#i may turn them into gifsets later when/if i find the right footage

[aboveallarescuer]

I have to say, what made this Daenerys event so exciting and special to me in particular was the abundance of wonderful content made by book!Dany fans for book!Dany fans.

We received three gorgeous edits of Dany's book outfits!!!!!

We received four GLORIOUS gifsets (ALL of them!!!) of Dany's battle plans in Yunkai and Meereen!!!!! (As far as I can tell, there wasn't any for the Meereen strategy aside from a crappy one that I'd made, while the Yunkai plan was quoted before in captions, but was never the focus of the edit.)

We received three gifsets featuring the scene in which Dany visits and looks after the Astapori refugees!!!!! (I’m particularly happy about this one because, as far as I know, there was only one edit featuring this scene until this year. But then I used it for three crappy gifsets and commissioned an amazing fanart of it AND THEN Dany month happened)

We received five gifsets showing the moment in which Dany refuses to wash Hizdahr's feet if he doesn't wash hers first!!!!! (I think there was only one until this event)

We received the best Dany/Mirri Maz Duur edit of all time!!!!!

We received Dany/Daario edits that highlight how their relationship brings out Dany’s romantic and sweet side, as well as her dreams of home and love!!!!! I don't remember any similar one until now.

We received a gifset of the scene in which Dany jokes about how a firmer, stronger butt is what a good king needs!!!!! Now we have a gifset AND a fanart of this moment, I'm soooo happy about this!!!!!

We received a Jorah critical gifset!!!!!! It was about time, lol.

We received beautiful (and ACCURATE) edits about Dany's personality traits!!!!!

We received two gifsets with Dany fancasts riding the silver!!!!!

We received a gifset of Doreah's final moments!!!!!

We received a gifset of Dany sending a healer to take care of Belwas's wounds!!!!! AKHSJKSJO!!!!

We received a gifset of the scene at the end of ASOS highlighting how much Dany enjoys to read books as a hobby!!!!!

We received an edit showing that Dany pays attention to pickpockets on the streets because she's "no pampered lady"!!!!!

We received a fully comprehensive meta about Dany's intelligence and skills!!!!!

We received a gifset of the scene at the end of ADWD in which Dany realizes on her own that the locusts had been poisoned and that someone had tried to murder her!!!!!!

We received gifsets showcasing Dany's cast of supporting characters (most of whom - aside from Missandei and maybe Jorah - are wayyyy too often overlooked by the fandom) with excellent fancasts!!!!!

We received a gifset of the scene in which Dany laughs about Quentyn's "transformation" from frog to prince at court!!!!!

We received a gifset of Dany and Missandei's interaction at the end of ADWD Dany VIII!!!!!

We received beautiful gifsets showing how Dany is beloved by her people and seen as a symbol of hope!!!!!

We received two gifsets of Dany and Egg's parallels!!!!! They had never been giffed before, despite the two having some obvious similarities.

We received edits with unique concepts!!!!!

I probably forgot about other great edits and posts, sorry... But I'm writing this in a hurry and wanted to mention some of the highlights of the month for me, personally.

idk whether the amount of participation in this event was high or low because I'd never joined one before, but this one was a success for me regardless of that. The love, care and attention to book!Dany's character and storyline was really, really evident in every single day!

Ahhhh, I love Daenerys Targaryen!!!!! I love the Dany fandom!!!!! I love my fandom friends (this month was even more special to me because I talk to five of the people who regularly posted content, so I know how clever, talented and kind they are)!!!!! I can’t stop gushing about this event and all the content we got, I feel so incredibly grateful for it. <33333

[wackygoofball]

Gifset: Jaime x Brienne - War Correspondent AU

Jaime Lannister, former commander of the so-called Kingsguard, a military special forces team assigned to the protection of the President of Westeros, would like to throw his TV out, if only to escape the news stories and second-hand reports covering his case on national television.

Little do they know…

He continues to be in the news for one reason: Jaime’s killing of former President Aerys Targaryen. And they do get that one part about the story right: Yes, he killed him, and no, Jaime doesn’t regret the execution. However, what they don’t know is, which is driving Jaime mad as he sits at home, seeing his case being distorted over and over depending on which news outlet is currently on, that he had good reason, that lives depended on it that he killed the president.

But all of that is in a confidential folder, hidden deep in the Red Keep’s archives for no one to ever find…

“Kingslayer” is the catchy nickname they framed for him, since President Aerys was part of the exclusive Kings’ and Queens’ Club, containing the most influential people of military, public relations, media, and arms trade, to name but few of the crowns handed out to the Kings and Queens of both Essos and Westeros.

However, suddenly, Jaime stops being in the news, which has the former soldier excited for only just a second as he has to learn that Aerys’s successor, Robert Baratheon, died in a “hunting accident.”

It’s the President’s death that sets forth a chain of events that has the Kings and Queens fight for dominance in a country that has been weakened by both Aerys’s mad politics and Robert’s wasteful policy, which throws the whole country into a turmoil.

It isn’t long until turmoil turns into battles, which ebb into rebellions within the states of Westeros, and far sooner than later, the War of the Five Kings is sweeping across the country.

Jaime grows increasingly irritated by news coverage on the War of the Five Kings, which is much more concerned with who will turn out victor in this folly than it is with pointing to the human rights violations happening thanks to the Kings and Queens fighting for dominance – by having others fight those battles for them, of course.

What has Jaime jump into action is when he hears about wildfire bombs being used time and time again, because that is the one thing he sacrificed his honor as a soldier and reputation for when he executed Aerys.

Having studied journalism as a slight against his father during his younger, rebellious years, Jaime decides to use that slight for good and become a war correspondent, to get the information out there that he finds lacking in the current media battle over who is going to be the next King or Queen.

Against the odds of his hurt reputation, Jaime manages to become somewhat well-received by the public in a short amount of time, because his willingness to take the risk to head right into the war zones seems to earn him at least a begrudging respect for what he does.

However, beside wanting to get the truth out there to the people, Jaime wants to do more than just report about what is wrong in the country at war. He wants to take action: Jaime hopes that by heading right into the war zones, talking to the people who directly have to do with the wildfire bombs that are sporadically used – for now anyway – he can get information on the officials who pull the threads.

The former soldier managed to prevent a city from going up in green flames once, and Jaime is determined to repeat that finest act of his, even it may cost him his life, a sacrifice he is ready to make if need be.

However, while Jaime is fairly popular with the public, he is not favored by the people of his profession, not just by other reporters and correspondents, but rather the people he is meant to work with. His risk-taking is not well-received particularly by his cameramen, who, naturally, don’t always want to lose their lives for that reckless fellow of a war correspondent wanting to push the boundaries. Thus, Jaime finds himself unable to find himself cameramen to come with him to the most dangerous spots in the country to do his reports with.

While at a press conference in the Riverlands, Jaime tries to recruit a cameraman, but without much luck. Yet, after he is already on the verge of giving up on the endeavor, he is approached by tall-standing camerawoman Brienne of Tarth. While Jaime jokes at first that he is not looking for “a lady’s honor to defend in the midst of a war zone,” he is surprised to learn that Ms. Tarth is specifically interested in working with him.

“You go to where I need my camera to be – but where most war correspondents are too afraid to go,” she tells him. “And you can trust me on that one thing, Mr. Lannister: I need no protection, even less so from the likes of you. I have knocked men into the dust long before the war began. If at all, I am pretty sure I am going to keep your ass safe when we are out there, filming.”

“When we are out there?” Jaime laughs, amused. “You make it sound like this is set into stone already, Ms. Tarth.”

“Well, Mr. Lannister, look at it like this: Who else is going to hold the camera for you? Last time I checked, you failed miserably at recruiting a cameraman for your cause. Your choice.”

“I suppose we don’t get to choose who we work with at times, right?” he chuckles, holding out his hand to her. Brienne takes it. “Apparently not.”

And so, Jaime and Brienne have to start to form a news team, against the odds of their constant fighting, which is not really helpful while being in the midst of a war zone.

Brienne herself is less than pleased when stuck in the investigative work Jaime lets her know he is doing in search for the wildfire bombs, a she is confronted with having to play games with possible informants. Brienne doesn’t like the thought to have those traitors profit, but Jaime keeps telling her that this is the only way to obtain the information they need to get to the core of the story.

“You may have your goodwill and morals, wench, but those people? They don’t. If you want them to do something for you, you have to pay them. They are the dung flies sitting on top of the pile of shit we have to see removed. So, if that means I have to lure the flies away, I will do that so long it gets me to the shit that needs to be taken care of.”

However, Brienne is not the only one struggling to come to grips with the partner’s habits. Jaime, being a former soldier, wants to know the people on his team protected, but the woman almost gets herself killed time and time again as she heads right into the most dangerous situations, if only to get that one second of footage out there that she thinks is vital for the people to see. Furthermore, Brienne goes as far as to protect him even when Jaime really doesn’t want her to, which gets the wench into just those dangers he would like to see her keep away from.

After all, Jaime starts to care about his camerawoman deeply, a realization he rather keeps to himself for the time being, since their mission has precedence, of course.

The two continue their quest of both getting the truth of the War of the Five Kings out to the public, and finding the people responsible for the wildfire plot, as they gain more and more knowledge about the bombs Jaime thought had been dispatched after he killed Aerys were actually moved to different locations in King’s Landing, and are even used in the Battle of the Blackwater, with horrid consequences.

As the two grow closer against the odds of their reluctance, Jaime opens up to Brienne about the truth behind the wildfire plot, which he though he had stopped by killing Aerys, only now to come to realize that the people who kept all the information confidential played him. Brienne, too, finds someone to trust in in her team partner, so that she reveals her own motivations as well:

“I am after Stannis Baratheon. I want to get the truth out there about him.”

“What truth is that?” he asks.

“That he had his hands in his brother’s murder. That he and his red-haired political advisor burned people alive to take out those who opposed him in his claim to presidency. That he should be in jail instead of rallying troops to fight in a war that makes no sense.”

“Renly wanted that presidency, too.”

“And he was a fool for it. As I was a fool for it to having backed up his claim,” she sighs. “But that doesn’t justify what Stannis did. It’s one thing to fight dirty against a political enemy, another to murder your own brother.”

“They held you responsible for Renly’s murder for a time. I remember that from the news.”

Something that apparently connects them.

“Yes, because I couldn’t bring proof that he was assassinated by someone else. I didn’t see the person. I just saw the man’s shadow. I had no proof,” Brienne agrees.

“And so you decided to become a camerawoman to get the proof yourself.”

She nods her head. “The problem was that there was no one able to witness it other than me. And you can't get the truth out to people unless you make them witness it. With a camera, I can show them what I see, I can show them the truth that they cannot take part in because it doesn't take place in their homes, their cities. I can now make them bear witness to the truth. That's what I do, and that's what I will continue to do until this conspiracy is brought to light."

Following a clue they get from an informant concerning a planned coup d’état in Dorne, Jaime and Brienne travel to the Southern region at war, hidden away on a trade ship, since Dorne closed all borders following Oberyn Martell’s death, thanks to guide and smuggler Bronn, which puts them far too close at a time when they know they should keep their professional distance.

Jaime receives a harsh emotional blow as the coup d’état led by Ellaria Sand and the militant Sandsnakes Syndicate unfolds, and his niece Myrcella is murdered to cause further disarray between the Dornish and the provisional government, which is, behind closed doors, organized by the president’s widow and Jaime’s beyond-ambitious twin sister Cersei Lannister. He has to do his toughest job ever since becoming a war correspondent, forced to report on his niece’s murder, live, being one of the first to unveil the coup d’état and its victims.

In the aftermath of that news story, Jaime finds stability and support only in Brienne’s strong arms, as she reminds him that while he may feel like giving up, the work they do is worth it, and is perhaps their one way to honor those who fell victim to the political turmoil haunting the country and its people.

“Have you checked your mails lately? Thanks to you covering the news on those areas no one even goes to, people got helped, got away rom there. So yes, your work didn’t protect Myrcella, didn’t help you, but there are hundreds of people out there who are alive thanks to you, thanks to the truth you get out there. By not letting them be forgotten thanks to politics overshadowing all the rest.”

With their determination resolved to uncover the wildfire plot, so to prevent what would likely grow to be the most devastating bombing the country has ever seen, the two head back into investigative work, and along the way, find evidence of what Brienne wanted to prove for so very long: Namely Stannis’ involvement in his brother’s murder and the execution of those who opposed him.

Naturally, Brienne wants to go public with the information, but Jaime holds her back, reminding her that there is a bigger fish to catch than Stannis Baratheon now.

Brienne is mortified when Jaime tells her that they should not run the news story until they have all information, but the war correspondent tells her that if they get the people behind the wildfire plot, there might be a chance to save hundreds and thousands of lives – and get the people truly responsible for this horrible war over territories and power.

"If we get them, we might have a chance of putting out the fire."

"Wildfire, you mean," she scoffs.

“Yes,” he agrees sadly. “So? What do you say?”

“I say: Let’s get those bastards responsible to bring truth to light at last.”

“No less did I expect from you, Brienne.”

And so, the two embark on their most dangerous mission, heading right into the lion’s den, fully aware that this may be both their biggest and potentially last news story ever to broadcast on television, since it may well cost their lives…