#LMFAO HELLO WHY DID I WRITE THIS IN SECOND PERSON POV???

[peachy-panic]

What was the first fandom you wrote whump for?

(and include an excerpt if you still have one)

Oi, straight for the throat, I see.

I started writing fanfic for the one, the only, the classic--Law & Order: SVU when I was a wee 13 year old. You might be thinking, hey, that feels young to be watching that show, let alone writing fanfic for it. And to that, I say... Uh, mind your business.

Anyway. I thought about cheekily ignoring the second part of your ask, but I decided to be brave and dig in my google docs for a little excerpt that never got posted to god's green internet.

So, here's a little something from a story that was going to be about *checks smudged note on hand* Olivia Benson getting falsely convicted for murder and going to prison.

Yep. That tracks.

You remain locked in the same repetitive battle day after day, a tiresome loop of anguish that angrily fades to numb over time. While you lurk the halls of your internal prison, your mind fights to keep you oblivious to the literal one that surrounds you on all four sides. It takes up a full time occupation in warding off the sounds of clanking metal, the abrasive touch of calloused hands on your arms, your body. It cuts you off from the world so you don’t get sucked down. Each day, it kills you a little to keep you alive. Until one day you wake up, your eyelids springing open to the same cracked ceiling above you, and you feel nothing at all. And that void is the closest thing to beautiful you’ve seen in quite some time.

[annaloveshjp]

ravioli shenanigans

harry potter x fem!reader

word count: 3.6k

——————————————————————————————

a/n: this is a little fake scenario I thought of a few months ago and I wanted to write it here.. the first 2/3 of this kinda sucks ‘cause I wrote it a while ago, but it gets better near the end. and I apologize for how long it takes for them to kiss LMFAO.

Info; Modern AU: Lily and James are alive, and Harry is an only child. Best friends to lovers. I imagined Harry in fourth year, but any year works. 2nd person POV. y/n is muggleborn.

warnings: phones and texting, some swearing, a kiss, and Harry being a teenage boy.

summary: harry is bad at cooking, and flirting.

——————————————————————

It’s summer break. It’s been a week since you got home from school and you’re lying in bed, watching YouTube, when all of a sudden you get a *buzz* from your phone.

You look up to the top of your screen to see:

[Harry: Y/N HELP ME]

Oh also, you were best friends with Harry Potter.

You had been friends since kindergarten when you saw him eating alone at lunch, so you decided to join him.

You walked into the lunchroom one day at school and noticed a boy your age eating alone with an interesting lunchbox, shaped like some sort of trunk.

You had never seen him before now, which was weird to you, but you decided ‘hey, why not make a new friend today?’

“Hello! I’m y/n, what’s your name?” you asked, walking up to the raven-haired boy.

He looked at you for a moment before quickly gathering himself and responding.

“Hi, I'm Harry. Did you need something?”

“No no I don’t need anything, I was just wondering why you’re sitting all alone?”

“Oh,” he replied, “well I guess I just- don’t have any friends to sit with.” he shrugged.

“Well now you do,” you said with a smile.

“Huh?” he questioned with raised eyebrows.

“Now you do. Unless you don’t want to be my friend? I can leave-“

“No no! Please stay, I will be your friend.” he says as the corners of his lips tugged into a smile.

“Oh good! Now-” you said, sitting down next to him. “Do you prefer ham and cheese, or PB&J?”

Furrowing your eyebrows, you click the notification to see what the hell he is doing.

————————Harry————————

Harry:

Y/N HELP ME

SO BASICALLY MY PARENTS

WANT ME TO MAKE DINNER

TONIGHT BUT I HAVE NO CLUE

HOW TO COOK ANYTHING AND I KNOW

YOURE AMAZINF AT LIKE- FOOD STUFF

SO I NEED YOUR HELP PLEASEEE

Y/N:

HARRY JEEZ

I THOUGHT YOU WERE DYING😭😭

Harry:

ok first of all- I’m the

boy who lived so that’s

not possible. second:

I might as well be dead cuz my

parents will kill me if i don’t

cook something that isn’t dino

nuggets. so will you help me or not?

Y/N:

okay fine, how

about I ask my dad

to buy something from

the store later? does

Cheese ravioli sound good?

Harry:

you are a lifesaver i

LOVW YOU! thank u 🙏🤭

Y/N:

love that candy

Harry:

😐😑😐

Y/N:

no need to blink

at me sir 🤨

Harry:

did you just call me sir 😳

Y/N:

yes.

Harry:

OK anyway- can you

come over at like 5:30

Y/N:

yes sir I will be there 🤫

Harry:

stop calling me that.

seen

——————————————————-

You snorted at his last text and set your phone down onto your nightstand.

Stretching, you get up from your cozy bed and make your way to the living room.

“Hey daaaaad?” You say, dragging out the ‘a’.

He hums in response.

“Could you get some cheese ravioli”

“Sure.” He replies.

“Thanks!” You say before running back into your room and texting Harry again.

-———————Harry————————

Harry:

stop calling me that.

seen

Y/N:

HARRY! he said he will

get some ravioli 🤭🤭

Harry:

brilliant! 😚 so

uhm when you get here

can you like cook it for me..

Y/N:

…babe, you’re seriously that

bad at cooking that you

can’t even boil some

pasta for five minutes??

Harry:

LEAVE ME ALONE😭

so yes you will be cooking it so

i don’t burn my house down

thank you I will see you at

5:30 💗

Y/N:

okay weirdo 🤨

seen

————————————————————————-

The rest of the day leading up to 5:30 was pretty boring.

Harry lived only a few houses down from yours, it was very convenient that he was within walking distance.

When you found out he didn’t live far, you were very happy, and you were surprised when you both found out you were both attending Hogwarts.

-flashback to finding out you were both wizards/witches.-

“Come on mum! I swear I just saw someone else do it, you just have to walk through this… wall.” You said to your mother with a mixture of confidence and uncertainty in your voice.

“Oh alright, but if I run into a solid brick wall, you’re making pancakes tonight.” she responded to you nervously.

The whole car ride to kings cross, you were sad that you couldn’t tell your best friend, Harry, that you were a witch.

-flashback-

“I’m going to this new boarding school, but I promise I’ll see you during summer!” You told him one day at recess.

“Oh that’s alright, I’m going to one too,” he replied.

“Oh good, I didn’t wanna leave you all alone here sad by yourself” you responded, smirking.

“Shove off Y/N,” he chuckled.

“Hey Harry?“

“Hm?”

“Promise me you’ll visit over the summer, alright?”

“Of course!” He said with a smile.

——back to kings cross——-

You grabbed her hand and dragged her along with you through the brick wall. You both expected to CRASH, so when you didn’t feel your faces slamming against it, you were shocked to say the least.

You open your eyes to see many families saying goodbye to their children, the latter of whom were pushing away kisses on cheeks.

You stare open mouthed at the sight before you: a beautiful scarlet train, people with trolleys running around everywhere. It was truly, magical.

“Whoa.” you said in awe.

—-timeskip to sorting—

“Bones, Susan” Professor McGonagall called out.

A little girl walked up to the sorting stool and sat down slightly shaking.

“HUFFLEPUFF!” The sorting hat announced a moment later.

She got up smiling and skipped over to the Hufflepuff table where every house member was clapping.

“Potter, Harry”

You froze and your smile faltered.

No way, you must’ve heard wrong right? or- there could be so many other people with the last name ‘Potter’ and first name ‘Harry’, there’s no way-

You let out a small gasp. Your eyes widen as you see that familiar color of raven hair walk up to the sorting stool.

Many others gasp with you, which you didn’t understand why. Do they know him too? I thought I was one of his only friends?

Anyway- you watch as he looks around the room anxiously waiting for the sorting hat to make its decision, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone (including yourself; he didn’t know you were there).

After a few minutes, the sorting hat called out “GRYFFINDOR!” and the whole gryffindor table applauded.

“We got potter! We got potter!” You hear two boys chant in unison at the table.

You continue to stand in shock as you process what you just discovered, you almost didn’t hear Professor McGonagall call out-

“L/N, Y/N”

Your eyes widen even more (if that’s even possible) as you make your way up to the sorting stool. You’re trembling.

You sit down, and immediately look to the gryffindor table to search for those familiar emerald eyes.

Once you and Harry lock eyes, his eyes widen with his eyebrows raising to the roof.

“Oh my gosh! What!” he mouths in your direction.

“I know right!” you mouth back to him.

After another moment, you and everyone in the great hall hears very loudly: “GRYFFINDOR!”

You smile big and make your way next to the only person you know—

“Y/N! Why didn’t you tell me you were going to hogwarts?” Harry asked you.

“Professor McGonagall told me I can’t tell anyone!” You replied.

“Right, forgot about that,” he said smiling.

Suddenly a boy across from you talk to you. “Hello! I’m Ron Weasley” he says smiling.

“Hi, im Y/N L/N, nice to meet you.” You reply.

You take a moment to let everything sink in.

You are a witch, woah.

Your best friend is a wizard, woah!

You go to the same school, woah.

Could life get any better?

—-end of flashback—-

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, you hear your father's car pull into your driveway.

You check the time [5:24] your eyes widen as you jump up from your bed and start getting dressed.

[5:26] You run out of your room and into the kitchen where your father has already placed the bag of ravioli on the counter.

“Thanks, dad! I’m going to Harry’s house for dinner, is that alright?” you call out to your father.

“Okay sounds good. And make sure you use protection—“

“Ew, dad! Gross.” you reply with a fake gag.

Your father loves teasing you about ANY boy you are friends with/talk to, and usually it’s Harry.

You grab the bag of ravioli and walk out the door. You quickly tie up your hair (if you can) and start your walk to his house.

It only takes about 3 minutes. You check the time while you walk up to his front door: [5:31] ‘okay, I’m not too late’ you think.

You open the door and put the bag of ravioli on the counter. Harry was home alone today since his parents went to some event you don’t remember.

“Honey, I’m home!” you call towards his room.

You don’t hear a response, so you kick your shoes off and decide to sit down at the kitchen island to wait.

You hear footsteps walking towards the kitchen as you look up from your phone.

“You’re late,” Harry tells you as he walks over to the island and picks up the bag of ravioli, examining it.

“Only by like, one minute,” you say, playfully rolling your eyes.

You look at him as he sighs very dramatically. He’s wearing black sweatpants, a white t-shirt and his hair is as messy as ever.

“Still technically late,” he says jokingly.

“Whatever. Anyways, when are they going to be home? Your parents, I mean,” you ask him.

“Uhh I think six. I thought thirty minutes would be enough time to set the table and make the ravioli. Was I right?” he says.

“Yeah that should be good,” you say.

You get up from the stool you were sitting on and make your way to the pots and pans. You come over to his house a lot, so you knew where everything was already.

You grab a pot and place it on the stove.

Looking behind you to see what Harry is doing (which should be setting the table), you see him just staring at you..?

“Harry, are you alright?” you ask him, “Unless you’re dying—which I highly doubt—could you start setting the table?”

“Oh uhm- yes ma’am.” he responds.

His eyes widen at what he just said but continues to wipe down the table.

Once you got the water boiling, you called Harry over to the stove to. . . Give him a ravioli tutorial.

“So first, when you put the pasta in, be CAREFUL—obviously—“ you say as you put the ravioli into the pot. “Then you wait.”

“Oh,” Harry said, “That looks easy.”

“Yes, which is why I don’t understand why you can’t do it yourself,” you say, turning to him with a raised eyebrow.

He only shrugs with a cheeky grin before he turns away to get drinks.

You narrowed your eyes at the back of his head, then turned back to the ravioli to finish cooking.

Once you both had the table set, ravioli cooked, and cleaned up from dinner making (which was not a lot), now all you had to do was wait for Harry’s parents to return home.

You both sat on the couch and went on your phones. Harry went to Twitter, while you went to TikTok.

As you were scrolling, you saw an edit of your celebrity crush. You made a squeal like noise and turned the phone to Harry.

“LOOK!” you say while giggling “OH MY G—“

“Yeah yeah,” he said, looking at you with concern. “You alright?”

You smile, “mhmmmm,”

Just as Harry was about to go back to his screen, you both hear a car pull into the driveway.

Looking at each other in alarm, you both jump up and sprint to the dining table.

Just as you both sat down, Lily and James entered and were hanging their jackets on their coat rack.

“I smell dinner!” You hear James sing into the house.

“And nothing burned!” Lily chimed in.

They both walk into the dining room and see you and Harry sitting down, apparently awaiting their arrival.

“We have a guest I see,” Lily says, smiling at you.

“As if I’m not always here,” you respond with a chuckle as you watch the both of them sit down.

“Looks good, Harry,” James says, looking at the perfectly good ravioli sitting on his plate.

“Thanks,” Harry grinned, sparing you an apologetic glance when James wasn’t looking.

You smile at him, nod, and mouth “you’re good,”

He smiles and looks back at his parents, as everybody starts to eat.

After dinner, you and Harry start to clean up.

“Hey Y/N?” he says, grabbing a plate and drying it with a towel.

“Hm?” you hum in response.

“Can you sleep over tonight?” he asks you.

“Oh uhm- yeah I mean, I probably can, I’ll just have to check with my parents.”

“Cool,” he says, giving you a smile.

You smile back at him. You two eventually finish cleaning up and you excuse yourself to the bathroom.

Sitting down on the closed toilet, you open your phone and message your parents.

————————Family————————

Dad:

Sounds good.

seen

Y/N:

Hey, is it okay if

I sleepover at Harry’s tonight?

Mum:

Of course. Just make sure

you get home safe and

at a reasonable hour. Love you.

Y/N:

Thanks! Love ya.

Dad:

Make sure to use protection!

Y/N:

Ugh, gross.

————————————————————

You roll your eyes before leaving the bathroom. You open the door to see Harry.

“What did they say?” he asks you eagerly.

“They said it’s fine,” you grin as he punches the air in triumph.

“Yes! Youu cann sleepoover!” he says in a sing-songy voice.

You laugh and follow Harry to his room. It was a bit messy, but since you always complain about how messy it usually is, Harry tries to keep it neat.

“I didn't bring pajamas,” you remember.

“You can wear some of mine,” Harry says, looking through his dresser and pulling out some flannel pants and a band t-shirt.

“Thanks,” you take them from him and walk to the bathroom to change.

After you’re done, you walk back to Harry’s room. You open the door to his room and—

“Jeez!” said Harry.

He was currently shirtless, holding the shirt he was about to put on, to his chest, covering what he could.

“How’d you change that fast?!” he asked.

“I was fast because I don’t check myself out before putting my shirt back on,” you joke, rolling your eyes playfully.

Harry went red. “I don’t do that..”

“Sure,” you walk over to his bed and sit down. “And I don’t care if you don’t have a shirt on, no need to be embarrassed.”

He turned to you and narrowed his eyes. “Or, you want to see me shirtless!”

“No,” you say, hoping you’re not blushing. “I just don’t care. Meanwhile, I do care if you see me without a shirt.”

He tugs his shirt on and sits beside you. “I do too, ‘cause that’s traumatizing,”

“Rude,” you say.

He looked confused for a moment before realizing, “No! Not because you look bad, just because it would be all panicky and I would run away and you would scream— what?”

You’re laughing. “I’m kidding, I know what you mean.”

He pushed your shoulder with his. “You suck,”

You stop laughing and look at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter.

“I don’t!” you manage through a laugh, “I’m a virgin!”

You and Harry were laughing even harder now.

“You don’t act like one,” Harry said, holding his stomach.

“Well, you do,” you catch your breath, still grinning.

“At least I’ve had my first kiss,” he says.

You glare at him. “Yeah, it was with me! In first grade, you twat,” you flick him on the side of the head. “So technically I’ve had mine, too… but I don’t like to count that one.”

He has a look of mock offense on his face. “Why not? Am I not good enough?” he sighs dramatically.

“Oh, shut up,” you smile with a playful roll of your eyes, and push him.

He looks at you, then gets up and walks to his desk. “Let’s watch a movie,”

A jolt of excitement shoots through you. “Oooh! Can I pick?” you ask.

He carried his laptop from his desk to the bed. He opened it and thought for a second. “Sure,”

“Thanks!” you give him a quick peck on the cheek and take the laptop onto your lap to look for your movie.

He blushes. You take no notice.

“Got it,” you say.

“What movie?” he asks.

“Captain Marvel.” you say as you both scoot into a more comfortable position.

You’re now lying on his bed, Harry next to you, arms pressed against one another.

“D’you want snacks?” he asks.

“I’m not hungry,” you say, “and I already brushed my teeth earlier,”

“Okay,” he pulls the blanket up to your torso and plays the movie. “I did too, but just wanted to check.”

You lean your head onto his shoulder. He leans his head onto yours.

Throughout the movie, you’d glance at him. A few times he was normal, but usually he looked deep in thought, maybe even contemplating something.

Halfway through the movie, Harry paused the movie and spoke up.

“Thanks for being here,” he says, barely above a whisper.

“‘Course,” you say, “thanks for having me,”

“No, I mean… thank you for being here, like, in my life.” he looks at you.

You look at him. Harry never usually talks seriously with you, this was different, but you didn’t mind.

“I could thank you for the same thing,” you say, “you mean a lot to me, honest.”

Harry closes the laptop, moves it from the bed, then hesitates. “Can I tell you something?”

You look at the now closed laptop, then back at Harry. “Of course,” you assure him.

“Promise you won’t get mad?” he says.

Sigh. “Promise.”

He took one of your hands into both of his and began to play with your fingers, looking down, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

After a minute or two, he said it.

“I like you,”

You knew this was coming. In fact, you had been waiting, hoping for it.

You try your best not to smile.

“I like you too,” you look away from your hands and into his eyes. He was looking at you tentatively.

“You know what I mean when I say ‘like’… right?”

“I do,” you nod.

He scans your face for any sign of a lie. When he finds none, he asks you a question.

“Is this going to ruin our friendship?”

“If you don’t want it to, then no,” you smile.

“I don’t,” he says. Somehow Harry had slipped his hand all the way into yours, and you were now holding hands.

“I know,” you say.

“Can I kiss you?” he blurts out, going red.

“I don’t know, can you?” you tease him softly.

His face relaxed, and he let out a breathy laugh. “May I kiss you?”

“You may.” you say.

He looks in your eyes, then at your lips. The hand that wasn’t holding yours came up to rest on your cheek, softly holding the side of your face.

Your eyes flutter shut as your lips meet. You could practically feel the Sparks Fly.

Your empty hand reached up to the back of his neck, pulling him impossibly closer.

The taste of him was perfect. You could feel the love he was putting into this kiss; it meant everything to him.

The way he gently strokes your cheek with his thumb sends butterflies to your heart. And when you notice how gently he's holding you, you truly realize how much you mean to him.

You knew he was your best friend, and you knew you loved each other, but you never thought your love would end up like this.

You could’ve been there for seconds, minutes, or hours, you didn’t know and you didn’t particularly care. You cherished every moment of it.

You were the first to pull away for air. You open your eyes and see him looking at you like you were brand new. Like he could never get enough of you.

“Wow,” he says.

You look at him for a second before bursting into laughter. You tried not to, but he looked too cute, and the “Wow” set you off completely.

He laughs with you, still holding your hand.

“We’re so fucking stupid,” you say through your laughs, leaning into him.

“That, we are.” he says, holding you.

The night continued with kiss after kiss, each one as good as the last, and ended with Harry holding you in his arms.

Best sleepover ever. you think.

[adventuresofpotat]

An update! A big dragon, a lack of direction sense, and some reflections.

Hello friends and neighbors, your local lalafell here. I have neglected sharing about my journeys for the last couple of days, so here is the update!

[Local time: 11/26/2022]

First, with the help of my lovely friends and a kind stranger, we were able to defeat yet another large beast (a large dragon whose name I'm told was Isegebind)! It didn't come without its challenges however, as two of us were wiped out during our initial attempt. However, with the magical powers of life revival, we were able to take a second stab at the monster without any real loss of life! I know I shouldn't get used to this kind of skill, but really, it has been quite helpful. (I do wonder who I ought to thank for this power... perhaps Hydaelyn?)

Unfortunately, my friend Eliza accidentally went ahead after our victory, so the photo is of myself and Etoile. However, Eliza contributed greatly to our victory as well! <:

Afterwards, our friend Stella joined up with us, having finally obtained some awesome new upgrades, and we spent some time together for a bit in Gridania! Eliza and Etoile shared with me more about each of their histories and journeys thus far, showed off some beautiful weapons and outfits, and taught me a lot about the different job classes in Eorzea, including some of the finer points of being a paladin, a sage, and a scholar. It was a really fascinating conversation! Hopefully we get to have more chats like this in the future; it was so fun and comfy, and a nice break from the adventuring and battling (:

I really must make an aside to say, these friendly people have been the most kind to me as I've begun on and continued my journey here in Eorzea. Truth is, Stella had invited me to join her little association from the very beginning, and it has proven immensely helpful for me as a shiny new sprout. It's no guild or free company, but it's just as important to me! Though there's no official name, I think I'll take to calling them The Association of Floofy Cats, or TAFC for short. The reason will have to remain a secret, but I'm sure the association members will understand why. hehe <:

[Local time: 11/27/2022]

The next day, I set off on the next leg of my journey, to seek out more on corrupted crystals. My lack of directional sense continued to plague me, as it took me a solid 30-45 minutes of being lost and quite a bit of vertigo to finally locate the corrupted crystals Hahasako spoke of, whoops 😅

After finally collecting the crystal, I went onwards to the next task at hand, but I didn't really manage to get too far before I began to feel the effects of my fatigue. I did take a quick photo though, before retiring for the evening!

I really must thank my friend Taku for my little red panda companion here, and the others I have as well... I don't know if ever I'll be able to repay all that he did to help me at the start of my journey, but perhaps someday I too will obtain enough means to do so!

And that's the update! I'm still resting here in Aleport before going onwards to the Isles of Umbra, but I expect to be able to make my way over sometime later today. Wish me luck!

[phew, I haven't really written so much for a post here yet lmfao but here we are. I'm not much of a fiction writer or an rp person, but it's been manageable and enjoyable to reflect on my ffxiv experience in this way, kinda like writing in a journal from a first-person pov for my wol (: ]

[ginmo]

Telegraphing vs. Foreshadowing. 

“Telegraphing is giving away too much, too soon, thereby ruining the suspense, or the impact of the event.

When you foreshadow, the reader usually doesn’t notice it when they initially read it. But later they might have an “aha” moment, remember it, and put two and two together. Often foreshadowing can’t even be detected until someone reads your novel for a second time. It’s that subtle.

But telegraphing works the opposite. The reader notices the telegraphing detail, groans, and predicts what’s going to happen. It takes the fun out of reading a novel. Envision the important event, or piece of information that your reader’s going to learn, like a balloon. Telegraphing is like letting some of the air out of the balloon ahead of time, so when the time comes for the “pop” you get a fizzle instead.” [x]

The two Mr. “Themes Are For 8th Graders” are horrible at telling the difference between telegraphing and foreshadowing. The show has both, but that’s because they treat them as the same and can’t tell them apart. My favorite example:

Jaime S5: I want to die in the arms of the woman I love.

Jaime S8: Dies, lovingly, in the arms of the woman he was surface level referring to.

Proper foreshadowing would have been Jaime dying (in battle or of old age) in the arms of the woman he loved, but the woman being someone different than he and the surface viewers had in mind at the moment he had made the comment. Foreshadowing involves subtext and subtlety, not straight up spoiling the fucking death. 

As for the books, literally every popular (red flag right there) Jaime and Cersei prediction for their endgame is an example of telegraphing. Their predictions stem 100% from what's written right on the page, zero subtext, interpreting it as is. 

Jaime believes he’ll only ever love Cersei, so Jaime will only ever love Cersei. 

Cersei believes Jaime will always be devoted to her, so Jaime will always be devoted to her.

Brienne doesn’t think love is an option for her, so love will never be an option for her.

Westeros and surface readers think Jaime is dishonorable trash, so he will start and end as dishonorable trash.

The twins believe they will die together, no matter what, so they will die together. Since they came into the world together they obviously will go out together. 

This quote from GRRM is pretty fucking telling.

“There’s an element of sociopathy to it, where it’s the two of us and no one else really counts, especially outside their family. They’re twins, they were born together, they have a feeling that they’re going to die together. There’s this bonding that they’re two halves of a whole, so who else would they pair with? Anything else is lesser.” [x]

The hilarious thing about this is some people view this as GRRM confirming that anything is lesser and that they will die together which... is... telegraphing LMAO. Why am I not surprised they take every fucking thing at face value. 

I’m going to quote @jaimetheexplorer, because she explained the entire GRRM quote wonderfully

“ GRRM is careful to specify that that’s a feeling they have, it’s not a truth. He might obviously be avoiding spoilers, but I think there’s more to it than that, in the sense that he is using that belief of theirs as an example of the level of unhealthy obsession and delusion in their relationship. This is the point at which their story begins; the point at which they buy into this notion that they’re two halves of a whole and the only ones who matter. I already discussed in part 1 about narrative arcs, how perhaps the main part of Jaime and Cersei’s story is about discovering that they’re not two halves of a whole, and set off on opposite journeys. Indeed, Jaime’s quote comes from early on in his POV, before he returns to King’s Landing and his disillusion with Cersei begins to set in. And GRRM is indeed raising a question that will be addressed later, as their story unfolds: “who else would they pair with?”. Of course, at the beginning of their story, the answer is nobody because “anything else is lesser”, but will that still be the answer in the future? (6’3” hint - probably not).“

I’m going to do a checklist here: 

[x] Nobody else matters (someone else matters)

He already began slowly and subtly addressing this. “no one else really counts, especially outside their family.” Brienne, someone outside the family, is stepping into a position where Jaime believes she counts. He punched her former betrothed, because the dude made fun of her. Jaime then sent him to the other side of Westeros, so he didn’t have to look at him. He literally views her as his protector. He left Cersei to die and then ran off to follow Brienne in their mission to help Sansa, another person outside the family. 

________________________________________________

[x] Two halves of a whole (as the story progresses they’re finding out they’re more different than they thought)

How could I ever have loved that wretched creature? she wondered after he had gone. He was your twin, your shadow, your other half, another voice whispered. Once, perhaps, she thought. No longer. He has become a stranger to me. - CERSEI, AFFC

I thought that I was the Warrior and Cersei was the Maid, but all the time she was the Stranger, hiding her true face from my gaze. - JAIME, AFFC

________________________________________________

[x] Die together (the feeling dissipating/not telegraphing)

He even destroyed the “They’re twins, they have a feeling that they’re going to die together.” Keep in mind that they believe they’re dying together, no matter what, precisely because they’re twins.“They’re twins" starts the sentence. They literally think they’re dying together because they’re intertwined, that they can never be separated, that they’re going out at the same time because of that forever twin bond they’re tied to one another. That’s it. Good or bad (murder/suicide) doesn’t matter. Again,twins, so context doesn’t matter.

That “feeling” is also starting to go away when the realization starts to set in that they aren’t as similar as they had thought (therefore not two halves of a whole. Hello separation theme, which means dying together defeats the point). Jaime abandoned Cersei to her death and then, when thinking about going back to KL, he’s all “meh, she may already be dead idk.” That feeling seems to be dissipating on Jaime’s end. 

Hm. Sounds like chipping away at the telegraphing by story and character progression.

Oh.. oh... and what’s next???

________________________________________________

[x] Who else would they pair with? Anything else is lesser (falls in love and pairs with another woman) 

IDK GRRM WILL ONE OF THEM PAIR WITH ANOTHER?? LMAO HOW ABOUT NO BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN CONSTANTLY SAYING THAT CERSEI DOESN’T THINK SO AND THEY’VE THOUGHT FROM THE BEGINNING THAT THEY WERE INSEPARABLE SO OBVIOUSLY NO  

WHO WOULD THIS OTHER PERSON EVEN BE???? IDK MAN 

a woman.”

“A woman?” Cersei stared at him, uncomprehending. “What woman? Why? Where did they go?”

“No one knows. We’ve had no further word of him. The woman may have been the Evenstar’s daughter, Lady Brienne.”

Her. The queen remembered the Maid of Tarth, a huge, ugly, shambling thing who dressed in man’s mail. Jaime would never abandon me for such a creature. My raven never reached him, elsewise he would have come. - CERSEI, AFFC

BTW I put that quote in almost everything I write since it’s one of my favorites because lmfao dude what a beautiful moment 

So like, call me crazy, but if we’re talking foreshadowing instead of telegraphing here, then I think it’s maybe the woman who doesn’t believe love is available to her, the same woman who Cersei believes Jaime would never abandon her for because superficial looks. 

AND according to his editor: 

...it is easier to tell when he’s overplaying a hand and revealing things too early if you don’t actually know going in what will happen. That said, now that I’ve realized his three-fold revelation strategy, I see it in play almost every time. The first, subtle hint for the really astute readers, followed later by the more blatant hint for the less attentive, followed by just spelling it out for everyone else. It’s a brilliant strategy, and highly effective

Yeah, okay, he’s telegraphing.