#but ​oh theon your ever changing reality means so much to me

[amber-laughs]

Theon’s view of Jon is so interesting to me because it rests solely on Theon’s view of himself. It’s ever changing but not really one that evolves past childhood grievances:

First Theon lands on Pyke, starts being talked down to and belittled by being called a Stark, something he’s forced to acknlowledge isn’t true. Reflecting on his hurt feelings and isolation he considers Jon to be placed above him in status and dignity.

“The whole castle, from Lady Stark to the lowliest kitchen scullion, knew he was hostage to his father's good behavior, and treated him accordingly. Even the bastard Jon Snow had been accorded more honor than he had.”

Seeming to seep more into resentment and anger than pity, Theon reverses it only a few sentences later and claims Jon was the one jealous of him. But only after he realizes men on the Iron Islands still hate the Starks from past wars and consider themselves better than them. Theon came home to treat on King Robb’s behalf and has little to note of the other children so Jon seems to take the place as the “Stark” he can beat down before moving on to his contempt for the Mallisters.

“Only Robb and his baseborn half brother Jon Snow had been old enough to be worth his notice. The bastard was a sullen boy, quick to sense a slight, jealous of Theon's high birth and Robb's regard for him.”

When Maester Luwin implores him to surrender and seek refuge at the Wall one of Theon’s deciding factors to go is that if it’s good enough for Jon Snow than it’s good enough for him too. A boy who, last Theon spoke of him, was sullen, jealous and petty but now that Theon’s self-esteem and arrogance has worn off Jon is someone he once again views in a higher regard than himself.

“A brother of the Night's Watch. It meant no crown, no sons, no wife . . . but it meant life, and life with honor. Ned Stark's own brother had chosen the Watch, and Jon Snow as well.”

Of course this only lasts until Theon thinks more men have come to fight for him. Putting himself back in the victorious Prince of Winterfell’s shoes the Night’s Watch is a laughable idea he would never seriously consider.

“This was victory, sweet victory, the deliverance he had prayed for. He glanced at Maester Luwin. To think how close I came to yielding, and taking the black…”

In ADWD when Theon isn’t Theon at all but Reek he looks back on Jon more than once with no thought of status or past animosities but something of a brother he played with, the way he did Robb in ACoK.

“Later, older, he had soaked his bruises in the hot springs after many a session in the yard with Robb and Jory and Jon Snow.”

“I learned to fight in this yard, he thought, remembering warm summer days spent sparring with Robb and Jon Snow under the watchful eyes of old Ser Rodrik”

That is until word of Stannis reaching Winterfell comes and Theon can see himself breaking free of his Reek torture. Becoming Theon Greyjoy will once again make Jon an enemy, just a bastard to look back on with contempt and mistrust.

“Theon shivered. Baratheon or Bolton, it made no matter to him. Stannis had made common cause with Jon Snow at the Wall, and Jon would take his head off in a heartbeat. Plucked from the clutches of one bastard to die at the hands of another, what a jape.”

[danwhobrowses]

10 Things that would’ve Improved the Game of Thrones Final Season (For Me)

So it came to my attention that recently it was the First Anniversary of the Final Episode of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’. I was taken back to my memory of the BinGOT thing we had at work where we all made predictions of who lived, died and ‘won’ from the last ep (I was in 2nd or 3rd place). And since my mother has started binging it during quarantine I thought in the spirit of that environment I’d discuss a little what I would’ve changed in the final season.

Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 Below, if you haven’t watched it then you’re better off not reading this frankly, if you haven’t been spoiled already at least.

So for starters, the final episode is not the worst tv I’ve ever seen, it just was a sloppy final season in general that really didn’t satisfy the 2 years of hype waiting for it, it’s like with the How I Met Your Mother finale, but that annoyance being more than one episode. But without further ado here are 10 things I would’ve changed about the final season Note: Most will involve the finale. The first 2 episodes were great.

10 - Ten Episodes The Long Night was 1 episode, the LONG NIGHT. A Culmination of the army of living and dead confined into one episode. One of the main problems with the final season was that the pacing was a bit rushed, it made character progression seem unnatural and dropped long-built plot points like water through a sieve. With 10 episodes, which was not a big ask given that this was the usual number and the gravitas of it being the final season would easily allow it to be green lit. D&D immediately backed themselves into a corner by giving a limit they weren’t used to and too much content to put in.

9 - Bite of the Spider Varys’ death was an upsetting start of the penultimate episode, while I would’ve loved him to have survived start to end and potentially ended on top (because he’s never shown to be as cunning or dangerous as he is in the books) there was some sense in him dying. However, Varys was shown sending a letter before his arrest and that never came back up, the finale could’ve used this by revealing to the public Jon’s true heritage, which would’ve immediately undermined Dany’s claim and set up a better conflict. Also we never knew what the voice in the flames said to him...

8 - A More Fitting Long Night While everyone probably popped hard for Arya killing the Night King, myself included, the nature of it was rather abrupt. I don’t think anyone can buy that she sneaked past that entire army. I do feel like the Night King was just a MacGuffin for the Long Night, given that he did so little in the actual fight. This is where a multi-part Long Night would’ve been key as well, going from the Night King being immune to Dragonfire to dying a bit later was not a good pace, and we lacked any conflict with Jon like we teased twice, Arya probably wasn’t the most poetic person to kill him either but GoT seldom did poetic deaths (Joffrey, Cersei, Euron). While the Long Night had exemplary deaths like Theon, Lyanna, Jorah and Beric, the Night King fell among the ranks of Melisandre and Edd in terms of meh deaths. The Long Night should’ve been a bigger bloodbath than it was, half the Dothraki somehow survived remember, we didn’t get to see Ghost fight at all either, no giant spiders, a lot of the tension was lost with the way some fight scenes were filmed; it was too easy to read between the lines and not enough characters had any true ‘oh god this person could die’ scenes.

7 - Resolution for the Characters we didn’t See and Plots unresolved With so much funding and finality in the show, there felt like there could’ve been more stuff that could’ve been resolved; what was the Quaith’s prophecy about? What really happened with the Doom of Valyria? Why does Dragonglass and Valyrian steel kill White Walkers? What is Daario doing after Dany died? Were the Faceless Men really that okay with letting Arya wander around knowing their skillset? Nobody hired them to help in the war either. What happened to the remnants of that warlock dude who stole the baby dragons, they sent one scorpion and that’s it, what happens with the Little Birds now that they’re leaderless? Who was Azor Ahai? What were the spirals about? There are a lot of questions the show kinda just, ignored. 

6 - The Mad Queen So, Dany going from ‘I’ll stop if they surrender’ to ‘Burn them fucking all’ was abrupt for many, the majority of fans were not ready or willing to accept turning on their Kaleesi in just one episode. While I could see the conclusion coming from being jumped, losing another ‘child’ and her closest friend as well as her new boyfriend being her nephew and a legitimate threat to her legitimacy despite already pledging fealty, Dany’s descent could’ve used more time, and less naivety.  While the death of the dragon was a huge shock, the idiocy fell on Dany in thinking that Cersei would play fair and wouldn’t try to occupy Dragonstone while she abandoned it. There also fell inconsistency when the same fleet and rows of Scorpion crossbows suddenly got Stormtrooper aim during ‘The Bells’. Euron is a renowned sailor, he ruined a Dornish fleet in a previous season, he may be an annoying bastard but you have to treat his naval tactics with a bit more respect - and make Dany less stupid with Cersei doing Cersei things. A lot of people definitely needed more time in buying the idea that Dany had lost her cool and that she blamed all of Westeros to justify burning everyone unashamedly.

5 - Proper Redemption We all know who we’re talking about. Jaime, Jaime, Jaime. In the end he just proved Olenna’s point didn’t he? And his turn away from redemption was only to serve as an example point for Tyrion to use to convince Jon to kill Dany. Jaime didn’t have to live, but he didn’t have to die rushing to Cersei’s rescue, or even due to Euron stabbing him. If anything Jaime should’ve died with some Honour, to be the inverse of Ned as he was presented in Season 1.

4 - My Lady does not have to mean M’Lady This is probably the most selfish ones of my 10 but as a shipper at my very heart and soul I wanted one, at least one, ship to survive this entire turmoil and Gendry and Arya were that couple. We almost had it as well, but then for some mad reason D&D decided that Gendry, despite literally saying that “none of it will be worthwhile if you’re not with me”, stayed in Storm’s End. Arya’s character endgame was right in her venturing off not being bound by the fact that she’s a noble, but Gendry spent a lot of time not caring that he was of Kingsblood to basically being his Father’s son. He’ll rule Storm’s End, marry some woman to have kids, but he’ll still have fallen into the same pit as King Robert did. It would’ve been much more satisfying and hopeful if Gendry abandoned the titles and land he never wanted or needed to accompany someone he loves and who loves him back on an adventure into the unknown. She’s not a ‘lady’ if she’s only marrying a blacksmith and love is the death of duty.

3 - Sansa is NOT Smart (and gets what she actually deserves) Right. So I really, really didn’t like Sansa. Like, I get it, she got held hostage by the Lannisters, watched her father get beheaded, got accused of murder, learned that her brother and mother died, watched the guy who fancied her mother and kissed her kill her aunt and then got effectively sold to an abuser in an arranged marriage. But Sansa is not the smartest player in the game, it was annoying that they tried to portray her as one, she had one idea that anyone could’ve told you ‘don’t be stupid against Ramsay Bolton’. She spent all of Season 8 mainly giving side eye like a petty bitch, completely trying to undermine Dany despite the two being very very similar (remember Dany was raped, sold off in an arranged marriage and watched family members get killed too) to the point where she was conspiring for Jon to usurp her. And in reality she took her ball and left, she was so pissy that the leaders didn’t pick her to be Queen of Westeros that she literally pointed out her own brother’s infertility, claimed that the North wouldn’t bow to a monarch, then declared herself Queen.  Hide the ‘Yas Queen’ goggles for a sec, this wasn’t empowering she was throwing her own brother under the bus because she wanted to be queen, and she learned far too much from Littlefinger and Cersei’s playbook to actually be a just one. The North is allowed to be an independent nation, but Sansa’s ‘victory’ was more earned by virtue of a lot of shit happened to her than her actually demonstrating qualities to be queen.

2 - Bran Stark can’t come to the Phone right now... While we’re on the subject of Stark children not being fit rulers, Bran. What a cockamamie decision that was. I was 100% behind the destruction of the Iron Throne, but the chorus of laughter with a democratic rule was a bit of a slap in the face. Of all the choices though, Bran had to be near the bottom, it felt completely unearned that he spent literal seasons disconnecting from the world even to the point where he told Meera and Sam that Bran Stark is no longer here anymore only for Bran Stark to magically resurface when a crown is in waiting. I think it defeats the whole Three Eyed Raven thing too, the guy isn’t really one for the people, which is the problem every other ruler before him failed at. If you can’t pick a just person to lead, then why not a council instead? Just using Bran was a poor and messy decision.

1 - THE MOTHERFUCKING VALONQUAR One of the few expectations across all of Game of Thrones was the wondering over whether Cersei was gonna get what’s coming to her, the Maggy the Frog prophecy was going along quite well up until the Valonquar bit, where the younger sibling that was going to choke the life out of her was: bricks. BRICKS! Of all the long-winded prophecy foreshadowings to drop this one was the worst, Cersei (and Jaime) died in underwhelming, thoughtless fashion, the lack of fanfare on killing off one of the best and most ‘love to hate’ villains in the show only cemented the fact that the finale was not able to live up to the hype. True, most of these are small changes, but it’s worth remembering that there was some good coming out of the final season and it was the lack of those little things and attention to detail that led to the season ending on an underwhelming note.

We did however get a good ton of memes out of it, and at work a long-winded discussion on who should get the ‘winner’ 5-points (compared to the 1 correct points) since we had technically agreed that the 5 points goes to “whoever correctly guesses who sits on the Iron Throne” XD I still can’t believe I was right in Drogon melting the throne though that was one in a million

[merakiaes]

Tell Me You Love Me - Jon Snow

Pairing: Jon Snow x Baratheon!reader, Robb Stark x Baratheon!reader Requested: By @witch-of-letters, who has been really patient and understanding with me having writer’s block and being really slow. Shoutout to you

Prompts: None

Warnings/notes: Swearing, mentions of rape, violence, death, some changes in the timeline, really rushed because like I said I had the world’s biggest writer’s block, and I also have a migraine so I really didn’t have the energy to look through it and edit it. I really hope it’s readable, anyways.

Wordcount: 6457

Description: A bit of triangle drama between Jon, Robb and reader! I changed up the request a tiny bit so that it would fit the show better, hope that’s alright!

“I wonder if she’s gotten married, yet.” Theon voiced as he got his beard shaved off, thinking back to the last time he had seen you. 

“No.” Robb answered. “Father would have told us if she did.” 

“Yes, you’re probably right. King Robert would never marry her off to a stranger in the first place.” Theon agreed. 

Robb turned to look at his half-brother, eyebrows raised. “You’ve been awfully quiet since the news of the King’s visit got out.”

Theon laughed. “And that was a week ago.”

Jon glared at them. “I’m not quiet.”

“You’ve spoken about ten words since last week.” Robb snickered. “Something on your mind?”

“More like someone.” Theon joined in on the teasing. “A certain princess, maybe?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jon kept his glare as he spoke. 

Theon snorted. “Yeah, right. (Y/N) is the only girl you’ve ever met that you like better than your own hair.” 

Jon hardened his glare. “I don’t like her.”

Robb laughed. “Don’t let her hear you say that, she’ll be heartbroken.” 

Jon turned to him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“It means want to fuck you, you virgin.” Theon said with a smirk, causing Robb to crack up. 

“I’m not a virgin.” Jon scoffed. “I’ve been with women.”

Robb and Theon exchanged a look. “Oh yeah? Who?”

“I-” Jon cut himself short, not having an answer to the question considering he was, in fact, lying. As he opened his mouth to speak again, he once again cut himself short as a man came at his head with a pair of scissors, causing him to flinch. 

This caused Theon and Robb to break into a full laughing fit, leaving the bastard hot up to his ears. 

“What did I say?” Theon laughed. “You flinch when someone touches your hair, and you can’t answer our question. You make it so easy to prove a point.” 

The three of them went into a full argument after that, having to be interrupted by Ned several minutes later because they were going to be late. 

But the whole time up until the point of your arrival, Jon couldn’t stop thinking about you. 

The North was cold, very cold. 

Now, the cold itself wouldn’t have bothered you if you had clothing better fit for this kind of weather, but unfortunately you were for the time benig stuck in your warmest clothes from the South, which weren’t very warm at all. 

You rode between your father and uncle, as you had been for the whole journey, and you were happy to say that said journey would soon be over, and you could finally reunite with your boys. 

When Jon Arryn had, under “mysterious” circumstances, died, you had been heartbroken, having seen that man as a second father. However, when your father had told you the news about you going north, you had been absolutely ecstatic. 

Not only would you get to see Ned, whom also was like a second father to you, but you would get to see your childhood friends, Theon, Robb and Jon. Although you had to admit you were slightly more excited about the last. 

You had been in love with Jon Snow for as long as you could remember, but being in love with a bastard who thought lower of himself than any other person in the Seven Kingdoms, was no walk on roses. 

Seeing as he didn’t think he deserved anything but the shit he was forced to take from Catelyn Stark on a daily basis, he always saw past any attempt of flirting you had made. 

It had started to go on your nerves eventually, and honestly left you very heartbroken, but you still couldn’t find it in you to stop. You had never been forced to worry about being married to a stranger. Your father’s love for you stopped that from ever happening. He wanted you to marry for love, and he wouldn’t care in the slightest if that love turned out to be a bastard. 

But Jon didn’t see it that way, you knew. 

You were the only trueborn child of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister. It shouldn’t take a genius to figure out the fact that the rest of the King’s supposed children were, in fact, not his, but as it appeared every single person in the Seven Kingdoms were completely brainless. 

But even though you supposed you should be disturbed by your mother and uncle’s incestuous relationship, you couldn’t be bothered. Not because you loved your mother, though, but because you loved your uncle. 

Your mother was a stone-cold, psychopathic bitch. Always had been. The fact that you were not Jaime’s child had bothered her from the moment you were born, the disappointment had been as clear as day in her face once she noticed the hair on your head being pitch black. 

The lack of love your mother held for you was no surprise to you, so Jaime had told you the story of your birth himself, knowing it wouldn’t do anything else than give you the truth. 

Despite the fact that your mother and yourself had a strained relationship, you had gotten her traits of being cunning and smart. Jaime knew this, and therefor knew you wouldn’t stir chaos up without a very good reason, which in turn is why he knew he didn’t have to sugarcoat reality to you. 

The rest of your personality you had gotten from your father, though. Your father was determined, stubborn, blunt and charismatic, or well, the latter he had been, anyways. 

And you were all those things, only ten more times than him. And it was something your mother couldn’t stand being around. 

But your uncle Jaime was different. He had done many horrible things in his life, yes. But his heart was in the right place. Everything he did, he did to protect Cersei and their cubs. And you knew he would realize sooner than later that Cersei wasn’t worth it. 

Tyrion you got along with as well, of course, given the fact that he always seemed to be drawn to outcasts, and also that the two of you shared a love for books and wit. 

Given that you were your father’s daughter, the two of you were close, as well. But you could still agree that he was a very immature man. Had he not spent majority of his spare time fucking whores and getting drunk, you could have been even closer. 

But you had grown up now, and no longer craved as much attention from your King father as you once had. You did just fine on your own, as long as you had your bow or one of your uncles to keep you company. 

You did love your siblings, of course. But considering the relationship you had with your mother, you didn’t really get to spend real time with them, much to Myrcella and Tommen’s dismay. 

Joffrey, though, rather found pleasure in joining his mother in tormenting you. No surprise there. 

“Seven Hells, I had forgotten how bloody cold it was up here.” Your father bellowed from beside you. 

You rolled your eyes, tightening your grip on the reigns. “I told you that you should have put on the  fox fur.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Your father grumbled, before sighing and reaching over to squeeze your hand. “I ought to listen to my daughter more often, don’t I?” 

“Finally something we agree on.” Your uncle spoke up at that, giving your father a teasing smile, but his eyes still hinted annoyance. 

Your father ignored him, opening his mouth to say something but as it seemed he changed his mind as Winterfell came into sight. “Finally! One more hour in this saddle and I would’ve lost feeling in my arse!”

You snorted. “I’m surprised you haven’t yet.” 

Your father turned to look at you. “Watch that mouth of yours.” 

But as you could see the teasing glint in his eye, you only scoffed, proceeding to straighten yourself up in your saddle as you would soon be entering the gates. 

Jaime fell behind slightly to take his assigned spot in line, while you stayed at the front beside your father, and in only a few minutes time, you found yourself riding through the gates to your second home.

As you spotted the small crowd waiting for you inside the walls, your eyes instantly went to Robb, Jon and Theon, your face lighting up almost instantly at  the sight of them. 

They had certainly grown up since you last saw them, that much you were sure of. 

But Jon had grown up the best. His black locks were still as gorgeous as ever, his eyes still as dark and soft. You weren’t a girl who used cliches, but even you couldn’t deny the butterflies filling you stomach at the sight of the bastard. 

Jon, who had been looking at the ground by order of Lady Catelyn to show respect, felt your heavy gaze and looked up to be faced with your bright smile.

Upon seeing you, Jon felt himself get warm. Not until then did he realize how much he had truly missed you. 

Theon let out a small whistle as they watched you climb down from your horse, giving you a once over as you walked to your father’s side as he greeted Ned. “(Y/N) grew up quite nicely, don’t you think, Snow?” 

Although Jon couldn’t disagree, he shot his friend a look. “She was already grown up when we saw her last. She’s three years older than us.”

Theon wiggled his eyebrows. “An older woman who wants to fuck you.”

Jon turned to look at him, a glare on his face. “She does not want to fuck m-”

“Can you two shut up?” Robb suddenly turned around and whisper-yelled, just as you reached him. 

Robb turned back instantly, taking your hand in his and bringing it up to his lips. “Princess, you look as gorgeous as always.” He said, putting on a smile as if trying to hide the conversation that had moments before been going on behind him. 

You only snickered. “We’ve known each other since we were all mere children, come here.” And with that you pulled him down by his neck in an embrace.

You felt him chuckle unto your neck, but your happy little reunion was cut short when your brother scoffed behind you. “(Y/N)” He started, a scowl evident on his face. “That is in no way how a princess should act.”

Your father had gone off with Ned at this point, and your mother and siblings were Gods knew where, leaving only you, Robb, Jon, Theon, Joffrey and Sandor Clegane in the courtyard. 

You rolled your eyes at the sound of your whiny brother’s voice, releasing Robb from your grasp, the latter clearing his throat as he glanced at the Hound. 

Turning around, you stared your brother down. “Unlike you, Joffrey, the Starks are my family and I won’t treat them like they are below me, I’ll leave that bitchy behavior to my dear little brother. You do it best, after all, isn’t that right?”

Joffrey gasped dramatically, hitting his guard dog’s on his arm as if to tell him to go after you. “Did you hear how she just spoke to me? Do something!” 

You rolled your eyes, something you seemed to be doing all the time when in the presence of your family. “You do know he’s not only serving you, but the rest of your family as well?” 

Joffrey narrowed hie eyes. “He’s MY dog, and he shall do as I command.” He said in a whiny voice, turning to look at the Hound at the last part. 

You took a few steps closer to your brother. “Are you ever going to get it into your tiny little brain that he’s not an actual  dog? Even dogs are only loyal to their masters until they feel threatened, maybe you should start watching your mouth a little before this one starts to feel that way.” 

Cue another dramatic gasp. “I’m telling mother!”

You chuckled. “You go do that, Joff. I’ll just tell father you tried sending the Hound on his beloved daughter.” With that you turned to look at the much larger man beside your brother. “Sandor.”

“Princess.” Sandor acknowledged, face straight, although you could see in his eyes he was just as satisfied with Joffrey’s reaction as yourself. 

You gave a curt nod, before starting to walk off, the three northerner boys wasting no time in following. 

Once far enough away to be able to have a conversation without your brother’s snooping ears, you wasted no time in jumping at the three boys.

The boys each let out a quiet “hmpf” at the force of you taking them all into your arms at the same time in a rather messy group hug. 

“Eager are we?” Theon chuckled as he let his hand rest on the small of your back. He made attempt to move it further down, but you instantly slapped it away. 

“I see you, Greyjoy, don’t try me.” You threatened playfully, earning a chuckle in return. 

“Robb, last time I saw you you were just as tall as me.” You snickered at the memory as you turned to look at the Stark boy. Probably to everyone’s surprise, he had been a slow grower. 

Robb laughed as you brought him into another hug, this time without Joffrey there to interrupt. 

Finally, you turned to Jon. 

He had put himself slightly behind the other two boys to not interrupt. His hands were clasped behind his back, and his eyes were softly staring into yours. 

As if your smile wasn’t already big enough, it got even bigger at the sight of the curly haired boy, and you wasted no time in jumping in his arms. 

Jon closed his eyes and sighed in contentment as the sweet scent of your hair filled his nostrils and took over his senses, letting his arms go around your waist to hug you back. 

“I can’t even begin to explain how much I’ve missed you.” You told the boys while still in Jon’s arms, but you all knew you were in truth talking to Jon and Jon only. 

Well, everyone except the boy himself, being as oblivious as he was. 

“What.” Theon spoke, the teasing tone evident in his voice. “You don’t enjoy spending quality time with your baby brother?”

The boys all snickered as you finally let go of Jon, much to his dismay, turning to look at Robb and Theon with a roll of your eyes. “Any more quality time, and I might just have thrown myself from a window.” 

“What about the Hound?” Robb questioned, wiggling his eyebrows. “You looked to be pretty cozy with the Hound.” 

“Sandor may be a man of few words, but he’s an actual sweetheart.” You responded, snickering. “Don’t let him know I said that, though. He’ll never speak to me again.”

Theon shuddered. “I don’t know how anyone could handle being in his presence all day long without shitting their pants, much less talk to him.”

You raised an eyebrow, eyes moving to look at his lower half. “Are you telling me you shit your pants just now, then?”

Theon glared. “No, not me. I don’t shit my pants for anything, or anyone.” He paused. “But IF I did, it would be because of him.”

“So you did shit your pants.” You repeated, smirking. 

Theon started protesting, but as Jon and Robb had had enough of your bickering, Robb cleared his throat. “We have something to show you, (Y/N), don’t we lads?” He turned to his brothers with a wolfish grin. 

“Oh!” Theon realized. “Yes, Robb and Snow got d-”

Jon slapped him upside the head. “You’re ruining it.” 

Theon rubbed his head, swinging for Jon, however missing when the latter ducked out of the way with a laugh. 

“Fine, fine.” Theon said finally, pulling out a cloth from his pocket. “You’ll have to put this on.” He said, holding it up like a blindfold.

You squinted your eyes at this, becoming slightly suspicious. “Why exactly?”

“Because it’s a surprise.” Robb laughed as he came to stand at your side, now having grabbed the cloth from Theon’s hand to put it over your eyes. 

“If this is your way of inviting me to a foursome, I’m very afraid I must decline.” You said in a mock-serious voice, causing them all to laugh. 

“As if I’d let you anywhere near Theon’s bed.” Jon said, grabbing onto one of your arms as you were blinded by the fabric in front of your eyes. 

Theon snickered, and you could just imagine the smirk he must have been sporting. “No, you’d want her all to yourself, wouldn’t you Snow?” 

You snickered as Jon hissed a ‘shut up!’, and suddenly you started moving, Jon pulling at you gently. 

Your heart started beating harder in your chest as you felt around with your feet carefully to not fall. Jon seemed to pick up on this, chuckling. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to let you fall.”

Laughing nervously, your hand came to rest on top of his that were holding your arm for support. “I trust you, Jon. It’s your brothers I don’t trust.”

Awaiting some kind of sarcastic response from either Robb or Theon, you were surprised to hear nothing but Jon’s chuckle from beside you, to which you furrowed your eyebrows in thought. 

“Did they go ahead?” You though out loud, using the hand that weren’t holding on to Jon to feel the air in front of you. You trusted Jon not to let you fall, but now that Robb and Theon had seemingly run off, it was your own feet you didn’t trust. 

“Yes.” He responded. “They had to go see so that the surprise hadn’t completely ruined my chambers.” He laughed, causing you to furrow your eyebrows even further. 

What kind of surprise would destroy furniture?

“We’re coming up the stairs now.” Jon said, assisting you in getting your foot on the first step. “No peeking.”

You snorted. “Unlike Theon, I’m not a peeker.” You joked, thinking back to the time you had found the boy in question peeking into the whorehouse when he was thirteen. 

“It’s a good thing he’s old enough to actually go in there now instead of peeking through the windows like a mad man.” Jon laughed, causing you to follow. 

“Is it, though?” 

“Maybe not.” He agreed, causing you to smile. 

As you reached the last step of the stairs, you let your hand trail against the wall as you kept walking. “How far are we going? I’m not liking this whole blind thing.”

As soon as you said that, the sound of Robb and Theon’s voices entered your eardrums, giving you the sign that you had finally reached your final destination. 

“No more.” Jon said, confirming your thoughts. “Watch out.” He spoke quietly as the voices got closer, helping you through the doorway of his chambers where Theon and Robb had suddenly grown quiet. 

“Are you ready?” You heard Robb ask from somewhere across the room. 

You nodded, eyebrows furrowed as you thought about what the surprise could be. “Get on with it.”

Jon snickered from behind you as he undid the blindfold, amused at your impatience. You were truly your father’s daughter. 

As the fabric was removed from your eyes, it took a few second  to adjust to the light as you had been in the dark for several minutes, but once they had adjusted, you let out a high squeal at the sight in front of you. 

On the bed in front of you were two small direwolf pups, lying next to each other, seemingly taking a nap, something you couldn’t care less of in this moment as you launched yourself forward to jump on the bed. 

“Puppies!” You let out in a high pitched voice, causing the direwolves to jump awake in fright. 

Although, to the boys’ surprise, they calmed down just as quickly and instantly started licking your face wet with kisses, whereas they would have growled and barked had it been Theon in your position. 

“Why do they like her more?” Theon spoke, watching sourly as you fell down into the bed. 

“You smell.” Jon commented as he came to stand at his side to watch the scene unfold with them. 

Theon turned to look at him with a glare. “We just washed ourselves, together. If I smell, you smell.”

You laughed. “You make it sound like you washed each other, Greyjoy.” 

He turned to look at you, dropping his glare and putting on a smirk. “Jonny boy is saving himself for y-”

Jon slapped him on the arm, glaring. Robb just stood by laughing at his brothers as he kept watching you, arms crossed. 

“Where did you find them?” You gushed finally as they left the bed to take Jon and Robb’s sides, wasting no time in following the white one to Jon and getting down cross-legged on the floor to take him into your lap.

“We found her mother in the woods.” Robb started. 

“Killed by a stag’s antler, tough old beast.” Theon continued. 

You looked at the direwolf in your knee sadly. “What are their names?”

“That’s Grey Wind.” Jon pointed to the pup at Robb’s feet, before looking down at the white one in your arms. “And that’s Ghost. He’s mine.”

“The runt of the litter.” Theon snickered. 

“Arya, Sansa, Bran and Rickon each has one as well.” Robb told you. “Nymeria, Lady, Shaggydog, and Bran hasn’t named his yet.” 

You smiled brightly, talking sweet nothings as you scratched Ghost behind his ear. 

Jon chuckled at the sight. “You might want to stop sweeting him up, he won’t know how to protect himself when the time comes.” 

You pouted. “Fine.” You stood up. 

The window of the room whistled loudly as a breeze blew past. Looking outside, you noticed it now having gone dark. 

You turned back to the boys. “Which one of you are going to escort me to the feast?” You smirked. “Your princess is starting to feel rather starved after traveling for so long.”

Theon hurried to step forward, holding out his arm. “My lady.” He bowed deeply, coming back up with a grin on his face. 

You laughed, curtsying before hooking your arm with his. “My lord.” 

And with that, he led you off to the feast. Jon furrowed his eyebrows at seeing you laugh with Theon, Robb giving him a knowing, teasing look, earning a glare in response, as they walked after you.  

You had feasts in the Capital all the time, but this was as much fun as you’d have in a long time, finally having enjoyable company. 

“Look at your daughter.” Cersei scoffed at the head table, scowling bitterly. “Acting like a man, throwing herself around at all those boys. Disgrace.” 

“Shut your mouth, woman!” Robert bellowed, stopping in his tracks of groping one of the servant girls, at his wife’s words. He turned to look at her. “She can do as she pleases. You worry about raising that little brat.” 

She clenched her fists as she looked at him, turning back to look at you dancing around with Robb and Theon, Jon long ago having left at the request of Catelyn. 

Cersei then turned to look at her brother, only to find him watching you play around with a grin, amusement clear in his eyes. 

She scoffed again. “Tell me again why we’re marrying her off to the Stark boy.” She asked no one in particular as she had Robert’s attention. “We could marry her off to someone much more valuable for the crown.”

“Do you think I care about the crown?” Robert boomed. “I’m not marrying her off to someone who will fuck her and have her birth children all life. Robb is the only one I would even consider as a husband.”

“If I may, Your Grace.” Ned spoke up for the first time, inviting himself into the conversation. “Robb thinks very highly of (Y/N), he would never attempt to stop her from practicing her interests.”

“Yes.” She muttered, leaning back into her seat. “That’s what I’m afraid of. She needs to learn how to act like a lady.”

“Fuck acting like a lady!” Robert once more shouted at his wife. “The betrothal between her and Robb is final!” And with that, he walked off with the servant, leaving Cersei to fume in her lonesome. 

You had been dancing with Robb and Theon all night, until Robb had been forced to take Arya to bed. Only moments later, Theon had kissed you good night and left with a girl not much older than Sansa. 

You had rolled your eyes at this, but not bothered to tell him off. Far to tired after the nights festivities. 

Not wanting to be alone, you ventured outside to search for Jon, finding him out by the sparring grounds having a conversation with Tyrion. 

“Uncle.” You greeted as you approached them, causing them both to turn your way. 

“Ah, my sweet (Y/N), are you having fun?” Tyrion smiled up at you. 

You smiled so. “Very much so, but now I’m afraid my company has betrayed me, and I’m in need of a new companion to entertain me for the rest of the evening.”

“I see.” Tyrion said. “I will leave you two to it, then. I will see you at breakfast tomorrow morning.” 

You nodded at him, offering a smile, before he walked off into the castle, leaving you alone with Jon. 

The two of you watched each other quietly for a moment, before you moved to sit down against a wall, pushing your cloak under your bottom so that you wouldn’t get cold. 

You patted the space beside you, Jon coming to sit down only moments later. 

“Why did you leave?” You asked as you pulled out a flagon of whine that you had managed to snatch from inside the hall from underneath your cloak, popping open the lid and taking a drink. 

“Lady Stark didn’t wish for me to be in the King and Queen’s presence.” He said in a formal voice, something that led you to believe that Catelyn had talked to him about being around you, as well.

You frowned at this, holding the flagon out for him. “You could have just told me. I would have maken sure you got to stay.”

“I needed the fresh air, anyway.” He spoke, grabbing the flagon from your hand and taking a long gulp.

“Although I do enjoy the company of your brother and Theon, I have to admit I would have had more fun with you.” You admitted, leaning your head on his shoulder and looking up at you. 

He turned his head slightly to be able to look down at you, a smile coming to rest at his lips. “Don’t let Theon hear you say that.”

You snickered, grabbing the flagon back from him and taking a sip. “Something tells me he knows of my feelings.”

“And what feelings would those be?” He asked softly, scanning your face as you watched each other carefully. 

You searched your head for a sassy reply or remark of some kind, but you found none, getting utterly lost in his deep, dark eyes. 

You parted your lips briefly, before closing them again. Your eyes traveled from his eyes to his nose to his lips, catching his Adam’s apple bobbling in the corner of your eye. 

You watched as his tongue darted out to wet his lips, and as he rubbed them together, before moving your eyes back to his, searching for any kind of hesitation. 

And when finding none, you leaned your head up and pressed your lips to his. 

Jon responded almost instantly, admittedly being frozen for a few seconds despite knowing your intentions from the start. But he quickly melted into the kiss, moving his lips to match the movements of your own. 

The flagon of wine was long forgotten by now, crimson liquid spilling out into the the snow. 

You reached up to put your arms around his neck, successfully dragging him with you to lie on the ground without ever breaking the kiss that was getting more feverish with every passing second. 

You let your lips break away from his for a moment of breath, before quickly reattaching and this time letting the tips of your tongues meet. 

The only thing on your mind was Jon, how his hands felt as they ran down your sides to squeeze at your hips, how his lips felt as they moved from your lips to your jaw, to your neck, to your collarbone. 

Not in a million years would you have suspected the news that would be pushed upon you the morning after. 

But as you woke up that morning in Jon’s bed and went to the Hall for breakfast, the news were thrust upon you none the less. 

“In the sight of the Seven, I hereby seal these two souls, binding them as one for eternity. Look upon one another and say the words.”

You remembered the ceremony clearly, your father and mother and siblings, and all of the North watching as you were wed to one of your best friends. However, not the one you loved. 

You had broken down in the middle of the room at the news of you betrothal to Robb, screaming and pleading to your father to let you marry Jon instead. 

Your father had, much to everyone’s surprise and your mother’s dismay, agreed, but the boy in question had already heard the news from Robb and decided to go to the Wall with his uncle Benjen. 

You had cried to him the whole night before his departure, about ready to get down on your knees to beg him to stay. It was the most heartbroken he, or anyone else for that matter, had ever seen you. 

It eventually got so bad, you had to be carried to your chambers by your uncle Jaime, who proceeded to hold you the entire night until you finally managed to doze off from exhaustion, the last word Jon had spoken to you before you were taken away being “You deserve better.” 

When you had awoken that morning you had been completely numb, and you hadn’t been able to leave the bed to see Jon off. 

It had broken his heart, but he knew it was his own doing. He wanted so bad to stay with you, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t let you marry a bastard, and have bastard children. You deserved more than that. You were a princess after all. 

Robert had come to bid him farewell. Although he was absolutely broken at the state of his daughter, and despite the fact that he saw Jon as a fine young man, he too, thought of him as too little for his sweet (Y/N). 

Jon had rode off between Benjen and Tyrion early that morning, heart heavy and eyes stinging with tears. 

“Father. Smith. Warrior. Mother. Maiden. Crone. Stranger. I am his, and he is mine, from this day, until the end of my days.”

“Father. Smith. Warrior. Mother. Maiden. Crone. Stranger. I am hers, and she is mine, from this day, until the end of my days.”

The wedding came sooner than you would have wished. Robb saw that you were unhappy, but despite this didn’t protest. 

You would never get over Jon. You would never love Robb as you did his half-brother, but you were, truth be told, happy that it was Robb and not some random high-lord. 

You had gone to war by Robb’s side when he had called the Stark’s bannermen to go up against the Lannisters. Your family. They weren’t really your family, any more, though. 

Your father was dead, and Jaime was too love struck by your mother to be able to differ right from wrong. You only wished he realized it sooner than later, despite everything loving him dearly. 

Robb had never forced you to get intimate with him, something you were more than grateful for. You knew that despite the fact that he hadn’t protested, he didn’t feel that way about you, either. 

When the two of you met Talisa, you had your marriage annulled, allowing him to marry the true love of his life. 

While they were off doing Gods know what during the evenings, you were stuck in your tent with Grey Wind watching over you, the direwolf having, dare you say it, grown closer to you than his own master. 

But you didn’t complain. Animals had always been your preferred company. 

Having made a promise to Walder Frey to marry one of his girls, he had been furious to hear the news that Robb had married Talisa instead of one of his girls once you had annulled your marriage. 

But you came up with a solution, you thought, and were invited into his home for a marriage between Edmure Tully and one of Frey’s girls. 

That’s where everything started going downhill. The only word you could use to describe your stay at the Frey’s was bloodbath. Massacre. 

They called it the Red Wedding. Robb, Talisa and Catelyn had all been slain under the roof where they broke their bread and salt with the Freys. 

You don’t know how you had managed to escape, but you were lucky you had. 

You had ran until your lungs burned, desperate to make it back to your tent before the Freys did, luckily succeeding and managing to get Grey Wind and yourself out of there before they could get to you. 

Ashamed that they had let a girl get away, Walder Frey had made up a graphic, bloody story about how they had slowly killed you and Grey Wind. 

Jon had been unable to keep on is legs when hearing it, having to grab a hold of the table as his knees buckled out of shock, the letter in his hand dropping down to the floor. 

He had screamed, yelled, broken everything in sight as anger and grief filled his entire body, his friends being forced to drag him away from the shelf he was currently hacking to bits with Longclaw. 

This was a while ago. A lot had happened since. Jon had brought the wildlings to Castle Black only shortly before receiving the news about your death. 

He had been stabbed to his death by his supposed brothers, and brought back to life by the Red Woman. 

All the while you had been living in hiding, waiting for the right moment to return to any familiar place. 

And once you’d heard of Jon snow being in command of a wildling army and Castle Black, you headed off without looking back. 

You reached the Wall in a few weeks time. 

Grey Wind was walking slowly by your side as you sat on your horse, loyal as ever. He hadn’t left your side once since the Red Wedding. 

The men who where currently on watch duty in the tower spotted you through the snow, getting ready to call out to you. However, as they spotted the direwolf revealing itself from behind you, they knew in an instant that you were here for Jon, calling out to open the gate. 

“Open the gate!” They called down to the courtyard. 

You didn’t have to stop as the gate started rising only a second later, allowing you clear passage into the castle. 

Everyone stopped and looked at you as you rode through, shock evident on their faces as they laid eyes on the giant beast at your side, Grey Wind now having grown to be almost as big as the very horse you were riding. 

You looked around slowly, searching for the face you had come looking for, but finding it nowhere.

Without stopping your search, you stopped the horse in the middle of the clearing, climbing down from the saddle to stand on the ground. 

A stable boy came over without any words said, taking the horse by the reigns and leading it off, leaving you to grab at Grey Wind’s fur as he growled quietly at the people around you in suspicion. 

“Last time someone came to fetch me to see something down in the courtyard, I was stabbed repeatedly in the chest.” Jon grumbled as he walked alongside Edd, steps determined but annoyed as he had been busy when Edd had come rushing in to take him outside, speaking a bunch of gibberish that was quite hard to comprehend. 

“Trust me.” He told his friend. “You’re going to want to see this.”

You held your head held high as you kept looking around, keeping your stare hard to show the people around you that you weren’t bothered by their stares in the slightest. 

You had yet to see Jon, and you were just about to give up and ask someone of his whereabouts when suddenly your name was called. 

“(Y/N)?” Your heart skipped a beat at the familiar voice, head whipping around to find the source so quickly you got dizzy. 

“Jon.” You breathed as you caught sight of him on top of the stairs to the upper part of the castle, looking between you and Grey Wind in shock.

Neither you nor the people in the yard had any time to react as Jon flung himself down the stairs, several steps at a time, and launched himself towards you. 

Your face broke into a watery smile as this seemed to trigger your own movements, running to meet him in the middle. 

The two of you hit each other in an embrace so rough you probably would have complained about the pain in any other case, but as you for the first time in several years felt the warmth of your first and only love’s arms around you, the only thing you could think of was him. 

The only thing on your mind it that moment, as you hugged each other close, was Jon. Just as it had been every day since the day you had first met. 

“Tell me you love me, Jon Snow.” You breathed into his neck, tears now spilling down your cold cheeks. “Tell me you want me just as much as I’ve always wanted you.”

“I love you. You’re the only thing I want.”

And with that, you pulled your head away from his neck and pressed your lips to his just like you had done that one night in Winterfell. 

Just like you had done on the best day of your life. 

[roaminginspiration]

Hi! I was wondering if I could request a fic? *GoT spoilers, in case you’re a fan of that too and haven’t watched* There was a line in GoT s08e03 (Bran to Theon), that goes something like “Everything you did brought you where you are now. Where you belong. Home.” I couldn’t help but think of Steve and Nat - can you write a fic with it please? Thank you!! :)

Thank you anon for this beautiful prompt! Hope you’ll like the final result :)

ETA: celebrating post #2500!!! 

Destined

SteveRogers did not believe in fate.

For him, itwas a joker card which whenever some unforeseen, unpleasant event happened wasthrown on the table by the numb mind that had run out of rational explanations and could not comprehend the logic of the circumstances but could not move onwithout having labeled it first.

Boyfriendsuddenly breaks up before running away with another girl — fate.

Death —fate.

His motherhad told him often, probably to soothe her frail little boy’s heavy heart: “Youare destined to accomplish great things, Steven.” But he never believed it. Allhe had to do was look in a mirror to be reminded of the harsh truth.

Fate wassomething that did not belong with him.

It was aword he had never used for himself. Not even when he had crossed the path ofthe scientist who would make him the very first Super Soldier. Not even afterthe said experiment was surprisingly successful.

Then heheard it again, from Peggy’s mouth. Peggy Carter, the boldest officer he hadever met; Peggy Carter who had had to fight her way to make her own future.

“You areexactly where you are supposed to be,” she told him under a starry sky, thenight before his first mission in Europe.

He lookedat her without saying a word. He wished he could believe her — especially her —but somehow her words did not sound quite true, although there was a nice ringto it.

With time,and after many successful missions, he almost began to believe he had found hisplace in the world. That maybe he was exactly where he was meant to be.

But realityhit him harshly. All his faint hopes plunged into North Atlantic along with him.

He woke upin a new, unknown, scary world. A world he had fewer chances to fit in than theone he was born in.

Thoseremote illusions of destiny died in the new millennium, and he stashed them forgood six feet under the day Peggy was buried.

She hadfaith in him — so much that he had once started to believe it. But beliefs wereonly good to turn to ashes.

And yet hislife took a darker turn as he found himself become a fugitive, an outlaw, apariah. He fled across countries like a coward.

Natasha,who was once a teammate, became a lighthouse gleaming in the distance. Abearing to look out for on hazy days. And sleepless nights.

He couldn’tremember what day it was the first time their kindred solitude merged, but heremembered it was on a stormy evening.

After that,aloneness became unbearable, and their reunion over the pillow, the onlysoothing balm for it. Without realizing, his profound feeling of loneliness, likethe tide, fell in small waves over the New Moons.

In herarms, he forgot to strive for a sense of purpose; the relentless voice insidehis voice quieted down. It was the closest thing to peace.

His fingersgently traced the lines of her curves as he watched her sleep. Natasha woke upand a smirk came to her lips.

“I didn’tmean to wake you,” he said.

Shesnuggled herself against him, closing the cool gap between their bodies — bothof them yearned for warmth.

She softlypressed her lips on the crook of his neck, just below the line of his thickbeard.

“What’skeeping you awake?” she asked.

He shookhis head. “Old memories,” he answered dismissively.

“I’mfamiliar with those,” she commented groggily.

“Do you…— Isometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had done thingsdifferently.”

Her gigglerang out in the room. “No wonder you barely sleep, Rogers. As much as we wantto have control over our lives, sometimes it takes to step back to realize wedon’t always have a hand on the wheel. You could not have changed a thing.”

“I didn’tknow you, of all people, believed in a higher force.”

She proppedherself up on her elbow and leaned above him. Her emerald eyes glistened in themoonlight. He pulled his arm from under the sheet to cup her face.

“I believewe’re too small in this world to hold complete control. I’ve had more lives inone than I can count, but one of them led me to Clint, and long story short,I’m in your arms tonight.”  

“It’s quitea shortcut, indeed.” He remarked.

She rolledher eyes and lightly slapped his bare torso.

“Keep onfighting it as long as you want, Steve Rogers. But everything you did brought you where you are now. Where you belong.Home.”

He looked up at her and smiledsoftly. The sound of a banging door behind the thin wall broke the silence.

“Well, if home is a 2.3-star motel inSouth Virginia,” she added with a snort.

“2.1 after Sam’s rating actually,” hechimed in.

“Oh, shut up.”

They both chuckled before rollingunder the sheet.

But life became crueler as it oftendoes when you try to keep afloat. And the one thing he cared about was tornaway from him. Clint returned, but she didn’t. Natasha didn’t.

He felt himself dissolve. Thisuniverse in which she no longer existed turned insipid, bitter. He wanted tospit it out.  

“As long as we have the Stones, Cap.We can bring her back,” Thor was shouting in a remote distance.

He carried the Asgardian’s words withhim as he stepped on the platform and traveled back to the past. He startedwith Vormir, with a suitcase filled the most powerful weapons in the Universe,for the greatest fight of his life.  

And when Natasha eventually appeared inflesh and blood in the low sea before him, his soul reignited, shining brighterthan he could remember it ever did, feeling fulfilled.

The void inside him, the one he hadcarried for as long as he could remember until it became part of him, filled upcompletely. Irreversibly.

He ran up to her and held her closeand safe in his arms. When he finally allowed their bodies to part, he lookedinto her eyes.

“God, you were right,” he cried withunadulterated certainty, holding her face between his two hands. “Everything Iever did in my life was to bring me to this moment.”

He, Steve Rogers, had become Captain America, crashed into an ocean, crossed decades, become worthy of wielding Mjolnir, traveled to the past because he was destined to bring the woman he loved back from the dead.

He hugged her tightly and smiled, as hethought of his mother. Right there and then, he was holding his greatestachievement.

[myassgoodbye]

GoT The Last of the Starks thoughts

Sandor can fuck right off! He says to Sansa that Ramsay “broke you in.” I know Sandor’s rude to everyone & is gruff af, but he’s still at least somewhat endearing. He saves people’s lives when it comes down to it, he throws in little things to show he isn’t a complete asshole. But there is quite literally no reason for him to so flippantly mention Ramsay’s rape & cruel treatment of Sansa. And she doesn’t react how I feel she would, which is at the very least walking away in disgust, if not ordering a guard to kill him. I don’t even know how Sandor knows Ramsay raped her specifically since I’m sure no one close to her who knew about that would’ve told anyone else. I guess he’s just inferring it since Ramsay was a monster. 

Did the Wildlings change their entire backstory in 2 seconds? Cuz Jon says “what you guys don’t wanna go south?” & Tormund’s like “No, we belong north of the Wall. It’s our home.” Um, Ygritte & others were always talking about their more & more frequent raids of towns south of the Wall & that the North put up the Wall to keep them out, deciding that was their land. So you’d think now that they’re safely past the Wall, they’d wanna stay where it’s not quite as insanely cold & dead. Plus, the last time they were there, it was before Winter really set in, so I’d imagine it’s pretty dang cold now.

I guess literally no one is guarding Winterfell cuz Bronn just waltzed in there with a fuckin crossbow. He’s not exactly known for being covert & it’s not implied he snuck in, so I guess he just walked in -_-

And Bronn’s just like “you guys seem to be the front runners, so how about you make me Lord of Highgarden after everything’s done?” then leaves. And he has literally nothing to hang over them. After everything’s done, if Tyrion’s still alive & Dany won, he can just make sure to keep a few extra guards around if he hasn’t heard for certain Bronn’s dead. I mean, yeah, tell him he’s gonna be Lord of Highgarden right then, but Bronn’s incredibly stupid here.

Dany’s so clearly power hungry at this point that I don’t know how the show’s still showing her sympathetically. She begged Jon not to tell anyone he’s Aegon because if they know, they’ll want him on the Throne... more than they already do. Jon even tells her he’s not gonna try to take the Throne & if people ask him to, he’ll tell them no, Dany’s the Queen. What is the fundamental difference between them knowing & Jon denying the Throne & them not knowing & Jon denying the Throne? The North/the Seven Kingdoms can’t just force him on the Throne. Right now, as is, if Jon decided he wanted to become King, the North would instantly pick him over Dany. So them knowing he’s Aegon would change nothing.

And Jon’s like “Well, I have to tell Sansa & Arya.” Um, bro, you’ve known for a couple episodes & had plenty of opportunities to tell them. Why did you just decide to bring this up? Oh yeah, to cause tension between you & Dany. Aren’t narrative devices fun?

So I guess Dany left literally no one at Dragonstone when she went north? Cuz Euron’s just sitting right there. Also, is everyone literally blind?! I mean, the attack on the dragon is out of the blue, like no one saw it coming, but the giant crossbow macguffins can’t fire from miles away, so either someone in the fleet or Dany on her fuckin dragon should’ve been able to see the ships & realized what was happening. Since they apparently left no soldiers at Dragonstone, you’d think they’d expect someone to be there! And I really don’t know why they went there anyway! When they’re going over the plans, Tyrion says Dany’ll go to Dragonstone & gives no reason. It’s like “Yeah, Jon & everyone else will attack King’s Landing, Jaime’s staying here for no good reason, & Dany & her dragons are going to unguarded Dragonstone for no damn reason.

Also, I guess Euron told his soldiers, “OK, everyone except Bill, shoot at the dragons, then the ships. Bill, you run over by this rock & keep an eye on this 1 girl that I happen to know is important for plot reasons. As soon as her ship is destroyed, swim out, grab her, & bring her here”? Bill’s like “Cool, that’ll take out all of the Unsullied & Dothraki!” Euron’s like “No, we’ll just destroy their ships & dragons, then leave them there on the shore. I abhor bloodshed.”

I feel like the past 2 seasons changed the dynamic from “dragons are OG/how are the writers gonna make Dany conquering Westeros a challenge?” to “dragons are weak to arrows, water, & undead things crawling on them & humans on a boat can shoot bolts at them from thousands of feet away & manage to kill them in 1 minute/why is everyone acting like Dany has a snowball’s chance in hell at even denting King’s Landing?” I realize they had to do something to make the dragons not just win everything ever, but this is the opposite problem. It just makes it seem like Essos was just VERY unprepared.

Why did they take Missandei hostage? Cersei knew full well Dany would attack regardless. She wasn’t gonna give everything up just to save her. If she wanted to just be cruel, she could’ve, oh, I don’t know, killed Missandei, Grey Worm, & all the other people who came to Dragonstone!

Jon tells Sansa & Arya not to tell anyone he’s Aegon. Two minutes later, guess what? Sansa, you basically considered Theon part of your family even after all the shit he did to Winterfell, but immediately after you mention how you’re family & you gotta stick together, “Hey, Tyrion!” I realize she thinks it’s better for the North & herself if Dany’s not Queen, but the only thing she accomplishes by telling Tyrion Jon’s Aegon is eventually pissing off Jon once he finds out. Like, Jon’s not going on that Throne, if his characterization stays consistent anyway. So really, she’s just making it less likely for Dany to end up on the Throne, though who else would end up there is anyone’s guess. 

Varys & Tyrion, guys, I don’t know how it took you this long to figure out Dany’s just entirely too desperate to be on the Throne regardless of who she has to kill. She acts like she wants what’s best for the people, but when they talked about going to King’s Landing, she was like “yep, gonna burn Cersei in the Red Keep! So fun!” & Tyrion had to be like “um, yeah, it’s probably better for PR to not kill the townsfolk.” And even after their talk where they mention that Jon has the better claim & is male, Tyrion’s like “hey, don’t do anything hasty, bro.” Does she have to roast a baby with Drogon before you realize this is a bad idea?

But Tyrion’s really losing his edge cuz Varys says “yeah, I’ll do what’s best for the realm” & walks of & there’s really no indication Tyrion’s gonna try to warn Dany or do anything. Cuz we see Tyrion & Varys there outside King’s Landing at the end, so he had time to tell her. 

I have quite literally no idea how they’re gonna handle Drogon & the 10 or more giant crossbows lined up along King’s Landing. Because, in all reality, as soon as the battle starts next episode, Drogon would be dead in 2 seconds. They killed the other dragon in 1 minute with the same number of crossbows on bobbing ships from much further away. I’m sure they won’t kill Drogon that quickly if at all because that wouldn’t be interesting, but I really don’t know how they could make that plausible. 

[thelawyerthatwaspromised]

Why Does Jonsa Make Complete Political Sense?

Trying to make sense of the puzzle and how it could inform the endgame.

This is a long one.

*Spoiler* I think it is a Jon Snow / Sansa Stark marriage. Even if you don’t agree that the story has foreshadowed this or that the scenes between Jon and Sansa were written with a romantic subtext...it will be the only logical political solution for the story.

First, a quick refresher on the changes Westeros has already undergone.

Season 1 / Episode 1

Season 3 / Episode 9&10 (post-Red Wedding)

Season 6 / Episode 9&10 (post BoTB and Jon Snow named KiTN)

Season 7 / Episode 1 (colored by alliances. Light blue for the North, Red for the Lannisters, Gray for the Targaryens)

Season 7 / Episode 7

Season 7 / Episode 7 ASSUMING JON’S ALLEGIANCE IS TRULY WITH DANY

So right off the bat, we can make a few observations: 

1.) Daenerys and Tyrion horribly mismanaged their territorial and military advantage. Dany had a much stronger army. She had the allegiance of the breadbasket of Westeros, and she had an ally in Dorne that should have been completely geographically protected and resources that so far have been untouched by the other wars of Westeros. It’s hard for me to even count “capturing” Casterly Rock as it was a trap sprung by Jaime and the Unsullied were forced to abandon it anyway after the Greyjoy fleet hemmed them there.

2.) How does Daenerys not immediately secure the Stormlands to link the Reach and Dorne? It’s essentially leaderless and sandwiched between her two initial vassals. 

3.) How does Daenerys fail to try to ally with the Vale? What a no-brainer of an ally. The reality is that the Vale very likely would have said no, as the Vale is similar to the North as they will never trust a Targaryen, but how was the Vale not even a part of her strategy?

4.) What in the heck is Daenerys worried about Cersie “re-taking” again? She holds no territorial advantage. Highgarden’s resources went over the Lannisters. Dorne is leaderless, like the Stormlands, and cannot contribute to her cause (it’s also unclear whether they would even want to after how badly bungled that alliance worked out for Dorne). The Riverlands are still occupied by the Lannisters, another extremely useful ally tossed to the wayside.

5.) Is this because the show doesn’t care about these other territories? Maybe, but the show has made a point of showing these other places already and explaining their strategic importance. I see it more as a failure by Daenerys to care about anything other than capturing the Iron Throne, and a failure by Tyrion to think about anything else other than removing Cersei from power.

6.) Even if they had captured the Iron Throne in season 7, there is absolutely no chance of a united Westeros because of how they played the game. Dorne is leaderless, killed almost immediately after allying with the new Queen. The Stormlands remain leaderless. The Riverlands are held by the Lannisters and weren’t relieved by the Targaryen forces - why exactly would they be loyal to her? The North is only allied with Daenerys to fight the Night King. The same with the Vale. There’s no interest in the politics of the South. The main point is that at this current moment, Daenerys has absolutely no political influence beyond Jon Snow allying with her to fight the Night King. She only has a strong army. She doesn’t have the loyalty of the people of Westeros.

7.) Dany’s only real political support is from Jon. She is entirely dependent on the North and the Vale for her political power now. That also means she is entirely dependent on Sansa Stark...both before RLJ is revealed but most definitely after RLJ is revealed.

This is where it gets really tricky for Daenerys. She had a great opportunity to win some influence with the other houses of Westeros to back her claim as the Queen.

R+L=J becoming known will prevent that from ever happening.

Could she ever be looked to politically after season 7? She aided no allies. She hasn’t gained any territorial advantage. Cersei Lannister, the most hated person in Westeros by the time she was crowned, has gained more allies since Daenerys landed.

Now the idea of her legitimacy, which was the biggest talking point that she and Tyrion had in her “campaign” is gone. Not only that, but the only person to swear allegiance to her that still has any political power actually supersedes her for the throne.

That covers the territorial game. What about the prominent characters? Who actually holds political influence now?

The Lannister allies

Cersei LannisterThe MountainQyburnEuron Greyjoy Golden Company / Iron Bank

The Northern/Targaryen Alliance

Jon Snow

Daenerys Targaryen

Sansa Stark

Arya Stark

Bran Stark

The Brotherhood (Hound, Beric, etc.)

Gendry

Tormund

Brienne

Tyrion

Jaime

Edmure Tully

Yohn Royce / Robin Arryn

Theon Greyjoy / Yara Greyjoy

Davos 

Varys

The Unsullied

Missandei

Melissandre / Kinvara / the Red Priestesses

So pretty much anyone can see from a CHARACTER perspective that this is not a storytelling fight that Cersei is likely to win. Easy win from a storytelling perspective on who will triumph.

We have the Night King coming and a completely overmatched adversary that only has allies that we don’t emotionally care about or haven’t even been introduced yet. So you’re telling me those are the big finale conflicts? An enemy in the Night King who has no narrative nuance and a few humans that no one cares about?

So I looked at where another conflict could develop. We have the two characters that are widely viewed as the two “heroes” of the story: Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.

I looked at the Northern/Targaryen Alliance and this pops out: 

There aren’t any characters with political power that are loyal to Daenerys other than Jon Snow right now.

Sansa - loyal to Jon Tormund - loyal to Jon Jaime - loyalties changing. Tried to kill Daenerys. Much more like to fight for Sansa/Jon Edmure Tully - loyal to the Starks, most likely his sister’s daughter Sansa Yohn Royce - wanted to name Sansa Queen in the North. Loyal to Sansa. Theon - asked Jon about saving Yara. Didn’t consult Daenerys. Special bond with Sansa. Loyal to Jon and Sansa. Tyrion, Varys, the Unsullied, Missandei, and the Red Priestesses have no political power.

Why would it matter anyway? Jon and Daenerys will just unite them and it’ll all work out!

R+L=J explodes all of Daenerys’ relevant Westerosi support and shifts the game dramatically to Sansa.

“Oh c’mon, that’s just shipping goggles talking.”

Reasons why thinking this is based on shipping shows your inherent inability to understand narratives and story themes:

The North does not want a Southern ruler

Jon’s claim as KiTN is based on being the son of Ned Stark

The North especially does not trust Targaryens

The is a story of the political fracture of the North and South amidst an existential threat

This is not a story of how the best killers become the best rulers

Jon Snow’s hold on the North will be tenuous after RLJ is revealed

Sansa Stark becomes the most powerful political Northerner due to RLJ and the only way this doesn’t happen is if Bran decides to becomes a political figure

Daenerys’ political stature with every potential Westerosi subject goes down dramatically

THE GAME HAS SHIFTED COMPLETELY

Let’s refer back to the season 7 / episode 7 political map:

The shaded blue area loyal to Jon becomes ENTIRELY DEPENDENT ON SANSA STARK to remain loyal to Jon.

If Cersei Lannister falls...it gets even uglier for Daenerys.

It’s entirely plausible that:

Riverlands return to the Tully’s - loyal to Sansa, possibly Jon, not Daenerys

The Reach goes to Samwell - (assuming he is done with the Night’s Watch) he would be the rightful heir. Loyal to Jon. Father and brother burned to death by Daenerys.

Stormlands - could go to Gendry. It’s at least plausible. It wouldn’t make sense for any other character to serve in that role in the present time anyway. Loyal to Jon, pre-existing relationship with Arya, son of Robert Baratheon. No loyalty to Daenerys.

Iron Islands - returned to either Theon or Yara. “You’re a Greyjoy, and you’re a Stark.” Loyal to the Starks. Maayyyyybe lingering loyalty to Daenerys...but why would they?

Westerlands - good chance only one of Tyrion or Jaime survive. If it’s Jaime, loyal to anyone but Daenerys. Most likely loyal to Sansa through Brienne and Cat. If Tyrion, maybe he remains loyal to Daenerys - even though there were layers and layers of seeds of doubt shown between Daenerys and Tyrion...but this remains her best shot for support long-term.

These are all plausible because, as yet, the show has presented no other realistic options for rulers of these different regions and it’s unlikely that the show will strip them all of political power in the “breaking the wheel” sense.

Where is Daenerys’ claim as Queen? Where is her support? She’s not the heir and she doesn’t command the loyalties of these different houses.

Let’s look at another version of the map...this time assuming Cersei falls, the houses that control those regions, and their primary loyalties.

Jon as the Targ sigil, Sansa as the Stark sigil (I know it’s the white wolf version, shut up), and Dany as....herself.

The North - the Starks

The Iron Islands - Jon or Sansa, highly unlikely Dany

Riverlands - Sansa

Vale - Sansa

The Reach - Jon

Stormlands - Jon

Dorne - unknown. Generously saying maybe Dany.

Westerlands - unknown. Generously saying maybe Dany but only if both Tyrion survives and her relationship with Tyrion survives.

So a union which two characters would automatically make the most political sense?

Assuming a combined Targ/Stark sigil...here’s how the map looks.

Before, the Reach and Stormlands would be most likely for Jon --  the Riverlands and Vale would be most likely for Sansa, the Iron Islands would be potentially for both while Dorne and the Westerlands would be unclear.

Now, you have the North, the Iron Islands, the Riverlands, the Vale, the Crownlands, the Reach, the Stormlands solidly united with the Westerlands and Dorne still to be determined.

So, if you still think this is based strictly on shipping goggles, this is a definitive theory that logically reconnects Westeros and repairs the fractured relationship of the North and the South. If you are unable to see why this makes sense and how it could happen, it’s more of an indication that you are not willing to look at the political groundwork the series has put forward so far. 

This is logical, this is plausible. This is NOT irrational shipping. This is why Jonsa makes complete sense.

[janiedean]

While i hate antis and their bullying everytime they shaming a fictional ship because i believe that "Fiction is not reality", I also agree that fiction can be a good role model for the real world for example : Diana's characterisation in Wonder Woman to show us more variety of strong woman character or Theon's PTSD scene to how us what REAL PSTD scene looks like (and we're mad when people keep saying that Theon just being coward in that scene). How should we balance the two, in your opinion?

okay, so, first thing, I think we need to make a basic distinction and state that fiction influences reality and people might be influenced by fiction do not mean the same thing whatsoever.

then we have to make another distinction ie there’s such a thing as massively consumed fiction and less consumed fiction/fandom and both are also different.

then we also have to state that one thing is emulating characters, one thing is finding them interesting or recognizing yourself in them.

last thing that instead is valid for everything, one thing is good things being represented in fiction, the other is bad things being represented in fiction.

let’s go from easier to hardest.

easier: massively consumed vs fandom. now, what people on tumblr fail to realize is that most of the planet doesn’t not give a fuck about fandom or engages with it. I mean, if you’re into it you would, but I know a bunch of people who are nerds/into fandom who don’t ship nor are into fanfic. fanfic/fanart/whatever influences people maybe on a fandom-level, but if you assume that people at large might start thinking incest is fine because thor/loki exists (which is a purely fanon thing) or because jaime/cersei exists (actual mainstream stuff but not as large as idk SW), you’re frankly deluding yourself because only thor/loki shippers give two fucks about thor/loki and not counting a few people I can think of, no one thinks jaime/cersei makes incest okay nor abusive relationships okay. thor/loki isn’t even represented in fiction, it’s fanfic, jaime/cersei is represented in fiction, but no one would think either thing makes banging your brother okay whether it’s dysfunctional (t/l) or just downright abusive (j/c). in that case assuming that if you’re into t/l or j/c you want to bang your brother is the bad case which assumes that whichever fiction in existence influences reality directly.

that said, no one is actually wanting to make a social justice point while having jc being a thing or t/l being dysfunctional. it’s dynamics that are interesting to explore.

wonder woman giving more variety to a strong female character instead is extremely mass-consumption media which would show a lot of people that different type (because a lot more people watch DC movies than GOT) then you show them differently and they might start thinking differently about strong female characters. or idk black kids seeing the new star wars and liking that there’s a black lead (same for the mcu and falcon/black panther) is also an extremely mass-consumption thing, because of course most people watch star wars and know what the hell star wars is. in that case you have fiction making a positive impact on reality (or maybe reflecting reality) but it’s also, like, reasonable. because sw-the-movies have impact and normalize that the leads in the story can also be not always white blonde men with blue eyes, but the star wars fandom - and I’m just talking about the part that produces fanfic/fanart and not about the people cosplaying stormtroopers and so on - influences shit. no one is going to make people think force-choking someone is going to be okay because k*ylux fic exists, same as no one thinks that killing a bunch of children is okay because anakin did it in the prequels and no one is ever gonna think you’re a psychopath because you stan k*ylo ren same as no one who watches star wars (IN GENERAL) sees kylo and thinks WOW HAVING SUCH A BAD VILLAIN WILL BE A BAD INFLUENCE TO CHILDREN, because a generation or two grew up thinking vader was cool but no one ever thought what vader did was right. I mean, people who don’t have issues distinguishing the two facts (and usually the people who do are radical SOMETHING, conservatives or antis or whatever) are entirely aware that reality lets itself being influenced by fiction to a certain degree when it’s about positive things, not for negative things at large.

now obviously you have exceptions like fifty shades of gray which is a bad fanfic that has turned mainstream (relatively) and so now there’s a bunch of people convinced that it’s real BDSM TM, but that’s because in society people don’t get educated about how abusive relationships work or toxic relationships work so they don’t recognize it in shitty fanfic turned mainstream, but that’s where you focus your efforts and educate people, you don’t say that since fifty shades is shit then you can’t write books or make movies about bdsm period, which is what the idiots seem to want.

now, moving on to point one: as stated above, *fiction* as a thing doesn’t influence reality or every kid who’s ever read HP would have committed suicide trying to fly off the window on a broom, which is a thing that we know doesn’t exist irl and cannot exist irl. and mainstream fiction can influence reality as much as we let it for positive things, because honest, who’s ever turned violent because of videogames? no one, but since we all have violent instincts buried somewhere maybe killing people in a videogame lets you blow off some steam and whatever because you know it’s fake. of course there’s the matter of age appropriate content, but if a parent lets a seven year old watch GOT or play GTA and then that kid is traumatized it’s their parents’ fault, not the fault of the media which was clearly labeled for adults. or I mean, I read/watched media that was above my age when I was ten but I was ready for it and my parents knew it, if I wasn’t they wouldn’t have let me.

also, on the ptsd angle: in the punisher there’s plenty of examples of realistic ptsd post-war, but I haven’t seen anyone yet say anything sensed on what was to me the most realistic and well done character in that sense (lewis wilson) because people kept on saying he was *white terrorist* and that the show didn’t excuse his action with *mental illness* without knowing that having ptsd post-combat is like, being mentally ill. that show was excellent rep in that sense, but have people in fandom caught up on it or understood it? meh. people outside it yes, and maybe some people on here, too, but not as many as I’d like. same goes for theon - WITHIN FANDOM because the ptsd thing was fairly understood OUTSIDE IT. which means that the real world is getting more sensitive to that narrative, tumblr isn’t. in that case, the real world is letting himself be influenced or touched by that narrative, tumblr isn’t. what do we know.

so, tldr for this part: fiction only influences X as far as you let it and people in general do know that if wrong thing is depicted in fiction it’s wrong. I mean, I never heard of anyone becoming a pedophile after watching or reading mysterious skin, which is a really fucking good movie which doesn’t romanticize the subject at all. 

now, about the last part ie personal identification/emulation: now, never mind that emulating a character is usually done by the time you’re ten and before then you pretend to be batman while playing with your friends but you know you’re not batman, and past five you do know that if superman can fly, you a regular human being can’t. the point is that fictional people are written by real people, so if they’re realistic and the writers write them well, they’ll be relatable, and if they’re relatable they might influence you as a person or make you find shit out about yourself that might change you, and in that sense it does influence reality somehow, or if you use it to cope with trauma then it surely helps you, but who you relate to isn’t what others might. we can say that we have basic level, representation level, using-it-to-cope level.

now I’m gonna go use myself as a template since I’ve for good and for bad have used fiction to cope with shit for my entire life, so. under the cut because this is long and the next part is all personal shit so people should have the right to scroll past it xD

basic level: when I was fifteen I was having a shit time, I read the dark tower, I ran into my Favorite Character Ever, the guy used shitty humor to deal with crap all the time, it was a tendency I already had and I went like ‘okay if it worked for him why didn’t it work for me’ and today I’m someone who deals with about anything by using shitty humor or joking about it and it’s helped me tremendously honestly, if I took everything too seriously I’d be a terrible person. also, that helped me with self-confidence to a point and blah blah blah it made my life tangentially better. but that was just, like, about me. and I didn’t certainly try to emulate the guy’s worst flaws, because that wasn’t the point. anyway, I found the guy relatable but I didn’t see him as, like, representation or anything.

representation level/slightly coping level: I read asoiaf when I was twenty-two. I am sad I didn’t before because when I ran into brienne I was slammed with a brick in the face that was saying OH HEY THAT’S SOMEONE WHO’S ACTUALLY LIKE YOU/HAD YOUR EXPERIENCES. I don’t just relate to brienne, I identify with brienne to a fairly bad degree, and I’m really sad I didn’t run into her before because I might have gathered a great deal of self-confidence from seeing that there was a main character somewhere who was ugly/seen as ugly by anyone else and still was an a+++ person who could do worthwhile things and was a viable love interest for Hot Guy. (idk if it shows when I write jb fic but it’s there, so.) did brienne change my life? not as much as she could have if I had read acok when it was released, but she did give me some hope that with GOT becoming mainstream not-conventionally-pretty women would get some mainstream rep, because sure af there wasn’t much when I grew up. if that happens? fiction did influence reality, but in the wonder woman/good kind. again, no one (me or anyone else) would want to be like brienne by GRABBING A SWORD AND KILLING PEOPLE, we’d rather probably just get confidence/inspired by what she does. because she’s a well-written character that entirely gets it.

except that a lot of asoiaf fans think that she’s boring or useless or see nothing in her. which is fine - it’s not their target I guess, but again, a character who’s extremely important to me means nothing to other people and certainly doesn’t influence them.

coping/potentially badwrong coping level: so, as a person I’m really not into badwrong/dysfunctional dynamics that don’t make people better. as such, I tend to ship healthy couples/dynamics where the two people make each other better.

which is why I never was remotely interested in thor/loki as a thing in my entire life until two months ago - WAIT - and for all my time in the mcu I always felt a visceral dislike for loki I never really dwelt upon while at the same time whenever I saw thor bashing (ie he’s an idiot or he’s a bully or he doesn’t understand loki and the likes) I always felt a visceral distaste in my mouth like NO DON’T IT’S NOT LIKE THAT, but since it wasn’t even my favorite mcu franchise and thor isn’t my favorite mcu character I never, like, thought about it. I just went with the obvious ‘everyone likes loki because ANTAGONISTS which I don’t get and I get angry on thor’s behalf because he doesn’t deserve that shit’. all good until I watch ragnarok which is, like, COMPLETE CRACK ON A STICK AND NOT A SERIOUS MOVIE AT ALL and which probably did not mean to be a psychological textbook and at the end I’m like ‘fuck okay maybe I ship it a bit and now that loki’s done with the angst maybe I can tolerate him’, and then not long later or so I get hit with another ton of bricks in the face and realize that of course I always had that feeling, that was because thor and loki had the exact same dysfunctional dynamic I had with my former best friend of fourteen years that I haven’t talked to for at least seven years and which is like the root of 70% of the issues I have. all of them. and like, loki was like her except Much More Extra and on a larger scale, thor was me except Much More Extra and the more I think about it the more it just fits 100% and you don’t even wanna know how I’ve spent this last month, because I had no idea I spent six years with those feelings about that dynamic because of that, I had no idea I actually found thor that relatable on a visceral level and I still have Unresolved Issues with that person and I can’t solve them with them personally for reasons. if I actually end up writing them fanfic where I, uh, subtly address personal issues and it works, then that badwrong-ish fic has influenced me for the best (and says all that I realized it just when they reconciled, I didn’t let myself do it before). but like, that wouldn’t mean that I wanted to bang my ex-friend or that I suddenly approve of incest - because sure af I didn’t want to bang her and sure af I didn’t turn into PLEASE DO BANG YOUR SIBLINGS WHENEVER YOU WANT (ew no). that’s the damned difference. thor and loki banging in whatever fanfic won’t make anyone excuse incest and won’t influence anyone outside thor fandom on ao3 - hell, at most it’s going to influence me because if I do it I’m doing it to work through my issues. it doesn’t change reality at large.

like, fiction can be a model for something you want to see more of or you can find characters role models or relatable and it can present you a view of the world, but at the end of the day we all know that it’s not real and we only use it to filter reality and/or ourselves through it and it helps us doing it, which is why something that makes sense to me - ie that thor is extremely relatable - won’t make sense to someone who finds loki relatable for reasons I couldn’t even begin to imagine. maybe the same piece of fiction/media both influences us, but it influences us very differently because we see it through different lens. and the thing is that if you conflate the two things and start emulating characters past the age of four then you have a problem distinguishing the two things and you need to get over it/get help/whatever, because to everyone else it’s normal to see the world through fiction or part of it. if you do because I know people who think fiction is merely fiction and don’t understand the point of relating to a character in the first place. 

so like tldr, fiction influences you as much as you let it and it’s something you use actively and that is there for everyone to interpret, but it can’t, just existing, influence anything especially because if no one reads it or watches it then it’s useless. and since most **problematic** stuff is consumed by people who actively look for it and know what they’re doing - again, no one reads tentacle porn on ao3 if they don’t like tentacle porn - you can’t say that by existing, incest fic or badwrong fic normalizes abuse, because it only does if you let it and if you don’t know what abuse is and you can’t recognize it for what it is. like, a piece of fiction doesn’t need to spell THIS IS WRONG for you to know that I dunno t/hramsay fanfic is not what you should want in a relationship, you have to know that, and that’s on you, not on something that’s not mass-consumption - because badwrong fic and stuff is usually written by badwrong fans for badwrong fans, not by hired disney writers for star wars movies that have to be good for children, adults, nerds and the mass audience at large.

you balance the two by knowing that badwrong stuff is wrong irl (and it’s not a stretch) and by looking at the world through the lenses of whatever not badwrong fiction you enjoy/like/relate to, which can also be badwrong of course (see the thor/loki rant above) but like the fact that it does it to us singularly doesn’t mean that all of a sudden THE ENTIRE WORLD IS INFLUENCED BY THE EXISTENCE OF FAKE THINGS.

nor that WE SHOULD PUT THAT MUCH IMPORTANCE on fake things, because one thing is all of the above, another is saying that a piece of media is trash because it doesn’t have the representation you want in it or thinking that since something exists in fiction then you won a social justice battle. again: fiction is a tool, it’s not the ending nor the beginning of anything. having more black people in media won’t be what stops black people go to jail in the US at a higher rate than white people for the same crimes, but it might help making people relate to someone who’s different and so normalize some stuff... if you watch/consume that media and choose to engage with it. (ie, brooklyn 99′s boss is a gay black man in a stable relationship with a white professor and it’s not what you usually see on tv and it will work for casual watchers, but I doubt someone who usually watches fox news then also watches b99 - you can’t win your wars through fiction, to convince the fox news watcher to not vote trump you have to talk to him and not show him a sitcom. and mind that this can be reversed ie all the anti-russian/islamic propaganda in the US which tends to normalize russians/muslims as The Bad Guy - it works along with other things, not just on its own) the key is in knowing that fiction is made by people and consumed by people and eventually begins and ends with the people who make it and consume it in whichever way, and not in thinking that it’s above us and is something divine that changes the world just by existing.

[greyjoy-archer-blog]

A Beautiful friendship (of sorts)

(So I'm basically getting back into the swing of writing now that things in my life have calmed down and I just wanted to do a short random story. Enjoy :D) 

Summary: Yara makes an unexpected friend while waiting to pick up her baby brother. 

Word count: 2035

11:06 was the time when both of them had been dragged out of their respective homes. Both out from their warm beds. After all, a long night of drinking assured that.

Yara had been the first to arrive at the centre. She was there leaning against the bulletin board filled with schedules for clubs and after-school programmes, all of which Yara was tempted to change just to create a bit of chaos. She decided against it as Theon would probably need to see what time it was on again next week at.  A yawn escaped her lips as checked her phone for the time. She threw her head back and muttered a question about how much longer he was going to be.

Theon totally owned her for making her get up and away from her Dornish beauty Elleria. Then again being stuck in the room with a bunch of people telling depressing stories seemed like torture enough.

Clearly, she was not the only one who was running late to the rendezvous point as a car with the most obnoxious sounding engine Yara's poor, half deafened ears had ever heard. The colour was almost blinding her with how deeply red it was. She didn't even need to see who was driving as the car reeked of the Lannister motif. Though what a Lannister was doing here at a place like this at this time in the morning was a mystery to her.

Yara observed as the small man got out of the car with such a mojo she thought was not possible yet here she was witnessing it. She was jealous because that was the walk of a many who could sleep with any woman he desired. Upon his scarred face was a pair of sunglasses and Yara knew exactly why they were there. What other reason was there for wearing shades on the cloudy morning of November 2nd?

She could see he was holding a cup probably filled with some type of home-brewed coffee and he climbed up on the seat beside her texting away probably to one of the Lannister friends. Theon had not told her who Tyrion was friends with but she had heard the names Bronn and Podrick thrown around a couple of times.

They locked eyes for a moment but both of them found it would be too awkward to have a conversation. Then again she had no idea how much longer Theon was going to be with his group and since she knew vaguely who he was she might as well try to fill the sullen silence with something.

"So you're the imp eh?" Yara initiated. Tyrion was about to have the hot drink reach his lips but he put it down at the mention of his well-known nickname. He sighed and cracked his hands in anticipation of the verbal beatdown he was about to bestow. He did not know who she was but he was observant and within a matter of seconds had pieced together her identity. He had enough people commenting on his height and he did not need a random stranger doing it now.

He was trying to do this as quickly as possible. He had left a perfectly good woman back in his bed. Shae would hold down the fort until he got back but in reality, he really did miss her company.

"And I assume you're the Kraken Lesbian?" Tyrion shot back at her without having to take a second thought about it. The quip had been so quick that it took her a moment to genuinely realize what he had said.

Yara's lips turned into a smirk and a small laugh when it clicked. "Ay, you'd be correct," Yara said taking a quick swig from the cleverly concealed bottle of black rum she had brought along. As the cork was removed from the water bottle Tyrion recognized the smell as he was all too familiar with it. Of course, everyone who wasn't a blood relation was trying to get him to stop his assistant drinking but what they didn't know was that often his coffee always had that little something extra to pick it up.

Since she took it jokingly he lowered his defensive stance around her. When his shoulders detented she was able to

"How'd you know? Was it the bumper sticker?" She said pointing towards her car which had in the biggest font possible 'I love women'.

Tyrion was going to have a lot of fun talking with her, he could already tell.  He cleared his throat. "I was going to say it was the lipstick stain on your neck along with the multitude of coloured hickeys, the general scent of sex but that would be a good hint as well."

Yara was impressed on how observant he was but it was mostly her fault considering how many obvious clues she was giving him. Time hadn't been on her side this morning. She should try to decipher him but it looks like she already had. "Theon was right. You do know things."

Another piece of information for Tyrion's sharp mind to begin to dissect. "Ahh, so that's why you're here."

Yara did not think that she had met such an interesting conversationalist before. Uncertainty surrounded her knowing that it was common knowledge that Theon went to a support group. He didn't like his private matters being publicly known but it was what they could afford. Which was bad considering it was free.

Euron had taken all of their inheritance and they were fighting to try and get it back but in the meantime, they could not afford the private therapy sessions that would really be better for Theon so the support group was the best option. Yara did not want it to be this way and the chance of them getting financial aid form the starks was pretty damn slim. It wasn't that they wouldn't be cold hearted it was simply that Theon wouldn't allow his current boyfriend to be paying for him to essentially get better. Also, Robb wasn't exactly informed on the entire 'Bolton situation' and Theon planned to keep it that way.

Yara then turned it around and focused on him instead to save talking anymore about her own family. "I assume you're here to pick someone up as well? I mean you're hardly going to be going to the therapy group."

The sarcasm in his voice was rising to an all-time high. "No my father would never allow it to be public. I'm here for Sansa. Robb is away on business so Sansa asked me to pick her up instead."

She had to admit it was a little odd that Robb hadn't bothered to ask her to pick up them both but she could angrily text him about it when she got a better connection.

"How's she doing?"

Tyrion wasn't exactly sure what to say. She was doing well by all means but she had a long way to go in terms of recovery. "She's alright. Then again my nephew did not help."

"Neither did Ramsay." Yara took another longer yet harder drink of the alcohol.

Both grimaced at the mention of that name. He had ruined very important people in their lives. Tyrion had not met him in person, however, he could clearly see the damage that he had caused. Theon seemed to get it worse but had an equal effect on the poor Stark girl.

It was strangely ironic how it was the psychopath who they had never personally met was the one reason the both of them were there. Yara was there for her baby brother and Tyrion was the one who was there for Sansa.

"I need something stronger.  What have you got? And don't say coffee. I know it's not." She said giving him the look.

Tyrion looked at his cup considering whether or not he should give it to her or not. His mind came to the conclusion that he might as well to see her reaction to his own special little brew and thus the trade began. They changed both their drinks and they both drank on the count of three. Yara spat it out as soon as it made contact with her tongue. She coughed up the murky red liquid and wiped it away from her face and tried to rub the stain out of her top. Normally her taste buds were accustomed to the stronger types of alcohol such as old reliable vodka mixed with rum but this was something she had never experienced before.

"What in the seven hells this poison?!" She looked at what remained with contempt while Tyrion was laughing his ass off at her volatile reaction and the stares that they had attracted.

"Imp's delight. I assume it's too strong for you." Tyrion took back the travel mug with the Lion inscribed on the side and looked her deep in the eyes as he finished off the entire thing in one go.

"It's nearly noon and you've been sipping at this probably since you drove up. How are you still breathing?" She asked him half joking half legitimate concern.

He decided that he had enough trust to let her in on the truth. "I'm never sober. That's how I stay functioning."

"You shouldn't be driving." She told him concerned that he could have hurt someone while drunk driving.

A sloppy laugh came from the Dwarf. Yara failed to see what was so funny. "I'm not. Podrick is."

Yara looked back towards the Lannister's car and now only realized that there was a man still sitting in the driver's seat. If Yara had to describe him she would say with certainty he was a man whose face had never quite gotten past the baby stage.

"Hello!" Podrick yelled from the car as he saw that his friend was pointing towards him. Yara nodded slightly in response. It was fair enough he was endangering no one.

They would have continued their conversation was it not for the doors swinging open and a small crowned of people filling out. When Theon walked out Yara ran up to him an ended up choking the life out of her poor baby bro.

"Hey, Yara. Thanks for picking me up. I hope you weren't too bored waiting for me." He did feel a pang of guilty for dragging her out at this time but he didn't want to have to walk all the way home and after his sessions, all he wanted to do was go home and sleep.

"Eh, I was grand. I had Tyrion for some company." She nodded her head towards him and he looked up towards Theon. In his mind, his sister and Tyrion made the perfect hosts of a party. They were going to be friends. Maybe not best friends but good friends at least.

Sansa came out a couple of seconds later and went beside Tyrion. "Oh Thank you so much Tyrion for picking me up on short notice."

"It is no problem, Sansa. Really." He said making himself look as presentable as possible. Yara hiding a snicker.

"Well, I suppose we had best make our own ways. I am a busy man and I'm out of coffee." He said knowing that he and Yara were the only two who knew the deeper meaning behind it. Theon and Sansa said their farewells and so did the new pair of friends.

"I will see you at some point."

"This time next week?"

Both nodded in agreement. "It is a plan. Goodbye Tyrion. Although I'll bring the coffee next time."

"Goodbye Yara." Tyrion extended his hand for what was going to be a simple handshake but Yara, being an iron born, knew nothing of gentleness and picked him up in and ruffed up his hair before replacing him back on the solid ground.

This was the start of a beautiful friendship. Of sorts.

[nyangibun]

Little Wolf: Part V

@jonsa-countdown

PART I | PART II | PART III | PART IV - AO3 LINK

PART V: SONGS

January 10, 2016

“I feel like a frozen watermelon,” Margaery complained. She had a protective hand over her engorged belly and another one pressed over her eyes.

It was a typical frosty winter, no different than the last. Snow blanketed the rolling hills and mountaintops, driving most of Winterfell and its neighbouring towns indoors. The temperature had dropped into the negatives late last night. Sansa had come over to watch over Margaery, while Robb, Jon and their team traveled further north to help search for missing hikers. Every year, there was always a couple who thought they could brave the Scottish weather, and every year, the Fire and Rescue team would have to go out and save them. Sansa didn’t want to think badly of people she didn’t know and who were probably already scared beyond their wits, but every time it happened, it was her brother and her friends’ lives on the line and it angered her that there were people that foolish.

“I can heat up a hot water bottle for you.”

Margaery removed her hand, blinking at Sansa, and smiled. “It’s okay. I’m not that uncomfortable yet. Give me a few months though and you might just have to move in. God knows your brother is useless.”

Sansa chuckled. “Robb tries, but…”

“He’s easily distracted?” Margaery snorted and shifted so she could lean against the sofa. “I know. Trust me.”

It had taken awhile for Sansa to warm up to Margaery when they first started dating three years ago. The brunette was kind and sweet, but Sansa always had the underlying sense that she never said what she meant. This proved to be true the more Sansa got to know her, but Margaery was an ambitious woman in a male-dominated world. She learned a long time ago that in order to succeed in life she had to keep her cards close to her chest; otherwise men will try to undermine her at every given opportunity. Sansa could understand that. In fact, learning to steel oneself away from the world was a lesson she had learned all too well, and that had been the defining moment in their friendship. Knowing that about Margaery made Sansa like her infinitely more, and knowing Sansa understood made Margaery more open to her as well.

But being close to Margaery Tyrell-Stark also meant the woman was as shrewd as ever in reading her.

“What’s going on with you and Jon?”

No holding punches; just blunt interrogation.

Sansa resolutely kept her eyes glued to the tv. “We’re friends.”

“Don’t. You can fool Robb, but c’mon. Friends don’t eyefuck each other from across the room.” At Sansa’s groan, Margaery made a triumphant little noise. “Indulge a pregnant woman.”

“Jon is Jon, Marg. I don’t know what you want me to say,” she sighed, already feeling exhausted with this conversation. It was one Jeyne brought up quite frequently, and even Theon at one point, but that was a drunken awkward conversation she’d rather forget. “He’s…”

“Your perfect soulmate?” Margaery supplied. She squealed with laughter when Sansa kicked her foot. “Okay, fine. You’re friends. Do you want something more?”

“No,” she answered a little too quickly. “After Petyr, I just…” She hesitated. This was something she hadn’t ever told anyone before, not even Jeyne, but maybe it was time to confess. “The thought of anyone touching me makes me feel dirty and I don’t want to feel that way about Jon.”

Margaery’s hand slipped into Sansa’s. She squeezed lightly. “You know it’ll pass, don’t you, Sans? That feeling will go away.”

“When?” she demanded. “When will I stop looking over my shoulder and imagining his face there? Because it hasn’t stopped and I just – Jon means too much to me, Marg. I can’t let this taint him the way it has everything else in my life.”

“So, he’ll wait.” Her friend looked at her with such sincerity in her words it made Sansa’s heart ache because it simply wasn’t true.

“And I’d be a bitch to ask him to,” Sansa pointed out. “Jon deserves better.”

“Better than you?” Margaery snorted. “There’s no such thing, babe.”

Thankfully, Sansa was saved from replying when the door burst open. A swirl of snow swept into the house, as Robb and Theon carried a limping Jon over to the adjacent sofa. Sansa immediately stood up, panicked and worried. Jon’s face was contorted in pain.

“What happened?” Margaery asked. She wiggled, but then decided standing up was too much of an effort for her. “Are you alright?”

Jon sighed. “Slipped. It’s nothing.” When Sansa moved towards him, he put up a hand, his smile fond but tired. “Sans, I’m okay I promise.”

She rolled her eyes as she settled on her knees to take a look at his leg. “Where does it hurt?”

“We already checked. Nothing’s broken, but he probably twisted his knee, the prick.” Her brother had his arms crossed over his chest. The Robb Stark sign of abject displeasure. “We told him not to be a hero, but he just had to go and do it anyway.”

“What did he do?” She glanced towards her brother, whose eyes betrayed his anger. He was just as concerned as her.

“Their knapsack got stuck on the side of a cliff with their cameras inside. Apparently, it had a year’s worth of photos.” Robb didn’t sound impressed, and neither was Sansa.

“So you decided it was your job to save it?” she demanded of the man before her. Jon had the good sense to look regretful. Sansa still stood up and smacked his shoulder. “You numpty.”

He caught her hand before she could pull back and circled his fingers around her wrist. “I’m sorry, Sansa.” Jon’s eyes looked earnest, but he also looked like he was more sorry for worrying her than getting injured. “Hey, forgive me?”

She pursed her lips and shook her head. “No.” Sansa turned back to her brother and friends. “I assume you brought him here so I could drive him home?”

Theon looked sheepish. “His flat is on the opposite side of town. We just figured you’d want to since you two are –”

Margaery kicked him harshly in the shin, causing Theon to yelp loudly. She smiled sweetly back. “Since you two are such good friends.” She turned her smile onto her husband. “Robb, honey, can you help me up the stairs? All this drama is making me sleepy.”

It wasn’t the most subtle save, but Robb was all too eager to please his pregnant wife, so he nodded and quickly went over to help Margaery up.

“Let yourselves out. Night!” she called as the two disappeared up the stairs.

Theon rubbed his leg and sighed. “My cue to leave too. Call me tomorrow, Snow. And uh, sorry, Sans. Bye.”

As the door clicked shut and the voices of Margaery and Robb disappeared behind their bedroom, Sansa sighed, running her free hand through her hair. Jon laughed and tugged her towards him. “Don’t,” she said. “I’m still mad at you.”

“I’m fine,” he emphasised. He still had his hand wrapped around her wrist, soothing the worry that he was in any danger tonight. “There was a moment when I thought that this might be it,” he admitted quietly. He watched her carefully as he spoke. “It was a split second truthfully, barely worth mentioning, but in that second I thought, ‘god, I can’t die. I still have to take Sansa to the Chelsea Flower Show.’”

Sansa laughed. “Really? That was what you were thinking about?”

“Yeah,” Jon smirked, as he dropped her hand and leaned back against the sofa, a picture of ease. “I can’t disappoint my favourite girl.”

Warmth bloomed in her chest, the kind of unbidden hope and affection she didn’t want. Sansa stepped away. “We should get you home. It’s getting late.” If Jon noticed the abrupt change, he didn’t comment on it. He merely nodded and stood up shakily on one leg. Sansa immediately went to shoulder his weight. “Are you sure you shouldn’t go to A&E?”

“If it doesn’t get better in a couple days, I’ll go. Will that make you feel better?”

“Make it twenty-four hours.”

“You got it, Princess Sansa.” He bowed his head and tugged on the end of her hair like he always did when he thought he was being cute. Sansa snorted. Together, they half stumbled their way to her car.

Once they were on the road, Jon began to fiddle restlessly with the car radio. He changed channels so many times Sansa was two seconds away from hitting the brakes and throwing him out into the cold. Finally, he stopped, a bright smile pulling on his lips.

“I love this song.” He turned his whole body so he could look at her. “My mum used to sing it to me, but she’d replace ‘girl’ with ‘boy’.”

“With your curls, Snow, you could easily have passed for a girl,” Sansa told him, winking.

He laughed and shook his head. “Actually, people used to think I was a girl. Mum said I had such a full head of hair as a baby that people just assumed. I guess it didn’t help she dressed me in pinks and yellows all the time.”

“I bet you were a cute chubby baby.” And she bet he had the rosiest cheeks and the sweetest eyes. Oh, how she would have loved to see baby pictures of Jon. Unfortunately, the fire that took Lyanna’s life had also taken a good chunk of Jon’s childhood. So many memories lost in the ashes.

Jon shrugged, adorable little spots of pink on his cheeks. He didn’t say anything for awhile, but then suddenly in an incredibly off-key pitch, he started to sing. “Well I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way?” He leaned forward. “My girl. Ooh, talking about my girl. My girl!”

“Jon Snow, you are absurd.” But even so, Sansa couldn’t help the laughter bubbling through, as he continued to sing loudly and very badly. He even made hand gestures. And she was embarrassed to admit that every time he pointed at her when he sang, ‘my girl’, hundreds of little butterflies flapped their wings excitedly in her stomach.

For the first time in months, as she sat here driving in the middle of the night with Jon singing beside her, Sansa felt free and unburdened by life’s realities. In this very moment, nothing could touch her. Not her past; not her insecurities; not even the knowledge that this was likely all there would ever be between them, because it didn’t matter. Jon was her best friend, the one person she counted on to always be there for her, and that was enough. She didn’t want or need any more.

May 14, 2017 - Present Day

It was getting warmer. The weather report said there would be a heat wave soon sometime at the end of May, which worried Sansa. She didn’t want Chloe to overheat. From all of the books she’d read about parenting, that was dangerous for a child as young as her. At the earliest opportunity, Sansa headed out to buy Chloe a fan for her room. It wasn’t hot enough yet for there to be a fan, but she wanted to be prepared in case the heat wave hit a week or so early. Weather reports weren’t always accurate after all.

Only half of the shops were opened this early on a Sunday. The first two stores she went to didn’t even sell fans yet, and by the fourth, Sansa’s irritability was at an all-time high, so of course that was the exact moment her arch nemesis at work decided to call after her from down the street.

“Sansa, dear, it’s so nice to see you!”

She grit her teeth and forced a smile onto her face. “Melissa, hi. It’s lovely to see you too.”

“We’ve missed you terribly at work,” the dark-haired woman said in her false dulcet tone. Sansa loathed her. Melissa Ferretti had been eyeing her job for the past year. It was one of the reasons why Sansa had such a hard time going on maternity leave at first, but in the end, Chloe always came before anything else. Still, she hated Melissa.

“I miss everyone there too,” Sansa said politely, hoping she sounded more sincere than she felt.

Melissa smiled broadly. “When do you think you’ll be back? I hope it’s soon.”

She very well knew that Sansa was taking close to a year off. She wasn’t going to half-arse raising Chloe. If she needed to, Sansa would rather quit her job than neglect her little wolf. “I can’t say yet. Chloe is still adjusting, so we’ll have to see.”

“We?”

It had been second nature to her for the past four months to refer to Jon and her as a ‘we’. She forgot most people still knew her as Single Sansa. She should tell Melissa that Jon was simply her co-parent and platonic housemate, but the surprise in her eyes made Sansa feel a little smug.

“Jon and I,” she said casually. “Actually, he’s with her right now and I promised I’d be home as soon as I’m done with my errands, so I’m afraid I have to run now. We should catch up sometime, Melissa.”

Sansa gave the other woman a perfunctory hug and quickly sped away before Melissa could start asking questions about who Jon was. “Okay, um… I’ll see you around!” Sansa heard from behind her. The smile now on her face was anything but insincere; it was perfectly self-satisfied.

After another ten minutes of wandering through town, Sansa finally found a sizeable fan and began her journey back home. The storm from a month ago appeared to have cleared Scotland for summer. The grass looked brighter and the sun more prominent even on cloudy days. She had lived in London for four years, but being down there had only cemented her love for the north. People up here were kinder, more generous with their feelings and there was a sense of community here that London lacked. Most importantly, this was home. Growing up, that had never meant much to her, not in the way it did for the other Starks. Sansa had always felt different, a runt in a pack of wild wolves. She left for London in the hopes that the dreams she harboured as a child would come true – glittering lights, new adventures and all the culture and art she could digest. In the end, Sansa found only heartbreak and an aching desire for home. Winterfell would always be where she belonged. Small as it was in comparison, it was the best place she knew, and driving through the hillside now towards her small little house, Sansa had never been more sure she made the best possible decision. If she hadn’t come home, she never would’ve had those last precious years with Robb and Margaery.

Pulling up into her driveway, Sansa noticed the window was open in Chloe’s nursery. Jon must be up. She hadn’t expected him to be awake yet. He got home at nearly three in the morning last night after what she presumed was a very late shift. She heard him stumbling about in the dark for a few minutes before his door shut and then silence. Late night shifts for them usually meant harrowing rescues and a part of her longed to speak to him about it, just to make sure he was doing okay, but they hadn’t really spoken much since that incident in town. She knew she didn’t have a right to be angry with him. Jon hadn’t done a single thing wrong except greet an old friend. It was Sansa with the problem, but confronting it seemed too complicated. It would only bring up things neither wanted to talk about right now.

Sansa left the fan on the floor in the lounge as she made her way up to Chloe’s nursery. The door was ajar, his voice drifting to where she stood frozen at the top of the stairs.

“I've got so much honey the bees envy me. I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees. Well I guess you'd say, what can make me feel this way?” Chloe giggled loudly, clapping her hands together, and she heard Jon’s responding chuckle. “That’s right, lil’ wolf. It’s you. You’re my girl. My favourite girl.”

Tears welled in her eyes. A part of her still thought of Chloe as her niece and resisted the idea of calling her Sansa’s daughter, but not for Jon. The moment he found out in the will what Robb and Margaery wanted, Chloe was his. And that became so crystal clear to her now. She was his daughter. It wasn’t Chloe Tyrell-Stark any longer. It was Chloe Snow-Stark. She was as much apart of Sansa’s family as she was apart of Jon’s.

And whatever happened in their past, they owed it to Chloe to figure out, as complicated as it may be. Sansa needed to move forward.