunately, he had been tasked with guarding the king's brother, stannis baratheon, for the time being. there was no imminent threat, but it was thought that this assignment could help arys acclimate. it had been only a month since king robert had chosen him for the kingsguard, & his shield brothers had warned him there would be a bit of a learning curve. he got by well for the most part, but there were still some small things to be learned.

[arysoakheart]

@dracharenae said: “I, um… might have… had something to, uh… do with that…” ( meme | accepting! )

the knight raises his brow at the admission, & he tilts his head curiously. " oh? "

though he'd been in dorne as myrcella's sworn shield for some time now, he'd had little interaction with anyone aside from the little princess, prince doran, & the other guards. ( he doesn't count all the teasing of the sand snakes, or the advances made by arianne. )

but he knows of ADARA SAND, of course, as she is one of the bastard daughters of prince oberyn. he's seen her & her sisters passing their time together on occasion while some of the younger girls played with myrcella.

obara, nymeria, tyene, adara, sarella, elia, obella, dorea, and loreza. he had learned their names & faces — all except sarella, who was not in dorne — even before arianne had jokingly suggested that outsiders often had trouble remembering which girl was which.

as a sworn shield & a kingsguard, he had spent much of the last decade observing those around him, always watching & assessing for potential THREATS. so he'd learned to match names with faces quickly, & the sand snakes were no exception.

however, he had not seen them often enough to know what each & every one of them is like. he knows obara is a bit brusque & quick to anger while tyene is gentler yet equally clever & sly. but beyond these observations, he knows little about any of them.

so as adara stands before him now, he wonders what she is like. perhaps her explanation of her participation in this scene will provide him with some insight.

" just what might you have had to do with it? hypothetically speaking, of course. "

[arysoakheart]

tag drop.