#not even Just the ''had a good showing in at least one tourney

[x-for-a-y]

people think the reason the tourney scene is inaccessible is strange tourney concepts, slightly weird rpf, inside jokes, crossover incongruity, or some other thing. but you know what really puts off the outsiders? all the bizarre fucking recurring musicians from years ago the rest of the world has moved on from & rap battles and shit

[calisources]

𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐒.

All of these sentences are mostly taking by my own mind and i'm not joking. It was hard finding material quotes regarding tournaments in historical or fantasy setting. Some are from shows or media but eighty percent is all from my own mind, please give credit if use these. Change pronouns, names, locations as you see fit. All of these involve the medieval event of a tournament and what happens around them.

I fear I am already bending far too many rules just by taking you, my young princess.

Show me your hands, you will have blisters soon.

Lady Eglantine doesn’t believe in love, only lust.

In the world of competition, only the strongest shall prevail.

A true champion is not defined by their victories, but by the obstacles they've overcome.

Victory is sweetest when it's earned through sweat, hard work, and determination.

Will you not participate in the tourney, my lord? 

May I have the honor of wearing your favor today, my lady?

Good luck to you, my Prince.

The tournament is not just a test of skill, but a test of character as well.

Is it always this bloody? Will those poor men die? Someone must see them.

I want him to wear my favor.  Only him. 

If he wins, the knight has the right to name his Queen of Love and Beauty. And at the feast, they shall dance.

Be careful. A tourney is a grand place for courtly love, but also, for blood to rise and affairs to appear.

Call me what you like, say I'm without honor, I don't care. I'm not getting on any more horses to whack you people with a stick.

Kings may be chosen by God, but they still make the mistakes of men.

When even those who rule can sink this low, it is not possible to change anything.

It's my lucky charm, be sure to bring it back to me.

My favorite blue ribbon. Take it.

It will bring you good fortune and you will return from joust unharmed.

I was hoping to ask for the Princess's favor.

How about a kiss, for luck?

Courtly love was the culture around the performance of love at court.

And now, rather than admit these feelings, you're dancing around one another with this mind-numbing and frankly boorish mating ritual.

The knights take on the duties of shadows with pride.

Whoever wins the tournament, shall become the prince/princess’ new betrothed.

You want to marry my daughter? Prove yourself worthy.

Petyr survived only because I begged Brandon not to kill him.

When Petyr heard of my engagement, he challenged Brandon to a duel. 

You do qualify to marry my daughter.

What matters most is who she will give her favor to. 

Her face is one that can create dynasties or crumble empires.

I was hoping for a word before you rode on the tourney, my Prince. 

My brother is the one competing against you, please be gentle with him.

The games are done for the day, please, feast and drink as you wish. 

You have been staring all day, my lord. I was beginning to wonder if I had something in my face.

Any damsel that's in distress - she'll be out of that dress when she meets Jim West.

Great men do not seek power... they have power thrust upon them.

My daughter seems. . .infatuated with you. I have yet to see why.

The princess is naive and thinks any man who is kind means well. A tournament will only show her the reality of life.

You honor the arena with your combat. May your swords and shield preserve the peace.

In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining.

I will be brave for Princess Pea.

As a squire, your first duty is to your knight’s armor. Your knight’s armor is more important than your own life. 

You will be knighted and you will have earned your knighthood.

You are hurt. At least let me tend to your wound.

The men laugh and fight and the ladies search for husbands.

Nothing like a good tournament to find a husband, or a companion for the night. 

Rumors are always spread with ease in these.

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life?

You say I'll never get your blessing till the day I die.

We're married now, but we still haven't told your dad. This is the right time.

Are you promised to someone?

My sister's getting married. It's a love match. A rare thing. I’m not so lucky. My husband is to be chosen by who can hold a sword the longer.

Why can’t women participate in the games?

There are games for the ladies, Your Grace. But they are less. . .gruesome. And of course, the dancing.

Princes and Princess all over the realm and across the sea are coming for this event. You must shine brighter.

Let me help you with your armor. It appears loose.

As I promised, I return your favor to you, my lady. 

The Prince never loses a joust. He will crown his queen and then all will be well.

I do not understand the appeal of this. 

I spend days making these favors, let me stay a little longer.

My lady, I do not need your favor to win, but perhaps, a kiss of good faith. 

I do not care who wins these games, your hand is already arranged for another.

Men are scoundrel, specially when blood runs hot after a good battle, stray away from them.

These games are done in honor of the king’s heir.

The lord’s daughter is said to have bloomed, and the man chooses to announce it like this. 

A tournament is for men to boost their strength, fathers sell their daughters like mares and for affairs to happen.

I saw you on the stands today, my lord. But you did not participate on the games.

My brother wishes to dance with you, my lady. He is all too shy to ask himself.

You were injured. Have you allowed someone to heal them or are you too stubborn to let them?

Princess, you must not stray too far away. 

Mother is too drunk and annoyed to care, she won’t mind. 

[howtofightwrite]

Are horned helmets actually a thing? How would a fantasy race that has horns... compesate for them?

Only in the sense that people do make them for various reasons. There are ceremonial and ornamental horned helmets dating back into the bronze age. There's a famous example that was gifted to Henry the VIII in the 1500s.

As I said, some were made for religious ceremonies. Usually for priests of horned deities (there's a bunch of these.) In these cases it could be made from either metal or actual animal horns. I'm not familiar with much beyond that in these cases because archaeology and anthropology are a little outside my area of expertise. I'm not aware of any religions that still use horned helmets, but it really wouldn't surprise me if it pops up from time to time. I'd also categorize head gear with attached antlers in the same range here. It wouldn't surprise me if it exists, or existed, but, I'm not aware of any examples.

We have depictions of horned helmets from knights at tourney in the 14th century. (And at least one surviving example.) This is probably legitimate. At least, in so far as that the knights may have worn horned helmets to show off. Though, this head gear wasn't something that a knight would wear onto the battlefield.

The modern image of the horned helmet (and the association with Vikings) has a lot more to do with Wagner's The Ring Cycle, and particularly stage performances of that opera. (It's not technically original to that, but the horned Viking was a 19th century German invention.) This also the source for a lot of novelty hats and helmets that you can readily obtain today.

The problem with horned helmets on the battlefield is that it gives your opponent something to grab in a tight melee. And letting someone get control of your head in a fight is a very bad thing. This is made worse with a helmet, where the foe could easily unseat the headgear, potentially blinding the wearer long enough to kill them.

There are historical examples of horned helmets intended for use on the battlefield. The Japanese are probably the easiest example to reference. However, in these cases, the horned helmets were worn, specifically, by officers, and communicated their authority to their soldiers, so they could more effectively issue orders. Somewhat obviously, that's not someone you're going to see in the meat grinder of the front lines. (Also, in most cases, these horns were oriented vertically, and were probably too small to grip. The surviving knight's helm, mentioned above, also featured vertically mounted horns.)

Similarly, if you had examples of horned cavalry helms (particularly vertically mounted horns) used by late medieval or even early modern cavalry, that wouldn't surprise me. Especially if that was part of their parade dress. While it's not horns, the winged hussars come to mind as another example of absurd ornamentation on cavalry, and they continued operating until the late 18th century.

Now, as for a fantasy race, I could see grabbing their horns being a very, very, bad idea. This is somewhat informed by the fact that the first example that comes to mind is the minotaur, where grabbing their horns is probably a pretty good way to ensure you're going to get a horn run through your chest. Ultimately though, it becomes a bit like grabbing someone's hair. You've just committed a limb to limiting their head's range of motion, while leaving both of their arms unfettered. On the battlefield, that sounds like a great way to get stabbed in the armpit and die.

So, they are real in the sense that they existed (and still exist), but their actual use in warfare was extremely limited due to practical considerations. That said, people have thought they looked cool for thousands of years, and they're around. Though the Viking helmet is a complete fabrication by 19th century Germans trying to make the Vikings look cooler.

-Starke

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[bananaactivity]

JAY AND BEN REDSIGNNN

The Boyssss

I’m working on a Benjay tragic romance fic and I had to design them right quick.

I like themmmm I’m gonna do Mal and Evie next then I’ll have the core four finished. They are 21 and 22 respectively. Ben’s always the youngest in my eyes.

I’m not getting rid of the beard idc. I’m adding more scars to Jay next time I draw him because why does Chad have more scars then an isle gang member, and know that half of them are because of Harry.

They have one specific nickname for the other,

Jays is Jay Jay, and Ben is Dumbas- I mean Benji

Here’s some context for there tragic relationship:

Mal and Evie get together after the Sea VK Battle on Harry Hooks boats instead of Ben and Mal. Thus the core four minus Jay are nervous that Ben will retaliate to this by kicking them out of Auradon Uni and off Auradon as a whole. Ben meanwhile has been raised in such a way that he is absolutely terrified of being alone. Jay has just just had to grapple with the fact that he had feelings for Harry beyond a really intriguing rivalry and he can't act on that because of Harry and Umas relationship that was already a steady under current and bloomed even more during the VKs 1st year tenure at Auradon Uni. As well as dealing with all his friends slowly separating in college which is typical. So Ben and Jay are both dealing with feelings of abandonment and stress, neither of them want to think about that pain and would do anything to mask it. Jay is much better equipped to handle this enough to at least seem functional to his friends, but he's teetering on the edge. Jay ended up being the first person to speak with Ben ,who was an absolute wreck, after he stayed holed up in his very fancy prince dorm for many weeks. They already had good chemistry with one another prior and Ben comes onto Jay. It feels good to both, and it's doing what they want in regards to ignoring the bigger deeper issues at play. It's also a secret because obviously a heavily charged and unhealthy relationship like that would be heavily discouraged. Warning, this is not gonna end with a healthy relationship. Some feelings are real like they don't want to actively use and hurt each other, but the emotions at play and the rough start to the relationship DO NOT lay solid ground to foster a good long lasting relationship.

I’m also going to add one fic I wrote from Ben’s Perspective beware it’s not done:

Being a Prince was a tough job. There was so much pressure on him to be a great future king. One major aspect of that was his future spouse; his mother was always bothering him relentlessly on the topic as he grew up. “ Benjamin, Darling you must choose a good spouse, it is imperative to the people's perception of you.” his mother would often say. The constant narrative of “dont be alone” was always pressed on him so hard in fact that he couldn't bare the thought of being alone. It got so bad that that he went with the first present options of someone to court. It was stressful when he and Audrey were courting, the constant trailing during dates stressed him out as well as the media coverage analyzing their every move. Aubrey herself seemed more concerned with the respect that comes with being a queen. Nobody really liked her very much, but she was pretty and she was sweet during those first years. Unfortunately that all faded as the years went by and he felt there was no way out. He couldn't be alone. Then came Mal, she was beautiful and sweet. But she was hopelessly in love with her best friend and her best friend felt the same. It almost became this rush to him to wed her before she could leave and yet he felt so bad about it. He didn't want to be alone. But he pushed it and was alone anyway. The big ass walls in his dorm felt like a cage. What was he to do but sit in his room and cry. And he was alone, which he didn't want to be. Then Jay showed up. Jay handsome, good at Tourney, an excellent swords-man and his closest friend. Looking into his concerned brown eyes, he remembered leaping into his arms. There wasn't much conversation to be had as he was a bawling mess. All he could remember from that night was staring into those eyes for as long as he could and making a move that even he didn't expect. He kissed his best friend. And it felt good, really good. The best part of this situation was that the amazing feelings completely washed over the awful ones that led him to that very moment.Until Jay moved away, he was expressing concerns about the sudden atmosphere; yet he was into it. He had kissed him back and moved his face to kiss him again once they got over that little hurdle. The time spent felt… really nice. It was more intense than anything that had happened before for him. But maybe that was because he had thrown himself so totally into the sensations at play so that no semblance of sadness could worm their way back into his heart.

It was such a drug that they both implored to keep it up. He defended this continuous indulgence with the belief that it was allowing him to show his face on campus.Spending time suffocating in his fancy prince class: “ Kinging 101: The study of Class Disparity” waiting for the pleasant feeling of rough calloused hands pushing him into the corridor just near the lecture room. Every time he felt those hands he breathed a sigh of relief.

If you want to read more check out the pinned post on my blog which has 18 pages of my Descendants AU.

[handsome-wise-strong]

Jacelaena headcanons please ❤

This is a million years late, I’m so sorry! But ask and you shall (eventually) receive!

Helaena is a head taller than Jace. As children, Jace always hoped he would grow taller than her, but as an adult? He’s obsessed with their height difference. He loves when her chin dips and her eyes lower to meet his as he beams up at her, just absolutely stunned by the tall goddess. Even better when she dips down for a kiss, and his neck cranes up to meet her.

Jace brings Helaena out of her shell. She is always quicker to laugh when he is around. She is more likely to enjoy a dance, if Jace is her partner. He makes her more adventurous and more free. Meanwhile Helaena calms Jace, softening his heart and cooling his temper. They better each other!

Helaena rarely calls him by his name. She instead uses a flare of dramatic titles for him. Valiant prince and dragon-heart being among her favorites. Jace wishes he had the nerve to call her pretty names, like flower or darling, but he simply can’t call her anything but Hel, in the softest and fondest voice in the world.

Jace always shows off at tourneys, but especially if Helaena is in attendance. He asks for her favor without fail, and she never denies him. If he wins, he is sure to crown her the queen of love and beauty.

Jacaerys is a man of honor. He desires nothing more than to wed Helaena and rule alongside her. But because of his code of honor, he feels a deep need to have a good relationship with her family. He craves their approval of the match, even if Helaena insists it doesn’t matter. He tries everything in his power to get Alicent to like him or at least respect him. He knows that Helaena’s brothers are pretty much a lost cause, especially Aemond, but he never gives up on trying to win Alicent’s favor, even after he and Helaena marry.

Both Helaena and Jace struggle with High Valyrian. It is a point of bonding for them, both being slow learners of the language. They help each other and study together often, finding lessons more bearable if they’re working together.

After they wed, they both decide they want many children. Jace hopes for them to look like Hel, with her soft round face and wavy silver hair, but Hel hopes for the opposite, wishing for them to have their father’s dark unruly curls and warm brown eyes.

Jacaerys prefers dressing lavishly, while Helaena likes to keep her outfits simple. Jace often wears full Targaryen regalia, his tunics and cloaks made of fine silk or velvet, with the added addition of many silver and gold accents such as rings and brooches. Helaena prefers comfortable and light dresses, usually in pale pinks, blues and yellows.

Jace has always been uncomfortable around insects, but in an attempt to bond with Helaena, he tries to loosen up and relax around them. This backfires often, when he confidently picks up an unfamiliar insect to show off to her, and is bitten immediately. She appreciates the effort nonetheless, and explains to him how to properly handle insects as a maester tends to his bug bites.

Jace is fascinated by her dragon dreams. He writes down every riddle she says, often reading them over and over to try to unravel the words to find their true meaning. He is always careful to never push her on explaining them, knowing it’s best to leave her be and distract her with something else once she’s done speaking of them.

They both think they’re not good enough to be with the other. They’re always trying to better themselves for one another. Always trying to be someone worthy of ruling with the other, and loving the other. It takes a long time for them to realize the other feels the same way they do, and they have a long talk, reassuring each other that they’re both good enough. When they both realize they love each other unconditionally, just as they are, their union becomes stronger and more devoted than ever.

And lastly, Jacaerys and Helaena have a long, happy, peaceful and prosperous reign together. They live long lives and are surrounded by loved ones when they pass away, and countless poems and songs live on, telling the tale of the dragon king and the gentle queen, and the remarkable and deep love they had for one another.

[catscraftsandcommentary]

So I had some time to think tonight at work (in between operating heavy machinery, swearing at the materials, and trying to keep the line running, fun times!) And I asked myself, "self, hypothetically, what might @inexplicifics Accidental Warlord AU look like in another generation or two - once people really get used to witchers being The Good Guys (TM) and helping out?"

And I was like "well, they'd probably get invited to social events - ooh! Who'd like which events best?!? What would that look like?"

Geralt, as we all know, detests anything too formal or Warlord-focused. He enjoys weddings and receptions, but his TRUE favorite is baby christenings. Seriously. Put him in a room with a tiny baby and he's happy as a clam. He'll happily growl away (or weaponize his puppy-dog eyes against) grannies, aunties, and other family members to hold the baby for as long as possible. He's also 90% of the reason that witchers are now rumored to be able to bless babies.

When Mouse and Treyse bring this new rumor to the council, everyone has to just sit. And process for a minute. Because what the ever-loving fuck?!? (Jaskier immediately writes the sweetest lullaby ever, "A Witcher's Blessing", and it is the ONLY song that Geralt ever sings in public, and only ever to babies and small children. Multiple women blame this for their immediate conceptions.)

Jaskier adores weddings and festivals of all types, and if a happy couple includes details of how they met and/or fell in love with their wedding invitation, there's at least a 50% chance that he'll show up to the wedding with a personalized love song, holy shit.

Ciri loves tourneys. Loves watching them, loves displaying in them, loves sneaking into competing in them (omg, heir, NO), loves WINNING them. She's a menace. She has various stealth coats of arms that she rotates between when she's not supposed to be competing, but her favorite is the battle goose. Obviously.

Eskel doesn't like crowds or being the center of attention, which are almost inevitable with public invitations, but he does enjoy being the +1 for his family. Several of his and their interests overlap, and even where they don't, he likes to see them enjoying themselves.

Yennifer becomes well-known as an extremely efficient - albeit terrifying - treaty negotiator. She'll talk to both sides, get a list of their must haves, deal-breakers, would-likes, and don't-wants (as well as - perhaps more importantly - the reason why each of those are on that particular list). Then she draws up a draft and viciously negotiates a compromise. She is genuinely surprised the first time that both sides thank her for her help.

Vesemir, with all his long years of teaching, loves visiting schools and seeing any sort of student performance or sporting event. Kindergarten to university, drama to music to dance recitals to track and field meets to football games to student symposiums to science contests to... He buys out bake sales and funds club field trips and donates several fortunes worth of antique knick knacks to various schools. He's invited as a guest lecturer, a commencement speaker, a competition judge, a referee.

Lambert and Aiden, at some point, discover bachelor's parties, call dibs, and never look back. People learn very quickly not to invite witchers to their stag nights unless they want the entire party to get horrifyingly drunk - but at least Lam and Aiden will make sure that everyone makes it home (or to the wedding) safely. Perhaps not soberly, or sans hangover, but definitely without major injury. (And if the bride asks nicely and the groom and friends weren't total jerks, Lambert can usually be counted on to make a hangover cure. He really is a softie at heart.)

Dragonfly and Serrit get tapped for the odd bachelorette party or ladies' birthday parties. Anything that falls under "I want to be able to drink and party with my friends without worrying about some strange guy hurting one of us." They are extremely protective and have both been drunkenly proposed to several times. (Livi finds this terribly amusing. Gweld just wants to know if he can watch.) Milena and Zofia sometimes go with them.

Milena loves going to wedding showers and baby showers, but outside Kaer Morhen, she has to stay in sight of Lambert or one of his brothers. Lambert's rule. (She got KIDNAPPED, okay? He's allowed to worry!) Usually she'll take Geralt (there might be babies! He's excellent protection!) or Eskel (he's very quiet and has excellent manners, and his signs are impossible to fight) for the more, ah, female-heavy events. If anyone asks, they're her brother-in-law and genuinely like spending time around kids. And very, very married.

[lovelykhaleesiii]

hi, other half, I've came to beg you to write some smutty thing for me. You once posted sth about riding Aegon's belly and yOU BITCH, I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT IT SINCE THEN. So I'm begging you, queen of chubby!aegon, to write something about getting off on Aegon's fat belly (and u know the details, i know u do bc we share the same mind).

i love u, please and thank u🤍🥺

I LOVE YOU! and whoopsie, I can't help it if my thotty thots overtake your mind <3 lord have mercy, I really took my time with this one boo, like I actually lost myself AHAHA you know what they say, great minds think alike :))) hope you enjoy lovely x

Satisfied, Yet?

PAIRING: chubby!Aegon ii Targaryen x fem!Reader.

WORDS: 2,464.

WARNINGS: NSFW, slight mention of fatphobic comment, thigh/stomach riding, p in v sex, swearing.

Since being anointed as King, Aegon's life had altered drastically. Most of these changes not only seeped into his political stance in the realm, or in his dutiful role of upholding social responsibilities, although in his physicality, too. Since, having been betrothed to Aegon from his long, before days as Prince till now, you'd been front row and center to all these unfolding changes...

Nonetheless, at the very least you were quite absorbed in all the theatrics, particularly relishing in your husband's growing figure.

Aegon had always been an envoy to gluttony since his youth, his habits had only recently begun to swell from a boy's meager appetite into a man's. Since his coronation, Aegon, with you loyally by his side, had been invited and exposed to plentiful feasts, tourneys, banquets and celebrations in honor of his succession, with copious amounts of succulent roasts, pastries, sweets, treats and wine, that could fulfillingly feed the entire realm thrice. It was inevitable that such a habit of glutton would overtake…

Although you modestly dined in moderation, Aegon often found himself feasting, ravishing through the delectable flavours each region of the realm had to offer to their newly appointed King, eagerly hoping to appease his Grace.  As time went on, you found that his table manners had become wilted, as he’d often lost focus, disengaging in conversations, too enraptured by gorging himself on the delicacies offered to him by his meek subjects. You’d even occasionally witness him satisfyingly licking the tasteful grease off of his now thick, pudgy fingers, savoring the sacred moment, as his other free hand massaged his full, distended belly. 

In doing so, and unknowing to Aegon’s own naked eye, his appetite grew just as rapid as his waistline. His grandsire, the Hand, Otto Hightower, often eyed the King with disgust although, so long as Aegon showed up to such meaningful events, he did not protest. Nor did the Dowager Queen, Alicent, for she grew weary and apprehensive to provoke Aegon, now that he was King. Thus, no one dared to fuss. 

If you were being frank with yourself, you intently observed Aegon’s newly found habits, not in a parallel way to his grandsire, although with lust. Aegon’s appetite was what you’d believed, fit for a King. The repercussions of this, you reaped bashfully, as you gradually watched your beloved husband's figure swell. He maintained muscle, through occasional combat training and flights with Sunfyre, although now a visible layer of fat had grown all over, padding the muscle beneath. His legs, once modestly average sized, had now grown to be as thick as tree trunks, along with his bulky biceps and forearms to match. Although the centerpiece of attraction was his abdominal region, now protruding over his hidden waistline, the soft flesh hung, resting over his stocky thighs whenever you found him lounging. 

Gods be good, was it a mission to remain incessantly composed for hours when you were present to spoil your longing eyes upon your dear husband sprawled comfortably upon the Iron Throne… He’d grown into the seat, the fat of his thighs digging into the edge, subtly hanging over its edge, as he just managed to fit in. The image was stupendously ingrained into your brain, and the only thoughts that you could muster were sinful. 

Nonetheless, Aegon remained oblivious to the venereal effect his appearance was having on you…

****

“Fuck-” Aegon frusturatingly huffed.

“What is it, my love?” You concerningly question. Slowly closing the pages of your novel that rested against your lap, as you turned to face your husband, you had been greeted with an exasperated Aegon, his plump cheeks reddened from all the bustling noises you’d mindlessly heard in the background whilst reading. 

“It seems I am in need of a new fitting. I have been struggling to button these trousers on, dearest, not to mention how uncomfortably tight they now feel,” Aegon sulkingly protested. You carefully watched on, as you witnessed Aegon curiously pondering over his reflection in the mirror of your shared compartment. The pantaloons he’d been whining about, he’d just managed to dress, although remained loose and unsecured where it should have been buttoned and fitted. Instead, his portly belly hung low, his flesh engulfing over the opening and seams of the pants. 

“Be honest before the Gods dearest, have I grown?” Aegon uttered, as he turned to face you sharply, his hands gliding over his swollen belly, as the one squeezed the mold of fat over where his ribs lay protected beneath.

“I-uh, I do not know what you mean, dearest. Y-You look fine,” You meekly respond, unable to maintain direct eye contact, once Aegon was done sizing himself down, returning his gaze unto you. A stern look had brewed across his face, as you lowered your head to the book on your lap, fiddling with its torn edges.

“Do not toy with me, Y/N. Be honest, at the very least, I command that you speak the truth before your King. Have I grown…fat?” A distaste apparent in his stern voice, Aegon looked upon you with fretful eyes. 

Your reluctant gaze had softened with adoration. You did not wish for Aegon to feel even the slightest tinge of shame for his change, nor did you want him to think it possible, that you were revolted by the very sight of your husband.

“Y-You may have grown somewhat in size, but Aeg, that does not mean I love you any less. No lesser, than the day my maiden eyes had laid upon you.” 

Although you spoke warmly of the truth, Aegon refused to believe. Disapprovingly shaking his head in protest, he tore his attention away from you, avoiding eye contact as his glistening, lilac eyes had now wandered to the ground beneath his feet. His hands nervously gliding up and down the sides of his thick thighs, as he slowly seated himself down over the edge of the bed, an audible creak of the wooden frame fracturing the silence. 

“People must look upon us, and feel pity unto you, my wife. For look at the ‘hog’ she has now binded herself to-”

“Aegon, please-” You firmly interjected, racing over towards your husband, as you gracefully knelt before him, your hands now appearing tiny, sprawled against his large thighs, gripping the flesh for stability. 

“Aeg, look at me-” Your hand reached over, tugging at his fatty chin to redirect his attention solely onto you. 

“They-” Your fleeting eyes darting towards the shut door and back towards him, indicating to the world beyond.

“-should not matter. I would never say such vile things, nor could I ever think of you like that.” 

Aegon remained chillingly quiet, although you’d faintly glimpsed a sudden glint in his eyes, as his fixed attention lingered over your soft lips. 

“Prove it.” 

His sudden words took a solid few seconds to register in your mind, before you’d fathomed its meaning. Prove so, how? 

You knew exactly what was required of you. Your readiness for this moment had been stirring amid the quiet moments against the bustle and haste, of the banquets and festivities you’d both attended, that you often found yourself reservedly pondering in your own lustful thoughts, envisioning many things… 

“Sit properly on the bed,” You boldly uttered, as you stood yourself up, pushing yourself up from Aegon’s knees, leaning yourself ever so slightly forward that the evident cleavage in your tightly fitted gown were brazenly displayed to Aegon, as you stood swiftly. It made you innocently chuckle seeing Aegon smacking his juicy lips in response, as he strugglingly shuffled himself atop the bed, right towards the center of the wooden headboard. His large, rough hands steadily rubbed against the tight fabric of his thighs in anticipation for what was to come, as he intently observed you from afar. 

Both your undivided attention remained mutually onto each other: a faint, tender smile appearing on your face, as you noticed the hunger in Aegon’s eyes [mildly similar to how he gushed over the plated feasts], a smirk beaming across his face. 

Slowly walking over towards him, you’d managed to hike the front of your dress up sensually, before crawling atop the bed, only to find yourself straddling your beloved husband. Your legs had been stretched out broadly, accommodating for his wider frame, as his stomach pushed against the sensitive region of your lower abdomen and entrance. Gods, did his thighs feel so tender and soft beneath your ass, as you comfortably lowered yourself down, readjusting your position. Your arms instinctively stretch over towards his neck line, as your fingers begin to tangle and pull on the platinum, short strands from behind. 

It seemed the warm, tense friction of your body against Aegon’s was already beginning to stir the new King, pleasantly.

Closing in the distance between your faces, as your moist lips teasingly hovered over his plump ones. 

“You want me to prove it, baby… So be it,” You softly whispered, the warmth of your breath Aegon had inhaled, unable to remain patient, the young King pushed his mouth against yours, his tongue shoving its way through in exchange for a long, passionate kiss. Somehow, his pudgy hands had managed to find their way towards your backside, roughly squeezing the flesh of each cheek, you were certain his fingerprints would remain evident. 

Almost in tune to a rhythm, you began to pace yourself in a loop, slowly rocking forwards and back against the thin fabric of Aegon’s strained pants, your body shoving in deeper towards his distended belly, before leaning back to give him some momentary relief. 

“Mhmm,” Aegon lowly moaned, as one hand remained glued to your tender ass cheek, whilst the other snaked its way firmly behind your back, his rough hand gripping your neck, his thick fingers entangled in your hair, as he massaged the base of your head. 

“You have no idea what you’ve done to me, seeing you become this-” You breathlessly whimpered, as you tore apart your lips from his to speak. 

Aegon sensed the sincerity in your tone, and the soft, pleasing look in your eyes, as you ached for him. You could’ve sworn he could physically feel the throbbing sensation pulsating from your moist cunt, against the soft flesh of his full gut. 

“And what is it that I have done? What is it that you wish to do to me, my sweet, sweet angel?” 

Your pace had subtly quicked, briefly feeling Aegon trying to align your cunt to his cock, he undoubtedly was not expecting your next move. 

Insisting Aegon to recline himself further back into a semi-fowler position, the plentiful, fluffed cushions supporting his heavy mass in conjunction to the solid headboard hidden beneath. You swiftly shuffled yourself further up his body, thrusting yourself forward with enough momentum that you now sat atop, straddling his doughy, bloated stomach beneath. Your hands now gripping dearly onto his broad, dense shoulders, nails digging into the cloth-like fabric of his white shirt, as you further continued to thrust against him, riding his flesh beneath deeply and vigorously. 

“Fuck, Y/N-” He growled, as his grip remained strained onto your hips, as they rhythmically bucked forwards and back, desperately riding in deeper into his mass. 

“See-uh-See, what you’ve done to me, this, all of this-” You squeeze a little more into the flesh of his skin, pulling at the fat that embodied your husband, signifying his tremendous growth. Your moistened cunt began to coat his pale, soft skin stripped with reddened marks and stripes all along his sides and below, with your sweetness, as his shirt hiked up against your movements. 

“L-Look, my King, look at exactly what you’ve done to m-me-” You bashfully utter, as your spine instinctively arches, the collision and smacking of your skin against his continued to be heard in such close proximity, only muffled by either of your mindless moans and grunts. Nestled between your lower cunt and backside, you could feel something poking through, Aegon’s thick cock beginning to swell, feeling its pulsating urge beneath the strained fabric, the incessant need to shove itself inside of you grew with each movement. 

“Hmmf-” Aegon’s heavy, volatile breathing grew rapidly: as he ate himself to swell, his efforts became strained, often catching him huffing and puffing after hiking up a dense flight of stairs. 

“Come on, Aegon- I-I’m so close already-” You stutteringly whimper, sensual moans mindlessly interrupting your words. Now your wetness began to lubricate his succulent, fleshy skin entirely, as your cum pooled beneath, making your movements easier, gliding over his portly stomach. Where his lean pecs had once been, now a thick layer of adipose mounted over: one hand remained gripped to his shoulder, desperate for the stable support, whilst the other firmly cupped and squeezed at his enlarged, swollen pec. The roughness of your touch against the sensitive site, scored a loud plea for your name from his lips, that momentarily left your lifted breasts, before resuming to suckle on your soft skin. 

“Prove me wrong, baby. Prove me so fucking wrong-” Aegon groaned and moaned desperately, his grip remained firm as he tried desperately to shove you down deeper into his body. 

Instantly, you felt your pulsating cunt drench his swollen, soft belly as you pleasantly cried out, moaning Aegon’s name like a banshee in the night. His cock beneath you twitched in response, some moistness had brewed and seeped beneath its place, for it seemed Aegon was just as close to pumping, making a mess of himself. Although, as surprisingly swift as he could be for his size, Aegon thoroughly knew his way around your body, despite the changes to his own. His pants already undone from before, he could easily lift you up momentarily, pulling it down further enough for his bare cock to protrude through, aggressively shoving himself into you as you now remained atop. His thick cum coating your inner walls, as his veiny, fat cock grazed over your sweet spot, whilst your walls clenched on his thick cock. 

“Fuck, baby-” He subtly mouthed,  as he prompted himself further up, although his belly innately blocking his way, as he tried to lean over towards your own feeble body. The pace of your breathing now in sync with his, as your heated bodies lunged over towards one another for support, he held your weak self in his bulky arms, Aegon’s dense cock still remained inside of you, its strong pulse echoing from within your walls. 

“Satisfied, yet?” You helplessly pant, as you reluctantly pull yourself out of Aegon, repositioning yourself laying, nestled by his side. 

“I guess I should hold back on training for a little while longer, I wouldn't want to lose this figure, if that’s what I’ll be expecting, dear wife.”

[el-is-green]

Context i rewatched the scene in episode one and holy fuck do I hate this man

I am upset at something different but focusing on this so rant under the cut. I swear a lot and it’s kinda long so be warned

Look I know show! Aemma is older but holy shit he’s put her through at least five pregnancies (I don’t remember the exact number)!! At least four babies died!! And he’s hesitant when she says she’s done??? It’s not your uterus mf

And then! I get he’s the king he can make his own damn choices I don’t expect him to ask (even though he fucking should have) but at the very fucking least tell her???? No ‘hey we’re trying a new method of saving the baby’ no ‘hey so we’re going to try to cut out the baby’ nothing!!! Just ‘they’re bringing the baby out’ and ‘don’t be scared’! Why the fuck shouldn’t she be scared you are fucking cutting her open!! The fuck???

Also like I get it’s Medieval times and all but they do know the hole the baby comes out of right?? Like they have seen babies come though this hole (this exact hole to be precise) why not make it bigger or something??? Instead of just starting in the middle??? But nope murder time because of bullshit

And one more thing he couldn’t be with her until it was an emergency?! Sir your wife has had at least a few miscarriages!!! Announce the tourney then be with your fucking wife you dick!!!

I’m not getting into the whole ‘sees Rhaenyra as a child but goes for Alicent who is the same fucking age’ thing right now but that is also so fucked up

As well as the ‘also doesn’t teach Rhaenyra shit’ stuff like there are two particular frames that do not help (shot of Daemons empty seat then immediate cut to Rhaenyra pouring his cup) (like you know your brother tell your only child Something!!!)

I do hate this man. So fucking much. How he has any fans suprises me like how do you like this man

(And don’t say he felt guilty and redeemed himself bc no tf he did not! I don’t care how good Paddy is I love Paddy but Viserys can trip into the seven hells)

[electricprincess96]

Far too many people in the HOTD fandom have heard the take "Fire and Blood is an unreliable narrator" and ran with that fact to justify every change good or bad from the book and to try and paint what happens in the show as somehow just as legitimate and somehow the "true" retelling of this event.

This is a fundamental misconception of what Fire and Blood is. Fire and Blood is written from the perspective of an in universe Maestor who is collecting historical records from various sources including first hand accounts FROM the period of the Dance of the Dragons (he actually does all the way from Aegon the Conquerer onward in order of Targaryen Monarchs the Dance is only a section of a wider book). Yes there are conflicting accounts that he lays out, yes there are moments that he has no reliable sources on etc. BUT there is a lot more things that are likely to have been reliably kept note of, such as Queen Alicent NOT being a child bride, and being significantly older than her step-daughter Rhaenyra. Highborn Men and Women would have almost certainly had their birth years kept record and the author of Fire and Blood would have access to those. Likewise Laenor dying in public would not be something various sources would just get wrong even with embellishments the fundamental fact of "Laenor got in a fight with his "favourite" and died as a result" is likely accurate. Or the fact Criston Cole killed Laenor's lover at a Tourney in the book, something that makes a lot more sense, would have been recorded since well a competitor died at a Tourney celebrating the Heirs Wedding, said victim was a "close friend" of said Heirs new husband and said killer was said Heirs former Sworn Shield. Like yeah it makes sense for that to be pretty accurately recorded thus I have no reason to believe it didn't happen this way compared to Cole just going nuts and offing a man AT THE WEDDING and then getting away with it. At least if it WAS a Tourney that makes sense cause people die at Tourney's all the time in this world.

The ambiguity comes in when the Maestor includes multiple conflicting sources for the same event, BUT it's less unreliable through omission which critics of F&B seem to believe and more unreliable as he has no way of proving which of these sources are correct or if the truth is somewhere inbetween however it's not deliberately misleading.

If HOTD was somehow the "true" events of the Dance some of things that have happened in the show such as Rhaenys blowing the floor out of the Dragon Pit, killing a bunch of smallfolk and then flying away at Aegon II's coronation WOULD have been at least ONE story that likely would have been recorded somewhere and mentioned in the book because the author isn't trying right deliberately mislead the reader in universe, he believes he's giving as accurate a depiction of events as he can. Sure there's biases as every historian has but he is choosing to often portray conflicting testimonies and while in text he himself will dismiss some, he still gives them allowing the reader to make up their own mind of what is likely to have occurred.

But seeing people say "unreliable narrator" for why Rhaena claiming Sheepstealer and Nettles not existing doesn't somehow break their claim that this is "true canon" when 1. I don't actually care about Rhaena claiming Sheepstealer I thought from the minute I heard they were adapting this story that they'd cut Nettles and 2. There's no fucking way there isn't multiple sources claiming Rhaena was in the Vale the majority of the war while someone else was riding a Dragon called Sheepstealer thus Gyldayn would have no fucking reason to make up a whole new person and write Rhaena's contributions to the war out. Like that just would not happen in universe and George would know that.

So just dismissing all complaints by book readers towards the show with "but unreliable narrator" fundamentally misunderstands Fire and Blood as a book. Yes it is ambiguous, and the story is not told to us clearly however taking into account the very nature of history books some of this stuff has no reason to be incorrect yet the show changed it anyway. And that's fine, the show can change whatever the fuck it wants but be prepared for book fans to check out AND stop trying to tout the show as somehow the 100% true canon of The Dance of Dragons when it just can't be.

Also, Fire and Blood is NOT the only time George RR Martin has written about this time period. The first time he did was in his Novella "The Princess and the Queen" which was part of an Anthology called Dangerous Women. He also wrote another Novelette a year later called "The Rogue Prince" about Daemon Targaryen which acts as a prequel to "The Princess and the Queen" and was part of an Anthology called Rogues. Yes, both of these are again written from Archmaegor Gyldayn's perspective but it does mean if George REALLY wanted us to know the TRUE history and it didn't involve some combination of the parts he's already given us (which I personally think all the important parts have been given to us the way George believes it happened but he wants us to make up our own minds about the parts he leaves ambitious) then he would have told us the TRUE history by now, he's had multiple chances to write about this era and be less vague.

[just-some-guy-joust]

alright, as requested and promised, my explanations for why everyone on side b got into the tourney

once again making the note that i was desperate for women that weren't blatantly written by a misogynist and it influenced a couple choices

starting with the most argued about characters again

mob (mp100): 1 submission, good description. "he has powers he can't be just some guy!" NOT WHAT THIS TOURNEY IS ABOUT. mob is a kid. he's just a kid doing his best. like the whole plot of mp100 is that he's just some kid isn't it??? i haven't watched it i can't argue the details but he is a very good example of just some guy

rung (transformers): 1 submission, good description. submitter got extra points for being the longest submission and being so sweet to me. rung is like, God, or something but he doesnt Know That so he's just living a perfectly normal life. he's so average people regularly forget who he is or what his name is. from the submission, "He's just the definition of 'some random kind guy you bump into in the hall and then completely forget about two hours later' I really don't know how to explain it."

han solo (star wars): 2 submissions. its like his whole thing. the rest of the team is a princess, a jedi, man i don't know the rest i haven't watched star wars in years but they are all supremely not some guy, and han's just some cunt with a van to drive them around in. yeah he's got his own shit going on but also. i dont remember how it actually went down but he really feels like he just stumbled into the plot and now he can't leave

ok now the rest of the characters under the cut

carol kohl (cateotw): 1 submission, good description. the description really moved me and i have GOT to watch this show at some point. carol lives on an earth that's going to end in a few months and everyone is trying to make their last months exciting and happy and getting to do what they've always wanted to. what carol wants to do is keep working an office job and continuing her routine. the show does not shame her for this, it's just who she is. and man..... as a chronically ill person who's had to think about that kind of thing. that really hits hard.

jaehee (mystic messenger): 1 submission. the woman situation is fucking dire. i will admit she seems to be written the way she is because of misogyny n shit but at least this submitter actually acknowledged it. mystic messenger is i believe a dating game and her route involves dealing with her shitty boss and quitting her job. the other routes have fucking wild shit going on but jaehee just quits work

paul matthews (guy who didnt like musicals): guaranteed entry

emma perkins (guy who didnt like musicals): 3 submissions. one person described her and paul as "guy4guy" and i was so enamored with this concept i gave her a guaranteed position. she works at a coffee shop and seems to not give a fuck that she's in a musical and needs to sing. major "i cant wait to clock out and go home" vibes

su moting (god troubles me): 1 submission. the child of a monster and a god so she was just born a regular human. that's so fucking funny. she has some wild roommates (a "phone god" and a "cat monster") but she's got a normal office job so she's not even around them much on weekdays

satou hiroshi (saiki k): 2 submissions. canonically the most average guy. perfectly average in every way. average grades, weight, height, family, etc etc etc. as average as possible

chilchuck tims (dungeon meshi): guaranteed entry

michelle nguyen (wtnv): 1 submission. i mean. its fucking night vale. that place is fucked. and yet michelle just runs a record shop and loves her girlfriend good for her

tad strange (gravity falls): guaranteed entry

colin robinson (wwdits): 1 submission, personal bias. he's an energy vampire that feeds off peoples energy so he will ramble to them for 6-12 hours about taxes. has a regular office job because what better place to find miserable people to torment. prides himself in his ability to be just some guy

bard (wandersong): 1 submission, friend bias. they're the protagonist of the game but they are not the hero of the story. they're on a quest to save the world but destiny does not care for them. they are trying so hard to bring people joy and that in turn is what makes them actually able to succeed. they are not a hero, but they are a friend

usopp (one piece): 1 submission, friend bias. i will be honest you i avoid one piece at all costs but he gets a pass for my buddy. unfortunately none of the info they gave me actually stuck in my brain so my explanation is gonna suck ass but he seems very scared and very weak compared to everyone else and everyone knows he's the just some guy of the group

nick carraway (great gatsby): 1 submission. i do not remember reading this book for school but idk that seemed like a correct vibe check and i wasn't gonna argue with it

link (oot): 1 submission, personal bias. SCREAMS. WAILS. POUNDS FISTS ON THE FLOOR. I LOVE HIM!!! i am extremely mentally ill about most editions of link being just some guy but i agreed heavily with the submission saying oot is probably the best example. HE'S JUST A KID!!! he thought he would never have to grow up because he was a forest kid too but then he did have to grow up what the fuckk

kazooie (I MADE HIM <3): he is my oc and i love him so fuckign much

connecticut clark (florkofcows): guaranteed entry

samwise (lotr): 1 submission, personal bias. only here because he refused to let his friend have to deal with this alone. its the whole point of the story, that hobbits are the just some guys of the world. that these hobbits were just normal innocent men now trying to end a war. and sam is the most just some guy of the bunch

hitomi (madoka magica): 2 submissions. only one that isnt a magical girl. im sure there's more to it than that but i haven't watched madoka in years and the submissions didn't give me anything else so that's it

junpei iori (persona): 1 submission, friend bias. persona characters can get fucking wild but he seems to be the resident normal dude. and tbh i just can't stop thinking about this part of the submission

tomoya (ensemble stars): 2 submissions, good descriptions. ok so like. ensemble stars has like 50 main characters or something i dont know i dont go here. tomoya is the Only One that's normal. he's just trying to be a teen idol and his defining character trait is that he is tomoya and he is here.

peter sqloint (jrwi): 1 submission. i have listened to a bit of this and while i did have to put it down cause it wasn't really my thing, peter must've made an impression on me because the Only Things i can remember from what i listened to was just how bizarrely normal peter is. yes he has the angel of retribution inside him urging him to kill the gods but his life goal is to buy a new log for his pet lizard and his job is to sort rocks and its his favorite thing. sometimes you have to wonder if peter is even aware of whats going on or if he is too busy thinking about cool rocks to notice

cabbage merchant (atla): 3 submissions. i dont care. but very few characters actually got 3 submissions so i let him in. i was trying to avoid characters that clearly just existed for a bit or are simply background characters with nothing else going on (they count as just some guy but its just not as interesting to me) but he made it in anyways.

marta cabrera (knives out): 1 submission and that submission was ME because im THE ONLY PERSON WHO GETS IT (/silly). i cannot fucking believe no one else submitted her im so fucking mad her being just some guy is literally the entire point. spoilers for knives out, SHE'S A GOOD DOCTOR. SHE'S JUST A GOOD DOCTOR. SHE NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG!!! she was always just some guy no matter how much everyone else wanted her to be something different. i love her

greg universe (steven universe): 1 submission, good explanation. he's just stevens dad <3 he lives in his van and is an ok musician and he's very content with his life. he's hanging out

mishima (persona): 2 submissions. he's just one of your classmates. this is signifcant because other supporting cast characters have a lot of their own wild shit going on. mishima is your classmate and he's trying to help the phantom thieves look cool on social media. thatse it babey!

gingerbrave (cookie run): 1 submission, good description, personal bias. ok so its a gacha game about cookies that run. gingerbrave is the mascot and the most basic guy you can get. he's a cookie and he runs. and he's very sweet and i like him <3 he loves his friends. anyways google like any other character in the cookie run franchise and you'll understand.

arthur dent (hitchhikers guide): 2 submissions. honestly i don't have strong opinions on him and he's got a fuck ton of propaganda on the post im skipping this

elsen (off): 1 submission, friend bias. i am enamored by how this is like a species of normal guys. they are meant to reflect the struggles of average normal people. they have office jobs and a fuck ton of anxiety so you can see how they reflect that <3

tadano hitohito (komi cant communicate): 2 submissions, good description. HIS NAME LITERALLY TRANSLATES TO "JUST A PERSON" THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME I HAD TO PUT HIM IN

[captain-of-misery]

Baneath the Silent Stars

Chapter 1: Mystery Knight

Summary: A mystery knight won the tourney, only to reveal himself as the most unexpected visitor. Prince Aenar Targaryen, youngest brother of King Viserys and Prince Daemon. And the man who crowned Alicent Hightower the Queen of Love and Beauty.

Warnings: violence, mentions of sex, Aenar being a bad dancer

Aemma lives, btw.

Words: 6.1k

Tourneys were never Alicent’s favorite. In fact, she found them quite boring and also disturbing at times. The men behaved like brutes, hungry for a fight and she wanted to run away and hide whenever there was as much as one drop of blood being shed. But she had to be there. As a member of King Viserys’ court and Princess Rhaenyra’s closest confidant, she didn’t just have to be there, but she got a front row seat in the royal box. A blessing and a curse. 

But this time, there was one man who stood out. He sat on a dark stallion, wore a grim, black armor decorated with red. And the cape on his right shoulder, like a cloth dipped in blood, was carried by the wind whenever he lunged forward and clashed with his fellow knights. He was as silent as the night and as unyielding as its darkest hour. 

“A mystery knight?” Rhaenyra asked. Unlike Alicent, the Princess quite enjoyed watching all those brave men fight. 

“It appears so,” Lady Alicent answered. “He calls himself the ‘Knight of Silent Stars,’ but you would know that if you weren’t late. Again.” 

“Not like I care. You sound just like my mother when she scolds me,” The Princess Rhaenyra said and as she spoke, the mystery knight unhorsed his opponent. “Seems like he has quite a talent.”

“That’s the fourth knight he has unhorsed so far.” 

“I wonder who he might be. Maybe he is rather handsome under all that armor,” Rhaenyra giggled, causing Alicent to release a sigh in response. And there was the reason Rhaenyra enjoyed tourneys far more than her friend.

“That armor has the colors of House Targaryen,” The Lady Alicent stated her observation. “Do you know him? Could that be Prince Daemon?” 

“Targaryen?” Rhaenyra leaned forward in her seat, taking a good look at the knight. “He does not look like Daemon, his armor is different too. I have no idea who else that might be.” 

“I suppose we shall see then.” 

The tourney went on. The crowd cheered as the knights continued to compete against each other. By the commands of King Viserys, First of His Name, it was a grand affair with many great houses and noteworthy representatives present. Still, an event that Alicent would have much preferred to avoid.

But despite her lack of enthusiasm for such unnecessary violence, Alicent watched one man with growing interest. The Knight of Silent Stars. What a curious name. Somehow, Alicent always found mystery knights a bit intriguing. She couldn’t help the wonder that washed over about who he might be. The son of a lord, maybe? Or maybe he is a commoner, that’s why he didn’t dare show his face. 

The Knight of Silent Stars unhorsed opponent after opponent and Alicent found herself more and more in awe. He really was silent, true to his name. He never said a word, just kept fighting with grace and honor. No, he was certainly not a commoner. There was something to him, he held himself almost like royalty. 

At some point, Alicent began to hope he would win. Finally, there was a knight who fought with honor and respect, truly a rare sight. But there was one more opponent left: Prince Daemon himself. Well, at least now it was certain that the mystery knight and Daemon were not the same person. 

Alicent felt a sense of worry. Daemon was never known for playing fair. As the Prince and the knight readied themselves for the clash of horses and lances, Rhaenyra reached for Alicent’s hand, reminding her to stop picking the skin around her fingernails. She hadn’t even noticed that she was doing it. 

“The Knight of Silent Stars?” Prince Daemon scoffed, trying to intimidate the mystery knight. “That’s the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.” 

But there was no answer from the other side and before Daemon could have said more insults, the joust began. Alicent held her breath, her fingers trembling as she watched. 

The two men lowered their lances, aiming them at each other before they clashed and Alicent had to close her eyes. She heard the sound of metal slamming against the ground and hundreds, possibly thousands of gasps. 

When Alicent finally dared to look, she saw Prince Daemon lying on the ground, cursing to himself in High Valyrian, and the Knight of Silent Stars still seated on his horse. Alicent expected a more violent reaction from Daemon, but it didn’t happen. Perhaps the Prince knew something.

The crowd cheered, congratulating the mystery knight on his victory. Yet, he remained quiet. His first action was to gallop to the royal box on his horse and give the King, his family, and the important lords and ladies a bow. How honorable of him. 

And then a wreath of beautiful flowers was placed on the tip of the knight’s lance. He won and now he was to choose his Queen of Love and Beauty, it was within his right as the tourney champion. From behind his helmet, Alicent could barely make out a pair of eyes. First, his gaze landed on Queen Aemma. She would have been a fine and polite choice, but then he looked at Rhaenyra, another respectable choice. He stared for a moment, his gaze shifting for a moment and Alicent could swear she saw his eyes widen. 

Oh no. Not me. Please, not me. Choose Rhaenyra or anyone else, but not me. 

He raised his lance almost agonizingly slowly, as if he was purposefully torturing all the ladies present, and dropped the wreath on the lap of Lady Alicent Hightower. 

Alicent stared at the flowers on her thighs, her mouth and eyes open in shock. It was flattering, really, no one had ever chosen her as their Queen of Love and Beauty. The mystery knight’s attention was a welcomed one and Alicent almost wanted to giggle. However, she knew that everyone else was looking too, her own father included and Alicent didn’t like that. 

“Seems like someone has a fan,” Rhaenyra giggled, grasping her friend’s arm affectionately and Alicent’s blush only deepened. She could hear someone from behind saying that the knight made a fine choice. Hopefully, her father wouldn’t be too bothered by it. 

Alicent reached for the wreath on her lap, her quivering and bloody fingertips brushing against the flower petals. She finally looked at her mystery knight who was staring right up at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but her lips were trembling. “Thank you,” She mumbled under her breath and it was a miracle if the knight could hear her at all. Still, he offered her a deep bow. 

Finally, King Viserys stood from his seat, addressing the mystery knight.  “You have fought bravely and earned your victory, Ser. Might we know who you are?” 

For a moment, the knight stayed silent, remaining true to his fashion. “I am no Ser,” He said, his smooth, raspy voice certainly causing a shiver to run down every lady’s spine. Alicent’s included. She watched with keen interest, eager to learn the identity of this knight. He crowned her his Queen of Love and Beauty, so of course she wished to know who he was. 

The Knight of Silent stars reached for his helmet, his armored fingers attempting to take it off. Thick locks of silver hair poured down to his shoulders and his gaze went immediately to the royal box. He glanced at a beautiful lady of auburn hair and sparkling brown eyes for a moment longer than he should have before finally gracing the King with his attention. “I am a prince.” 

The King stared at the knight with his mouth hanging open, his expression quickly turning from shock to joy as he recognized the young dashing man. “Aenar! Brother!”

-

The King’s brother. The youngest one, not Daemon. Alicent had heard of Prince Aenar before. A few years ago, when the King and Rhaenyra had an argument, the Princess went to the Dragonpit and flew to Dragonstone on Syrax’s back. There her youngest uncle welcomed her with open arms and he made sure she returned shortly and safely, for which Alicent was very grateful. After that, Rhaenyra spent all day talking about him and Alicent almost believed that her friend had a crush on her uncle. Other than that, not much else was known about the young Targaryen prince. No scandals, no rumors, and no nothing. Sometimes Alicent wondered if he existed at all or Rhaenyra made him up to mess with her friend. 

It was said that they grew up together, Rhaenyra and Aenar. Of course, Aenar was a few years older than her, but wherever little Rhaenyra went, Prince Aenar followed to make sure she wouldn’t get into too much trouble. The Princess often described her youngest uncle as the sweetest man in the Realm with a slight twist of Targaryen cheekiness. 

But how could Alicent know that? 

Certainly, she was intrigued by the mysterious Prince, especially after he made her his Queen of Love and Beauty. It didn’t help that he looked into her eyes earlier at the tourney. Gods, even recalling the memory caused her heart to skip a beat. Even from the field, his gaze was as piercing as a dragon’s fire.

Naturally, as it was common during King Viserys’ reign, a feast followed the jousting. A wave of nervousness washed over the young Hightower when she glanced at the empty seat next to her. On her other side was Rhaenyra, who was sitting next to Queen Aemma, followed by the King in the middle, then her father, the Lord Hand, and the other members of the small council. 

Perhaps Prince Aenar wouldn't come at all. Maybe he left. Maybe he was currently somewhere else, doing whatever men do after a day of jousting. Men liked to do their own thing and Targaryen men were even worse, Alicent knew that. Prince Aenar was probably roaming the Street of Silk, doing only the Gods know what men are up to there. Alicent didn’t know what that was exactly, only that it was no place for a delicate young maiden like her. She had asked her father about it once, but was met with only a cold, disapproving stare, like the ones he gives her whenever she spends too much time around Rhaenyra or mentions Prince Daemon by accident. Alicent knew better than to ask again. 

“My favorite niece!” Alicent heard an unfamiliar voice from behind and her heart was suddenly beating three times faster than it normally would. She watched as Rhaenyra turned to take a look toward the source.

“Uncle Aenar!” The Princess stood from her seat to greet her uncle. “I am your only niece.” 

In the meantime, Alicent also stood up, but she kept her gaze off of the Prince. A man with such fighting prowess must be intimidating and fearsome, not someone Alicent would want to anger. But why didn’t he enter through the main doors? Maybe he just didn’t like attention, Alicent would understand that. She didn’t like using the main doors either. Too many eyes, too much attention.

“Well, that is exactly why you are my favorite,” The Prince continued and Alicent could hear the cheerfulness in his tone, still not having the courage to actually look at him. “If I had another niece, I fear your position as my favorite would be under great threat.” He pulled Rhaenyra into an embrace and pressed a kiss against her forehead. “I only jest, dear. The world wouldn’t survive another girl like you.” This time, his voice was softer, lighter, filled with a strange warmth that made Alicent’s stomach flutter. 

“And who is this lovely lady?” Aenar asked as he turned to Alicent. Despite what the Prince did at the end of the tourney, this was their first time speaking to each other. Alicent couldn’t recall ever meeting him before.

“My name is Alicent Hightower, Your Grace.” There was a deep blush on her face as she answered, a clear indication of her nervousness around him. She bowed to him, her gaze still fixed on the floor. 

“Lady Alicent,” The Prince said and when Alicent dared to look at his face, she saw that he was smiling at her. And oh, his eyes were mesmerizing. Like jade, green with a hint of brown. Alicent almost didn’t notice when he reached for her hand, his touch almost as delicate as a feather. He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a small kiss against it while looking into her eyes. By this point, Alicent thought she would faint. Her heart hammered in her chest and her face was redder than the wine they served at the feast. 

“It is a pleasure to meet you, my Lady. I hope I didn’t disrespect you today,” He continued with a sweet, charming smile on his face and gently let go of her hand. Alicent wanted to answer, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect to be in a situation like this. First, a handsome young prince wins the tourney and crowns her Queen of Love and Beauty. And if that wasn’t already something out of a fairy tale, he was now talking to her. Gods . He even kissed her hand. She really hoped that her father wasn’t watching. She would certainly receive a lecture after the feast about the importance of resisting the charms of handsome men. 

And Prince Aenar was certainly charming.

However, he must have noticed Alicent’s unease. His smile disappeared for a moment, almost as if he was desperately trying to come up with something before he continued. “I am pleased to know that Rhaenyra had someone to look after her in my absence. Tell me, has she given you much trouble? I’m quite sure she has.” In the meantime, they all took their seats with Rhaenyra and Aenar on each side of the young and frightened Alicent Hightower.

“She is a troublemaker indeed,” Alicent said with a polite smile, doing her best to not create an unpleasant atmosphere. But, Gods, she hoped he would not attempt anything dishonorable with her. Targaryen princes are not exactly known for being honorable.

“Did you two form an alliance against me or something?” Rhaenyra whined from Alicent’s other side. 

The Prince chuckled in response. “We don’t need to. You brought this upon herself. I remember when Viserys was still a prince and we all lived on Dragonstone. If it wasn’t for me, the dragons would have eaten you.” 

“Imagine explaining that to my father. But then he became king, you went to Driftmark, and I needed someone else to drag into trouble. That’s when Alicent came and took over your job.” 

“She gets into a lot of trouble, my prince. Some days I can’t keep her out of it. The other day, she was late from a small council meeting because she much prefers to ride her dragon.” Alicent giggled and then she turned to Aenar. She gazed into his eyes and for a moment, she found herself breathless by the sight of those two jade orbs. Again. The smile he gave her was like honey. Sweet enough to charm any lady and Alicent had a feeling that Aenar’s presence would become the cause of much trouble in the future.

“Then thank the Gods for giving us Lady Alicent,” The Prince chuckled again and Alicent could feel her cheeks heat up. “What would my little niece do without you?” 

Alicent had no time to answer, not like she knew what to say, but they were approached by the son of some distant lord. “Princess Rhaenyra, might I have this dance?” 

The Princess turned to Alicent, giving her an annoyed look before she looked at the man asking her to dance again. “Of course.” And with that, Rhaenyra rose from her seat and made her way to the dance floor. 

Anxiety rose in Alicent’s stomach as she was left alone with Prince Aenar. For a minute, neither of them spoke and the awkwardness in the air was so thick they could have cut it with a knife. The silence between them was deafening.

Both Alicent and Aenar returned to their plates, taking a few bites and sipping wine before the Prince cleared his throat and took a deep breath, addressing the young woman next to him. “Do you like to dance, Lady Alicent?” 

Alicent’s eyes widened slightly at the Aenar’s question, a part of her hoping that he wouldn’t ask her and another that he would. Her eyes were still fixed on her plate as she answered his question. “I do, my prince.”

“I don’t,” Aenar said and then raised his cup to take a sip of his wine. If he doesn’t like to dance, then why did he bother to ask? “I wouldn’t ask a lady to dance with me unless I was really interested in her. Sadly, I can already sense some eagerness from a few ladies at this dreadful feast.” 

“Dreadful? You dislike feasts?” Alicent couldn’t say that she had a liking for feasts either. At least Rhaenyra made them feel tolerable. Well, when she wasn’t busy dancing with some lord. 

“Never was much interested in them. While I quite like music, it is too loud. And there are far too many people for my liking. I only came for the food,” Aenar admitted, causing Alicent to chuckle. Maybe he wasn’t so bad, after all. 

“The food certainly makes it more tolerable, Your Grace. And it is quite honorable that you would not dance with a lady unless you had a genuine interest in her. Not everyone shares the same sentiment.” 

“It is unfortunate, really,” The Prince turned his gaze from Alicent and his eyes searched the room. There were many lords, ladies, and knights present. He took a good look at each of them, taking note of how some of the guests present were staring back at him. He knew why. A Targaryen prince, a man grown. He won a joust and he was handsome. The lords of the Realm are eager to wed their daughters and granddaughters to him for the sake of political advantage. “People in King’s Landing can be so…shallow. I have forgotten what it’s like.” 

“When was the last time you were here?” Alicent asked him. “I don’t remember ever seeing you.” 

He smiled at her, but there was a hint of sadness in his expression. “Well, I was here when my brother got crowned and before that, when my father died and yours became Hand.” 

Alicent immediately regretted her question. And speaking of Hands, Otto Hightower suddenly appeared in front of them, looking quite displeased. “Your Grace,” He greeted the Prince in his usual stern, gloomy voice. “I see you and my daughter have become acquainted.” 

“Oh, yes, Lord Otto. I was just telling your lovely daughter about how a follower of the Seven would remain true to their faith in and outside of the Sept,” Aenar said with a broad smile and Alicent couldn’t help the blush that deepened her already red cheeks. Well, this Aenar Targaryen seemed like quite a bold man. She didn’t even pay much attention to what he was saying because only the word ‘lovely’ kept repeating itself in her mind. Right in front of her father. 

“You see, my lady,” Aenar turned his attention back to Alicent with newfound interest while Otto Hightower watched and listened. What was the Prince trying to achieve with this? “Many go to the Sept often, some every day, but as soon as they come outside, they go back to sin and dishonor. If they actually believed in the Gods, they would not need to spend half of their lives praying on their knees, begging for forgiveness because of whatever they committed. They would simply live by the teachings of the Seven and behave with honor and diligence.” 

Alicent felt something beneath her feet. She quickly glanced under the table and saw that it was Prince Aenor bouncing his leg up and down. By the Gods, the Prince was nervous! Alicent almost chuckled. This was quite endearing and Alicent felt a sense of understanding wash over her. She had her own nervous habit and seeing that such a strong, brave, and handsome prince was trembling beneath the table made her feel a little less alone and a little more normal. But what was making him so nervous? 

Otto raised an eyebrow and Alicent couldn’t yet tell if her father was amused or currently trying to make Aenar stay away from her. “I must say, Prince Aenar, you are quite right. However, do you go to the Sept often?”

“Sometimes,” Aenar answered. “As I said, I don’t need to spend my entire day praying.” 

“And why is that, my prince?” 

“I often see people asking the Gods for help. Instead of working for what they want, they think that the Gods will give it to them if they pray often enough. The only times I go to the Sept are when I want to show gratitude.” 

“So you would rather work than beg the Seven for a blessing?” The Hand asked and the Prince only nodded in response. Lord Otto maintained a neutral expression, but Alicent could tell he was impressed by what Aenar said. He was simply too proud to admit it. “We go to the Grand Sept quite often. Perhaps Prince Aenar would like to join us?” 

The Prince remained silent, quite obviously uninterested in joining Otto, for which Alicent really couldn’t blame him. But perhaps he would like to join Alicent. The lady was sweet, perhaps a little nervous, but Aenar didn’t mind that. The other ladies stared at him as if he was a prey during a hunt, so Alicent’s more reserved nature was like a cooling breeze during summer. And she was quite comely as well. He was yet to take a good look at her, but Alicent’s doe eyes made his heart beat a little faster whenever she gathered enough courage to stare directly into his. 

So it was either both or neither. 

Gods damn it, Aenar. You brought this upon yourself.

Aenar smiled, most likely out of politeness and finally gave the Hand the answer he desired. “Of course, Lord Otto. I would be delighted to join you.” 

“You honor me, Your Grace. Well, then I’ll leave you two. Enjoy the feast.”

Alicent released a sigh of relief as soon as her father was at a far enough distance. However, she couldn’t help but ask Aenar a small question. “How did you know he is religious? My father, I mean.” 

“From my brother,” He admitted. “Daemon has told me much about him.” 

Alicent couldn’t say she was delighted to hear that, but then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Princess Rhaenyra motioning for her. “F-forgive me, I think Rhaenyra wants something.” 

Prince Aenar gave her a nod and Alicent left to join her friend. While the Prince remained in his seat and was about to happily indulge himself in the contents of his place, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. 

“Little brother,” King Viserys said, a warm smile gracing his features. He sat down on Alicent’s chair, giving Aenar his full attention. Being called little brother brought a strange warmth to Aenar’s heart. He missed his family dearly. “You fill my chest with pride. Good job at the tourney today.”

Aenar would be lying if he said he didn’t like his brother’s praise. “Thank you, brother. I was hoping to make you proud.” 

“Your return to King’s Landing has been well-received,” Viserys informed his youngest brother. “If you wish to stay, we would be more than happy to have you.” 

Aenar nodded, pleased by the idea of remaining in King’s Landing, at least for a while. “I would like that. We have been apart for too long. I wish to stay by your side, brother, and aid you in any way I can.” 

“Good,” Viserys said with a smile, delighted by Aenar’s response. He didn’t expect anything less from the prince, knowing he was more dutiful than Daemon ever was. “I could always use more people I can trust. You should accompany me to the small council meetings and then we’ll see if there are any tasks for you.” 

“That sounds wonderful, thank you.” 

Then there were some giggles, catching the attention of both the Prince and the King. Aenar was met with several pairs of eyes gazing at him, all of them belonging to a group of gossipping women. Aenar couldn’t help but feel uneasy from the attention, but then Viserys turned back to his brother, now with something cheeky in his expression. “It seems like you have caught the ladies’ attention.” 

Aenar rolled his eyes, visibly unhappy by the attention. “Yeah, I certainly have.” 

Viserys laughed in return, leaning closer to his brother. “Aenar, this is every man’s dream!” It was almost every man’s dream, Aenar thought to himself. Certainly not his. 

Aenar never liked whores. Daemon brought him to a pleasure house as soon as he was old enough and he already decided that he would avoid the Street of Silk for the rest of his life. Of course, he was no saint, he had his conquests. Not as many as some people thought he had, but still, Aenar had known a few women in his life, as was expected of a prince.

He liked to work for the ladies and had little respect for those who simply threw themselves at his feet. Of course, he understood why they did it. But the harder he worked for a lady, the sweeter she was. 

And Aenar loved sweet women. He’s just never met any worthy of his affections.

“Yours, perhaps. Quite honestly, brother, I would much prefer to take a lady wife,” The young prince admitted and he could see the shock and then the joy on his brother’s face. 

“You do? Well, that is a pleasant surprise! Finally, a brother who wishes to do his duty. If you’d like, I could arrange a potential match for you. Or is there anyone who has caught your eye, little brother?” 

Aenor’s eyes widened in horror. His brother made it sound like he would wed Aenar to the first suitable lady in a fortnight. “Hold your horses, Viserys, I’ve only just returned. I will keep my eyes open and let you know if there is anyone. I am not in a rush.” 

Pursing his lips, Viserys nodded. “Of course. But do let me know if you have found yourself a bride and remember that you are a prince of the Seven Kingdoms. Your lady wife must be of high birth. A maiden befitting your station.” 

“I understand. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

“Good,” Viserys stood and patted his brother on the back. “Now enjoy yourself, Aenar. You deserve it.” The King returned to his seat and Aenar was left alone once again.

The Prince went back to his plate with the hopes of no one disturbing him. He really was just here for the food and, so far, he barely managed to get a few bites. After a minute or two, he reached for his cup and raised it to his lips, taking a sip of his wine. 

As Aenar drank, he saw two figures from the corner of his eye. When he put the cup down and looked, he noticed that Lord Jason Lannister was talking to Lady Alicent Hightower, the very woman he crowned as his Queen of Love and Beauty. 

Well, shit. 

Now Aenar really had a chance to look at her and what a beauty she was. Had he known that Viserys had such beautiful ladies at his court, he would have returned to King’s Landing sooner. 

From what Aenar could tell, Alicent was undeniably the most comely girl at court. She had a sweet smile and eyes with a light in them that could melt even the coldest hearts. When he first saw her during the tourney, he almost called the Maesters because his knees started bending on their own.

With or without Aenar crowning her, Alicent was desirable. She was a highborn lady with looks unmatched and as the Prince watched Jason Lannister talk to her, he couldn’t help but feel jealous.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have crowned her. He didn’t think of it when it happened, but now Aenar realized that it would only attract more suitors for Alicent. If a prince of House Targaryen thought she was good enough, then she was good enough for every other man as well. 

Of course, it all made sense now. The young maiden seemed visibly uncomfortable by Lord Lannister’s presence and Aenar saw that she was fidgeting with her fingers. 

Aenar did like her. Of course, she didn’t know her well yet. But, so far, she was the most promising lady in all of King’s Landing. He couldn’t deny that he was pretty and her nervousness around him was quite endearing. Aenar could also sense some playfulness from her, which only made her more appealing to him.

Tonight, if Aenar had to dance with anyone, it would be Alicent. 

He glanced down at his food with a twinge of sadness, then he sighed and stood from the table. He might regret this later.

Aenar walked past the long table and he could swear he saw Viserys and Aemma giving each other a knowing look as he walked to where Alicent and the Lannister man were standing. 

The lady was certainly trying to be polite, but Lord Jason had her cornered. Aenar had the displeasure of knowing him, so he really couldn’t blame Alicent for not wanting to be anywhere near him, but the man had a habit of bothering the fair maidens. 

Aenar smiled to himself. Now he would become her knight in shining armor, her Prince Charming. For some odd reason, he quite liked the idea. 

“And then there was this diamond necklace I had made for my mother-” As he approached, Aenar cleared his throat, cutting off the Lannister Lord mid-sentence. 

“Lady Alicent,” Aenar said with a smile and nodded to the young lady. 

“Yes, my prince?” Alicent sounded almost relieved to see him. If she had to choose between Prince Aenar and Lord Jason, he wouldn’t hesitate to run to Aenar’s arms. Maybe the Prince was a little grumpy and he was…unique, to say the least, but at least he was respectful and definitely more pleasant than Jason Lannister. 

Aenar cleared his throat again. In fact, he cleared his throat so well that he ended up having to cough. 

“Your Grace, are you unwell?” Jason Lannister turned to Aenar and asked, his voice having a slight mocking tone to it. 

“No, no, Lord Jason. I assure you, I am alright.” Aenar gave the Lannister lord a small, forced smile before finally turning to Alicent, completely ignoring the man standing beside him. “Lady Alicent. Would you honor me with a dance?” 

Alicent’s eyes widened in surprise. But…didn’t the Prince say that he disliked dancing? That he would only dance with a woman if he was really interested in her? “I-” She tried to find the right words, but she was too stunned. Did this mean that he had some interest in her? Or was he just trying to help her escape from the grasps of Jason Lannister? Either way, Aenar was her way out. “Yes!” Alicent said with more enthusiasm than she intended and she quickly regained her composure, giving the Prince a proper answer. “Of course, my Prince. I would be honored to dance with you.” 

With a smile, Aenar extended a strong hand for her and Alicent gladly took it, leaving Jason Lannister all by himself. Prince Aenar led her to the dance floor and Alicent couldn’t help but once again feel surprised by the tenderness of his touch. As they came to a stop and turned toward each other, Alicent noticed how tall and strong Aenar was for the first time. A man like him could protect her from any harm. The thought was giving her butterflies in the stomach.

Aenar gulped as he put one hand on Alicent’s waist and held hers with the other. Gods, he wasn’t exactly the most graceful dancer. He was tense and nervous, and he did take dance lessons when he was younger, but he found it difficult to feel at ease and truly enjoy himself. 

He looked down and saw that Alicent was smiling at him. Strangely, it made him feel a little less tense. The song began and so did their dance. Aenar was clumsy at first, while Alicent moved swiftly and lightly, each of her movements confirming that she was, indeed, a true lady. He tried to match her elegance and, to his surprise, quickly got the hang of it. He silently thanked the Seven for making him a fast learner. 

However, the silence between them was slightly unpleasant and Aenar never liked awkward silences, so he began to talk. “I apologize, my Lady. I couldn’t allow Lord Lannister to bore you with…well, himself. The man can be quite egoistical.” 

Alicent smiled at his comment, finding it quite amusing. If there was one thing certain about life, it was that Jason Lannister bragged about anything and everything regarding himself. “He certainly is. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to listen to a story about another one of his grand purchases.”

“Pay him no mind. He is not worthy of your attention.” Oh? But perhaps the Prince was?

Her cheeks flushed and she suddenly felt herself becoming a little nervous too upon noticing how close they were to each other. Prince Aenar’s body radiated warmth and strength and even Alicent couldn’t stay immune to it. She wondered how many of the other ladies were watching them, envious of her current position. “Thank you for coming to my rescue, Your Grace. You really didn’t have to do it, I know you don’t like to dance.” She felt grateful for what he had done for her and she felt touched by the gesture. 

“Well, you were in trouble. I would be a terrible knight if I ignored a lady in distress.” 

“Was I? Lord Jason and I were just talking. I would hardly call that trouble or distress.” 

“You mean, he was talking and you were listening and smiling along.” His comment made both of them laugh and Aenar felt his breath get caught in his throat. It was as if he listened to the sound of all seven heavens at once. “Your laugh…and your smile...” 

She looked at him, with that same, beautiful smile. Aenar had never seen such light, such magic in his life. “What of them, Your Grace?”

He instantly regretted it. He wanted to say something nice, to compliment her, to make her feel good, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to say it. “Nothing.” As Aenar spoke, the song and the dance came to an end. He could see the slight disappointment in Alicent’s eyes. He knew that he had made some awkward mistakes tonight and he didn’t know why, but he wanted to make up for them. “My Lady.” His cheeks were already flushed and he found it difficult to maintain eye contact with Alicent, partly because he was anxious, but mainly because he felt captivated by her. 

“Yes, my Prince?” My Prince . Now that he thought of it, Aenar quite liked hearing it from her lips. 

“I just wanted you to know that,” He paused for a moment, looked away and then back to Alicent. “I did see that you were uncomfortable in Lord Lannister’s presence, for which I cannot blame you, but…I-I wanted to dance with you.” 

“Oh,” Alicent made a small sound. It was…surprising, to say the least. While Alicent knew she was fortunate enough to come from a good family, she didn’t feel like she was worthy enough of the attention of a prince. “I…Thank you. I am flattered, Your Grace.” 

“Perhaps, you would honor me with another dance?” He offered his hand to her again, his smile warm and charming. “I promise I won’t step on your toes.”

She laughed and reached for his hand once more. “I would like that very much.” 

[grennseyelashes]

COMPLAINING ONCE AGAIN. look away if you are not a complaining once again fan.

i get that it's a series that you gotta chew over a bit to pick up on some of the nuance of the stories, but if i see another person gushing about what a cutie sweetie pie Jaime is for ordering Ilyn to kill one (1) of Pia's rapists then i might scream. he also brings all of the rest of them into his service without qualm and, after she's found a modicum of distance from them (by befriending and riding in the midst of Jaime's young squires instead) he then decides she's just being too sexy, insisting on having a body underneath her completely normal clothing, and so without consulting her at all just "gives" her to one of them to A) take his own mind off it all, B) as a reward for his squire, and C) to symbolically cuckold Lancel in his own bed as revenge. And all of these things are written very carefully! There is imho absolutely NO way that grrm didn't put all that in there to demonstrate that Jaime publicly "saving" Pia from one (1!) of her rapists was more about his own quest to feel like a hero as he'd hoped to as a child, before he was sent away from the Harrenhal* tourney and decided it was all a con, rather than out of genuine compassion, or him actually divesting whatsoever from his exceptionally vitriolic misogyny. Grrm even goes out of his way to let us know that this aspect of Jaime bullshitting himself does link back to his story with Brienne as well too! We later learn that some of the other Mountain's men who Jaime brought into his service, i.e. other rapists of Pia, later end up at Maidenpool because Jaime ordered them to go there without a care for what happened after that, and at least one of them was executed for rape by Randall Tarly, a man (and situation) that features very prominently in Brienne's own storyline. He coulda had them end up anywhere, or just simply never mention them again. But he doesnt! He links them up with Brienne's story.

It is so frustrating and SUCH a shame that this stuff apparently barely registers to most people (?) because the enormous divergence between what Jaime thinks he's doing and what he's actually doing are what make him such a great character. He genuinely does have semi-decent intentions, in a way (or at least somewhat improved ones), and he's given HUGE opportunity in the story to change his life and be a better man, he could not possibly be in a better position to get his shit together, and we watch him fuck it up over and over again because his little pseudo-medieval misogynist brain is too drenched in the ideology and structures of his society that he has willingly eaten up his entire life, and due to his position within it (yes, even sans hand!) too surrounded by "easy" answers (that he always takes) to ever actually escape his path. It's really good tragedy! And it's also, genuinely, not that diffiult to grasp? So... what the hell, man. Is the power of show-only Braime really that strong that the central differences in the actual books just dont exist, somehow? Cos if so, well, that sucks.

*Harrenhal <- Pia's home btw. and she was actually there for that tourney that Jaime's so sore about missing (and is so intriguing for other plot reasons!), but he's never asked her about it even once lol, even though she told him outright. Which makes sense seeing as, according to him, she's prettier with her mouth closed**

** What an interesting thing to have Jaime think, right after we're told the Mountain smashed her teeth in for "talking when he wanted quiet". Almost as if it were some kind of... intentional... parallel........... 🤯

[roxyteal]

🦈DENIED PROPAGANDA🦈

Still thinking about that tourney result...

Dave had sincerely believed that this would've been more challenging. A blue creature from... Who knows where, or whatever he was, appeared at the very least physically strong. Dave wasn't weak, exactly, but exercising caution toward any of his opponents was key here.

But, to his surprise, it was like nothing hurt him. The one known as Denied was clearly giving his all, and yet... Nothing. Not even a scratch. It was... Strange, to say the least.

And as of right now, the blue man was lying on the ground, probably one hit away from total defeat. Dave didn't even do much to the guy. Had he overestimated his foe?

Feeling something looming above, he looked. And saw... Oh dear lord.

The votes. It clicked for Dave suddenly. Those meant everything; power and skill increases, damage they may sustain, and who was fated to win to begin with.

It explained everything, but the disdain Dave began to feel was palpable.

Dave heard Denied manage to roll onto his back, staring up at it as well. "Ow- fuck, ow... Ugh." He paused. "Oh. Not even a single person's rooting for me, huh..."

The sadness in his voice wrought emotional pain, which was far more effective than anything physical the blue man tried earlier. Dave couldn't do this anymore, and dismissed his weapon. Besides, there was no way his opponent was going to get up anytime soon. All he could muster for a reply was, "Yeah... Seems like it."

"When I went into this, I thought I'd- Shit, ow, oh my God," Denied tried to say, cutting off from the pain he was in, showing in his strained tone, "I thought I'd do better than this. You know? Probably not win, but... At least... Do something. But... Nobody wants that."

Dave had to turn away, in order to keep himself in check, to blink away tears that began to form. He didn't even know him, never met him until just recently, but... God. It was like being forgotten by the world. Completely unfair.

"No one should be that popular." He mused, unsure if Denied heard him.

Hold on. What were the rules again? As if reading his mind, an info box appeared in front of him, stating everything there was to know.

It doesn't mention that contestants can't vote.

Dave glanced back, finding Denied had essentially curled into a ball, no doubt struggling the entire time. Dave... Really wished he'd pulled his punches, what little he'd done anyway. But, realizing that he wasn't being watched, Dave faced forward again, selecting his phone, and found the polls.

He made sure to log off before finally turning back around. He put on an excited voice as he approached, arm extended to show him. "Wait, look! Someone voted for you! Just now! See?"

"WHAT THE FUCK REALLY?!" As if it'd somehow rejuvenated him, Denied yelled, rushing forward faster than Dave could realize it. This resulted in Dave getting clocked by the blue man's arm, knocking him right off his wheelchair, meters away. He'd also dropped his phone in the process.

He lay there, dazed, trying to put together what just happened.

"Oh, oops! You good?!" He heard the other ask, making it apparent that this was an accident. But even then, Dave had also lowered his guard, believing that there was no need for it.

Well... The votes did have to reflect on the outcome. Perhaps Dave should've braced himself.

"Y... Yeah, I'm fine," At last, he replied, sitting up. Oh, it wasn't going to be easy to get back. Or at least, that was what he thought, until he saw Denied carrying his dropped phone, and pushing his wheelchair over to him. "Ah, thank you."

"Of course!" Then, he flopped back down to the ground, as if whatever amount of reserves he had left had run dry. He was groaning, but his mood had improved. "Wow... At least one person out there likes me."

Once in his wheelchair again, Dave gave him a small smile. "Yeah. It just... Took them a while to find you, that's all."

---

This isn't like, canon or anything. I don't know who actually voted for Denied, but I thought it'd be sweet if it went like this.

Also, I don't know if my (and others') propaganda had much effect in the overall state of things now, but he's come so far, look!!!

I am so proud of him. :')

(Feel free to vote here if you haven't yet!!)

[ur-frndly-neighborhood-memer1]

Alicent Hightower: Villain or Victim?

(part 1)

While we're all waiting for season 2, I thought an essay about Alicent Hightower would be nice to understand her character and her motives better. Is she really a villain or a victim? Let's analyze!

Before I start analyzing, I wanna start with asking a question: what is character development?

If we go by the definition, it's "In literature, character development is the craft of giving a character a personality, depth, and motivations that propel them through a story. Character development is also defined as how a character evolves throughout the course of a story."

The point of a character development isn't about making the character a better person. It can be though; such as what we've seen with Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and of course with Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire... These are the characters who eventually became better people and actually put an effort to redeem themselves.

Yet, there are also characters who started off bad but only became worse in the process instead of being good. Zuko's sister Azula, or Jaime's sister Cersei are good examples for this. They didn't get any better as the series continued. Just the opposite, they were bad and they only became worse. Which is a good thing, at least for me, because I don't think all villains should be redeemed. They're not any better than their irredeemably megalomaniac and tyrannical fathers after all. And speaking of the fathers, Ozai and Tywin are also good examples for this character archetype.

However, there's another character archetype... Not only the characters who became good from bad, or went from bad to worse, but also characters who were good but eventually ended up being bad... Yes, I'm talking about Alicent Hightower.

I know many people in fandom, especially Black supporters collectively hate Alicent. And I understand this hatred. After all, she made her son usurp Rhaenyra's throne even though she was the King's true heir... And yes, Alicent is definitely a villain in the book. She comes across as a pretty Cersei-ish bad guy. Vain, cold, self-centered, manipulative, hostile... It's easy to imagine her like Cersei Lannister. Which is why many fans often compare her to Cersei.

However, Alicent in the show is a very different song. The showrunners clearly intended to make her more sympathetic and relatable to the audience. Because Alicent doesn't start off villainous. Just the opposite; we see a courteous, understanding but also overly anxious and shy teenage girl. She literally picks her fingernails and make them bleed whenever she's uneasy or stressed. Do I even need to explain how sad this is? She was tearing apart her fingernails during the tourney, and Rhaenyra had to stop her friend from hurting herself... And that's just sad.

(Couldn't find the exact image, but them holding hands is still cute)

When the series starts, we don't see an ambitious Alicent who is actively scheming to become the Queen. In fact, she didn't have any personal ambitions of her own but was only used by her father Otto as a pawn.

Because even if some people disagrees with me, I never believed Alicent was trying to seduce the King in the first place. We've seen that she was only doing what her father was telling her to do. And at this point, she had no power to object to him, she wasn't Queen at this point. But yes, Alicent was indeed being close and "friendly" towards Viserys. However, I wouldn't say she was trying to manipulate him at all. I think she was being empathetic. Because she also lost her mother at such a young age, and she was alone with no one there to comfort her and allow her too feel the agony. As she said, everyone told her to move on. So, Alicent knows better now. She knows this is not how you should treat people who just lost someone they loved. And she knows Viserys is feeling lonely. And she genuinely wants to make him feel better. Not because she really wants to seduce him though. She is trying to help him, because she is an empathetic person, just like when she comforted and helped Rhaenyra.

So far, Alicent isn't a power-hungry b!tch who is plotting to steal the throne. But just a teenage girl who has no choice but obey her father's commands. Yes, she actually ended up marrying Viserys, much to Rhaenyra's shock and disappointment. And she technically betrayed her best friend. But again, I wouldn't say it's Alicent that we should blame here. It was Viserys who didn't tell his daughter about his marriage plan. He should have informed Rhaenyra about the whole thing, and he should have done it in privacy, not announcing it in front of a public.

Even Tywin Lannister was informing his children about his marriage plans before announcing it. Because things need to go accordingly. That's how you set up political marriages. Yes, Cersei and Tyrion hated it, but they weren't taken by surprise at least.

But Viserys really took Rhaenyra by surprise there in front of the whole council, which wasn't professional at all.

But this is where most of the fandom started to hate Alicent even more. Because they say Alicent was so blind with her ambitions that she didn't hesitate to betray her best friend. But that's not even true. Yes, Alicent shouldn't have been visiting Viserys, and even if she was, she should have told Rhaenyra about this marriage. But as I said, she didn't have much choices due to her father's orders and King's wishes. If you want to blame anyone, then blame Otto for using his daughter like a sex object instead of treating her like a human-being. And let's not forget, it was totally Otto who literally said "Go and sleep with your bff's dad after he lost his wife. Oh, and make sure you wear your dead mom's dress too!" So yeah, we all know who is actually the guilty one here...

But let's not forget, even after marrying Viserys and getting pregnant with Aegon, Alicent still made attempts to keep her friendship with Rhaenyra. She genuinely cared about Rhaenyra and valued their friendship. So, she isn't a heartless b!tch that some people in fandom are trying to make her.

And even after Aegon's birth, Alicent still had no personal intention to make him the King. Let's take a look at her interaction with Otto about this topic:

Instead of directly saying she wants her son to be King, Alicent replies that "What mother wouldn't?" Again, it's not her personal wish. But in that political system, mothers/fathers would want their sons to be Kings. Remember when Catelyn wanted Sansa to be Queen? Or how proud she was when Northerns followed Robb as their leader? Or how eager Cersei was to crown Joffrey? Or Mace Tyrell repeatedly trying to set up marriages for Margaery to make her the Queen? Anyone with political ambitions would want to make their child a King/Queen.

But Alicent had no such interest. Because she really loved Rhaenyra and was supporting her right. Also, she saw the heavy burden of being a King. She is living with Viserys, she sees all its conflicts and struggles, she sees how the pressure of the throne slowly destroys him. She wouldn't want her own child to go through what her husband was. So, the answer of this "What mother wouldn't?" question should be no mother who knows what it's like. But then, why does she want it for Rhaenyra? Mainly because she wants to keep her own son away from bearing this burden. And also because she really thinks Rhaenyra is strong enough to deal with it. As she told Otto, Rhaenyra would be a good Queen.

________________________

I don't want to make this post any longer. So I will continue writing in part 2. If you agree or disagree with me, let me know it!

[pqrachel]

SSBM Rank

OMG!, I just realized that the 2023 SSBM Rank have been releasing all week and I haven't been keeping up until now.

But there's still 2 days and 20 players left to rank, so I wanted to have some fun and make my own predictions for who's going where in the top 20.

My list is here, and the long-winded rambling will be below the cut...

Cody Schwab

Zain ---

Jmook

Plup

aMSa

Mang0 - That's my GOAT!!

moky

HBox

KoDoRiN

Aklo ---

lloD

Zuppy

S2J

Polish

woo Magi

Salt

Joshy

Wizzrobe

Trif

Morsecode762 (idk man I guess 20th)

---

Not Getting Ranked: Big Leff, 2saint, Pipsqueak

I do agree that Cody and Zain were clearly top 2, and I think they will honor the show-match thing and let Cody have his #1 over Zain. Even without it, I think Cody would have won since he has more supermajor wins, and even though he has one less major win, Cody has a bunch of non-major wins as well, and personally I think that should count for something when it's so close between the two.

Jmook is the only other person to get a super major win, so I think he's easily a good pick for #3.

But after that it got a bit harder to choose. I found a list of the 124 eligible players and of the ones not listed in 21-100 that I felt had a shot for top 20. Leffen, 2saint, and Pipsqueak seemed like the 3 that wouldn't make eligibility requirements due to low attendance.

From there I looked mainly at tourney placings with a large bias towards supermajors. (Using liquipedia's list of Genesis 9, Battle of BC 5, GOML 2023, & The Big House 11 as what defines a supermajor.)

I used head-to-head data only when two people were really close in my opinion. (Because otherwise it's like a whole thing with 20 players so that's 190 head-to-heads to research and consider. And it just gets super complicated, so no thanks.) I did use any personally noteworthy head-to-heads, anything I could remember of the top of my head just from watching being a long-time, that sort of thing.

I also had a little bit of bias towards people who attended more, not just like personal bias because I've seen them more but I actually put them higher since I think going to more tourneys should matter for rankings, but what do I know.

I also used the summer rankings and how well the players did in the last half of the year to adjust from there to kind of adjust my biases a bit close to what the SSBM rank people would probably do.

Overall I think my top 10 and 11-20 split is pretty solid, I would be genuinely surprised if that wasn't where the line got drawn. At least assuming I got the 20 ranked players correct and no one with low attendance like Wizzy or Trif made it into top 10 somehow.

15-17 are super close imo, same with my 9-10.

And obviously I have my personal favorites: Mang0, moky, Magi, Salt, & Joshman from the top 20. (and Leffen too but I don't think he'll be ranked.)

moky might end up beating Mang0 like he did in the summer rankings, but my personal bias and the fact that Mang0 hasn't lost a set to moky made me put Mang0 in 6th over moky.

But yeah I definitely wasted a whole night in front of a spreadsheet, having too much fun doing autistic sports-fan things. Melee's so sick dude!

[stillness138]

@do-androids-dream-ao3acc tagged me in a 5 comfort characters thing (thank!) so i'm doing this "try not to post 5 pictures of geralt of rivia" excercise

do ocs count? because honestly most of the time the feelgood for me comes from thinking about ocs. and i haven't delved deep enough into many properties to really get a diverse set of characters for this

so here's my top 5 witcher babygirls (gender neutral) in no particular order and excluding Gerry? predictable as all hell

Ciaran aep Easnillen, surprising absolutely nobody. But the cope i live on where he's perfectly fine and chilling in Vergen is just 'mmm, good for my lil guy'

Madoc, who is very close to becoming an oc (doesn't even have a canon appearance), though i stick to the journey story. It's tragic but it won't leave my brain. I want to ContentTM about him at some point down the road.

Bincy Blumerholdt, whose gwent card i used in my syndicate deck a long time ago and got great results with despite it not being a meta choice at all. And she's super cool.

Isbel of Hagge, i suppose of the entire tb cast, she's the closest to a comfort character for me. I love her vibe, the fact she shows her age, and i find the concept of a pacifist in a war time very interesting. I based a couple ocs on her.

And of course, my babygirl in chief, Rainfarn of Attre. Who is kinda becoming an oc as well, though at least there's more official content to work with. CDPR had to focus on other stuff in B&W, i get it, but they reduced my poor guy into "snorts fisstech randomly on the tourney grounds for everyone to see" which...i didn't like. I swear one day i will find the words and will to finish that fucking Gregoire fanfic.

i tag @gaiusmarcellusnerva and @thirstyforred, gimme your robots mgs eternal fire extravaganza