Shipping fictional characters isn’t representative of your moral values. It’s representative of your particular psychic damage and the themes and motifs that haunt you. Hope this helps.

Owls create snow angel imprints while hunting in winter when they swoop down to catch mice or squirrels.

Sansa’s Rebuilding Winterfell Scene

From: thelustybraavosimaid

I really want to concentrate on the snow castle scene as it is something I see over and over again and how fandom views it is so vastly different from my own reading. I know a lot of people put stock into Sansa’s snow castle scene, but if you really look at the scene and break it down it isn’t foreshadowing of her rebuilding WF at all, but a concerning scene of how much Sansa is starting to rely and depends on Baelish. People like to remember the building of the castle as if it is some wholesome moment in isolation, but not who she is building it with - one of the main antagonist of the series. And in the end her snow Winterfell is smashed and in ruins, just like Sansa’s dreams of the past.

The chapter opens with Sansa feeling nostalgic for home, she is melancholy because the Vale is small and empty and there is nothing to do, she misses home and happier times. She is worried about what happens to her now. She goes out into the snow and begins to play and eventually her thoughts of home start to form into a snow castle of Winterfell, but

Her bridges kept falling down. There was a covered bridge between the armory and the main keep, and another that went from the fourth floor of the bell tower to the second floor of the rookery, but no matter how carefully she shaped them, they would not hold together. The third time one collapsed on her, she cursed aloud and sat back in helpless frustration.

Sansa has trouble building it - it is falling apart because she doesn’t have the knowledge to put it back together. Sansa needs Petyr to do the difficult parts for her. To me this isn’t a good sign, Baelish is a bad guy, we don’t want Sansa to need or rely on his help to build Winfterfell or anything - which he had a hand in destroying, her family and everything afterwards were directly from his machinations. This scene has Sansa starting to trust Baelish more, starting to rely on him, notice his good judgement, as she becomes more reliant and comfortable around him.

Each time Sansa is stuck, “Again he had the answer.”

This scene also has creepy romantic overtones of Baelish helping Sansa, being by her side, doing what he can to make her happy, see her smile, and they even playfully flirt a little (I’m not saying that Sansa is flirting on purpose, just that it is written with those overtones), again disturbing as she is getting more comfortable being around him, getting used to his closeness, even after he lied to her and she knows what he did in KL. Foreshadowing how much closer these two may become, especially as Baelish will keep pressing (and with Lysa gone there will be less barriers for him and this proves true in later chapters.)

“Your smile, my lady. Shall I make another for you?”

“If you would.”

“Nothing could please me more.”

…

They made a tall tower together, kneeling side by side to roll it smooth, and when they’d raised it Sansa stuck her fingers through the top, grabbed a handful of snow, and flung it full in his face. Petyr yelped, as the snow slid down under his collar.

Sansa has started to become more comfortable around Baelish - this should be concerning. She works up the courage to ask him about his lies.

“As was bringing me here, when you swore to take me home.”

She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. From Winterfell, she thought. I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell.

His face grew serious. “Yes, I played you false in that … and in one other thing as well.”

Sansa’s stomach was aflutter. “What other thing?”

Sansa attributes this to Winterfell, but really it is all from Baelish’s charm or  grooming. Petyr is a non-threatening courteous well mannered person, a smooth talker, even a flatterer, ready with a compliment to ingratiate himself to others. Some see though this, others fall for it. Which way will Sansa fall? Right now, Sansa is becoming more comfortable around him, she isn’t afraid to ask him pointed questions. Then he kisses her.

Sansa tried to step back, but he pulled her into his arms and suddenly he was kissing her. Feebly, she tried to squirm, but only succeeded in pressing herself more tightly against him. His mouth was on hers, swallowing her words. He tasted of mint. For half a heartbeat she yielded to his kiss … before she turned her face away and wrenched free. “What are you doing?”

Petyr straightened his cloak. “Kissing a snow maid.”

THIS is a very disturbing scene, not only because Baelish is passionately kissing her, but how Sansa is reacting to it. She feebly tried to squirm… why feebly?

For half a heartbeat she yielded, again why? GRRM is having Sansa acknowledge to herself that a part of her liked it (she yielded?), or at least wasn’t trying as hard to escape (feebly) his attentions. All of this is displaying a disturbing softening towards Baelish from Sansa, one that should disturb the reader. When she finally pushes back…

“You shouldn’t kiss me. I might have been your own daughter …”

“Might have been,” he admitted, with a rueful smile. “But you’re not, are you? You are Eddard Stark’s daughter, and Cat’s. But I think you might be even more beautiful than your mother was, when she was your age.”

“Petyr, please.” Her voice sounded so weak. “Please …”

We know what Baelish has always been after, but I think this is when Sansa finally realizes it, at least she can’t ignore the possibility. Sansa might not really understand what is happening dynamically to put it into words, but subconsciously she knows she can not anger or upset Baelish, so her reaction is to submit and do nothing. Maybe even give him a bit of what he wants? or perhaps it was just her curiosity? Either way, she is weakening because she doesn’t know what else to do and so can’t risk doing anything. Even to herself her conviction for him to stop sounds weak and thus unconvincing… before she can really process what just happened Robert arrives and starts to smash the castle and Sansa inadvertently grabs and tears his doll.

They led the boy away. My lord husband, Sansa thought, as she contemplated the ruins of Winterfell. The snow had stopped, and it was colder than before. She wondered if Lord Robert would shake all through their wedding. At least Joffrey was sound of body. 

The air is colder because it was her happy memories that were warming her up. Her wishing for the past (Winterfell and happier times with her family) is quickly smashed and in ruins as her hard cold reality sets in. The real Winterfell is still in ruins and lost to her, she is ‘engaged’ to another unsatisfactory man-child, and her bleak situation and future are again in front of her.

Her dreaming of the past, snow Winterfell is a broken ruin, you can’t go back, you can only go forward. Winterfell (The North) doesn’t need to be rebuilt like it used to be, when it is rebuilt it will be new and improved to reflect all the lessons the children (not just Sansa) have learned a long their journey not continuing the same ‘old’ ways.

A mad rage seized hold of her. She picked up a broken branch and smashed the torn doll’s head down on top of it, then pushed it down atop the shattered gatehouse of her snow castle. The servants looked aghast, but when Littlefinger saw what she’d done he laughed. “If the tales be true, that’s not the first giant to end up with his head on Winterfell’s walls.”

Her violent actions disturb everyone, but Baelish laughs. Not only does he find the situation amusing, but he just got away with kissing Sansa, or Alayne his ‘daughter’ right under so many watchful eyes, right beneath Lysa’s balcony. He is probably on some power high in this moment. He got what he wanted again and is laughing at the world (I don’t know but this is my feeling, but I really hate him in this moment).

Sansa is in a temper because she is frustrated and doesn’t know what to do and can’t really say anything. She wants to escape from all the problems that she really isn’t equipped to deal with, but can’t do anything herself..

I will tell my aunt that I don’t want to marry Robert. Not even the High Septon himself could declare a woman married if she refused to say the vows. She wasn’t a beggar, no matter what her aunt said. She was thirteen, a woman flowered and wed, the heir to Winterfell. Sansa felt sorry for her little cousin sometimes, but she could not imagine ever wanting to be his wife. I would sooner be married to Tyrion again. If Lady Lysa knew that, surely she’d send her away … away from Robert’s pouts and shakes and runny eyes, away from Marillion’s lingering looks, away from Petyr’s kisses. I will tell her. I will!

Sansa is relying on her aunt to really solve her problems, she wants it to be her aunt that sends her away. Why? Well Baelish still can’t go against her aunt, and if Lysa wants her gone, Baelish can’t argue the point, Lysa is still the one with power in the Vale. It gives Sansa a barrier of opposition to all of them and makes Lysa the one they have to deal with. At least this is Sansa’s way of thinking. This is similar to her wanting to asking Robert / Cersei to allow her to stay in KL in AGOT. She can’t convince her father, so she goes to someone he will have a harder time dealing with to get what she wants. Sansa is trying to find others with more power to side with her so she has support. That way it isn’t on her to fight (passive-aggressive). Again, the strategy makes sense when only seen from her POV. Little does she know how far Baelish is willing to go to secure what he wants and that Lysa isn’t as powerful as she thinks.

To me, the building of the castle is the least interesting part of this scene and to ignore the part Baelish plays in this scene is to completely miss the entire point. You can’t remove Baelish from this scene when you read it and it is filled with unsettling implications. The scene isn’t a soft moment of Sansa dreaming about Winterfell and rebuilding it, it is a subtle manipulation of Baelish working his way into Sansa’s good graces by pretending to help her with what she wants in order to gain access to what he wants (her). It shows that she is weak to him, she doesn’t know how to deal with him, and all of her efforts to do something on her own fall apart and she needs others to help her. She is too dependent still, and even when she wants to resist, still needs to go to others to do the heavy lifting.

This dependency is what hinders Sansa, when you must rely on others, you are also tied to their will, wants, and desires. Sansa is being pushed more towards Baelish, as he seems to be the most stable and reliable one in the room, her other options are severely volatile and/or lacking; but he is also the most dangerous to deal with. This is highlighting how Sansa reliance will only increase once Lysa is gone, the one person (from Sansa’s POV) who might have stood a chance against him in the Vale, in terms of power. Baelish’s confidence and competences give a false sense of security to Sansa (”Again he had the answer.”). And that not only is she susceptible to his charming words and manner / grooming, but that she has displayed a feeble resistance and willingness to submit to them as she has few others to turn to and can’t afford to lose him as a protector.

Ready for the world cup

remember when you used to be able to play snake with the… hold on what’s it called

hmm. don’t think i’ll be calling it that. anyways i was gonna say remember when you could play snake with the buffering circle on youtube but. now i have other concerns

🙃 Regular reminder that while Hozier has amazing love songs, he is ALSO very outspoken about his leftist politics, specifically anti-fascism, anti-racism, reproductive rights, Palestinian rights and more.

Take Me To Church and Foreigner’s God are scathing critiques of organized religion, specifically the Catholic Church and the colonization of Ireland.

Moment’s Silence is about oral sex but it’s ALSO about how that specific sexual act is often distorted to a show of power rather than that of love.

Nina Cried Power is an homage to various (mostly Black) civil rights activists from the US and Ireland and a call to follow their path.

Be criticizes anti-migrant policies and Trump and his ilk.

Jackboot Jump is about the global wave of fascism and about protest and resistance.

Swan Upon Leda is about reproductive rights and the violent colonial oppression of Ireland and Palestine.

Eat Your Young is about the ruinous way the 1%/capitalism and arms dealers prioritize short-term profit over everything else to the detriment of the youth/99%

Butchered Tongue is about Irish and other indigenous languages being suppressed and erased by imperial powers.

If any of the above surprised you, please, please delve deeper into Hozier’s music, you’re missing such an important part of his work.

just learned about the granulated sea star . . .

dont talk to me

what is your holy trinity of fruits

Watan, "Catfiyyeh"

Why do people always act surprised when you say you have live spiders in your pocket, and they ask if you really have spiders in your pocket, and you tell them you do and you pull out several vials containing live spiders

Imagine how much more interesting The Dance of Dragons era would have been if we could read it through Rhaenyra's and Aegon's pov.

...jesus christ

is this a fucking joke

i am asking sincerely

is this a fucking joke

i am asking sincerely

History of Step

What is Stepping?

What is Step?

Stepping or step dancing is “a percussive dance in which the participant’s body is used to produce complex rhythms and sounds through a mixture of footsteps, spoken word, and hand-claps,” writes the African American Registry.

Step has its origins in Africa, as dancing has been a large part of traditional African culture for centuries.

Calling Step a "bizarre silent dance without music" has to be one of the wilder antiblack racist descriptions I've ever heard of stepping lmao. Anyway if you see the video, it's step!!! They're stepping!! It's a Black American form of dance!!

The devastating difference between how much time it takes to write something vs how fast people read it lol

From the Freedom Flotilla, April 27 2024:

On Thursday afternoon, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was contacted by the Guinea Bissau International Ships Registry (GBISR), requesting an inspection of our lead ship – Akdenez. This was a highly unusual request as our ship had already passed all required inspections; nevertheless, we agreed. The inspector arrived on Thursday evening. On Friday afternoon, before the inspection was completed, the GBISR, in a blatantly political move, informed the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that it had withdrawn the Guinea Bissau flag from two of the Freedom Flotilla’s ships, one of which is our cargo ship, already loaded with over 5000 tons of life-saving aid for the Palestinians of Gaza. In its communication informing us of this cancelation, the GBISR made specific reference to our planned mission to Gaza. It also made several extraordinary requests for information, including confirmation of the ships’ destination, any potential additional port calls, and the discharge port for humanitarian aid and estimated arrival dates and times. It further demanded a formal letter explicitly approving the transportation of humanitarian aid and a complete manifest of the cargo. Again, this is a highly unusual move from a flagging authority. Normally, national flagging authorities concern themselves only with safety and related standards on vessels bearing their flag, and are not concerned with the destination, route, cargo manifests or the nature of a specific voyage. Just like when you register your car, the authorities don’t require you to detail to them every place you are going to go with the car. Sadly, Guinea-Bissau has allowed itself to become complicit in Israel’s deliberate starvation, illegal siege and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel is showing the world the extent to which it will go to deny Palestinians the aid they need to stay alive, in direct contravention of International Humanitarian Law, UN Security Council resolutions, and two orders of the International Court of Justice. [...] without a flag, we cannot sail. But, this is not the end. Israel cannot and will not crush our resolve to break its illegal siege and reach the people of Gaza. The people of Gaza and all of Palestine remain steadfast under the most horrific, unimaginable conditions. We take strength from their incredible, inexplicable ability to maintain their humanity, dignity and hope when the world has given them no reason to do so. It is our responsibility to keep that hope alive. WE WILL SAIL.

The Freedom Flotilla, which was set to depart from Turkey on the 27th of April with 5000 tons of life-saving aid, has now been delayed because Israel and the United States has pressured Guinea Bissau to withdraw its flag from the Flotilla's lead ship.

Seeing as how their tactics worked on Guinea Bissau, organizers now fear that Israel and the US will exert the same pressure on whichever country the Freedom Flotilla attempt to register their ship under next.

To help the Freedom Flotilla reach Gaza, please keep an eye out for further updates from the organizers. Right now, as of April 27th, they're asking people to help boost their visibility, and to donate to their member campaigns.

For more info, see their webpage.

Hey guys, I have a priority fundraiser rotation for you:

Fadi & Shahed: 2,044 USD out of 62.5k

Sana'a & Sujood: 12,016 £ out of 50k

Mahmoud Qassas: 9,994$ out of 200k

Ezzideen Shehab: 10,296€ out of 32.5k.

Hussam Aburamadan: 16,374€ out of 148k.

Hamdi Hijazi: 1,511$ out of 25k.

Suheir Hojok: 16,897 AUD out of 70k.

Madleen Abu Jayyab: 29,005$ out of 70k.

I have personally verified every one of these campaigns listed here.

As Mona's campaign nears completion I'm preparing for you this list so we can show these families the same amazing and unbelievable support we showed Mona and her family. The invasion of Rafah grows nearer everyday. Please understand the urgency of this campaign.

Version date: April 25th 2024.