#Elia x Gerion | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

xoxoctic · 3 years ago

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Title: cats laying in the sun Rating: m Characters/Pairings: Elia Martell/Gerion Lannister, Elia Martell, Gerion Lannister Word Count: 1629 Summary: When Queen Elia announces her pregnancy – her third pregnancy – there is a flurry of excitement throughout the Red Keep.

When Queen Elia announces her pregnancy – her third pregnancy – there is a flurry of excitement throughout the Red Keep, the residents happy to hear that their queen would have another child, eclipsed only by the fear that this pregnancy might be the end of her. It had been years since the birth of Crown Prince Aegon, though, and Grand Maester Lymond had assured King Rhaegar that she was much healthier than last she took to the birthing bed from what he could gleam from Maester Eustace's notes, which had been sent to the Grand Maester from Dragonstone with the express order that all accounts that had been detailed concerning the Queen's previous pregnancies be known to him after he'd confirmed her pregnancy. The Queen herself smiles brightly at courtiers, one hand on her belly, which had already begun to swell with child, and demurely murmurs pleasantries.

The Crown Prince Aegon and his elder sister, Princess Rhaenys, were split at the news. Aegon, pleased with the prospect of another playmate, requested a brother, as Princess Daenerys was a girl and it was only right then that the next baby housed in the Red Keep be a boy, or so the young prince's logic went. Princess Rhaenys, on the other hand, was quite cross with her mother, as she'd decided she'd had quite enough with babies, and did not want it to grab Baelrion's fur as Dany had done for some time and only recently stopped. Their uncle, Prince Viserys, grew dour and melancholy at the news, which made Rhaenys all the more cross, as he refused to play with her at all and instead became the shadow of his goodsister, clinging tightly to her skirts, when not in lessons with the maester. If Princess Daenerys does understand the news, it makes no difference to the bright girl of two years.

King Rhaegar is ecstatic at the news, though he is restrained with his joy – as everyone remembers the last time he thought something was a sign, and narrowed eyes watch him with interest and distrust. It was only the soothing and quick thinking of Queen Elia that had kept the Seven Kingdoms whole after he slayed his cousin, and still there are whispers of the crime of kinslaying and the stain it leaves on one's soul, to be sent to all of the Seven Hells before it may be cleaned. Queen Elia soothes the people now, smile soft and voice sure.

The kingdom watches with interest as her belly grows with child. No one notices how viper-like her eyes have turned, or the she keeps company with Ser Gerion Lannister, who had replaced his beloved nephew among the Kingsguard after the war to satisfy some of Tywin's appetites.

She hadn't meant to come upon Rhaella after the news of her husband's victory arrived in the Keep, with the loss of her beloved uncle a mere footnote in his looping letters. She'd simply gone to find her goodmother, and found Jaime Lannister waiting without the throne room. It hadn't even occurred to her at the time that this was odd, she'd simply bobbed a curtsy to the young knight, who'd quickly opened the door for her but stayed in the halls.

The blood had been a surprise, the wild look in her goodmother's sweet lilac eyes even more so. Not a single soul was within the room aside from them. And Elia blinked at the scene before turning her own dark eyes to dutiful Rhaella, still clutching the small parring knife that must have been meant for the tray of fruit. Slowly, carefully, she made her way towards her, mindful of the blood, and gently placed a firm hand on Rhaella's shaking shoulder.

“How dreadful, he slipped on the throne. It must have been such a shock, trying to staunch the wound, that you didn't even think to call for Ser Jaime. Is that right, Your Grace?”

Queen Rhaella's eyes are cool and calculating as she slowly nods, the knife so easily tucked away.

He calls her beautiful while her child grows and Elia digs her nails into the soft flesh of her palms until she's almost bleeding to keep from hissing at him. She cannot bear his touch, feeling as if her skin is crawling whenever his hands are on her. It is thanks to her babe that she is able to claim a delicate stomach that so often allows her reprieve from his attentions.

The claim does not, however, work to rid herself of the cowardly oath-breakers who hid in her homelands throughout the war. Them, though, she can ignore, turning her own attentions instead to her ladies and the running of the Keep that is still allowed to her – even that her husband had seen fit to spoil with claims that she ought not stress herself. It would make her laugh if she had less control. Queen Elia had perfected her courtly mask long ago, at least, and the mask does not crack underneath the weight of responsibilities.

It is not with malice that Elia takes her lover. It was almost an accident, even, the first time. If her husband can claim actions for the greater good, then anyone should be able to believe that Elia took Gerion into her bed for passion. He is... a gifted lover, something Elia hadn't even known she was in need of until she had him. Memories make heat rise in her face and a smile turn at the corners of her lips.

It's almost unfortunate how much her desires have built as her pregnancy progressed, with her husband so frequently in her chambers, and her refusal to bed him again now that he believed her child to be his. It was preferential to go without than to suffer his skills again.

She hadn't expected him to show such interest in her pregnancy, though part of her should have known this might happen, with his fevered whispers of prophecies when he returned from the Trident to be King, clinging to her skirts and pleading with her. She'd smiled then, sweetly, in understanding even, and he had cried. It had solidified the lost love between them in her heart, and Elia refused to turn to him now.

Instead she sighs and thinks back to her lions talented mouth.

Gerion's curls are lovelier than Jaime's ever were, and she almost feels bad tugging them as he works his mouth against her sex, but her pleasure outweighs her guilt and Elia tightens her fingers in her hair and guides him closer, tilting her hips up so his mouth is angled just right. Her peak is almost as much a surprise to her as it is to him, but she jerks her hips, fingers still fisted in his hair as she climaxes and bites the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming.

Were it up to her, the entire castle would know. But alas.

He grins like a cat against her thigh, much to pleased with himself, before pressing a kiss against the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh. And how could Elia scold him? She stifles the laughter bubbling in her throat, instead, pushing herself further onto the table of her husband's private library as he works on the laces of his breeches.

Grand Maester Lymond listens to her request to have a healer and a midwife of the Orphans be with her when her time comes, something that Maester Eustace had vehemently rejected on Dragonstone. It was most likely to gain her favor, and through her be kept in the King's good graces, but whatever the reasons, Elia is thankful to the maester, and praises him when it is appropriate.

The court watches her with barely concealed interest when she allows Rhaegar to walk her through the gardens, though rests are frequent due to her belly. His joy is as thinly veiled as their held breath, and more and more Elia must bite her tongue to keep from screaming when his hand touches her elbow. But Elia is nothing if not a lady, smiling as kindly as she can as all eyes watch her.

Everyone seems to have forgotten that she was born of vipers, now, with her likeness so often being to that of the flower.

Gerion was not as beautiful as Rhaegar, and there is a joy in that. He carries scars on his finely muscled body that Elia's fingers crave to trace when they are apart, as she carries the scars of her pregnancies still, silvery scars lining her still-soft belly even these years after Aegon. Where her husband had gifted her balms and oils, her lion laughs, teeth flashing when they catch the light, and traces them with his thumbs as he takes her by the hips. She hadn't even realized she'd felt ashamed of the marks until Gerion showed no aversion to them.

“I'm likely responsible for at least one bastard before I took that damned white cloak. I imagine I'd still fuck his mother if I knew of him – and I didn't have a Queen.”

It must have been then that the seed was planted, a realization that neither man nor god would claim Elia was unfaithful with her horrid goodfather but ashes on Dragonstone.

Elia realizes she makes a very good liar.

For the first time, Elia is fully conscious when her babe is placed at her breast to suckle. Her child is a girl. A sweet girl with her dark hair and the darkest blue eyes she's ever seen. For once even her husband cannot spoil the moment, when he asks to hold his daughter, indigo eyes shining with awe.

And Elia allows it, taking the moment to look at her daughter.

Her Dyanna is beautiful.

#Elia Martell #Gerion Lannister #Elia x Gerion #asoiaf #summer is for dorne #fic*#mine*#it is unfortunately non-linear because that's what I got

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joannalannister · 7 years ago

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@kahlanhbic submitted:

Do you think if Joanna would have lived and been around to raise Cersei properly do you think Cersei would have turned out any different?

Probably.

MISOGYNY

The Cersei we know in the books is very misogynistic. Part of that is Westerosi culture, part is the influence of Tywin and his own violent aggression against various women, and part is Cersei’s own self-loathing, but I think another part – a big part – is her mother dying. I think when Cersei was a very young child, her parents seemed as constant as the stars, “eternal as Casterly Rock.” Joanna perhaps even more so than Tywin, because Tywin was “often away” in King’s Landing. Think what they must have looked like to tiny Cersei. Beautiful, tall, powerful, towering over her like gods. (“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” –Thackeray)

(It is my headcanon that the ancient golden statues of the Seven in the small sept at Casterly Rock have a very Lannister “look” and when bb!Cersei prayed to the Mother, she prayed to her own mother, because they were one and the same to her, even with her mother right beside her.)

But then Joanna died, and I think that profoundly influenced how Cersei views women. To Cersei, the female body is something weak and soft and, above all, fallible. (To be fair, the incidents that would make Cersei hate her body started before Joanna died, but I think Joanna’s death cemented Cersei’s misogyny and self-hatred.) Women are weak, according to Cersei. They are “Vapid, weepy creatures, always telling tales,” treacherous, never to be trusted. (Since she was ten, Cersei has never trusted “anyone but Jaime”.)

(EDIT to add: Contrast Tywin’s body in AGOT -- “hard as a man of twenty” -- with Cersei’s body in ADWD. Men’s (able) bodies are the long-lasting, celebrated ideal, while women’s bodies are a source of shame, a source of betrayal.)

Cersei also has this idea that she’s playing a zero-sum game; if another woman gains, Cersei loses, in her mind. For example, Margaery being queen diminishes Cersei’s own queenly status. Even before Cersei visited the maegi and heard the YMBQ prophecy, Cersei has feared that other women would take from her. They would take Jaime, they would take Rhaegar, they would take her position. Other women would take and take and take, she feared. (It’s what makes her so jealous and afraid of Sansa, Margaery, soon perhaps Arianne. Even the ghost of the “wolf girl” Lyanna haunts her.)

If Joanna had lived, I don’t think Cersei would have quite as terrible views on women. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Joanna being alive would be wash away all of Cersei’s misogyny, Westeros being Westeros. I think Joanna absolutely loathed women like Ellyn Tarbeck and Tytos’s mistresses, and I don’t think she would have liked Tysha at all. So there would have still been a lot of negativity toward women. But with Joanna alive, I think Cersei would have seen some female positivity to counterbalance all this negativity.

(In the text, we see some glimpses of Cersei’s relationship with Genna, but – and this is just my headcanon! because grrm doesn’t delve into female relationships!!! including this one!!!! – I don’t feel like Cersei had the same close relationship with Genna that she might have had with her mother.)

***

Tangent:

Sure, Genna prepped Cersei for the tourney (likely at Tywin’s wishes, because Tywin can’t very well do that himself, can he) and afterwards Genna promised that Tywin would find someone better for Cersei (because Genna has massive faith in Tywin and was extremely loyal to him), and then when Tywin sent a raven that Cersei should come to court, Genna, in Tywin’s absence, explained to her distraught teenage niece what was going on and prepped her for it. So idk, the things Genna did with Cersei always seemed to me like … idk, like Genna was being a female!Kevan, acting on Tywin’s behalf, out of loyalty to Tywin. So these three instances, to me, seemed more about Tywin & Genna, and how they operated together (or apart, as the case may be), rather than them being about Genna & Cersei. I think maybe a lot of people disagree with me here … but I imagine these like … ~Tywin goes up to Genna, like, “I don’t know how to parent or show emotions, and women/girls are … you know … so please go do something with my daughter. Brush her hair or. Something.” and Genna’s like, “Anything for you, Tywin!”~ Like, she’s trying to help cover for Tywin’s massive failings as a parent, because she’s Tywin’s sister and House Lannister is ride or die. I had a similar headcanon about Gerion playing with Jaime, because Tywin never knew how to play.

***

… where was I … female positivity to counterbalance all the negativity … I think Joanna had many positive relationships with various ladies at Casterly Rock. She was obviously good friends with the Unnamed Princess of Dorne. I think Joanna and Genna were good friends. So I don’t think Cersei would have felt quite so hateful toward other women, and toward herself, if she’d had Joanna there to be a positive female role model.

(However, I imagine Joanna had various problems herself, but I think she would hide those problems from Cersei as best she could, so let’s set those aside for now. I feel like everyone thinks I’m weird when I suggest that Joanna had her own problems, but idk how anyone can think living with Tywin was easy. For anyone. House Lannister is where life goes to be twisted in darkness; just ask that strange weirwood, “choking out all other growth”.)

RELATIONSHIP WITH JAIME

I don’t think Cersei’s relationship with Jaime would have been allowed to continue, had Joanna survived. I still think that Joanna and Tywin both intended that Cersei marry Rhaegar, given that that plan was set in motion before Joanna died. I think it was wishful thinking on the part of the Unnamed Princess of Dorne that Cersei/Oberyn would happen, and I don’t think it was ever going to go through, but I do think that the betrothal of Jaime to Princess Elia would have gone through. (See: #jaime x elia)

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think it could go either way in terms of which child leaves CR after Tyrion is born. If Joanna is very persuasive, Jaime gets fostered in Sunspear with the Martells. Crakehall, otherwise, just sooner than in the OTL.

But I think there’s an interesting alternative to fostering Jaime, one that would separate the twins without Joanna angering Tywin. When Joanna is well enough to travel, I think she and Cersei could spend the rest of the winter in Sunspear. Joanna and the Unnamed Princess were BFFs, after all, and it’s important for Joanna to keep a close eye on Cersei, to prepare her to be a queen. Not a formal fostering in Sunspear, because I honestly think Tywin is too much of a dick, but, like, an extended vacation in the sunshine.

(Wow I think I just solved one problem in my fanfic, thinking about it while typing this out. Cool.)

And with Elia already taken, I don’t think Aerys can find a wife for Rhaegar, which opens up all sorts of possibilities, but I’m not too interested in most of those. If … something … happens to Aerys, I think Cersei/Rhaegar is a strong possibility in this AU.

Anyways, I don’t think Jaime/Cersei is quite as much of a thing in this AU. Still possible, but less likely. I don’t think Jaime or Cersei need it to be as much of a thing in this AU.

I think one of the reasons Jaime and Cersei turned to each other in canon – aside from Tywin’s belief in Lannister superiority – is that they were emotionally starving after Joanna’s death, and they sought comfort in each other. (This almost makes me think of the twincest as, like, emotional cannibalism. Hmmm. Gonna think more on that one.) With Tywin turning in on himself, Jaime and Cersei are left to grieve all alone, trying to navigate this massive trauma all by themselves, which I kinda think pushed them into each other’s arms.

But if Joanna survives, Jaime and Cersei not only don’t have to deal with this trauma, they also have a mother to love them and show them affection.

And the Tywin in this AU isn’t quite the man we know; if Tywin’s 100% cyborg in canon, maybe in this Joanna Lives AU he’s only 95% cyborg, so that’s 5% more fatherly affection than the twins saw in canon. Has to be statistically significant, right? With Joanna alive, Tywin is probably more willing to show emotion, more willing to at least try to be human.

So I don’t think Jaime and Cersei are as emotionally dependent on each other in this AU. Which means I don’t think Jaime and Cersei first have sex at about 13. (That time in King’s Landing when Jaime decided he didn’t need Casterly Rock was probably not the first time Jaime and Cersei had sex in the OTL.) Whether they have sex later in life is an interesting question to me, but that’s getting into too many variables, so I’ll leave that off.

So yeah, I think the twincest is less likely. Not impossible, because there’s a lot of underlying Lannister ideology motivating the twincest, but less likely than in the OTL. The outcome of the Rebellion is a big question here, and that’s going to affect twincest, but again, too many variables that aren’t very interesting to me.

CERSEI AND EMOTIONS

I think being raised with Tywin’s ideology fucks a person up no matter what, so I think Cersei still has some issues, regardless of whether Joanna lives or dies.

For example, shortly after Joanna died, Tywin made this pronouncement in Cersei’s hearing: “You cannot eat love, nor buy a horse with it, nor warm your halls on a cold night" (AFFC). Tywin’s fascist masculinity has no place for love; it was a weakness in him that made him smile and even laugh, “not once, but upon three separate occasions!” So, after Joanna died, Tywin recognized this weakness in himself and crushed it as mercilessly as Castamere, until there was “naught but stone at the heart of Casterly Rock.” Unlike his father Tytos, Tywin was not one to let his “heart burst” (literally or metaphorically) with any sort of positive emotion.

In the OTL, Cersei internalized all of Tywin’s fucked up views on love, to the point where she calls love a “disease” (ACOK, Sansa IV) and a “poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.“ Tywin’s whole worldview that Cersei adopted has fucked Cersei up, it’s completely fucked up her ability to form meaningful connections with other people so that “It had never been any good with anyone but Jaime”. She views her children as extensions of the self, and her relationship with Jaime is narcissistic, “one person in two bodies”. (I love Jaime/Cersei with my entire being, but this ship is deliciously fucked up. Everyone go follow my twincest sideblog.)

Anger is the only emotion fascist masculinity truly allows, so after Joff’s death, after Tywin’s death, we see this barely controlled rage in Cersei, because she doesn’t know how else to react. Anything less than a display of violence is weakness, and weakness ill befits a Lannister. (Even just after Joanna’s death, what we see from Cersei is violence, when she sexually abuses baby!Tyrion.)

Now, how do I want to say this? I don’t think that Joanna was immune to House Lannister’s fascist masculinity culture, but I don’t think Cersei would have been as emotionally fucked up if Joanna had lived. Like, Cersei is still going to be raised thinking that Lannisters are superior human beings, there’s still going to be a significant lack of empathy / compassion, she’s going to be arrogant, privileged, Lannister.

But I don’t think it’s going to be as extreme, like, I don’t think you’re going to get Cersei viewing love as a poison. I think Cersei would be better able to express herself emotionally, in a healthy manner. I also think Cersei would be able to connect with (noble)people better. Basically, slightly better adjusted in society.

Beyond that…

If Joanna lives, in what ways does A/erys continue to harass her to get at Tywin and House Lannister? And how do these things affect Cersei?

What happens in Robert’s Rebellion?

Who does Cersei marry?

What is Jaime and Elia’s relationship like?

What about the prophecy? Does it still exist? Does Cersei still go and hear it? Does she still murder Melara?

Joanna’s death was undoubtedly significant to Cersei’s development, but so many other things – some of which have nothing to do with Joanna – have shaped who Cersei is. We can’t just pin it all down to this one thing in Cersei’s childhood.

Also…

To simplify this scenario, I’ve kind of been assuming here that Joanna doesn’t do anything, um, damaging to Cersei. But what if that’s not the case? I kind of think Tywin was like, “OK, Cersei’s gonna marry Rhaegar. See ya in a few years, Cersei,” while I can imagine Joanna being a lot more, um, helicoptering. “Cersei, you have to do this, you have to do that, stand up straight, sit still, smile, no pressure but the well being of House Lannister depends on this.” I don’t think Cersei would necessarily be damaged the same ways she was in canon, but what about the damage Joanna herself would inflict, even unintentionally?

And what of Joanna herself? No one but @cosmonauthill seems to like my Joanna-Lives-But-Suicide headcanon, even tho House Lannister is overwhelmingly self-destructive in canon. *pouts*

So there’s a lot of factors to think about here.

I don’t know if I’ve addressed everything you wanted me to address because this is such a broad topic, but if there was something specific you had in mind for this AU that I didn’t touch on, just send me an ask! I also have a #joanna lives AU tag, if you want to explore more.

Finally, I will just leave you with this fanfic by lilith-morgana because it is one of my favorites.

#kahlanhbic #joanna lannister #cersei lannister #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #au questions #joanna lives au #the only au i actually like #i dont think anyone's ever asked me about cersei in a joanna lives au before?? or at least it's not in the tag #this is strange because i thought i have dealt with joanna+cersei au questions?? but apparently not #joanna meta #lannister thoughts #jaime x cersei #genna lannister #jaime x elia #fascist masculinity in asoiaf #replies #submission

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