songbookff

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probably going through a temporary hiatus for writing because I read Sunrise on the Reaping and now, according to my brain, I just reread all the books and watch all the movies.

So yeah.

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how the absolute FUCK am i supposed to live long and prosper in these conditions

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i write for myself not for comments but dear god getting comments does so remind me of the joy of writing and sharing something

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AVOU Chapter 6: The Order of Things

This chapter didn't actually exist two weeks ago. The content had been divided up amongst different chapters, but I realized that I had a timeline plot hole around Otto investigating why Alicent wasn't pregnant yet.

Rhaenyra is ready for more, but Alicent...well...it must be difficult being forced to copulate with your secret girlfriend's father. It's something I can't ignore in this story and I wanted to make sure it's not glossed over. So they had to talk about it...awkward.

In the meantime, Otto is scheming and Rhaenyra & the Velaryon kiddos are bonding.

I really love Rhaenyra & Laena’s relationship in the book (I definitely ship Rhaenyra/Daemon/Laena in a book context). And I really believe Rhaenyra & Laenor cared for each other and were the best of friends. We were robbed of a good Rhaenyra & Velaryon siblings relationship in the show. That’s why Laena & Leanor will show up quite a bit in a fic that centers around Rhaenrya/Alicent romantically.

It was fun to write some light heartedness...and lay some ground work for how Aemma is settling in with Rhaenys more active in her life.

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AVOU Chapter 5: How the Heart Begins to Heal

Enter Daemon.

Obviously, I had to change Daemon in so many ways because he is not driven by a desire/romantic love for Rhaenyra. But family is everything to him and he certainly will not consider any children Viserys has by a Hightower family.

And Daemon's roguish ways has an advantage to Rhaenyra. Even though Daemon doesn't know her true reasons for wanting to prevent Alicent from getting pregnant, she knows she can trust him to help.

Her conversation with Daemon also helps Rhaenyra realize something...she is still in love with Alicent, no matter the circumstance. She will play the "knight in shining armor" to rescue her love, even if it is just forgiveness and some moon tea.

So our ladies are reunited.

And they have a plan...but how long can they keep this up?

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Think I fixed it. It makes one chapter super short and combines another two sections that I originally had separate, but I think the timeline makes sense now.

Don't mind me...just reorganizing the layout of my fic midway through because I found a plot hole ☠️

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Don't mind me...just reorganizing the layout of my fic midway through because I found a plot hole ☠️

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Q: There's lots of couples on the show and you guys seem like the only healthy couple in Westeros, what makes it so? STEVE: We're not related, that helps. EVE: Mutual support, great communication, fantastic sex life, and, he's away a lot. STEVE: Yes, which makes the sex Olympic.

Rhaenys Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon 1.05 | We Light the Way & 2.02 | Rhaenyra the Cruel HOUSE OF THE DRAGON | Dir. Clare Kilner

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AVOU Chapter 4: The Future of House Targaryen

This definitely a "set up more plot" sort of chapter.

Aemma had made up her mind to leave King's Landing. Which do you really blame her...knowing that your husband will be screwing some other woman (child, gross) in the hopes of impregnating her...all because you can no longer have his babies? Hard pass. But she's been so isolated her entire life that the only place she can go is the Vale.

I'm working off the assumption that Viserys, Aemma, and Rhaenyra never really lived on Dragonstone. I don't think that Baelon took up living there after his brother died and so I don't think after Viserys is named heir, that he would go either. To Aemma, I could see that Dragonstone would be very intimidating, lonely, and dreary after growing up in the Vale & the splendor of court.

But the Velaryons are right...the Vale is distant both in actual mileage and mindset. She would basically be forgotten out there. Now, the suggestion to go to Driftmark is made by Corlys...which is not a selfless suggestion. Corlys is still ambitious and what would be better than to have the Queen at your table when you are trying to get the crown to support a war (the conflict in the Stepstones was brewing for a long time). Also, that would place Rhaenyra there often as well...with Laenor. Don't think Corlys isn't already plotting.

However, not everything he does is completely selfish. There was no way he was going to let Laena be "the King's Whore". He didn't even bother running the idea by Rhaenys (or Laena herself) because he knew what they would say.

The second part of this chapter is a look at the binding ceremony (something I completely made up) between Alicent & Viserys. Poor girl. She grew up planning her wedding and dreaming of being a lady and more recently, of seeing Rhaenyra made Queen. But now, she'll never get her dream wedding and was possibly going to be the reason Rhaenyra never sees the throne.

And of course, Rhaenyra is not speaking to her at the moment. (And we are her mother's colors to the ceremony...remind anyone of someone showing up in green to someone else's wedding?)

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AVOU Chapter 3: The King's Consort

"Poor Alicent" is going to be a theme for a large part of this story.

(That being said, I do not feel book!alicent was a victim any more than any other woman in Westeros & that show!alicent may have been a victim at the beginning, but by the time we get to the dance, she is just as complicit as the rest of them)

Of course, if Rhaenyra had it her way, she would be the one to marry Alicent, but, alas, homophobia. But I like the idea of Rhaenyra secretly "courting" Alicent and buying her nice things/things she would like. As spoiled as Rhaenyra is (and she is very spoiled), she suddenly wants to do those things for someone else. She is in love. My favorite little bit here is where Rhaenyra offers to have whoever hurt Alicent to be fed to Syrax.

But when Alicent tells her what Otto (and Viserys) have planned, Rhaenyra really can't bring herself to believe it. At this point, she still idolizes her father (who named her heir) and believes in the love her parents share. By this point, she has accepted & embraced the fact that she will be Queen. This revelation to her "perfect" world is going to have a huge impact on her. And right now, she is in denial.

The other part of this chapter is a further reveal into the involvement of the Hightowers & the Faith in the Maester conspiracy. I've read several different fics (and book fan theories) about a maester conspiracy to bring down House Targaryen and I'm putting my own spin on it. It's a fun little sandbox to play in and works well as a background plot for this fic.

And of course, we have a broken hearted Aemma. I started to draft the scene where Viserys tells her but it just wasn't turning out the way I wanted, so you get this aftermath instead. And even as her world is crumbling around her, all Aemma can think about is her daughter. I feel like it gives more insight into her personality and the beginning of her journey in this story: she exists for those around her, like her husband and daughter and even the realm as a whole.

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AVOU Chapter 2: Bend the Knee

So this chapter is setting up the background for Rhaenyra to be her father's heir. Some things are similar to the book/show: Viserys names Rhaenyra over Daemon (at Otto's suggestion).

And *men* think they can solve the realms problems by making Viserys fuck another woman. :/

I really enjoy the political aspects of HotD and am trying to use Otto & the maester conspiracy to play politics. I hope y'all caught that Otto/Runciter were trying to influence Viserys actually divorcing Aemma (and putting Alicent on the throne). Obviously, this is going to be part of the canon divergence because Aemma doesn't die and Viserys doesn't want to put her aside completely.

(Because he does love her...he's just starting to lose it because he is becoming obsessed with the Targaryen legacy.)

Rhaenyra is coming to terms with what it means to be the heir. In the book, she's very young when Aemma dies (I think like 8) and here she is 14...so not quite as confident as the show, but still wants to be queen. Hearing her mother talk with her aunt...it becomes very serious for her.

But Alicent is there...and we get our first kiss. And our second. And Rhaenyra knows what she wants: to be queen with Alicent by her side.

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AVOU Chapter 1: Heir for the Hour

So a few things...obviously I messed with a lot of things for this fic, but most specifically ages. Rhaenyra & Alicent are around the ages of 14/15ish to start off the story (them being of similar ages is obviously following the show, not the book). I'll be covering a couple of years in this. I think the current outline ends in about 114 AC. I also narrowed some age gaps (namely Rhaenys and Corlys are now more show compliant of about 5yrs and Daemon/Laena have a gap of only 8 years). Also, Laena is the first born like she is in the books and I gave

The show made Aemma seem very isolated during the birth of Baelon and so I wanted to play off of that. I wanted to turn it around that if she had support, specifically support from other women (Rhaenys, Amanda, the midwife) that she would then survive. And I put Rhaenyra in the room.

(Originally it was Alicent that was with her, but I could think of no reason why Alicent would be allowed in the room, while Laena was able to because of Rhaenys.)

The Maester conspiracy was not originally in the fic at all, but I figured I needed something in the background to move the plot of the succession. Because if Aemma never dies, there is no reason for Alicent to have his children and narratively speaking, there was no reason for Book or Show versions of Otto Hightower to propose anything of the sort unless there was a bigger conspiracy at hand. Then I started having fun with it. It also sets up for the sequel if that ever happens.

But the first chapter was just to set up the story: Aemma lives.

Favorite Quote: These lines from Rhaenys...girl was taking no prisoners with these:

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Another Version of Us...my thoughts.

I started this fic with no intentions of ever posting it. It was more of a writing exercise. But eventually it began to have a plot and it grew from there.

I have enjoyed (and loathed) ASOIAF, GoT, & HotD for a long time now. I even posted a few little writings here on Tumblr years ago (you can find them on my pinned page), but I've never involved myself in the actual fandom. Truth be told, the fandom sounded like a hot mess of negativity.

But I like to talk about my writing. I'm not sure the appropriate audience for this will ever read these posts, but I'm going to write them anyway.

For this fic, I decided to not completely focus on my favorite character, Rhaenys Targaryen. This is actually a different step for me...the majority of my multi-chaptered fics revolve around my muse (or at least my favorite ships).

Rhaenyra and Alicent are both intriguing, beautiful, and flawed characters in the book & in the show. When I read Fire & Blood, I obviously did not ship them or even imagine anything there. That ship is based solely on the show.

(side note - I definitely was in it for Rhaenyra/Laena/Daemon in the book)

But the true heart of this...the original draft that I began was a Rhaenys/Aemma scene (that will be coming up in Chapter 6). So I built an entire fic around the idea that Aemma lives...and everyone is gay.

This fic is completely prior to the time period that is designated "The Dance of the Dragons". There is a sequel outlined that would take place during the Dance, but it would much more complex to write with a lot more characters. We will see if it ever comes out of draft form. Right now, it doesn't even have a title or approximate chapter count.

For now, I'm going to do posts for each chapter I post & link them back here. Please feel free to message me or interact with the posts (better yet, leave a comment on the fic) if you want to talk.

Chapter 1: Heir for the Hour

Chapter 2: Bend the Knee

Chapter 3: The King's Consort

Chapter 4: The Future of House Targaryen

Chapter 5: How the Heart Heals

Chapter 6: The Order of Things

Chapter 7: Never Felt Like This Before

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Life update.

Still working on my House of the Dragon fic. I may start blogging more about it as I write on here. It's been moving along pretty well, to be honest. It's at 11-12 chapters total, so that feels achievable. But I think I want to do a part two that is the actual Dance. We shall see.

In other news...

I birthed another baby. Like 3 weeks ago. So I have a toddler and a newborn and life is wild. But it's also amazing. My little gremlins are absolutely fantastic and my husband is my rock. But we are both sleep deprived and losing our brains.

That being said, my inbox is always open to writing prompts, but I am being very picky about what I respond to these days, just because of the lack of brain power and time.

Love always,

Songbook

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Some idiot: "Why are you reading your own fic, that's shallow and stupid"

All fanfic writers and writers everywhere: "Who the fuck do you think I wrote it for?!"

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It has a second chapter...Bend the Knee

A little politicking...a little Rhaenicent.

I did a thing...

It's a House of the Dragon, Aemma!lives, Rhaenicent AU for pre-the dance time period. And um...Rhaenys/Aemma...and Aemma/Rhaneys/Corlys. I have no idea where this came from. But it's here.

I think it'll be about 8-10 chapters. Possibly Part 2 follow up during the Dance.

You can find it here: Another Version of Us on AO3

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I did a thing...

It's a House of the Dragon, Aemma!lives, Rhaenicent AU for pre-the dance time period. And um...Rhaenys/Aemma...and Aemma/Rhaneys/Corlys. I have no idea where this came from. But it's here.

I think it'll be about 8-10 chapters. Possibly Part 2 follow up during the Dance.

You can find it here: Another Version of Us on AO3