#dany has too much faith in herself and what she's doing for that

[signanothername]

Hi! I love your rescue bots art and I was wondering who your favorite bot was?

Hello!! Thank you sm! <333

Ngl the show’s characters are so amazing that it genuinely is hard to say for sure, but I’d say Heatwave!!

Prepare for a ramble >:)

I already have a soft spot for grumpy characters and he falls into that category, but i genuinely love how the writers balanced his character so well that you don’t hate him for his gruffness, he’s that trope of “asshole with a heart of gold™”

The thing is, Heatwave isn’t fully a jerk either, he respects authoritarian figures, gives people credit where it’s due and has a sporting spirit and you can tell he cares deeply about the people he loves, but loves to put on a front (especially when it comes to kids)

He does have a bit of an ego but he knows when to keep it in check (basically doesn’t let his ego get in the way of his rescue work or uses it as an excuse to hurt people’s feelings)

In fact i’d say outta the rescue bots he’s the one who has faith in his family the most when it comes to knowing they can handle themselves, he’s the only one who doesn’t think Dani’s test pilot work is a big deal and explicitly states she knows her job and can handle herself, not that the others’ worries are out of place, it’s just that, for someone like him who’s overprotective, it’s nice to see him have so much faith

We can also see how much of a worrier he is in the “changes” episode, he doesn’t wanna leave the team cause he’s worried about them (and to me, it seems as tho he really doesn’t wanna seperate from them) but i believe that worry is less about him believing they can’t take care of themselves and more tied to his overprotective nature, he was worried they’d get hurt and he wouldn’t be there to protect them

He takes his job seriously both as a rescue bot and as a leader and takes responsibility for any shortcomings or reckless behavior that could’ve endangered people and i actually respect that a lot, cause most hotheaded characters are written in a way that they always think they’re in the right, which Heatwave doesn’t, his character breaks away from that usual writing and you’re presented with a hothead who actually takes responsibility for his actions which is really refreshing to see

The only times we see Heatwave acting recklessly is when he’s sure no one would get hurt, so it’s really funny to see for a hothead like him, cause he actually stops and thinks twice most of the time

All that aside, I do love when he acts like a jerk at times, they’re usually comedy gold moments, that one scene of him making fun of Blades cause of the scoop claw and when Cody gets upset with him, Heatwave literally tells Boulder and Chase “you guys never know when to stop do you?” Like MY MAN THAT WAS MOSTLY ALL YOU DHHDGDGDHHD (we here at signanothername do not condone bullying, we do however find it hilarious /j)

His character contrasts so well with Kade’s too and the two’s relationship is honestly so amazing aaaahxhdhdh

But what i love the most is the fact you can clearly see he grows as the show goes on, most his moments of him being a jerk are at the beginning of the series, later down the line he’s a lot more considerate and gentle, still acts like a jerk sometimes (cause he’s HW come on) but it’s a lot less than when in the beginning of the series

Not only that but how homesick he is and how Earth and Griffin Rock grow on him overtime, he starts very (and I mean VERY) angry, very not on board with staying, hell, he wants to leave in the first episode, but it’s so nice to see his struggle with accepting earth as his new home, and while I wholeheartedly believe everyone struggled through the same thing, they were prepared to look for their peace in their new home, Heatwave wasn’t at peace and he was very vocal about it

That’s why, the episode “Space Bots” is one of my favorites in the entirety of the series, aside the fact it’s a fun and unique episode, it’s the episode Heatwave finally calls Earth “home” and ngl it actually made me tear up a bit

Just THIS SCENE MAN (I love Blades’ big smile at Heatwave at the end, Blades is so proud of HW chhcc)

Obviously to someone who never watched the show the scene seems mundane at best, but to someone very invested in the story and characters? (Cough me cough) it was such a heartwarming scene, Heatwave finally finding some internal peace and calling it home??? 10/10 crying and screaming

Of course, he still struggles, as we clearly see with the Allspark day episode in S3, he refuses to celebrate it cause he doesn’t see himself as part of the community yet, yes he accepted Earth as his new home but there’s still that dissonance between him and the people in Griffin Rock

So it’s genuinely interesting to see his journey towards finally feeling at peace and finding himself among the community he lives with

I love when the bots finally revealed themselves as aliens rather than robots in S4, Heatwave was very apprehensive about it, really scared to do so even when he’s grown fond of the community, so you can imagine my absolute joy at the absolute shock Heatwave displayed when the people of Griffin rock immediately accepted them and were very excited about it

LIKE LOOK AT HIM HE CANT BELIEVE HIS OPTICS

And much, much more I can talk about but we’d be here for days hdhxhdhhd

Anyway I’m done rambling have this Heatwave sketch <3

[atopvisenyashill]

dany and rhaenyra really couldn't be more different considering dany grew up in abject poverty and rhaenyra was constantly shielded by her status and name. for dany, her name was a death sentence, so they exist in totally different frameworks of what being a “targaryen” even means. it’s this vast difference in upbringing that informs how they rule as well with daenerys giving a lot of attention to how her actions/rule affect the oppressed while rhaenyra doesn’t particularly care about the common people at all!

I'm gonna do what we do at work which is start this out with a lil ground rules corporate talk thing: We assume positive intent as a starting place. I'm taking this in good faith and I hope if anon sees this, they take it the same.

So the first point - that because dany grows up in poverty due to being a targaryen and rhaenyra grows up in privilege due to being a targaryen, that means they are too different and thus can't be compared. Firstly, I think it's just a bit silly when people say stuff like this. Sansa's sexual abuse and isolation at KL isn't somehow less traumatizing simply because she had access to food (food she frequently doesn't eat, because she's traumatized over all the sexual abuse!) nor is Arya's physical abuse in the Riverlands somehow less purely because she had a handful of friends. Catelyn having a husband that loves and respects her doesn't mean that there are not similarities in her raging against the system that has turned on her with Cersei's own rage against the system. There need not be a one to one similarity in order for us to find commonalities in themes and I think this constant "you can't compare those two" just stinks of ~oppression olympics~ but oppression just doesn't work like a checklist and if you experience the required threshold of terror, you "get" to call yourself oppressed in some way.

Moving on, the thing is, both of them experience the emotional and sexual incestuous grooming from an older relative that goes with being a Targaryen:

He pushed back her shoulders with his hands. “Let them see that you have a woman’s shape now.” His fingers brushed lightly over her budding breasts and tightened on a nipple. “You will not fail me tonight. If you do, it will go hard for you. You don’t want to wake the dragon, do you?” His fingers twisted her, the pinch cruelly hard through the rough fabric of her tunic. “Do you?” he repeated.

Daemon spent long hours in her company, enthralling her with tales of his journeys and battles. He gave her pearls and silks and books and a jade tiara said once to have belonged to the Empress of Leng, read poems to her, dined with her, hawked with her, sailed with her, entertained her by making mock of the greens at court, the “lickspittles” fawning over Queen Alicent and her children. He praised her beauty, declaring her to be the fairest maid in all the Seven Kingdoms. Uncle and niece began to fly together almost daily, racing Syrax against Caraxes to Dragonstone and back...Eustace, the less salacious of the two, writes that Prince Daemon seduced his niece the princess and claimed her maidenhood...The whole tale soon came out, in no small part thanks to Mushroom himself. King Viserys at first refused to believe a word of it, until Prince Daemon confirmed the tale was true. “Give the girl to me to wife,” he purportedly told his brother. “Who else would take her now?”

both of them also experience a much older sworn sword preying on their youth and fondness for him-

"What did she look like, your Lady Lynesse?" Ser Jorah smiled sadly. "Why, she looked a bit like you, Daenerys." He bowed low. "Sleep well, my queen." Dany shivered, and pulled the lionskin tight about her. She looked like me. It explained much that she had not truly understood. He wants me, she realized. He loves me as he loved her, not as a knight loves his queen but as a man loves a woman. She tried to imagine herself in Ser Jorah's arms, kissing him, pleasuring him, letting him enter her. It was no good. When she closed her eyes, his face kept changing into Drogo's.

Though many lords and knights sought her favor, the princess had eyes only for Ser Criston Cole, the young champion of the Kingsguard and her constant companion. “Ser Criston protects the princess from her enemies, but who protects the princess from Ser Criston?” Queen Alicent asked one day at court... However it happened, whether the princess scorned the knight or he her, from that day forward the love that Ser Criston Cole had formerly borne for Rhaenyra Targaryen turned to loathing and disdain, and the man who had hitherto been the princess’s constant companion and champion became the most bitter of her foes.

they are both forced into marriages they don’t want to be in-

Dany looked at Khal Drogo. His face was hard and cruel, his eyes as cold and dark as onyx. Her brother hurt her sometimes, when she woke the dragon, but he did not frighten her the way this man frightened her. “I don’t want to be his queen,” she heard herself say in a small, thin voice. “Please, please, Viserys, I don’t want to, I want to go home.”

"No." On her terrace, in her bathing pool, the little fish would nibble at her legs as she soaked. Even they kissed with more fervor than Hizdahr zo Loraq. "I do not love you."

And though His Grace reasoned with her, pleaded with her, shouted at her, and called her an ungrateful daughter, no words of his could budge her…until the king brought up the question of succession. What a king had done, a king could undo, Viserys pointed out. She would wed as he commanded, or he would make her half-brother Aegon his heir in place of her. At this the princess’s will gave way. Septon Eustace says she fell at her father’s knees and begged for his forgiveness, Mushroom that she spat in her father’s face, but both agree that in the end she consented to be married.

and start conflating violence, power, and safety in their minds-

The princess was not slow in answering this charge. She dispatched Prince Daemon to seize Ser Vaemond, had his head removed, and fed his carcass to her dragon, Syrax.

“He would make a monster of me,” she whispered, “a butcher queen.” But then she thought of Drogon far away, and the dragons in the pit. There is blood on my hands too, and on my heart. We are not so different, Daario and I. We are both monsters.

you say for dany her name is a death sentence, but for rhaenyra, being a targaryen is also a death sentence! not to "they very much killed jesus" you here, but they very much kill rhaenyra! if rhaenyra remains a “good targaryen” she is acutely aware she will lose everything, and this is something dany is aware of as well, it's why she reacts so badly to daario's "queens have no purpose but to warm some king’s bed and pop out sons for him" comment about her marriage to Hizdahr. rhaenyra's mother and both grandmothers die before they’re 25 of childbirth. rhaenyra grew up in the same court gael did, that saera did, that viserra did, likely knew the truth of what happened to each girl, and as a woman who is concealing her bastards, all of that has to terrify her. so she stays the “bad woman” the tyrant, the whore, the visenya, in an attempt to protect her children and that gets her killed. being a targaryen has devastating effects on both of them.

as for the differences in how they rule - i’m gonna be honest and say does it matter how they feel if the result is the same?

when they first come into true power, both women are more concerned with getting revenge than they are for settling the unrest-

“How many?” one old woman had asked, sobbing. “How many must you have to spare us?” “One hundred and sixty-three,” she answered. She had them nailed to wooden posts around the plaza, each man pointing at the next. The anger was fierce and hot inside her when she gave the command; it made her feel like an avenging dragon.

...whilst at the Red Keep Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen set about rewarding her friends and inflicting savage punishments on those who had served her half-brother...Henceforth, Celtigar decreed, traitors, rebels, and murderers would be beheaded within the Dragonpit, and their corpses fed to the queen’s dragons. All were welcome to bear witness to the fate that awaited evil men, but each must pay three pennies at the gates to be admitted.

both of them compromise on a stance that is integral to their whole platform-

Dany was shocked. “They want to be slaves?” “The ones who come are well spoken and gently born, sweet queen. Such slaves are prized. In the Free Cities they will be tutors, scribes, bed slaves, even healers and priests. They will sleep in soft beds, eat rich foods, and dwell in manses. Here they have lost all, and live in fear and squalor.” “I see.” Perhaps it was not so shocking, if these tales of Astapor were true. Dany thought a moment. “Any man who wishes to sell himself into slavery may do so. Or woman.” She raised a hand. “But they may not sell their children, nor a man his wife.” “In Astapor the city took a tenth part of the price, each time a slave changed hands,” Missandei told her. “We’ll do the same,” Dany decided. Wars were won with gold as much as swords. “A tenth part. In gold or silver coin, or ivory. Meereen has no need of saffron, cloves, or zorse hides.”

But the Queen’s Hand argued against this, for both girls had younger brothers. Rhaenyra’s own claim to the Iron Throne was a special case, the Sea Snake insisted; her father had named her as his heir. Lords Rosby and Stokeworth had done no such thing. Disinheriting their sons in favor of their daughters would overturn centuries of law and precedent, and call into question the rights of scores of other lords throughout Westeros whose own claims might be seen as inferior to those of elder sisters. It was fear of losing the support of such lords, Munkun asserts in True Telling, that led the queen to decide in favor of Lord Corlys rather than Prince Daemon.

both of them act vindictively and violently towards a low born woman in conjunction with stupid behavior from the violent men they’ve been groomed into loving-

Forgive me, sun of my life, she thought. Forgive me for all I have done and all I must do. I paid the price, my star, but it was too high, too high… “I thank you, Mirri Maz Duur,” she said, “for the lessons you have taught me.” “You will not hear me scream,” Mirri responded as the oil dripped from her hair and soaked her clothing. “I will,” Dany said, “but it is not your screams I want, only your life. I remember what you told me. Only death can pay for life.”

In a voice as cold as ice, she commanded Ser Luthor Largent to take twenty gold cloaks to the Dragonpit and arrest Ser Addam Velaryon. “Question him sharply, and we will learn if he is true or false, beyond a doubt.” As to the girl Nettles, “She is a common thing, with the stink of sorcery upon her,” the queen declared. “My prince would ne’er lay with such a low creature. You need only look at her to know she has no drop of dragon’s blood in her. It was with spells that she bound a dragon to her, and she has done the same with my lord husband.”

and I do think there is some similarity in the way that Dany sacks Astapor and it turns into a nightmareish ruin, and Rhaenyra lets KL fall into ruin as well.

you say rhaenyra doesn’t care about the common people but we don’t get her thoughts nor do we get the thoughts of a single person who is willing to tell the truth about her. both of our reliable sources hate her and mushroom is actively concealing things. we know dany cares about the smallfolk because we get her horror over drogon killing a child - only for her to forget that child’s name and decide the cost of her war doesn’t matter so much as taking her throne. this is the exact same moral justification rhaenyra is making - the safety of the people of KL are an acceptable compromise for her own throne.

what both of them want is less about the crown and more about what it represents to them. for dany, it’s home, belonging, love, safety, the simplicity of her life when it was just her, a viserys who had yet to lose his mind, and an aging ser willem darry. for rhaenyra, it’s the exact same - the simplicity of her life before aegon was born & her mother died, the love in her father choosing her over the men around him, the safety of her children. Both of them reach for violence to achieve those ends because they’ve been taught through a life of violence - albeit different sorts of violence - that force is the only way to protect yourself. And since Rhaenyra ultimately fails in her goal, I believe Daenerys will fail as well. Whether she’s smart enough to pull a Nettles and disappear (disappear not spread more violence ~liberating~ places that are not asking for her help or cultural arrogance) or if she, like Rhaenyra, will find that when she’s reached her limit, when she’s finally and truly lost, the door she thought she left open to escape through has been slammed shut behind her-

But it was not the plains Dany saw then. It was King's Landing and the great Red Keep that Aegon the Conqueror had built. It was Dragonstone where she had been born. In her mind's eye they burned with a thousand lights, a fire blazing in every window. In her mind's eye, all the doors were red.

[horizon-verizon]

I think it’s possible to recognize that Rhaenrya was a victim of sexism while recognizing that she was also a brutal tyrant. I think we can say that Rhaenrya was a victim of the patriarchy but also someone who responded to her treatment by lashing out at everyone around her, especially those below her. Calling for the assassination of Nettles, a black teenage girl, isn’t an act of solidarity and feminism.

I agree. I agree that the blood purity she performs and uses is a feature of her heritage that she actively & consciously chooses but I do not know for certain that she'd suspect the dragonseeds if she hadn't had to emotionally gather herself only to lose not one, not two, but three kids to the stresses of usurpation. Ordering Nettles' execution is definitely a reflection of that Targ-Andal blood purity.

What I protest against are the ideas that:

Rhaenyra's tyranny later is told to have been inevitable without the greens' intervention or any instigation (I don't even care about Vaemond's death, he was just looking to endanger her kids/her for his own ambitions, like the greens. "Fair" play and he was going against the not unfair declaration Viserys made)

that there was no instigation or provocation; her reaction doesn't make sense (in a sense)

a woman has to show that she is capable of ruling because the history of male rulers makes her obligated to show "girls can do it, too" -> that it's justified to expect her to be above-average just because she happens to be the first up-and-coming Queen Regnant in ("united") Westerosi history -> -> to expect a woman to "prove" to a misogynist base (I mean specifically the other lords or even some of her male relatives) her worth and fitness to rule is coming from the context of women being kept from rulership that is both supported and reaffirms the idea that female authority = unnatural condition for women... (HERE is a post by mononijikayu explaining the progression and origins of the gender divisions in medieval Europe)

that being in the middle of a civil war that she did not start, having had the royal treasury bled out, that the rumormongering done by a hidden master of whispers and later the fear-mongering rhetoric of a seemingly mad version of Savonrola ARENT something that no other monarch ever had to deal with & WASN'T an extreme and volatile situation that even Jaehaerys would have much trouble with (I must remind people that Jaehaerys would have had a lot more problems without Alysanne and Septon Barth and Rogar Baratheon AND there was no agent working against him behind the shadows nor did he lose a child out of his own actions and unfairly until his much older age [Aemon], and that was only one NOR was it out of actual hate towards his person! or a belief that genitals "prove" he shouldn't rule)

and tons of other lies I don't even want to get into

In other words, there are a lot of bad-faith arguments that just wind up as being misogynist, so where do we move on if we're hung back?

Once more, Rhaenyra was never herself a feminist BOTH because there is no such thing as feminists in real/fictional medieval settings AND because she never consciously and intentionally sought to better other women's lives. The reason why we look at her story as a story of feminism is because as a woman, even just sitting on the throne provides enough precedent and justification for other women to claim and keep their seats (Jeyne Arryn, and other women and girls in even pre-Targ history who has lost the opp to rule)--and who knows, if she had been allowed to live and rule, actually consider instituting some laws for women either of her own inspiration or persuaded. Thus setting Westerosi towards a more woman-included political framework. Even though misogyny wouldn't disappear, the sentiment of women being bad or incapable or even just "unlucky" types of rulers wouldn't be as strong or as justified or more easily countered.

Plus, if I do not explain why it is important to understand Rhaenyra as a person affected by others and society, looking for agency, then the idea of a woman doing evil as being the blueprint of evil itself actually makes it worse for women in general. Because it fosters the connection between womanhood and evil or "unnaturalness" or the unnaturalness of gender-nonconformity of any kind. This is one-way progress even happens, Westerners still do not live in a utopia for women, anon. But Western (and some countries in Africa and Asia) women have a safer bet now than they did in ancient Greece, Japan, etc., or 200 years ago in U.S. history.

Once more, no one has to actually think Rhaenyra is a good person or even like her. She absolutely commits evil and there are other women in the dynasty who perform less or none (none or without their own faults but most [before the loss of dragons] display a lot of intelligence or autonomy-seeking) Just watch out for why you don't like her and what you think characterizes that evil, the events surrounding it, what inspires her, and all those implications. And recognize that good fiction doesn't ask you to name a good person based on your already-conceived notions of good vs evil, but to see the characters' development and role in the narrative and how their roles/lives/contentions mirror our own.

Aegon is a person born into a royal family with incumbent supreme power and he uses it against women and children (Aemond, too, but being a second son never he will not have the same access to power as his older brother, thereby there is a level of frustration that he himself nurtures). Rhaenyra is born into a world that consistently takes from women to give to men, and even her own family has a history of sidelining its women to affirm their men's power over them and Westeros. GRRM is asking us what does to women, how it makes them retreat into themselves and develop their methods of self-defense, or how she chooses to gain back some agency? How far or how little can she (the woman, not just Rhaenyra) go to gain power or agency, and once she gets past a certain point that she can't even see because she is so inured into a state of self-defense, how can she "come back" from that? Is there even room for it? And what does that do to men like Aegon & Aemond or even common-born men (who also abuse their wives, daughters, etc.) -- encourage them to perform violence against women and children?

So honestly, this back and forth about Rhaenyra being a bad ruler or just about her tyranny and paranoia is less interesting to me bc it is NOT THE ENTIRE POINT and it's boring as heck!!! (Unless we talking abt the progression into Dany's leadership & her own textual defiance of gender binaries)

*EDIT* (9/22/23)

As I told someone below in the comments, check your own logic before coming to this post. I have many other posts of me explaining and refuting other sexist takes that begin: HERE; HERE; HERE; HERE. And all link to many more posts where I explain to various anons why their arguments (very specific ones) are actually incorrect or just plain sexist.

[agentrouka-blog]

Cersei will probably blame Tyrion for blowing up the Sept, not only she already tried to pin the blame on him for her shitty plots (like the plan to murder Trystan) but the smallfolk of King's Landing already hate Tyrion for burning their houses down with wildfire, so it would be easier to convince them it was a revenge plot

I'm not so sure.

I don't think merely blaming Tyrion would would be a very successful ploy. He's not on hand, hasn't been seen in months. It doesn't really resonate. It would rightfully seem not credible. The smallfolk may hate him but that doesn't mean they would happily believe any claim by the queen they just saw marched naked through the streets for the crime of fornication. Even if she has been making pious noises since then. It'd have to be someone more immediate and concrete. (But don't ask me who.)

But I also want to emphasize, I don't think it'd be an explosion of the scale in the show. A burning of some kind, probably. An explosion, no.

We have examples of such fire traps.

Ser Gregor Clegane:

Ser Raymun Darry took up the tale. “At Wendish Town, the people sought shelter in their holdfast, but the walls were timbered. The raiders piled straw against the wood and burnt them all alive. When the Wendish folk opened their gates to flee the fire, they shot them down with arrows as they came running out, even women with suckling babes.” (AGOT, Eddard XI)

And in a painful copy, by the Brotherhood Without Banners:

Flaming arrows flew through the morning mists, trailing pale ribbons of fire, and thudded into the wooden walls of the septry. A few smashed through shuttered windows, and soon enough thin tendrils of smoke were rising between the broken shutters. Two Mummers came bursting from the septry side by side, axes in their hands. Anguy and the other archers were waiting. (ASOS, Arya VII)

And in a particularly interesting example:

On the thirtieth day since the trial of seven, the king awoke with the sunrise and walked out onto the walls. Thousands cheered—though not at the Sept of Remembrance, where hundreds of the Warrior's Sons had gathered for their morning prayers. Then Maegor mounted Balerion and flew from Aegon's High Hill to the Hill of Rhaenys and, without warning, unleashed the Black Dread's fire. As the Sept of Remembrance was set alight, some tried to flee, only to be cut down by the archers and spearmen that Maegor had made ready. The screams of the burning and dying men were said to echo throughout the city, and scholars claim that a pall hung over King's Landing for seven days. (The World of Ice and Fire - The Targaryen Kings: Maegor I)

I imagine the bulk of this imagery is likely to be replicated with Dany in Vaes Dothrak, but their arcs have not been studded with parallels for no reason, so something along the lines of a fire trap is bound to be in play with Cersei as well.

Maybe much smaller and sneakier, than what they show suggested, though no less deadly to her enemies. Perhaps smoke inhalation may even suffice. Have them choke like Joffrey did.

And it may be that it simply happens in a way that leaves her looking to have narrowly escaped danger herself, dramatically staged, making her involvement seem as unlikely as that of the Tyrells poisoning Joffrey (since Margaery was drinking from the same cup at one point). It may be that a third party will rear its head looking suspicious beforehand. After all The Hand of the King Kevan Lannister, the queens own beloved uncle, has just been murdered, as well. And the grand maester Pycelle. Clearly every signifyer of order and authority seems to be under attack.

Whichever third party may end up being blamed, it primarily needs to look like Cersei did NOT do it, giving her the opportunity to appear like she's restoring order after the fact. That would help her regain some credibility with the smallfolk, too. The repentant queen mother, defending the Faith that was so cruelly attacked by [insert conveniently suspicious outsider group], avenging her beloved daughter in law and her late uncle, striving to protect her son king Tommen.

If a scapegoat is found, it's more likely to be someone who is an actual threat to Cersei right now. Killing two birds with one stone. Or two enemies with one fire.

[abbatoirablaze]

The Understudies, Season 2, Chapter 6

Word Count:  1.6k

Warnings:  angst, manipulation, coercion, MAJOR TW:  character death/suicide, mentions of blood.

“Why did you do that?”

Dani glared at Luthor and the eldest of the Hargreeves shrunk under her knowing gaze, “oh don’t say that you’re still hooked on her.”

“You went after her for no reason,” Luthor argued, trying to stand up for her, “she was there, with dad, helping us.”

“No she wasn’t!”

“Well she was trying to,” he responded, “And you went in with a metaphorical knife and stabbed her in the stomach and then twisted the blade.”

“Not cool!” Klaus agreed lazily from the floor.

Dani rolled her eyes at him, “get up and say that to my face if you want it to have any weight behind it, druggie.”

“They’re right, Dani.  There wasn’t any reason for how you treated her,” Allison said from her corner, “she was trying to help us, and convince dad that we were on the right side of things.”

“No, she wasn’t,” she argued, “she wasn’t helping any of us.  She was helping herself.  She made us all look bad.”

“No…we did that on our own!” Five disagreed, “with Luthor over there having too many daddy issues and all of you acting like a bunch of jackals.”

Dani turned to focus her rage on him, “no.  Brianna has more power than you give her credit.  She was the one that got to dad and managed to convince him to hold onto her.  None of us were able to do that.  She’s been that way ever since we were kids.  He always liked her the best.”

“Maybe that’s because she’s not a royal bitch!” Diego spat.

“Or maybe you’re all still into her,” she hissed, “Klaus is wrapped around anything that gives them attention, just like you.  And she was always dad’s favorite, so having her give you attention was just as good as dad giving you the attention himself.  And Luthor…do we even have to begin with the daddy issues he has?  They started dating once he was on the moon…all the way until the time of the accident.  And he’s never gotten over Allison, so we all know that he just dated Brianna because that put him one step closer to dad!”

“You seem to know an awful lot about your sister’s dating history,” Five began, “Jealous much?”

“Yeah right,” she scoffed, “there’s nothing to be jealous of that little slut.  She’s slept with almost all of you.  I mean, she even fucked Ben and gave birth to a bastard.  I just don’t understand why all of you like her so much that you’re willing to give up saving the world for her.”

“Hey…no one said that we’re giving up!” Five growled, “and not all of us have been romantic with Brianna.  So your little theory doesn’t work.”

“She didn’t need to get to you,” Dani smirked, “Dot got to you the first day you saw her.”

Five’s jaw tensed, “you don’t get to speak about Dot…”

“I just don’t get how all of you are so wrapped up in my sisters,” she growled, “I’m the special one.  Not them.  But yet, none of you want to acknowledge me.  None of you ever wanted to acknowledge the fact that I could be an asset to you assholes.”

“Because you just like to put a wedge between people!” Luthor said solemnly, “you’re not an asset if all you do is tear people apart.  That makes you a villain.”

“Okay daddy issues!” she scoffed as the elevator came to a stop at the ground floor, “you know…that’s why none of you will figure this out.  You put all of your faith into the fact that Brianna will help, and dad will magically be on our side, but guess what, she didn’t.  We’re on our own.  And just like Five said, days ago, we’ve brought the apocalypse back with us.  The only difference is that this time around, there’s no way of stopping it.”  

“You don’t know that, Dani!”

But Dani had already turned her attention away from him, choosing to focus on Allison, “you already lost your family once.  Do you really want to go through another apocalypse without saying goodbye?”

“Brianna, would you like to discuss why you ran out of there so quickly?” Reginald asked slowly.  Brianna’s gaze went up to his and another tear slid down her cheek, “I was discussing things with the one that called himself number five when you burst through like a bat out of hell.”

“I-I would not.”

“You know that it would be for the best,” he offered gently, “we should discuss why you had such a visceral reaction to whatever happened in there…in all of our time together, I’ve never even so much as seen you crack, and you’ve seen the real me.”

“I-it’s all of them,” she admitted, breaking down again.  Reginald sighed, placing his book beside himself on the seat before sliding over to the side where Brianna was sitting.  There, he carefully wrapped his arms around her.  She sobbed against his chest, allowing herself to feel all of the emotions, “I-I just-I had to hide who I was for so long with them.  When I was a c-child, Dani made me feel like I couldn’t show anyone my powers.  She squirrelled me away until everyone started to believe it.  They treated me like I was nothing all this time, and they made me believe it…the only one that ever saw me…the only one that ever made me truly better was Ben…and they let him die because they were jealous of our love.”

“Did I ever believe that, little one?”

She looked up at the man that she viewed as a father.  He reached up, swiping away her tears, and she shook her head, “n-no…you never let me think I was anything less than special.  You saw the same things that Ben did…and neither one of you ever let me think I was less than that.”

“Then the problem is them,” he said simply, “it’s a problem we will rectify little one, don’t you worry about that.”

“Wh-what?”

“You and I have accomplished so much in the short amount of time that we’ve been together, Brianna,” he admitted, “you’ve helped me get far beyond the boundaries that I thought were possible.  If these people…these men and women you claimed as siblings have put you in some kind of box that limits your capabilities…I want none of it.  I want nothing of the Umbrella Academy…”

She shot up, staring at him wholeheartedly, “but the apocalypse…the-“

“We will find a way, little one,” he said simply, “and then we will make a plan…a plan to usurp what they believe as reality and create our own.  A better one.”

“A better Umbrella Academy?”

“No, little one…an adapted version…The Sparrow Academy!”

The Sparrow Academy.

Her heart ached at the thought that was planted in her father’s head that night. 

No more Klaus.  Or Luthor.  Or Allison.  Diego.  Five. 

It’s not that she didn’t like them.  She loved her siblings.  And she’d tried to convince her father to reverse his feelings over it, but to no avail. 

She had done more damage than good. 

She felt the tears coming up to her eyes once more.  Her chest began to constrict, feeling tighter than it had all day.  She looked to the tub and sighed.  Walking over quickly, she turned the knob, stopping the flow.  Running her fingers through it, she agreed that it was warm enough. 

Stripping down, she stepped in, needing the clarity of the warm tub to clear her mind. 

“It’s my fault!” she sighed, bracing her back against the edge, letting her body slide along the back until her bottom met the tub’s depths and her neck rested at the lip, “I was the one who made the Umbrella Academy weak.  He couldn’t focus on them because he worried about me…”

She sniffled into the open air. 

The bathroom was filling with the warm fog, the air rising up out of the tub.  She lightly splashed at the water, hoping that she would feel something other than sadness.

Nothing.

She closed her eyes and sobbed, feeling the emotions that she’d put away once she and Reginald had discussed the start of the Sparrow Academy.

None of the siblings would be chosen.  He’d known where he’d gotten each of them. 

Luthor and Five from a couple in England.

Diego from Cuba.

Allison from Georgia

Klaus from Pennsylvania.

And Vanya from Russia.

And herself, Dani, and Dot from England as well.

Her heart raced at the thought that her father wouldn’t pick any of them.

“All my fault.” she repeated, picking up the razor from beside the tub.  She leaned back and held the cool metal to her lips.  When she felt the metal’s sweet kiss, she leaned into it, and pulled hard before she could regret the decision. 

The warmth that erupted from her throat felt different than the warmth in the tub.  The porcelain underneath her disappeared.  It’s sickening white glow turning a light pink to a deep scarlet as the blood trailed down her chest. 

She tried to take a breath but couldn’t. 

Her heart raced even more as her hands reached up to her neck. 

The skin was more than split.

Her fingers danced over the damaged flesh, slipping on the blood. 

It felt like she was drowning. 

The doorknob jostled, “Brianna…”

She looked worriedly at the door as her body began slumping down into the tub.  She didn’t have the energy any longer to hold herself up.  Her fingers stopped working to try to stop the bleeding that had now also slowed. 

She sank. 

The water, mixed with blood, was too hard to see through.  Her lips parted and it made its way into her body. 

A crash.

The door was slamming open just a few feet from her. 

But it was too little, too late as Reginald rushed into the bathroom. 

Brianna was gone.

Chapter 7

[juniorfor2]

what do you think of book!Rhaenyra? And Alicent?

Hello Anon. That’s a bit of a vague question, so I’ll answer it as broadly as I can and hope that I answer whatever you want to know.

I certainly like Rhaenyra and Alicent’s book counterparts far more than their show counterparts, if mostly for consistency’s sake. Both of them were also far more willing to take power, which was far better to see than HotD’s “all women are peaceful” type theme.

Rhaenyra, tbh, is a bit vague in the book, and that’s purposeful. GRRM doesn’t give us a lot to go on about her actual personality, because it would otherwise make the purpose of the Dance’s narrative - questioning why women are framed the way they are in history - a bit pointless and just too easy to figure out. We do at least know she loves to be fashionable, she seems to be a good mother, she’s quite determined in her want for the throne, and is probably closer to the older Valyrians, before Jaehaerys and Alysanne assimilated so much with the Faith. From there, almost everything else is dubious. I think we can assume that at least she was entitled, spoiled, and probably viewed herself as above the small folk, because that’s how most of the nobility viewed themselves and GRRM doesn’t try to separate her from this. The extent of this though, is rather unknown, because once Viserys died, Eustace essentially went on a spree of lying about her - just about every time he’s mentioned talking about Rhaenyra in King’s Landing, the information is so contradictory to the point of absurdity.

I personally like more of what Rhaenyra represents on a thematic level, because she has such a big narrative theme across the books. Her connection to the Amethyst Empress - both are overthrown by their brothers, one’s death brings the first Long Night, the other’s brings the death of the dragons - is incredibly important, especially for Dany’s story. The fact that a woman’s usurpation and death brought about the end of the dragons, while Daenerys, a woman, brings them back to life, is perhaps one of the best themes and connections that GRRM has made in all of his series. Rhaenyra is probably my favorite character in F&B just for that.

As for Alicent, I would never say I like her, but I do respect her in some regards. Just like Rhaenyra, she clearly wanted power, and was willing to do just about everything to get it - even if that means beefing with a 10 year old at 19, and then a 5 year old at 35ish. She was certainly committed.

Alicent is one of those characters I hate because she was willing to keep her own sex inferior to men, but I also respect because she clearly wants to rule as much as possible. Alicent is not in Rhaenyra’s position - she is not the eldest of Otto (at least I’m pretty sure) and Otto himself is not an inheritor of anything. That meant Alicent could only gain power by marrying the king, or influencing her son, and it’s pretty clear that’s exactly what she meant to do. She wielded an unprecedented amount of power as Queen - power that even Alysanne never acquired - and even once Dowager Queen she herself called the Green Council and ruled over how things would go. As far as female figures in F&B go, she was probably one of the most powerful.

On a personal level of course, I don’t like her. The bastardphobia was long recorded and known, which was disgusting. Considering how much of a bully she was as well, she’s just rather terrible as a person. I can’t really think of a personable, redeeming quality for her. She got herself into her situation, treated everyone terribly, and then had the audacity to act like her sons’ lives meant more than Rhaenyra’s, even as she begged for mercy. I just can’t like her that much.

Hope that answers your question.

[rogesims]

Vacation

Two weeks after Flower Day, just a week before graduation, Willow got her scholarship letters. She was accepted in two! She's now considering leaving the Harris' garage and using the money to help her pay a small apartment for herself. 

Leo and Marcos were about to have their final exams, so they could barely see each other except in between classes.

"My family will make a trip together this weekend. Wanna come?", asked Leo.

 "Can't. My mom has some family stuff to sort out in another town and wants me along."

"I had an idea, but I need to wait for the pack release first. Did you know Summer 14th is Pride Day?"

Marcos was curious.

"Course I do! What's on your mind?"

"I heard San Sequoia has a great Pride Festival. My dad told me I can work with him and save money for the loading screens!"

"YES! I'm sure Dani will also love the idea. And Sid! And Ash! And Van! Let's invite everyone!"

Leo could barely listen to a word Mr. Morlind was saying... Soon classes would be over and he'd have a WHOLE week on vacation! He knew about someone else who would probably also love to hear about their Pride excursion.

Mols said she'd love it. Her mom wanted to go skiing but she'd rather die by Vlad.

"She made me organize Career Day for extra credit and I need some fresh air. Just so you know, I signed you up."

"Well", replied Leo, "if that means you're coming, I can find some fun in that!"

When they got home, both Moe and Leo had great news! Leo has been promoted to Speedrunner and Moe got to her branch selection. She got a unique opportunity and ended up on her path to stardom again! It seems like it doesn't matter the universe, Moe is destined to fame. 

The Harrises landed in Lani St. Taz! They're staying the weekend at the Saphire Shores Resort.

"Won't this be too expensive, mom?"

"Baby, don't be silly...This isn't a real hotel, they don't exist in the game! We won't pay a thing, this is just a spa."

A well-deserved vacation... Being a legacy family ain't easy! Since they didn't pay for the stay, the family enjoyed the premises before having dinner. 

It's dinner time, and the Harrises went to the best (the only) restaurant in Sulani!

"Thank you so much for this trip, guys! It's a great close to my High School Years!", said Willow.

"We're also celebrating Moe's promotion. She's famous now!" "

And Leo is ending his junior year!", Moe replied. "It's time you start thinking about your future, baby."

"To be honest, I don't know, mom. I've been working at the drama club, but Copperdale is too far away from Honeywood."

"We're not gonna live there forever, you know? Legacies are known for moving all around the SimNation."

"You should trust your gut, Leo. I'm sure the Watcher will find a way of helping your dreams come true." Leo didn't have all this blind faith.

"How can the Watcher know what to do, when I can't?"

"They made us cross universes to save the legacy. You'll be good!"

"I hope you're right, mom. I have just a few weeks left before my gen takes over."

"Watcher surely have something in store for you. Just keep on going through Live Mode and soon I know things will become clearer!"

After dinner, Leo vanished. Moe found him at a fishing spot nearby. "Can I sit here?" 

"What if I'm not a good heir as you both? You had a Starlight Boulevard star, for woohoock sake! I don't think I can top that."

"Leo... You don't have to be like us. You're good just the way you are and doing the things you want to do. Legacy gens are different."

"I acted, and I now work with social causes because that's what makes me happy; same with your dad and cooking", Moe reassured him.

"And what about the drama, and the interesting plots?"

"Oooh, 'The Drama'! Not every legacy will be as messy as a Swan or a Lacey. And that's ok."

Moe gave her big baby a loving hug.

"Whatever your story is, you'll be loved and there will always be someone who enjoys your path. I promise."

Next morning, after an... um... eventful night, Moe had news for the family. 

Breakfast by the sea, the perfect moment to break the news!

"Family, we're having a spare Harris! The first legacy infant is due to fall!"

"Another one, thank you!"

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #53: NM issues 22-25

A little backstory: a few months ago, there was an issue of Marvel Team-Up which I have not read where Rahne and Berto we're injected with the same magic drugs that gave powers to Cloak and Dagger, two other teen heroes. Cloak and Dagger purged the drugs from their systems, but for the past few issues, there have been some hints that the drugs had lasting effects they can't identify, and in this arc we finally tug on that plot thread. At the start of this issue, Kurt is helping Sam work on his maneuvering. He's made some progress, but is still pretty out of control, especially compared to how much the younger kids have improved. Kurt approaches the problem from an acrobat's perspective, teaching Sam to cut his power mid flight, do a somersault, and fly reactivate facing another direction. Sam is scared of failing and hates himself when he can't get it perfect, but Kurt says he too failed when he was starting out, and that's what the net's for. Meanwhile, Rahne comes to watch, but is still scared of Kurt, fearing he's a demon the way she fears Illyana and herself. He decides to teach her a lesson by turning in the holograms to make him and Rahne look like clowns before asking her to dance. She thinks he's Sam and accepts, and then he turns off the illusion to show her appearances don't matter, whether they're fake or real. But she runs off, yelling that he wants to make her question God. Kurt's sad, but he has plenty of experience with this as both a Christian and a mutant, so he lets her go work her emotions out. Meanwhile, Peter is training Berto in martial arts, and stressed the importance of skill no matter the strength level, especially with Berto's glass cannon status. Peter wants Berto to avoid the mistakes he's made in the past, but Berto finds it condescending and attacks him to prove his strength. To his shock, his hands become energy claws that cause Peter internal pain before disappearing. Across town, Selene goes to a man that's in a cult that's been worshipping her and waiting for her return. She seeks wealth and allies, and her worshipper recommends the Hellfire Club, where at that moment Emmanuel is taking the final steps towards initiation. Later, Rahne writes a weird fairy tale about herself as a princess going on a quest to kill two people who resemble Cloak and Dagger to avenge her fallen prince. As Rahne goes to sleep that night, Dagger's amulet from the dream appears in her hand. There wasn't really much content in this issue, but it did have some scenes with X-Men training New Mutants, which I really wish we saw more of in this era. Pretty much any pairing of X-Man and New Mutant could lead to a unique mentorship that develops both characters, but probably none more so than Kurt and Rahne. He's also been called a demon by Christians whose faith he shares, although his religion defines him much less than Rahne's does her. Also, pretty much everything in Rahne's life has always gone and will always go terribly, and although she'll learn how to deal with her problems eventually, right now I think Kurt's optimism in the face of hardship could be a good influence on her. Learning to accept him would also make her more receptive to Illyana, who's much less charismatic and social and takes a lot longer to forge any sort of friendship with Rahne. Unfortunately, there's not really any follow-up to their interactions here, and I think that's a huge missed opportunity. But oh well, it's time to move on to the next issue.

In issue 23, Emmanuel and Selene are both officially sworn into the Inner Circle, while in town Peter is at a bar playing chess with the owner, who's he's gotten to know over his time in the area. To his surprise, Berto is also at the bar, and when Peter tries to take him home he starts acting really weird and attacking. Peter calls for backup, but there's no X-Men home, so Xavier sends Sam and Dani. It's a very interesting move; Dani is an obvious choice, since she's the most skilled and strategic of the New Mutants. But Sam has the least control over his powers of any of the team. I think this is an indication of how Xavier views Sam; a trustworthy hero who even if he didn't have powers would never give up on saving a teammate. His big brother role in the group is just as crucial as Dani's tactical leadership, which is why they make a perfect duo. The pair make it to the bar, where Peter and the magically amped Berto have taken each other out, and they bring them both back. We cut briefly to the middle of the ocean, where we follow up on Magneto's last cameo in Uncanny. Lee takes him to his old island to recover, and his pride is a little wounded from being saved by a normal human. Here's another issue with binging these books decades later: Magneto's subplot has been bouncing between the two books, and since I'm not reading them as they come out, it's hard to keep them in the right order. Luckily Magneto will be sticking to this book for a while. While Xavier and Moira, who's visiting, examine Peter and Berto, who are in unnatural comas, Dani feels a strange tug at her mindlink with Rahne and she and Sam follow it to a hotel in the city. They learn that Rahne sleepwalked there in the form of the princess from her story, and now has no recollection of it. Sam finally makes the connection when he sees a story in the newspaper about Cloak and Dagger being attacked by a wolf in their civilian identities.  They visit them in the hospital and learn theie powers have transfered to Rahne and Berto, who don't know how to control the curse. Back at the mansion, Berto wakes up, and his shadowy form begins consuming everyone there.

The curse of the power of Cloak, and now Berto, is that the bearer of it has to consume people's lifeforce to survive. Berto doesn't want to, but he can't help it. Luckily, Rahne, in her new alternate princess persona, has the power of Dagger to provide unlimited lifeforce for Cloak to consume. She saves the residents of the mansions, but Berto gets scare and teleports them away. Back on the island, Magneto apologizes for his behavior towards Lee, with what she thinks may be his first apology ever. Berto has teleported himself and Rahne to the church of their friend Father Bowen. Because the superhero world is smaller, Bowen is a friend of Xi'an who helped him when she immigrated and has taken in her younger siblings, and he's also Dagger's uncle. Berto is stricken with guilt, believing he killed Peter, but Dagger!Rahne says that his lifeforce is hidden deep within Berto. Side note, it's weird that Berto's powers just enhance certain emotions in him, but Rahne's manifested a new personality with separate memories. Maybe it would make more sense if I read Cloak and Dagger, or if I had read that Marvel Team-Up issue, but it's too late now. Rahne  can now turn into a silver wolf, and dives into the shadows to save Peter's soul. As a farmer, Peter was always happiest growing food to share with those he loves, but in the shadow of Cloak, he has a vision of being stranded in a desert. Kitty is there with flowers, but so is Zsaji, and when he ignores Kitty, she disintegrates with the food before Zsaji also dies. Peter starts to doubt his feelings even more, because Claremont can't let the relationship go. Dagger!Rahne pulls him out and turns back into little Rahne, who runs to Xavier in terror. He embraces her like a father, surprising himself a little. There's a funny moment where Xavier tells Sam, who showed up to the church in his rockstar clothes, that they violate dress code, but Anna, who came along, says she likes it. Illyana decides to try casting a spell, but holy ground causes her discomfort and weakens her magic, so she teleports them to Limbo. Once again, her magic manifests as a silver pentagram, both good and evil, but Rahne hates it and Illyana and resists, causing it to backfire and fail. They return to Earth and the original Cloak and Dagger return. They've spent this issue pondering their chance at freedom from their powers, but they've come to take them back to save the kids.

Cloak is having second thoughts, not wanting to be a monster again. Xavier opens up to him about when he first got his powers, and all he could feel was pain. But he learned to control it, and he believes Cloak can too. Better than Berto can at least, because the power is killing him and Cloak was able to control it. Berto is losing control, and fights back as Cloak tries to reclaim his power, but Anna, Xavier, and Illyana working together transfer both powers to their rightful owners. Cloak is once again a shadow monster, but thanks to Xavier, he now has hope that he can truly use it for good. He warns them all that Berto may not be the same after this experience, and though Xavier invites them both to join the school, Cloak and Danger leave to continue their vigilante lifestyle in their book.

The last issue focused mostly on Cloak, because part of the purpose of this arc was to set up their new ongoing series. The stuff with Cloak and Dagger was well written, but not what I wanted to focus on, so this arc wasn't really as engaging from the point of view of doing a New Mutants binge. That doesn't make it a bad arc at all, it's actually very good, it's just not my cup of tea. Because of the focus on Cloak and Dagger, and the fact that Rahne and Berto were possessed and/or insane most of the time, Dani and Sam are the only New Mutants who got much of a spotlight. This was the first time we've seen them in action as a duo without backup, and it's one of my favorite pairing in the team. They compliment each other perfectly, both simultaneously brave and insecure but in very different ways, so they constantly inspire and support each other. Dani's a fearless warrior, but her own power often causes her to question her worth as a hero and person. Sam isn't confident in himself at all, but that doesn't stop him from throwing himself into the fray to protect his family. Really it encourages him too, because unlike the others, he deals with his huge fear of failure by just pressing on until he succeeds. It's exactly what Dani needs to remind her that she doesn't have to be alone, and that her friends won't give up on her. And she inspires him not just to try to be better, but to actually believe that he can be better, because she already believes it of him. If someone read just the first few issues of the book and you told them that the antisocial loner and the uncoordinated goofy country boy would become co-leaders of the team, they'd be surprised, but with how their arcs have been written so far, it's a perfectly believable progression. My biggest nitpick is that the narrative kinda leaves them behind when the cast of the story keeps increasing. Since Cloak and Dagger are here, I think having Anna kinda overcrowded the story with guest stars. She does get some good moments, like her fear when Cloak reminds her of the dire wraiths, who gave her a small taste of her own medicine recently, and when she's able to transfer powers to Xavier through a mindlink in Limbo. But I'd prefer those moments to happen in her book. Also, Xavier and Illyana get to be the MVPs in a lot of stories, which logically makes sense, but thematically there should have been more focus on Dani and Sam's heroics at the end. Sandwiched between Demon Bear and Legion, this arc feels a little lacking, but when you judge it by its own merits it's a pretty great story.

[dimitrescudaughters-au]

The Cold

How You discovered the cold is the girls' weakness. Daniela x You Centered

You've been at the castle for a handful of months by now

Ever since that faithful night you saved the youngest daughter from the Hunters

And almost lost your life because of it

You have been a very welcomed household member

Especially by a certain Dimitrescu

Daniela has made it pretty obvious that she wants you

At first it was just a lot of cheesy pick-up lines

Forward touches

And her telling you the explicit things she wants to do with you

But within the last few months

She's taken a genuine interest in you

Beyond just physical

She's kind to you

Talks hours on end with you

About everything and anything

She likes to take you on walks

And watch TV shows with you

And just be around you

So you two have decided to actually try a real relationship

It's taken some work

Mostly you trying to show Daniela what an actual relationship is

And not from her books or movies

Or some of her delusions

It's a work in progress

But it's definitely worth it

The only thing she struggles with is

Trust

She'll tell you every trivial thing about her

And make it seem like you know her

But almost half a year into this

And you learn from a maid

That Daniela had a whole different life

That she wasn't born a Dimitrescu

She was made into one

You have to play it off to the maid

That you knew all this

That of course your girlfriend told you

That she tells you everything

You play it off well

But behind the mask

Your heart breaks

Have you two not been working on this?

You opened up to her

About your life

How your mother and sister died

How your father was nothing more

Than a shell of a man

And how you watched

Your brother die in front of you

Daniela knows all of this

She knows almost everything about you

And the most you know is

Her favorite color is green

You think about stomping around the castle and yelling out Daniela's name

Confronting her and ask a million questions

But

"Love! There you are! I've been searching for you!"

She's always been so affectionate

But you need to stand your ground

"I'm sorry, Daniela. But I'm upset with you and I just needed space"

"I-love," she reaches to touch you and

You back away

There's obvious hurt in her eyes

It pains you to see it

But you need to know

"You weren't born a Dimitrescu?"

A small smile "well no, love. Of course not-"

"Who were you before?"

"I-i dont remember. But that doesn't matter, why are you upset?"

"And you didn't tell me that?"

You aren't angry

How could you be?

You must have done something to cause her not to trust you

If anything

You're hurt

"Dani, I have told you everything about me. My family, my childhood, my hopes and dreams and fears. The demons that keep me up at night-and and all I know about you is that you hate coffee cause it's too bitter"

"I-i that's important too! I just don't have any life to talk about! It's gone and it was useless to say-"

"You are still a person, Dani. A complex person with thoughts and feelings and fears and fuck, even dreams! There is more to you than your favorite number is 17 and you love romance novels"

A stretch of silence and tears building in your eyes

You're angry that your selfishness got the best of you

You shouldn't have said any of that

It's not her fault she doesn't trust you

"It's okay if you don't trust me. Trust takes time to build and I'll wait. I'm sorry, love. I just need space for a moment"

You hurry off to the door

Seeing her broken face is too much

The snowfall comes down steady

The cool air feels good on your skin

The castle is always so hot

And they refuse to open windows

The cold air will be nice

A walk by yourself to clear your head

You hurry outside and welcome the cold

The snowfall is just so

Beautiful

Down the steps you go

A quick walk around the garden

That's all you need

You didn't notice a second figure follow you

"L-love..."

Daniela stands still at the top of the stairs

Her arms wrap around herself

Stubborn girl

You slowly climb back up

Removing your jacket

She always said she hated the cold

But you never knew why

Until now

"Love, I'm sorry for snapping I-"

Something is wrong

Her skin

It's starting to crystallize

That spark in her eyes is slowly fading out

"DANI!"

You go to wrap her in your arms

She's always called you her 'little heater'

Always said she feels the most secure in your arms

But

Your hand touches her shoulder

A piece of it falls off

Your screams alerts a few maids

They all help you rush Daniela back inside

They all immediately add more wood to the fireplace

Hurry to lay down hot towels on Daniela

One tells you to hold her

The image of a piece of her falling off

Stings your mind

"Y/N, we need you to get it together. Lady Daniela will die if you don't do as we say"

You've never held Daniela this gently before

A few minutes pass before she begins to twitch

Her skin slowly goes back to normal

And her eyes

That spark of life returns

Her body shivers violently

And she curls fully into you

"M-my little h-heater"

You hold her tightly

And you two stay there for what feels like hours

Once the shakes stop

And Daniela no longer feels like a frozen bag

She speaks

"I trust you, my love. I mean, I just showed you my family's weakness"

Just like Daniela

All or nothing

"Love, you could've opened up with a 'I use to dream of becoming a teacher' or something less dramatic"

"What fun would've that been?"

A few sweet kisses later

"I'm sorry, Dani. Just because I opened up, doesn't mean you should have to rush"

"I wanted to tell you-things about me! But, no one has ever took interest into me like that. It's usually people wanting me to spare their life, trying to kill me or looking for a quick fuck"

"I love you, Dani. And I'm here for the long haul, if you'll have me"

Somehow

Daniela always manages to make every kiss

Feel like the first time

Fireworks, electricity, the whole Angel chorus singing

Every kiss just screams her love

This one is no different

"I love you, Y/N"

She begins to tell you of her life

Of who she was before

Of what she was told at least

And from that moment

Your relationship began to flourish past anyone's expectations

[moondancer71]

So here's the unsolicited request for the angst prompts 🤣 I say “I’m sorry I’m not what you signed up for.” or “You have everything in the world and that doesn’t satisfy you. Tell me, princess, how am I supposed to?” Whichever gets the muse going 😆

Thank you Myllee for this "unsolicited request" and helping this self proclaimed "angst monster" practice writing some angst! I hope you like this! 🤣

"I'm sorry I'm not what you signed up for."

Dany has always felt broken inside. She is like a piece of shattered glass; beautiful when the light shines on it, illuminating an array of vivid colors, but when touched it only leaves you bruised and bloody.

She oscillates between feeling that she is either incapable of love or unworthy of it. Her former boyfriends, Drogo and Daario, believed the former, as they often called her “cold” and “damaged.”

As depressing as it sounds, there is a small part of her that agrees with them, that acknowledges that she is a little cold and damaged, but not for the same reasons they had to think so. The cold exterior that Dany has been forced to assume is a defense mechanism, an attempt to protect herself and her heart.

Dany comes from a broken home so she has had little experience seeing what it means to love and care for another. Her mother died shortly after her birth, her father and eldest brother following not long after. From the stories she has heard about her father she thinks it’s probably a blessing that she never met him. However, she would have liked to have known Rhaegar. She’s been told that he had somewhat of a melancholic spirit, but that he found joy in his music. The only family Dany has ever known was her older brother, Viserys. Her feelings for him are complicated to say the least. She remembers the nights she would fall asleep to the sound of his voice as he told her stories of their family, of their mother, Rhaella. Those stories are the closest thing she will ever have to knowing her. As the years passed and they bounced around from foster home to foster home, Viserys grew increasingly cruel and abusive. Despite his treatment of her, Dany stayed by his side because without him she was truly alone.

After so many years of putting your love, faith, and hope into others to only receive scraps in return or sometimes nothing at all, Dany learned that she could only rely on herself. That is until she met him.

“Dany,” he calls to her, his voice pulling her back from her dark musings. She briefly remembers how she grew to hate it when Viserys called her that as his tone was always laced with anger and contempt. However, when Jon says it she only feels kindness and affection.

“What are you doing out here in the rain? Come inside, please. Let’s talk,” he pleads.

At the very first sign of conflict with Jon, Dany fled. Her body falling back into old patterns. That is how she ended up here, on the roof of Jon’s building, standing at the railed edge looking into the night sky as rain pours down around her. She was so focused on getting away, on finding space, that she forgot to even grab her coat. The sweatshirt she wears is soaked through and no longer keeps her warm. Her lips and fingers feel wrinkled and tingle as they become increasingly numb from the cold. She doesn’t really care though, the numbness that permeates throughout her body helps numb the pain she feels in her heart.

“Please,” he says once more, his voice sounding so tired and strained.

After a beat, she turns to him, and she can’t help but smile when their gazes lock. Like her, he is drenched. Yet, he still looks so handsome with the way his usually full and soft raven curls now cling and hang around his face. She recalls that when she left he had his hair pulled back in a low knot. She suspects he removed it as he has a habit of running his fingers through his curls when anxious or upset.

“I’m sorry,” she mutters, her voice so quiet it’s almost a whisper. When his piercing gaze becomes too much she turns away to stare back into the lights that illuminate King’s Landing below.

She can hear his boots scrape against the concrete before she can feel him stand beside her, his shoulder lightly bumping against her own.

“Sorry for what?” he asks.

“For me… I’m sorry that I’m not what you signed up for. You deserve someone better, someone who isn’t broken,” she doesn’t look at him when she speaks, too afraid to see anger or even worse disappointment in his eyes.

She feels his body shift beside her as he lets out a deep, frustrated sigh. Her body tenses waiting for him to tell her that she is right, that he doesn’t deserve her, or this, that what she offers him isn’t enough.

Instead, she feels his coarse fingertips against her cheek, gently pressing into her soft, rain slicked skin, urging her to look at him.

When she does she can’t help the hot tears that form in her eyes, blurring her vision and blending into the raindrops that continue to fall. The look in his stormy grey eyes isn’t that of anger or disappointment. He looks at her like there is something in her worth looking at.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, he says “you aren’t broken, Dany. No more than the rest of us are. No more than I am. Anyone who told you otherwise isn’t worth knowing. They don’t deserve you.”

“You say that now, but you haven’t known me long enough. I’ll ruin this, us,” she replies waving her hand between them to emphasize her point. “I can’t hurt you Jon.”

“You won’t, and I won’t hurt you. I promise. Now please, come inside so we can talk.”

“Ok,” she whispers.

He gives her a small, encouraging smile in return. As they head back to Jon’s apartment, he slides his palm across hers, intertwining their hands.

After they dry off and change into clean, warm clothes, they sit down and talk. It’s at this moment that Dany realizes how different it is with Jon. He listens, comforts, and reassures her. He shows her that she matters to him. It is also at this moment that Dany realizes that Drogo and Daario were wrong, and so was she. She is capable and worthy of giving and receiving love, she just needed to find the right person. She needed to find Jon.

Later that night when they fall into bed together, and Dany’s violet eyes find his grey ones, she only sees unrestrained desire and love. His lips map across her body almost reverently, soothing the scars that rest below the surface, unseen to the naked eye.

Afterwards, as they drift off to sleep, fully sated, he whispers, “I love you.” At this moment, Dany feels a little bit more whole. She knows that whatever lies ahead for her and Jon that they can mend their broken pieces together.

[rainhadaenerys]

Daenerys, Magic and Self-sacrifice

One argument I’ve seen from people who think Dany will die in the end is the idea that true magic can only be made with self-sacrifice and that because of this, Dany HAS to sacrifice herself. And well… I just don’t think the evidence presented for this is that conclusive, and I happen to think that there are plenty of things that point in the opposite direction.

One of the things that is pointed out as evidence is that had Dany not been willing to sacrifice herself, she would not have been able to hatch the dragons. But I don’t really think the text supports this interpretation. The very scene seems to be completely opposed to the idea that Dany ever wanted to sacrifice herself:

"I understand that you loved him," Ser Jorah said in a voice thick with despair. "I loved my lady wife once, yet I did not die with her. You are my queen, my sword is yours, but do not ask me to stand aside as you climb on Drogo's pyre. I will not watch you burn."

"Is that what you fear?" Dany kissed him lightly on his broad forehead. "I am not such a child as that, sweet ser."

"You do not mean to die with him? You swear it, my queen?"

"I swear it," she said in the Common Tongue of the Seven Kingdoms that by rights were hers. - Daenerys X AGOT

~

Dany took the torch from Aggo's hand and thrust it between the logs. The oil took the fire at once, the brush and dried grass a heartbeat later. Tiny flames went darting up the wood like swift red mice, skating over the oil and leaping from bark to branch to leaf. A rising heat puffed at her face, soft and sudden as a lover's breath, but in seconds it had grown too hot to bear. Dany stepped backward. [...]

And now the flames reached her Drogo, and now they were all around him. His clothing took fire, and for an instant the khal was clad in wisps of floating orange silk and tendrils of curling smoke, grey and greasy. Dany's lips parted and she found herself holding her breath. Part of her wanted to go to him as Ser Jorah had feared, to rush into the flames to beg for his forgiveness and take him inside her one last time, the fire melting the flesh from their bones until they were as one, forever. - Daenerys X ADWD

First, Dany states very confidently to Jorah that she has no intention to die. She says she is not “such a child” as that. So she had no intention to trade her life for the life of her dragons, meaning this was no self-sacrifice. It can’t be a sacrifice if Dany was certain that she wasn’t going to die, and didn’t want to die. Not only that, but Dany thinks about the “Seven Kingdoms that by rights were hers”, meaning that she has every intention to survive and use said dragons to conquer Westeros. And finally, we have the second quote. At first Dany feels the heat and steps backwards because the heat was too much to bear. And later Dany thinks that she was tempted to go burn and die with Drogo. Meaning that she could have burned and “sacrificed” herself if she wanted, but she chose not to (and followed her own ritual in order to survive). 

It doesn’t seem that “willingness to die/sacrifice yourself” was ever a part of Dany’s success. Because she seemed pretty against the idea of dying here, and she was even planning on how to conquer Westeros after this. It actually looks like Dany’s confidence and faith was a bigger part of the ritual than “willingness to sacrifice herself” ever was.

Also, I am not sure if the timing of the birth of the dragons supports the self-sacrifice theory, because the first two cracks (the first two dragons being born) happened before Dany fully entered the pyre (at that point she was at the edge of the fire, her clothes had only begun to smolder. So even if you consider she had already partially entered the fire, it was not enough for her to have “died” as a sacrifice), so Dany’s supposed sacrifice wasn’t really necessary for their birth:

Her vest had begun to smolder, so Dany shrugged it off and let it fall to the ground. The painted leather burst into sudden flame as she skipped closer to the fire, her breasts bare to the blaze, streams of milk flowing from her red and swollen nipples. Now, she thought, now, and for an instant she glimpsed Khal Drogo before her, mounted on his smoky stallion, a flaming lash in his hand. He smiled, and the whip snaked down at the pyre, hissing.

She heard a crack, the sound of shattering stone. The platform of wood and brush and grass began to shift and collapse in upon itself. Bits of burning wood slid down at her, and Dany was showered with ash and cinders. And something else came crashing down, bouncing and rolling, to land at her feet; a chunk of curved rock, pale and veined with gold, broken and smoking. The roaring filled the world, yet dimly through the firefall Dany heard women shriek and children cry out in wonder.

Only death can pay for life.

And there came a second crack, loud and sharp as thunder, and the smoke stirred and whirled around her and the pyre shifted, the logs exploding as the fire touched their secret hearts. She heard the screams of frightened horses, and the voices of the Dothraki raised in shouts of fear and terror, and Ser Jorah calling her name and cursing. No, she wanted to shout to him, no, my good knight, do not fear for me. The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don’t you see? Don’t you SEE? With a belch of flame and smoke that reached thirty feet into the sky, the pyre collapsed and came down around her. Unafraid, Dany stepped forward into the firestorm, calling to her children.

The third crack was as loud and sharp as the breaking of the world. - Daenerys X AGOT

Later in the books, Dany once again states that she never intended to sacrifice herself, and firmly believes that her dragons were born from the sacrifice of other people:

"They are mine," she said fiercely. They had been born from her faith and her need, given life by the deaths of her husband and unborn son and the maegi Mirri Maz Duur. Dany had walked into the flames as they came forth, and they had drunk milk from her swollen breasts. "No man will take them from me while I live." - Daenerys I ACOK

So Dany’s intention was all along never to sacrifice herself, but other people. Which is the complete opposite of what the self-sacrifice theories would lead us to believe. And once again, Dany stating that the dragons were born of her faith seems to corroborate the idea that it was her faith and confidence in the ritual that made the dragons hatch.

We also have this vision from the House of the Undying:

Faster and faster the visions came, one after the other, until it seemed as if the very air had come alive. Shadows whirled and danced inside a tent, boneless and terrible. A little girl ran barefoot toward a big house with a red door. Mirri Maz Duur shrieked in the flames, a dragon bursting from her brow. - Daenerys IV ACOK

People like to speculate that the sacrifices of Drogo, Rhaego and Mirri weren’t actually the real ones, that what mattered was Dany’s self-sacrifice, and that because of this she is living on borrowed time. And yet, this vision in the House of the Undying seems to contradict this interpretation, pointing that Mirri’s sacrifice was indeed the one that brought the dragons to life.

And then, of course, there are other examples. Melisandre is able to do magic by sacrificing other people, or even without sacrificing much (remember the leeches?).

And I don’t think that the idea that magic can be done by sacrificing others undermines any themes, or that it condones anything. Even if magic can be done by sacrificing others, people can still debate over the morality of it and whether this should be done. (In Dany’s case, Mirri killed her son, so Dany antis can stay far away from this post). The fact that Shireen won’t be enough to wake dragons could very well be simply because Stannis is not Azor Ahai, or that he didn’t put in the work and knowledge and faith that Dany had (remember how Dany states the dragons were born of her faith?), not because he didn’t sacrifice himself.

So I don’t think this idea that “Dany sacrificed herself in the pyre and therefore is living in borrowed time” holds much water so far. Maybe new information on this will come in the next books, but I don’t think the evidence so far is very strong. And I also don’t believe that the answer to defeat the Others has to be self sacrifice, when there’s no evidence that magic only works with self-sacrifice.

And even if the end of the Others does require self-sacrifice, why is the fandom so sure it has to be Dany? Literally any other character could sacrifice themselves. There’s nothing that points specifically to Dany as the one who HAS to sacrifice herself. And even if the person sacrificing themselves HAS to have king's blood, Dany is not the only character who could make this sacrifice.

Not to mention that Dany has already forged Lightbringer (the dragons), so I don't see why there would be any need of other sacrifices or magic to defeat the Others. It seems to me that the magic necessary was already achieved in Dany's ritual in AGOT, and that the fight against the Others will be determined by the character's actions, not by a last minute sacrifice or magic ritual that the characters just found out about. And in fact, GRRM has already stated in an interview that he doesn't like when magic is written like that:

Magic should never be the solution to the problem. My credo as a writer has always been Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech where he said, “The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.” That transcends genre. That’s what good fiction, good drama is about: human beings in trouble. You have to make a decision, you have to do something, your life is in danger or your honor is in danger, or you're facing some crisis of the heart. To make a satisfying story, the protagonist has to solve the problem, or fail to solve the problem – but has to grapple with the problem in some kind of rational way, and the reader has to see that. And if the hero does win in the end, he has to feel that that victory is earned. The danger with magic is that the victory could be unearned. Suddenly you're in the last chapter and you wind up with a deus ex machina. The hero suddenly remembers that if he can just get some of this particular magical plant, then he can brew a potion and solve his problem. And that's a cheat. That feels very unsatisfying. It cheapens the work. Well-done fantasy – something like Tolkien – he sets Lord of the Rings up perfectly, right at the beginning. The only way to get rid of the ring, the only way, is to take it to Mount Doom and throw it in the fires from which it comes. You know that right from the first. And if we'd gone through all that, and then at the end of the book suddenly Gandalf had said, wait a minute, I just remembered, here's this other spell, oh, I can get rid of the ring easily! You would have hated that. That would have been all wrong. Magic can ruin things. Magic should never be the solution. Magic can be part of the problem. (source)

Sure, one could argue that Dany sacrificing herself to perform some magic ritual and save the world is still a difficult decision that will have internal conflict, so it isn't a complete Deus Ex Machina or a cop out. But at least to me, it doesn't seem that GRRM will introduce some kind of new magic in the last book that will solve everything. Considering how he has been building up his heroes by having them gain experience in politics, military, I expect these things to be the most essential ones to their victory. I expect heroes like Dany, Jon and Tyrion to put to use their experience of conciliating people, leading, commanding armies, etc. At least in my opinion, it would be disappointing if the fate of the entire world was decided by just one person deciding to sacrifice themselves. And it would be a bit nonsensical as well, because again, why wouldn't any of Dany's followers offer to sacrifice themselves in her place? Why would anyone think that it's a good idea to sacrifice one of their main political leaders if anyone else could offer to sacrifice themselves? And if only Dany can be sacrificed because of some random magical blood or chosen one destiny, wouldn't that defeat the whole argument that what matters are people's actions, not their special blood or some prophecy? 

Aside from the fact that the magic shown in the books doesn't really make me think that self-sacrifice is necessary or that Dany needs to sacrifice herself, self-sacrifice is definitely not something that is the culmination of Dany’s character development. She has been self-sacrificial since the very first book, it’s not something she needs to learn and do to complete her character development. It’s not like Dany was some selfish person who needs to finally sacrifice herself for others to complete her arc, that’s not her story. That would be the kind of story that would make a lot more sense for characters like Jaime Lannister, someone who starts out as selfish and then realizes that he needs to be more selfless. Dany sacrificing herself, on the other hand, would be just more of the same. It would be Dany doing what she has been doing since the very first book: sacrificing herself for others. It's not character development, it's stagnant characterization. I would argue that if there's something that Dany needs to learn on that front, is to think more about herself, to think that she deserves things for herself, not the opposite. Dany has been in fact way too sacrificial the entire story, and that's not really a good or a healthy thing, so if there's anything Dany needs to learn, is to see the value in herself. And to me her character arc has been much more about politics and leadership, not about learning how to be more selfless.

Finally, I’ve also seen the idea that Dany’s last fire will be her sacrificing herself out of love for humanity. But that doesn’t seem to make much sense to me, because of two things. First, because her last fire is not “for love”, but “to love”. If Dany sacrifices herself in a fire because she loves humanity, it would be a fire for love, not a fire to love. Second, because the third phase in Dany’s story (Dany has three fires, three mounts, three treasons, and probably three rebirths) seems to be linked to sexual and romantic love, not general love for humanity (see this post for more details), and Dany’s bride of fire prophecy also suggests Jon as her husband, and Jon as the focus of her third prophecies, as well as the possibility that they might have a child (see here).

I might be wrong about all of this, and maybe Dany will indeed sacrifice herself to save the world (which would be very disappointing for me regardless). But I don't think Dany sacrificing herself in the end is as set in stone as many people in the fandom seem to think it is.

[live-the-fangirl-life]

Surprise Rides

Nesta Archeron x Cassian - Motorcycle Oneshot

Cassian plans a surprise for Nesta

Written for Nessian Month 2021 @illyrianet

Prompt: Motorcycle

Masterlist | Read on Ao3 | Art by @mehx1000

1802 words

*******

Nesta’s phone chimed again with a new notification. Rolling her eyes, she tried to get back to her book. She was sitting on her couch with an old romance novel and a glass of wine. It was her favorite way to relax after a long day—and today had been one hell of a long day. All she wanted was to immerse herself in her book for a few hours and go to sleep.

Her phone chimed again.

It seemed her boyfriend wasn’t going to let her have her relaxing night alone.

To be fair, he didn’t know how exhausting the day was. All she’d told him when he called earlier asking if she wanted to go out that night, was to say she was tired and that she’d see him tomorrow.

Another chime.

Sighing, Nesta placed her bookmark before closing the novel and reaching for her phone. There were a dozen notifications, all from Cassian. The first few texts were asking if she was sure she didn’t want to go out and then a few suggesting they could stay in while offering movie suggestions and take-out offers. Then there a few texts asking if she was alive because she wasn’t responding.

The next text came almost immediately after with the realization that she was probably busy with something and not to worry about texting back right away. An hour after that he tried calling and the voicemail was a string of "are you okay?", "I know you said today was long, do you need anything?", and "You're probably curled up with a book right now so I'll stop calling."

Nesta couldn’t help but smile at the messages. In another circumstance, she may have felt overwhelmed or smothered by the number of messages, but she knew Cassian only meant well. And usually, when she felt the need to be alone she gave him more of an explanation than she had today.

She was about to respond to his message when she was startled by a loud knock on her apartment door.

Tossing her phone down and moving the blanket off her legs, she grumbled at being interrupted as she walked over to her door. Without bothering to look in the peephole, she yanked the door open and stopped short.

Cassian was leaning against her doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, with a boyish grin spread over his face. He was wearing his usual: worn jeans, boots, black t-shirt stretched deliciously across his hard chest, and his worn leather jacket. His hair was pulled away from his face in a messy bun atop his head and he had the start of a five-o’clock shadow along his jawline.

“Hey Nes.” He grinned as she stood there open-mouthed. It wasn’t the presence of her boyfriend that left her speechless, it was his appearance. Because on top of his clothes, he was covered in leaves, twigs, and grass stains.

His smile turned almost sheepish as she took in his disheveled appearance, and he raised a hand to rub the back of his neck.

“Cassian,” She looked back at his face, and although he has the barest hint of a blush, he still looked very pleased with himself. “I...what...what happened to you?”

He smiled again and swooped down to kiss her before answering. Pulling back, he seemed even more pleased that it took her an extra second to open her eyes after his kiss.

“Guess what I did today.”

He seemed really excited, but Nesta was still trying to understand why he looked like he tumbled down a hill.

“Nothing stupid I hope.” She answered with a skeptically raised brow. She tried her best not to smile as he scoffed and shook his head at her mocking tone.

“Of course not! Who do you think I am?” He asked indignantly.

She rolled her eyes at him but stepped aside so he could come into her apartment. Closing the door behind him, she crossed her arms and made an exaggerated scan over his body.

“I think you’re someone who would do something stupid.”

He rolled his eyes but looked around to see her discarded blanket, book, and wine glass. Turning back to Nesta, he grinned. She knew he was pleased that he guessed her nightly activities correctly.

“I have a surprise for you.”

This time she looked at him surprised but asked, “What?"

"I have a surprise for you," Cassian repeated, stepping closer to her so he could wrap his hands around her and slip both his hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "You said you had a long day, so I wanted to surprise you with something that will hopefully make it better."

Nesta melted into his touch and smiled softly at the gesture. But when she went to wrap her arms around his neck, her hand snagged on a twig clinging to his collar and she looked at him skeptically.

"What is it?”

He walked towards her coat closet and started rummaging through it before pulling out the thing he was looking for.

“Ah, put this on. And I can’t tell you, Nes, or it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore.”

She just stared at the leather jacket he held out to her; the one she’d bought months ago when she was out with Cass. He insisted that if she was going to ride with him on his motorcycle, then she needed a good jacket to wear.

And they both wanted her to keep riding on his bike.

As long as she’d known Cassian, his bike had been a part of him. She was more surprised than anyone when she started dating the leather-wearing, motorcycle-riding, tattooed, man standing in front of her. But despite his outward appearance, he was the kindest, most sincere, and compassionate man she had ever dated.

And it only took one ride on the back of his bike, with the wind in her hair and the heat of him pressed against her as she hugged him from behind, to show her that she, too, loved the feeling of riding on a motorcycle.

His motorcycle.

During one of their rides up the coast, Cassian insisted that she needed a good leather jacket for their longer rides. When she tried this jacket on, the one he was still holding out to her, he had just stared at her unblinking and insisted she buy it. In his words, she looked “so fucking sexy in the leather” that as soon as they got home he asked her to wear nothing but the jacket and showed her exactly how much he loved it.

Accepting the fact that her relaxing night in wasn’t going to happen, and more than a little curious about what the surprise was, she grabbed the jacket and slipped it on. She didn’t miss the way his eyes lingered on her body as she zipped it up; the leather clinging to her curves. Ignoring his darkened eyes and the way he bit his lip, she rolled her eyes but smirked as she turned to grab her purse.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Nesta followed him out the door, making sure the lights were turned off and the door locked.

“You don’t need to sound too excited.”

She rolled her eyes but handed her purse to his outstretched hand as they got to his parked bike. Lifting the seat, he took out the spare helmet and handed it to her as he tucked her purse into the now-empty storage space.

“Maybe I’d be more excited if my boyfriend wasn’t taking me wherever it is that made him look like he just jumped into a pile of leaves.”

He laughed and expertly put his own helmet on. “Have a little faith in me, Nes.”

Nesta rolled her eyes again but smiled and climbed on the bike behind Cassian. He revved the engine and she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, pulling herself as close to him as she could. She raised the visor on her helmet briefly to tell him, "You know I do."

She flipped her visor back down and leaned her head against his back as he quickly squeezed the hands she had around his waist. He kicked up the stand on the bike, pushed on the gas, and drove away.

***

Nesta could easily get lost in the feeling of riding. It felt like flying; it was fast, exhilarating, and she never felt safer than when she was with Cassian.

They rode for almost twenty minutes on the main road before he turned down a more secluded path, covered by a canopy of trees that made the stretch of road feel like their own personal tunnel. Cassian turned again, this time along an unpaved path and she held him tighter as he maneuvered over the uneven ground. Soon, he stopped at the edge of a clearing and Nesta lifted her face from his back to get a better look.

“So? What do you think?” He asked, sounding a little nervous as if she wouldn’t like it.

But how could she not like it? A large blanket was set up in the clearing with a picnic basket and pillows. And lights had been strung up along the branches, creating a glow around the space.

“Cass…” She swallowed the lump in her throat and lifted her helmet so she could press a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “It’s perfect, I love it.”

She felt him grin and she kissed him again.

He turned the motorcycle off and helped her climb off the back. Then he grabbed her hand and led her over to the blanket. She could see now that more blankets were laid out beside the pillows.

He let her look around and when her gaze fell on him again he was grinning at her surprised look.

“Told you I had a surprise for you.” He grinned, pleased with her reaction.

“I can’t believe you did all this.”

“I may have had a little help.” He admitted, “But they’re long gone now, you don’t have to worry about anyone interrupting us.” He winked and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Nesta threw her head back and laughed. Cassian’s smirk widened into a large grin at the sound of it. He grabbed her hand and tugged her down onto the blanket landing on his back and pulling her on top of him.

She leaned up to kiss him as his hands held her waist.

“Thank you,” Nesta murmured against his lips moments later.

Cassian smiled and kicked off his shoes. She did the same and fell back against him, tucked into his side as they watched the lights twinkle above them.

As they laid there, content in each other’s company, Nesta realized she much preferred this over her book and wine. This time.

***

Taglist:

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[novelconcepts]

I love your filling in of the moonflower scene. Just the tenderness of it all 🥺

Do you think you might write a short piece about Dani finding the first grey in Jamie‘s hair in the future? Every time I see the gifsets of Jamie‘s (very sexy) grey strands I have to think about Dani‘s possible reaction

Jamie doesn’t tend to notice these things--little changes in her own appearance, little alterations made by the simple passage of time. Her attention, she scoffs when Dani laughs over her failing to pick up on a burr caught in her hair after a trip to the park, is better suited to other things. “World’s big,” she says, tilting her head to allow Dani to comb the remnants of whatever tree she’d walked beneath from her curls. “Why should I go wasting time starin’ at my own damn face?”

“Because it’s a good face,” Dani tells her. She doesn’t add that Jamie’s face, like everything about her, makes more sense than the rest of the world. That nothing about Jamie seems to come out of nowhere--every scrape and scar is accounted for with a story, every wrinkle turned out from the edge of her lips or around her eyes sparked by the familiarity of her frown, the inevitability of her smile. Everything about Jamie can be traced back to the honesty of time spent in the sun, or injuries incurred at work, or letting another year stroke its fingers across her skin. 

She notices the first gray hair maybe five years in. They’re on a camping trip, small tent pitched just upshore of a gently lapping brook; Jamie, crouched beside the water to inspect a turtle, looks up with a grin, and Dani notes a flash of silver at the crown of her head.

She doesn’t point it out. It’s too easy to anticipate Jamie’s amused drawl: “Got a gorgeous beast right here, and you’re worried about my hair?” She tucks the knowledge safely away, entertained by the idea that Jamie is carrying a secret upon her own head and has no idea.

She says nothing, but her fingers seek out the unexpected silver the next time Jamie comes close enough. She trails her hand through rumpled hair, watching the familiar warmth of brown cascade across her skin, pleased to find several more bursts of light wound in among the dark.

“What?” Jamie asks, smile crooking the way it always does when she senses Dani is about to poke fun. “Bein’ a weirdo again.”

“Am not,” Dani replies, and kisses her. 

It becomes a bit of a private game, an amusing turn of events: Jamie, the most naturally-observant human being in the world, has absolutely no idea she’s shot through with unexpected arcs of silver. No idea at all. At first, Dani thinks she’s intentionally ignoring the color leaching out of her hair; a flash of memory spirals back, Judy plucking what she called my little secret out by the strand and holding a finger to her lips as she reached for a box of red dye. Heavy maintenance is very much not Jamie’s speed, but maybe turning her cheek and feigning ignorance achieves the same goal.

A month goes by. A year. They’re turning up on their own time, these pops of colorless strands standing stark against dark waves, and Dani takes it upon herself to brush her fingers across each one she finds. She likes very much the depth they bring to Jamie’s hair, the way the sun catches a little differently when she turns her head. Likes the knowledge that each strand is a stamp of memory--proof of time spent. 

Likes, most of all, that Jamie legitimately seems to have no idea. Jamie, who tugs a black elastic band off her wrist with her teeth, raking the messy tumble out of her eyes, perpetually annoyed with the curls that always seem to evade her hands. Jamie, who spends hours with a book in one hand and Dani’s hair sifting through her fingers, and still has absolutely no clue what’s happening on her own head.

“You’ve never cared, have you?” Dani asks one afternoon, watching Jamie sort through their spectacular collection of cassette tapes, little plastic cases clicking comfortably to break up the quiet. Jamie, cross-legged on the living room rug with Survivor’s Vital Signs in one hand and REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity in the other, raises her eyebrows.

“Seemed silly to go alphabetical while they were multiplying like fuckin’ bunnies, but now we’ve slowed down a little--”

“About looks,” Dani corrects. She’s hanging half off the couch, the tips of her fingers brushing Jamie’s knee. Life has been getting less predictable lately, messier around the edges; she looks into mirrors with breath held tight in her lungs, uncertain of what will look back. Touching Jamie has become less about habit and more a matter of lifeline. “You’ve never cared about how you look. Maybe the only woman I’ve ever known to say that.”

“I care,” Jamie says, with very little defensiveness. It is astonishing sometimes, looking back at the woman she’d met in that manor kitchen, how little defense Jamie seems to have for her these days. Questions are met in good faith, answered in kind, like Jamie knows there’s nothing Dani could ask that would intentionally bear teeth. “Care when I need to.”

“Like when?”

“At the shop,” Jamie says, tossing aside a Paul Simon cassette with a wrinkle of her nose. She finds Pat Benatar instead, sets it in the pile between The Beatles and Blondie. “Always look professional, don’t I?”

“But you don’t like--think about it? What you’ll look like in twenty years? Or fifty?”

“Fifty, Christ.” Jamie rolls back her head, grinning. “Be a hell of a thing, stacking fifty more years on. What d’you think you’ll look like in fifty years, mm?”

Dani doesn’t answer. It’s too early to tell what the smudged face in the mirror might mean--too early to panic--but the idea of fifty years more with Jamie seems terrifyingly unlikely. 

“Anyway.” Seeming to sense her unease, Jamie rocks up onto her knees, awkwardly shifting across the rug to lean against the couch. She braces a hand behind Dani’s head, her eyebrow arched. “You tryin’ to say I don’t pay enough attention to my looks? I don’t scrub up enough for you, is that it?”

Her fingers brush Dani’s ribs, digging in just hard enough to tickle. Dani squirms, laughter burbling out against Jamie’s neck. 

She doesn’t bring it up again, preferring the secret of Jamie’s slowly graying hair held within her own heart. The threads are becoming more insistent as the years drift by, joining tiny lines etched into Jamie’s skin. Her hands, put through so much work, are comfortably worn at knuckle and fingertip. Her smile pulls the skin around her eyes a little tighter as they celebrate eight years--nine--ten. 

She looks good with the extra age, Dani thinks. She wears it all so well, without pausing to prod at herself in the bathroom mirror; if she’s the least bit unnerved by the passage of time, she never lets it show. If Dani didn’t know better, she’d think Jamie never really looks at herself in the mirror at all. 

Too busy looking at me, she thinks, and tries not to ache at the idea that Jamie has forgotten herself beneath the need to keep her attention on what she considers more important things. Like watching for one of Dani’s moods to spike up in public. Like waiting for Dani’s shoulders to hunch against ghosts only she can see. 

Dani doesn’t look into mirrors herself much these days, either--though, every once in a while, a glimpse will sneak up. Just the barest flash of her own face in the passenger mirror of the car, or the idling bathwater. Sometimes--less and less often--the face waiting is even her own. 

It is so her own, those days, that Dani finds herself embracing a new concern. Something odd, something she’s only started to really see in recent memory. 

Jamie is starting to show her age, little by little. Not all at once, not in any way that is strange for a woman creeping into her forties--but the years are there, certainly, stamped gently into her skin. The years are threaded through her hair, these silver pops around which Dani’s hands seem to take on a mind of their own. There’s something wonderful, lively, even sexy about the way time is impacting Jamie--grounding her a little more every year, the natural wearing of all those hours hung like medals around her shoulders. 

Dani, catching sight of herself in the bathtub, can’t help but notice: no one could say the same for her. Not that time is beating away at her, not that time is turning her to stone before she’s ready--but that time appears to be doing nothing at all. Her eyes bear no extra marks, though she has spent just as much time as Jamie laughing, frowning, holding her breath as the world spins beneath her. Her hands look just the same as they had in 1987. 

Her hair is still stubbornly gold.

“Do you think it’s strange?” she whispers one night--not entirely sure if Jamie is even awake, not sure she can even bear the answer Jamie might give. 

“What is?”

She swallows hard, fingers carding gently through Jamie’s hair. The gray seems to gleam in the glow of the streetlamp through their window. 

“That I’m not...that I don’t look...”

Jamie pushes onto one elbow, peering at her in the dark. “You look like you,” she says, when Dani is unable to press on. “You look like Dani.”

She’s trying to answer the other question, Dani understands, the one being asked with greater frequency: am I here? am I me? what if I’m her, deep down, and have been all along? She shakes her head. 

“That’s not...I’m not...”

Jamie waits, brow knit the way it always has when she’s listening. Even when her expression smooths out into sleep, that small divot will remain, etched into her skin like a tattoo memorializing all these late-night conversations. Dani reaches up, presses her thumb gently to it now, her breath hitching when Jamie turns to kiss her palm. 

“It’s nothing,” she says. There’s no way to explain it without making Jamie worry more, worry again, lose yet more sleep watching for signs Dani is slipping away.

Jamie nods slowly, not quite believing, not quite daring to call out the lie. “All right,” she says, and the silver in her hair seems to burn, and Dani loves her enough to close her eyes and pretend everything is okay.

When morning comes, she wards off the thoughts. It’s easier, in daylight. Easier to turn her head, fix her eyes on Jamie, allow the familiarity of Jamie’s hands, smile, kiss sweep the fear back under the bed. The nights are long, the dark heavier than it has any right to be, but in sunlight, Jamie shines. The chain around her neck--the colors in her eyes--the silver shot through her hair. In sunshine, Jamie is the most alive any person can be.

And if she is, so must Dani be--because there is so much love in the way Jamie tips into her arms, so much affection in the sweep of her kiss, in the way she leads them around the kitchen in an impromptu waltz. Jamie, as always, burning away the shadows. 

Jamie, who dips her backward, drinking in her laughter with the biggest grin in the world. Who cuts her eyes to the right. Who tightens her mouth in surprise.

“Hang on,” she says, her hands still braced at Dani’s back and hip. “What the fuck is this?”

Dani’s heart gives a giant leap, her hands clutching at Jamie’s shirt for balance. This is it, she thinks. She can see her now. She can see her, not me, and it’s over, it’s all over, it’s--

“Dani.” Jamie is frowning, easing her back to her feet. She crouches down, gazing into the window of the oven. One hand rises to her head, her brow furrowed.

She sees her, Dani thinks, backing toward the sink. She sees her, and--

“Jesus, how long has my hair looked like that?” 

She blinks, shaking the panic away. “What?”

Jamie is looking at her, almost awestruck, her face clean and younger than usual with the last vestiges of sleep clinging to her eyes. “All that gray. Knew there were one or two, but--”

Dani is laughing. Leaning back against the counter, the mirth spilling out of her, she laughs. Jamie, straightening up with a low groan--her knees pop audibly, her head shaking--looks bewildered.

“Suppose you thought you’d just wait,” she says dryly, “and see if I ever noticed?”

Dani nods, cackling too hard to answer. It’s become so normal, counting the bright bursts amid Jaime’s natural hair color; she’s honestly forgotten Jamie ever didn’t have these silver sparks. Every inch of her, from the crow’s feet etched near her eyes to the tiny scars on her hands, is quite simply home. 

Jamie is plainly trying to look grumpy now, her hand tangling her hair. With Dani giggling like this, unable to catch her breath, she isn’t doing a very good job.

“Been this way a while?”

“Years,” Dani giggles. “Since I proposed. Before.”

Jamie rolls her eyes, slouching the two steps it takes to reach the counter and Dani’s shaking frame. “You,” she says in a mock-irritated tone, “are supposed to help with these things.”

“With what?” Dani brushes the hair back from her eyes. “You’re beautiful. And more than that, you’re...stately.”

“Stately,” Jamie repeats with a snort. “Haven’t heard that one. That’s a Hannah word, if ever there was one.”

They sober, just a little, the appropriate affection offered to memory. Jamie’s head bows against her own, her nose brushing Dani’s lightly. 

“I like it,” Dani says, her voice soft. “I like watching it happen. Like growing old...”

She trails off. She isn’t growing old, is the thing. Isn’t changing. Is as incontrovertible as a lake set into ancient grounds. She is not growing old at all.

Jamie’s fingers curl around her chin, tipping her head back. “Growing old together,” she says, firmly. Not denial, exactly--just certainty. Jamie, imposing her will on a world that tries so hard to have its own way with them both. 

“Growing old together,” Dani repeats, and even if it isn’t true in the strictest sense--even if it doesn’t look like it should--she knows Jamie believes it. Knows Jamie will fight tooth and nail to make the universe bend around her love. 

There are things, Jamie believes, that are natural. Organic. Exactly as they should be. There are things that can’t be changed by dreams, whims, magic spells. 

They will grow old together. That is, Jamie believes, the way the world works. The way it has always been and will always be. Jamie’s hair grows silver. Jamie’s skin etches with lines. Jamie’s hands are solid in her own, though she sometimes bends her fingers with a grimace, rubs her wrists when the weather angles toward snow. 

They will grow old together. For Jamie, there is simply no other consideration to be made.

“I like it,” Dani repeats, fingering the nearest strand of gray. “It’s distinguished.”

Jamie, shaking her head, is grinning as she leans in for a kiss.

[dontbipanicjonsa]

Did I just create another Tumblr account so I could write one (1) meta about GoT years after the show has ended? Yes. Yes, I did.

I just saw episode 7x04 and first of all, I would like to say a most heartfelt-

Yikes.

Yea no the Field of Fire scene is....many things, but a scene of triumph it is not. I'm going to say a lot of things now, all of which have already been said before I'm sure but oh well-

It's interesting that the show decided to have a scene humanising the Lannister army (especially Dickon Tarly) right before the invasion comes (I'm calling it an invasion coz that's what it is). Note that Dickon has appeared before, in season 6 and there he had next to no lines.

The first thing that strikes me about the Dothraki army approaching is that, yes, it is an invasion.

It comes out of seemingly nowhere. The Lannister army is caught completely unprepared, smack in the middle of a (morbidly) playful scene. The Dothraki look like invaders (because they are). They look terrifying and foreign (no one @ me about this- tell me if you won't shit your pants and wish they'd never crossed that damn sea if you had a Dothraki horde running at you full tilt). The Lannister army is shown literally quivering, and yet they stand their ground and fight bravely. We are meant to admire their grit.

Next, the scene very very clearly depicts the horrors of being burnt alive (for good reason- people watching the show seem to forget). This is shown repeatedly. The wagons are burning and the horses are running, trying to escape the fire. Soldiers are crawling into the water. Soldiers ripping off their helmets, their newly acquired burns visible.

I could go on, but the point is that the scene is filmed like a massacre, not a battle. The Lannister army never stood a chance. They put up the best fight they could, but they are essentially being butchered with their pants down. Is that meant to make me side with Dany? Yell in victory? Be like "Fuck yea, burn those Lannister fuckers, khaleesi". Uh

No.

Through it all, Danaerys and for most of the part, the Dothraki have the higher ground (coz dragons and horses). It creates an image, a story that is both familiar and unfamiliar. Dany setting her dragons and her Dothraki on people isn't new, but this is the first time we have sympathy for the people being burnt. The image created makes me think of...off the top of head? Uhhh bullies, strong crushing the weak, corporation (:/), murdered puppies, etc.

What did GMMR say? The villian is the hero of the other side? Hmm....

Danaerys is seemingly untouchable in this scene, but rather than making us feel awe, or making us feel powerful, triumphant, victorious whatever (through her)....we only feel dread, and a mounting horror.

Basically what I'm trying to find the right words to say is-

It's very hard to watch that scene and say "Yeah, you go girl".

Very hard. I can't. My reaction was more like-

"wtf have you unleashed on this continent? As if they didn't have enough shit to deal with already. You're burning the food?????? Gtfo this continent and take your lizards with you, invader".

Can you tell I really fucking hate conquering invaders? I do. The Targs and I do not get on.

On a seperate note, it's interesting to me that this is the same episode that has discourse about chosen kings/queens, why people follow Dany, and why Jon should bend the knee to her.

Let's examine-

Dany says the North chose Jon as their king because they believed he would do what's best for them, and since he himself believes that the North cannot beat the WW without Dany, he should let go of his pride (be a true king) and bend the knee, thus winning Dany's help in the fight against the WW. (Yes it wasn't exactly in those words but that's the crux of it, is it not?)

Now, the first thought that springs to mind is, what about her? This very argument can be turned against her. If she wants to be Queen of all seven kingdoms, and she believes Jon enough to promise to help him, should she not let go of her pride (be a true queen) and fight for the kingdom she wants to rule anyway? She is obviously somewhat shook by the cave paintings. The only concession I can give her here is that she doesn't have much reason to trust Jon here. It's a flimsy argument though- she does have reason to want the well-being of "her" kingdom. That's what monarchs do. That's what she expects Jon to do.

Still, I'm not entirely sure. The problem is that she's right. If his first priority is to protect his people, then giving up his crown should be a price that he's willing to pay. We can see Jon thinking about her words at the end of that scene, and I think that's because they struck a chord with him too.

I know that Jon does give up his crown to Dany sometime this season (I know the entire fucking story, I'm just watching it now for the first time for the first hand experience). So, can we say that Jon giving up his crown is his act of being a true king (someone who protects his people)? Yes, if his reason for bending the knee is to protect his people. Reasons matter. Context matters. Motivations matter. But we're not talking about that right now.

Let's look at the flip side. Would Dany give up her throne? This very same episode had Missandie talk poetic about Dany. It establishes that both Jon and Dany are monarchs chosen by their people. Jon is clearly skeptical of this. His questioning Missandie, and all his squinting (is the sun in his eyes or what????) all point to him not being sold on the Danaerys Experience.

I'm not sure how to articulate this...but Dany is a conquerer. The people who follow her (mostly) uncritically are either in love with her, or people like Missandie and Grey Worm, who were slaves that she freed. These people are not only subjects, and they do not have any authority of their own. They are followers. That is important. Danaerys collects and surrounds herself with followers. It's also important that almost right after Missandie gives a glowing review of Dany's greatness, we have a scene that is very clearly meant to shake our faith in her.

Or maybe I see this scene this way because I already despise the idea of a Targ Restoration? That's possible. I won't deny that I'm biased. I'll prefer anyone over Targs.

In conclusion, I would like to say that this is something to think about. Would Dany give up her crown for her people? I sincerely doubt it. I mean she prioritises Jon bending the knee over her helping people in the same conversation where she tells Jon he should prioritise helping people over.....not bending the knee. Then she burns food. Mind fucked.

Bless Missandie tho, she really believes what she's saying.

[agentrouka-blog]

After Margaery was framed in AFFC, do you think she thought about Sansa in her imprisonment - similar to how Cersei sees Sansa, Ned & Lady during her walk. And what do you think her ending will be?

Hi there!

I'm not sure book!Margaery is privy to the information that Sansa was framed for a murder committed by her own family, actually. For all Marge knows, Sansa or Tyrion actually did it. Even if she doubts Sansa's guilt, Sansa is not a figure of great emotional connection to her, and I doubt socially "abandoning" her after the Willas marriage fell through is going to haunt her while she is imprisoned by the Faith for fornication and adultery, while her home is being invaded by the Ironborn and while he brother Loras is gravely injured.

If Margaery knew who poisoned Joffrey, it would be sloppy beyond words by Olenna, methinks. I mean, she certainly gave the 15-year-old girl instructions in terms of charming Sansa and how to conduct herself at court, but to actively make her complicit in the murder of king Joffrey would endanger Margaery, too.

So I don't think Margaery would have reason to have guilty thoughts of Sansa. She seems very grounded in the present, unlike Cersei, who spends AFFC obsessed with the past and future.

Margaery's ending... I have no clear thoughts, sadly. I don't think it'll be a good one.

I think Cersei is gearing up to pull a Samson move. She has been shorn, she was imprisoned and shamed and betrayed by her lover, but hair grows back and much like Dany at Vaes Dothrak, she might visit destruction on a grand and holy structure. (The biblical story mentions Samson's day at the temple being dedicated to the god Dagon, a name freqently dropped in AFFC/ADWD in association with the Ironborn in the Reach.) Cersei's Delilah was Taena Merryweather, but it's hard to predict how all this will affect Marge. Her House as a whole is certainly doomed.

Cersei's trial was planned for within 5 days of the ADWD Epilogue, but that was before Kevan was murdered. The Epilogue takes place smack in the middle of the TWOW Arianne II sample chapter, so whatever happened in KL while Arianne was trudging through the Rainwood for 8 days, she's likely to receive some stimulating news when she arrives at Storm's End, including the fate of Margaery Tyrell.

[cappymightwrite]

Thank you for your reply! Loved your opinion. I think fandom generally underestimated Sansa importance in narrative or in larger game. For them she didn't fit into bill. Like she won't go to North or retake WF because it seems impossible or she won't end up important in last books. Fans always gave characters secondary in her arc more importance than her. Show is considered fanfiction to prove she isn't important. It's sad because she has more potential than fans think.

No problem and thank you! Glad you liked it :D Yeah, I completely agree and though I’ve read posts discussing why people hate/misinterpret Sansa’s character/arc, why they dismiss her significance/reduce her worth, I do always come back to a thought I had when I first got into GoT/ASOIAF.

Sansa doesn’t quite fit our escapist/fantasy driven ideal and *some* people do not like that. Because she isn’t a “badass” with fighting skills, she isn’t surrounded by overt myticism/prophecies/secret birthrights, doesn’t have dragons, loses her magic wolf, etc. She is typically feminine, a bit naive, but happy with her daydreams about knights and chivalry — it is very telling that we see the tourney of the Hand through her eyes, the person who would be most swept up by it (*cough* like the reader *cough*). 

She also survives through her ordeals, but in a very realistic (and relatable) way I think, especially for a 11-13 year old girl. But notably not in a overtly daring, often reckless, fantasy hero way. Instead, she feigns loyalty to keep herself safe, she puts her trust in adults that she (mistakeningly) hopes will help her get back home, and she tries to romanticise her abuse to cushion her trauma, to avoid the pain of facing it head on. All of that makes complete sense to me. But for some reason people see her as passive, stupid, snotty, the evil (step)sister, lacking empathy(?!), unimportant, unnconnected to the rest of the Starks and Winterfell/the north. She really irks some people and is completely ignored by others who can’t see her for looking, and maybe it is because deep down they know that they themselves would not be the Arya or Jon or Tyrion or Bran or Dany of the story...they would be Sansa. They too would do whatever they could to survive, to keep their head done, to get home, all without the benefit of “badass” swordfighting skills, flying WMD, and what have you. But it’s her supposed “ordinariness” compared with other, grander/fantasical characters, that actually makes her extraordinary, which makes her so strong and compelling. 

For me, it’s not a case of me relating to Sansa’s femininity, her romantic hopefulness, her relative innocence (although I do love those things about her), but more that I relate to her relatability. People give her a hard time for not seeing through Joff, for going to Cersei, for “going along” with LF, but come on! COME ON! When I was around her age I fully misjudged Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl to be a swoonworthy romantic lead, and that Chuck x Blair were “endgame”, only to then realise that no, he’s awful and their relationship was toxic as hell. I definitely put my faith in people that in hindsight I shouldn’t have, because I didn’t fully understand them at the time, or wanted to look past their faults/the ways they were treating me unkindly. I definitely had fights with my older brother, said he had a giant head/was a buttface (like Sansa calls Arya “horseface”), found him very irritating, and he teased me mercilessly etc. But now that we’re older we get on really well, because we had the space apart living elsewhere, doing other things, to really appreciate each other when we come back together again. I think people get so hung up on Arya and Sansa’s “bad” relationship, that maybe they forget that...it’s completely typical. 

Because no one is immune to bad takes/judgements/brattiness when they are younger, or even when they are older(!), but growing up/living life is an exercise in learning and reassessment. So it’s bizarre to me that people don’t extend the same kindness/understanding towards Sansa (a child) that they presumably extended towards themselves growing up, or people they care about. Unless they were perfect people who always had perfect judgements and foresight...somehow I don’t think that’s the case though. 

It’s weird...people better than me have written about how closely connected Sansa is to the North/Winterfell, that I don’t ever question it anymore. Narratively, it just makes sense. She’s a pov Stark, the "blood of Winterfell", and the Starks are the beating heart of the series, GRRM’s favourite house, where it all began. This girl who has suffered so much, been used repeatedly as a pawn, who says I want to go home over and over again, who (re)builds Winterfell out of snow, whose direwolf’s bones are buried there, who is learning to be a lady of a keep...how is she unimportant? I’d argue that all the Stark kids (+ Jon) are on a classic bildungsroman character journey. So how is she not going to matter? How is she not going to have a role to play in the rising up (after the downfall) of the Starks and the north? How? Why? Make it make sense people!