your heart hits like a drum

so you better stay clever if you wanna survive jon snow, 22. hand to the king in the north. bastard. loyal to the north and to house stark.

[sikanapanele-deactivated2018121]

[notalordsnow]

not kids anymore | jon & faye

A lot had happened in such a short time. Robb proposed to Faye and she had accepted. Jon lost his favourite pair of trousers. Walder Frey was forcing Robb to take one of his daughters for a wife, and now he’d heard that Damon had promised Faye’s hand in marriage to the Heir of House Arryn. He wondered what else this war would take from them. He’d spoken to Robb earlier that day, but not since he had heard about Faye’s betrothal, and since there weren’t to be any small council gatherings for the rest of the day Jon had decided to take this time to seek out a friend who he imagine desperately needed an ear. If she hasn’t already found his cousin that is.

Jon walked through the camp to the tent that he knew was Faye’s, ignoring most his surroundings as he made his presence outside her tent known. “Faye? Are you decent? Thought you’d like to go... somewhere that isn’t here.” He offered. He knew she was still in there because he’d seen her duck inside earlier and hadn’t left since, and he was sure freedom from the eyes and ears of passersby was what she might need today most of all.

[hoodedstark]

dirty paws | ruby + jon

[notalordsnow]

hoodedstark:

Ruby laughed, scoffing slightly and kissed him on the cheek. “We will never forget it,” she told him, sitting back and relaxing. It was good that they were at least here together. She had been afraid she’d never see any of them again. “I know. It would be ill advised to move against them. I’m just so angry that they can impede us so easily. We should be further south by now. Every day we’re stuck here…” Running a hand through her hair, she pushed it back. “We are in danger, our family is in danger. We’ve lost Winterfell, we’re losing ground here. Our alliance with Renly and the Tyrell never got to take place thanks to Stannis Baratheon.” Getting quiet, she looked back to Jon. “What are we fighting this war for, Jon? Why are we here?”

“Trust me, I know. And so do all the other men and women back at camp.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. It was lucky that their soldiers hadn’t started acting up already, especially with how long they had been camped there. Jon turned his head to the side to listen as she spoke, feelings of helplessness resurfacing. “We’ve taken a lot of blows yes, but we are still here. It will take a lot more than Stannis Baratheon to keep us from getting our family back.” And getting revenge. Jon certainly didn’t forget that. He wouldn’t forgive a Lannister so long as he lived. “That’s why we’re here, Ruby. For Sansa and Arya. For Daniel and Isabelle too. They are our family and we can’t stop until they are back with us.” That’s why they had to put up with the Frey’s for now. They were just a speed bump on the way to getting their family back. That’s all Jon cared about.

[zoegraystone]

Get to Know Me Meme: 1/10 - male characters Jon Snow, “Game of Thrones” “A Song of Ice and Fire”

“Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us.             Kill the boy and let the man be born.”

[northernwolfking-blog]

blood brothers | robb and jon

[notalordsnow]

northernwolfking:

“Is it wrong that a part of me want to give up their allegiance for the sake of her happiness? I knew this crown would be heavy, but I never knew it would steal more family from me. I was supposed to don it in order to get my sisters and friends returned to me, to see justice for our Lord father and freedom for the north. But in the end - will I be left defeated and hanged? Will I lose more of you?” He drew in a deep breath and sat back on the stool, gathering himself. “I apologize, brother. This self-pitying attitude will get us nowhere. I only thought - well, nothing is certain anymore. Not since they murdered our father. But some part of me has always known I would marry Faye. It is hard to believe I may have to give that up. I made her a promise, Jon.”

Robb laughed, dry and humorless. “I would deserve the beating. It is not right to ask a woman’s hand in marriage and then leave her for another offer…even if it is for the good of my people. It does not feel honorable. Even if you and Ruby are the only ones who know, how can Faye ever truly forgive me? And how can I be around her, knowing we can’t be together and I must remain loyal to my wife?” He pressed his lips together. “Walder Frey is certainly a changeable and untrustworthy man. He will sell us out as soon as he can, if we are not useful to him.”

He arched an eyebrow, watching the smile play out across his brother’s face. He barked out a small laugh, and shook his head, though he was grateful for the offer. “You know we cannot. If I am to defy Frey or challenge him, it must be out in the open, with honor and courage.”

Jon sat back as he poured himself a drink, allowing his brother to speak his mind - to speak everything that he otherwise wouldn’t as the King in the North. Robb had been groomed to eventually take his place as the head of House Stark, yes, but he doubted any amount of lessons could have prepared him for this. To not only give his life for the good of his people, but now also his heart? Jon wondered just how much more of himself Robb would have to sacrifice. It was a burden he himself knew he could never handle. This itself was a vicious case of irony, that the bastard son would be the one to pity his legitimate brother for being exactly that. Though if Jon were being honest, he would gladly exchange places with Robb if it meant that he would be aiding him.

“They could hardly fault you though. Anyone would have expected a marriage between yourself and Faye. Nobody could have seen Walder Frey’s dirty stubby fingers come crawling under the table to strangle you. And Faye is...” Jon trailed off and frowned. Faye loved Robb truly and without fault, the same which could be said for him. With the kind of person Faye was he honestly believed it wouldn’t be a thing she would hold against Robb... eventually, after the heartache had finished settling in. “Faye will understand. Eventually.”

Jon grinned as Robb laughed, satisfied that he could at least get that out of him. “It’s just another suggestion for you. You understand that Ruby and I would be more than willing to fulfill that task if necessary.” He smirked, “Besides it is not like Walder Frey would know what honor and courage looked like if it bit him in his backside.” Jon’s chuckled faded as his smile did. He knew that as his Hand he couldn’t think about Robb in a personal manner. There was a reason Robb chose him to be the one by his side, and now he had to act the part, not as a brother but as one loyal to the King.

“You know what your choices are though right? Either accept this poor hand you have been dealt and marry the Frey girl so that we can keep marching forward... Or we turn around, likely with another enemy poised to fight against us.” Jon hated having to point out the obvious, something Robb was already well aware of, but that was his job, personal feelings aside.

[northernwolfking-blog]

blood brothers | robb and jon

[notalordsnow]

northernwolfking:

“I am terrible. How could I even begin to agree with this, knowing what I promised Faye?” Robb grimaced, rubbing at his temples. A pounding headache was looming, threatening to rob him of the rest he so direly needed. Jon and Ruby were, so far, the only people he and Faye had told about their engagement. His brother was the only person he could talk to about this. Ruby would probably kill him just for considering the marriage alliance, although he wouldn’t blame her. He was wretched, to consider this. But he had the North to consider - he wasn’t sure he could put Faye and his own selfish happiness first anymore. Not if he wanted his sisters and his cousins safely returned home. 

“Yes. Walder Frey wants me in return for passage through the Twins. He wants his daughter instated as Queen in the North. He wants to have a bloody hold over all of this, for as long as I am able to hold on to this miserable crown.” Robb shook his head. “He says I can have his prettiest one. As if they’re cattle. As if I care. None of them are Faye. If I am to do this, to be a King, I need her…and I will lose her when this becomes official.” He breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself. “I see no way around this. But it’s a rotten deal. He can’t be trusted, and he doesn’t care enough about his family that having his daughter by my side would afford us any extra protection.”

Jon’s expression fell into a frown. He hated seeing Robb like this, shoulders and head hung so low one could practically see the world that had become his burden to carry. There was little he could do to help relieve that weight as well, a fact which bothered him. He was meant to be his Hand and here he was useless to him. Jon stood and moved to pour Robb a pitcher of ale, if there was anyone in this camp that needed a drink right now it was him. “You did it because you knew what was necessary for the sake of this House and everyone that has sworn allegiance to you.”

When Robb had told him that he had proposed to Faye and that she had agreed, Jon was over the moon for him. It was about time of course, but he knew that there were no better people for either of them. The sky was blue, the North was cold and Robb and Faye belonged together, no question about it. To see the overjoyed Robb that had a stupid smile on his face when bringing that news was vastly different to the defeated one he now had sitting in his tent. Robb was always meant to lead, but this was truly a sacrifice like none other for him. It was unfair. Jon walked back and held the drink he had poured in front of him.

“I’m not sure what I can say that you haven’t already thought through yourself. On one hand, Faye would eventually come to understand, you would likely get a good beating from Ruby, but we would have passage without any bloodshed - except maybe yours.” He tried to smile but it mostly came out as a hollow laugh, “On the other, you deny Walder Frey, we’re stuck on this side and he likely switches allegiance to the Lannister’s as fast as you can say ‘Winter is coming’.”

“Or...” Jon added, taking his seat across from Robb once more, a small smile playing at his lips. “You let myself and Ruby take a group of armed men sneak around and take the castle in the dead of night and open the gates ourselves. Frey’s men are hardly a challenge, and you know Ruby’s itching to get going already. Present company included.” Jon knew Robb’s answer before he even finished, but it was just another way to let Robb know what Jon was ready to do whatever he asked, whatever was necessary for him if it meant relieving some of the weight he carried around with him.

[hoodedstark]

dirty paws | ruby + jon

[notalordsnow]

hoodedstark:

Ruby raised an eyebrow at him in return. “Oh, Jon, you know you’re the prettiest one in all of Winterfell.” She held his chin in her hand for a moment, giving it a gentle squeeze. She knew some of the men used it against him, to try and tear him down. Letting her hand fall away, she stared at the trees in the distance, listening to the sounds of the camp before shifting her focus to the water around them. “We have come too far to turn back, but we’re stuck now.” None of them were happy to have been stalled out so easily by Walder Frey and his ridiculous demands. “This place makes me uneasy. Even Moon Dancer is constantly pacing. She knows something is wrong here.” But the feelings of a direwolf weren’t enough to build an accusation on.

“We should just force our way through. Don’t we have enough men to overwhelm Lord Frey? He needs a reminder of his place in all of this.” Ruby wanted nothing more than to take the man’s head in her hands and squeeze it until he popped, but she had no such luck. “The longer we sit here, the more at risk we put ourselves. The Lannisters are building their army and if we don’t move quickly, they will come for us here. This camp would be no good in a siege.”

Jon narrowed his eyes playfully back at her when she grabbed his chin, satisfied with her answer before rolling his eyes and pulling himself free from her grasp. “As long as we’re all aware of that fact.” He was taunted by some of the guards growing up for his looks, but out of all the things he was used to being called ‘pretty boy’ was hardly an insult. Jon nodded in agreement to her words. Of course they felt the same way. Both their concerns were for their families and their House after all. Jon hated being so far from home, he hated that they had to leave their younger brothers behind. But he knew that here with Robb, Ruby, and Faye was where he belonged. Gone were the days when they could carefully run around in the woods with little care in the world. The fighting was up to them now.

“We do.” He agreed, having entertained the thought of taking over the Twins by force. “The Frey’s are barely a challenge for us considering Walder Frey is more concerned about filling his belly with shit and ale...” Jon let out a sigh as he let his head drop back against the tree, his hand absentmindedly falling to the hilt of his sword that lay beside him. “But they are sworn to the North, if we moved against them it may cast doubt on some of our other allies. Robb cannot afford that kind of doubt right now.” Jon’s free hand balled into a fist, thinking of the smug smile Walder Frey was no doubt wearing right now. “Frey has us cornered and he bloody knows it. He knows Robb will have to agree to whatever he wants if we mean to pass.”

[northernwolfking-blog]

blood brothers | robb and jon

He’d made a terrible mistake. Or - no, not a mistake but - the situation was disastrous. All he’d wanted since he’d been fifteen years old had been Faye Salvatore’s hand in marriage. It had taken him too long to ask, too long to work up the courage, but he had. Gods, he had, and she’d said yes - she wanted him too. But the very day after his council had promised him to the Freys, sold him away for passage across the Crossing that his army so direly needed. This feud - now blossomed into a war - had taken so much from Robb. His father dead, his sisters and his cousins kidnapped, his lands in turmoil, and now the ability to marry the woman he loved was snatched away for the sake of a flimsy alliance. He wasn’t sure how much left he had in him to give, to lose.

Robb pushed aside the flap to Jon’s tent, moving swiftly inside to hopefully escape notice of any of his council, or his mother. He couldn’t take five steps nowadays without being bombarded by petitions or suggestions or questions. Gods, he was tired, and too young for this by spades. He was no Lord, not like his father had been, and he was certainly no King. “Jon,” He greeted, warmth in his voice even through the exhaustion. “Finally, a friendly face I can trust. I grow weary of war councils.” He sat down heavily on a small stool, running a hand through his auburn locks. “Jon. I cannot marry the Frey girl, but we cannot move forward without my promise to do so. What am I to do?”

[notalordsnow]

Sometimes Jon thought back to the day that Robb asked him not to go to the Wall. It was a heavy decision for him, on one hand he wouldn’t have to deal with the looks or the hushed whispers that surrounded him whenever he walked around Winterfell, and on the other he would still be by his family’s side. Both were choices for the benefit of his family. In the end it was his selfish desire to remain by Robb’s side that won out. It was by pure dumb luck or a harsh coincidence that led Jon to be certain that he had made the right choice. His aid was better served here among Robb’s men than it ever could have been had he gone to the wall.

It wasn’t a decision he came to regret. No matter the side glances Catelyn gave him whenever she spotted him roaming around the camp. In the battles Robb had won since marching out from Winterfell for his father and his sisters, the soldiers around him began to treat him more like their own, not the outsider they had heard him to be. People had warmed to him, finally. Except for Catelyn, though that was no surprise to him. She could send him icy glares all she liked, here with Robb, fighting with their house and those sworn to them, this is where he belonged.

Jon set down the bracer he’d been cleaning when he heard the flap to his tent being brushed aside and grinned when the devil he’d been thinking of himself appeared. “To what do I owe the pleasure of His Lordship’s company?” He teased, grinning brightly as he tossed the cloth he’d been cleaning with aside and turned to face him. He heard rather than saw how tired his brother was, though his exhaustion could also be seen in the way he walked. “You look terrible.” His tone remained teasing. Jon was bored and wanted to give the man more grief but when he saw the way he sat and the look on his face he knew that it wasn’t the time. Jon walked over to sit on his bed, effectively sitting opposite Robb and waited for him to speak.

When he did speak Jon tried his best not to look thrown. Marriage? He thought he’d just gone for a meeting with the small council. How long had he been cleaning his armor? “I... Say again? Did you say ‘marry the Frey’?” Even as he spoke realisation dawned on him. It was bloody Walder Frey after all. “Are those the terms for passage?” Jon’s expression was grim, suddenly understanding Robb’s sullen mood.

[hoodedstark]

dirty paws | ruby + jon

While she was happy to finally be with family again, Ruby missed her home. She missed her bed. Most of all she missed the cold. The Riverlands were humid and too warm for her taste. But this was where she was needed. She followed her direwolf, moving along a path before spotting Ghost up ahead. “Jon?” she called out hesitantly, wondering if he might be nearby. It was rare that any of their wolves would stray too far from their Stark.

Smiling, she spotted him sitting under a tree. “Sulking again, cousin?” she asked cheerfully, crouching down in front of him. “You should smile more. It’d make you prettier.” Ruby teased, finally taking a seat in the grass next to him. “The busy camp getting to you too?”

[notalordsnow]

Jon exhaled heavily as he slid down against the bark of the tree, crossing his legs underneath him as he placed his sheathed sword next to him. The furs wrapped around him swallowing him even more in his current position. He was restless to say the least, sleep evaded him most nights making the long days of waiting seem longer. It was a risk to be camped outside the Twins for so long, it was a risk to be camped anywhere in one place for so long. Jon knew no force large enough could surprise them there but it didn’t make him feel any less uneasy. Bloody Frey’s. He knew they were a shady bunch but barring them passage... it seemed to him Walder Frey needed a reminder who his ancestors had sworn their allegiance to.

Hearing footsteps nearing, Jon looked up to spot his cousin approaching him, her direwolf padding up to meet Ghost before they trotted away, apparently they had their own conversation to have. “Did my ever absent smile give it away?” He replied with a grin, unable to resist mirroring her smile as she crouched down to his level. “Are you saying I’m not pretty?” He said, feigning offence with an arched brow as he followed her with his gaze, leaning back against the tree once she had sat down. “Mmhm.” He hummed in agreement, growing silent for a moment. He could hear the sounds of laughter from the men, and steel clanging against steel coming from the sparring grounds. “A lot of noise, not a lot happening... I despise this place.” He let out a sigh, missing the winds of winter every step further south they took.

[starkandsnow]

he never felt the fourth knife. only the c o l d