#poor enn i feel so bad for him

[lordcatwich]

[meme voice] Me when the {CHARACTER THAT GETS NIGHTMARES FROM GETTING TRAUMADUMPED ON}

I am so {normal} right now

[iguessweallcrazyithinktho]

A little bump

Dad! Chris request: baby is learning to walk and falls and bumps their head when Chris is watching them. He freaks out but doesn’t want to call you cause he doesn’t want to look like a bad dad

Genre: little angst, fluff

Warning: baby hitting head

A/n: kids name is Oliver

Request closed for the moment

Pairing: Chris Evans x reader, dad! Chris

Please don't post any of my content anywhere else without my consent

Comment and reblogs welcome

Having a walking one year old was amazing an all, but it was also terrifying. Little Oliver has only been walking for a few weeks or so, his legs weren't that strong yet but that didn't stop the toddler from exploring.

He was getting into everything. Going through cabinets, trying to chase after Dodger, trying to eat little things off the floor. It was a lot for you and Chris to keep up with him.

But those were the Minor things. the one thing you and Chris were worried about was Oliver hurting himself. He was small and could easily injury himself, that's why you and Chris keep your eyes on him as much as possible. You didn't want him to get hurt.

--

While you were away at work, Chris was home taking care of Oliver. He spent the day cleaning the house with the little guy (Oliver didn't help, just tried to undue his cleaning) so when you came home you didn't have to worry about that.

While Chris was in the kitchen doing that dishes, he keep an eye on Oliver. The one year old was in the living room Playing with building blocks.

He was in his own little world not really caring about anyone or anything but his building blocks.

Everything was going well until he finished building and wanted to show dodger his masterpiece.

He got up to his feet and walked towards Dodger who was sound asleep on his bed near the couch. Chris looked and watched.

As Oliver walked over he Tripped over his feet. He managed to hit his forehead on the coffee table as he went down. Chris saw the whole thing, and quickly ran to his aid.

The poor little guy was a crying mess. He hit his head pretty bad too. Chris picked him up off the floor and began trying to calm him. It terrified the hell out of him seeing his baby get hurt.

"hey, it's okay, you're okay."

Oliver buried his head into Chris' neck and cried. Chris just bounced him softly and rubbed his back.

After a good 5 minutes, he calmed down, he pulled away from Chris' shoulder, Chris took a look.

He had a little red bump up there but no cuts thankfully. Chris decided to put a bandaid on it so he wouldn't touch it or scratch it.

He brought the toddler to the bathroom, bandage it up and let him go back to playing. Oliver wasn't a fan of playing anymore. Instead he stayed, clinging onto chris' leg while he finished cleaning up.

Chris felt horrible, more horrible that he wasn't there to stop the fall. He knew he shouldn't have left him alone like that but he did, now Oliver was hurt because of his negligence and Chris was truly sorry to the poor boy.

--

Later that day you came back around 6. It was a few minutes before Oliver was supposed to go to sleep. As you opened the door, Oliver came tottering over to give you a hug.

You leaned down and picked him up with a smile. You noticed the bandage right away. Looking over at Chris, you can tell by his face he was ashamed about something.

"what happened?" You asked looking between your son and your husband. Chris got up with a sigh, walking over to you.

"Oliver bumped his head on the coffee table." You started to understand but you had. More questions. "Why didn't you call me and tell me?"

Chris sighed again, "I didn't want to look like a bad parent. I was in the kitchen while he was in the living room. I should've been with him, but I wasn't. I'm sorry."

You sighed softly, walking over to Chris. He was really upset with himself. "Honey, it's fine. Baby are going to hurt themselves sometimes even if you're there or not. It's life, it happens."

Chris agreed with you by nodding. "Yeah you're right. Well um I did clean the house for you so I don't know if that makes you feel better or not."

You chuckled, "it does, thank you." You leaned over and gave him a kiss before pulling away. "Now let's get you to bed Oliver, me and daddy need to do a little catching up."

---

@chris-butt @patzammit @bval-1 @raveviolet @mrsbbarnesrogers-reading @enn-j @london-dreamer71 @harrysthiccthighss @captianamerica-is-bae @la-cey @weirdowithnobeardo @lovepeacefood @baby-i-am-fireproof @denisemarieangelina @evans713 @smyfmj @thereisa8ella @rororo06 @keiva1000 @ughitsnic @adriannajackson123 @marvelnaturalock @notyourtypicalrose @dummiesshort @onetwo3000 @hhiggs @katiew1973 @andreasworlsboring101 @skepticnovak @funfickgirl22 @hxnesthxneybee @christhickevans @melchills-j @franchesca-791 @moonlacebeam

[pearlgrayrose]

All right so I’ve finished reading King of Fools by Amanda Foody, and as far as I’m aware, this is a relatively small fandom so idk if anyone will even see this, but:  I need to scream about this book and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so!!  My long, incoherent, and very spoilery thoughts are below the line!

JAC NOOOO!!  I’m so upset, Jac was an amazing and really intricate character and now...gone.  The stupid fucking omerta.  Yes, I knew that logically, an important character would have to die over the course of this series.  But I did not want it to be him  :(

On that note, I had been seriously concerned that he would get back on Lullaby over the course of this book.  So I’m at least happy that it didn’t end up happening, but Charles Torren was awful and deserved what he got

In spite of all the other amazing characters, Enne continues to be my favorite.  She just has so much depth to her, and she’s come so far from first arriving in New Reynes.  She is definitely a Sinner now and I love it.  The literal first thing she does at that meeting is threaten Jonas - Jonas!  Scavenger!  The Scar Lord! - and you HAVE to respect that

Sophia is such an interesting character and I love reading about her.  Can’t wait for her POV in Queen of Volts!

JONAS MACCABEES what the fuck.  This character.  He is the most confusing person ever written about.  Okay maybe not, but you get my point.  One moment he’s saving Jac’s life, the next moment he’s being a really frustrating person, then the next he’s being hilariously relatable, and then he’s betraying everyone and then being really noble and then disappearing and then WTF JONAS

The Jonas and Harrison thing.  I.  What.

“There are cats everywhere named after murderers”  I love this

Throughout the entire book, I kept thinking to myself, “What the fuck is going on with Bryce Balfour?”  And it took until the end of the book (and reading the online prologue to Queen of Volts) but now that I know what the fuck is going on with Bryce Balfour, he is an even creepier and more chilling character than before

Also now at least I know why Rebecca was acting like that

Levi’s relationship with Narinder was very interesting and fun to read about but I’m glad it’s over - and yeah, for Levi’s sake, but much more so for Narinder’s.  The poor guy, honestly.  He had no bad intentions or ambitions:  he just wanted to run his club and keep himself and his sister safe, and suddenly he has gangs overflowing in the Catacombs and Tock keeps risking herself and blowing shit up all the time.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Levi, but he does make mistakes and Narinder was completely right in saying that he was doing all the listening/giving and Levi was doing all the talking/taking.  Narinder literally just wanted to run the Catacombs and be left alone

Lola had better get her job as a librarian at the end of this.  Lola Sanguick deserves the world

The Spirits are all so cool, and having Enne as a streetlord makes them ten times better.  It’s just...so refreshing to see so many characters who embrace femininity without being ashamed of it, you know?  (And that scene where Enne is watching over Roy, her hostage, with a gun while reading a tabloid magazine with an article about the gang and she gives her own wanted poster a kiss?  Perfection)

I absolutely adore the friendship between Lola and Jac.  They are amazing and the support they have for each other is so awesome to see!!  They’ll bicker and tease each other, but when it comes down to it, they have each other’s backs and they’re the ones that the other goes to when they really need it.  It’s great.  Plus she calls him Polka Dots because of that one cravat that he didn’t even buy, which is hilarious

Grace’s existence.  She’s an assassin and a financial expert who just hangs around reading romance novels and whose sole life purpose is to torment Roy.  What more can I say?

LOLA AND TOCK

Another bullet point for Lola and Tock because they are sooo cute!!  Lola blushing when Tock flirts with her at the party?  Lola acting all flustered when Jac is trying to ask her about the date?  Tock sleeping on the couch with her head resting on Lola’s shoulder?  alskjdflskjfsldkfjslfjslfjsd

This is getting long but idc.  Vianca is such an interesting villain:  a terrible person but a great antagonist.  You can tell exactly why she does the things she does and why she reacts this way, but you still hate her for it because she’s a monster and oh my god

It boggles my mind how Prescott could just...be killed, and the election would still go through.  And people would call it fair.  Like, no shit Harrison got elected.  The opposition is LITERALLY DEAD

Harvey!  He’s done a lot of messed up things, but I honestly feel bad for him, especially after reading the prologue for Queen of Volts.  I’m excited to read more about him

Mansi leaving the Irons and joining the Scarhands...it didn’t affect me as much as I thought it was supposed to?  Idk.  I didn’t exactly expect that she’d swear to Jonas, but as for leaving the Irons, I kind of saw it coming.  It definitely seemed likely, at least

Levi has so much character growth in this book.  It’s amazing.  Between what Narinder tells him and his argument with Jac (and now, Jac’s death), he’s really growing up and learning to prioritize the things that are really important over the things that he simply wants.  Because, as Jac and he both say in this book, he wants everything.  But not really anymore

Yessss Lackluster burned

There is no way that Ivory’s actually gone for good

I get the feeling that there’s more happening with Rebecca than just “she’s sick and Bryce can’t find anything else to cure her.”  Like, clearly that’s the case, but I find it hard to believe that Rebecca (someone who has made it very obvious that she has legitimate feelings for Bryce) would be comfortable with him trying to sell his soul to the Bargainer in exchange for a cure for her

As a final note, this book was AMAZING and there were so many twists and turns and I just....asldkfjslkfjsdfls.  Still bitter about Jac, but I’m so excited for Queen of Fools to come out so I can see what happens!!!

[ettawritesnstudies]

STS! if you were to put your characters into an AU, what kind of AU would you choose?

MODERN CAR TRIP AU ALL THE WAY: ok so my bff and I came up with this maybe a year ago at 4am during a sleepover but it’s still one of my favorite things i’ve ever come up with, so here goes... (and for the sake of this, just assume a car can fit Avians)

So First of all, Chara is driving because she’s literally the only one sane enough to not kill them all

Acheran and Luca are both easily distractable and very scatterbrained, would wander off the road immediately

Grace is 12 and in addition to the illegality of that, she’d totally try gunning it at 90mph down the highway because she has absolutely no patience for waiting around

Enne is blind that’s a bad idea

Chara’s a pretty safe driver like 85% of the time but she’s also the mom friend so we get this gem, “I SWEAR TO THE ARTIST if I hear ONE MORE person tell me to speed up, I will turn this car around!”

Enne does not understand the concept of traffic because she can’t tell what’s going on outside of random honks and yelling, so she’s a bit frustrated

Grace is frustrated too but she doesn’t have an excuse like Enne does so she’s just annoying

Grace: We need to go faster

Chara: We can’t there are too many cars in front of us

Grace: Run them over

“Are we there yet”

Chara’s an actual Saint for not dropping them all off on the side of the road and telling them to walk

Luca’s in charge of the aux cord and he’s blasting something awful until Enne takes it away

Enne called shotgun

Grace *whining*: Why does she get to be upfront

Enne *totally deadpan*: I like the view from up here

They stop for a break and as soon as Chara goes into the store to get snacks, they look at Enne and go, “Get in the driver's seat, let’s do some donuts” (don’t worry the parking lot is suitably empty.

After several minutes of hilarity, Chara comes back out and the rest of them all fall completely silent as she stares at them, but Enne is yelling, “Lets do that again!” until she feels Chara’s feathers when she flings her arm out the window and immediately turns into, “I have no idea how I got into this front seat! It’s all Lucas fault. We definitely weren’t doing anything illegal.”

Chara is not convinced

Also, Luca eats all the snacks, Grace protests loudly about this. He shares one with Acheran and refuses to give her any. Chara and Enne catch on to the noise later on when they ask for him to pass them back up, and there’s none left. Chara refuses to do another rest stop.

Someone: Are we there yet?

Enne: Yeah! Look! Our exit is right there!

Grace finally falls asleep and uses Acheran’s wing as a blanket

Poor Acheran is cramped in the middle of the back row between the two chaos children despite being the tallest of them all

He somehow manages to read or do something quiet despite the chaos going on and they kind of forget he’s there until Chara’s aks him something and he doesn’t answer immediately, and suddenly Chara’s panicking like, “Oh Artist we lost Acheran.”

He thinks it is hilarious

She does not

Thank you for the ask and for the chance to rant about my lovely chaos children!!

[funkymbtifiction]

Hi, sorry for the repeated asks! I really enjoyed how you broke down your thought processes for Henry VIII's enneagram - how he dealt with his fear, anger and ego. Could you please do an example for all the enneagram? (e.g. how an enn. 2, 3, and 4 would deal with their ego), etc?

How does he/she process his/her anger?

The gut fixes deal with how you respond to anger and instinctive responses.

1 Characters will live or die on their principles, often insisting that things be done “right” or that certain standards be upheld. They come across as rigid or a teacher’s pet, driven and productive but emotionally repressed. Hermione Granger is a good example of a core 1, summed up in her quote, “I’m going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us all killed – or worse, EXPELLED.” She cannot imagine the humiliation of being punished for bad behavior through expulsion. Whenever she is angry, she also leaps into action with a desire to CHANGE THINGS. Her anger over the mistreatment of House Elves causes her to set out to rectify the situation by attempting to “do the right thing,” recruiting fellow students into a “movement,” knitting hats to hide around Gryffindor Tower so the house elves will pick them up and be freed, and by being irritated that neither Harry or Ron will join her little crusade.

9 Characters will prove amenable and concerned with harmony to the bitter end, finding pleasant ways to deal with bad situations and often putting aside or denying their own feelings lest it cause trouble with their loved ones (especially as a 9 core). The best example of this is Lucy in While You Were Sleeping. Though distraught over a mix-up in the hospital when a man in a coma’s family thinks she’s his fiancee, she agrees to keep up the ruse because she doesn’t know how to tell them otherwise. She becomes increasingly frustrated with the wrongness of her actions but is so afraid of hurting these people, whom she’s come to care about, she can’t say anything until the eleventh hour when it might threaten the true love of her life – not coma boy, but his brother. Another example is Little Dorrit. She appeases her father and goes along with him, even though it makes her unhappy.

8 Characters will prove aggressive and “pushing of others,” pursuing what they want and laying on the pressure to test others and/or get them to comply with whatever the 8 wants. As cores, they can be explosive in their rage and controlling. Henry VIII from The Tudors is a good example – constantly seeing others as attempting to usurp him in some way and putting them in their place. 8′s never apologize for their anger. They explode and then get over it.

How does he/she deal with his/her ego?

The heart fixes deal with how you respond to others’ perceptions of you, and the image of you that you want them to hold in their mind.

2 Characters will go out of their way to be helpful, sometimes (especially as a core 2) interfering too much and insisting what they are doing is for the right reason, because this person needs help. A perfect example of this is Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse. She sets out to “improve” her friend Harriet, by interesting her in social climbing, critiquing her choice in men, and trying to set her up with various suitors. When Mr. Knightley berates her behavior, her ego will not allow her to respond with anything other than self-assurance. She tells him that his ideas are outdated and that she is only helping Harriet. Emma’s crisis of conscience comes after mocking Miss Bates and having Knightley express severe disappointment in her behavior. She is so ashamed of having been callous and cruel, she does all she can to “restore herself” in his eyes.

3 Characters will go out of their way to be seen in a certain light, sometimes (especially as a core 3) displaying poor self-awareness and believing their own lies. Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey is the ideal example. She continually denies her feelings, as if she does not care, when it’s obvious to everyone around her that she cares far more than she thinks she does. Whenever she is challenged or threatened, she wears an uncaring “persona,” becomes haughty, defensive, and lashes out by attracting positive attention. Her ongoing feud with her younger sister displays this well – if Edith takes a poke at her, Mary turns on her 3 charm and seduces her man’s attention away from her. She’s so involved in WINNING and being seen as the MOST DESIRABLE PERSON, that she often undermines her own love affairs in the process. (As her father says, Mary never learned that you can’t treat people like toys – they walk away.)

4 Characters will gout of their way to insist they are different from others, and be thought of in a particular way, sometimes (especially as a core 4), being ultra-melodramatic about all their intense feelings and woes. Look no further than Marianne Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility, who from the start resists any attempts to pair her with Colonel Brandon. She waxes and wanes on their misfortunes, dramatizes things, places a great deal of emphasis on poetry and finding “deep” people to spend her time with, and insists to Willoughby that she is not like other girls, she doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

How does he/she deal with fear?

The head fixes deal with how a person responds to external threats and fears.

5 Characters withdraw from the world, trust only themselves, seek knowledge to arm themselves against the world, and become detached and fantasizing. They are quite logical and rational, but anxious about how to interact with the real world and inclined to run away from it. A good example is Remus Lupin in Harry Potter, always cautioning the students about dangers, giving them actual useful knowledge in their DADA class (arming them against a dangerous world through studies that cover a lot of important topics), and, unfortunately, in his biggest failing – his choice to run away from Tonks and the baby, to “keep them safe.” Fatherhood as a werewolf in a dangerous world scares him so he leaves – his logic is sound, but as Harry points out, it’s also cowardly.

6 Characters are walking contradictions. They are likable, distrustful, and anxious, fearful of betrayal by those close to them. They test other people to see if they are loyal and feel insecure when dissent arises. A good example of a 6 is Brett Maverick from the movie Maverick. He sets up plans in advance to avoid being beat up or robbed. He also tends to trust his friends too much, so most of them cheat him, because he’s forgiving of their “I’m broke” statements. But he’s funny, he’s willing to look out for others, and… he runs on anxiety. Yet like all 6′s, he rises to the occasion when necessary and does it – complaining loudly all the way. (The 7 wing adds a lot of humor; for a more serious 6w5, look at Thorin from The Hobbit. Distrustful, secretive, paranoid, but loyal.)

7 Characters are fun-loving, adventure-seeking sorts, who do not want to deal with hard decisions and are anxious about feeling hemmed in – so if it gets hard, they cut and run and/or turn to humor as a distraction. They do not have great follow through and tend to be a bit careless with people. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park is a good example of a 7 – logical and cautious, but also witty, charming, sarcastic, and good-natured. And yet, as his daughter points out, while he’s been off doing whatever, her life has unfolded without him in it. (Another 7 would be Lorelai Gilmore, from Gilmore Girls.)

- ENFP Mod

[unlikely-allies]

4.5/5

New Reynes is known as the City of Sin. Its North Side is run by three street gangs- the Irons, the Doves, and the Scarhands- and the Torren and Augustine casino crime families. Within Enne’s first few hours in New Reynes she has been to half a dozen locations that her guide book has told her to stay away from, and she has met a handful of people notorious enough to get a warning in that same book. Enne is a lady, and New Reynes is no place for a lady. Not that she has a choice. Enne’s mother Lourdes was very clear, if she isn’t back home in two months then she’s dead.

Enne came to New Reynes to find her mother, but each new lead leaves her with more questions than answers. Per her mother’s instructions, Enne reaches out to Mr. Levi Glaisyer for help in finding Lourdes. What Enne wasn’t expecting was to find out that Levi is the Lord of the Irons gang, and that his familiarity with Lourdes is limited to say the least. Motivated by Enne’s promise of payment for his help, Levi agrees to help Enne and be her unofficial guide to New Reynes. The lack of leads in the search for Lourdes has Levi almost as discouraged as Enne. Levi is relying on Enne’s payment to settle some of his debts from a scam gone wrong. Levi has nine days to pay back Sedric Torren, don of the Torren crime family, or be killed.

When Levi isn’t running back-alley scams, he’s conning people right to their faces as a Tropp dealer at the St. Morse Casino run by the donna of the Augustine family, Vianca. In order to keep an eye on Enne while she searches for Lourdes, Levi arranges for Enne to get a job at St. Morse. Vianca immediately takes an uncanny liking to Enne and, without Enne’s consent, forms an unbreakable oath between them. Enne must do whatever Vianca wants, or she will be magically suffocated. The oath, called an omerta, is also what binds Levi to Vianca, and why he was forced to carry out the scam causing him so much trouble. Enne and Levi now share a unique bond, and Levi feels responsible for the new direction that Enne’s life has taken.

Enne had never intended to stay in New Reynes, but her search for Lourdes, and now her omerta with Vianca, mean that New Reynes may be Enne’s home for the foreseeable future. Enne has become a player in the game of the City of Sin, a game that has very few winners.  The search for Lourdes uncovers many secrets, some involving Enne herself. With Levi by her side, Enne will begin a journey that will have lasting consequences, both on Enne and Levi, as well as the City of Sins itself.

Part period-piece, part murder mystery, and part urban fantasy, Ace of Shades is a gritty and witty novel that served as a pleasant surprise. Poor doe-eyed Enne is thrown to the New Reynes wolves, but instead of breaking she manages to grow some fangs of her own. Enne isn’t afraid to show her emotions, but she is resilient and takes even the most discouraging news in stride. Levi is the good guy of the bad guys. He may be a street lord, but he is no common criminal and has big plans for his future. Foody writes in a way that lends an elegance to the grime of street gangs and gaudy casinos. It is easy to picture the world that she has created, and the story is so much better for it. The plot is compelling, especially once Levi and Enne are truly in the midst of the search for Lourdes. The underlying plot involving the secret society also doesn’t hurt. Ace of Shades is an entertaining read, and I would recommend it to fans of the Shades of Magic series, and for those that like a balanced mix of fantasy and realism.

[joannalannister]

Have you written anything on Jaime's decision at the end of AFFC? Because it's so associated with "Jaime breaking free of toxic Lannister (especially Cersei)" and I just didn't get that vibe from it?

Hi! I don’t think I’ve ever written anything about it because this topic is the wankiest of wank bait, but yeah, like you, I’ve personally never felt that Jaime was “breaking free” of the toxicity of House Lannister from his chapters in AFFC/ADWD. 

(I don’t know who or what you’re quoting in this ask, and I mean no offense to whoever is saying that. This is just my opinion on Jaime’s FeastDance chapters and obviously some people interpret it differently and that’s cool. I’m really not looking for wank here.)

So when you say “Jaime’s decision at the end of AFFC” I’m assuming you mean this one?

“No, my lord. The bird was from King’s Landing. I took the liberty … I did not know …” He held the letter out. 

Jaime read it in the window seat, bathed in the light of that cold white morning. Qyburn’s words were terse and to the point, Cersei’s fevered and fervent. Come at once, she said. Help me. Save me. I need you now as I have never needed you before. I love you. I love you. I love you. Come at once. 

Vyman was hovering by the door, waiting, and Jaime sensed that Peck was watching too. “Does my lord wish to answer?” the maester asked, after a long silence. 

A snowflake landed on the letter. As it melted, the ink began to blur. Jaime rolled the parchment up again, as tight as one hand would allow, and handed it to Peck. “No,” he said. “Put this in the fire.”

To me, this passage reflects how Jaime really doesn’t have the answers, at least right now: “He found himself wondering what his father would do to feed the realm, before he remembered that Tywin Lannister was dead.”

Cersei makes herself plain: “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

But how does Jaime feel about Cersei? Does he hate her? (And speaking of feelings, what does Jaime feel toward his father, who told him that love was useless? And what of Tyrion, the brother he loved? And what of Br*enne, a true knight from the stories come to life?) Can Jaime even help Cersei? Does he love her? (“The question is, who are you?”) (”Would you sooner have a father or a chair, lad? Jaime wished he knew the answer.”) Can he save her? Does he love her? Does he need her? Does he love her?

Jaime’s a whole mess of conflicted emotions right now, and he wishes things could be like they were:

There was a time, not long ago, when he might have been out making snowballs with the best of them, to fling at Tyrion when he waddled by, or slip down the back of Cersei’s gown. You need two hands to make a decent snowball, though.

But Jaime has only “One hand, clasped tight around the sword hilt. Only one” and really, literally, Jaime has no answers at the moment. So he delays, he demurs. “Put this in the fire.” He is not ready to answer Cersei yet.

“The sooner we are done with Riverrun, the sooner I’ll be back at Cersei’s side.” What Jaime would do then he did not know.

Consider:

“There is sitting and there is sitting, […] Each one [Tywin/Robb] waits for the other to move”

and:

Cersei gave him a lingering look. “You know,” she said, “for a moment you [Jaime] sounded quite like Father.”

I think you also have to consider the context of this decision. The maester reads his mail, and Jaime’s squire who admires and adores him “was watching too” so how could Jaime respond, even if he did have answers? ”Would you sooner have a father or a chair, lad? Jaime wished he knew the answer.” // “The question is, who are you?” // “We are not Targaryens!”

Also, everyone believes that Jaime is still a fearsome swordsman. I don’t think Cersei (or most people, for that matter) realizes that Jaime can’t be her champion. If Jaime were to champion her, Cersei would lose her trial (bad), and Jaime’s secret would be revealed (also bad). Jaime’s relying on his reputation. (And Genna said Jaime wasn’t Tywin’s true heir. Heh.) 

How can Jaime explain that he cannot help Cersei, cannot save her, and in a letter, no less? A letter read/written by Vyman, who served Edmure Tully, and Hoster before him? A letter that could easily be intercepted? No, he could not give Cersei an explanation in his letter. He could only give her a refusal, and that would infuriate her. (Does he love her? Does he love her? Does he love her?) 

He says these things in ADWD:

Past time this was ended, thought Jaime Lannister. With Riverrun now safely in Lannister hands, Raventree was the remnant of the Young Wolf’s short-lived kingdom. Once it yielded, his work along the Trident would be done, and he would be free to return to King’s Landing. To the king, he told himself, but another part of him whispered, to Cersei.

He would have to face her, he supposed. Assuming the High Septon had not put her to death by the time he got back to the city. “Come at once,” she had written, in the letter he’d had Peck burn at Riverrun. “Help me. Save me. I need you now as I have never needed you before. I love you. I love you. I love you. Come at once.” Her need was real enough, Jaime did not doubt. As for the rest … she’s been fucking Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack and Moon Boy for all I know … Even if he had gone back, he could not hope to save her. She was guilty of every treason laid against her, and he was short a sword hand.

(^^This “She was guilty of every treason…” sort of makes me worried, as if Jaime is perhaps deflecting all the blame for his own treasons onto Cersei, like it doesn’t take two to tango….) 

Anyways … I personally wouldn’t describe this as Jaime ~breaking free~ of the Lannister regime when a part of him is looking forward to returning to Cersei. 

But I think there’s another part of Jaime that doesn’t want to return to Cersei, which is why he so readily jaunts off with Br*enne to chase his dreams of true knighthood. 

That’s the thing about Jaime imo. He’s a man divided. Torn between Lannister crimson and Kingsguard white, between his (older) sister and his baby brother, between Cersei and Br*enne, between one vow and another, between his loyalty to the Lannister regime and his aspirations of true knighthood. 

“So many vows … they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It’s too much. No matter what you do, you’re forsaking one vow or the other.“

Jaime’s the middle child, Beauty and Beast both. We first meet him wearing black, but he’s renowned for his kingsguard white, but allegedly “it was that white cloak that soiled” Jaime and reduced him to this grey liminality. He vacillates back and forth, an ever swinging pendulum. One moment he is angered that Gregor would smash Pia’s teeth in, another moment fantasizing that he “smashed his sister’s teeth to splinters with his golden hand, just as Gregor Clegane had done to poor Pia.” 

I know I’ve talked about this before, but it’s like Jaime is trying to ride two horses in the Riverlands, and he can’t ride two horses. He’s trying to hold on to everything, Cersei and Tyrion, honor and glory, all that, but now he has only one hand, and he can’t hold on to two things at once any more. “Yet soon or late in every man’s life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose.”

But Jaime hasn’t come to that choosing yet. “Throw this in the fire.”

In ADWD we see the pendulum swing toward Br*enne, but what will happen in TWOW? How will Jaime feel when he learns his true knight has lied to him, and that even true knights can be grey? I imagine Jaime will feel betrayed. I suspect a second litany of betrayal for Br*enne, analogous to the one for Cersei: “… she’s been fucking Lancel and Osmund Kettleblack and Moon Boy for all I know …" 

“False as fool’s gold.” 

After escaping Stoneheart, Jaime will go to King’s Landing at last:

Once he found the Blackfish, he would be free to return to King’s Landing, where he belonged. My place is with my king. With my son. 

But I think Jaime arrives to find Tommen dead, and Cersei fled with Myrcella to her last stronghold, Casterly Rock, since KL is about to be destroyed, entirely. And Jaime will have failed yet another king. 

Nothing in AFFC/ADWD suggests to me that Jaime’s abandoned the Lannister regime, despite how angry he is at Cersei. He still supports Tommen, and I will bet money that Jaime follows Cersei to CR after the wildfire explosion at the end of TWOW and that he eventually recognizes Myrcella as his queen in the beginning of ADOS.

And I don’t know what’s going to push Jaime over the edge, but I will bet money that Jaime will valonqar Cersei at Casterly Rock in ADOS. I think this is Jaime’s choosing, and I think he will actively choose Lannister toxicity. Strangling your sister/lover sounds like a pretty toxic thing to me, no? idk I could be wrong, who knows.

But I don’t see Jaime actively working to bring down the Lannister regime. idk what happens with Jaime after Cersei’s death, all bets are off once she dies, but at least right now, there’s nothing to me that suggests that Jaime recognizes that Tommen has no right to the Throne, that the Lannisters have no right to sieze Riverrun, no right to hunt the Blackfish, or that the entire government is corrupt, things which I think would be necessary for Jaime to distance himself from the evils of House Lannister?

(I think it’s Tyrion who is beginning to understand that the Lannister regime is wrong, he was the only one calling out Lannister bullshit even when he was in the middle of said bullshit. Tyrion hasn’t yet escaped from Tywin’s dark, toxic shadow, but I think it’s Tyrion who does that, not Jaime.) 

TLDR - nope, im like you, i dont get that vibe either. Maybe I’m wrong tho *shrug emoji*

[allegories-astray]

In the Silent Stillness

by Markus Enns

The brim of his gun gently swayed before going rigid as he entered the pizza shop.  A complete and sudden feeling of overwhelming bliss entered us and we stood in solidarity with space and time.  We were calm.

In a whisper, Michael addressed me in a demonstrative tone. “Go check the washrooms, I’ll head on to the back.” He had been staring down the sightline from the front cashier desk of the store before moving his eyes and turning his head towards me.  “If I yell ‘CLAP’, we converge back here and get the hell out of here.”

Michael returned his focus to the back of the pizza shop once more and began on his way.  I abided and took his order with a nod of my head, though he did not see it. Carefully advanced towards the washrooms, the calmness the consumed my being persisted and the sound of my black, pointy dress shoes stepping on the concrete floor made my mind race. Every step seemed to be equally timed apart from the last and covered the same amount of distance. The walking sound was like a metronome-- so precise, consistent, and mesmerizing.  Caught in the daze facilitated by this phenomenon, I thought about Michael, or Mike, as I know him, and engaged in deep meditation. 

Mike had been involved with this sort of high-risk crime before, in fact, he had been incarcerated for armed robbery many years prior.  Released early due to good behaviour, he was struggling to return back to the free life.  For the first time in over a decade, he was out of prison, though, struggling to afford the cost of living.  He needed money.

My thoughts were interrupted as I moved my right arm up to open the washroom door. My black suit jacket, that I had just purchased hours earlier at the local thrift store, was tight and slightly restricted my motion. It was by no means a struggle or monumental task, however, it was enough to make me think about it for a split second. Maybe this is what brought me back to reality. I placed my open hand, with my fingers softly extended, on the door and pushed the door open with subtle effort.  The door creaked, gradually getting louder as the door opening widened. Pushing open the door wide enough for my body to enter, the atmosphere in the pizza shop shifted.  As the noise being produced by the door came to a diminishing end, so did the calm feeling from before.  

In a drastic and unprecedented manner, I was now overcome with supreme panic.  Through the panic and stress-induced anxiety that was transpiring, I quickly scanned the bright, white room and moved my pupils to look under the washroom stalls, attempting to see someone standing.  It would have still been quiet, even amidst the soft buzz of the light above me, if it wasn’t for my fast, heavy breathing. 

My mind wandered once more and under the thrift store suit jacket and classic, old white button-up shirt, my body broke into a cold sweat. For all I know, I could have seen somebody in the washroom, but I was far too panicky and nervous to know.  My eyes were open yet I could not see. I staggered backwards in a sudden faint but remained conscience as I stood just before the door I had just opened. It was this moment that brought back thoughts and my compulsion to think.  It all came racing back to my mind-- ‘it’  being all of my mother’s stories. 

I thought to myself, with the demon on my shoulder, or my bad conscious, vigorously fighting my sense of morality and reason.  My bad conscious kept arguing that we’ve come this far and had to follow through for Mike, but my morality, majorly formed by my mother’s lesson-bearing stories, prevailed. 

My eyes, like before, remained open, though I was still unable to see the physical world. Now, in a contrary fashion, I visualized my mother.

I was now a little child again, standing before my mother in my childhood living room, being scolded after my detention at school. 

“Don’t you ever do that again, young man! I did not raise my son to be an inconsiderate, little delinquent.” I was only an adolescent and youthful yet I knew that getting into a playfight with your childhood best friend wasn’t something to get all worked up about.  “Look at your Uncle Hugh, for example, he’s in prison because he made very poor choices.  You will NOT be like your Uncle Hugh, do you hear me?” She always emphasized the ‘NOT’ and it became something that you’d wait for every time you got in trouble.  More than this, though, was how often she emphasized not being like Uncle Hugh, her eldest brother.

“He’s been in and out of ‘the system’ since he arrived at the juvenile detention block back when he was your age.”  Another thing mom always did, that is, the unreliable statement that, no matter how old I was, Uncle Hugh was always ‘my age.’  This didn’t discredit her point or deduct any merits from the lesson she was trying to teach me. 

 “It starts off simple,” she would always say, “like getting into a fight at school or experimenting with drugs, but then it spirals out of control and you start to lose a lot of important things in life.  Your Uncle never thought it would catch up to him, and frankly, neither did Grandma, but it’s when you least expect it the most that it happens. Do NOT let me down, son.”

This vision of mother that I was having came to an abrupt conclusion as I heard Mike’s gun go off. It shattered my vision and ripped through the pizza shop.  My eyes began to function again. In my panic, I left the washroom in a hurry and accelerated back to the convergence point that Mike established earlier. I looked in the general direction Mike would have gone towards and considered my mother’s story once more.

...

[Extend and finish the story by considering one (or more) the following idea(s):]

1. What caused Mike to fire his weapon?

-Did someone get in his way?

2. Elaborate upon your “mother’s stories”

3. If the police were called and show up, what will you and Mike do?

-Do you try to escape?

-Do you try to fight the police?

[Or extend and finish the story by using one (or more) of your own idea(s):]