#starting to understand oberyn rn

[guess-my-next-obsession]

how do i explain that while frankie is my husband, din is my partner ??? and while dieter is my boyfriend, javi is my lover ??? and joel is my man but ezra is my muse ???? like ???

[tobealostwanderer]

Storms and Salt Water

Oberyn x GN!Merling!Reader

Cw: Storms, wild sea, drowning, unbeta-ed

So this did not go the way I intended so I might make a part 2 of this 👀. I am on another Oberyn rampage so I wanted to write something. Still working on the Sun in the North but I need to rework a few things for that and I am lazy oops. And merling!reader has lived in my head rentfree for a week now so I had to get this out there. This was written at 12am so quality might be bad. There might be typos. Honestly im too tired to fix that all rn. Hope you enjoy it nontheless!

The ocean had always called to Oberyn. He had spend many years travelling to and from Essos by ship, enjoying the hot sun and smell of salt.

He always strolled along the beaches of Sunspear if he had time. Sometimes alone. Sometimes Ellaria or his daughters joined him. But whoever did or did not join him never took away the pure calmness that would wash over him as he watched the waves push and pull the water. No matter how hectic his princely duties became, the sea always gave him a clear head and brought peace to his worrying mind.

In his many years at Sunspear, he had helped establish animal safety for the sea creatures swimming about. It was his personal project, one he adored more and more as he grew older. If a turtle laid her eggs on the beach, that part would be protected. He had an understanding with the fishermen of Dorne that if they turned in old fishing gear, he would replace it with better quality stuff, so no creature could get entangled in stray fishnets. There was a part of the beach closed off to rehabilitate wounded sea creatures and Oberyn's plans were ever expanding.

Now, he was standing on that beach. His feet burried into the send as the water lapped around his ankles. He would have to travel again soon. The first time without Ellaria in a while, but he didn't trust the Holdens at all and he didn't want to worry about her if things went messy. Ofcourse she had begged him to come along, but after half a hour she too saw that the prince wouldn't change his mind.

A few dolphins found his gaze. He could barerly hear the happy chirping of the animals as he saw them jump up out of the water and dive right back in with twists and somersaults. He watched the group of animals for a while until they disappeared from view. He took that as his sign to return to the castle. He gathered his abandoned shoes and slowly strolled back.

The rock was warm under your palms as you gazed upon the shore. The man in gold stood there, regal as ever. His feet comfortably burried in the sand as water lapped around him. From this distance you couldn't see his expression, but his stance was calm and relaxed.

There had been a handful of instances where you had gotten too close to him and he had almost spotted you. He never did, but it never stopped your father from punishing you. The last time had been too close so if you messed up again, chances were that you wouldn't be allowed to the surface again. A sad sigh left you at the thought of not basking in the sun like this again, nor seeing the golden man or his family again.

It was stupid really, holding a crush on a man who obviously had everything already. You had seen his partner, a beautiful woman with long and shiny hair and a regal posture. You had seen his children, there were eight of them. The oldest well into her adulthood wheras the youngest was a mere child. Still, from afar the man was the most beautiful and attractive creature you had ever gazed upon. The crush went so deep that you had started to turn down other mermen, mermaids and merlings proposals. Your father was annoyed by your antics, but you didn't really care.

From a distance you saw a few of your friends swim up to you. The group dolphins jumped up into the air with graceful leaps. You were itching to join them, but with the man on the beach you didn't want to risk it and get punished. So you just watched as your friends came closer and closer.

When they found your hiding spot, you saw the man turn and walk towards the city. You watched him leave with sadness written on your face. You just wished to gaze more upon him. Before you could move further into your thoughts, your friends started to twitter at you.

"According to Moki, he is leaving for Essos tomorrow" Branlin said, her tail pointing towards the beach where the man disappeared. Your eyes widened at her words.

"But the casters have predicted a heavy storm incoming. Even Saint's Palace will be locked down! They cannot possibly send ships through the Narrow Sea, right?" You asked worryingly, gazing back to the now empty beach. Poroi curled his tail around yours in comfort. His snout nudged your arm.

"We were going to swim over tomorrow. To make sure that everything will be alright. You can join us" he said happily. The young dolphin unwrapped himself from around you and made some somersaults before calming down. "Yes ofcourse I will join you, my friends. After all, if it is not for the humans, I would need to watch over you lot." You said, a knowing twinkle in your eye. Your friends were great but they had a habit of getting themselves into trouble. The group just laughed as you giggled along.

A storm was brewing. The sky had closed in overnight. The waters were hectic but the captain had assured that nothing would be wrong. It was just going to be a very bumpy ride to the other side. Still, Ellaria had felt uneasy letting Oberyn go. She voiced her concerns with great worry.

"My love, I am absolutely going to be fine. You needn't worry. The captain knows what he is doing. If he deemed it unsafe, he would have told me so and I would postpone my trip" Oberyn said. His large hands were tangled in his lover's luscious hair. Her signsture smell wafted around him, calming his mind like no one else could.

"I know, my love. But I still feel nervous. The waters look rougher than I have ever seen before" Ellaria said. Her hands were trailing his cheeks. He leaned into them, resting himself against her.

Oberyn agreed, the seas did look rougher than he had ever seen them before. The dark clouds didn't help as they covered the sun, making the waves look even more intimidating. Before he could answer, a runner boy interupted to tell the prince that the ship was ready to leave. A sigh left the two lovers.

"I will come back to you, my Ellaria. You needn't worry." Oberyn said again, placing a sweet kiss on her forehead. Ellaria nodded and kissed the hollow of his neck. "You will, or I will wreak havoc." Ellaria simply said to which Oberyn chuckled. One last tingling kiss and he let go of her, slowly turning to walk aboard. Not much later the ship disembarked.

From a distance you watched as the ship left the harbour and made it's way upon open sea. The water was merciless. It was the worst storm you had ever witnessed but even so, you had made your way out here instead of hunkering down into the palace or other places like others. You were bound to be missed by your father, and would likely get scolded again, but you needed to know that the ship would pass safely.

Branlin and Poroi were with you, the other dolphins decided to hunker down as well. You didn't blame them. It was going to be a rough day and not many creatures could swim through a storm like this. Branlin and Poroi were young and strong, wheras you just swam an aweful lot and used to race a couple of years back. You had a powerful tail and you were proud of it. Most merlings had a strong tail, but in a tail fight you would definitely beat the majority.

The ship disembarked and up on the surface it still looked calm but you could feel the currents changing. With your friends you swam underwater and got closer to the ship as it hit open sea. No five minutes passed, and the weather completely erupted.

The waters were pushing and pulling harshly on you and your friends. A quick scouting of the surface from Poroi proved that it was raining and thundering above the surface. You just kept close to the ship, still worrying. You swam around the bottom of it, trying not to get spotted but also searching for eventual holes that could make the boat sink.

A loud booming noise traveled from above you to down in the water. The ship heaved to the side, slowly, then quicker. You panicked, trying on it to balance it out again but you weren't that strong. People were jumping into the sea. You worried that they would see you, but even if they tried to open their eyes in the water the salt would sting them.

The golden man wasn't among them yet so you gathered Poroi and Branlin and they let the crew ride them to the shore. Some were confused, others too panicked and just held on. When they made their trips, you made sure that other crew had wood or other items to keep them afloat.

The ship was sinking and still no sign of the golden man. By now, the dolphins were almost done with bringing over everyone. You scouted the area for the golden man but he was not in the water. You realised that he must still be inside the ship, which was by now fully emerged into the water.

If he found out about you, you would be in big trouble. Any other merling would've let them drown, or ask a Siren for their kiss so he would pass quickly and painlessly. You wanted to take the risk, though, so you found an opening, created by the thunder most likely, and dove into the ship.

You were franticly trying doors and listening for the man. The ship was not large, but it still held multiple levels so it would take a while. You just hoped that you were in time. Along the way you found two more people, unconcious, which you had send up to the surface through holes for your dolphin friends to find. But quicker as ever you raced through the ship.

A soft banging was heared further on the corridor and you figured that someone had to be in there. You hoped it was the man. The door was stuck, hence why he probably didn't make it out. So after a few rounds of bashing against it, you managed to break the wood completely and swim in.

There he was, barerly concious but still alive. He barerly seemed to notice you as you grabbed him around his middle. The silks he was draped in were softer than anything you had felt before. But you couldn't dwaddle on that thought. Instead, you barreled as hard as you could through the wall and swam up, to the surface.

He wasn't breathing yet. You knew he needed a flat surface and to cough out the water in his lungs. You held him tight, keeping his head as much above water as possible, and swam as quick as you could to some exposed rocks. The storm was still raging around you and you had to dodge stray wood multiple times before you got there.

You heaved the man upon the rocks and pushed yourself on it as well. You sat next to him, your body turned towards him as you pumped your hands upon his chest. You never had to do this before, again with merlings rather choosing to drown someone instead of saving them, but you had read about this and you just hoped that you did it right.

It took five minutes until the man started to splutter and cough out the salt water. You helped him turn his body on his side as he coughed it all out. He gasped, air finally making its way down his lungs. You silently cheered as you saw that he would live.

His eyes were more closed than open but still the warm browns of them gazed upon you. You took him in, for the first time up so close. He was so handsome. Your fingers trailed through his dark and wet hair. Your lips were parted in wonder as the details of his face burned into your brain.

"Who... You?" His voice croaked, snapping you out of your daze. It startled you, the deep, albeit hoarse, and rich voice. Without thinking, you let go of him and dived below the surface. You called for your friends who joined you quickly after your call.

"He saw me... He talked to me..." You said in a panic, swimming around a little before you calmed down. "You need to help me. He needs to go home, can you drag him? He is the last one"

With a confirmation from both animals, they went to the surface and soon you saw both their tails leave. As you climbed back up on the stones, you saw how they brought him to the beach. A big crowd was gathered there and from afar you saw the woman that belonged to the golden man step forward as your friends met the coast.

"It is real, Ellaria. I know I sound crazy, but I saw them. Someone saved me. How else would I have escaped my cabin?" Oberyn groaned. It had been weeks since the storm and he had since recovered, but both Ellaria and Doran found it unwise for him to travel to Essos now. Especially since he started spewing that someone had saved him.

"You just mistook the dolphins for a human, Oberyn. You were dying, ofcourse you would imagine a pretty or handsome person saving you." Ellaria said, her hands in his hair, like they had done, as she gazed upon him with worrying eyes. "Please, Oberyn. Let it go. You cannot find someone that does not exist. It has been days since you went searching. Maybe they do not wish to be found, my prince"

Oberyn sighed. His eyes gazing out of his window. The sea was closeby and he saw the golden sands and blue waters from here. Turning to his paramour, he held her face with one hand before nodding, a soft 'okay' passed his lips. A promise to not go looking.

Still, his heart ached. He wished that you were real and prayed to meet you again. Maybe one day he would find you, but for now he would abide to his lover's wishes.

Taglist: @pedropastelpascal; @evyiione; @chibi-liz05;

[janiedean]

I never understood in the books why Jaime took so long to go visit Tyrion. He literally didn't go until the last possible minute when he was helping Tyrion escape. It's not even that he thought Tyrion had killed Joffrey. Please help me understand

you mean in asos right? well, in order:

it’s relatively long if you think about it, in the sense that if you check the most accurate asoiaf timeline around we know that jaime got to KL after joffrey’s murder on day 8 of month 1 of the year and three days before tyrion’s trial starts. now, according to that timeline, the trial goes from day 11 of the first month of the year to day 15, which means it’s five days total including oberyn vs gregor, plus he sends brienne off with the sword on day 20, and tyrion gets freed around day 7 of month two though possibly even later, but let’s say that all in all since jaime got to KL until he frees tyrion roughly a month has passed which seems a lot, but you have to take into account what happened meanwhile;

as in: he comes back, brienne gets arrested, he has to take back his duties, he has the conversation with his father where he gets officially disinherited and refuses to give up the kingsguard, has to put the kg back together or tries to, has to face that his rship with cersei is going to shit, talks to loras, frees brienne, he also knew that jeyne p. wasn’t arya so he was present for her send-off too, refuses cersei in the tower when she asks him to kill tyrion, planned with varys to save his hide and so on, and most likely post-trial anyone would have stood outside the door and heard what they said regardless of how high the lord commander is in the king’s landing food chain;

like, I don’t think he didn’t want to, but with that situation it was extremely complicated to even talk to him without anyone being present, and that’s why he had to scheme with varys to free him and he most likely had to *plan* it and he couldn’t exactly go up to him and hint that he was about to do it.

also, that’s not specified in the text overtly so that’s my two cents, but I also think that the fact that he spilled the tea about tysha when he let tyrion go says a lot, in the sense that....

rewind: as established previously (sorry with the way I have the blog rn I can’t link you but if you try looking for janie writes meta under the tag something should come up still), jaime’s preferred to-go coping method to deal with his shit is not thinking about it, and guess what tysha comes up in his POVs twice exactly or not much more than that....... except that what is that he does when he thinks he might not see tyrion in his life ever again?

he spills the tea about that and my money is that until he lost the hand and so on he just didn’t think about it period because he hated that he did it (and ofc he has no way to process that it was abuse on tywin’s part concerning him too because again, while tyrion is 100% aware that both tywin and cersei are abusing the shit out of him jaime has no idea whatsoever and most likely would refuse to consider it if someone told him straight before he did the work himself) and he hated that it ruined tyrion’s life and he hated that he was part of it. but he doesn’t let himself consider it or think about it until he loses the hand and not even that much later, but what is the last thing he thinks in his last chapter before he shows up to free tyrion later?

that he can be whatever he chooses. and guess what, we have another two weeks we don’t know much of what happens in because we have no pov from either of them and what does he do the moment he frees him? ah, he tells him the truth. so my money is also that he knew that if he visited he’d end up spilling about tysha but he also didn’t want to face the consequences/wanted to postpone it until the last moment because he knew it would hurt their relationship badly and he didn’t want that to happen and he also most likely was working through it as much as he could. now, the conclusion is that being that he can be whatever he chooses, he chooses to be honest and own up to his mistakes and save tyrion’s life because he *knows* he didn’t kill joffrey and he loves him for better or worse and he doesn’t want the two of them to part with that lie in between them (because he hates himself for having partaken in it) and he doesn’t want tyrion to keep on thinking that tysha never loved him for who he was because I think he knows that it hurt tyrion so much he thinks no one could love him for who he is anymore. but like... I can see that if you add *that* to all of the above matters and if we take for granted (which i think we can) that jaime wouldn’t reach that conclusion in two hours but would need the full two-three weeks to work himself up to face that conversation, then he wouldn’t go see tyrion first regardless of how much he’d have wanted to.

that’s my two cents anyway but even if it wasn’t for the tysha matter... the practical problems posed by visiting your brother in the cells when he’s been condemned to death and your sister wanted you to kill him and you absolutely would never want to and you know he’s innocent *while* you’re realizing that your sister was an abusive asshole who treated *you* like shit as well for all of your life are enough that I think it explains it.

[asknightqueendany]

I wish some of S/nsa fans stop insisting she is a Queen. Jfc she is not. Her dreams of being Queen stopped after they lopped off Ned’s head. To insist she is one is just fucking bullshit. She’s the Lady of Winterfell AT BEST and that’s that (if we ignore Bran who’s been written off as some android ffs) and to insist there’s 3 queens rn is hilarious. They want it all to be about Dany vs S/nsa but they’re ignoring what S/nsa herself said — CERSEI IS DANGEROUS. It’s Dany vs Cersei and that’s that.

Pt 2: and they insist she’s the true queen and deserves it — ok, but how? No royal bloodline (Targ) for a claim nor armies, cos her knights of the vale vs the Lannister forces/Targaryen forces? Pfft. Let’s not mention the dichotomy here: s/nsa is gonna be the queen of the 7K, but also northern independence!!! bish choose ONE you delusional twats. And god forbid we bring in j*nsa wet dream cos that ain’t happening for S/nsa to be queen  

(this was in the inbox before I asked no more Sansa asks. But after this, please no more Sansa asks).

The Northern Independence vs Queen of the Seven Kingdoms one always gets me. What do her stans want???? They can’t make up their minds.

Northern Independence and Sansa being “Queen in the North” is much more likely, obviously, because Sansa has a claim to the North being a Stark.

However, the grand prize of the series is - who sits on the Iron Throne at the end? And they want Sansa to have it all, be the Younger more beautiful queen, have Jon at her side, etc.

So her stans are torn. I think one of the main reasons the Norther Independence stans even exist, is so that Sansa can be a queen of something. Because they likely know she won’t be QOT7K. 

While I understand the Cersei vs Sansa argument, the end to it doesn’t make sense. Cersei will be killed by either Jaime or Tyrion, likely Jaime. So what’s the point of the two going up against each other, having one last face off, if Cersei’s meant to be killed by her brother?

The evidence behind Sansa being the YMBQ is that she told Olenna and Margaery about Joffrey’s real character, thereby resulting in him being killed. But everything else that was taken from Cersei - is because of Cersei herself. Myrcella died because Cersei sent Jaime there to sneak into Dorne and rescue her (and before that because Cersei insisted in trying Tyrion for Joffrey’s death when it wasn’t Tyrion who killed him - resulting in the Trial by Combat that killed Oberyn and angered Ellaria in the first place!!!). Tommen died because Cersei murdered his wife. And Jaime left Cersei because she deceived him and confided in Euron over him.

All Cersei’s downfalls have been her own fault really, except Joffrey. And Joffrey wasn’t “all she held dear.” He was just one part of that. So how can Sansa stans claim she’s the one who’s brought Cersei down?

Hell, even Joffrey, now that I think about it, is inadvertently Cersei’s fault. She kept Sansa hostage in KL, positioning Sansa in a place to confide in the Tyrells. If Cersei were smart, she would have shipped Sansa off to Casterly Rock where no one outside the Westerlands could get to her.

The only thing now that Cersei has left that she “holds dear” is her power and that will be Daenerys to take that from her. And Jaime has ridden north to join Dany and Jon’s cause. He may have tried to kill her, but now he knows she’s better than Cersei because Daenerys does what she says, is honest, and is helping in the war against the dead. He’s not against Daenerys now. He’s on her side.

I doubt we’d even get a Jaime/Sansa scene next season - at least with them talking alone or Jaime swearing Sansa his sword. He’s all about the big picture now. Sansa was saved. His debt to Catelyn Stark has been repaid. He may give her Widow’s Wail but that’s about it. He has no responsibility to Sansa anymore.

However, Rhaegar made Jaime promise to protect his family and Jaime failed. Jon and Dany are Rhaegar’s remaining family. Jaime protecting both of them and serving them, makes much more sense. And I could totally see a scene between Jaime and Dany or Jaime and Jon with him telling them about Rhaegar.

That got a little bit tangent to the main point but...regardless, Sansa is not the YMBQ. She’s not a queen. She won’t be a Queen unless Daenerys grants the North it’s Independence. So if Sansa wants a crown, she better start sucking up.