#Brandon Architects

[writingquestionsanswered]

Brandon Sanderson used the analogy of the outliner and the discovery writer, like GRRM' architect and gardener. I realized recently that the more detailed my outline the less likely I'm going to*start* the story, so I keep it rough. The discovery part, though at times incovenient, is part of what makes writing fun for me. However, that becomes a real problem during the 2nd/3rd draft. I have no problem reading the draft and make corrections, but rewriting them is a *struggle*. Any advice?

Struggling with Rewriting

Have you tried making corrections as you go? That's what works for me. If I print out my manuscript and go through it with a red pen, or read all the way through it on my laptop and mark problems as I go, I get completely overwhelmed by the prospect of going back to the beginning and now making all of those changes. You feel like "I just did this" and now you have to do it all over again.

So, what I do instead is I read through my document and make the changes as I go. If I need to rewrite a section, I move the part I'm rewriting down a few spaces so I can reference it as I retype in the space above it. If it's a long section, I delete the old paragraphs as soon as I'm done with them. By doing it this way, I get through the rewrite in a way that feels more efficient and more productive. Sometimes, I think it's even better than going back later to make the changes, because the changes you want to make (and your reasons for wanting to make them) are still fresh in your mind. Everything just makes more sense to me that way. When I get to the end of that rewrite, I go through it again... and this time, I'll make only occasional changes. If I need to do it once more, I do. Only then, when all the rewrites are done, do I get out my "red pen" and do line edits.

If that doesn't work for you, you might try some of the exercises in the following posts, which help to reignite your love for your story:

Guide: How to Rekindle Your Motivation to Write Getting Excited About Your Story Again Getting Unstuck: Motivation Beyond Mood Boards & Playlists

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[hometoursandotherstuff]

Thanks to unpepper for sending in this beautiful, from the outside, 1972 mid-century modern in Brandon, Florida. The interior is so weird, one must wonder what the architect was thinking. 4bds, 5ba, $1.55M. Take a look at this one.

But, first, you gotta love the corkscrew bushes. It makes me think of going thru the carwash w/those big rotating brushes.

Enter thru the wide double doors, hang a right or a left, but DO NOT go straight.

Whatever this thing is, it just screams to be filled with plastic balls. What are those pipes coming down from the ceiling? Maybe they a had a sign hanging.

The area in front of the window reminds me of a stage. This is just so weird.

There is a counter on the right and more stairs, but they left the chairs, so that was nice.

Okay, so the counter is a too-small bar. You go down the stairs, then up 3 stairs to get behind the bar.

There's a little bar fridge behind here and a tap, but this house is nuts.

Then from the bar, you can go down these stairs to what, shelving, maybe the laundry room, who knows?

And, straight ahead is, what I think is, a family room w/a 1/2 bath.

This is your everyday dining room with a built-in desk (watch your step coming out that door).

The kitchen has dated cabinets, but they're not bad, a very interesting ceiling, and brand new appliances.

Behind the kitchen is a formal dining room and another paneled room next to it.

The guest powder room.

And this is either a closet, pantry, &/or utility room.

There's a nice big enclosed patio on the side of the house. Would make a great conservatory.

A hall and stairs go down to this room. Since it's open, it must be a TV room, unless it's the primary bedroom. Who knows in this crazy house?

It has a huge bathroom with a separate room for the tub, shower, and toilet.

Then this is another bedroom with an en-suite. Note how they thoughtfully placed the sinks so 2 people don't bang their butts together.

Outside, the pool is enclosed in a Floridian "birdcage." At the far end is a small building that houses the pool filter and supplies.

There's also a lovely pond on the property.

Pretty gazebo by the pond.

And, if all the toilets in the house aren't enough, another one is conveniently located in one of the 3 garages.

The property measures a large 4.11 acres.

[kifkay]

Jobs the Winx pick after they’re done adventuring [NewGen au]

the Winx, although still friends and partners, had officially disbanded! now they’re off to their solo adventures. this is an AU, where not all of the Winx-Specialists pairs ended up settling down together - because, let’s be honest, high school sweethearts rarely do.

Stella:

In her mid-to-late thirties, Rhodos abdicates and officially passes down the crown of Solaria to Stella.

Stella and Brandon are still dating and very much in love.

Before becoming Queen, Stella tries out a lot of occupations — she owns a fashion boutique, starts in a couple of (failed) movies, runs a couple of charities which help repatriate Domino survivors.

Once, she even directs a documentary about the Winx and the Specialists. It ends up having very… controversial reviews, but the Team thinks it’s fun.

As queen, Stella advocates for friendly relationships between Solaria and many of the other planets - including Domino, Andros, Zenith. Even Eraklyon, although her and Sky don’t get along much these years.

Her and Brandon foster a girl, Mara, whom Brandon had rescued from a branch of a weird cult that settled in Solaria. Despite previously agreeing to at least hold off on having children, they love Mara to bits and are very protective over her.

Bloom:

Previously: Travelling Architect. Her one true calling. Bloom vastly enjoys being able to travel planet to planet, and come up with breathtaking architectural designs. This also gives her an opportunity to visit her girls more often.

As of now: Domino Palace Archivist. Queen Daphne’s mysterious illness has re-surfaced. Furthermore — it is progressing alarmingly fast. The royal family must be prepared for the worst, and so the second-born princess is called back to the castle urgently. For the next five years, Bloom serves as the Archivist of Domino’s records and history, as well as being low-key groomed to take over the realm - at Daphne’s own insistence.

In that period, Bloom finally moves on from her decade long on-and-off again situationship with Sky. She marries a warlock curse-breaker Saffi, with whom she has a daughter — Vanessa Mari.

Bloom also inherits her mother’s seat in the Company of Light and holds quite an important position there. Helia, who inherited Saladin’s seat, becomes her close ally and friend. Their family spend many weekends together, vacationing on beaches and having picnics.

Flora:

Currently: Guardian Fairy of Linphea, focusing on protecting various eco-systems of her home-world.

She is more of an alchemist and a researcher these days, rather than an active combatant. Flora arrives in places that have been de-stabilised by either extreme bouts of magic or human intervention, and seeks to heal them.

On a mission to a particularly messed up place which reeks of dark magic corruption, Flora meets an old friend — Mirta, who has been commissioned as a dark magic consultant! They get dinner afterwards, and well… it just goes great after that.

Flora is loving being a step-mom to Mirta’s daughter <3

Musa:

She becomes a musician and a singer, like she always wanted. Musa doesn’t reach amassing success, but she has a loyal fan base who love her for her amazing lyricism and vocals.

Tecna serves as her manager for quite some time, until she resigns for… reasons.

Musa was so sure she would marry Riven one of those days - but then he starts acting weird. Distancing himself. Holding secrets. Eventually, the specialist makes a huge spectacle of publicly severing all contact with the Team - and her. They break up, because of course they do.

Then, Riven goes off the grid. Completely disappears.

Time goes by, Musa stops touring and becomes a music composer. Her clientage is huge and spans many planets.

She has two daughters, one son, one husband and one ex (not Riven), who succumbs to a horrible, magically corrupting illness which, seemingly, comes out of nowhere.

Aisha:

Her and Nabu are going strong. She is the crown princess to the throne of Andros and he is her consort.

Being back in the palace of Andros — constantly reminded of horrible treatment and stifling loneliness she has been subjected to as a child — is hard on Aisha.

She starts regressing, becoming more withdrawn from her friends and acquaintances. Aisha is still a rebel at her core, willing to stand up and fight for what she thinks is best — but. she is just. so tired.

Nabu is always at her side. They have happy times; times, when the darkness and the apathy retreat to let Aisha breathe.

Aisha acts as Andros’s ambassador. Her, Stella, Sky and Bloom & Helia (who had both inherited seats in the Company of Light from their parents/grandparent) often work together.

They have two children, Manar and Sagar.

In recent years, Nabu had gotten ill. loosing his energy, his strength, his magic. none of the healers can explain the sudden shift in a seemingly healthy man; they only theorise that he might be suffering previously-latent repercussions of his comma and entanglement with the Dark Circle.

Aisha spirals again and distances herself from everybody but her closest family.

Tecna:

like Stella, Tecna alternated many professions.

throughout their years at Alfea, Tecna - thanks to her well-rounded and all encompassing education in Zenith, which included music theory, - has helped Musa in her artistry. Giving feedback, searching for gigs, sharing artists she might learn from online.

when Musa officially starts her music careers, she asks Tecna to be her manager - to which the girl readily agrees.

Tecna also freelances on the side: developing flying software for the Red Fountaine, writing codes and whatever else she finds interesting. Zenith tries desperately to get her to work for them, but she is not really interested.

Tecna is not interested in any romantic relationships, but stays close with almost all of her friends. Even Riven!

After years of working together, Tecna resigns as Musa’s manager. It’s a clean break and neither is terribly upset: Tecna is Musa’s kids’ godmom, for Dragon’s sakes! They stay close, although Tecna is awfully tight-lipped about her “new project with Timmy”.

The project Timmy and her are working on is — well, neither Internet nor any planet has records on it.

Currently: Tecna is working her way up as a Zenithian lab researcher. She doesn’t seem to be making much headway, but Tecna doesn’t lose hope. Eventually, she’ll get where she needs to be…

The Specialists will be up next! hopefully, the text is coherent enough <3 trying out something new

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

More A-Town Headcanons

Courtesy of Cates!

[For those of you just tuning in: A-Town is the shitty postwar sitcom inspired by the life of Jake Berenson, to the eternal annoyance of Jake Berenson.]

The first time Eva’s stand-in, named Laura, appears on the show, she’s working as a nanny and housekeeper.  Following complaints of stereotyping, the next time she appears she's an architect. For some reason the show tries to justify the change instead of just leaving the continuity error; a character asks about her career change and Laura says she "quit my job and decided to go to school and get a Master’s." In universe, it's been three weeks since we last saw her as a nanny-housekeeper. There’s a horrifying implication that the entire family she worked for are infested, including the baby.

The school that Brandon A. and his fauximorphs attend has had half a dozen proms so far this year.  It's a great excuse to have a whole bunch of people packed together in low lighting, making it very easy to suggest there's a lot more action and fighting than actually occurs. At one point the show's only big predator, a lion, shows up at the prom and hangs out even after the threat is gone and all the characters are visible on screen, suggesting the lion isn't a morpher but is in fact just a random lion at prom.

The theme song is heavy on guitars and synthesizers and it's ridiculously catchy. (Think Rocket Power.) The first few times Jake heard it he thought it was deeper and grittier than the show because it contained the line "all we can do is fight and cope," only to realize that it was "all we do is for right and hope."

In A-Town, the kids meet in a tree house, not a barn. One night while Cassie and Rachel are at a play together, Jake and Tobias end up getting drunk together during an intense discussion of the show and admitting that the fauximorphs meeting in a tree house is actually a really good idea.  It's a higher vantage point, it's easy to see or hear anyone coming, it's impossible to sneak up on, it's a place where kids actually hang out, and it's a place grown-ups wouldn't venture into for the most part. This culminates in Jake earnestly apologizing for not building Tobias a tree house and Tobias declaring "every tree is my house," which they both think is really profound for 3.5 minutes.

It's ambiguous whether a current morpher needs to be touching the green dodecahedron at the time for someone new to gain the ability to morph. The answer to this question has serious plot implications, which are of course never explored.

The A-Town yeerks are allergic not to oatmeal, but to Campbell's Chicken & Stars Soup. Campbell runs a promotion telling kids to "buy our soup to fight the yeerks!"

You know what's hard to train? Red tailed hawks. You know what isn't hard to train? Parakeets.

[professorsparklepants]

Modern au Brandon Stark should be an architect send tweet

[fictional-library-tournament]

Polls masterlists

Prelims round 1

Four polls a day, each open for a day. This post will provide links to them and also give their status. If I've got my timings right, the last of these should end midnight GMT on the 9th December.

Poll 1 completed!

Winner: Junior Woodchucks Guidebook, Guardians of the Lost Library by Don Rosa

Poll 2 completed!

Winner: Endless Athenaeum, Critical Role – Campaign 1: Vox Machina

Poll 3 completed!

Winner: Noumenon, Final Fantasy XIV

Poll 4 completed!

Winner: Kiersau Abbey Library, Pentiment

Poll 5 completed!

Winner: Neo-Gotham Public Library, Batman Beyond

Poll 6 completed!

Winner: Downing Hill Public Library, Hello from the Hallowoods by William A Wellman

Poll 7 completed!

Winner: Mrs Phelps' library, Matilda by Roald Dahl

Poll 8 completed!

Winner: Sazed's Copperminds, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Poll 9 completed!

Winner: ART's archives, The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Poll 10 completed!

Winner: Bag End library, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Poll 11 completed!

Winner: Sunai, The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Cando

Poll 12 completed!

Winner: Merlin's Library, The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne

Poll 13 completed!

Winner: The Scholomance Library, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Poll 14 completed!

Winner: The Thunderhead, Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Poll 15 completed!

Winner: The Black Archives, Doctor Who

Poll 16 completed!

Winner: Vault of Knowledge, Sky: Children of the Light

Poll 17 completed!

Winner: SCP-4001 "Alexandria Eternal", SCP Foundation

Poll 18 completed!

Winner: Death's library, The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Poll 19 completed!

Winner: The Lines Between, Dimension 20: Neverafter

Poll 20 completed!

Winner: Justice Strauss' library, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

Poll 21 completed!

Winners: The Library, Clue/Cluedo; The Incorruptible Republic of the Immortal Library of the Grand Architect (aka The Incorruptible Library), Girl Genius

[voxina]

More about the brand of the tank top wore by Louis on stage in Panama City.

Designed and founded by openly gay actor Luke Evans and his life partner, architect Fran Tomas, and renowned stylist Christopher Brown, BDXY (pronounced “buddy”) is a playful combination of “bold” and “sexy“, reflecting the line's aesthetic, inspired by old Hollywood glamour.

BDXY is a 12-piece collection of classics that include a tee, vest, underwear, swimwear, shorts, a towel, a tote bag, and even a candle.

"It’s evident looking at the collection, from the hazy summery colours, to the quality of the collection that every detail has been thought out by the trio. The clothes have a classic 1950s. old Hollywood feel to them. Pieces like shell shorts time travel to another iconic era of fashion, the 70s, creating an evergreen vintage touch to BDXY. The Marlon Brandon heartthrob illusion is aided by having an actual A-list film and TV actor sitting in front of me, wearing BDXY as he enthusiastically discusses the clothes with a velvety Welsh accent."

Full interview here:

[proceduralpassion]

I Don't Wanna Be Unfair | Chapter 09

Pairing: Jax Teller x OC Series Masterlist

Summary/synopsis: Fresh off a broken engagement, McKenzie Gilbert has a one night stand with a random guy she never plans to see again. Soon after, their paths cross, which complicates several situations at hand.

Chapter warning(s): language, smut (oral sex; female receiving, PiV sex, shower sex, a lil degradation kink? 👀 a lil brat taming? 👀), BRANDON, violence (mention of blood, guns, gunshot wound, some medicine)

WC: ~10.2k (i went awf lol)

Jax combed over the papers sat in front of him, trying his hardest to focus. SAMCRO and the Street Wolves now officially owned their first piece of joint property together and the next phase was to get the necessary building inspection in order. He lazily gleaned over the various checklists that outlined all of the building codes that needed to be satisfied. He’d been in the Garden lounge for hours making sure everything was in check after Sairah gracefully went over what to expect that might need to be done. His desire for the inspection to go smoothly was only one of the thoughts that was cartwheeling through his mind all day. The other was McKenzie. 

It had been about two weeks since they started their arrangement, and in that time, they had managed to christen the entirety of Jax’s house along with the back of McKenzie’s Camry and against a tree on their impromptu hiking date last weekend. 

Besides that first sneaky link in a dorm room at the Garden, they had been careful not to mess around or even interact much under the nose of others. And even though he was very much enthralled by McKenzie’s suggestion to swing by her firehouse while she was on shift so that they could have a rendezvous in the back of an ambulance, he wasn’t even willing to risk the possibility of her coworkers finding out about them. 

They had quickly eased into the exhilarating dynamic and it had been the most enlivening experience Jax had had in years. Thrilling in the sense that their deception was caught on by none. But simple in the sense that there were no expectations. Uncomplicated. Caveat free.

Jax let out a sigh and forced himself to focus yet again on the papers he was supposed to be studying. It was like he couldn’t get enough of her. Every idle moment he had, his mind veered off to thoughts of her. She was everywhere even when she wasn’t there physically. From the moment they would part, he would wonder when the next time he’d get to see her again. 

“Yeah, I just need to go shower, Lise.” 

McKenzie’s voice flowed in from the hallway and he could just barely register movement through the cracked door. Jax pushed himself out of the chair and walked towards the lounge door. When he opened it further, McKenzie was walking towards a dorm room where she’d presumably go to take a shower in one of the adjointed bathrooms. A second set of footsteps could be heard from the opposite end of the hall and Lisa appeared from the stairs.

“Hey, Lisa,” Jax greeted her for the first time today, “Everything alright?”

“Oh, yeah, looks like McKenzie had a shitty shift if the dried up blood on her clothes is any indication,” Lisa supplied, “You would think working a morning half-shift would be slow in this neck of the woods…”

Jax rubbed his chin, “Yeah, you could say the same thing for Charming, but the ER was always busy at St. Thomas.”

Lisa hummed in acknowledgement, “So what are you up to? Still going over those notes Sairah outlined for you?”

“Yeah, she’s very… thorough,” Jax laughed and Lisa joined in, but not in surprise.

“The perks of having an architect in your pocket!” Building codes and city ordinances were already in Sairah’s wheelhouse given her line of work, so Gil looping her in for advice on how best to pass all these inspections wasn’t much of a large feat. As much as she playfully complained about being “on-call” for people who weren’t her clients, she never not anticipated being of assistance once the Street Wolves and SAMCRO went into legit business.

From down the stairs, the two heard one of the bartenders calling for Lisa to sign an incoming delivery of imported tequila. Lisa left with a pat on his back to go tend to business and Jax watched her until she was completely down the stairs. 

And then his gaze flicked back to the opposite end of the hall in the direction McKenzie went. He stood still for another second or so, making sure no one else was coming up into the Street Wolf territory that was separate from the bar. And even though his mind reminded him that maybe he should keep his distance while under a roof shared with the very people they were attempting to mask their arrangement from, his legs carried him towards wherever she was. Aside from simply wanting to be near her, he couldn’t fight the urge to check on her after what sounded like a tense shift. He was sure she was fine, but still, he wanted to confirm for himself. 

Any potential messing around that might arise from them being in a quiet space away from prying eyes was simply an added bonus.

Slipping into the dorm room, he followed the noise of the running water in the ensuite bathroom. The door was unlocked and she was already under the steaming hot water as he began to undress himself. Without warning, he ripped the shower curtain back and clamped a hand around her mouth. A small squeak was still able to peek through, but it was masked by Jax’s own chuckle when he saw her eyes slit from alarm to relief and annoyance. 

When he moved his hand, she whisper-yelled, “Jesus, Jax!” 

He could feel her rapid heart beat slowing down as they stood chest to chest in the shower. Within the small space, she maneuvered them so that he wasn’t directly under the showerhead. She didn’t know how he’d explain why his hair was wet otherwise. 

He wore a lopsided grin instead of apologizing before adding, “Thought you’d might want some company…” The glint in his eyes became more hedonic as they swept down her body.

“Feeling reckless, are we?” 

His hands moved to her hips in response and she shivered irresistibly against his touch. 

“A little,” he whispered against the skin of her jaw. A contented sigh flowed from her lips and her hands reached towards the back of his neck. Soon enough, their lips met and tangled in a tug of war that gradually heated. McKenzie could feel his desire for her grow against her thigh as he deepened the kiss.

Jax was the first one to pull back, his kisses leaving her lips but returning to her jaw. His hands continued exploring the contours of her hips. They were wrapped as if he were holding handlebars and his thumbs danced along closer to the interior of her thighs. Her breath hitched as one of his thumbs lightly brushed against a sensitive spot of skin.

He kissed her lips once more before asking, “You okay?”

“Yeah, that feels good,” she licked her lips. 

“No, I meant about earlier… Lisa said you had a rough shift?”

McKenzie’s eyes softened in understanding and maybe appreciation. There were a million things she could say about the shifts that dragged the life out of her, but she found nothing to say in that moment in this small space with minimal distance between them. 

“I’m okay,” she simply said.

“You sure?” His eyes traced over her. He found curiosity in her eyes before she opened her mouth to reply.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Good.”

And then, he placed a delicate kiss on her lips as he grabbed under her thigh and held her between himself and the shower wall. His other hand rested on the wall itself and he deepened the kiss to swallow out her moans as he sank into her. They were on borrowed time, and even though he could’ve stayed in there with her forever, he made use of the several minutes he was given.

He sped up as soon as she became acclimated to the sensation of him in her depths. His thrusts became gradually harsher and rougher, with the feeling of McKenzie’s nails digging into his back encouraging his unrelenting pace. The feeling of her legs shaking gave him indication that she was as close as he was. Instead of slowing down, he kept his furious pace until he could feel teeth marks around his shoulder. They reached their muzzled peaks together.

The sound of the water running and them catching their breaths were the only things heard within the small space. 

Seconds passed as their bodies disconnected. Their eyes, however, remained glued on each other. Soon, a shy smile coveted McKenzie’s lips. 

Jax began to wash himself in the shower and her smile only grew.

“Wowwww, so not only do you come and interrupt my shower, you steal it too?”

She could see the lazy smirk on his face from the side as he swiped the bottle of Irish Spring from the rack. 

“To be fair, it was needed after that workout.”

He winked at her as she shook her head while pushing him so that she was closer up under the water. He chuckled and they finished cleansing their bodies together. Jax left the shower before her and was out of the bathroom by the time McKenzie turned the water off. She opened the door to the adjoining dorm room and saw him peeking out to check if the coast was clear. Without looking, he heard her traipse behind him.

“I’m getting ready to go back out there. We’re heading into the town today.” 

She nodded and gave him a wet hug, “Thanks for stopping by.” 

Jax grinned, “Any time, darlin’.”

************

Jax took off his helmet before strapping it in its place on his bike and dismounting the Dyna. He blew out a heavy, yet excited sigh as he looked all around the slowly familiar town. It was still as empty as it was the last several times he’d been here, but that was where the excitement came in. With time and if they played their cards right, SAMCRO and the Street Wolves could be the defining factor that took this place from a ghost town into a profitable, thriving urbane.

All of the members from both crews were here, the first time everyone would be visiting their first joint property together. Remarkably, it was the biggest property on the lengthy, deserted street. And it would hopefully one day come to be their very own casino. 

There were dozens of ideas that were flipped around in their various meetings and starting a casino was one that they kept coming back around to. Through all of their ideas, one of the topics of debate was what would be the most sensible avenue for them to go into their first foray of business. Sure, they had the far-seeing plans to open stores, maybe a restaurant, a strip club, an arcade or bowling alley, but with their current contacts and connections, with the experience that they already had as former outlaws, starting a casino seemed to be the most advantageous. It had the most promise of being a success.

“Here’s our future, boys!” Gil exclaimed with his arms held wide. Cheers and raucous excitement filled the air as they all took in the visual tangibility of their dreams.

One by one, they filed into the large, desolate space and envisioned their future. 

“The place is yours to look around, boys! Get the lay of the land,” Jax proclaimed, “Take note. Hell, take pictures. By our next meeting, we want everyone’s input about how we can build the best damn casino this shithole has ever seen!”

Jax, Gil, Flu, and Bobby had all seen the property a few times by now, having visited the premises with the real estate agent. Still, that didn’t stop Bobby from going up the steps to marvel at the detailing of the balcony railings or Flu from showing Sweets the broken, dusty jukebox in the corner near the front windows. 

Jax and Gil stood to the side and mainly enjoyed everyone else’s explorations. They looked at each other briefly and shared a joyous laugh at just how exciting this all was. It was no longer just talk for them. The wheels were in motion. 

Not unlike the wheels that screeched to a halt right outside. 

The sound was jarring, except no one really got the chance to register what the noise was until the ringing sound of gunshots filled the air. Like butter, they drilled through the glass windows and punctured the door and walls. Jax stumbled backwards from the sheer surprise with a “holy shit” pulled from the back of his throat. Gil fell forwards right next to him and they both leapt to reach for their own guns.

Bobby, Rev, and Chibs had better visuals from the second level and shot through the upstairs, loft-like windows. A couple of others were able to get a few shots off from below but most avoided pulling their triggers for fear of bullet ricocheting and hitting their close-by brothers-in-arms. With limited sight to the outside without peeking up and getting their heads blown off, most of them were unable to get an idea of who was popping off the shots.

Less than a minute after the shots first rang out, they could hear the tires squelch as their assailants fled the scene. Opie, who was closest to the front entrance, kicked the bullet-ridden door open and stalked outside. With Jax and Gil on his heels, he fired off a few shots that only bounced off the retreating black SUV. The vehicle had sped off so fast they weren’t even able to get a look at how many people were inside. There was a silent second of contemplation over whether to hop on their bikes and chase after whoever just opened a demented can of worms. Before they could make the decision however, there were pain-filled groans emanating from inside. 

Marching back inside, they were met with the image of Sweets lying on the floor, clutching his blood-soaked shoulder. Flu leaned over him and held pressure to the wound as Chibs jogged over to help.

“What the fuck just happened?” Rev exclaimed. 

All around, the members of SAMCRO and Street Wolves caught their breath while warily asking themselves the same question.

Jax spoke up trying to restore order, “We don’t have time to figure that out right now. We gotta get the hell out of here!” They had zero indication of who these people were, what they were after, and whether they were circling the block.

“Let’s get back to the Garden and regroup!” Gil was dialing the keys on his phone as he gave his order and Jax heard him giving Lisa a heads up about what had just happened and whether McKenzie was still at the Garden. 

Flu and Chibs helped Sweets up and guided him outside with alert and cautious eyes for any impending danger. Jax took a look out of the window himself and saw that while there was extensive damage done to the SAMCRO van that Half-Sack had driven, the tires seemed intact and would be okay for the drive back into Highwater; there’d be no way for Sweets to drive his own bike with the damage done to his shoulder.

Rev and Jax cast wary glances at each other in between surveying the damage inside and attempting to process what the fuck just happened. Their new property was mostly barren, so they didn’t care enough to closely examine each morsel of damage since the place was going to need considerable renovations, anyway. They simply made note of what they could see from their vantage point near the front of the building and began to slowly walk out. 

As they all rode back to the Garden, Jax tried to reason through who could’ve been responsible for them nearly getting their heads blown off today. They were supposed to be on their way to a brand new paved road of legitimateness. And this major hitch in the road needed to be answered for. He let his mind roll through all of SAMCRO’s former enemies, but found none that would fit the bill. They were good with the IRA, as neutral as they could be after their clubhouse was blown up. Marcus Alvarez was practically bounding with glee when Jax brokered a deal that gave the Mayans some good arms dealing contacts that SAMCRO was no longer doing business with. Jimmy O was dead. Pope was dead. Zobelle was somewhere living it up on an island. Clay only sees sunlight one hour of the day. There was no one they left the game having active beef with.

He shook his head, still confused and anxious, as he dismounted his bike near the side entrance of the Garden. The Street Wolves had even less enemies than SAMCRO and Gil had already been upfront about their adversaries when the two clubs were first in talks to start this journey together. None of those names set off any alarms in Jax’s head, either. 

He held the door open for Chibs and Flu who each held one of Sweets’ arms as they guided him inside. Lisa and McKenzie were already waiting by the side door and McKenzie immediately jumped into action by leading them upstairs. The closest dorm room nearby had already been set up something close to a hospital room, with all kinds of gauze, medical equipment, and medications prepped and ready to go. 

McKenzie pried off the part of Sweets’ shirt that was now caked with congealing blood. 

Chibs stood there waiting to assist, “It slowed down, but he’s still bleeding, lass. He’s been in and out of it.” 

“Yeah, it’s only a through and through, but he drinks like a fucking sailor which thins the blood,” McKenzie noted as she silently gestured for him to help lift his upper half. There were some pressors in her med kit that would help and she silently gestured for them as she continued examining the wounds. She wanted to make sure there were no small pellets or projectile still lodged inside his shoulder. 

“I was a sailor,” Sweets responds with garbled, half-conscious awareness, “Non sibi sed patriae.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, semper fi and all that shit,” McKenzie muttered, which earned her a glazed over glower from the man she considered an uncle. A glower she happily welcomed because that meant he was in his right mind to be annoyed with her dismissal. 

Meanwhile, across the hall, Gil had gathered everyone else into the lounge room to allow McKenzie and Chibs to work. The room was filled with buzzed up nerves and lots of questions. Gil paced around, his mood shot from how quickly this day had changed from celebratory into damn near deadly. 

“Okay, but seriously, what the fuck happened? Did anyone get a look at the shooters?” Rev asked as he leaned against the side table in front of the TV.

Bobby responded, “They were wearing all black and wore bandanas over their face. At least, one was White. There were three, maybe four, but it was hard to see with the bullets flying every which way.”

“One of those bandanas was the American flag but it had some green and orange in it…” Opie chimed in.

“IRA?” Ace questioned.

“No, the IRA have their own flag.” Gil answered.

“Wait, was it like the stripes that were orange and green?” Cam piped up. He, along with X, were the newest prospects of the Street Wolves. X stayed glued to the wall with his mouth shut, like a prospect was expected to. And Cam was usually inclined to follow suit, but his mind was flashing him back to an odd moment that happened several weeks ago. His eyes flashed over to Brandon, who had been uncharacteristically silent since the shooting took place.

Gil caught Cam’s eyes and noticed the way Brandon had averted his gaze.

“What?” His voice was clipped, impatience on his tongue, “What is it?”

“It’s just that-” Cam only paused in hesitation for a minute but quickly let his words spill past his teeth as he took in how every face in the room was focusing on him. “When me and B made that run to Nevada, I just remembered… Brandon talking to a guy. And that guy had guys with him. And one of them had that same kind of bandana.”

Gil whizzed around to Brandon, nothing but ice in his voice, “What the fuck is he talking about?”

Brandon sighed and rubbed the back of his head with a hand, “Look, before this thing with the property went through, I had doubts that we were gonna be able to cough up the money…” 

Rev could already tell where this was going and he groaned out a “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me..”

Gil slit his eyes at him impatiently, irritated that there was something he was obviously not in the loop about, before facing Brandon again. 

Jax, too, knew exactly where this was heading and the source of how this trouble may have started. He remembers the tense conversation he had to have with the reckless Street Wolf weeks ago for trying to pull in someone from the outside without even consulting Gil.

“There was a guy I knew from another guy and he was willing to put some skin in the game and maybe partner up with us.” Brandon put his hands up in defense at the sounds of indignation and disbelief that encircled the room, “I thought it’d be a good back up plan to have someone who could front us some cash, just in case.”

“Who?” 

By now, Gil’s hands were itching to be wrapped around his once almost son-in-law. His ears were ringing with fury. “Who?” was his simple inquiry, but the lethality in his tone was nothing Brandon wanted to undermine.

He sighed, “It was just some Irish guy,” he rushed out his next words to clear the air, “But he wasn’t fucking IRA, I swear. He told me to my face that he wasn’t affiliated anymore. He got pushed out by some Kings.”

Jax’s blood ran cold.

“Jesus Christ,” It suddenly became all too clear who the gunmen were hired by, “Galen fucking O’Shay?!”

“I swear to God this wasn’t part of the plan. Okay, he was pissed, but he never said anything about killing anybody.”

“Obviously, shit head, otherwise, we’d all be dead! This was a warning more than anything.” Rev supplied.

“Warning for what, though?” Juice implored, “What’s his fucking endgame? He’s mad he didn't get in on the deal, so now he’s just gonna what? Fuck up our shit??”

Opie jumped in, “Odds are he’s still pissy that we got him kicked out of the good graces of the Kings.” Out of the Street Wolves, Gil and Rev were the only ones who knew exactly what he was talking about, about how Jax told the Kings that Galen had been doing outside deals without their knowledge for decades and forthwith got him ex-communicated from the syndicate, “Which means he doesn’t have their backing anymore. Not saying we shouldn’t see him as a threat, considering today, but he doesn’t have the backing he used to.”

“Yeah, he’s probably been waiting for any chance to shoot us in the face after everything that went down,” Bobby contributed and then specifically addressed the Street Wolves, “Shitty that you gents got inadvertently kicked into the crossfire.”

Rev placated, “Nah, don’t worry about that. We all knew this was a possibility when we went into business together.”

“Exactly,” Gil echoed, though not all of the violent chill had left his voice as his eyes never left Brandon, “We’re not here to play the blame game. We just need to come up with a game plan on how to nip this shit in the bud immediately.”

Going legit and staying legit had always been the overarching goal. But even if they decided to let this go unanswered, they had no way of knowing whether Galen would try some shit like this again. For the sake of their livelihood, for the sake of their very lives, this wasn’t something that could just go ignored. Everyone in the room knew it. 

Much like they knew Brandon’s transgressions would have to be answered for. 

Gil locked eyes with Jax and a look of understanding passed between them.

Jax was still fuming himself, but he took the resigned, yet still agitated change in the air to steer this talk to a pause.

“Shit could’ve gotten real dicey. They got the element of surprise on us and it nearly led to losing one of our own. A few inches to the middle and that bullet could’ve easily sliced open Sweets’ heart,” Jax let that sit in the air for a few seconds before continuing, “We’re all hopped up on adrenaline right now, so we’ll leave this until tomorrow. But we will end this shit that Galen started. Nobody’s taking away all that we’ve been working towards.”

He swiped a dirty glare at Brandon while retreating and allowing everyone to take their leave. Several of them slumped over across the hall to check in on Sweets while others either chilled out in the lounge room or left the Garden entirely to take a ride for some fresh air. Jax caught a final glance at Gil and Brandon, the former silently signaling for the latter to follow him.

******

Before he could even react, Brandon felt the pain of his back and side being violently pushed up against the wall of the downstairs Wolves’ Den. He felt dread fill his entire frame as he followed Gil down the steps, past the patrons of the bar, and into the exclusive Wolves-only sanctuary. His trepidation was replaced by pangs of angry throbbing as Gil slammed him yet again against the cold, unforgiving wall.

Not that he would’ve dared fight back to begin with, but he wasn’t even given the chance to before Gil grabbed him by the shirt and thrusted him forward towards the now closed door. This time, the force elicited an agonized yelp from him.

“Ah, fuck!” He looked down and saw that his torso had connected with the knob of the door. There would surely be a bruised indentation of the pointy portion of the lock enclosed into his skin by morning.

He opened his mouth to at least explain himself, “Look, I just thought he would help-” 

“SHUT UP!” Gil’s voice boomed against the four walls of the room, his harsh glare focused on Brandon, “I don’t care what the fuck you thought, you’re not the fucking president of this club. You don’t make decisions and you sure as shit don’t go around trying to make deals without asking for my say so.”

“If we didn’t get the money-”

Gil’s fist connected with the apple of Brandon’s cheek with enough force that the man’s head bounced off the door he’d been holding onto. 

“Shit!” He exclaimed as he knelt down to the floor, clutching onto his cheek and the part of his face that had collided with the door.

“If we didn’t get the money from the bank, we would’ve figured something out. The right fucking way, even if it took longer than we planned. That’s just how the shit goes!” Gil began pacing around the table, attempting to calm his ire, “It wasn’t your fucking concern whether we got the money or not, that’s what Flu and Bobby had been appointed to focus on. Just like I, as the president of this club, has been appointed to make decisions on who does what and whether they have my say so. Did you get my fucking say so?!”

“Prez, if I could just-” Brandon coughed out.

Gil grabbed him by the shirt again and tossed him towards the lengthy table he’d been pacing around.

“Jesus fucking Christ, can you shut the fuck up and actually listen?!” Gil pushed him again, lightly, into one of the chairs. “I don’t wanna hear your goddamn excuses. The beginning and end of your actions ended up leading to Sweets getting a fucking hole in his shoulder.”

Gil sighed and leaned up against one of the chairs, “I know you had good intentions. I know you’re always doing what’s best for the club. The point is, you went over my head and tried to pull some shit that either you knew I wouldn’t approve of or you just wanted it to be some sort of surprise to show off. You thought you knew better, but you didn’t. Pulling a cowboy move like this doesn’t impress me, it pisses me off.” He shook his head at the young, cocky man sitting in front of him, “You want more responsibility, I can see it. But that shit takes trust, and I don't know whether I should put my trust in you after what’s happened.”

“You can trust me,” Brandon interjected, his voice ardent, “I made a mistake. I was just trying to pull my weight. I’ve been in the club almost ten years, Gil, I was just doing what I thought was best to help my brothers. You can’t blame me for that!” 

Gil’s eyes narrowed. There was sympathy in his look, sure, but there was still a whole lot of animosity in his orbs and Brandon wasn’t sure if he was about to wind up with some broken bones or not. 

But still, that small measure of sympathy.

A killer grip landed on Brandon’s shoulder as Gil leaned down and invaded his personal space.

“I’ve got just enough self-control right now not to throw you off the fucking roof. I’m gonna go upstairs. I’m gonna go check on Sweets. I’m gonna go kiss my wife. I’m gonna go take a fucking nap. When I wake back up, the entirety of this goddamn bar better be fucking spotless. If you’re gonna act like a hotshot, like you’re the fucking president of this MC, you’re gonna get treated like a useless ass prospect.” 

Brandon opened up his mouth to protest before Gil halted his words with a sneer, “Close your fucking mouth before I put a gun in it. Consider this a warning. You’re on probation until I say otherwise. You don’t like it? There’s the fucking door.” 

Gil backed away and his anger switched off like a light. It was replaced with dead fatigue now that the adrenaline from earlier had faded. He wandered out of the room and lugged up the stairs to check on his Sergeant-at-arms. Brandon stayed in his seat, rooted with anger in his veins.

*******

Jax sat at the bar, quietly nursing the whiskey Lisa had placed in front of him. She’d left him the entire bottle and he knocked back another shot as he waited for McKenzie to come downstairs. 

Over an hour had passed since she and Chibs had been holed up in the dorm room, taking care of Sweets. He was stable, they knew that much, but he still waited until she finally reappeared. There were several things he had intended on accomplishing today, but the abrupt chaos of earlier had seen to his productivity being squandered for the day.

The traffic of the bar had started to pick up some now that the afternoon was in full swing, and he had barely registered Gil emerging from the dark, secluded hallway that led to the Wolves’ Den. It wasn’t until the Street Wolves president had made his way over to Lisa and sought comfort in her arms that Jax noticed him. The man was still pretty young, about the same age as his mom, but he looked like he had aged ten years since the events of earlier. The presidents exchanged a tight nod before Gil retreated upstairs. 

Only several minutes later, McKenzie had finally appeared. Her eyes immediately met him and she gave him a tired smile as she walked over to where he was. 

“How is he?” 

“Knocked out,” she leaned against the bar and Jax noticed there were still remnants of dried blood under her fingernails. He grabbed a wet wipe from across the bar and handed it to her as she continued giving her assessment, “The bullet was a through and through, so no major damage. Gave him some pressors to stop the bleeding. As long as he stays off the bottle and keeps on his antibiotics, he should be good.” 

“Good,” he blew out a heavy sigh, putting a hand at the back of his head. 

Her eyebrows furrowed at the unease on his face, “He’s actually been shot before. And trust me, this was a miracle compared to that time he took a shiv to the neck when he was in prison… Shit, I was in high school and I still remember it like yesterday, one of the few times I’ve seen my dad cry.”

McKenzie could see he was in his own world as she tried to ease his comforts. She took a side glance and saw that Lisa was in the kitchen. Then, she grabbed his hand. 

“Hey, seriously, he’s okay. And this wasn’t your fault…” When some of the guys came in to check on Sweets, they filled Chibs in on what they had surmised had gone down, not minding that she was in the room, too. McKenzie wasn’t familiar with the name Galen O’Shay, but she heard the bristle in Juice’s voice as he gave an off-hand mention to some of SAMCRO’s dealings with the man. “Whatever history you got with that fucker aside, Brandon was out of his fucking mind to go behind my dad’s back like that,” she said. 

“Yeah, but, darlin’, you don’t know the half of it. This shit with Galen…”

“Is whatever it is,” McKenzie finished for him, “And you don’t have to tell me or explain. This still could have been avoided if that idiot hadn’t been trying to cowboy his way into some brownie points.” 

She didn’t have to have the full context of what played out. She knew that Brandon was always trying to assert himself or showboat his way into getting some shine. During their relationship, it was a common complaint he confided in her; constant harping on what he could do to elevate the club and persistent conviction that he deserved an officer position someday. 

She wasn’t fully aware of SAMCRO’s dealings with the IRA, but she knew enough to surmise that there was a loaded history there. Jax so much as said it just now. And it looked like that rendered itself into blame. Blame that he was obviously shouldering. But there was always something that could go wrong, always the possibility that some former ally or enemy of SAMCRO or the Street Wolves could pop back up. The possibility was always silently hanging in the air, even with as smooth a transition as both clubs had had so far into the world of legitimacy.

Jax planted a forced smile on his face, “Thanks, darlin’.” 

She could see straight through him, but she accepted the squeeze of her arm that he gave. 

He muttered that he was going to go see Sweets before he left and walked to the upper level of the Garden. 

**********

Rev was the last one remaining in the room where Sweets rested after everyone else left to give him time to rest. He sat there quietly for a while, allowing silence to permeate the air, giving the sergeant-at-arms the quiet he needed to recuperate peacefully. He was getting ready to leave from his vigil when the door slid open and Jax made himself known.

Rev nodded his head encouragingly, allowing the SAMCRO president to enter. He gestured towards the chair next to him, the seats far away enough for them to talk quietly and not disturb Sweets’ sleep. 

“Shitty day..” Jax remarked as he sat down.

“Could’ve been a lot shittier,” Rev supplied, turning his gaze back to the wounded man. It would’ve only taken the bullet being off by some inches for this to be an entirely different conversation right now.

Jax nodded in agreement. 

There were a few moments of comfortable silence before Jax spoke again. 

“Listen… About Galen-”

He felt responsible. After everything that happened with Clay and Tig, he took his mind off of taking down Galen O’ Shay. He figured things would be settled after he handed off his arms dealing to the Mayans. The rest of the Kings seemed satisfied that they still had their reach on the West Coast, and last he heard, they were even expanding to south of the border, as well. It was O’Shay who was still holding a vendetta against SAMCRO to the point that he bombed their T.M. clubhouse and got himself banished from the Kings syndicate. Instead of anticipating more revenge coming from the begrudged man, he allowed the situation to be a loose end in order to focus on going legit. Now, depending on what lies ahead, this could jeopardize everything they were working towards.

Almost sensing the burden of blame and responsibility Jax had lied on his shoulders, Rev interrupted him.

“You told us straight up, everything that transpired between SAMCRO and O’ Shay. And we still went into this business together. You came to a deal with the Kings that they agreed on. And that motherfucker was supposed to be persona non grata after he got kicked to the curb. We had no indication that he was just gonna come up out of the blue and try to stir shit up. Or that Brandon’s clown ass would be the in that Galen needed.”

Rev put a comforting hand on his shoulder before continuing, “I don’t need you blaming yourself, man. If anything, there’s enough to place on both clubs. Right now, though? We need all of us to be putting our heads together to figure out what this motherfucker’s deal is, and how to take him down before he ruins everything before we even get started.”

The Street Wolves VP stood from his chair and went to bend down on one knee at the bed, saying a short prayer for Sweets.

He got up and swiped a final glance at Jax before leaving the room, “A bend in the road isn’t the end of the road.” 

Out in the hall, Rev heard an insistent scrubbing noise coming from one of the other dorm rooms. He followed the sound until he reached one of the ensuite bathrooms where he found Brandon on his hands and knees, cleaning the tiles. He only stood there for a second before his presence was noted.

Brandon looked up, contempt in his eyes, “Gil send you to check up on me?”

Rev said nothing, only taking in the new-forming bruises and gashes on Brandon’s face as the man huffed and focused back on the tiles. The young man’s patience was wearing thin, though, so he looked back up and snapped, “Did you need something?!” 

His VP took a measured breath because he didn’t come in here with the intention of adding more physical trauma to the man’s battered form.

“I came here to speak with you, brother to brother, because I need you to understand what happened today,” Rev started. Brandon huffed again, but he dropped the toothbrush and stood so that he was level with him.

“Going off on your own, trying to make shit happen without the knowledge of your brothers… That’s what nearly got Sweets killed today. I get it, you’re trying to get back in Gil’s good graces, you’re trying to earn your keep-”

“If you get it, then why am I still getting my ass handed to me right now?” Brandon interrupted, unable to stop himself. 

“Because anybody would have!” Rev’s voice boomed uncharacteristically. “You think you didn’t deserve this shit?!” He mushed at Brandon’s face and pushed it towards the mirror so that he could see the damage patterning across his features. “Sweets could’ve died!”

“But he didn’t!” Brandon implanted. 

“And what if he did?! You’re acting like today couldn’t have gone any worse, what if Gil got shot? What if I got shot? Any of us?! Do you even fucking care?! We were sitting ducks and that shit could’ve easily been a blood bath, but all you fucking care about is that you’re rightfully suffering the consequences! It’s like that apology meant fucking nothing!”

Rev thought back to that heart to heart he and Brandon had just the other day and wondered whether it was all bullshit.

“Rev-”

This time, Brandon was the one interrupted, “You’re so full of shit. Your first response when Jax confronted you about this shit was making fucking excuses. And now you don’t care that you went behind the club’s back, you care that you got caught and called out. Your ego is gonna be the fucking death of someone, whether it’s you or someone else. You got lucky today and you’re still only focused on yourself, and not your own fucking brother.” Rev looked at him with disgust, “I don’t know how we’re even supposed to trust you, B.” 

“I make one bad move and that’s it?? All your trust is gone? What, you’re gonna tell Gil to bench me?”

Rev looked on at him, registering none of the friendship and brotherhood that was supposed to exist between them, “I’m telling him that I’m keeping a closer eye on you and that you don’t move until I say otherwise.” He shook his head at himself, knowing that some of the blame lied on him too, for not looping Gil in on the fact that Brandon was seeking outside partnership for the club, “Get your fucking act together, Brandon. I can’t be more worried about making sure you’re not fucking up than I am about making sure we’re all safe and our plans don’t get derailed. That’s dangerous for all of us…”

Brandon’s face was hard, but he nodded, knowing that there was nothing he could say that wouldn’t bite him back on the ass. With another disappointed shake of his head yet not another word, Rev left the room. Brandon waited until he could hear the VP’s receding footsteps no more before he released all of his anger, knocking over the bucket of mop water and punching the mirror.

**************

“Kinda light crowd in here tonight.” McKenzie remarked. She and Sairah were on one of their regular milkshake dates at the diner in town. 

Sairah looked around, “Just how I like it.”

McKenzie chuckled and then smiled in thanks at the waitress who brought them their blueberry cheesecake shakes. 

“So, I’ve been kind of slacking on the apartment search, I know. I’ll probably start looking online this weekend, it’s not like there’s a lot of rentals here in Highwater.”

Sairah waved her off, “Stay as long as you need. It’s home for as long as you want it to be.” 

The older Gilbert sister smiled again in appreciation. She expected the response, but she still didn’t want to get complacent in not finding a place for herself and moving out. Being one of the lucky ones who enjoyed her career, Sairah often took her work home with her. The small house was filled with small projects of architectural design that the young woman had worked on all by herself. She had bought the property about a year ago and was taking her time, enjoying making the fixer-upper her own. 

McKenzie didn’t want to intrude on her space and so made it a goal of hers to eventually look around Highwater for somewhere of her own. 

It also wouldn’t hurt that it’d be easier to sneak around with Jax at her own place, but that was more of an afterthought than anything. Though, it had come to the forefront of her mind more than once this past week. She looked down at her phone and shook her head to herself. She could at least have some restraint while on her sisterly outing.

She looked up to see that Sairah was on her own phone, texting out a message longer than her usual short responses.

“Rev?” 

An educated guess, but a correct one.

Sairah looked up, “Yeah, just wanted to check on him. Make sure he hasn’t rammed Brandon’s head into a wall, though I would buy him a brand new bike of his choosing if he, in fact, did so.”

McKenzie leaned over in laughter, knowing her sister would never miss an opportunity to take a jibe at her ex-fiancé. 

“I’m sure dad has reamed his ass out good enough for the both of them.”

Sairah hummed, “It’ll never be enough when it comes to his bitch ass,” she took a pause though and looked more thoughtful, “Rev seems to be taking it hard though, so they probably exchanged words.”

“Not surprised.”

If there was anyone that Brandon was closest to in the club, it would, of course, be to the man that sponsored him. Whether the responsibility lied on him or not, Rev couldn’t help but feel hurt and betrayed from Brandon’s actions.

“Maybe he’ll finally learn to stop doing stupid shit, considering someone could’ve been killed today.”

“Knowing him, he probably thought he was doing the right thing.”

Sairah paused her milkshake slurping to give McKenzie a pointed stare.

“What?” Confusion filled her words. “You agree with him going behind dad’s back?”

McKenzie shook her head and frowned, “No, I hope he got his head chewed off. But I think, in his own misdirected way, he was just trying to do the right thing.” There were moments, maybe when no one else could, she could see his convoluted way of trying to help. Maybe this was one of those times or maybe another misconception of the good she thought she first saw when they began their relationship. She recalled these kinds of moments from the past five years and wonders how many times she was right about his intentions and how many times he had only put up a facade that she had no ability to see through.

“You okay, Kenz?”

She flashed a weak smile and replied, “Yeah. Today’s just been a long day.” 

Sairah nodded in understanding and stood up with her purse, “I’ll go settle up.” 

McKenzie glanced at her phone and sighed. Shit. She had zero self-restraint. Without even allowing her mind to convince her out of the thought, she picked up the phone and opened the text thread she shared with Jax. 

To Jax: “Home yet?” -Sent at 8:55 p.m.

Less than thirty seconds pass.

From Jax: “ 🥺 Is princess missing me?” -Sent at 8:55 p.m.

She giggled loudly, not expecting to see the SAMCRO president ever use an emoji. Sairah looked up from the register with a bewildered look that McKenzie waved off with a mouthed “Tik tok video.”

To Jax: “I’m princess now?” -Sent at 8:56 p.m.

To Jax: “Btw didn’t even know you knew what emojis were 😭” -Sent at 8:56 p.m.

From Jax: Sure I do! There’s even a 😡 next to your name in my contacts” -Sent at 8:56 p.m.

To Jax:“Why the 😡?!” -Sent at 8:57 p.m.

From Jax: “You’re very mean to me 😂. I’m thinking brat might be a better name than princess…” -Sent at 8:57 p.m.

To Jax:“I can dig it 😏” -Sent at 8:57 p.m.

From Jax: “Get to my place in 20, let’s see how reckless that mouth gets in person”  -Sent at 8:58 p.m.

Sairah was back from the register and had been standing impatiently for about two minutes before she finally drew McKenzie’s attention with a dramatic sigh. 

“Ok, either you and Evie are talking shit about someone or you’re about to go get slutted out. Which is it?” 

Slutted out.

**********

Jax had opened the front door before McKenzie even made it up the two steps up onto his porch. 

“Eager much?” She shot at him with a smirk, much like the way he did during their New Year’s night. 

His eyes darkened at the jab, but also at the fact that she was wearing a dress. He had only seen her for the first time in a dress at the New Year’s party and on this second occasion, he had only just now come to the conclusion that he really liked her in dresses. He watched the material sway against her legs as she walked past him and ambled into the living room.

When he followed her in, he saw that she was sitting on the couch and her eyes had softened. She didn’t say anything, she hadn’t wanted to bring up how Jax was obviously blaming himself for Sweets getting shot. But she also didn’t want this to go further without knowing he was in somewhat of a better mood. 

Jax seemed to pick up on all of that, her internal dilemma, without words needing to be exchanged. 

He shook his head in a mellow dismissal.

It is what it is. 

Another set of words that didn’t need to be said because they were understood completely. 

Instead of letting unease circle the air, he roamed his eyes over her frame again, admiring everything he saw.

“You look pretty tonight.”

She had also taken out her twists and he pulled back a curly lock as she smiled bashfully at the compliment. 

“Just felt like switching it up. Me and Lisa went for a little retail therapy the other day and I decided to freshen up my wardrobe. Though, remind me to never buy a strappy heel ever again because I feel like my feet are gonna fall off from the cut off circulation.”

Jax chuckled and lifted her feet into his lap. He slowly unwound the high heels from her feet and massaged them firmly once free. She watched him through it all in amusement, but also a bit of wonderment.

At his curious simper, she remarked, “Oh, I just love how you told me to come over for an explicit booty call, but now we’re relaxing, fully clothed, on your couch with you rubbing my feet.” 

Laughter filled the living room as they enjoyed the joke, but his hands began to slowly creep up her leg.

“Trust me, princess, I definitely meant what I said about that mouth getting you into trouble one of these days.”

His lips chased after his hands, pebbling sweet and light kisses from her ankles all the way up to her thighs. A heated path that eventually had her lying down flat on the couch and his hands grasping her hips. His lips were everywhere, but still not exactly where she wanted him. Feather light pecks in the crease of her hip. His tongue trailing slightly along her skin. His teeth nipping at her black lace panties. 

“Jax, hurry the fuck up.” She finally let out in a rough whisper, not able to bear his silent taunting for much longer.

His eyes darkened, “What did I tell you, darlin’?” 

Still though, he obliged by finally sliding down her panties. Even opted to send zaps of pleasure her way by licking at her sensitive bundle of nerves. Played nice to lull her into the false security that she would be in charge tonight.

He lapped and lapped and lapped. Alternated in a frenzied rhythm between sucking on her clit and entering her with his tongue. Purposely avoiding any kind of pattern and working hard to elicit louder moans and mewls from her.

He honed in on the way that her hips were writhing, riding his face. Her hands didn’t know where to go, oscillating between grabbing onto his hair and holding onto the couch. Her pussy throbbed desperately, searching for its peak, and an instant right before he felt like she had found it…

He removed his mouth entirely from her and sat up.

The  desperate yelp was met with an unforgiving smirk.

“Something you need, babe?”

“Fuck you.” 

“Wrong answer,” he shot back without missing a beat. His hands slipped up her thighs and hips again, but yet again, detoured away from where she wanted him. His fingers danced along her landing strip and she watched him watch her clench around nothing.

“Jax.” She whimpered his name.

“Aww, poor baby..” He mocked her and placed a light kiss on her lips. And then said, “We’re gonna start that all over again and this time, you’re gonna mind your fucking manners.”

Fire rose behind her eyes and her desperation flipped into a frown. She nearly growled at him until…

She inhaled a loud gasp at the sudden sensation of stinging pleasure. She closed her eyes in ecstasy at the feeling of him rubbing where he had just slapped. The shock of him slapping her pussy coupled with the surprise of just how much she liked it sent unadulterated delectation through her veins. 

“Look at me.”

She obeyed.

The fire hadn’t necessarily left her eyes, it had just transformed from indignation to passion and anticipation. He nipped at her neck and she mewled for more. 

He began to repeat himself, “We’re gonna start this all over again.” His hands pulled for the hem of her dress and pulled it off of her. “You’re gonna mind your manners and watch your fuckin’ mouth, aren’t ya, darlin’?”

He had already begun to nod for her, but she nodded with him in dire agreement. Tears from pleasure began to gather in her eyes as he swirled his tongue around one of her nipples and rolled the other in between his fingers. 

“Because you wanna cum, don’t ya?”

She hummed, barely able to muster the control to do even that.

“Say it.” 

McKenzie looked at him in earnest.

“I want to cum.” 

His eyebrow lifted.

“Please. I want to cum please.” 

He continued his kisses lower and lower. 

And she continued her begging, “Please. Please. Please.”

************

McKenzie slid her floral a-line dress back on and moved to find where Jax had tossed her heels. 

“You heading home?” He asked as he reappeared from the hallway, wearing only a pair of sweats. A triumphant smile remained painted on his face at the fully sated woman in his living room. After leaving her a shaking mess with only his tongue and fingers, he had asked her what position she wanted. And then, turned right around and forced her to ask for him to put her in said position. There’d be hand-shaped bruises flowering her hips pretty soon from the way he gripped her as she bounced in his lap until they hit their peaks together. 

McKenzie nodded in answer to his question, with a lazy smile, as she sat down on the couch to don the white strappy shoes.

There was a thick silence in the air and she peeked over into the kitchen to see that it was past midnight. She wasn’t sure what caused the sudden shift in the room, but she figured she needed to go ahead and get home. If she could even walk to get to her car. 

Jax sat opposite to her on the coffee table and looked up with sincerity in his eyes.

“I- uh… I wanted to thank you for earlier today.,” McKenzie’s eyes dipped in confusion, “When you were trying to comfort me about Sweets.”

She merely smiled and reached for his hand.

“I’ve been the guy who takes on all the blame before. And this wasn’t all on me. I accept that. I gotta get comfortable with the idea that not everything bad that happens around me lies solely on me. But no matter what two ways you cut it, this still could’ve been avoided had I done a better job tying up Galen as a loose end,” she squeezed his hand in comfort and he returned her smile, “but moping about it isn’t gonna turn back time…”

“No,” she agreed, “But don’t feel like you have to hole it all up either. Go figure out how to get things back on track and where to go from here. …But if you ever need someone to confide in- or someone to take your frustrations out on in bed…” she cracked with a grin, “I’m your girl.”

He mirrored her with his own grin and held onto her hand as she stood, “You’re my girl,” he muttered.

“I’m gonna go,” she placed a goodbye kiss on his lips. 

He returned in fervor and placed a final kiss on the back of her hand as he walked her to the door.

Without another word, she walked out and got into her car. He watched at the door until she was backing out of the driveway and driving away from Charming and back into Highwater.

***************

Brandon sat, still steaming, in a random pub in Charming. After leaving the Garden, he needed to be somewhere far away from everything and everyone that infuriated him. He couldn’t go too far to find an open bar when it was already past 1 a.m. when he had finally finished cleaning the entire facility. Thus, he settled for the small municipality only a couple of towns over. Highwater was only ever filled with people he’d known his entire life. He supposed the same was probably true for the people who lived here in Charming, but it was as foreign as Paris or Rio to him. 

It didn’t matter that he was out of Highwater or that he was five, going on six drinks into the tank. 

He was still pissed and the distance and alcohol had only dampened his anger. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to be fully extinguished anytime soon. It infuriated him to no end that he had taken initiative for the betterment of this club, for his brothers, and it landed him on bad terms with his president and VP. He didn’t fucking shoot Sweets and he was in just as much danger of getting hit. Like everyone was. And no matter what Gil or Rev said, they would’ve never laid into any of the other Street Wolves like that if they were in his predicament. Brandon was sure of it.

It ripped him up that they couldn’t even see that he was trying to be a leader. Trying to make moves. It should’ve been obvious that he didn’t want anything like the shootout to have transpired. 

“Well, if it isn’t Deputy Unser!”

Brandon looked up and immediately tensed at the sound of a cop being in his presence. 

The older man shook hands with the bartender and took a seat only halfway down the bar from Brandon. He wasn’t wearing his sheriff’s uniform and he looked down, looking disappointed with himself as he accepted the bourbon from the tender.

“Rough day, chief?”

“Yeah, that drive down to the women’s prison is even worse than to Stockton,” he groaned, his bones already weary in age, even without his routine, round trip visits to the Central California Women's Facility. 

The bartender chuckled, “Well, then stop making the drive. Make one of your deputies haul the prisoners back and forth, you should be on a fast ticket to retirement any day now, anyway.”

Unser winced and knocked his drink back, “Actually, the drives are more of a personal errand than for work..” he hesitated but continued on with another pour from the tender. He had no reason to assume that anyone would want to eavesdrop on an old man drinking what little was left of his cancer-riddled liver. “Gemma Teller’s down there now, you know. After everything that happened..”

Brandon was just about to lower his own senses and go back to minding his own mess when he heard the name “Teller.” 

The bartender had shuddered, “Gemma was always nice to me. A firecracker, sure, but she always asked about my sons and invited my wife into her book club. Can’t believe she gets to spend the rest of her life behind bars and that rotten son of hers prances in and out of town like he’s not as much of a monster as his stepdaddy.”

Unser looked on in bitterness but shook his head at the bartender.

But the tender didn’t back down from his indignance, “No, he’s been lettin’ his mama rot for damn near a year and you mean to tell me you or not even the goddamn ATF could hook the Sons on some charges?” The man poured Unser some more brown liquor and wiped the counters, still shaking his head in disgust, “And then he goes and leaves his pregnant wife… Abandons his unborn child, sticks his stepdaddy in prison, sticks his mother, his blood, into Chowchilla. It’s a wonder his bike brothers still trust him, son of a bitch ain’t loyal to fuckin’ nothin!”

The bartender’s droning rant faded into the recesses of Brandon’s mind as he absorbed the information that had just been divulged to him. All that shit he had to hear about loyalty, basically being told to put up or shut up. And then Rev had had the nerve to bring up Jax during their earlier confrontation, about how Jax was right, that all Brandon had done was make excuses.

Well shit, what kind of excuses did the SAMCRO president have for what he had just learned? Did his own brothers know how cold-blooded he was?

Jax had come into the Garden acting all high and mighty, like he was doing the Street Wolves a favor by partnering up with them. And everyone had just gone along with it. Maybe Gil had no idea the kind of man he had gotten the Street Wolves mixed up with.

But he was about to.

A/N: There’s always two sides to every story? 👀 I know it’s been a minute since I updated, but I’m sooo happy to put this chapter out. I’m hoping the 10k+ word count somewhat makes up for the hiatus lol. Pleaseee let me know what you think. As always, reblog if you enjoyed and share the love 

Taglist: @drabbles-mc@ocfairygodmother@youlovetkay@est1887@rebelwrites@hey-taylor-hey@brownsugarcoffy @kmhappybunny240@readsalot73 @nunya7394 @mijagif @asirensrage @bimbims-posts

[esther-dot]

Ned was there when Lyanna died in Tower of Joy. He even fought with the guards of Rhaegar to meet with his sister. Yet Ned never think bad about Rhaegar. Oberyn and Doran were shown to have no single thought on Rhaegar humiliating their sister Elia. Only Brandon was shown to be angry for what Rhaegar did to Lyanna. I mean Ned had more thoughts on how Joffery is bad news for Sansa but no thought on Rhaegar. Is grrm deliberately doing this? If these three guys have shown their anger towards Rhaegar then maybe readers will see him a bad news. I think grrm is hiding Rhaegar and Lyanna story for Jon parentage to not get reveal early. 🤔

(continuation of this convo)

I think about this a lot too, anon. For some reason it was Oberyn who really came to mind during this chain of asks, and to my lizard brain, the omission of anger towards Rhaegar feels like an oversight on the author's part or evidence that he doesn't take the issue with Rhaegar that I do. That’s a thought that’s hard for me to even entertain as someone who has hated men for committing lesser crimes against my little sister! Obviously it makes sense to hate the perp and architect of Elia’s death and focus on them as they are alive, but Rhaegar is the one who kickstarted the events that led to Elia’s death, so ya know, hate.

As for Ned, I think this was the only quote that (to me) felt like Ned having an opinion about Rhaegar:

There was no answer Ned Stark could give to that but a frown. For the first time in years, he found himself remembering Rhaegar Targaryen. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not. (AGOT, Eddard IX)

And initially, maybe it does read like Rhaegar is being favorably contrasted with Robert. But if we opt to not assume we're to form a conclusion about Rhaegar's character from this, and instead see it as the author revealing more of the truth to us, it is clearly Martin telling us, Rhaegar wasn't given to fits of passion/lust that would send him to a brothel or say, lead him to abduct and rape a girl. Martin wants us to know that what Robert believes is the story, isn't.

That doesn't mean we're being told this is a love story though!

As more info about Rhaegar is revealed we find that learning something totally altered him, that he became wholly absorbed with the prophecy/his fate. His single-mindedness in pursuit of that meant he personally transformed from a bookworm to a warrior. That certainly leaves the door open for us to imagine he’d do other things, even bad things, outside his typical behavior.

So I’d say this is less about Ned’s feelings about Rhaegar, and more, the author trying to guide us in understanding him, telling us this guy wasn’t really distracted from his purpose. Of course it makes no sense for Ned to have that thought about a man if he believed that man kidnapped and repeatedly raped his sister. It really doesn’t. However, it does work as a hit that Robert's version of events isn’t the whole story. There are occasionally lines that I don't think fit the POV perfectly and seem more like the author inserting a thought which means I hesitate to read too much into Ned's feelings there. IMO, this is primarily something the author was wanting to impress upon as as foundation for a later revelation about Rhaegar wanting another child for his three heads of the dragon stuff.

But here's another Rhaegar mention in Ned's next chapter:

It would have to be his grandfather, for Jory's father was buried far to the south. Martyn Cassel had perished with the rest. Ned had pulled the tower down afterward, and used its bloody stones to build eight cairns upon the ridge. It was said that Rhaegar had named that place the tower of joy, but for Ned it was a bitter memory. They had been seven against three, yet only two had lived to ride away; Eddard Stark himself and the little crannogman, Howland Reed. He did not think it omened well that he should dream that dream again after so many years. (AGOT, Eddard X)

and when we pair it with this reference:

Robert had been jesting with Jon and old Lord Hunter as the prince circled the field after unhorsing Ser Barristan in the final tilt to claim the champion's crown. Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty's laurel in Lyanna's lap. He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost.

Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel, saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark. (AGOT, Eddard XV)

It is clear that there are victims to Rhaegar's actions, that other's suffer as a result of his choices, that these actions may have been pleasing to him "tower of joy," "urged his horse past his own wife," but we can read the horror in them, "for Ned it was a bitter memory," "all the smiles died."

So, even when I'm surprised at the lack of venom these men have for Rhaegar whose choices set everything into motion, and don’t think it makes sense for Ned to think of him as he does, even in the most Rhaegar-favorable reading of this we can come to, it isn't the case that we're meant to brush aside the cost of Rhaegar’s choices. It's simply that, I'm such a this or that person, I see the cost and decide Rahegar is trash, Martin is a this and that person. He can still sympathize, even finds some real tragedy (it seems) in the life/death of such a man. I mean, I still call scumbag, idiot, statutory rapist at a minimum, but I’m trying not to project.

Rhaegar could have had his reasons and believed what he was doing was right, but clearly, he was wrong. Wrong about the prophecy, wrong to prioritize chasing that rather than taking practical steps to protect the realm, wrong to implode a girl’s life when she was too young to understand all the ramifications or in a position to refuse his advances. And of course, wrong to humiliate Elia, wrong to betray a woman who had done nothing, nothing to deserve such treatment. Rhaegar was so so wrong to think that his unstable father would be able to hold everything he had fucked up together.

And yet, we have disinterest where we would expect hatred. I guess that’s why your last point is the one to hold onto:

I think grrm is hiding Rhaegar and Lyanna story for Jon parentage to not get reveal early.

Martin wants it to have impact with the reader when they finally get the confirmation of R+L=J, so everything Ned is permitted to think/feel is curtailed by what the author is willing/unwilling to divulge. That’s small comfort, but I’ll take it!

[winxbutbetterimo-ovo]

Sky long v1

Name: Sky Evian Dion

Looks: Fair skinned with blond hair and blue eyes. Short king, him and Brandon are built the same.

Personality: Sky has a strong sense of duty that sometimes puts him at odds with Bloom or Riven. Despite this, he is generally seen as a great leader to his peers. He is kind towards others and seems to have no problem making friends. He is also quick to spring into action whenever someone needs help. Sky also has a strong loyalty towards his kingdom, Eraklyon. Even though he does not enjoy having to endure royal training, Sky knows that he must go through with it all in order to become a proper king to his people when the time comes.

Sky has a tendency to become jealous, overprotective, and even possessive of Bloom whenever he believes that their relationship is threatened in any way he is shown trying to keep his past relationships in the past, but his jealousy can cause him to question Bloom's loyalty to him whenever he feels as if their relationship is in jeopardy. this is because he is actually kind of insecure as he grew up around yes men and he never really knew how other people think of him truthfully. because of that he actually quite likes riven because he is so blunt so he always knows he isnt lying. he also likes stella because she can also be very true toher emotions and before they grew apart, she was the only person who truly got him and he was thankful for her being in his circle. (for aisha he did know her and talk to her a little but her parents kept her under such tight watch all the time they only rarely spoke past introductions)

History: Sky was born as a Single child to king Erendor and queen Samra, he also has an older cousin, Thoren (his father's older sister's son HAHAH i know confusing). He's known stella, riven, brandon, diaspro, timmy and aisha because they run in the same circles as children (all being high status people), he grew apart from the girls as they split for schools, except for diaspro because his family wanted him to marry her. His father wanted him to study and train at the Eraklyon Regal Institute, but he went to red fountain because he wanted to be able to live his own life before he became king. His father is mildly verbally aboosive n places a lot of expectations on him and his mom is a very passive, neglectful parent. she is also rarely seen with his father as they had an arranged marriage and dont actually like each other very much. (they each have their own lovers, scandalous!) Sky Wants to be a good king, but if it were not for that he really wanted to be an architect or even a teacher back at red fountain. 

Weapons: he uses blue phantom weapons, the steryotypical shortsword and shield.

[goodqueenaly]

I apologize if this is a question you've already answered. Your posts about the "She-Wolves of Winterfell" are really interesting and that's an ASOIAF historical story I find really interesting. For some reason I had thought that Serena was older than Sansa, but apparently not. I am probably missing something obvious, but was wondering if you have any theories about Serena marrying Edric rather than Barthogan or Brandon? I know that Sansa and Serena were deliberately prevented from ruling Winterfell in their own right, but it seemed like a deliberate effort to exclude them even from being the line that the ruling Starks descend from? I feel like I'm maybe off the mark though?

For one, there seems to be some lack of clarity, at least for now, on the birth order of Rickon Stark's daughters. While TWOIAF's Stark family tree lists Serena as the elder sister and Sansa as the younger, Elio Garcia made a comment on Discord (reproduced on the Westeros.org forums) that per GRRM's own notes, Sansa was the elder and Serena the younger. This would not be the first time later volumes edited or changed established dynastic details, of course - indeed, F&B eliminated one of Jaehaerys and Alysanne's sons, introduced a new daughter, and reshuffled the birth order of their other children - and so I will not at all be surprised if, say, whatever "The She-Wolves of Winterfell" ends up being called confirms that Sansa was really the elder of the two daughters of Rickon.

Anyway, the marriages of Rickon's daughters are a largely (as yet) unexplained but very intriguing detail in the history of the Stark family. If Sansa really were the elder (and assuming that the birth order of Cregan's sons by Lynara will not change), then theirs would have been the marriage of the most senior male-line descendant of Cregan and the eldest surviving son of Cregan, a powerful combination of dynastic claims. Did Cregan and/or anyone else involved in making the marriage arrange just such a match because he (or, again, anyone else involved) envisioned Sansa and Jonnel as ruling as joint lord and lady, rather than one spouse subservient to the other? Did whoever arranged this match want to subsume Sansa's claim into Jonnel's - keeping her as only the future Lord Jonnel's consort rather than allowing her to press forward her own claim (with her own aristocratic husband, perhaps, to back her)? Or just the opposite - did the architect(s) of this union believe that Sansa should be the ruling Lady of Winterfell someday and wish to prevent Cregan's eldest surviving son from challenging her claim to the high seat of the Starks? Any or none of the above might have been the explanation for the marriage, but until and unless we learn more about the times and players involved, these and many other questions remain outstanding (and really, I could probably think of a thousand more possibilities of what any of the individuals involved might have been thinking, but that's a deep rabbit hole for as yet so little information).

As for Serena and Edric, their marriage is even more vague and subject to speculation. To cite Elio Gracia again, he asserts that Serena was first married to Jon Umber and then to Edric Stark. There is no telling when either of these marriages (much less specifically the one with Edric) occurred, and still less what might have driven such a union. Perhaps their marriage was an attempt to breed Rickon's line back into the ruling Stark dynasty, with Jonnel have no son by either Sansa or his second wife, Robyn Ryswell; as Edric would be Jonnel's heir presumptive for lack of (male) issue on the latter's part, maybe Serena was encouraged/arranged/forced to marry Edric in order to consolidate potentially warring claims into a dynastically suitable (and, again, presumably male) child. Perhaps it was an attempt by Edric to assert himself and/or his wife against elder brother Jonnel (especially if Sansa had already died), by claiming that Serena was the rightful heiress to Winterfell and Jonnel a usurper. Perhaps it arose from reluctance to have Serena marrying a non-Stark northern aristocrat and making a play for Winterfell against Cregan's sons. Perhaps it was genuinely a love match (especially since we have no sense of the relative ages of Cregan's sons and Rickon's daughters, making it entirely possible for them to have been of an age and raised together). Again, any or none of these suggestions might provide any explanation - we'll just have to wait for whatever "The She-Wolves of Winterfell" ends up being called, Fire and Blood Volume 2, and/or maybe details hinted at in TWOW (especially to the extent the Stark reunion at Winterfell was supposed to parallel or echo the events of "The She-Wolves of Winterfell").

[dragonfly0808]

Sky Moodboard

Sky has a lot of weight on his shoulders, not just because he is the future king of Eraklyon but because his father just doesn’t care anymore and Sky has to pick up the slack before his time and really work so that Eraklyon doesn’t just crumble

If he wasn’t a prince, he would’ve become an Architect and he loves to sketch buildings and make models in his free time, that’s kind of his frustrated dream

He’s known Stella his whole life and they’ve been platonic soulmates since they were like two years old. He met Brandon when he was thirteen and since then the three have just been inseparable

He and Bloom had a very soft romance before becoming a bit of narrative-doomed tragedy, two people who have very pure love for each other but that constantly have stuff thrown at them that either breaks them apart or sets them at odds with each other

Brandon is his best friend, Bloom his soulmate and Stella his platonic soulmate

DNA by Lia Marie Johnson and In My Blood by Shawn Mendez are his songs

Masterlist

[atopvisenyashill]

Dead dudes club Anon: I meant that Tywin, Rickard and Hoster dies when their kids are still young leaving their wives as regents for their sons. Like let's say Tywin who doesn't lose his wife but is so worked up that he has a dwarf son that he ends up falling down the stairs and breaks his neck. Hoster could die in a hunting accident sometime after Edmure is born and Rickard ends up with some sort of illness after he and Lyarra have Benjen.

i would like to apologize in advance for my incessant use of em dashes in this post lol. okay even with some adjustments, you run into an issue here where-

steffon, aerys, tywin, rickard, AND hoster all die within a few years of each other, and that’s going to cause a mass conspiracy. i mean JUST jon arryn dying was enough to make the twins suspicious maybe he was onto them & that man was old as balls. nearly every lord paramount dying within a few years is soooo weird. “well doesn’t this essentially happen in canon” yeah because of the political unrest happening tho lol there’s a Reason for it.

there’s no way for steffon to die in the shipwreck and cassana to be regent because robert is already 16 at that point - remember he’s a few years older than the twins! and you can’t have cassana be regent without butterflying away renly bc he’s born 277 and they die in early 279.

also hey 🤧🤧 i did the math just right there on tywin!!! the defiance of duskendale happens in 277, so the twins were only 10-11, which means joanna is regent for a few years still.

we could easily kill rickard off in a wildling excursion but brandon is 20 when he dies in canon which means he’s been lord of winterfell for four-ish years so no matter what, lyarra isn’t the one calling the shots by the time ~the plot~ really starts. i figured it might work better if lyarra is at winterfell when rickard & brandon die bc even tho everything falls to ned next, having a grown adult as The Stark In Winterfell while ned is in the wind/in the vale is interesting - unlike benjen, Lyarra can lead troops into battle. If she had been regent, it’s likely Lyarra is at Riverrun with the Tully kids and Minisa for the wedding though, which could also be interesting and i suppose also gives her more of a chance to actually LEAD because we know it takes a minute for northerners to get past the neck - as robb says, they even wind up starting the war without half their force bc a bunch of the mountain clans couldn’t get there in time. but if lyarra is there for the wedding, that puts her in a position to lead. especially without aerys there to call the parents to court - i don’t think rhaella is going to pull a stunt like that.

i think hoster or rickard is the easiest to handwave murder off - hoster is always up to some shit and both the wildlings and skaagosi have historically picked fights with the north from time to time.

and regardless of alla that, rhaella is likely to seize the regency with tywin’s help anyway - tywin has already made a name for himself, is aerys’ friend, and tyrion won’t be born until 273, which is eleven years after jaehaerys ii dies.

most of my answer still stands here - rhaella is taking the throne with tywin by her side, and you can bet in the years between cersei’s birth & his death, he’s going to be pushing rhaegar/cersei as a match, something that will be in rhaegar & rhaella minds after he dies; either minisa or cassana are likely to be the architects of the southron ambitions plot alongside jon arryn, and that alliance is still going to cause problems for the crown when rhaegar loses his mind, because the moment brandon doesn’t get a straight answer about where lyanna is, Lyarra is probably going to use the northern host to start sacking cities and searching for her daughter (since she hasn’t been brought to the capital to burn by rhaella).

the biggest change here is probably the twincest. we know joanna knows about it early on BUT. tyrion’s birth is likely going to put her out of commission for a minute or two. he’s born in 273 so if we say she’s healthy enough to start moving around by 275 (which. omg these two idiots were really out here feeling each other up at the age of like 6 ajsjs 😭), i imagine she broaches the question of jaime’s marriage at this point, which is probably also when rhaella starts asking around for suggestions for rhaegar. if tywin dies after tyrion, i can’t see her fostering jaime out because he’s lord now and she’s the regent. if she catches them together again, it’s probably cersei she sends away - maybe to lannisport, maybe to the capital (with herself, and kevan stays at the rock to train jaime). even if we have tywin die at duskendale, at that point the twins are 11, and it probably amounts to the same - cersei is sent away while jaime stays home. once he’s closer to 16, she’s going to start talking about jaime marrying elia, and cersei Will attempt to sabotage this.

the canon event goes: jaime helps defeat the smiling knight -> jaime stops at KL to see cersei -> cersei tells him about the lysa betrothal & jaime joins the kingsguard. this tracks even with tywin dead - again, likely (imo) joanna and cersei go back to the capital once she’s healed, and there will be still be an opening on the kingsguard. cersei has also spent several years with rhaegar at this point - he would have married around 176ish, so Maybe they’re married to each other or maybe she’s a lady to his wife - and rhaegar no longer has to listen to rhaella. if cersei is like “heyyyyyy rhaegar, babyyyyyy” WELL….especially if CERSEI is married to rhaegar. but even married to someone else, i mean, the first step to making sure they’re together forever is to make sure HE can’t marry lol. it MIGHT not happen - jaime has spent the last several years not as heir but as LORD and he might take giving it up a bit more seriously But he might not! if this plan is foiled, you can bet joanna is not only asking loreza if elia and jaime can marry RIGHT NOW (IF rhaegar’s bride isn’t elia), she’s also going to do something drastic re: cersei. and like idk man what do you do if your kids won’t stop fucking? send cersei to be a septa? to the silent sisters? she might, if cersei isn’t married yet, get cersei married quickly and far away from jaime but if cersei marries rhaegar, well……she’s not foiling this plot, it’s happening for sure. so basically either cersei marries rhaegar & jaime is on the kingsguard OR cersei is lady to his wife, which Might still let her plan happen.

[grantthethief]

I think forget who said it but I heard that there are two types of writers. Architects who plan their stories ahead like Oda or Brandon Sanderson. And Gardeners who write their stories as they go along like GRRM.

Kishimoto is definitely a gardener and you can tell he’s getting tired.

There’s a real sense of fatigue for sure, but then to ise GRRM as a comparison he gives himself like 10 year writing breaks and Kishimoto is working under the notably grueling weekly manga publishing schedule. So it’s not surprising that the work is struggling 400 chapters in.

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To the Architectural Student, who is earnestly seeking to gain a knowledge of the principles which guided the Master Masons of the Middle Ages in the erection and development of their glorious buildings, nothing can be more acceptable or of a greater service to him than representing in detail their mode of forming and setting out the smallest matters connected with their works, for it is only by studying in this manner that he can hope ever to arrive :it a thorough knowledge of Gothic Architecture. "With this object in view, both from the commencement of the "Gothic Ornaments" and also throughout the present "Work, I have endeavoured to elucidate every part that I have represented clearly and distinctly, and at as large a scale as the size of the book would allow.

In the two Works — I have now completed four volumes containing altogether upward* of four hundred plates — developing, in the first, Foliated Ornament and Coloured Decoration, and in the last, more particularly the constructive and practical " Details of Gothic Architecture." The manner in which they have been received by the Profession, and the many very flattering encomiums which have been passed upon them during the ten years that I have now been engaged upon them, assures me that I have not been labouring altogether in vain, and that they will not fail to become a welcome addition to the library of the Architect.

Upon issuing the Prospectus of " The Details," I stated that it was not my intention to interfere with the "Analysis of Gothic Architecture," by Messrs. Brandon, but that I should endeavour to more fully elucidate such features as were only paitially developed by them. To this I have adhered, and rather than interfering, it will be found that one work will be a great assistance to the other, and the possessor of one will find it to his advantage to procure the other.

Details of Gothic architecture : Colling, James Kellaway : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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georgianadesign: Brandon Architects, Costa Mesa, CA. Jeri Koegel... https://georgianadesign.tumblr.com/post/710911494062211072