#ajoblotofjunk

[onefenix]

Thought I’d post the individual versions of the images in the Heart Full of Gasoline moodboard.

Heart Full of Gasoline by @ajoblotofjunk

All credit for the Evenstar logo is @shipping-receiving’s.

[brynnmck]

Today is @ajoblotofjunk‘s birthday, WHAT AN EXCELLENT DAY. Once again I have failed to actually complete fic in honor of the occasion (I have multiple ideas! Theoretically at least one of them will happen at some point!) BUT let’s talk about what’s really important, which is her fic. 

I am going with J/B recs because most people who follow me these days are in that fandom, and I’m leaving out some of her greatest hits here because I figure that if you read her fic you have probably read these, but definitely don’t miss the adorably soft Go On (aka Brienne With the Fish), the incredibly hot and feelings-y Working 9 to 5, and of course the glorious astonishing epic that is Heart Full of Gasoline. But besides those:

never far away (J/B, rated T, 6012 words) - This is a recent one and I love it SO MUCH. I adore a Brienne-centric story and this one is so beautiful; it’s J/B, and I love how much of Jaime’s presence and influence is woven into it, but it’s ultimately about Brienne and her mother, and Brienne and the way she navigates her loneliness and comes out the other side. It’s gorgeously written--lines like “‘Hush,’ her mother would say, the water clinging with cold fingers to Brienne's young waist” abound--and I would definitely recommend having tissues nearby for this one (especially if you are a mom or have strong feelings about your own), but for me it was a lovely, healing sort of weeping. Everything about this story just feels fresh and thoughtful and emotional and wonderful and I love it very very much. MY PRECIOUS GIRL.

I need your sway (J/B with a generous side of Brienne/Cersei, rated E, 38127 words) - Honestly a theme of this whole post is going to be “how the fuck is SDW so versatile” because it is SORCERY, and the fact that the same person wrote this fic and the one I just recced is pretty fucking (no pun intended) impressive. The premise here is that Jaime and Cersei own a club and periodically pick people out of the crowd for each other, and both of them decide that they want Brienne. (And just for clarity: Jaime and Cersei don’t touch each other but they do both have sex with Brienne at the same time at various points here, so. FYI.) This is both EXTREMELY HOT (seriously, SO HOT) and also very sweet as the story moves along, and I still think on a regular basis about Jaime’s ridiculously adorable texts in this. I also really love the portrayal of Cersei; she’s definitely very complex and she’s not nice but she is trying, in her messed-up way, and she does eventually get her own super satisfying happy ending in the Cersei/Margaery sequel I need your heart. I don’t necessarily mind a villainous Cersei but especially in a modern AU where things can be tweaked more, I do love when she has a chance at being healthy and happy, too, and the way this very unconventional setup is negotiated is extremely well done and demonstrates a lot of care for all three characters (four, including Margaery in the sequel). Plus did I mention this is all VERY HOT. Satisfying on so many levels!

When the Night Is Over (J/B, rated M, 1712 words) - This is a short and breathless fic that I love for just how effectively it achieves its mood. Every time I read it, I can feel my heart pounding with Jaime’s sense of urgency, and you can practically feel the humidity of the air and smell the swirl of scents and it’s all just lovely. Finishing it feels like breaking the surface of the water and coming up into fresh air. SO GOOD.

Shake me like a tambourine (Jaime/Brienne/Addam/Dacey, rated E, 4958 words) - I JUST LOVE THIS ONE A LOT. It’s an AU of the HFOG universe (although it definitely stands on its own too) and given that I was deeply in love with both Addam and Dacey in that ‘verse, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the four of them getting to play together in this little side-trip. (This also has big Everyone Loves Brienne energy, which is another one of my favorite things, though Jaime certainly gets plenty of love--and lovin’--himself.) I feel like this is worth the price of admission just for Jaime amusedly/interestedly watching Dacey seduce his girlfriend, and it just gets more hot and delightful from there. The newness and discovery between Brienne and Dacey is fantastic, the history between Jaime and Addam is palpable (something about Addam commenting on how Jaime didn’t used to have a beard just SLAYS me every time, for a lot of reasons, and their snark is PERFECT). The Addam/Dacey has a great sense of fun and adventure to it, and the Jaime/Brienne is so steady and sure, and it’s all just balanced extremely well. LOVE. What happens in Lannisport may stay in Lannisport but it ALSO stays IN MY HEART AND LOINS, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. 

The Unicorn Incident (J/B, rated E, 14183 words) - I’m still so blown away by the fact that SDW wrote this in a day and a half, while feverish, and it’s SO FUCKING GOOD. Her signature worldbuilding is VERY much on display here--everything just feels so rich and so fully formed and it’s SO creative and fascinating and brilliant. This is also another amazing example of the world fully supporting and enhancing the feelings, AND there’s a road trip, AND there’s swimming, AND there’s delicious antagonists-to-lovers--”lovers” being a thing that factors SIGNIFICANTLY in the story, as the premise involves Brienne being a virgin and thus, presumably, able to find a unicorn. As Jaime and Brienne’s reluctant mutual attraction increases, they get progressively more creative in attempting to find loopholes (I LOVE a sex loophole tbh), and it is incredibly hot and also culminates an extremely gratifying exploration of what “purity” really means (spoiler: it’s not about penises in vaginas). So many parts of this story legitimately feel like being in another world; the descriptions are so lush and evocative and dreamy and entire end sequence fills my heart to bursting every time. It’s SO LOVELY, a beautiful comforting read for sunny days and rainy days alike. There are also some fabulous ficlets written in the same ‘verse here, which I also very highly recommend (the Jaime and Olenna interaction ALONE is well worth the click). IT IS ALL VERY MAGICAL.

I COULD GO ON, but this is a lengthy post already, so I will just say: happy birthday to SDW, my favorite, whose kindness and enthusiasm and sense of humor are as much a gift to us all as her incredible artistic skill. There’s no one I’d rather curl up on a couch and eat junk food with, or take a moderately ill-advised fannish trip with, or send all my pettiest grievances to, and there’s no one who’s more fun or more caring or more patient with all of my nonsense. I love you, SDW, and I regret to inform you that you’re still stuck with me forever, and thank you for giving us all so much to celebrate during this generally shitty year--I hope the universe brings all that joy back to you and more, as you deserve. ❤️❤️❤️

[dreadwulf]

I'm a day late but if you ARE still accepting request for the date meme, I'd like to request June 16, please.

June 16: Roommates with Soulmates

“This is perfect, isn’t it?”

“Hmmm?” Brienne peers at Jaime across the couch. He is sprawled in the opposite direction, legs draped over hers. They haven’t even taken their coats off since they walked back from the bar. “You mean the wine? Oberyn Martell sent it to me as a thank you gift. He really knows his arbor golds.”

“No,” he says, though he does reach back to the floor to grasp the wine bottle. “I mean us.”

Brienne giggles, in a way she never would if she were sober. “You’re hammered.”

“I absolutely am,” he slurs cheerfully. “But it’s a simple fact. I get to live with my favorite person, and come home after work and hang out with you and go out on the town on a Saturday night with you and then walk each other home. That’s nice, isn’t it?”

She agrees, hesitantly. “It is.” 

It’s more than nice, actually. It’s a dream, a lovely dream that she is constantly worried will come to an end before she is ready.

Jaime takes a swig directly from the bottle, then pours a little bit more into Brienne’s outstretched glass. “So why aren’t we dating?”

“What?!” She very nearly chokes on the wine, is left coughing and sputtering by this alarming turn in the conversation.

He lies back and looks at her. “I mean. We sort of are dating. We do all of the dating things, like watching movies and having dinner and going out. We just aren’t doing the sex part.”

“Right.” Brienne manages to drink the rest of her glass properly. It has felt very much like dating, hasn’t it? Just with a carefully platonic safety net underneath to make it all feel less dangerous. 

The sex part, on the other hand, has been incredibly distracting. Especially since she stopped seeing other men, and he stopped seeing Cersei. The whole subject has been looming invisibly over them ever since. 

Normally she would ignore that comment. It must be the pleasant haze of drunkenness that convinces her to say the next part. 

“I assumed you wouldn’t want to.”

“It’s not that.” Jaime closes his eyes and leans his head back. “I suppose if we were really properly dating, we might break up. I couldn’t stand that. Us breaking up.”

Brienne’s mind is spinning a little bit, trying to untangle all of that. Negative plus negative equals... he wants to? Maybe? But she knows exactly what he means, about the risk.

She nudges him with her foot. “If we were dating, you might turn into an asshole, like every other man I’ve ever dated.”

He smiles sleepily. “I’m already an asshole.”

“I mean more.”

He laughs. “Okay. Let’s not date then. Let’s be roommates forever.”

“Okay.”

Brienne is pretty sure that’s not a thing, roommates forever. It makes her a little sad. But if she could do that, if it were possible, she would go on exactly like this. Spending days and nights together, coming home to him. No one has ever felt so much like home before.

“Although,” she says tentatively, “if there was a way to keep things exactly like this, and also date, and not break up... that’s what would really be perfect. Right?”

But the only thing she hears back is the deep and even breathing of Jaime asleep on the other end of the couch. 

[ladym-rules]

“Right there, I see the path. Why do you look so tense, my lady ser?”

“It’s an enchanted forest, Jaime. What could possibly go wrong?”

“With you by my side, nothing.”

She sighed, and couldn’t quite hide an upturn to her lips.

“Just think, we might meet a unicorn or a kelpie.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And what would a kelpie be doing in a forest?”

“Maybe it’s on a quest, like we are.”

“More likely, we’d meet a bear.”

“It’d be our second bear,” he smiled fondly.

“Or some kind of hermit wizard who’d turn us into frogs.”

“There’s no one I’d rather be a frog with.”

Just then, the clouds parted a little, and there was sunlight on golden, infuriating Jaime. Her Jaime.

He saw her face soften, and he touched her cheek gently. She knew she would go with him, anywhere, even back into a bear pit.

“Come on, let’s go,” she said.

And they stepped into the wood.

~~~

Photographer’s note: I saw these plants and immediately thought of @ajoblotofjunk ‘s FableVerse in The Unicorn Incident and the enchanted forest in @kurikaesu-haru ‘s At The Water’s Edge.

[observedchaos]

Holy crap, I got tagged.

Tagged by @ajoblotofjunk ! Rules: If you’re tagged, post the last 7 sentences of the last WIP you worked on and tag 7 more people to keep the challenge going, if you’d like.

To avoid spoilers, I'll give you 7 lines of the next chapter of "Keep Time on Me":

The Woman gave him a slight shove into the passenger seat, then shushed him as she struggled to raise the corvette’s roof panel. He let her fumble for a very entertaining few moments before leaning across her lap to hit the button hidden under the dash. The jack-o-lantern crevices of her face smoothed into soft focus under the retractable eclipse; Jaime waggled his eyebrows at her until she grunted in disgust and shoved him off.

Rubbing his arm at the site of the emerging bruise, he laughed as she tried to get her blush under control. Jaime was beginning to see why he liked her.

“You’re an ass.”

Jaime gasped in faux horror. “Language, madam! I am but a mere child!”

Given that I am not sure I know 7 people who definitely write fic, I'll tag @littledeconstruction, @nossbean, @seethemflying, @tall-wolf-of-tarth, and @ilikeblue. If you follow me and write fic, come yell at me in my ask box and tell me where I can enjoy your stuff.

[imber-rain]

For the softer world meme, Jaime/Brienne, #23

When I received this, I was very giddy because it’s the first prompt you’ve sent me, but also very amused because it’s one of my favorite prompts on the list AND it’d have been perfect tile for something else I started writing recently.

So, I guess May is the month I write late campfire conversations from Jaime’s POV and yearning?

Also, tied in with Tomorrow (with you) I’d like to lose myself in the fleeting moment aka the one where Jaime is Brienne’s swornsword and they travel to Tarth. This is the trip itself. Also on AO3.

We talk in the dark as we fall asleep, and we are objects in the night sky outside of time. (it is the exact opposite of alone.)

The journey to Tarth was long.

The longest Jaime had had with (or for) her and his favorite, too.

They rode at even pace, though for the first week Brienne was uneasy and more jittery than he could recall ever seeing her, visibly pondering if she should just turn around and return to Sansa's side. He had distracted her, with jokes and stories of his past that danced just so around things he didn't wish to speak of.

A few times Jaime had slipped, but she had neither pushed him deeper with questions nor pitied him and again he marvelled at the way she permitted him to draw borders. There was little privacy and secret pain among Lannisters, only weaknesses to be discovered. And discovered they always were.

He enjoyed these conversations, how she'd share parts of her own childhood, the softness that'd paint her face much like the light filtering through the trees when she spoke of Evenfall Hall and it filled him with longing to see it, almost greed to touch stones that were in likeness of ones that had built the sturdy fortress of honor and goodness within Brienne.

Jaime loved the silence, too, the sort that dripped in-between crackles of fire as Jaime settled in for the first watch of night and Brienne lingered still. They'd talk at first, their gazes set to the stars above and he'd learn her favorite constellations and myths, the way her voice dipped when she grew sleepy, before their words and thoughts wandered away, welcoming the quiet like horizon would a gentle sunset.

They were the only two people in the world, he would think then and mock himself for stumbling in familiar sentences, as if neither he nor the woman beside him were not different. But whereas with Cersei it had dripped with rage and hurt, Jaime could almost taste peace within the syllables now.

They were not outcast by their own hand as much as their duties, and there was warmth following them all the way from Winterfell, stitched in the cloaks Sansa had gifted them before departure, there was warmth here, between them as her head rested against his shoulder, and warmth that awaited them (her, surely) at end of their journey.

In this space untethered to time or even land, he dreamed. Dreamed of pressing a reverent kiss to her brow, of smoothing his thumb over her knuckles and not letting go.

Of basking in Brienne's smiles and knowing he had the rest of his lifetime to have his darkness bleached away by them, just enough to not mar her by his presence.

Of a journey where she didn't flush almost scarlet, her gaze swaying away from his clumsy and unhappy, when the innkeeper mistook them for married.

But in reality, he could only touch her for a shorter moment than a breeze, watch her stumble over requesting separate rooms and hope Lord Selwyn Tarth will be as all-encompassing blind to his sins as his daughter, though that was disservice to Brienne - she saw his faults perhaps more clearly than most. Was familiar with them in ways he wished she wasn't.

And yet, she had seen something that outweighed it all and as she tried to twist the mirror so he'd see it, too, he had watched her reflection and realized that even if it was mere fiction created by her generosity and faith in goodness, he would like to make himself a few shades more to its likeness.

It hadn't been her request, not really. Brienne had never asked anything of him for a long time now, not since the Dragonpit, not even when he wished she would.

("I am yours to command - am I to stay or to go with them?" he had asked, the night before armies departed for King's Landing. Tell me you want me here. Tell me that...

"I will do no such thing," she had said, firm and almost offended, almost sad.

"You could. Should. I am your swornsword now, my liege." He was desperate for an answer, any single one. Like a lifeline in the murkiness that was overtaking his limbs, driving him onward without even remembering what a road looked like.

"You always have the right to choices, Ser Jaime," Brienne had reminded him before ducking her head and looking away to where Sansa and Arya were. Later, he'd wonder if there were words in her mouth she had cast away with this move, but in that moment he could only think of her angry snarl a lifetime ago melting away, an odd understanding in her eyes. We don't choose who we love.

He understood then, too.

He hadn't chosen to love her and had been born love-bound to Cersei that had spun out of control, but he had made choices for these loves again and again, long before either had names, and if his blood was to nurture one, he would pick the field of blue rather than the dried tree that would impale him upon its bare branches. He had tried to nurture it, but the roots were long since rotten.

The next morning, when she had smiled a trembling, relieved smile, Jaime loved her more for not asking and yet, he wondered if he'd ever stop thinking that demands meant he was wanted.)

He would think of all this and more and though his body would ache for a soft bed come morning, he preferred these nights on the road where he could dream in rhythm with her breathing, full of trust.

Sometimes, he rested his cheek against the crown of her head before he'd remember the way the ease would collapse in on itself from mere change in wind and she'd shrink back away from him like his touch or smile held the sound of a drawn sword, and he straightened up feeling as if he was stealing. It was not as if he was starved for her attention or even affection and yet, he craved and took more without her permissions. A man with honor, she had called him and yet he could not truly be one even for the one person who deserved it most.

The movement sometimes startled her awake , making Brienne murmur an apology and return to her tent, leaving him bereft and cold in a way that was entirely his doing. (All that self-acclaimed change and yet, it is the same.)

But none of that could tarnish the brightness in him that gathered drop by drop, day by day as they traveled on. Sometimes, Jaime thought it was visible somehow, a glow beneath his skin that caught Brienne's eyes the closer they came to Tarth. He would catch her looking, attentive and inquiring almost, as if she couldn't quite figure something out and he wished she would tell him the question because there was no answer he'd deny her, if only he had it.

Maybe when she was home, she'd find the words.

[luthienebonyx]

9 and 12 for the fanfic meme please

9. Favorite writing song inspiration

Heh. I gave myself a terrible earworm when I decided to start on a historian-themed JB AU and decided the title had to be History Never Repeats. As anyone who grew up in Australia or NZ in the 1980s would know, that’s the title of a song by Split Enz (featuring a baby Neil Finn playing in his big brother’s band).

I really need to get back to that fic, but it won’t be until after the new year because I’ve stupidly signed up for two festive exchanges. (Why do I do these things to myself? WHY?) I had a vague idea of using lines from the song as chapter titles but... well, we’ll see how that goes in the new year!

I answered #12 here.

Fanfic End of Year Asks

[slipsthrufingers]

First line of a fic meme: "Do we have to bring this crap?"

“Do we have to bring this crap?” Jaime said, awkwardly hanging a shopping bag in the crook of his right elbow so that he could grab another two with his left.

Brienne rolled her eyes and leaned in behind him to get the rest of the bags from the car. “Yes. And it’s not crap. It’s what Sansa and Margaery asked us to bring.”

Jaime took a step back so he was standing on the footpath and waited for Brienne to juggle the bags she had to get to the car keys in her pocket. He took the time to glance into the bag he was holding. Crayons. Paper. Twine. Leaves?? “Why the hell do they want us to bring leaves? I thought this was a lunch date.”

“They’re eucalyptus leaves,” Brienne said with a grunt as she finally got to the key and locked the car. She kept the keys clenched in her hand and readjusted her own bags so that she’d be evenly balanced as they walked the last half-block to their friends’ townhouse.

“What do eucalyptus leaves have to do with wedding preparation? Are they worried half their guests will come down with the sniffles?”

Frankly Brienne didn’t have an answer for that. She’d wondered it herself, but Sansa had been stressing more and more about every aspect of her upcoming nuptials that Brienne had taken to just agreeing to any silly request just to help relieve some of the pressure. If Sansa wanted eucalyptus leaves, then Brienne went and found some cuttings. If Sansa wanted crayons, then Brienne made sure to stop by the stationary shop on her way home from work. “I think she saw something on Pinterest she wants to try,” she said eventually.

She should have known better.

“Pinterest!” Jaime said, with predictable outrage. He had stopped in the middle of the footpath, shopping bags held furiously at his side. “You said we were having lunch! Is this…. Are we… is this another crafternoon?”

Brienne sighed. “You don’t have to do anything. I’m happy to help.”

“It is unethical to be roped into this every single time we visit them,” Jaime cried, lifting the bags in his left hand to gesture in the general direction of the house. “You signed up to be her maid of honour not her personal-assistant-slash-slave-for-nine-months. We were going to go to the movies this afternoon!”

“We still can!”

“That’s what you said last time, but then you had that emergency with the seating chart and all of the Redwyne cousins and we missed all the trailers and had to sit on opposite sides of the theatre for the whole thing.”

By the time they’d reached the theatre there had only been single-seats free and as the movie had already started it was too late to ask people to shuffle down so they could sit together. “It won’t be like that this time. We’re just dropping off the supplies, having lunch, and then you and I will be free. We could even get a coffee at that place you like beforehand?”

The look Jaime gave her was deeply sceptical. He had heard that promise before. Brienne faltered a little. “I can call and see if we can exchange our tickets for the later screening?”

It was Jaime’s turn to roll his eyes and huff. “It’s fine. But next weekend is ours. No ‘brunches’, no ‘catch ups’, just you and me and whatever I want to do.”

“Of course!” she agreed readily. Frankly she was a little tired of having to things every weekend. She wanted a break. He’d want an Arthur Dayne Movie Marathon and that sounded like the perfect respite from wall-to-wall social engagements.

Jaime nodded and turned to continue walking back up the street. “And when we get married next week we’re eloping and doing it at a resort where they organise it all for you.”

And when we get married next week…

“When we get…?”

“You heard me. I’ve booked the tickets and got time off work for both of us.” He was a few steps ahead of her by now and she hurried to catch up to him.