#and storylines the show didn't spend as much time on as the books did
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hot take from my rewatch: s2 is good, actually 💅
#the witcher#!txt: the witcher#also likE? it gets so much shit for not following the books but... it did?#the only storyline that's really omitted is the one with yarpen et al#(which doesn't even guarantee it'll be completely absent from the show either;#it's entirely possible the show could just adapt it in a later season or a facsimile of it)#(esp as part of it WAS already adapted in s3)#and while there are obvs certain storylines that were swapped around#(or were adapted in s3 instead)#and storylines the show didn't spend as much time on as the books did#and things the show added that weren't in the books#(which imo is completely understandable given how i don't think blood of elves has enough content to be adapted as a season by itself)#like the show did still follow the books
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Rojas | Warren Rojas x Reader
A/N: This is TV storyline, not book storyline.
Warnings: Mentions of drugs and alcohol
Eddie: As much as we'd all like to think that Warren was this laid-back, freespirit, there's a part of him that had been broken and taped back together so many times that he never really showed anybody. He just hid it with drugs.
Graham: It really hurt him when Y/N stayed back.
Warren: God, I haven't heard that name in years. Y/N? Y/N L/N? 28 Birchwood avenue, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania? Yeah, I remember her.
Graham: He was infatuated with her.
Eddie: He meant everything to her.
Warren: She meant a lot to me. I mean, of course she did, I almost married her.
Camila: Warren made me stand in the bushes by his house with a camcorder in my hand so I could get the proposal on tape. It turned out good, except for the part when he forgot I was there and started making out with her.
Warren: I picked out a ring and everything. The band didn't know this, but I worked odd jobs on the side. One week I was cleaning someone's gutters and the next I was mowing a lawn, another I was dog sitting. It took me months to save up for a decent ring.
Y/N L/N: Of course I remember Warren. He was the first man I ever loved. I still love him.
Warren: She came to every gig we ever played. Every single one. That is, until we left for LA. I asked her to come with me, but she was still in school.
Graham: We were so proud of her for getting into college. We still are, honestly. Look, I'm happy that I pursued music. Nothing will ever change that. But there's something about going to college that just... I don't know, it sounds right.
Warren: She said she'd meet up with me after she graduated. That was another three years away. But I was willing to wait, and so was she. I promised to call every day and visit when I could.
Y/N: Warren knew how to say all of the right things. And it's not like he was lying, he believed what he was saying. He just didn't always follow through, even if he intended to.
Warren: I called her at the same time every day. Four o'clock. Before we had a gig and after she had school.
Y/N: Everything was fine at first. Then he started going a day or two without calling. That was okay, I knew he was busy. But those days turned into four, then six, then a week. The longest it went was two, three weeks without a single call.
Eddie: I answered the phone one time. She called at the same time every day, so I knew who it was. Warren was on his ass, high and drunk. He couldn't make it to the phone.
Y/N: I asked Eddie to tell Warren to call me when he got the chance. That I needed to talk to him.
Warren: I did call the next day, with a bad hangover. I had a lot of explaining to do.
Y/N: I was not happy when I found out how he had been spending his time.
Warren: She wasn't happy when she found out I was getting high and drinking myself to sleep every night.
Y/N: Drugs, alcohol, you name it, he probably did it or tried it. He knew better than to get into another woman's pants. I would've come up there myself.
Warren: Never cheated though. Point for Warren, I never stooped that low.
Y/N: I told him to get his shit together. Just because two people are apart doesn't mean they can make reckless decisions.
Warren: I thought she hated me. I felt like shit. She was the love of my life.
Y/N: I told him that if he didn't watch it, he'd lose himself, the band, and me.
Warren: I cut back on everything after that. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed weed. I just did it in moderation. Same with the beer.
Y/N: I was proud of him.
Warren: I finally got to see her again when we started going on tour.
Y/N: He got to see me and a positive pregnancy test.
Warren: Turns out, we weren't as careful as we thought.
Y/N: You would've thought he had won the lottery when I told him.
Warren: Warren Rojas Jr...
Y/N: I chose the name. And it was a girl.
Warren: Emilia Warren Rojas...
Y/N: Emilia Lynn Rojas. Everyone called her Em, except for Graham, Eddie, and Warren. Graham and Eddie called her Emi, and Warren called her Warren. My dumbass of a fiance.
Warren: We went everywhere together. The store, backstage, front row of concerts, up the stairs to Y/N's house. She was my little best friend.
Y/N: It was love at first sight. But by the time I moved to LA, the band had split up.
Warren: I missed the music, but I spent my time on boats. It's where I was happy. With my wife and my daughter.
Y/N: We did get married, eventually. I just kept my last name for business reasons, and for privacy. But I guess that's all out the window now. Marry a hall of Fame inductee and your privacy is a window. You have none.
Warren: Warren Jr loved being the center of attention.
Y/N: Em was her father's daughter, she still is. Took up the drums. Back in the day, it wasn't common to see a woman on the drums. They usually stuck to vocals or the keyboard, sometimes the guitar. But not our Em.
Warren: Our son was born a few years later.
Y/N: I was high on pain killers when Warren named our son Theodore Graham. I had agreed to the names separately, not together. Because I knew what was going to happen.
Warren: My little Teddy Graham. She liked the names, just hated the fact that everyone called him the nickname I picked out. Said it reminded her of the cracker. That was the point, though.
Y/N: "C'mon, hot stuff, I want to honor my friends legacies" my ass. It was for that damn nickname.
Warren: She loves it, she just doesn't admit it.
Y/N: Horrible taste in names, but he's all mine.
Warren: Teddy Graham wound up being just like his mama.
Y/N: He likes to try and make me feel better by saying that Teddy is just like me. But I'm an honest person. Both of them are their father made over. It made vacations fun.
Warren: I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Y/N: He's a good husband, always has been. He's an even better dad.
Theodore "Teddy Graham" Rojas, son of Warren and Y/N Rojas: My parents made me into who I am today. My mom definitely did the disciplining and made sure we stayed in school, while dad was letting us sneak into the kitchen at two in the morning to make cookies.
Y/N: I knew everything they did. Playing guitar at midnight when I was in bed on a school night, baking at two, eating junk while I was away on business trips. I just let it slide. They were kids, they deserved to have fun and let loose. It just blows my mind to think I have one out of the house and another a year away from graduating high school.
Emilia Rojas, daughter of Warren and Y/N Rojas and lead drummer of Shortcircut: I was a daddy's girl growing up, still am. But the older I get, the more I appreciate my mom. I've always loved her, but being in her shoes today, I'm unbelievably grateful for her. We talk almost every day now.
Y/N: I'm proud of Warren and the kids. They pushed the limits. I realize they that were privileged to have a father who was in the industry, but they really did this all on their own. We got them lessons, they put themselves out there. Em is touring right now, and Teddy is at home playing his heart out. I'm telling you, just like their father.
Warren: Em and Teddy both have that fire in them like their mother, something I don't think she realizes. They're a lot more like her than she knows.
Y/N: Oh, to be with a Rojas.
Warren: I'll be kissing the ground she walks on for as long as I live—I'm never letting that one go.
#fanfic#daisy jones and the six#daisy jones and the six fic#daisy jones and the six fanfiction#warren rhodes#warren rojas#warren rhodes x reader#warren rojas x reader#warrenrhodes#warrenrojas#djats#dj&ts#the six#taylor jenkins reid
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Kinda jumping off a discussion I was having with @markantonys and @sixth-light the other day, I am really feeling excited about potentially bringing in most/all of the rest of our endgame love interests next season because I think they'll pretty much all benefit with the jump from book to screen.
(contains some book spoilers through Knife of Dreams)
I really enjoy a lot of the choices that the show has made so far, and I think they've done a lot of good set-up for the romances as well. To start with the characters who are locked in already, I really loved that Rand's three love interests all got to spend some extended time with (at least) one of his friends in season 2. Elayne being close with Egwene and Nynaeve is book canon, of course, but I like that the show essentially did that with Aviendha & Min too -- Perrin and Aviendha were so funny together, Mat and Min were also funny but had some great depth and angst. We got to see all three of them shine as individual characters before we got into any romance elements.
Especially with Min, I really loved the choice for them to take Min's self-reported past struggles with her ability and make it a current thing for her. It gives Min an active emotional storyline that is about herself and not centered around Rand, which is a big plus for me.
For next season, it's fairly well confirmed that we're getting Faile, and I think the show is set up to do really well with her:
a. the fact that we're not getting Perrin's internal narration will do so much to combat the 'constantly possessive and jealous' vibe that she often has in the books, because she frequently does not act on it but is just feeling something and if Perrin didn't basically have telepathy, no one would know.
b. Perrin's previous marriage provides a good reason for his relationship with Faile to be much more of a slow burn than it was in the books, and also provide background on why he'll be over-protective of her without falling into Jordan's "Women Are Precious Frail Flowers" trap (which Jordan did realize was a flaw in his writing -- we see him trying to interrogate it over the course of the series. But sometimes he would fall into the trap anyway).
c. And Faile and Perrin's relationship being more of a slow-burn would also make Berelain be a less ridiculous character (if they choose to still have her & her pursuit of Perrin). I'm also fond of the (from reddit!) speculation that maybe Berelain will be Graendal in disguise, which would have the potential of working really well to bring Graendal in sooner and give Perrin a proper Forsaken nemesis.
We are likely to get Gawyn, and if he's our main PoV for split in the White Tower, rather than it being Min (who is going to be in the Tanchico storyline with Mat, if that leak from a couple of weeks ago is true), then the audience will be more inclined towards being sympathetic towards him. We're also not likely to have the huge slow-down in pacing that happened in the second half of the book series, so it won't feel like Gawyn is just marching in place for forever. He's definitely one of the characters who suffers the most from how slowly the plot moves in The Slog.
Less likely but still very possible (especially if the leak about Mat is true) is that we may meet Tuon next season, and the show has done so much to make Mat & Tuon more plausible as a romance, even before we get into anything like character development.
Partly in the difference in Mat's background, in his relationship with his parents, and also in the way his dynamics with characters like Liandrin and Ishamael were played out.
Plus the set-up for what the show is doing with damane & sul'dam is promising in terms of Tuon because the show has established that the sul'dam are very weak channelers (as opposed to being learners), which means that Tuon actively beginning to channel wouldn't be plot-breaking in terms of her capabilities and would just affect her on a narrative level, which makes that feel like a much more likely path for them to choose to go with her and which opens up some avenues for some genuine character growth from her, which would be an exciting change from the books.
And, on a more subjective note, I feel like Jordan really fell down on the writing of Mat and Tuon, especially in CoT & KoD, so basically anyone else taking them over is probably going to be an improvement for me.
The show also really established a strong personality for Mat off the bat, which is something that Jordan was pretty inconsistent about. 'Mat' doesn't really gel as an individual character until the third book when he gets a PoV; and then he changes in several ways between the end of Winter's Heart and the start of Crossroads of Twilight (which is only a week later); I think that 'Crossroads' Mat could have been plausible (if depressing) as a character if Jordan had actually worked up to him over the course of CoT & KoD rather than him abruptly becoming this New Slavery-Neutral "both sides are valid" Mat in-between books (in WH he has an actual ethical & visceral objection to slavery, while in CoT & KoD, he only seems to object to the idea of being personally enslaved and views it neutrally if other people are enslaved). But I've talked about all that before, lol, so I will just say that it feels like the show already knows who they want Mat to be and has taken a pretty bold stand on the subject (re: being a Hero of the Horn), so I don't think we'll see them dumping his brains and empathy overboard between seasons.
So, yeah, I know s3 is still filming, but I am already anticipating it so much!
#wot#wheel of time#wot on prime#wot book spoilers#wot s3 speculation#wot s3 spoilers#wot s3 leaks#knife of dreams
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Last Twilight Episode 12;
Like most people, I did not like the ending of Last Twilight. It took me a while to gather my thoughts and find time to write on the episode, but in the meantime, I've been reading what others have had to say about the show, and I have a few thoughts.
As @waitmyturtles talked about here, discussing whether or not Day should have gotten his vision back presents an ethical dilemma. I've seen a few posts of people who dislike the fandom's outrage against Day getting his vision back, talking about how his getting his vision back does not undo all that he learned and did while he was disabled. Setting aside the fact that Day did not grow through the series, (which @chalkrevelations wrote about here) a big problem for me is feeling like the narrative did a complete 180 post-episode 10. A massive portion of the show was spent with Day learning to accept his blindness and learning to work with it, and although we knew that the surgery was on the table from episode one, it ended up feeling like it came out of nowhere in the final episode. One of the main reasons for this, I think, is because the show barely brought up the surgery in the first 3/4ths of the show (I can think of like 2 instances where it was mentioned) and then it's dropped onto us by Mhon and Night crashing Day and Mhok's date, after which everything became about the surgery. Up till the third quarter of the show, I had enjoyed that the story had such a tight storyline, with such clear intentions. But then the show veered into a very different direction post episode 10, which made the show feel completely different to what it was.
As @waitmyturtles says in her post, it could have been so much better if Day was able to actively choose the surgery, and that we, as an audience, got to see him actually consider the various paths that lay before him. For the surgery to have made sense, narratively speaking, the story would have to be slightly different. You don't just spend 10 episodes of a show working towards a theme and then end the show with the exact opposite of the theme. The final two episodes felt like they were of a completely different show (now, doesn't that sound familiar).
While we're talking about feeling betrayed by the narrative, I want to talk about Mee, and Last Twilight the book. They managed to fuck up Mee's story, and I am aghast. The significance of Mee's story, especially the ending, was completely thrown out by the episode, in particular the montage, which had me fuming. What happened to Day understanding what the author meant to convey by Mee's ending while Mhok didn't, because he felt a sense of kinship with the author's daughter, who Mee was based upon? Mee's story had reliably predicted Day's almost to the end, so what happened? They tried to subvert the ending of the novel, with Day 'reflecting' on Mee's story in the background of the montage. But all that it did was completely go against everything that the show and the novel had stood for.
Life amidst that dilemma caused me to forget what it was like to live a normal life, or how happy I could be.
Sincerely, what the fuck? A huge part of Last Twilight was Day finding, creating a new normal with Mhok. Day learning that his blindness didn't make him abnormal. But this completely erases that. It's saying that living as a blind person, Day wasn't living a normal life, nor was he truly happy.
When Mhok finished reading the story to Day, Day understood. He understood why the author chose to end the story that way, because he understood that being blind for the rest of his life wasn't a curse. He understood Mee, understood her joy, understood that she hadn't disappeared, understood that the ending of the book wasn't tragic.
What Day says here, is that he was heartbroken about Mee's fate because he related to her and felt like they shared the same fate, but he realizes that his story doesn't need to be the same as Mee's.
Isn't Day feeling pity for Mee here? Isn't he doing exactly what he broke up with Mhok for, viewing Mee as some tragic figure, when 6 years ago he had understood that Mee was not someone he needed to feel sorry for? I've posted about how important it was that Mee's story's ending was written with Mee rejoicing, rather than being written as a tragedy. It was so important that Day understood the author's intentions, rather than viewing it as a tragic story. So then, what changed? I don't know, this may be a bit of a stretch, but these lines just seem so wrong, and hypocritical coming from Day.
The intended purpose of this message seems to have been hope for a new, better life. But, if Day's blindness was the worst chapter of his life, what was the point of him learning to accept his blindness, to live with it, and what was the point of showing it to us?
Before the final episode aired, I had said that I hoped that we'd get a nod to Mee's story in the end, to add onto the impact and relevance of Mee's story in Day's. What we got instead, was a preachy reflection that went against everything that the first 10 episodes of the show had stood for, accompanied by a useless montage that completely upended the significance of the stories of both the show and the novel.
In the few minutes this montage lasted, it managed to successfully tear down everything that the first 10 episodes had shown us, everything that Mee's story had told us. Borrowing this one from @lurkingshan's tags in this post, how can a creator misunderstand their own narrative so badly?
I hesitate to use the term ableist to describe the last episode. But what I'm getting from this montage is that Day believes that he was neither normal nor happy while he was blind, and believes that it was the worst chapter of his life. Mee's story, one that is based on a little girl who was going blind, is shown as tragic, in contrast to Day's 'happy and normal' life. And that message seems pretty ableist to me. Which also makes me wonder, how much did Day really 'learn' from his time as a blind person? Because from what I'm getting from this montage, it wasn't a whole lot.
#not talking about anything about mhok or mhon yet#because i don't know if i have the capacity to just yet#they fucked it up with the speech on mee's story#i didn't fully process this part when i was watching the episode#but when i went to rewatch this part when writing this#i was raging mad#how could they fuck this up so bad?#the montage alone made it about 7x worse#last twilight#last twilight the series#last twilight meta#last twilight mee
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What are some Eddie head canons you can tell us about him in this story? 💗 Or basically of how he was before being introduced
Anything really ♡
Eddie always had his eyes on reader and had a crush on her from the start. He always judged her relationship with Steve though. He didn't hate Steve but he disliked King!Steve. He saw the way he looked at other girls and the way he treated reader sometimes. In his eyes, she always deserved better.
Eddie always had a little sketching book with him and would take it to every class, he'd mostly draw DnD related stuff, things for his campaign etc.
He loves writing (storylines for his campaign and songtexts). He also created a DnD character, which was basically reader.
He loves horror movies. Can't decide on which one is his favorite because he loves too many.
He had never been on any dates and he didn't wish to go on any, (deep down he did). He knew how everyone always felt about him, he didn't care to ask out any girls, besides, there was never one he was interested in, except for one (that he thought he could never have *cough* reader *cough*)
He was never a fan of prom and couldn't care less about it. (He still showed up for reader)
He always admired reader, every chance he got, he'd watch her
Reader once slipped him a note when he drew a picture she fell in love with, telling him how much she loves it. He ripped the page off and gave it to her. She still has the drawing and he still has that note.
Eddie is not the most talented cook but he can make a few simple meals. He makes the best sandwiches.
Eddie may be chaotic and his room is always a mess, but it's still clean and it smells good. He always tries to cover up the smell of cigarettes and weed with a room spray that smells like vanilla (lol)
He has a sweet tooth. He loves anything sweet.
Secretly loves a few slow sad songs.
He would tease Steve in their shared classes and would piss him off (on purpose), especially after seeing reader upset.
His hair is very special to him (him and Steve do have things in common)
He is very insecure but doesn't really show it, he always has his walls up in front of everyone, mostly everyone.
The first time he hung out with reader was after a party at Steve's place (when they were still dating). She bumped into him after a fight with Steve, Eddie offered her a shoulder to cry on, then a drink and then a few more and they ended up spending the whole night together, sharing stories and laughing with each other. He was nervous and blushy but it was one of his best nights.
Weeks later him and reader became friends after Steve broke up with her. At that time, he didn't know how much she would change his life or how much he'd change her life and how deep their bond would be.
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okay i'm gonna be very frustrated and angry probably but none of this is directed at you guys i promise!!! i'm just!!!! upset!!!!!!!!!! (tagging you so you see this emily!! 💕 @thesparrow1996 )
let me start off by saying i am not a book purist by any means, but when visual media is being made from a book, i would like it to, at the very least, be telling the same story and that isn't what happened here. it wasn't even telling the same story as the first film in the series.
in the last film, it seemed pretty apparent that paul's visions were going to become a reality and then in this one they Sort Of did that, but Not Really but that isn't even my biggest gripe with it. my biggest gripe is that the last film was telling the story of the book and this film was telling a different story altogether.
my other issue is how chani's character was completely changed. and think is probably because i've been obsessed with her character and the lovestory between her and paul (which is CENTRAL TO THE PLOT OF THE WHOLE SERIES BTW) since i first discovered dune when i was in high school.
in the book, she's supporting paul. she agrees with everything he's doing. she and the fremen all support him because the fact that the bene gesserit are controlling things from the shadows is NOT!!!!! a well known thing!! in fact no one knows that except the bene gesserit!!! OF WHICH CHANI IS CANONICALLY ONE!!!!!! (and even then the bene gesserit are very much a 'knowledge divided' kind of people so no one knows everything about the society) she and irulan are literally narrative foils!!!! like the entire reason i made this web weave was because of how much i fucking LOVE chani's storyline, and because i really love how it shows even the most well meaning of people can fall into the trap of doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. but i suppose it makes less sense to anyone else who hasn't read the book because they also entirely erased the existence of paul's first son.
in the books, paul has a son before he has his twins and that son is murdered by the very last of the harkonnens in a last ditch effort to erase the atreides bloodline. before this, paul is refusing to take the water of life because he has a family and he doesn't want to jeopardize that!! after his son is murdered, he takes the water of life, so he can enact revenge on the harkonnens and start his holy war. by then, he his so distraught that he really doesn't care if his visions become a reality and, while they tried to do this with the destruction of sietch tabr in this film, it does not have anywhere NEAR the same emotional impact because of how it was done (without paul really ever spending any significant time among the people there).
also, as you can imagine, i've got an issue with how they leave this film especially since this isn't even really the full first book and chani and paul's lovestory seems to not be anywhere near as central to the main plot as it is in the books.
all of this is an issue if they want to make further films because they've literally wrecked the storyline with this film. as i said: paul and chani's lovestory is central to the plot. everything happens the way that it does because paul is in love with her and treasures her above everything and, without the existence of his son, without him really seeming to truly care about her, the rest of the story is just going to come across as cheap by comparison.
i wouldn't have had as much of a problem with this if they'd started out the last film by steering it in this direction, but they so very much did not do that. this film really feels like denis villenueve was writing his own fix-it fanfic and that's what i hate about it most.
as for things i did enjoy:
everything on geidi prime; the black sun was so fucking cool. i completely forgot that was a thing from the books. i also loved how the fireworks looked like ink blots
stilgar!!! he's not really like that in the books, but i didn't even care bc it was genuinely funny and i had a good time whenever he was onscreen.
the way chani refused to bow to paul because they're supposed to be equals (you deserve so much better, babygirl, i'm so so sorry for what they've done to your story)
florence pugh did exactly what i thought she would and made me like irulan a WHOLE lot more than i do in the books and the miniseries.
crazy paul and jessica and alia!!! deeply obsessed with their evil family slay
also all the weird family stuff in general, including when feyd and harkonnen made out in front of the whole population of geidi prime
the whole bit with paul learning to ride the sandworm!! that was so fucking good
the part where paul is walking toward rabban out of the fog of the sand on arrakis after he tells muad'dib to come face him. that literally was my fav scene and it was only a few seconds long.
#BUT IT'S WHATEVER!!!! IT'S WHATEVER!!!#I'VE ONLY WANTED THIS PART OF THE BOOK TO BE FILMED RIGHT SINCE I WAS 17 BUT IT'S WHATEVER#emilio.txt#dts
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Small thoughts on the Netflix Three Body Problem adaptation
"We are making it international" they say. They replaced all the international collaboration of world leaders that we see throughout the books with... two British dudes, deciding, alone.
They actually managed to make it less international than the book. They perverted the very themes Liu Cixin brings to his books, about group mentality & collaboration versus the individuals by completely removing all group mentality.
They made Ye Wenjie a unrecognizable shell of herself. Her back is not held up straight. See an old Ye Wenjie cursing, sloushing, moving to England. Is it really Ye Wenjie? It bothers me so much.
They "simplified" the science to a point where nothing is explained, nothing can make it through any kind of analysis of the logic of the things shown & the actions taken.
The futurist headsets we are shown imply that either
1° the Trisolarians are able to send sizable physical objects [which they can't, they can & have sent us two protons].
2° the Trisolarians shared schematics of advanced techs to the ETO for them to develop the headsets, but that's is the one thing they would never do, as their entire plan rely on humans having less advanced tech than they do & not being able to advance it any further.
I thought it was gonna be lesser than the Tencent show. I didn't expect it to be so utterly lacking on all front. "The" boat" scene, the one they spent a 25% of the budget on in the Tencent show, happened in episode 5 & because we know the budget difference between the Netflix show & the Tencent show, we know Netflix didn't use their budget right.
The misguided belief that somehow an American show could show the cultural revolution better to an American audience than a Chinese show can, because of the censorship in China (that though real they clearly do not understand the function & scope of), when they didn't feature a fifth of the storyline the Tencent show did, just in term of the events that took place. What they showed was midly violent & shocking to be sure, but not very accurate to the content of the book. The narration was all wrong. I'll just give small examples:
on the stage when they condemn Ye Wenjie's father (with microphones in front of a huge audience???) they keep saying "lies", which makes no sense, that's not the logic, the charge is propaging western propaganda, upholding Western values, capitalist way of thinking, not lying (I wrote a end of page note to explain that point).
they call Ye Wenjie comrade during her time at the Red Coast (in the book & in the Tencent show her status as a political dissident & therefore NOT a comrade is emphasized).
Ye Wenjie says, "how awesome would it be if China was the first [country to make contact with aliens]" unironically, not in front of the political commissioner asking for something, just enthousiastically. Before she sells out the planets to the Trisolarians.
The inconsistencies are not only baffling deviations from the source materials that display a complete lack of comprehension of Ye Wenjie as a character, as well as an astonishing disregard for the accuracy of the ideology of (Mao-area) communism & the history of Maoist China. They didn't show a lot of content, they could have avoided making such basis mistakes. Given that they kept saying they would not shy away from it, they could have done a better job showing how it was. The Tencent show did a very good job showing how bad it was, in a accurate way. What really pisses me off is that I keep seeing press pieces saying that the Netflix version won't censor "the part of the story taking place during the Cultural Revolution" like the Chinese one like it's such a plus, a reason to watch the American version, by implying to the readers the Tencent version is heavily censored, when in reality the Tencent version spend a lot more than on it than the Netflix one.
Disclaimer, I'm not Chinese, it's not my culture, I don't know the history beyond what a French anarchist who had grounds to dislike French Maoist knows about Maoism, but you don't have to know much to know there is no viewing that time positively, I know how horrrible & damaging the Cultural Revolution was,
And the Tencent show showed that quite well! The political rhetoric fallacies, the bureaucracy, the hypocrisy, how miserable everything is, is shown very well: it's very close to the book.
Censorship does exist & what we know of the shadow-y rules of NRTA is that they wouldn't allow a lot of graphic violence, nudity, sex, ghosts (or BL since 2021...) et caetera, but it's dishonest to pretend that the topic of Cultural Revolution is a taboo that cannot be spoken about, as if the current administration has a positive view on it & would therefore not allow it to be criticized.
The politics of the Cultural Revolution are clearly presented negatively, at length, in the Tencent show, more broadly & accurately than whatever nonsense Netflix did, even if they didn't show one piece of it, a very graphic violent scence which is instead visually & auditorily implied in a short flashback.
NB: "Lies, all lies!". This was so weird to hear for me. Because in French activism we know the ideologies from communism to socialism, going to marxist-leninism & trotskysm to maoism. We still disagree & use the same rhetorics & the same arguments, the culture has changed very little. So my best guess it that "Lying is bad" is a cultural value that the creators cramed it without realizing that it's really not universal, becausee they don't understand communism on any level (they didn't have to make up anything, they just had to keep to the content of the book...)
I don't know if "lying" is a big deal in China, but I know it's not a big deal in my culture & in a Marxist/communist political context, lying is just not "a thing".
They are a lot of charges you can get in a political tribunal (the one I've been party were just verbal affairs). For example, indivualist behavior, liberalism/imperialistic thinking, deceiving the masses with xx propaganda [so they don't revolt when they would if they knew the truth], aspiring to bourgeois comfort [that can mean profiting of other people's labour, not doing enough or not wanting to sacrifice your life for the cause], the worse ones is obviously treason or being counterrevolutionary (working against the revolution). Maoism famously had the three principles one of which being lack of self-criticism (self-reflection so you can do better).
Lying, on this other hand, is not a political charge. It sounds ridiculous.
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Heart of the Great Wolf
30 - Winged Shadow in the Sky
Pairing: Jon Snow x F!Baratheon!Reader, Robb Stark x F!Baratheon!Reader (Past)
Length: 17.8k
Warnings: angst/hurt comfort, child illness, non descriptive inferences to incest, graphic description of disturbing imagery, smut, oral (f receiving), p in v
Notes: Certain subplots and character storylines may be a mixture of book and show content, rather then strictly one or the other. If someone does not seem to be following their show plot, until mentioned otherwise assume they are following their book plot instead. Previous Chapter Here, Series Masterlist Here
Jon was never a great sleeper even at the best of times. His mind always found itself racing, too loud, thoughts too vivid and when he did dream the various stages of his life plagued with whatever would startle him awake the most. Whenever that happened, he usually didn’t go back to sleep. He could recall as a boy, Maester Luwin telling him dreams are simply a way the mind tries to work a problem out, but all Jon ever saw was his own insecurities haunting him and those dreams didn’t change much for a long time.
He hadn’t slept in over two days the first night out in the North, as he finally followed his Uncle Benjen to take the black. His mood was horrible, he was exhausted and he was as unsettled and irritable to everything and anything, no matter what he tried to focus on. Jon’s room was further away from the other Stark children, but close enough that even if all he heard was pure silence hiding whatever noise was beyond each thick stone wall, he still couldn’t handle it.
His last night in Winterfell and he had to spend it watching you marry his brother, and Jon could so easily see that you and Robb looked good together. He hated it. He also really hated, that Robb was about to get the one thing from you, that Jon had spent years wanting to share for both yours and his own first time.
You and Robb had sat up together at the main table and Jon recognized that exact look on your face all too well. The silent nerves trying desperately to hide in plain sight. It was the same look you had that day in his room, when the only sounds were the crackling of his fire, and the soft sounds of your clothes as he pulled them all off. He saw all of you for the first time, and he knew he had been staring intently in silence for a while, and when he returned to your eyes there was that look.
So that last night in Winterfell, sitting in the reception hall, he left.
Drinks, music, commotion and the royal company added to the noise which let Jon slip away after he had likely downed more to drink then he should have. Sober, he was smart enough to know Robb wouldn’t do it, but Jon was too inebriated to risk it. He was your best friend, and he was Robb’s eldest brother, tradition expected him to participate in, what he always felt, was the stupid custom of a bedding ceremony.
In no way could Jon handle that, others seeing you like that and knowing he was only handing you off to his brother. It wouldn’t, and didn’t happen, but Jon left all the same into the cold night.
He spent the rest of his night also avoiding anywhere near Robb’s room. He wouldn’t have heard anything anyways, but he avoided it all the same, knowing what was happening. Yet that first night out in the cold going to the wall when he finally slept, he dreamt of Robb finding out his secret, mocking him and humiliating him in front of everyone for ever thinking Jon could be worthy of you. Saying he was never and could never be a true Stark, just a worthless bastard who never deserved your love.
But then he got to the Wall, and he started dreaming about you. Not realizing what he was seeing even when he kept hearing about you. He still remembered Commander Mormont telling him that you and his father had been arrested for treason, that Joffery and the Queen Regent had claimed you had conspired with his father to help him usurp the crown. He didn't yet know he had dreamt of that. And he didn't realize he had dreamt of a lot more, until Sam told him about you and Robb going to war. He had seen that too, and only then, realized all of these dreams of you had been truths.
He’d seen a lot of that, but it wasn’t until after Sam, Grenn, and Pyp had already brought him back did he start seeing you in visions before his waking eyes almost everyday. Then he really didn’t sleep well.
Seeing you in his dreams, or dreaming a memory of that thing taking the newborn baby, turned into not sleeping more then a few hours at a time as long. That was once more, even worse as he travelled with the free folk, or, more specifically, Jon didn’t sleep much at all travelling with Ygritte. Not before that day in the cave, and certainly not after. If he was awake, he could work to avoid what she wanted before she decided she was just going to take it. Most days, she would take it anyways though.
It was worse when she would talk, because there was no escaping it, knowing her voice was overpowering whatever he was trying to imagine in his mind. You sounded nothing like her, spoke nothing like her and there were times he was seeing you in visions or in his sleep only to be interrupted, woken by her, taking what she thought she was entitled too. And barley awake from dreams of you, Jon would have no choice but to pretend he was fine with it all.
After you and Robb were gone, his dreams could be split into two. One half was a vision that still haunted him, even now when he would wake up and look at you alive. The other was finding the eyes of Ghost and walking through them. He still had those, only he knew what that was at this point. What kept him awake now though on this particular night, was the dream he didn’t understand more then the others.
A night storm had found it’s way over Dragonstone, pouring and rumbling overhead to accompany him in the darkness. Turning more on his side, his arms were wrapped firmly around you. The hand by your hair toying with the loose strands as he watched you. Tucked right into his chest as if trusting him to keep you safe in your unconscious state. If he slipped his hand down, he could probably still find traces of him between your legs. He had taken you a few times with purpose, before rutting into you with a greeding need, and Jon liked how calm and peaceful you looked in your sleep after. The rougher he took you, the better you slept and Jon was more then happy to provide that.
But then he fell asleep. And he dreamt of you, but not like before. Not a vision or image of you in something trying to show him your paths, not a memory you shared together. He had no reason to dream anything like this, nor should he have known anything about it, but he did. Following you around at his age now, still on Dragonstone, but he could see you were twelve.
He followed you all throughout that dream, as if you weren’t guiding him anywhere just living a life no knowledge of being watched. Then finally, convinced this was the strangest dream he’s had yet did Jon finally move to reach out to you trying to almost comfort the sadness in the girl you used to be.
Shifting in his hold, he slunk more down back onto the bed, pulling you more into his chest so he could rest, face finding a home in your hair. Just as he tried to close his eyes once more, your voice muffled sleepily into the quiet. “Your thoughts are rather loud, did you know that?”
Chuckling without moving from his new position, Jon mumbled back, “I could always go think in another room, if it woke up you.”
Sighing what might have been playfully were you more awake, you pulled back enough, forcing Jon to do so as well. Shifting so you could see his face more properly, both of you hardly moved much from laying comfortably under the sheets facing one another. “You could, but considering I’m already awake, you could tell me what’s keeping you up so late like this.”
Jon wasn’t sure what to say that time, it was a dream he felt like was a memory that belonged to you, not him. But he walked through it with you and now wondered were it a true memory how much of it did you even remember?
Looking into your eyes, you found yourself easily getting lost finding his back. Even in the dark of night they were bright and shining. Speaking volumes of words he found not the speech for. “Weird dreams, that's all.” You sighed out a little bit, one hand reaching up to run gently across the his shoulder as that same arm of his held firmly at your hip. “How about you tell me what was on your mind the past few days, and I’ll tell you what I was dreaming about in return?”
If you said it, it would have to be real and you wished desperately it wasn’t. Nothing good would come from it should it come here. Finding his gaze soft, you sighed out once more letting that hand now run mindlessly along his chest, fingers purposely making a path to avoid any contact with the scars littered across him. “Do you know why my father was given Dragonstone instead of inheriting Storm’s End?”
Shaking his head slightly, you continued to look at what you could see of his scars and retraced every path without touching the open scars never to heal as you spoke quietly. “It was a punishment. A reminder of what Robert thought he let get away. At the end of the rebellion, he sent my father to Dragonstone to destroy the remaining Targaryeans, but by the time he got there, Rhaella had passed and her remaining children were already smuggled out to Essos. Robert thought it was his fault, so he gave Storm’s End to Renly. But most of the realm never knew my father didn't actually get to them first.”
Pausing for a good while, your voice if it was possible, dropped even more. “It was a raven from one of Aegon’s connections across the Narrow Sea.” Looking up to him, the hesitation in your eyes bled right into Jon’s as soon as you said it. “Daenerys Targaryean is alive, and she has dragons. Three living dragons.”
Slowly sitting up, the sheet pooled around Jon’s hips as you followed suit, trying to pull enough to keep your chest covered in the cool, storming night air. “Dragons?” You nodded, something fearful in your own gaze that once more watched green engulf the shores of your childhood home and how those screams were your cause. What worse would it be from a true dragon? “I thought they were all-”
“They were. And any dragon eggs that remained eventually turn to stone if they can’t be hatched. An informant Robert had watching her and Viserys told us she had been gifted three dragon eggs turned to stone..and according to Lord Varys's little birds, she had one of her own slaves burned alive as a sacrifice to bring them into this world.” A thought that horrified. Sacrifice of life through death and fire.
Jon knew too. It was what Stannis had led the red woman do. It was what had been done to your family as well to bring victory. That wasn’t a cost either of you thought was worth it. But the cost for this, he didn’t imagine anything was worth it. Shaking his head for a moment as his face twisted in thought, “The last of their dragons was small though.”
Your eyes drifted to beyond. The skull in the underground of Kings Landing. Even the size you were now, you could stand upright in it’s mouth and not hit the top. “If they aren’t fully grown now, they will be soon. What happened the last time a Targaryean came to Westeros with three full sized dragons?”
Eyes drifting from his gaze, there was something unsettled in both of you. There was so little either of you could go on, but what there was seemed to be nothing but a picture of a horror. Jon leaned down slightly, attempting to meet your own eyeline to his. “Hey, look at me. This isn’t the last time.” Your eyes finally flickered up to him with a wavering doubt. “We know what we’re up against now.”
Dropping from his again, all you could do was see the cold in your dreams and the fire that burned inside and letting both consume you seemed as fate as any. “We barley know how to survive the Others, how are we supposed to turn around and fight this too?” Finding his, there was a strength in Jon that was found doubtful in your smaller voice. “It feels like both sides are coming down on us, like we’re about to be trapped between two horrors and there’s nothing we can do to fight it.”
Shifting slightly, Jon moved to face you a little better, a hand coming gently to the side of your face as he let his thumb run along your cheek. Without thinking, your hand reached up too, grasping around his wrist as just as it always was since coming back, beat strong as ever as you continued. “The Targaryeans would have used their dragons to slaughter the North if your ancestor didn’t kneel to them, but we both know better. Either she slaughters us first, or the Others do and her and her dragons burn down what’s left. I’ve seen the ruins of Harrenhal, Jon. The strongest structure ever built and they burned through it so badly it was still smouldering when our army got there. If what I did was even a tenth of what dragonfire can do-”
Turning you to look at him properly, Jon’s own eyes were a tinge darker and face set much more sternly as he leaned more in. “What we did.” Trying to shake your head, Jon called your name more firmly. “We did that together, and do you know what’s important? We didn’t enjoy it.”
In that dark night, the rain coming down still around outside those walls, the weight of wars coming on both sides felt too heavy to pretend to be hopeful about, but Jon looked at you with enough all on his own. Rasping low as he moved the hand on your cheek to run along your hair loose at the back of your head. “The Mad King laughed when he burned by Uncle and Grandfather alive, that woman was proud of Mance Rayder’s screams until I shot an arrow in his heart to stop it, she told you burning your little sister alive was doing you a kindness.” That agony weighed far too much in your heart to stop that feeling from choking up in your throat as your hand tightened more desperately to his wrist, still feeling his steady pulse under.
“We’re finding a way to survive winter, but you and I already know fire isn’t an answer. If it was, we wouldn’t have cared about what we did. But this is just one more thing, one more step. We finish here, and we go home. Then we figure out what to do next, not worry about it before.” The hand running through your hair felt as if finally something of comfort was running through your spine and warming the shaking nerves inside. “Winter is coming, so that’s the war we fight. Beacuse the storms won’t stop just for her. Her coming for the Iron Throne isn’t more important then our fight, and if only you and me get that? Nothing changes. We’re still here to protect our people, and we’ll do that no matter what’s coming for us.”
A shadow of a smile wished to form on your face, but struggled to form it even through the whisper lightening your tone and eyes with it. “How do you do that?” Your other hand skipping past running along him and cupping his jaw, running your own thumb over the facial hair and part of his cheek as you looked to nothing but the grey. “Everything you’ve seen, everything that’s happened and you still come through it all a better man then most could dream to be in a lifetime.”
But he didn’t take that as praise, just shook his head only slightly as he raked his hands through your hair more. “I’m not a better man then anyone else. Just one who wants to do what’s right. And so are you. We fight for our people, the ones we love, and protect those who can’t protect themselves beacuse no one else will.”
That wishful smile eased more as his deep words rumbled through your heart, bringing more life back into it. The ask wasn’t in doubt, or even a true hesitation, only the honesty of what he truly wanted on your lips. “Are you sure you want all of this with me? Trying to find a life together even when it feels like the end is coming for us on both sides?”
Jon wasted no time holding back a smile. “We died before we had a chance to be together, what better time then to start that life together then now? We’re already fighting for our people, being with you, having a family together? It just means you and I fight back a little harder to keep them safe too.”
Nodding, you were the one to lean up. Jon sparing no time to steady himself, wrapping one hand around your waist as you had one palm braced on his chest and the other on his shoulder. His lips soft as they moulded right into fitting with yours, keeping every last bit of cold in your bones rushing with warmth as he kissed you. Moving back, Jon leaned against the stone wall behind him, pulling you gently onto his lap. Both your hands moving to run along his scarred chest and up around his neck to seek your own comfort in his curls.
Both of his own hands settled firmly on your waist before one trailed up your spine and wrapped gently in your hair to keep your lips to his. Never pushing it, never demanding you with greed. Just a soft kiss that he refused to let up as you didn’t want to part from. Gentle smaller ones pressed to your lips before Jon used your hair to tilt your head down. Pressing a kiss to your forehead as you leaned more into his chest with a sigh.
The hand on your hip wrapping around behind your back as you held around the back of his neck with one and resting flat over the scar covering his beating heart with the other. The air quiet until you whispered into it, “When are we leaving do you think?”
Jon tilted his head to press a light kiss to your neck before mostly resting in that same place as he held you in his close embrace. “If everything stay on track, a few more days at the most. Why? Sick of your home already?”
But you didn’t skip a second, your nails running along his scalp and curls as you leaned in closer to his touch. “You’re my home. At the wall, here, Winterfell..Highgarden.” Jon breathed out a laugh into your neck, “You’re the only thing that’s been home for me in a long time, and Winterfell is your home. That’s where you belong, and I belong wherever you are. This place hasn’t been a home since I first stepped foot in Winterfell all those years ago.”
Nodding in his spot in your neck, neither of you dared move as if to break the thin string keeping the emotions mostly at bay, but you still heard his low rasp clear as anything. “I love you.”
Nuzzling into his curls, you both felt that fire burning inside but instead of consuming you with a terrifying lust, it was a dance of embers that soothed over you both as if ensuring nothing could pull you apart. “And I love you, Jon Snow.”
Jon thought no more of mentioning that strange dream, and you thought no more of mentioning the one you had that’s led you down a path of total mystery. If you had a choice between fire and ice, you’d choose ice. You had told Theon that dragons don’t create, they only destroy. Well, it was fire which started a war that almost destroyed Jon’s family and it was in the cold of winter and ice where you reunited.
You hadn’t noticed as you both drifted back to sleep, that as Jon pulled your back against his chest, his hand moved to run across and find a slumbering home against your own scar almost protectively, just as Robb used to do so many times before.
This time it wasn’t a memory that didn’t belong to him that he dreamt of as Jon drifted back to sleep, or the nightmares of visions which haunted him for so long. This time as his eyes turned white behind their closed sleeping place, he walked the snowy wolfswood of the North through red eyes. The search of wolves Ghost was on, and it was as Jon warged into him in his sleep, did together they found the end of that search. And it was something equally as large as Ghost they found.
One that the last time he saw that direwolf, they had been sitting at the side of Arya the final time he and his baby sister saw each other. And as the direwolf came up to him, it for a moment, almost felt as if it wasn’t really Nymeria who was looking back at him, just as it wasn’t really Ghost who was looking at her.
“So explain to me how exactly it is you know that?”
Glancing over to Theon who was watching a fair few of you, working to determine the most effective way to carve the dragonglass into use, you contemplating the effectiveness of arrowheads but only dependant on the amount brought North and what could be spared for more. It wasn’t a difficult process, just time consuming. Only a small section could be broken off at once and too much force could shatter it.
It was obvious why it was not a stone often used for anything.
You weren’t sure when the discussion came around to the Lannisters, but you had made some comment about how they couldn’t afford to hire a foreign sell sword company the manner which Aegon had. When asking you why not, you had almost in passing mentioned that they couldn’t even afford a loan at this stage.
Looking back to your work, you would carefully use a cloth sitting in water to soak the dragonglass, slowly cooling it down which seemed to soften how brittle it would otherwise snap under immense pressure. Once you got the hang of it, it was easy, just tedious.
“The only place they could go to would be the Iron Bank of Bravvos, and they wouldn’t touch their treasury even as a last resort. They rely on stability and predictability.” Likely you knew, was why they had sided with your father. If he said he would work to pay off their debt, then he would find a way to do so if just to get them out of his way. “They know the Lannisters have no money to pay them back with, when I had left Kings Landing, the crown was already four million gold in debt to them, and another three to Tywin, meaning when Joffery was crowned they already were seven million gold in debt. And the war wouldn’t have helped.”
Not noticing the degree of how little the others in room with you were following any of this discussion or how needlessly confusing it all sounded in their ears. Theon however had spent much time working with you in the peaceful days in Winterfell and how much headache numbers quickly caused were you not to wrap your head around it. “How can you be sure? That they lost more in the war?”
You had one answer first, but not the words to speak it past your throat. Eyes drifting up to nothing as you could recall Roose Bolton saying that he was offered a Frey wife and her weight in silver from Walder himself should he help in their treason. Hence why he chose Walda, you knew. But that would be costly to the old man, and you knew too well that money would’ve also been provided by Tywin.
But working around it, you came to a more reasonable answer. “Because I know how much war was costing us, and we were beating them by a far margin. Means that they had to pay triple just to afford to spend three years running and hiding.” Gloved hand running down the edge of the shard in front of you, the sharpness putting good pressure on the leather even with little effort. “And the Lannisters gold mines ran dry almost five years ago.”
Theon’s head snapped up to yours, wide eyed with also a confusion as you realized that wasn’t quite publically available information. “Wait, so you’re saying the richest family in Westeros has no money?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Nothing but a flat tone and even expression as you didn’t look back at him. “The Tyrell’s still control the Reach, means as long as the land is fertile they still control all the food for most of the South. Meaning they’re the richest family in Westeros now. The Lannisters don’t have Tywin, they don’t have their gold, and they don’t even have over half the realm’s loyalty. Not what I could consider an enemy to fear.”
If Theon was baffled, he looked even moreso. So much of the families bravado came from their money and you stood there as casual as could be and said they had none but debt to their name left. “How can you be sure? That their mines are empty.”
You shrugged a shoulder, leaning closer as you snapped off a larger section almost too harshly, pulling back at the last minute avoiding the shattering of the broken piece. Spare arrowhead that one could be now. “I served on the small council, I was in charge of their ships and since they weren’t yet at war it meant most of what I did was control and negotiate trade deals. And you need to know exactly the kind of money the crown can work with to do that. They stopped going to the Lannisters for gold, and start going to the Iron Bank of Bravvos, put two and two together.”
That and a certain spider many years ago, may have once divulged certain information to you.
You could almost admire Tywin Lannister for how hard he worked to keep all of this under the table if you didn’t wish to drag him from his grave and boil him alive. Just how much money it must have cost in loans to orchestrate that night, how much was the cost of killing a King, you wondered. What did the Lannisters consider Robb’s life to be valued at, beacuse whatever the price was it wasn’t the right one.
Not a single thing was the right price in exchange for Robb’s life.
Tormund had been leaning against a wall, listening before finally he had a question that came close to distracting you enough to make your hand slip as you worked. “What’s wrong with not paying them back? You can live without so much fucking gold.”
Your smirk was easy, “Not if you’re a Lannister. Gold is the only weapon they had left, and now they have nothing.” Glancing up to him, you elaborated better with clarity in tone. “The Iron Bank won’t do anything to them, but when they couldn’t repay their loans the simply moved their eyes to somewhere else. If one doesn’t pay them, then they fund your enemies.” Glancing back down, your voice more of a mutter, “One way or another, they always get their gold back.”
According to Ser Davos, just as they were desperate enough to look to sell swords for help themselves, he had dawned on the idea of the Iron Bank of Bravvos, and it turned out, they didn’t need much convincing from the two of them. He was not a charming man, but Stannis Baratheon certainly knew how to lay out the direct facts with out any decorum or fluff. Just as they liked it over there.
“So what are you saying? That taking King’s Landing will be easy beacuse they can’t afford to pay to fight back anymore?” Just as you looked to Theon to answer, another did it for you from the doorway.
Voice unamused and bordering on frustrated, you turned to see Aegon looking not a shred of amused. He found your eyes, things had been unreasonably hostile between you both since the raven. You seemed to have more information then the rest did, including himself and he clearly didn’t like that. “What she means, is that she doesn’t think we can hold onto it long enough to pay them back. Right?”
Standing up properly, you turned to lean against the wooden surface which was your home for a number of hours. Your face didn’t shift expressions in the slightest. “You haven't lived here since you were a baby, Lord Connington hasn’t lived here in nearly thirty years. What of these lands do you know so well that you could find a way to pay back likely tens of millions of gold? How are you going to keep King’s Landing if you can’t afford to even feed the realm?”
“How’s your father going to do it?”
It was a condescending challenge rather then a real question, but you only narrowed your eyes in the slightest. “Similar to how Jon convinced them to aid in funds to the Night’s Watch, when they normally produce even less money then the Crown does now.” You didn’t elaborate on purpose, and it clearly annoyed Aegon he couldn’t figure it out.
You were as not easy to read, just like your father, and maybe you were finding out once more that few people outside of the North cared to tolerate your demeanour. “You want me to bend to your cause and yet you express no interest in aiding my-”
“You mean to lie about my intentions in front of my own men?” You grabbed one of the finished shards, formed much easier into that like a dagger. You could thank Sam for that were you to ever meet the man, a dagger was the most effective if Jon’s retelling of Sam’s heroics was accurate. If a man incapable of combat could use a dagger to kill one of those things, anyone could.
Flipping it in your hand with no care as you looked at him, not noticing the watchful eyes with impress at how easily you let a very sharp dagger of dragonglass twist and flip in your hand and not look at it in any way. You stopped mostly a few feet from the man, bringing it up to your face and moving it upright to look at. “Jon came here for this, he came here to find a way to protect his people. Jon’s cause is survival, not politics. As should his, and yours, and everyone’s. We didn’t ask you to kneel for us, we hoped you would have enough sense to fight beside us when the time comes.”
“Against your ice monsters and spooky snow corpses? Yes I am sure I am desperately needed up North to fight against the dangers from beyond the wall. And that is why the only man you could pull to your side is your father.”
You looked up at Aegon with little change in your eyes, and nothing to even portray irritation, just a calm, steady voice and unblinking eyes. “My father thought I was dead. He joined that fight of his own choice, and he hasn’t even seen what these people have,” Your head nodding to where much of the others were now standing almost ready in defence for you. They had taken less kindly to Aegon and his Golden Company then even you were. “I’ll tell you what Targaryean, we have ships. How about you and I take a trip. Sail up to Eastwatch by the Sea, go beyond the wall and when we come across the army of the dead, you can drag one of them all the way to Kings Landing to convince the Seven Kingdoms we’re telling the truth. If you survive that is.”
He said nothing but the agitation was felt tenfold as you leaned up, even if you were on your toes you would not reach him in height, but your quiet calm was all the intimidation needed. Your voice only a breathe more pedantic as you raised an eyebrow. “What do you say? You and I go beyond the wall, capture a wight and show the world what’s coming to kill us all. Or maybe, you could trust what the free folk have all seen, trust that the people they lost at Hardhome were real, and trust that so far, two men of the Nights Watch have killed these things.”
You don’t need to be shown her dragons to know that three flying creatures of immense fire were at the control of Daenerys Targaryean. You trusted in what Aegon had told you and the look in his eye when he described his aunt’s cruelty. So why could no one else bother showing an inkling of that respect to Jon?
He didn’t want to just save the North, he wanted everyone to fight together. Protect the realm beacuse this was all of our homes, you thought. Eight thousand years ago, it was the First Men and Children of the Forest. Now, the Children were gone, but the descendants of the First Men, the Andals, and the Rhoynar surpassed such a population. The First Men left no written histories. But if Kings Landing now had one million people living in that singular city, you reckoned that alone may be more then the entire population of the First Men during the Long Night.
Glaring at you, he found it frustrating you suspected, that you were in no way intimidated by a thing about him. Silent as he grasped for a word, before glancing to the others in the room and lowering his tone only for your ears. “Tell me, what does it say about Jon Snow that he's chosen a Queen that's so frustratingly unpleasant?”
An eyebrow raised, and without the restraint which would be more appropriate it came flying out of your mouth a little too easily. “Says better of him, then a man who thinks it's normal to marry his aunt.”
Oh the stammering silence which Aegon glared at you with almost made you laugh were you not smothering the intent to grin already. Leaning forward in your space, “I did not choose that myself, a decision made counciled by my advisors.”
Losing patience quickly you still had not blinked. “Did you come here for something or just to annoy me?”
If you were to have asked, Theon and Jon both would have told you it was a degree of amusing that even looking from low on the castle grounds where they stood, they could they see the sheer agitation in both your stance and Aegons as the two of you stood up on the battlements trying not to let whatever you were discussing, turn into an argument. And failing.
But, Jon had known the idea might mean more coming from you then him. Aegon to a degree already trusted somewhat in Jons intentions, but he did not trust yours. So, to him, it made more sense to have you approach the dragon with Jons idea, give the man a reason to trust both of you together.
“In what world do you think I would share his strategy with you, if he already refused?”
Sighing deeply, he glared at you before turning back to the sight of the sea. Looking out with his arms crossed over his chest. “You all want to work together, but Stannis talks down to me like I am a child, Jon Snow is angry with me for not believing in bed side stories, and you-”
An arm braced on the stone to the side, you continued to face Aegons side profile with a narrowed gaze not quite a glare. “I'm what, Targaryean? Not willing to share my fathers secrets when he already refused to himself? He didn't even tell me what his plans for taking Kings Landing was you know. I had to put that plan together myself with no help of his.” He said nothing and you stepped more into his space, voice lowering to a hiss. “You want to be a King, then start thinking like one. But do not stand there and get angry with me that you don't have allies flocking to your side when you haven't done a single thing to prove yourself.”
Sighing deeply, you could tell he was as on edge as you. “I do not expect allies to come without cause. I know my House does not hold the support it once did. The name Targaryean alone doesn't mean much anymore. Having to prove myself against Kingdoms that have been fighting for years isn't as easy as it sounded before I came here.”
Palms now perched on the stone, you looked out to the waters of the bay. The men had done a swift job, you almost could not tell you had committed an atrocity just to be able to stand here now. Your sleeve was well covered all the way down your arm, but for a moment you felt it. The touch of a gloved hand reaching to your wrist as you did his.
“I sent two thousand men to their graves today.”
You nor the North blamed Robb for that. It was a sacrifice that led to only victories for three years of battle, but it weighed on him more then any could imagine. It made him feel like a monster, but the horror in his heart was what kept him human despite the cost. You wished you could return the phantom sensation once more, grab Robbs wrist as he did you.
You wondered if he would understand this, as you did that.
But also, you understood here and now, that as much as you despised the one next to you, he spoke of an enemy that would be far worse. Whatever you disliked about Aegon as a man, you feared in Daenerys as a ruler far more. You weren't fighting for your fathers claim, but you knew hindering Aegons own was not why you were here. And in truth? You had more faith in him then you did the Lannisters either.
Voice low as you spoke, “If you want to take Kings Landing, then you can't stay here. Dragonstone is too far from the mainlands, and it is only advantageous beacuse no one wants it.” His head turned slightly to see you, but you stared harsh at the waters once green. “My Uncle holds Storms End. If you promise me no harm will come to his or his guard, I would be willing to share exactly how my father managed to hold onto it during the siege in the rebellion.”
Voice was calm, but his stance was as rigid as yours. “Storms End is your House's ancestral seat, why would you help me take it?”
You knew your father wasn't going to be happy about it, but in truth, if Aegon was not going to help Jon, you two would rather he leave the North alone then try and bring them back into this fight. Lions or Dragons, someone was going to try and force Jon into this fight, but maybe the one standing next to you would agree to a truce if nothing else.
Swallowing harsh, you forced your breathing to steady first. “Not long ago I was preparing to go to war with my father one day, now he is our strongest ally. I'm not asking for you to help us against your will, but I can promise you will have one less Kingdom to fight against you if you agree to a truce. And Jon and I are smart enough to know you won't agree to that unless we offer you something first.”
The wind blew between you both for a long while before Aegon spoke. “I don't believe what your husband tells me about the far North. But I know I believe my aunt has dragons, and I know if she gets here, whatever her dragons don't burn she will do worse to the rest of us who remain. Perhaps it will bring some peace of mind to know I at least wouldn't have to worry about the North siding with her against me.” Quick to point out Jon would not let his people fight in such a war, Aegon relented. “Tell me how to take Storms End, and I'll never force him too.”
So this was how betraying Stannis felt like, you remembered. Doing the hard thing beacuse in the end it was the option that would hold the most peace. At least if he considered you a traitor for it, you were already well acquainted with what that feels like.
The throne in the Great Hall seemed larger then you remembered somehow. Most of your time here as a child and it now felt bigger then each last, but perhaps too much had changed. Seeing the world from the perspective of a child never meant to inherit a single thing of a throne and now you stood as something the North called a Queen.
It was always a strange feeling, thinking of yourself in that term. It had been from the very moment Greatjon Umber had pulled out his sword and proclaimed Robb as King in the North. Robb pulling you to stand with him as something akin to a shock hit you. The feeling as every pair of eyes eventually turned to you, knowing that you would have to choose a side against father or husband and there was no real choice.
You sided with Robb beacuse he was the one you believed in, but you never sided with a King. Only a man.
But they called you Queen regardless and to this day that has yet to stop. But it never felt right, you never looked at yourself in the mirror and saw a Queen. A Queen to you had always looked like Cersei Lannister. Beautiful, always immaculately painted and dressed with rich fabrics draped in colours as she walked tall and with an elegance that you never held a candle too. Men far and wide would comment on her renowned beauty and many would do anything to be the one in her bed.
That had never been you. Awkward, never with the right figure that was seen as perfection. Not tiny enough in some places, and too soft or with too many curves in others. A face strong and fierce like many Baratheons were known for, a vision of a green eyed boy in a Kings Landing armoury that looked so much like you in another life you could’ve been born as twins. You looked like that boy, not like the beauty of a Lannister woman or the renowned allure spoken of a Targaryean Queen.
What mark would you make upon the world? The only Queens any remembered in this age were the worst of them. Short reigns of chaos and madness like Rhaenyra were the ones the realm remembered, ones like Cersei would be remembered for the horror her own perverse indiscretions had caused.
Robb was a good King. And he would only be remembered as the good King who was slain at a wedding. If you had died with him, you would’ve already faded from the memories of the people, but here you were in front of the throne of Dragonstone and still with the world being called a title you were never meant to have.
You were born a noble lady, raised to marry a high lord and have his children. You didn’t know what else was expected of you now. It was almost easier when you were pregnant, your duty had become to stay healthy and at Robb’s side. Now though, you felt as lost as you did that day in the cold, you and Robb surrounded as they chanted King in the North.
“Hard to imagine you on that.”
Turning to the side, you could see Jon approaching. Each footstep echoing in the vastness of the room as you came close to half a smile, looking back up at it. “Hard to imagine me on any throne, was never raised to value luxury.” Coming up beside you, Jon faced the same looking it over before turning to you with squinting eyes. “I’ve never actually sat on it before.”
A playfully surprised look amused over Jon’s face as he turned more to you before relenting with a smug look hiding in his eyes. “You never were good at knowing how to have fun.” Rolling your eyes with a real smirk winning over, he nodded towards it. “Try it now, see how it suits you.”
Turning to him, you stepped back slightly with a more dramatic wave. “A throne is a seat for the King, your grace.” Jon took his turn to roll his eyes, and with no decorum took the few steps up and sat down with no care for the authority of it.
Looking at him, a throne suited him yet didn’t. He looked right in something that was commanding of authority but there was not a shred of ego attached to many who sat there or the Iron Throne. His eyes, bright and grey shining in the light as he looked up brightly at you. You grinned with a shake of your head, “I change my mind. I don’t think I like the image of you in some large, godly throne.” Meeting his eyes, your tone lowered as your gaze shined with mostly just admiration. “You’re too humble for this sort of place.”
Hair pulled all back, and dressed down in nothing like that showing his status of a King. He looked like any other Northerner outside, and it didn’t look right with the ornate stones that sat in an empty room to rule over. “Maybe I’m missing the most important part.”
Before a fluster could come over you, you pulled the skirt of your dress back with a light yell of amusement as he reached out to try and snatch you, no doubt about to yank you onto his lap. A laugh leaving both of you as you stepped back more when he stood up. “That isn’t how it works, I’ve never known a good King to yank women down onto his lap during court.”
Stepping closer to your side, Jon cupped the back of your head to press a kiss to your forehead as he turned to the space of the room. “That’s assuming they think I’m a good King in the first place.” Looking around for a moment, Jon only sighed as you watched him. Still a few feet away as your hands found themselves wringing mindlessly in front of you. “Some days I still worry they look at me and are waiting to see when I finally start being like Robb. I can’t be Robb, I know he was a good King but I don’t know how I’m supposed to be one of my own.”
He was surrounded by Kings on this island now. Stannis and now Aegon, both men with vivid identities as Kings. Watching him move to sit on the small steps leading up to the throne. You looked to the chair and finally out to the room, voice somewhat echoing in the quiet space. Every remembered Queen was for horrible reasons, but you also knew that good Kings were not easily come by, and not for what people remembered.
Stepping a bit closer to where he sat, you kept your eyes around the room. “You shouldn’t have to figure that out.” Jon turned slightly to look back at you in confusion but your attention was in the details carved into the high walls. “Most Kings striving to be good ones never quite saw past their own titles.”
“Like who?”
Eyes squinting in thought, you had some easy answers to that. “Everyone still speaks highly of Baelor the Blessed. Most would call him a good King. The small folk loved him for his charity and he built the Sept of Kings Landing. He also imprisoned his own sisters in the Red Keep beacuse he believed their beauty would tempt him into corruption, and ended up starving himself to death beacuse he thought food was filling his mind with lust.”
Glancing down you could see the twisting grimace on Jon’s face at the sheer idea of it. Not only merely locking his own sisters away but the reason being to not be tempted by their beauty? Some things never quite became less gross and uncomfortable the older you both got.
“Aegon the Unlikely was known as a good King. Was known to dislike most of his families..strange traditions and knew the common people well. He almost had a peaceful rule, then he tried hatching a dragon egg at Summerhall and killed numerous people including himself.” Your tone with a small bit of an unsettled bite against it at your eyes looked to nothing, “Then once his son had the throne he, and then his son, undid every good reform done before them.”
“What about your Uncle?” Looking back to Jon, a genuine curiosity was on his face and not a shred of mocking or malice as so many spoke of the man now. “He won the rebellion, ended the Mad King’s reign, kept the peace his entire rule.”
You almost smiled, coming up to his side properly, smoothing out the skirt of your dress as you sat down on the small steps beside him. “He did, but Robert also attended only four small council meetings in twenty four years. He instead chose to spend his days hunting, drinking and sleeping with any women which weren't his wife.” Your brows narrowed with a bit more of a distant mutter.
Inhaling deeply you looked back up, the room now much larger from such a low point as you at least felt Jon’s warmth against the chilling air. “Three good kings, one who locked his sisters away from his own lust, another who got himself and others killed trying to revive dragons, and a man who thought that winning and ruling were the same thing.”
Finding each others eyes, his tone was deep and rasping as he muttered, “So which one am I closer to? I’d like to think at least two of those three don’t actually describe me.” A breathy laugh shared between both of you as you leaned more to look at him better, once more finding not a King but just a man before you.
Were you realizing you were openly looking at him in such a genuine admiring manner you didn’t know, but Jon certainly did, as did he pick up the gentle tone from your lips. “You’re better then all of them, beacuse you’re not trying to rule as a King. Just a man who wants to protect his people. That’s the difference. You’re fighting for survival, for the innocent who can’t fight beside you.” His eyes painted with tenderness as he looked deeply into yours, transfixing you from ever being able to break that spell.
“And Stannis? Aegon? What are they?”
Quiet for only a moment, you leaned more into Jon’s side. His arm easily wrapping around your waist to pull you snug into him. “They both fought for the right to be called King. I won’t shame them for it, but that does mean they still have a long way to go.” His free hand on the other side sat close enough you found yourself mindlessly toying with his fingers or tracing along his palm. “They want the Iron Throne, while soon you and I are sailing back to our frozen waste of a home with no throne or crowns to welcome us back, and at this point that’s more then I could possibly ask for.”
Pressing another kiss to the side of your head he muttered in your hair, “Could always make you a crown if you wanted. A nice pretty one with painted metal and carved wolves all over.”
When you laughed, he laughed into your hair even more. “We both know I would look positively ridiculous wearing a crown, Snow.”
Another kiss, a deeper rasp closer to your ear as he pressed another just below it. “Maybe if it were the only thing you were wearing, it wouldn’t.”
Turning instantly to look at him, a bit of a darker tint in his eyes as he looked into yours then shamelessly down to your lips and back. A look that was desperate to be lecturing but was verging on an accidental sultry at the feeling in your veins. Leaning in playfully instead to hover closer to his lips, “Well, if my King commands it.”
It took Jon a moment, but he eventually let out a frustrated sigh that made you laugh far louder then it should have. His brows narrowing defeated as he opened his eyes once more, rolling them and yanking you back to rest at his side. One arm of yours wrapping behind his back as the other reached to rest gently more by his stomach. Voice husking into your side, “It’s like you want me to pin you down where anyone could walk in.”
Muttering quite quietly that maybe you did, and Jon only grumbled more. Muttering something about how much you drive him crazy, all the while his hand ran along your side soothingly and your heads occasionally nuzzling the other as you enjoyed what small quiet you two were allowed to share on your days in this place.
Leaving for the North couldn’t come fast enough. He had been wanting to take you home the second you had left for White Harbour.
There had been almost too much of a crowd in the docks, men moving every which way and yelling thrown across ships. Navigating through them all for you at least was a bit on the easier side, not terribly dissimilar to working around the dense harbour of King’s Landing.
Not much was keeping many here now. Jon’s place was back North now that he had secured the one resource of Dragonstone he required, whereas Aegon and Jon Connington would move into the Stormlands and start their southern war on the mainlands. No one could make them believe, or force them to join this cause. If waging a new war was their choice, they had to be allowed to leave and make that for themselves.
Allies would start to choose sides, and once more the North would be forgotten until they decided they needed it, but they will not draw these people back into it. Your last victories compiled together high enough that when the wind blew it over the destruction left lands in tatters. Now the war which mattered most in the North was the one to protect the people before the storms could come.
If you even could.
“Strange seeing you the one acting in such a role.” Turning from your crew, approached your father with a squinting look in the bright sun of the afternoon. Gesturing with a slight nod to the side, they cleared way to leave the two Baratheon’s as alone as could be in such a place. Looking around you didn’t make much eye contact when you returned.
Air high in your tone, you sounded more casual then once intended perhaps. “If you are playing me, you could always find a high point on rocks to sit at, watch me leave until your septa yells at you to come down.”
Stannis eyes brightened just a tad bit, arms crossing over his chest as he stepped closer so you didn’t have to shout quite as much. Moving a bit to the side allowing passing men to run by to whatever task they had. “Perhaps if you had listened to her more often, she wouldn’t have felt the need to be harsh with you.” Barley mustering a laugh, you wondered if it was as difficult for your father to accept the distance never growing shorter between you as it was for many to understand.
It was not a farewell made of forever, yet it sat in the air heavy between you both begging to be treated like one did an actual family. Your voice coming up from deep in your stomach with a strained sternness, “You’re aware they are going to march on Storm’s End once we leave.” Your father nodded. “You need to let them take it.” His eyes looking doubtful, but it needed to come from you , there was no hiding. “It was your home, it is our ancestral seat, but if you fight them for Storm’s End then you are drawing your men into their battle on land. Once Aegon declares his claim publically, anyone making their presence known will be drawn into another war, and we cannot afford to be involved in it. Not anymore.”
Stannis’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly without any gaze within them truly changing, a curiosity that looked non existent to the non observable. Tone just as flat only with the lightest tint of the same feelings under, “We dedicated over four years of our lives fighting wars just like his, it isn’t so easy to turn your back on all of it.”
“It is if you choose to do so.” Yelling echoed over the quiet of the conversation yet it felt as it they muffled and faded into nothing. “I have people trapped in the Riverlands that I have no way of rescuing, good people who put their life on the lines for the North and in return I can’t even get anywhere near them without sending myself or any men with me into a slaughter. And it bothers me that I have to just let them think they’ve been abandoned so I can be in the North and fight the one war that will come for us all.”
There was one person in particular that you would never be able to bring home, and before the fires and chanting returned you interrupted whatever your father was about to say, attempting to push past that horror from taking that space again. “I have to abandon some of my people to save more of them, but if you leave here to fight whatever Iron Throne battles come of his arrival? You’ll be fighting those battles forever.”
Looking intently at you, your father managed to get out, “It is relieving to hear you starting to sound like a Queen once more.” Your gaze hardened, pleading him not to bring it up. Not right now. “I am glad coming back from the dead didn’t rid you of your manners.”
The power to not roll your eyes at your father was a strength not many were blessed with.
“I know you have a duty to the throne, your claim. But winter will come for the south sooner then any of them think. Don’t die in the Stormlands fighting their battles when that happens.” Before you could contemplate how you both were supposed to say goodbye, rescue came in the form of Jon coming to his side.
They shook hands, and you were glad the attention drifted from you right away. “Never seen you look quite so out of place.” Your father spoke to Jon in a tone lighter then he did you, and were you not so preoccupied with many a thoughts, you might have mustered enough amusement to consider that if you married Jon, your father would finally have the son he’s always wanted. In a round about way at the least.
He did best he could with you, but you knew too well for a commander such as him, war was easier then daughters. Sons to him were as simple as any other man in at his command, and he and Jon found that ease at least. “I never lived near the sea, there’s not a lot I know about sailing that most men here don’t already know better.”
Your father with a light amusement that only spoke deep hidden in his eyes as he gestured to you with a tilt of his head. “Watch her long enough on the journey back, and I’m certain it will be easy to pick up on it. Not exactly quiet she is out on the open water.”
Face twisting, you swallowed protest of the sheer audacity to act as if that was not behaviour as a captain you had learned directly from him. Robert hadn’t been the only Baratheon man who had a bossing set of lungs on him. Arms crossing over your chest, your eyes spotted a figure.
Striking blue hair watching, and you knew Aegon was trying not to feel relieved that you were leaving his shores. Were it not the quickest way to rile him up in an unhelpful manner, you may have had half the thought to tell him if he truly wanted to try again against you, you knew how to get to the Trident from Winterfell but you knew that wouldn’t go over well.
Still, the honesty in his claims, the way he insisted in his aunt’s brutality across the Narrow Sea as something to fear. Aegon himself had done nothing to prove such a threat, but you could hear that set of lungs on your Uncle that day yelling about how honour didn’t keep his Kingdoms in line. You too, could hear Lord Varys and the thought didn’t feel good as you looked at Aegon across the way.
“It is a terrible thing we must consider, a vile thing. Yet we who presume to rule, must sometimes do vile things for the good of the realm.”
Were you right the whole time about her, Lord Varys?
Was the horror of murdering an unborn child the thing which blinded you to the truth of what she could be capable of? Beacuse now you knew what losing a child like that felt, and you couldn’t stop but think though that she had lived and no word was spoken of a child. Both women with claims of Queen who lost a child, but did the flames of green in the bay of your home mean you had let that turn you into the kind of cruelty spoken of her?
You desperately hoped not, but so much was hard to see with any clarity now.
He was much like how so many of you started, a boy of summer trying to play King until he was ready to be a true one. When Aegon became that, you hoped it was not the footsteps of a father by birth or the influence of an aunt ruling with fire that judged his actions. Hope was not lost, he might be good for the realm should it stay standing one the snow melts, but it would be up to he he chooses to become.
Daenerys Targaryean had let herself follow a path close to her father. Aegon could become Rhaegar if he pursued it, but you saw little of him no matter how much the two of you despised one another.
The night sea should have been soothing, it was a quiet waters with little waves and only a wind to cool off those coming from deeper below deck, and yet it was a commotion that had so many come to gather and disturb the sights. It had happened before, happened to others and some even watching had it happen to them, but not this intense.
It hadn’t horrified the way this one did. But whatever was showing you this, disturbed the peace of the night you had on the journey to White Harbour. A peace that you all desperately needed.
He had found you in the small captains quarters, leaned up against a small table pushed to the side as if not a single rock of the ship even gave notice in your mind. In another life, Jon considered the idea that instead of Highgarden, perhaps he could find a new fantasy. Finding love in a beautiful girl dreaming of travelling the seas and he the only man safe enough to protect you on his own ship as he brought you to whichever ports you desired.
It would perhaps be a bit nicer then the fate waiting for you all. The one that stood behind the only thing keeping safe the realm. And the some eight hundred men between all three forts guarding the Wall. At this rate Jon was contemplating the reasonability of requesting whatever prisoners Aegon takes hostage, he send to the Wall instead of whatever he chooses to do with them.
Two hundred men once loyal to the Boltons and instead of watching them in his lands knowing the horrors they stood by Roose and Ramsay for, he sent them to the Wall with instructions for each commander to not take it easy on them. Edd, much to Jon’s silent chagrin, was more then eager to show them what kind of discipline was to be expected from them that point on.
Now thousands of miles away, Jon watched your eyes trained deep in thought on the dragonglass in your hand, something more like confusion seeking an answer in your eyes on it.
You hadn’t even noticed he walked in, the black glass like stone turning in your hands as it did not provide a shred of help for why it was something to fight back with. It just looked like any sort of stone but it somehow did the one thing many would likely need to defend themselves. How many thousands of years had it all been down there with no use?
How did the First Men figure out it worked, and why in the thousands of years since did no one find any more answers to the far more pressing questions which followed this one. Catching sight of Jon in your peripheral vision, you flipped it mindlessly in your hand as he tossed off most of his outer layers. His voice low as he stepped towards you. “I’m starting to think when the time comes, I should just cover you with dragonglass.” Your eyes flickered up to his in a bemused question, “The way you jump into fights, think you’d need it.”
Forcing a smirk down your throat, you looked back at the stone. “I don’t jump into fights, only ones that I think are important to not stay out of.” Hand opening in front of you, you let the dagger drop gently into Jon’s hand as he stepped into your space.
Giving a glance of doubt, you raised an eyebrow in challenge to elaborate. Muttering low as he looked it over trying to imagine the bravery it would’ve taken Sam to shove this into one of those thing’s not even sure it would work. “When we’re back in the North we need to start planning out how to train our people.” Reaching an arm to rest the dagger on the table beside you, keeping it there as he stepped into your space more, his other hand toying with the strands of hair laying loose by your shoulder. “As much as I wish you didn’t have to fight, this time everyone is going to need to, and it isn’t going to be a popular idea..”
Meeting your eyes, one of your hands rested at his hip while the other trailed along the laces of his last layer covering his torso. “I only started to learn how to fight beacuse you taught me.” Fingertips trailing up what of his bare chest you could reach beyond the soft material. “And it wasn’t on the field of battle where I died. I reckon that means the rest of them have fairly good odds.”
You didn’t comment that his jaw clenched as you swung such a door back open once more. As much as you didn’t like thinking about his, he still didn’t like thinking of yours and you understood. He had thought you dead far longer then you to him. “I have no idea what this fight is going to look like, but after how many of the free folk died at Hardhome, I can’t leave anything up to chance no matter who they are” Brows narrowing you could see a twisting fall on his face trying to work it out as he did most of his days. “The first wight I killed was over four years ago and I’m no closer to figuring out how to stop them.”
The hand on his chest rose up, tilting his face gently to find yours as your thumb ran over his cheek. As you sat up the slightest, the hand on the table you felt had made his way to your waist. “Fire, Valyrian steel, dragonglass..I’d say you are already three steps ahead of the rest of the population on what to do.” Sighing lightly at your words, you then had his eyes fluttering shut with a shakier breathe as you trailed your hand now to run through his curls, loose to the world. “One thing at a time. For now, we go home, and we start having them run drills, daily if we have to. We do that first, then we figure out what comes next.”
Smirking lightly to himself, a glint in his eye swam over as he danced his hand in your hair down to trace the sensitive skin of your neck. “Second.” Your eyes narrowed in question with a slight tilt of your head. “That’s second. There’s something more important we need to do when we first get back.”
Grasping for straws until your wonder turned to almost an incredulity as his eyes shined brightly with nothing but a genuine smile. “Jon, that is certainly not more important. We have nothing prepared even, why would we-”
“You have nothing prepared.” The smirk turned more mischievous, causing you to bite your tongue trying not to let it infect you as well. You were failing miserably. The playfulness in you dropped, leaving but a wash of a gentle awe left in your eyes that any but Jon might have mistakened for sadness. His hand on your waist toyed with the soft material, looking down at you innocently.
Leaning up, you met his eyes only for a second before slipping closed. Finding Jon’s lips in a soft kiss, his hand cupping your jaw and cheek tenderly as he stepped into you.
Without any lustful intentions behind it, Jon grabbed you by the hips, lifting you up and back enough to sit you on the wooden surface behind you before leaving to push the skirt of your dress up your legs enough he could make himself space to stand between them. His touch at your cheek returning once more as you gently let him kiss you more, never deepening it but keeping you there until he sensed you needed the air more urgently then he did.
Grabbing both sides of your cheeks he moved you, leaning your head down enough to press a kiss against your hair. Your own hands toyed with the edges of his shirt, sliding under to run along his torso, skipping past each mark as to force such an image out of your mind. Not giving up the touch, he rested his forehead against yours. “Feels like we’re making stories up again. Under the Weirwood talking about what other life we could be together, it feels just like as soon as we step off this ship you’ll go right back to being someone else’s I could never dream of having.”
Moving up, you pressed another kiss to his lips before nudging his nose with yours, your hands winding around the back of his neck. “Better do it quick soon as we get back then. It’s much harder to annul a marriage after it has been consummated.”
A deep chuckle returned, his lips brushing against yours with every word spoken as his touch on your cheeks grew a bit tighter. Voice that of a deep husk with hot breathe dancing across your skin, “I think you and I are long past that by now.” Jon kissed right beside your mouth, then one more just at the skin under you ear before rasping into it. “They’d be able to do even less if I give you a child.”
Shivering in his touch, he knew too well it wasn’t from the cold air. Your breath hitched and voice a high pitched strain a your nails dug a bit into his neck from a growing desire in your nerves. “Hard to split a man and wife apart once they’ve brought a little prince or princess into the world.”
His lips pressed hot against your neck, never committing to a bite or roughness but enough to toy with you. Enough it burned your insides, legs tightening a bit around Jon’s hips as he stepped into you with purpose. Pressing his covered cock against your core, you could feel it hardening as it was pressed right against the only fabric hiding it from him. “You think I’m only giving you one or the other?” His lips against your neck pressing a little harsher, a little more of a nibble against the skin.
A whine left your mouth before you could stop it. The second it did, Jon’s teeth bared against your neck and didn’t move. His sounds more like a growl as one hand moved to force your hips forward, pressed right against his covered cock as he pushed himself more into you. Your nails dug more as they dropped to his shoulders, and the second your exhale came out with a whimper a the pressure between your legs, Jon had enough games.
Not stepping back, he only leaned away slightly as he wasted no more time yanking your dress up and off you. A lack of any care where it landed as he tore his own shirt off to the pile. Large, calloused hands grasped your hip slinking to what he could feel was an already soaked material only now in his way. Only stepping back from you enough to pull it down, eyes so dark they never left yours as even just here your breathe picked up in need.
Swallowing another whimper in your throat as Jon pulled your legs apart, and making sure you kept his eyes as one hand slunk between your legs. Face hardening as he exhaled rough through his nose at his fingers finding you already wet. Gathering a good amount together before moving two fingers to your clit, running tightly around the sensitive bud as you gasped. Grasping around his shoulders as you tried arching into him. But he kept you at bay, making you stay locked to his eyes.
Your insides burned and twisted, sparks of pleasure sharp through you as he roughly rubbed your clit, only to stop your lungs in agony entirely when just as tight circles were making you shudder, those same two fingers trailed down your wetness. The other hand keeping your other leg sitting wide leaving it’s task to gently tilt your head up, looking him so close in the eye by your chin as he sunk his fingers deep inside you. Dark eyes scouring your face as you cried out, arching into him as that pleasure screamed in flames around you. Dragging them right along something desperately sensitive that had you cry out until he was sunk to the knuckle.
Pulling them halfway out before sinking back deep, heel of his palm rough against your clit as the wetness from inside you soaked all between you, to the point each time Jons fingers pushed back deep you could hear it. He didn’t kiss you, or even say much of anything just watching you with black eyes and a clenched jaw as you tightened around him.
Just as he pulled them out, a whine leaving you as your palms pressed against his chest did a third slid in with the others. Three of his fingers, thick and deep sliding soaked along your sensitive walls as his eyes watched you trying to contain your cries. Rubbing the heel of his palm against your clit without any care of being gentle with it, your hips jolting as your core twisted and turned ready to snap a your body flooded with fire.
Hands curling into his shoulders, your head dropped with a whine as your eyes closed as the need filled you, only to have Jon nudge your chin to look back up at him. A furrowed brow with a disapproving frown on his face as if you needed permission to look away from him. Which you didn’t dare disobey again. Sliding in and out only as you tightened around him did Jon pull from you, not giving your lungs a chance to catch up.
Kneeling down he yanked you by your hips to his mouth, licking up how utterly soaked you already were and teasing back at licking and sucking your clit and running his tongue flat against you down to drink from deep inside. Your hips and thighs already were bruising from the touch.
A hum from Jon vibrated inside of you, making you clench harder and causing him in turn again to hum more in satisfaction as he kept you tugged right against him. Whatever you were soaked with before, Jon made it worse. His work sloppy with intention, soaking you with his mouth and it only made you cry out, a hand gentle in his curls as you soaked him more and more. Which he licked from deep inside, keeping your thighs as far apart as he could as he did so.
“Fuck, wait, Jon-”
His hands tightened and now almost left a grunt between your legs as he shamelessly ran his tongue along your folds to your clit and back. The tightening in your core approached so quickly, and you had no idea if he would even let you. You couldn’t tell when he wanted you to feel only good and when Jon was toying with you.
Moving your hips to raise up just slightly so Jon could shift his angle, keeping your legs wide but now he could almost tilt his face down into your cunt, and he could reach far deeper with his tongue. Shaking instantly at the sparks before they let loose with no warning.
One hand on your thigh reached back to tightly grip one of your ass cheeks, while he hooked the other under your knee and kept it pressed against him over his shoulder. Your orgasm swimming through you and gifted right onto his tongue as he didn’t let up for a second.
Your cries tried so hard not to be loud, almost painfully your throat hurt trying to stay quiet and your lungs burned as did your blood. Your orgasm soaking his mouth as he so desperately wanted, Jon licked back up to your clit until your cries were sharp and panicked, the desire too much but he didn’t stop.
Shaking your head as did your limbs, “I- Jon, please, I can’t..”
But he didn’t give the plea much care. Tongue licking your clit and then back to lapping deep inside of you, you shook in his touch as your head dropped back, the hand not tight in his curls was gripping the edge of the table so much your knuckles strained. One nibble to your clit before grunting into you did you snap again before you even came down.
Tears watering your eyes as you almost split your own lip trying to keep the cries at bay. Your core ached in the strain of how much the second orgasm washed through you. Jon drinking every bit you had to offer with almost an anger should you try to move away before he was done.
Even when he was the one on his knees, you still, were the prey at Jon’s mercy.
Finally coming back to you, his lips shining from how much you coated him, Jon roughly bit at your lips himself. Rough enough that he knew he had split it for you, but your gasp and hands rushing to pull him into you more, Jon licked inside your mouth, coating your tongue with the taste of you on his. One hand kept down between you, as the other ran through your hair before gripping it tightly, tilting your head up to his lips as he was as deep and greedy here as he was between your legs.
Just as your hands raked through his hair, just as Jon’s tongue brushed against yours, he wrapped his other arm around your waist and before you had even come down to earth to sense it, his cock, red, thick and already leaking pushed deep inside of you.
Your walls still clenching from your orgasms, Jon seemed to snarl into your mouth before biting your bottom lip again, hand now on your jaw keeping you angled to where he could be the one to control how you had to sit back and take him.
Rough thrusts of his cock deep inside, shallow and barley moving from you as your hips almost ached at the strain. Your hands on instinct clawed at his back, red trails of nail sets raking down as he shook and growling into your mouth. His hand in your hair tightening as he pulled back, saliva still trailed before snapping as he looked dark at you. Only to tilt his gaze down, and his hand moved, your forehead now tilted to the same angle pressed against his as you both watched how much his hips slapped into yours.
Hands holding desperate in his hair as you cried out. The fire within consuming you as the room faded only around Jon, something sharply twisting with almost pain that you would cry and beg for more of should it be taken away. The sounds from you were a muffled quiet, and Jon was silent. Jaw harshly clenched with blown out, black eyes and a loud slapping of his skin as his cock pounded roughly into you.
You whimpered his name, the pleasure tightening too much and begging to flood with a snap as he glanced up to your eyes. Still black, but much softer then when watching his cock sink into you, Jon nodded. Lips parted slightly as he held you against his cock’s rough treatment, voice a tender husk through it all. “Cum for me, darling,” Nodding at you gently, “I know, you can cum, it’s alright.”
So high in the clouds, you for a moment almost didn’t believe him until his kiss pressed soft to your lips, opposite between your legs. Hands wrapping around his shoulders once more nails in his back, your orgasm came faster then you wanted, but so did his then he wanted.
As you were so tight around him, Jon could only manage one, two, maybe six more thrusts each rather rough and aggressive to sink deep inside you. Almost too roughly, but his hands one around your head to hold you into him, he other pushing your ass more to take his cock deep inside. Cum far too warm to be fair as he filled you with his thick seed.
You gasped for air in his neck as Jon shook in his breathing and body as he spilled inside you, your hips jolting in too much pleasure caused you to whimper at the feeling. Jon pulling back, raking his fingers through your hair, and leaving a gentle kiss to your lips between soothing shushes. “I’ve got you,” Nodding against him, he felt your muscles sink into his touch as he let the rest of his seed fill you.
Jon had wanted to take this to the bed, but as you looked up at him, eyes bright and wide with lips begging to be kissed. Jon was nothing but gentle, pulling out of you as he kissed you to ease the whine of the loss inside.
By the time you both were in bed, Jon laying partially over you as he kissed you. No tongue, no teeth or force or wandering hands. Just a gentle soothing touch along your scar as the other hand tilted your head to the side. Neither of you finding the strength to stray from the others lips and touch. You felt yourself fading at one point, and Jon never once bothered to clean what of his seed had been painted just on the inside of your thighs.
He wanted him to cover you as much as he wanted it all to spill deep inside your cunt. He didn’t however, quite realize that while your voices couldn’t be heard, the smacking of skin echoed through and sounded almost as aggressive as the table which each pound of his cock inside you, would slam against the ship walls.
No one needed to hear your cries to know that a strong wolf had taken you for himself that night. Some things between one wolf King to the other while taking his Queen, weren’t quite so different after all.
It wasn’t a dream, it was a memory. Both figures asleep in the others arms, your dream looking at that of a memory from years long passed. Only you appeared in your walk through that day was just as you were then. Only you walked without a notice that this was a memory or dream, and not knowing that Jon was as himself, realizing he was once more in your memory. He himself, not seeing who in fact, was too, following him.
At first Jon was on the black stone path, walking alongside a group heading towards the castle as a man he did not recognize came to greet the figures beside him. A few were maesters, and some looked like healers or apothecaries, most walked right by directed by guards as a younger one closed the gap with a steady handshake.
The older one spoke first with a more defeated look in his eye. “Matthos.”
“Lord Alester.” Dropping the firm handshake, it seemed the younger one was the farrier to bring some of those men earlier to shore. A look of sorrow fell over both though quickly. “Is it as bad as they say? My father tried to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, but I could see he was worried.”
The other man, Lord Alester, patted the man on the back as he turned him to walk up the path as well. Jon following beside as if he was part of this group but instead trapped watching a memory play like a dream he could not escape or control. “Worse. I’ve never seen Selyse quite like this before, barley can get through the day without crying.” The younger man mentioned your name with a concerned question in his tone as the older one grimaced. “She was the one who discovered it, if that tells you anything.”
Nodding, Matthos sighed deeply. Glancing up to where Lord Alester pointed, both Jon and the man in the dream looked around the castle to see arrows. Many arrows scattered about embedded within the eyes of the many dragons carved into the structure. “So she is taking it well, clearly.”
“Everything the girl’s been through, and now it’s been a fortnight since she’s even been allowed in the same tower as Shireen? Can’t leave the castle walls, can’t send or receive any ravens.” Whistling, he winced through his teeth. “Poor girl even had a gift from one of those friends of hers in the North, unopened and everything. Her septa made her burn it, said they couldn’t risk anything foreign that could have spread it. Now I think the girl’s spending most of her days avoiding the woman as much as she is shooting arrows into eyes.”
Jon felt odd, if this was a dream why did he know what they were referring too? He had given you a gift right before you left, it wasn’t ready exactly on your twelfth nameday and he had spent a lot of money and worked very hard to ensure it was perfect for you. You never said a word about it, and it twisted uncomfortably in his stomach thinking was this true?
Was this dream a lie, beacuse you treasured every other gift he’d given you over the years but that one was the only time your silence made him nervous. He had thought it was too forward, too obvious and perhaps it was beacuse you were never allowed to open it.
The septa in question, stormed out of one of the tower doors as she paid no mind to Jon. Like everyone else, he did not exist. He was only a spectator. Only, he was not the only spectator. But the shorter one, knew Jon couldn't see him as the memory couldn't see either of them.
Her tone was short and her face twisted into an unpleasant lecturing one much like Jon could recall Septa Mordane walking around with on Arya’s bad days. “Lord Alester, I swear to all the gods that child is going to send me into an early grave. She’d rather play with her bow then have her lessons like a lady.”
Huffing about, Matthos and Lord Alester looked more amused then agreeing. Lord Alester trying to placate her, “She has gone through a lot, give her some patience she is upset.”
Letting out a “Pshh,” she shook her head. “I’ve told her father time and time again, he needs to stop sending her North. Everytime she comes back she gets harder and harder to control.”
Just as Jon stepped forward as if he was anything but a spectre, Matthos did it for him with a tone which reminded him like one would speak as a brother. “Lord Stark has done much for her, she’s learned a lot don’t undermine her progress. The North had been good for her-”
Dismissive, the septa waved him off. “Good as long as she’s with Lord Stark. As soon as she spends any time with those boys of his? All they are doing is teaching her how to come home and behave like a wild animal.” Jon’s eyes narrowed at what just may be a dream figure of no reality. He and Robb were your first true friends and he had spent a lot of your last visit, if this indeed was taking place after your twelfth name day, trying to break you out of your shell.
Teach you it was okay to have fun and not listen exclusively to what your father orders of you. He had seen you laugh and smile that visit more then the previous ones combined, most of which were when you were spending time with him. He had snuck into your room right before you fell asleep, tossing his cloak at you and dragging you out of bed to go for a ride to a nearby lake. He wanted you to have fun without feeling guilty.
“Well she can prove it by coming down here and stop hiding from me like a child-” All of the group real or not, suddenly whipped their heads to the side, as perhaps only a foot above the woman’s head right in the mouth of a statue was an arrow. A good shot. All turned to look up at what happened.
You at twelve, walking the high walls of Dragonstone with a more sullen and cold look on your face then normal. At your back was a quiver of arrows, and a bow hanging around your arm. Your septa yelling at you to come down at once, and all you did was turn on the spot and walk along the edged walls higher up the curtain passes on the castle edge. Both unseen figures, now following.
The higher you went, the more the wind blew loudly around you and yet you knew there was little chance you would fall at this point. Coming up to what was the Stone Drum Tower, atop was a fierce dragon and in your eyesight was a lit torch licking away in the wind. Bracing both hands on the edge you hauled yourself up onto a small space big enough for only two feet standing perfectly still.
One arrow pulled from the quiver at your back, setting into your bow as you swung it off your shoulder and around your person to the front. Looking up to the wind, your eyes squinting just slightly at the pressure hitting them so high up. But regardless, you raised your bow and drew.
In one fell swoop, the arrow shot through the windy air, flew right into the middle of the torch flame and was extinguished just as fast as the arrowhead slammed into what would be right at the dragon’s heart. No victory followed, or jest of a good shot. Just the wind.
But as you stood there, you could see the Sea Dragon Tower not too far, and if you looked hard enough you knew getting to Maester Cressen’s quarters would be easy and from there you could get to the ravens. You had written this one out in haste, too much time on your own and a worry of Shireen’s life turning what you had written off as an anxiety turned into fear.
It was a bit rambling at first, apologizing to Jon that your septa made you throw his gift out before you could open it, but then going on about the flames. And the more you read, the more the memory in your mind of what happened was so vivid you knew it was real.
But you couldn’t stop the worry that Jon would read this, and think you either playing childish games or just crazy. But you had looked up to the candle light that evening, and transfixed on it showed you images that startled you up and off your seat, sending a bottle of ink all over your dress and the stone, mere minutes before you had discovered the greyscale on Shireen.
What it said though, what was written on the raven scroll? That was even more insane. Seeing a vision in the flames sounded off your rocker as it was, but to tell Jon what you thought you saw in the flames?
He just may suggest to his father never to let you come back with how delusional it made you sound, no matter how much you could see it all so clearly. A pounding in your heart, you stood up on that wall edge and tore the raven scroll up. Letting the pieces scatter in the wind, telling yourself that you were focusing on the wrong things.
You told yourself that stupid fire vision was just something you made up to cope with what was happening to Shireen. You were twelve, you couldn’t go running to Jon like a child everytime you had a frightening daydream. He would be turning fifteen soon, so you had to shut your mouth and grow up.
But then you caught sight of it. Off in the distance in the woods beyond the castle walls, a rustling in the trees that shouldn’t be there. There was nothing on this island which would be big enough to see from where you stood, so you walked.
A short hop from the stone walls to the cliff side and you made your way swiftly down to the woods ground with a huff. Eyes narrowed and sharp as you walked through the dim and sparse, lifeless woods until you reached the clearing you saw.
There weren’t deer here, not naturally. And certainly not three of them. Two were large, a female and the other large stag. Both littered with pockets of spurting blood with nothing you could see that did it. Right up against the females stomach was the same image but of a baby deer, and it was as bloody and dead as the rest.
Kneeling down with a sickening unknown on your face you looked over them, nothing killed them that you knew were in these woods, or how these three even got here..but just as you looked morosely at the baby, a strained crying came from the female.
The mother making horrid noises that made you wince, still alive but only just. She shouldn’t be in pain like this, that was cruel. Coming around, you knelt behind her head, one hand running gently over her with gentle shushes. “It’s okay, it’s okay girl.” Using a free hand you pulled a small dagger as you almost hummed soothingly at her. “I won’t let you be in pain, it’ll be alright.”
You swallowed heavily as you ran the knife into her, but it ended the moment you did.
Nothing of the scene made sense, but you felt shaking in your bones. Standing up you walked to the creek, more like a somewhat deep puddle of water stretching across dead woods, you knelt down in front of it. Washing the blood from the blade before carefully putting it back, and then moving to run your hands through the same water rinsing what red would otherwise quickly stain it.
But then you realized, someone followed you here. Someone was watching you, and if you were being honest, if it was Allard, you were about to be very angry. Just as he snuck up on you, you felt him large behind your knelt figure. If he thought you couldn’t tell he was there, he was a moron.
Grabbing your shoulder gently, you whipped around to yell at him, only to almost fall over. He wasn’t behind you. He wasn’t anywhere. You were in a clearing, there was nowhere to run but no one was behind you.
Standing up in a wide eyed uneasiness, you turned to look around. There was nothing in the woods, but you felt a hand grab you gently. Someone was right there and yet as you looked around the clearing there was not a soul to be found.
The problem was, that was where visions and dreams for the night ended for Jon but morphed in your mind to something else without notice of a difference.
Standing in a field, grass around far and wide and rolling hills all around as far as the eye could see. In front of you was a little girl, very small, perhaps three at the oldest. She stayed knelt down by a cliff side playing, her face so young she had yet to even grow out of the chubbiness of a young one’s cheeks.
But as you stepped towards her, you both felt a rumbling. A shake of the earth and a rattling like it opened up, only it wasn’t the earth. Over the cliff side flew up that of a dragon.
One that had the little girl fall back, and you stepped back a foot in terror. It was scaled black, and with eyes that looked vicious and horribly menacing. It didn’t look hungry. There were sheep behind you if your ears hadn’t previously deceived you, yet it did not go for them. But the dragon was large, not as large as the skull in the lower halls of Kings Landing but not so far off it was inconceivable. But you could not move, you or the little girl.
She started to breathe heavy in sobbing gasps of terror and your eyes widened, lips falling open as the dragon braced itself and suddenly you were both engulfed in flames. The sound of a dragons roar and the flames around you, only for a second did you hear the little girl scream before her voice vanished as your limbs all shocked you.
Trapped only on your two feet, once the flames stopped did the dragon swoop up and fly to the right of you. Your head whipping around to watch and then there was a boy.
A boy who was rather young, perhaps only just entering his teenhood with long, shaggy hair and standing on two feet. He looked at you and not once at the dragon, his face in a desperation as if asking you something but you couldn’t hear it. Your muscles all screamed and stabbed with knives in agony.
Just when you realized you knew the boy who was staring at you, did you whip back to look at the little girl. But there was no little girl. Laying on the floor of a temple, was in a blanket tiny body of black charred bones. Your lungs filled with liquid and poured from your eyes as it strangled you in horror, what that dragon had done to her.
You were not there though, you stood there as a woman with a smooth voice spoke to in a language you should not know, but understood here with clarity. Your eyes soaked as you looked at her bones, and then up.
Two guards stood at the side of a grand staircase, carved trenches of water on either side as right at the top was one seat and three figures. Your terror turned to outrage at what she had caused.
The two knights at her side, were not from these lands, they were Westeros knights and you recognized at least one of them, but not the senses to understand who they were. But you looked up at this new proclaimed conqueror calling herself Queen, having her translator promise you payment a hundred times worth then lambs or sheep and that her bones will be allowed to rest in the Temple, as long as you promised not to speak of how she died.
But it was her fault, it was her dragon and you felt the fire and heard her screaming as it took her for nothing but seeking death and destruction. You could not tell if it was the guards who grabbed your arms, trying to pull you back and tear you from the room. But you in a language that was not yours, begun to scream at her.
The arms turned to that of the boy from the field, and his voice was one you knew telling you in common tongue desperately that this isn't your memory, that you needed to wake up. But either he or the guards dragged you as you stared up at this cruel silver haired conquer as you screamed through tears as if you were standing in the place of the father it really was. But his voice came out as yours and you screamed at her, repeating the little girls name. Through anger and tears yelling it was her fault and nothing she said would bring her back, forcing her to remember the little girls name was Hazzea.
But just as the boy you finally recognized called your name, he turned you around to face him, when you were back. The night sky was as dark as ever but you stood by the bow of the ship, a crowd all around you watching you as you realized it was Jon in front of you.
His hold on your forearms as an absolute terror in almost a stinging red was over his eyes as he stared at you, and you realized you had no idea what was going on. You didn’t remember waking up, you didn’t remember dressing, or leaving the cabin or coming up to the deck.
You didn’t remember that you caught everyone's attention in terror as you seemed to scream with tears in a language you didn’t speak. Jon had pushed through everyone before desperately calling your name and only when he managed to get you to face him did you see where you were.
One hand came to your waist and the other cupped your cheek as he looked down at you, eyes bright and close to a fearful cry of his own as you could feel your lungs hurt from screaming and your face stained with tears. Muttering your name gently, as he leaned in close trying to make sure you were with him.
But as you looked up at him, mouth agape and stammering for words, you looked also to the crew of your ship who all had been drawn to the deck by your display.
Looking back at Jon, you found more new tears at such an overwhelming confusion. You never had a dream quite like that, but you also had never walked in a dream and screamed in a foreign language of a bloody horror like you were. You stammered and when no words came, Jon only pulled you into him.
Your arms desperately coming around his when he did. His voice was rasping but loud as he almost angrily shouted for everyone to go back to what they were doing.
Jon though, just pulled you right into him before changing his mind and picked you up in his arms, your arms wrapping around his neck as your heart pounded in confusion and an overwhelmed anxiety like you’ve never experienced before. Jon almost with angry tears of his own moved passed everyone making a path clearing the way. Trying to contain his own terror of watching you hysterically scream like you were not actually here, he lifted one hand slightly to gently let you hide partially in his neck. Taking you away to the safety of your quarters, from such a terrifying spectacle.
All you could think the entire time as he carried you, was that of charred bones. All you could hear, were the screams of a little girl named Hazzea.
#jon snow x reader#robb stark x reader#jon snow#robb stark#game of thrones#a song of ice and fire#asoiaf#jon snow x you#robb stark x you#jon snow imagine#robb stark imagine
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Why do you think avery and Jameson’s characters/Jameson’s story felt off? It feels off for me, too, but I can't put my finger on it.
Hoo boy, where to start? This feels like peeling wet paper from wet paper. Also, sorry this took so long to make. I was constantly putting it off because I felt like I kept not knowing how to continue this review at times so I really hope this doesn't disappoint.
Spoiler Warning: The Brothers Hawthorne Discussion
Plot-wise, first off, it felt like we spent a lot of time with the set up to get to the Game and usually JLB spends a very minimal amount on that before we jump into the riddles, puzzle-solving, clue finding portion of the story as shown in the last three books. Then when we get to the actual portion of the plot which is dedicated to the Game itself, the running around Vantage feels like it was all so quick and you don't even get to take it in because we're already at another part with a new clue that by the time you feel settled in, the Game is done and Jameson is the winner. So, I think the concern with the story on that front is the fact that she wanted us to have an element from the old books that we're comfortable with so we can continue experiencing that thrill we're used to, just from Jameson's perspective because this suits him to a T. And she's right. This is the Hawthorne brother we've come to associate with all these high risks, high stakes, riddles, puzzles, complex games, etc., etc. It's just her approach didn't feel right; she spent more time on one thing than the other, the set up vs the climax as a result of said set up were disproportionate and this would probably be as a result of the dual pov. We never had a dual pov before in the series so where one story feels completed, the other didn't. Had Jamie's story been one whole book on its own, she likely could have made everything in the plot more evened out, especially the part we're anticipating most: the Game.
Also, from what I can see, Grayson's plotline does serve as the typical storyline we see in TIG, THL, and TFG in terms of set up and execution of actions after the build up. But it also must have been thought out better because there was pressure from the fans to redeem Grayson after the events of the last book. To be fair, JLB may have also planned it out that way in the first place. It's just disappointing to read through a book with the one brother I wanted to see in his best element because he fit this script the most having his storyline cut off seemingly abruptly. I know it's easier for her to come up with stuff for Grayson because he's still underdeveloped but she should have taken more care of Jameson since he is already developed. It causes inconsistency and on her part, looks like lazy writing and that she didn't even want to write his story. Most complex story she's written, my ass. If she wanted to just write Grayson's story then she could have done that, it would be believable enough that she just wanted to leave Jameson untouched because of the work she put into him rather than taking back all the good stuff we've seen come out of him by the end of TFG.
Now, with Jameson's character development, I think that the problem was the dilemma he was facing with his mind being "ordinary" compared to that of his brothers. I don't think I minded that part that much but when I review how he acted in the original trilogy versus how he was in this one, this problem kind of abruptly seems to show up, even with the flashbacks where this was demonstrated to be a topic of interest. Maybe JLB should have created some kind of set up for his character having this problem in the first books like she did with his lack of father figures issue which clearly makes him sensitive and his desperate need to win. These were things that had an origin and were portrayed appropriately in the book with a somewhat satisfying conclusion. This one just felt like it was there and the issue was quite quickly resolved so it kind of just makes itself appear as something that could have been easily ignored. He also falls short on sounding like a human being because she has made his mentality and personality so one dimensional and basic that a robot has more complexity than him. We get it, he's hungry for more almost all the time! But that's not all there is to him. And as a Jameson girlie, I feel like she made it so much harder for us fans of him as a character and the chosen love interest for Avery to give reasons as to why we liked him. I mean, back in 2022 and throughout 2023, I don't know how many little analyses and rants I came across that projected the goodness of his character. Now what am I supposed to justify? I was hoping we'd get that deserved deep dive to see what else drove him besides the obvious and what did we get? Just an endless loop of what we already know and have seen.
On the topic of Avery and Jameson as a couple in this book, uh, I think that JLB could have done a better representation of it from Jamie's perspective than the way she did in TBH. They had some pretty great moments like their problem-solving sequences, the getting ready scene before the opera, the little stuff like their hand symbols to signal to each other, Avery comforting Jameson, and Jameson confiding in her the secret of what happened in Prague. However, I found the way that JLB described Jameson's thoughts towards Avery a little too out of character. I get it, there's nothing wrong with him being physically attracted to his own girlfriend, that's definitely part of it but it felt too lusty and not the way he seemed to view her from what we saw in the last three books. I mean, even Avery wasn't quite so lusty towards him. The flirtatious components weren't what I was hoping to see especially after his many swoon-worthy moments from THL and TFG. Honestly, regarding my opinion on this, there's a recent post by @elif-in-wonderland that summarizes my thoughts for me perfectly.
There, that concludes my current thoughts on the book regarding Jameson's side. If I do end up having more opinions to share, I will be sure to make a continuation to this in a follow up post. Thanks for the ask!
#jameson winchester hawthorne#jameson hawthorne#avery kylie grambs#avery grambs#averyjameson#the brothers hawthorne review#tbh spoilers#the inheritance games rant#the inheritance games#the hawthorne legacy#the final gambit#the brothers hawthorne#tig#thl#tfg#tbh#thank you for coming to my ted talk
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WOT - Lan's storyline
I have been loving WoT s2 and feel like overall the changes they've made have been for the better. But of course I'm now going to spend ages talking about the small bit of it I DON'T like (cough, fandom), because there is one element I am really not enjoying and that is Lan's storyline.
I really like Alanna and her warders in the show (she was very much not my fav character in the books) and I enjoyed the chance to see into their world more in Ep 4 (when we saw their lives together, their relationship, Alanna's family...). I liked the insight into this different warder dynamic. And i just super love Maksim. If we had 15 episode seasons, this would feel like a brilliant way to enrich the storyworld and secondary characters.
But given how much story they are packing in for everyone else, and how little time we actually HAVE in 8 episodes, this whole plotline has just felt like treading water/wasted time.
I don't feel like we've learned anything interesting about Lan, in the way Moiraine's storyline has been filled with both character revelation and backstory. He's broody? I think we knew that already. He's not into threesomes? Disappointing for Future Nyneave, but not exactly crucial information here!
And also Lan is just like...so dumb? Everyone and their mother understands how Moiraine got around the 3 oaths to say she didn't see them as equals. I get it, he's hurt, but...dude! And I've seen complaints (from book readers) that it was wrong of Alanna et al to accuse Lan of being a darkfriend because of his background, but that is rubbish. This world is set up so that literally no one above suspicion of being a darkfriend. It makes sense they'd be suspicious of him.
Which makes it even more ABSURD that he isn't suspicious of them, and instead just blurts out this MASSIVE secret about the Dragon Reborn. I know the Alanna squad set themselves up as not dark friends by accusing Lan, but that could have been manipulation! He's ridiculously trusting to tell them about the dragon reborn.
I know he's pissed with Moiraine and doesn't understand her plans or trust her as he once did...but this revealing of a secret they'd worked 20 years for, just seems...really flipping DUMB!
I know loads of people love Lan in the books but I find him super boring and basically only care about him and his fate because I love Nyneave so much. I really wish we weren't wasting screen time on him and a pointless plotline in a season where everything else is working so well.
#wot#wheel of time on prime#the wheel of time#wheel of time#wot spoilers#wot book spoilers#wot prime spoilers#wot season 2#wot on prime#wot 2x06
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I have to say that the first episode was almost perfect.
I know, I'm surprised myself.
First things I didn't like, since for once this will be shorter.
1. Rhaenyra and Alicent being friends make my blood boil. It was done for no other reason than to make Alicent look more sympathetic. They had to do something I guess, since showing her on the screen without Gyldayn reminding you every second paragraph what a wonder she was, makes her look like a cunt to any sane person. Her simply following her father's bidding can turn into an interesting storyline, though. I'll give it time to grow.
2. Jaehaerys sitting in Harrenhal during Great Council of 101 was a terrible choice and it is important to the plot, since this whole thing was one big scam.
3. The Iron Throne and those swords look absolutely ridiculous. I laughed so hard I had to make a pause to go take a piss.
4. Daemon's armor. That's it. Nothing else to add.
5. I can tell that they've tried to make wigs look better but it's still not enough.
6. Rhaenyra's whole talk with Aemma about birth and swords is simply eye-rolling. She's just returned from her ride on what is an atomic bomb of the known world and she's talking about knights. Right.
7. Corlys shouldn't even be there. I like that he and Rhaenys are being introduced in the first episode, but again, I find it important to show how big of a rift between the family this damn Council was.
8. I always believed that "the queen who never was" was a slur, not a prise.
9. No purple eyes, hair colours are all mixed up, but it's nothing new for HBO so I don't really care.
And that's it. The rest was fun in the best meaning of the word.
1. I love how they show you that Rhaenyra is smart and knowledgeable and at the same time absolutely bored with book studies. Fuck the septa, Alicent, I'm a frickin Princess.
2. Her dresses looked very nice.
3. I liked how smoothly they've established that Rhaenys has Baratheon's blood. I was worried about it since they've changed her hair colour.
4. Dragons look good.
5. Even though he shouldn't be there at that time, Corlys was wonderful in every scene.
6. I didn't have to watch Ser Cunt naming Rhaenyra the Queen of love and beauty. That was such a big win, yes, thank the gods.
7. Love that they've kept the little hint of Aemma losing all of her children except for Rhaenyra.
8. I'm also glad they've kept the part of Viserys getting cut by the Iron Throne. I'm hoping they will show us the strange inability of the maester to heal it. As well as show us Aegon getting rid of the man.
9. Golden cloaks? Perfect. Just perfect.
10. They did Daemon justice. This is the biggest shock to me. Almost everything was there, jeez.
Daemon spends his nights with Mysaria. He's not cutting people limbs for the sake of it. He is the only person on the Small Council who actually cares for the future of his House. They bring up the fact that he is the only military power Viserys has, that given the Council of 101 it's perfectly normal for him to be an heir. They not only tell, but show you the way he keeps getting pushed away from his brother.
Yes. YES to all of it. I'm ready to give someone a medal for writing it this well.
11. Every scene with Rhaenyra and Daemon, because they are perfect. They are also speaking valyrian, just like they should.
12. Daemon calling Otto a cunt.
13. The Long Night reveal seemed like oversimplifying a thing or two, but I will take it for this medium. The bigger picture stuff is long overdue anyway. Especially the prophetic dreams. Can I get my Children of the forest being creepy now?
14. Dragons have saddles. Finally!
15. Glad they didn't make Viserys an outright drunken fool but a fool nevertheless.
16. They didn't show us Daemon saying it! They cut away to Otto mentioning his witnesses 🙄. They've really done it. I want to kiss the writer.
So yeah, I enjoyed it. Very much so. I'm less worried about the rest of this show now for sure.
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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon ⭐⭐
I followed this book from it's conception, through it's editing, and hyped it's publishing date on twitter. I was genuinely excited to read it, and really thought and hoped I'd enjoy it. I wasn't a huge fan of what I read of The Bone Season, but everyone assured me this was different! And to be fair, it was! I think in my heart, though, I knew the truth because I waited so long to read this and I'm sorry to say I did not have a great time.
My problem with Samantha Shannon seems to be she creates these wonderful worlds full of interesting magic systems and characters that are fun to follow, but there's too much crammed into the book as a whole. In The Bone Season, I felt the Rephaim were unnecessary. In Priory there are too many points of view. There were things I liked, this wasn't a complete waste of time, but wow they were hard to come by in the end.
What did I like?
-Ead! Ead was clearly the main character and I think it would have worked better if it was just Her Book (I'd also settle for her and Tané, please Tané deserved more page time than she got)
-Sabran. I'm surprised, but not really, that people didn't like her. She's complicated! She's mean! She loves deeply! She's a person! People just hate women who are mean lol
-MAGIC! Magic comes from fruit that comes from the stars? It's fire and water and ice and air? NEAT! COOL! Cool magic systems seem to be SShannons strong point!
-High fantasy with no sexual assault or threats of sexual assault. There was a little misogyny with the way Sabran and her line is treated for their ability to give birth (and no, one throw away line of "This is bad actually!" doesn't fix it lol) but it fit in context and considering no one was mean to women for being women I'll let it slide!
What didn't I like?
-LACK. OF. DRAGONS. yall there are dragons on the COVER, every time someone talked about this online, they added dragon emojis. So why, in the more than 800 pages, did dragons show up for maybe five pages TOTAL. Like if we went line by line and pieced all those lines together, it would maybe take up five pages. Ten if I'm being generous and include the dragons that are The Enemies. Which, by the way,
-Dragons are Mean. I've discovered that I prefer dragons to be neutral to allies, I don't like dragon books where we are slaying dragons. It's nice that we have both here, no group of people? Creatures? Are a monolith, but I want more of the eastern dragons! They were pushed aside and we hardly saw them! We hardly saw any of them! If you promise me dragons, then deliver! The! Dragons!!!!
-Writing style. I'm thinking maybe SShannon's writing style and I do not vibe at all. I'm not sure what it is about it, I know she doesn't like writing action scenes and so avoids them, and I love reading action scenes, but that didn't feel like the entire problem here? But something about this writing detached me from the characters. Yes I liked Ead, but I felt nothing about Tané, other tha wanting MORE of her. SShannon spent a lot of time saying not much at all, it's really rather impressive.
-Tané in general. Part of the writing problem is the way the POVs were split. It was most obvious in Tané's storyline. She has everything stripped away from her, but the emotional impact wasn't there because we hardly spent any time with her.
-The Priory. The book is named after it, but we're hardly there at all. I spent a good chunk of the first half wishing Ead would go back to the Priory, but once she was there, I wanted her to leave. The Prioress' motives also seemed iffy to me? Ead was right, why spend nearly ten years trying to keep Inys afloat and then go "actually! Nevermind! Let it burn!'
-Plot....holes? Not so much holes but Convenient Plot. I was ready to ignore some of it, suspension of disbelief and all that, but nah I"m going to be picky now! The scene that stuck out the most was Ead being chased and hunted down and CONVENIENTLY wyrms attacked her pursuers and she was the one who got away. Or how about Niclays at the LITERAL LAST MOMENT deciding to have a change of heart because......plot has to move forward? Also. What the fuck happened to Ishari lol Tané noted Ishari was disappointed to be sent to Feather island, but said she hoped their paths would cross again one day! And then! Tané goes to Feather Island! And NO MENTION OF HER AT ALL!
Or how abut Loth learning a VERY BIG VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEIGHBORING KINGDOM AND THEN NO ONE MENTIONS IT UNTIL NEARLY THE END LIKE "OH YEAH BTW THE PRINCESS THERE IS COOL LOTH SAID SO"
-Wrap Up. I didn't really mind the final Big Fight. I know even fans of the book have been disappointed, but honestly it's one of the strongest stretches of the book, even if it was a little hard to follow at times. What bothered me was after. I know I tend to be impatient when reading the final chapters of a book, the What Happened Next bits, but never have I been so annoyed as to have to read a wrap up from the POV of someone who WASN'T EVEN CONSCIOUS. I suppose it's better than a book where a single first person POV character is knocked unconscious mid battle and then the next scene is "and then everything was over" but come ON.
I know she had to edit this book down a LOT, which. Girl. It's 800 pages how was there MORE. So maybe my questions were answered in things that were cut, but I could not physically handle any more of this book. I got fatigue from her writing, I cannot handle more of it at once, but considering how long it takes her to finish a book (not a complaint! Everyone has a different pace!) I also would not have wanted to wait that long for a conclusion. There's no winning for me here. We were simply not meant to be. It's just that if I'm going to read a book that takes hundreds of pages to say nothing at all by an author that puts out a book once every few years at best, I'd read VE Schwab or Patrick Rothfuss.
#bookbird babbles#book reviews#my review#books#booklr#the priory of the orange tree#tpotot#LOOK AT ME POSTING REVIEWS AGAIN#WITH A NEW HEADER AND EVERYTHING#I think i accidentally used the same or similar fonts as last time lol#but hey! I like them!
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congrats on 1.7k!
i was wondering if you could to Hinata Shoyo, Kageyama Tobio, and Iwaizumi Hajime w/ a Gn! reader whos not easily flustered with a Royal au where the boys are princes and the reader is the royal librarian? (no specific trope in mind but you can add one if you wish :3)
hope you have a wonderful day/night!
p.s. love your writing 💕 keep up the amazing work!
{1700 event}
Helluuu Ryker, firstly apologies on the spam of the reblogs because ze cat was on the keyboard while I was away. (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)
Next, thank you for sending your request in and I'm happy that you love my writing huehue o(≧▽≦)o
Lastly, I'm sorry that you had to wait so long for this! But here it is, happy 2023!
AU: royal AU
Characters: Hinata, Kageyama, Iwaizumi x gn! reader
Hinata Shoyo
Hinata came in one day, looking for a book on anatomy. His "boke" friend, Prince Kageyama told him he needed to know how a human body works in order to play volleyball well.
So, he asked you to find the books for him. And you were just so unfazed and chatty with him, it felt like a friend instead of a subordinate.
And my, did you know a lot about the books, Hinata found himself being fascinated about the library and it's books instead.
Once Hinata fixates on something, he'll be full on focused. He came daily, asking you to show and recommend more books of different variety. Some had different types of paper, some had hard covers, some were read from right to left, up to down. The books itself had a story and they all held different knowledge within them.
Hinata thought that you were super smart. You seemed to know about every book in the royal library, while hinata would doze off once he started reading a boring book.
Hinata enjoyed spending his time with you because firstly, it felt like he didn't need to read the book to know what it's about. you would tell the story in such a fascinating way anyway. And secondly, you didn't treat him like the royal prince. For once, he didn't feel lonely in the castle, and had a companion with him.
It was as though you could talk about any topic under the sun. Once, he invited his friends over and they were all very amazed by you, which made Hinata swell with pride.
"y/n's our trusty librarian with superpowers! They know so much!" he exclaimed proudly.
Hinata has always been a happy go lucky boy, and he lived his days from day to day, making everyday to the fullest. Thus, he seldom sat down to think about what you really meant to him. He only knew that he was looking forward to see you everyday.
Until one day you were scheduled to leave the royal library. And Hinata straight out refused. "NO! you can't move y/n out of the royal castle!!"
And when the queen asked why, Hinata found himself thinking. For once he thought about what you really meant to him. He thought all night about it.
He thought about not being able to see you anymore, to chat with you anymore, and that made him really upset. He wanted to bring you to many places on your day off, show you many more things in the royal castle.
Hinata ran. Ran to the library to grab you, and dragged you half way across the castle to meet the queen.
"MOM! I'M MARRYING Y/N!!"
The rest was history.
Kageyama Tobio
Kageyama hated books. He hated reading. He was forced every single time he went to the library.
In order to encourage him to read books more often, she hired you, a librarian plus someone to read with him and discuss the books' contents.
Initially he was cool and quiet. He just sat there to read and sometimes you could tell he was dozing off. But you were chirpy and jovial, and you kept asking him random questions like how was his day, what did he eat, what was the rest of the castle like.. Slowly you asked him about the genre of books he liked and you started introducing books to him.
You realised he like books that weren't too draggy, some that had shorter storyline, books that captivated it's reader with every page.
Tobio found himself not dreading to go to the library daily now. Sometimes when you found the right book for him, he even brought the book out of the library, so he could read whenever he had free time.
Afterwards, Kageyama was representing the country to play volleyball, there was a lot of pressure on him, seeing that he was the prince of the country, he had to work extra hard to ensure he performed well in every game.
The queen cut down his daily library sessions to a few times per week. But because you always found good books for him and that he kinda enjoyed reading now, he always looked forward to library days, so he could share with you about the book he was reading.
somehow, he was also looking forward to sharing about his day and his life with you. From a librarian, you became his confidant and his friend.
Similar to Hinata, when he turned 18 and the king and queen started introducing partners to him, but soon, he realised he didn't want to be with those princesses / princes and neither could he see himself being with anyone else other than you.
Tobio was a straightforward boy, so he just told his mom one night: "I want to marry y/n in the future."
The queen knew that once this boy was set on something, he was never going to change his mind. You were a lovely person anyway, so the queen had no complains.
He asked for your hand on your 18th birthday.
Iwaizumi Hajime
Oikawa had his eyes set on you the moment he met you. He dragged his brother, Iwaizumi to the library everyday "to do work" so he could chat with you.
He tried all ways to flirt with you; pick up lines, gifts, flowers, chatting with you, everything to get your attention.
But you were so unfazed and your nonchalant reaction always made Iwaizumi laugh at Oikawa.
One day, Oikawa officially confessed to you, asking for your hand. Nobody could understand where did Oikawa find courage to do so, but he really made an entire event out of it.
You had no choice but to apologise to Oikawa and reject him. You told him that you already had someone else in mind. But you refused to tell him who.
Somehow, Iwaizumi was curious to find out who was the person you had your eyes set on. Oikawa has never been rejected in his life, people usually drool and faze over Oikawa so Iwaizumi wanted to know who you thought was better than him.
Somehow, the idea of you being with someone made Iwaizumi unsettled as well. He felt that you deserved to be with someone that was nothing short of amazing, like you were.
No matter how much Oikawa pressed on, you refused to tell him who it was.
One day, Oikawa had to accompany the queen for a lunch meeting and Iwaizumi had nothing to do, so he visited the library.
"so... I'm really curious who you rejected Oikawa for?" he found himself asking. "I have to make sure the person is worthy to be with you."
You laughed, which made Iwaizumi even more confused. Did you just make things up so Oikawa would give up?
"It's you," you said shyly.
The burst of emotions Iwaizumi suddenly felt that day was indescribable. Shock, surprise, happiness, relief, embarrassment, shy...
He didn't know how to react except blush madly. "oh." was all he could manage.
After he regained his composure, he said, "I like you very much as well y/n."
#hinata shoyo x y/n#hinata shoyo x reader#hinata shoyo fluff#hinata shoyo x you#kageyama tobio imagines#kageyama tobio headcanons#kageyama tobio x reader#iwaizumi x reader#iwaizumi headcanons#iwaizumi hajime fluff#iwaizumi hajime imagine#iwaizumi scenarios#haikyuu drabbles#haikyuu fanfiction#haikyuu x gn!reader#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu au#aine's 1700 event
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'It's Gonna Suck': Avatar Netflix Star Prepares Fans for Season 2's Zuko & Iroh Conflict (Exclusive)
An actor from Netfix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series teased one "heartbreaking" arc that seasons two and three have in store.
For many, one of the best part of Netflix’s live-action remake of the beloved Nickelodeon series was the performances behind beloved characters Iroh and Zuko, played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Dallas Liu.
The dynamic between the two brings the duo from animation into live action, and their bond feels authentic. Sadly, as close as those two are, in Book Two of the animated original, there is a notable break between them, leaving them both on their own.
With Season 2 right around the corner, fans should start prepping to go through that very same heartbreak.
[ Avatar Netflix Season 2: Dallas Liu Reveals His Big Hopes for Upcoming Episodes (Exclusive) ]
The Inevitable Conflict Between Uncle Iroh and Zuko
While talking with The Direct at Paleyfest 2024, Avatar: The Last Airbender actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee shared how he is not looking forward to the big fracture between Uncle Iroh and Zuko.
"It’s gonna suck so hard," the actor noted regarding being separated from his usual scene partner Dallas Liu; though he made sure to point out how it will no doubt be "really good storytelling:"
"It's gonna suck so hard because I'll be alone. No, I mean, that's one of the lovely things about our story arcs is the fact that you see them together at first, you establish that, and then really good storytelling is putting people through conflict... And so having them separate is going to be heartbreaking, but at the same time, really, really great storytelling to see what they're like apart from each other. And so that's something I'm really, really looking forward to. And yeah, I'm gonna miss him."
Dallas Liu previously expressed a similar sentiment to The Direct in a separate interview, where he explained how close both he and Lee got during the filming:
"And I'm thankful for Paul because he was so supportive when I was feeling stress and worry, in the same way, that I think Uncle Iroh would care for Zuko during those times. And so what was going on in real life and behind the scenes sort of played out on camera really well."
Liu mentioned in that same past interview how he can only assume the split between the two characters will "feel real:"
"I can only assume that it'll feel real. All of my scenes in this series have been with Paul. So to not work with him in those scenes is hard because, for me, he feels like the backbone. That relationship is truly why I think the chemistry between the two of us is why those scenes feel so strong."
At Paleyfest, Liu told The Direct that for Season 2, he is actively hoping for "a strong Zuko" storyline:
"I'm hoping for like a strong Zuko alone. Like, I'm hoping I'm hoping for that. And I'm hoping for Lee from the tea shop, going on his little date. That was cute."
The actor also expressed how both he and Elizabeth Yu (Azula) "would kill it" in portraying the character’s intense sibling rivalry:
"Me and Lizzie were actually talking; we feel we would kill it. She did such a good job. I was so very impressed. Because I didn't, I wasn't on set the days that she was shooting. So, I didn't get to see our work until it came out. So I was really impressed."
Yu agreed, noting how "the sibling vibe" between the two of them "has definitely grown:"
"Yeah, I'm very excited. I feel like we've been spending so much time promoting the show, too, that the sibling vibe has definitely grown. So I'm super excited to see what that looks like on screen."
It Will Suck Missing Uncle Iroh and Zuko in Avatar Season 2
The split between Uncle Iroh and Zuko will undoubtedly be disappointing just as much for the audience as it will for the actors behind the scenes.
It is going to be hard to swallow the fact that fans will have to go almost an entire season (perhaps more) without them together.
Thankfully, there will be at least an episode or two with them still together when Season 2 starts.
While Uncle Iroh may play a smaller role in Zuko’s time on the show, at least there will (probably) be further exploration of his sibling rivalry with Azula. The first season didn't offer much in that regard, and the duo butt heads more than a few times in the animated show’s second and third seasons.
Season 3 will be particularly interesting, as, when it starts, Zuko is spending some time at home in the Fire Nation nice and comfy—a dynamic which hasn't been shown in live-action yet.
#natla#atla#netflix avatar#avatar the last airbender#netflix atla#avatar netflix#atla netflix#dallas liu#paul sun hyung lee#elizabeth yu#article#paleyfest
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I was watching a video essay in YouTube around Black Swan and the Madonna/Whore dychotomy and just made me think on how much the HOTD fandom just uplifts the writers for making Ninicent a Madonna™. To the point they unironically go around painting her with a halo and a compare her with paintings of the Virgin Mary. At the end of the day she has nothing in the show that makes her a character except this archetype. And it's funny seeing so many self-proclaimed feminists (including the women writing this show) saying how groundbreaking this... Passive woman who suffers, cries, and does everything men tell her.
Like, Ninicent doesn't even balance between the two archetypes. She can't be the Whore™, the narrative doesn't let her, all that she could have done by herself (marrying the king, using her power to crown her son, staging the coup) is already done by Otto. She can't be a study of why these archetypes are reductive either because it's clear that the writers putting her in this Madonna box is intentional. They want her to be seen as this pure, demure little thing that did nothing wrong, but of course, the whole thing about her purity and victimhood comes along on how she is a victim of sexual abuse, how she doesn't enjoy sex, how she will never stop to Rhaenyra's 'low' and because she is 'suffering' she is apparently superior than Rhaenyra.
It's just a pathetic, fetishising way of writing, it's literally more sexist than anything GRRM himself wrote. Like, for all we critise the old guy for his continuous use of rape in his book, he never came with this idea of this or this female characters being raped making them superior and more worthy because how pitiful they are. But here we are with a show that claims that Rhaenyra deserved to die horribly because she had sex while her stepmother lived what every noblewomen in Westeros did and she didn't.
The writers (especially Sara Hess in her episodes) are so desperate to paint Rhaenyra as this whore who never cared about the consequences and less worthy of the crown of the Worthy Woman™ in comparison to Ninicent to the point they isolated Rhaenyra from any other positive relationships with other women she had in canon just so the two of them could be side by side for the audience to compare. Rhaenyra in Episode 6, 7 and 9 is the Whore™, poor Madonna Ninicent can't believe she is lying so awfully, she feels gaslighted by Rhaenyra's terrible lies, the scripts spends more time focusing on Ninicent's complaints than fleshing out Rhaenyra's relationships with her children. We have to hear again and again how offended she is by the existence of these children, how threatened she feels by the proof that Rhaenyra enjoyed some stolen moments with a sexual partner that wanted her and she wanted back and what a crime that is because Rhaenyra can't be happy while Ninicent Suffers™.
Said suffering wich is a complete fabrication of the show, never suggested or even implied in the book, and that was only created so the audience (both men and women) could fetishise it.
You would believe that by 2022/2023 this kind of writing would be like... considered backwards and ummm, stupid. But apparently no, it is hailed by the so called feminist fans, despite the fact that years ago we were saying that D&D were pigs for creating a rape storyline for Sansa that never existed. And it always makes me laugh that even the people that critise the show writing don't have the ovaries to blame the women writing it. Like no, it's all about the 'male gaze'... Despite the fact that half of the writing team in Season 1 were women and so many people that praise this fetishising writing changing Alicent Hightower's canon characteristics are also women.
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after three months, i have finally finished the shadow rising (a few days ago). what a beast of a book! my copy had 974 pages. a beast of a book. long post incoming!
and it's by far the best one of the series yet. it's easy for me, as a newcomer to the wheel of time, to say that i feel like the story is only just beginning, as it's a completed series of fourteen. but four books is a lot for any series, especially given each book's size, so it's not right to say the story has just begun, but more it feels very solidly wheel of time. i think a lot of the aiel history and revisiting the two rivers made this one feel quite fleshed out compared to the first three. instead of racing around to new places, we got to spend some more time in emond's field, the place it all began. we got to dive into the deep history of the aiel, who i had no real interest in beforehand, because of how little i knew about them.
i would say that perrin's storyline this book was unexpectedly my favourite one. i've never hated perrin, but he always has been my least favourite of the main lot. i think it's just he feels like he has a smaller personality than mat or nynaeve (my favs), but i've always liked his complex conflict with his wolf abilities. i really enjoyed seeing his rise into leadership this book, i feel like he actually ended up doing something compared to what he did in the dragon reborn. a nice development i noticed was how, when he first started leading the two rivers people against the trollocs, he went from only focusing on the people who died, to at the end focusing on the people who lived. making him into a leader felt like a good path for his character. i imagine perrin's story going forward will lead to some bigger conflict with slayer. when first introduced to luc i definitely suspected him, i thought he was a forsaken and didn't expect him to be slayer until it was revealed at the end. now raises the question of who slayer really is - who's luc and why does he look different in the wolf dream? well, i suppose i'll find out eventually.
i quite liked all the other characters in his storyline too: faile, loial, gaul, bain and chiad. faile i quite like actually, she frustrated me a bit throughout the third book, but i thought her stubbornness and general annoyingness began to settle down slowly after reaching the two rivers. at first she was irritating, but she seems to show genuine care for perrin, and i thought their wedding at the end was sweet but maybe a bit too early for that. gaul i never expected to like so much, he's such a ride or die bestie. loial is as always the best.
next: the aiel plot. i was definitely looking forward to this once it was revealed that this is where rand will be heading. and it delivered!! it was so interesting to finally learn of aiel culture after not knowing much about them. the aiel history section was super intense and at first i found it hard to understand, but it clicked eventually and those two chapters are by far the best of the book. it was nice to be able to read rand chapters again, and see how much he's changed from book one. he comes across so much more guarded and plots so much more.
egwene i feel like wasn't in this one too much. i kinda hoped we would see some more of her lessons with the wise ones, and felt like this was one plot that there was no time for (in this 1000 page book lol). and not much to say about mat either. i do like that it felt like he had rand's back, despite his fear of channeling. but the whole sequence of them two in rhuidean was intense, and now he has a cool weapon and prophecies from the fae foxes and snakes. but as always he remains a favourite and i always want to see more of him. and one character i loved was aviendha. i loved seeing her in the show and i loved having her around more in this one. she's a joy to read :)
the tanchico plot. again i was excited, as nynaeve is my joint fav and i do enjoy elayne a lot. but sadly we didn't see too much of them :( of all three main plots i'm curious to see what happens next here. where did moghedien go? what will happen with the panarch? what about the black sisters? again, i suppose i will find out!!
a special note goes to the nynaeve vs moghedien showdown. that was wonderful, seeing nynaeve unleash forsaken level power and beat a forsaken. but we didn't see where moghedien went - she'll be back, i'm sure of it. just like how we see lanfear time and time again.
finally, the smallest plot point: the tower business. oh my god. so much happened within so few chapters. this will only be bad news now that elaida is amyrlin. it's good to see siuan so determined to keep going. i'm excited to see how min, siuan and leane deal with this, what their next steps are. and what on earth is next for the white tower? where did all the blue sisters disappear to? are they gonna form some kind of movement against elaida? i'm so invested in this!
so overall: a wonderful book, definitely my favourite so far. i'm excited to start the fires of heaven, but i also definitely need a break to read something else. i have a few standalones that i'll be reading first, but i'm looking to return to the wheel of time in the new year :)
#wheel of time#the shadow rising#hi wheel of time fandom please enjoy a long post of opinions#there's so much i could say about these books!! i love them so much#this makes my fifth book read this year#next is circe by madeline miller and then dracula :)
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