CS: Danielle Rose Russell and Milly Alcock

I will be a stranger when we meet again...

all lesbians know is be ginger, betray each other, do cannibalism and lie.

It’s really funny to me that the first real scene of HOTD was the gayest scene to gay:

Like, right out of the gate they gave us a blonde-haired bi disaster and her wife, a smiley curly-haired brown-eyed lesbian, flirting and sighing at each other like newlyweds. As if they don’t spend practically every waking moment around each other.

— Oh, so, you met Uncle Roger. What did you think of him? He's a real doll, isn't he?

— Well, he seems very nice.

— Nice? Vicki, Roger Collins has more charm in his right earlobe than all the characters in this icky sticky town. Ooh, he sends me, he really does.

looking heartbroken af lol

just thinking about alicent after b&c, how she'll most likely curse her own mercy

"It was just a tax increase!"

I don't know how to explain to you that throwing expensive banquets while all of King's Landing starved is not a good look for anyone.

Rhaenyra's banquet and tax increases are also verifiable facts, whereas what Mushroom says about Aegon is hearsay. I would like a side-by-side comparison of Aegon's and Rhaenyra's policies, with an assessment of how trustworthy the source is. You know, like actual historians are supposed to do.

As if Rhaenyra wouldn't have reacted the same way if B&C happened to her.

haters’ headcanons about daemon being bloodthirsty and ambitious for his sons (since he couldn’t achieve them for himself) is so disgusting. i’m sorry that they were a healthy loving family who lived 10 years in dragonstone and developed beautiful bonds. his daughters betrothed to his step-sons, and had no jealousy over their brothers or rhaenyra.

‘aegon and viserys are trueborn targaryens, lords might have used them to depose jace’

you think aegon iii is aemond? “It looks better on me than it ever did on him.” aemond and aegon ii haven’t had any brotherhood bond.

if you can’t see that these two families were written as parallels, idk what to say

just read chapter 10 of stormbreak *cue surprised pikachu*

on rhaenyras children

Been seeing a couple of takes that try to say that jace, luke and joffreys paternity “doesnt matter” or that theyre not bastards because theyve been “claimed” by both rhaenyra and laenor/house velaryon. I dont know what the real life practices were in relation to bastard children, but that is absolutely not true by asoiaf standards. (and yes you do have to interpret the issue of parentage in the show based on the in-universe context.)

First, Rhaenyras children are bastards. Lets just get that out of the way first. someone tried to assert that since its Rhaenyra who has the claim the children are Targaryen through her and therefore not bastards, but if Alicent were to have bastard children they would be bastards because she herself has no claim which is.. incorrect. In asoiaf, a bastard is any child born out of wedlock. Lollys Stokeworth’s son is still a bastard, despite any possible inheritance of his coming from his mother (Jaime II, AFFC). Theres no question on whether or not Rhaenyra’s kids are bastards- they are. Its a settled definition. You cannot simply tweak the definition of bastards and tie their legitimacy to Rhaenyra’s claim. Thats not how it works. Any child born out of wedlock is a bastard. Next question.  Second. Laenor and Rhaenyra “claiming” the children as theirs does not erase their bastardry. Again, I have no idea how real life bastardry was addressed, but I do know there is no such thing as ‘claiming’ bastard children in asoiaf. There are two other concepts though - acknowledgement, and legitimization. A parent may acknowledge their bastard child, and acknowledged bastards get region-typical surnames (Storm, Stone, Flowers, Sand, Snow, etc). Best example? Jon Snow, who was acknowledged by his ‘apparent’ father. Remember, this doesn’t make Jon not a bastard - Jon is still very much a bastard throughout the GOT timeline, he’s just an acknowledged one. The same goes for all the sand snakes- their last name is Sand because Oberyn acknowledged them. Gendry, on the other hands, doesnt use the surname Waters because he was never acknowledged by Robert, whereas another one of Roberts bastards is Edric Storm, who has the bastard surname storm because Robert acknowledged him as his bastard son by Delena Florent (Davos I, ACOK). Edric is still a bastard, because Robert didnt legitimise him. (If he had, Edric would be Edric Baratheon instead). The acknowledgement does NOT change the bastardry. The only thing that could possibly change their bastardry is having them legitimised, but only a king or queen can legitimise a bastard. We see this with Ramsay Bolton, who was previously Ramsay Snow but was legitimised by Tommen (Jaime IX, ASOS). Similarly, Robb (when crowned King in the North) legitimises Jon (in ASOS I believe). That still holds weight, even if Robb isnt sitting the iron throne at the time, because he’s been crowned King in The North. F&B readers will know about two other bastards who are legitimised later, but I wont bring that up bc spoilers. Heres where things get spicy. Rhaenyra can never legitimise her children. Why? Because for them to be legitimised, she has to first admit they were bastards in need of legitimising in the first place. You’d only need to remove the status of bastardry from a child if you recognise that they werent trueborn to begin with. Any attempt to legitimise them would only prove to everyone around her that she lied about their parentage all this while. Its her very own catch-22, and IMO its one of the really well written details of F&B.  What Rhaenyra is doing is neither acknowledgement nor legitimisation nor ‘claiming’, because again, there is no such thing in-universe. What Rhaenyra is doing is, very simply, lying about her childrens parentage. And just to be clear, I’m not anti-black or anti-green (I love the dance because its a story of mutual destruction, I have zero interest in taking sides). But I am anti-misinformation and anti-misinterpretation of the text. If you can find one example of a bastard child in ASOIAF who wasnt considered a bastard because they were ‘claimed’ by their parent, then (and I mean this sincerely) I invite you to disagree with me, but until then. 

The overdress is all in one piece! And we have sleeves! With bonus screen accurate Rhaenyra ring!

Work has been extra weird this week, but weird in a way that's given me more time to iron and pin and sew than I usually have. So I was able to get through that long list of pressing tasks from my last post, and then pin the two front panels to the side panels (which are already sewn to the back panels), pin the back seams of the sleeves, and sew those four seams earlier today.

With those seams done, the sleeves are sleeve-shaped and the dress is basically dress-shaped. All of those new seams need pressed, and the sleeve seams will need to be hand-finished since the black silk organza is a bit itchy on its cut edges. There's just one more body seam left to sew for the dress, the center front seam, and then the little shoulder seams.

There's quite a lot of finishing to be done, both on the dress and the sleeves. In the above pic, the sleeve is just clamped closed at the underside of the wrist, and once it has its hooks-and-eyes it'll fit a lot more smoothly. And then there's all the seam finishing for the dress, hemming the neck and armscyes and skirt edge, and handsewing on all the trim and beading. Lots to do!

I've been working little by little on the handsewing for the seams finishes for the underdress, and then it will need all its hemming too. But when possible I've been trying to focus on the overdress, because if it came down to it, I would rather have the overdress done and leave the underdress somewhat unfinished. But today is exactly 15 weeks until I have to pack for Dragon Con, so I've still got time, and I'm hoping I can get everything finished to my liking in the time remaining.

Besides the dress itself, I still have a few things to do on the wig, and I've been tracking down the jewelry pieces one by one, and I may actually end up making one piece that I've been unable to find. I also want to make a little handbag to carry all my stuff at con, but that's definitely on the nice-to-have list.

Some days I feel like I'll be able to get through this whole project with time to spare, and other days I feel like I'm going to be working on it up until the very last moment, and maybe have to cut corners to get it done. Getting through this last portion of machine sewing and into all the extensive handsewing will hopefully give me a better idea of how long the whole thing will take.

But, of course, I'm already having Ideas™ about what other cosplays I could make for Dragon Con this year, if I do end up having time at the end of the summer. One of them would be pretty straightforward, and I could use the same pattern as this project with just a few modifications, and I already have at least most of the materials I would need to complete it. The other one is completely ridiculous, with tedious machine sewing and handsewing, but damn it would be fun.

Welp. I guess if I want to have any hope of finishing this cosplay and maybe one or two more after that, I should probably get back to it. My iron awaits!

  Ⅰ.   𝙰  𝙼𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙰𝙶𝙴  𝙵𝚁𝙾𝙼   …   𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯  𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘯𝘺𝘳𝘢  𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘦𝘯,   〈   WATERFALL   ⸺   after  taking  a  midnight  swim  together  in  a  secluded  lake,   the  sender  &  receiver  notice  a  nearby  waterfall,   and  things  proceed  to  get  frisky  while  they  explore  it  &  each  other  together .   〉      𝘧𝘰𝘳  𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘢  𝘱𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘺 .

            a short trip to survey the island led them astray ⸺ in to a small rowboat over the side of her ship. & on their impromptu voyage they made their way to a large open clearing of water, a lake that's mouth lay hidden behind dense foliage: that marlena had found on her very first trip around the island of dragonstone. they slow closer to the center, steep cliffs surrounding them on all sides, and when the boat finally begins to float to a slow stop, rhaenyra is the first one to make a move. the queen stands, & quickly with practiced fingers she is rid of her extravagant gown and diving headfirst into the water below them. it happens in a blur, leaving the pirate alone with a wistful smile on her face. it takes marlena significantly longer to come to her senses and disrobe, and once she has nyra is already halfway towards the rocky outcropping beside the roaring waterfall on the opposite side of the caverns opening.

⸺ the pirate pulls herself up alongside her queen not long after her, gaze wandering her curves, counting the drops of water beading on soft skin, pale against the dark stone shore. & again, rhaenyra is the first to act. not for a lack of confidence on lena's part ⸺ in the name of love & taking action, she was no stranger . . . though circumstance had brought her face - to - face with royalty, that was a first. at once she's on her, hands on the side of the redhead's face, lips pressed tightly against one another. there's shock ― a heartbeat of hesitation ― and then marlena is reciprocating, mouth opening wide to allow the other's tongue to explore her own, one hand raising to brush through silver - white hair while the other falls to the small of rhaenyra's back, urging their bodies even closer together.

⸺ ❝   my  queen,   ❞ pause comes as marlena's hand raises ⸺ barely brushes her fingertips over the soft skin covering the other's stomach, up her side . . . around the curve of her breast & up to the base of her throat. palm presses flat against the column of her neck, mouth finding the skin beside her fingers there, hungry for as much of her as she was allowed to take. ❝   tell  me  where  you  want  me  t’touch  you,   @hrtached.   ❞ voice is just above a whisper, gravely & deep, breath hot against the dragon's ear. marlena's opposite palm finds rhaenyra's cheek, then, pulling her face towards her own to lock their lips in another deep kiss. she doesn't wait for an answer ⸺ instead, the hand that held the side of her face travels down the queen's side again, thumb brushing over her left breast's nipple, before fingers find their way to the warmth between her legs, the soft flesh of her inner thigh.

⸺ the two fall to their knees carefully, bodies maneuvering to a more comfortable position with lena hovering over rhaenyra, peppering kisses into the side of her mouth, over her chin, down to her chest. she exhaled once, a warm, humid breath against sensitive flesh before marlena's lips wrapped around her. moans were music to the pirate's ears, emboldening her to curl her tongue around her nipple, to hollow her cheeks with a light suck inwards. cupping her other breast in her hand, she kneaded the swollen flesh, relishing in the way the other writhed beneath her. rhaenyra's body responded readily, her back arching up into marlena's touch.

⸺ fingers leave soft flesh, hungry mouth pulling away to move lower, to rake fingernails along her navel and slide on her knees back, until she was bent between her legs. knees parted without a word, marlena opted to lift one and drape a sleek thigh over her shoulder. she could hear rhaenyra's breath hitch, chest heaving with rapid breaths as she looked down at her, eyes half - lidded, kiss - swollen lips parted. the queen's hips lifted towards lena's mouth, and it took everything within her to bite back a growing grin. in response, rhaenyra lifted her remaining leg to mirror the other. in her glory, marlena's eyes scanned over the other's sex, hesitant fingers raising to prod gently at her folds. her face hovered closer, tongue pointed to trace the delicate ripples before circling the sensitive tip of her clitoris. a deepened kiss, her head tilts as she licks deeper into the tissue, excruciatingly slow. one of rhaenyra's hands tangled itself in marlena's matted hair, taking a fistful as a throaty moan echoed against the stone around them.

⸺ the noises that came from her only urged marlena to quicken her pace, grown ravenous as she drinks in her taste and the sounds that she made. rhaenyra's spoken words were a jumble of moans and breathlessness, but within them marlena could make out a handful of words, mostly curses, and pleas for her to continue. more, more, more . . . a smile grows, and there is a pause, a thought to pull back altogether and watch her writhe that she dutifully ignores. lena instead licks along her drenched slit, punctuated with an open - mouthed kiss to the queen's clitoris. the first fluttering of a climax rippled through the queen as marlena stroked the flat of her tongue over that very bud, and rather than let up, the pirate opted to slide two fingers into the tightened warmth of her sex.

⸺ the waterfall beside them drowned out the raising volume of rhaenyra's cries of pleasure, allowing her full release of whatever it was that had been so pent up inside. she needed this, marlena thought, and so she did not ease up. the delicate inner muscles of the queen tugged at her pumping fingers, matching the cadence of her merciless tongue. movements unrelenting, spurring her queen to another orgasm before the first had fully eased its grip on her. she screamed when she came, and lena instead opted to push a third finger in with the others. she rakes the edge of her teeth lightly over the crowning knot of nerves, driving rhaenyra to another climax so easily on the heels of her second. she was relentless in her need to satisfy her completely, willing to continue endlessly had it not been for nyra's breathless pleas for an end, a reprieve at the least. when she finally concedes, lena pulls her soaking fingers from the queens warmth slowly, all while she presses soft kisses against the inside of her thighs.

i was really excited for Episode 10, but after watching the trailer I think my brain has finally registered the impending doom that is upon us and the subsequent buckets of tears that I will end up shedding a week from today 😭

Truly the most baffling part of hotd so far is seeing so many people actively rooting for daemon as the audience’s new cool edgy badass pet character and all that. like man are we watching the same show

“something that milly and I talked about alot is that rhaenyra really feels criston is her confidante and he’s the only person in this whole thing who’s not looking out for himself. there’s no vested interest for him, he doesn’t have any grand designs for the throne or anything. ultimately his life is her,” - Fabien Frankel talking about Rhaenyra and Criston’s dynamic in the HBO House of the Dragon podcast