my headcanon: I’ve always thought Brienne would probably do better in the North.
I imagine Northern culture is built around endurance, labor, and reliability. Women there already work, already carry responsibility, already exist in physical space in ways that southern court culture doesn’t really allow. Sexism is still there, obviously, but it shows up differently when strength and usefulness are already part of daily life. I imagine their distaste for the southern way is very much how Russians view western Europeans lol so imagine their surprised with a highborn southron woman would knock a man or two on their ass.
I do think she’d still be treated like a curiosity. People would test her. but once she proved herself, most of that would quiet down. I think common folk would admire her.
She’s beaten the Hound. She’s beaten Jaime Lannister. She’s survived war, captivity, and keeps her vows. There’s also something very funny about the idea that people would be more annoyed they lost to a soft Southron than that they lost to a woman.
Her loyalty matters here too. The North values people who keep their word. And Bri is painfully honest. She doesn’t scheme. That alone puts her closer to Northern ideals than most southern knights.
She also promised Catelyn she would find her daughters and bring them home safe, and she did. Becoming part of Sansa’s guard feels like a continuation of it.
I love the idea of her thriving in the North and finally being appreciated as the badass lady knight that she is.
sidebar: I also imagine that once she becomes more accepted for who she is, she would allow herself to be more comfortable with the softer sides of her. Because as much as I love her. She has a chip on her shoulder for having to constantly prove herself. And sometimes you force yourself to do things you don't wanna do to uphold this vision of how other people see you.
I do not imagine that she would be super feminine and soft and girly, but I do think that she would allow someone to be gentle with her.
The battle was long and arduous. What was supposed to be a quick op went sideways faster than anyone could expect. Don't get it wrong, Alfred's able to defend himself fine day to day, or against a person or two in ideal conditions, but trying to hop around place to place to find out where he can take the three kids behind him and two babies strapped to his chest and back to get them out of here is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Which. He's done before when his dad was in a mood and wanted to prove a point. But that was neither here nor there, and he doesn't currently have the luxury of an uninterrupted 12 peaceful hours on the farm to do that right now.
But God isn't going back home tempting right now... but a jump that big isn't the best idea for babies under a year, and the one on his chest is only five days old, according to the trembling teen he presumes is her mother, based on the anxiety and fear the girl had handing her over, but Alfred needs her able to run.
Not that that helps much when they land in the middle of a crowded room full of gun wielding assholes. Ten total. Shit. And one of the kids landed weird and got picked up by one one of the men.
Fuck.
Alfred presses his emergency button. He can't get out of here alone.
If you were the ruler of Westeros and you had no choice but to appoint Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb) to your small council, which role are you assigning to them?
Hand of the King/Queen
Grand Maester
Master of Coin
Master of Laws
Master of Ships
Master of Whisperers
Lord Commander of the Kingsguard/Queensguard
(I have a unique position in mind. Feel free to share in the comments)
Ser Barristan the Bold, Now called Barristan the Old, or Ser Grandfather, Lord Commander of the Queensguard
Ser Barristan is at once a true knight, and the exemplar of the failure of a knight. He was a zeal guardian to three different kings, risking life and limb to protect them from harm. He is one of the most skilled swordsmen alive, and is skilled in horsemanship and jousting. Not only is he skilled in combat, but he can train and lead other men, and advise rulers. Yet, when Robert Baratheon took the throne, Barristan's loyalty waivered. He took a pardon, and went on to serve Robert until his death, betraying the lineage he swore to protect. He only chooses to return to Targaryen service once he has been dismissed from the Baratheon Court.
Perhaps his foundation being shaken woke Barristan up, and reminded him of where his loyalty truly lied. But if his own dishonor is what it took, and not the murder of a woman and her two children, or the burning of king's landing, then I don't think I trust his values. It feels more likely that he saw the horrors of Aerys II, and decided that Robert was the better option. Perhaps he hoped that Viserys' time away from the throne had taught him a kindness that his father lacked. Barristan would have been sorely dissapointed.
Whatever his motives, Barristan has been a loyal servant to Daenerys. Even now that she is missing, he refuses to believe her dead, and acts to maintain her version for Meereen. Whether or not Daenerys will approve of his actions is yet to be seen.
Ser Lorent Marbrand, the Queen’s Sworn Protector
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON: S2 (2024)
[+] EMMA D’ARCY [GIF Collection] ✨
[+] ..more on “HOTD”
Just a quick appreciation post for Ser Lorent. ⚔️🛡️
The fact that Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen wept for him in the book speaks volumes about how much she valued him. He truly embodied the honor of the white cloak.
Wolf felt like he was floating, drifting in a hazy fog, disconnected from his body. They had come earlier, taken his daily blood draw before injecting his next dose of the nanite serum. It had been a woman today, one he knew only briefly in passing. She was a more recent addition to the research team, he could tell by the way she excitedly babbled about how the work the scientists here would be revolutionary, and wasn't it such an honor to be contributing to such cutting edge advancement.
Dull, teal eyes had been the only part of him that had moved the entire, brief visit. He had stopped flinching at the needles nearly a decade ago. It had been almost as long since the last time he had tried to resist. That had been one of his earliest, and most painful, lessons about his world. Resistance was futile, full cooperation made everything run smoother.
It meant the pain stopped sooner.
It meant that his mind could return to its aimless wandering.
Most days it felt like the only thing keeping him sane. Time was strange, distorted, when he viewed the world this way. Hours slipped away with no change to the drab four gray walls of his cell. Wolf would have remained like this until they came for him again. Until they decided to cut him open again, to watch him bleed, to observe his reactions, both physiological and psychological. That was his life. It wasn't much of a life, but it was predictable.
Boring.
Something in the steady hum of the ventilation system faltered for a moment, it was the heartbeat, the pulse, of this world. Wolf blinked his eyes, suddenly become more aware, more alert as the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. He became aware of his body again, the way the thin scrubs rubbed against his skin, the way the thin mattress on the floor was only just softer than the steel floor. His world was being disturbed, Wolf could feel it deep in his bones, the microscopic nanites in his blood practically vibrating with anticipation.
Hesitantly he reached out with his consciousness, the AI immediately responded by pushing through the firewalls that would normally lock him out of the lab network. If the researchers caught him they'd punish him ruthlessly, but he couldn't resist the urge to know. Immediately he realized nobody was going to notice his indiscretion. He couldn't hear any alarms within his metal box, but every security system in the building was blaring a shrill warning.
Intruders were breeching the lab.
Terminate Project Codex
The words flashed across the screen. He felt an icy fist grip his heart. They were going to destroy him to prevent their asset from falling into the hands of outsiders. Fourteen years of enduring their poking, their prodding, all for them to kill him now?
Heavy steel doors had locked down the most classified areas. The AI didn't hesitate, did not wait for him to think of consequences or repercussions, as it hacked the security network to override the input commands to destroy their host. A new prime directive wrote itself into the fundamental coding of the nanites: Protect the Host. All locking systems on all the security doors were overridden. Those trying to breach the lab would suddenly find the way clearing for them, allowing them priority access as they pursued their mission.
i have almost zero faith this is gonna go anywhere or be seen/picked up. but. . . BUT
on a slight chance i posted snippet of a fic i've been working on/ want to work more on (haven't due to busy with other stuff) Would you/anyone be interested? its D2 Mara fic (queen and her queens guard trope only sapphic and mild asexual angsty-ness so mostly fluffy not likely to have smut of any kind)
i wanted to write something for my hunter and ended up making her background story much more than i intended and said fuck it since i was tired of not seeing the sapphic queen and queens guard trope anywhere besides like 1-2 others or it was but it wasn't more than a blurb idea or one shot ;-;
and im just curious it might help motivate me to work on it more since i lost my original 10k due to obsidian not saving beyond a week(standard can be changed to more which i wasn't aware of at the time lol) for last session restore points.
i still have lots of the "old" like side stories and flash back scenes saved and written and backed up copies of copies but been hard stuck on the main bit after that happened lost of motivation and have to work on writing more as well as fixing little stuff. but yea. . .
TLDR: should i post a snippet of a fic ive been wanting to work on more and only started because of a sever lack of sapphic queenxguard stories especially in space that isn't atrocious acotar copies of weird toxic bs.
