Happy Name Day (Hound, Geoffrey and Lolita)

Lolita wanted to be anywhere else but here at this moment in time. As if being a servant wasn't bad enough to begin with but now she was stood out here in the heat serving wine to the Hound whenever he asked for it. It was goddamn degrading that was what it was.

She couldn't wait for her Creed to rescue her, and they would, she would just have to bide her time until they were fully ready to come in and take her away from this place. Sure she would have to change her physical appearance but that didn't matter much to her.

Right now however she was trying not to tear the Brat King's head off for being such a terror to his poor Bride to Be Sansa Starrk. The woman had just lost her father to the man and he was making her watch such spectacles of death, she could tell that she was not enjoying it at all. Some women were soft hearted and Lolita was glad of it.

Waiting and hoping that it would be over pretty soon, Lolita adjusted her grip on the wine goblet and watched as the current duel ended with the man being thrown over the side of the building and left to splatter on the floor below. The sound was disgusting and if she was a weaker woman then she might have even felt a little bit queasy.

She knew better than to show it though.

The Hound had fought and won his match in this stupid little tournament and right now all he wanted to do was go to bed or something. It was annoying to fight in full armour in this heat and his opponent had been late. No doubt he'd been getting drunk to avoid thinking about the fact that he was soon to be dead.

After all, Sandor liked to kill people and there were very few people who could claim to be better at it than he was.

Not even his brother.

Sighing a little bit, he nudged his slave, Lolita, to fill his wine goblet. It was the first time he'd actually drank on duty but by the gods was he going to need it it seemed. A knight had shown up drunk and late and Geoffrey was going to have him drowned in wine. Sighing a little bit, he agreed with the Starrk girl,

"It's true your highness." he comment, the last word with just a hint of distain, "What a man reaps on his name day he reaps all year round."

Geoffrey scoffed at the notion but decided the knight would be his fool from now on. Instead he turned to Sandor with a smirk,

"Well it is my name day tournament and now that young knight has no opponent." he said casually before glancing at Lolita, "Have your knife-whore fight him."

Sandor wanted to growl a little bit since Lolita was only dressed in a thin tunic. He was about to give her his sword and dagger when Geoffrey laughed,

"Oh no..." he tossed a small butter knife for Lolita to catch, "Do it with that... let's see how good you are then sell-sword bitch."

Sandor paused before turning to Lolita and whispering,

"He favours his right." he whispered before pushing her roughly towards the opponent and loudly declaring, "You heard your king!"

Lolita was going to use this chance to immediately shut this boy up.

She was going to show him that she could be without her armour, without a weapon and pick up the nearest thing to turn it into an instrument of death - as was one of the skills of an assassin. Maybe then he would realise that she could slip into his room as a shadow and swiftly put an end to him before slipping back into her quarters having nobody see her.

She doubted that he would stop his insults but boy would her glares frighten the child to the core.

Catching the butter knife, Lolita looked at the young knight, he was cocky, he thought he had this in the bag fighting an unarmoured scarcely weaponed woman. That meant that he would make mistakes and mistakes she would be sure to capitalise on.

"As my masters command." she stated with a wicked smirk "I do so enjoy a challenge."

Silently she waited, circling the knight and waiting for him to strike. As soon as he did, she sidestepped it and brought her hand down in a chopping motion into the elbow of his arm, at the joint of his armour. The crack she heard was very satisfying and it was worth the pain she received as she was punched away to give him some space. Drawing away she smirked like a cat who had got the cream - his main sword arm was gone, and now he was seeing that he might just be in hot water.

He switched hands and hacked wildly at her with the sword, each time Lolita stepped back, buffering some of the attacks with her own arms, slanting them to the side to take the broad end of the sword instead of the blade. She was nicked on occassions but nothing to serious.

The butter knife stayed in her hand and she twirled it effortlessly as she merely walked around the knight, waiting for him to tire himself. Whenever she got the chance she would duck under his arm and hit him hard in the pressure points she could get to. Eventually he became so rash that he tore off his helmet with a roar, seeing to charge at her.

He barely got his sword up into the air before Lolita had thrown the blade with such force that it slipped into his eye socket, and into the brain beyond. He fell to the floor - dead. Smirking softly, Lolita placed her hands on her hips and took up the defeated man's sword to present to her Master the Hound.

"Done, Your Grace. I hope that you found my duel illuminating, and, entertaining." she stated with a small bow "The sword of my opponent, Ser Hound."

Sandor had to admit that the woman had some skill in taking down opponents who were bigger and stronger than her. That probably came from not always having the luxury of waiting until her targets were not armoured. He smirked as he watched her demolish the young knight. Shaking his head a little bit, he glanced at Geoffrey and saw the brat-king getting gradually more and more livid. His face was going bright red with his anger.

Smirking slightly, Sandor took the sword and examined it,

"Valarian steel..." he looked over the blade with an expert eye before scoffing, "Only used in tournaments. There's no blood by the base... he was a fool and a coward. But his sword will be used for it's real purpose now. Very good Lolita."

Geoffrey growled in anger before turning to Sansa,

"What did you think of the fight Sansa?" he asked her with a scowl, "Answer me woman!"

Sansa shivered a little bit,

"It was... unsightly." she answered eventually, "A woman should be... seen as a flower... and used only when a man wants. She is not to be a fighter."

Geoffrey grinned at Lolita,

"See? Sansa might be some northern bitch but at least she knows." he scoffed, "Still took too long to answer though. Ser Comfer - beat my lady Sansa until she answers as soon as I ask her something."

Comfer went to step past Sandor to hit Sansa and when Geoffrey was looking at Sansa, The Hound stuck his leg out and pushed. Comfer screamed like a girl before landing at the bottom of the arena with a sickening crunch as his neck snapped. Everyone turned to Sandor, who smirked wickedly,

"He fell... right Lolita?"

Lolita smiled softly at the Hound when he accepted the sword, she knew that it must be valuable even if he didn't keep the same customs as her profession did. They enjoyed taking the blades and weapons of the people they had defeated in combat because it showed their strength and how they can conquer their foes. It also served as a warning, especially when they received special blades which were customised to their former owners - then everyone would know who they had killed.

"It is a pleasure to provide you with such a blade. I hope that you will put it to good use defending His Grace." she murmured softly, however her smile was cheeky - just because the King could order her around didn't mean she was going to start being a little Sansa.

Her spirit was broken and it was easy to see why now that she saw Geoffrey gearing up to beat her, or rather, order someone else to beat her. There was nothing that she could do either! She wanted so badly to reach out and protect Sansa however if she did she would surely be killed - her hopelessness was hurriedly concealed though. She needed to be able to ensure her neutral mask.

It seemed as if she didn't have to do anything in the end after all, the sight of the Hound tripping the male so that he fell and broke his neck made her smirk on the inside. Bastard deserved it.

"Yes Master Hound, I distinctly saw him fall after tripping on that raised stone there." she stated with a firm nod.

Hopefully he would then not ask anyone else to beat the girl in his place, knowing her luck though he would probably ask her. There wasn't much else she thought she could do without snapping and killing the boy right there.

Sandor had to admit that having Lolita around wasn't all that bad. It definitely wasn't as bad as he had feared. To be honest he had honestly feared that she would not take well to being a slave. To the level that she would attempt to kill him any chance she got.

It would be a good work out he was sure but in the end it would be disappointing. He was rather enjoying having someone on hand to piss off Geoffrey while still keeping his oath and doing exactly as he was told,

"Having you around have been rather useful." he admitted aloud with a little smirk, "I'm glad you didn't go and get your head cut off."

Smirking slightly, he put on a straight face when Geoffrey turned to him with a glare,

"I don't see any stone..." he growled, "Comfer was not that incompetent!"

Sandor paused before adding,

"That's not what his wife would complain."

There was a pause before Geoffrey laughed, telling the court that it was alright that they laugh too. A small laughed lasted on and Tyrion Lannister emerged from the crowd,

"The Hound has a sense of humour..." he smirked slightly, "Forgive me nephew but I have need of your Hound and his woman."

Geoffrey shrugged and continued the tournament as Tyrian led Sandor and Lolita away,

"So Lolita..." he smirked slightly, "Why do you think it's taking so long for your Creed to find you?"

Lolita raised her eyebrow when Tyrion Lannister appeared and asked to speak to her and the Hound, it was strange because she didn't expect him here with her but there must be a reason for it. Perhaps she herself was the reason. He probably wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to be trying anything - she wasn't going to be doing anything at all but that didn't mean that her family weren't organising something.

Now that they were away from Geoffrey, Lolita smirked and ran her hand through her hair, she wanted to be able to go back to the quarters of the Hound and relax but it seemed as if there was this one very short man still in her way.

"Well what a forward question Lord Lannister." she stated with a feline smirk on her lips, gently tracing a small cut on her arm from the fight that she had been in "I suppose planning the entire assassination of the Lannister family is a rather...tricky thing. They will be busy."

Shrugging her shoulders with a little laugh Lolita wiggled her eyebrows;

"They'll come for me soon enough. Now what is it that I can do for you my Lord?"

The Hound really didn't care much for Tyrian but then again the list of people he really gave a crap about, much less respected, seemed to be growing shorter every damn year. Probably every day if he was honest with himself. After all, he had respected Ned Starrk as a warrior and that man was dead and to be fair he was one of the last people in the capital he had respected. He sighed a little bit,

"What do you want imp?" he demanded of tyrian, "Is this because you are hand of the King now?"

Tyrian tutted a little bit at both The Hound and Lolita. Leading them into the Small Council chamber, he bade them sit down as his sell-sword guarded the door. He poured them both some wine,

"Calm yourself little dog. I just have plans and plots to tell you about." he explained to the Hound before smirking at Lolita, "I like you. Tell me, do you think I could have the pleasure of your company instead of the Hound? I thought not."

Sandor growled,

"Get to the damn point Imp."

Tyrian hummed slightly,

"No sense of drama anymore..." he joked before humming as he drank some wine, "We're going to kill the King. We're going to do it in a month's time and we won't need anything but the three of us. Any questions?"

Lolita found herself smirking at the Hound, his surly demeanour was something that she had grown very fond of and she wanted to be able to see how the conversation would play out with him and Tyrion. What she was happy about though was that she was also included in this conversation as an equal part, not as someone to just be a 'Yes sir' or 'No sir'. She could have her own opinion on the matters they were discussing.

"So rude Hound." she purred softly "I think you should continue, soothes the burning deep down inside of me to cause some pain." Lolita cracked a wicked grin, letting her head perch on the hand she was leaning on the table top.

Shaking her head Lolita laughed softly;

"Not a chance Lannister. You'd be dead within the week I can tell you that for sure. The Hound keeps me in check, barely. I'm afraid you would not be able to do such a task."

The fact that he wanted to kill the King and he wanted them to help made Lolita grin happily however she was a little bit worried about what Hound would say to this. He was loyal to the King to a fault, or he was supposed to be. Would he betray him so readily?

"I have a few. Do I get to keep my life at the end of this plan? And would I get to be the one to end the bastards life? It's all I've been thinking about." she laughed softly, crossing her arms around her chest "And I assume that this is not going to leave this room, I don't want this coming back to bite me."

Sandor scowled a little bit at Lolita when she told him off but the scowl held no heat behind it so it wasn't really very effective at all. Tyrian noticed this and couldn't help but make a sound suspiciously like that of a whip. The Hound growled at Tyrian before sighing a little bit,

"Speak clearly for once Imp." he said with an annoyed growl, "I am a man of the sword and I do not have times to unravel the meaning of your words. Tell me what you mean, clearly, or I will cleave your head from your neck. But only after stabbing the sellsword who thinks he's being sneaky right now."

Bronn paused, he knife ready in his hand should Tyrian desire he attack The Hound. Tyrian grinned a little bit,

"Oh but I will speak clearly." he assured Sandor before smirking a little bit at Lolita, "A pity, yours is company I would very much like to keep... but ho hum! Such is the nature of life do you not think Lolita? What about you Hound?"

Sandor growled loudly and Tyrian grinned a little bit,

"Getting to the point don't worry."

Sandor froze a little bit in his seat at hearing this little plan of the Imp's. It was... appealing he had to admit. Tyrian smirked a little bit,

"At the end of it I will be king, or my puppet, and you and your Creed will be free to take over the Eunich's contacts and become an official part of the City and the Kingdom as the most respected and largest Assassin's guild." he assured her before turning to The Hound, "Of course you shall have to convince him to go along with it."

Lolita couldn't help but send a softer grin towards the Hound, it was quite...unavoidable sharing quarters with someone often lead to feelings being brought on for each other, but the little growl he had just made sent a shiver down her spine. Perhaps he was a naughty dog in the bedroom as well as on the battle field.

It was useful that he got Tyrion to get to the point she was in no mood to have to figure out his riddles and meanings behind meanings. She was putting a lot into this, her life would be at stake if this went wrong, but with the Hound and her own strength coupled with her and Tyrion's wit and intelligence they would succeed where others had failed.

The fact Tyrion wanted to be King at the end of it made her smirk and she laughed softly;

"You are under the impression that...my family would think my insult properly compensated with that? That I shall?" she asked with a smirk "Oh no no. You know nothing of assassins. They will want their own blood, and we care nothing for being 'official' we make quite enough money on our own. People who know of us...possess the coin to pay handsomely for our superior services."

Shaking her head Lolita crossed her arms;

"You have not fully got me on side yet Lannister. I agree that the King should die. I do not agree that a Lannister should sit or control the throne in any way. It should go to the rightful heir."

The Hound was beginning to get rather annoyed with Tyrian and it was only because Lolita seemed to want to hear what he had to say that the Imp was still alive. That and his head was rather close to his knife so it might be harder to cut it off without carving up the creature's torso too. Not that he was opposed to that but... apparently Lolita was opposed to it.

Gods damn women and how they managed to make warriors tame.

"Imp... you wish for me to go against my King." he spoke coldly and slowly, "If you do not convince me by the end of this meeting I will be forced to kill you. Your sellsword. And even Lolita if you managed to have her agree to your plan."

Tyrian raised an eyebrow,

"Always a pleasure Hound." he muttered before turning to Lolita with a small smile, "So... you would turn away numerous advantages... why? Because my hair is as blonde as my nephews? So be it. I've never understood the appeal of pride..."

He looked into her eyes,

"I can make you and your order even more well respected than you are now. Even the common folk will speak of you with awe, not just those rich enough to afford you." he told her before humming, "And who is the rightful heir Lolita? Seriously now... we have five kings fighting over these seven kingdoms after all. Who would you back?"

Lolita knew that the Hound would be hard to convince, he had his honour and she had her own - or what was left of it anyway. It had been a bitter taste and she couldn't get rid of it even now, she didn't think that she would ever be the same after this little spell at Kings Landing, no sum of gold nor contracts, nor reputation would mend what they had taken from her at this place.

She had vowed all who injured her would die, and so, they would die.

"He is doing his duty leave him be." she stated coldly "He should have killed all three of us already, that should speak volumes to you."

Gritting her teeth Lolita wished that she had the butter knife so that she might slam it into the Imp's hand and leave it there. She couldn't believe that he was still trying to...to...lower her even further. He was judging her as she was trying to salvage some of her pride from this situation! Oh he was fuelling the fire in her soul against the Lannisters.

Slamming her fist down on the table Lolita stood up and looked down at Tyrion with a visage as blistering as blue flame;

"You stole my pride, forgive me if I try to stoke what little I have left." she hissed "Nothing can repair what your family have done to me, my skills, wasted! My intelligence unheeded! Forced to live as a mere servant my abilities forgotten to be some...some plaything to Geoffrey and any who decide it. My armour, a part of myself is gone Gods know where. I could have been of assistance...I could have been a second Hound for all I cared!"

With a harsh chuckle Lolita turned away and tried to calm herself down, it would not do to cry, she hadn't cried since this whole thing had happened and she would not do now.

"You are not as smart as you think Lannister. Assassins require working in the shadows, we aim for anonymity, not for being know by every Tom, Dick and Harry. I think this conversation is done." Lolita whispered softly, clenching her fist hard, so hard that her nails began to cut into her skin.

"ENOUGH."

The Hound slammed his hands on the table between both Lolita and Tyrian. He growled dangerously. Right now his head was beginning to hurt. He turned to Lolita and pointed at her,

"Your armour is in the chest by the bed. Wear it as you see fit and do so with my blessing and apologies that it has taken this long for you to be able to wear it again." he told her with a small growl before rounding on Tyrian, "You. Imp you will make it so that Lolita sees work as an assassin. Your assassin if needs be but somewhere she can actually use her talents."

Tyrian opened his mouth but The Hound growled louder and he closed his mouth again,

"And you're going to find someone else to sit on the throne. I don't care if you're the hand of the King or spymaster or whatever else..." he growled lowly, "But I will not follow another Lannister. I don't care who you end up inviting into this city... so long as they would be a rule who has some semblance of honour."

He paused for a moment,

"Is there anything else we need to discuss?" he sagged slightly, "As I am forfeiting my honour to fight for this cause now..."

Tyrian coughed a little bit,

"Well um... Lolita do you have any qualms with killing some of the Queen's spies then?"

Lolita blinked in shock and anger when she was interrupted in her conversation and basically told to shut the fuck up. She had assumed that the Hound would have been nicer than that but then again she probably didn't know the first real thing about him, it bothered her more than she thought that it should do but...it seemed as if he was agreeing with her for the most part.

Despite this she was still deeply shaken by the meeting and the feelings that it had stirred up, and she wanted to do nothing but go back to some private little rooftop and be by herself. Lolita didn't want to show her sadness in front of anybody - it could be used to exploit you later on down the line.

"No." she stated quietly "But I'll need weapons, good weapons, preferably my own."

Sighing softly, Lolita turned back around and rubbed at her eyes;

"Summon me at a later date to discuss it. I need to leave for the time being."

Walking to the door she pulled it open and slammed it behind her, she hated the fact that no matter how powerful she was she could be put into her place by a man - especially a man she had considered herself close to. As she stormed her way back towards where she was fucking confined until God knows when, Lolita opened the door and proceeded to the chest where her armour was supposed to be stored.

Seeing it almost made the dam break, it was a piece of her that had been missing but still...she was wounded and nobody seemed to be wanting to help her heal these wounds so they would fester until only blood could wash away their pain.

The Hound sighed a little bit. It seemed that this was going to be an alliance made in the Seven Hells if this was a taste of what was to come. Lolita stormed out and Tyrian seemed to consider continuing to plot regardless. Or perhaps because she was gone. He held up a finger,

"Not a word Imp." he declared before pausing, "And one other thing..."

He spun, breaking Bronn's nose viciously with a single punch to the face that sent the sell-sword sprawling to the ground. He spat on the weakened man as he opened the door to leave,

"Next time you have your sell-sword try and harm either me or Lolita and I'll deliver his head to your bed chambers..." he growled darkly, "Right before I cleave you in two."

Slamming the door, The Hound stormed dangerously through the corridors towards the armoury. He had to give Lolita something that would make her feel slightly better. He... he felt bad that she was upset. It was strange and he didn't like the feeling so he was going to make it stop. By the time he had raided the armoury, killing the two guards to do so, Lolita was getting dressed into her outside.

He looked at the floor as she changed, holding out a small chest for her with his hands all bloodied,

"I brought these as well." he told her, setting the chest down on the table to show it was all the weapons she had been captured with, "Geoffrey wanted them as trophies... but 'thieves' broke into the armoury and liberated them for you. A blade's home is with it's master."

Lolita was changing into her armour again when she heard The Hound coming back into the chambers that they shared, she hoped that he would be a gentleman and look at the floor as he normally did she wasn't in the mood to entertain any sort of advances tonight because she was reeling with sadness still and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Shaking her head softly as she did up her armour, pulling her hood over her head experimentally, Lolita placed her hand on her hip and turned to look at what Hound was talking about.

They were her weapons that she was captured with.

Taking out the wrist blades she had, Lolita's eyes sparkled with tears and she allowed them to roll down her cheeks as she strapped them back on. She felt complete again, she felt like she was secure once more - a feeling that she didn't expect to get until her family had decimated everyone in the Court of Kings Landing.

"Thank you, Hound." she whispered softly, wiping away the tears hurriedly "My arm is complete again. I am completed again and I feel safer than I have for a long while being here. I don't know what to say..."

As she looked up into his eyes Lolita felt an odd pull towards the Hound and she wondered if she should ignore it, or stoke it a small amount.

"You stuck up for me in there, got me what I wanted. We have to work together...if we don't then we will be pulled apart and Tyrion will keep the pieces." Lolita murmured, allowing her hand to gently clasp his to comfort him, and also to give some measure of comfort to herself.

Sandor paused for a moment when she took back her weapons. She looked more vulnerable than he had ever seen her but he supposed that was natural considering these things were a part of her as much as his armour and sword were a part of him. Smiling softly instead of smirking like he so often did, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder,

"No matter what else the hand holds it will always remember the blade." he agreed with her before pausing and shaking his head, "You don't have to say anything. No good comes of forcing yourself to speak, that's where people like the Imp go wrong. We only need to say what we feel needs saying."

He paused and looked at a nearby wall before adding,

"Sandor." he told her quietly, "My name is Sandor... please use it."

He smiled a little bit but nodded his head in agreement,

"In this case the Imp wants what is best for the realm... because it is also what is best for him." he told her with a sigh, "We need to stand firm in our demands for a king of honour rather than another Lannister or one of their puppets."

He drew a dagger and cut his palm a little bit,

"I'm willing to swear on my blood to protect you if you're willing to do the same."

Lolita smiled gently and she had to admit she liked the feel of his warm hand on her shoulder, she wanted to be able to perhaps feel it on other parts of her body. The comfort right now though was what she loved the best about this, she thought that he was going to be a rock in her future here at Kings Landing, for she would most likely stay if the plot worked simply because it would mean security and maybe a position here.

"Very true Hound, very true." she whispered softly, grinning up at him "I did so love the way that you put down his riddles and his games. It made the offer infinitely more appealing when it is laid simply in front of you - word games only make me irritated."

When he looked away Lolita was going to turn his head back and she wondered what the problem was when he told her. He had told her his real name. Blinking softly Lolita gently stroked the side of his face, moving it so that he looked back at her instead of fixing his gaze on the wall. He really was quite handsome;

"Very well, Sandor." she smiled warmly, her voice caressing his name.

The fact that they were going to bond by blood was something that she hadn't expected but was very happy to be receiving. Gently she cut open her own palm and brought it to Sandor's so that they could shake together and bond themselves.

"I agree that I shall swear upon my own blood that I will protect you Sandor, as you will protect me."

If there was one thing that Sandor hated above all else it was the unnecessary politics. He hated all the talking and all the backstabbing. It always ended with annoyingly little bloodshed for him. He liked violent coup's much better than any of the ones that had been brought about by the Lannisters. Say what you will about Robert but at least his ascension to the throne had been something that the Hound could really get behind,

"The Imp thinks that twisting words gives him power." he said with a shrug, "He has yet to grasp that that only power is power. Not knowledge as little finger would say. Not secrets like the eunich would say and not money like the Lannisters say. Power."

She said his name.

For some reason the fact that she had said his name made his name sound almost infinitely better. He tried to hide the fact that he was currently feeling rather hot under the collar. Swallowing thickly, he looked at Lolita,

"No one has ever said it like that before..."

Clasping her bloodied hand in his own, he locked eyes with her and moved closer so that their faces were mere inches from each other,

"And I shall uphold the same. I swear on my blood to protect your, as you will protect me..." he paused before whispering her name, "Lolita Avon..."