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themotherofblood · 2 years

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Let the games begin

Tywin Lannister x Readers

Tears of Gold AU

A/N: I had played this chapter out in my head so many times, nearly cried a little for how bad I felt for Sansa

TW: child marriage, talks of wedding night, suicidal ideations and rape

Today was her one of those miracle mornings where you had gotten out of bed at the same time as Tywin, after much requests he agreed to rouse you when he would. You spent awhile laying in bed and staring up at the canopy, mindlessly petting Lion who had welcomed himself to your bed probably late at night. Your husband dressed himself before plopping down onto the edge of the bed to lace up his boots. That’s when he noticed that you weren’t here, it wasn’t unusual to get lost in thoughts or overthink about things to the point that it overwhelms you, he was just concerned that you were doing it this early in the morning.

“Do stop thinking that hard, you’ll burn holes in the canopy.” His interrupted your thoughts.

It was wedding day, you had gotten yourself ready after Tywin pulled you out of bed, though you did not have to dress for the ceremony for another two hours, you spent the early morning eating breakfast with your family, and yes that included your step children too and your good grandchildren too. Much was discussed at the table as you fed your boys with the help of the older Jamie of course. Jamie was taken with his two little brothers, his heart beat the same way for them as it did for Tyrion. Myrcella was set to sail for Sunspear in a fortnight, Jamie was to raise an army of six thousand men and head for Riverrun to deal with the Blackfish, the day after tomorrow. Cersei still seemed irked by your threat to her for three days ago, though she appears to have understood that you were an age old rock, hard to just pushover.

You’d spent the better part of the hour after that, dressing your children, both boys were put in cream coloured tunics and red Lannister coats to match each other, putting their hairs in half up braids as they played with their toys in your lap. Tywin was fixing the pins on his coat as he watched you space out in your thoughts yet again.

For the good while, you stared at your children, the dress laid on the chaise for the ceremony and your husband that got himself dressed, and you’d begun to count your blessings yet again. For your children, and an honourable marriage of loyalty and respect, there was no fear of infidelity or violence either in you or your children. However your heart pounded for Sansa today, you weren’t old enough to be her mother but yet counted her as your younger sister. This marriage was wrong in so many unsaid ways and there was nothing you could physically do to prevent it, only help make it better.

“You are doing it again…” Tywin sighed, pulling you out of your wide eyed thought and look at him dazed. “What toils in your mind, wife?” He knew exactly what, but he’d rather have you talk to him than “think” yourself to insanity.

“This wedding should not be happening.” You admitted the truth making Tywin groan.

“Tell me what is so wrong about this wedding, how is it any different than the dozen political marriages that take place in this country every year.” He questioned while fixing his collar.

“Probably because our family plotted and succeeded in destroying her entire family!” You answered, voice absolutely irate.

“The family that does what it needs to do for its survival will always prevail, we protect our blood and our blood only. It would be wise if you understood this sooner than later.” Tywin lectured making you shake your head in further annoyance. “Our own marriage was made of that compromise, wife. You hold sympathy for Tyrion…” He shook his head at that statement.

“Do you suspect he would mistreat her?” He raised a brow in query “Rape her?”

“Tywin!” You scowled at him before lifting each son at one hip and handing them to your hand maiden.

You wanted to argue no longer, and began angrily stripping yourself. Tywin all the while held a disappointed gaze before left to give you some space.

This dress was gorgeous, black and gold to match with your husband’s coat. Almost resembled the style of robe dresses Sansa wore, of course your dress was covered in Lannister motifs just as your sons. You left your hair down as usual with small braids to frame the crown of your head, a dragon bone ring which was a cutesy or Lord Varys. You looked yourself over in the mirror and began to head for Sansa’s room without another word to your husband.

Shae announced your arrival to her chambers, where Sansa still sat in her long tunic while the other royal hand maidens did her hair. Her lucious red hair was being wrapped in that same out landish piece that many a woman would adorn at court. Her sullen face spread to a smile as she saw you in the reflection of the mirror, you smiled at her through the mirror; taking in how beautiful she looked.

“Leave us.” You ordered the maids in the room

“But the lady’s dress-“ One of the royal handmaiden’s interjected.

“Shae can help me, can you not?” You cocked a brow to her

“Yes my lady.” Shae agreed

All the maids in the room soon filed out one by one, leaving you, Shae and Sansa in the room alone.

“I brought some things for you.” You began to lay out they few pieces of jewelry you had snuck along with you. One of which was the Valyrian steel necklace that your husband had gifted you, after a lot of haranguing he finally confessed to have melted the Stark ancestral sword Ice down. Meaning your necklace came from the spare metal still left over.

“I’d like for you to wear this today.” You presented the necklace to Sansa

“But it’s yours.” She protested

“It came from your father’s sword. You should wear it.” You confessed as Sansa looked taken aback by that information and complied, letting you clasp the necklace around her swan like neck.

“Thank you.” She whispered as her hand grazed the metal around her neck.

“Alright then. Time for the dress!” You clapped your hands in attempts to lighten the mood, when Shae brought it along your heart sunk a bit, this isn’t at all what Sansa had wanted her dress to be, you’d had a lengthy conversation with her and what she wanted her dress to look like but this wasn’t it at all. The hip padding and gold around beige of the dress, far too extravagant and far too Cersei. Sansa said nothing, letting Shae put her in the dress before lacing the back of it to tighten around her waist. She truly wore the dress magnificently, her tall frame did justice to the dress as she turned to show you.

“You look so beautiful, my girl.” You felt rather emotional seeing her this way, making the corners of your eyes tear up. You began to fan at your eyes, as Sansa came to hug you.

“I am so sorry.” You emotionally apologized, she shouldn’t have to go through this.

“I’m not.” She whispered by you ear, tightening her hold on you. “You’d be my good mother by law.”

“If you call me mother, I will burn every lemon tree in the capital.” You jested making her laugh. You pulled away holding her face in your hands, before pressing your lips to her forehead. “I have another thing.”

You pulled out a pin, a wolf. The sigil of house Stark. “Don’t tell anyone.” You tucked the pin behind the red collaring of the dress.

“I’ll await you at the Sept, be strong Sansa.” You hugged her once more before taking your leave.

You still had to present the house cloak to Tyrion, since you were the oldest and the last lady married into the house, it was under your possession. You’d last worn it at the pyre during the war but had it washed so it didn’t smell so burnt. You hurried back to your own chambers to retrieve it, only to stop dead on your footing when you heard Tyrion’s voice from your chambers.

“I’ve come to ask for my birthright. Castley Rock.” You heard from being hidden behind a wall.

“Jamie is named to the Kingsguard and can hold no titles, my brothers by Lady Y/N are far too young to hold the castle. Which makes me the rightful heir.” Tyrion levy’s his case to his father. Part of you agreed with what he was saying, your sons had fourteen summers and winters to cross through before they would be deemed heir to anything.

“You want Castley Rock…” Oh here we go you’d thought. Tywin did not sound pleased nor agreeable to Tyrion’s demand.

“As is my right, I am marrying Sansa, she is a Stark. One of a prominent family, make her Lady of Castley Rock and you have the alliance or obedience from the north that your crave.” Tyrion further elaborated his case.

“When the time comes, you and your wife while be given a suitable position to affirm. Your eldest would hold claim to Winterfell. In my passing, my wife shall resume and inherit the seat to Castley Rock…” Tywin sneered. “And I would let myself be consumed by maggots before I make you the heir to Castley Rock!”

“Why?” Tyrion’s voice wavered

“You ask this?” Tywin questioned rhetorically

“You, who killed my Joanna, your mother at birth! You are an ill made, spiteful little creature. Full of lust, envy and low cunning. The gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about wearing our pride lion, that was my father’s sigil and his father’s before him. I broke a vow to your mother and married another so that I wouldn’t have to watch you burn our name to the ground.! So do not ask me off your right!” Tywin roared before taking in a breath to compose himself

You appeared from behind the wall, much before Tywin started yelling at Tyrion, leaning against the door with a disapproving frown on your face at how Tywin was treating Tyrion. Your husband sta back down again as Tyrion wallowed in his father’s cruelty. You walked towards them, with the house cloak in hand, clearing your throat to grab Tyrion’s attention before presenting him with the cloak. A sympathetic smile on your face, as you handed the cloak to him, Tyrion nodded at your before he began to leave

“And one more thing…” Tywin spoke up again making Tyrion stop dead in his tracks.

“After this marriage, the next whore I find in your chambers. I’ll hang.” He warned.

Tyrion scoffed at him a walked away.

“Why must your treat him so?” You scowled at Tywin, who looked at you displeased. “He is your son!”

“Yes, he is my son. And that is why he lives.” Tywin said as a matter of fact.

“And what if this child, takes me in the birthing bed. Would you treat it so harshly too?” In anger you confessed making you bite your tongue. You were late of few fortnights for your moon blood, making there a chance that you were pregnant again.

“This child?” Tywin looked at you shocked as his eyes softened. A small fear spread through Tywin too. Would history repeat itself and curse him with another murderous third child? “Are you certain?”

“Do not chance the subject.” You pressed on.

“Do not intervene in subjects you know little off.” Tywin answered. “You are pregnant?”

You gave up trying to have this fight with him yet again and nodded. “Possibly? My moon blood appears to have delayed. Should be of no shock since we have rigour-sly been trying…”

Tywin got up to walk towards you, hold you in his arms but you immediately pushed away, does he truly think an embrace or sultry kisses would fix your anger right now? “I will see you at the sept.”

—————————————————————————

The grand Sept was filled with the people of court and many other members who had arrived early for the royal wedding. Most people chattered amongst themselves and their groups. Kevan Lannister had also travelled from Castley Rick for the wedding. He was the one to receive you, when you walked down the steps of the Sept. You hadn’t really met the rest of the Lannister family other than Tywin’s children.

“My lady.” He bowed, as reached the bottom of the steps slightly confused at if you should know the lord before you.

“My lord…?” You gave him an apologetic smile for not knowing his name.

“Kevan Lannister, your husband’s brother.” He introduced himself

“Ah yes, forgive me my lord.” You bowed back.

“Bother not, my brother has kept you hidden from the family.” He jested as he led you further into the hall.

“Gosh, it wasn’t my intention. Much has happened since the wedding.” You answered

“I hope to meet my nephews, soon.” He stated.

“Of course!”

The procession began to file through as people began to divide onto two sides of the room, a trail of candles were being lit by women that would lead to the alter, you lit one too. In hopes that today goes smoothly and both of them remain happy and safe. The clamouring in the room dwindled down as the queen appeared with her father at thee arms. You remained in the lowered floor as the Tyrells climbed onto one side of the alter while the other side remained empty for the royal family. Cersei climbed up with Joffrey while Tywin remained at the door to walk Sansa down the aisle.

You took another deep breath.

Let the games begin.

next chapter

#tywin lannister x reader #desiblr #tywin lannister #house lannister #tywin lannister smut #got x reader #tywin x reader #ruiewrites #game of thrones #got x you #spotify #charles dance #tears of gold au #got smut #got

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ihazyourkitty · 24 days

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Why John Hargrove is full of it p.1

Multiple people have expressed interest in the detailed Blackfish rebuttal I am working on. The plan is to put it in video essay format on Youtube. This not only has the potential to reach a larger audience, but it also gives me more creative/expressive flexibility that would otherwise be difficult to get across in just written text.

This project will not be completed for quite some time, as there are a lot of things to cover. However, I did want to provide a short glimpse into some things I've uncovered thus far.

You see, I plan on not only refuting the movie itself, but also covering the consequences of Blackfish, and major figures like Naomi Rose, Ingrid Visser, etc. So as part of this project, I am listening to the eBook version of John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface for the second time. It's..... so.... much..... fun.....

*sigh* Warning, there's a long rant ahead. TL;DR John Hargrove comes off as very full of himself in this book, and it's annoying.

______

Now, on a purely emotional, literary level I guess, the book is certainly very gripping. It's difficult to put down, even when you know that much of what is alleged therein is utter bullcrap. However, I don't think this is just because the whole "little-guy turns against evil corporation" trope makes for good storytelling across the board. I think it's also because, unlike Mark Simmons' Killing Keiko, or Hazel McBride's I Still Believe, John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface has the luxury of both professional editing, and a co-author (Howard Chia-Eoan).

To be clear, I'm not saying this as dig against Hazel McBride or Mark Simmons. I bring this up merely to illustrate the stark contrast here. As far as I know, their works were self published, or at least lacking the same polish and publicity from big name publishers, or sensationalist documentaries.

However, this contrast wouldn't be so noteworthy to me were it not for these two things I'm increasingly noticing in this reread of Beneath the Surface:

It is never clearly stated which parts were written by Hargrove, and which were ghost written by Chia-Eoan... but the amount of contradictions and shoehorned information in here gives me some serious suspicions.

John Hargrove... seems incredibly full of himself!

I don't have the time to elaborate on #1 right now, so we'll just talk about #2 today. John Hargrove is almost never in the wrong. He is always painted as the hero, the true advocate for these animals. You don't hear much about the other trainers he worked with or learned from. Mostly, it's just about him. He bemoans the allegedly poor conditions SeaWorld's animals are kept in, while simultaneously boasting about all his accomplishments with them. He speaks of differing perspectives between him and some of the other trainers, but seldom elaborates on what exactly those differences were. Instead, he usually just frames it in a sanctimonious "me vs. them" way.

The closest he gets to admitting any mistakes he had to learn from is when he recounted an aggressive incident with Freya at Marineland Antibes, and even then.... the whole reason why that incident (allegedly) happened was because Hargrove overestimated his training/waterworks abilities with a whale he didn't have a relationship with. His admission of that mistake is then overshadowed by the rather self-righteous tone he frames the resolution with. All the success was about him. You don't hear anything about how he worked with the other trainers there, what they brought to the table, and certainly not the stronger, lasting relationships they had with Freya. It's not that he had to mention them by name, but he didn't even mention them at all!

To be fair, this interpretation is partly subjective on my part. Still, as someone who is personally working in animal husbandry right now (albeit not with marine mammals), the gaping holes in this narrative raises some red flags.

Here's some free advice to anyone interested in working in the zoo/aquarium industry: I have been told by multiple hiring managers that they don't want someone who "just wants to work with the animals, and not deal with people." That's not how this works. You still have to work with people in some form or another.

It doesn't matter which animals you are working with. When you're on an animal husbandry/training team, you gotta ask for/provide help, seek/give feedback, communicate with other departments, etc. Complaints, conflict and disagreements will inevitably happen, but you gotta be mature about it.

And yes, in that process... you are going to make mistakes, and you're going to have to own up to them! It's part of how you learn. You're also going to inevitably work with people who don't see things the same way.

The people who can't do this tend to not only get stuck in their own way, but are more likely to start resenting coworkers and/or management whenever disagreements happen. They'll constantly complain about how other people do things, but then can't/won't take constructive feedback themselves. It's worse when it's someone with more experience under their belt because of the massive ego. Let me be clear: this kind of mindset does not help your animals! It only creates a toxic work environment that's resistant to change!

DO. NOT. BE. THIS. PERSON!!!!

No, this does not mean you can't vent frustrations. No this does not mean that you can't take pride in your work. It means that you gotta be able to swallow your pride, and not alienate other people.

So, what does all that have to do with the contrast mentioned earlier?

Like Hargrove, McBride details her career journey, but doesn't just paint it all in glamour. She talks about her setbacks, how she grew, things she learned from other people, the internships she did, the grunt work she was willing to do, etc.

Killing Keiko has less to do with the details of Mark Simmons' career path, but he does give credit to other people where it is due, even at times towards those he fundamentally disagreed with. I can remember one part where he explicitly admitted that he made a mistake too, and tellingly, it was in an instance where he played the "I've been doing this for years" card. In the very next sentence he admitted it was the wrong thing to say in that situation, and highlighted the perspective he was missing in that moment.

These things are conspicuously absent in Beneath the Surface. I don't remember anything of the sort that stood out when I first read the book, and thus far it's certainly not there in my second time around. The first third of the book is dedicated to how he dreamed of becoming a trainer as a kid, and the path he took to get there. Most of this path, though, is painted in glamor, when the reality is.... the path to getting into animal husbandry isn't particularly glamorous. Not only do you have go to college, but you also have to settle for various unpaid internships or volunteer gigs, and then apply for multiple jobs only to get several no's before it works out (to say nothing of how underpaid zookeepers/aquarists/trainers are).

Hargrove, on the other hand, kept pestering lead marine mammal trainers at SeaWorld since he was a kid, practiced his swimming/diving abilities, and started his degree in psychology. Then, as luck would have it, an apprentice trainer position opened up at SW San Antonio, and when he got the job, he jubilantly quit college. Not much is said about what kind of volunteer work he did before that. I think he did some stuff with marine mammal rescue in Texas, but I'll have to go back and reread to be sure... in any event, I wish I'd heard more about the experience he got besides swimming and pestering the SW animal training department.

And like.... great, he got the job, but it seemed more by luck than by the sweat of his brow. Then he balked that he was put in the SeaLion Stadium, and/or that he had to spend a lot of time washing dishes and spotting before even being allowed to work directly with a whale, which like..... yeah? I don't know what you were expecting dude.

(Btw, this part isn't just me being nit-picky, Duncan Versteegh from ML Antibes corroborates Hargrove's resistance to doing grunt work like cleaning)

Whenever mentioning people at SW who didn't want to work at Shamu Stadium, Hargrove couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't want that.... because heaven forbid other people have different preferences? To be fair, from what I've heard of SW work culture in general, Shamu Stadium is kind of painted as the glamorous A-team, but DANG does Hargrove really lean into that attitude!

Later on, he detailed some of the conflicts he had with SW's entertainment department. At one point his manager explicitly told him he needed learn to get along better with other departments. And like... yeah... yeah you do!

Look, I'm not interested in doing blanket apologia for SeaWorld. I'm sure Hargrove was in the right more than once when he'd argue with people, but I'm also not convinced that the whole of the entertainment department, management, et al., were just a bunch of unfeeling jerks who didn't care about the animals.

This part actually ground my gears quite a bit. Before I became an aquarist, I was an educator, and sometimes I would overhear certain husbandry staff gossip about us in a really patronizing way whenever there were miscommunications. Not that they never had valid reasons to complain, they did, but to be treated like you're just a dumb educator/guest services person is not pleasant, and certainly not professional. I don't know how common this is at other places, but I bring this up to illustrate the importance of being able to work with other departments, especially in the face of disagreements or miscommunication.

That Beneath the Surface paints Hargrove's inability to do this as a virtue rather than as the character flaw that it is... well.... it's um... it's a choice. And it's telling.

Again, some of this interpretation is subjective on my part. Ultimately, none of us can know for sure what is in someone else's heart. Hargrove does seem to sincerely care about the animals, despite the narcissism. However, the vast majority of people who are going to be reading his book are not people who have spent much if any time working in the zoo industry, and thus may not pick up on some of these things. I'm not the only one to point these things out either.

So even if one is against keeping orcas in captivity, I think being aware of the egos behind figures like Hargrove is important. When you get to the end of his book, you would think that all his former colleagues are, at best, just timid little clogs in a corporate machine, brainwashed to do as SW says. This is just not true. These people are dedicated to their animals, and have worked very hard to get where they are at. Some have gone on to get their masters, or PhD's, provide expertise to other facilities, or take part in rescues, etc., and they did it without chasing clout.

SW Corporate should absolutely treat their employees better, but their treatment of them pales in comparison to how people like Hargrove basically erase their accomplishments altogether. In this way, he tries to have it both ways... his time at SW proves how much of an expert he is, you know, because he was a senior trainer with two decades of experience after all! Oh, but when someone else from the field speaks up to refute what he says, nope.... their accomplishments don't matter, they're just brainwashed. If that doesn't scream "massive ego", then I don't know what does.

I'm only halfway through the book on this second round, so there is a chance I'll come back to correct some things here. I do encourage people to try to read this book themselves and come to their own conclusions. You don't have to buy it either, check your local library (it's how I got a hold of this eBook).

#thank you for coming to my TEDtalk #John Hargrove #Blackfish BS #He only turned against SW after being demoted from Shamu Stadium #For a safety violation #this is also in the book

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istumpysk · 1 year

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Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ADWD: Bran III (Chapter 34)

This is as close as I'll ever come to copying and pasting an entire chapter.

The moon was a crescent, thin and sharp as the blade of a knife.

The moon was fat and full.

The moon was a black hole in the sky.

The moon was a crescent, thin and sharp as the blade of a knife.

The moon was fat and full.

The moon was a crescent, thin and sharp as the blade of a knife.

The moon was a black hole in the sky.

The moon was a crescent, thin and sharp as the blade of a knife.

What is that, three months?

Imagine how bored Meera, Jojen, and Hodor are. I love Bran, but I'd hate being his friend.

+.+.+

Red leaves whispered in the wind. Dark clouds filled the skies and turned to storms. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and dead men with black hands and bright blue eyes shuffled round a cleft in the hillside but could not enter.

What's Daenerys doing in a Bran chapter?

I'm kidding, except not really. She's all over this chapter.

+.+.+

Sometimes the sound of song would drift up from someplace far below. The children of the forest, Old Nan would have called the singers, but those who sing the song of earth was their own name for themselves, in the True Tongue that no human man could speak. The ravens could speak it, though. Their small black eyes were full of secrets, and they would caw at him and peck his skin when they heard the songs.

[...]

Bran and Meera made up names for those who sang the song of earth: Ash and Leaf and Scales, Black Knife and Snowylocks and Coals.

Ash, Scales, Black Knife, Coals. . . fire/dragon imagery? Mmkay.

The ravens are cawing and pecking at Bran's skin whenever they hear the children singing their secret songs. Feels kind of hostile.

+.+.+

The last greenseer, the singers called him, but in Bran's dreams he was still a three-eyed crow. When Meera Reed had asked him his true name, he made a ghastly sound that might have been a chuckle. "I wore many names when I was quick, but even I once had a mother, and the name she gave me at her breast was Brynden."

"I have an uncle Brynden," Bran said. "He's my mother's uncle, really. Brynden Blackfish, he's called."

"Your uncle may have been named for me. Some are, still. Not so many as before. Men forget. Only the trees remember."

Gross, I hope not.

Brynden Rivers = BloodRaven. Get it, get it??

Once it's revealed he's a Targaryen we can safely label him a villain who will orchestrate his own demise.

The last greenseer, the singers called him

This makes no sense.

+.+.+

"Most of him has gone into the tree," explained the singer Meera called Leaf. "He has lived beyond his mortal span, and yet he lingers. For us, for you, for the realms of men. Only a little strength remains in his flesh. He has a thousand eyes and one, but there is much to watch. One day you will know."

The tree ate Bloodraven. Good.

Is Bloodraven an instrument of the children? Are they co-conspirators? They don't care that he's an Andal? I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around this.

+.+.+

"What do the trees remember?"

"The secrets of the old gods," said Jojen Reed. Food and fire and rest had helped restore him after the ordeals of their journey, but he seemed sadder now, sullen, with a weary, haunted look about the eyes.

[...]

"Maybe you could be greenseers too," he said instead.

"No, Bran." Now Meera sounded sad.

"It is given to a few to drink of that green fountain whilst still in mortal flesh, to hear the whisperings of the leaves and see as the trees see, as the gods see," said Jojen. "Most are not so blessed. The gods gave me only greendreams. My task was to get you here. My part in this is done."

Jojen's watch has ended.

+.+.+

The singers made Bran a throne of his own, like the one Lord Brynden sat, white weirwood flecked with red, dead branches woven through living roots. They placed it in the great cavern by the abyss, where the black air echoed to the sound of running water far below. Of soft grey moss they made his seat. Once he had been lowered into place, they covered him with warm furs.

King Bran on a weirwood throne.

+.+.+

"Never fear the darkness, Bran." The lord's words were accompanied by a faint rustling of wood and leaf, a slight twisting of his head. "The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong."

I don't think it takes a genius to figure out we don't want Bran embracing darkness.

However, that doesn't mean Melisandre's little crusade is based in reality or morally justified.

"FREE FOLK!" cried Melisandre. "Behold the fate of those who choose the darkness!" - Jon III, ADWD

+.+.+

Flying was even better than climbing.

Slipping into Summer's skin had become as easy for him as slipping on a pair of breeches once had been, before his back was broken. Changing his own skin for a raven's night-black feathers had been harder, but not as hard as he had feared, not with these ravens. "A wild stallion will buck and kick when a man tries to mount him, and try to bite the hand that slips the bit between his teeth," Lord Brynden said, "but a horse that has known one rider will accept another. Young or old, these birds have all been ridden. Choose one now, and fly."

He chose one bird, and then another, without success, but the third raven looked at him with shrewd black eyes, tilted its head, and gave a quork, and quick as that he was not a boy looking at a raven but a raven looking at a boy. The song of the river suddenly grew louder, the torches burned a little brighter than before, and the air was full of strange smells. When he tried to speak it came out in a scream, and his first flight ended when he crashed into a wall and ended back inside his own broken body. The raven was unhurt. It flew to him and landed on his arm, and Bran stroked its feathers and slipped inside of it again. Before long he was flying around the cavern, weaving through the long stone teeth that hung down from the ceiling, even flapping out over the abyss and swooping down into its cold black depths.

My gut tells me this all leads to a confrontation with Drogon.

That may sound silly, but that is exactly what the show insinuated would happen. They were just too lazy and out of time/budget to adapt it.

+.+.+

"Someone else was in the raven," he told Lord Brynden, once he had returned to his own skin. "Some girl. I felt her."

"A woman, of those who sing the song of earth," his teacher said. "Long dead, yet a part of her remains, just as a part of you would remain in Summer if your boy's flesh were to die upon the morrow. A shadow on the soul. She will not harm you."

You couldn't escape Jon foreshadowing even if you tried.

+.+.+

"Do all the birds have singers in them?"

"All," Lord Brynden said. "It was the singers who taught the First Men to send messages by raven … but in those days, the birds would speak the words. The trees remember, but men forget, and so now they write the messages on parchment and tie them round the feet of birds who have never shared their skin."

Dot, dot, dot.

Maybe we should be paying attention to talking ravens!

+.+.+

He wished Robb were with them now. I'd tell him I could fly, but he wouldn't believe, so I'd have to show him. I bet that he could learn to fly too, him and Arya and Sansa, even baby Rickon and Jon Snow. We could all be ravens and live in Maester Luwin's rookery.

I went back and looked for suspicious ravens in Luwin's rookery. Nothing stood out other than the bloody raven that delivered the news of Ned's death.

A raven landed on the grey stone sill, opened its beak, and gave a harsh, raucous rattle of distress.

Rickon began to cry. His arrowheads fell from his hand one by one and clattered on the floor. Bran pulled him close and hugged him.

Maester Luwin stared at the black bird as if it were a scorpion with feathers. He rose, slow as a sleepwalker, and moved to the window. When he whistled, the raven hopped onto his bandaged forearm. There was dried blood on its wings. "A hawk," Luwin murmured, "perhaps an owl. Poor thing, a wonder it got through." - Bran VII, AGOT

A scorpion with feathers? Dried blood on its wings? Never noticed that. Those arrowheads continue to haunt me.

+.+.+

Some days Bran wondered if all of this wasn't just some dream. Maybe he had fallen asleep out in the snows and dreamed himself a safe, warm place. You have to wake, he would tell himself, you have to wake right now, or you'll go dreaming into death.

Yes, Bran! Fight! Don't go dreaming into death!

+.+.+

"I thought the greenseers were the wizards of the children," Bran said. "The singers, I mean."

"In a sense. Those you call the children of the forest have eyes as golden as the sun, but once in a great while one is born amongst them with eyes as red as blood, or green as the moss on a tree in the heart of the forest. By these signs do the gods mark those they have chosen to receive the gift. The chosen ones are not robust, and their quick years upon the earth are few, for every song must have its balance. But once inside the wood they linger long indeed. A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. Greenseers."

Cue the fandom going nuts over anyone with green or red eyes.

The chosen ones are not robust, and their quick years upon the earth are few, for every song must have its balance.

He's so full of shit. This man was born in 175 AC, then disappeared in 252 AC.

for every song must have its balance.

What do you mean? Fire good, ice bad.

+.+.+

Bran did not understand, so he asked the Reeds. "Do you like to read books, Bran?" Jojen asked him.

"Some books. I like the fighting stories. My sister Sansa likes the kissing stories, but those are stupid."

+.+.+

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one.

I don't know why the fandom thinks George hates Sansa when she's the designated Stark Reader.

Everyone knows he favours the readers.

+.+.+

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one. The singers of the forest had no books. No ink, no parchment, no written language. Instead they had the trees, and the weirwoods above all. When they died, they went into the wood, into leaf and limb and root, and the trees remembered. All their songs and spells, their histories and prayers, everything they knew about this world. Maesters will tell you that the weirwoods are sacred to the old gods. The singers believe they are the old gods. When singers die they become part of that godhood."

what

The old gods are dead children of the forest?

+.+.+

Bran's eyes widened. "They're going to kill me?"

"No," Meera said. "Jojen, you're scaring him."

"He is not the one who needs to be afraid."

If you're afraid why did you bring him here? You foolish green boy.

I can't tell if Bloodraven wants to take Bran's life force or corrupt him. Littlefinger and the kindly man don't want to kill Sansa and Arya, but this is different.

+.+.+

Summer prowled through the silent woods, a long grey shadow that grew more gaunt with every hunt, for living game could not be found. The ward upon the cave mouth still held; the dead men could not enter. The snows had buried most of them again, but they were still there, hidden, frozen, waiting.

There's too much missing from this. There's no way Meera and Bran could outpace wights for weeks, it's absurd.

+.+.+

The caves were timeless, vast, silent. They were home to more than three score living singers and the bones of thousands dead, and extended far below the hollow hill. "Men should not go wandering in this place," Leaf warned them. "The river you hear is swift and black, and flows down and down to a sunless sea. And there are passages that go even deeper, bottomless pits and sudden shafts, forgotten ways that lead to the very center of the earth. Even my people have not explored them all, and we have lived here for a thousand thousand of your man-years."

Maybe the magic breaks and Hodor briefly keeps the wights out while Bran and Meera take the river back to the Wall? I don't know, I'm throwing anything out there.

Is she being honest, or does she not want him exploring for other reasons?

+.+.+

They [the children] had nut-brown skin, dappled like a deer's with paler spots, and large ears that could hear things that no man could hear. Their eyes were big too, great golden cat's eyes that could see down passages where a boy's eyes saw only blackness. Their hands had only three fingers and a thumb, with sharp black claws instead of nails.

Say a prayer for Arya Stark.

+.+.+

That was in the dawn of days, when our sun was rising. Now it sinks, and this is our long dwindling. The giants are almost gone as well, they who were our bane and our brothers. The great lions of the western hills have been slain, the unicorns are all but gone, the mammoths down to a few hundred. The direwolves will outlast us all, but their time will come as well.

That almost feels like code.

+.+.+

But after they were gone, he slipped inside Hodor's skin and followed them.

The big stableboy no longer fought him as he had the first time, back in the lake tower during the storm. Like a dog who has had all the fight whipped out of him, Hodor would curl up and hide whenever Bran reached out for him. His hiding place was somewhere deep within him, a pit where not even Bran could touch him. No one wants to hurt you, Hodor, he said silently, to the child-man whose flesh he'd taken. I just want to be strong again for a while. I'll give it back, the way I always do.

It's always incredibly loaded language.

"The world is full of horrors, Tommen. You can fight them, or laugh at them, or look without seeing . . . go away inside."

Tommen considered that. "I . . . I used to go away inside sometimes," he confessed, "when Joffy . . ." - Jaime I, AFFC

Bran yearns to be whole again, while Arya hungers for justice. It takes them both down a dark path.

Good thing Sansa only wants to be loved. Difficult to make something like that immoral. . .

+.+.+

He even crossed the slender stone bridge that arched over the abyss and discovered more passages and chambers on the far side. One was full of singers, enthroned like Brynden in nests of weirwood roots that wove under and through and around their bodies. Most of them looked dead to him, but as he crossed in front of them their eyes would open and follow the light of his torch, and one of them opened and closed a wrinkled mouth as if he were trying to speak. "Hodor," Bran said to him, and he felt the real Hodor stir down in his pit.

Explain to me how Bloodraven is the last greenseer. There's chambers filled with greenseers. Bran is a greenseer.

Anyway, this whole chapter might as well be Daenerys in the House of the Undying.

She is not breathing. Dany listened to the silence. None of them are breathing, and they do not move, and those eyes see nothing. Could it be that the Undying Ones were dead? - Daenerys IV, ACOK

Daenerys Targaryen does not have one Starkling foil, she has four. Thinking this all leads to Jon vs. Daenerys is buying into Targ Exceptionalism.

+.+.+

Seated on his throne of roots in the great cavern, half-corpse and half-tree, Lord Brynden seemed less a man than some ghastly statue made of twisted wood, old bone, and rotted wool. The only thing that looked alive in the pale ruin that was his face was his one red eye, burning like the last coal in a dead fire, surrounded by twisted roots and tatters of leathery white skin hanging off a yellowed skull.

The sight of him still frightened Bran—the weirwood roots snaking in and out of his withered flesh, the mushrooms sprouting from his cheeks, the white wooden worm that grew from the socket where one eye had been. He liked it better when the torches were put out. In the dark he could pretend that it was the three-eyed crow who whispered to him and not some grisly talking corpse.

One day I will be like him. The thought filled Bran with dread. Bad enough that he was broken, with his useless legs. Was he doomed to lose the rest too, to spend all of his years with a weirwood growing in him and through him? Lord Brynden drew his life from the tree, Leaf told them. He did not eat, he did not drink. He slept, he dreamed, he watched. I was going to be a knight, Bran remembered. I used to run and climb and fight. It seemed a thousand years ago.

Lord Brynden drew his life from the tree. Is he draining the other greenseers wired to the trees or feasting on human sacrifice? The children wouldn't let him suck the life from children greenseers, right?

Is he trying to corrupt Bran or eat Bran, someone tell me right now.

+.+.+

What was he now? Only Bran the broken boy, Brandon of House Stark, prince of a lost kingdom, lord of a burned castle, heir to ruins. He had thought the three-eyed crow would be a sorcerer, a wise old wizard who could fix his legs, but that was some stupid child's dream, he realized now. I am too old for such fancies, he told himself. A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. That was as good as being a knight. Almost as good, anyway.

Despite it all our little Starklings never let go of their dreams.

+.+.+

Under the hill, Jojen Reed grew ever more sullen and solitary, to his sister's distress. She would often sit with Bran beside their little fire, talking of everything and nothing, petting Summer where he slept between them, whilst her brother wandered the caverns by himself. Jojen had even taken to climbing up to the cave's mouth when the day was bright. He would stand there for hours, looking out over the forest, wrapped in furs yet shivering all the same.

"He wants to go home," Meera told Bran. "He will not even try and fight his fate. He says the greendreams do not lie."

They don't lie, but they're misinterpreted? There's still hope!

+.+.+

"For the next step. For you to go beyond skinchanging and learn what it means to be a greenseer."

"The trees will teach him," said Leaf. She beckoned, and another of the singers padded forward, the white-haired one that Meera had named Snowylocks. She had a weirwood bowl in her hands, carved with a dozen faces, like the ones the heart trees wore. Inside was a white paste, thick and heavy, with dark red veins running through it. "You must eat of this," said Leaf. She handed Bran a wooden spoon.

The boy looked at the bowl uncertainly. "What is it?"

"A paste of weirwood seeds."

Something about the look of it made Bran feel ill. The red veins were only weirwood sap, he supposed, but in the torchlight they looked remarkably like blood. He dipped the spoon into the paste, then hesitated.

There's no chance that isn't human blood. The only mystery is whether it's Jojen's blood.

+.+.+

"Will this make me a greenseer?"

"Your blood makes you a greenseer," said Lord Brynden. "This will help awaken your gifts and wed you to the trees."

Bran did want to be married to a tree … but who else would wed a broken boy like him? A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. A greenseer.

No weddings, it's your doom.

She had sensed the truth of it long ago, Dany thought as she took a step closer to the conflagration, but the brazier had not been hot enough. The flames writhed before her like the women who had danced at her wedding, whirling and singing and spinning their yellow and orange and crimson veils, fearsome to behold, yet lovely, so lovely, alive with heat. Dany opened her arms to them, her skin flushed and glowing. This is a wedding, too, she thought. - Daenerys X, AGOT

mother of dragons, bride of fire . . . - Daenerys IV, ACOK

She looked at her son, watched him as he listened to the lords debate, frowning, troubled, yet wedded to his war. He had pledged himself to marry a daughter of Walder Frey, but she saw his true bride plain before her now: the sword he had laid on the table. - Catelyn XI, AGOT

Remember how dumb people believe 'bride of fire' means literal marriage to a Targaryen? Lol.

+.+.+

He ate.

It had a bitter taste, though not so bitter as acorn paste. The first spoonful was the hardest to get down. He almost retched it right back up. The second tasted better. The third was almost sweet. The rest he spooned up eagerly. Why had he thought that it was bitter? It tasted of honey, of new-fallen snow, of pepper and cinnamon and the last kiss his mother ever gave him. The empty bowl slipped from his fingers and clattered on the cavern floor. "I don't feel any different. What happens next?"

Dany raised the glass to her lips. The first sip tasted like ink and spoiled meat, foul, but when she swallowed it seemed to come to life within her. She could feel tendrils spreading through her chest, like fingers of fire coiling around her heart, and on her tongue was a taste like honey and anise and cream, like mother's milk and Drogo's seed, like red meat and hot blood and molten gold. It was all the tastes she had ever known, and none of them . . . and then the glass was empty. - Daenerys IV, ACOK

+.+.+

Bran closed his eyes and slipped free of his skin. Into the roots, he thought. Into the weirwood. Become the tree. For an instant he could see the cavern in its black mantle, could hear the river rushing by below.

Then all at once he was back home again.

Lord Eddard Stark sat upon a rock beside the deep black pool in the godswood, the pale roots of the heart tree twisting around him like an old man's gnarled arms. The greatsword Ice lay across Lord Eddard's lap, and he was cleaning the blade with an oilcloth.

"Winterfell," Bran whispered.

His father looked up. "Who's there?" he asked, turning …

… and Bran, frightened, pulled away.

See, calling it the deep black pool makes me link it to the cave river.

The visions we're about to be shown are happening in reverse chronological order. We'll place this around 298 AC.

Most important thing about this vision is that Ned 100% heard Bran.

+.+.+

Bran's throat was very dry. He swallowed. "Winterfell. I was back in Winterfell. I saw my father. He's not dead, he's not, I saw him, he's back at Winterfell, he's still alive."

"No," said Leaf. "He is gone, boy. Do not seek to call him back from death."

She says that like they're not responsible for all these living dead things walking around.

Is that something Bran could do? Call someone back from death? I'm thinking Jon here.

+.+.+

"A man must know how to look before he can hope to see," said Lord Brynden. "Those were shadows of days past that you saw, Bran. You were looking through the eyes of the heart tree in your godswood. Time is different for a tree than for a man. Sun and soil and water, these are the things a weirwood understands, not days and years and centuries. For men, time is a river. We are trapped in its flow, hurtling from past to present, always in the same direction. The lives of trees are different. They root and grow and die in one place, and that river does not move them. The oak is the acorn, the acorn is the oak. And the weirwood … a thousand human years are a moment to a weirwood, and through such gates you and I may gaze into the past."

"But," said Bran, "he heard me."

"He heard a whisper on the wind, a rustling amongst the leaves. You cannot speak to him, try as you might. I know. I have my own ghosts, Bran. A brother that I loved, a brother that I hated, a woman I desired. Through the trees, I see them still, but no word of mine has ever reached them. The past remains the past. We can learn from it, but we cannot change it."

The moment you realize baby Bran is way more powerful than this musty Targ.

He spoke to Ned.

"Winterfell," Bran whispered.

His father looked up. "Who's there?" he asked, turning …

He spoke to Jon.

Red eyes looked at him. Fierce eyes they were, yet glad to see him. The weirwood had his brother's face. Had his brother always had three eyes?

Not always, came the silent shout. Not before the crow.

[...]

Don't be afraid, I like it in the dark. No one can see you, but you can see them. But first you have to open your eyes. See? Like this. And the tree reached down and touched him. - Jon VII, ACOK

He'll speak to Theon.

The night was windless, the snow drifting straight down out of a cold black sky, yet the leaves of the heart tree were rustling his name. "Theon," they seemed to whisper, "Theon."

[...]

A leaf drifted down from above, brushed his brow, and landed in the pool. It floated on the water, red, five-fingered, like a bloody hand. "… Bran," the tree murmured. - A Ghost in Winterfell, ADWD

And I'm almost positive he spoke to Arya without the assistance of any tree.

Calm as still water, a small voice whispered in her ear. Arya was so startled she almost dropped her bundle. She looked around wildly, but there was no one in the stable but her, and the horses, and the dead men. - Arya IV, AGOT

This is why I'm more inclined to believe the talking environment found throughout the story is always Bran. Bloodraven can't do that.

The past remains the past. We can learn from it, but we cannot change it.

If he can be heard, does that mean he can also change the past?

You probably don't want to do that though. I learned that from movies.

"A man must know how to look before he can hope to see,"

Give me 5 minutes on Reddit and I'll find someone theorizing Bloodraven was warging inside Syrio Forel.

+.+.+

Um, do I look like a Targ historian?

Pick three of the following names, and assign them wherever you want, I don't care.

Daemon I Blackfyre, Aegor Rivers, Daeron II Targaryen, Shiera Seastar.

+.+.+

"Once you have mastered your gifts, you may look where you will and see what the trees have seen, be it yesterday or last year or a thousand ages past. Men live their lives trapped in an eternal present, between the mists of memory and the sea of shadow that is all we know of the days to come. Certain moths live their whole lives in a day, yet to them that little span of time must seem as long as years and decades do to us. An oak may live three hundred years, a redwood tree three thousand. A weirwood will live forever if left undisturbed. To them seasons pass in the flutter of a moth's wing, and past, present, and future are one. Nor will your sight be limited to your godswood. The singers carved eyes into their heart trees to awaken them, and those are the first eyes a new greenseer learns to use … but in time you will see well beyond the trees themselves."

He can see well beyond trees. Like in throne rooms, and the Red Mountains of Dorne.

As his men died around him, Littlefinger slid Ned's dagger from its sheath and shoved it up under his chin. His smile was apologetic. "I did warn you not to trust me, you know." - Eddard XIV, AGOT

He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses. Promise me, Ned. - Eddard I, AGOT

I understand time is not linear for Bran, but can he see the future or not? On the show he could.

+.+.+

Hodor carried Bran back to his chamber, muttering "Hodor" in a low voice as Leaf went before them with a torch. He had hoped that Meera and Jojen would be there, so he could tell them what he had seen, but their snug alcove in the rock was cold and empty.

This does not mean Jojen is dead! This doesn't make Jojen paste real!

We should be skeptical of deaths that allegedly happen off screen.

+.+.+

Watching the flames, Bran decided he would stay awake till Meera came back. Jojen would be unhappy, he knew, but Meera would be glad for him, He did not remember closing his eyes.

… but then somehow he was back at Winterfell again, in the godswood looking down upon his father. Lord Eddard seemed much younger this time. His hair was brown, with no hint of grey in it, his head bowed. "… let them grow up close as brothers, with only love between them," he prayed, "and let my lady wife find it in her heart to forgive …"

"Father." Bran's voice was a whisper in the wind, a rustle in the leaves. "Father, it's me. It's Bran. Brandon."

Eddard Stark lifted his head and looked long at the weirwood, frowning, but he did not speak. He cannot see me, Bran realized, despairing. He wanted to reach out and touch him, but all that he could do was watch and listen. I am in the tree. I am inside the heart tree, looking out of its red eyes, but the weirwood cannot talk, so I can't.

Let's place this around 284 AC.

Close as brothers? I thought they were brothers, Eddard.

Holy god, N + A = J is stupid.

+.+.+

The rest of his father's words were drowned out by a sudden clatter of wood on wood. Eddard Stark dissolved, like mist in a morning sun. Now two children danced across the godswood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. Arya! Bran thought eagerly, as he watched her leap up onto a rock and cut at the boy. But that couldn't be right. If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. She slashed the boy across his thigh, so hard that his leg went out from under him and he fell into the pool and began to splash and shout. "You be quiet, stupid," the girl said, tossing her own branch aside. "It's just water. Do you want Old Nan to hear and run tell Father?" She knelt and pulled her brother from the pool, but before she got him out again, the two of them were gone.

This can only be Lyanna and Benjen. We'll place this around 275 AC.

"You be quiet, stupid,"

Good thing he never expands on child Lyanna. Guaranteed I'd find her as annoying as Arya. Lol

+.+.+

After that the glimpses came faster and faster, till Bran was feeling lost and dizzy. He saw no more of his father, nor the girl who looked like Arya, but a woman heavy with child emerged naked and dripping from the black pool, knelt before the tree, and begged the old gods for a son who would avenge her. Then there came a brown-haired girl slender as a spear who stood on the tips of her toes to kiss the lips of a young knight as tall as Hodor. A dark-eyed youth, pale and fierce, sliced three branches off the weirwood and shaped them into arrows. The tree itself was shrinking, growing smaller with each vision, whilst the lesser trees dwindled into saplings and vanished, only to be replaced by other trees that would dwindle and vanish in their turn. And now the lords Bran glimpsed were tall and hard, stern men in fur and chain mail. Some wore faces he remembered from the statues in the crypts, but they were gone before he could put a name to them.

Then, as he watched, a bearded man forced a captive down onto his knees before the heart tree. A white-haired woman stepped toward them through a drift of dark red leaves, a bronze sickle in her hand.

Excellent, I shine when it comes to ASoIaF history.

Sorry guys, I'm going to have to go with general consensus here. I have nothing else to offer.

He saw no more of his father, nor the girl who looked like Arya, but a woman heavy with child emerged naked and dripping from the black pool, knelt before the tree, and begged the old gods for a son who would avenge her.

Based on the timeline, best theory I've seen is it's one of the she-wolves of Winterfell.

The She-Wolves of Winterfell is the working title given to the as-yet unpublished fourth Tales of Dunk and Egg novella, once intended to be published in an anthology named Dangerous Women but now postponed. - Wiki of Ice and Fire

Then there came a brown-haired girl slender as a spear who stood on the tips of her toes to kiss the lips of a young knight as tall as Hodor.

The fourth installment of the Dunk and Egg stories takes place at Winterfell.

Is this Ser Duncan and Old Nan? Maybe. Is Ser Duncan Hodor's great-grandfather? Perhaps.

Ser Duncan was born in 191/192 AC. The Mystery Knight takes place in 212. If he's a young knight in this vision, this must happen a little bit after the events that take place in The Mystery Knight, yes?

Would that not make Old Nan older than Aemon?

A dark-eyed youth, pale and fierce, sliced three branches off the weirwood and shaped them into arrows.

Brandon Snow. :) <3

Torrhen's scouts had seen the ruins of Harrenhal, where slow, red fires still burned beneath the rubble. The King in the North had heard many accounts of the Field of Fire as well. He knew that the same fate might await him if he tried to force a crossing of the river. Some of his lords bannermen urged him to attack all the same, insisting that Northern valor would carry the day. Others urged him to fall back to Moat Cailin and make his stand there on Northern soil. The king's bastard brother Brandon Snow offered to cross the Trident alone under cover of darkness, to slay the dragons whilst they slept.

King Torrhen did send Brandon Snow across the Trident. But he crossed with three maesters by his side, not to kill but to treat. All through the night messages went back and forth. The next morning, Torrhen Stark himself crossed the Trident. There upon the south bank of the Trident, he knelt, laid the ancient crown of the Kings of Winter at Aegon's feet, and swore to be his man. He rose as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, a king no more. From that day to this day, Torrhen Stark is remembered as the King Who Knelt...but no Northman left his burned bones beside the Trident, and the swords Aegon collected from Lord Stark and his vassals were not twisted or melted or bent. - The World of Ice and Fire

Goodness, all of this feels so relevant.

The tree itself was shrinking, growing smaller with each vision, whilst the lesser trees dwindled into saplings and vanished, only to be replaced by other trees that would dwindle and vanish in their turn.

Back and back we go.

And now the lords Bran glimpsed were tall and hard, stern men in fur and chain mail. Some wore faces he remembered from the statues in the crypts, but they were gone before he could put a name to them.

Kings of Winter. We're well before Aegon's Conquest now.

A bronze sickle. First Men.

The First Men—who had brought with them strange gods, horses, cattle, and weapons of bronze—were also larger and stronger than the children, and so they were a significant threat. - The World of Ice and Fire

+.+.+

"No," said Bran, "no, don't," but they could not hear him, no more than his father had. The woman grabbed the captive by the hair, hooked the sickle round his throat, and slashed. And through the mist of centuries the broken boy could only watch as the man's feet drummed against the earth … but as his life flowed out of him in a red tide, Brandon Stark could taste the blood.

Spit it out!

This is the final (earliest) vision. The tree got its eyes after the blood sacrifice.

Final thoughts:

Goodbye Bran.

Another challenging chapter behind us. Fun! What's next, more Aegon and Illyrio discourse? Maybe Moqorro can talk nonsense to Victarion for 20 pages? When can I dive into a ghost in Winterfell? What's that Harpy up to? Betrayals, betrayals, betrayals! HOW ABOUT A LOCUST MYSTERY? LET'S BRING BACK MELISANDRE, QUAITHE, AND SEPTA LEMORE - I DIDN'T SPEND ENOUGH TIME ON THEM. WHO WROTE THAT PINK LETTER? IS IT GRAND NORTHERN CONSPIRACY TIME? BRING ME PATCHFACE PLEASE. REALLY LOVING THIS WHOLE EXPERIENCE. ADWD IS THE BEST. 10/10.

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#operation stumpy re-read #adwd #bran iii

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pesbianlanic · 1 year

Text

march 2023 reading

books in bold are especially recommended! i had the pleasure of reading some absolute bangers this month.

Gilded by Marissa Meyer - 5/10. i dunno. i loved the Lunar Chronicles, which is the main reason i picked this up. while i enjoyed a lot of the horror-lite world-building, there were parts of it that confused me. i also thought that the pacing and the ending were off. i’m going to read the sequel in hopes that it gets better. we’ll see.

Empty by Susan Burton - 7/10. hard to get through. but i appreciated the writing and her insights.

On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden - 8/10. beautiful art and cute gay story. what’s not to love?

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller - 9/10. y’all. i am obsessed with this. i want to live inside sam j. miller’s mind because OH MY GOD this was amazing. we love queer-centering anti-capitalist speculative sci-fi about a world after climate change! literally want a tattoo inspired by this book immediately.

Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang - 10/10. i was once again entranced by Kuang’s prose, world-building, and commentary. i’ve been thinking a lot recently about the *apparent* inevitability of imperialism and capitalism, so this was very cathartic.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon - 9/10. an enchanting and powerful book. i will be thinking about this one for a long time.

Our Colors by Gengoroh Tagame - 8/10. i always love gay coming-of-age stories.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo - 8/10. i think i preferred Ninth House, but this sequel still holds up! it’s fun, bloody, mysterious, and magical.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters - 9/10. i enjoyed this novel. it was an interesting exploration of gender and parenthood, and it made me go down a rabbit hole investigating queer temporality.

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - 10/10. DEVASTATING! I NEED ALECTO THE NINTH IMMEDIATELY. I WILL NOT BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS BOOK

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 2/10. the more i reflect on this book, the more i wish i hadn’t wasted my time reading it. a few reasons why: (1) the characterization of the two Black people in this book seemed racist in a song of the south way. (2) i think i’m losing my patience for straight people lit. i think i’m becoming heterophobic. (3) kya gave me mary sue vibes (don’t get me started on her poetry). (4) the ending was rushed and cliche, and i skipped most of it. (5) also, SPOILERS but kya did turn out to be the murderer in the end, so where was my murder scene hm???? i wanted to see that asshole get killed. it gets a 2 for its excellent descriptions of nature, because that is clearly delia owens’ true wheelhouse.

The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins - 9/10. excellent exploration of US-backed anticommunist violence (mass murders), its personal and devastating effects for the victims and survivors, and how it shaped the world we live in today.

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White - 10/10. holy shit. this was everything my queer, religiously traumatized ass needed. this is the kind of queer representation i’ve been waiting for. beautiful, messy, horrifying, cathartic, and inspiring all at once. i will be following AJ White! i’m so excited to read The Spirit Bares Its Teeth later this year.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata - 8/10. this was a really interesting exploration of work culture, non-conformity, and the ways that essential workers (such as the titular convenience store woman) are looked down upon by society.

Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady by Monica Nolan - 8/10. a fun, modern take on lesbian pulp fiction of the ‘50s/’60s! don’t expect anything too deep or artistically aspirational, because that is not the point. it’s just an entertaining, gay, easy read.

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia - 9/10. a beautiful, magical, queer book that examines the complexities of immigration, empire, and violence in the guise of a blood magic fantasy novel.

The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long - 6/10. as a telling of the author’s father’s real experiences in the ‘60s, it’s personal and compelling. however, this graphic novel mainly centers white people grappling with racism (because we don’t have enough stories about that /s). could be appropriate for introducing young (white) kids to the history of the Civil Rights Movement and issues of racism.

bonus - a book i stopped reading:

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith. the premise of this book was intriguing and sounded like exactly the kind of thing i’d enjoy reading. however, something about the characterization and dialogue grated on my nerves. the main character, claire, especially annoyed me. also, when i see 8 ellipses within the span of a few paragraphs, i start to get peeved. it made me want to reread Good Omens as a palate-cleanser with similar vibes. maybe i’ll try it again at some point, but for now this book is not for me.

goodreads shenanigans here

#jules tries to read books again #books #blackfish city #nona the ninth #babel rf kuang #babel #hell followed with us #the bruising of qilwa

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waglifeornolife · 10 months

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no they aren’t, i went down a vsco rabbit hole 😭😭😭i’ve been shocked by most of the comparisons but this was just next level

oh wow!! that’s surprising 🫶🏼

yeah at this point i’d expect anything from her regarding the blackfishing unfortunately

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cetacean-content · 7 years

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sheikofshadow

John may be a media seeker(I know John), but he's not lying. I'm one of the biologists who worked on Blackfish. I've been witness to the atrocities that SlaveWorld commits. You're all blind.

GUYS I’M CRYING WE HAVE ONE OF THE “BIOLOGISTS” THAT WORKED ON BLACKFISH.

#anticaps #CRYING #blackfish #the fuck though you fuckin ass hole #come fight me #let me show you how blind i am

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travel-hopefully · 3 years

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A collective post of everything I watched on Netflix in 2020

I finally found the watch history function on Netflix which I wanted in order to reminisce over the TV/film I watched over the last year, including the good and the bad. I’ve included a little round-up of my thoughts for each, as lockdown has got me with plenty of time on my hands. If anyone has watched any of the below feel free to give me a message- happy to discuss anything!

Travelers (season 3) - this was an unforgettable show with some great characters and definitely put me through hell (in a good way), I am a David x Marcy shipper for sure!

IT Crowd (season 4 & 5) - my favourite comedy show ever, and I mean the UK version

Explained (random episodes) - interesting bite-sized episodes on a variety of topics

Sherlock (season 3 & 4) - it kinda went downhill from season 4...and doesn’t help that there is no season 5 in sight

Unforgettable - must be pretty forgettable cause I couldn’t remember watching, a typical revenge plot romp I think

The Mind, Explained - same as for Explained above, except more pyshcological

You (season 2) - binge-worthy! I love to hate Joe Goldberg.

Don’t F**k with Cats - wow, this was disturbing but so gripping.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - geniunely a good remake and rather amusing

Sex, Explained - as for Explained but a little more intriguing ;)

The Stranger (season 1) - full of suspense and a good binge watch but ultimately full of plot holes with an unsatisfying conclusion

Gavin & Stacey (season 3) - a classic which I only started watching in 2019

Sex Education (all of it) - comedy gold!

Unbelievable (limited series) - very harrowing, an emotional rollercoaster based on a real-life rape case

Atypical (all of it) - light-hearted and fun to binge

The Sinner (season 1) - it was okay... wasn’t spectacular compared to other similar dramas I’ve seen

Love Is Blind (season 1) - cringey but satisfying

In the Shadow of the Moon - I hardly remember this one :)

Dunkirk - a stand-out historical movie

The Stepfather - typical killer stepfather plot but rather enjoyable

The Super - an interesting premise, but not that super

Saw VI - all gore not much plot

Doctor Who (random episodes) - no words needed :D

Louis Theroux and Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends (random episodes) - I love his style of interviewing - what a man!

The Revenant - a lot of... well, not much

Nightcrawler - it was decent, but something was missing which I couldn’t put my finger on

How To Get Away With Murder (seasons 1-5) - probably my biggest new watch of the year, a rollercoaster of suspense, drama and murder, another season to go...

Ocean’s Eleven - fun but cheesey

Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare - creepy faces and an interesting ending

Eli - it started one way then went another, I wasn’t convinced

Star Trek (2009) - I couldn’t really get into this one...

In the Tall Grass - a lot of running around in grass

Bloodride (season 1) - i loved this, a quirky idea, i binged it

Apostle - intense, a satisfying religious cult horror

The Platform - great idea, not sure on the ending

What Keeps You Alive - what happened in this one again?

History 101 - didn’t watch many episodes :P

The Prodigy - a decent child possession horror

Into the Night (season 1) - really enjoyed this, a highlight of the year for me, hoping for a season 2

It - pretty chilling and creepy, but a tad cheesey

Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - the first one has a brilliant dinosaur fight scene, the second one has too many plot holes and inconsistencies to take seriously

Knowing - a Nicholas Cage sci-fi/apocalpytic classic, pretty decent

Stranger Things (random episodes) - i tried to get my bf into the show but sadly he still isn’t much of a TV fan

Miranda (random episodes) - such fun!

Black Mirror (seasons 1 & 2) - another one i introduced the bf to, i got a bit further with him on this one, the very first episode being the highlight

The Last House on the Left - a decent remake, but nothing outstanding

Dark (season 3) - this, my friends, is one of the greatest shows of all time. want a timey-wimey story where everything is connected and has an amazingly satisfying conclusion? this is the show for you!

The Silence - a bad ‘A Quiet Place’

Geostorm - i’m a fan of disaster movies but this one wasn’t in the same league as some of the greats

Panic Room - a mum and kid hides in the panic room when a group of thugs break into the house, it was enjoyable but not all that memorable

Prisoners - a very long film with some enjoyable parts but overall unsatisfying

Girl on the Third Floor - it was okay, i can’t remember much of it

The Woods (season 1) - another Harlan Coben adaptation- not as good as ‘Safe’ or ‘The Stranger’ but still a gripping thriller

Time Trap - a fun time-travel film with some interesting turns of events

72 Dangerous/Cutest Animals (random episodes) - just ‘cause i love animals

Slasher (all of it) - some very gory deaths, especially in season 3. quite disturbing but keeps the suspense up throughout.

2012 - a guilty pleasure of mine, realistic or not

Kingsman: The Secret Service - a fun spy film, will be looking to watch the second one soon

Blackfish - this was harrowing, it really made me think, but overall i’m on the side of tilikum

Unsolved Mysteries (season 1 & 2) - watching some of these my jaw dropped, love theorising on this kind of stuff

Down to Earth with Zac Efron (season 1) - Zac is great in this, he seems so chill and literally ‘down to earth’

The Call - I love this film, seen it 3 times now

Contagion - very relatable right now, interesting to see the parallels with todays situation

Next in Fashion (season 1) - i didn’t get too far with this, i found it a little superficial

Searching - another of those internet web-cam based films. decent but not memorable.

Non-stop - another Nicholas Cage classic, this time a suspense thriller

Freaks - as the title suggests this one was rather weird, i didn’t quite gel with it

The Perfection - wow, that was an experience. definitely memorable, even if some characters make questionable decisions...

Extraction - not usually a fan of action-type thrillers, but i actually enjoyed this one, plus it has Chris Hemsworth in it!

Line of Duty (season 2) - full of suspense, a great build-up in the first 5 episodes, but the way they tied it up really grated on me

Insidious - watched this one with my sister. a genuinely good horror film on rewatch with an amazing cliff-hanger

A Quiet Place - another one watched with my sister. labelled a horror but its more sci-fi, either way its a classic. bring on the second film!

The Dark Tower - disappointing mostly.

Gladiator - i’d never seen this before and now i understand the hype- what an epic movie!

Criminal UK (season 2) - didn’t disappoint following the exceptional first season

Venom - a fun comedic marvel film, definitely need to watch more from Marvel in the next year- i need an order to watch them in as don’t know where to start

Our Planet (season 1) - chill David Attenborough to put on in the background

The Equalizer - a great action revenge thriller plot with a badass Denzel

Merlin (random episodes) - who doesn’t love a trip down memory lane with some nostalgic bbc merlin?

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) - pretty scary remake

The Witcher (season 1) - rewatched in order to familiarise myself again before season 2 - i didn’t realise how funny the show was until this time round, gotta love Jaskier!

American Murder: The Family Next Door - this was haunting

The Haunting of Bly Manor - phenomenal, emotional, creepy, heartbreaking - i much preferred it to Hill House

Abducted in Plain Sight - seriously, how naive are the parents in this? i could have a rant for hours about this!

The End of the F***ing World (seasons 1 & 2) - very bingeable, Alyssa makes me laugh too much, i love how relatable the show is

Fractured - didn’t expect much from this consipiracy-type film but it kept me guessing right till the end

The Ripper (limited series) - very intriguing, but the mysogyny in this was shocking

Inconceivable - a typical mother looking for her baby revenge plot but still entertaining

The Midnight Sky - i’d heard rave reviews for this but was disappointed by a lacklustre plot which was sacrificed for award-winning cinematography

Killer Women with Piers Morgan (season 2) - a pyschological interview series which looks into the mind of murderers, rather interesting

May the Devil Take You - scarier and jumpier than i thought it would be!

So 2020 obviously gave me a lot of time to watch a s**t load of stuff and looking back at it i feel like i got a decent amount of my watch-list ticked off! And obviously this is not including shows watched on other media so there’s that too (a special shout-out to the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who which I watched this year on BritBox). In all, 2020 has definitely introduced me to a few new fandoms and progressed my love for others.

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orcinus-veterinarius · 1 month

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Hi! I’m currently working on a big, detailed Blackfish rebuttal, which means lots of rabbit holes. I recently started rereading John Hargrove’s book (ugh). He talks about how the original Shamu died of pyometra and septicemia, claiming that it was something that, apparently, would almost never happen in the wild. The obvious implication here is that captivity caused these conditions, and/or that such is common with captive orcas. However, obviously septicemia can be caused by a variety of things, wild or not. As for pyometra, he doesn’t provide other examples of captive orcas suffering pyometra, nor have I been able to find other examples described in peer reviewed literature. It seems that that isn’t particularly common in cetaceans period, whether they’re wild or not, but I’m also not a marine mammal veterinarian. Since you’d know better about cetacean medicine, I was wondering if you knew anything more about this.

Ooh, that'll be interesting! I'd love to read it!

You're correct that Shamu is the only reported case of pyometra in a killer whale, wild or captive. The CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine makes no mention of pyometra in cetaceans, although it does occur in both wild and captive pinnipeds and has been reported in sea otters and sirenians. Pyometra is typically the result of bacteria migrating up the vaginal tract into the uterus, which at certain times is more susceptible to infection due to normal hormonal fluctuations. Theoretically, anything with a uterus can get pyometra, though some species are more commonly affected than others.

I would hedge to bet that pyometra is rare in cetaceans because of their truly unusual reproductive anatomy. Females have a lot of redundant tissue in their vaginal tract, creating "false cervixes" and overall making it a lot more difficult for anything to reach the uterus.

See all those extra recesses around the cervix?

I did find this case report on a necropsy of a wild short-beaked common dolphin. Pyometra was one of many nasty issues afflicting the poor girl, so it can indeed occur in nature. Since this individual was suffering from co-infections of bacteria and cetacean morbillivirus, she was clearly immunocompromised. It's highly likely Shamu was as well.

Overall, pyometra of cetaceans (including orcas) appears to be quite rare in both the wild and managed care. Shamu was the very first orca intentionally captured for public display, nearly 60 years ago, and only survived six years in captivity before her death at approximately age 10. Virtually nothing was known about killer whale husbandry at the time, so it's not at all unreasonable to assume that poor husbandry, nutrition, and stress negatively impacted her immune function to the point she succumbed to pyometra.

However, it's a weak argument on Hargrove's part to compare the SeaWorld of today (with multiple orcas now in their 30s, 40s, and 50s) to the SeaWorld of the 1960s, and their very first whale at that. Especially using a condition that has not been reported in a captive orca since.

#orcas #killer whales #dolphins #shamu #cetaceans #marine mammals #vet med #pyometra #answered asks #ihazyourkitty

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angel-deux-writes · 4 years

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Honor Compels Me

When Brienne is sent to Riverrun to speak with the Blackfish, she finds herself with another Stark to protect. For the oaths she swore to his mother, she will see Robb Stark safely home. Even if it means standing against Jaime Lannister to do it.

Cersei III

You know, sometimes in life we face adversity with a strength of spirit and an iron will, and sometimes in life we receive a few mean comments, crawl into a hole for a month, decide to panic-post five chapters a day to finish this story faster, play Animal Crossing for 5 hours instead of editing said chapters, and then decide to post a single chapter because it’s better than nothing.

#angel does nanowrimo #honor compels me #listen ill try to do 5 chapters tomorrow #or even like 2 #but today was dedicated to panicking about the pandemic #and finding eggs in my animal crossing village #also do not feel obligated to comment because im gonna try not to read them anyway #bc they made me into a mess last time and im hoping if i just close my eyes and post nonstop maybe they'll all stop reading

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whocalledhimannux · 4 years

Link

prologue & chapter I Pairing: Zuko/Katara Rating: M Summary:

Katara grew up in the Southern Water Tribe under the tutelage of Hama, the only waterbender ever to have escaped Fire Nation captivity. When Zuko arrives at the South Pole, seeking the Avatar, they are more than ready to defend him. Iroh watches as his beloved nephew throws himself at the ice walls again and again in an impossible siege–and resolves to do anything it takes to save his nephew from himself. With the assistance of the Order of the White Lotus, he deposes his brother on the Day of Black Sun.

A week later, the Southern Water Tribe receives a petition for peace, and a proposal of marriage.

When I posted the summary of this fic last week, with a note that I was hoping to get it posted by the end of the month, I really was not expecting such a large response. I got so many reblogs and likes and nice comments that y’all really lit a fire under my ass, so basically almost all of my free time this past week was devoted to getting the first few chapters internet-ready and filling in some of the holes in later ones. I’m posting the prologue and first chapter now, and hoping for one/two chapters a week thereafter. Thanks so much for your interest, and I hope you enjoy the fic!

#zutara #zuko #katara #atla #a:tla #my fic #tbatd

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thebookishaustin · 5 years

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August 2019 Wrap Up

Image from my Goodreads page

Whew - August was a whirlwind of new books and lots of Dungeons & Dragons apparently! You can see Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (review for the first book, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, can be found here), a reread of The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by the McElroy family and Carey Pietsch (review here) followed by it’s new sequel The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited!, and also Rick And Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons by Patrick Rothfuss and Jim Zub! I love my D&D novelizations.

Other than these, my favorites for the month were The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee and Michael Dante DiMartino, Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller, and Dark Age by Pierce Brown. I enjoyed The Rise of Kyoshi because I am a long time Avatar: The Last Airbender fan and this expanded upon that universe in such a unique way. Blackfish City was such an interesting book full of sociopolitical issues and strong family dynamics with a healthy dose of science fiction! It took me awhile, but finishing Dark Age felt like a major accomplishment. I love this series so much and I wasn’t let down by the newest installment.

I’d love to hear what you are reading so don’t hesitate to comment or send me a private message. You can also add me on Goodreads here! I’m looking forward to September and here are a few books I’m ready to start reading soon:

Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon (Published: August 2019)

Exile from Eden: Or, After the Hole by Andrew Smith (Release date: September 24, 2019)

Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake (Release: September 3, 2019)

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thedurvin · 5 years

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“Moby Dick” is a lot funnier than anybody ever mentioned to me. Like, that famous chapter (#33) that’s just an overview of whale biology is written as if by someone that really didn’t know what the hell he was talking about

Scientists say whales aren’t fish because they have lungs and ear-holes and horizontal tales, but I asked some other whaling guys and they said that was bullshit, so they’re fish. I think it says that in the Bible someplace too.

Whales come in three types: Large, Medium, and Small. The Blackfish Whale is a Medium; I’m not sure why they’re called Blackfish, since most whales are pretty much black. I don’t know anything about them so let’s move on.

Huzzah Porpoises are Small-type whales. I don’t know what they’re really called but they always look super cheerful so I’m calling them Huzza Porpoises. If you don’t even smile a little while looking at them I just don’t know what to tell you.

And that’s not even mentioning the romantic comedy “oh my god there’s only one bed” meet-cute that leads to Ishmael and Queequeg staying up all night chatting and cuddling

#durvin read a book #i know it gets serious later #but still

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kademaki · 6 years

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The Bottomless Blue - Chapter Two

Merman!Hux x reader fic

This chapter is based off of this Au

“Okay, not to sounds creepy, but I’ve been coming to this fishing spot to watch you fish, and I may have had a hand in you catching so many big fish lately…it’s like the merperson equivalent of a bouquet of flowers.” AU

It had been a month and a half since you had seen the creature in the shipwreck. You hadn’t been brave enough to go back towards the ship since then. You were just getting comfortable to go back into the open water. You had spent the past few weeks in the shallows enjoying the small fish and starfish that washed in with the tide into the small lagoon near your grandparent's house.

You had enjoyed fishing in the small lagoon. You had set traps in the lagoon and fished while standing in the inlet hidden between some large rocks and boulders on the beach. Sometimes just being on the beach was enough to relax you. You collected small shells and worked on your tan most of your days off.

You were spending today a little differently though. Today you were watching your neighbor’s daughter, Lily. Her parents had named her after one of Monet’s famous paintings. She was eight and loved the water just as much as you did at her age. You were teaching her how to set traps and fish the way your grandparents had taught you. You had already set up the traps in the lagoon together and were now showing her to set up her fishing rod. You hoped that the fish today would be attracted the bait you bought. You didn’t want Lily to be disappointed if you couldn’t catch any fish.

“Okay Lily now all we have to do is pull in the reel and you can cast off,” you said handing her the rod after attaching the bait to the hook. You stepped back to clear yourself from the range of her cast. You didn’t want to catch a fish hook in your skin and then get salt water in the cuts and scratches it would leave behind.

“Like this?” Lily asked as she swung her arms back and over her head, watching as the line flew out 20 feet into the water. “Was that good Miss Y/N?” She said turning back to look at you with a grin.

“It was amazing! You did excellent! Now, just slide put it on the holder right there just like I showed you and you’re all set. You can show me your sand castle building skills while we wait.” You watched as she slid the rod into the pole you had put in the sand to hold the rod steady while the two of you lay out on the beach.

You cast out your own rod and secured it in your own holder. You tied small bells to your rods so that you could hear if the lines were jerked before moving to smooth out your beach towel. You laid down on the towel as Lily picked up the bucket full of castle molds and started to head towards the water. She had assured you that she was pro at making castles and promised to make you a castle so you could both be princesses in them.

You watched for a little as she filled the buckets and molds with wet sand and started making the base of her castle. She was making the castle at least four feet by four feet, this was going to take a while. In lieu, of watching her build this enormous castle, you decided to lie down and relax while working on your tan. You slid your sunglasses over your eyes and relaxed with the sound of the waves crashing in your ears.

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A small jingling followed by Lily’s screams of excitement jolted you awake from a short nap. You squinted from behind your sunglasses and saw Lily pulling her fishing rod out of the pole.

“Miss Y/N! I GOT A FISH! I GOT A FISH!” You got to your feet as Lily started jumping around and pulling the rod in.

“It looks like a big one! Remember what I said, first we have to wake it slow or it could snap your rod or fishing line.” You smiled as you ruffled her hair, watching Lily tilt the rod down as she reeled the line in. “Okay Lily, let’s bring the rod back up and take a step back so you don’t hurt yourself reeling this fish in.” Lily nodded about brought the rod up while taking a few steps back. If she reeled it in too much and there was enough tension in the line, either the rod or line would snap, meaning disappointment for both of you.

Lily kept reeling in her line, alternating between pulling the rod up and down while taking a few steps back. After a few minutes, you started to wonder how long this could take considering the bait and hook you had used were meant for small to medium sized fish. You were also fishing in the shallows, there shouldn't be many big fish and if there were, they should have destroyed Lily’s rod and line by now. There was no way a child of her size would have been able to reel in a fish of substantial size unless the fish was tired of fighting already. A violent splashing sound broke you from your thoughts and you looked up to see a yellowfin tuna that was at least thirty-five pounds writhing wildly in the shallows. You stared dumbfounded, a yellowfin tuna much less one of that size was rare for your location and even more rare to be caught from shore.

“Miss Y/N! Miss Y/N! IT’S HUGE!” Lily screamed to you while starting to struggle with the weight of the fish on the line. She took a few steps back before pushing the rod into your hands. “Here Miss Y/N, I can’t do it anymore, it’s hurting my hands now, can you help me?”

“Sure Lily, I don't think I’ve ever caught a fish this big from shore before. This is actually kind of weird…” You grabbed the rod from Lily and began reeling the tuna in. As you pulled it in close to shore, you could swear you saw a flash of red in the distance before it disappeared against the waves. “Lily, can you get the net? I’m not sure what we’re going to do this with this big guy but maybe the net will hold him.”

Lily picked up the net, “Miss Y/N I don’t think it will fit in here.” She held up the net as you continued to reel the fish in. She was right, there was no way you could fit this yellowfin tuna in the net, you didn’t want to kill a fish this big in front of Lily so you were at a loss of what to do. If it was a smaller fish, you could just put it on ice in a cooler and she wouldn’t watch you struggle to deal with it. But a fish this size would definitely cause problems even in a cooler on ice, it could probably knock over the cooler if it wriggled inside of it. Unfortunately, the decision of what to do was taken out of your hands and a wave brought the fish to shore and you had to reel the line in quickly while taking a step back to pull the fish onto the beach as the wave receded. You caught your breath and stared at the fish for a second as Lily ran over to it. It flopped wildly on the sand for a few moments before starting to lose its strength.

“Miss Y/N? What are all the holes on it?” You furrowed your brow, what holes? You walked over to the fish that flopped around a few more times as you approached before settling down again. Lily was right, there were small indentations in the side of the fish that looked almost like bite marks? But where would this fish have gotten bitten this many times and survived? Not to mention the hook sat in the fish's’ mouth at an old angle. Had the hook been forced into its mouth?

“I don't know Lily. I’ve never seen these marks before. Maybe it got caught and torn up in the shallows on seashells, rocks or coral?” It was unlikely but you had no other explanation for her.

“Do you think another fish did it? Maybe it was a shark? They have lots of teeth!” Lily’s eyes grew and she started humming the theme to ‘Jaws’. “Well, maybe not a big shark, it would have eaten this fish whole, maybe it was a baby shark! Because it couldn’t even take a big bite out this fish!” She stopped humming the theme to ‘Jaws’ and started singing, “ Baby shark, doo doo doo-”

“Hey Lily, how about you let me deal with this big guy while you reset this fishing rod for me? That way we can see what else we can catch before we go home today? Is that a good trade?” You said smiling enthusiastically, you would give anything to not hear that song today and if resetting the fishing rod would distract her enough to forget about the song, you would ask her to set up a thousand rods.

“OOOO! Yes! Maybe we can get a shark this time! Mommy shark doo doo doo doo…” Lily skipped off to the fishing rods, still singing that song while trying to tie a new hook the line. You sighed, you would be hearing that song for a while. You looked down and stared at the enormous tuna in front of you. The marks in the skin couldn't be anything but teeth marks, but from what? And why was the hook tangled so much into the fish’s mouth? You prodded the fish and when it didn’t wriggle around you heaved it into your cooler and hoped for the best. Hopefully, it was dead and didn’t revive itself and scare you by jumping out of the cooler later.

“I reset the line Miss Y/N! Now we wait for the sharks! Can you bring me some water so I can keep making my sandcastle now?” Lily was all too happy to wait for another catch, but you were a little less optimistic since a fish that size was usually a one-time rarity. But you weren’t going to dampen her spirits, so you smiled and helped her carry buckets of water from the shallows back to your spot on the shore.

You’d only been sitting down and watching her re-wet the sand of the castle she had started when the faint jingling came from the rods again. You turned as Lily jumped up and ran to the lines.

“We got another one Miss Y/N! Can you reel this one in! It could be a shark!” Your face turned up in confusion, another fish already? Maybe it was Lily’s beginner’s luck. You stood and took the rod from its holder and started work to reel the fish in. Maybe it was a glare from your sunglasses but you were sure you saw a red ball bobbing above the water before disappearing beneath the waves. After a few minutes, you reeled in a nineteen pound Blackfish. You grabbed the net and scooped the fish up before opening the cooler and tossing it in as it flopped around in the net. You noted that the Blackfish had the same tooth marks and weirdly angled hook as the tuna. What was causing these marks? Well at least, you would eat well tonight. “Wow Miss Y/N we’re so lucky today! Let’s see how many we can catch today! Do you think the next one will be a shark? I hope we catch a shark next!”

“I don’t know if we’ll catch a shark, don’t you think these two are enough for us today? These are pretty big already…” You trailed off trying to figure out how you would cook these fish for yourself and Lily’s parents. You looked down at Lily’s big eyes and sighed. “I guess we can try for a shark, go ahead and set the rods back up.”

Lily squealed and ran back to the rods. “Thanks, Miss Y/N! I can’t wait to see what we catch next!” You slyly made sure that the bait was taken off the hooks before casting them back out to sea. Maybe Lily would be satisfied without any more fish if she didn't notice the bait was gone. You took a breath before laying back down on your beach blanket and trying to relax.

The tension had just left your body when light jingling pulled you back. Here we go again.

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“Wow, Miss Y/N, we had a good day today huh? We don’t have to fish for a while. We got so many fishes today!” Lily said as she skipped past you on the sidewalk.

“Yeah Lily, I have no idea how we’re going to cook and eat all of these.” You huffed as you dragged the now packed cooler behind you. It was heavier now than when you first brought it to the beach. Somehow, you and Lily had gone on to catch three more fish for a total of five. And they were all gigantic and weighed a ton when you were the only one pulling the cooler. All of the fish you had caught had the strange bite marks and hooks that seemed to have been forced into their mouths.

Along with the strange amount of large fish you caught, you could have sworn you had seen the red hair of the creature from the shipwreck bobbing in the waves. You remembered his sharp pointed teeth and wondered if they could be what was causing the weird teeth marks on the fish. But that didn’t explain how the hooks were forced into the fishes’ mouth as well. If he was in the surf watching you, was he also trying to catch fish but had your line gotten in the way and pulled it away from him? You shuddered, you didn't want to make a sea creature angry by taking away his lunch.

Maybe he wasn’t trying to catch his own lunch. Maybe he was actually helping Lucy and yourself catch these large fish for your dinner. You mused to yourself about the creature trying to help you catch fish as you dragged the cooler up the ramp to Lily’s parents back deck. Why would it want to help you catch fish? You shook your head at the sound of Lily’s parents calling to you from the house. Maybe you could summon the courage to go back out to the shipwreck and see what you could find?

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