#did not mean to start ranting on about stannis the way i did but i just........god i love him so much

[navree]

Your first theory sounds more realistic - Aegon and Visenya, who’s relationships considered never warm, probably had an argument/fight and she said some horrible things (honestly, all her comments in the book are kinda vile and envious so no surprise here).

And I don’t think Aegon ever liked her. But could you blame him? Visenya’s personality is not very likeable, with her being stern and serious most of the time, she sound a lot like Stannis Baratheon and it’s not the kind of a person someone would like to be around. And Aegon seems like a no bullshit person and so I don’t think he would go along with her actions.

follow up to this

See now you're putting me in a tough position here because Stannis is one of my favorite guys in ASOIAF, I love him very much and I can, have, and will continue to talk about him ad nauseam until I am forcibly stopped.

I don't think Aegon and Visenya having a blowout argument where hurtful words are exchanged that worsens any rift that was growing between them is out of bounds. It's actually something I've floated for myself, as a subset of my own theory, that in grief they said harsh things that they've never taken back and it did worsen what was going on between them. They don't necessarily need to have a prior bad relationship for there to be a falling out that they couldn't recover from, especially in such a high stress environment like the First Dornish War.

Listen, I've always said, and I will continue to always say, that I will not knock on anyone's headcanons, especially when it comes to the Conquerors, who we know frighteningly little about as people. And if there are people who view their story the same way that it's been viewed throughout most of Westerosi history and run with that, then that's fine by me, great, go forth and go nuts, there's good content to be mined from that. But it's not going to be something I subscribe to myself. It's also just that simply, as a writer, I've always felt "woman scorned" to be an exceptionally boring trope. Of all the things that can be done with Visenya and Aegon and Rhaenys as people, and with their interlocking relationships, having it just be that Visenya was a jealous hag who hated everyone and who everyone hated right back just feels simplistic and lazy compared to any other possible option. It's not something I'd find narratively compelling on a character or story level, and if this were a narrative proper and that was what they went with, I'd be sorely disappointed.

I also don't think we can just categorically proclaim that Visenya and Aegon never liked each other. We know Visenya at least supported him publicly, that she crowned him as king herself and was an active participant in the Conquest (she was literally injured in battle for it), continued to support the realm even as their relationship worsened, she defended him fiercely whenever his life was in danger, especially during the Dragon's Wroth, to the point of forming the Kingsguard herself to protect him, and even after he was dead, she still offered advice and counsel to Aegon's son by Rhaenys even if she thought he was a bad fit for kingship and supplanted his heir with her own son. And on Aegon's side, he trusted Visenya to be a part of his unification of Westeros and gave her just as many commands as he did Rhaenys to make that possible, he had Visenya not just as a consort but as a co-administrator, as one of the two people most in charge of the day to day political runnings of the Seven Kingdoms, alongside Rhaenys, he trusted her to protect his life and he trusted her instincts when it came to others being charged to protect him also; he did go along with her actions in those various respects. And, most importantly, he still kept her as his wife even after Rhaenys entered the picture.

The idea that the two eldest Targaryen children must get married isn't some hard and fast law, it's just a custom that's followed within the family. And we know absolutely nothing about how Aegon's marriages shook out. We don't even know if he got married to both sisters at the same time, or if there was an original marriage of just him and Visenya with Rhaenys added in later (that's my personal view of it) once Aerion, who seems to have been the person most gunning for it in comparison to his children, was out of the picture, either through infirmity or outright death. But there was a period of time where Aegon was now the person in charge of making decisions on who he would wed, that's why he married Rhaenys at all, and on the flipside would be involved in any decisions about dissolving his original marriage. We don't know exactly how ending a marriage works in Westeros, given that we only get the Faith of the Seven's idea that a marriage can be put aside if it was never consummated. It's entirely possible that, if Aegon really just could never stand Visenya, he could have easily kicked her out of the marriage entirely, and likely been able to do so, rather than just changing the parameters of the marriage to include two wives once Rhaenys got involved. The fact that he did what he did can speak volumes to the respect and affection he had for Visenya, at least as a sister, if not as a romantic partner (I still think Visenya was a lesbian in love with Rhaenys and never saw Aegon as more than a little brother, and Aegon of course was in love with Rhaenys too and only viewed Visenya as a big sister).

None of this precludes there being a catastrophic rift later in life, or them turning on each other in hurtful ways. But in my view, not only through the evidence but also in what I like creatively, I don't think that's what it is. It seems that they liked each other fine early on in life, that they enjoyed each other and loved each other as family, and likely probably did have their own companionship due to some similar characteristics (Visenya was stern and serious, Aegon was, as you said, not someone who took bullshit and seemed to be more inclined to reservation than exhuberation), but the circumstances and stresses of life twisted and corroded that until it was something toxic and distant and hurtful that never fully recovered.

I also think the Stannis thing you mentioned is actually unintentionally revealing, anon. Because on the outside, yeah, Stannis doesn't seem like the kind of guy people would want to be around. He's stern and law abiding to a fault and stubborn and unforgiving, and that hasn't engendered much love for him in other people who don't know him personally. But we, the readers, have seen the inner workings of Stannis through someone who loves him borderline unconditionally, in Davos, and we learn a lot. We learn about Stannis as a kid who nurtured a hawk who would never be the kind of hunter he needed, just because he couldn't just abandon it to die. We learn about Stannis as someone who forced himself into atheism because he couldn't fathom a world where the gods would let him watch his parents die. We learn about Stannis as someone who struggled greatly in the choice between whether or not to abandon his principles in siding with Robert, a traitor, over Aerys, an anointed king, and chose his brother because he loved him. We learn about Stannis as someone who held out through an unimaginable siege and starvation out of loyalty to his brother's cause. We learn about Stannis as someone who values those who helps him, regardless of stations, and we learn about Stannis as someone who wants so desperately to do right by people even if it's not what he wants, like claiming kingship for Robert's sake and swearing his men to press Shireen's claim if he falls in battle even if he never wanted any of this. And we do see Stannis as more than just some asshole the way he's painted as by outsiders, we see him as someone who clearly cares for Davos personally, someone who loved his brothers in spite of feeling like it was never returned, someone who does love his daughter (one of the few good things the show ever did with Stannis were some of his moments with Shireen and his evident devotion to her, before That Scene in 5x09), someone with enough love for his fellow man that he'll go to the Wall to help the Night's Watch and take back Winterfell for the Starks even if it's not entirely in his best interests.

At his core, from what we see through Davos in his longstanding devotion and then Jon as the latter gets to know him more, Stannis is so much more than what he's painted as by the official histories and court gossip and word of mouth from people who've never met him personally or don't know him well beyond saying hi in the halls. He is a thousand times more than his reputation. Stannis is the King Who Cared. And none of that is outwardly evident to people who don't know him, to people who aren't entrusted to his confidences the way Davos is. That's actually a key part of ASOIAF, the way that what we see on the outside is so rarely able to also show us what's going on behind the scenes, the way that the opinions of a general populace often do not line up at all with the reality of the situation of what someone is like in their own thoughts and personalities, like Tyrion being derided as a monster when he was trying to save the city in ACOK.

So if Stannis is all of that, and if that's emblematic of one of the core messages of the book that's actually resonant in a lot of characters if you parse it out, is it so impossible to imagine the same can be said for Visenya? Visenya is someone we are learning about entirely through a history book, Fire & Blood is an in-universe textbook compiled long after Visenya was already dead; we learn nothing about her as a person beyond what's been officially recorded, certainly nothing from those closest to her, as neither she nor Aegon nor Rhaenys left any in person records about themselves or their feelings on each other. It's entirely possible, and honestly quite extraordinarily likely that Visenya, like Stannis, has a lot more to her as a person and as a character than meets the eye.

[hchollym]

You seem to like Jonsa, but I've seen some of your posts where you don't like Jon. How does that work?

That's because book!Jon and show!Jon are two completely different characters.

As a Jonsa fan, this is probably a very unpopular opinion, but... I like book!Jon & book!Jonsa, but I hate show!Jon & show!Jonsa.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with Kit at all, and I definitely think the way he portrayed Jon as looking at Sansa was very romantic in nature, but ultimately, show!Jon sucked.

For starters, he literally stole Sansa's birthright. When they named him King of the North, he didn't once stop to point out that Sansa had the rightful claim. As Ned's legitimate daughter and Robb's legitimate sister, she should have inherited the crown. Robb's will was never even brought up in the show, so Jon had no reason at all to think that he was before Sansa in the line of succession.

Compare this to book!Jon, who said to Stannis:

"Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa."

That is what he should have said when the other lords started chanting about the "King in the North" instead of just going along with their misogyny. That was just shady, in my opinion.

Then, after stealing her birthright, he dismisses her opinion constantly, is patronizing towards her ("And how should I be smarter? By listening to you?"), and doesn't even keep her informed about information that directly affects her and the North. She has to find things out at public meetings just like everyone else, so she gets to be thrown off guard and have no time to discuss any of his decisions in private (where those conversations should occur). This makes her seem like she's constantly trying to undermine him, when in reality, she's trying to have a discussion with him that should have already happened before they announced anything. It really showed that he didn't see her as his partner (in ruling), value her opinions, or take her thoughts into consideration when making decisions.

Then, he gives up the North (again, her birthright) to a Targaryen queen, which he knew Sansa was against. And I'm sick of the argument that he only did this to get Daenerys' dragons for the fight against the others. Daenerys already agreed to help before he bent the knee. At that point, it was completely unnecessary, and he let his own emotions control his actions.

Then, when Daenerys goes mad and burns Kings Landing and Jon kills her, the script literally says that Jon hasn't completely forgiven Sansa for her part in the situation. Excuse me, what? She marched an army down to Kings Landing to rescue Jon. What an ungrateful brat. And Jon was the one who refused to lie to Cersei about his allegiance, because it wasn't the "right" thing to do, but he expected Sansa to lie about his better claim to the throne, even though she had every reason to distrust Daenerys (such as her actions towards the Tarly men)? That's about as hypocritical as it gets.

And the fact that Daenerys went mad "because" of Sansa's honesty doesn't mean that Sansa was wrong; it means that Jon was wrong, because clearly Daenerys was capable of madness. Normal people don't suddenly burn a city down because someone shares a secret about them (regardless of how damaging the secret is). Essentially, Jon takes a lot of the blame off of Daenerys and puts it unfairly onto Sansa. It reminds me of how a narcissist will act like the victim when you dare to call them out for their behavior. Yes, Daenerys had awful things happen to her in her life, but so did most of the characters, and that doesn't give them the right to burn Kings Landing to the ground.

This became more of a rant than I intended, but long story short, show!Jon was exactly what Catelyn always feared. Book!Jon and book!Jonsa are so much better.

[janiedean]

if you ever wrote that rant about grrm making jon his chosen one deconstruction i'd be very happy to read it 👀

hello anon sorry for the lateness but here we go *deep breath*

sssooo, I had once ranted about it though not mentioning the thing I mentioned in those tags so lemme see if I can find the op and like... cp the main argument and amend it bc it was long, but okay so I found it, original anon asked me: why is Jon considered to be one of the most special characters grrm created? Why is he not the typical hero of fantasy books?, my original answer was here if anyone wants to go there but basically lemme just cp the first part making it shorter and then I'm adding:

first thing, the Typical Post-Tolkien Chosen One With A Shitty Life Before He Finds Out He Is Chosen™ character (I’m saying post-tolkien because every fantasy writer in existence who copies tolkien thinks that lotr went like that and instead it didn’t) usually goes through the following steps: his life sucks up until the beginning of the series, his family generally hates him/her or doesn’t appreciate them or abuses them or anyway doesn’t make their life easier and they’ve never known any different, but *something* never quite worked right and they always knew something was missing in their life, they just didn’t know why. suddenly someone who knows they were Chosen™ shows up and tells them that they’re actually Special because of this this and that and they have a quest to go on to save the world or something. our hero/heroine obviously is finally validated and while their quest is hard and full of hardships and maybe they lose a few friends along the way, finding out that they were Chosen gives their life meaning, they usually find love/friends/everything they didn’t have before until they fulfill the Prophecy™ and live more or less happily ever after, possibly after hooking up with the Person Of Their Dreams with whom they had UST up until the last twenty pages of the book. basically: being Chosen™ in regular fantasy novels is a good thing because suddenly you’re special and all the crap you suffered acquires a new meaning and in the end it made your life better.

jon snow is a complete overhaul of about everything in this sense because

instead of having a family who hates him he has a family who actually mostly loves him, and with ned it’s arguably so much that he risks royal treason by keeping him hidden from his *best friend* - sure, there’s cat and peripherally sansa, but his issues stem from the fact that he feels lesser because he’s a bastard (as far as he knows) and it’s a *class* issue, not a *my family hates me* issue not counting catelyn obv but that's what gives him freudian issues more on that in the emended part later

no one actually knows that he’s Chosen™ - like mel could get there and probably will and someone will put two and two together when his parentage comes out in the open, but he doesn’t have a gandalf or mentor who shows him The Way Towards His Quest

so instead of going from ‘my life sucks but I’m going on a quest which is gonna be a+’ he actively chooses to leave a fairly decent situation (a household he knows, siblings who love him - ned actually hoped he’d become robb’s counselor or right hand man or something from what we can gather) because he feels like he has to prove he’s better than his name and goes to the Crappiest Place In Westeros. like idk if people grasp it, but the wall is basically a prison and at the ripe age of fourteen he decides that it’s totally a good and honorable choice (his only choice actually) to go defend the realm in the freezing cold along with a bunch of criminals/derelicts/rejects of society

at which point he makes friends among said rejects and let’s remember that it’s the point where he actually has to do his first an only privilege when donal noye made him go like hey you were brought up with nobles these ppl are here because they stole bread, and that helps making him more into the person he is rn but like your tyopical fantasy hero who has had a shitty life doesn’t usually have to acknowledge that other people might have had it worse

then he goes on the Quest where he finds his first One True Love, and that’s where it turns even worse because usually the quest is where things start to go right for the Hero™, instead for jon they start to go wronger, because first he has to go undercover which pretty much tests most of his belief/code system, he falls in love with a girl he has to betray, half of his friends and his lord commander die along the way, while he’s off doing his thing winterfell gets taken/burned and robb dies when jon openly stated that he also was going to the wall to defend his family and keep them safe (yeaaah worked out real well), when he goes back to the wall he has to fight the people he lived with for months, the woman he loves dies in his arms and he can’t do anything about it and he’s aware it couldn’t have gone any other way, people put defending the wall on him and then put his loyalty in question, when stannis shows up with a legitimization (which is everything he ever wanted) he refuses because he doesn’t want to accidentally steal his siblings’s inheritance (which was what cat was so worried about hahaha) and actively chooses the crappy defending the realm life all over again. also in all this time his being Chosen™ hasn’t manifested or helped him in any way whatsoever - actually all his honor-moral code related baggage is what  moral dilemmas come from that. like, your usual chosen hero™ would always take the right decision and it all turns out good eventually, jon takes the morally right decision and it all turns SOUR eventually

at this point he finally gets elected LC, thanks to his friends also pitching in, which is about the one fantasy hero™ thing that’s happened for now. should be good, yes?

lol no, because he ends up with THAT hellish responsibility at sixteen, since he thinks that he has absolutely to be even better than that now and he has very specific notions about how you should lead and he knows he has to take unpopular decisions/decisions that he doesn’t necessarily like, he ends up either having to send his friends away forreal (sam) or detaching from them (pyp/grenn/the likes) and when as far as he knows he learns that his sister is married to ramsay he can’t do anything about it

never mind that it’s the same situation as when he had to pick the watch or robb in book one - he went there to defend his family and now being there actually prevents him from helping them in person. ops. meanwhile he’s trying to implement a new vision of things which is modern and smart and actually makes sense because why fighting the wildlings when you have ZOMBIES coming. your usual Chosen One™ would get people to approve just because he’s the Chosen One

instead jon gets stabbed to death - okay, that was also because he wanted to go get arya but it was the last straw, people were pissed over the wildlings plan first and foremost

so basically he’s gone through all the Chosen One™ steps but in reverse - he loses his family which did love him instead of finding another one that makes the first pale in comparison, he does find a new one who loves him but has to alienate most of its members for responsibility reasons as a consequence of what should have been the crowning achievement of his life choices (which eventually is NOT one), he falls in love and they don’t drag the UST forever but they never get a chance to be together without small print in between, he chooses the admittedly most masochistic life he could for his family as well and half of them die and he can’t do a thing for the other half, every other mentor-like figure he runs into after ned dies, instead of finding validation he ends up having to isolate himself and on top of everything HE STILL DOESN’T FUCKING KNOW HE’S THE CHOSEN ONE™

so instead of his life going better the more he learns stuff and matures as a person, he gets murdered. by the people he trusts and who were supposed to be his new family. haha?

never mind that when he finds out he’s the Chosen One™ it won’t bring him closure because all he ever wanted was being full stark like his father/siblings and then bam he’s going to find out his father’s actually targaryen and what does that even mean to him?

on top of that being AA will just be a pain because I don’t believe for a second he’s not going to get leftover ptsd and who the hell is gonna help him deal with it? or how is he ever getting over his *brothers* murdering him? and people are going to ask stuff of him all over again and he’s gonna have to go slay a mythical monster and if I know grrm it’s not gonna be fun, pretty or cathartic FOR HIM

on top of that, Chosen Hero™ fulfills the prophecy and gets a realm to rule and everyone lives happily ever after. money is that if jon does get that realm (and I think he is because he has the best claim if he's legitimate and most likely it'll turn out he was on the targ side but ROBB also legitimized him so he has double the legitimization), he’s going to hate every second of it and he’ll take it because a) duty, b) literally no one else is available, and like this guy didn’t want to rule a realm or be a king or anything he just wanted to be a stark, and instead he’s going to have to after all that shit thanks to Magical And Noble Heritage he hadn’t even known he had and probably didn’t even want up to that point because since when jon wanted to be a targ? yeah since never

obviously I hope he manages to be somewhat happy regardless because the alternative is too miserable, but basically being a Chosen Hero™ is what makes jon’s life worse rather than better and the fact that hew went through all the regular self-discovery journey for the fantasy hero list doesn’t mean he’s not flipping that over in his sl. the fact that he stayed a decent person more or less throughout it and that he hasn’t turned into a bitter asshole also doesn’t change the main point XD

tldr: jon snow is not a typical fantasy hero because he deconstructs that trope into tiny little bits same as robb deconstructed the arthurian flawless king hero trope

now ^^^^^ THAT was what I originally wrote for that meta but adding on to what I said in those tags

okay so... there is a certain tendency to also make the chosen one™ special in the sense that he's kind of goals - good looking, rich or set to inherit, gallant, takes the initiative, he's like.. social or anyway immediately makes friends etc and all that jazz which jon... doesn't really fit

like jon is an introvert who immediately makes friends just with outcasts and his siblings also bc he feels like one but he's hardly a social butterfly and charms everyone wherever he walks by

I mean ffs says all that the only person he charmed in that sense is stannis who is the literal only person in charge in the books who is more introvert than him and has worse communication issues and appreciates ppl going straight to the point

on top of that in the book he looks like ned.... and arya looks like ned and ned isn't described as being particularly handsome that was brandon so he's not even like... I mean kit h. is v. pretty and I think he was a good choice for the role and I'll die on the hill that he was born to play that character and he did it well but book!jon doesn't have that kinda pretty face so the concept that he's the HOT alternative to anyone to me is kind of iffy bc he's not

he's shit at social interactions and at PR which is why robb and him would have been a key winning ticket like he has a better idea of the larger picture but robb would have actually made sure ppl didn't turn against them bc he actually was good at that but like he doesn't go around rallying armies in his name does he

the one time he's been with a girl it was ygritte and like he courted her without realizing it and then she had to pursue him and he barely knew wtf to do on top of the fact that they slept with ghost in the middle of them like a sword which..... is.... I mean sleeping with the sword in the middle was a thing to make sure the maiden stayed a maiden and he's the one who is like i CAN'T HAVE SEX WITH HER EVEN IF I WANT TO BECAUSE I'M TECHNICALLY SPYING ON THEM like... he's not... gallant-knight coded

never mind that the moment they do the do she basically does everything until he decides to try the oral which I mean... isn't exactly alphadominatingmale out of jon which is not a given with the trope he's supposed to represent like he's not smooth he's not suave he's like WHAT THE FUCK when ygritte tells him he has a pretty face bc most likely no one else told him that and he like... doesn't pursue people like that in general which is also not exactly 100% what that trope usually goes for

we can add that he has a lot of passive-aggressive little shit sarcasm in him that they didn't let him go for in the show but like... usually chosen heroes™ don't think what he thinks about selyse in general

we can also add that he's not automatically above being better than his position like... he doesn't take winterfell bc ygritte is dead but he did think he'd have taken the deal sansa or not if stannis had said he could marry her and not val and if she wasn't dead, he basically went off the rails at the dude he was fighting with thinking about robb telling him that he couldn't be lord of wf because he was a bastard and he's absolutely not in the frame of mind of 'well I was born a bastard who cares it doesn't define me'

he's obsessed to the point of unhealthy with actually being defined by it which is why he was better off with the wildlings aka the only idiots in the realm who don't gaf about that

and that's like... I mean usually if chosen ones™ have parental issues it's like 'you were an orphan and raised by asses who weren't your parents but your parents loved you and you'll find out at some point and you'll be happier for it and make your own family', jon is like... he has the mommy freudian issues of the century bc of how cat treated him, on the other side he's obsessed with living up to ned's/his father's name and he hates that it makes him not-belonging or that he feels like he doesn't even if he does with his siblings, and at the same time when the truth about it comes out he's going to get the cold shower of the century bc like - he's spent all that time thinking BUT DID MY MOTHER WANT ME WHO WAS MY MOTHER and he's going to find out of who it was and how he was born and honestly considering that lyanna most likely did regret running with rhaegar the moment he finds that out and that she died birthing him how is he going to feel? - also he spends his life wanting to live up to his 'father's' name aka ned aka someone known to be honorable to a fault and then it turns out his bio father is... the dude who started that entire rebellion not doing a very honorable thing? - also if jon*erys is a thing idt that he'd take 'I fell in love with my aunt' so nonchalantly as he did in the show tldr: he's never gonna get over his parental issues in a short time and when that particular brick hits him in the face it won't be pretty

like the entire point of jon is that he goes through all the chosenone™ cursus honorum as we'd call it in high school when studying latin but each step that means smth good for the usual chosenone™ to him is something bad, being one is not going to make his life better and throughout the entire thing he does not fit that stereotype when it comes to look, personality, basic traits and familial history and like hell he's going to have the happy ending tied up with the bow - like I think he gets a bittersweet one and eventually goes off with the wildlings bc he belongs there after being jon snow first of his name (bc like hell he's not reclaiming his bastard background at the end of this entire mess I'm eating my hat if he doesn't) after splitting the seven realms and fixing things but that's hardly the neat happy ending the chosenone™ usually gets so that's my two cents

... christ this was long *raises hands*

[emo-space-tea]

Jealousy

NOT MY GIF

Chapter 3

~3rd Person POV~

The five losers got to the sewer and dropped their bikes. Well, except Stan, he put his on its kickstand.

"That's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy." Stan said while pointing at three similar looking plants.

"Where? W..Where's the poison ivy?" Eddie asked, seeming slightly panicked.

"Nowhere! Not every fucking plant is poison ivy Stanley!" Richie exclaimed.

Bill, Richie and Ashton walked into the sewer while Eddie and Stan stayed just outside of it.

"Okay, well, I'm starting to get itchy...now, and I'm pretty sure this is not-" Eddie started until Richie cut him off.

"Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?" Richie asked.

"Sometimes, Yeah." Eddie responded honestly.

"Then you probably have crabs!" Richie said.

"That's so not funny." Eddie responded again.

Ashton and Bill had their flashlights and were searching the sewer for......well, anything really.

Richie turned around and looked at Eddie and Stan.

"Aren't you guys coming in?" Richie asked the two.

"Nu uh. It's grey water." Eddie stated while pointing at the dark water.

"What's Grey water?" Ashton asked, jumping in the conversation.

"It's basically.....piss and shit, that's all I'm telling you! You three are splashing around in....millions of gallons of 'Derry Pee'!" Eddie said, obviously worried about his health.

Richie dipped a stick he found in the water, and sniffed it.

"Jesus Rich!" Ashton exclaimed, grossed out.

"Are you serious, what are you-" Eddie was cut off again.

"Doesn't smell like caca to me senor~" Richie said in a horrible Spanish accent.

After that Eddie started ranting about infections, then Richie threw something. Ashton was paying closer attention to the real reason they were there. Then Ashton saw something in the water.

"Billy! Look." Ashton mumbled to Bill.

He picked up what she  was pointing at. It was a shoe. 

Bill turned around and shouted "Guys!". The rest of the losers quickly shut up, and stared at him. Then they noticed the shoe in his hand.

"Shit.....Don't tell me that's...." Stan said in a nervous voice.

"No." Ashton responded.

"G-G-Georgie wore galoshes." Bill continued as Richie walked up next to them.

"Who's sneaker is it?" Eddie asked quickly.

Ashton pointed the flashlight inside the shoe and Richie looked inside.

"It's Betty Ripsom's" Richie answered.

"...Shit...Oh..God..Oh Fuck!" Eddie exclaimed. "I don't like this." Eddie said.

"How do you think Betty feels....running around in these tunnels with only one freaking shoe!" Richie jokes while hopping on one foot.

"Not Now Rich." Ashton snapped, seriously.

"What if she's still here?" Stan asked, and Bill, Richie and Ashton all turned around to continue looking in the sewer.

"Eddie, come on!" Richie called out as we walked further.

"My mom will have an aneurysm, okay, if she finds out we're playing down here, I'm serious." Eddie said quickly, obviously panicking.

Bill was still looking in the sewer.

"Bill?" Eddie called out.

"If....If I was Betty Ripsom, I would want us to find her, G-G-Georgie too." Bill responded.

"What if I don't wanna find her." Eddie said. We all stared at him. "I mean, no offense Bill, but I don't wanna end up like Geo-" Eddie cut himself off to spare Bill's emotions.

 "I don't wanna go missing either" Eddie finished.

"He has a point." Stan spoke up. 

"You too, Stanny?" Ashton asked.

"It's summer, we're supposed to be having fun! This isn't fun, this is scary and disgusting." Stan said, looking down.

Suddenly, there was a splash from behind Eddie and Stan. They all went to see what it was, it was the new kid, all banged up and bleeding.

"Holy Shit, What happened to you?" Richie asked, leaving the sewer.

The new kid looked over at them, out of breath. Stan and Eddie rushed over to help him, shortly after so did Ashton.

They picked up the new kid and put him on Silver, Bill's bike, and got on their own bikes. They rushed to the Drugstore. While they were riding, Eddie kept ranting about "An AIDS epidemic" currently happening, but none of them really listened though.

They finally got there and dropped their bikes in the alleyway. Bill set the new kid down on a crate and told Richie to wait with him while they got the supplies.

The four losers rushed into the drug store. Eddie quickly grabbed what he needed, while the other 3 looked in their pockets for any money they had. The sum was $6.23.

"Can we afford all that?" Bill asked Eddie.

"That's all we got." Stan said with only a bit of cash and change in his hands.

"Are you kidding me?" Eddie asked with all the medical supplies in his small arms. He started biting with lip thinking.

"Wait, You have an account here, don't you?" Ashton asked.

"If my mom finds out I bought all this stuff for myself, I'm spending the whole rest of the weekend in the emergency room getting X-rayed." Eddie said, while shaking his head no.

A couple aisles over Beverly Marsh, the school's 'Slut', was looking at the Tampax, confused. She made up her mind and went to pay when she saw Greta Kenne walking down the aisle. She quickly went to the next one which wasn't any better.

Luckily, Ashton saw the box and quickly gestured for Beverly to hide it behind her back, and she did. The other three boys looked over and saw Beverly.

"Are you okay?" Bill asked her.

"I'm fine, what's wrong with you?" Beverly asked, seeing all the medical supplies in Eddie's arms.

"None of your business." Stan replied.

"There's a kid outside, looked like someone killed him." Eddie also responded. Ashton quickly slapped Eddie's arm, giving him a 'Really?!' look.

"We need some supplies but we don't have enough money." Ashton told Beverly.

Beverly thought for a second, before coming up with a plan and saying "I think I know what to do, but I'll need Ashton's help."

The two girls walked up the check out.

"We like your glasses, Mr. Kenne." Beverly started.

"You look just like Clark Kent." Ashton continued.

"Oh, well, I don't know about that." Mr. Kenne said while adjusting his glasses.

"Can we try them?" Beverly asked abruptly.

"Well, Sure." Mr. Kenne answered while taking off his glasses and handing them to Beverly.

Beverly put them on and looked at the pervert through her eyelashes.

"What do you think?" The redhead asked.

"Well, How bout that. You look just like Louis Lane." Mr. Kenne said while leaning in.

"Definitely." Ashton said while looking at Beverly.

Beverly then took off the glasses and handed them to Ashton. The petite girl put them on and looked at Beverly and Mr. Kenne.

"How do I look?" Ashton asked.

Little did she know that the boy with a stutter and his curly haired friend were staring at her. A light red blush grazing their cheeks.

"Perfect." Mr. Kenne said.

The small girl then took off the glasses and when handing them back to Mr. Kenne,  'accidentally' knocked over the small shelf of cigarettes behind the counter.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Ashton apologized in a sincere voice.

"It's okay. " Mr. Kenne said while putting on his glasses and bending down to clean up the fallen shelf.

While the pervert was cleaning, Ashton and Beverly looked back to see the 3 losers rushing to leave the store with their supplies. Bill accidentally shoved Eddie causing him to trip and knock over a few items before actually leaving.

Beverly saw a pack of cigarettes on the counter and quickly grabbed them and shoved them in her pocket.

Out in the alleyway the Losers were trying to help the new kid. 

"Can you go get me something?" Eddie asked, while trying to get the wound to stop bleeding.

"Jesus, what do you need?" Richie asked.

"Go get my bifocals. I hid them in my second fanny pack." Eddie said.

"Why do you have two fanny packs?" Stan asked.

Bill walked out of the alleyway to see Beverly walking towards him, wind blowing in her hair. Bill then pulled out a dollar from his pocket and showed it to Beverly.

"T-T-Thanks." Bill said.

"Even Steven." Beverly said while pulling out her new pack of cigarettes.

The two then heard Stan freaking out and looked to see what was going on. 

"Ben from Soc?" Beverly asked herself before going in the alley way.

Eddie and Richie were arguing and Ashton was sitting on a crate. 

"Are you okay? That looks like it hurts." Beverly said while walking up to the group.

"Oh, No, I'm good. I just fell." Ben said, smiling at the redhead.

"Yeah, right into Henry Bowers!" Richie exclaimed. 

"S-S-S-Shut up R-R-Richie." Bill said.

"Why? It's the truth." Richie said back.

"You sure they got the right stuff, to fix you up?" Beverly asked while Bill stared at her.

Ashton noticed this and started feeling a pain in her chest. Ashton then got up and shoved Richie out of the way and walked to her bike.

"Where the hell are you going?" Richie asked, seeing the small girl get her bike.

"Home." Ashton answered quickly.

"But-" Stan was cut off by Ashton.

"You guys know how Alex gets!" Ashton exclaimed while glaring at the group.

She then got on her bike and started riding out of the alleyway. 

"But It's not past-!" Stan yelled, but Ashton was already gone. "Your curfew yet."

 "Is she okay?" Beverly asked.

"Y-Y-Yeah, I'm sure." Bill lied.

"Okay, well maybe I'll see you around." Beverly said.

"We were thinking about going to the Q-Q-Quarry tomorrow, if you wanna come." Bill told Beverly.

"Good to know, Thanks. Oh and, Who's Alex?" Beverly asked.

"H-H-He's Ashton's Ste-" Bill was cut off by Eddie.

"None of your business." Eddie answered.

"E-E-Eddie." Bill said sternly.

"No, he's right. It took Ash four years to tell us. Why should she know?" Stan defended.

Bill tried to think of a reason, but nothing came out. There was silence for a couple of minutes.

"If you wanna know, go and ask her. She lives on 29 oaks street." Richie said.

"Okay then, Thanks anyways." Beverly said before walking out to the alleyway.

"Nice going bringing up Bowers in front of her." Stan said to Richie.

"Yeah you heard what she did." Eddie said, agreeing.

"What'd she do?" Ben asked.

"More like who'd she do! From what I hear the list is longer than my wang." Richie answered, grabbing his crotch. 

"That's not saying much." Stan said.

"There j-j-j-j-just rumors." Bill said defending the redhead

"Anyway, Bill had her back in the third grade. They kissed in the school play. Reviews said you can't fake that sort of passion." Richie told Ben.

"Now!" Richie clapped his hands. "Pip Pip and tally ho my good fellows! I do believe this chap required our utmost attention, get in there Doctor K, come on, fix him up." Richie said in a horrible British accent.

"Why don't you shut to fuck up Einstein, because I know what I'm doing and I don't want you doing the British guy with me right now." Eddie responded.

"Suck the wound. Get in there." Richie Exclaimed.

Even though Ashton didn't say it, Richie and Eddie knew she was filled with Jealousy.

*•~Emo-Gay-Tea~•*

< Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter >

[nblesbianbenhanscom]

I Saw a Dream that Never Died

it/skeleton twins au crossover 

***

this fic was inspired by this post by lock and this post.

i have no regrets.

summary: Two years post Derry, two years post that awful bath, Stan, his boyfriend, and their friends go on a vaction.

cw: past suicide attempt, trauma anniversary

read it on ao3

***

Sometimes Stan gets lost inside himself. He doesn’t mean to, has no control over it. One minute he’s there, the next he’s not.

When he and his boyfriend, Milo, check into their room at the hotel in Florida, Stan is excited for the chance to relax. He’s not prepared for the complimentary give basket of goodies to have a bath bomb in it. Maybe he should have expected it considering the size of the tub, but he’s not.

When he jumps as Milo comes up to see what he’s looking at, Milo looks at him, really looks at him.

“Hey, you ok?” Milo asks.

Stan opens his mouth to respond, but nothing comes out.

Looking at the basket, Milo sees and understands.

Neither of them have taken a bath in years.

“Let me-” Milo takes the bath bomb out of the basket and puts it in the closet.

Even though it is late, there is a soft knock on the door connecting the suites. Before Milo opens it, Stan knows it’s Bev. She smiles when she sees Stan.

“I know it’s late, but it’s our first night here, and the rest of us are going to watch a movie. Do you want to join us?”

Milo opens his mouth to respond, but Stan interrupts him.

“Yeah, ok. Let me just change and we’ll be over.”

Milo turns to look at Stan. Bev’s eyes linger on Stan. She knows something is up, but she isn't sure what. She always seems to know when he needs her the most.

“We’ll be right over,” Stan says again. Bev nods and Milo closes the door softly.

“You’re not too tired?” Milo asks.

Licking his lips, Stan shakes his head, no. He doesn’t know how to explain the things he’s seen and felt, what they’d all seen and felt as kids and just a few years before when the others went back to Derry. Stan had not gone with them, but when he woke up in the hospital, they were all there, and they never left each other alone again.

When Eddie and Bill left their wives, the others had gone to help them pack. When they found out about Tom, the guys had offered to go and get her stuff, but she told them she already had everything she needed with them.

They all moved to Nyack in the spring. Milo and his sister, Maggie, had stumbled into their lives a few months later and never wandered out. Maggie, Ben, and Bev started dating pretty quickly, but things with Milo and Stan moved a little slower.

Stan smiles as he thinks about their first kiss. They’d been friends for several months, and they were sitting in Milo’s room on his fold out couch, just hanging out. Milo had been ranting about something, and looked so fucking cute that Stan just had to kiss him, so he did.

Milo had blinked at him. “What was that for?”

“Because I like you.”

Smiling, Milo shifted closer. “I like you, too, Stanny.” He leaned over and kissed Stan back.

That had been just over a year ago, and Stan still can’t believe how lucky he is to have found Milo.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Milo asks again, bringing Stan back to the present.

Stan looks down at the suitcase he’s just opened. Nodding, Stan swallows. “Yeah, I’m just feeling a little off, but I’ll be ok.”

“If you want to leave early, just let me know.”

Stan doesn’t know how to explain that being with the Losers would ground him in ways that Milo couldn’t without hurting his feelings, so he just presses a soft kiss into Milo’s temple.

“I love you so much,” Stan says.

“I love you, too.”

They change into pajamas and go to Bev’s suite. The others are there already, pillows and blankets strewn all around. Taking Milo’s hand, Stan sits next to Bev, and rests his head on her shoulder.

Bev covers his wrist with the palm of her hand in silent acknowledgement. Tomorrow would be two years to the day that Stan had taken his last bath. He wishes he could explain to Milo what had happened, but the Losers had promised they wouldn’t, and Stan isn’t about to break another promise to them.

When the movie starts, Stan curls around Milo and closes his eyes.

When he opens them again, Milo is whispering his name, trying to wake him up without disturbing the others who are all asleep. The TV is off and the room is dark.

“What’s up, Milo?”

“I wanna go to bed.”

“Mmm.” Yawning, Stan starts to move and realizes Bev is spooning him. “Can’t. Bev’s sleeping on me. It’s against the law to disturb her.”

Taking a deep breath, Milo strokes Stan’s hair. Stan falls back to sleep a few minutes later.

When he wakes up again, Richie is patting his ass like it’s a set of drums.

“Staniel, my love, wakey, wakey,” Richie sing-songs.

Taking a deep breath, Stan squeezes Milo a little and rolls onto his side.

“What do you want, Richie?”

“For you to wake up so we can go get breakfast and go to the park!” Richie says.

Rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, Stan sits up and looks around trying to remember where they are. They are in Florida on a group vacation. Over the past several months, Richie had talked non-stop about Disney World.

“What time even is it?”

“Just after seven,” Milo says. He sits up and kisses Stan’s cheek. “I’m gonna go take a shower. Want to join me?”

“You know I would, but I’m pretty sure Eddie would get mad,” Richie says and winks at Stan.

“Stop hitting on my boyfriend,” Stan says and pushes Richie’s face away. “We’ll be back in a bit.”

Stan and Milo get up. They go back to their room and hop in the shower. Stan loves taking showers with Milo even when they don’t do anything but wash themselves and share soft kisses which is what this shower is. When they get out, they get dressed and go back to Bev’s suit where the others are waiting.

After breakfast, they spend the day running around Disney World and Stan doesn’t have much time to think. The others hover around him, at least two of them always within his sight.

If it weren’t for the bath bomb, Stan knows he would have probably been annoyed, but as it stands, just seeing them helps. And Milo stays within arms reach, and that also helps.

It is a good day.

When they get back to the hotel, Stan is too tired to do anything but fall into bed after tugging on some pajamas.

He wakes up in the middle of the night, sobbing. Milo is awake instantly. He turns on the light and looks at Stan who is laying there, desperately trying to catch his breath.

“Stan-” Milo starts but stops when Stan sits up and shoves himself into Milo’s arms. He can’t stop shaking even as Milo holds him close and rubs his back. “Hey, hey. You’re ok. Breathe. You’re ok.”

Stan just clings to him. All he can hear is Pennywise’s laughter. All he can see is that horrific woman’s face.

“It was a dream. You’re safe. You’re ok.”

Stan wants to tell him it’s more than a dream, but he just shoves his face into Milo’s neck and keeps crying. Milo just rubs his back, holding him close.

“You’re ok, you’re ok, you’re safe,” Milo whispers into his hair.

When Stan finally stops crying, he stays in Milo’s lap and clings tightly to him. He is embarrassed and exhausted. Milo takes a deep breath and kisses Stan’s forehead.

“I’m sorry,” Stan manages eventually.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Milo says. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Sighing, Stan licks his lips. “I- I can’t.” Eventually Stan pulls away. “I have to use the restroom.” Milo lets him up and Stan goes to the bathroom. He leaves the door open a crack as he pees. After washing his hands, Stan goes out and finds Milo leaning back on the headboard, eating some chocolate and watching something stupid on TV.

Stan crawls back in bed and lays on top of Milo, stretching out between his legs, and using his stomach as a pillow. Milo rubs his back and Stan tries to focus on this and not the terrifying woman that tried to eat his face in the sewer all those years ago.

Eventually he falls back asleep. When he wakes up again, the room is bright. Milo is still holding him and Stan wonders if he’d gone back to sleep.

“Hey, you awake?” Milo asks.

“Mmm…” Stan replies. “What time is it?”

“After ten.”

“How-” Stan clears his throat. “How did you get the others-”

“Bev texted me asking how we slept. When I told her, she said I should let you sleep and we could meet up with them later.”

Rubbing his face, Stan sits up. “You eat yet?”

Shaking his head, Milo says, “I thought it was against the law to get up when someone is sleeping on you.”

Smiling, Stan leans over and kisses him. “I love you so much.”

Milo cups his cheek, and rests his forehead against Stan’s. “I love you, too, baby.”

Taking a deep breath, Stan gets up. “We should order room service and go find the others.”

“Sounds good.”

They order coffee, pancakes, eggs, and fruit. They eat it on the small balcony, and have an easy morning. Once they are done, Stan calls Bev, and they pick a place to meet up. The day is so busy Stan almost forgets about his woes, but every once in a while, he catches one of his friends looking at him or Eddie weirdly.

It is weird to think about what almost happened, what the group could have lost.

Before he can get lost in thought, someone grabs his hand and they are off again.

When they get back to the hotel, they order pizza, and watch TV for a while in Bev’s suite. Stan can feel himself growing quiet again when Milo drags him back to their room.

“What can I do?” Milo asks once they are alone.

Stan shrugs. “Let's take a shower.”

They strip and go to the bathroom together. Milo turns on the water and when it’s warm enough, they get in. Stan lets Milo wash his hair, something Stan loves but doesn’t do often because his soft curls couldn’t handle getting washed too often. When they get out, Milo towels them both off, but they don’t bother with clothes, just fall into bed, naked.

They share slow, soft kisses, that turn into Stan grinding gently into Milo. They are both panting softly when Stan pulls away.

“Be right back.” He kisses Milo’s hair and gets up. He grabs the lube from his back and crawls back to Milo. “Is this ok?”

Milo nods and kisses him.

Stan takes his time working Milo open. They usually go faster, rougher, but Milo doesn’t complain. He just keens and pants softly. When Stan does finally sink in, Milo just sighs. Stan rocks slowly, and Milo whimpers.

Stan finds a good rhythm, his face shoved into Milo’s neck as the other man just clings to him, taking whatever Stan will give him.

“‘M close, Stan,” Milo huffs. “I need-” Stan cuts him off with another kiss. Without stopping, Stan begins stroking Milo and Milo’s head rolls back. “Yeah. Yeah…” He cums a few minutes later with a sharp cry, and Stan follows quickly. He doesn’t pull out right away, just lays there breathing in the sweet scent of Milo’s sweat.

They get up eventually, jump back in the shower to rinse off, and go back to bed. They curl up tightly together.

Stan wakes up early the next morning and sits on the balcony, watching the birds. He’s not surprised when Eddie and Richie come out and sit with him. Eddie wants to be near Stan today, and Richie’s not about to let Eddie out of his sight. Stan’s not sure where Milo is, but he knows he’s not far.

All of them end up eating room service in Stan and Milo’s room before they get going for the day.

The next few days go by, and Stan forgets all about the bath bomb until he’s pulling some blankets down from the closet. It lands with a soft thud on the carpet. Stan looks down at it as Bev comes over to help him.

“Hey, you ok?” She asks when she sees his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Stan gently kicks the bath bomb back into the closet and goes to his friends.

That night, after they've gone back to their rooms, Stan goes to the closet and picks up the bath bomb. When Milo sees him, he pales.

“Shit! Shit! Stan! I am so sorry!” He goes over to Stan, reaches for the ball, but Stan pulls away.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of any more,” Stan tells him. Milo lets out a soft breath. “Let’s go use this.”

Taking a deep breath, Milo lets it out quickly. Stan knows what he’s asking, can sense Milo’s feelings. He hadn’t had a bath either for several years for the same reason.

“Ok,” Milo says. “But you have to wash my hair and be the big spoon.”

“Fair enough,” Stan says. They leave the TV on and go into the bathroom. Stan sets the bath bomb down and turns on the water while Milo gets undressed. Once they are both naked, they climb in together. The tub is huge and they can comfortably sit shoulder to shoulder, but Stan pulls Milo close after dropping the bomb in.

They watch it bubble and fizz, and Stan lets his mind wander a bit. It has been such a good week, he doesn’t want it to end. He smiles and kisses Milo’s hair when he realizes it won’t.

Bev will always be there to check on him, Richie to annoy him, the others to include him, to give him space, and Milo to love him.

When the tub is full, Stan leans forward and turns off the water. Milo settles against his chest and listens to him breathe.

There are words Stan wants to say, but they get stuck in his throat when Milo picks up his hand and kisses his wrist.

“I’m glad we’re still here,” Milo says softly, his mouth still up against Stan’s wrist.

“I’m glad we’re still here, too,” Stan whispers back. He wraps his fingers around Milo’s wrist and rubs his thumb gently across it.

A bit later they get out and take a quick shower where Stan does wash Milo’s hair. Stan knows baths will always be hard for them, but it’s kind of nice to know it isn’t something that he has to be afraid of.

When they get out, they pull on some pajamas and go to the bed. Stan is almost asleep when Milo clears his throat.

“Hey, Stan? Are you still awake?”

“Barely. You ok?”

“Yeah,” Milo whispers. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Milo.”

They fall silent.

“Is that all?”

“I don’t know how to say what I want to say.”

“Just say it, we can muddle through it.”

Smiling, Milo kisses his chest.

“I know there are things you keep from me. Something happened to you and your friends when you were kids, something bad, and that’s why you have such vivid and horrific nightmares.” Stan clutches at him tightly, and Milo squeezes his hand. “It’s ok. I’m not asking you to tell me. You don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Stan tries.

“Really, it’s ok. Some things are too big to explain,” Milo says softly. Stan looks down at Milo in the dark and wonders if there are things Milo hasn’t told him. “I just want you to know, I’ll always be here. I don’t have to understand what broke you to help pick up the pieces.”

Letting out a weird noise, Stan pulls Milo up and kisses him. The relief that floods through Stan is almost frightening. He didn’t even know how much not being able to tell Milo about Derry had been weighing on him until Milo told him it would be ok if it never happened.

“I love you so much,” Stan whispers as he barely breaks the kiss.

“I love you, too.” Milo kisses him again.

They kiss for a long time and when they eventually break apart, Stan curls up behind Milo and they watch cartoons until they fall asleep.

For once, Stan gets decent sleep.

The rest of the trip goes by smoothly. Everyone has a good time and they have an uneventful trip home.

When Stan and Milo get back to their place, Milo immediately goes to the fish tank and begins talking to their fish even as Stan begins unpacking.

Once he is content the fish are fine, Milo puts on some music. He and Stan dance around as they unpack, kissing and touching when they want as much as they want. After they finish, they order some food and curl up on the couch content to be together in the moment.

[maybe-a-little-wicked]

I disagree with Dany stans on one thing in regards to Dany’s mad queen turn.

I do think that D&D had planned to make Daenerys go mad from the beginning. I think that was always their intention, and let me explain a few things about that, and why it doesn’t matter that they intended it from the beginning and that it doesn’t change the fact that it was bullshit. 

If you look at certain scenes with Daenerys from the perspective of the writers, you can see the intention behind the scenes. Dany’s scene in season 6 when she addresses the Dothraki on Drogon’s back is one of those scenes. It doesn’t mean it was well done. Furthermore, the fact that we didn’t see it, or maybe even chose not to see it as ‘going mad’ didn’t fall on the audience. (Why would it be the audience’s fault anyway if we didn’t get your stupid twist storyline? That’s your fault as a writer for sucking at your job.)

 Dany, up until that final act of burning the entire city, was no more ruthless, vindictive, or capable of cruelty than any of the other big players in the game. In fact, when you line everything up, Daenerys is often the character who committed cruel or ruthless acts out of responsibility for others, and not for herself. Whereas Stannis, Cersei, Tywin, Littlefinger, Robb, etc., all made power moves and killed people out of selfish reasons, Daenerys often killed in direct response to other innocent people being harmed or killed. Yes, Daenerys had a vindictive streak. I don’t deny that sometimes the things she did were morally grey or even morally dark, but why would that have pointed to madness? Daenerys never did anything that other people, in her place, wouldn’t have done. Or, Daenerys did things people wouldn’t have done (like Tywin) for the sole purpose that those people didn’t care about the innocent lives that were being taken. Daenerys always cared about her people and the way they suffered. Her cruelest acts were always in response to cruelty done against her own people first. 

Furthermore, D&D expected all of this to line up to us as some kind of ‘ah-ha!’ moment at the end, when the reality is that the only reason Daenerys should’ve seemed more evil than any of these other characters is because of 1) she’s a woman, and 2) she’s a Targaryen. Both of these are, obviously, stupid arguments to make. Again, Daenerys was no more ruthless and capable of cruelty than many other main characters on the show, so the fact that she was a Targaryen should’ve been moot. If we used Daenerys’ actions, paired with her reasons, and we applied them to other characters in the show like Stannis, Jon, Robb, etc., I’ve no doubt that her actions would’ve been seen as far more heroic or deserved.

The problem with D&D’s writing of Daenerys’ storyline and showing how she ‘went mad’ was they expected that ‘ah-ha’ moment, because of those two stupid reasons. ‘Oh, it all makes sense now why she did all those terrible things!’ This mentality ignores all of the other terrible things people did, selfish or unselfish. Arya killing Walder Frey and his entire family. Jon sentencing men to die, one who was what, like, 14? Stannis burning his own daughter. Jaime knocking a child out of a window in an attempt to kill him. If we used the mentality D&D expected of us, almost every character on this show could be claimed to be going mad. 

Daenerys was the most powerful female character on the show. Undisputed. (You can try to dispute it, but you’ll lose.) She was beloved, she was Queen, she had more power than plenty of the men in the show. Daenerys was also benevolent, whatever anyone may like to claim otherwise. You can’t claim that if other characters in this show didn’t have three dragons, they wouldn’t have done even worse things than Daenerys, perhaps even worse than the burning of King’s Landing. Rather, Daenerys showed restraint. People like to use this “I’ll burn the master’s cities to the ground’ statement like it’s some kind of proof of her madness, but mad people don’t get talked out of doing terrible things they have their minds set on. A statement made in anger (because your city is on fire and your people are dying by the hundreds/thousands) is not proof of madness. I’ve said plenty of terrible things out of anger, joking, sadness, etc., and I never meant any of them. Or, even if I somehow did, I still didn’t do it. The truth is, up until King’s Landing, Daenerys always curbed her worst impulses. (And what ruler wouldn’t have her impulses? After all, it is true that power corrupts.) The fact that Daenerys had the power she had, and still managed to compromise and listen to others was a strong sign of her pure intentions. 

I’m ranting now. Okay, the point I’m making is, I think D&D had planned to make Daenerys mad from the start. That doesn’t make a bloody difference. The ending was still sexist, idiotic, ill-planned and played out, and most importantly, it sent a terrible, terrible message about women and power, just like every other story in history. And nothing any actor, actress, or person working on the show says could prove differently. 

[sapphires-and-gold-fics]

Fictober Day 23: “You can’t give more than yourself.”

Fandom: Game of Thrones / ASOIAF

Characters: Jaime Lannister / Brienne of Tarth

Read on AO3

xxxxxxxxxxx

Brienne squinted at the phone screen as it lit up with a new call in the dark. She sighed and sat up in the bed, tucking a pillow behind her back. She flipped the lamp on and then swiped right to answer the call.

“Jaime you have to stop calling me so late.”

“Why?” His voice was quiet; he sounded hurt by why she said.

“Jaime, we talked about this. I’ve got a lot of work to do in the morning. Half the reason I left town was so that I could get that work done without interruption or interference.”

“Can I text you then?”

“Jaime.”

“I miss you.”

She swallowed hard. “I know, Jaime ...I miss you, too, okay? It’s… But you can’t keep doing this.”

“I need to talk to  some body, Brienne.”

“What about Tyrion?”

“Still in prison.”

“You still haven’t gone to see him.” It was a statement, not a question.

“No… not yet.”

“And Cersei?”

“She’s the problem.”

She put a second pillow behind her back, sitting up straighter. “Right. Yeah, I know.”

“How’s the search going?”

“Slowly. I talked to a couple of witnesses who may have seen her but the details are really vague.” She heard something shuffling in the background like plastic crumpling. “Where  are  you?”

“The downstairs bathroom.”

“In… the bath?”

“I mean yeah but not like...I’m not naked.” She felt her face heat up. “Where are  you ?”

“Um… bed?” The heat crept down her neck. “It’s 1 in the morning, Jaime.”

“No I meant--”

“--Oh, still in Duskendale - the Inn on Route 18.”

“That’s not far at all.”

“It’s not.”

“I could drive there.”

“Jaime--”

“ You  could come back  here .”

“ Jaime .”

“Cersei is making me crazy.”

Brienne pinched the bridge of her nose. “What’s going on? Besides the standard stuff.”

“She won’t leave the house.”

“I assume that’s a directive from your dad?”

“My father doesn’t care either way, he’s too busy with the ‘investigation’.”

She could hear the air quotes he probably made even though she couldn’t see him. “They took him off of the investigation, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, but he’s got a lot of--”

“--buddies, yeah of course he does.” She shook her head. “That doesn’t do Tyrion any favors.”

“I think dad is well aware of that.”

“Right. Okay so Cersei won’t leave the house - is that necessarily a bad thing?”

“She won’t let Myrcella and Tommen leave the house either. She thinks there was a conspiracy. I’m trying to be supportive, you know, for the kids. But it’s hard. I really think she’s losing it.”

“Are the cloaks still doing the welfare checks?”

“Twice daily.”

“Well that’s good - that’s about as much as you can hope for outside of convincing her--”

“--she doesn’t want me leaving the house either.”

“Ah… are you… regretting staying with them?”

“It was definitely easier when I slept at my own place. I miss it.” What precisely he missed went unspoken but she heard it all the same. She also missed having someone else next to her in the bed, even if it was platonic - or as platonic as they told themselves it was. “But I don’t regret being here for the kids. I just wish she would listen to me. Joff was clearly the target, the other two aren’t in danger.”

“Are you comfortable leaving her alone with the kids so that you can take a breather?”

“That’s kind of what I’m doing right now.”

“I mean is there a chance that she would hurt herself?”

“Outside of poisoning her own liver? No. She’s too narcissistic for that.”

“What about the kids?”

“She’s their mother.”

“But if she’s…”

“No I… I know what you’re saying but no, I don’t think… she couldn’t hurt the kids. Especially not now. She’s holding onto every bit of family she can.”

“Except Tyrion?”

“Except Tyrion. She doesn’t want me visiting him.”

“I can’t imagine what she’s going through; maybe once some time has passed… gods that sounds awful to say, but maybe eventually she won’t see Tyrion as the monster she thinks he is.”

“I’m doing all I can to press his case with her but…”

“It’s hard. And you’re already doing so much.”

“I wish it was enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“ I’m  not enough. She’s leaning on me really heavily and..”

“You  are  enough, Jaime.” She heard him sniff and take a deep breath. “Are you sleeping okay?”

“Not really. I miss… She’s keeping me up at all hours. Ranting about how unfair it all is and how I’m not doing enough. By the time I crawl into the guest room to sleep it’s already daylight.”

“Jaime, you couldn’t possibly be doing more. You’ve taken a leave from work, you’ve moved into the house. You’ve been doing the chores and the shopping--”

“--I mean we’re getting it delivered but--”

“You’re doing  all  of that. You have made so many sacrifices to be there for her right now. You can’t give more than yourself, but somehow you’re managing to give 110%. That’s what you do, and I don’t know how. You can’t keep borrowing against your own well-being.”

“Yeah?”

“Jaime.”

“I know, Brienne.”

“You need to sleep. You  need  to take care of yourself.”

“It’s harder without you here.”

Brienne wiped what she thought might be a tear from the corner of her eye and frowned into the phone but didn’t respond.

“Brienne?”

“I thought it would be better now. You said Cersei was hard on you about me being around.”

“She was. She doesn’t like anyone taking my attention away from her under normal circumstances - you got to see that, before--”

“--Oh so that wasn’t just about the fact that it was me, then? I feel slightly better about her calling me a great cow now.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“That doesn’t--”

“You don’t need to apologize for her, Jaime. She’s a grown woman. I’m sure she’s said worse behind my back. It doesn’t matter.”

“When you were in town she would say some pretty nasty things, but not anymore. Since you left, she’s been almost… sweet? - at least until the wine comes out.”

Brienne shook her head and pulled her knees up to her chest.

“Brienne?”

“I hate the way she treats you.”

“It’s f--”

“No, it’s not fine, Jaime. She manipulates you and abuses you and uses you up--”

“She doesn--”

“I wish--” the words stuck in her throat. He listened as she took a breath and found them again, “I wish you could have come with me. I really… gods, Jaime, I wish I could have taken you away from there.”

“I couldn--”

“I know. I  know . It was too soon. And with Tyrion… No, I know. And I know that my being there didn’t exactly help. I just wish there could have been another way. I wish it would have made sense for me to stay, but someone has to find that girl. I had to go.”

“I don’t want you here.”

That stung. “Oh.”

“Shit, that’s not - that came out really wrong. Brienne, I didn’t mean it like that. If I could, I would have you here all the time. You always know exactly what to do. And I - I want you here, Brienne. More than anything. I do. I just meant that I wouldn’t want you to have to deal with her… with Cersei being like this…”

Brienne didn’t respond.

“She’s awful, I know that. And yes, she takes everything I give, and then demands more. I know that, too. Now she’s talking about making sure Tyrion gets the death penalty… Brienne, I think I hate her.”

“She lost a child, Jaime.”

“Yeah, and what a child.”

“Jaime that’s really unkind.”

“So was he.”

“He was a boy. He… maybe he would have grown up and had better influences. Perhaps once he got out of Cersei’s sphere he would have been something better. We will never know. And for that I am truly sorry.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Jaime?”

“Do you think she had something to do with it?”

“Cersei? Why--”

“No, Sansa. Do you think she did this?”

“Oh. No, Jaime I don’t. She’s a child, too.”

"Her family has resources.”

“Her parents are dead. She doesn’t have access to those resources. She doesn’t even have a credit card - that’s what’s making this so difficult.”

He sighed heavily. “You’re right. I know you are. Again.”

“Your nephew went to a private school where he was a terrible bully and probably did things to some of those kids that won’t come out for years - we’ll likely never know about them - I imagine there were a lot of victims’ families who had resources.”

“So you think it was one of them?”

“Well, I don’t think it was Sansa, and neither do the gold cloaks. They seem to really think it was Tyrion--”

“--But you don’t.”

“--but I don’t. But my opinion doesn’t matter. Whatever facts there are, they will find them.”

“Tyrion had a reason to do it. He certainly had the means.”

“Jaime, your brother couldn’t have hired someone to do this. He wouldn’t have. I know you know your brother well enough for that.”

“I just… Cersei really--”

“Jaime, stop.”

“...What is it?”

Brienne dropped her knees and sat cross-legged, pressing her elbows into the insides of her knees.

“You need to get away from her. For a night, maybe 48 hours, ask the cloaks to keep an eye on the kids. And then you need to go, sleep, and then go see your brother.”

“She’ll know.”

“Good! Jaime, Tyrion hasn’t stopped being your brother just because Cersei thinks he’s evil. Do you think he did it?”

He didn’t respond.

“Jaime?”

“No. You’re right. He wouldn’t.”

“He deserves to hear you say that.”

More silence. Another sniffle. Silence again.

“Jaime.”

His voice is raw now. “You’re right. I’ll leave in the morning before she wakes up. Should I… do you think I should take the kids with me?”

“Do... you think Cersei is a danger to them?”

“I think she might start throwing things when she realizes I’ve left, even if it’s temporary.”

“Okay. Let me think a second… would your father agree that she could get physically violent?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think he would.”

“Okay. Hear me out. Call your father.”

“Bri--”

“Call him. Right now. Wake him up. Tell him you’re concerned for his grandkids and that you want to place them with another family member until Cersei is well. Tell him you want him to get a social worker over to talk to Cersei tomorrow - but he’d better send a pair of gold cloaks with them just in case. Stan and Dav still live in town, right?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t spoken to Stannis--”

“I have - I spoke to them at the funeral. I’ll call them now - one of them is usually still up around this time watching those old pirate movies. I’m sure they’d take them in for a while. Just get yourself and the kids out of the house in the morning. I’ll ask them to drive by to pick them up around 7 if that works, and then you can go back to your place for a few hours. Sleep. The prison has visiting hours until 8pm, so you’ll have the whole day to get over there to see Tyrion.”

“This is what I’m talking about, Brienne. You always know the next right thing. You’re incredible.”

“I’m nothing special, Jaime. I’m just outside the situation, so I’ve got a different view of it, that’s all.”

“You significantly undersell yourself.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that, but she felt her cheeks heating again. “Thank you. Now promise me you’ll get out of there.”

“I will - we will.”

“And promise me you’ll sleep.”

“I’ll try.”

“And then?”

“And then I’ll go see Tyrion.”

“Good.”

“Since I’m not supposed to call you, where are you going next?”

“I’ll be here through the weekend probably. By then I’m hoping to know whether I need to keep heading north or not.”

“Good. After I see Tyrion tomorrow, I’ll come see you.”

She was sure she imagined her heart skipping a beat. “Jaime I told you, I’m working.”

“Not when you’re sleeping, though. C’mon we both slept better with someone else in the bed, didn’t we?”

The tiny pool of sweat forming at the back of her neck was less imaginary.

“I mean not just someone, I-- Brienne-- I mean… I sleep better with you… there. It might help reset my um… what did you just call it?”

“Borrowing against your own well-being?”

“Yeah, that. I would very much like to do something about that. And I think seeing you would go a long way to help. Is that okay? If I drive up tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, Jaime. That’s… I think I’d like that.”

“Okay.” He was definitely smiling on the other end of the line.

She smiled back. “Okay.”

[lady-griffin]

Argubably this long rant doesn’t matter since Petyr is dead in the show, but I couldn’t help myself, since I’ve seen people say that Baelish would never be outsmarted and die like that…so here you go.

It is basically accepted as canon that Petyr Baelish is one of the smartest characters in the story and is some Machiavellian-type genius --- manipulating everyone to his whim.

But is he?

Don’t get me wrong, Baelish is certainly intelligent and definitely very clever. And he benefits a lot from the fact that no one ever really thinks he is a real threat, or at least that’s the case in the books. In the show, he’s more seen as a necessary evil by the characters who work with him. They don’t trust him, but they need him for their own agenda.

And Baelish uses people not seeing him as a threat or seeing him as a means to an end to his advantage. But is he some great puppet master, pulling every single string?

Not really.

The idea that Baelish is some kind of absolute mastermind who planned for everyting to work out to his benefit is fueled by several factors –

1. That is a very common assumption of intelligence and is very common trope in media, particulary with political-type or scheming characters. Intelligence is easier to show or prove when it is revealed that said character had everything planned form the start (no matter how implausible that is).

1.A I see this a lot with chess being used as a shorthand to show a character’s intelligence. The intelligent character could’ve won the game at any time and when they suddenly have to leave, they quickly finish the game in one move (to the surprise of their opponent).

2. And in the books, Baelish’s actions and overall scheming have only benefited him, the backlash hasn’t caught up to him…yet

Looking at Baelish and a lot of his actions (both in the show and books), he’s kind of throwing himself everywhere and essentially working with whatever is thrown at him.

The best example is Joffrey sending the Catspaw to kill Bran (because of what he heard from Robert) and Littlefinger takes advantage of Catelyn’s belief that it was Tyrion/Jaime/Cersei (or at least one of them) that sent the assassin, based on whatever Bran saw. And because of that opportunity Baelish is able to further cement the Stark vs. Lannister conflict, which he started by having Lysa send that letter to Catelyn.

Littlefinger himself didn’t plan for Jaime to push Bran out the window or for Joffrey to send an assassin to “impress his father” (Joffrey’s own plan is insane), but boy did he ever take advantage of those extra factors.

And that’s smart, there’s no denying that, but eventually Petyr’s own self is going to catch up with his ambition.

What I mean is that Petyr is fueled by spite and hatred. He wants to stick it to all the nobles in Westeros whoever looked down at him. And every time he gets away with something, he gets bolder and more reckless. The best example of that is Littlefinger kissing Sansa right outside Lysa’s window.

Petyr has a need (that’s growing) to not only be the smartest man in the room, but to have everyone know it.

Basically, Petyr is a very flawed man, who isn’t as smart as a lot of fans see him as or more accurately, doesn’t have everything planned from the beginning and is basically one slip away from it all crumbling around him.  

And there are certain lines that indicate all of this to us.

“[Petyr] was always clever, even as a boy, but it is one thing to be clever and another to be wise.” (AGOT, Catelyn IV)

I really think this gives us the first clear image of who Petyr is as a person – the outline of his character and overall his limitations. Someone who is clever, but as we quickly see, hasn’t become any wiser in his years.  

“In King’s Landing, there are two sorts of people. The players and the pieces.”

“And I was a piece?” She dreaded the answer.

“Yes, but don’t let that trouble you. You’re still half a child. Every man’s a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players.” He ate another seed. “Cersei, for one. She thinks herself sly, but in truth she is utterly predictable. Her strength rests on her beauty, birth, and riches. Only the first of those is truly her own, and it will soon desert her. I pity her then. She wants power, but has no notion what to do with it when she gets it. (ASOS, Sansa VI)

This is Sansa’s introduction to the official “game” and the “rules.” But we should take this overall idea not as an objective fact of how the world is, but how Petyr (and others) see the world. It’s not necessarily inaccurate, but definitely a limited scope of how things work.

And Petyr’s criticism of Cersei, also shows how blind he is of his own limitations. And honestly, having Petyr think he himself is this great player, only for him to be nothing more than a piece, is very ASOIAF.

Petyr wants power, but like Book!Cersei, has no idea of what to do with it once he has it. Petyr’s all about scheming and getting himself higher and higher, but what would he do once he got to the highest point.

He’s great at creating chaos and benefiting from it, but that can only benefit him for “a limited time.” Particularly since his goal is to eventually be in charge and rule – creating chaos and conflict, isn’t going to help him with that.

Now as he’s the Regent Ruler of the Vale, the cracks are beginning to show in his way of thinking and how he operates (as he also seems to be drinking more and is getting more bold (super creepy and gross) with Sansa – which is not great for his own plans, since he’s pretending to be her dad)

“Everyone wants something, Alayne. And when you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him." (ASOS, Sansa VI)

This is how Littlefinger views the world and people, but it’s also a key to how Sansa should start viewing Littlefinger. 

What does he want? Who is he really? How can she move him?

And while I think Sansa should be considering those three things, this idea certainly has holes on it.

Littlefinger is use to operating on tangible wants and desires, a woman (or man) for the night, money, a drink, and so on. And even other less than tangible desires like status or justice, we have seen Petyr dangle those wants in front of people’s faces and take advantage.

But as we have seen with ASOIAF, people are more than a bit complex and have conflicting desires within themselves.

For instance, Jon wanted nothing more than to be Lord of Winterfell, to have a wife and a son of his own. To do his father proud and yet when that was offered to him by Stannis he refused.

Though that might actually be to Petyr’s point. Stannis didn’t know what Jon truly wanted and therefore doesn’t really know who Jon is, and thus can’t move Jon to his own whim. Which I might break down further (at another point).

But back to Petyr.

How is he trying to move Sansa?

He offered Sansa the chance to go home, but that was a lie and Littlefinger has no plans to bring Sansa back home. 

It honestly seems like Littlefinger thinks Sansa’s desire to return home is a temporary desire. And to some extent is working with what he presumes is Sansa’s true desire, which was her old desire, to be queen and have her romantic dreams come true.

Petyr, because of his own desires, is not fully aware of Sansa’s true desires, which means according to his own theory, he doesn’t know who she truly is and will have more difficulty controlling her.

“Clean hands, Sansa. Whatever you do, make certain your hands are clean.” (ASoS, Sansa VI)

There are many flaws in this ideology. 

For one thing - to accomplish anything, especially lasting change or permanent status (the power and respect Petyr wants) you have to get yourself dirty.

I don’t mean doing horrible things and playing dirty. I just mean you actually have to do something. You can’t just sit behind-the-scenes trying to accomplish what you want, you actually have to do it. You need to take an actual risk and put yourself in harms way.

Also, Petyr’s hands are so dirty at this point (in regards to doing crimes).

To name two of his recent best hits…

He killed Lysa and there were two witnesses to his crime.

He has Sansa Stark – who is wanted for regicide (because of Baelish). If Sansa gets found out before Petyr’s “grand plan” can unfold, he’s fucked.

And –

Several people are looking for Sansa Stark (and have an idea who Alayne is)

Several people don’t want Petyr Baelish to be Lord Regent/Lord of the Vale

And some just don’t want Alayne Stone around or don’t want her to marry Harry.

And that’s just naming three separate aspects of essentially one-single problem. There’s more that can affect the Vale and Petyr’s plans.

Two major ones being the Others and Daenerys and her dragons.

But also, the growing restlessness of Westeros (and the Vale), Winter is coming (not the monsters, but like just food shortage) and then there’s the Mountain Clans and there are just so many potentially pitfalls with his plan.

Petyr, to me, is not really a major player. He certainly has had a lot of influence and has cast a large shadow over this world…but,

As Petyr himself explained, every piece has their own agency and desires and certainly can do a lot of damage, but that doesn’t mean they themselves are important in the grand scheme of things. 

And Petyr isn’t a major character himself (in the literal story) as he’s a part of Sansa’s story.

I just find it really interesting (not surprising though) that he’s been built up in the fandom as this absolute Machiavellian genius who’s 20 steps ahead of everyone, when honestly it seems like he’s juggling several knives and each time he doesn’t get cut, he adds another knife.

And his time (in the books) might be coming to an end sooner than we think.

[aegon]

Do you think that there’s a connection between Jamie and Cersei being twins and having a relationship and Arya and Jon being the only ones to look alike in their family and being super close? I ship Jonerys but I feel like in the books Jon and Arya are way too close for it not to mean or add up to anything?? Martins original idea was for them to end up together too

Anon, you’re after my own heart. 

Jon x Arya parallels with Jaime x Cersei both on a relationship and an individual character level is one of my favourites to discuss and is so underappreciated. 

And I’m always here to rant about what I think Jon and Arya are all about! I have so many, many thoughts about how important their relationship is to their respective narratives. 

Buckle in, mate, I’m about to rant to hell. All my bottled up emotions over my faves, here we fucking go: 

To start off with, I 1000% think there’s an important connection between both relationships. Jaime and Jon have incredibly specific parallels, as do Arya and Cersei. Like a century ago, I talked about the idea of balance in the series and that for every action, there’s a kind of reaction, so to speak. For me, the counterbalance to Jaime x Cersei is Jon x Arya.

Jon and Jaime parallels (keeping this short as it’s been discussed by others): 

Swore vows to organisations created to protect with their lives and remain celibate. 

Lord Commanders of their respective organisations. 

Where Jaime was the youngest Kingsguard in history, Jon became one of the youngest Lord Commanders. 

Break their vows twice each (one being celibacy). 

Mother died in childbirth. 

Mained/disfigured sword hands. Jon’s hand is burnt while Jaime’s is completely removed. 

Nicknames designed to mock, re: Lord Snow / Kingslayer. 

Jon refuses Winterfell while Jaime refuses Casterly Rock. 

King foreshadowing in both their chapters. 

Arya and Cersei parallels: 

As children, both dressed in breeches and showed interest in training with swords. 

Resent the patriarchal standards set on women and vocally refuse to follow what’s expected of them. 

Identify and draw strength from the sigil of their respective houses. 

Hold to their grudges. They never forget the ones that hurt their house or their family. 

Have had their heads shaved by/for religious organisations, but where Cersei had hers forcibly removed and lost her agency, Arya gained hers by doing it willingly.

Both their ambitions are rooted in gaining a position of influence not often afforded to their gender. Arya asks if she can be a king’s conciliator, build castles and be a High Septon. While Cersei did become Queen, it was taking control over the small council and ruling in her own right that she really wanted, instead of being dictated around by men or the pretty wife birthing children. 

Daddy’s little girls that look up to their fathers and attempt to emulate them after their deaths. 

Difficulty with one sibling while being incredibly close to another.

Both are told they will marry a king, but misleadingly, not the ones in power at the time. Maggy tells Cersei she will wed the king, but this was long before Robert’s Rebellion and Aerys was in power while Rhaegar was still a prince, so the witch wouldn’t have made sense at the time. Ned tells Arya she’ll marry a king, but it’s Sansa that’s betrothed to the crown prince, so again, it shouldn’t make sense. In both cases, the choice of words is particular but telling. 

Another fascinating anti-parallel is their opposite developments in temperament. Arya and Cersei as children are incredibly similar: willful, ambitious, quick to anger. But as the series progresses, through the FM, Arya learns to be humble, to control her emotions, to be patient and listen. Cersei, however, dissolves into anger, impatience, and pride. 

These are mostly off the top of my head, but moving on to specific relationship parallels: 

Jon x Arya / Jaime x Cersei: 

Jaime and Cersei are twins, with classic Lannister features. Arya and Jon are the only children that look like Starks, and look like one another. 

Obviously, they’re incredibly close and neither ever stops thinking of the other. 

Jon and Jaime have both broken their vows for their sisters. Jaime breaks his for Cersei when he beds her and fathers her children, and Jon breaks his for Arya when he tries riding to Winterfell to save her (!!!)

This is more of an anti-parallel. Jon and Jaime both receive letters about their sister’s needing their help. Jon gets the Pink Letter of Ramsay demanding fArya’s return, and Jaime receives one from Cersei begging him to rescue her. The letter is the catalyst that drives Jon to break his vows, whereas Jaime burns the letter Cersei sends as he grows apart from her. Poetry. 

Jon and Jaime compare the women they’re attracted to with their sisters. Jon sees Arya in Ygritte and Jaime thinks of Cersei with Brienne. Oh, and Arya thinks of Jon with Gendry, oof. 

Another anti-parallel that’s less obvious: Arya thinks of Jon as being the only one that would want her after her traumatising experiences escaping King’s Landing and wouldn’t care about who she’d become now. Jaime barely makes it back to King’s Landing, back to Cersei, and she finds his disfigurement and the changes to his personality after his own traumatic experiences unappealing and starts keeping her distance. 

There might be more but admittedly, it’s been a while since I’ve read Jaime and Cersei’s chapters but there we have it. 

To answer the first part of your ask - yes, there’s clearly a connection between these two relationships. I like to think of them as two sides of the same coin - but where Jaime and Cersei have all the toxicity you’ll never find with Jon and Arya. Essentially, they’re anti-parallels of each other, evidenced by Jaime and Cersei growing apart where Jon and Arya still very much love and miss each other. So where Jaime and Cersei are doomed to end tragically and aggressively, Jon and Arya’s bond is strong enough to stand the test of time and circumstance. 

Jaime x Cersei is not the relationship to aspire to, but to demonstrate what happens when the individuals and the nature of the relationship is twisted to something corrupt. Cersei and Jaime essentially see one another as an extension of themselves, whereas Jon and Arya are one another’s source of support, but still very much their own people. Healthy af, yo. 

So what does this mean for Jon and Arya? 

From a writer’s perspective, having a character constantly bring up another and how much they love them and miss them and would do anything to be with them seems to be a pretty big red flag that they will, in fact, do anything for them. 

It’s why I never understand those that say Arya and Jon’s relationship can be substituted with other characters. 

In my opinion, there’s definitely something happening in the future that needs the reader to understand how much these two mean to each other. It’ll culminate in a climax that’s basically going to drive them from that point onwards and be a turning point in their narratives. 

In Jon’s situation, we’ve seen the start of such a climax. His constant mentioning of Arya and agonising over her in ADWD comes to a head when he’s stabbed for trying to to save her. Such a moment wouldn’t have had the same impact for anyone else but Arya, because their relationship is the only one convincing enough. In the midst of knowing an army of the dead is coming and the drama with Stannis and the freefolk, Jon can’t stop thinking about Arya. We’ve literally had it hammered into our skulls that he’d do anything for her. 

Surprise, surprise - he does. 

And in that moment, as we’ve seen from the show, Jon Snow stops being Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and starts his journey towards becoming the King in the North. Because of how much he loves Arya. 

I very much believe the Battle of the Bastards will happen, but differently than in the show. The North is currently rallying behind Arya’s name and when Jon’s brought back to life, he’s still going to be out of his mind with worry for her. And he won’t have any vows holding him back from bringing her home (home being by his side because Jon calls himself Arya’s home and I just want to remind everyone of that, thanks). Fuck me, I’m excited. He’s 10000% gonna go to war for her and I am HERE FOR IT. 

In this case, Arya being Jon’s favourite person and GRRM making sure she’s brought up in almost all of his POV chapters pays off. 

For Arya, we’ve yet to see it happen, but I’m predicting that it’s the news of Jon’s death that’s going to force her to leave Braavos. We know that she gets news from the Wall from Eastwatch, and she’s struggling to truly become No One as the FM want because of how deep her connection to her family and identity runs. Jon is never far from her thoughts and plays a very important role in who Arya Stark really is. 

When disguised as Blind Beth or any of her other identities, she still thinks about Jon. When she finds a deserter of the Night’s Watch, despite the fact that she’s not supposed to be Arya anymore, she still doles out justice for breaking his vows.

So, even though she’s a thousand miles away, Jon and the Night’s Watch are still very present in her narrative.  

And we know how much Arya loves Jon. Damn, do we know. 

I do believe the news of Jon’s murder is going to spread. And when it reaches Braavos, and finally Arya, it’s going to absolutely shatter her. Arya, like Cersei, does not forgive and forget easily. She’ll never be able to return to her training after hearing about her favourite person’s death, and she’ll be on the first boat out. Probably to go enact some justice. 

The foreshadowing is present in this little nugget in AFFC, when Arya is listening to the NW deserter sing: 

He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince. 

Which I think is exactly what Arya is going to try and do. She won’t, of course, lots of shit still has to happen before they reunite, but she’s definitely going to try. Fucking p o e t r y. 

But the point is, it’ll be her love for Jon that draws Arya back to her true self and sets her on course to reclaiming her identity and returning home. To make it convincing, it makes complete sense to have Arya think of Jon as the only one that ever accepted her for who she was, that loved her unconditionally, that would want her despite all the horrific acts she was forced to commit to survive. He’s the one she’ll willingly and without doubt break her vows to the FM for.  

Love is the death of duty. 

Jon and Arya’s love for each other could very well be the death of their respective duties to their organisation and vows, and be the catalyst they each need to propel their narratives towards the climax of the story, re: the War of the Dawn, and beyond. 

This is why I never understand those that think they’re interchangeable with other characters. They simply aren’t? Everything I’ve mentioned can only ever be applied to Jon and Arya. No other relationship has been so deeply developed, nor as intrinsically integrated into their POVs. Literally everything I’ve said is only applicable because they never shut up about each other. 

I don’t think this contradicts Jonerys tbh, but I think it’s an important reminder that Jon and Arya’s relationship is very much as vital to the story as Jon and Dany’s. There’s a reason I ship them as an OT3, and I’m in love with Arya and Dany’s parallels as well. Arya and Daenerys are and will always be the two most important women in Jon Snow’s life, and in turn, he’s just as important in theirs. 

I tried answering this as objectively as I could, and I hope this was what you were looking for! 

Thank you so much for a brilliant ask!! 

[fatui-harbingers]

hey!!! just wanted to say that I love your meta regarding the hypocrisy between sansa and dany. and it's so exhausting to see dany being judged for her every action so much harder than any of the other characters. the other characters' "bad" actions are never really brought up again in the show but Dany's actions are consistently thrown in her face to remind her to not be like her father. it doesnt matter what she does, she'll be crucified for it either way by the writers and the antis alike :/

I'm glad you liked it! I honestly just wrote it after getting mad about a post full of hypocrisy lol.

And yeah, it is really exhausting. You would think she wouldn't be the only female character to get hit so hard with all these double standards. Part of me wonders if it's bc she doesn't fit neatly into the tomboy/fighter or feminine/ladylike categories since she's still feminine but not exactly a warrior either. I could be just thinking too hard on it lol.

It especially upsets me when people try to use Targaryen “madness” as justification of their hate bc mental illness actually does run in my family (I could even tell you where I think it started!) and I find it kinda offensive that people who clearly don’t understand how mental illness works try to use that as a justifiable reason to hate a character. My mom was diagnosed Bipolar (she was textbook bipolar too) and I actually am at risk of having it bc I mean, my mom gave me half of her DNA! Just like Dany’s parents (haters seem to conveniently forget that she’s half Rhaella who wasn’t mad). And like, Aerys went mad after being tortured, not bc he was a Targaryen so not sure where they got the haters got their info lol. Only 6 Targaryens went mad iirc so again, where are they getting their info??? I already hate misogyny and ableism on their own but when both are obviously being used to hate on a character I get pretty mad!

And you're right, they’d hate Dany no matter what she did. I guess that’s the fun part of being a powerful woman AND a revolutionary in such a patriarchal world. It’s just so annoying. And it’s rather infuriating to see her haters defend slavers and rapists bc they hate her so much. I personally would have done much worse to the slavers and rapists. She didn’t do anything wrong, especially in her world. It would be super awesome if people would stop applying modern standards to a world in a medieval setting. I mean, people in our world have been executed for far less than all of the people Dany ever killed. Same for their world. I would have cheered her on even in our world lol.

I didn't care much when other characters did anything “bad” either. Murder on TV doesn’t bother me. I grew up watching my dad (and an ex Marine so you know he’s not exactly nice or uses nicer language lol) play games like Halo. Pretty much everything he enjoys is pretty graphic so seeing people get blown up or slaughtered like animals or burned alive by dragons really aren’t a big deal to me.

I really didn’t care when Tyrion used wildfire on Stannis’ fleet. I didn’t care that Cersei blew up the sept much though I did like Margaery! I didn’t care much about all the men getting sliced to bits in the Battle of the Bastards no matter what side they were on even though I do enjoy watching Jon kill people! I did enjoy watching Sansa feed Ramsay to his hungry doggies bc I mean, he deserved it and those pups deserved a good meal. I definitely enjoyed watching Arya kill the Freys bc that was just awesome. And I also enjoyed watching Dany and her dragons do anything together lol. Flying, burning enemies, awesome stuff bc I love dragons and obviously Dany. Me and my mom cheered like my Dad when he is watching football (American football) when Dany burned the Khals threatening to rape her bc that was a big girl power moment imo!

I just don't understand why it's so hard for people to not treat Dany like you would someone in our world? Especially when they dismiss anything to counter their “points” as a product of the times? It would be a lot easier on everyone if they would just straight up say they hate Dany and women like her and move on! Just be honest, ya know? Stop dancing around the truth already!

But yeah, sorry to rant on and on when I could have easily said “me too!” lol.

[killthebxy]

In relation to your reblog about the NK dying and it meaning nothing in the end: Just some random thought, though you're not at all obliged to agree or anything! Personally, I got really upset that it seemed like it was over like nothing. Then I thought about it, it says a lot that human beings are the bigger threat. If that makes sense? Their greed, their desire, their way to flip from horrible to decent and back again. Humans are so much scarier. And sadly, the ugly throne embodies that.

          this is a beautiful view, nonnie, thank you for sharing AND all the more for trying to cheer me up with it ❤ i do agree actually! humans have done far worse things in this series, show and book wise. i just feel so bummed with how “easily” it was ended because… one, i was honestly very disappointed that Lightbringer was completely forgotten — it is one of my favorite prophecies, despite of who is the prince that was promised. and it’s not even the case of it being a book!canon only thing, because Stannis had it. Mel talked of it, Mel talked of the prince — even at the start of s07. and suddenly Lightbringer doesn’t matter for anything at all. not to mention, it makes no sense that the Night King survived Drogon’s flame but died from Valyrian steel. the Others are weak to three things: Valyrian steel, fire, dragonglass — so either the Night King dies from all three, or from none and requires a special weapon. AND. even if the show claims that dagger is Lightbringer in the end, it was never tempered. again, i sigh that they bypassed such a beautiful prophecy.

          my main reason to be bummed, though… is what i ranted about in the tags. Jon spent 3 seasons begging for people to forget their personal interests and to unite, he got SO much backlash from this even from his own lords and family — and the feeling i have, now, is that it’s as though that never mattered. why did they even go beyond the Wall then? why did Jon die in that frozen lake for the sake of bringing a wight to King’s Landing? Jon did SO MUCH, and he is the reason that every person who is at Winterfell for this battle is there — directly or indirectly, and now it feels as though everything he went through meant nothing. i was already sad during episode 1, at the treatment he got from the northern lords, and now it’s gone back to the same. zero appreciation for this boy/man who carries the world on his back.

[ibuproffie]

wtf WAS this season of got

i just finished watching and like...? i have so many questions? cut for spoilers i guess 

ding dong you are WRONG i’m just going to incoherently ramble because i was like ??? for the whole thing. fyi i’ve read the asoiaf books multiple times so that’s kind of informed a lot of this rant because i just don’t see grrm ending the series like the show ended. 

so since s7, we’ve really seen this whole rush of stuff and the process of dany taking back westeros has been really dialed up to 11 for no goddamn reason. i mean the leaders of dorne were murdered, edmure tully was irrelevant, the tyrells were just all killed off, stannis gang killed off, no mention of varys’s fake targ plan (which personally i was cool with; i don’t love that tbh). which is...part of the thing that makes got...good was the intrigue; the mass of characters and subplots and ambitions etc. and i didn’t rlly say anything because i thought ok, it’s not great but at least we’ll get a really satisfying s8. 

the white walkers? sis WHERE? were they?? WHO were they?? the whole show they’ve been hyped up as the big bad, the catalyst for bringing ice and fire together, so to speak, and then they kill all of them off in one episode? isn’t this the greater evil that the people of westeros must unite behind that they’ve been foreshadowing all FUCKING show?? don’t they put things in perspective?? show the futility of life and the importance of humanity?? like what the hell? (side note: arya killing the night king was cool af but...narrative, but also...WOMEN so i’m torn) and then, i thought, “well maybe they were killed to have more time for intrigue but like...anyone who hasn’t firmly chosen a side is fucking dead” so lol to that my dudes

the dothraki? weren’t they all killed in the fight with the night king? how did they all show up to besiege kings’ landing at just the right moment? how many dothraki are there? i could ask roughly the same question about the unsullied but the dothraki were more egregious so imma just call them out 

danaerys?? ma’am what?? fyi Evil Targ Dany isn’t a dany i would totally hate; the books have foreshadowed that dany has some potential for being a bad guy or at least a worse guy than she was at the beginning. anyone who says there’s no way dany could be a hot steaming yikes hasn’t been paying attention and that’s just the tea...she’s been told her entire life that she’s special because of who her parents were, she’s been extremely popular and successful just by using brute force and not listening, really, to her advisors. it’s always been there; she’s always been a little bit of a gamble. however, what i do have some problems with was that evil dany was just dropped out of fucking nowhere. like, they killed missandei and she just inexplicably torched the city, killed people who were surrendering (which if you remember, the only reason she killed the tarlys was because they WOULDN’T surrender so wtf dany) and started seeing traitors everywhere. if you’re gonna have a character start doing an about-face like that, you’re going to need to foreshadow it a little bit. because it just seemed rlly out of character. this season, all of danaerys’s decisions, which have usually been framed as “brutal but necessary” by the story suddenly became “extremely irrational and a threat to everyone”. for chrissakes, she should be fucking worried about jon eclipsing her in popularity because he has a better claim to the throne and is a man even though she’s done all the work!! it makes sense for her to kill varys because he was trying to murder her (like so many other characters tried!!) legitimizing gendry makes sense-hell, stannis tried to do the same for jon!! these were not totally out-there calls for dany and didn’t really count as evidence of her growing insanity or whatever. in addition, her goal shifted from “i want to reclaim my birthright” to “i want to create a utopia over which i rule indefinitely” which is not a desire that i have ever read from either show!dany or book!dany. she’s simply not naive enough to think she could do something like that. also (and this is kind of a pattern w s8) dany’s arc seemed to suggest that she was trying to be better than her family. the whole crux of her claim is that she’s better than aerys was, that she was learning that the family members she idealized her whole life could be terrible and cruel and that she didn’t want to be like viserys or aerys or even, really, like rhaegar. how many times have we heard this?? to just drop the whole “you-can’t-escape-your-nature” shit on us now is not only really fucking bleak, but bad writing. also jonerys just kept on getting worse and worse; the romanticization of incest on this show was too fucking much and i just couldn’t. why would danaerys, who was trying to escape her nature, desperately want to hook up with her nephew?isn’t there enough of this on got for god’s sake? what happened to her being a new targaryen? what fucking happened? 

jon? i don’t love r + l =j but whatever, fine. may i ask what the point was, ma’am?? may i fucking ask, why bring back jon snow from the dead? wasn’t he the “prince that was promised”? then why in god’s name did he not take a more active role in the fight against the white walkers? if he’s azor azhai reborn, was danaerys his nissa nissa? and what did that sacrifice accomplish in his arc? or is melisandre full of shit all along and it’s just all up to chance? and then what was the point of setting all of that up? you can’t just abandon subplots like this guys; you just can’t. 

bran? had no point, the worst character objectively... WHAT tomfoolery gave tyrion the bright idea to make him the king? isn’t he supposed to be smart good god

braime? excuse me what? FUCKING FORESHADOWED ALL THE GODDAMN WAY THROUGH, WE GET A TENDER A** FUCKING SEX SCENE THAT ISN’T GODDAMN GROSS AND THEN they’re like “nope sike!! see!! jaime can never change!! you thot that was a redemption arc sweaty!! twincest for the win!!” like this isn’t happening in the books and you can’t fucking change my mind, grrm did not set up this arc to disrespect jaime or brienne like this. part of brienne’s arc is going to be realizing that she is desirable and deserving of love. mark my fucking words. this was part ii of this weird “we can’t escape our nature” shit that kept cropping up this season for no reason. and look, i’m not just going off on this because i’m a hardcore braime shipper (sorry not sorry). i’m going off because it literally doesn’t make sense. if you foreshadow a huge character arc that will redeem the character, tease it, and then go in the complete opposite direction, that motivation for the character goes all over the place. at this point in the narrative he had cut his ties w cersei; he realized as tyrion pointed out that they had a toxic relationship and that while he still cared about her to an extent, he had come to the realization of what an intensely horrendous person she was, and it didn’t fucking matter if she was pregnant with his kid because she (unlike him) wasn’t making any sort of strides to be a better person. and then there’s brienne who is possibly the only soul in westeros who believes there’s more “good jaime” than “killing kings and crippling little boys jaime” who is his physical equal as well as his legit friend (like how many friends does jaime really have right) who he’s beginning to have feelings for because of their shared traumatic experiences and similar goals and the writers just...fucking ignored all of that previous buildup. and braime never had to necessarily end happily (see the cersei paragraph); i personally think that one or both of them are going to die in the books, but it really was a gigantic slap in the face as well as to book canon “throw this in the fire” anyone?? 

and cersei? don’t get me wrong; i’ve wanted her dead for so long but come the fuck on and remember the goddamn valonqar prophecy. that’s ignoring a huge part of her motivation for being so “evil”. because she knows her doom is coming and is doing her best to prevent it. jesus fucking christ. jaime was supposed to kill her (and maybe die in the process but ya know) because i personally think tyrion’s done enough kinslaying. to have her die in that way was both anti-climactic and ignoring the narrative again. they just shouldn’t have included the prophecy if they were going to butcher it like this jajkjfalk

[cle-guy]

An Ode to “Game of Thrones”

I typically post rants on Facebook, but I do not want to piss off my few remaining friends on that social media space, so I will pontificate here instead.  Perhaps a few people will enjoy my ramblings.

1.  In Praise of Game of Thrones

There are numerous things the show accomplishes, which novels simply cannot match.  The battle scenes, Podrick Payne singing “Jenny’s Song” (something I could never experience in A Song of Ice and Fire), all of the gorgeous visuals: these things bring value to a franchise.  The visual setting enriches my experience of the series.  I can place faces to characters names, allowing a true visual take place of my poor, vague, images.  This brings me joy.

In fact: the Battle of the Blackwater, the Battle of Hardhome, Dany burning the Lannister army: these scenes were AMAZING.  The Red Wedding brought emotional turmoil back into my life in a way almost no episode ever could; even the death of Ned Stark (still my favorite character), was moving.  I still watch the show because Bernoff & Weiss accomplish many great things in their adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s masterpiece.

2.  They still fuck it up

Sorry.  But there is a TON to find infuriating about the show.  The number of characters completely fucked up continues to grow.  In no particular order:

Stannis Baratheon.  A righteous man.  A good king.  A man, who learns from his mistakes and grows as a result.  Someone who recognizes the threat the Others face to the Seven Kingdoms is reduced to a mere evil king, meant to die at the hands of Ramsay Snow.  His whole arc was awful, and his death by Brienne infuriating.  There was no point in even allowing him to survive the Battle of the Blackwater.  

Jorah Mormont.  Jorah is a slaver, let’s start there: Jorah is a man who LITERALLY ENSLAVED PEOPLE.  He was not banished because he’s unlucky, but because he broke one of the few Westerosi red lines (one which Dany picks up in Season Three).  He’s also a guy who is hot after his queen, and betrays her.  Why is he a hero?  What exactly redeemed Jorah in the show?  Answer: he got sick of greyscale, and was saved by a better man in Samwell Tarly. 

Euron Greyjoy.  In the books: he’s an evil metaphysical villain meant to bring the Night’s King down upon us; in the show?  He’s a whoring asshole, who wants to bang the queen.  I shouldn’t need to say more.

Jon Snow.  Excuse me, I meant Aegon Targaryen.  Wait.  Which Aegon Targaryen?  His brother?  Who died by the hands of Tywin?  No, I mean the AEGON TARGARYEN WHO IS NOW SOMEHOW GOING TO ‘RULE’ AND COMPLETELY DUMP HIS UPBRINGING BECAUSE SOME WEIRD GUY SAID SO!  UGH.  This whole plot line infuriates me, because after seven seasons the creators still don’t understand the point of the show: the Iron Throne DOESNT MATTER.  As Jeor Mormont said: “when dead men come hunting, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?”  For fucks sake: CERSEI LANNISTER (for incomprehensible reasons, just accepted by the audience) sits the throne.  This whole plot line is a waste, as far as I am concerned.  

Tyrion Lannister.  He was made an idiot to make the plot work from season six on.  Why is he hand?  For his glorious leading of Meereen while Dany was off in the Dothraki Sea?  For that matter, why is Dany a good queen?  Because she did such a good job bringing peace to Slaver’s Bay?  Both characters are presented as good because we, the audience, need to see them that way; the show has completely failed to give us any reason to believe either are competent rulers.  

Next, the show’s plot holes are insane.  The most egregious being the stupid wight mission up North.  Besides the point that the whole mission fails: it’s asinine how in the world Dany came to save the day in the first place.  Next is the instant ship speed every character gets on command (although its taken the White Walkers years to move a few hundred miles, but I digress).  This is beyond a few other holes:

Why is anyone following Cersei Lannister?  How did she afford the Golden Company when her own dad admitted the Lannisters are awfully in debt, and the Braavosi already backed Stannis?  How did the Tyrells just lose so quickly, to a Lannister army which has been completely exhausted for years?  What was the bloody point of Littlefinger after he left King’s Landing?  It’s all very confusing, and infuriating, when one thinks about it for longer than ten seconds.

Conclusion

There isn’t one.  A Song of Ice & Fire is meant to critique and recreate fantasy tropes into something new, and different.  Game of Thrones started that way, and then decided the tropes were easier to follow so just went with them.  As a result we’re left with an infuriatingly disappointing plot, which middling characterization, backed up by excellent acting, good fight scenes and a lot of nostalgia from when the show was good.  

[janiedean]

When one of my favourite fic writers was asked why she doesn’t like brienne’s POV she said that she’s a minor character looking for two major characters whose location we already know, they lack suspense and it’s hard to see why they’re there :( I feel like a lot of people feel this way, but what do you think is the purpose of brienne’s chapters in the grand scheme of things?

well, there’s a lot to unpack here, but:

the fact that brienne is defined minor already says all because no, she’s a pove character. she can be a secondary or not one of the main ones, true enough, but minor character? yeah, nope. she has POVs. minor characters don’t have povs unless you count throwaways with just one, but then again, melisandre has one pov and you’d never say she was a minor character, would you? yeah, exactly;

also, ‘brienne is looking for sansa and we already know who she is’: yeah, except that it’s not about sansa whatsoever, it’s about lady stoneheart and brienne herself and their rship with jaime, which means that if you’re reading brienne’s chapters wanting to find stuff on sansa you’re already approaching it wrong because ofc we know where sansa is, but brienne’s arc in affc is about sansa as much as sansa is a pretext to show you a lot of things that grrm couldn’t do otherwise.

specifically, we have two main things: worldbuilding and brienne’s character development. in order:

worldbuilding:

now, what’s happened for the first three books? people went to war and it apparently ended (in westeros) with an unlawful massacre. all of our povs until now until davos have been from nobles/economically privileged people who have mostly survived the war. we had some inklings of how it went through a) the riverrun chapters in acok where you learn that edmure had let his people in, b) the cat chapters in general, c) something from davos because he has the not-noble perspective, but did we see how the war actually devastated the entire country? no. what do brienne’s chapters offer? brienne and pod going around one of the most war-torn areas of westeros (near where the red wedding had been) and showing you exactly how much it hurt the real people living it, and sorry but if grrm, a well-known conscience objector during the vietnam war who feels about the consequence of war and pacifism very deeply, has said in an interview that his favorite scene to write in the whole of asoiaf is brienne and maribald talking about how ptsd destroys soldiers’s lives in war and war ruins people, sure as hell I’m going to assume he thinks those povs were important enough to warrant their presence;

also, you get introduced in a very subtle but effective way to a lot of future key players. as in, randyll tarly is currently on the small council or should be soon, but we don’t see him first in a sam chapter, we see him in brienne’s affc chapters where he’s presented as being basically the asshole version of stannis who told her to go back home and find a husband when he technically saved her from the bet in renly’s camp, we find out sandor is alive (!!! THE QUIET ISLE!!!), we find out where the fuck gendry ended up, we find out where the bloody mummers have scattered, we have found out where the brotherhood ended up etc, and oh wait lady stoneheart shows up and scuse me but catelyn was a major character with a shitton of povs and you’re telling me it’s a coincidence she shows up with her purpose and all in the chapters of the female character she shared a bond with, that was sworn to her and who’d have fucking died for her even after cat herself died and it’s a coincidence? like, i know this fandom hates catelyn dead or alive but she’s important, deal with it;

this also means that through brienne’s chapters grrm deals with a lot of his favorite themes to touch in a general setting without going into character-specific things, specifically:a) war, the consequences of war on who fought it, which are all negative and peace being always the best choice over it;b) those same consequences on people who suffered it without fighting (ie: have a bunch of orphans being slaughtered by bandits because their parents died!)c) the fact that the people in power don’t give a single fuck about itd) justice and how it’s dealt (randyll tarly and his exemplary methods /sarcasm)

okay, all good, you say, and then why did brienne have to do it, couldn’t it have been anyone else?

no, it couldn’t have been anyone else, and this is where we touch the other point, as in, brienne’s character development. as in:

now, george is a good writer. he also knows that if you have to set a character up for something at the peak of the series, you have to build it up before (ie: if he knew that theon was gonna save jeyne and jump from that window after regretting he didn’t die with robb, he had to start working on it since his acok chapters which he did, but you couldn’t have told that would be his storyline reading acok, right...?) which means that you need to make sure the reader has a background and knows what the hell is going on with them and why they tick the way they tick. I have previously ranted about how you can guess a lot of things about brienne if you read just acok/asos when I explained why she’s important as a literary character and I refer to that for it, but until you get to asos, since you don’t have her pov, other than ‘she’s not conventionally attractive’, you can only go insofar as:a) at some point she was in love with renly enough she’d die for himb) she’s a very morally sound person who really believes in her knightly oaths to a point that’s maybe unhealthy sometimesc) she’d die for whoever she trustsd) she will change her mind if she misjudged someone but she needs to have proofe) she doesn’t trust people easilyf) she can fight pretty damn well and possibly best than any other man in westerosg) everyone thinks she’s a joke for wanting to be a knighth) she has conflicts about wearing dressesnow, that’s not little. but still, it’s not enough for what I think george has in plans for her. now, rewind a moment, because we need to establish another point, as in...

grrm has made A Damned Point in these books of deconstructing the concept of chivalry/knighthood and pointing out how people who are seen by others as perfect knights/Good People To Boot are actually anything but and people who tried to actually do knightly things aren’t seen as such for hypocrisy or because society sucks or both (jaime and sandor vs gregor vs jaime’s old kingsguard vs the gold cloaks etc) and he’s been pretty damn going at it with a flamethrower. what you know is that at the point in the narrative westeros is at knighthood is a corrupted institution, no one believes in it (or almost), no one fits the definition of what a true knight should be or if they do other people don’t see it, and not counting the above (sandor because he doesn’t see himself as one and he loathes it because the moment gregor got knighted he got his worldview of it tainted forever, jaime because he tried and he wanted to be it and all he got was the kingslayer name) no one in these books is a darned true knight and recognized as such. now, I’ll bring up the goddamned dunk and egg books again because in those books we have a) the actual knightly oath, b) an actual true knight, as in duncan, who is/was recognized as such by the entire damned realm and actually was one. now, the oath is:In the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave. In the name of the Father I charge you to be just. In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent. In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women....now, I’m gonna drop the question: who, while going around westeros with a *valyrian sword* she doesn’t think she deserves handling and duncan’s actual shield that she takes because there was a similar one in the armory while being on a quest to save a princess:- shows bravery at every other corner (no chance and no choice guys)- dispenses justice as much as she’s allowed to (the bloody mummers and most likely lady stoneheart later) because she kills people who did horrible things- defended the young and innocent (pod and the kids in the inn, again, no chance and no choice)- protected women (she’s out to find sansa and most people in the inn were girls and if you want to rape someone rape me)?answer: brienne of tarth. yes, brienne. no, no other. and no one else could have done that, because, and here we go to the last two points...

we knew what we knew about brienne, but the moment we go into her head we find out exactly all the reasons why she does what she does, we find out what she thinks about her life, jaime, catelyn, pod, the situation she’s in and whatnot, we find out what drives her, we find out why she was going to die with renly, we find out that her core problem (other than hating that people see her as ugly) is that she can’t reconcile being a lady and a knight and she hates disappointing his father and that she’s been subjected to a really damn crappy time in her life on account of her looks, which means that we saw her as a young girl who was about to get herself killed over renly and finally finds a woman who doesn’t laugh at her in cat chapters, we saw her as what jaime sees her as ie someone who gets him/changed his mind about him/a paragon of knightly strength and vows-upholding, but we hadn’t seen her from inside her own head.from where we find out that she’s a human being with very human issues, that she’s actually not a fluke in the sense that yes she’s that good of a person, yes she’s that nice, no she doesn’t care for glory or money or fame beyond ending up in songs where she’s celebrated as beautiful and strong and not called names like in real life, no she doesn’t have some hidden agenda to fuck things up for someone, yes she really believes in knightly vows, yes she really cares for the people she swears herself to that much, yes she suffers over catelyn’s death forreal, yes she really is gone over jaime that much, yes her self-esteem is crap, no she’s not gregor clegane.and she’s also duncan’s direct descendant, even if george isn’t dropping that bomb on her yet. (and her brother’s name is galladon like one of the fairest knights in legends and wait, in arthuriana the perfect knight is galahad of which brienne is a deconstruction in herself.)now, not to presume anything, but if I was writing a series in which I 100% deconstruct knighthood in every possible way - as an institution and as ‘what people thinks a knight has to look like’ - and I was planning to have as a plot twist to have a person who doesn’t look like a proper knight according to the audience and the other characters in the narration actually be officially hailed as The Best Knight In This Entire Fucking Realm I’d probably give them POV chapters instead of having them always be seen by someone else, because you can’t know if that person is deserving of the title until it’s always other people talking about it. the moment you’re in their head you know if they have what it takes for the job or not...

which means that the brienne chapters are there because from the moment she gets them and separates from jaime she starts on a journey which ends with her having to face her worst fears about her own shortcomings and put her in front of enormous moral and ethical choices (ie jaime - the man she loves - or stoneheart as in her former liege lady gone mad, also her mission for sansa vs saving the girls at the inn because if she’s dead she can’t find sansa... but no chance and no choice) which until now have about broken everyone who has faced them (even good people at heart ie jaime and sandor got their lives turned on for the worst when knighthood ideals and vows failed them) and guess what the entire point is that while everyone else couldn’t coherently live up to those ideals and vows, brienne most likely will because she’s exactly everything a true knight TM should be, and the moment she gets over it she’s going to get the results, and since I doubt grrm wanted anyone to say that if she got that he had written an overpowered mary sue who can fight anyone and take the moral high ground without being conflicted most of the time, he’s showing you where she comes from, that she’s hella conflicted and she has a hell of a lot of issues which still don’t stop her from pursuing her dreams.

and sorry but if she’s being written to become that (and the fact that she’s duncan’s direct descendant seals it nvm the knighting in the show which I’m 99% sure is one of the three book canon things they might have done this year because like hell dnd would have cared for knighting her before kingsguarding her, they’d have forgotten it as usual) then she can’t not have povs because then she really would look like your usual mary sue just not standard attractive, but then again you don’t get how much that hurts her or weights on her until you read her chapters. then it hits you in the face. like, reading it really cemented for me that she was top three for me and my favorite female character in existence, if it stuck at asos I don’t know if i’d have gotten it that much.

also, giving a pov to the only goshdarned canonically not attractive woman who stays not attractive with her experiences and background that ever graced mainstream literature has (for me and a lot of others I know) meant that for the first time we saw someone with our darned crappy childhood self-esteem destroying experiences being the protagonist of one storyline and believe me that didn’t hurt either, and most surely grrm also meant her as that specific rep, and that would be enough of a reason if he felt like it, but nvm that.

tldr: the purpose of brienne’s chapters is showing you that war sucks and make you understand that brienne is The Knight That Was Promised and they’re there so when she’s knighted and hailed as the best one since her ancestor and most likely even better than him you don’t go like ‘what the hell where did that come from she has no pov I’ve barely seen her in these books how am I supposed to buy it’, never mind that she’s fundamental to the conclusion of catelyn’s storyline whichever it is, and catelyn’s coincidentally an extremely major character in these series and one grrm also really obviously cares about. and grrm is doing the work now so no one falls off the chair gaping and wondering what the hell was her deal in ADOS. so if anyone thinks the purpose in those chapters is finding sansa they’re imvho very far off the mark. sansa being actually the purpose of the quest happens next book after the stoneheart situation is solved, then we can discuss it. but for now, it’s not what these chapters are about - they’re about brienne and her relationships and her quest and knighthood and the worldbuilding and about how war devastates the places it happens in always, and the fact that people read those chapters and then think ‘yes but what about sansa’ and/or ‘yes but what was the point’ is imvho a self-showing proof that it’s exactly why they need them: because like that, they them and only think about the other main characters or the overachieving plot or immediate gratification when grrm wants the reader to stop and think for five minutes about what he’s telling you and he’s pointing neon lights at brienne like ‘hey SHE is the one you need to keep an eye on because She Is The Quintessential Good Guy’. but the fact that I see people dismissing her chapters as useless and boring on principle because no plot gratification and ‘she’s boring’ about says everything that has to be said imvho, and that was my tea for today, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[yourprayer]

pop culture chapter 8

“Adulthood in a town like Derry is even worse than childhood. The listless, empty ramblings of days dragging on in a town that felt like one-size-too-small-shoes sat heavier on the recently graduated than the younger children. Before you were eighteen and responsible for your own lunch money, you could spend your interminable afternoons exploring the surrounding environment, friends of friends abound. Escaping to the arcade and seeing the same films six times at the same theater was an acceptable amount of nothing to do at twelve years old. But when nineteen years hit Bill Denbrough and college acceptance letters didn’t, the sudden, overwhelming, nothingness of Nowhere, Maine became too heavy to bear.”

chapter 8 (wc: 4k)

chapter list here

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“Someone’s knockin at yer back door, Stanny.”

“Couldn’t kill you to answer it?”

“Not my house.”

“Well you’re not getting any of my pizza, then.” Stan griped as he marked his place and set down his novel before crossing the room.

“Wait, you ordered pizza?!” Richie extracted himself from his position on Stan’s bed, where he had been reading comics upside down.

“You’d know if you got the door.” Stan called over his shoulder as he descended the stairs. Another knock rang through the empty house.

“Coming dear!” Richie yelled with a ridiculous trill as he attempted to slide down the bannister.

“Don’t break yourself. I don’t want your blood on my carpet.” Stan yanked Richie’s sleeve, returning the wily boy to his feet.

“Buzzkill.” Richie muttered, crossing his arms as he followed Stan sullenly.

“Reason you’re still alive?” Stan quirked an eyebrow, walking backwards with a finger pointed at himself.

“Touche, douche.” Richie rhymed under his breath as they crossed the kitchen.

“Heard that.” Stan commented as he opened the door.

“Hey.”

Stanley and Richie’s eyes went comically wide as they took in the sight on Stan’s back doorstep. Before them stood a disheveled Mike and Eddie, both sweaty and breathing like they’d ran all the way there. Eddie was holding the collar of his shirt to split and bleeding skin of his chin, droplets of the blood escaping and dripping down his neck, leaving dried trails like lay lines. Mike was smiling almost apologetically, like he was sorry to have stopped by.

“Got a first aid kit?” Mike broke the silence, smile almost manic as he joked.

“What the fuck happened?!” Stan inquired, pulling Mike in the room and out of the way before Richie practically launched himself at Eddie, who he promptly shoved over to the sink so he could begin cleaning his wound.

“It’s a pretty, uh, funny story actually.” Mike said with a strange, nervous laugh. Stan studied him crossly between cupboards he opened in search of some bandages. “Mind if I have a glass of water?”

“Go ahead.” Stan replied warily, watching Mike grab a cup out of the cabinet to his left with trembling hands. Richie moved Eddie away from the sink as Mike came over, meeting Stan at the kitchen island and grabbing the box of band-aids he’d successfully scavenged. Mike drank three full glasses while Richie diligently attended to Eddie’s chin. Stan and Eddie caught each other’s gazes just once, and at Stan’s questioning eyebrow Eddie only shook his head. Stan waited a moment more before starting in on Mike again. “You gonna tell this funny story?”

“It’s a real doozy.” Mike braced his hands on the sink, back facing the others.

“I think I can handle it.”

Mike took a deep breath before turning.

“You want the long or the short of it?”

“Dealer’s choice.”

“I think I just controlled fire with my mind.”

Richie dropped the bandage he was opening.

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. That’s the short.”

“Does the long explain this?” Richie pointed at Eddie’s band-aid clad chin.

“If I tell you it involves Hockstetter and Belch, does that answer your question?”

“Shit. Yeah.” Richie adjusted his glasses reverently, eyes downcast as his mind easily grasped the general specifics.

“So you what, turned his flamethrower contraption off?” Stan crossed his arms and leaned against the pantry.

“More like turned it around.” Mike paused to drink more water. “It didn’t burn me.”

“It touched you?” Mike nodded. “And it didn’t burn.” Another nod. “And you’re sure it was real fire.” Richie continued incredulously.

“It was. A whole lot of it. And it couldn’t touch me.”

“Bullshit.” Richie said with awe.

“You literally turned invisible a couple days ago.” Stan glared at Richie.

“Yeah, but- that’s nuts!”

“More nuts than your thing?”

Richie qualmed. “No…”

“So shush. Let the man continue.”

“That’s pretty much all there is to it.” Mike shrugged. “I guess fire can’t burn me anymore.”

“Let’s test it.” Richie pulled a lighter out of his jean pocket. “Experimentation.”

Mike spoke at the same time as Stan, his acquiescence overlapping Stanley’s protests.

“It’s fine, Stan.” Mike repeated, stepping over to Richie with an outstretched arm.

“What if it was just a fluke?” Stan folded his hands in concern.

“It’s just a tiny little Bic, what can it do?” Mike said casually as Richie flicked on the flame.

“You sure?” Richie asked, lighter in one hand and Mike’s arm in the other.

“Go right ahead.”

Richie watched Mike’s face with pinched eyebrows, disbelief and uncertainty on his face. He titled the flame to touch skin, eyes going wide as Mike did not flinch.

“Nothing?” Richie pressed the flame into Mike’s skin, which was not burning or bubbling as all laws of physics deemed it should.

“It feels like hot wax, but not super hot wax.” Mike took another sip of his water with his free hand.

“Are you the wax in this equation?” Richie questioned as he moved the flame up and down the length of Mike’s forearm.

“I think so?”

“Fucking hell.” Richie sighed as he let go of the trigger, pocketing the lighter once more. “Of course you get a useful power.” He complained as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“The fuck do you mean?”

“I mean that’s what this whole thing is, right? We’re all getting superpowers or something! And I get this bullshit where some of my organs go see-through, and it hurts like a bitch, mind you, and you get to be fire-retardant! Stan can fuckin’, I don’t know, levitate things, which is helpful-”

Stan and Mike spoke over each other again.

“Stan can what?”

“You’ve been reading too many comic books.”

Stan looked guilty after he realized what Mike had said over his comment.

“Oh. Uh, yeah. Last night. My book was floating.”

“That’s it?”

“I made it fly into the ceiling.”

“Did it stay there?”

“No, it fell.”

“Who cares if it stayed up there? Point is Stanley actually gets something that doesn’t suck-”

“Eddie, you’ve been weirdly quiet. Are you okay?” Stan interrupted Richie’s rant, desperately wanting to shift the subject away from himself. Eddie blanched at the sudden question, shuffling his weight awkwardly on his feet. He thought for a moment about saying something, but settled on a shake of his head. “What’s up?” Stan pressed.

“I’m with Richie.” Eddie said after a moment, voice unsure. Richie definitely didn’t dig his nails into his legs from where his hands were clenched in his pockets in response to the thoughts Eddie saying the phrase I’m with Richie conjured. “I got dealt a really shitty hand.”

Richie swallowed, wishing away the heat in his cheeks. “How so?”

“You know how so!” Eddie went from reserved and shaken to bitterness teetering on the edge of rage in a matter of seconds. “The only ‘power’ I got is being scared so shitless I can’t even fucking move every time something goes wrong!”

“Eds.” Richie pleaded softly, hoping to head off the explosion he knew was coming.

“You should have seen me today, Richie. I was fucking useless. Mike was about to get barbequed and I just fucking laid there!”

“Belch was holding you down Eddie, he had his boot in your back-” Mike protested.

“Wait, Belch had his boot in your back? That son of a-”

“The point is that I’m useless now! Who am I if I can’t protect my friends?!”

“Eds, you are not useless-”

“Richie’s right, Eddie-”

“You don’t get it, Stan-”

“Eddie, I don’t think you have a super power.” Mike said firmly, breaking through the chaos of everyone’s voices overlapping.

“Excuse me?” Eddie blinked at him.

“I don’t think you have a ‘super power’.” Mike air quoted, glancing at Richie. “I think you have a panic disorder.”

“Mike.” Richie warned quietly, almost subconsciously raising a hand as if to placate a wild animal. Stan stared at him shocked, genuine surprise and fear overtaking him as he worried over the results of the statement.

Eddie went white, his whole body eerily stilling. His eyes started out laser-focused on Mike’s face but began to dart around the room. He tried to form words, his brain working in overdrive as he scrambled over a response. To Richie it looked like he’d short-circuited.

“I- you- how dare-”

“Eddie, I’m not trying to offend you-”

“How dare you, Michael.” Eddie spat. “You have got to be fucking kidding me right now.”

“I’m not.” Mike stood his ground.

“If I wanted someone to stand here and list a bunch of fake illnesses I don’t have, I’d be at home!” Eddie nearly screamed. Stan clasped a hand over his mouth. Richie swallowed again before laughing nervously with the teasing, though-”

“Shut UP Richard. I’m not fucking around.” Eddie rounded on Mike again. “I can’t believe you, one of my best friends treating me like my fucking mother, trying to find some fucking disease you can blame me on-”

“I am not acting like your mother, Eddie.” Mike yelled back, surprising Stan and Richie with his intensity.

“You know what hurts the most about it?” Eddie pushed on, apparently unaffected by the bite back. “What really gets me about being told I’m sick all the time? She says my behavior is what makes me sick, the things I do or like or say. It’s not my temperature or my complexion or whether or not I throw up, it’s my fucking personality! To her, I’m the disease! And I thought you of all people would see me differently. But it’s clear now you don’t. I’m something you want to cure too.”

“Eddie-” Mike protested feebly, shocked beyond belief.

“I am sorry I was such a useless pile of shit today.” Eddie said through angry tears forming in his eyes. “I feel terrible about how I acted. But you don’t have to be so vicious about it. You don’t have to treat me like a germ.”

With that, Eddie was turning on a heel and leaving, storming out of Stan’s back door as the other’s scrambled after him, Richie yelling for him to come back.

“Let him go.” Mike said calmly, a hand on Richie’s shoulder as the three stood in the doorway. They watched Eddie storm out of the garden, the brand new and almost frighteningly large cactus plant near the door escaping their notice.

______________________________________________________________

“I’m the world’s worst boyfriend.”

“Oh come on, Ben.”

“No, I really am. I mean, absolute shit.”

“Th-there are p-p-plenty worse boyfr-friends than you out there.” Bill clapped a hand on Ben’s shoulder, smiling at the sight of Ben idly fretting.

“What kind of asshole waits until a week before an anniversary before they even start thinking about a gift?” Ben put his head in his hands, soda and fries forgotten on the bench next to him. He and Bill were on one of their regular excursions to the downtown district of Derry, where they would both get a coke and fries to be eaten as they walked around and windowshopped for all the things they couldn’t afford.

“S-some people forget the d-day entirely.” Bill pointed out, popping a french fry into his mouth. “I did.”

Ben looked up at him incredulously. “You forgot yours and Bev’s anniversary?”

“She b-broke up with me for a reason.” He joked, taking a drink of his soda. Ben laughed at his casual admission.

“No offense, but I’m glad the bars not so high.” Ben said through giggles.

Bill snorted. “Wh-what bar?” The two broke into fits of laughter, trying their best to contain themselves in public.

“Well, shit.” Ben leaned back, picking up his styrofoam cup of cola and taking a sip. “Guess I’ve only gotta do something mildly impressive.”

“What k-kind of gift are you th-thinking?” Bill tucked a leg under the other as he ate more of his fries.

“It’s cliche as shit, but I was thinking jewelry.” Ben scratched the back of his neck. “I mean, it is only our six-month, but still…” Ben trailed off, Bill watching him intently as he continued to eat. “I’m really fucking serious about her. I wanna get something that says I am.”

“Jewelry is good, then.” Bill said seriously.

“What do you think she would like?” Ben asked, vulnerability and desperation clear in his eyes as he locked them with Bill’s.

“C-can’t go w-w-wrong with a n-necklace.” Bill took another drink.

“Yeah…” Ben sighed, contemplatively taking a bite of one of his fries. “That doesn’t feel like… special enough though.” He finished the fry. “I feel like it should be something, I don’t know, more. She deserves it.”

“Yeah she does.” Bill agreed sincerely as he took another drink. The boys sat in silence for a few moments, watching Derry townfolk shuffle around on their nameless errands.

“Would it be the most embarrassing thing in the world to get her a promise ring?” Ben said after the silence had stretched too far. Bill shook his head, swallowing the fry he was on.

“Nu-uh. I think sh-she’d love that.”

“Really?” Ben asked nervously.

“Sh-she told me sh-she did s-s-so, yeah.” Bill grinned.

“Oh. I didn’t know you guys talked about…” Ben fiddled with his fingers nervously.

“Y-you guys?” Bill supplied. “B-b-bev and I are still fr-friends, Ben. We talk ab-bout all kinds of stuff.”

“I just didn’t think you’d want to hear about it.” Ben looked at his feet. “I wouldn’t want to if I were you.”

Bill was silent for a beat, thinking. “You l-liked her when we w-were dating, d-d-didn’t you.”

“Yeah.” Ben admitted after a breath. “I’ve liked her since we first met.”

“Th-then you really should get th-that ring.” Bill ate his last fry, wiping the grease from his fingers on the corner of his flannel. Ben watched Bill nervously, almost as if he were afraid he’d angered him. “You kn-know I’m not huh-hurt over you g-g-guys dating.”

“You’re not?”

“No. B-bev and I have always b-b-been better off as fr-friends. You guys were suh-supposed to be tog-gether.” Ben’s jaw dropped slightly at the statement as Bill stood up from the bench, garbage clasped in one hand.

“Bill, it really means a lot to hear you say that.” Ben admitted as he stood as well.

“Sh-shoulda said it s-s-sooner. It’s always b-b-been true.” Bill shrugged, looking up and down the street at the row of stores. His eyes landed on a pawn shop nestled at the end of the block. “Now c-c-c’mon. Let’s go g-get your girlfriend a pr-promise ring.”

______________________________________________________________

“Well that sure was swell, Mikey.” Richie commented bitterly as he paced the Uris living room, a slice of pepperoni pizza in each hand. He had been alternating between the two, taking an angry bite out of one, then the other, then back again. These are technically his third and fourth slices, Stan thought after a brief glance at the pizza box.

“Richie, don’t get pissy with me. If you’re worried about him, go take it up with Eddie.” Mike tore off the end of his breadstick and ate it.

“You’re the one who pissed him off.” Richie took a bite from the left slice, speaking before swallowing. “You should apologize.”

“For what? Looking out for his best interests? And you should chew with your mouth closed. God, what are you, five?” Mike grumbled before finishing off his breadstick.

“Je-sus, Micycle. Bee in your bonnet?” Richie teased, proceeding to take a bite out of the right slice.

“Forgive me if I’m not in the mood, Tozier.” Mike glared at him.

“Would you two cut it out?” Stan cut in, depositing his pizza crust in the lid of the box. “If you’re gonna keep bickering like this, I’m gonna kick you out.”

“On what grounds?” Richie squinted at him.

“The ‘no-whiny-assholes’ clause.” Stan returned the look as he went for another slice.

“Sorry.” Mike mumbled as he grabbed another breadstick.

“I will not yield.” Richie said with a stubborn flourish, polishing off the left slice. Stan rolled his eyes as he shook his head.

“Of course you don’t. Mike, do you think we should have another meeting and tell the rest about what happened?”

Mike looked contemplatively at the carpet. “I’m not opposed to it, but don’t we have a movie night in a couple of days?”

“We could wait till then if you want.”

“That’s probably best. Oh, and Ben got those pictures developed. He’ll probably want us all to take a look at them.”

“What for?” Richie muttered to himself, finishing the crust of the right slice, his now pizza-less hands he wiped off on his jeans. “Said it yourself, won’t do any good.”

“Ben’s peace of mind will probably appreciate it.” Mike quipped. “Besides, he was gonna give a bunch to you.”

Richie folded his arms and turned to look at Mike, who even while sitting on the floor with Stan, still seemed tall, immovable.

“You shouldn’t have said that to Eddie.”

“I’m not wrong.” Mike rebutted, unphased by the quick turn of subject.

“That doesn’t matter. You know he hates being told he’s got something wrong with him.”

“I never said having a panic disorder is wrong.”

“Doesn’t mean he’s not going to jump to that conclusion.”

“That’s on him.”

“You hurt his feelings, Mike!”

“I was being honest!”

“That’s not always what Eddie wants.” Stan cut in. “We’ve been friends with him for a long time, Mike. He’s always preferred easy lies over hard truths.”

“It’s how he was raised.” Richie muttered under his breath as he fiddled with the carpet with his bare toes.

“So you baby him and tell him what he wants to hear? How is that any better than his home life?”

Richie and Stan remained silent.

“I’m not going to patronize him. I know he hates that shit even more. I’m going to be honest with him because he’s my friend and he deserves that, even if it makes him angry.”

“That’s fair.” Richie aquiesced after a beat. “But he’s still gonna be pissy with you if you don’t apologize. And he probably won’t listen to your reasoning if he doesn’t like your accusation.”

“He’ll come around.”

______________________________________________________________

Ben arrived home a little later than usual, pocket heavy with the weight of what he’d decided to do that evening. His whole demeanor was effected by the choice, his smile giddy as he unlocked the door. His mother was waiting with freshly reheated dinner, a telltale sign she was near the end of a pay period. The sight of the cheap, frozen meals steaming in their plastic wrap on the table made Ben feel a little sick, and abruptly wish he hadn’t just spent so much of his money. It was supposed to help with groceries you idiot, Ben chastized himself.

“Hey sweetie. Dinner’s on the table.” His mother greeted as she entered the room, smiling at Ben as he shed his shoes.

“I saw, looks delicious, thank you.” Despite his reservations about the situation, Ben would not refuse a meal from his mother, no matter the context. He knew he should sometimes, knew her constant over feeding was an almost exclusive reason for his issues with weight as a young man. But he was also aware it was one of her ways for making up for his father’s absence. She used food to show her love, and if he said he wasn’t hungry, she took it as rejection. Ben may not always be hungry, but God did he constantly love his mother. So frozen dinners it is.

“You look particularly at peace this evening, Benny.” His mother commented as she crossed to the sink and began washing her hands. “Anything exciting happen today?”

Ben smiled shyly to himself as he got a glass and poured some juice from the fridge. “Uh, yeah actually.” He leaned over and set his cup down at his seat, then raised the jug of juice so his mother could see. “Want a glass?”

“Sure, thanks. Tell me about this excitement!” She pressed, drying her hands before sitting down.

“So, remember how I told you Bev and I’s anniversary is next week?” Ben couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he returned the juice to the fridge. “I got her gift today.” He beamed at his mother as he handed her her cup and sat down.

She returned his grin. “What’d you get her?”

Ben looked around conspiratorially, preening when it made his mother laugh. They loved to joke that others might be around, that things must be secret, ever since Ben was a child and loved playing spies. When he deemed the coast was clear, he pulled the small ring box out of his pocket.

“I got her this promise ring.” Ben said as reverently as he held it out under the light. His mother took it in hand, regarding the ring in awe.

“Oh Benny, this is gorgeous.” She breathed.

“Think she’ll like it?” His tone betrayed his nervousness. “Bill helped me pick it out, I was so unsure.”

“Honey, she’ll love it.” She smiled and returned the box to him. “It’s perfect.”

“I sure hope so.” He pocketed the ring box and picked up his fork, using it to tear back the plastic wrap over his food.

“Sorry it’s not plated, I wasn’t sure how late you’d be and I wanted it to stay warm.” His mother said as she took a drink.

“Oh no mom, this is fine. I don’t mind a bit.” Ben shook his head.

“Oh, and speaking of miss Beverly, she left a voicemail for you a little while ago.” She added, cutting into her meatloaf.

“Thanks, I’ll listen to it after dinner.”

They ate in silence for a bit before she spoke again.

“I like that girl, Benny. I like her a lot. Think someday you’ll put a real ring on that finger?”

Ben smiled down at his food.

“I sure hope so.”

______________________________________________________________

“Georgie, can you get the door for us?”

“Sure momma.” Georgie Denbrough responded with a smile as he jumped down from his makeshift vegetable cutting station. His brother, who was tenderizing meat next to him smiled as he watched his brother happily run off.

The doorbell rang again as Georgie rounded the corner. “Coming!” He called sweetly, beaming as he reached the door. He pulled it open easily with his one arm.

“Oh- hi Georgie.”

Georgie squinted at the sight before him, happy but perplexed. Eddie Kaspbrak was on his doorstep, which he was excited about, because Eddie was his friend and he loved seeing him. But Eddie also looked hurt, his chin covered in bandaids and spots of dried blood on his yellow tee shirt.

“Hi Eddie.” Georgie kept his smile plastered on his face, reminding himself of what his mother always tells him; don’t ask people invasive questions, Georgie.

“Is your brother home?” Eddie asked nervously, wringing his hands on the bottom of his shirt.

“Yeah, he’s in the kitchen.” Georgie gestured across his body, jerking towards the kitchen with a thumb. “Are you staying for dinner?”

Eddie gave a short, airy laugh. “I’ll have to ask. Can I talk to him?”

“Billy!” Georgie suddenly switched to his outside voice. “Eddie’s here!”

Eddie gave Georgie a slightly surprised expression, impressed by the kid’s volume. A moment later Bill arrived in the doorway, chiding Georgie about yelling in the house. He stopped abruptly as he caught sight of Eddie in the doorway.

“Ed-eddie.” He crinkled his brow. “You alright?”

“Uh, sorta. I’m- can uh, can I stay over tonight?”

“Yeah, of course. W-we’re just making-”

“Dinner, yeah, I’ll help.” Eddie scurried into the house, not bothering to give Bill a chance to finish the thought. The boys shared a look as they left the doorway, its meaning indecipherable to Georgie. He huffed to himself, feeling a bit angry about once again being left out of things, and went to close the door. He stopped his motion at the sight of the edges of their front garden, his gaze on the bushes that came up to the side of the doorstep. The small yellow flowers that usually bloomed on its stems in spring were opening up, unfurling at an unnatural speed, leaving the bush covered in fresh blossoms before it stopped. Georgie watched with wide eyes, confounded by the sight before him.

Momma’s right, he thought as he finally willed himself to close the door. I’ve been watching too many cartoons.

______________________________________________________________

authors notes: sorry this took forever to come out! i told myself i’d put it up on wednesday. i did not accomplish that lmao. anyways he’res another installment, things are really starting to pick up! in the pop culture universe georgie has one arm; the denbroughs were in an accident when the boys were young, where georgie lost his arm and bill sustained the brain damage that causes his stutter. also no one is more of a benverly cheerleader than bill. 

tagslist: @s-s-stutteringbill @gazeboseddie @misssiriusblack @mythgirl96 @crackhousetozier @reddieaddict @wincestklaine @beepbeep-losers @ayyyymichele @megelizabethvh @tapetayloe @flickerflies @ghostbustermike @i-is-gazebo @reddiesetrichie @wyttolff @gayzier @kaspbrak-is-our-king @mikedenbrough @28shoes @nicoperryy @kinghanscom @eddiecare @shadysandi @fyeahreddie @reddieforlove

[boschlingtumbles]

Chapter 43

In the span of thirty minutes, Brienne had covered the entire first floor of the Sept of Baelor, the gardens, the courtyard and the seven shrines that dotted the grounds, and she had not so much as a single golden hair to show for it. “I called her, texted her, Ravyned her, left messages on her Ravengram, LinkedIn and Facebook pages,” Jaime rested his entire golden head on her shoulder. “I called two of her burner phones, I know she has more, but I don’t know the numbers. What if she was hit by a car?! What if she was hit by a car and has amnesia and is wandering through the streets of King’s Landing?!” “You’re not helping,” Brienne scolded, but she rested her own head on his anyway. Engaged to be engaged. Gods she loved this man. “What if Cassana knocked her out and shoved her in a locked room somewhere?” Jaime asked the world at large. “She wouldn’t do that,” Brienne protested tepidly. “Stannis shoved me in a locked room somewhere,” Jaime pointed out. Brienne was saved from having to respond by the approach of the very woman. “She’s come to gloat. Or to finish the job,” Jaime hissed. “She has not!” Brienne whispered back out of the side of her mouth. Out of the front of her mouth, she managed a wan smile. “Brienne dear, I hear you’re the maid of honor,” Cassana trilled. The less charitable part of Brienne’s mind (the part that sounded uncannily like Jaime) noted that Cassana hadn’t forgotten her name since she’d been told Brienne was a sapphire magnate. “Guilt as charged,” Brienne admitted. “She’s the guilty one!” Jaime growled under his breath. She stepped on his foot. “Finally, someone who can get things done around here!” Cassana put her hand on her hip. “We need to talk about my solo.” “Your solo?” Brienne repeated cautiously. “Yes, lights and sound. I want the entire dining room to go dark.  The audience buzzes. Hold it for exactly three counts and then a single spotlight. I’m on the dance floor. You’ll want a warm light dear, too artificial and I just wash out. This dress needs to pop you understand?” Cassana struck a pose, showcasing the white silk dress that continued to look uncomfortably like a wedding dress. “The spotlight should follow me as I serenade the guests, moving from table to table. Check the sound systems ahead of time, I despise when there’s too much base. You can manage that, can’t you?” “Mmm,” Brienne said neutrally. “I’ll finish with Robert and Cersei of course, the audience will eat it up. And then as everyone applauds, I move back to the dance floor. Then it’s time for my encore.” “Your encore?” Brienne managed faintly. “A good performer never leaves their audience wanting,” Cassana winked. “Kisses darlings, I’ll see you at the ceremony.” Brienne and Jaime looked at each other. “We have got to find Cersei,” Brienne said hollowly. “Only she can stop this menace,” Jaime agreed. “Maybe one of the other girls can help,” Brienne offered. They found Catelyn cornered by a reporter. “And what do you say to allegations that your husband actually fathered Ashara Dayne’s love child, not MP Brandon Stark,” the reporter shoved a tape recorder in her face. “I can’t discuss this!” Catelyn tried to get away. “Are you admitting it? Is that why your marriage was allegedly on the rocks?” The reporter followed after. Brienne was about to wade in, pink tulle dress or no, when Varys rounded the bend with two security guards. “Arrest that man!” He cried, pointing at the reporter dramatically. The reporter gulped and made a break for it as Varys rushed to Catelyn’s side, apologies abounding. “Maybe Lysa...” Brienne mumbled. They found Lysa in one of the picturesque grottos, sitting on a stone bench, cell phone pinned between ear and shoulder as she viciously pulled apart a flower. “I don’t see HOW I could have misconstrued what I saw Petyr! No, this time YOU LISTEN TO ME! We are done! I never want to see you again! And you’d better stop spreading those slimy rumors about Ned and Cat or... or... or my BOYFRIEND is going to beat you up!” Jaime and Brienne backed slowly away. “Melisandre’s usually good in a crisis,” Brienne ventured. “Good thinking,” Jaime said, eyes round. Melisandre was still where Brienne had left her, in the closet in the bridesmaids’ staging room. “Mel?” Brienne knocked hesitantly. “I’m in a bit of a pickle and I was hoping you could maybe...” “Ta da!” Melisandre flung the door open. Brienne goggled. Was that even the same dress?!?! The same color surely, but... What had once been crinkly layer after crinkly layer of tulle had been stripped away, revealing a silky and form fitting sheathe rather like a negligee that clung sinfully to Melisandre’s curves. Why you could even see her... Brienne hastily clapped a hand over Jaime’s eyes. “Nice dress,” Jaime said from behind Brienne’s hand. “You can’t wear that!” Brienne squeaked furiously. “What I think you meant to say was, ‘Melisandre you look ravishing. I could tear that dress right off you’,” Melisandre sniffed. “That’s too kind Brienne. But it took ages and there’s only twenty minutes before the ceremony so...” “Twenty minutes?!” Jaime shouted from behind the hand. “I can see your nipples!” Brienne yelled. “Take it off!” “Shan’t,” Melisandre said haughtily and waltzed out. “Twenty minutes,” Jaime said dully when Brienne removed her impromptu blindfold. Brienne looked at him. He looked back. “At least we have each other...” Jaime ventured. Brienne tried to smile. He was so sweet. “...Until Cassana kills us,” Jaime finished. “Stop,” Brienne groaned. “Please don’t make it worse. I don’t know if I can handle things getting worse.” “Hi,” Thoros Asshai knocked on the open door, sticking his head partly in. “Um is Melisandre here?” Brienne let out a deep breath. Finally. A way to snip one of her many loose threads. “I’m so glad you’re here!” She blurted. Thoros squinted at her. “...why?” He asked, sounding genuinely bewildered. “Melisandre’s shredded her bridesmaid’s dress into something that looks like a teddy, Cersei will be furious if she finds it. Can you make her at least put on a shawl over it?” Brienne asked hopefully. “Huh,” Thoros rocked on his feet. “I could possibly help you with that problem. If...” Brienne could have cried. Why was there always an if?! “you help me with Robert.” What?! “What?!” Jaime growled next to her. “What has that imbecile done?!” “Uh let’s not be too hasty to assign blame, which probably doesn’t need to really be given out at all,” Thoros scratched his head. “Highly counterproductive and all...” “Fine,” Jaime crossed his arms and glowered. “What have YOU done?!” Thoros straightened for a second like they might get into it, and then collapsed into his usual half-slouch. “Better to just show you,” he said glumly. Why did Brienne really not like the sound of that? They trailed Thoros down the hall to an area that was quite clearly off limits to visitors, and Brienne would have made some protest, if Thoros were not already pushing the door open into what looked like somebody’s study. “Tarth!” Robert exclaimed exuberantly, and then Brienne was being crushed into a hug. She staggered backward, partly with alarm and partly because Robert had immediately shifted all of his wait onto her, and appeared to be using her as a means of staying upright. “Is he...” Brienne looked at Thoros. “Completely shit-faced,” Thoros admitted. “Jaime! My brother in law! My brother from another mother! My braime? But that would be both of you...” “You idiot,” Jaime said. Brienne couldn’t really see him past Robert’s head lolling on her shoulder, but she assumed the remark was addressed to Thoros. “I might be impressed honestly. I’m not sure anybody has ever outdrank Robert before. I didn’t think it could be done. But if anybody could do it, I suppose I would have put my money on you. You stupid shortsighted irresponsible...” “Brienne,” Robert interrupted Jaime’s rant, unfocused blue eyes suddenly locking on hers. “Hi Robert,” Brienne said politely from inches away. “Brienne, I don’t have feelings for you.” “Oh,” Brienne blinked. “Well that’s good.” Robert nodded in solemn agreement, the movement threatening to send them both toppling over. “It is good. I love Cersei,” he said. Brienne frantically tried to look over his shoulder to summon a rescue from this conversation. “...an hour before his wedding?! WHY?! WHY would you ever think that was a good idea?! And don’t even get me started on...” “Cersei told me you had a crush on me,” Robert continued, and Brienne with a prickling sense of horror suddenly realized that this was not one of Robert’s usual non-sequiturs. “Oh no,” Brienne breathed. “That’s what I said,” Robert agreed. “Definitely Renly.” “What?” Brienne frowned. “The reason you were always hanging around our house was because you had a crush on Renly. Stannis and I both thought so.” “What?!” Jaime suddenly paused in his telling off of Thoros. “Brienne always had a crush on Renly,” Robert repeated again. “I thought maybe she’d have a chance because she kind of looks like a guy? Especially back in high school? Remember your hair was super short and you wore that ugly lacrosse sweatshirt all the time and...” “Thank you Robert,” Brienne tried to push him off but he only held on tighter. “But Renly’s just super gay. Way gayer than Thoros. Thoros, are you sure you’re gay? And then they just became really good friends. At least that’s what Stannis and I think,” Robert finished. Jaime stared. Brienne held her breath. “And I told Cersei that, and she said nuh-uh, she was right and you’d said as much to her.” ...and there it was. Brienne’s stupid lie to get Cersei off her back, come full circle back to the two guys who Brienne would have least wanted to hear it. Robert at least seemed serenely unphased. Jaime, in contrast, seemed like he’d be catching flies any second. (Thoros had taken a seat in an armchair and was looking thoroughly entertained.) “So just in case, I thought you should know,” Robert explained. “I don’t have feelings for you.” He patted her head clumsily. “I don’t have feelings for you either,” Brienne assured him through gritted teeth. “I knew it was Renly,” Robert nodded sagely. He turned toward Jaime. “So I think you’re safe. Brienne and I don’t have feelings for each other and Renly is super gay. I don’t know about Stannis though. Brienne, do you have feelings for Stannis?” “I DON’T HAVE FEELINGS FOR STANNIS!” Brienne squawked, shoving him at last off her. He windmilled lazily before catching Jaime’s arm for balance. “OR RENLY!” She added for good measure. “Are you sure?” “YES! THE ONLY PERSON I LOVE IS JAIME!” Thoros wolf whistled, and Brienne shot him a look. “Why don’t you explain exactly what happened here,” she said frostily, as Robert tried to give Jaime a hug. “I’m not sure,” Thoros admitted. “Stannis asked me to hang out with him before the wedding because they’d crashed their car. We were just doing some shots—like three or four, seriously, it was nothing but a buzz for this guy, I’ve been drinking with him for years, and the next thing I know he can barely stand upright. You have to help—if Cersei finds out that I got Robert hammered at the wedding, I don’t like my chances at survival. I promise I’ll get Mel to find a sweater or something, just fix him please?” “I don’t know how to fix him,” Brienne groaned. “Cersei would know but I can’t find her anywhere! And now the wedding is starting in twenty minutes, we don’t have a bride and the groom is hammered!” “Did you look in the second floor bathroom?” Robert asked sleepily from where he was now curling up in a recliner. “...what?” Brienne asked. “Like in high school, that’s where she goes when she’s upset,” Robert trailed off with a massive yawn. “This is a sept, it doesn’t have a second floor,” Jaime broke in testily. “Yeah it does,” Thoros frowned. “I was just up there, the staircase is further back in this admin wing. If you turn left, you can’t miss it.” Jaime and Brienne looked at each other. “Go,” Jaime waved his hand. “I’ll keep an eye on all of... this,” he gestured at a now snoring Robert. “I’ll find her,” Brienne promised. She hurried toward the door. Sure enough, there was a staircase. Once on the second floor, Brienne frantically scanned the corridor. There! Past a closet and several closed doors, were the instantly recognizable symbols a male and female silhouette. With a deep breath, Brienne pushed into the women’s restroom. A cursory look under the stalls revealed it was empty. Unless... A sudden twinge of suspicion and the tickle of a memory of her own from high school and Brienne was pushing in the doors one by one. When she came to the exact middle, it held fast. “Cersei?” Brienne asked, knocking. “Cersei, it’s Brienne, open up.” No response. All the same, Brienne could practically feel the presence of someone sitting quietly on the other side. “Cersei Lannister, open up before I knock the door down,” Brienne growled. There was another pause. Begrudgingly, the door clicked and slowly swung outward. Cersei sat huddled on the toilet, dress neatly folded under her. Her eyes looked a little red, but her makeup remained flawless. Brienne wasn’t even sure she would have known something was wrong except... The posture. Cersei always seemed to take up more space than such a slender person should be capable of. Whether it was her looks or her ego or the buoyant energy that seemed to allow her to sail through life impervious, when Cersei walked into a room, you noticed. This person, this pretty fragile facsimile of Cersei sitting shoulders slumped in a bathroom stall, eyes skittering anywhere but Brienne’s gaze, had none of that. “I’ve been looking for you,” Brienne said awkwardly. The understatement of the century. Cersei did not react in the slightest. “Cersei, you need to get downstairs,” Brienne tried again. “Petyr told the press that Ned and Ashara had a love child together and Cat’s being hounded by reporters. Melisandre ran her dress through a shredder, Robert had too much to drink and Cassana is wearing a white dress!” At that last remark, Cersei’s lip twitched in the faintest tremor of a sneer, but she remained unresponsive. “Cersei, I don’t know what to do,” Brienne tried to swallow the bubble of panic rising in her throat. “It doesn’t matter,” Cersei finally said, voice quiet and thin. “I can’t do this. Send them home.” “Send them home?” Brienne repeated back, resisting the urge to strangle her. “Why?!” “It’s all wrong. I’m supposed to have a baby girl. Genna Joanna Lannister,” Cersei looked up at her. “And now it’s a boy. I don’t know how to have a baby boy, Brienne. The nursery colors are wrong! I pre-enrolled a little girl in the best school in Oldtown and I can’t change the application, I’ll have to withdraw it! He doesn’t even have a name! I don’t know how to have a baby boy, Brienne, I can’t do it, I can’t!” Cersei’s breathing was getting shallower, her thing shoulders literally shaking. She was practically hyperventilating, and Brienne realized that if she didn’t get control of the situation now, it would be lost. She took a deep breath and sent a prayer to the Mother for forgiveness. Brienne smacked Cersei across the cheek. Cersei broke off mid-spiral and stared. A red mark was blossoming on her face, Brienne noticed with a wince. Well no going back now. “Did you just... hit me?” Cersei blinked. “Yes. And I’ll do it again if you don’t get out of that stall this instant,” Brienne said evenly. Their eyes locked. Mutely Cersei stood, and Brienne stepped out of the way to allow her to exit. “Now eat this,” Brienne pulled a power bar out of her handbag. “And don’t fake eat it like you did with that burger. I’m going to sit here and watch you until every crumb is gone.” Cersei looked at the bar in her hand as if Brienne had handed her a gun. “EAT!” Brienne barked in her best colonel-general voice. Cersei hastily began to unwrap it. “Now listen,” Brienne poked her. “I have seen you blackmail and bully and just... bend reality to your will. You have never let anybody stop you ever. If you want to resubmit your application to this school, who the fuck is going to stop you, Cersei Lannister?! Nursery paint schemes?! Are you kidding?! It’ll be blue before you get back from your honeymoon. And why do you even want to name your baby after your Aunt Genna?! She’s a pretentious cow who thinks I’m an embarrassment to the Lannister family name,” Brienne huffed, crossing her arms defensively. “What? No she doesn’t,” Cersei frowned, stopping mid-chew. “She does! I heard her at your engagement party! Jaime’s shaming the Lannister name according to her,” Brienne rebutted. “Don’t be silly, Aunt Genna wasn’t talking about you. She was upset that Jaime left you alone. It’s very rude to invite a guest and then spend the entire evening ignoring them,” Cersei explained, before swallowing and taking another bite. “Oh,” Brienne said, a tad stymied. “Well, I guess that’s alright then. I mean you could still name your baby after Genna without naming him Genna. Like Genner or uh Genes or um Gendry...” “Gendry,” Cersei said slowly. “That’s a nice name.” “The point is, the baby being a boy instead of a girl... that’s just a new plot twist. A challenge. You live for those! You’ll find a way to use this to your advantage and be an incredible mom, and win at that too, just like you win at everything else. But first you have to win at this. Your wedding. Because I did not come this far and put up with this much from you to stop inches short of the finish line. You are going to find a way to make this perfect or you are going to find a way to live with it,” Brienne said sternly. “Or so help me seven, I will drag you to the altar myself.” There was a pause as Cersei chewed and Brienne held her breath. “I’m done,” Cersei said, holding up the empty wrapper. “And?” Brienne ventured hopefully. “I have a fucking wedding to fix,” Cersei turned, inspecting her reflection grimly. “Good,” Brienne sighed in relief. “Because I don’t think I really had it in me to drag you to the altar.” “There’s just one thing,” Cersei continued to scrutinize the mirror. “What?” Brienne asked nervously. “You’ll have to do it again.” “Beg your pardon?” “You’ll have to slap me again. Left cheek this time please. It has to be even, otherwise it’ll look like some kind of makeup snafu.” “Sorry?” “Really Brienne, if you can’t manage a tiny old slap, I’ll just have to find...” Brienne slapped the other side of her face. “Excellent,” Cersei said briskly. “Now let’s go.”