ICE & FIRE.

𝙬𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡.

[alienwlw]

Midsommar (2019) dir. Ari Aster

[crastamere]

dani ardor in midsommar has the energy that margaery deserves after being mace’s pawn and dealing with joffrey’s shit thank uuuu

[prettylittleharlots]

Lord Fallon: Make her stop, please. Charlotte: Make him squeal, Lucy.

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

“The world was emptying itself of meaning. Everything was hollow. Everything was withering.”

— Margaret Atwood, from “The Testaments,” released c. September 2019

[crastamere]

SHIERA.   bright  star.

❛   I’M VERY GLAD   to  see  you  looking  much  livelier,  lady  falia.  have  you  been  eating  well  ?   you’re  terribly  malnourished.     ❜    tender  joy  takes  to  features  unearthly,  mismatched  eyes  shine  like  diamonds  below  sheer  waves  of  tame  seas.  she  sits  across  her,  not  too  near,  not  too  far,  one  dainty  hand  drops  a  cotton  thud  on  the  mahogany  &  scratch  of  silver  purrs  gentle  beneath  her  hold.  she  reaches  forth  without  lifting,  slides  it  closer  with  a  fragrant  smile.  a  flower  pendant  blooms  within  her  palm,  endowed  with  sapphires  &  emeralds  like  the  heavy  necklace  further  flattering  her  dainty  neck,  dipped  in  the  depths  of  magic’s  protection,  though  invisible.     ❛    a  gift.    —–       ❜   she  leans  back,  breaths  calm  as  the  same  hand  lands  on  her  belly,  and  her  lean  legs  cross  one  top  of  the  other.   ❛    the  queen  wishes  we  still  have  the  court  for  the  greyjoy  worm.  would  you  like  to  attend  ?   have  a  word  ?       ❜

❛   AS MUCH AS I CAN,   m’lady   .   .   .   ❜     her  tongue  still  feels  so  heavy,   heavy  as  steel,   but  tastes  are  more  fragrant  now,   food  is  so  lush   &   even  sweeter  than  honeyed  dreamwine;   euron’s  crime  has  nigh  been  forgotten,   here  in  this  chamber  with  the  mother  of  all  maidens,   whether  they  be  meek  or  malevolent,   &   SHE HAS CERTAINLY BEEN BOTH.     ❛   ---   oh,   ❜     her  eyes  seem  to  glow  in  the  pale  pyramid  light,   ashine  by  gems  more  grand   &   beautiful  than  any  other  her  dewy  gaze  has  ever  cast  upon.   the  jewels  are  alike  the  ones  around  her  own  swanish  neck,   she  notices,   &   with  such  realization  she’s  cast  into  exhilarated  reveries.   ❛   its  truly  beautiful,   m’lady   .   .   .   you’ve  been  kind  to  me,   so  much  kinder  than  i  may  deserve.   ❜     she  cradles  it  as  tenderly  as  she  has  her  belly,   as  tenderly  as  she  regards  shiera   &   her   dragonkin.   but  falia  wilts  before  her,   in  a  way  that  only  a  woman  would  notice;   she’s  suddenly  transfixed  by  the  pendant  as  would  a  child  beholding  the  daintiest  of  creatures.   something  escapes  her,   bruming  between  them  like  a  tangible  ache.     ❛   ---   what  could  i  say   ?   is  the  queen  not  cross  with  me  as  well,   for--   for  coming  too,   under  the  same  pretenses   ?   he   .   .   .   said  we  would  be  sisters.   ---   my  true  sisters  didn’t  care  for  me,   i  only  wanted  to  be  hers.   ❜     she  sounds  as  if  she  could  weep,   but  all  the  salt  has  been  drained  from  her,   all  besides  that  clump  in  her  belly,   kicking  at  her  insides  in  crests  that  could  engulf   &   topple  ships.   she  wishes  the  sea  had,   to  spare  her  of  all  this  misery.     ❛   what  do  you  think  she’ll  do  to  him   ?   .   .   .   will  she  punish  me,   too   ?   ❜

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

Painful moon-eyes,

Gertrud Kolmar, from Dark Soliloquy: The Selected Poems; “The Toad,” (via violentwavesofemotion)

[bienenkiste]

Protect | Photographed by Alice Neale

[crastamere]

SHIERA.   mother  /  maiden.

❛   BLESSED MORNING, YOUR GRACE.   you  seem  lovely,  sunlight  flatters  your  beauty  even  in  weakness.  —   i’ve  .  .  .  dismissed  your  guards,  though  worry  not,  you  are  much  safer  with  just  me.  i’ve  come  to  escort  you  out  of  here.  iksā  iā  zaldrīzes.  zaldrīzoti  issi  daor  buzdari.     ❜   

❛   YOU TELL LIES.   what  motivations  would  you  have  to  lie  to  a  grieving  mother   ?   ❜     her  figure  seems  to  sway,   half-death   /   half-dream.   the  chamber  smells  of  blood  still   &   the  sunlight  she  speaks  of  betray  tears  that  have  yet  to  cease,   as  cold   &   clear  as  the  rest  of  her.     ❛   ---   where  is  it  you  mean  to  take  me   ?   where can i go that they will not follow   ?   ❜

[crastamere]

VISENYA.   all  mother.

❛   I WANT YOU ON THE THRONE.   i  have  lain  to  sleep,  though  we  are  awakened  all  the  same.  i  won’t  have  the  throne  i’ve  built  out  of  blood,  mine  &  the  precious  blood  of  mine,  sat  by  disgusting  leeches.  —-    i  sat  the  throne.  rhaenys  sat  the  throne.  would  i  allow  aegon  one  breath  more  had  it  not  been  for  fear  for  my  sister  ?       —    women  rule.  rage  rules.  men  pretend.  —  burn  them,  saera.  have  them  beg,  but  don’t  spare.  what  would  any  meagre  vermin  have  against  true  dragonfire  ?     ❜

❛   YOU SAT THE THRONE   because  you  sat  dragons  as  well.   i  wasn’t  given  a  dragon.   i  was  given  sisters  who  sneered  at  me,   &   a  mother  who  despised  my  very  being  until  all  her  other  precious  children  were  dead   &   i  seemed  less  like  a  monster  in  comparison.   but  you  see   .   .   .   i’m  still  a  monster,   &   if  she  were  still  alive,   &   i  had  a  dragon  as  fierce  as  the  black  dread,   I WOULD BURN HER FIRST.   ---   i  don’t  want  a  throne,   i  want  ash.   i  want  my  father’s  head.   ❜

[madeline-kahn]

Ready or Not (2019) dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

[crastamere]

all the targaryen women are raging bipolar misandrist wlws. that’s the law now

[mournfulroses]

“I know. I’m angry because I understand, not because I don’t.”

— Sarah Kane, from Sarah Kane: Complete Plays; “4:48 Psychosis”

[xspasmolyticx]

Belladonna of Sadness - Eiichi Yamamoto (1973)

[crastamere]

VISENYA.   all  mother.

❛   IT’S NOT OF SURPRISE    that  you  wouldn’t  care  to  return  to  usurpers  &  weaklings.  though    —-   you  are  the  blood  of  the  dragon,  you  must  take  the  throne,  the  claim  is  yours.  take  your  revenge.  —–    urnēptre  zirȳ  perzys  ānogār,  saera.   —   nyke'll  tame  iā  zaldrīzes  syt  ao.     ❜

❛   FIRE & BLOOD DIED WITH YOU   half  a  millennia  ago,   when  dragons  were  still  conquerors.   my  father  was  a  weakling   &   it  seemed  every  predecessor  from  aegon’s  line  was  the  same.   its  my  sons  who  hold  a  claim---   when  has  a  woman  ever  sat  the  throne  herself,   &   why  would  they  want  us  to   ?    ---  rage  is  all  we’re  good  for,   rage   &   fire   &   disarray.   they’ve  made  certain  of  that.   ❜

[heireating]

                 QUOTE STARTERS VOL.V      MARGARET ATWOOD

❛ I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary. ❜

❛ Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them. ❜

❛ In the end, we’ll all become stories. ❜

❛ I am inadequate and stupid, without worth. I might as well be dead. ❜

❛ If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew everything that was going to happen next—if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions—you’d be doomed. You’d be ruined as God. ❜

❛ If you can’t go through an obstacle, go around it. ❜

❛ Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results. ❜

❛ Time in dreams is frozen. You can never get away from where you’ve been. ❜

❛ Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? ❜

❛ We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly. ❜

❛ If I love you, is that a fact or a weapon? ❜

❛ You fit into me like a hook into an eye. ❜

❛ Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened. ❜

❛ Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. ❜

❛ Women have curious ways of hurting someone else. ❜

❛ This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons. ❜

❛ Get rid of death. Make it be spring. ❜

❛ You are innocent as a bathtub full of bullets. ❜

❛ I am the space you desecrate as you pass through. ❜

❛ Favour me and give me riches, destroy my enemies. Save me from death. ❜

❛ She is a raw voice loose in the rooms beneath me. ❜

❛ Isn’t the moon warm enough for you, why do you need the blanket of another body? ❜

❛ This is a torch song. Touch me and you’ll burn. ❜

❛ If you look long enough eventually you will see me. ❜

❛ I would like to sleep with you, to enter your sleep as its smooth dark wave slides over my head. ❜

❛ I would like to give you the silver branch, the small white flower, the one word that will protect you from the grief. ❜

❛ But some people can’t tell where it hurts. They can’t calm down. They can’t ever stop howling. ❜

❛ How else can we live, these days, except in the midst of ruin? ❜

❛ What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question. ❜

❛ Gods always come in handy, they justify almost anything. ❜

[heireating]

          BOOK STARTERS VOL.52    SHARP OBJECTS    GILLIAN FLYNN

❛ The face you give the world tells the world how to treat you. ❜

❛ Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom. ❜

❛ Women get consumed. ❜

❛ Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you’re really doing it to them. ❜

❛ A child weaned on poison considers harm a comfort. ❜

❛ Safer to be feared than loved. ❜

❛ I ached once, hard, like a period typed at the end of a sentence. ❜

❛ It’s impossible to compete with the dead. I wish I could stop trying. ❜

❛ I always feel sad for the girl that I was. ❜

❛ Every time people said I was pretty, I thought of everything ugly swarming beneath my clothes. ❜

❛ How do you keep safe when your whole day is as wide and empty as the sky? Anything could happen. ❜

❛ See, there I am. I told you I lived. I told you I was. ❜

❛ Sometimes I think I won’t ever feel safe until I can count my last days on one hand. ❜

❛ To refuse has so many more consequences than submitting. ❜

❛ I’m here. I don’t usually feel that I am. ❜

❛ I’m tired of dying. ❜

❛ What if you hurt because it feels so good? ❜

❛ How confusing to live in the shadow of a shadow. ❜

❛ Do you ever feel like bad things are going to happen, and you can’t stop them? You can’t do anything, you just have to wait? ❜

❛ Sometimes my scars have a mind of their own. ❜

❛ Everyone has their own version of a memory. ❜

❛ Isn’t a smile a girl’s best weapon? ❜

❛ My sense of weightlessness, I think, comes from the fact that I know so little about my past. ❜

❛ Do what I want; I might like you. ❜

❛ I feel sorry for Persephone because even when she’s back with the living, people are afraid of her because of where’s she’s been. ❜

❛ She has never told me she loved me, and I never assumed she did. ❜

❛ The sight of it actually does something to you, makes you less human. ❜

❛ It infects you. It ruined me. ❜

❛ Your health is not a debt you just cancel. The body collects. ❜

❛ Men love to put things inside women, don’t they? ❜

[gentlehorrors]

here’s some details for post-asoiaf / queen of the reach margaery because [redacted] tried obliterating the concept and i can’t live with that on my conscience!!!

when margaery ascends as queen of the reach after the long night, she renews the golden peace of garth goldenhand and dawns her own golden reign.

her identity as a lesbian is widely accepted within her own court, and is otherwise unspoken knowledge throughout the other sovereign kingdoms, thus the reach springing into a quiet haven for all sorts of “deviance” from westeros’ post-conquer operations.

lavender weddings, in which gay men and gay women wed one another for domestic, political and financial safety while resuming their private relationships, are permitted under margaery’s new rites: many people from westeros to essos travel to the reach in search of gay liberation, and much of the nobledom there — and particularly margaery’s closest confidants — are all products of such arrangements.

due to the commonplace of lavender weddings (and thus, the lack of births) in her kingdom, she enacts the custom of adoption or permanent housing in place of wedding night consummation. with nation-wide collaboration, the reach becomes a massive network of supplemented orphanages and shelters for anyone displaced during the five kings war and the battle for the dawn. newly weds are neither required or expected to deliver heirs, but are instead encouraged to offer homes to orphans or lowborn children and their mothers and siblings; claims to land, titles and the like are no longer innately hereditary, but instead can be afforded to anyone to establish equal opportunities and abolish the toxicity of the class system that her own father had contributed to.

overall, the kingdom of the reach sees a period of peace, equality and economic stability, before becoming the polestar of westeros’ most esteemed creations. incredible fashion and metalsmithing, and stock of the known world’s many harvestable foods from its multitude of gardens becomes its main exports, while some of the most revered depictions of the battle for the dawn through songs, tapestries and sculptures are unveiled first in margaery’s court.