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endless-ineffabilities · 1 year

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this world was never meant for a fire like yours (part 2/3)

Daemon Targaryen x nurse!reader / f!reader

word count: 7k - part one - unalloyed - part three.one - - masterlist

After a fatal injury on the battefield, Daemon wakes up in a foreign land - our world (where GoT / HoTD does not exist). He meets the reader, a nurse who tends to him and helps him navigate everything. They grow close, and slowly, but unequivocally, fall in love.

themes/warnings: smut (18+!), angst, slow burn, jealous!daemon, cursing

January 2023

You try to listen to Tom’s excited voice, as he relays a story about one of his friends. Honestly, you can’t help it, but you’re tuning it out. He’s nice and sweet and all, sure, but he can’t truly hold your attention. In the back of your mind, one notable reason stands out. One white-blonde, foul-mouthed, enigmatic man who barged into your life seemingly out of nowhere. One Prince Daemon, to be precise.

As the two of you climb up stairs to your hallway, you look forward to simply being home. Which only means, this is probably the last date you’ll go on with him. Granted, it’s only been the second one.

As you stop in front of your door, you scramble in your mind for the best thing to say. How to let him down gently. His warm, golden-retriever-like nature only makes things worse. You really don’t want to hurt him, but hell, you might have to.

“Listen,” you turn to him, apologetic expression ready, but at the same time he speaks.

“I need to tell you something,” he says, drowning out your voice.

“Oh, okay, go ahead,” you become hopeful that he will tell you that he only wishes to be friends, and nothing more. That while the dates have been fun, the two of you are not compatible in a romantic way.

Instead, he takes your hand, leans closer, and whispers, “I really, really like you.”

Oh, shit. You stare at him, anticipation taking root in your bones, and not in a good way.

“And, I guess I just want to let you know that. I’ve really been enjoying your company,” he goes on.

Well, why do I have to be so enticing? You mentally roll your eyes, wishing that the floor would just swallow you whole.

“That’s really sweet of you to say,” you start, carefully weighing your words.

“Yes, well, one more thing,” he smiles slyly.

“One more?” You croak. What more could he possibly have under his sleeve? After whatever this is, I will finally collect myself and not be a sissy and let him down and…

Your thoughts are surely halted by what he does next.

He leans forward, inch by excruciating inch, and everything feels like it’s happening in slow motion. Oh no.

Just when you are about to decide whether to flee, or to say something in protest, your front door opens. Revealing your knight in tainted armour.

“There you are. I was beginning to worry that you would be missing our supper.” Daemon’s voice is clear and commanding, and you suspect that he knows just what he interrupted.

“Oh, uhm, we just got back and I -” you start to say, but Tom interrupts.

“Yeah, could you give us just a second, man?” Tom says, putting a hand up to Daemon. Knowing Daemon, albeit only for a period of a few months, he does not like to be told off. Bad idea, Tom.

“Whatever for?” Daemon smirks, “Judging by the lady’s expression, I’d say this date has reached quite a timely end. She should come inside her home now, and you should leave.”

“Shit, I don’t think you can just say that, man. Who are you even, to her?” Tom’s face scrunches in frustration. This is clearly not the perfect end to your date that he was hoping for. But, you just might prefer this to the contrary. Tom was hoping for his confession to be well-received and matched, then he would kiss you, and you may be compelled to pull him into your apartment for a much desired escalation. Granted, he hoped that ‘the blonde weirdo’ would not be there.

But, as it turns out, he is.

Daemon seems unfazed, clearly not threatened by the man before him. He raises an arm to lean against the doorway, dominating the space. “I can say whatever I want. And if you mean that I am more than just her friend, then you are correct.”

“Really? She didn’t mention anything.” Tom’s resolve seems to weaken.

You think of intervening, before it gets too far. Although, you admit to yourself that you find some amusement in what’s in front of you – Daemon is blunt with his words and actions, most of the time, his particular brand of cunning underlying everything he does. But why here, why now? Why for you?

You’ve learned to look out for his shameless one-liners, and you welcomed them, even. But Tom certainly is not familiar with Daemon in that way, and he could not have anticipated what he says next, “She was probably just too nice to step on your feelings, boy. Being the soft, pathetic sod that you are.”

“What the hell.” Tom squares up his stance, his fist bunching up at his sides. But, compared to Daemon, he doesn’t seem menacing at all.

You step in between them, hands raised, prepared to push them apart. “Alright, stop it, you two.”

“Is he telling the truth?” Tom says, looking directly at you.

The truth about Daemon? You think that you should reject the notion of Daemon being more than your friend. He is just a friend, after all, just a visitor. Isn’t he?

“No!... well, it’s complicated.”

“Oh, please. Feel free to step on my feelings, y/n.” Tom counters.

“Look, Tom. Please excuse Daemon. He’s being unreasonably rude right now.” You shoot daggers with your eyes at Daemon, but he continues to stare Tom down.

Tom starts to back away. He tried to meet Daemon’s eyes, to assert some form of dominance, some claim over you, but that did not last long. Daemon understandably is too much for this laid-back, 20-something, nice guy. “Whatever this is. Whatever the two of you have got going here, I don’t want any part of it.”

“Just wait…”

“Why? Tell me, do you even like me? Or do you like him?” He finally says. The last straw.

“I...” You know you do. You’ve grown to like Daemon, deeply, but you don’t think that now is the time to reveal that. In a dim hallway after a failed date with another man.

Daemon thankfully intervenes again, with mirth in his tone. “Time to get inside, my love.”

“That’s what I thought.” Tom backs off a final time, and hurriedly enters his apartment, not before sarcastically saying, “Have a nice night, y/n”

You stare at his door, your mind racing at the events that just happened. Daemon and Tom squaring up over you? You felt as if you were in a tv show, the hapless lead actress who strings along two admirers.

You whirl around to face the culprit. The smirking, smug man blocking your doorway. “What the fuck, Daemon?” You manage to pull off a disappointed face for a few seconds, but you can’t help but crack a smile back at him.

The whole situation seems silly all of a sudden, and all the tension gets released from you. Daemon’s effect on you, as much as you’d be shy to admit it.

“Well?” he asks, “Aren’t you going to come inside, darling?”

“Oh, fuck off, prince.”

- - - - - - - - - -

“What was that all about?” You ask Daemon, after just taking a bite of your pizza, the words muffled through your lips.

The two of you sit side by side on your old couch, a large box of pizza nestled in between. Daemon has his feet propped up on the low coffee table, next to your laptop which plays a 50s western movie. The movie had been chosen by Daemon himself, who has developed an affinity for classics rather than the modern, generic blockbuster fare.

After the whole Tom debacle, you had slumped down on your bed, exhausted from the day. You inadvertently fell into a nap, and were awoken by Daemon some time later, proudly presenting the pizza that he had delivered.

“It seems that neither of us can muster up the effort to make supper ourselves, so I had this made, from your favourite place, of course.” He smiled above you, your still sleep-heavy gaze making the light surround him like a halo. Oh, the irony.

The day was forgotten. The needless drama, the hallway spectacle, gone. But well, now, you can’t help but ask.

“What was what all about?” He asks, as if he doesn’t know what you speak of. Of course he does. His gaze is lazily trained on your laptop screen. The movie had his full attention in the beginning. But then his mind wandered off to you. How your fingers brushed across his when picking up your food. Your bare legs tucked beneath you, covered in nothing but pajama shorts. The little bits of information you would share with him about classic filmmaking. Your initial moan, followed by a gleeful snort, upon tasting the pizza.

She acts so very unbecoming of a lady, and would not belong if she had been raised in Westerosi nobility. You are different. Nevertheless, Daemon liked everything that you did. He didn’t mind. He enjoyed it much more, even.

And he showed this to you. He’s never been one to be shy about his admiration. He made sure you noticed his lingering stares, his gentle hands guiding you when needed, his constant compliments and playful words. But, he knew all that isn’t enough. He’s aware of your reluctance about the whole thing. About him.

The dragon in him would have staked his claim by now. He would have taken you, as he so badly wants to. But Daemon was lost. He tried not to show it, as he wanted to maintain a sense of calm. To prove that he was still in control. To hide the fact that he was an intruder in this world, who yearned for home more than anything. He didn’t want to worry you. He didn’t want you to find him weak.

This was not his world, and the only thing anchoring him here is you.

“Why were you so rude to Tom? What did the guy ever do to you? Also, what do you mean by you being more than just my friend?” You ask one question after another, but Daemon can give a single answer for all of them.

“Because, you little minx,” he pauses, taking a swig of his beer, another one of his favourite modern things, “we are more than simply friends, aren’t we?”

You turn to look at him, your eyes meeting the sharp curve of his jaw. You shamelessly watch as his lips wrap around the opening of his beer bottle. Damn Daemon for having the ability to make anything look sensual. For the past few weeks, it felt as if the both of you have not tried to hide the fact that you wanted each other. It’s always been there, in the electricity in the air between you, in every skipped heartbeat. Still, it felt good to actually hear the words of affection coming from him.

You had gone on another date with Tom purely for the sake of distraction. The ‘will they, won’t they’ dynamic with Daemon was getting a bit too much.

“Mhmm,” you hum in agreement, “What are we then? Platonically compatible roommates?” You push him on, wishing he would just make his side clear, once and for all.

“How can we be roommates if I’m yet to be allowed the privilege of sleeping in your room?”

He got you there. Daemon still kept his place on your couch. You weren’t sure how to bring up the matter at this point, without it seeming like you were trying to get with him.

One thing is certain. It is only a matter of time before the frustration boils over, and one you will quite literally pounce on the other. But that’s all to come. For now…

“Would you like to?”

“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific, darling. There are plenty of things that I would like to do with you.”

You felt the blood rush from your cheeks, so you attempted to stifle your glee with an eye roll, unsuccessfully. “Would you like to sleep in my bedroom? I should’ve asked sooner, I suppose, since I don’t think this couch is all too comfy to sleep on.”

“Comfy?” Daemon raises an eyebrow, before realizing, “Oh. Comfortable. Well, it’s not so bad. Quite lonely, though.”

“Well?”

He smirks, something clearly on his mind, “Yes, I would like to sleep with you.”

“What?” Your head snapped to the side, seeing him amused by what he just said.

“I said, yes, I would like to sleep in your bedroom with you. Thanks for offering.”

Your heart races, having heard him the first time. “Good.” Why not beat him at his own game? “You know, I wouldn’t be opposed to your first suggestion, either.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Daemon stares at the ceiling, lying comfortably on your bed. You’re already asleep on your side, facing him. He watched you gradually fall asleep, as you discussed many things, including his new job at the auto shop, 50s cinema, weird news headlines. He had asked about social media, and after giving him a lengthy exposition on what it offers, he had sneered in disdain and determined that he was never to go near the thing.

Of course. You smiled at that, at his casual bravado, before adding, “That’s too bad. If you were on any social media, the ladies would have loved you. Men, too. Daemon Targaryen, that one mysterious, brooding, too-cool-for-anything guy on Instagram. I’d wager that you’ve got enough charisma to be an actor, you know.”

He had shared about his new post as a mechanic, and proposed that you visit him there the next day, after your day shift at the hospital.

“I’m glad it’s been going well, Daemon.” You smiled at him, through a stifled yawn.

“Yes, I’ve been learning the ropes, as they say in this world.” He smiled back at you, before adding his usual snarky comment, “The mechanical part of it is interesting enough. Some of the patrons of the establishment can be downright cunts, though.”

“Daemon!” You feigned surprise, smirking at his tone. He had blurted it out so shamelessly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“What? I’m merely being truthful, my love. You should have seen this lady who came in the other day. She was complaining about this apparently defective car battery that I installed for her. It was in perfect condition until she must have fucked it up, being the bleating dolt that she is. I nearly chucked that damn battery at her head.”

You snorted at the picture he presented, “Sounds like a piece of work.”

“I think her name was Karen, as the owner of the auto shop called her.”

“Do you mean that he called her a Karen?”

“That’s what I said.”

You always found it funny how oblivious he can be about some references, “I think that has more to do with her disposition, than with her actual name, Daemon.”

“Whatever do you mean?” he asked, and so you launched into yet another exposition, this time on the Karen trend, something you never thought you would ever be doing, addressed to a man you have grown to desire.

With your lips gently parted, and a lock of your hair falling in front of your face, Daemon takes the time to admire you openly. His hand reaches out and moves your hair to the side, then he allows his fingertips to drift across your cheekbone, then down to your lips. You stir a little, your nose scrunching at whatever dream you may be having. Daemon fondly smiles. She’s beautiful, truly. So what am I waiting for? Why haven’t I made her mine?

He wonders if it will happen again, when he falls deep into slumber. For several instances now, he swears he’s been hearing voices calling out to him in his dreams. Familiar voices. Viserys. Rhaenyra. Mysaria, even. It could all just be a result of his yearning for home, but they sound so real. Like they’re actually behind some impenetrable wall, calling for him. Seemingly there, but gone when he opens his eyes in the morning. He hasn’t told this to you, because… well, how would it sound? He wants to believe his family has found a way to reach out to him in this world, and not that his mind is slowly driving him to madness.

I wish I could be a better man. I wish I could be the one that you deserve. But he knows he isn’t. He’s not ordinary. Not the sort of man that would be ideal to build a home and a family with, in your world and in his. Especially in your world.

Where he came from, he was able to build his entire image on his ferocity. His fearlessness. The name given to him, the Rogue Prince, means to command respect just as much as it commands awe and fear. Daemon was a Targaryen through and through. A dragon who knows exactly what he is and what he is capable of. The acts he has committed in his world, would be more than enough to guarantee a lifetime of imprisonment in your world. Or at the very least, permanent admission to a maximum security psychiatric hospital. He remembers the night when he and his gold cloaks cleansed King’s Landing of its criminals and its brutes. He remembers taking pleasure in disembowelling the Crab Feeder, limb from limb, and dragging his remains through the mud in victory. He remembers much and more. And he’s certain he would do it all again, as much as he would like to be… better… for you.

He knows who he is, and he knows that this world cannot contain him. Pretend as he might, this world cannot stifle his fire. He can try to blend in, to subdue himself for a while, but how long can that last? He fears the day when a switch flips inside him, and he might take it out on you. And he can’t lose you. You’re the only light that he has in his world, and without you, Daemon would inevitably fall into the darkness.

- - - - - - - - - -

“Daemon.” He hears a familiar voice. He doesn’t know when he fell asleep, but he must be. The voice is coming from Viserys, urgency ringing true in his tone, “Daemon. Brother, we will find you, this I promise.”

“Daemon,” another voice rises out of the shadows, softer, sweeter.

“Rhaenyra,” he attempts to whisper back, “Rhaenyra.”

“Stay strong, uncle.” Daemon feels like an apparition, floating on air, seeing the hazy shapes of his family. “Kesā māzigon arlī naejot īlva,” You will return to us, Rhaenyra determinedly says. But how, my dear niece? How can I return to you?

“Daemon.” Another voice, stronger this time, echoing through the chambers of his dream. Clearer, as if it were right beside him. “Daemon, wake up.”

Your voice, “Daemon, you’re only dreaming. Wake up.”

For a brief moment, Daemon is torn between staying in the limbo of his unconscious, tethered to the connection with his family, and letting go, and waking up to you.

To you.

Daemon feels the pull toward a direction. He feels himself choosing what he truly desires, in that moment. He isn’t sure what’s happening, he doesn’t know what’s to come.

There’s only you.

You shake him again, with a bit more force this time. Daemon has been mumbling in his sleep, his head whipping from one side to the other, his fists bunching up at the sheets.

A nightmare, perhaps? Although, he keeps whispering a name. A feminine-sounding name, one that you’re not quite familiar with. One that doesn’t sound too common in your world. Rhaenyra.

“Daemon, wake up.” You try again.

His eyes flutter open. Any other name disappears from his lips, and he only says yours, “Y/n. It’s you.”

“It’s me,” you smile at the innocence in his tone, “You were dreaming, I think.”

“Hmm, I was.” He runs a hand over his face. “Good morning, love.”

“Morning. Bad dream?”

“Not entirely.” He sits up, and takes your hand absentmindedly, “I am happy to wake up to you, though.”

“I am, too.” You squeeze his hand in return. A question hangs on your lips, and you say it out loud, “Daemon, who’s Rhaenyra?”

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

March 2023

You hear his grunts from underneath the vehicle, clearly frustrated with whichever part he’s been asked to repair. Only his dark-wash blue jeans are visible, his body lying flat on the under car roller.

It had taken Daemon a while to acknowledge the existence of jeans, as with many other modern things, and you thanked all of the angels that he had, because they look so damn good on him. You stand in the auto shop that he works at, on one of your usual visits, not having a shift at the hospital that day. Bobby, the owner, was a brawny, snow-haired man who seemed intimidating at first sight, but that image is immediately broken once he lets out one of his warm, hearty laughs. He had easily taken a liking to both you and Daemon, and he kindly told you that you were always welcome, when you apologized for loitering.

“Oh, feel free to come visit your boyfriend, anytime, darlin,” Bobby had said, “He’s actually one of my best workers here, which is amazing really, since he knew nearly nothing about cars when he first came ‘round.”

Your cheeks reddened, not exactly averse to what he assumed, “Well, thanks for taking him in, sir. And, no, we aren’t-“

“Hello there, love,” Daemon had come in from the other room, and that was the end of it. The occasion to correct the ‘boyfriend’ assumption was gone, not that you bothered to bring it up again, anyway.

You knew that the Daemon being your boyfriend - Daemon being anyone intimate, more than a flatmate, more than a friend – was a notion that made you feel all warm inside. Truth be told, it was a thought that you’ve been entertaining for a long time. Perhaps even mere days after you first found him outside your building.

Recently, your desire has intensified, to say the least. But in your defence, Daemon himself has acted in a way that encouraged your yearning. He’s been holding you for long moments, his gaze running down your body when you weren’t meant to notice, his words flirtatious at times. Passionate, even.

Like when he once whispered, “You possess a light that can put even dragonfire to shame,” causing shivers to run down your spine.

Oh, you were so gone. He could make you his, if he only said the word. But he hasn’t. Why?

You vaguely hear his voice, breaking your thoughts.

“Sorry?” you peer down.

“I said, please hand me the wrench, love.”

“Oh,” you look at the tray, several similar-looking tools before you.

“Which one?”

“The one with the blue bit at the end,” you hear laughter in his voice, and he rolls out partially, hand outstretched. Well, here’s something from this world about which he now has more expertise than you. Sheepishly smiling, you give him what he asked for, and watch him disappear underneath the car again.

A minute later, he exclaims, satisfied, “That should do the trick.”

He gets up from under the car, cracking his neck and rolling out his shoulders, loosening himself up hours of work. And in that moment, as with many other moments, you get to appreciate the view of him.

Deep V-necked, black shirt nearly moulded to his torso, his striking white-blond hair now cut short, and unsurprisingly, the faint smattering of grease marks on his face only serve to make him even more tempting. My little grease monkey, you try to compose yourself when he catches you looking.

“See something you like?” There he goes again, and you’re sure that he’s got more than a clue about your wanting of him, and he enjoys it.

“Maybe,” you hold his gaze, and moving to stand in front of him, you take a towel and carefully wipe the stains off his face.

His gaze on you is gentle, yet enthralling, persistent as you tend to him. Daemon naturally has cunning dancing behind his eyes, but for you, now, it only has tenderness. He looks at you with care, as if he’s not just relishing in the attention he’s given, but also revelling in the sight of you.

“All better,” you sigh, and force yourself to look away, sensing that his co-workers have started throwing curious glances in your direction.

He notices your unease, and although unaffected by the attention himself, he’s quick to offer some comfort.

“It’s been a long day,” he says, hand gently resting on your back, “Let’s go home.”

Home. Yours and Daemon’s. For how much longer, you did not know. And it worried you.

- - - - - - - - -

“What do you want to have for dinner?” You say, as you take off your coat, shaking off the cold from outside.

“How about we go on one of those things? You know, a… date?” He’s already sitting comfortably on the couch, one leg resting atop the other. “I know I should have asked you sooner, and I apologize. It’s just… you know the source of my hesitation. But I no longer will be a cockless coward, and have you, if you’d let me.”

“Daemon,” you bite your lip at his statement, blood rushing to your cheeks, “it’s okay. We don’t have to go on an official date. As long as we know where we stand, and, I guess I like us. I like what we have. It can progress naturally as we’d like it to, and that’s just fine with me.”

“My love,” he stands, and pulls you in close by the waist. His closeness intoxicates you. Even though you’ve been experiencing it for months, it never fails to steal the breath from your lungs. You look up at him, as he continues, “you deserve to be courted properly, like a lady, like a princess, more like. From what I’ve seen of the courtship rituals in your world, a romantic date seems to be the way to do it right. Tell me what you want, and you shall have it.”

Oh, fucking finally. You can’t help the smile that springs on your face, and Daemon revels at the sight. “You know what I want, Daemon?”

“Tell me.”

“Come closer, and I’ll whisper it to you,” you say cheekily, a plan brewing in your mind.

Daemon catches on quite easily, and he leans forward, ready to claim what you’re offering. So you meet him in the middle, and press your lips to his.

It feels even better than you imagined, and you’ve let it run through your mind a lot. How he would feel against you, like a searing flame that consumes your space, enveloping you in his warmth. Dangerous, but you like it this way. Only him, this way.

His tongue snakes past your lips, and you fail to stifle a moan. He pushes you back against the wall, and you pull him even closer, wrapping your arms around his broad shoulders.

“Mmm, Daemon,” you manage, “fuck.”

He smirks against your lips, “Why, I would love to, darling. Would our date be spent in the bedroom?”

“Uh huh, well, you said something about a romantic date? Why don’t we do that first?”

“Gods, you’re a temptation waiting to be fucking plucked, you know that, darling?”

“I think the word on the street for that sort of thing is a tease, my prince, but you say it so much better.”

“Well, you’re a… tease, then.” He kisses you again, biting your bottom lip towards the end.

“How about we go out, pick up some food and a decent bottle of wine, then come back with the goods and watch movies to our hearts’ delight?”

“Don’t we always do that regardless, my love?” he smirks, head adorably tilting to one side. He takes your hand and presses his lips to the back of it. My chivalrous prince.

“Yeah, but now it’s a ‘date’ date. You can plan the next one, complete with your noble steed and gleaming sword…Dark Sister, wasn’t it?” He nods, eyes softening at your remembrance, “and I can put on a frilly princess frock or something…” He laughs at that. “Then we can right off into the sunset, and be on our way to find your dragon Caraxes, and fly off into the stars.”

“Quite a vision, but you know you don’t need a fucking frock, my love. You’re perfect just the way you are.” His hand flies to your ass, squeezing firmly, and you nearly jump up in surprise, “Besides, these jeans flaunt your backside in ways that a skirt never can.”

“Daemon!” An empty plea. You melt into his arms anyway.

You feel his lips pressing to the crown of your head, causing you to fondly whisper his name once more. The strong planes of his chest are firm against your hands. You dig your fingers in, “Mmm, you know what? The date can wait.”

“Say that again?”

You don’t repeat it. You just pull him down to your lips again, kissing him passionately. He opens his mouth fully to you, and your back arches in response, tasting all of him, before finally adding, “Shall we begin?”

- - - - - - - - -

He practically throws you on the bed, looming over you, his presence all at once so disarming. His face, practically carved out of marble, lowers down to press itself onto yours. Forehead against forehead, nose bumping yours, your lips melding into one.

You moan in unison, his hands groping your hips and then your thighs.

“Fucking… jeans off. As flattering as they may be.” He growls lowly.

“You as well.” You scramble to unbutton your jeans, then inch them slowly down your legs, kicking them off ceremoniously. They fly across the room, followed by Daemon’s. You giggle, and Daemon mewls, “Oh, that sound. You can bring me back to life all over again, with just your voice.”

You take his face in your hands, practically purring softly, “Fate might be a fickle thing, but at least it gave me you.”

He is kneeling between your legs on the bed, and you lean back, watching as he takes off his sweater. Eyes glued onto yours, he proceeds to rid you of your cardigan, before rolling your tank top above your head. He finally takes off his boxers, one that you picked together at the shop down the street, one interesting afternoon. His erection springs free, his cock firm and partially streaked blue-violet with veins, fucking thick as you expected. You bite your lips at the sight, and he notices, raising his light eyebrow proudly.

For the first time, you are completely bared to him. From your shoulders, to your toes. He admires the smooth expanse of your skin, allowing his fingers to drift lightly on you, silently wandering.

“Gevie,” he whispers.

“High Valyrian?” you ask, recognizing the intonation.

He affirms with a hum, “Beautiful. You are beautiful.”

“Mmm, Gevie?” you trace the lines of his stomach, “You are… gevie, too.”

He moves closer, enunciating clearly, “Iksā gevie.”

“Iksā… gevie,” you repeat slowly.

“Perfect,” he smiles affectionately, “We shall get you speaking High Valyrian in no time, my darling.”

“Face?” you ask, your hand directed by the words, tracing his cheekbone.

“Laehurlion.” He smirks openly, watching you absorb the words.

“Laehurlion,” you repeat, tone snagging at the end, but you carry on, “Eyes?”

“Laesi.”

“Laesi. Mmm… heart?”

His eyes soften, “Prūmia. Prūmia, ñuha jorrāelagon.”

“Prumia. And… well?” you hand lowers and lowers, until it reaches his erect shaft, the question hanging in the air.

“Cock? A leap from heart, I might say, though they might go hand in hand,” he leers, and leans down, causing the head of his cock to press against your opening, “Orvorta.”

“Orvorta.” You struggle to repeat the word this time, head leaning back at the feeling.

“Iksis bona sȳz?” He presses on, “We shall go slow, ñuha jorrāelagon. Cherish every second.”

You find yourself nodding in response, even though you don’t catch on to some words in High Valyrian. You watch as Daemon strokes himself, his eyes darkening in lust and pleasure. At the same time, he stares you down, and slowly pushes one long finger into your wet cunt. This thumb pads at your clit in gentle, circular motions. You take action, wrapping your hand around his cock, taking the place of his.

He pushes another finger inside you, increasing the pace. In and out of your warmth, juices making their way out, gleaming droplets of pale white. Your wrist begins to ache, as it rapidly pleasures him, fingers sliding up and down, over and over, but you continue. Daemon unravels in front of you, at the feeling of your palm on his cock, and your wetness slick on his two digits.

You moan loudly, as the pressure builds up below, threatening to push you over the edge. The feeling of him suddenly disappears from inside you, and he pushes your back roughly down on the mattress, causing your hand to release his cock.

“Daemon,” you breathe out. He says nothing in return, merely priming himself at entry, digging his fingernails into your thighs. My dragon has awakened.

“Daemon,” you say again, not expecting a response. Simply preparing yourself for his hunger. Stating your lover’s name as if in prayer.

“Hmm,” he hums, sinister and dark, “Hmm.” The air is taut around you, the hairs on your body rising in excitement. Then, he enters you. Stretching you wide, his cock twitching as he drives his hips forward.

“Fuck,” he lets out, once he is fully sheathed, “Oh, gods.”

You moan, feeling all of him. All of him. All…

“Shit.” You press your hands onto his chest, weakly, but he gets the message.

“What is it?” he asks faintly.

“Condom. You need to put on a condom. Bottom drawer.” The words awkwardly stumble out of you, but you know it’s necessary.

“A what, my love?”

“Just…” you sit up halfway, pulling your hips back, until he is released from your cunt.

It only takes about a minute to explain to him what a condom is, and to pry one onto his thick cock, but it feels too damn long all the same.

“Satisfied?” he questions, smirk still resting on his face, “Though if it were up to me, you’d be filled to the brim with my seed. I wouldn’t relent until your pussy would be raw and dripping from it.”

Fuck. The cheeky bastard. “Get on with it, then.” You feign impatience, waving a hand dramatically, biting your lip up at him.

He rams back into you, wasting no time. He falls forward, pressing his forehead to yours. His breath is warm on your face, causing a sheen of sweat to emerge.

His hips begin rutting quicker, harder. He hand squeezes your breast, the other cradling your head, keeping it from hitting the headboard. My Daemon. Relentless, chaotic, yet caring all the same.

“Fuck me,” you pant, “yeah, fuck me, Daemon.”

“Yes, my love.” He pounds into you hard, “I claim you. You’re mine. All mine.”

You’re certain you haven’t been fucked this good. You’re even more certain that you haven’t been made love to in this way. His fire consuming all of you, each thrust leaving a lasting impression. Your soreness will be an interesting thing to even attempt to manage after. The faint red lines you’re scratching onto his back may need tending to as well. You mark each other. Physically, and with all else.

Your cunt throbs from being stretched, and fucked hard. He shows no signs of stopping, the feeling of his cock sliding in and out of you enough to drive you insane. The sound of his balls slapping against your ass so lewd, so goddamn scandalous. Daemon’s. Having him not only so close, but within you. Daemon.

“Let go, my sweet one,” he breathes into your ear, “Release it all for me. Only me.”

“Faster, I’m getting there,” you moan.

He complies. His hips jackrabbiting wildly, a blur of motion, leaving you mewling and pleasantly aching on the sheets.

He comes first, rutting into you, groaning in ecstasy. It doesn’t take long for you to follow, that damn sensation unravelling all at once from your pelvis, your juices leaking onto Daemon’s cock.

“Seven hells, my love. That just might be the best fuck I’ve ever had.” He runs a hand through his hair, slowly pulling out of you. He takes a long, exhausted breath and lays down beside you.

“Very eloquently put, Daemon.” You bite back, a grin plastered on your face, still on a high from what just might be the best fuck you’ve ever had, as he says.

You let your eyes close for a while, allowing your imagination to play around with what you’ve just experienced, colourful scenarios forming in your mind. You vaguely hear Daemon’s voice pulling you out of your little daydream.

“What’s that?” you turn to him.

“I said, you’re the most beautiful part of this entire fucking world.”

“Oh.”

He adds something, a mere whisper, as if he’s drifting off to some other dimension, “… of my entire fucking world.” Your heart stops at that. You’re not sure if you were meant to hear it, but it feels amazing, all the same.

“Thank you,” you whisper, sincerely. You move onto your side, and let your fingers stroke his cheekbone in adoration, “Daemon? Do you still hear them? Viserys? Rhaenyra?”

“Mhmm,” he only hums in affirmative, after a while. He had revealed them to you recently, their stories, how important they truly are to him. How he hears them almost every night, calling out to him. Like a dream, but it feels much more significant. A call seemingly from the void. Only it doesn’t feel like a void. It feels like a direct tether to his own world.

You try to fight it, but a pang of sadness hits you every time he mentions his desire to return to his world. Because in the end, it would mean having to leave you.

You’re not aware of it, but a thought has been dancing in Daemon’s head. Only a possibility to entertain, at first. However it has grown into something stronger, more resolute. Turning fully fledged tonight. No longer a suggestion, but an unsaid promise he makes to you.

It doesn’t matter where he is. Whichever city, kingdom, world. The one thing that matters is being with you. Wherever you are, there he’ll be. You’re no longer just an anchor in this world, but a solidified anchor for his life in its entirety. His fire may not be meant for this world, but it has always been meant for you. And that’s more than enough.

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

June 2023

You push your door open, laughing at some snide remark that Daemon said, as he keeps a hand on your back. You’ve grown to love his dark sense of humour, knowing that although it can be deemed biting or harsh, it stems mainly from astute observation. Daemon simply voices out what other people are probably thinking, but are too afraid to say. You appreciate this routine that the both of you have fallen into. And you wish it lasts. You would make it last, if it was in your power.

Looking back at Daemon, expecting him to follow suit behind you, you notice the sudden change in his expression. His body freezes in the doorway.

Before you could ask what the matter was, you hear a voice coming from your apartment. One that has never graced your ears before.

“Brother,” you finally look at the intruder, and the first thing that catches your eye is the shade of his hair. The same striking blend of golden and silver, even though he seemed frailer, devoid of shadow throughout its length.

You notice that Daemon doesn’t push you behind him, which means that he recognizes this man. Of course. They are, at first glance, the same. Brother? This must be…

“Viserys,” Daemon finally speaks, confirming your thoughts.

“Quite the peculiar realm you’ve landed yourself in, my brother,” The man stands from your couch, drawing closer to you and Daemon, “and quite the woman you have there.”

“Is it really you?” Daemon whispers, and you swear you heard his voice break.

“It is,” Viserys holds his arms out in front of him.

Daemon steps forward, and you can’t help but think that this small motion has drawn him farther away from you. His focus is on his brother, and understandably so, but your heart aches at what lies before you.

I’m going to lose him.

Viserys pulls him close with one arm, and Daemon relaxes into his embrace. He’s home. Well, nearly.

“I’m afraid we don’t have much time, brother. We must leave before the incantation is broken.”

“Incantation?” Daemon asks, and you wonder the same thing.

“We must go.” Viserys beseeches, urgency clear in his voice.

Daemon seems to collect his thoughts, springing into action, “Alright, well, I’m taking her with me,” he takes your hand, “You are coming with me, aren’t you, my love?”

You think of your world, of what you will leave behind. But, you also think, he need not ask. You would follow him anywhere.

“Yes,” you find yourself nodding, “Yes, of course I-“

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Daemon.”

Daemon’s head raises in a flash, “What do you mean, brother?” his menacing tone resurfacing.

“The incantation only accounts for you, and only you can return with me,” Viserys seems apologetic, but it doesn’t bring you comfort. Not at all.

“There must be a way,” you feel Daemon start to shake before you, in equal parts desperation and anger.

“We must go,” Viserys pleads again, and you want to say, No, please don’t take him away, but your voice fails you, and you stand there, unravelling within.

I have to say something. Damn it, say something.

“Go.”

“My love?” Daemon says, perhaps for the last time.

“You have to go home.”

Daemon / General HotD taglist: @omgsuperstarg @moonmaiden1996 @ayamenimthiriel @sebastian025 @iilsenewman @padfootsvixen @teapartydreams @mercurial-wallflower @vainillasmil157 @eonnyx @ponyboys-sunsets @schniiipsell @isa-beenme @daemonslittlebitch @wasabi-mommy @naelys-the-asterr @dreaming-for-an-escape @my-dark-prince @random-human02 @thelastcitysposts @avalyaaaa @angel6776 @huntycola @sanguinalia @just-a-harmless-patato @outundertheocean

Seven hells, I did not post this as soon as I promised! Uni got in the way 🤷‍♀️

This one did not contain nursing references cause I got a bit carried away with just their dynamic, but nurse!reader will be making a comeback in the 3rd and last part (especially since Daemon will be gone {???} then) 🙊

I've got more time now, so I'll be working on some Aemond and Daemon requests that yous have already sent. As well as part 4 for the Heart on Fire series.

Also, a huge thank you because this blog has reached 1.7k followers and 25k likes in total. That is absolutely insane, seeing as it's only been three months since I began posting! These stories are all for you guys to enjoy, so thanks a million. I wish you all sweet dreams of Daemon or Aemond (or both) tonight! 🖤🖤🖤

#daemon targaryen x y/n #daemon x reader #daemon targaryen x reader #daemon targaryen imagine #house of the dragon imagine #house of the dragon #matt smith imagine #daemon targaryen #daemon targaryen smut #daemon targaryen fanfic

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insomniakisses · 6 months

Text

We should call her Aemma

Character: Alicent Hightower (HOTD)

Reader Type: Alpha Reader, G!n

Warnings/Notes: fluff, mentions of birth and babies, v!serys. Reader has a dick.

“Princess!” Danielle your maid comes bursting into your chambers bowing and muttering an apology when she sees ur half dressed form.

“S-sorry princess..” you can see the blush and chuckle, quickly finishing dressing before smirking down at her. “Yes dani? What is it?”

“The Queen, Alicent, her grace, shes had her pup!”

The second the news hits your ears you don’t even take the time to reply before your rushing to her chambers. Its a short walk really, having roomed so close to her. Your barging in the room in no time shooting her a soft loving smile, as you make your way to her and the pup.

Turning to the door you watch as your father, the king, walks in. “Another daughter your grace!” The maesters state and he simply nods barely glancing at the pup or his wife. “The pup is healthy?” He asks leaving as soon as the maesters confirm. Excusing himself to his “duties”.

The maids and maesters clear the room per Alicent’s request and the second you guys are alone you press your lips to her head. “You did so well my love,” you coo staring down at the pup smiling as she reaches for you making soft noises.

“Was the labour hard?” You ask, voice soft as you pick up the wet cloth running it across her skin softly in an attempt to sooth her. Eliciting a sigh from her in relief and you make a mental note to help her bathe properly later.

“It was fine” she waves off and ypu roll your eyes leaning to kiss her softly. Staying to place a few kisses on her lips. “My love, you pushes a whole baby out of you. You are aloud to complain”

She smiles then, admitting it was maybe not such an easy process. Confessing to you what hurts. You spend the next few hours talking with her and holding the pup as she sleeps.

Its during one of these moments that Viserys decided to come in once more. “Ive decided the name,” he announces and your face scrunches at his lack of care to consult the woman that just pushed the child out.

“We Should call her Aemma.” The second he utters the words your mouth falls open. Oh he did not! You loved your mother, of course, but to name your second wives daughter after your first wife that YOU killed chasing a son? Hell no.

“My king I’m not sure-“

You cut alicent off, voice hard and demanding. “Father! I actually already picked a name for her, since rhaenyra always chose names before and even chose mine.”

You see him waver like he is about to decline, he wanted aemma after all the pup looked so much like her. And its then that it hits him, HOW can it look like her unless…

“Fine.” He sighs nodding as he leaves muttering something about visiting rhaenyra and her boys.

“Thank you” she mutters barely above a whisper and you shake your head “No, thank you” for blessing me with this pup and she flushes saying “I regret that she looks more Hightower than Targaryen. It wasn’t my intention I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

You coo softly, “I do not, and its not your fault you can’t control what she looks like.” Moving to pull her into your arms as you stare down at the pup you smile. “Besides, now i get to be reminded of the woman I love whenever I see our pup”.

A/n: Little Drabble to get back i ti the writing swing.

#hotd #house of the dragon #hotd x reader #house of the dragon imagines #hotd imagines #house of the dragon x reader #alicent hightower imagines #alicent hotd #alicent targaryen #alicent #alicent x reader #alicent hightower #alicent hightower x reader #alicent imagines #queen alicent #hotd alicent #house of the dragon omegaverse

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fallingintoyourlilaceyes · 6 months

Text

"Settling in"- Once in a lifetime chance (Midsommar AU) Chapter 2

part 2 of 4 || series masterlist || previous part || next part

pairing: modern!Aemond Targaryen x Reader

summary: After a long journey you arrive at the commune and meet the other guests. Soon it shows, that it isn´t going to be as harmless of a trip as you thought it would.

word count: 2k

warnings: mentions of character death, describtions of violence, manipulation, people disappearing, mentions of an unhealty relationship, afab reader

series taglist: @moonlightazriel

general HotD taglist: @urmomsgirlfriend1

(As always, if you want to be tagged in this mini-series or any other character/Series/general fandom taglist, send a comment, ask or DM my way.❤️)

When the five of you meet up at the airport and Cregan tells you how long the journey ahead of you is going to be, you believe your eyes are going to pop out of your head. At least it amuses the northerner. Aemond is in deep, whispered conversation and so you continue talking to him. Trying to find out as much as you possibly, which isn´t a lot, but it is still a good talk. Shortly before boarding you see the little notebook in his lap.

“Can I see?” You point down to it.

“Oh, It´s uh nothing special. Just the terminal.” He quickly closes the little notebook and stuffs it into his bag.

“Okay.” You murmur. You don´t get much time to think about his behavior anyway as boarding begins shortly after.

As much as you wanted to believe you mentally readied yourself for an almost twelve fucking hour flight, you could never have done that. Even if four of them are spend at a layover somewhere along the way it´s the middle of the night and all the coffee in the world couldn´t help to keep any of you awake. The only two that don´t seem to be affected by it so much are Cregan and Aegon. Then again with a sleep cycle as fucked up as his, you probably wouldn´t be tired right now either. Once you lift off into the air again you finally put your headphones back on and take a sleeping pill so you won´t be too tired when you arrive at the destined airport. Jace is engaging in quiet conversation with Cregan across the isle from you. Asking him a thousand questions already. Ever the determined student. Aemond beside you is absorbed into his phone entirely. So you don´t say anything to interrupt him.

By the time you all get off the plane every single joint and bone hurts and the remnants of the sleeping pill try to pull you back to slumberland. You are barely able to keep your eyes open until you reach the car that will bring you the rest of the way to the commune.

“We have another two hours to drive so if you want to rest up some more you are more than welcome to.” Cregan warns the four of you. It´s an offer you take him up on immediately.

“Is it okay for you if I rest on your shoulder?” You whisper to Aemond who just nods. He hadn´t said a single word to you ever since you met up with the others. At least that way you don´t have to hear Aegon´s downright gross comments about the poor girls that you pass.

Still, you lean your head onto his shoulder. Unable to stay awake any longer, with the soft humming of the car in the background. When you get shaken awake again, an eternity could have passed and foe all you know you could be on an entirely different continent. All around you is nothing but wide meadows, mostly untouched by humans, except the little village like set up of huts and gardens nearby. Even the air is so different from the stuffy air in King´s landing. You take a moment to breathe in the freshness and soak up the clarity, before Cregan already leads you over to a group of people around your age. Walking off to greet a girl in a foreign and rather hard sounding language before he introduces her to your little group.

“Guys, this is my sister Sarah and her friends from dorne, Coryanne and her fiancé Aron.” You can hear the northern accent thicken as Cregan introduces all of you.

“You´re right on time, we just took these. That way were all gonna be high at the same time.” She has a nice voice, even even though her accent is even stronger than that of her brother. Looking down you see the bag of mushrooms in her hand. At first you are more hesitant to than the boys you are with, but in the end you still take them. The whole group wanders over to a patch of grass to sit down and talk while the drugs did their thing. During the walk Aemond pulls you behind a little.

“I didn´t know they would offer us that. You didn´t take them because they pressured you, did you?”

“It´s okay, Aem. I´m good.” You reassure him quietly so the others don´t hear you. For a moment you think you see worry in Aemond´s eye, but it still seems so cold.

You shake the thoughts that come up away quickly and go to sit down a bit away from the others. The grass feels so nice under your skin and so you close your eyes some more, waking up right in the middle of your high. And it is not a good one.

When you first open your eyes, you see blades of grass grow out of the upper side of the hand under your head. When you sit up the sun becomes more and more irritating. The light was just too much. Shouldn´t it be night right now? You hear people talking to you. Far away voices trying to calm you down, but you don´t even hear your own answer. Standing up, heavy breaths pull at your chest. A fast heartbeat making you deaf to all the noises around you.

When you get back to the group you see Aemond look at you in a way that lets you know he wasn´t happy about what happened.

It´s already late when you get to the sleeping quarters for lack of a better word. The women and men were separated into two big open houses with all the beds. Standing along the walls in two floors.

The next day Cregan picks you up to take you along to the first ceremony. One of the female elders gives a speech, before the whole commune walks all the way out to some cliffs, where two other elders already stand on the edge. And what follows then you could never be ready for. The elders that stand over you take a step and their bodies fall to the ground with a loud thump. The sound and sight alone are upsetting enough, but when one of them starts to cry out and moan in immense pain, your stomach pulls together even more. Bile wandering up the back of your throat as the commune members begin to mimic the wails. Adrenaline floods your system when one man goes up to the elder and bashes his head in with the largest wooden mallet you have ever seen. It takes a while, but eventually the cries stop.

The second the ceremony is over you begin to run away, back to the quarters. In the distance you can hear that Coryanne is similarly as shocked as you are and the voice of an elder explain to her that the people saw it as a great honor to die this way. But even Aemond´s constant repetitions of “It´s just their tradition, we´re just not used to it. Once we get over that it will be fine.” All you wanted to do was leave. Leave the commune, leave the north and leave whatever happened here behind.

Back at the quarters, you throw your suitcase onto the bed and attempt to pack your stuff, when Cregan approaches you. Taking your hands in his gently he sits down beside you.

“Are you okay?” He asks quietly, but the tears that stream down your face won´t let you answer.

“Hey, it´s okay. I understand how you feel. Seeing this must have been hard, with your parents and all. I do. My own parents died when I was a child, but the commune took me under their wings and they all became my family instead.”

“No, it´s not because of that…” You insist through more tears.

The northerner continues to console you, letting you cry into his strong shoulders until there are none left. On your way to dinner you see Coryanne talking to the elder you recognized as the one that had calmed her after the ceremony, but you don´t hear what they are discussing. And you don´t want to listen in on their rather heated looking discussion.

The meal, that is always consumed at a table big enough to fit everyone comfortably, goes by uneventful. Though you do notice the longing looks that one of the girls is giving Aemond while serving the food.

Seemingly uneventful as the next day begins. There were no ceremonies that day and so you are left to find something that kills the time yourself. Not knowing what to do, you wander around aimlessly until you hear a commotion brought up between Aegon and one of the elders. The local man is yelling at Aemonds brother in a language none of you understand until Cregan runs towards you to clear up what happened. In full Aegon fashion he had peed against the sacred tree. Luckily Cregan manages to calm everyone down for the most part, though you can´t remember seeing him again after he followed one of the girls that had been very welcome towards you. You try to shove any worries aside though. Aegon was a grown man and even though he was high most of the time, he would be able to defend himself.

During lunch you get told that both Coryanne and Aron had been driven to the Airport the previous day. Which explains the absence that had truly worried you.

In the afternoon you are content watching the busy life of the commune. Seeing Jace talk to one of the elders questions for his thesis.

Not long after Cregan joins you once more. Hiis hands suspiciously hidden behind his back.

“What do you have there?” You look up at him with a small smile.”

“Just a little something for your birthday. Nothing special.” He holds out a page of thick paper for you to take. On it you can see is a painting of you, made with what you guessed was coal.

“Oh my gods, it´s so beautiful. How did you even…” You are too overwhelmed to find the right words for a moment.

“Jace told me on the flight. I´m sorry, it´s probably embarrassing that I gave you a gift and Aemond didn´t.”

“Oh no. It´s really beautiful, thank you so much. And it´s my fault, not Aemond´s fault. I forgot to remind him and he was so preoccupied with coming here and Uni and everything. It doesn´t matter anyway.” You insist.

Yet no matter how often you told yourself, it didn´t relieve the painful tugging in your chest at the thought, that he had forgotten once more.

His `apology´ in the early afternoon doesn´t really help either. He approaches you with an apologetic smile on his lips and a muffin with a single candle stuck in at the top in his hands.

“Aemond what are you doing there?” You ask as heat spready over your cheeks from the looks of the group of younger women that stand close by.

However Aemond doesn´t answer. He only begins singing happy birthday and when the lighter in his hands fails to light the candle for the nth time you speak up again.

“Aem, seriously, what are you doing here? This is not necessary at all.” The looks are getting increasingly more uncomfortable.

“No, it is. I just thought your birthday was yesterday and so I didn´t say anything, but that was wrong so I made you this.”

“You really didn´t need to. And you don´t need to apologize it´s fine everything is fine.”

And so the day finishes as uneventful as the last. But with your mind finally caught up with the journey the long hours of sunlight and the sounds you weren´t used to wouldn´t let you sleep. Sneaking over to where the boys are sleeping you slowly shake Jace by the shoulder.

“Hey, what´s up?” He whispers, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Do you still have those sleeping pills?” You ask in the same tone. Not wanting to wake up any of the others. You only barely notice that Aegon´s bed is still empty.

A little later when you go back to your own bed you see the boy sneak around, but the medicine starts to work already and so you don´t have the mental capacity to ask any questions or even try to talk to him.

The next day at breakfast he is missing as well.

#modern aemond #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond x reader #aemond one eye #aemond targaryen #hotd aemond #aemond x you #aemond targaryen x you #hotd #house of the dragon #hotd fic #house of the dragon fic #hotd x reader #hotd modern au #modern house of the dragon au #midsommar au

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the-dendrophile-bookdragon · 9 months

Text

Remedy

Pairing: Modern!Surgeon!Aemond Targaryen x fem!reader

Warning: rehab, children, mental illness, therapy, fluff

Summary: When your mind blocks you from going on you tear the wall down.

Part 4/9

Series Masterlist

Please support me by liking my post and reblogging and maybe leaving tags. Thank you!

Your rehab was slow, to say the least. Your leg was healed but in your head, you still felt like you couldn’t use it. Every time you wanted to take a step without your crutches you stopped yourself. You stood in front of your physical therapist before you gave up. He walked over to you and smiled softly, “Maybe you should see a therapist. There is a lot of trauma you have to unpack.”

You looked down at the ground and nodded. “Enough of that! Let’s take a break!” He takes out his phone and scrolls through it before showing you a picture of a small boy. “That’s Rickon, my son.” My eyes went wide. “Oh, he is a cutie!”

We talk about Cregan’s family, about his first wife Arra, who died in childbirth and his second wife, Alysanne. “Well, this brings me to the topic of therapy. Come on. The doctor is waiting.” You were confused until Cregan waved over a tall, platinum-haired woman. “Can I introduce you to Doctor Rhaenys Velaryon? One of the best trauma therapists in Oldtown Hospital.” The older woman chuckled softly.

Cregan stood up and walked away with an encouraging smile. Rhaenys sat down and smiled softly. “It’s your leg. Isn’t it?” I nodded. “Where should I begin?” The older woman smiled. “Tell me how it happened.”

Cregan was walking into the cafeteria and was stopped by a concerned Aemond. “Don’t you have a session with one of my patients?” Cregan smiled softly at the young doctor. “Don’t worry, she is in good hands right now. She needs to get out of her head before we can resume our work together. Can’t work with a patient blocking themselves.”

Aemond nodded. He wasn’t sure what the physical therapist meant but when he walked into the rehab room he saw you sitting with your hands over your face in front of Rhaenys Velaryon. He felt the rush to run over to you and hold you in his arms.

Cregan was next to him with a mug of coffee in his hand. Both watched as you suddenly stood up without your crutches and hugged the therapist. Cregan and himself rushed in so if you would fall they could catch you.

“Well looks like you are taking over, Rhaenys.” The older woman laughed. “I could never! You are our best physical therapist. I just break the barrier in the mind.”

Tears ran down your face. You were relieved the wall in your head was gone. You resumed your rehab and before you knew it you were stepping stairs. A big smile adorned your face. Aemond who stayed and watched the whole training felt his cold heart melt. He couldn’t understand what he felt but it was a welcomed warmth he only felt in the presence of his mother and sister.

Cregan, who saw the blush creeping up Aemond’s neck, smirked. After Baela picked you up, cheering as you walked over to the car without crutches. Aemond smiled softly at the scene. Cregan stood next to him. “You should ask her out. She isn’t your patient anymore.” Aemond glared at the man next to him. “Please, I know that look. Get your big boy pants on and ask the girl. She can run away from you now again.”

Aemond watched the car drive away. He sighed, Cregan was right.

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#aemond fanfiction #soft aemond #aemond targaryen headcanons #aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond x you #aemond x reader #aemond x y/n #aemond one eye #aemond targaryen x you #aemond targaryen modern au #prince aemond x reader #aemond x fem!reader #prince aemond targaryen #prince aemond #prince aemond x you #prince aemond fic #remedy

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fkevin073 · 4 months

Note

I learned your ao3 username from your Tudor-era and your HOTD fanfics and am so happily pleased to see you've fallen for Snowbaird like I have! You've written some of the best fanfics in the ship tag!

I wanted to ask your opinions on the hinted Snow/Livia marriage at the end of TBOSAS. Do you think Livia ever finds herself mentally comparing herself to Lucy Gray if she ever became Snow's First Lady

oh thank you so much for your reading! makes me so happy lol

UM. hmm. interesting question. I think she's curious about what happened to him during his peacekeeper era, but I think she learns not to ask because he's very cold/cruel when she does, and nothing good ever happened to someone who foolishly taunted him about his love for a district girl before he became president (lots of mysterious rat poisons).

and while I don't think snow ever, ever, speaks about Lucy gray with anyone, I think Livia does wonder sometimes in the early years when Coriolanus whispers her name in his sleep, because yes I do believe he dreamed about Lucy gray for the rest of his miserable life.

#snowbaird #tbosas

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barbiedragon · 1 year

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Having a Jayme Hargreeves simping streak again

May you spare some smut w her(top!R if you don't mind) ( if u don't to write smut u can do fluff or anything else :))

Jayme Hargreeves, my love! I always enjoy getting a request from different fandom. A little palette cleanser before I post an HOTD request tonight. I want to top her like nobody's business

WC: 1.0

Warnings: Jayme spitting her venom, fingering, gagging, face sitting, creative bondage techniques, humiliation, light D/s, and Jayme being a needy baby

*comments/reblogs are appreciated

Your leg swung out to knock into Jayme’s ankles to send the brunette sprawling onto the floor. You heard the sound of her back hitting mat and she groaned.

“Fuck,” she hissed as you rolled onto your feet to stand over her with a triumphant look on your face. One foot pressed against her left shoulder in order to keep her pinned down.

Her eyes narrowed at you then you heard the all too familiar sound as she hocked, getting her glands ready to spit her venom at you. The black webbing started to spread across her cheeks and jaw. You quickly straddled her, pressing one hand over her mouth as your knees dug into both her shoulders to keep her pinned.

“Jayme, we’ve talked about this,” you chided as her eyes widened and she relaxed her glands. “You don’t use your tricks on me. We fight fair.”

Her hand slapped against the mat to indicate she wanted to tap out.

“Fine, but you better behave.” You removed your hand from her mouth then stood up, lifting your weight off her body. You offered a hand to help her stand and that’s when she made her move. Her venom hit you square in the face as you let out a yelp.

“Goddamit, Jayme!” you yelled as you stumbled your way over to the small bathroom in the back of the training studio. You locked the door before you splashed cold water onto your face. Mentally cursing yourself because you should have known better. Your back pressed against the back of the door as you rode out the hallucination alone. You were going to get her back for this.

Luckily, the hallucination didn’t last long as her venom wore off quickly. A couple more splashes of cool water to your face had you feeling more like yourself before you left the bathroom. You were going to wipe that pretty smirk right off her smug face.

“Aw, feeling better, baby?” she taunted in a sickly sweet voice.

“Oh, I’m about to,” you replied as you grabbed a resistance band in a bright pink shade off the rack. Jayme was too busy preening over getting the upper hand which made it all too easy to knock her off her feet again. That little ego of hers was always getting in the way. Her back hit the mat with a thud as a soft cry escaped her then you rolled her onto her front. You gave her credit for putting up a nice struggle while you pinned her arms behind her back then twisted the band around her wrists.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she growled while she tried to buck you off her back.

“Teaching you a lesson,” you stated simply before you stretched your top half across hers, keeping her pinned with one knee dug into her back. “Naughty girls don’t get away with bad behavior,” you purred into her ear before you stood. You watched her struggle and try to roll onto her back before you grabbed a spare, soft headband out of your bag then slipped it over her head to secure around her mouth as a makeshift gag. Finally, you flipped her onto her back.

If looks could kill. You watched her teeth dig angrily into the band shoved into her mouth. You chuckled softly as you traced a finger over her forehead then down the slope of her nose.

“Much better when you aren’t being mouthy,” you cooed as your hands gripped her red track pants then before you yanked them along with her underwear down around her ankles. She was trapped…pinned….like the irritating little bug she could be. You pushed two fingers into your mouth while she watched you coat each digit with salvia, a little dribbling down the corners of your lips. You straddled her bare thigh before circling your fingers around her pretty pussy. She was already dripping for you.

“Baby, you just love it when I take charge don’t you?” you teased before sinking two fingers inside of her.

You watched her lashes flutter as you found a steady pace while your fingers pumped in and out of her. “You’re kinda cute when you’re not being so mouthy, sweetheart….I bet you wouldn’t like someone spitting in your face all the time.” You watched her eyes widened. “Or maybe you would.” You smirked as you curved your fingers, hitting the spongy wall as her body shook with pleasure. A simple rub of your thumb against her engorged clit had her bucking pathetically as she came for you.

“There we go, that’s my girl,” you cooed, leaving her fingers in place as she rode it out. After you slipped them out, your pink tongue darted across them to lick clean. You pushed to your feet, kicking off your shoes before wiggling out of your own sweatpants and underwear.

“Now if I take this off are you going to be good for me?” you hummed as you traced your finger around the gag.

She mumbled against the fabric while she nodded her head. “You better be or I’m going to leave you tied up in here for someone to find,” you warned before you slipped off the band then lowered your cunt against her mouth. She groaned under you then her tongue sought out your clit first as she gave tantalizing licks to the swollen bundle of nerves already peeking out from the hood.

“There we go, that’s my good girl,” you praised as one hand tangled her dark hair while you rutted against her face then let your eyes close. You could tell she was eager to please you, to make you happy like she always did. Tough little Jayme just wanted to be a good girl and bask in your praise. Soft moans came from your parted lips as the wonderful pressure built inside of you until you made a mess on her face. It took a moment to calm down before you pulled off.

“Fuck,” Jayme panted softly and you chuckled. You rubbed your face before you adjusted her to her side and slipped of the resistance band. Your hands rubbed her wrists as your face pushed into her neck, leaving soft kisses along her warm flesh. The two of you rested for a moment before she spoke.

“I do want you to spit in my face, actually.”

#requests #jayme hargreeves #fem!reader #top!reader #tua smut #tua imagine #tua fic #jayme hargreeves x reader #tua jayme #Jayme x reader

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howyouloveyourdragon · 1 year

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thea's fic recs <3

hi everyone i'm going to be away for awhile so i won't be able to post after wednesday at all on this account until i'm back :( however, i will suggest you read from these amazing writers in my absence. if there is anything you want to ask me or just interact then i'm happy to do so on my personal account @simp-aholic so just send through an ask on there and i'll be happy to talk with you, my masterlist is also still up of course with any fic updates you might have missed or to reread from <3

i'm sure that you've already heard of or read from them but i would still highly recommend that you check them out if you haven't already, these are just some of my favourites that i re-read <33 i can't wait to see you all when i get back :)

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from @valeskafics (everytime a new update comes out its like mwah my love is back from war) masterlist

✨ A Game of Proms (modern au, robb stark x oc) (also pretty sure this was the first ever ASOIAF fanfic i ever read so it'll always have a high position in my mental court) completed ✨ Blood Of My Blood (jacaerys, aemond, aegon x reader) ongoing ✨ Wolves and Dragons and Seahorses, Oh My! (modern au, aegon, aemond, jacaerys x reader) ongoing ✨ Party in your bedroom (almost everyone got & hotd x camgirl!reader) ongoing (nyra and ali for the win, fight me) ✨ Far Longer Than Forever (swan princess au, jacaerys x reader) completed

from @syzrina masterlist

✨ Roomates (modern au, aegon x reader x aemond) ongoing ✨ Fool's Gold (modern au, aemond x reader) completed ✨ Dress (modern au, aemond x reader) completed ✨ All I ask (modern au aemond x reader) completed

from @f4ll-for-you masterlist

✨ The Project (modern au, aegon x reader) ✨ Aegons Summer/The Intern (modern au, aegon x reader)

from @starkskeep

✨ When the Dragon Howls (cregan stark x reader) ongoing

from @hotdapologist masterlist

✨ As You Wish (aemond targaryen x reader) ✨I Know Places (lannister oc x martell reader x aegon targaryen)

literally everything from @its-actually-minicika (pls my wife is so talented but i'll link my top faves i guess 🙄) masterlist

✨The Yule Ball (gryffindor jacaerys, slytherin aemond, hufflepuff aegon x reader) ✨ I See You (aemond x reader) ✨The Harshest Winters (for my followers with darker tastes, book-canon aemond x reader x deceased jacaerys) ongoing

from @shruie masterlist

✨Yours To Take (daemyra x martell!reader)

AO3

✨ ride the dragon (do it quickly) by molter (alicent x rhaenyra) ✨ in paper rings, in picture frames, (in dirty dreams) by angstigone (aemond x oc) ✨ One Step Forward, Two Steps Back by Dulcewritess (aegon ii x oc) ✨ right where you left me by 14xn (alicent x rhaenyra) ✨ Nocturnal Sunshine by queenslayer (alicent x rhaenyra) ✨ oh and i wonder by barbiewrites (alicent x rhaenyra) ✨ through the mis, only sky by thedevilsgarden (alicent x rhaenyra) ✨ on the mend by thedevilsgarden (alicent x rhaenyra) ✨ HOTD PTA meetings by Pie_pie

#fic recs #thea's fic recs

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kingcunny · 6 months

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What's your opinion on Viserys and Otto after the Episode 4 confrontation? There's such a difference between what Viserys says and implies to his face and what he says to Rhaenyra.

When Otto makes his report to Viserys, he immediately clocks what Otto is trying to do. (And makes a clear distinction between Aegon as Otto's blood and Rhaenyra as "mine own." OOP.) And then as he's scolding Rhaenyra, he acts entirely oblivious. "What vulture?" Is he putting on act for Rhaenyra? To counter her trying to put blame on someone other than herself? Is it more conflict avoidance?

And THEN he fires Otto, and he's like, "I think you killed my dad. Or at least you were gleeful at the opportunity his death provided you." There's some deep suspicion and resentment going back yearsss in that conversation that had nothing to do with why Rhaenyra wanted him gone.

oh my god viserys accusing otto of killing his dad makes me INSANE. cause no one wouldve told him that? the fact that we never hear daemon or any other character accuse otto of the same thing means this is a theory viserys came up with on his own, and has been just quietly holding onto all these years. and that theory sounds like the paranoid jealous ramblings of a kid on some “youre not my REAL dad” type shit. like Obviously the man who came in to take his fathers place MUST have killed him to steal his position and power. but viserys was like 24 at the time.

about viserys theory, i believe the unknown is the scariest thing of all. humans have a need to try and make sense of the unsensable. i think viserys theory about baelons death comes from that same place. viserys not understanding how his father could go from “a hale and healthy warrior and dragonrider at the peak of his ability” to so feverish and racked with pain that he cant even get out of bed and finally dying, all in the span of 5 days, is terrifying. he doesnt know what an appendix is, a ‘burst belly’ doesnt mean anything to him (just like his own illness, appendicitis would be both undiagnosable and untreatable in their time) . but poison? treachery? thats simple. thats understandable. he can point at someone and its *their fault* his father is dead.

this doesnt take away from anything ive said about viserys and otto before either. even with the belief that otto mightve killed his dad, what other father figure does he have? baelon is dead, aemon is dead, vaegon doesnt want anything to do with him. jaehaerys is so ill at this point hes calling viserys by the wrong name half the time. otto is the only one he has to cling too, to seek that parental affection and approval from. and after seeing how he takes care of jaehaerys during his final years, and prepares himself for being king, viserys starts to put his resentment on the back burner. otto is just a faithful and loyal servant, he has to be. jaehaerys trusted him after all. viserys was just blinded by grief.

when otto comes to viserys to report what rhaenyra is doing the first thing viserys does is almost engage in a strange game of chicken? like he refuses to accept ottos implications of what rhaenyra and daemon were doing, makes him "speak it, plainly" almost either *daring* him to say it or maybe giving him a chance to back down. and i think this is a part of his conflict aversion, if he can pretend its not real then it isnt. but otto doesnt back down, even when viserys tries to offer the out of "youve been lied too", either because he *is* trying to ruin rhaenyras reputation or because he believes viserys should know the truth. (theres that scene right before this were otto looks very upset. either debating whether or not he should tell viserys or trying to mentally prepare himself for what he knows will be a very difficult conversation? considering ottos conversation with his brother in ep 3, im leaning toward the latter, hes just been given a very real reason to discredit rhaenyra. aside- i would KILL for the rest of the hotd script to be released) its the confirmation that his daughter and brother have betrayed his love and confidence, and ottos refusal to let viserys remain delusional, to speak it into being almost, that upsets him so much. because now he *has* to accept that this is the truth, to deal with each of them, and the knowledge that Someone Else Knows. (both otto AND alicent now) and im wondering if the distinction between "your blood" and "mine own" isnt a freudian slip at this moment, both revealing that he does not view alicents and his children as 'his' and a resurfacing of those old paranoias about ottos ambitions with the new knowledge that otto has been spying on his daughter.

speaking of daemon actually, something interesting when viserys confronts him, he doesnt directly accuse him either. ("my daughter. wont you even deny it?") he tries to offer daemon an out too, for him to offer up some other explanation for what happened last night. but daemon is all too happy to take credit for taking his nieces virginity.

so when viserys finally confronts rhaenyra about it, he doesnt ask her what happened. just implies that he knows. where she challenges him that he hasnt asked her the truth of it, and he replies it doesnt matter what the truth is, only perception, HIS perception. it doesnt matter what really happened now, just what *he* believes is/isnt true. and both otto and daemon have forced him to accept that the truth is that rhaenyra slept with daemon. but he still doesnt directly accuse rhaenyra of this, because even though hes been forced to accept it, hes moved on to the 'covering it up' phase. if he can pretend it didnt happen, then it didnt. daemon is gone, rhaenyra will be married, it didnt happen and even if it did it wont happen again.

i think when rhaenyra calls otto a vulture it takes him aback a bit. cause how many times in those early days, when viserys believed otto was responsible for his fathers death, or at the very least jumped at the opportunity his death provided him, must viserys have thought of otto in the same way? i think he is feigning ignorance here, for two reasons. the first as a way to shift the blame, but not rhaenyras- his own. his own guilt of letting a man who he does not trust to become so close to him. to have allowed himself to become so reliant on someone who does not have his familys best interests at heart. the fact that otto is using him for his own gain, and viserys even suspected him of this and yet let it happen anyway. the second as a similar sort of game he was playing with otto, to see if rhaenyra will confirm his suspicions about otto. to make her 'speak it into being' so to speak. unlike otto however, rhaenyra does not hesitate to accuse him.

and thats why when viserys fires otto, he does not bring up rhaenyra, but instead the thing that originally made him suspicious of otto - his fathers death.

#i did NOT mean to write this much #turns out i had more to say about this than i thought #viserys i targaryen #otto hightower #asoiaf #hotd #asks #my posts

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childotkw · 1 year

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I’ve been obsessed with the ruination au! Omg!

I’ve been doodling all the dragons from hotd and the cannibal is excellent practice!

I imagine him to be this massive hulking dragon - a walk tank if you will - but having some interesting features:

the massive horns (thank you anon for the lopsided head idea), the heavily armoured body and I’m thinking that since he’s mostly a carrion hunter (rip baby dragons) he would have a thinner/longer snout (picture vultures). Not to mention the massive amount of scars this dragon would have, especially around the snout/ neck from all the little fighting dragons.

If and when Lucerys and Cannibal develop a deeper bond I would love to see how Lucerys reacts to these and how violently protective he becomes of his new dragon. Yes, Cannibal is more then capable of protecting himself but I would think Lucerys very much still harbours feelings of possessiveness towards his dragons (especially since Arrax was taken from him the way he was) and doesn’t tolerate anyone/thing trying to harm his new dragon.

As always love any and all prompts/ideas for these two, this au has certainly gotten my creative juices flowing and I’m loving drawing Lucerys and his new dragon!

The first chapter of ruination is fabulous and absolutely CAN NOT wait for more :)

Oh OH OH!!!! He’s BEAUTIFUL!! And little Luke next to him!! Stunning! 😍😍

Cannibal as a walking tank 😂 it certainly match his belligerent attitude towards life! I love your take on Cannibal’s design! It’s so intriguing to see how people imagine him (and the longer snout = bird of prey is so cool!)

And their bond is gonna be so awesome to explore. I genuinely love the idea of him eventually growing protective and possessive of Cannibal. The trauma of losing Arrax, and so violently too, definitely leaves it’s scars on Lucerys’ mental and emotional state. Once he and Cannibal bond and start to vibe and influence each other, Lucerys would murder anyone that endangers his new and not-so-shiny dragon.

Some enemy tries to shoot Cannibal down while he’s in the air? Lucerys would bodily hunt the man down and slice his limbs off one at a time and make him watch as he feeds them to Cannibal because how fucking dare you try and kill his dragon?

Some idiots paid by the maesters try and take Cannibal out with poison specifically crafted to kill dragons? Lucerys would return the favour tenfold by making each conspirator drink the worst, most excruciating poison he can get his grubby little hands on.

Anyway you look at it, Lucerys is vicious in the defense of his murder-dragon. Other than hurting his family, it’s the surest way to get your name on his hit list.

But regardless - thank you for sharing your art and for the kind words! I hope you enjoy the second chapter as much as the first! Cannibal’s arrival is inbound in the next two chapters, and from there it’s Lucerys and him being feral little bastards together!

Love ya 😘😘😘

#parkerpeanuts #ruination au #lucerys velaryon #cannibal the dragon #fanart #aemond targaryen #lucemond

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bentosandbox · 1 year

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better late than never amirite

i think i haven't posted july (cause I thought global would have released TBC by now...) or october (commission) on here/twitter hopefully i remember to sometime this year

bonus chen edition because well i guess she is my cringefail girlboss blorbo

bonus chenswire edition

bonus bonus extremely boring stuff

films i watched in 2022 (tragedy of macbeth out of picture because it was on the next row)

top 10 (in watched order not a 1-10 ranking)

Marketa Lazarova (1967) Friend was streaming it, liked the script so much I asked my friend for the srt file after Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) Rocks Petite Maman (2021) Personal Attack Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) :) My Life as a Zucchini (2016) Celine Sciamma truly don't miss Saturday Fiction (2019) It's not a 5/5 movie but...the soul... the period noir... Nope (2022) The Spectacle dot jpg Hands Over The City (1963) yes i watched this just before il siracusano Decision To Leave (2022) yuriyaoi straight romance can't elaborate Puss In Boots (2022) i'm so glad i didn't watch this as a kid i would have nightmares, but as an adult i got to see my traumas on the big screen yippee!!!

missed a local screening of My Broken Mariko because it only happened for ONE DAY fucking insane (I recommend reading the original manga it's so good)

Speaking of books hmm

Swordspoint yuriyaoi... Invisible Ink reread. and I think I need to reread again Fire & Blood read it after watching hotd ep 1 pretty good series btw dare i say even ...the best on-screen yaoiyuri of the year... Eagle Shooting/Condor Heroes Book 1 Not bad Water Margin Didn't I write a angry rant on this. rite of passage i guess...... How to Keep House While Drowning its funny because i WILL do chores......still good though What My Bones Know - insane how trauma can be so isolating yet universal lol A Wizard of Earthsea if only i read this instead of harry potter back then lmao wow

you can now basically psychoanalyse my issues from the last three books I think

Uhhhhhhh what else am I missing - oh yeah I did 3 gamejams this year (Art/Design and a liiiiiitle bit of trying to do the UI in Unity myself instead of giving the pngs to my friends)

my abysmal steam stats told me i only played 5 games this year so I need to get back my gamer license, backlog is like 75% VNs though what's up with that (there's only 4 games but. well)

had a really long blogpost (basically a 'look at all the things you did this year you didnt waste it' thing thus the above lists) but i think i'll just keep it to my notion notes lest this post becomes a traumadumping ground ecks dee tl;dr failed a Very Important (to me) Thing early 2022 that kind of shattered any crumb of self-esteem i had and made me question everything i did onwards (especially in regards to doujin stuff) and then basically physical health issues affecting mental health and vice versa which is fun but fuck it we ball.....(try)

don't really have any solid 'resolutions' (that i would remember to do) other than to 'live' more than just 'survive' as edgy as that sounds 🥴oh wait oc zine yea yea and go into illustration full time h-haha........... should really get around to making a patreon/fanbox but i really hate the idea of paywalling

also signed up for a AK doujin event in Nagoya in March so I now have a very heavy motivation to finish the second half of my LGD doujin and hopefully I get to table at AX too dot dot dot

#bentotexto

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maria-tries-to-write · 1 year

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Congratulations on reaching 100 followers! Could you write A, B, C and F for Daemon Targaryen, please??

100 followers’ event: Daemon Targaryen’s Yandere Alphabet! (A, B, C and F);

A/N: Thank you so much for your ask dear anon! I thought no one would ask anything and I was almost deleting the event’s post and just pretend nothing did ever happened🥹

To request, you can find the the event’s rules here.

WR: Yandere!Daemon Targaryen, yandere behavior, toxic relationship, mentions of violence and torture.

A stands for AFFECTION: how would they show affection?

Haha, Daemon would never show you affection. Well, at least, not explicitly.

If you squint, you could interpret him forcing you to rest your head on his bare chest during sleep or him always keeping a possessive hand resting on the small of your back, as affection.

But if you can’t, then he’s one of the coldest yandere.

B stands for BLODDY: how bloody are they willing to get for their object of obsession?

If you watched HOTD, you know what Daemon is capable of. So, when it comes to his darling, everything is on the table for the Rouge Prince.

However, differently from others yanderes, violence is always Daemon’s first option for solving any problem that might appear on the way to claim his darling.

C stands for CRUELTY: would they ever hurt his object of obsession?

Surprisingly, I don’t believe that Daemon would hurt his darling. Purposely, at least.

Yet, there is nothing stopping the king’s brother from threatening and psychologically assaulting you.

Daemon is a sadistic by nature, and unfortunately, his favorite victim is you.

His favorite hobby is making you turn into a sobbing and hiccuping mess, just to then force you to crawl back to his lap, seeking comfort on your own kidnapper, just to humiliate you.

He may never ever hit you, but your mental health won’t get away from his sadism.

F stands for FIGHT: how would they react to their object of obsession fighting back?

Oh, he would love it. We know how much Daemon enjoys a good challenge; so, it’d just make the game so much funnier to him.

But, really, he doesn’t take your fighting seriously: he would even thought it’s cute! Seeing you punching his chest and trying to slap the shit out of him would make him laugh in your face.

However, if you ever tried to scape or kill him, you will certainly see his sadistic side blooming when he discover about your antics.

If you are caught, you may expect to see one of your familiar’s head being served on a silver plate during your daily dinner.

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horizon-verizon · 1 year

Text

Rhaenyra Lying to Alicent vs Aemond Claiming Vhagar [HotD]

In episode 4, Rhaenyra goes out with Daemon and sleeps with Criston Cole, and the next morning she lies to Alicent about her virginity status by deflecting and using a technicality.

In episode 7, Aemond claims Vhagar in a duplicitous manner: claiming her while all other possible competitors are reasonably asleep.

Both people became a more settled, decided versions of themselves after having made their deceitful acts: Rhaenyra develops a way to manipulate others to instill doubt or to make them refocus (that's never again really explored in the show apart from episode 7) while Aemond becomes more of a "player" and participant in the game by getting a dragon and doing some of his own manipulations (throwing Aegon under the bus and that quote of "fair exchange").

Both people used duplicity to get what they wanted; but one of them did it for survival, the other more for ambition. (And if the HotD writers had done these characterizations as if this were a consistent adaptation--Aemond, out of real entitlement.)

The Context of Rhaenyra’s Lie in Episode 4

Oh, The Pressure!

Rhaenyra left the Keep with Daemon to let loose from the Viserys passive aggressively dismissing her after coming back from the suiting (quote below) and the overall pressures on her to act in form of the standards of an heir while also still expected to allow her body to be used as a political tool despite her fears of childbirth and motherhood (more below).

Expected to suppress them, she goes out instead and finds herself amongst erotic displays that she would never be allowed near otherwise.

Daemon definitely finagles her into the brothel.

However, Rhaenyra isn’t against it. He finds her very willing to have sex with him and leaves her behind. After which Rhaenyra travels back to the Keep alone and sleeps with Criston Cole. And she sleeps with him not just to expend the sexual energy Daemon stimulated but mainly to act defiantly against him and those societal/parental pressures of conformity that hypocritically pressure her to let her body be used as a dragon baby incubator. for her husband and father’s advantage despite the risk of her own death.

She isn’t allowed the space to review and debate what she wants and is thrust into giving birth before coming to a more settled mindset about it.

In other words, she is not as individualised by her family and society as much as a man would and is.

The hypocrisy of her situation lies in how she, as a woman (and by this time she’s past the age of Westerosi “majority”) must still preserve her virginity for a unknown man and limit both her sexual and nonsexual urges. While a man in her position can do as Aegon II does and sleep or rape anyone and get away with having bastards or ruining any the noblegirls’ marriage prospects and/or any woman’s mental stability.

A man would not be looked at so strangely for coming back into camp covered in blood like Rhaenyra did after killing a boar in episode 3; he’d probably get a few chuckles and some congratulations. Rhaenyra was stared at as if she were an alien (except Harwin, but one in 20 people is not an indication of the “rule” since that doesn’t shape or reveal the overall social environment that an individual navigates. It rather highlights how different Harwin is.).

Again, she’s told (subtly and directly) that her body is a means to produce children for the sake of her father/paternal family’s advancement and preservation and she sees that death is a very real and common risk for that self-sacrifice, yet no real attempt at sacrifice for her contentment or happiness is expected nor made from her father and/or prospective husband (conversation with Daemon in episode 4) to "match" or compensate for the risk and her endangerment.

And the fear of dying but also seeing how women's danger in birth giving is too easily passed over as their "duty", with family members and society not really taking into account how much of a problem it is. We see Alyssa Velaryon (Fire and Blood) who felt the need to birth another child even though she has already birthed Rogar Baratheon's male heir and Aemma giving birth to stillborns or miscarrying several times because her female offspring is insufficient for Viserys/"the realm".

Giving birth is a "job" for these women, so even with the phrase of "battle for woman", this "battle" doesn't have the same societal status or appreciation as male military prowess. It is felt as more a means to an end.

When a woman gives birth, her status nor her rank changes and her husband receives most of the congratulations.

Medieval/Westerosi Noble Male Vs. Female Mobility

And before we exclaim how men can’t give birth and are already risking themselves by the tourneys and real battles, I’m talking about how girls and women are expected to see themselves as just a device to advance their male relatives.

They have all their physical movements restricted to physical spaces that have to be justified by male authoritative allowances (King, father, husband) from a very young age. As young as 8. Since noble medieval/Westerosi girls would be taught “feminine” arts and behaviors (singing, sewing, curtseying) long before they marry, which can be when they turn 12 and get their periods.

Matters of consummation and marriage are left not to them, but to their parents, and even parents can be merciless in the pursuit of whatever benefits come from such marriages being consummated and thus difficult to end.

Girls and women are also never truly alone, despite how HotD has displayed them. No one is, but girls are always "chaperoned" and have some subordinate or septa following them around and ensuring (to observers) that said girl remains "pure", or any act/social interaction that would cast suspicions on her. Men and boys simply do not have this element and level of accompiament-surveillance on them.

Girls and women, societally and usually, are not encouraged to learn how to fight with swords or train in yards. They are told and kept in their rooms or within the castle and occupied with doing tasks that require them to sit and focus on aesthetics: singing, drawing, sewing or stitching patterns, learning how to properly bend their bodies into curtsies--which are a lot more restrictive than the male bow. (Aesthetics are not markers of weakness, but this feudal society makes it so when royal/noble women and girls are relegated to it while royal/noble boys and men are encouraged to learn how to fight more than to read.)

By contrast, men and boys are allowed a lot more physical and verbal freedom and can look to their military education as a way to advance themselves, to physically move around independently more (in comparison). Even nonnoble men can rise to become a knight after he finds a knight to become a page/squire for (an ideal masculine identity). Boys and men can travel to different places of the city, town, realm, and castle (the only restrictions would be direct orders from superiors or from having to stay close to their knight but this is a temporary position and flexible), while girls and women would be looked at and accused for even trying to exit the castle completely on their own with no say-so or permission granted or some sort of personal precedent for it granted by her male relative with he household authority.

And HotD doesn’t really capture this division of gendered behaviors and allowances in their fullest breath.

We don’t really feel Show!Rhaenyra, Helaena, or Alicent’s restrictions because there’s no ladies in waiting or septas in sight, no obvious or focused looks of disgust or shock in court at even Alicent visiting Viserys, no one giggling at Helaena’s oddities or habits....it’s presenting a picture of these women as having more privilege or independence or privacy than any of them have in canon or historical reality.

For medieval people, what we modern folk think of as “privacy” is near nonexistent. But for noblewomen it goes further, suppressing what autonomy they could have had.

Otto and Alicent

Even so, Otto Hightower doesn’t have the right to have Rhaenyra followed and spied on without Viserys’ permission because he is not her father nor her political superior. He’s not an older royal male relative like Viserys or Daemon.

Otto would not have even the same authority over Rhaenyra as Aemma, not even close. Aemma was both her mother and the Queen Consort, while Otto is the Hand and not of Viserys' blood, not in any way related to a Targ or Valyrian.

It is very clear that he only wanted Rhaenyra as heir to block Daemon; he didn't truly see her as an agent--thus a threat herself or as one against him--like he sees Daemon, due to her gender and comparative age to the man. Daemon was always his rival and competition for access and control over Viserys/the Targ dynasty and its future, direction, etc.

Though Westeros is not a constitutional monarchy and the councilors really do not have the same power that a constitutional member of the English Parliament did over the real English royal family, imagine if we found out some Parliament member had Mary -- Elizabeth I’s older sister -- followed before she became Queen and Henry VIII died, without permission from the monarch/Henry. Nah, that’s insane and would have enraged Henry VIII--it would be seen as it was that person not acting within their class and position by encroaching on the monarch's authority over their own house, blood, and overall rule. Thus, it is so easy to point this out as treasonous.

So regardless of what Rhaneyra was doing with her body, if Otto was really so saintily concerned with how Viserys might take his only daughter ruining the Targ name, he would/could have asked permission to tail her. But he didn’t because he wouldn’t have had a good reason for Viserys to accept, so he decided to act on that himself.

And if Rhaenyra were to do something that could compromise her position as heir....well, looky there, how convenient for Otto (as it should have been played, since Otto doesn’t ever show himself as particularly close to any Targ in the show and has been very ambitious since day one).

But because Alicent has internalized female obedience to male authority and is too close to Otto, she doesn’t believe or think to question how Otto’s actions are suspect or either amoral or contradictory to even the body of feudal class etiquette and rules she later tries to reinforce.

She has already fully accepted that she will be just the baby factory of a rotting man twice her age (we don’t get a real age for Viserys in the show, but Paddy looks in his late 30s or early forties even before the decay), who she did not choose and is not attracted to in the slightest.

And she accepts that she must be obedient and yielding--body and mind-- because she relies on the Order staying the Order so she can have her suffering justified and have some sort of peace from her own submission to that uncaring patriarchal power.

She needs to see that her “good” behavior is proven as good through everyone else also acting the same, because really her plight is never ending. She will be expected to be a female model of chastity and obedience until the day she dies.

And she genuinely believes this is the only way for a noblewoman to act and have dignity or a right to societal/self-respect, so she helps herself to create her own misery by not trying to find compromises for herself as Rhaenyra did.

In episode 4, we see how Alicent never got to experience games of flirtation or any sort of real sexual thrill apart from being asked for favors in tourneys. Her youth and “teendom” (as we’d call it), like many other noblewomen, is not ever really practiced; but unlike Rhaenyra she decides to play by the rules to a T (if she did have extramarital or premarital sex, it would be shown or suggested; even her taking moontea once would be an indicator).

Through Rhaenyra, we see that a noblewoman can find her own pleasures. And really, if we really see feudal people as people, we can reason that not every noblewomen--at any point in medieval history--were faithful to their husbands. They were just both/either lucky and smart enough to not get caught. Or their affairs and lovers were open secrets.

People also disobeyed direct royal orders and laws -> Roose Bolton practices the right of the first night despite it having been made illegal by Jaehaerys I, so he fathers the hated Ramsay Bolton. (And there is nothing inherently wrong with a person sleeping with many people, or a person sleeping with other people when they and their partner agreed to have an open relationship. The Bolton case is rape, though. The right of the first night is rape.) And despite Jaime being a Kingsguard, Tywin names him his heir so Tyrion cannot inherit the seat after he dies. Kingsguard are sworn to forsake any and all claims to properties, seats, moneys as well as marriage to devote themselves to protecting the King and those the King orders them to protect. Tywin was breaking these rules!

This means that individuals themselves didn’t always subscribe to their own customs, precedents, and moral codes of behavior.

Alicent, however, chose to be faithful and then she chose to believe in the veracity of female chastity.

Rhaenyra and Alicent

Before Rhaenyra leaves with Daemon and after their moment in the garden, the two were still far away from reconciling because neither of them really understood the depth of each other’s inner workings and responses to their situations.

Aemma at least loved Viserys, found him attractive, and didn’t sleep with his rotting body.

Rhaenyra is having to consider marriage as her giving up her body to men who are looking at it as dragon-baby making factory.

Her problem is more than that, though. Rhaenyra sees motherhood (refer to what I wrote in “Oh! The Pressure!”) as a thing that could incapacitate her from participating quickly and sufficiently in political actions because birthing removes her from the room where decisions are being made when it customarily has men who would never be so occupied.

Therefore making it possible for others to undermine her or or contradict her and even some of her commands (Daemon in episode 10).

And the writers still haven��t properly addressed how Rhaneyra feels about Alicent betraying her by marrying Viserys or how Alicent really came to convince him to marry her through Otto’s order. They cut that scene where the two fight in the garden after Alicent’s engagement to Viserys is announced.

Alicent’s need for the conservative Order to justify her suffering prompts her to confront Rhaenyra and use her Queen Consort rank to make demands in episode 4.

Alicent already believed Rhaenyra acted immorally and treats it that way from the beginning of their conversation. To Alicent, she’s justified in pulling rank over Rhaenyra because of her rank, because she believes that Rhaenyra actually having premarital sex and losing her virginity to an unassigned man is amoral, because she doesn't like how she herself cannot leave the Keep nor has a relative willing to "escape" with her or for her, because she herself is far more afraid of the consequences of she did, and because, she learned, Queen is held responsible for making sure that her subjects and/or the royal family acts according to the moral standards laid out for them. At least that’s what is expected of them and the image of queenliness.

Alicent of episode 4 also likely thought that she’s needed to act as the higher-ranked and authoritative Queen to intimidate Rhaenyra into taking her seriously, so she can re-“teach” her her own position and value as both a princess (woman) and the chosen heir representing the Targaryen house beside Viserys. To move herself away from that feeling of vulnerability or inadequacy that Rhaenyra-Daemon going out could have re-inspired in her, re affirm herself through her position as Queen AND all those expectations that come with it.

The limits on a woman/girl--what has made her miserable--became the thing she felt to use against Rhaenyra in order to feel more powerful.

Viserys and Otto are her means of maintaining both the sense of and the socially-allowed avenues of power: condemning "loose" activity, reinforcing the King's desires of the target, assuring her own connection to the King/person with ultimate power, reminding that she is in charge or at least heavily involved with marriages, etc.

She says:

My father has made some worrying allegations about you. Were you with your uncle?

Is it? You Targaryens do have queer customs. And Daemon certainly knows no limit.

My father is no gossip.

I only want to help you, Rhaenyra.

It was foolish of you to place yourself in a position where your virtue could even come into question. The King has strived to find you a good match. And so have I. If that lord were to think that you had been... sullied... it would ruin everything.

I don’t know about anyone else, but none of this sounds like a person trying to act, listen, and be a friend but a person trying to display authority and passing immediate judgement.

Alicent envies Rhaenyra for having something while being blind to how there are heavy consequences for Rhaenyra if she were caught BECAUSE she wants that (in some form) but cannot have it.

However, we saw Alicent was the one to approach Rhaenyra out of her own loneliness (dialogue below) after Rhaenyra stood up for her. So we are meant to see Alicent and Rhaenyra as long-suffering women put down by the man they share a relationship with and trying to take comfort in each other.

And Alicent specifically says that she can't find a person to really talk to like she is doing with Rhaenyra on the bench: "But I am glad you are home. I find I have... few friends lately. I like to believe I'm still the Lady Alicent, but... all anyone sees when they look at me now is 'The Queen.'"

So from that moment, I assumed that Alicent wanted a real friendship again. Like before, when they were close to being "peers" and could theoretically trust each other with their secrets. And Rhaenyra appears to have taken the olive leaf (not a branch, it's not quite sufficient) to stave off her own loneliness and Viserys' passive aggressiveness.

Rhaenyra’s Lie

The Dialogue(s)

Before Rhaenyra left the Keep Rhaneyra sticks up for Alicent, despite the fact that she knows Viserys is upset with her:

Alicent: Perhaps Prince Daemon would care for a tour of the gallery? He hasn't yet seen the new tapestries gifted to you by Norvos and Qohor.

Viserys: Oh, oh. Would you like to see the tapestries? (snorts, laughs ) He has no interest in such things.

Rhaenyra: I'd like to see them.

Viserys: Oh, well, then you should not deprive yourself.

Rhaenyra: I shall enjoy them alone.

Some might say that she was just trying to hide behind Alicent and evade Viserys’ mood. However, if she were just trying to evade Viserys, she would not address him directly and about tapestries of all things.

And this is their conversation alone together on the bench, where it seems that they were beginning to reconcile:

Alicent: I surmise the tour did not go well.

Rhaenyra: I endured it for as long as I could.

Alicent: To have every young knight and lord in the Seven Kingdoms fawning over you... What misery. It is rare for girls in this realm to get a choice between two suitors, no less two score of them.

Rhaenyra: Those men and boys don't fawn over me. They only want my name and my Valyrian blood for their offspring.

Alicent: I think it's rather romantic.

Rhaenyra: How romantic it must be to get imprisoned in a castle and made to squeeze out heirs. Sorry. How angry is he?

Alicent: The King went through great effort to arrange your tour. He is... frustrated. But I am glad you are home. I find I have...few friends lately. I like to believe I'm still the Lady Alicent, but... all anyone sees when they look at me now is "The Queen."

Rhaenyra: I've missed you, too.

Alicent and Rhaneyra’s confrontation scene:

Alicent: What happened last night?

Rhaenyra: What do you mean?

Alicent: My father has made some worrying allegations about you. Were you with your uncle?

Rhaenyra: Oh, I... ( chuckles ) I haven't seen him in years. He took me into the city for some fun.

Alicent: Tell me the whole of it, Rhaenyra.

Rhaenyra: Your father accused me of something. That I drank wine? Left the castle after dark?

Alicent: That you fսckеd Daemon in a pleasure house.

Rhaenyra: This is a vile accusation.

Alicent: Is it? You Targaryens do have queer customs. And Daemon certainly knows no limit.

Rhaenyra: Alicent...Your Grace, sister, you must know I would, I would never. You cannot believe such gossip.

Alicent: My father is no gossip.

Rhaenyra: Well, certainly he's been misled. He could not have witnessed such a thing.

Alicent: Why not?

Rhaenyra: Because it did not happen.

Alicent: He was told that you--

Rhaenyra: Told? Who made these claims to your father? ( scoffs ) I am the Princess. To... To question my virtue is an act of treason.

Alicent: I do not know specifically--

Rhaenyra: What, your father did not tell you?

Alicent: He reported it to the King. I overheard.

Rhaenyra: So you are accusing me of slanders... you overheard?

Alicent: I only want to help you, Rhaenyra.

Rhaenyra: Okay, we... we drank in a tavern. Several... taverns. It was getting late... and I asked to go home. But Daemon wished to continue. As he was my escort, I had no real choice.

Alicent: "Continue"... in a brothel?

Rhaenyra: He took me to a show. I... I was only a spectator. I didn't do anything. And then Daemon sank into his cups and, uh... abandoned me for some whore. I should've known better.

Alicent: So you did not?

Rhaenyra: Must I truly refute that? Daemon never touched me. I swear this to you upon the memory of my mother.

Alicent: It was foolish of you to place yourself in a position where your virtue could even come into question. The King has strived to find you a good match. And so have I. If that lord were to think that you had been... sullied... it would ruin everything.

Rhaenyra: I know... Your Grace. I regret it.

Why I Think this Was Incredible of Rhaenyra (In a Positive Way)

Keeping in mind all the layers of context, we should realize that Alicent is not acting very friendly in spite of her earlier wish for them to act as friends. But if they were true friends like before, Alicent would not allow herself immediately report Rhaenyra's answer to Viserys before understanding her friend. At least if we are meant to see these two as having been at one point close friends and still caring about each other even having also been quarreling and distant.

So even with Alicent wanting a real friendship, it's not possible because she already feels that her position weighs more than her friendship with Rhaenyra, and that acting as a conservative Queen will actually benefit her "friend" more than it actually would. Since those feudal gender standards will actually condemn Rhaneyra to hell and back.

But Alicent doesn't realize this at all, instead going after Rhaenyra with the notion that Otto is in the right for accusing Rhaenyra because he must be, he is her father, older, has served the crown more intimately than other councilors, and Viserys relies on him. She is acting against her own feelings for her duty because she thinks this is right and yet also wants Rhaneyra's trust and, once again, Rhaenyra would have actually been the worse for it.

How? Alicent would have told Viserys that Rhaenyra slept with Daemon and "ruined" herself, and really she didn't even need to, by Viserys' response to her about restlessness and his words to Daemon. But it still would have been her choice and by her own participation to have Rhaenyra condemned if Rhaenyra had admitted her actions.

And before Rhaenyra does some of the best emotional finagling I've seen on TV in a while, she appears taken aback by Alicent's accusative tone and visual stance:

Alicent: My father has made some worrying allegations about you. Were you with your uncle?

Rhaenyra: Oh, I... ( chuckles ) I haven't seen him in years. He took me into the city for some fun.

In the face of such insidious "friendliness", and for survival, Rhaenyra then makes Alicent (and us) aware how Alicent and Otto found out about Rhaenyra even going out and sleeping with anyone was "sus" and unfair and even treasonous on Otto's part.

That Alicent could have considered this and suspected Otto's actions.

That Alicent is not acting very Queenly (morally modular) herself by taking what she learned unofficially and with immediate bias towards her father and insisting on questioning Rhaenyra as if she were already guilty.

She finally uses a hefty keystone of their past friendship--the grief and loneliness after a dead mother--to assure Alicent that she is not lying about sleeping with Daemon, which is the truth of direct wording and statement but a lie of deflection. This a lie since Alicent is getting at the state of her virginity, not who she slept with.

Again, I have to repeat that Alicent has herself has diminished her own trustworthiness through her actions and biases. And there would have been grave, morally unfair consequences for Rhaenyra (if you allow yourself to see that these feudal gender standards of conduct are themselves the problem, first and foremost).

So, I think Rhaenyra's clever, spontaneous thinking was more "forgiveable" (because there was no real wrong done) than Aemond claiming Vhagar, based on the fact that it was necessary.

The Context of Aemond’s Tactic in Episode 7

Book vs TV Versions of the Green Boys and the Child Rivalry

Show!Aemond is different from Book!Aemon on that Book!Aemond had always been "fierce" and volatile since before the Vhagar incident.

Two years later, she produced a daughter for the king, Helaena; in 110 AC, she bore him a second son, Aemond, who was said to be half the size of his elder brother, but twice as fierce.

AND

[After Vhagar] Prince Aemond, despite the loss of his eye, had become a proficient and dangerous swordsman under the tutelage of Ser Criston Cole, but remained a wild and willful child, hot-tempered and unforgiving.

(Fire and Blood; "A Question of Succession")

This "remained" word is key. It tells us that he had always been volatile, even before his eye was cut out.

There is also no specific mention of emotional bullying or that Book!Aegon even allowed the bullying of Aemond--just that both sets of boys dislike each other and never found common ground because the Green boys wanted the throne.

The sins of the fathers are oft visited on the sons, wise men have said; and so it is for the sins of mothers as well. The enmity between Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra was passed on to their sons, and the queen’s three boys, the Princes Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron, grew to be bitter rivals of their Velaryon nephews, resentful of them for having stolen what they regarded as their birthright: the Iron Throne itself. Though all six boys attended the same feasts, balls, and revels, and sometimes trained together in the yard under the same master-atarms and studied under the same maesters, this enforced closeness only served to feed their mutual mislike, rather than binding them together as brothers.

(Fire and Blood; "A Question of Succession")

Again, before Vhagar. I doubt that Book!Aemond's "ferocity" would have not been felt and obvious during these forced hangouts.

The repetition and consistency told about Aemond's volatile-ness and Aemond's later actions during the war (the Strong genocide, the reason told behind that, and his razing the riverlands to draw Rhaenyra out after referring to her in sexist language) make me believe in the account told of his character being volatile and dangerously temperamental since way before she claimed Vhagar,.

We'd be correct to say that show!Aemond was bullied. The show also gives us an Aemond that is not "fierce", erratic, or explosive as the book tells us, deciding to make him a calmer and stoic boy who tries to endure the bullying in silence. He then can be seen as undeserving of the bullying and thus more of a victim.

In the show, Aemond not-so-stoically endures the taunts of his brother and the two Velaryon boys in the Dragon pit but later cries to his mother about it and she goes to Viserys about what punishment should be pushed on the boys. But we don't see whether or not Aemond has also displayed some sort of dismissal or bullying toward the Velaryon boys, and let me tell you, even without the book of Aemond has learned that these boys are bastards and taught that they are not worthy of respect from Alicent and Otto AND saw the court side-eyeing these boys, there would have been bullying from him as well.

The problem is that real!Aemond would not have that much of a victim. He definitely would have been dishing out some snaps and snipes and ignored his nephews based on how Alicent taught him to think of them as undeserving brats who “stole” his “rights”.

This is what makes this show more fanfic than an adaptation since this is a direct and deep change for the purpose of, again, making people much more "sympathetic" by making them seem as if they didn't prompt resentment of any kind.

Yet, we don't get to see this. It's only about "poor Aemond".

Plus, we do see that it is possible to philosophize yourself into a compassionate stance even when you're being mistreated by both adults and kids by looking at Jon Snow, Arya, Daenerys Stormborn, etc. Being bullied or oppressed is not the absolute justification for violence and/or a return of consistent bullying, even if it is a prompt.

I can feel bad for Show!Aemond for being bullied but also realize how his position is not as precarious as the Velaryon boys' (if we remember how they would have been looked at, talked about, and not treated as well as their Targtower uncles due to the "allegations" of bastardry AND the niggling fear of someone actually trying to harm them or take away whatever they value from them as a result of this treatmemt and political context. The accusations alone create that unsafe environment) what the writers are doing, what his authority figures have directly taught him, and know that Aemond is still responsible for his own prejudices because he is not as helpless as people may believe.

He is still a prince and can use his undoubted trueborn status to either make his nephews' lives a living hell (for reason already started about how their bastard status could get them daily ostracized) or stick up for them more and try to make more room for them to be in public with less confrontational scornful looks, words, and microaggressions throne their way.

But we know that entitlement and desire for the throne (inspired by and encouraged by Show!/Book!Alicent and Otto), by the book, prompts all the green boys to hate the Velaryon boys.

But no, we got a mewling Aemond instead. And an Aegon that somehow joins in (?) the deliberate, assumedly frequent, taunting of Aemond when he's always/mostly been on his side in the book? If not for love, but for just hating the Velaryon boys and thinking blood before "bastards who are stealing my throne"?

It truly doesn't make sense to call this an adaptation. It doesn't realize the themes and potential of the plot or really assess the implications of the information told by the book so it can tell its own story of victimhood=asylum-from-responsibility that the greens become imbued with so that they can be excused from most accountability.

Driftmark Episode and The Claiming of Vhagar

Let's make this clear: Vhagar did choose Aemond and Rhaena didn't really own Vhagar as if Vhagar was something to be inherited.

However, here are the issues.

A) The Domestication vs Partnership of Dragons

Sometimes I hear the argument that Aemond did nothing unethical on claiming Vhagar. While I agree that dragons have to choose their riders for the bond to exist and the claim to happen, dragons also live as creatures under a new, odd type of "domestication" ever since Maegor built the Dragonpit. Targaryens have essentially trapped and reduced their own dragon's size and power by keeping them locked in smaller places for longer from hatching and feeding them instead of allowing them to hunt for themselves. At the same time, dragons are both higher-thinking companions than dogs or cats or horses but they are also still already "domesticated" enough by the Old Valyrians to be given commands. I imagine it is like magically bonding yourself to a Bengal tiger with the ability to feel deeper and know more than a horse, but:

it's still a wild beast--more "willful" and having more emotional intelligence than most other animals but are still ridden (they are not like the "whales" of Avatar 2

kept in an enclosures built by humans

given commands that even if they choose to follow, still follow them enough for the Old Valyrian dragonriders and Targaryens to be able to wield them in battles and leisure fly sessions

(I would say dragons are similar [not the same] to cats in this way, and cats are still domesticated animals.)

Can a dragon disobey more than a horse would, yes. Doesn't mean that the pseudo magical/spiritual bond they have with some Valyrians and Valyrian-descents can be considered the exact same as human-human bonds.

Point is, it really isn't as black and white to say they are definitely just obedient and simple-minded horses with little will of their own that humans control NOR that were treated like they totally have the ability to make complex decisions by themselves or for humans in matters of politics, economics, etc. that would make dragons and humans totally equal or dragons having social authority over humans. Dragons are both "more" than other animals in ASoIaF, but there is enough human use and command over them to see them as the "higher" beasts and not political peers. AT LEAST HOW THEY WERE TREATED BEFORE DANY!!! (That is what makes ASoIaF so intriguing and gives it its character: this constant and repeated confliction and ambivalence of things resting in one scenario, practice, element, character, scene/situation, etc.)

And every child of the two sets would have felt that this possession-bond of a dragon and their rider still has it's domestication elements, which is why I do not think harshly about Rhaena feeling that she owns Vhagar. Of course, she would think that Vhagar is hers after her mother dies, but even more than that, Aemond knew that the adults would likely allow or encourage her to try to bond with Vhagar first.

Even with Vhagar choosing Aemond and her possibly rejecting Rhaena if the girl had tried to bond with her, Aemond did not know whether or not Vhagar would reject Rhaena. That was the point. He wanted to try before anyone else so that they wouldn't have the chance!

So, one can make the argument that he “stole” that window of opportunity from her.

This should have been properly addressed by the adults around when Aemond and Lucerys were questioned, like how Rhaenyra finagled Alicent's faults in episode 4.

But it wasn't because Viserys' concern is obedience not understanding and all the adults distrust or dislike each other, one side thinking Rhaenyra and her kids are out to get hers or weak enough to allow others to do so and the other side having had to protect themselves from the other's harassment and angry over Alicent's pretentiousness.

And in such a volatile situation, the Show!Alicent made her demand to mutilate Lucerys after Rhaenyra calls for a "sharp" questioning of Aemond.

B) Aemond’s Disregard; Alicent is at Fault for Both His Feeling Toward Kin and His Eye Getting Taken

Meanwhile it was the other way around in Fire and Blood--in that scenario, Book!Alicent had demanded Lucerys' eye before Rhaenyra called for "sharp" questioning.

And there is no evidence as to why we should think that Book!Rhaenyra actually called to torture Aemond before Book!Alicent demanded Lucerys’ eye:

Rhaenyra calls for "questioning" (whether torture or just stern/serious interrogation) AFTER Alicent already calls for Luke's eye.

So unless GRRM comes out and changes what's in the text to Alicent demanding Aemond’s eye after Rhaenyra calls for Aemon’s torture, we know that Book!Rhaenyra was responding to Book!Alicent's violent demand.

***Look in this posts’ comments for the counter argument to the the counterargument that Fire and Blood is heavily biased towards the blacks and Rhaenyra’s descendants.***

Once again, if people calmed down and tried to figure out what happened before trying or punish, this would have been ethically addressed, or at k ast pointed out.

But in the book it's clear Alicent doesn't just want Lucerys' eyes because she is scared--she wants it because she feels entitled to punish others without letting a real investigation happen.

It's arguably excusable since she is a mom with a kid permanently injured and without an eye, but we can't pretend or believe that she is a pure saint that only wants to protect her kids. It's disingenuous and makes us forget that she wants her son on the throne for that reason alone in the book. The show removes her independent political motivation and confuses her overall motivation so that it is now harder to see her as a threat.

Then, there is the fact that this happened at Laena's funeral.

Rhaenyra and Daemon used the opportunity of everyone not paying attention to them (or paying less attention), and Aemond did the same. Both are true.

I already touched on this in point A, but I will go into more detail and refocus. Before there could have been some sort of announcement where Rhaena and Aemond both would have a chance to claim Vhagar, he decided to pursue Vhagar himself at a time that his would-be competitor would be unaware.

And honestly, I would have done something similar if I wanted the prize bad enough--with or without the bullying context.

Doesn't mean that it wouldn’t have been inherently unethical at the same time. (Even if we argued against dragons being free to choose, I'm talking about the events before she accepts Aemond).

Whether people were asleep or in lonely mourning, Aemond saw his chance and took it. It was clever and calculated of him to do so, but it was clearly had more calculation and disregard for the people duped on Aemond's part.

And unlike Alicent, Aemond has no prior basis to believe that Baela and Rhaena even did anything against him for him to think of them as the enemy. He would only think this way because Alicent and Otto have told him so and he himself feels entitled to the throne (more on how much power and advantage the girls actually had over Aemond below).

Baela and Rhaena have been at Pentos with their parents the entire time Aemond and his brothers had to share the Keep with Rhaenyra's sons. They never bullied him, even though it's clear that they went down to confront him with the Velaryon boys and Aemond would have seen this, it's very clear that the girls didn't even know that Aemond was the one who "stole" Vhagar until they saw him. They took the Velaryon boys for added security, but not to victimize or bully anyone.

We also see him call the V boys “bastards” and that they eventually will die “screaming like their ‘father’” as he’s fighting them/holding onto Jacaerys. Which is a real threat that he believed and expressed while riding high on his two victories: claiming Vhagar and winning part of that fight.

He was feeling that these bastards had no right contending with him, the trueborn son of the king. Him, who has finally “proven” himself a true Targaryen in claiming the oldest, baddest dragon. Before this, he was the only other Targaryen besides Rhaena who didn’t have a dragon. Despite him being the son of a king, the son of a man who got to ride and claim Balerion--the Conqueror’s dragon. (Ironically, Viserys himself only claimed Balerion when he was in his late teens/twenties, and Aegon I himself didn't cradle-bond with Balerion but also had to claim him when he was older.) Despite what his mother taught him about bastards being products of lust and human weakness. Jace and Luke both had their dragons hatched in spite of their “untrueness”, which would have made Aemond feel as if he was the “problem” and was "untrue", a defective Targ, also maybe not even a "real" Targ at all. (We also have to consider how the court and Alicent almost operate on the sexist belief that a Targaryen man is the one who passes on his dragon “blood”, i.e., dragon-riding ability, to children, when they could have just reasoned that Targ women also can pass on this to children.)

The fact that he is able to claim Vhagar then fills him with an imperiousness that then makes him feel that the V boys all are inferior to him and thus do not deserve regard, respect, or compassion, even less so than before when he didn’t have a dragon.

Let's say that there is this set of super-intelligent tigers that one's parent has given commands to that was mostly followed since you were a child. That parent dies, but in your family or society tigers of this intelligence still choose who to accept commands from. You expect to be the first one to be allowed to approach these superintelligent cats first despite how others could take the tigers, especially if you are a child under 12 whose parent has just died and who you have just mourned.

Who would do this to a person who they actually respected or someone who there is already a mutual understanding of first come first serve? Would we really take the pet/possible companion/steed of a relative or "friend" the day, a few hours after their mom was "buried"?

No, we don't do this to people we either like or respect or whose feelings we care about more than our own advantages. No matter the prize and being old enough to be aware of this (as Aemond is like 11 or 12 in the episode), I wouldn't pursue even something as cool as a dragon until I felt sure it wouldn't be unfair to the person who I actually respected and wanted to remain close with.

Claiming Vhagar was not an event where Aemond's confronted by a betrayal and hypocrisy of a friend in a society that would condemn him for taking the action that he did. Him just claiming Vhagar would not have brought the consequence of universal/the realm's disgust and reproach like how if Rhaenyra's "ruining" would have. He was not trying to protect himself from people who would have told him that his agency-building act was him devaluing himself and endangering his family.

If anything, his claiming Vhagar by any means (except kinslaying or terrible murder) would have been seen as cool or surprisingly clever of him by his peers and "Targaryen-things" by some nonTargaryens/dragonriders (detached persons). Ironically, this knowledge juxtaposes Rhaenyra's boar-kill-return scene as Daemon's Stepstones victory does, but again with the purpose of showing how boys vs girls are expected or encouraged to do.

While Baela and Rhaena and the boys all attacked Aemond, Aemond managed to beat them back. Baela and Rhaena also had a moment where they silently pleaded Aemond to leave well enough alone after he made it clear who was stronger and beat them back, but Aemond pursued and stood there both gripping Jacaerys and talking them down as being bastards. Again, if this show were written well, we'd also have him antagonizing the Velaryon boys for years before this without even ever publicly directly calling them bastards.

He had the time to consider how to make his move on Vhagar, like Rhaenyra might have and he had enough time to just leave quickly and avoid more fighting but he didn't because he wanted to be at his nephew and further prove his power. But of course, the adults don't ever get to how Aemond did this because the kids aren't allowed to say anything without feeling the intimidation of their moms screaming and their dad getting in their faces.

Finally, after Alicent drops the knife and slowly finds herself in the spotlight for attacking Rhaenyra, Aemond steps forward to try to mollify the tension and any censure towards her by publicly stating that he now considers it a more than fair exchange, an eye for a dragon. But, as we should know, this actually doesn't mollify him (episode 8 and episode 10) but was just a way to save face for both himself and Alicent and try to bring the focus away from Alicent's “faux pas”.

Some might argue that his pretending for Alicent was very similar to Rhaenyra lying to Alicent but again, not to the same level or consequence. Even if he hadn't said anything about "exchanges" he still would have had a dragon and would not have faced the sort of reproach Rhaenyra would have for "ruining" herself. He shouldn’t have been going around calling people slurs when he’s already “won” by claiming Vhagar.

And that in itself was Alicent’s fault, who’s been working double time to depose Rhaenyra and go against the King’s word/Law.

If Alicent was just trying to do the “right thing” by upholding the conservative values that makes Rhaenyra’s sons sins, her a whore, and Alicent into a mewling sad-face with no concept of her own worth, then she wouldn’t be trying to go against Viserys’ will. The King’s word is final and Law--this is also a precedent and a principle that is part of this feudal system.

That she knowingly goes against him and doesn’t "allow" herself to realize that she’s disobeying a custom and precedent for her own ambitions (denial and dishonesty) makes her a traitor (by the Westerosi ethics), a hypocrite and antagonist of this story.

#rhaenyra targaryen #aemond targaryen #hotd comment #alicent hightower #rhaenyra vs aemond #baela and rhaena #rhaenyra's characterization #alicent's characterization #hotd characterization #westerosi bastards #rhaenyra vs alicent #vhagar claim #aemond's characterization #hotd episode 7 #Rhaenicent #hotd writing #hotd

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