#yes i put dany and drogon here

[daenysthedreamer101]

Mother's Embrace

Mothers of ASOIAF being loving toward their children

Grief/Fury/Protect/Fathers

[reginarubie]

Hi! Reverse Firesteel reader here!

Wow, finally Daenerys view has come!

It seems both Tyrion and Daenerys quite confident that her dragons can take on Vhagar. I mean, yeah it's 2:1. BUT THIS IS FREAKING VHAGAR.

A smaller dragon and a meaner rider — her own ancestor — had killed Aemond Targaryen and Vhagar already once. She would do it another time if he turned out to be real and against to her and she would ensure this time it stuck.

HELLO, even Caraxes was much bigger than any of Dany’s dragons. Not to mention that he was veteran of many battles as much as Vhagar.

Is it even possible on their size? How big are Drogon and Rhaegal right now?

And Daenerys is a descendant of Rhaenyra AND Daemon, so if she had learned her family's history, she can imagine how much Aemond would hate his half-sister and uncle. Is it truly wonder to her he didn't ask her hand?

I can't wait for Daenerys to finally meet Aemond.

Thank you for another fantastic chapter! You are my one of the best hotd fic writer!

Hi @ahristata

You raise fine arguments which we can make as omniscent, external readers/viewers.

Let's try to dissect it all.

What you say about Aemond is 100% right and whilst I believe Caraxes was smaller than Vhagar, he was bigger than Drogon but has Daenerys ever seen another dragon save her own?

Viserys was used to see the dragon's skulls in the throne hall, so if he lived to see Daenerys' dragons he would know how little they actually are if confronted with older dragons, but Daenerys doesn't have that term of paragon.

She might know Vhagar was very big, but she might be overestimating how big Drogon an Rhaegal actually are, she might think that two of them at that size — and growing bigger with each year as she said — could say their own against Vhagar who is bigger, but also older and perhaps slower.

It stands to reason, especially with how powerful the dragons have been physically and psycologically for her, that she would think to easily stand a good chance, especially as, to her knowledge she is the only Unburnt Targaryen in history. As s8 Tyrion put it, she walked into a fire and walked out alive and with three dragons she might also believe that the Iron throne isn't only her right but her destiny, as also displayed in her dragon dreams.

Plus, Daenerys is very young and inexperienced in the politics of the west; in the east her brute strength was good enough to make her the victor (and still she had trouble in Meereen where her rule the most faced resistance; and Yunkai' government she created imploded in the matter of months) and the Dothraki way good enough to get her what she wanted.

She has no recollection of how the Realm actually works, with its lords and feudal system beyond a theoretical knowledge. One good example is the mere fact that whilst she accepts (to which degree it remains to be seen) that her father was a madman she still believes that Viserys ought to have been crowned king and bases her right on Aerys' time as king.

We always say she's hypocrital and she is, but I don't think she is aware of how much of an hypocrit she is. Yes, her father was a madman, but he was still the king.

Yes, Viserys was unfit to rule, but he was still the rightful king.

She thinks she's better than both — and she is — but she also keep basing her birthright on them. Why? Because she doesn't understand that it was the lords who offered Robert the crown after he won the Rebellion; she doesn't accept that. She doesn't respect their choice to determinate themselves because she thinks like an autocrat; not like a queen who actually needs her lords/ladies allegiance to rightfully esercise her “birthright”. She believes to be an illuminated queen because she tries to play nice with opposition, though she really does not, and insetad just exercises her power thinking of all lords and ladies (nobles in the east) to be below them and that she is has been merciful to spare them, as if she doesn't understand that you cannot rule only over those who venerate you. The moment some of the nobles betray her, she punishes all of them.

All of this to say; yes theorically Daenerys knows Vhagar is bigger and battletested, but she also believes in her right and in her dreams and doesn't really understand — because she doesn't have the experience — what that entails, not only about dragonbattle but about the several reasons why Aemond could pose a better candidate and actually has a better chance to rule than her.

So, that's why Daenerys is so confident.

Now Tyrion... Tyrion is a smart man but he also famously can be incapabale of seeing beyond his point of view (which is why he keeps asking himself “where do whores go” pertaining Tysha even after Jaime came clean about it). So yes, he knows how big Vhagar is, he knows his history, but he also knows that Aemond and the Starks had yet to deploy the dragon so it stands to reason that the Stark' honor might keep a tight rein on the dragon.

Daenerys in the East to his knowledge has three dragons (perhaps two, but it's still more than one) and she has used them with little to none prompting, and he believes he might manipulate her better than he could outsmart Aemond and the Starks. Also, Tyrion too, might have read about dragonbattle but has never seen one, he cannot know the difference a saddle might make, or that Daenerys didn't educate herself on that matter.

Yes, Aemond hated Rhaenyra and Daemon, but Dany is not them — just like she's not her father, she might ask forgiveness for their sins but she's not guilty of them and should not be treated as such in her mind — and she is a fullblooded, trueborn Targaryen. In her mind it makes sense, she has two dragons and he one. In her mind the smart thing would be to join their forces.

Plus, never forget, Daenerys thought there might be out there in The world two men who would ride her dragons and whom she could trust — and whilst that's very optimistic — it also displays how she sees herself as the special woman between women, the other riders have to be men, because this way she can be Aegon the Conqueror come again, instead if there was even one woman she'd end up being the side-dish and not the main-course, the consort and not the regnant.

Seeing all of this, coupled with Viserion' death, and the news that this Aemond hasn't even reached out to her — like she was petulant about the nobles in Qart not poisoning her because she was not considered a powerful guest — but chose to marry instead this little girl with no dragon is unthinkable to her. It offende her.

It's gonna be fire when they meet, that's for sure!

Thank you for the lovely message, I hope you have an amazing day/night!

~G.

[attonitos-gloria]

If the main tension in the last seasons of Game of Thrones was between Jaime and Dany, what would that look like? How would it have changed things?

friend, thank you for this ask. This is going to be very long heheh sorry in advance. writing Jaime's arc is the most satisfying part of IKTE for me so I'm very happy for this, thank you truly.

Jaime is a character traumatized by fire. Not the only one - but he is prominently traumatized by it, and indeed his entire reputation was built around the fact he has broken sacred vows because of a Targaryen king who used fire as a tool of intimidation and social controlling. More than any other character in the show, Jaime knows the political implications of fire as a weapon. And if the daughter of said king comes back from the ashes of House Targaryen to conquer Westeros and re-establish her father's dynasty... using fire-breathing monsters as her main weapon... do you get it 😭

(that scene of Jaime trying to get Drogon killed is so good - the way the camera focused on his face, on the fire and ashes and smoke and the people burning alive around him ! he was reliving the Throne Room he was a knight trying to kill the dragon he was trying to make it right and tyrion was THERE on the enemy's side but watching him ;-; they were so close of getting it right WHY NOT LEAN INTO THAT !! It was delicious!!)

You can argue that Jaime is barely aware of this, since, true to his Lannister name and blood and inheritance, he spends his life in denial about this trauma. I would agree with this statement, which is why I think putting Jaime between Dany and Cersei as political choices is more interesting than putting Jaime between Cersei and Brienne as love interests in the most bland way possible.

If Jaime is going to leave Cersei at some point, why not earlier, at the end of season 6 when Cersei pulled an Aerys against the Tyrells?? Their relationship already is, in a way, a coping mechanism against the institutional violence of knighthood; he is the knight and she is the queen, everything is justified because of that. Their idealized versions of each other only exist in their heads anyway. Imagine if the Sept of Baelor is the last straw in a relationship that has been in crumbles for a while now. All their children dead and Cersei the very embodiment of Aerys. (Forget the pregnancy plot. It was stupid.)

And then there are so many possibilities from then on when Daenerys arrives in Westeros. The show sets her up to be rejected. I can follow that. I truly cannot conceive, in show canon, a happy ending for Dany - and by happy ending I mean everyone loving her and welcoming her as their Queen. I think her dragons are an ethical problem that needs to be addressed; the show and books themselves already pointed in that direction. The Dance of the Dragons is a cautionary tale about this, the entire story of House Targaryen is about this. I do love Dany and I believe she is a good person at heart, but also. Consider. She has the canon equivalent of nuclear weapons. The dragons are useful to kill the true enemy (the Others) and you can argue that there is an ethical justification to use them to end slavery, but then what. Then what comes next. When the enemy is defeated and this woman is the only person in the world with weapons of massive destruction. What do you do with the weapons after the War is over - I cannot be the only person who thinks this is an issue like 😭 Jaime has reasons to be wary more than anyone - yes, even more than Sansa; Sansa has reasons to be concerned and to worry about the North, but Daenerys was coming with aid in the War, and I don't see any reason why Sansa didn't even >>try<< to be mildly diplomatic, except that the writers wanted the conflict to rise. I don't know; I'm grumpy about this, and it is very hard to make sense of Sansa's actions in season 8 for me, but I will stop myself right here because this isn't about her. This is about Jaime !!!

I feel like a lot of what we call Jaime's redemption relies on his romantic feelings for Brienne; even in the show, he leaves Cersei and goes North to fight for the living because it is the ~right thing to do~, but the subtext kind of says that he went for Brienne. And it's not that I don't ship them: I do! But falling in love with Brienne is not a redemption arc, doing things because Brienne would approve is not a redemption arc. It has been said before, by people smarter than me, but Jaime is not in a redemption story; he is in an identity crisis story. I feel like the show tried to give him an redemption arc only to pull the rug at the end going like "nope, sorry, people don't change" - and since said redemption relied completely on his romantic feelings for Brienne, it wasn't enough to knight her; he had to sleep with her. Since the point being made was that people don't change, that meant necessarily ending his affair with Brienne and cruelly breaking her heart so she would let him go back to Cersei. Because what else is there to say about Jaime Lannister other than which woman he chooses to fuck by the end of the story?

Do you get what I'm saying? Like, I know he is pretty. But the choice of framing Jaime's story as primarily a love story between two women, the good one and the bad one, is wild to me. Really? That is the most relevant thing about this man?

Did he change? Did he find a solution to the problem of knighthood? That doesn't mean loving Brienne (he did say "I have never slept with a knight before" to her, after all. The man literally wanted to fuck knighthood! in every meaning, layer, and way! okay Jaime). That means *becoming* what Brienne already is - a person who is willing not only to kill, but in fact, to die defending the vulnerable and the innocent. And I felt like the show shaped this like "will Jaime choose Brienne or Cersei?" And everything else was secondary to that, when I think the romance could really stay in the background and the knighthood crisis should come into focus on main stage. And because Dany and Cersei are meant to be each other's foils, both in their similarities and differences, I do like the idea of Jaime being stuck between these two Queens who are, each in their own way, Aerys, who made him who he is (a Kingslayer).

SO. There are many ways this could go about:

Maybe Dany demands Jaime to kill Cersei in exchange for royal pardon; this man, after all, killed her father in an act of betrayal. She forgave him way too easily in the show. All that tension! For nothing!!!! Do we want a grim ending? No problem. Maybe he does kill Cersei and then kills himself (favorite book ending, for me). Maybe he can't handle being confronted with the reality that his life is built on an empty lie. Maybe he looks at Cersei and sees wildfire and madness and Aerys, and there is no escape, and he does not know how to live with himself with or without this woman. This has always been the cost of knighthood: blood. It has been this way since Arthur Dayne knighted him. And he cannot stand the idea of serving the daughter of Aerys for the rest of his life; he would literally rather die. Maybe love can't save the day this time.

Or: maybe Jaime vows to kill Cersei and publicly and officially bends the knee to Dany, only to break his vows again and betray her, killing Dany instead, before she can set King’s Landing on fire. Or even better: after. After he sees her as Aerys' extension. Maybe Jaime is in a time loop, doomed to repeat this, doomed to kill the dragon. Do we want grim endings for everyone? No problem: this time, he actually suffers the consequences of high treason - he is sent to the Wall, he takes the Black; or he is exiled. You can get away with killing your Monarch once, but not twice. For once, he is not rewarded for an act of brutal violence and betrayal. No cathartic death for him: he only needs to live with the consciousness that he saved the world twice, but he had to sacrifice his soul twice to do it. And no one sings his praise. He's still the Kingslayer.

Are we tired of grim endings? We don't want Jaime to be the Kingslayer? Also, no problem. Because the memory of the War that traumatized him, the trigger for it, is embodied alive in the person of Jon Snow. The boy Jaime's heroes and brothers-in-arms died trying to protect. Maybe Jaime is tired of being torn between two Mad Queens and he decides to give his life to put Jon, Rhaegar's son, on the Iron Throne. He is not the Kingslayer anymore. Fuck that. He is the Kingmaker. Kind of like Criston Cole, but cool and less catholic. He could even be Hand of the King to Jon.

Or maybe it bothers you, as it bothers me, the fact that Jaime actually pushed a child out of a window, and that event is treated like a small detail in his story once he gets North. It was not a thing Cersei commanded him to do. Cersei did not take his hand and forced it to do it. Jaime tried to kill a boy. He permanently damaged Bran's body. Any attempt at redemption that does not address this is flawed. Maybe the only way to redeem Jaime is to make him Bran's ally because Bran is one of Dany's strongest narrative foils, right there with Cersei and Tyrion: some characters have magical attributes, things they are able to do; some characters have magical things happening to them; but Bran and Dany *are* magical in themselves. They carry the power along with them. And, by the end of the show, Bran is KING. He is one of the most powerful creatures alive - he can travel in time AND control people's and animals' minds/bodies - and he apparently has been PLANNING the whole thing (why do you think I came all this way, etc) all along. Does that even make sense? What is it about Bran that allows him to be powerful and in charge by the end of the story, to the point of allowing the destruction of a city in order to get what he wants, while Dany has to be sacrificed and is deemed too power-hungry? Why is Dany's inability to have children a problem, and Bran's assumed inability to sire children presented as a solution? And more importantly- what does Bran WANT? (To hell with that ableist "Bran has no feelings or desires and can't be tempted" bullshit). And given all that: if Bran and Dany are foils and parallels, what if Bran gets things done with Jaime's help? (Not necessarily as heroes). Because he kind of owes Bran. He is the man who put Bran on that wheel-chair and changed the course of Bran's entire life. And Lannisters pay their debts, or so we are told. Maybe we could even try to actually say something relevant about magic as a weapon and the people in power wielding it.

I feel like you could still pull something out of the fact that 1) Jaime's alleged last chance of honor (Sansa) is already antagonizing Dany and 2) His little brother sided with Dany after killing their father, and he actually forgave and forgot about that too easily in the show too. There is a lot of implied drama and nuance because so many relationships in Jaime's life are bridges to Dany. I just wanted to see it explored to the last of its potential.

Anyway. I'm rambling at this point. but the gist of it is that if Dany needs an antagonist in Westeros, a character to embody her rejection, Jaime is a better candidate than Sansa, imo. This man needed to be used in a political plot as a relevant, game-changing player at the end of the show. Some of those ideas I don't even like lol all they have in common is that they force Jaime to own his bullshit and stand up to something and put his skin in the game instead of running between Brienne and Cersei through 8 seasons, and I say this as someone who appreciates both Jaime/Cersei and Jaime/Brienne from a shipping perspective.

[barbarab1707-blog]

About Dany the Dragon, chains, and how Jon sealed his fate at the Dragonpit meeting

Daenerys is a dragon. I think no one can argue with that. She calls herself the Mother of Dragons, people call her the Dragon Queen. 

She also sees herself as a dragon, as per this:

And this:

Olenna even tells her: “You’re a dragon, be a dragon” which is also the “counsel” Missandei gives her before her death, “Dracarys” (=be a dragon).

And at the end the showrunners show us this:

Dany has finally completely embraced her inner dragon.

How does this tie in with the Dragonpit meeting? Well, this scene is full of foreshadowing of what is bound to happen in season 08, especially regarding Dany the Dragon and Jon’s fate.

Before the dragonpit meeting, we have this piece of dialogue: “Dragons don’t understand the difference between what’s theirs and what isn’t. Land, livestock, children. Letting them roam free around the city was a problem.”

So, dragons don’t make the distinction between what’s theirs and what isn’t. Dany being a dragon, she is the same. 

Which is shown by this (land):

Dany not making the difference between which lands belong to her or not, could be further illustrated when Dany tells Jon this in s08: “what happens when they demand you press your claim and take what’s MINE.” She considers the 7 Kingdoms to be hers, when they are, by right, Jon’s.

This (livestock):

And this (children):

The second part of the sentence about letting dragons roam free is more important though. The Dragonpit was built in order to contain the dragons and control the damage they could do. 

In Dany’s case, what prevents her doing too great a damage, what controls her inner dragon and prevents it to “roam free” are her counsellors. They are her Dragonpit if one could say. Jorah, Barristan, Tyrion, all helped at one point or another to stop her unleashing her inner dragon, which manifests as anger. They also all failed at one point or another.

From the beginning of season 04, Dany herself started slowly slowly fearing her inner dragon, her own power and anger, which coincided with the moment where she started fearing her children’s power and wildness. This culminated with her locking and chaining Rhaegal and Viseryon in s04e10 and thus, trying to repress her nature.

However, trying to repress her nature didn’t seem to work all that well for her.

Besides, while his brothers were in chains, Drogon was still “roaming free”, which could mean that, as much as Dany tried to repress her impulsive and prone to anger nature, she still couldn’t fight it completely. Something that is confirmed when she feeds Meereenese nobles to the still chained Rhaegal and Viseryon mid-season 05, after Barristan’s death which angered her. 

Moreover, at that point of time, she doesn’t have anyone to keep her in check anymore, as Jorah is in exile, and Barristan is dead. Instead, she has Daario and Missandei encouraging her to embrace her inner dragon. Dany starts reconciling with it when she escapes the fighting pits on Drogon’s back. She is free again to be who she is. She embraces again her inner dragon when she burns the khals and takes over the khalasar (something that isn’t hers to begin with but feels entitled to have).

She wants to go full on dragon when she makes that speech to Tyrion when she returns to Meereen:”I will crucify the masters, I will set their fleets afire, kill every last one of their soldiers and return their cities to the dirt. That, is my plan.” Tyrion, who has taken Jorah’s and Barristan’s vacant positions, manages however to temper her first impulse. 

But, it’s interesting to note that he was the one to set Rhaegal and Viseryon free from their chains which was 2 episodes prior to her unleashing her anger on the khals.

Tyrion freeing them from their chains is interesting on a symbolic level and as foreshadowing as well, as in season 07, Tyrion’s bad decision making is what provokes Dany’s anger more and more, progressively awakening her inner dragon.

That’s when another comes in to help keep it in check once again: Jon.

From mid-season 07 until the end of s08e04, Jon is the one to act as Dany’s chains/Dragonpit.

However, s05 Dany, Jorah, Barristan, Tyrion, Varys and Jon all forgot something important:

You are damn right, Jorah. No one can tame Dany’s inner dragon, not even herself. (Sorry about the typo in the picture, I got it elsewhere, I’m too lazy to make my own).

And they forgot this:

Interesting we got reminded of that at the Dragonpit meeting. I think we heard that one before, didn’t we?

Hey, look! Drogon is in chains…Kraznys is at the other end of the chains, thinking he is in charge. But Dany is actually the one holding the whip in that scene. She is the master, the one with power. And hey, Kraznys even calls Drogon “a beast”. Doesn’t that remind us of something?

I’m not saying Jon is Kraznys, I’m just pointing the fact they both see dragons as beasts and both think dragons can be controlled, bound to their will, or in other words, chained to them. In Kraznys’ case, it was an actual dragon, in Jon’s case, it was Dany. Kraznys fell into Dany’s trap, failed in controlling Drogon and Dany unleashed her anger on Astapor. 

In s07e06, we also have this:

Another dragon in chains! I’m starting to think now that this ridiculous scene had a symbolic purpose. The only one who could actually bind a dragon to his will is the Night King. And it makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, Dany bound her dragons to herself with blood magic and the NK bound Viseryon to himself with his magic. Only Dany’s Ice counterpart to her Fire could do it. No one else.

Let’s have a look at another moment at the Dragonpit. This is what Jon told Cersei when he refused her conditions:

“I am true to my word, or I try to be. That is why I cannot give you what you ask. I cannot serve two queens. And I have already pledged myself to Daenerys of House Targaryen.”

And this was his speech when Tyrion told him he should have lied: “I’m not gonna swear an oath I can’t uphold. Talk about my father if you want, tell me that’s the attitude that got him killed, but when enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies, and lies won’t help us in this fight.”

What does that have to do with anything? will you ask in a Sansa fashion. Well, the interesting thing about Jon’s speech on promises and lies is the chain on the floor while he does it.

The chain looks like this after Jon kills the wight:

Then, just before he starts his speech about oaths, promises and lies, it looks like this:

The chain has been rearranged on the floor by the staff, as we can see that on the second picture it is further away from the wight’s remains than on the first picture. Also, its spiral shape looks better. It is supposed to mean something.

Jon steps inside the spiral shaped chain right before his speech about promises and lies. The photo below is taken after he’s finished though:

What does it mean then?

The first meaning I spoke about was the obvious one, Jon is still chained/tied to his mission, as the wight’s remains at the end of the chain show us. Which leads him to:

Fall into a trap he creates for himself. 

When he “bent the knee, but” on the boat, he lied to Daenerys, or, as Tyrion put it so well in s07e03 (when he convinces Dany to let Jon mine the dragonglass), he gave her “something by giving her nothing”. However, at the Dragonpit, Cersei puts him on the spot, and he has to cover up for his previous lie and assure Dany of his loyalty to her. By pledging himself and the North to her in front of everyone, he is swearing an oath he cannot back out of. Even less after talking about upholding oaths and words meaning nothing when false promises are made. Those very words chain him to his public pledge to Dany. That’s what the chains are showing us, Jon, in season 08, feels he has no choice but to be true to his word, it is a matter of honour. This, in turn, leads him to:

engage himself in a spiral of lies and events (spiral shape) he won’t be able to get out of (chains). The only thing that finally frees him of this spiralling is her death.

He thought he could bind her to his will, control her. Instead, he got himself in chains, like the shot below shows:

Jon is inside the spiral while Dany stands at the other end of the chain. Dany, like in the scene with Kraznys, is actually the master, the one in charge. Jon, through his decision to pledge himself to her, has made himself her prisoner. We can say that from the moment he stepped foot on Dragonstone until the moment he killed her, he never ceased being her prisoner. Sansa was right, by going to Dragonstone, Jon walked into a trap. Not only the one he created for himself at the Dragonpit, but also the one Tyrion had set up for him when he invited him to Dragonstone without mentioning he had to bend the knee. 

Anyway, he walked into a trap, then failed in controlling Dany’s inner dragon, and she unleashed her anger on King’s Landing. Just like in the scene with Kraznys really.  It’s worth pointing that Dany is standing in KL (a city she will destroy) when she repeats the same words she told Kraznys in Astapor (a city she destroyed). She freed the people of Astapor, and later on, she “freed” the people of KL (albeit in a tiny bit extreme way). It looks like a kind of echo to me.

For those who would like to say that Jon becomes the dragon in chains, I will say no no no. Jon’s personality has nothing to do with Targaryen mentality, he is a Stark through and through!

Well… except maybe for… falling for his sister? Alright, alright, maybe he is the chained dragon here, but just a little bit, okay? Let’s say he is a winged wolf in chains, yes?

Seriously though, I wonder if, by showing us the two scenes displaying chains in season 07, they weren’t trying to draw a parallel between Viseryon the dragon being bound to the Night King’s will (Ice), and Jon the dragon being bound to Dany’s will (Fire). Without Viseryon nor Jon having a real choice in it either. 

One other thing that I feel foreshadows Jon’s fate in season 08. Before the Dragonpit meeting, Tyrion says: “but in the beginning, when it was home to Balerion the Dread, it must have been the most dangerous place in the world”. Jon in season 08, acts as Dany’s illusory dragonpit/chains, he prevents her from doing damage as best as he can. But she sees him as a threat and he is afraid of her which is understandable, as being too close to a locked and/or chained dragon is still a dangerous position to be in:

It’s interesting to see that the Dragonpit, which is the place where Jon sealed his fate, is a ruin. Jon, who is Dany’s last metaphorical Dragonpit, ends up broken. A dangerous position to be in indeed. 

Am I going too far here?

To conclude this thing, I’d like to mention another scene in that same episode that foreshadows as well Jon’s fate as a prisoner of Dany’s. It is the one with Theon. 

Theon mentions his time as a prisoner of Ramsay’s and how Yara, his sister, was the only one to try and save him. In season 08, Sansa is the only one who tries, in a desperate move, to save Jon, by telling Tyrion his secret. Most importantly, she goes to KL with an army to try and free him at the very end, while he is still a prisoner (but of Grey Worm’s now. Geeez, poor Jon…). The parallel can even go on, as Yara failed in freeing Theon and bringing him back home, and Sansa, although she manages to free Jon, fails in bringing him back home too. Jon is a broken man, Theon was a broken man. In season 08, Theon chooses love for the Starks and Sansa over duty to Yara, his Queen. Jon at the end chooses love for Sansa over duty to Daenerys, his Queen. 

Anyway, those were my latest messy ramblings and that’s all for now.

Thanks for reading!

[whateverthedragonswant]

Re the Jon\Dany scene: notice the dialogue. Dany talk about how Dany could never love or return Jorah’s feelings, the kind of feelings she has for Jon. She asks “Is that alright?” And notice Jon doesn't say “yes” or “I love you”. That would have been the perfect moment if they were setting up tortured tragic love story but D&D don’t do that. For me that scene implied that Dany is now in Jorahs shoes. Wanting someone who doesn’t want her in return. Who can never love her the way she wants him to

Hey Nonnie!

Definitely! I completely agree with you. Nice catch! He never said that it was okay or returned the sentiment.

I think she was definitely his Jorah. Which is interesting because so many people thought Jon was her Jorah lol. What kills me even more is they literally had that whole boat scene in 7x05 where Jon doesn't look back but Jorah does, they had Jon convincing her to sail together in 7x07 rather than think of her personal safety like Jorah does, Jorah talking Dany down and suggesting to her a way to make peace with Sansa in 8x02 while Jon was nowhere to be seen, and then Jorah saving her from the undead in 8x03 while Jon runs to save Bran after she saves him. Once again, he doesn't look back once she tells him to go.

The show was telling us the whole time that this wasn't a romance. That the feelings were only one-sided. The Jonerys stans always tend to point to the show's promotion of Jon and Dany before season 8 started but they literally put their trust into a show that was all about subverting expectations on the regular. The show that had Kit going around and saying Jon had died at the end of season 5 and that was it for him. I mean...

And the kicker for me personally is Dany's reaction to the truth about Jon. Not in 8x02 but in 8x03. And this is before that infamous 8x04 bedroom scene and then of course everything that came after.

For me, it's in that moment where she refuses to be deterred from going to save everyone. When she goes to get on Drogon to start lighting up the wights and he stopped her by grabbing her arm, saying "The Night King is coming." Then she looks down at his hand and yanks her arm out of his grip, angrily saying "The dead are already here." Then she walks away. And here's the thing, why so angry, Dany? It's not just about the NK or that some of her Dothraki got wiped out (the Northerners, wildlings, and Vale soldiers are still out there with the Unsullied) - it has to do with what Jon just told her and that changes things for her. Which we then see play out after the battle is over. She still has feelings for him but her destiny comes first.

Even in the big boatsex scene, they literally start out with showing us Rhaegar and Lyanna, as a contrast. Not to mention all the obvious clues that this wasn't a romantic love scene or the setup of a big romance, like the darkness, faces in shadow, the voiceover, Tyrion's reaction, the positioning of both Dany and Jon through the scene, their closeups, etc.

They literally do this in succession:

(they then show us Jon hesitating outside of Dany's door, showing us that he's been there for a little bit before we see him)

(and he's looking right at the Targaryen seal)

"He loved her." (this voiceover ends before Dany opens the door)

Then he goes to knock on the door (still hesitating).

Then Dany opens the door, looking slightly surprised (which is hilarious considering we now know that she summoned him there)

"And she loved him." (this voiceover ends before they show us Jon's closeup)

And this is supposed to be a man deeply in love (whose face is still half in shadow & he's wearing the Ned/Robb vest of armor):

They then show us Tyrion looking on, his face half in shadow as well. Then they jump right to this image with "And Jon":

Once again we see the two Starks, Lyanna and Ned (& Ned is definitely important to Jon's story for so many obvious reasons) and we find out Jon's real name.

"You have to protect him" Lyanna tells Ned and we see Ned's expression.

Then it goes to straight to the boatsex, with the opening scene of Dany half on top of Jon, clearly the aggressor at this point in the encounter. Eventually, Jon rolls them over and takes charge. He pulls away from her and stares down at her. We see her face (love comes in at the eyes) and it's obvious she is enjoying herself & has feelings. Then they throw in this voiceover "He's never been a bastard." Quite the odd choice to throw in at this moment. They could have had the whole "He loved her" and "And she loved him" but nope. Most likely because of this fact being a major contention point between them later on, I'm thinking.

Then we see Jon (face still in half shadow) panting, taking deep breaths (with voiceover "He's the heir to the Iron Throne"), and then going back in to kiss her. The "Truth" music swells as we see them really getting into it and then we get Tyrion, looking forlorn and eventually walking away (with voiceover "He needs to know").

Then we see the boat with the Targaryen flag sailing off into the night, and we hear the voiceover "We need to tell him":

Talk about odd choices for these voiceovers to land. Or at least to the stans or GA it was. To us, it was all done for a reason. This was not a huge requited romance.

Even those lines of "He needs to know. We need to tell him" sit funny because to me, it's not just about his claim he needs to know about, that she's his aunt, but also because he needs to know so he doesn't get himself stuck in a situation he can't later get out of. And if that's the case, it can only mean one thing: Jon is only doing this for one reason and one reason only. And we know what that reason was. *cough* Saving the North. *cough cough*

And the fact that they then choose for Sam to be the one to tell Jon, not Bran, in 8x01 right after Sam just found out about his father and brother and talking about how Dany shouldn't be the queen...this absolutely was not a romance.

You're 100% right, Nonnie. Dany is in Jorah's shoes so that 8x04 dialogue you were talking about hints very strongly at that role reversal. And it's even more ironic that Jon was the one to bring Jorah up and then Dany herself makes that point. And if you watch that scene, when he kisses her, he starts to walk her backwards past the fireplace/open flames, and he only goes to undress her once she starts to undress him. And they even gave us the exact same movements between Brienne and Jaime in their scene for contrast. Plus, Jorah saved Dany in the end of season 5, he saves her again in 8x03. Dany saved Jon in 7x06 and then again in 8x03.

Jorah indeed. ;-)

Thank you for the ask, Nonnie! I've missed talking about GoT. Doing this rewatch has really got me in the GoT feels again, so thank you. =) I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!!! <3

[astradrifting]

This is kind of inspired by this recent ask I sent to @esther-dot about Jon’s characterisation and Jonsa shippers’ apparent disregard for it, because it made me think of another part of Jon’s characterisation that is really integral to who he is. Mainly, that Jon really loves his brothers. Especially Robb. His rival and best friend and constant companion. Jon envies him, competes with him, buried a formative traumatic memory where he was deeply hurt by him... but ultimately loves him. Complex relationships with his brothers, both the Starks and his Night’s Watch brothers, are a running theme in Jon’s chapters.

Speaking of Jon’s brothers...

Aegon VI and Robb have a lot of potential parallels, actually. The “Young” moniker, red-haired counselors who are also their parents, trained to be the heir to a great kingdom from a young age, the barely younger half-brother Jon borne of their father’s dishonour of their mother… one that they might both have a good relationship with despite that?

The show tried to play with Jon ‘accepting’ his Targaryen lineage through the jonerice romance, very unconvincingly because it was simultaneously undermining it at every opportunity, in what was maybe a half-assed attempt at Pol!Jon (”They’ll all come to see you for what you are” isn’t anything but a threat in all contexts).

Jon will ultimately choose the Starks over everything else, that’s not really a question. But if Jon were to genuinely connect with another Targaryen, it’d likely be easier for him to find kinship with a half-brother than with an aunt - he has a basis for positive relationships with trueborn half-brothers, while the only aunt figure he’s ever known about is a) long dead and b) actually his mother. I think it’d both make more sense and be more compelling for GRRM to leverage Jon’s existing complex relationships with brotherhood by having him interact with and build a relationship with Aegon, than a rushed and out-of-character romance with Dany. 

Jon also is already primed to believe that Aegon is the real deal, that he was saved as a baby, because he’s already done the exact same thing himself - he swapped out a baby of royal blood who was in danger for a common-born boy, and then sent him halfway across the world for safety (side note: if Septa Lemore is Ashara, and if the baby was actually Ashara’s son as theorised here by @agentrouka-blog, that would just strengthen the parallel, because it would be his body double’s mother caring for him, as Gilly has to do for Mance’s son).

They’re definitely going to come into conflict first - politically, Jon will likely be in a position of power in the North by the time they meet, maybe as the KitN through Robb’s will or regent for Rickon, and probably will fight for Northern independence, while Aegon is fighting to be king of the Seven Kingdoms, not 6. Personally, it will be hard to get past the fact that Jon is the direct result of Rhaegar dishonouring Elia, plus that the Kingsguard who should have been protecting her were all stationed in Dorne, guarding Jon’s mother (in whatever capacity). But these interactions, a conflict and eventual friendship/brotherhood between them, would all be a lot more layered than jonerice can really offer. If a relationship between Jon and Dany was truly all that GRRM has been building up to, then there would have been no need for R+L=J - it adds nothing to that storyline, it doesn’t even make it a forbidden romance, because aunt-nephew is hardly the worst incest the Targaryens have engaged in.

It’s almost inevitable that Da*nerys is going to kill Aegon VI/Young Griff in the books, likely by burning him with dragonfire, in the Second Dance of the Dragons. The weird Dragonpit meeting in the show was very contrived, but it does make sense for Dany to meet the ruler on the Iron Throne at least once in a semi-peaceful context. In the show, she used her dragons only to intimidate Cersei, but she didn’t have a personal grievance with her. Aegon is in much more danger during such a meeting. After all she will think he is a pretender, and she doesn’t much care for the rules of safe conduct, as she showed to the envoys from Yunkai.

Dany shrugged, and said, "Dracarys."

The dragons answered. Rhaegal hissed and smoked, Viserion snapped, and Drogon spat swirling red-black flame. It touched the drape of Grazdan's tokar, and the silk caught in half a heartbeat. 

[...]

"You swore I should have safe conduct!" the Yunkish envoy wailed.

"Do all the Yunkai'i whine so over a singed tokar? I shall buy you a new one... if you deliver up your slaves within three days. Elsewise, Drogon shall give you a warmer kiss." She wrinkled her nose. "You've soiled yourself. Take your gold and go, and see that the Wise Masters hear my message."

(ASOS, Dany IV)

"Ah, there is the thorn in the bower, my queen," said Hizdahr zo Loraq. "Sad to say, Yunkai has no faith in your promises. They keep plucking the same string on the harp, about some envoy that your dragons set on fire."

"Only his tokar was burned," said Dany scornfully.

(ADWD, Dany VI)

So Dany will burn the Blackfyre pretender, and everyone will be happy and cheer to see the rightful queen, the last Targaryen, Slayer of Lies, Breaker of Chains, Insert-The-Million-Other-Titles-Here. Right?

Except how would she prove that he’s an imposter? She can’t exactly roll up with an Alt Shift X video pointing out that Illyrio has said some weird things about Aegon. Is Varys going to have an attack of remorse and explain his whole plot, complete with Blackfyre family tree? Or maybe she’ll explain that she went on a vision quest in Qarth and Aegon totally matches up with the vague symbolism that a bunch of drugged up warlocks told her before she set them on fire?

I don’t think it’s going to matter if Aegon is fake or not, and we might never find out either way. The mystery of his identity isn’t his main narrative, and all of his significance to the story and to multiple other characters is removed if he’s proved to not be Aegon VI. Him being proved fake would just make this plotline a weird, unnecessary digression on Dany’s journey to being the righteous and true queen, his death just another #girlboss moment for her. That’s definitely going to be her perception of it, but once she reaches Westeros we won’t have to rely on only her POV of her actions. History is written by the winners, and no one’s going to miss that it’s a lot more convenient for Dany if the boy with a stronger claim than her turns out to have been fake all along. Arianne and the Dornish are definitely not going to take it lying down, and neither is Jon. He’s not going to fall in love with the woman who murdered his brother, especially by burning him alive. ADWD has plenty to say about how much he hates death by fire.

“Men say that freezing to death is almost peaceful. Fire, though … do you see the candle, Gilly?”

She looked at the flame. “Yes.”

“Touch it. Put your hand over the flame.”

Her big brown eyes grew bigger still. She did not move.

“Do it.” Kill the boy. “Now.”

Trembling, the girl reached out her hand, held it well above the flickering candle flame.

“Down. Let it kiss you.”

Gilly lowered her hand. An inch. Another. When the flame licked her flesh, she snatched her hand back and began to sob.

“Fire is a cruel way to die. Dalla died to give this child life, but you have nourished him, cherished him. You saved your own boy from the ice. Now save hers from the fire.”

(ADWD, Jon II)

Funnily enough, the same fire as a kiss imagery from Dany burning the envoy’s tokar appeared there too, also used as a threat. 

If he is not a kinslayer, he is the next best thing. [...] What sort of man can stand by idly and watch his own brother being burned alive?

(ADWD, Jon IX)

So Aegon’s death is not going to be a triumphant victory for Dany, after which everyone proclaims her the true queen. It’s likely to just solidify opposition to her, from every corner of Westeros. If it happens during a summit or negotiation, it’d be even more of a tragic parallel to Robb and the Red Wedding; the young king murdered off of the battlefield, at an event where he was promised safe conduct. Featuring Dany in the role of Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannister. Tywin’s already died a very undignified death, and Roose Bolton looks to be on his way too.

I think the tragedy of Aegon’s death would also hit harder if we see it through Jon, as a main POV, or at least the aftermath of it. Jon was integral at the Dragonpit meeting after all, and probably would be at a peace summit or negotiation between the leaders of Westeros and the invading force.

In ASOS, there’s a curious lack of Jon’s reaction to Robb’s death. We see his initial reaction to Bran and Rickon’s supposed deaths when he gets back to Castle Black, but he doesn’t even know about Robb’s death until Stannis arrives to defeat the wildlings, and we’re not shown the moment he’s told about it. He barely even thinks about it, not even a mention until he meets with Stannis on top of the Wall:

“Your brother was the rightful Lord of Winterfell. If he had stayed home and done his duty, instead of crowning himself and riding off to conquer the riverlands, he might be alive today. Be that as it may. You are not Robb, no more than I am Robert.”

The harsh words had blown away whatever sympathy Jon might have had for Stannis. “I loved my brother,” he said.

(ASOS, Jon XI)

And that’s literally all we get that is specifically about Robb’s death - the rest of Jon’s chapters, his guilt and grief is about the loss of all his siblings, and the idea of stealing Winterfell from them. It doesn’t really make sense for him to not think about it at all, considering how close they were. This reminds me of how he has a non-reaction to Sansa’s marriage to Tyrion as well, as talked about in this post by @agentrouka-blog. Part of this could be Jon’s tendency towards denial and suppression of all his feelings, but it also points to GRRM explicitly obscuring his reaction - perhaps because he’s going to explore it in the wake of another brother dying a very similar death? One that this time he’ll be there to witness?

[magalidragon]

I posted 1,843 times in 2021

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For every post I created, I reblogged 1.5 posts.

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Longest Tag: 127 characters

#because avuncular relationships are fine i’m got canon and somehow we are also supposed to care about the twincest being okay!?

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

invisible string | a Jonerys AU | fic teaser

The day had been about cleaning and starting fresh. “Starting over,” she mumbled, getting up and dumping the jersey into the box. She gathered up the other items, dropping them in. She’d get rid of it all. It would only make her sad. She grabbed one of the books—a mystery novel she hadn’t remembered even finishing—tossing it in, when an envelope fell from between the pages.

It slid on the hardwood floor, Drogon pouncing and clawing at the paper. “Gimme that,” she said, taking it from him. He jumped up and tried to bite the corner. She swatted him away, turning over the brittle, aged yellow paper. Scrawled on the front, in black ink, with familiar loops and curves, was her name.

Dany

“Oh gods,” she whispered. Her heart stopped again, plummeting into her stomach like a heavy rock thrown into a pond. It was his handwriting. He wrote her a letter. She felt along the edges of the envelope. Yes, it was certainly a letter, a simple folded piece of paper inside.

He wrote her a letter and he put it in a book and put that book in the box he’d left on her doorstep. A box she hadn’t opened, she’d thrown into another box to hide from view, and almost a decade later, finally discovered.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.

What could it say? What could he have had to say to her? It was probably nothing. Probably just saying ‘hey here’s your stuff, good riddance.’

But what if it wasn’t?

Dany forgot the box, the items she wanted to take downstairs, and stumbled off. She went straight to her kitchen and rummaged in the fridge, removing a bottle of wine and popping the cork. She swigged from it, gasping at the dry white burning her throat, before she fumbled for a glass in the sink and dumped some in, needing to hold the glass, something comfortable and reassuring.

She glanced at the envelope, on the counter beside her hand. The cats were staring at her again. “I can’t open that,” she said. I won’t open it.

The letter might as well have been screaming at her.

Dany gulped the wine, setting the glass down hard, clinking loud on her granite countertop. She snatched the letter and opened her freezer, shoving it inside between a bag of green beans and a carton of rocky road. She would forget it. She spun on her heel, wine bottle in one hand and glass in the other, storming to the living room and sank down on her couch, placing both on the coffee table in front of her.

She picked up her cell phone and instantly texted Missandei. S.O.S.

A moment later the phone rang, Missandei breathless. “What’s wrong? Do we need to bury a body, or should I help you kill someone?”

Dany finished off the glass and shakily poured more wine, rattling out: “I found a letter from Jon in my break-up box after eight years and it’s now in my freezer and I don’t know if I should open it up.”

A thousand miles away, the other end of the phone went silent. After a moment, Missandei chuckled softly. “Oh I was wondering when Jon Snow would come back into your life.”

“He’s not!”

“Hmm, we’ll see. Let me get a glass of wine. Do you have one?”

“I’m on my second glass.”

“Let me catch up.”

88 notes • Posted 2021-01-20 00:20:41 GMT

#4

love in the eyes | a pandemic inspired Jonerys fluff AU

I mean, perhaps a year into this thing I’ve finally lost it?  Who knows.  This is just the same ole’ shit I write, fluffffff fluffy fluff.  Awkward Jon.  Sweet Dany.  Some more fluff.  And then we’re done, ha.  Enjoy!

He shoved one of the airpods in, just as the woman in the window seat moved to set her cat under the seat in front of her. He could see it happening, the teetering of the iced coffee in her hand, the phone in her other, the heavy cat in its bag, and her other hand coming to adjust her mask strap.

With the reflexes honed from years of military training, he shot out his hand, grabbed the iced coffee before it spilled over her phone and then onto the cat, at the same time he snatched up her phone with his opposite hand, about to drop straight between the seats. Jon suspected as clean as planes were these days, the crack between seats was likely as filthy as usual.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

He rescued the coffee and phone, while she snatched up her cat from making an escape out of his bag. Cringing behind his mask, he wanted to scold her, but she was a grown woman and well, travel sucked before there was a pandemic. "Got him?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you so much ! Drogon, you naughty boy!" She shoved him into the bag, zipping it shut over him. A pitiful yowl sounded from within.

"Is there a problem?"

They both looked up at the flight attendant, whose nametag said Gilly. Gilly looked ready to be done with her day, but they still had an entire flight ahead. Jon shook his head. "Nope, got it."

"Ma'am, your animal needs to be under the seat in front of you and kept enclosed at all times."

"Yes, I'm so sorry," the silver-haired woman apologized, profuse. It was honest, he noted, hearing the regret in her soft vowels, the musical tone in her accent. She pushed her hair out of her eyes, glaring down at the cat bag, hissing at him, the cat still murmuring plaintively within. "You hush, you have been a dragon all night and morning and we have five more hours and then I'll let you out. Now shush." She opened a pocket in the side of the bag and slipped a treat of some sort into the carrier. The cat silenced, lulled by food.

He was still holding her iced coffee, now sweating through the plastic cup onto his hand. "He alright?" he wondered, eyeing the bag, which had begun to rustle a bit as the cat settled. "Can he breathe in there?"

"Do you honestly care?"

His brows lifted, taken aback by her snapping. "Well...aye."

She pressed her hands into her eyes. "I'm sorry! It's been seven hells of a day...night...I don't even know where I am anymore." She dropped her hands, gasping. "Fuck!"

To his surprise, she fumbled in a pocket on her other bag and removed wipes, cleaning off her hands, wiping down the seat around her, the tray, and the back of her phone. When she concluded, she removed a little baggie and set the wipes into them, before shoving it into the seat pocket in front of her. He blinked, still holding her things, and she finally turned back to him, taking them from him.

The plane in all this time had begun taxiing back from the gate and to the runway. He felt like the entire flight was over, just from the activity that had already occurred. Not to mention completely exhausted. The woman— Dany— slipped the straw under the mask, which he noted was not just multi-colored, but appeared to have dragons printed across it; he thought it was just swirls, but it looked like instead they were flying, bright pinks, teals, yellow, and purple. The straps were sparkly, but upon closer inspection, she had the actual straps around her ears and there was a chain necklace attached, draped around her neck.

Made sense, when she took off the mask, it would just bounce off.

But nope, he realized, looking, the straps were wrapped around buttons sewn into a headband, which was tied around her head, the main scattered braids and curls tumbling from it. It was actually very smart; her ears wouldn’t hurt after having the mask on for so long. Jon thought that was pretty clever, but he couldn't get away with such a thing. First of all, he was a dude, but second of all, the Westeros Military would never allow such a thing. They already hated that they had to wear masks anyway. Meant they needed to spend more money shelling out for the damn things.

He adjusted his, the strap rubbing against his beard, itching. Beside him, Dany chuckled. "Try wearing it for fifteen hours," she commiserated. "You'll really hate it."

"Thankfully it's only five," he said. And then another three hours to Winterfell, he sighed. Unfortunately his uncle, who was the Northern premier, was against an international airport anywhere near Winterfell, for it would disturb the historical nature of the city. Could be worse, he could have been heading straight back to base at the Wall.

"I've been in the air for almost ten," she sighed, turning to gaze out the window as they lined up for takeoff.

89 notes • Posted 2021-03-08 01:02:27 GMT

#3

drabble 68 + 76?

Absolutely! These two prompts are obviously best for fluff but I went angst 🤭 I know WHAT!? This is a peek into a universe I planned to write earlier this year and I teased with a moodboard (it caused drama because someone thought I was ‘remixing” aka stealing two other Jonerys fics, because of course 🙄) but I plan to return to it soon. Enjoy!

just one word | 68. “He’s four years old!” & 76. “Daddy!”

They all told her not to worry. Everyone said kids were different, they were resilient, and they “marched to their own drum beats.” Most people said that. It seemed to be the default reply, when she expressed her fear and her worries over her son’s development. They were their own drummers, they had their own tunes, etcetera. Except if that were wholly true, then kids would be doing things at all manner of ages and development stages. They wouldn’t follow a trajectory.

It just seemed that Rhaego had always been a little bit behind. A happy, bright baby, and a happy, bright toddler, but…she knew that his father’s death had hit him hard, even if he was so little he would have no memory of him. It wasn’t like he even saw him frequently. It just…it did. She did her best, but she really didn’t want photos of her ex-husband around the house. There was a single one in his bedroom, on his dresser, and that was it.

Even adding in the turmoil in his young life, Dany knew something else was going on in her son’s head. Appointments, specialists, and here they were, a few months into a new therapist. ASD. Autism Spectrum Disorder. Asperger’s Syndrome. “Don’t worry about it,” the doctor told her. “He will talk when he’s ready to talk.”

“He’s four years old!” Children should be talking at four, she wanted to cry, but her son didn’t. He just…didn’t talk. Not a word. He would point and smile and nod and generally make some sounds, but beyond that…nothing.

She stood in the stables one cold evening, not ready to go in just yet, watching from the corner as he worked with Rhaego. It had been something of a miracle when he managed to get her son to approach her horses. He had alays been sos cared and it made sense. Horses were big, unpredictable, and the stables were sensory overload. Sounds, smells, and sensations that most people didn’t generally like, let alone a small boy on the spectrum.

When she’d called to him, telling him it was time to go back up to the main house, she hadn’t heard him walking towards her, his little boots scuffing on the hard packed dirt and stone flooring, dragging along his ratty, nasty blanket he never let go. She had followed the sound of a horse in the ring, wondering if one of the horses hadn’t been put up for the night, and saw them.

It broke her heart, but made it whole too.

Her son, so frightened of the animals she had fallen in love with, had made it her life’s mission to care for, sitting atop one of the oldest ponies, an amiable, bumbling Shetland named Havzi—Dothraki for cat—because he would fall asleep anywhere and follow people around like a cat when he was a baby.

The little boy sat in the saddle, clutching the pommel, and made no sound as her--- Trainer? Boyfriend? Partner? Love of her bloody life? It was hard to place his role these days-- walked them both in small circles in the ring. It was so quiet, just the hooves plodding along in the sandy dirt they used in the ring, she could hear him speaking.

His Northern burr was always so soothing, lulling her to sleep some nights as he told her stories or they talked of nothing. It rolled, low and steady, carrying on the one-sided conversation without any concern. “See Rhaego? He’s a good boy, just likes spending his days walking around in circles and eating all the grass up on the hills. Nothing to be scared about, he’s as gentle as a lamb.”

Tears pricekd the orners of her eyes and she covered her mouth with her palm, watching them. Rhaego was so calm, steady, and his gaze fixed straight ahead, but she could see his smile, curving on his silent lips. He just seemed…free. She swallowed the dry lump in her throat, watching them, transfixed.

It might have been hours; she did not move. When he finally stopped, he waited, holding onto the horse’s bridle, talking to Rhaego, calmly, gently, telling him that he was going to help him get down and to remember to thank Havzi for letting him ride him today, and that they would need to take him back to his stable and feed him and brush him. Rhaego nodded and didn’t cry or scream when he got off the little pony.

And she watched, awed, when he pet the pony and then sat down beside him, as Havzi shifted and moved to stand in front of him. They engaged in some exercises, just a few minutes of them, and then it was time to take him back, the three of them—the Northerner, the little boy, and the pony—left through one of the side entrances of the ring to the stables.

She hurried to join, rubbing her arms briskly and approached. “Hi guys,” she called, laughing and reaching her hands to Rhaego, upright so eh could see her palms. “Look at you! I saw you! You did so good!”

He ran towards her, grinning and flung his arms up around her. She squeezed him hard, hauling him up into her arms. He was so heavy; he was getting so big. She sniffed and laughed again, so he couldn’t sense her tears. They always caused him distress. “You’re such a brave, big boy. Did you learn a lot?” He nodded and continued to smile, gazing lovingly at the man approaching them.

“Hey.” He leaned down to brush his lips over hers. She returned the kiss, still smiling. He gazed at her with such love; she sometimes couldn’t believe she was on the receiving end of such a lok. His gray eyes twinkled and he nodded to Havzi. “I’m going to put him up. Rhaego? Are you going to help me?”

Rhaego nodded eagerly and she set him down, patting his back. “Go on, wait, wait, let me take your helmet…oh, okay nevermind.” He squealed, grabbing for the top of the helmet, rushing away, not wanting her to. She sighed and watched from the other side of the stable, when Rhaego helped with the tack.

A few minutes later, while Rhaego fed Havzi an apple, she turned towards her Jon. My Jon, she thought possessively, and pressed her palm to his heart, as he wrapped his strong arm around her shoulders. “He’s doing so well,” she marveled. “I remember when he would scream at the thought of coming to the stables…youv’e done wonders Jon.”

“You have, Daenerys, he’s your son.”

And yours too, she thought, because after almost a year together, Jon was the closest thing to a father that Rhaego had. Even her brother Rhaegar, who lived and worked with them, saw him every single day, had always been his uncle. There was never a confusion in her son’s eyes, but she knew he saw Jon as the father he didn’t have.

She took a deep breath, slowly exhaling. “He still isn’t talking,” she mumbled.

“He’ll talk when he has something to say. Talking is overrated.”

“Says the man who only speaks in monosyllables,” she teased. He had been silent when she’d hired him, so quiet, lost in his own world.

Jon grinned down at her, cocking his head. “I speak.”

“When you have something to say.”

“I love you. That’s something to say.”

She kissed him again, giggling. “I love you too.” Turning back towards the stall, she whistled to catch Rhaego’s attention. He glared at her, annoyed she distracted him from feeding Havzi. “Come on little cowboy you! Dinner time and it’s getting cold! How are you not cold?”

He shrugged and walked through the door, Jon closing it and latching it behind him. They all walked together from the stables up the winding path towards the main house at Dragonstone Ranch. Her gloveless fingers were freezing, trying to stay warm in the clutch of his hand in hers. Behind them, she heard Rhaego kicking at stray rocks and scuffing his feet. She stepped up into the house, calling out, “Rhaego, hurry up, we’re letting the hot air out.”

Jon took off his boots and shoved them in the cubby near the back door, in what was appropriately a mudroom. No boots in her house, that was the rule; gods only knew what was on the bottom of them. He spoke, as Rhaego brought up the rear, still goofing around by the stoop “You were really good today Rhaego. Tomorrow we’ll give Havzi a good brushing, maybe even wash his mane, does that sound like fun?”

“Daddy!”

It was just two syllables.

A shout.

A protest.

A name.

It was a word that all children said at some point in their lives. Usually Dada. Papa. Da. All manner of variations, but it was just a name.

Except.

Now.

It was joy. It was heartbreak. It was exclamation.

She gaped, unable to believe what she’d just heard, thinking she’d imagined it. “What did you just say?” she whispered, after an indetermined amount of time, staring at her son in the doorway, who was swaying side to side, not at all bothered. She dropped her boots on the floor with a clatter and fell to her knees inf ront of him, gripping his shoulders. “Rhaego? What did you just say?”

Rhaego turned his face to Jon and smiled, pointing at him. “Daddy.” He took a deep breath. “Daddy? Help me. I can’t get them.”

Every single word crystal clear. Complete sentences. The most beautiful sound she had ever heard, ranking only to the sound of his first cries as he entered the world. She swallowed back her sobs, letting go of him and falling to the side, watching as Jon said nothing, his face pale, and fingers trembling, helping Rhaego with his boots.

“Thank you,” he chirped, and ran off into the house.

Leaving them aghast in the mudroom.

She peered up at him, her fingers reaching for his blindly. “I…did he…did you…”

“Aye,” he gasped. He laughed and pushed his hand through his hair. “I…I can’t…Dany…”

They clutched each other, her face buried into his heart, sobbing. She released all the fear she’d been bottling up for four years, the worries she still had for him, but it was sheer relief. He was speaking. Talking.

He said ‘Daddy.’

She wiped at her eyes and hiccupped, whispering, “He called you Daddy. Jon…I…”

“He’s my son Dany.” He was firm. He cupped her chin, his thumb flicking tears away. He touched his forehead to hers, fierce, vowing. “He is my son.”

“He is,” she cried. They were a family. They had never talked about it specifically, but it was understood. She pushed her face back into his chest, clutching his hand, and he swayed in place with her in his arms as she cried in pure joy that the notion that everything would be alright.

92 notes • Posted 2021-07-20 00:11:22 GMT

#2

Emilia Clarke in London, 2 May 2021

105 notes • Posted 2021-05-02 15:51:42 GMT

#1

you are my sunshine | a Jonerys FluffxInfinity Drabble

Um….this was inspired my a post that I shared a few days ago somewhere on my dash. It’s just fluff. I needed to write it because my life is soooo stressful and I was sick to death yesterday with a Hell Trifecta of food poisoning, migraine and heatstroke 💀 Plus work. Enjoy!

When Daenerys woke up every morning and went to sleep every night, she did so as Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, First of her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Realm, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.

it was a title she had been born, fought, conquered and bled for. It was her reason for being.

And then there was the other name. The other title.

Muñnykeā

Mai

Mother

Muna

It was Muna, not the Queen, who crawled on the floor in her heavy skirts, stifling her giggle and attempting to school her face— futilely— into one of absolute seriousness.

The witch’s curse had not taken when it came to her Wolf King. Jon Snow was right. The witch was not a reliable source of information. He proved her wrong. It took about a year, not for a lack of trying, and she found herself with child. She was going to be a Muna.

The nine months of growing a babe had been exhausting, rewarding, and she savored every ache and pain and morning with her head in the chamber pot as the babe did its best to bring her to her knees. She refused.

Laboring in a snowstorm, for close to thirty hours, she gave birth to the most perfect creation the Known World had seen.

And it was the perfect creation who she surprised, popping up from the floor, her schooled face exploding into a bright smile, violet eyes expanding, sparkling like jewels, and she blew out her cheeks and shouted: "There you are!"

In the wooden seat atop the Chamber of the Painted Table, where Aegon had planned his conquest and she had planned hers, the future King of the Seven Kingdoms burst into bubbling giggles, waving his fat hands and wiggling in place. His face beamed, a bright light, as if the sun had relocated into the babe before her.

She grabbed hold of one of his waving feet, fat little pillows and soft as one too. His skin was pale velvet, chubby cheeks tinged rosy pink. His black hair curled at his ears and reminded her of silk, his eyes the same jeweled tone as hers. He was the perfect mix of them both, a true Targaryen. His fat foot kicked out again and she snagged the other one, holding them both up to her ears.

Loudly, she asked, "Who's there? Is that Aemon? Is this Aemon?"

He began to laugh, so loud and hard his belly shook, and she saw it before he even realized it was happening, head tossing back and shaking. It made her laugh, although she knew she'd have to clean up the mess, but he was so perfect and adorable and she loved him so much, it didn't matter.

Aemon kept laughing, when she did it again, kissing his feet, making loud chomping sounds. "You taste soooo good! Sooo yummy! Yummy Aemon! Gimme these feet, gimme these feet!"

What amounted to his breakfast a few hours ago came right back up, spitting out of his mouth as he kept laughing, unbothered at all that his tunic was wet, because when he paused, spit up still dribbling down his double chins, he began to laugh again, finding it uproariously hilarious that he'd been so entertained by his mother eating his feet and jumping from under the table that he'd thrown up all over himself.

He kept laughing, waving his hands, trying to snag one of her braids when she laughed, leaning forward to remove him from the chair. "Oh baby!" she exclaimed, taking the bottom of her skirt and wiping at his face, not caring at all that she was ruining her dress. She laughed again, when he squealed like a piglet, not of distress, but because she was picking him up.

She cradled him to her chest, carrying him to the basin of water on a stand near the corner of the chamber, lifting her skirts again to dip them in the water and began to clean him up.

He babbled, chubby hands trying to splash the water, and wiggling like a worm, feet shoving under her ribs. “Bah bah bah!” he chattered.

The water would not do enough and in another burst of giggles he threw up again. And laughed some more. She sighed.

“Aemon, I am afraid we need to do this in a rather undignified way,” she apologized, leaving the room and carting him down the corridor.

An Unsullied immediately followed behind her and Aemon made a face at him. If she looked very close she knew the corners of his eyes creased, maintaining full control but allowing a softness there at the sight of the future King.

By some mysterious power, Missandei appeared. “Oh no, Your Grace, can I help?” she asked, concerned.

“No, no it’s fine we had a bit too much enjoyment for the moment, but that’s perfectly alright, we will just clean up and go right back to having fun.” She kissed Aemon’s curls, humming to herself, Missandei sensing she was not needed and fading back to return to whatever she was doing before she appeared.

In Aemon’s room, she cleaned him up in the large basin for his baths, scrubbing his skin clean and pink. She kept humming, beginning to sing, softly under her breath. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…you make me happy…” her gaze darted through the open windows, to the gathering clouds, grinning at Aemon. “When skies are gray…my only sunshine…”

With clean clothing and linens, she placed him on the bed she sometimes slept in when he might have had a difficult night, when he was teething. She kissed his feet, singing again to him. “Who is there? Is this Aemon? Aemon’s feet! Soooo yummy!”

He laughed again, eyelids drooping, fighting sleep. He yawned, cheeks dumpling, smiling and closed his eyes, sighing, content. “My sunshine,” she breathed, dragging her finger over his curls, pushing them from his forehead. “Issa byka vēzos.”

My little sun.

He snuffled, wiggling in place and she stretched out beside him, ignoring any commitment she had, tracing his perfect lips and nose and face. “I spent,” she began, trying to smile, but finding tears overcoming her instead. “Thirty hours giving birth to you…nine months growing and keeping you safe inside me…and years…” She gasped, laughing. “Years and years wishing for you. Believing you would never happen.”

And you did, she thought, laughing again, nuzzling his sleeping face and squeezed his chubby foot. “And you throw up from laughing so hard…because I make silly sounds and kiss your feet.”

She rested her head beside his again, closing her eyes. Maybe she would take a nap too.

Until the bed shifted and she opened her eyes, peering up into the shimmery gray ones of her Wolf King. “Issa zokla,” she murmured.

“My queen,” he replied, kissing her forehead. He picked up Aemon’s foot, squeezing lightly. “He throw up from laughing so hard?”

“Yes,” she chuckled.

“Did that to me yesterday when I tried to get him to eat his midday meal and instead of trying to feed him I pretended to be Ghost eating it.” He rolled his eyes, but grinned wide, his eyes crinkled and gray irises bright. “I think everything is hilarious to him.” He paused, softening, and whispered. “That’s good. The world should be funny to him.”

Like it wasn’t for us, she deduced, nodding. She kissed Aemon’s foot and Jon kissed the other. The baby curled up, yawned, and his eyes flicked open, spotting them both. He grinned, kicking and flailing. “Ah! Ah!” he huffed, trying to reach them both.

She watched, amused, when Jon rolled into his back, bringing Aemon with him and pretended to eat his feet, sending Aemon into giggles. “Oh Jon,” she began, noticing Aemon’s belly bouncing. “Be…”

Aemon opened his mouth, spitting up, right onto Jon’s chest. And then he burst into laughter again.

“Careful,” she concluded.

Jon sighed and rolled off the bed to his feet, bouncing Aemon and singing off key. “My sunshine, my only sunshine…”

She smiled and closed her eyes, ignoring the knowledge that she had to get back to the decisions of the realm, preferring to listen to her husband’s terrible singing and her baby’s bubble laughs.

She deserved it, after all.

120 notes • Posted 2021-08-26 23:54:42 GMT

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[aboveallarescuer]

Btw, I wonder if you ever thought about the Jaime/Cersei and Dany/Daario relationships paralleling eachother? I never see people talking about it but some of their quotes and scenes seem intentionally similar to me. + For example, how Daario and Jaime's (yes, Jaime Lannister is a toxic romantic partner, the fandom can stay mad) reaction to their respective marriage proposals are heavily linked with posession (more so than love).

First of all, Anon, I'm assuming you're the same person who sent me two asks, this one and another about Tyrion. Re: the latter ask, I basically agree with your comments and have nothing substantial to add, so I'm going to focus on answering this one.

So, yes, I had thought about similarities between Dany/Daario and Cersei/Jaime before, but I'm glad you sent me this ask because you made me think of more parallels and antiparallels. They are certainly worth discussing because they highlight different aspects of Dany's and Cersei's characters and make it clear, once again, that they are meant to be foils.

(I'm not going to add book quotes here because I'm tired, sorry... But you can ask for evidence in another ask if you find anything I say questionable)

Daario and Jaime are both hot-headed, arrogant warriors presented as alternatives to the husbands of the two queens (Hizdahr, Robert).

Both Dany and Cersei love these men instead of their husbands.

Both Daario and Jaime react angrily when they find out that Dany and Cersei are going to marry.

Both Daario and Jaime ask the queens to leave their husbands and to be with them instead, but they both deny their requests.

Both Daario and Jaime offer to kill their queens' husbands for them. Both Dany and Cersei imagine the two men following through with their threats at some point.

Dany ends her affair with Daario after she takes Hizdahr as her consort. Cersei doesn't end her affair with Jaime after marrying Robert (and she did nothing wrong in this particular situation).

Neither Dany nor Cersei hides their affairs well (though it's worth noting that Cersei is being more reckless in doing so because she was queen consort and her power derived from Robert, while Dany was queen regnant and, therefore, had power in her own right. Indeed, Dany taking Daario as her lover is compared to Lewyn Martell, a man, taking a paramour in Dorne. That certainly isn't how the Faith views Cersei's affair with Jaime. Also, as I said above, Dany's affair lasted while she was unmarried, while Cersei's happened while she was married).

Dany thinks she'll never have a child with Hizdahr because she believes she's infertile. Cersei thought she'd never have a child with Robert back when he was alive because she always took measures to prevent that from ever happening (and she definitely did nothing wrong here).

Dany idealizes her relationship with Daario way more than Cersei idealizes hers with Jaime. For instance, Dany says to herself that she would give up her crown for Daario if he ever asked her to do so, but she doubts he ever would because she assumes he loves her solely because of her power. Cersei never considers giving up her crown for Jaime (to be fair, I don't think Dany would've done that for Daario either). In this particular case, I actually think that Rhaegar is Cersei's Daario, because it's with Rhaegar that Cersei dreamed and still dreams of marrying and having his children and living a blissful life together (though, even in that fantasy, Cersei would still want to be queen, while Dany thinks she'd be content living a normal life alongside the man she loves without any power or luxury in the house with the red door). Daario and Rhaegar (rather than Jaime) are the men who bring out Dany's and Cersei's romantic sides (which makes sense because Cersei idealized Rhaegar back when she was a young girl like Dany). Rhaegar is the one that got away for Cersei, and I imagine Dany will have similar feelings about Daario in the future.

At some point during their reigns, both Dany and Cersei send Daario and Jaime away, but for opposite reasons: Dany does so because Daario advised her to kill her subjects and she's appaled by the suggestion; Cersei does so because Jaime advised her to cooperate with her subjects and she assumes that that means he is disrespecting her authority (which he does sometimes, but not always).

It's harder for Dany to be apart from Daario than it is for Cersei to be apart from Jaime. Dany immediately regrets her decision to send him away and even goes as far as to think that, because she had an indirect role in Hazzea's death for allowing Drogon to roam freely, she is a monster just like Daario (seriously, how can anyone think that book!Dany is arrogant???). Meanwhile, Cersei only comes to regret her decision to send Jaime away after she needs his help, specifically after the Faith arrests her and she has no reliable option to choose to fight for her life in a trial by combat.

Both Dany and Cersei spend most of their storylines away from these men. (I could be wrong, but I don't think GRRM had Daario out of the picture because he was supposedly bored with him like I've seen some BNFs or 'neutrals' argue... I do think that was a choice specifically made to strengthen the parallels between Dany and Cersei).

Both Daario and Jaime feel jealous of Dany's and Cersei's relationships with other men throughout AFFC/ADWD.

Daario returns with the Stormcrows when Dany recalls him even though it would have been beneficial to betray her and turn to Yunkai's side, especially since he already knew that the Second Sons had done that. Jaime doesn't return when Cersei asks him to go back... You could even say that he switches sides, in a way, by deciding to prioritize Brienne's request instead. This is part of a larger pattern: while most of Dany's people (including Daario) remain loyal to her by the end, almost all of Cersei's allies abandon her. While it's said that Dany managed to keep everyone (former slaves and former masters) together, Cersei destroyed the Lannister-Tyrell alliance due to her poor decisions.

ADWD Daenerys X ends with Dany thinking about how Daario wouldn't mind seeing her in such a messy state like how she is by the end of the chapter. AFFC Cersei X ends with Cersei hoping against hope that Jaime will return and win her trial by combat. Both expect to be reunited with and to be saved by their lovers at the end of these chapters.

Dany doesn't trust Daario, but she doesn't close herself off from him either, which is why she has the support of the Stormcrows. Cersei says she lost her trust in Jaime, but then, by the end, she is in such a dire situation that she desperately decides to put all her hope in him and trust him way too much (to a degree that even Qyburn finds concerning since he lost his hand). This is part of a larger pattern: while Dany is wary of some people, she knows that she should still take risks and make alliances. This attitude doesn't make her omniscient and she is not immune to making mistakes or to people (like Brown Ben) betraying her, sure. That being said, Dany still remains open-minded, cooperates with influential allies and makes a peace agreement that could have worked if the deal wasn't inherently false for prioritizing the privileges of the masters over the lives of the slaves and if her primary goal wasn't to protect the disenfranchised first and foremost. Meanwhile, Cersei thinks she should distrust everyone, which leads her to alienate potential allies that could have been useful and to be surrounded by people who claim to agree with her on everything, but who are neither experienced nor reliable. Then she creates plans that rely way too much on these very untrustworthy people, which is why they backfire: from the construction of the dromonds (which she relied on Aurane Waters, who turned his back on her) to the attempt on Bronn's life (which she relied on Balman Byrch, who turned his back on her) to the scheme to have Margaery and her cousins arrested (which she relied on Osney Kettleblack, who turned his back on her) to the decision to rearm the Faith Militant (which she relied on the High Sparrow, who turned his back on her) to her decision to trust that Jaime (who also turned his back on her) will return to fight for her life ... I'm sure there are more examples, but that's enough to illustrate my point. Cersei's thinking is too extreme, while Dany has a healthy distrust of others. As a result, Cersei makes hasty decisions and burns bridges unnecessarily, while Dany is able to make more carefully weighed decisions, as well as to create and maintain important alliances.

Finally, I think Dany and Daario's relationship is more positive than Cersei and Jaime's. Not only there's no verbal abuse or disrespect of sexual consent like how it happens with Cersei/Jaime, but Daario didn't switch sides to Yunkai, gave her good counsel (such as when he tells her to hold court and reminds her that her children need her) and genuinely cares about Dany, which we see from when he tells her not to get married time and again to when we contrast him with Osney. He is possessive and brags about sleeping with her on some occasions, yes, but I think it was @evilwomen who pointed out in one of our conversations that Dany doesn't feel bothered by any of that, which goes to show how much she loves him, since she's willing to forgive actions that would be considered insults for his sake.

So, once again, thanks for this ask, Anon, it encouraged me to think about connections that I hadn't considered before.

And you know, I said this before and will say it again... This is why I think Dany is the YMBQ... Not just because she clearly fits all the requirements, but because she and Cersei were way too carefully written to parallel and contrast each other (so much so that the author mentioned that in multiple interviews). You said you "never see people talking about" the parallels between Cersei/Jaime and Dany/Daario, but look at how much I managed to find off the top of my head (and I'm not even sure this is comprehensive, tbqh)??? Now imagine that happening to all of their casts of supporting characters and to all the political events and to pretty much every single aspect of their characterizations and storylines. Their parallels and antiparallels are really overwhelming, and it's why I decided to make gifs showing why they're foils.

[nlights37]

Fixer-Upper Tease: The Final Installment

Okay kids, we're in the home stretch with my favorite grouches (and maybe yours, too, who knows), so here's a little morsel from out final installment, a little taste of what to expect in this last chronicle of Joe Snow and the newly-minted Mrs. Snow. Enjoy!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh, Dan-YER-US!”

Dany stared numbly at the phone in her hand, the screen long since gone dark, still so shocked that she couldn’t force even the slightest noise past her lips.

She should, actually. She really should remind Jon that his newest gag of addressing her by every mispronunciation of her name possible, submitted to him by telemarketers if he was lucky enough to catch the landline, was getting old.

But she was too stupefied to respond, and he was making himself laugh, moving further into the house, the solid thud of Drogon jumping down from his cat tree and onto the hardwood below firm evidence that Jon was heading her way. She could hear his chuckles bouncing down the hallway as his voice grew louder. “Dan-yer-us Tar-jerry-an?”

Her lungs unfroze enough to allow a huffed exhale.

A knock sounded against the door of their shared office, now that his place was their place, and he waltzed in, holding Drogon like a football and rubbing his knuckles against the old cat’s jaw as her husky boy began to rumble. “Hey,” she breathed out, eyes wide, her limbs still somewhat sluggish to respond in the wake of her phone call. “It’s Dan-yer-us Snow, asshole.”

Jon held his hand up in mock surrender. “My mistake,” he drawled, seeming to notice as the seconds ticked by that she was very much not quite herself. Gray eyes narrowed and settled straight on her face, his amusement quickly replaced by growing concern. “What’s going on?”

She squeaked, then winced, and finally forced herself into motion. “Everything’s fine,” she said soothingly, not as convincing as she’d hoped when he cocked his head to the side and looked at her skeptically. “I’m just…,” she floundered for a moment, searching for a way to describe this disorienting storm of happiness and fear and nervous excitement, “Surprised? Yes, that’s good. That works.”

Her husband of two surprisingly awesome months (well, not surprising really because of course she’d known deep down this would work, but still there had been that little whisper of fear, of everything that had gone wrong for her before beginning again, and she felt silly even admitting it to herself) remained a hard sell. “And what, Mrs. Snow, are you so surprised about,” he checked his watch, “at 4:17 in the afternoon?”

“They want to publish it.” Saying it out loud made it seem even more outrageous, because she’d never actually thought anyone would want to publish her little labor of love for the Hardware King himself.

Jon’s brows drew together. “Publish what? Oh, Gods, Dany, not my nudes. Not my beautiful catalogue of tasteful nudes.” His forced horror melted away the moment she yelped his name indignantly and thumped him on the shoulder.

“The book, Jon, and please,” she scoffed, “if you had nudes I would already have made them my lockscreen.”

Jon snorted and rolled his eyes, leaning down to deposit Drogon near her bare feet. “The book?” He swatted away errant cat hairs from his t-shirt. “Which book?”

She made an exasperated noise, dancing away from his newly-freed and wandering hands, over to the built-in shelves tucked into the corner. “This book, Jon.” His brows flew to his hairline as he spied the book in her hands, the one she’d made him for Christmas, now displayed out of reach after Ghost had swept it from the living room table in one wide brush of his tail.

Oh.” He settled finally on her face. “The book.” Then he considered her quietly, a long contemplative silence passing before he crossed to his chair and sat down, bracing each foot on the floor so the rolling seat wouldn’t budge and patting his crossed leg invitingly. “Step into Joe Snow’s office.”

Shoulders slumping with a resigned laugh, she dropped herself into his lap, leaning in automatically as he wrapped an arm around her, the other dropping to her knee as she settled against him. “Hey,” he whispered, and she craned her neck up to meet his eyes. “This is a good thing, right? I mean Rhaegar’s been on you for awhile about getting it out there, and you were really pumped, remember?”

Dany nibbled on her lip for a moment. “Yeah,” she sighed out, tucking her head into the space between his shoulder and neck. “But I don’t know, I guess it just feels really personal? I made that for you.”

“Aye,” he said gravely, the arm around her back shifting so he could slide his hand to her ass and squeeze. “To declare your undying love for me.”

Wrinkling her nose, she threw him a glare, which deepened as he grinned. “You are so annoying, Jon. I hope you appreciate what a saint I am for tolerating all of your nonsense.”

“A regular 'Baelor the Blessed', Dan-yer-us, that’s what you are.” He squirmed a little as she fished a hand between them and pinched lightly along his ribcage, her put-upon expression softening his own as he stopped needling her. “Okay, listen, I get what you mean. But to the rest of the world, like the 99.99% that doesn’t know us? They’ll think it’s a fun story about the grouchiest fucking pets known to mankind.” He paused, only to find Drogon glaring at him from his renewed perch on the cat tree. “Case in point, old man, what are you looking at?”

“He knows you’re slandering his good name.”

Jon snorted and flicked his finger at the cover of the book she still held in her hands. “You literally titled it ‘Grouchy’, Dany, so maybe his fight is with you, not me.”

It was a good thing he made being insufferable so attractive, it really was. And she understood what he meant, all his jesting aside. The butterflies in her stomach began to settle, as she let out a hard breath and relaxed once more against his chest. “And you don’t mind?”

“What?” He looked at her as though it was the most ludicrous thing she’d ever said, the title formerly held by her declaration that putting ketchup on macaroni and cheese was something psychopaths did. Which probably hadn’t helped as he’d been in the act of doing that very thing, when she’d said it. “Dany, why would I mind?”

Dany gave him a small smile as she gazed up at him, and shrugged. “I made it for you, Jon. I mean, your dog is in it. You are in it.”

“Just the top of my head,” he interjected with mock sternness.

She just sighed and rolled her eyes, because honestly, his instinctual disagreeableness was one of her favorite things about him. It made her own perfectly allowable. “You know what I mean, Joe Snow.”

“Do it,” Jon said firmly, not an order, she understood that, but he was casting his vote. “I hope it makes a shitpot of money. I have plans.”

“Oh?” Her question, coupled with a sarcastic raise of his brow, earned her another squeeze of her ass.

Jon nodded with a quick jerk of his chin, perfectly sure. “Oh, yeah. See, the way I figure, it’s destined to be a hit, with me as your muse.”

Dany scoffed, just before a giggle escaped. “Ghost, you mean. Ghost was my muse. And Drogon.”

Jon relinquished his hold on her ass to slide his hand upward, patting comfortingly at the top of her head. “Whatever makes you feel better, love.” Then he winked and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Besides, either way, seems to me I’m headed straight down the path towards my dream job, the role I think, frankly, I’ve been destined to fill.” His voice had taken on a dreamy quality, as he stared away, now, at the wall opposite, where several of her drawings were tacked up to a corkboard, a drafting table he’d built for her situated just below. “It’s fate.”

“Do I want to know?” He side-eyed her at the droll question, and huffed.

“Look at me, Dany,” he said, head lifting imperiously. “I’m clearly meant to be a trophy husband.”

[zcldrizes]

𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐃. — I think the first thing to note here is that, from very early on, we have it established to us that Daenerys is something unique. Not everyone bonded to dragons dreams of them – though we know that Aemon did ( I see them in my dreams, Sam. I see a red star bleeding in the sky. I still remember red. I see their shadows on the snow, hear the crack of leathern wings, feel their hot breath. My brothers dreamed of dragons too, and their dreams killed them, every one. ) but as the readers, we get no real indication that Viserys did. And given he’s presented to be the actual dragon at first, though we learn quickly that is not the case, I think the message here that we take from this is simple: Daenerys was always fated to be the mother of dragons, and Daenerys was always fated to be the first rider in centuries.

i. Yet that night she dreamt of one. Viserys was hitting her, hurting her. She was naked, clumsy with fear. She ran from him, but her body seemed thick and ungainly. He struck her again. She stumbled and fell. “You woke the dragon,” he screamed as he kicked her. “You woke the dragon, you woke the dragon.” Her thighs were slick with blood. She closed her eyes and whimpered. As if in answer, there was a hideous ripping sound and the crackling of some great fire. When she looked again, Viserys was gone, great columns of flame rose all around, and in the midst of them was the dragon. It turned its great head slowly. When its molten eyes found hers, she woke, shaking and covered with a fine sheen of sweat. She had never been so afraid.

ii. Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her. She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.

iii. Dany gave the silver over to the slaves for grooming and entered her tent. It was cool and dim beneath the silk. As she let the door flap close behind her, Dany saw a finger of dusty red light reach out to touch her dragon’s eggs across the tent. For an instant a thousand droplets of scarlet flame swam before her eyes. She blinked, and they were gone.

iv. Stone, she told herself. They are only stone, even Illyrio said so, the dragons are all dead. She put her palm against the black egg, fingers spread gently across the curve of the shell. The stone was warm. Almost hot. “The sun,” Dany whispered. “The sun warmed them as they rode.”

v. “Khaleesi, “ Jhiqui said, “what is wrong? Are you sick?” “I was,” she answered, standing over the dragon’s eggs that Illyrio had given her when she wed. She touched one, the largest of the three, running her hand lightly over the shelf. Black-and- scarlet, she thought, like the dragon in my dream. The stone felt strangely warm beneath her fingers… or was she still dreaming? She pulled her hand back nervously.

Firstly, I want to quickly clear something up: despite what the show neglected to portray, Daenerys loves all three of her children in equal form, even if in different ways. I won’t link all of the proof of that here – that can happen in another meta if someone really wants it – but I think the thing to note is that even though all three are her children, one of them is necessarily more equal to her in her own state of mind in the sense of him being her mount. She loves her children and wants to protect them, yes: but to protect them, she would need Drogon’s help, realistically. That means in her own mind, she will always view him as an equal, and someone she fights alongside, whilst Viserion and Rhaegal can’t be viewed in the same lense because she isn’t bonded to them in the way dragonlore states ( quickly on dragonlore: I mix my own canon for writing it, as most people know, from a concoction of asoiaf canon, Eragon, HTTYD, etc ). She can attempt to protect them: but Drogon protects her. Drogon is her equal, in that sense. It doesn’t mean she loves him more, it means she loves him differently. I’m happy to extend my thoughts on her actions in locking Viserion and Rhaegal up, but in my own state of mind, and I think established relatively decently in some forms of canon, Daenerys does regret what she had to do. With that in mind, it’s something she would have done to all three if she had a chance, for the sake of the people she was ruling.

Secondly, before I go into specifics about her bond with Drogon, a general note about the dragons bonding: I do prescribe to the very established canon that only those with Valyrian blood have the ability to ride dragons. We know from Martin’s canon that Valyrian Dragonlords used magic to bind the dragons to them – and that can explain the many references to the blood of the dragon, specifically. That’s to suggest that the blood carried on from Valyrian descendants still contains that bond, however diluted through the ages. There are of course some exceptions to this, and those usually come from extenuating circumstances: but with Dany’s dragons, we see in canon that they are resistant to just anyone riding them. Quentyn Martell’s death after trying to mount Viserion – admittedly at the hands of Rhaegal – confirms that they don’t tolerate just anyone, and it’s also important to note that Daenerys was the first dragonrider in a century and a half. With that being said, we also know from canon that a dragon once bonded will not allow anyone else to ride them ( unless their rider is also present ). That means no, your muse cannot ride Drogon without Daenerys there. He doesn’t want it, and she wouldn’t allow it, so don’t try it.

…it was said that even Aegon the Conquerer never dared mount Vhagar or Meraxes, nor did his sisters mount Balerion the Black Dread. Dragons live longer than men, some for hundreds of years, so Balerion had other riders after Aegon died… but no rider ever flew two dragons.

Now, I’m going to break this up into a few different sections to write.

- oo1. BOND FORMATION.

The important thing to note here is that I personally think the bond began long before Daenerys actually rode Drogon. We see within canon in her dreaming days that when dreaming of the dragons, Dany always dreams of the black. It’s no coincidence that Drogon was born to bear her House colours, nor is it coincidence that he is often called Balerion ( Khaleesi … there sits Balerion, come again. ) whilst she herself is paralleled to Aegon the Conqueror ( She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. ) – this sets up in a very visceral manner that this is what Martin’s intention was, to establish this bond very early on. We know that in hatching the dragons, Daenerys had known for an incredibly long time what she was going to do to hatch those dragons, and we can see that in the following few passages, that she references her intent and the pre-emptive nature of what she’s about to do, before it’s DROGON’S egg that she lifts first. ( This is madness, she told herself as she lifted the black-and-scarlet egg from the velvet. It will only crack and burn, and it’s so beautiful, Ser Jorah will call me a fool if I ruin it, and yet, and yet… Cradling the egg with both hands, she carried it to the fire and pushed it down amongst the burning coals. The black scales seemed to glow as they drank the heat. Flames licked against the stone with small red tongues. Dany placed the other two eggs beside the black one in the fire. ) Between the dreams and the following few pieces of evidence, we know her intent was established early on.

i. “You will not hear me scream,” Mirri responded as the oil dripped from her hair and soaked her clothing. “I will,” Dany said, “but it is not your screams I want, only your life. I remember what you told me. Only death can pay for life.” Mirri Maz Duur opened her mouth, but made no reply. As she stepped away, Dany saw that the contempt was gone from the maegi’s flat black eyes; in its place was something that might have been fear. Then there was nothing to be done but watch the sun and look for the first star.

ii. Jhogo spied it first. “There, “ he said in a hushed voice. Dany looked and saw it, low in the east. The first star was a comet, burning red. Bloodred; fire red; the dragon’s tail. She could not have asked for a stronger sign.

iii. She had sensed the truth of it long ago, Dany thought as she took a step closer to the conflagration, but the brazier had not been hot enough.

Throughout the younger years of the dragon’s development, both book and show canon seems to build the hatchlings to some degree, but it is Drogon we so often get more of a glimpse into. Very often, it is Drogon who is perched on her shoulder ( as he in in the arrival to Qarth ) or on her lap ( as he is when she is informed of Robert Baratheon’s death ). We also know in the House of the Undying that it is Drogon who accompanies her, and who protects her and allows her to escape, in book canon – and in show canon, that it is Drogon who is the first to respond to her command for fire in burning those who leave her in chains. By the time we get to the Sack of Astapor, I think the fact it is Drogon who she offers up as part of her plan speaks volumes: she knows that he will respond to her command, and she knows that he will not hesitate to do so. By this point, it’s very established that of all three dragons, he is the one already utilised the most in her plans, and the one who she clearly gravitates to most centrally.

We then reach the stages of Drogon’s rebellious years. Regardless of whether or not he intended to burn the child – dragons are intelligent, he likely knew what he did – we can either read Drogon’s absence as one of two things. Either he can tell that Daenerys is disappointed in him for what happened, or perhaps horrified with himself; or more likely, he knows that as much as Daenerys is on the cusp of becoming a woman, she is not ready to be his rider yet. I think the show gives us a really beautiful moment here, where she reaches for him, and she is unsure and he flies away before she can touch him; he knows that she isn’t ready for him yet. By default, by this point I believe Drogon knew that she was supposed to ride him – and that is confirmed when he comes to save her at the fighting pits. Now, here’s where I take issue with the books: the only way that I will accept the necessity of Drogon needing to be beaten into command is if he was truly so confused and feral after months away that it took him several moments to recognise her. In my own canon, I do think the show had the better iteration here: he trusted her, and their bond allowed her to mount him, because that was what he was born for.

By the time we get the first flight, it’s not the bond being formed: it’s the final step to formation. When we talk about dragon bonds, I think it means more than a human and pet; dragons are intelligent, and they are magical. For them to bond with a human means something special: Daenerys and Drogon are the literal entity of soulmates, because their souls were born to be connected. He is an ever present feeling at the back of her mind, and likewise, she is with him always, no matter how far apart they are. That goes deeper than any love, any kind of familiar connection; they are part of each other, and this journey up until now was just about finding their way to that point and establishing / building it.

- oo2. EMOTIONS / COMMUNICATION.

Drogon raised his head, blood dripping from his teeth. The hero leapt onto his back and drove the iron spearpoint down at the base of the dragon’s long scaled neck. Dany and Drogon screamed as one.

As an extension of the headcanon that they are soulmates, I think this reads very simple as follows: they understand the emotions that the other is feeling. They feel pain, that the other is feeling. It isn’t as tangible as Drogon getting hurt and Daenerys aching in the same spot – but more that she feels that he is suffering, and there’s an overwhelming desire to help. We get some of that again, from the show, where he is struck in 7.04 and her first instinct upon landing is to remove the spear – and even in the pain addled state of mind that follows for him, the moment she sees Jaime and we see her fear, Drogon responds. We get it again in 7.06, when Viserion is killed; on Dany’s face, we get shock, and though she is mourning clearly in the later parts of the episode, her reaction is reserved. For Drogon, whilst she is silent, he is screaming for his fallen sibling. And yes, that be construed as part of his grief – but likely, it’s because he is feeling for the both of them. And lastly, we get a beautiful moment of this in 8.03, when Dany is crying for Jorah, and Drogon’s response is to curl around her and coo to her. This isn’t a protective stance - the battle has ended, and he’s low, not on alert. He’s close to her, making soft noises, and that body language communicates comfort, not anything else. He feels her grief, and he feels it himself, and so he lays close to her to offer whatever he can.

Communication between them is not quite so blatant as thinking commands to the other, but simply instead, that they can sense what the other wants. Likely, Dany was idly chattering to Drogon before handing him to the Masters at the Sack of Astapor, because she knew he would know what to do without command. And though she talks to the dragons in Valyrian, it’s not a language they were likely born knowing ( and if they did, likely, they knew others to ) – so more than likely, it’s not the words that Drogon responds to, but the intent behind each of them. And the deeper that bond goes, the more we see ( again, more viscerally on the show ) that he responds without question – in executing enemies, or even in the gentleness by which he carries her, lets her down, by the way he bristles when people disrespect her. The communication between them is far more primal and intimate than language; it’s spoken by hearts and minds forged together in the flames.

- oo3. FLIGHT NAVIGATION.

Again, an extension of the above, but when it comes to flight navigations, we have no need here for the way that Daenerys commanded Drogon in the books ( The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. Daenerys made do with a word and a whip. Mounted on the dragon’s back, she oft felt as if she were learning to ride all over again. When she whipped her silver mare on her right flank the mare went left, for a horse’s first instinct is to flee from danger. When she laid the whip across Drogon’s right side he veered right, for a dragon’s first instinct is always to attack. Sometimes it did not seem to matter where she struck him, though; sometimes he went where he would and took her with him. Neither whip nor words could turn Drogon if he did not wish to be turned. The whip annoyed him more than it hurt him, she had come to see; his scales had grown harder than horn. ) – this implies that Drogon needed to be beat into submission, and while he was more stubborn and juvenile then, he was still her intended and her bonded.

So when we talk about flight navigation, my canon is as follows: they work together. Dany knows, mostly, where she wants to go – and Drogon knows how to get them there. For the most, he follows what she wants if it is specifically the reason they’re travelling; but in situations in battles, etc, he will also move without need of command, always to protect his mother. The one (1) time that she falls from him in my canon, it is not his fault, and he never forgives himself for it. Drogon’s flying style is rougher than most other dragons would be – he’s large, he’s animalistic, and he’s never truly understood how fragile she is when it comes to him, because he perceives his mother as so strong. Hence why she cuts her hands from holding on, or bruises so badly from him thrashing around, or her thighs get cut from the way she grips his scales through her clothes. They work together, and for the most part, neither think twice about it.

- oo4. EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS.

It’s as simple as this – if Daenerys doesn’t like someone, Drogon likely hates that someone. In no world does he ever give a moment’s time to someone who she has no connection with; which is why it can be construed that Drogon tolerates people like Doreah, or Jorah, or Jon. Because of the emotional connection between them, this transfers to the way he connects with people she loves: by default, he feels at the least some sort of loyalty, or urge to protect them. Firstly, this is because he knows that she cares for them, and that if anything happened to them, she would be sad. Secondly, because he feels that emotion for them himself as a result of the bond. And thirdly, because he has likely had some further interactions as a result, which formulate his own bond with them independent of his mother’s emotions.

With that being said, there is never, ever a situation where Drogon would chose another person over his mother. It doesn’t matter what she becomes or what she does to anyone else – no singular person, or groups of people are as important as a rider to a dragon. And likewise, even if Daenerys were to have human children, she would never stop viewing the dragons as her own children too, or treating them as such. Those relationships, even to her, come beneath the bond she has with Drogon. And even when it comes to the other dragons, she loves them with all of her heart, but she will never feel the closeness she does with Drogon because he’s not just in her heart, he’s in her mind.

- oo5. IF EITHER DIED.

Lastly, talking about the potential of death for either of them. For dragons, their life span far outlasts their riders – and Daenerys hopes that long after she is gone, he will find someone ( in her own bloodline, or other ) whom he might feel that bond with. With that being said, she isn’t just his rider to him, but also his mother, which means if she died, that grief would transcend what a dragon might normally feel for their rider’s death. Unlike what we see in the series finale, if someone were to cause her death, then regardless of who that person was to Drogon, he would not hold back his revenge from the person who took her from him – this bond is more than a normal dragon and rider, he was born to be with her, birthed by her, raised by her, and lived by her side for all of his life. This would be the first time he wouldn’t feel her with him, and that would cripple him, to know that he would live for centuries with that presence void in his life.

If the situation were flipped, and Drogon was lost to her, I believe Daenerys would feel that grief on a physical level, as well as emotional. Drogon is warmth and strength at the back of her mind and thoughts – she would not feel warm again, without him there. Would never feel as strong, without him there. Would never be able to replicate that emotional bond with another being or entity, without him there. Would constantly be calling for him, constantly searching for him in the skies. That would be a loss that she would never, ever recover from – and I believe in that instance, she would crave the reunion with him in death, though she might not go so far as harming herself. It would transcend her desire to see anyone else in the afterlife – she would be focused exclusively on seeing her child again, and being with him again.

Having a part of one’s soul ripped away would physically hurt to an indescribable agony, and that is what they would both feel.

[6rookie-writer0110]

Shy fiction cloud

Daenerys Targaryen x Female Reader

Request - Dany x fem R fluff- R feeds and take Dany's dragons and they love her dearly. She been taking care of them since they were born and they always attached themselves on her to prevent her from leaving when they sleep. When they grow older they always grabs the back of R so they can get scratched behind the horns and they wrap they bodies around R while purring. When R has to leave they whine and cry but get happy when R promises she be back. Missandei saw and called Dany over and they watched

Everyone is talking about how Dany got the dragon eggs, she told you how she got it. You are in her chambers, she can't stop smiling and you sit next to her.

”Have you thought the names?” You asked.

”Not yet, but you will be the first to know” Dany smiled.

”I can't believe dragons are real. I thought they all died” You said.

”They are the last three dragons to be alive. They will be my children” Dany said.

Missandei walked in to remind Dany, that she has a meeting. You smiled at Missandei and you can't be at the meeting. You like to draw and you take out your sketchbook, you start to draw the eggs. You add details and shading. Missandei did see your drawing before and she loves it. You are close to her and she knows that you are in love with Dany. Also, Dany has never seen any of your drawings and you did draw Dany many times, but you think she won't like it.

----

Dany is sleeping and she hears a strange sound. She noticed the eggs are cracking, she ran to get you then she dragged you back to her chambers.

”Y/N look they are hatching,” Dany said.

She has a huge smile on her face and you watch them come out of their eggs.

”Wow, look how small they are,” You said.

”They are beautiful,” Dany said.

”Have picked out the names?” You asked.

”Yes, I have. Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion” Dany said.

”I like the names for them. You know, everyone will want an alliance because you have dragons” You said.

”I won't say yes just to anyone. I have a plan and soon you and everyone else will find out” Dany said.

✧ ✯ ✧ ✫

You and Dany feed the dragons and they fight for your attention and Dany’s. When Dany is in meetings or just busy with something, you sketch the dragons in your book.

You are feeding them and they don't know how to share. They fight for the food, they fight over the grape you gave them.

”Rhaegal, don't bite your brother. There are more grapes” You said.

You give them more grapes and they start to eat it fast. You start to pet their heads and they love it when you do that. Drogon tries to fly but can't just yet, you pet his head. Now, Rhaegal and Viserion want you to pet them again.

Everyone and throughout the kingdoms everyone knows about the dragons. Everyone wants an alliance with her or they want to buy the dragons but Dany says no to everyone.

”They really like to eat a lot,” Dany said.

You always feel shy around her. Dany always likes spending time with you alone.

”Wait, until they get bigger. They will eat even more now they are just babies” You said.

Dany sits very close to you and you start to feel nervous. Viserion lies on your forearm and Dany can't stop smiling.

”They really like you,” Dany said.

”I like them too. I like spending time with you and them” You said.

Dany can't stop smiling and that made her heart skip a beat.

----

It's late, you were going to leave Dany’s chambers but the dragons got on top of you. Dany starts to laugh and you don't know what to do.

”They don't want me to leave,” You said.

”They don't. You stay the night with me and them” Dany said.

”You are sure?” You asked.

She nods.

”I am sure. You stay here and you can sleep next to me” Dany said.

”Okay, I will stay,” You said.

In the middle of the night, you are lying on your back sleeping. Dany is on her side and she is staring at you, she gently touches your jaw.

”You are my moon” Dany whispered softly.

She lies her head on your chest and she holds you tight.

----

The next day, you and Dany are outside with the dragons. Drogon is on your shoulder and you scratch his chin and he likes it. Rhaegal tried to fly onto your shoulder and Viserion is with Dany.

Every night you have been sleeping in Dany’s chambers. Because the dragons don't like it when you leave, they would get on top of you from prevent leaving. Dany loves it when you sleep next to her, but she didn't tell you that.

✧ ✯ ✧ ✫

The dragons have gotten bigger and Dany has a surprise for you.

”Y/N today you will learn how to ride a dragon,” Dany said with a smile.

You shake your head.

”No!” You said.

She grabbed your arm and pulls you closer to her.

”Y/N, you will like it I promise. Don't be scared” Dany said.

Dany gets on Viserion and she helped get on him. Drogon and Rhaegal start to fly and you watch them. Once Viserion starts to fly you held on Dany to dear life. She feels your grip around her torso and you won't loosen the grip.

----

The dragons like it when you scratch them behind the horns, they would purr. When you have to leave they would still whine and cry. Missandei called Dany over and they watched you talk to the dragons.

”I promise I will come back in a little bit,” You said.

They used their tails to block you from leaving.

”They are attached to Y/N,” Missandei said.

”They really are,” Dany said.

”When you will tell her that you are in love with her” Missandei said.

”I get too nervous to tell her. Do you think she will feel the same?” Dany said.

”I think she would feel the same way. When are you going to tell her?” Missandei said.

”I don't know really,” Dany said.

”You deserve to be happy,” Missandei said.

Dany smiled and she does want to be happy.

----

You are sitting down on the grass, you are sketching the dragons in your book. You add more details to each dragon. Usually, you would draw alone because you feel comfortable when no one is around to see you draw. Next, you start to finish the drawing you did of Dany.

Dany sneaked up behind you and for the first time, she sees your drawing.

”Y/N, wow that is amazing!” Dany said out loud.

She did scare you that you start to hide your book. She wanted to see your drawing but you won't let her.

”I have to go,” You said quickly and left.

Later, Dany did Missandei what happened with you. Missandei went to see you

”She told me what happened,” Missandei said.

”I can't believe that happened. I didn't know she was behind me” You said.

Missandei giggled.

”She wants me to take you to her with your book,” Missandei said.

”Tell her you can't find me,” You said.

”I never once lied to her and I won't do it,” Missandei said.

”I don't think I can do it,” You said.

”You will,” Missandei said.

You went to see Dany and you are freaking out. You dropped your book and the pages fell out. Dany behinds down to pick it up and she is in shock. She stares at the drawings you did of her.

”If you hate it I understand and I will be rid of it,” You said.

”It’s not horrible. I’m speechless” Dany said.

You were going to say something but she kissed your cheek. You felt your face turn red, your eyes opened wide and your heart started to beat even faster.

✧ ✯ ✧ ✫

There are times that Dany is very busy and you barely see her. Dany set up a beautiful picnic now, you and Dany are lying on the grass next to each other and holding hands.

”Y/N, I'm sorry,” Dany said.

”For what?” You asked.

”I didn't spend time with you in the past days,” Dany said.

”I’m not mad. I know you are busy because you are the queen. I'm happy right now looking at the sky with you” You said.

Dany smiled. She put her hand on your cheek and she kissed you.

Later, you and Dany ride the dragons. It still freaks you out because of the height being in the sky.

---

When you sleep next to Dany, she always wants you to hold her. She can't fall asleep if you don't hold her.

”You have to hold me,” Dany said.

”If I don't?” You teased.

”I won't kiss you anymore,” Dany said.

You lie in bed next to her.

”I won't hold you” You teased again.

Before you turn around Dany got on top of you, you two start to giggle. She starts to kiss your face and your nose. You wrap your arms around her and she snuggled on you.

”I never thought I would fall in love again,” Dany said.

She lies her head on your chest, she can hear your heartbeat and she kissed your chest.

”I love you,” You said softly.

”I love you, Y/N,” Dany said.

[reginarubie]

"Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same."- Sansa(ACOK). "Her(Dany) love for Daario is poison. A slower poison than the locusts, but in the end as deadly."-Selmy(ADWD). Both Cersei and Dany love are associated with poison. Cersei think that love is poison while Selmy think that Dany love for Daario is poison.

Ciao anon!,

Honestly, the thing I find most funny about this is that one is said by Cersei to Sansa during a Sansa's chapter (right after she flowered) during ACOK, while the other is thought by Barristan referring to Daenerys and her attraction to Daario Naharis during ADWD (during which see her resolve crumbling to the ground about keeping Daario and her dark, dangerous attraction to him at bay); so I feel it strikes me because it puts into light how Cersei and Daenerys are foils about this: Cersei is all “love only your children, you are a fool if you love anyone else” while Daenerys is more “They owe me devotion because I freed them” attitude coupled with “I must hold this love at arm's length because it's dangerous”.

Also, I must point out that what I find really interesting here are the transitions; Cersei says this and immediately after it we have a Jon's chapter; Barristan thinks this and immediately after we have a Quentyn chapter.

Sansa flowers and Cersei shares with her this womanly wisdom and immediately after we have a Jon's chapter — hinting perhaps at the distress Jon and Sansa might feel if something happens or start to happen before they learn the truth about Jon's parentage (Jonsa' coloured glasses on).

Barristan thinks on how Daenerys' attraction to Daario, who stimulates her butcher/wilder/crueller side (like I analysed already in these asks x, xx, xxx and xxxx) could be her undoing and immediately after, Quentyn' love for Dorne (and as later his companions claim “for Daenerys”) provokes him in trying to free the dragons from their chains to secure one of them for Dorne and the battle and being burned by Rhaegal and later die.

Also, notice that meanwhile as Quentyn is killed by Rhaegal; Daenerys is the wilderness with Drogon indulging in her wilder, more savage side and thinking of how Daario would indulge her, how he would humour her and encourage her to embrace it and the dragon; which will be her undoing in the end, and if she does engage into a relationship with Euron like some claim (and like it could happen at least superficially) it might be her complete undoing, the same way as following Daario' counsel might be, especially if it ends up causing her to go all dracarys over KL.

Also, what I like the most is that it's Cersei who thinks this and thus for her love is poison — to the point she rather have her people fear her more they fear the enemy; and like in the aforementioned asks, in Daenerys' journey fear, security and passion/love intertwine to the point she cannot have one without the other, it's an ongoing dichotomy for her. For them, love is poison. Or will bring forth their ruin and end (as I've stated before, if Jon ends up being the one to kill Daenerys in the books, either because she killed his brother or because she threatens the Starks, she will be killed because of the love Jon bears his family, whom she endangers or harms).

A contrast:

“If I ever am queen I'll make them love me” — Sansa Stark, ACOK; is it really a surprise that between these three women she's the one left standing?

Food for thought indeed; will both these women be felled by love?, thank you for your ask!, hope you enjoyed my reply and I wish you a very nice day!

[queenaryastark]

George RR Martin: dragons are weapons of mass destruction, they're symbols of destruction and not of rebuilding, it's why the targaryens lost their power because their rule was built on fear and when the dragons died it only took a small spark to cause a rebellion, daenerys should read fire and blood so she can learn how not to use dragons daenerys herself: dragons plant no trees, If they are monsters than so am I Yall: i cant read suddenly i dont know

LMAO! I can’t even call that paraphrasing since this jumble of out of context gibberish completely misinterprets GRRM’s words and intent. 

First off, no one said dragons weren’t weapons of mass destruction. Them being powerful weapons is pretty obvious. Them being weapons does not erase the violence and cruelty of characters who do not have them. The mass destruction the Starks and Lannisters have wrought against the Riverlands and Westerlands was done without the aid of dragons. So was the mass destruction the Greyjoys and Boltons wrought on the North. The Tyrells were able to commit mass murder by cutting off food supplies, which led to mass starvation, which was their specific intent. 

Dragons are dangerous. Obviously. So are people, as George R. R. Martin goes out of his way to tell us in every chapter of his work. The man literally depicts Robb, Stannis, Balon, and Joffrey as equally as violent toward the common people and the land of Westeros. He even gives Dany this metaphoric image of the four of them:

“In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade. One was pumping between her thighs. Another savaged her breasts, worrying at the nipples with his wet red mouth, tearing and chewing.” -- A Clash Of Kings

And that is far from the only time he frames them in an equally negative light given their level of mass destruction.

when the dragons died it only took a small spark to cause a rebellion, daenerys should read fire and blood so she can learn how not to use dragons

You think Dany should read Fire and Blood? I agree. I hope she gets a copy once she arrives to save Westeros from the warlords, opportunistic politicians, and the Others. Though you should probably try to find someone who can read it to you and explain what all the big words mean. If you look in that book, you will see that the Targaryens became extremely popular and loved. They decreased the amount of war and destruction, they streamlined the laws, they established roads, and they removed a couple of the abuses that were the norm. They were far from perfect. But in that imperfection, Dany could learn from them too. 

As for a “small spark” causing a rebellion as soon as they didn’t have dragons... *sighs* If you don’t know about a topic, that’s fine. Not everyone can be an expert on every topic. But you Sansa stans (yes I know you’re a Sansa stan and you probably have that hideous image of ST with her trademark vacant expression and that ugly ferret crown as your icon) should actually fact check yourselves before trying and failing to present yourselves as an authority on anything. The last dragon died in 153 AC. The Targaryens were overthrown in 283 AC. Even before 153 AC, the dragons that lived either weren’t under their control, were pretty young, or were deformed. In other words, they continued to rule Westeros without dragons for a significant amount of time. In that time, not only did they rule, but they were able to bring Dorne into the realm peacefully. 

Even the wars they had were far fewer than the amount of constant wars that happened while the kingdoms were separate. The Blackfyre Rebellions were sparked by Westerosi racism and xenophobia against the Dornish, as well as the greed and opportunism from the Andal/First Men supporters of the Blackfyre claimant. Notice how in those rebellions the people of Westeros supported either the Targaryens or the Targaryen blooded Blackfyres? No matter which side the lords took, they were supporting a Targaryen because they support that family. Like in real life civil wars, they just supported different members of that same royal line. It wasn’t because they feared them. They wanted their rule. They just wanted the rule of a specific claimant over another based on their own values or what they thought they could gain from a change in Targaryen leadership.

Even with the Baratheon rebellions, they were still Targaryen blooded claimants. With Lyonel Baratheon, he felt his family was insulted when an engagement between the crown prince and his daughter was broken so the prince could marry a peasant. This might seem like a “small spark”, but this would have been considered hugely offensive by the classist nobility. Note how this rebellion was resolved incredibly easily to the point where I don’t even think it warrants being labeled an actual rebellion. It seems more like it was set up for the next Baratheon rebellion since it resulted in that House gaining even more Targaryen blood than it already had. That’s the thing, the nobility wanted their children to marry Targaryens. Doesn’t sound very fearful, does it?

Robert’s Rebellion wasn’t set off by a “small spark”. The kidnapping and rape of the Lord of Winterfell’s daughter and the betrothed of the Lord of Storm’s End is not insignificant. It also didn’t set off the rebellion. The murders of multiple lords and their heirs is also not a small thing. It didn’t set off the rebellion either. What set it off was the combination of those two events with the demand for the executions of the new Lord of Winterfell and the Lord of Storm’s End. Those events taken separately are not small sparks and they certainly aren’t small when put together. It took something HUGE to make a big part of the realm turn on the Targaryens. Even still, the rebels were in the minority since most of the other regions either stayed out of the conflict waiting to see how it played out or stayed loyal to the Targaryens. If Tywin had continued to stay out of the conflict, the Rebellion could have lasted indefinitely with either side winning since the Crown’s forces outnumbered them and occupied the Stormlands. 

You also seem to miss the fact that quite a few people in Westeros are still Targaryen Loyalists and want to restore them to the throne. You even miss the fact that Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen’s claim comes from their Targaryen blood. 

So no, the Targaryen rule was not based purely on fear. They clearly retained loyalty and love without the benefit of dragons as weapons.

daenerys herself: dragons plant no trees, If they are monsters than so am I

It’s funny how you can try to quote the book while having no understanding of the passage you’re quoting. Here’s the paragraph you’re referring to:

Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought.Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros?I am the blood of the dragon, she thought.If they are monsters, so am I. -- ADWD

This takes place in Dany’s second chapter of A Dance With Dragons after she has captured and chained two of her dragons and failed to capture the third. Why is she trying to chain them? Because Drogon killed one (1) child. That’s right. Not only is Dany compensating the people for the sheep her dragons were eating. She has no tolerance for them killing innocents. The quote above is not her glorying in the destructive power of the dragons. Nor is she going around without an ounce of guilt for terrorizing, maiming, and murdering innocents the way Robb, Balon, Stannis, Joffrey, Tyrion, Cersei, and every other leader in Westeros does. That is what this passage is PROVING. Seriously, using the “If they are monsters, so am I” quote is proving that Dany has guilt over the life her dragon has taken and that she has taken steps to prevent that from happening again. Compare that to Tyrion’s complete lack of care when it comes to the mass murder his family is causing:

"A lordling down from the Trident, says your father's men burned his keep, raped his wife, and killed all his peasants."

"I believe they call that war." -- Tyrion, ACOK

While Dany is trying to preserve lives, the mass murdering leaders of Westeros see murder and rape as the norm and completely acceptable. Even the noble Robb Stark tried to move the carnage that he and Tywin were inflicting on the Riverlands into the Westerlands and was upset that his plan to do so was partly thwarted by Edmure. His issue wasn’t with the common people suffering and dying. He just wanted the suffering and dying to happen to the common people of the Westerlands (the ones who hadn’t been forced into service as arrow fodder by the Lannisters yet) instead. Yet, you’re trying to use Dany’s guilt at one (1) child being killed by her dragon as proof of...something?

As for Dany not planting trees, yes, she fears that’s something Targaryens can’t do. But the text shows that her ancestors could and did. Dany is also planting trees in ADWD and was in the process of making Vaes Tolorro bloom in ACOK before she was invited to Qarth. The Golden Company (who wants to put her and Aegon on the Iron Throne as a pair) are even upset because they think she’s only interested in planting trees in Meereen.

When analyzing a literary work you have to understand that what the characters fear and the guilt they feel are not signs of their permanent situations. They’re signs of their internal obstacles that will be overcome in their arcs. Dany fears her dragons and fears herself and fears that she won’t be able to achieve peace and positive societal growth. Its good that she fears these things because this shows she acknowledges these issues so they can be overcome. The current Westeros leadership don’t see the issue in their mass murdering, which is an issue all on it’s own. 

Its alright if this series is above your comprehension level. There are books out there for you to read that are better suited for your capabilities, like Hop on Pop or Green Eggs and Ham. It’s probably best if you stick to those.

[gascon-en-exil]

A Game of Thrones 10th Anniversary Season Ranking: Part 2

Link to Part 1

Time for the bottom half of the list. The four seasons here will surprise no one, but the order might.

#5 Season 6

You can tell what I most what to talk about here...but there's an order to these things.

S6 actually has a bunch of great ideas, but they drown beneath the most slapdash plotting and character work the show has seen yet in order to set the stage for the narrower conflicts of the last two seasons. It's notorious for bringing back characters who haven't been seen in a season or longer only to kill them off (Balon Greyjoy, Osha, Hodor, the Blackfish, Rickon, Walder Frey) or awkwardly graft them back into the main plot (Sandor Clegane, Bran). There are plot threads that ought to be compelling but are too rushed in execution, like the siege of Riverrun, Littlefinger's hand in the Battle of the Bastards, or Daenerys's time back among the Dothraki and then finally getting the hell out of Meereen. Arya hits on the only interesting part of her two-season sojourn in Braavos - a stage play, of all things - only for it to stumble at the end with a disappointing offscreen death and some incomprehensible philosophy ahead of the start of her murder tour of Westeros. There's also so much cutting off the branches, enough to be conspicuous; the final shot of Daenerys leading an armada of about half the remaining cast she assembled partially offscreen says that better than anything else. Well, not anything....

Highlight: Without exaggeration, the opening of S6E10 is easily my favorite sequence in all of GoT. The staging, the music, the mounting suspense even as it becomes increasingly obvious what's about to happen, the twisted religious references particularly in Cersei's mock confession to Unella, Tommen throwing himself out a window because he can't deal with the reality of how terrible his mother is, how Cersei gives absolutely no fucks whatsoever about murdering hundreds of people at once in a calculated act of vengeance largely prompted by her own poorly thought out actions - I love it all. It's the single most masterfully-executed act of villainy in the whole show - Daenerys torching King's Landing probably has a higher body count, but the presentation there is all muddled - and if I had any doubts about Cersei being my favorite multi-season major character they were silenced in this moment. The explosion of the Sept doesn't sit perfectly with me, because I liked the Tyrells and because of what I said about deaths like theirs and Renly's in the previous post under S2, but I think that unease only cements the strength of this sequence. It's an overused phrase in fandom these days, but GoT at its best is all about moral greyness that gives its audience room for multilayered reactions. Cersei nuking the Sept and making herself the sole power in King's Landing, which in a sense is just a more overt example of the kind of character/plot consolidation elsewhere represented by Daenerys's armada, is one of those events that's impossible to approach from a single angle if you care about any of the characters involved. And hey, it's not in the books (yet, presumably), so unlike Ned's death or the Red Wedding the GoT showrunners can take the credit for realizing this one.

Favorite death: Even leaving aside the Sept and related deaths there's a lot of good ones to choose from in S6. Ramsey is cathartic but too gory for me, Osha's was a clever callback but a little delayed, it's hard to pin down specific deaths when Daenerys incinerates the khals, and Arya only gets half credit for Walder Frey and his sons when she saves the rest of the house for the opening of S7. I'm thinking Hodor, not so much because I enjoy his character or the manner of his death but because it's a clever bit of playing with language (that must have been hell to render in other languages for dubbing) wrapped up in some entertainingly murky consent issues and some closed time loop weirdness. It's all very...extra? Is that the word for it?

Least favorite death: Offscreen deaths continue to be mostly letdowns, in this case Blackfish and the Waif. Way to botch the ending of Arya's already near-pointless Braavos arc, guys. Speaking of Arya, this spot goes to Lady Crane, whom the Waif somehow kills with a stool or something. It's a dumb way to send off an entertaining minor character.

#6 Season 8

I swear that I'm not putting S8 this high solely because of Jonmund kind of sort of happening. I've never been very interested in either of them and the sex would be far too bear-on-otter to suit my pornographic preferences, but even so the choice to close out the series with them is hilarious.

I really don't need to elaborate on why S8 is down here; everyone who's ever watched the show has done as much in the nearly two years since it wrapped up. I do however need to explain why I've ranked not one but two seasons below it. My biggest argument here is that I don't believe it's fair to critique S8 for problems it inherited from earlier seasons. A non-comprehensive list:

Mad Queen Daenerys: unevenly built up beginning from S1 and continuing in some form through every following season

The questionable racial optics of Dany's army: also seeded as early as S1 and solidified by S3 with the Slaver's Bay arc

Cersei only succeeding because she makes stupid decisions and then lucks out until she doesn't: apparent from S1, directly lampshaded by Tywin in S3, fully on display with the Faith Militant arc of S5-6

Jaime not getting a redemption arc or falling in love with Brienne: evident with his repeated returns to Cersei throughout the show as one of the most consistent elements of his character, particularly in S4 and during the siege of Riverrun in S6

Tyrion grabbing the idiot ball/becoming a flat audience surrogate mouthpiece: started in S5 around the time the showrunners ran out of book material for him and wanted to make him more of a PoV character and his arc less of a downward spiral, although I've seen arguments that changes from the books involving his Tysha story and Shae set him on this trajectory even earlier

The hardening of Sansa's character: began in earnest in S4 and never let up from there

The strange ordering of antagonists: set down by S7's equally strange plot structure - the Night King had to come first with that setup

CleganeBowl and the dumber twists: from what I've heard the whole thing of writing around fans on the internet guessing plot twists started pretty much when the book content ended, so S5-6 maybe?

Yes, there's plenty to criticize about S8 on its own merits...but just as much that was merely the writers doing what they could at that point with deeply flawed material.

Highlight: This may sound cheesy, but the better parts of S8 are almost all the cinematic ones, whether that's E2 being a bottle episode with tons of poignant character send-offs before the big battle, a handful of deaths with actual satisfying weight like Jorah's and Theon's, and an epilogue that incorporates both closure for individuals and the broader uncertainty of messy socio-political systems that GoT has always been known for before working its way back to the Starks at the very end for some tidy bookending. Even imperfect moments like the Lannister twins' death and the resolution of Sansa's character felt weighty and appropriate based on what had come before.

Favorite death: Forget about the audio commentary attempting to flatten Cersei's character; Cersei and Jaime Lannister have an excellent end. Cersei especially, as the scenes of her stumbling her way down into the catacombs as the Red Keep crashes down around her really show off how her world is abruptly falling apart and how she retreats into her own self-interest at the end in spite of her demise being at least partially of her own doing. There's some stupid moments associated with these scenes, like Jaime dueling Euron to the death and CleganeBowl, but I can excuse those when the twins end up dying exactly where you'd expect them to: in each other's arms, in a ruined monument to their family's grand ambitions that, like Casterly Rock itself, was taken from another family.

Least favorite death: Quite a few dumb ones in S8 have become forever infamous. Missandei sticks out, and for me Varys too just as much because of how the writing pushes him to do the dumbest thing he could possibly do purely for the sake of killing him off ten minutes into the penultimate episode. But no one belongs here more than Daenerys Targaryen, killed at the height of a rushed and uncertain villain reveal by a man who takes advantage of their romantic history (who is also her family, because Targaryens) to stab her in a moment of vulnerability - pretty much only because another man tells him that Daenerys is the final boss. Narratively speaking that might be the case, but even so this is the end result of multiple seasons of middling-to-bad buildup. Not even Drogon burning the symbolism can salvage that. Also Fire Emblem: Three Houses did this scene and did it better.

#7 Season 5

...Yeah, we're going to have to go there.

Sansa's rape is not a plot point that personally touches me much. It's terribly framed in the moment and the followup in later seasons is inconsistent at best, but it's not a kind of trauma I can relate to. On the other hand, in the very same episode Loras is tried and imprisoned for homosexuality, and Margery faces the same punishment for lying for her brother. That hits much closer to home, not just for the homophobia but also for the culture war undertones of the not!French Tyrells persecuted by a not!Anglo fanatic who later reveals himself to be the in-universe equivalent of a Protestant. The trial is just one part of Cersei's shortsighted scheming, just as Sansa being married off to Ramsey is part of Littlefinger's, and both of them get their comeuppance in the end...but it's unsettling all the same. I especially hate what the Faith Militant arc does to King's Landing in S5, swiftly converting it from my favorite setting in GoT to a tense theocratic nightmare that only remains interesting to me because Cersei is consistently awesome. What's more, pretty much everything about S5 that isn't viscerally uncomfortable is dragged out and dull instead: the Dorne arc, Daenerys's second season in Meereen, Arya in Braavos, Stannis and co. at Castle Black. The most any of these storylines can hope for is some kind of bombastic finale, and while several of them deliver it's not enough to make up for what comes before, or how disappointing everything here builds from S4. S4 has Oberyn, S5 has the Sand Snakes - I think that sums up the contrast well.

Highlight: S5 does get stronger near the end. As much as his character annoys me I did like the High Sparrow revealing his pseudo-Protestant bent to Cersei just before he imprisons her, and there's a cathartic rawness to Cersei's walk of atonement where you can both feel her pain and humiliation and understand that she's getting exactly what she deserves (and this is what leads into the climax of S6, so it deserves points just for that). The swiftness of Stannis's fall renders his death and that of his family a bit hollow, but it's brutal and final and fittingly ignominious for a character with such grand ambitions but so little relevance to the larger story. The fighting pits of Meereen sequence is cinematic if nothing else, and even the resolution to the Dorne arc salvages the whole thing a tiny bit by playing into the retributive cycles of vengeance idea (and Myrcella knows about the twincest and doesn't care, aww - no idea why that stuck with me, but it's cute all the same). Oh, and Hardhome...it's alright. Not great, not crap, but alright.

Favorite death: I don't know why, but Theon tossing Myranda to her death is always funny to me. Maybe because it's so unexpected?

Least favorite death: Arya's execution of Meryn Trant is meant to be another one of the season's big finale moments, but the scene is graphic and goes on forever and I can't help but be grossed out. This is different from, say, Shireen's death, which is supposed to be painful to witness.

#8 Season 7

I can't tell if S7's low ranking is as self-explanatory as S8's or not. At least one recent retrospective on GoT's ruined legacy I've come across outright asserts that S7 is judged less harshly in light of how bad S8 was. If it were not immediately obvious by where I've placed each of them, I don't share that opinion.

Because S7 is just a mess, and the drop-off in quality is so much more painful here than it is anywhere else in the series except maybe from S4 to S5 (and that's more about S4 being as good as it is). The pacing ramps up to uncomfortable levels to match the shortened seasons, the structure pivots awkwardly halfway through from Daenerys vs. Cersei to Jon/Dany caring about ice zombies, said pivot relies largely on characters (mostly Tyrion) making a series of catastrophically stupid tactical decisions, and very few of the smaller set pieces land with any real impact as the show's focus narrows to its endgame conflict. As with S6 there are still some good ideas, but they're botched in execution. The conflict between Sansa and Arya matches their characters, but the leadup to that conflict ending with Littlefinger's execution is missing some key steps. Daenerys's diverse armada pitted against Cersei weaponizing the xenophobia of the people of King's Landing could have been interesting, but there's little room to explore that when Cersei keeps winning only because Tyrion has such a firm grip on the idiot ball and when Euron gets so much screentime he barely warrants. Speaking of Tyrion's idiot ball, does anyone like the heist film-esque ice zombie retrieval plotline? Its stupidity is matched only by its utter futility, because Cersei isn't trustworthy and nobody seems to ever get that.

And how could I forget Sam's shit montage? Sums up S7 perfectly, really. To think that that is part of the only extended length of time the show ever spends in the Reach....

Highlight: A handful of character moments save this season from being irredeemable garbage. As you can guess from my screencap choice, Olenna's final scene is one of them, even if Highgarden itself is given insultingly short shrift. S7 also manages what I thought was previously impossible in that it makes me care somewhat about Ellaria Sand, courtesy of the awful death Cersei plans for her and her remaining daughter. The other Sand Snakes are killed with their own weapons, which shows off Euron's demented creativity if nothing else. I like the entertainingly twisted choice to cut the Jon/Dany sex scene with the reveal that they're related. And, uh...the Jonmund ship tease kind of makes the zombie retrieval team bearable? I'm really grasping at straws here.

Favorite death: It's more about her final dialogue with Jaime than her actual death, but again I'm going to have to highlight Olenna Tyrell here for lack of better options. She drops the bombshell about Joffrey that the audience figured out almost as soon as it happened but still, makes it plain what I've been saying about how Jaime's arc has never really been about redemption, and is just about the only person to ever call Cersei out for that whole mass murder thing. There's a reason "I want her to know it was me" became a meme format.

Least favorite death: There aren't any glaringly bad deaths in S7, just mediocre or unremarkable ones. I still think the decision to have Arya finish off House Frey in the season's opening rather than along with their father at the end of S6 was a strange one that doesn't add much of dramatic value.

[whateverthedragonswant]

Hi, I recently came across your post talking about dark Daenerys always being the end game. I thought you did an excellent job showing the foreshadowing fans missed from the show. What surprised me on the show was JonxDany. I just couldn't wrap my head around the "romance". It felt out of character and illogical. As someone who loves Daenerys as a character and seems to really understand her, do you think they were in love? Is it tragic or political? I can't seem to reconcile it. Thank you!

Hi Nonnie! Thank you so much for the compliment, oh my goodness! And thank you for the ask!

Tbh with you, I never quite wrapped my head around the Jonerys romance either. I know a lot of people thought it was due to the lack of chemistry between Emilia and Kit on screen (I disagree, that dragon riding scene in 8x01 proved they did which makes me think their lack of romantic chemistry was intentional on the show’s part through the writing and editing), or that it was rushed (this part could be possible since they rushed her dark turn as well). But I honestly think it was meant to be tragic for both Jon and Daenerys, but more political on Jon’s side, at least in the beginning. 

I know a lot of people don’t agree with the pol!Jon theory and think it’s just that, a theory, but looking at the time from when Jon has met Dany through to the end, I find it hard to think anything else. Because that certainly would have explained away the receding of Jon’s POV/character after he and Dany met. It also would have went in line with what Kit had said before the beginning of season 7 about Jon being more political that season, possibly manipulating (I don’t think he used that exact word but I’m paraphrasing for him), but doing it kindly. Even though GoT blew up everyone’s arcs at the end of the last season, at the time, we knew there was a reason that Sansa said the line to him in 7x01 “You need to be smarter than Father. You need to be smarter than Robb” and we had seen Jon listening to Sansa by him deciding to leave the North (and organizing their defense for the upcoming battle) in her hands, asking Sansa what she thought when he got Tyrion’s scroll in 7x02, and what he says to Tyrion in 7x03. So, I personally think they were gearing up for Jon to do whatever it took to get Dany and her dragons up North for the battle (while probably not feeling all that comfortable about it but knowing it had to be done), which is why I think we see him and his band of men go on that quest in 7x06 & meet with Cersei and Co along with Dany in 7x07. 

There’s just too many questionable moments that happen from 7x03 to 8x06 that prove Jon was not as smitten as Dany was with him: 

The way he studies Dany reuniting with Jorah, the fact that he seems almost uncomfortable when Dany says in 7x05 “I’ve grown used to him” & his response “I wish you good fortune in the wars to come, Your Grace” and he doesn’t look back once as they push the boat out into the water (I think they purposely showed the contrast between Jorah saying goodbye to Dany vs Jon saying goodbye to Dany, there was definitely a reason they show Jorah looking back and not Jon but they play Jon and Dany’s love theme in the background - x)

Jon’s “what did I do face?” after he bends the knee figuratively in the boat cabin (3:23 - x) (though to be fair, the 7x06 script confirmed this is when Jon realizes he has feelings for her after seeing Dany mourning Viserion so this reaction of Jon’s could be that he basically just gave the North away)

Jon’s reaction and looking over at Varys and Missandei after Dany blows up on Tyrion in 7x04 and says “Your family, you mean? Perhaps you don’t want to hurt them after all” (1:11 - x) - which is really foreshadowing that Jon will have to make the same choice eventually, that Dany will give that ultimatum, me or your family, which she does in 8x04 and then inadvertently continues to in 8x05 and 8x06 - then Dany pushes him for advice, he gives it to her, and she doesn’t completely follow it to the letter, and then eventually she disregards it completely when she burns down KL in 8x05

Jon not showing any emotion when he receives word that Arya & Bran are alive & back home while in front of Dany though we see his reactions in 8x01 when he’s reunited with them (7x05) (8x01)

Jon’s reaction to the Northerners’ not so great reaction to Dany that was cut (0:43 - x)

Drogon watching Jon and Dany make out in 8x01 and Jon keeping his eyes open as he kisses Dany & keeping her in front of him (a very common trope, if that’s the right word, to indicate that something shifty is afoot or there is distrust - 4:11 x)

the infamous squint Jon has in response to Dany talking in response to Tyrion (x) which they definitely included for a reason and this for me solidified Kit as one of the Masters of Microexpressions

Jon’s reactions to Dany (that she can’t see) when she visits him in his room after the Feast in 8x04 (x)

Jon’s immediate whiplash worried turn to Dany when Tormund says proudly “or a King!” to check her reaction (x) plus the framing in this scene is not only meant to show the increasing isolation & paranoia Dany is feeling but for Jon to have his back to her (after they shared that warm smile no less which she realizes in 0:45 - x) I think it speaks very loudly that he is not as head over heels as people think he is but that he is placating her while also caring about her (she is family to him, the last of his real father’s family, & he’s also still attracted to her)

his glare to Sansa while planning the assault on KL to get her to shut up for lack of a better way to put it (2:36 x) which Tyrion later confirms in the same episode with his line to Sansa “why provoke her?” which leads to Sansa realizing Tyrion is afraid of Dany and then she also realizes Jon is too (Jon’s fear is not confirmed in dialogue in this moment but the ones seeing the writing on the wall for this whole thing, it wasn’t a large leap for them to make, knowing the characters they way they do) which then leads to her telling his secret

Jon giving himself up basically, to go South, I think he’s very aware he will not be coming North again once Dany wins and that is why he asks Tormund to take Ghost with him - you see him saying goodbye to Sam and Gilly, finding out about their child on the way, to Tormund, to Ghost (I know people were mad that Jon didn’t pet Ghost, I was too, but I think he honestly couldn’t handle it at that moment and I’ve seen brilliant metas circulate that talk about how Ghost is an extension of Jon and his injuries and look echo how Jon really feels - & if you see the sliced ear, it’s very possible that they are fully correct in that reading, Jon has stopped listening, he’s doing what he thinks is right, what he has to do, his duty, he’s not listening to Sam or Tormund or Sansa or even Arya) - this whole scene is meant as a goodbye to Jon Snow as a character (his Night’s Watch arc, his Wildling arc, even his bastard/Stark arc (and his wants that he has, his response to Gilly when she tells him they want tto name their child after him: “I hope it’s a girl” is just heartbreaking, Jon wanted a family someday (5:08 - x, notice how the Stark theme starts up subtly in the background) & he always wanted to be a Stark and in his mind, he is getting neither one nor does he think he deserve them at this point) and I think that’s why they don’t have any other Starks in that scene (& plus they had the Starks in that other scene in 8x04) (x) -- this whole scene really is the proof in the pudding for me regarding the whole duty vs love debate, coming down on the side of duty

Jon’s “I love you” in the fireplace scene seems to be more an answer to not just reassure her but tamp down any growing fury after just witnessing Varys’ execution (1:11 x) immediately followed up by his usual line “you will always be my queen” and then when she asks “is that all I am to you? Your queen?” notice that he doesn’t answer but lets her kiss him which he then doesn’t return and she realizes (notice his loud breathing too, it’s not passion, it’s fear, fear of what it might mean that he is not returning her affection so to speak, sadly for Dany I think she realizes this too and that’s why she subtly shakes her head, steps back and says “alright, let it be fear”, the part of me that loves Dany truly felt horrible for her in this moment though she scared the crap out of me too lol, it’s harsh because she really does love Jon, not enough to give up the IT and her destiny, but enough that she wants their relationship to work, that she did go up North to fight for him, delaying the attack on KL, she lost Jorah and Viserion, her forces were depleted, idk I just have some sympathy for her here because I still love her, and this is before she went full on dark, and Jon’s “I love you” was said softly with some measure of warmth in his eyes I think but I don’t believe he meant it the way she wanted him to)

Kit had this to say right before season 7 aired which I find fascinating because yes while he can’t give away spoilers, he didn’t need to answer this so definitively. And while he didn’t know what was going to happen in season 8 yet, I think this lends creedence (is that the right word?) to the fact that Jon was not head over heels in love with Dany (not like he was with Ygritte)

But saying all of that, I think by the end, Jon definitely cared for her. I don’t think he wanted her to die or even go bad. I think he was ready to give himself up to be with her to protect his home, to placate her, but also so there would no longer be a Targaryen living alone in the world. I think he remembers Aemon’s words all too well. However, I don’t think he could reconcile himself to a full on romance (which I think incest did play a part into it, but I think had that not been a factor, he still wouldn’t have been head over heels for Dany, incest with cousins and uncles/aunts was common in the GoT universe, Starks in history married their cousins at times [look back at their family tree, they were no strangers to it], and we all know about the Targaryen inbreeding, but I really think it has more to do with who Dany ends up being in the end than anything, and that’s why we see some moments that could be misconstrued as romantic and some warm, I would almost say tender, like the waterfall scene in 8x01 before Drogon enters the frame so to speak). I think, like every other character in the show that came into her orbit, Jon had feelings for the same Dany that they all did, that Jorah was in love with, that Tyrion believed in and was also in love with, that Varys supported until he couldn’t: the breaker of chains, the girl who walked into a fire with three eggs and out of the same fire with three dragons, etc. But once the curtain was pulled back and the Wizard was revealed, after he was around her long enough, I think Jon knew who she really was becoming and I really believe that played a major part in the portrayal of their “romance”. I also think that when Jon left to go to KL in 8x04, a part of him planned to take up Jorah’s role in Dany’s life. Not to say that he could replace Jorah or become a full on advisor to her, but that he would join Tyrion, Varys, Grey Worm, and Missandei in helping to win Dany back her IT like he promised but also to keep her placated, maybe help steer her in the right direction. And be someone who genuinely cares about her, another Targaryen (though no one knowing he was one had Sansa not told Tyrion). Until she tired of him or decided to kill him to end the threat his birthright posed. He says as much in 8x06 to Tyrion “That’s her decision”. I don’t think he ever thought Dany would actually ask him to join her on the IT and it definitely wasn’t something he wanted.

I did mention tragic for Jon, too, and I think that’s where the tragedy comes in. He has now become the Targaryen alone in the world, he is now a queenslayer, a kinslayer, and he is exiled back to the Night’s Watch. He had to kill someone he cared about, he had to kill a woman (he couldn’t do it twice before, with Ygritte and Melisandre), he had to kill his last living Targaryen family. And he had to do it while deceiving her in that last moment (which is why I think they dialed back the whole pol!Jon thing if it was ever on the table, which I definitely believe it was at some point) and watch her die. It wasn’t something he wanted to do as we know, but he had to, and we see him questioning himself even after she’s gone. (x) So I feel it was more political (in the beginning), complex (middle), and tragic (in the end) for Jon but for different reasons than Dany.

As for Dany, I think from her end, it was meant to be more of a tragic romance. In the books, I believe, there is a prophecy that Dany will know three betrayals and love is one of them. I don’t know if they carried that into the show here exactly, but there is a common theme of betrayal among Dany’s arc as we all know. I think she truly loved Jon and hoped he would be what she could never find before, had never seen in Viserys (not that she considered him romantically but I mean since he was the only other Targaryen she knew about at the time, and she knew the Targaryen history of siblings marrying siblings), or Drogo, or Daario, or even Jorah. Regardless of her feelings for any of them, regardless of their feelings for her, I think she thought she found what she wanted, what she needed, in Jon. Though I think finding out about Jon being her long lost nephew (and rival claim to the IT) deterred it maybe for a moment (or make her at least second guess it), but she still loved him and felt just as strongly. Not enough to deter her from her goal and her destiny (after the Great War is over, I mean), but as much as she possibly can. I think she really thought Jon was it for her. I also think she expected betrayal from Jon as she states in 8x05 to Tyrion (x), and then the look she gives Jon after Tyrion is taken away to a cell in 8x06 (1:50, you can also see Jon’s shock here because he wasn’t expecting her to be watching him so closely & he realizes oh crap, don’t blink, while they play the love theme in the background, she’s waiting for him to “betray” her too and had he defended Tyrion then and there, I have no doubt she would have thrown him in a jail cell, too, waiting for judgement aka execution x) but when he doesn’t “betray” her and she’s attained her goal, she is ready to make plans to rule together and be with him completely. It is definitely tragic for her end because here she expected him to betray her (like everyone else has at some time or another except Missandei, GW & Daario) twice by then, and the one time she doesn’t expect it, he does (no matter how it might have been justified & Jon’s only option) and it means her end. I’m not justifying her actions at all but I can see where they attempted to portray this as a tragic romance for her but only for her. Dany’s POV ends up swallowing most of the show in season 8, to the point where her story line becomes basically the show’s story line. Her arc becomes the sun that all other arcs are orbiting around and this is because she’s the other Big Bad after the Night King. Plus, I also think they were planning something big with Jon and that’s why they removed most of his story (so to speak) and important moments with the Starks, etc, for the big reveal in the end (it’s common in other shows I’ve seen and they did everything the same way they did in those other shows until 8x06 when they abandoned it). I don’t know what changed in the end, but that’s what I truly believe was what they were going for when it came to Dany herself. Tragic romance. I don’t believe it was ever political for her, in any way, shape, or form. I think once she fell in love with Jon, that was it.

The love theme itself “Truth” if you listen to it on the S7 soundtrack (Ramin Djawdi is a master btw) has an epic feel to it but almost a tragic one (though tragedy takes a back seat to the epic). It’s more Targaryen theme in nature (I have no idea what specific instrument you would call it) and you can hear it coming from Dany’s side almost, if that makes sense. And I think that’s because not only does it refer to the scene where Bran reveals who Jon is, and the boat sex is happening, but also because I believe it was only meant for Dany to experience this great romance. It does start out Stark-y just a tiny bit but then turns into something more, swells, and you can hear a slight Targaryen tint coming to it. After the first swell of music, you can almost see the boat scene happening in your head, whether you’ve actually seen it or not, and there’s almost a trepidation in the beginning, a contemplation, and then it’s all in, both feet over the edge and all hands on deck, pardon the pun. (x) This music plays as we know during the bending the knee scene in another song “See You For What You Are” (x), more subtle, but it’s there. And I think not only is it because it’s the moment where Jon realizes he has feelings and this leads to opening the door for the boat bang, but also because it’s what Jon says (this song, to me, sounds even more Targaryen-y to me) to Dany after he bends the knee, “see you for what you are” not who. And I know I mentioned it above, but it also plays during certain moments in season 8 that really make you question that romance, like that scene in 8x06. I think it’s all very telling. 

I have to be very honest, I’m not pro-Jonerys at all. But it’s not because I hate Dany or Jon or hate the idea of them together or get squicked by the family angle, it’s because the relationship was not good for either of their characters in the show. 

I remember watching 7x06 for the first time and seeing her reaction (or lack thereof) for Viserion’s death. I think she was in shock when it happened but who does she stand on the wall waiting for after? Jon. And that bothered me so much because she was the mother of dragons and they were the only children she would ever have. (and I might be more slightly biased towards the animals on the show) Yes, she did cry for Viserion on the boat later, but it’s almost more muted I feel because it blurs with her concern for Jon in that moment. That bothered me tremendously. Little did I know this would become a recurring theme for the last season as well: Jon comes first to everything else except the IT. (and I personally can’t stand it when this happens, I’m sorry, I’m all for love, but when you lose who you are, when you sacrifice yourself, I just can’t get past that) We do see her pain in 8x01 when Bran tells her about Viserion, and her pain at Rhaegal’s death in 8x04, but this is a strong female character who has proven she doesn’t need a man to run things. She is not someone who would get so besotted with someone that she would push everything else to the back burner and allow whatever is happening with him to color her decisions (I know, we all fall in love and it can happen, especially if it’s a first love or something akin to what one can feel as true love, if they’re convinced it’s that, but damn). Daario made suggestions to her but in the end, she made her own decisions. Drogo told her how to be but in the end, she figured out a way to appeal to him to do as she wanted (as we see in that scene where she takes the women into her care). Jorah advised her, so did Tyrion, but in the end she made her own decisions. 

I hate it when they do this to strong female characters (which is why I despised the whole Sansa vs Dany thing, I get it story wise but here were two arguably incredibly strong women going head to head over a man most of the time or at least they tried to show being a factor in Dany’s fall and it just... ugh). So not only did Dany falling in love with Jon lead to her fall, her demise, but it wasn’t good for Jon, either. He had to keep who he was a secret, he had to placate her, give himself up and over to duty, the table was not tilted towards him really in their relationship, not in season 8 at least, the power dynamic was all screwy (as shown in that bedroom scene in 8x04 & the fireplace scene in 8x05). I just don’t think they made a good couple to be honest, not one that could have worked out long term I think, despite what happened in KL & Jon feeling uncomfortable. Personally, not that I’m the show or GRRM, but I think eventually, had Jon not married her and ruled with her, there would have been a Dance of Dragons 2.0 with Jon possibly losing in the end. It depends really on if anyone else found out about Jon’s parentage and how much of a threat ir would have become. And I love both characters too much to see either of them go that route. But then of course, that happened so... 

Anyhoo, I’m so sorry for the 100 page essay in response lol. I swear I didn’t mean to get so wordy. I guess I still have a lot of thoughts where this show is concerned. This was my first ask, thank you so much for being it and for such an amazing question! <3

[magalidragon]

Okay drabble #2 for @lalacristina18 ‘s ask! Hope you like this one! It’s a little silly and kind of Fixer Upper Fanfiction ( @nlights37 is that a thing? I’m doing it) meets my drabble “wet paint.”

Enjoy!

haunted house | 30. “You better watch yourself”

It was the dumbest thing she had ever done.

Except she felt like she had to do it.

How else was she going to get the cute handyman to ask her out?

"Just ask him out!" her best friend shouted, as she took a crowbar to the siding on her house, prying up the nails. Missandei was used to most of her antics, but she knew this was going too far. She watched, amazed, slightly terrified, and in awe, muttering, "You have gone mental Daenerys."

Maybe she had gone mental, but she was also put off by how attractive the handyman was. He was incredibly sweet. A little goofy; he apologized one day when he showed up in thick black glasses, saying he'd forgotten to put his contacts in before he left the house. She had wondered why someone would apologize for that, but she soon learned that Jon Snow, Handyman Extraordinaire, apologized for quite a few things that were in no way his fault or under his control.

Like when he couldn't get a part in time to fix her hot water tank, because it was a weekend and the store was closed. "No problem, guess I'll see you Monday," she had simply said with a smile and a cheerful glee, because she knew they were closed on the weekend and he'd have to come back Monday.

Or when she had purposefully yanked out some sort of fuse in her car so it wouldn't start and he had apologized that it had gone missing. "Not your fault at all!" Because it's totally my fault and then she'd pretended to find the fuse on the ground. "Will this fix it?"

He frowned at the tiny piece of place and wire. "Um, aye, that's so weird..."

Today she was going to claim there was something wrong with her siding and it needed to be replaced. She dropped the crowbar, wiping sweat off her forehead, and placed her hands on her hips, glancing at Missandei, who was shaking her head side-to-side. "What?"

"Just bloody ask him out! I'll do it for you. You're destroying your house just to get him to come over." She smirked. "He has to know what you're doing. He's just taking your money and knowing you're using him which is wrong, or he's really bloody stupid and that's not great either."

"You haven't met him yet."

"What guy could be so attractive and cute and sweet and all that for you to resort to this!?" Missandei waved her hands at the splintered wood at her feet. She sighed, closing her eyes. "Dany, love, you are my best friend but..."

"Good morning!"

Dany threw the crowbar into the bushes, spinning on her heels and beaming at the man who had poked his head around the open fence to her back garden. She waved. "Hello Jon! Good morning to you!" She rounded on Missandei, who stared at him and smirked knowingly. "You're a little early."

He turned pink, coming around the corner holding onto his toolbox. "Aye, sorry about that, I thought I might get you a coffee..." he trailed off and politely smiled at Missandei. "Oh I am sorry, I would have gotten another....here, you can have mine if you want."

To her best friend's stunned silence, he removed one of the two takeout coffee cups from the tray in his other hand and passed it to her. Missandei swallowed hard, clearing her throat. "Thank you, that's...so nice of you."

He smiled again in his shy, half-smile way that Dany absolutely bloody adored, and turned his face to her. "You called last night and said that your bathroom pipes were leaking again? I don't know what is going on, I mean..." He scratched his hair, brow furrowing, and gazed up at the old-as-shit house she had purchased with intent to completely renovate. "I swear I just fixed those..."

"Oh you did, I'm sure this place is cursed."

"By a Valyrian dragon," Missandei mumbled under her breath.

Dany stepped on her foot and crossed her arms, grinning. "And would you look at this? This siding is rotten, I think we'll need to replace it."

"Um, yes of course." He knelt and picked up some of the wood, shaking his head. "You must have an angry ghost Dany, this looks like someone took a crowbar to it." He was immediately concerned, jumping to his feet. "You should file a police report, someone could be vandalizing your property!"

Missandei sipped her free coffee and mumbled again, not so quietly, "Hmm, someone with silver hair I think."

"What?" Jon asked.

"Ignore her, she's mad." She forced another smile. "It's fine. I...thank you Jon, perhaps look at those pipes first and then we can look at the siding."

"I have wood," he blurted out.

Missandei choked. Dany flushed bright red. "Oh?"

"Hmm, in the truck. Be right back." He turned on his heel and walked away. Dany elbowed her best friend, who stared now at his retreating back.

"Oh my."

"It's beautiful. I just like to look at it."

Missandei patted her arm. "Daenerys you are my best friend, but if you don't ask him out by the end of the day, I'm going to tell him everything you've been doing and only because I'm scared you might set your house on fire just to watch him come running in with the fire hose."

Dany hummed. The idea was appealing, but arson was certainly not an option.

Yet.

---

It was the end of the day; she'd tried her damndest to get him to ask her out. Missandei had left, becaus she claimed she couldn't watch it any longer, proclaiming them both "stupid idiots" and Dany had to agree. She was a stupid idiot, trying to get him to look at her as something other than the crazy lady in the haunted house. She'd worn her bikini top while gardening, she'd broken her siding, and stuffed leaves in her gutters.

And Jon Snow still didn't bloody get it.

Maybe he was stupid, she thought, and watched him bent over some exposed pipes in the hallway leading to the master bedroom. A himbo or something. Except she knew he wasn't, because she'd seen that he had a stack of books in his truck to return to the library, one of which happened to be her brother's boring ass tome on Targaryen History, and he'd eagerly chatted with her about it.

"So why are you a contractor?" she asked. She kept referring to him as a handyman, but reminded herself he was more than that. He ran his own business and lumber yard up in Winterfell. "Do you just like fixing things?"

He shrugged, reaching his arm down into the pipes. "I do like fixing things, but when I got out of the military, nothing really appealed to me. Didn't want a boss again and I like building things. Working on my own terms."

"I like that too." It was why she moved up North, a freelance journalist, and needing a safe quiet space to recharge and focus between assignments. She got up and cleared her throat. "I'll be downstairs if you need me." She was halfway down the stairs when she heard a strange sound. It was a yowl.

It sounded like Drogon, she thought, turning towards the wall. "Drogon?" she called.

He meowed again, pitiful. She moved closer towards the wall and knocked. Her voice trembled, calling once more. "Drogon?"

A light scratching and more yowling.

She screamed, realizing with horror that Drogon was inside the bloody wall. "DROGON!" She banged on the wall, running up the stairs, crying out. "Jon! Drogon's in the wall!"

"What?"

"I think he must have crawled in when we were talking and not looking, oh my gods, Drogon!"

Jon frowned at her, still not moving. He narrowed his eyes. "Drogon's in the wall, huh?"

"I think so."

He cocked his head and got to his feet, sighing hard. "Dany, I...I think I know what's going on and..." He turned bright pink. "I really have to confess something..." He shifted on his feet and blurted out, really fast, his Northern burr thick. "I...I know that not everything here is breaking and...and I'm fixing it and stuff, but...well...the store was open and I didn't get hte part because I wanted to come see you and...and I may not have cleaned the gutters all the way so I could come back and...oh gods, I haven't charged you at all because I'm just...I like you!"

Her eyes widened, too terrified for her cat to process what he'd just admitted to her. "But...I...I'm sorry, but he's really in the wall! Listen!"

They both were quiet and after a second, heard the pathetic howling of a trapped cat.

Jon moaned, mortified, shoving his face into his palms. "Oh my gods! I'm so sorry! I thought...oh fuck, forget what I said!"

"No I can't forget it because I like you too!" They could have this conversation after they saved her damn cat.

It took awhile, of her trying to coax the damn cat out from the opening in the floor, to Jon carefully searching and finding a space in the wall to knock through with a sledgehammer so he wouldn't hit Drogon or anything unsafe. Bits of drywall and debris scattered, "You better watch yourself," she warned him, when Drogon began to hiss and pant, terrified as they drew closer to him. "He might attack!"

"He's just scared, he'll be alright."

A couple hours later, her entire hallway and stairwell covered in broken bits of drywall, plaster, wood, and insulation, her very dirty and ashy cat enveloped in a blanket in her arms, Dany finally looked up at JOn. He hadn't said a word to her about his confession of not really fixing anything because he liked her and wanted ot keep seeing her.

She ducked her head, whispering, "I know it was wrong of me too, to keep breaking things...I just really liked you too."

"I'm not good with women," he admitted.

"Clearly, I was walking around in my bikini and you didnt say a word."

"I was trying to be professional!"

She giggled. Drogon whined in her arms. She scowled. "Hey! You didn't think I was serious that my cat got stuck in the wall!"

"I thought it was another thing like when you called me to say that your pipes were clogged at ten at night." He arched his brows. "Come on Dany."

"Alright, that was a ruse...but he really did get stuck!" She let go of Drogon, who raced into her bedroom to hide under the bed and lick his wounds-- more like his pride at having to be rescued by humans of all things. She looked up at Jon, sitting on the step just above her and grinned. "Can we agree to just...kind of start over?"

he nodded and licked his lips; she shivered. "Start over at dinner tonight?"

"Yes, dinner is perfect."

"And I'll be the first thing in the morning to start working on..." he gazed around at the chaos surrounding them, sighing. "This."

"Sounds good."

Turned out he didn't have to show up early at all the next morning, because he was already there, fast asleep in her bed, both of them exhausted. Dinner had been merely an afterthought.