#nurse stumpy

[randomfoggytiger]

"You Had Nothing"

(Dedicated to @goodshipsmulder~. Merry Christmas!)

Perhaps a Part II to “Gold” 

Set during the events of Fight the Future.

*****

They’d been waiting 56 hours, 13 minutes, 10 seconds before the phone rang, loud in a room so thick with anticipation that it was nearly nauseating. Langly would have answered, but he’d just dipped to the john; and had there not been security footage to prove either way, the victor of the final frenzy-- Frohike’s stumpy grab and Byers’ uncharacteristic snatch-- would forever remain a mystery. 

Byers spat out “Lone Gunman’s headquarters--” in the same breath as Frohike’s “Mulder, is that you?”; and both were winded and heady with relief when their friend’s monotone croaked across the line, across the ocean, across the world. 

“Hey, settle down, everyone. Can’t hear you all at once.” But he was smiling-- they heard it-- and was pleased he’d been missed. 

“Is Agent Scully with you?” Frohike cut to the chase, locking his thumbs together in the half-second of silence. 

“Yeah… yeah, she woke up a couple hours ago. Doing well. Fever’ll break sometime tonight, nurses say.” 

His report was peppered with warmth and weary exultation, joy and a touch of fear fading and coming alive again, if they listened for it. The three compadres-- Langly had rejoined them, a streak of yellow lightning vaulting over cables and discarded coffee cups and a trampled donut box-- neglected further investigation in their eagerness to ask and ask and ask about what happened, were they at McMurdo, who did and didn't they and hadn't he--

“Fellas! One at a time, please.” The please was implied. “And can I get back to you on all that? We’re a bit jet lagged.” 

Byers nodded, stopped the phone from its madhouse hot-potato from one hand to another, and sighed, “Yes, of course. Get some rest, Mulder--”

“Not a chance!” hollered Frohike; and snatched it right back. “Mulder, you can’t just leave us hanging like that, especially concerning the delectable Agent Scully.” 

“Yeah, Mulder, what did she say? Bet her eyes really popped.” 

There was a pause and a long sigh and what sounded like their friend shifting positions. 

Finding it hard to judge if Mulder was amused, angry, or willfully silent, Byers tried to redirect. “I think we should let Mulder rest-- he’s had a hard couple of days.” 

Langly snorted and Frohike huffed. 

“Not until we know how Scully took his words of undying love.” 

“Yeah, Byers, stop trying to be a wet blanket. Mulder’s just evading the question.” 

They were bickering now, of course: tense days passed in total lockdown-- ear to the phone and sleeping in shifts-- wore them to frazzled ends focused on a singular purpose. Goal accomplished, their energy had to be vented elsewhere. Poking Mulder about his private life and hoping it matched the thrilling conclusion envisioned in their caffeine-marinated heads was exactly what Frohike and Langly were bent on doing; and they traded verbal blows with Byers as well as each other, three dogs scrapping for the upper hand and losing sight of their original aim the longer the battle dragged on. 

The first few mutters through the phone weren’t loud enough to snag their attention; but a forceful “Guys!” pulled them up short. 

It was Scully: authoritative, assertive, and annoyed. Deeply, deeply annoyed. 

“Agent Scully?” Byers asked, again conscious and commiserate. 

“What do you three think you’re doing?”

“What happened to Mulder?” Langly’s transparent attempts at misdirection, they hoped, hadn’t been caught by Scully. The trademark sigh-- humor them-- puffed through: they had, but their bid for Mulder's health had also, temporarily, stalled her wrath. Frohike thudded Langly on the shoulder. 

“He’s resting, actually,” she replied. “Or I assume so, since he’s scrunched up in a chair.” Her voice shifted, misdirection having worn out its bag of tricks. “Like I should be; and was until a minute ago.” 

Danger, once turned away, was doubling back with a vengeance. 

Frohike tried-- “We’re terribly sorry, Agent Scully-- we’ll let you get back to catching your beauty sleep; and I’m sure Mulder will call us in the morning if anything’s--” but even her affection for him wouldn’t deter the delectable lady’s insistence. 

“First, you three are going to explain why you were shouting about me to Mulder.” An expectant pause. "Is there something wrong?"

“Rest assured, Agent Scully, no one's in danger. We were merely….” As one, the Lone Gunman looked into every crack and crevice of the room for the right word. “...merely congratulating him. And you.” 

“...'Congratulating’.” 

“Yes, on a successful mission. And we’re sorry we disturbed the both of you. We’ll hang up now and let you rest.” 

Her winding-up breath was abruptly cut off by Frohike’s swift stab to the end button; and all three slumped, sighed, or fidgeted out their nerves. 

“What’ll it take,” Frohike snapped, swinging his arms to relieve tension, “an alien invasion?” 

“Pffft, more likely the sun burning out and the cold consuming us all,” Langly parried. 

Byers kept silent, wondered how they could so spectacularly waste another opportunity. Those were hard to come by, and with no guarantee of a second chance. 

All three silently wondered how much of their fight Scully had overheard, and how much she would piece together later.  

*****

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

#txf #A Fight the Future Phone Call #fic #xf fanfic #xfiles #x-files #the x files #Mulder #Scully #TLG #FTF #randomfoggytiger Christmas #2023

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

I crave your brilliant writing, Stumpy. How about #14 for the Things You Said prompt, "...when I wasn't meant to hear." ' v '

Very much inspired by your art and writing! My brain fully derailed on the tone but I love the Gammas and I bet they will have issues adjusting to the SoF and letting their walls down while they lick their wounds. I did crack open D*vine Wind again and that was a mistake so apologies for the tone.

-

Being a Spartan, an alive one, meant having near perfect situational awareness. It was beaten into you at a young age. Like a lot of other things.

You and your siblings were the last of your unit. Your pack, your family after the one that borne you died in fire and plasma, were clinging to life by the skin of your teeth.

You looked out for each other. You learned from your elders. And you always knew where the exits were and who held the keys. You and your siblings watched the docs and nurses and orderlies. You watched your mom sleep heavily under the drugs keeping her from feeling the skull fracture. You watched the IIs with open curiosity - how could they be so similar and different from Blue Team. You all knew it was time, but seeing it in person was strange. They were rough around the edges, eerily similar to you and your siblings, not fully tempered like Blue Team. Not yet.

You heal fast. The doctors whisper. You try their synthesized smoothers, under observation, and feel the world slip into focus a little more with every adjusted dose. You feel their eyes on you. You hear their fascination muddled by fear and discomfort. They're not a green crew but they only had 3 Spartans before and now they have 6.

And you're not like other Spartans. Not even like the rest of your generation. Gammas were something else. IIIs aren't as polite as IIs, there wasn't time in the suicide trainings for manners or etiquette or scholarly discussions.

Your team has specialists in stealth and information so it's only a matter of time before you heard it all. Gross devaluation of human life, ethics violations, just kids with scarred tissue aged at least a decade. Ticking time bombs, drain on resources, maybe not in so many words but hearing what they didn't mean to say, reading between the lines, knowing who on staff would break first was important to keep them alive. None of them were in top fighting form.

But not for long.

Still when you are welcome and abhorred by the same doctors that had one of your own under observation you had to play it safe.

The fighting was never done. Playing for time and breathing room was standard operating procedure at this point. ONI had made them see enemies in allies and vice versa.

All they could do now was wait. Time would iron out the rest of the details.

#my writing #ask game tag #magellanicclouds #hiiiii #this wrestled with me #The Ferrets #asks

[istumpysk]

OPERATION ICEBERG: THE TIER LIST

THEORY:

Varys has Tyrek Lannister

TIER:

People's Choice!

Stumpy note: This is one of those times when I don't think you should pay close attention to my definitions. I don't want to influence your vote, but I just want to say that sometimes something can be extremely likely without there being mountains of evidence. For instance, consider a theory like the Hound being the gravedigger.

Strong Contender: These theories have a lot of textual support, but there are still some elements of uncertainty.

vs.

Possible: These theories could be true, but additional evidence is needed, as different interpretations or errors are possible.

vs.

Under Consideration: These theories haven't garnered strong or extensive evidence, but they're worthy of discussion.

[Tier list overview]

EVIDENCE:

First, who is Tyrek Lannister?

Son of Darlessa Marbrand and Tygett Lannister, Tywin Lannister's brother.

Handsome with long golden curls, roughly the same age as Sansa.

Served as Robert Baratheon's squire.

Married Lady Ermesande Hayford to secure her lands for House Lannister.

His bride, Ermesande, is an infant.

Moving on to the key points.

Stannis and Renly Baratheon block King's Landing's food supplies, causing widespread unrest. On the day Princess Myrcella leaves for Dorne, a mob attacks the royal party, sparking a riot.

Tyrek was in attendance and goes missing in the chaos.

"Ser Preston is not returned," Ser Boros Blount reported, "nor Aron Santagar." "Nor Wet Nurse," said Ser Horas Redwyne. That was the mocking name the other squires had hung on young Tyrek Lannister. - Tyrion IX, ACOK

And stays missing.

Tyrek was still missing, as was the High Septon's crystal crown. Nine gold cloaks had been slain, two score wounded. No one had troubled to count how many of the mob had died. "I want Tyrek found, alive or dead," Tyrion said curtly when Bywater was done. "He's no more than a boy. Son to my late uncle Tygett. His father was always kind to me." "We'll find him. The septon's crown as well." - Tyrion IX, ACOK

This mystery continues into the next book.

"Aye. I fear I did not leave him in the best of moods. Lord Tywin feels forty-four hundred guardsmen more than sufficient to find one lost squire, but your cousin Tyrek remains missing." Tyrek was the son of his late Uncle Tygett, a boy of thirteen. He had vanished in the riot, not long after wedding the Lady Ermesande, a suckling babe who happened to be the last surviving heir of House Hayford. And likely the first bride in the history of the Seven Kingdoms to be widowed before she was weaned. "I couldn't find him either," confessed Tyrion. - Tyrion I, ASOS

Suddenly, a throwaway detail: Varys, the master of whisperers and knower of all things, helped try to locate the young man.

"He's feeding worms," said Bronn with his usual tact. "Ironhand looked for him, and the eunuch rattled a nice fat purse. They had no more luck than we did. Give it up, ser." Ser Addam gazed at the sellsword with distaste. "Lord Tywin is stubborn where his blood is concerned. He will have the lad, alive or dead, and I mean to oblige him." He looked back to Tyrion. "You will find your father in his solar." - Tyrion I, ASOS

Then, another oddity: Varys the mummer puts on a bit of a performance.

"Alas, our beloved Tyrek has quite vanished, the poor brave lad." Varys sounded close to tears. - Tyrion III, ASOS

Not done yet, the author extends this mystery into A Feast for Crows. I can't give you an exact number of days, but at this point, Tyrek has been missing for a long time, and these people probably should have moved on.

Also, check out that ellipsis of truth.

The lady of the castle was a Lannister by marriage, a plump toddler who had been wed to his cousin Tyrek before she was a year old. Lady Ermesande was duly trotted out for their approval, all trussed up in a little gown of cloth-of-gold, with the green fretty and green pale wavy of House Hayford rendered in tiny beads of jade. But soon enough the girl began to squall, whereupon she was promptly whisked off to bed by her wet nurse. "Has there been no word of our Lord Tyrek?" her castellan asked as a course of trout was served. "None." Tyrek Lannister had vanished during the riots in King's Landing whilst Jaime himself was still captive at Riverrun. The boy would be fourteen by now, assuming he was still alive. "I led a search myself, at Lord Tywin's command," offered Addam Marbrand as he boned his fish, "but I found no more than Bywater had before me. The boy was last seen ahorse, when the press of the mob broke the line of gold cloaks. Afterward . . . well, his palfrey was found, but not the rider. Most like they pulled him down and slew him. But if that's so, where is his body? The mob let the other corpses lie, why not his?" "He would be of more value alive," suggested Strongboar. "Any Lannister would bring a hefty ransom." "No doubt," Marbrand agreed, "yet no ransom demand was ever made. The boy is simply gone." "The boy is dead." Jaime had drunk three cups of wine, and his golden hand seemed to be growing heavier and clumsier by the moment. A hook would serve me just as well. "If they realized whom they'd killed, no doubt they threw him in the river for fear of my father's wrath. They know the taste of that in King's Landing. Lord Tywin always paid his debts." "Always," Strongboar agreed, and that was the end of that. - Jaime III, AFFC

Finally, it happens: Jaime Lannister implicates Varys in the disappearance of Tyrek Lannister and openly questions why Varys wasn't present during the bread riots.

Also, another ellipsis of truth!

Yet afterward, alone in the tower room he had been offered for the night, Jaime found himself wondering. Tyrek had served King Robert as a squire, side by side with Lancel. Knowledge could be more valuable than gold, more deadly than a dagger. It was Varys he thought of then, smiling and smelling of lavender. The eunuch had agents and informers all over the city. It would have been a simple matter for him to arrange to have Tyrek snatched during the confusion . . . provided he knew beforehand that the mob was like to riot. And Varys knew all, or so he would have us believe. Yet he gave Cersei no warning of that riot. Nor did he ride down to the ships to see Myrcella off. - Jaime III, AFFC

You might remember that Varys also helped Gendry escape King's Landing and claims to have done the same for Aegon VI Targaryen.

Snatching young male nobles from King's Landing has become something of a hobby at this point. (Not to be outdone, Littlefinger has taken up the same pastime.)

"Here's something you don't know. It wasn't supposed to happen like it did. I was set to leave, wagons bought and loaded, and a man comes with a boy for me, and a purse of coin, and a message, never mind who it's from. Lord Eddard's to take the black, he says to me, wait, he'll be going with you. Why d'you think I was there? Only something went queer." - Arya I, ACOK

x

The lad flushed. "That was not me. I told you. That was some tanner's son from Pisswater Bend whose mother died birthing him. His father sold him to Lord Varys for a jug of Arbor gold. He had other sons but had never tasted Arbor gold. Varys gave the Pisswater boy to my lady mother and carried me away." - Tyrion VI, ADWD

Lastly, in 2001, George R. R. Martin pulled a George R. R. Martin.

Was "file Tyrek" closed in ASOS with the hint that he ended in a bowl of stew? Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. - George R. R. Martin

(To my knowledge, it has never been hinted that Tyrek ended up in a bowl of stew.)

COUNTER-EVIDENCE:

Maybe Littlefinger has him?

On a serious note, this is a totally realistic scenario:

"If they realized whom they'd killed, no doubt they threw him in the river for fear of my father's wrath. They know the taste of that in King's Landing. Lord Tywin always paid his debts." - Jaime III, AFFC

STUMPY'S THOUGHTS:

Two more and Varys gets his boyband.

Remember everyone, sometimes: quality > quantity.

VOTE:

NEXT THEORY:

Tysha is the Sailor's Wife

[Main menu]

#operation iceberg #asoiaf theory tier list #theory 6 #varys has tyrek lannister

[hunted-moth]

Forest Of Dreams Pt 2 // New Life, New dreams

Word Count// 3,732

Summary// Y/n awoke to a new dream after being in cryo sleep, this one was different for some reason. As she and Jake landed on pandora they met Norm and their Boss Grace Agustine. Tension was high during the meeting. The next day Jake and Y/n finally experience that thing that put them there in the first place

Warnings// Language, nightmare, not listing to med techs(idk I'm bad at this link if I need to add stuff!)

A/N EY your back! Glad you liked it, this one is a bit longer, also I don't understand na’vi so please don't expect me to write the na’vi parts, ill translate it the best I can though

Speaking Na’vi

‘Thoughts’

*mini time skip, like a small location change

You were running, jumping over logs, climbing over rocks. But every time you got close to your prize you'd hear laughing and they run even further from you. As you speed up, you saw a figure, it was the first time you saw the person who giggled and laughed in your dreams. And damn was she beautiful, putting the gorgeous forest to shame.

You saw her on an edge of a waterfall, as you walked closer she jumped and you woke up in your cyro pod.

It was dark and cramped, you were confused for just a second before remembering where you were.

You felt yourself move as the pod you were in opened. You were unbuckled and you started to float up.

“We here,” you asked, the tiredness escaping your mouth

“Oh yeah, we're here alright,” the nurse said with a hint of energy in him.

He continued “You've been in cryo for 5 years 9 months, and 22 days. You will be hungry and you will be weak” he yelled to the other men and women who had just awoken from cryo like you.

You glided over to your locker and grabbed some of the clothes you stored in there. It was your school sweatshirt and a pair of pants with shoes.

They then corraled you to board the ship that’ll take you to Pandora. You sat next to Jake and noticed he look serious, giggling to yourself as he seemed to be in his marine mode. He often said that ‘once a marine, always a marine’.

*

You sat next to Jake on the air shuttle taking you to Pandora. You were given a safety briefing on the Exo packs and the air on the moon. The mask looked interesting, it covered the whole face while still showing it.

As the shuttle was landing everyone stood up in a single file line, god it reminded you of your JROTC days back in high school. You stayed seated with your brother, you offered to help him but he declined it. You assume he was in full marine mode by now.

“Common special case, I'm not waiting all day for you two” the man stated as you both passed him walking onto the tarmac. The place was littered with army dogs, who would've been fighting for freedom or earth, but here it was for a paycheck.

As the two of you were going forward, an amp almost walk over Jake if he didn't see it first

“Look out hot rod” was all he said. Jake ignored him, but you threw your arms up ‘saying what the hell man’ without saying anything. You continue forward with a sour look on your face, but a giant bulldozer rolls by, with giant arrows in the tiers, stoped both you and Jake in your tracks, having a look of awe on your face you said “Woah, some big arrows huh,” you alerting two security ops. They turn to you and Jake.

“Ey man, look at that, meal on wheels and a science puke with it,” one said and the other went “Ah man now that's just wrong,” with a smirk.

You Jake got to where they were, noticing that they were staring at you both.

“What you two limp dicks staring at?” Jake said with some attitude in his voice

Causing the bald one to respond with “looking at you stumpy, and it ain’t so limp right now” He had a disgusting smirk on his face as he eyed. You just rolled your eyes and walked away

You heard one of them do the cat call whistle at you, you turned around and said:

“suck my cock and balls, ya bald fuck” You turned around firing back while doing the suck it a gesture

Turning back around you looked down at Jake to see him shaking his head a rolling away from you into the building.

LOCATION- Safety Briefing: Mess Hall

You and Jake were a bit late, the fact it was a huge building and there weren’t places for Jake to wheel through didn't help. But eventually, both of you got there

“You are not in Kansas anymore.” was the first thing that reached your ears

“You are on Pandora, ladies, and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day. If there is a Hell, you might wanna go there for some R&R after a tour on Pandora.” the little joke he made was kinda amusing to you, but you only chucked to yourself as the two of you walked in, opting to sit in the back. You hop on a table to listen to the rest of his speech.

“Out there beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes.” he continues, though you think he's being a bit dramatic to scare the new recruits.

“We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi. They're fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your heart in one minute - and they have bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fiber. They are very hard to kill. As head of security, it is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you.” he said the last part looking in your and Jake's direction, but you think he was looking at Jake the whole time.

You spaced out the entire time after that, you were used to military briefs from all the drills in JROTC plus you knew what to expect from your avatar training. After that, you hopped off the table and the two of you headed out to the labs.

You and Jake were in a tight halfway trying to squeeze through everyone when you heard a small ‘excuse me’ from behind you and then saw a tall man, you recognized him as Norm Spellman. Meeting him at avatar training, though you two were in different squads so you were never that close to him, but he still came over a few times.

“Excuse me your Jake right, Tom's brother. Sorry im Norm Spellman, Man you look exactly like him” He shook Jake's hand then you perked up “Hey wheres my greeting Norm” you joked

He looked embarrassed and went to apologize but you budded in saying “Nah it's cool man”

“you know him?” Jake asked, but he didn't have any heart like he didn't really care. “Hmm yeah me, him, and Tom were in the program together, different squads though,” you said like it didn't matter, you noticed the fall of Norm's face

“I'm sorry to hear about you brother, he was a good man, it came as a big shock to all of us” He tried to offer some condolence but it came out awkward. “Yeah,” Jake said

“hey man it's alright don't worry about it too much, don't mind him either he's a bit of a grouch right now” you tried to comfort Norm, he willed his way through another conversation “So you're taking over his avatar right,” he asked with some excitement trying to bring the mood up, a ‘yep’ was that was heard “umm want to go take a look at them, there in the bio lab”

“Yeah sure let's go check it out, want to see how mines holding up” you mused and started walking to the lab

LOCATION- BIO LABS

“Hey welcome to Pandora good to have ya,” a man you assume to be a scientist in charge right now shakes you and Jake's hand greeting you to Pandora.

“Damn, they got big” Jake chuckled “Yeah they matured on the way out” Norm stated and the scientist constituted “Yeah great muscle tone too, it'll take a few hours to get them canted, but you should be able to drive them tomorrow” he then pointed over to the other two avatars saying “there's your guys”

You walked over to the female one and saw your avatar. Her hair was already braided around the queue, but extra hair was still loose, clouding her face. She was just floating around in the amino acids and twitched a few times.

You were just staring at her you didn't notice Jake rolling over to you, with Norm not far behind.

“Wow, looks just like you, but taller…and blue” Jake said “Yeah, wonder if ill still be taller than you” you joked, Jake never liked how you suddenly got to call him short. “Yeah we’ll see, bet ill be taller than you by a foot” he stated with a puffed chest

You punched his arm, then Max stated he'd take you to the link pod bay, and to meet your boss for the next 6 years, Grace Augustine.

*

“WHERES MY GODDAME CIGGURETE” was the first thing you heard. But you were more paying attention to Jake and the Norms convo, it started with a simple question from Jake.

Whose this Grace Augustine, it was a simple question one you knew the answer to but the Norm beat you to it

“Grace Augustine is a legend, she's the head of the avatar program and wrote the book and I mean literally wrote the book on pandora botany,” Norm said as if it was a simple fact of life and Max interjected saying “Yeah its cause she likes plants more than people” he added

“Ahh there she is, cinderella back from the ball I see, Grace I’d like you to meet Norm Spellman and Y/n and Jake Sully”.

Grace took a puff from her smoke and addressed you and Norm

“Norm and Y/n heard a lot of good things about you two, hows your Na’vi,” she asked while putting her hands behind her back

Norm shot first saying “May all mother smile upon our first meeting” He finished off with a grin like a just got all As on his report card

“Not bad you sound a little formal” Grace replied in na’vi to which Norm continued with “I studied for five years, there's still some much to learn” She then turned to you expecting a show of your words

“Ahh well, not good at it, still learning” you finished with a shy smile “weak point in learning to speak it hearing good” Grace only nodded and said “it can be rather hard”

Max tried to divert the attention to Jake and introduce him to her, but she only waved him off saying

“Yeah yeah, I know who you are and I don't need you. I need your brother, you know the other brother, who had a Ph.D. and trained for three years on this mission” she said in a tone, both you and Jake didn't like too much

“He's dead, I know that it's a big inconvenience for everyone” Jake spat at her. You felt his annoyance radiate off him. You then threw your hat into the ring and shot off with

“Ma’am I don't exactly like you insulting and deeming my brother, he may not be what you need but he's here to help, any way he can. So lay off a bit will you” You finished off, and you looked around to see Norm's eyes as wide as saucers, and Grace's face, it had a mix of ‘what did you just say’ and ‘hmm impressive’.

“How much lab training have you had” She directed it towards Jake and you knew he was screwed, he practically failed science even with you and tommys help

“I dissected a frog once,” he said with a smug look, and that look combined with the answer blew Grace's lid off

“Ya see, ya see? They're just pissing on us without even giving us the courtesy of calling it rain. I'm going to Selfridge.” with that, she walked off.

Max tried to reason with her “Grace. No, I don't think…” but it was futile as Grace just fought back “No, man, this is such bullshit! Gonna kick his corporate butt. He has no business sticking his nose in MY department.”

And with that, she went off to bridgehead to talk with you mused. Max faced you guys and told you guys to be here at 0800, told Jake to say big words, and walked off.

The three of you just stood there, looking at each other. Jake was in the biggest sour mood, you were peeved, and Norm looked at you two like you were combing into one in front of him.

“Wha-what did you two just do!” he said you and Jake just looked at each other. You were confused about why he was so bewildered.

“What do you mean?” you questioned him with a look of confusion written on your face, Jake looked more annoyed that he was being questioned.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN- WHAT DO YOU MEAN, you just told off Grace Augustine, our boss” “Yeah what about it, she was shit-talking my brother, Sullies don't ride like that” with pride for your brother you put your hand on his shoulder. “I-i guess that makes sense, but please don't do that again! Or at least not in front of me might actually have a heart attack!” he finished holding his heart, you and Jake looked at each other and laughed, he sorta reminded you of tom at that moment.

LOCATION- MESS HALL

The three of you went off to your sleeping quarters with the help of another scientist, Then went to eat with the others. You sat next to Jake and were talking to another scientist, you didn't notice that Jake was more or less by himself eating, to wrap up talking about Pandora.

When a woman came up to your table, wearing an airforce uniform, the table got kinda quiet as Grace stopped talking to just looked at her, you looked over at her when she started speaking

“I'm looking for a Jake Sully.” she looked around then Jake spoke up “Down here.” she looked down then grinned and tilted her head in a direction “Come with me, Quaritch

needs ya,” Grace raised her voice at this “now what does he need him for?” she sounded annoyed already “I'm not sure just needs him ma'am-” “are you just gonna stand here? Let's go.” and with that, he was off, the women jogged after him leading him to where he was needed.

‘Wonder what he needs with Jake’ You continued your conversation and ended lunch and retired to your bed to finally get some shut-eye.

LOCATION- ROOM

Sleep was difficult, being in a new place, hell on a new planet, meaning sleep was hard to come by. But the sweet embrace of sleep hugged you, and you were out like a light.

*

You were walking in the dense forest, with careful steps. Looking around for a way out of the forest. It was nightfall now, and you could feel the fear in your body with each step as it rose. You heard something in the brush you stared at for a minute before feeling okay that nothing would jump out at you.

That's when you heard it, a giggle. But it didn't sound happy or joyful, no, it sounded sinister and evil. But you couldn't see where it was coming from, which only made your fear worsen.

When a sudden rustle in the bushes made you spin to it. Not seeing anything, you turn back, but you heard it again, the giggles, right behind you. You took off, faster than you ever ran before.

But with your luck, your foot got caught on a root and you were sent flying to the floor. You turn on your back to see what awaits you. You see nothing then the laughter starts again. This time, it surrounded the forest, suffocating your ears. Then you heard it pounce on you, you closed your eyes- and you sat up in your bed, sweating drips down your forehead.

Then your alarm goes off signally to you that it's 6:30 now, meaning you have half hour to eat breakfast and get ready.

*

You were eating with your brother. You two were just talking when norm cam and sat your table, Jake looked slightly annoyed but you spoke up and greeted him.

“Hey Norm, how’d ya sleep last night?” “Oh alright, the beds are bit uncomfortable but I’ll like haha” you both laughed when Jake asked how you slept, “so what about you? You look like you saw a ghost when you left your room.”

“Oh uhh, we’ll I had the forest dream again, but this time it was more like a nightmare, It was like someone was watching me then I started running with I heard giggling surround me then I woke up” you finished with a shrug “hmm yeah that’s a night meat alright,”

Norm looked slightly confused “wait forest dreams, do you always have dreams like these?” He asked with a confused face “oh yeah since I was a kid, but they weren’t always like that nightmare, usually I was chasing the laughter, it’s actually what got me into geology” you finished with a smirk.

You checked the time to see 7:30 meaning you only had 30 minutes to get ready, you told the other men this and you all went off.

LOCATION- LINK POD BAY

“So how much link time have you logged,” Grace asked you guys as she walked you to the pods. “Umm about 520 hours” he answered before you, “I logged in about 250 hours” yours wasn't much but it was something compared to Jake “that's good, Norm you in there, Y/n your here, and your here,” she pointed to Jakes pod and did some operating things “so how many hours did you log” “zip” you could just feel the annoyance from the next pod over

You lay down in your pod, the inside was made from this squishy silicon-type material that dip from the pressure that was on it.

The scientist that was assisting you to put the cage down and ask if you were ready, oh you were more than ready, you put your thumbs up and they put the lid down after instructing you to keep your mind blank. Then it was dark, you closed your eyes, relaxing then you saw white

You opened your eyes to see a doctor in your face, “Hey Y/n, how are you feeling?” it was bright as the doc was flashing light in your eyes testing your pupil's dilation. “Your eyes seem good, can you hear me well?” she asked as you felt your ear swivel around “Oh yeah loud and clear doc”

She had you sit up, you look over to Norm and Jake, it look like Jake just woke up. “If you can just perform some movement that is really nice, just wriggle your toes or fingers”

you saw Jake standing up, so decided to try it too.

“Oh no Y/n, you need to sit down please–” “No it's fine I got this, promise” you try to reason with her “No we need you to sit down, you're going a little too fast right now”

When you stood up you almost fell on the poor woman. But you regained your balance, you were close to a wall and you felt your tail hit it “Yo Jake, look at it, I feel like a cat!”

Jake looked in your direction then he felt his tail and looked at it. You and Jake were causing panic for the med techs, they called for you two to be sedated, and you walked forward to Jake and ripped off your IV and other medical stuff.

You landed on him and looked at Max through the window, he yelled saying “guys, listen to me; you are not used to your avatar bodies, you need to return to your beds, this is dangerous-” “This feels great,” “Jake, Y/n-” “c’mon guys, their gonna put you out” they both tried and failed to get you two to your beds

Jake walked away with the biggest grin on his face, you stayed put, just watching him move around the med bay, his tail knocked into some things, then he was gone, he just left the bay.

You saw this and followed after him, same with Norm. when you all got out there Jake was on a court, you ran to him while Norm was still with the med people. You caught up to him

“Hey wait up” You had a playful smile on your face as you caught up to your older brother, Norm not long behind

You two clumsily passed a bunch of people, accidentally bumping into people. Then he started to build momentum, so you built momentum. He noticed and went faster, you chased him and eventually you started to race each other, the fishline unknown to you both

You passed other avatars training on obstacle courses, then you almost ran into an amp suit, you two gave half-hearted apologies, as you ran into a field of fruits.

He stopped suddenly, you almost crashed into him. You caught your breath while looking around, it was…green and full of life, as opposed to earth and base, which was gray and dull. You dug your feet into the dirt, you can't even remember the last time you did that!

“Hey, Sullies!” you both looked over to see… Grace! You both uddered a quiet ‘damn’ and ‘shit’ under your breaths as you saw grace in her avatar for the first time

“Grace?” Jake was the first to speak to her “Who do you think numbnuts?” Grace looked over and threw some fruit at you guys, “Think fast.”

“Motor control looking good” she stated

You caught it and looked at Jake to see if he’d eat, he looked at you and took a bite to make sure it was safe for you. He bit into it and groned from how good it was, and from that, you took your first bite, then another, and another, it was sweet and made you want to keep eating it. Grace giggled at you two, it was like seeing two toddlers tiring something new instead of two adults.

*

After you got your avatar situated and properly looked at which the doctors were not happy with you three.

You sat in your bed, you and Jake looking at your queues, they had white tendrils and were squirming around looking for something to connect to, from what you could remember, it could connect to the environment

“Kinda freaking huh,” Jake said to you, “Yeah reminds me of testicles or so-” you were interrupted with “Don't play with that, you'll go blind” It scared Jake but you just laughed as you knew it was practically harmless. You put it away as you laid down to ‘sleep’. The forest was alive as you could hear so many animals in the forest, but you closed your eyes and opened them in the link pod.

LOCATION- ROOM

You retired to your room after a long and rough day. You cleaned yourself up, changed into comfy clothes, and laid in your bed.

When you closed your eyes and fell asleep you were met with black and then woke up, looks like you didn't have a dream last night.

But now you had an even longer day ahead of you. You, Norm, Jake, and Grace were going out to collect samples out into the forest.

Next // PT 3 Deja Vu

Previous // PT 1 A Shit Place

// Masterlist //

Taglist //

A/N // see told you it would be longer lol. NOW IM EXCITED! We get to meet Neytiri, idk if you noticed but I'm following the plot of the movie, but now I'm wondering if I should end at the Tree of Souls or just complete it like in the movie. And even do some way off the water stuff, like head cannons of they function and work, but we’ll see when that happens ;)

Anyways let me know what you think, and give me ideas and stuff for later chapters and stuff

MY DUMBASS DIDN’T PUT ANY TAGS!!! I wonder no was seeing it T-T

#neytiri x reader #x reader #neytiri #neytiri te tskaha mo'at'ite #avatar x reader #james cameron avatar #jake sully #Y/N sully #norm spellman #grace augustine #neytiri x y/n #avatar 2009

[lcganwalker]

starter for @knox---rhodes

at knife point livestock (his home)

Logan was squinting at Stumpy walking around in the pasture. The horse — twenty two years young — was the first horse that Logan bought. He was a feedyard horse that went on to be a horse that helped him win a NFR in Heeling, and All Around Cowboy. He wasn't lame but when it came the to the old man horse, Logan had a surprisingly soft spot for the old, somewhat dramatic gelding. He always pretended to be lame, with a killer cough, the first five minutes of the ride. "Lyin' sonuvabitch," Logan said with a shake of his head. "I've got Laramie comin' out to look at him tomorrow and he's sounder than an in tune guitar. Tricked me, the bastard." It was all in fondness, and worst case, he'd spend some money on injections and get the gelding's maintenance taken care of. "I forget your schedule," Logan said, finally turning his attention back to Knox, both of them nursing a beer in the barn. "They have you working or think you can help me with a fence?"

#knox

[bwoahtastic]

I miss sunshiney giggly momma max with his grumpy chaotic pup who only likes his momma and nursing

PLLSSS Max being such a happy momma and so proud of his pup! And Charles is just pure chaos on 2 stumpy, chubby little legs sjsks. Absolute demon but he loves his momma so much! Max is glad Charles actually lays still when nursing though lol. Pls sweet baby was just so attention deprived and he can't believe he has a momma who let's him nurse now!

#asks #abo adoption

[honourablejester]

PF2e Character Concept: Ingra Darkrend

Because I want that noir tiefling dwarf back-alley doctor. The Shackleborn lineage gives me ideas, enough to make up a whole-ass dwarf clan who survived being genetically engineered by fiends to better endure torture, and came out bitter, stubborn, and medically inclined. So.

Character Concept: Ingra Darkrend, Back-Alley Doctor & Gunslinger

Ancestry, Heritage, Lineage:

Dwarf, Tiefling, Shackleborn

Daughter of Clan Darkrend, a dwarven clan born from the survivors of a horrific velstrac experiment centuries ago. Bred, engineered and remade during their captivity under these sadistic shadow fiends, Darkrends are quite visibly distinct from other dwarves, often bearing marks of tiefling heritage as well as lingering results of genetic experimentation, such as vestigial or extraneous limbs and organs. Darkrends also heal faster and better than many other beings, as the ability to survive more and better tortures for longer was a prioritised alteration for their captors.

Several particularly well-adapted shackleborn dwarves managed to finally claw free of their captivity after untold decades of horror. Knowing that their mutated and clearly fiend-touched forms would draw disgust and ire from others, and always fearing that their velstrac captors would find and retake them some day, these survivors banded together and formed what would become the Darkrend Clan.

As a matter of clan culture, Darkrends tend to value survival and self-preservation, as well as loyalty to the clan and ferocious opposition of fiends of any stripe, and velstracs most of all. Many scions of the clan also nurse a fascination and skill for medicine, born of either loathing, curiosity, or a desperate need to understand the many mutations and alterations that plague the clan bloodlines.

Ingra Darkrend

A stout, burly exemplar of her clan, Ingra bears many of the tell-tale markings of the Darkrends, being ‘blessed’ with blue-black skin, a short, stumpy tail, and two little nubs of bony horn emerging unevenly from her forehead. Determinedly hidden under her clothing are further signs, including two strange, misshapen raised lumps of skin on her back, which clan doctors and healers examined during her teenage years and found to be the twisted, vestigial suggestion of wings. The offer was made to attempt to remove them, although Clan Darkrend has found over the years that physical manifestations of their captivity often resist attempts to surgically or even magically correct them. There was every possibility that the ‘wings’ would simply grow back, and do unknown damage in the process. Ingra, being stubborn, bitter, and bloody-minded even then, declined the attempt, and determined to work with what she had.

Languages:

Common, Dwarven, Shadowtongue

Ancestry Feats:

Darkvision: You can see in darkness and dim light just as well as you can see in bright light, though your vision in darkness is in black and white.

Shackleborn: Your lineage shows the signs of velstrac tampering, including some curious quirk bequeathed by those shadowy surgeons of flesh and souls. Your flesh heals cleanly and quickly - all the better for you to serve as a subject for their ghastly art. You gain the Fast Recovery feat, even if you don't meet the prerequisites.

Fast Recovery: Your body quickly bounces back from afflictions. You regain twice as many Hit Points from resting. Each time you succeed at a Fortitude save against an ongoing disease or poison, you reduce its stage by 2, or by 1 against a virulent disease or poison. Each critical success you achieve against an ongoing disease or poison reduces its stage by 3, or by 2 against a virulent disease or poison. In addition, you reduce the severity of your drained condition by 2 when you rest for a night instead of by 1.

Planned Future Ancestry Feats:

Defy the Darkness (Level 5): Using ancient dwarven methods developed to fight enemies wielding magical darkness, you've honed your darkvision and sworn not to use such magic yourself. You gain greater darkvision, enabling you to see through magical darkness even if it normally hampers darkvision (such as the darkness created by a 4th-level darkness spell). You can't cast spells with the darkness trait, use item activations with the darkness trait, or use any other ability with the darkness trait. (Velstrac are shadow fiends)

Fiendish Wings (Level 9): Frequency once per day. You can strain to call forth bat-like or otherwise fiendish wings from your back, similar in appearance to those of your fiendish ancestors. Once manifested, these wings remain for 10 minutes. You gain a fly Speed equal to your land Speed while you've manifested your wings. (Yeah, those lumps of skin on her back are gonna dramatically come out later)

Mountain’s Stoutness (Level 13*): Your hardiness lets you withstand more punishment than most before going down. Increase your maximum Hit Points by your level. When you have the dying condition, the DC of your recovery checks is equal to 9 + your dying value (instead of 10 + your dying value). If you also have the Toughness feat, the Hit Points gained from it and this feat are cumulative, and the DC of your recovery checks is equal to 6 + your dying value. (Dwarves make a really good base if you’re trying to genetically engineer people to last longer under torture)(*Also, it’s a level 9 feat, but I wanted the wings first, so I’m taking it at level 13)

Relentless Wings (Level 17): Prerequisites Fiendish Wings. Your wings are now a permanent part of your physiology. You gain the effects of Fiendish Wings at all times, rather than just once per day for 10 minutes. (How’s she gonna deal with this further permanent alteration of her body by the velstrac legacy? It’s useful. Even cool. But it’s also really unmissable. But maybe by Level 17 she’ll have settled into herself and come to terms with things. Maybe. Heh)

Some Planned Future General Feats (levels undetermined):

Diehard: It takes more to kill you than most. You die from the dying condition at dying 5, rather than dying 4.

Fleet: You move more quickly on foot. Your Speed increases by 5 feet.

Toughness: You can withstand more punishment than most before succumbing. Increase your maximum Hit Points by your level. The DC of recovery checks is equal to 9 + your dying condition value.

Background:

Back-Alley Doctor:

You're the medic many turn to when a more official clinic or healer might not be available. You may specialize in stitching up bullet wounds or have a standing, confidential deal with a criminal syndicate to provide your services any time of day or night. In either case, you've perhaps turned to the adventuring life because a former client is unhappy with your work or members of the local constabulary have been asking too many questions. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost. You're trained in the Medicine skill and the Underworld Lore skill. You gain the Risky Surgery (Advanced Player's Guide 208) skill feat.

Ingra Darkrend

More than many dwarf clans, Darkrends value survivability and medical intervention. Ingra was no exception. As a result of their visibly fiendish alterations, Darkrends also tend to be very aware of how many people either can’t afford or simply won’t get the benefits of more … official medical intervention. Ingra’s career on the distinctly less official side of medicine was half self-interest, given that criminality is often practically demanded of Darkrends outside of clan strongholds, so it might as well pay if it’s inevitable, and half bitter principle. Everyone, no matter what they look like or what they’ve done, should have someone to go to to get their flesh and bone, and perhaps souls, sewn back together. Even if that means a make-shift surgery stuffed in the back of a bar.

With this in mind, it’s going to be the constabulary that forced her to move on, not the former clients.

Background Feats:

Risky Surgery: Prerequisites: Trained in Medicine. Your surgery can bring a patient back from the brink of death, but might push them over the edge. When you Treat Wounds, you can deal 1d8 slashing damage to your patient just before applying the effects of Treat Wounds. If you do, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to your Medicine check to Treat Wounds, and if you roll a success, you get a critical success instead.

Class, Subclass:

Gunslinger, Pistolero

I considered a lot of classes for Ingra. Alchemist caught my attention for a bit, particularly Mutagenist, because there’s a lot of thematic resonance with the velstrac alterations and Darkrend medical philosophy, but … well, frankly, alchemist is intimidating to me as a class. I also considered Cleric, but Ingra strikes me as a) too pragmatic and b) too bitter to find devotion easy. I spent a long time considering Rogue, because noir, back-alley doctor, it fits, and I might well do a version of this character as a rogue. I’m flipflopping between Ruffian and Thief for the racket. However. There’s a bit of me, possibly because of the noir thing, that just keeps picturing her with a pistol. A back-alley mug with a gun and a sewing kit. It’s a good image, and frankly Ingra’s entire character has been about the image for me, the picture of her I have in my head. So. Gunslinger.

For the Way, I went with Pistolero, almost purely because of the reliance on Intimidation. Look. Ingra’s bitter. She’s hard and bitter and angry. Pugnacious. She’s from a clan that are hated and reviled because they had the misfortune to be taken by fiends and genetically altered to endure torture. She’s a back-alley doctor because she knows people like her often don’t get to visit legitimate doctors, so she’s trying to provide a service for everyone like her who’s not welcome on the bright and shiny side of the law. She’s just … Pistoleros are about Intimidation (or Deception, but that’s not where we’re going with Ingra).

Look at Raconteur’s Reload (Level 1): Your rapid or forceful words draw the enemy's attention away from your hands long enough to chamber another bullet. Interact to reload and then attempt a Deception check to Create a Diversion or an Intimidation check to Demoralize.

And, later, Grim Swagger (Level 15): You attempt to clear the room by promising a grim fate to anyone who doesn't do what you say, and quickly. […] If you attempt an Intimidation check, you promise everyone in the room that you're going to be the last thing they see.

Ingra’s a demonic dwarf. She’s a tiefling. She knows how people look at her. So yeah. If she needs to, she’s going to lean into that. She’s going to pop a hand on her gun and fucking swagger. If centuries of torture under actual fiends didn’t break the Darkrends, some pissant bloody asshole or monster isn’t going to break her.

Basically, Ingra is the embodiment of come and have a fucking go.

Skills: Acrobatics, Intimidation, Lore: Underworld, Medicine, Society, Stealth, Thievery

Planned Class Feats:

I’m a bit more flexible here, I don’t have the class feats planned out the way I have the ancestry feats planned, but I am definitely going to snag both Grit and Tenacity and Unshakeable Grit when I can, because Ingra’s just like that. I am leaning all the way into dwarven stubborn for her. Darkrends did not come out of decades of torture just to back down from things now.

Grit and Tenacity (Level 8): Frequency once per hour, Trigger You fail a Fortitude or Will save. You call upon deep reserves of toughness and mental fortitude to power through an otherwise debilitating effect. Reroll the triggering save with a +2 circumstance bonus; you must use the second result.

Unshakeable Grit (Level 12): Prerequisites: Grit and Tenacity. You've become hardened by conflict after everything you've faced, and you possess a certain intractable stubbornness. If the reroll granted to you by your Grit and Tenacity reaction is a success, you get a critical success instead; if it's a critical failure, you get a failure instead.

And, voila. Ingra Darkrend, bitter back-alley dwarf and gunslinger with a tainted family history.

#character concepts #pf2e #pathfinder #dwarves #tieflings #gunslingers

[thecreaturecodex]

Mernoceros

“D+D Monsters - Mernoceros” © Tim Morris, accessed at his deviantArt gallery here

[Commissioned by @glarnboudin​, based on Tim Morris’ excellent gallery of chimeras and other weirdoes for use in D&D. The mernoceros seemed like a logical extension of the sea cat, and so I tied their flavor text together. Have a whole aquatic Serengeti in your campaigns!

Edit. I forgot to copy and paste the introductory text in. Thanks to @abominationimperatrix​ for the head’s up!]

Mernoceros CR 6 N Magical Beast This creature looks like a rhinoceros from the waist forward and a small whale from the waist back. It has beady eyes, a large horn on the end of its nose, two stumpy forelimbs and a broad finned tail.

The mernoceros is an aquatic chimerical herbivore. They are common in shallow coastal water, particularly in places where there are too many predators for the inoffensive manatees to be prevalent. Mernoceroses are similar to their terrestrial cousins in being belligerent and likely to charge at the first sign of trouble, especially in the water. They are slow on land, and only emerge in order to give birth, nurse calves or crawl to a particularly lush tide pool during low tide.

Perhaps the greatest foe of the mernoceros is the sea cat, and the two species will fight to the death if their paths cross. A single sea cat stands little chance against a mernoceros, but a pride of the carnivores can and do kill lone mernoceroses if they can isolate them. These clashes are especially dangerous for fisherman and sailors in areas where the two species overlap, as neither is careful about collateral damage, and may do things like hide behind small boats (or try to breach into larger ones). Mernoceros horn has a mother-of-pearl sheen to it, and is prized by some coastal communities, leading to over-harvesting and population declines.

Mernoceros          CR 6 XP 2,400 N Large magical beast Init +1; Senses low-light vision, Perception +13, scent Defense AC 19, touch 10, flat-footed 18 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +9 natural) hp 66 (7d10+28) Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +5 Offense Speed 10 ft., swim 40 ft. Melee gore +11 (2d6+5), tail slap +6 (1d12+2) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks powerful charge (gore, 4d6+7), tossing critical Statistics Str 20, Dex 12, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 11 Base Atk +7; CMB +13 (+15 bull rush); CMD 25 (27 vs. bull rush) Feats Improved Bull Rush, Iron Will, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Perception) Skills Perception +13, Swim +17 SQ hold breath Ecology Environment any coastlines Organization solitary, pair or herd (3-12) Treasure none Special Abilities Tossing Critical (Ex) When a mernoceros successfully makes a critical hit against an opponent of its size or smaller, it can make a combat maneuver check to bull rush that opponent as a free action. It does not move with this bull rush, but can still push opponents farther than 5 feet.

#mernoceros #chimera #tim morris #pathfinder 1e #commissions

[burstingstones]

Allegiances

•─────⋅☾ ☆ ❀•°•───────•

Pipestone Colony

Leader Piperhawk -- A ginger and brown molly with tattered ears and yellow eyes.

Second Stonesong -- A dark brown molly with teal eyes.

Historian Rootbuzzard -- A very pale golden-brown trans tom with splashes of white on his fur.

Healers Yarrowspeckle -- A very dark reddish-brown tabby molly with a spiky-furred tail. Yewleap -- A black and orange tabby trans molly with large pointed ears. Tansyfang -- A tiny gray-brown tabby molly.

Heart Keepers Flameheart -- A brown tabby molly with green eyes. Burningapple -- A light ginger and white trans tom. Blazemoth -- A bright ginger tabby tolly with tufted ears. Kindlingfeather -- A ginger colorpoint molly with hazel eyes.

Seed Sowers Sandshimmer -- A golden speckled molly with cobalt blue eyes. Mudstrawberry -- A handsome red tom with blue eyes. Dustantler -- A pale reddish-brown tom with a bent tail.

Trappers Runningthrush -- A gold and cream tabby tom with stormy teal eyes. Fogbreeze -- A long-legged orange tabby molly with enormous blue-green eyes (Nursing Cricket). Sunpounce -- A bright ginger tom with silver eyes. Talonsage -- A messy-furred golden tom. Sleekspring -- A short chestnut brown tabby molly. Snarlhound -- A creamy brown tom with tiny white dash on his chest.

Guards Shadeoat -- A brown and ginger tolly with big pale paws. Spottedswan -- A dark brown and cream molly with black stripes. Strikedeer -- A very dark brown and white tabby tom. Stonelake -- A tall crow-black molly.

Trainees Stoat -- A tortoiseshell tabby tom with a stumpy white tail. Chirp -- A nimble red molly with sky-blue eyes. Blossom -- A golden-brown tabby molly.

Kittens Cricket -- A sturdy ginger and white tabby tom.

Mentors Willowred -- A well-groomed rose-cream tolly with bright hazel-green eyes. Wingturtle -- An old golden tabby molly with a broken spine and purple eyes. Stemquail -- A mottled brown molly with blue eyes. Shimmergoose -- A white and brown tabby tom with an unusually long tail.

•─────⋅☾ ☆ ❀•°•───────•

Cloudburst Colony

Leader Cloudmackerel -- A long-furred silver tabby tom with tufted ears.

Second Burstfern -- A white and grey tabby molly.

Historian Rootstride -- A silver colorpoint tabby molly with orange eyes.

Healers Fernrusset -- A blue-gray tabby trans tom with a black tail. Thistlefrost -- A silver colorpoint tabby trans molly. Brackenlight -- A gray and white tabby molly with black streaks in her fur. Ferncedar -- A blind tortoiseshell tom.

Divers Frostflurry -- A curly-furred, cream and gray tabby trans molly. Foamflutter -- A gray-brown tom with silver eyes. Streamplum -- A black and dark gray tabby tom with copper eyes. Currentbird -- A dark gray tabby molly with enormous blue-gray eyes.

Tempests Cloudwhisker -- A large sooty gray tabby trans tom with brown eyes. Stormharrier -- A Deaf silver and white molly with purple-grey eyes.

Trappers Crowstripe -- A smoky black tabby trans molly with a pale belly and one mismatched eyes. Jumpspider -- A strong creamy white tabby molly. Hopblizzard -- A light gray and brown tom with long, wild fur. Springelm -- A slim black and gray tabby molly. Brightjuniper -- A pure white tom with a dark muzzle.

Guards Strikeotter -- A light gray colorpoint tabby trans molly. Darkoak -- A heavily scarred black and orange molly with stormy purple-gray eyes (Nursing Petal & Partridge). Clawshiver -- A pale gray colorpoint tom with purple-gray eyes.

Trainees Mistle -- A scrappy silver colorpoint tabby tom with golden eyes. Pipit -- A grey molly with brown and white patches.

Kittens Petal -- A skinny brown tabby molly. Partridge -- A tall white and silver tabby tom.

Mentors Pathmoon -- A sleek pale pinkish-cream tom. Darkbadger -- A black and white tom with a missing eye.

•─────⋅☾ ☆ ❀•°•───────•

Other Characters

Wisp -- A scrappy white tom. Tomato -- A dull brown tabby molly with blue eyes. Honey -- A long-furred golden molly. Gene -- A small white and light brown trans tom. Luke -- A white and gray tabby tom with one missing eye. Myrtle -- A powerful ginger tom with mismatched eyes.

#warrior cats #warriors #fanclan #allegiances #pipestone colony #cloudburst colony

[journey-forth]

What would i do without her to supervise???

#nurse stumpy #personal blog #tumblr journal #personal #tumblr thoughts #cute #wholesome #pet #staying positive #cute baby animals #animal care #funny animals #farm animals #dwarf goat #goatblr #horses #horse #equine #medical care #pygmygoats #livestock #wholesome things #fur baby

[madewithspice]

Levi Ackerman Headcanons

Appreciation post for my smol boy because apparently “he is ugly with the scars and bandages ” Ugly where, bitches?!! 😤🤬🙄

Levi is a cat lady. Not his own cats technically but the strays around his home. They don’t trust him at first so he would leave scraps out for them. Now they come by for food and the occasional pet and belly rub. He has a favourite - a ginger cat with one ear. He nursed it back to health after it was hurt.

He likes to read with a cup of tea in hand as a way to declutter his mind. Doesn’t need anything specific, just any book genre will suffice. Though he thinks the popular classical literature are overrated.

You can try and convince me otherwise but this man collects stuffed animals and teddy bears. Don’t even bother trying to fight me on this. He has a locked room in his home with the shelves all packed. Why is it locked? Duh, Hange would never let him forget it if they found out.

On the death anniversaries of his friends he sends flowers and baked goods anonymously to their families along with a simple card inscribed with “take care”.

Levi’s handwriting is messy and sharp with a slant towards the right. You’d think he has clean and printed handwriting but he never could achieve it especially with all the reports he’d be getting through.

Secretly he’s a smoker but he tries to keep it to a minimum as much as possible. He likes to take late night walks and smoke under the night sky because it’s more calming and easy to hide what he’s doing. As a clean freak, Levi hates the fact cigarettes are his “weakness”.

Getting hugged is a nightmare of Levi’s but once in a blue moon he will hug someone randomly, whether it’s Hange or one of the younger cadets. Nobody says a word though about it or else arses will be kicked. Boyfriend Levi, however, loves hugs but only when you two are alone. A secret softie

Being alone with boyfriend Levi equals clingy Levi but he’ll never admit he is. In public, he won’t be stuck by your side 24/7 but there’s side glances at you every few seconds and glares at anyone else who looks at you. In crowded places he will entwine his pinky with yours or hold onto your sleeve like a tiny baby 😭

Levi is asexual. I can’t hear anything else in regards to this so don’t come at me. I just feel like he’s just not into all that, he’s never felt those feelings towards anyone and he’s not bothered about it anyway. I feel like he’s either aromantic or pan-romantic, that once he gets close to someone then he decides his feelings. We be ace buddies

He’s SOO good with kids but he has a hate-love relationship with them. He’ll babysit for a few hours but the child must be taken back, he will not tolerate anything longer than two or three hours. He hums while rocking the babies to sleep and gives lots of kisses to the tiny humans when he thinks no one is around.

This man wants a kid or two but he’s scared of the responsibility but once his daughter (I feel like he’d have a daughter first) was born he was wrapped around her stumpy baby finger. Father Levi is extremely protective and strict but he’s understanding. The firm but fair parenting style. Wants to spoil his kids but knows he shouldn’t. I can imagine him teaching them to defend themselves and it ending in a tickle fight which he dramatically loses. Can he be my dad? 😫.

- Kiki.

#levi ackerman #levi x reader #shingeki no kyoujin levi #aot levi #levi headcanons #levi ackerman headcanons #eren yeager #jean kirstein #aot headcanons #armin alert #erwin smith #aot boys #connie springer #attack on titan #aot hcs #mikasa ackerman #annie leonhart #sasha braus #reiner braun #shingeki no kyojin #hange zöe #aot jean #aot connie #aot eren #aot mikasa #aot sasha #aot armin #rivai ackerman

[bbgem329]

If Only You Were Mine… Chapter Ten

Pairings—Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Summary

You’ve been in love with Bucky Barnes since the moment you laid eyes on him. That was five years ago, when your older sister brought him home for a Sunday lunch and introduced him as her boyfriend.

Warnings

Minors DNI. 18+. Language. Protective!Bucky. Fluff!!! Lil bit of angst. Mentions of pregnancy. Medical stuff?

Notes!

I’m so sorry it’s taken me this long to update. I worked all weekend and week, things were a little hectic to say the least and I struggled to find the time. I’m hoping to have another chapter up by Sunday!

Series Masterlist

—————

Bucky leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and cerulean eyes narrowed critically as he watched the doctor and two female nurses scurry about the room, setting up various medical machinery.

The past three weeks, the doctor had visited alone. He didn’t like that two new, unfamiliar faces were suddenly welcomed into the Manor.

Bucky understood that the poor stumpy man needed the extra hands. Towing about all that equipment for an in-home ultrasound and the extensive testing that needed to be done, definitely wasn’t a walk in the park. But they’d been so careful about monitoring who came in and out—keeping the place locked down until their safety was certain or at the very least, until they gained more knowledge on the Y/L/N’s game plan.

For now, the main goal was to keep the news of your pregnancy from leaking and spreading to unwanted ears.

Your family didn’t need another reason to want you dead. Bucky knew well enough that if they found out you were carrying his child—something Carly had, no doubt, wanted and expected to do, they’d stop at nothing to put an end to you before the life growing inside you even had the chance to be born.

The notion terrified him like no other. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing you—neither you nor the baby, especially now when you were finally just within his reach.

You and this baby were what kept him hanging on—Gave him the energy to resist and the courage to continue this fight.

The one and only reason he dragged his sorry ass out of bed each morning, ready to tackle each and every new day. Working effortlessly to get the jump on your conniving parents and sadistic sister so he could keep you both safe and out of harm's way.

“Bucky.” You cooed, voice soft and serene. His head snapped in your direction, eyes softening when they landed on you snuggled contently in his childhood bed. “Come sit.”

He didn’t need to be told twice, kicking off the wall, and appearing at your side in a few short strides.

You offered him an encouraging, kind smile, nodding your head pointedly to the wood chair pushed up beside the head of the bed. Hesitantly, he perched himself at the very edge of the uncomfortable seat, stiff as a board as his eyes trailed back to the two nurses.

Bucky had barely noticed he’d started gnawing on his bitten, raw cuticles, skepticism and nerves rising rapidly in his tight chest. Too distracted by the nurse with the jet black hair. He didn’t like the way she was glancing every so often at the two of you—studying you curiously, almost dubiously.

What was her name again?

What if she was working for them? Sent to report back to them?

“Buck.” You chuckled, dragging him abruptly from his thoughts. Again, his gaze snapped back to you, this time a heavy blush coating the apples of his cheeks. “What’s gotten into you?” You whispered, bottom lip trapped between your teeth as you carefully drew his hand away from his mouth, and intertwined it with your own. “You look like you’re about to bite that nurse's head off.”

Maybe he was going a little crazy.

Ultimately trapped and confined within the walls of this creaky Manor for the past four weeks as they blindly waited for your family to make their next unpredictable move.

To say he was on edge would be an understatement. He’d always struggled to trust before, but now it seemed to be heightened by tenfold.

He had to think logically, rationally here. Him and his father had double—triple checked these two nurses' resumes and had a full blown background check run on both of them just last week.

They were legit and clean.

He was just being paranoid.

“I’m sorry, sweets.” Bucky mumbled, pressing a tender kiss to the back of her hand. “I’m just-” He sighed softly, scrubbing his hand frustratingly down his face, partly to hide the obvious heat in his cheeks. “I’m being paranoid. I don’t like new people coming in, especially not around you.”

“I knew you would be,” You admitted with a sly smirk and slight shrug of your shoulders, “That’s why I asked you to join me.”

There were no words to describe just how happy Bucky was when you invited him to sit in on your next appointment with the doctor. Even more so when he learned they would be doing an ultrasound.

Since your small discussion three weeks ago, he was essentially, allowing you to come to him.

If you requested his presence he was there, sat by your bedside, the very second you’d asked him to be. Whatever you need, he was eager and ready to help–whether it be a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, a borrowed sweatshirt or t-shirt to rest in, fresh ginger tea in your Christmas mug, a recommendation for a book, or opinion on a photo you were editing.

It wasn’t too often, but when you did, Bucky swore his entire being lit up like the fucking forth of July. On those specific days, Sam and Steve ended up teasing him over the new found pep in his step or the unfaltering grin he’d have after visiting with you.

Even a second spent with you, brightened his entire day.

“Thank you.” Bucky cleared his throat, shifting to rest more comfortably in his seat, “For letting me be here.” He brushed his thumb along the smooth skin of your knuckles, a genuine smile tugging at the corner of his plush lips, “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

You shot him that gorgeous smile, flashing your pearly white teeth—one that sent shivers dancing up his spine and butterflies swarming pleasantly throughout his naval.

He wishes you knew just how gorgeous you looked at this very moment.

Locks tossed up in a big messy bun, a few tendrils spilling out the sides to perfectly frame your face. Your pretty face was fresh of any and all makeup, complexion clear and sporting a healthy natural flush, and for a second he wondered if this what they meant when they said pregnant women glow.

It couldn’t just be the way the sunlight was glistening across your skin from where it trickled in through the partially cracked curtains.

You looked just as beautiful in the dark too.

His blue eyes flickered down, jittery over the way his red Henley hung loosely off your frame, showcasing both your shoulders and the curve of your collarbones. The handprints on your neck had faded significantly, you couldn’t tell unless you took a closer look and the divots from Carly’s nails had almost healed completely. Now that you were twelve weeks into your pregnancy, the morning sickness had subsided substantially and you no longer looked sickly pale.

There were small changes to your body too. Ones that weren’t easily caught unless you paid direct attention, but Bucky noticed immediately.

Your breast had grown a little heavier, something he noted when you’d complained about how sore and sensitive they were to touch. Your hips were a little wider, he had discerned when he’d helped you from the bed to use the restroom a few days ago. And his favorite was the slight roundness that had swelled along your lower abdomen.

Seeing the little bump, knowing that his baby was growing steadily and safely within your womb, sent excitement and pride ricocheting through his entire body and his heart beat skyrocketing in his chest.

Bucky wanted nothing more than to hold you—snuggle up beside you or plop you in his lap and run his hands along your swelling abdomen. But he had boundaries he needed to uphold and respect. He wouldn’t dare touch you without your permission or ask out of the fear of blatant rejection.

He’d wait for you to come to him. When you were ready and comfortable, he’d be there.

“Alright, Y/N.” The Dr. Allen spoke up, snapping on a pair of gloves, “Let’s get started. How are you feeling today?” He inquired, making his way around the other side of the bed with a kind smile. “You look much better today.”

“I feel good—great even.” You replied, mirroring his smile with a little shrug of your shoulders, “A little restless and ready to be back on my feet.” You bit your lip softly, sparing Bucky a quick glance and he offered you an encouraging nod, thumb rubbing circles along the back of your hand. “The morning sickness has been better. I haven’t actually vomited for what? Three days now. Still feel a little woozy here and there, but the ginger tea and candies help.”

“That’s what we like to hear.” Allen beamed, motioning for you to lift her shirt. Once you complied, revealing the tiny bump in your belly, he pushed gently along the expanse of your abdomen, “If everything looks good today and your blood pressure is regulated, we just might be able to conclude bed rest.”

“Finally.” You signed, a content grin tugging at the corner of your lips as you relaxed into the mattress with a few steady breaths and let the doctor do his thing. “That would be amazing. A damn Christmas miracle if you ask me.”

Bucky watched carefully and quietly as the examination continued. The nurse with the dark hair—Lily as he came to find out when she introduced herself to you, took your vitals. Just as they had hoped your blood pressure had decreased significantly and was back in the normal range. Dr. Allen examined the skin along your neck and ribs, declaring the marks and light bruising would vanish completely within the next week or two.

“Before we discuss concluding bed rest,” Allen smiled, dragging the portable ultrasound over from the corner of the room, “Why don’t we take a look at your baby?” He sat on the edge of the bed, squirting a bit of the gel on your bare belly, you winced and shivered slightly at the cool temperature earning a small chuckle from Bucky. “You’re at twelve weeks now, so the baby should be around the size of a plum–near 2.1 inches long and weighing about .49 ounces.” You shot Bucky a big grin and he lifted your hand to press a tender kiss to your knuckles. “All the important organs are developed, the baby's focus now is to just keep growing.”

Bucky found himself nodding, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. His cerulean eyes flashing from the black monitor screen, to the probe on your slightly swollen abdomen, to your seemingly eager expression as an unexplainable sentiment grew within him. He couldn’t explain how he was feeling—excitement to see his unborn baby for the very first time, hopeful for a new life, one that he could help shape and raise better than he was, anxious that they might find something wrong, fear because he had no fucking clue what to do with a baby, and protective because this new life now relied on him to keep them safe.

Dr. Allen wiggled the probe a little lower, angling it down more. “Ah. There we are.”

Bucky’s eyes snapped back up to the monitor, and his heart nearly burst from his chest.

Because there they were.

His baby.

Their baby.

“Wow.” You whispered, hand involuntarily tightening around his own. There were tears building in the corner of your eyes, You sniffled a little, shooting him a wobbly, watery smile before your gaze flickered back to the tiny fluttering baby on the screen.

“Here, we have the head… There is a nose and ears… An arm here and there.” Allen spoke softly, index finger hovering over the monitor as he scanned and pointed out each part of the baby that could be seen. “Ten toes… Ten fingers.”

Bucky couldn’t believe he could actually see them. He’d figured it would be nothing but a little blob, not a whole ass tiny baby. Then again, you were further along in your pregnancy than one normally was when they had their first ultrasound.

He leaned forward in his chair, eyes narrowed as they traced the outline of each and every limb. His smile grew with every time the baby moved–a flutter of their left arm, a little kick with their right foot, a bend of the knee, a bob of the head.

That was his baby wiggling about in there, and he briefly wondered if you could feel them moving from within.

“Almost forgot.” Dr. Allen flicked a switch on the monitor and a fast but steady heartbeat sounded throughout the room.

“Oh my God.” Bucky breathed out, lips parted slightly in surprise. “That’s the baby’s heartbeat?”

“Uh huh.” Allen replied with a grin, “It sounds great—strong.”

Bucky scrubbed his hands down his face, head bowed as his shoulders began to shake, and tears welled up in his eyes. “Oh my God.” He repeated with a watery smile. “That’s—that’s… Wow.” Nothing could stop the tears that spilled down his flushed cheeks, silent sobs wracking through his body as an overload of emotion washed through him.

It was overwhelming really—how real it had now become. The realization that he was going to be a father, hitting him square in the chest, enough to nearly knock the wind right out of him. It was one thing to hear you're pregnant with his baby and to see you start to grow, but it was something else entirely to see that child for the first time and hear their heartbeat.

This was real.

He was going to be a dad.

You were going to be a mom.

“That’s our baby, Buck.” You whispered, scooching closer to the edge of the bed, reaching your free hand out to soothingly comb your fingers through the tousled locks at the nape of his neck. “Our baby.” You declared surely, when he lifted his head to meet your teary eyes, chest tightening as he choked back another sob.

“Thank you, sweets.” He managed out, kissing each individual knuckle along your hand that he held within his own. He wiped furiously at the tears coating his cheeks, feeling slightly embarrassed over the reaction seeing the baby had provoked, especially in front of three pairs of unfamiliar eyes. “Thank you so much for this.”

“Of course, Buck.” You offered him a radiant smile, giving his hand another gentle squeeze. “Wouldn’t want anyone else by my side for this. Thanks for being here with me.”

And God, he hopes you mean it.

Bucky wanted nothing more than to be here, like this for the rest of his days. By your side through it all—no matter what, thick and thin.

—————

Bucky slumped back in his chair, scrubbing a hand down his face. He knew he should go to bed—rest his brain and his body, give himself a much needed break.

Ever since that dreadful night, he’d been working remotely from home. Fortunately, his father had been gracious enough by allowing him access to his quiet office so that he could focus more.

After the appointment, you’d wanted to go for a walk around the yard since you were relieved of bed rest and were given the all clear to be back on your feet. Of course, he accompanied you when you asked, never one to pass up on an opportunity to spend more time with you. It was the best time he’s had since everything turned to shit and was more than worth the work he’d missed. He had nearly forgotten just how much he loved the sound of your laugh or listening to you talking aimlessly about everything and nothing at all. It had gone so well that you’d ended up inviting him to eat supper with you too, another opportunity he wouldn’t dare miss.

As to make up for his time away, he wanted to clock just a few more hours of work—finish signing a few documents so he could send them to the office with Steve tomorrow morning, review more offers from other companies, and prepare for his early virtual meeting with the heads of each department.

It wasn’t long though before his mind drifted, his work long forgotten on a neatly stacked pile on the corner of his desk.

Bucky couldn’t stop thinking about you and his baby. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled so much nor cried tears of joy. You always seemed to bring about emotions and feelings he wasn’t even aware he was capable of feeling. All day, hope and happiness had been blooming rapidly throughout his chest. And he was beyond determined to keep it that way.

He was determined to keep you.

Halfway throughout his assignments, he’d found himself scrolling through houses just outside the city. It was a far-fetched idea at the moment, he had no clue if you would ever take him back, but he was hopeful that his effort and time would win you over and your love would eventually prevail.

His ma always told him that if something is meant to be, it would be. And you belonged with him, he’d never been more certain of anything in his life.

The houses he’d briefly looked at were big and homey. With many extra rooms to fill up with more children, because you’d told him you wanted to have a big family someday so that your children wouldn’t be as lonely as you were growing up, gorgeous up to date kitchens where you could cook as much as you’d like and plenty of room for storage, wrap around porches, where one of those swings could be hung up to watch the sunrise as you drank your morning coffee, big backyards for a big dog to run rampant and free. He’d made sure each house's location wasn’t too far out of the city limits but far enough to be considered the private suburbs because he’d have to commute to work and most of your clients lived in the city too.

From there he found himself, planning to set up new bank accounts for the baby. One for leisure, one for inheritance, and one for college. Taking the time to map out exactly how much money he wanted placed in the accounts when he set them up and how much he wanted added each month from here on out.

He wanted his baby set for life.

Then he found himself doing a bit of online shopping. Purchasing any recommended parenting and pregnancy books he’d come across in an online article. He ordered you one of those fancy pregnancy pillows because now that your bump was growing, he didn’t want to risk you rolling on your front or back in your sleep, placing a rush on it so it would arrive tomorrow. He’d started a little shopping list of the necessary baby things and furniture for a nursery but ultimately wanted you to pick out exactly what you liked. He’d nearly bought a few clothing items—a cute pair of white booties, a few ‘daddy’s girl’ pjs, and a pink swaddle but decided against it because the gender would remain unknown until your twenty fourth week of pregnancy.

Although he was sure it would be a baby girl. Something in his gut told him so.

But perhaps he was just biased from desperately wanting a daughter. Someone to spoil and coddle. One that looked just like you. Bucky had heard plenty about the significance in relationships between a father and his daughter, and had seen it with his very own eyes between his sisters and their father.

And he yearned for something exactly like that.

He wanted you to tease him about having her wrapped around his little finger. To be scolded over being overly protective over her. To tell her she couldn’t date until she was thirty. To dress her up in the cutest little tutus, learn to do her hair, have tea parties, take her to dance lessons, or play dress up with her. Snuggle her and sooth her when she is sad, hear him call her daddy with the sweetest little voice, teach her how to drive, or walk her down the aisle.

He supposed he’d be fine with whatever, as long as they were healthy and happy. Down the line he’d want a son but for some reason, right now he was stuck on the idea of this perfect, little baby girl.

Bucky was pulled abruptly from his thoughts by the sound of the office door creaking slowly open. He lifted his gaze from his laptop screen to find you slipping quietly through the door and closing it gently behind you.

“Y/N?” He stole a glance at the time before pushing back his chair and rising from his seat. “What are you doing up? It’s nearly two in the morning.”

“I-” There was a subtle blush coating the apples of your cheeks as you trekked hesitantly across the room, a bashful smile tugging at the corner of your plush lips. “I couldn’t sleep.” You admitted, shoulders slumping and hands tugging nervously on the edge of Bucky’s t-shirt that barely reached the top of your thighs. You glanced away, gnawing on your bottom lip, “I had a nightmare. I… I went to your room but you weren’t there. I don’t want to bother you-”

“Hey.” Bucky strode swiftly across the room, one hand finding purchase on your shoulder and the other gently cupping your cheek. “You are never a bother.” He bent slightly, eyes gazing intently into your own, “Ever. You hear me? Whatever you need, I’m here.” He brushed his thumb tenderly across your flushed skin, slipping up to tuck a stand of hair behind your ear, “Whenever and wherever, I’ll be there.”

You relaxed slightly, leaning further into his touch as your eyes fluttered shut. A content sigh spilled from your lips, when he loosened his hold and allowed you to slump softly into his embrace.

“What do you need?” He whispered softly, pressing a light kiss to the top of your head. He wrapped his arms around your waist, ignoring the way his heartbeat sped up in his chest as you wrapped your arms over his shoulders and buried your face in the crook of his neck. It felt like it had been so long since he held you like this and was given the chance to comfort you. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I just…” You lifted your head, a stuttered breath leaving your bitten lips. “I just feel her hands around my throat sometimes or the weight on my chest…” Your voice was so low and quiet, he’d have missed what you said if your lips weren’t pressed to the skin just below his ear. “It felt like I was going through it all over again… And—and there was nothing I could do.” You shuddered at the thought, sinking further into the warmth of his embrace, hands gripping tightly at the back of his sweatshirt. “I had no way to stop it—to stop her.”

“Shh,” Bucky shushed you softly, hands rubbing comfortingly along the length of your back. “You’re safe.” He breathed out, lips pressed to your temple. “She can’t get to you here. I won’t ever let anything happen to you again.” He swayed you slightly in his embrace, pulling you the tiniest bit tighter against his chest. “I swear on my life I’m always going to protect you. You and our baby. I’ll die before I let anything happen to either of you.” He bit his lip, resting his chin on the top of your head. “I’m sorry I let her get to you. I should’ve known—should’ve been there.”

“It’s not your fault.” You mumbled, pulling away just enough so you could look at him. “I mean it, Bucky. None of us knew that she was capable of that.” You took a deep breath, mustering a tiny smile. “It’s over and done with, nothing we can do now. You’re right I’m safe here, just a silly little nightmare.”

“It’s not silly.” Bucky said softly, combing his fingers through the ends of your tousled hair. “It was scary and it happened. It’s going to stick with you and I just want you to know I’m here for you. Is there anything I can do to help—to make it better?”

“Will you…” You licked your lips, cheeks flaming bright red as you avoided his curious, expectant gaze. “Will you maybe sit with me until I fall asleep?”

Bucky’s heart soared in his chest, he bit down on his bottom lip to suppress a grin. He couldn’t help it when you looked so shy and sweet—cheeks painted pink, a slight furrow in your brows, a pout on your lips, and big doe eyes flickering anxiously around the room as you resisted looking at him.

“Of course.” He spoke up, arms slipping from around your waist to intertwine your hand with his. “I’d be honored to.”

You giggled, a bashful smile split across her bitten, chapped lips. “Okay.”

He flashed you a sincere smile, guiding you toward the door and out of the office. His old bedroom was a few doors down, just across the hall. The walk was quiet, the two of your sharing a few shy glances and soft smiles.

Once inside the dimly lit room, he closed the door quietly behind him and helped you back into bed, pulling the comforter up to your chin before sinking down in the uncomfortable wooden chair just beside the bed. Moments later your hand was creeping out from beneath the sheets and grasping his.

“Bucky?” You spoke up, rolling on your right side to face him.

“Y/N.” He replied, a playful smirk on his lips.

“Nat mentioned something about a safe house when she’d brought me more tea before bed.”

Bucky shifted in his chair, scrubbing his free hand down his face as he breathed out a loud sigh. “Yeah, sweets. Now that you’re off bed rest, it might be best for you to go with my ma and sisters to a house we have upstate. It’s in a secluded, unknown location.” He lifted your hand, pressing a tender kiss to the back of it, “Your family wouldn’t ever find you there.”

“Would you go?” You inquired, voice timid and soft, pretty eyes big and wondering.

“I can’t.” He huffed out with a shake of his head and a small frown. “I gotta stay here and help figure out things with your parents. We have legal action against them, contracts have been broken but they won’t stop until they’re put away for good.”

“Then I’ll stay too.” You declared, confidently.

“Sweets-”

“No.” You interjected, tone final and sentiments stoic. One he knew all too well not to argue with. There was nothing he could do to stop you and if he was being honest he wanted you close to him too. “It’s my fight too. I’m staying here with you. I’ll feel much better staying in the loop and safer near you.”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” He whispered, scooching forward to the edge of the chair, lifting his free hand to brush his fingers soothingly along your scalp. “You need sleep.”

When you didn’t protest against his ministrations but relaxed further into the bed, eye fluttering shut, and a look of pure contentment across your serene face, he didn’t cease his movement, elongating his touch so his fingers combed from the top of your head to the ends of your hair.

“Goodnight, Buck.” You yawned, a tiny smile spread across your lips. “Thank you for being here.”

“Goodnight, sweets.” He breathed out, a permanent smile residing on his face as his cerulean eyes remained solely on your face. “Anything for you.”

It wasn’t long until your breathing evened out and you succumbed to a deep, dreamless sleep. Bucky stayed by your side, hand held within his own, and fingers running through your hair until he, himself, started to nod off. Only then, had he reluctantly left your side after pressing a tender kiss to your forehead.

“I love you.” He whispered softly, brushing the back of his index finger down your rosy cheek. “Sleep good, sweets.”

With that he dragged himself from the room, heavy steps carrying him to the guest room a few doors down. He couldn’t help but yearn for the day you allowed him to sleep beside you. To be able to hold you in his arms, close to his chest instead of returning to an empty, cold bed.

Bucky stripped himself of his clothes, leaving him in nothing but his black briefs before throwing himself lazily across the bed.

It wasn’t long until he, too, fell asleep, dreaming of better days with a big house, lots of babies, porch swings, a big fluffy dog, and you.

—————

Tag list

@scxrletrecsmarvel @cjand10 @sarahrstephan @ladifreakingda @vicmc624 @hazeljean2 @capmanranger @gitasor @intothesoul @silentkiller2374 @justsebstan @eclecticpatrolroadlawyer @mini-kunoichi @jessyballet @coffeebooksandfandom @sergntbarnes @glitterydeputyshepherdwagon @stumbleonmywords @whore-for-bucky

@one-shot-plus-size @hawsx3 @justifymyfeelings @fanfictionjunkie1112 @im-here-sometimes @meisspookycrayon @littlebunbun876 @themorningsunshine @arcanebabe @winterwhore @austynparksandpizza @babebr @white-wolf1940

#bucky x female reader #bucky barns x you #bucky barns x reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky fic #bucky fanfic #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #sebastian stan

[godofplumsandthunder]

Twisted Fate

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Cancer, both Bucky and reader have cancer, Major Character death, brief hospital terms mainly reffering to cancer treatment. References to amputation.

A/N: This was written for the lovely @eurynome827​ 2k celebration. I got a lovely quote of lyrics from Hadestown, which I wanted to do something that was based off of the musical, but I couldn’t figure anything out. Then I had a big anniversary come up and this was came out instead. It’s very angsty, I cried a lot, and well I hope you like it.

The low, steady hum of the fan fills the awkward silence. The psychiatrist, newly assigned to the case, still doesn’t feel comfortable. “Case number 32557038” was widely known in the health care center. The whispers and rumors floated their way down the hall, past the copy machine, filling the office with this chilling tale. Some regarded it as a terrible series of bad luck, others thought it was an act of some benevolent God, pouring his rage on this poor couple. Dr. Breynord, after reading the notes on the file, Breynord knew that this case was perhaps the worst case of bad luck she ever saw in her career, and, maybe it was her stubbornness or naive belief in medicine, but Dr. Breynord was going to help this poor man get the peace he so desperately needs.

“James,” Dr. Breynord’s voice breaks the silence of the office, “I’ve read what my colleagues had to say about your case, but, I’d like you to tell me what has happened if you feel comfortable.”

Shifting in his seat, James sighs, with a small nod of the head, he starts at the beginning.

Bucky Barnes was used to change. Granted, it was other people’s change, but it was still change nonetheless. The poor folks that sat next to him each clinic visit changed, his caretakers changed, it seemed as if the whole world changed around him, while he was stuck in some perpetual hell. Every day dragged out in the same dull, and nauseating feeling, and at times, Bucky felt he was in an endless loop, forsaken by some deity he didn’t believe in. But, for however long Bucky has left in this fallen and cruel world, he’ll remember when you walked in, shattering the miserable purgatory he was banished to, he’ll always remember the day you changed his life.

It happened during his first transfusion session after his surgery. His arm, still wrapped in bandage, IV tubing leading straight to his heart, pumped his body full of liquids, as he waited for the toxic poison to enter his body. He always found it ironic, the “medicine” that was supposed to save his life, that was too dangerous for the nurses to touch with their bare hands, was willingly flushed into his body. Hair loss, mouth sores, and muscle aches were the better side effects. He can’t help but think about what is coming, especially as he sees his nurse, Thor, come over with the freshly made batch of poison [STRIKE THROUGH], chemotherapy as his doctor would want him to call it. Hanging the bag on his IV pole, Thor looks over at Bucky, giving him the “I’m going to go on a rant about something you should care about” look. 

“Now James, we’re getting a new patient today. It’s their first transfusion. They’re going to be sitting in the pod next to you. I swear to the gods, I best not hear another complaint about your attitude.”

“Me? An attitude? No, I think you got me confused with someone else. I’m the brightest little ball of sunshine here!” Bucky can’t help but chuckle. It’s not his fault he wasn’t a “warrior”, blasting “Fight Song” 24/7, as he sips on a kale smoothie with coffee suppositories shoved up his ass. T

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Barnes,” Thor shakes his head as he cleans up his station, “don’t think I won’t throw your bald ass out of here. That cancer sob story, won’t work on me.” 

Bucky goes back to his phone, already feeling the effects of the chemo. No matter how many anti-nausea meds they fed him, Cisplatin always makes him sick. So, he had the right to act like a grumpy old grandpa. While he scrolls through his social media feed, seeing all the accomplishments, brags, and just shit of his friends, Bucky hears your sniffles, as you make your way down to the end of the Oncology clinic, taking a seat next to Bucky. Even if Thor hadn’t given him the heads up, he would have known you were fresh meat. One infusion, his mom asked him how he could tell. It was easy for Bucky, it all had to do with the eyes. A cancer diagnosis shatters you. It kills all hope, light, and goodness that’s in you. You turn completely numb to the world, to the point where your own wailing and sobs feel muted. Bucky saw all of that in your eyes. Behind the puffy, redness, saw the shards of hope, the fear of the unknown. Before you could reach your seat, you stumble, spilling your possessions that you carried all over the floor. Bucky watches quietly as you quickly pick up your items, collapsing into the chair next to him. 

“Sorry I couldn’t give you a hand, only have the one,” he wiggles his stump, and he's met with silence. Talk about a rough crowd, he thinks, his nephews love his stumpy jokes. “So,” Bucky continues, “what are you in for? I’m a sarcoma, in the arm.” You sniffle as you turn your body to look at this new man.

“Leukemia,” you confess, voice barely above a whisper. It takes a real effort to say it out loud because then it makes all of this real.

“That’s good then,” the “sarcoma” man says to you, and Bucky can see the confusion, and pain on your face.

“How is that good? How is cancer good?”

Using his arm, Bucky points around the room, giving you a tour of the room.

“See him, that’s Riley, he has an inoperable brain tumor. That young kid, with the Switch? His name is Peter, his body is chemo resistant. So yeah, leukemia is good. If you haven’t learned it yet, not all cancers are made equal.”

“Oh,” you barely make out. What were you supposed to say to that? 

=====

Much to Bucky’s surprise, he actually enjoyed having your company. Your treatments lined up and so you both got to know each other well. Bucky enjoyed having someone close to his age that understood his problems. And it also didn’t hurt that you had such a great personality, you got Bucky’s dark humor (and it went without saying that you understood it was his way of coping), and you looked great. Not many people can rock a bald head. And Bucky has seen his fair share, and he can say with confidence, you rocked it. Not covering it up with caps, scarves, or wigs. Because why should you hide away? For the first time since his diagnosis, Bucky had a purpose. So, while his immune system allowed him to leave the house, he picked up a bouquet of fake flowers (neutropenia life, am I right?) and a box of chocolates to take with him to the next transfusion. When he got to the clinic, Bucky was a bit worried to see that you weren’t next to him. Instead, there sat Barb, 75 years old with breast cancer. 

“Oh sweetie, are those for me?” Barb looks at the flowers in Bucky’s hand. 

“No!” He snaps, as closes the curtain that surrounds his chair. He hears some huffs and complaints from Barb, but frankly, he doesn’t give a damn. Bucky only has one thing on his mind: you. 

“Are you alright? You’re not here at Club Med” Bucky texts as quickly as his one hand would let him. Dropping his phone, Bucky stares at it all while the nurses prep him. And because of damn, HIPAA, none of the nurses can tell him where you’re at. Minutes turn into hours, and by the time Bucky’s infusion ends, you still haven’t responded to him or shown up at the clinic. 

“Hope you’re okay. Call or text me. I'm worried” Bucky sighs, realizing how much you made his chemo treatments more bearable. How your laugh could make him forget of the poison he had to take, or how the light in your eyes could make him forget, even just for a bit, how much his arm stump was hurting. You were a drug, more potent than any he’s had before, and Bucky was becoming addicted. He’s picking at the hamburger he got for dinner, not having much of an appetite when his phone goes off. Seeing it’s from you, he rushes to answer. 

“Y/N! I… Where were you? I missed you today. I had to sit by Barb and…” The sounds of your cries cut Bucky off. 

“Are you okay?”

“No, Buck. I… Got some bad news today.” 

“Where are you?” He asks. He knows you’re alone, and speaking from experience, you never want to be alone when you get bad news. He knows from experience.

“Buck…” you sigh, “It’s fine. Really.” 

“Please, Y/N, I know what it’s like to be alone after getting this kind of news. Please, let me be there for you.” Breaking further down into tears, you cry at Bucky’s actions, actions of love. 

“I’ll send you my address,” Bucky gathers the flowers and chocolates as he rushes to your apartment, breaking a few traffic laws to get there faster. When he gets there, the image of you, opening the door, eyes swollen from crying breaks his heart. 

“Oh, Y/N,” Bucky sweeps you into his arm, as he closes the door behind, “tell me what’s going on hun.” 

You both sit on the couch, the bag with the flowers and chocolate lay at your feet, as you stay in Bucky’s embrace. 

“I’m… I’m dying Buck!” You manage to say in-between odds. “Dr. Fair... gave me three months to live. There’s nothing else they can do.” You break down in his arms, that last straw finally breaking, as you tell your newfound best friend, the person you were supposed to beat cancer with. Bucky tries his best to remain strong, to be the rock, the foundation you need, but you’re not the only one that is losing a friend. You sit in each other's embrace, as you mourn. You cry for all the missed opportunities, laughs, and memories that won’t be made. 

“What am I going to do,” you whisper, your voice hoarse from crying. 

Kissing your head, Bucky pulls you in closer, “we, are going to make these three months, the best three months you’ve ever had.”

Bucky lives up to his promise, spending every hour he isn’t in the hospital with you. The time you spent together changed your relationship. Neither had to officially say the words to make your relationship official. It was just you, and Bucky. Holding each other close, as the tempest waged on, trying to beat you into submission. You go on walks in the park, picnics, and one night when you both had the energy, went skinny dipping. Your logic being, what are the cops going to do? Arrest two cancer patients, with one of them being terminal? You threw caution to the wind and simply lived. Lived, breathed, and loved. Things seemed to be perfect until reality hit.

Your body wasn’t keeping up. Your cancer was spreading faster than they predicted. The doctors couldn’t give you an explanation as to why the cancer was spreading so fast. It shouldn’t have been. Soon, home hospice came, to try to make you more comfortable. And like the good partner he was, Bucky spent every minute by your side. That’s why, when you felt the inevitable coming, you felt your body give in to the tiredness of fighting, you grab Bucky’s hand. 

“I love you, James Bucky Barnes,” you weakly say, giving him one last affirmation, as you went to sleep, for one last time. 

As Bucky wakes up from his nap, feeling your cold body, he tries to ruse you back awake. Once he realizes what has happened, the last bit of humanity inside of Bucky snapped. He lets out a blood-curdling scream, as tears stream down his face. He strikes your face, pleas escape his mouth. Pleas to you, to a God he has long stopped believing in. His body shakes, his tears wetting your hair, as he holds you for one last time. 

=====

“Oh James,” Dr. Breynord grabs herself a tissue before handing Bucky the box of tissues. “I truly am so sorry to hear that. I want you to know that I am here to help you get happy again, and to heal.”

Bucky sighs and turns away from the doctor as he wipes his eyes. “You’re just like the rest of them. You didn’t listen to me.” 

Breynord was surprised that this was Bucky’s complaint. The other doctors had warned her that Bucky could be sarcastic, standoff-ish, and even flat-out rude to them. Breynord thought she did a good job listening to his story, what did she miss.

“I… I don’t think I understand what you mean, James.”

Bucky lets out a heartless, empty laugh, “you want me to be happy again. I’m never going to be. Not only do I have to live with the guilt of surviving, when she died, in my arms, but I’ll also never find another soul like hers. We had a connection, you know. It felt like we met before. When I held her in my arm, and her arms would wrap around me, it felt like I had the whole world in my arms. I didn’t need anything else when I had Y/N.” 

“So tell me doc, what’s the point of carrying on?”

#eury2kchallenge #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky angst #cancer #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #oneshot

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

A FEAST FOR CROWS

Summary & Foreshadowing Smorgasbord (Part III)

The epic conclusion of the blockbuster trilogy.

AFFC PART III: UNDER THE CUT

Chapter Transitions

JONSA 🐺❤️❄️

AFFC Part I: CLICK

Sansa Stark, Queen in the North

Jon Snow, King in the North

Jon (Aemon?) Snow

Ahoy Matey! Arya Stark Sails the Ocean Blue

Bran the Broken, King of Westeros

High Septon Rickon?

Pick Your Poison: The Twins Meet Their End in the Bowels of Casterly Rock . . . or King's Landing

Younger and More Beautiful Cersei

AFFC PART II: CLICK

Dark Daenerys Highlights & Laughs

Let's Dance: Stark vs. Targ

A Rat in a Maze 🐀🔪

The Usurper's Knife

Storm x Storm 🦑🖤🐉

Squid Game

Previous books:

AGOT Summary & Foreshadowing: CLICK

ACOK Summary & Foreshadowing: PART I / PART II

ASOS Summary & Foreshadowing: PART I / PART II / PART III / PART IV

Stumpy note:

If I didn't give you credit for discovering something or if I missed any foreshadowing, please contact me and I'll rectify that.

Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the reread project. All of you have great observations and comments, I wish I could highlight them all. 🙂

CHAPTER TRANSITIONS

Damn that man for breaking up this book, and ruining the chapter transition foreshadowing.

Prologue -> <- The Prophet

The storm is coming.

Thank you, @decadelongsummer!

"No," said Alleras. "It was Prince Rhaegar's young son Aegon whose head was dashed against the wall by the Lion of Lannister's brave men. We speak of Rhaegar's sister, born on Dragonstone before its fall. The one they called Daenerys."

"The Stormborn. I recall her now." - Prologue, AFFC

x

A storm was brewing, he could hear it in the waves, and storms brought naught but evil. 

[...]

He was born a lord's son and died a king, murdered by a jealous god, Aeron thought, and now the storm is coming, a storm such as these isles have never known.

[...]

Aeron tugged his beard, and thought. I have seen the storm, and its name is Euron Crow's Eye. - The Prophet, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne I -> <- Samwell I

Two protagonists want to live up to their swords.

"A sword is only as good as the man who wields it."

[...]

When she slid Oathkeeper from the ornate scabbard, Brienne's breath caught in her throat. Black and red the ripples ran, deep within the steel. Valyrian steel, spell-forged. It was a sword fit for a hero. When she was small, her nurse had filled her ears with tales of valor, regaling her with the noble exploits of Ser Galladon of Morne, Florian the Fool, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and other champions. Each man bore a famous sword, and surely Oathkeeper belonged in their company, even if she herself did not. - Brienne I, AFFC

x

Once, when Jon came to consult with Maester Aemon, Sam had asked him why he spent so much time at swordplay. "The Old Bear never trained much when he was Lord Commander," he had pointed out. In answer, Jon had pressed Longclaw into Sam's hand. He let him feel the lightness, the balance, had him turn the blade so that ripples gleamed in the smoke-dark metal. "Valyrian steel," he said, "spell-forged and razor-sharp, nigh on indestructible. A swordsman should be as good as his sword, Sam. Longclaw is Valyrian steel, but I'm not. The Halfhand could have killed me as easy as you swat a bug." - Samwell I, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne I -> <- Samwell I

Encounters with mice.

Thank you, @decadelongsummer!

"Ser Shadrich of the Shady Glen. Some call me the Mad Mouse." He turned his shield to show her his sigil, a large white mouse with fierce red eyes, on bendy brown and blue. - Brienne I, AFFC

x

Sam was reading about the Others when he saw the mouse. - Samwell I, AFFC

+.+.+

Samwell I -> <- Arya I

Three characters are on a collision course.

Dareon will join you at Eastwatch. My hope is that his songs will win some men for us in the south. The Blackbird will deliver you to Braavos. From there you'll arrange your own passage to Oldtown. - Samwell I, AFFC

x

Braavos might not be so bad. Syrio was from Braavos, and Jaqen might be there as well. - Arya I, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei II -> <- Jaime I

Play-by-play on the state of Tywin Lannister's rotting corpse.

+.+.+

Jaime I -> <- Brienne II

Royal blood in back-to-back chapters.

"I see you wonder, what sort of name is that?" the man had cackled when Jaime went to question him. "It is an old name, 'tis true. I am not one to boast, but there is royal blood in my veins. I am descended from a princess. My father told me the tale when I was a tad of a lad." Longwaters had not been a tad of a lad for many a year, to judge from his spotted head and the white hairs growing from his chin. - Jaime I, AFFC

x

"Well, there's Darkes, I'm one myself. My husband says I was Darke before we wed, and darker afterward." She laughed. "Can't throw a stone in Duskendale without you hit some Darke or Darkwood or Dargood, but the lordly Darklyns are all gone. Lord Denys was the last o' them, the sweet young fool. Did you know the Darklyns were kings in Duskendale before the Andals come? You'd never know t'look at me, but I got me royal blood. Can you see it? 'Your Grace, another cup of ale,' I ought to make them say. 'Your Grace, the chamber pot needs emptying, and fetch in some fresh faggots, Your Bloody Grace, the fire's going out.'" She laughed again and shook the last drops from the pail. - Brienne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Jaime I -> <- Brienne II

Crows are feasting.

On the morning after the battle, the crows had feasted on victors and vanquished alike, as once they had feasted on Rhaegar Targaryen after the Trident. How much can a crown be worth, when a crow can dine upon a king? There were crows circling the seven towers and great dome of Baelor's Sept even now, Jaime suspected, their black wings beating against the night air as they searched for a way inside. Every crow in the Seven Kingdoms should pay homage to you, Father. From Castamere to the Blackwater, you fed them well. - Jaime I, AFFC

x

The looters come with the carrion crows after every battle. 

[...]

Lord Tarly's own striding huntsman appeared on many a badge and brooch and doublet. Friend or foe, the crows care not. - Brienne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne II -> <- Sansa I

Blood calls to blood. Somebody is noticeably missing the second time we get the rundown.

Or would she seek her own blood instead? Though all of her siblings had been slain, Brienne knew that Sansa still had an uncle and a bastard half brother on the Wall, serving in the Night's Watch. Another uncle, Edmure Tully, was a captive at the Twins, but his uncle Ser Brynden still held Riverrun. And Lady Catelyn's younger sister ruled the Vale. Blood calls to blood. Sansa might well have run to one of them. Which one, though? - Brienne II, AFFC

x

She would have fled them both, perhaps, but there was nowhere for her to go. Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King's Landing the queen would have her head as well. The aunt she'd hoped would keep her safe had tried to murder her instead. Her uncle Edmure was a captive of the Freys, while her great-uncle the Blackfish was under siege at Riverrun. I have no place but here, Sansa thought miserably, and no true friend but Petyr. - Sansa I, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne II -> <- Sansa I

Sansa's hoarding gods.

But when Brienne asked about Sansa, she said, "I'll tell you what I told Lord Tywin. That girl was always praying. She'd go to sept and light her candles like a proper lady, but near every night she went off to the godswood. She's gone back north, she has. That's where her gods are." - Brienne II, AFFC

x

They hadn't, though, not for a year or more. Sansa had prayed to the Seven in their sept and old gods of the heart tree, asking them to bring the old man back, or better still to send another singer, young and handsome. But the gods never answered, and the halls of Winterfell stayed silent. - Sansa I, AFFC

+.+.+

Sansa I <- The Kraken's Daughter

Asha's hilarious reunion with a fostered ghost from her past.

"Asha?" A shadow stepped out from behind the well.

Her hand went to her dirk at once . . . until the moonlight transformed the dark shape into a man in a sealskin cloak. Another ghost. "Tris. I'd thought to find you in the hall."

"I wanted to see you."

"What part of me, I wonder?" She grinned. "Well, here I stand, all grown up. Look all you like."

"A woman." He moved closer. "And beautiful."

Tristifer Botley had filled out since last she'd seen him, but he had the same unruly hair that she remembered, and eyes as large and trusting as a seal's. Sweet eyes, truly. That was the trouble with poor Tristifer; he was too sweet for the Iron Islands. His face has grown comely, she thought. 

[...]

"If you like. It's nought to me. You look so lovely in the moonlight, Asha. A woman grown now, but I remember when you were a skinny girl with a face all full of pimples."

Why must they always mention the pimples? "I remember that as well." Though not as fondly as you do. Of the five boys her mother had brought to Pyke to foster after Ned Stark had taken her last living son as hostage, Tris had been closest to Asha in age. He had not been the first boy she had ever kissed, but he was the first to undo the laces of her jerkin and slip a sweaty hand beneath to feel her budding breasts.

I would have let him feel more than that if he'd been bold enough. Her first flowering had come upon her during the war and wakened her desire, but even before that Asha had been curious. He was there, he was mine own age, and he was willing, that was all it was . . . that, and the moon blood. Even so, she'd called it love, till Tris began to go on about the children she would bear him; a dozen sons at least, and oh, some daughters too. - The Kraken's Daughter, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne III <- Samwell II

Someone gets an escort to Eastwatch with one of Brienne's ancestors.

He sent me north aboard the Golden Dragon, and insisted that his friend Ser Duncan see me safe to Eastwatch. - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne III -> <- Samwell II

Where's little Dickon Tarly? Not at Horn Hill.

"Mooton's daughter, she's a maid," the man went on. "Till the bedding, anyways. These eggs, they're for her wedding. Her and Tarly's son. The cooks will need eggs for cakes."

"They will." Lord Tarly's son. Young Dickon's to be wed. She tried to recall how old he was; eight or ten, she thought. - Brienne III, AFFC

x

"I am a man now, Mother," I could tell her, "a steward, and a man of the Night's Watch. My brothers call me Sam the Slayer sometimes." He would see his brother Dickon too, and his sisters. "See," I could tell them, "see, I was good for something after all." - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne III -> <- Samwell II

Two sides of Hyle Hunt.

They had a wager.

Three of the younger knights had started it, he told her: Ambrose, Bushy, and Hyle Hunt, of his own household. As word spread through the camp, however, others had joined the game. Each man was required to buy into the contest with a golden dragon, the whole sum to go to whoever claimed her maidenhead. - Brienne III, AFFC

x

Looking at the water only made him think of drowning. When he was small his lord father had tried to teach him how to swim by throwing him into the pond beneath Horn Hill. The water had gotten in his nose and in his mouth and in his lungs, and he coughed and wheezed for hours after Ser Hyle pulled him out. - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Jaime II -> Cersei IV

Kingsguard having affairs with their queen.

"Who?" Ser Loras craned his head around to see. "Ten black pellets on a scarlet field. I do not know those arms."

"They belonged to Criston Cole, who served the first Viserys and the second Aegon." Jaime closed the White Book. "They called him Kingmaker." - Jaime II, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei IV -> <- The Iron Captain -> <- The Drowned Man

Who is smart enough to give Asha some land for her help?

"Could we make use of the ironmen?" asked Orton Merryweather. "The enemy of our enemy? What would the Seastone Chair want of us as the price of an alliance?"

"They want the north," Grand Maester Pycelle said, "which our queen's noble father promised to House Bolton."

"How inconvenient," said Merryweather. "Still, the north is large. The lands could be divided. It need not be a permanent arrangement. Bolton might consent, so long as we assure him that our strength will be his once Stannis is destroyed." - Cersei IV, AFFC

x

"To end this war before this war ends us. We have won all that we are like to win . . . and stand to lose all just as quick, unless we make a peace. I have shown Lady Glover every courtesy, and she swears her lord will treat with me. If we hand back Deepwood Motte, Torrhen's Square, and Moat Cailin, she says, the northmen will cede us Sea Dragon Point and all the Stony Shore. Those lands are thinly peopled, yet ten times larger than all the isles put together. An exchange of hostages will seal the pact, and each side will agree to make common cause with the other should the Iron Throne—" - The Iron Captain, AFFC

x

"Peace," said Asha. "Land. Victory. I'll give you Sea Dragon Point and the Stony Shore, black earth and tall trees and stones enough for every younger son to build a hall. We'll have the northmen too . . . as friends, to stand with us against the Iron Throne. Your choice is simple. Crown me, for peace and victory. Or crown my nuncle, for more war and more defeat." She sheathed her dirk again. "What will you have, ironmen?" - The Drowned Man, AFFC

+.+.+

The Iron Captain -> <- The Drowned Man

Fun times at the kingsmoot.

+.+.+

Arya II -> <- Alayne I

Two sisters have new names.

She bit her lip. "Could I be Cat?"

"Cat." He considered. "Yes. Braavos is full of cats. One more will not be noticed. You are Cat, an orphan of . . ." - Arya II, AFFC

x

As the rising sun came streaming through the windows, Alayne sat up in bed and stretched. - Alayne I, AFFC

+.+.+

Alayne I -> <- Cersei V

Time to pluck the roses.

"How old are you, child?" asked Lady Waynwood.

"Four-fourteen, my lady." For a moment she forgot how old Alayne should be. "And I am no child, but a maiden flowered."

"But not deflowered, one can hope." Young Lord Hunter's bushy mustache hid his mouth entirely.

"Yet," said Lyn Corbray, as if she were not there. "But ripe for plucking soon, I'd say." - Alayne I, AFFC

x

"Only?" The queen let a hint of anger edge her words. "I must confess, I am running short of patience with dear Osney. It is past time he broke in that little filly. I named him Tommen's sworn shield so he could spend part of every day in Margaery's company. He should have plucked the rose by now. Is the little queen blind to his charms?" - Cersei V, AFFC

+.+.+

Samwell IV -> <- Cersei IV

Summer Islanders and the Faith have very different views on sex.

"You do not understand. Last night we . . ."

". . . honored your dead, and the gods who made you both. Xhondo did the same. I had the child, else I would have been with him. All you Westerosi make a shame of loving. There is no shame in loving. If your septons say there is, your seven gods must be demons. In the isles we know better. Our gods gave us legs to run with, noses to smell with, hands to touch and feel. What mad cruel god would give a man eyes and tell him he must forever keep them shut, and never look at all the beauty in the world? Only a monster god, a demon of the darkness." Kojja put her hand between Sam's legs. "The gods gave you this for a reason too, for . . . what is your Westerosi word?"

"Fucking," Xhondo offered helpfully. - Samwell IV, AFFC

x

Septon Raynard assumed a regretful tone. "His High Holiness sent me in his stead, and bade me tell Your Grace that the Seven have sent him forth to battle wickedness."

"How? By preaching chastity along the Street of Silk? Does he think praying over whores will turn them back to virgins?"

"Our bodies were shaped by our Father and Mother so we might join male to female and beget trueborn children," Raynard replied. "It is base and sinful for women to sell their holy parts for coin." - Cersei VIII, AFFC

+.+.+

Brienne VII -> <- Jaime VI

Talk of diverting the Trident.

The innkeep never hung another sign, so men forgot the dragon and took to calling the place the River Inn. In those days, the Trident flowed beneath its back door, and half its rooms were built out over the water. Guests could throw a line out their window and catch trout, it's said. There was a ferry landing here as well, so travelers could cross to Lord Harroway's Town and Whitewalls."

"We left the Trident south of here, and have been riding north and west . . . not toward the river but away from it."

"Aye, my lady," the septon said. "The river moved. Seventy years ago, it was. Or was it eighty? - Brenne VII, AFFC

x

When the castle falls, all those inside will be put to the sword. Your herds will be butchered, your godswood will be felled, your keeps and towers will burn. I'll pull your walls down, and divert the Tumblestone over the ruins. - Jaime VI, AFFC

+.+.+

Jaime VI -> <- Cersei IX

Cersei's titles.

On her head a circlet of hammered bronze sat askew, graven with runes and ringed with small black swords. When she saw Jaime, she laughed. "Who in seven hells is this one?"

"The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard," Jaime returned with cold courtesy. "I might ask the same of you, my lady."

"Lady? I'm no lady. I'm the queen."

"My sister will be surprised to hear that."

"Lord Ryman crowned me his very self." She gave a shake of her ample hips. "I'm the queen o' whores."

No, Jaime thought, my sweet sister holds that title too. - Jaime VI, AFFC

x

"We waited long enough." He thrust his fingers inside the bodice of her gown and yanked, and the silk parted with a ripping sound so loud that Cersei was afraid that half of the Red Keep must have heard it. "Take off the rest before I tear that too," he said. "You can keep the crown on. I like you in the crown." - Cersei IX, AFFC

+.+.+

Alayne II -> <- Brienne VIII

Brienne won't show her fear.

And yet the thought of leaving frightened her almost as much as it frightened Robert. She only hid it better. Her father said there was no shame in being afraid, only in showing your fear. "All men live with fear," he said. Alayne was not certain she believed that. Nothing frightened Petyr Baelish. - Alayne II, AFFC

x

I will not be afraid, she told herself, but it was too late for that. I will not let them see my fear, she promised herself instead. - Brienne VIII, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei X -> <- Jaime VII

Cersei's ripping up her clothes.

I will teach them what it means to put a lion in a cage, Cersei thought. She tore the shift into a hundred pieces, found a ewer of water and smashed it against the wall, then did the same with the chamber pot. - Cersei X, AFFC

x

Jeyne never saw him at all. The widow rode with downcast eyes, huddled beneath a hooded cloak. Underneath its heavy folds, her clothes were finely made, but torn. She ripped them herself, as a mark of mourning, Jaime realized. That could not have pleased her mother. He found himself wondering if Cersei would tear her gown if she should ever hear that he was dead. - Jaime VII, AFFC

+.+.+

Cersei X -> <- Jaime VII

Right before walking into a disaster (a book delays Jaime), the twins are cold as ice.

Cersei could feel the eyes of the Seven staring at her, eyes of jade and malachite and onyx, and a sudden shiver of fear went through her, cold as ice. I am the queen, she told herself. Lord Tywin's daughter. Reluctantly, she followed. - Cersei X, AFFC

x

He woke in darkness, shivering. The room had grown cold as ice. Jaime flung aside the covers with the stump of his sword hand. The fire in the hearth had died, he saw, and the window had blown open. He crossed the pitch-dark chamber to fumble with the shutters, but when he reached the window his bare foot came down in something wet. Jaime recoiled, startled for a moment. His first thought was of blood, but blood would not have been so cold.

It was snow, drifting through the window. - Jaime VII, AFFC

+.+.+

Prologue -> <- Samwell V

AGOT

Prologue: ice threat introduction.

Final chapter: fire threat introduction.

ACOK

Prologue: cold-hearted King Stannis with his dying maester.

Final chapter: kindhearted King Bran with his dying maester.

ASOS

Prologue: Cursed snowflakes, and Jon Snow.

Sansa VII: Drifting snowflakes, and Jon Snow.

AFFC

Prologue: Pig boy Pate.

Samwell V: Pig boy Pate, back from the dead.

The alchemist pulled his hood down.

He was just a man, and his face was just a face. A young man's face, ordinary, with full cheeks and the shadow of a beard. A scar showed faintly on his right cheek. He had a hooked nose, and a mat of dense black hair that curled tightly around his ears. It was not a face Pate recognized. "I do not know you."

"Nor I you."

"Who are you?"

"A stranger. No one. Truly."

[...]

The cobblestones rushed up to kiss him. Pate tried to cry for help, but his voice was failing too.

His last thought was of Rosey. - Prologue, AFFC

x

"My thanks." There was something about the pale, soft youth that he misliked, but he did not want to seem discourteous, so he added, "My name's not Slayer, truly. I'm Sam. Samwell Tarly."

"I'm Pate," the other said, "like the pig boy." - Samwell V, AFFC

+.+.+

JONSA 🐺❤️❄️

Once again, thank you to @ladyofasoiaf for making the manual on all things jonsa. I heavily rely on it when making these posts. :)

Where would a girl in grey go?

If Dontos and this northern girl helped murder our sweet king, it seems to me that they would want to put as many leagues as they could betwixt themselves and justice. Look for them in Oldtown, if you must, or across the narrow sea. Look for them in Dorne, or on the Wall. Look elsewhere. - Brienne II, AFFC

x

But when Brienne asked about Sansa, she said, "I'll tell you what I told Lord Tywin. That girl was always praying. She'd go to sept and light her candles like a proper lady, but near every night she went off to the godswood. She's gone back north, she has. That's where her gods are." - Brienne II, AFFC

x

As they were making their way to the next pier, Podrick shuffled his feet, and said, "Ser? My lady? What if my lady did go home? My other lady, I mean. Ser. Lady Sansa."

"They burned her home."

"Still. That's where her gods are. And gods can't die." - Brienne V, AFFC

+.+.+

Coming after a Brienne chapter, we learn Brienne's ancestor once escorted a royal to Eastwatch.

He sent me north aboard the Golden Dragon, and insisted that his friend Ser Duncan see me safe to Eastwatch. - Samwell II, AFFC

+.+.+

Not yet.

She's a clean ship, 'Strider, not so many rats as most, and we'll have fresh eggs and new-churned butter aboard. Is m'lady seeking passage north?"

"No." Not yet. She was tempted, but . . . - Brienne V, AFFC

+.+.+

The same breakdown appears in back-to-back chapters, only Sansa forgets someone.

Or would she seek her own blood instead? Though all of her siblings had been slain, Brienne knew that Sansa still had an uncle and a bastard half brother on the Wall, serving in the Night's Watch. Another uncle, Edmure Tully, was a captive at the Twins, but his uncle Ser Brynden still held Riverrun. And Lady Catelyn's younger sister ruled the Vale. Blood calls to blood. Sansa might well have run to one of them. Which one, though? - Brienne II, AFFC

x

She would have fled them both, perhaps, but there was nowhere for her to go. Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King's Landing the queen would have her head as well. The aunt she'd hoped would keep her safe had tried to murder her instead. Her uncle Edmure was a captive of the Freys, while her great-uncle the Blackfish was under siege at Riverrun. I have no place but here, Sansa thought miserably, and no true friend but Petyr. - Sansa I, AFFC

+.+.+

A stag won't find Sansa, but a dragon might.

"Where?" Brienne slapped another silver stag down.

He flicked the coin back at her with his forefinger. "Someplace no stag ever found . . . though a dragon might." - Brienne III, AFFC

+.+.+

Of course it could never be.

There's a new High Septon, did you know? Oh, and the Night's Watch has a boy commander, some bastard son of Eddard Stark's."

"Jon Snow?" she blurted out, surprised.

"Snow? Yes, it would be Snow, I suppose."

She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother, but still . . . with Robb and Bran and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. But of course that could never be. Alayne Stone had no brothers, baseborn or otherwise. - Alayne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Someday a man will drown in her eyes.

Petyr studied her eyes, as if seeing them for the first time. "You have your mother's eyes. Honest eyes, and innocent. Blue as a sunlit sea. When you are a little older, many a man will drown in those eyes." - Sansa I, AFFC

x

The man kept staring at him, with eyes as big and black as wells. I will fall into those eyes and drown. - Jon V, ASOS

+.+.+

Coming after a Sansa chapter, Asha has an amusing reunion with an old ghost who was fostered at Pyke.

"Asha?" A shadow stepped out from behind the well.

Her hand went to her dirk at once . . . until the moonlight transformed the dark shape into a man in a sealskin cloak. Another ghost. "Tris. I'd thought to find you in the hall."

"I wanted to see you."

"What part of me, I wonder?" She grinned. "Well, here I stand, all grown up. Look all you like."

"A woman." He moved closer. "And beautiful."

Tristifer Botley had filled out since last she'd seen him, but he had the same unruly hair that she remembered, and eyes as large and trusting as a seal's. Sweet eyes, truly. That was the trouble with poor Tristifer; he was too sweet for the Iron Islands. His face has grown comely, she thought. 

[...]

"If you like. It's nought to me. You look so lovely in the moonlight, Asha. A woman grown now, but I remember when you were a skinny girl with a face all full of pimples."

Why must they always mention the pimples? "I remember that as well." Though not as fondly as you do. Of the five boys her mother had brought to Pyke to foster after Ned Stark had taken her last living son as hostage, Tris had been closest to Asha in age. He had not been the first boy she had ever kissed, but he was the first to undo the laces of her jerkin and slip a sweaty hand beneath to feel her budding breasts.

I would have let him feel more than that if he'd been bold enough. Her first flowering had come upon her during the war and wakened her desire, but even before that Asha had been curious. He was there, he was mine own age, and he was willing, that was all it was . . . that, and the moon blood. Even so, she'd called it love, till Tris began to go on about the children she would bear him; a dozen sons at least, and oh, some daughters too. - The Kraken's Daughter, AFFC

+.+.+

Newly flowered Asha had an awakening during the war.

Her first flowering had come upon her during the war and wakened her desire, but even before that Asha had been curious. He was there, he was mine own age, and he was willing, that was all it was . . . that, and the moon blood. - The Kraken's Daughter's, AFFC

+.+.+

Fourteen-year-old Arianne loses her maidenhead to a bastard.

My father is many things, but no one has ever said he was a fool. The Bastard of Godsgrace had my maidenhead when we were both fourteen. - The Soiled Knight, AFFC

+.+.+

Experienced but still green after taking the black white.

It was her turn to flush. Her seduction of Ser Arys had required half a year. Though he claimed to have known other women before taking the white, she would never have known that from the way he acted. His caresses had been clumsy, his kisses nervous, and the first time they were abed together he spent his seed on her thigh as she was guiding him inside her with her hand. - The Princess in the Tower, AFFC

+.+.+

The Dornish (Aegon), the ironborn (Daenerys), and the north (Jon) are wedding dragons.

Thank you, @decadelongsummer!

Oh, but they must, or see the realm riven once more, as it was before we wed the dragons. - The Captain of the Guards, AFFC

x

None is fit to sit the Seastone Chair, much less the Iron Throne. No, to make an heir that's worthy of him, I need a different woman. When the kraken weds the dragon, brother, let all the world beware. - The Reaver, AFFC

x

"Why shouldn't we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are all dead!" - Catelyn XI, AGOT

+.+.+

The blood of Winterfell.

I am not your daughter, she thought. I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. - Sansa I, AFFC

x

Ygritte was with him, laughing at him, shedding her skins till she was naked as her name day, trying to kiss him, but he couldn't, not with his father watching. He was the blood of Winterfell, a man of the Night's Watch. - Jon VI, ASOS

+.+.+

She likes them bold.

If not for Petyr Baelish it would have been Sansa who went spinning through a cold blue sky to stony death six hundred feet below, instead of Lysa Arryn. He is so bold. Sansa wished she had his courage. - Sansa I, AFFC

x

Surprisingly, Stannis smiled at that. "You're bold enough to be a Stark. Yes, I should have come sooner. If not for my Hand, I might not have come at all. - Jon XI, ASOS

+.+.+

Sister and brother, Maiden and Warrior (more).

"Why would Cersei need the Warrior? She has me." Jaime turned his horse about, his white cloak snapping in the wind. - Jaime II, AFFC

x

I thought that I was the Warrior and Cersei was the Maid, but all the time she was the Stranger, hiding her true face from my gaze. - Jaime IV, AFFC

x

The Maiden lay athwart the Warrior, her arms widespread as if to embrace him. - Davos I, ACOK

+.+.+

Radiant sisters.

"How is Cersei? As beautiful as ever?"

"Radiant." Fickle. - Jaime V, AFFC

x

He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon's vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister's hair and his mother's deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey's pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell's Great Hall. - Jon I, AGOT

+.+.+

The author gives Snow & Stone some space.

She could see Sky six hundred feet below, and the stone steps carved into the mountain, the winding way that led past Snow and Stone all the way down to the valley floor. - Alayne I, AFFC

x

Steep stone steps crept up the mountainside past the waycastles Stone and Snow, but they came to an end at Sky. - Alayne I, AFFC

+.+.+

Jon's heart is all Stone.

Thank you, @winkydinkle!

He could not blame Gilly for her grief. Instead, he blamed Jon Snow and wondered when Jon's heart had turned to stone. - Samwell III, AFFC

+.+.+

Sansa has a crush.

"Bronze Yohn knows me," she reminded him. "He was a guest at Winterfell when his son rode north to take the black." She had fallen wildly in love with Ser Waymar, she remembered dimly, but that was a lifetime ago, when she was a stupid little girl. - Alayne I, AFFC

x

Ser Waymar Royce was the youngest son of an ancient house with too many heirs. He was a handsome youth of eighteen, grey-eyed and graceful and slender as a knife. - Prologue, AFFC

x

Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.

[...]

Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. - Bran I, AGOT

+.+.+

The princess in the tower wishes she had wings.

A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well. - Alayne I, AFFC

x

"The little bird thinks she has wings, does she? Or do you mean to end up crippled like that brother of yours?" - Sansa IV, ACOK

x

The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. - Arya XIII, ASOS

+.+.+

Sansa gets the head, but still needs flowers.

One of the Mountain's men had tried to rape the girl at Harrenhal, and had seemed honestly perplexed when Jaime commanded Ilyn Payne to take his head off. "I had her before, a hunnerd times," he kept saying as they forced him to his knees. "A hunnerd times, m'lord. We all had her." When Ser Ilyn presented Pia with his head, she had smiled through her ruined teeth. - Jaime IV, AFFC

x

"Ser Harwyn says those tales are lies." Lady Amerei wound a braid around her finger. "He has promised me Lord Beric's head. He's very gallant." She was blushing beneath her tears.

Jaime thought back on the head he'd given to Pia. He could almost hear his little brother chuckle. Whatever became of giving women flowers? Tyrion might have asked. - Jaime IV, AFFC

x

Frog-faced Lord Slynt sat at the end of the council table wearing a black velvet doublet and a shiny cloth-of-gold cape, nodding with approval every time the king pronounced a sentence. Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him, wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head. - Sansa VI, AGOT

x

The smile that Lord Janos Slynt smiled then had all the sweetness of rancid butter. Until Jon said, "Edd, fetch me a block," and unsheathed Longclaw. - Jon II, ADWD

x

"What's wrong with flowers?" - Jon V, ASOS

+.+.+

A ghost wolf.

There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains. - Alayne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Roses kissed by frost.

"When he is a man grown," said Cersei.

Their smiles withered like roses kissed by frost. - Cersei V, AFFC

+.+.+

Children of the mountain.

Thank you, @butterflies-dragons!

She pushed her hair back. "Then one day he wasn't. Men come and go. They lie, or die, or leave you. A mountain is not a man, though, and a stone is a mountain's daughter. I trust my father, and I trust my mules. I won't fall." - Alayne II, AFFC

x

"The mountain is your mother," Stonesnake had told him during an easier climb a few days past. "Cling to her, press your face up against her teats, and she won't drop you." Jon had made a joke of it, saying how he'd always wondered who his mother was, but never thought to find her in the Frostfangs. - Jon VI, ACOK

+.+.+

Ser Byron enters Sansa's story.

"Dutiful and beautiful," said an elegant young knight whose thick blond mane cascaded down well past his shoulders.

[...]

"Knights they are," said Petyr. "Their gallantry has yet to be demonstrated, but we may hope. Allow me to present Ser Byron, Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich. Sers, the Lady Alayne, my natural and very clever daughter . . . with whom I must needs confer, if you will be so good as to excuse us."

The three knights bowed and withdrew, though the tall one with the blond hair kissed her hand before taking his leave. - Alayne II, AFFC

x

The character I'm probably most like in real life is Samwell Tarly. Good old Sam. And the character I'd want to be? Well who wouldn't want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. - George R. R. Martin

+.+.+

A fool or a knight?

"Ser Galladon was a champion of such valor that the Maiden herself lost her heart to him. She gave him an enchanted sword as a token of her love. The Just Maid, it was called. No common sword could check her, nor any shield withstand her kiss. Ser Galladon bore the Just Maid proudly, but only thrice did he unsheathe her. He would not use the Maid against a mortal man, for she was so potent as to make any fight unfair."

Crabb thought that was hilarious. "The Perfect Knight? The Perfect Fool, he sounds like. - Brienne IV, AFFC

x

"A fool and a knight?" said Jonquil. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"Sweet lady," said Florian, "all men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned." - The Hedge Knight

+.+.+

Who's the pig boy?

Thank you, @fedonciadale!

Spotted Pate the pig boy was the hero of a thousand ribald stories: a good-hearted, empty-headed lout who always managed to best the fat lordlings, haughty knights, and pompous septons who beset him. Somehow his stupidity would turn out to have been a sort of uncouth cunning; the tales always ended with Spotted Pate sitting on a lord's high seat or bedding some knight's daughter. But those were stories. In the real world pig boys never fared so well. - Prologue, AFFC

x

His face darkened. "I am. I'm your father, and I can marry you to whoever I like. To anyone. You'll marry the pig boy if I say so, and bed down with him in the sty." His green eyes glittered with amusement. - Sansa III, ACOK

+.+.+

Jon and Sansa know the power of song.

Thank you, @agentrouka-blog!

Dareon will join you at Eastwatch. My hope is that his songs will win some men for us in the south. - Samwell I, AFFC

x

A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands. - Sansa VI, ASOS

+.+.+

King Robert liked to play with his cousin.

There had been a female cousin too, a chunky little widow with breasts as big as melons whose husband and father had both died at Storm's End during the siege. "Her father was good to me," Robert told her, "and she and I would play together when the two of us were small." It did not take him long to start playing with her again. - Cersei V, AFFC

+.+.+

Sansa wants to dance.

What would she do when the music began to play? It was a vexing question, to which her heart and head gave different answers. Sansa loved to dance, but Alayne . . . - Alayne II, AFFC

x

When the musicians began to play, she timidly laid her hand on Tyrion's and said, "My lord, should we lead the dance?"

[...]

Perhaps she ought to have remained beside her husband, but she wanted to dance so badly . . . - Sansa III, ASOS

x

"You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon."

"Anon?" teased Jon.

"When we were children." She tore off a bit of bread and threw it at him. "As you know well."

"My lady should dance with her husband." - Jon X, ADWD

x

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You'll dance with me anon. - Jon XII, ADWD

+.+.+

Prince Aemon's back.

"And the Dragonknight?" She flung the bedclothes aside and swung her legs to the floor. "The noblest knight who ever lived, you said, and he took his queen to bed and got her with child." - The Soiled Knight, AFFC

+.+.+

Who could ever love a bastard?

Ser Loras had given Sansa Stark a red rose once, but he had never kissed her . . . and no Tyrell would ever kiss Alayne Stone. Pretty as she was, she had been born on the wrong side of the blanket. - Alayne II, AFFC

+.+.+

Poisoned gifts.

Petyr arched an eyebrow. "When Robert dies. Our poor brave Sweetrobin is such a sickly boy, it is only a matter of time. When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright. So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa . . . Harry, the Eyrie, and Winterfell. That's worth another kiss now, don't you think?" - Alayne II, AFFC

x

"Jon." Melisandre was so close he could feel the warmth of her breath. "R'hllor is the only true god. A vow sworn to a tree has no more power than one sworn to your shoes. Open your heart and let the light of the Lord come in. Burn these weirwoods, and accept Winterfell as a gift of the Lord of Light."

[...]

Stannis gave him a measuring look. "Does this mean you will not wed the girl? I warn you, she is part of the price you must pay, if you want your father's name and your father's castle. This match is necessary, to help assure the loyalty of our new subjects. Are you refusing me, Jon Snow?"

[...]

Stannis put a thin, fleshless hand on Jon's shoulder. "Say nothing of what we've discussed here today. To anyone. But when you return, you need only bend your knee, lay your sword at my feet, and pledge yourself to my service, and you shall rise again as Jon Stark, the Lord of Winterfell." - Jon XI, ASOS

+.+.+

Lancel Lannister's story continues to raise eyebrows.

Lancel had taken to quartering the lion of Lannister with the Darry plowman, it would seem. He saw his uncle's hand in that, as in Lancel's choice of bride. House Darry had ruled these lands since the Andals cast down the First Men. No doubt Ser Kevan realized that his son would have an easier time of it if the peasants saw him as a continuation of the old line, holding these lands by right of marriage rather than royal decree. - Jaime IV, AFFC

x

Maybe he is praying for his cock to harden. In King's Landing it had been rumored that Lancel's wounds had left him incapable. Still, he ought to have sense enough to try. His cousin's hold on his new lands would not be secure until he fathered a son on his half-Darry wife. - Jaime IV, AFFC

x

When his coz did not answer, Jaime sighed. "You should be sleeping with your wife, not with the Maid. You need a son with Darry blood if you want to keep this castle." - Jaime IV, AFFC

+.+.+

More men marrying into houses.

When he was not singing, Nimble Dick would talk, regaling them with tales of Crackclaw Point. Every gloomy valley had its lord, he said, the lot of them united only by their mistrust of outsiders. In their veins the blood of the First Men ran dark and strong. "The Andals tried t' take Crackclaw, but we bled them in the valleys and drowned them in the bogs. Only what their sons couldn't win with swords, their pretty daughters won with kisses. They married into the houses they couldn't conquer, aye." - Brienne IV, AFFC

+.+.+

Val does cosplay. Again.

King Stannis had plans for Val, he knew; she was the mortar with which he meant to seal the peace between the northmen and the free folk. - Samwell I, AFFC

x

"Whoever?" Stannis gave him a measuring look. "Does this mean you will not wed the girl? I warn you, she is part of the price you must pay, if you want your father's name and your father's castle. This match is necessary, to help assure the loyalty of our new subjects. Are you refusing me, Jon Snow?" - Jon XI, ASOS

x

"The girl's happiness is not my purpose, nor should it be yours. Our alliances in the south may be as solid as Casterly Rock, but there remains the north to win, and the key to the north is Sansa Stark." - Tyrion III, ASOS

+.+.+

Sansa -> Bolton requires a Stark daughter to claim Winterfell -> Jon.

"Your Grace has forgotten the Lady Sansa," said Pycelle.

The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf." She refused to say the girl's name. "I ought to have shown her to the black cells as the daughter of a traitor, but instead I made her part of mine own household. She shared my hearth and hall, played with my own children. I fed her, dressed her, tried to make her a little less ignorant about the world, and how did she repay me for my kindness? She helped murder my son. When we find the Imp, we will find the Lady Sansa too. She is not dead . . . but before I am done with her, I promise you, she will be singing to the Stranger, begging for his kiss."

An awkward silence followed. Have they all swallowed their tongues? Cersei thought, with irritation. It was enough to make her wonder why she bothered with a council.

"In any case," the queen went on, "Lord Eddard's younger daughter is with Lord Bolton, and will be wed to his son Ramsay as soon as Moat Cailin has fallen." So long as the girl played her role well enough to cement their claim to Winterfell, neither of the Boltons would much care that she was actually some steward's whelp tricked up by Littlefinger. "If the north must have a Stark, we'll give them one." She let Lord Merryweather fill her cup once again. "Another problem has arisen on the Wall, however. The brothers of the Night's Watch have taken leave of their wits and chosen Ned Stark's bastard son to be their Lord Commander." - Cersei IV, AFFC

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The author's constant reminder.

Jaime sighed. "Then let them wed. It will be years before Tommen is old enough to consummate the marriage. And until he does, the union can always be set aside. Give Tyrell his wedding and send him off to play at war." - Jaime I, AFFC

x

"I said some words and gave her a red cloak, but only to please Father. Marriage requires consummation. King Baelor was made to wed his sister Daena, but they never lived as man and wife, and he put her aside as soon as he was crowned." - Jaime IV, AFFC

x

"She is old enough to be Lady of Winterfell once her brother is dead. Claim her maidenhood and you will be one step closer to claiming the north. Get her with child, and the prize is all but won. Do I need to remind you that a marriage that has not been consummated can be set aside?" - Tyrion IV, ASOS

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Jon vs. Tyrion Pregame.

"Well," said Sam, "he will not want it said that Stannis rode to the defense of the realm whilst King Tommen was playing with his toys. That would bring scorn down upon House Lannister."

"It's death and destruction I want to bring down upon House Lannister, not scorn." Jon lifted up the letter. - Samwell I, AFFC

+.+.+

Big brothers.

My betrothal was announced at a feast with half the west in attendance. Ellyn Tarbeck laughed and the Red Lion went angry from the hall. The rest sat on their tongues. Only Tywin dared speak against the match. A boy of ten. Father turned as white as mare's milk, and Walder Frey was quivering." She smiled. "How could I not love him, after that? That is not to say that I approved of all he did, or much enjoyed the company of the man that he became . . . but every little girl needs a big brother to protect her. Tywin was big even when he was little." - Jaime V, AFFC

+.+.+

That uncomfortable subject.

"How old are you, child?" asked Lady Waynwood.

"Four-fourteen, my lady." For a moment she forgot how old Alayne should be. "And I am no child, but a maiden flowered."

"But not deflowered, one can hope." Young Lord Hunter's bushy mustache hid his mouth entirely.

"Yet," said Lyn Corbray, as if she were not there. "But ripe for plucking soon, I'd say." - Alayne I, AFFC

___

"A child?" said Sansa, uncertainly.

Lysa waved a hand negligently. "Not for many years. You are too young to be a mother. One day you shall want children, though. Just as you will want to marry." - Sansa VI, ASOS

x

"I will." He cuddled close and laid his head between her breasts. "Alayne? Are you my mother now?"

"I suppose I am," she said. If a lie was kindly meant, there was no harm in it. - Sansa I, AFFC

___

She studied Alayne's face and chest. "You are prettier than me, but my breasts are larger. The maesters say large breasts produce no more milk than small ones, but I do not believe it. Have you ever known a wet nurse with small teats? Yours are ample for a girl your age, but as they are bastard breasts, I shan't concern myself with them." - Alayne II, AFFC

___

"The gods made men to fight, and women to bear children," said Randyll Tarly. "A woman's war is in the birthing bed." - Brienne III, AFFC

x

"How apt. The men will bleed out there, and you in here." The queen signaled for the first course to be served. - Sansa V, ACOK

___

Jeyne Westerling had been Robb Stark's queen, the girl who cost him everything. With a wolf in her belly, she could have proved more dangerous than the Blackfish. - Jaime VI, AFFC

x

"A child born of traitor's seed will find that betrayal comes naturally to her," said Grand Maester Pycelle. "She is a sweet thing now, but in ten years, who can say what treasons she may hatch?" - Sansa IV, AGOT

___

To break her fast the queen sent to the kitchens for two boiled eggs, a loaf of bread, and a pot of honey. But when she cracked the first egg and found a bloody half-formed chick inside, her stomach roiled. - Cersei III, AFFC

vs.

An immense round fat man, as big as three Moon Boys, he came cartwheeling into the hall, vaulted onto the table, and laid a gigantic egg right in front of Sansa. "Break it, my lady," he commanded. When she did, a dozen yellow chicks escaped and began running in all directions. - Sansa I, ASOS

+.+.+

A king must have an heir.

And Cersei … I have Jon Arryn to thank for her. I had no wish to marry after Lyanna was taken from me, but Jon said the realm needed an heir. - Eddard VII, AGOT

x

"Jeyne," she called after, "there's one more thing Robb needs from you, though he may not know it yet himself. A king must have an heir." - Catelyn III, ASOS

x

"Young, and a king," he said. "A king must have an heir. If I should die in my next battle, the kingdom must not die with me. - Catelyn V, ASOS

x

He had not touched another woman since he gave her to the crabs. I will need to take a wife when I am king. A true wife, to be my queen and bear me sons. A king must have an heir. - The Iron Captain, AFFC

x

Victarion was turning to go when the Crow's Eye said, "A king must have a wife, to give him heirs. - The Reaver, AFFC

x

Many promised him their voices: Fralegg the Strong, clever Alvyn Sharp, humpbacked Hotho Harlaw. Hotho offered him a daughter for his queen. "I have no luck with wives," Victarion told him. His first wife died in childbed, giving him a stillborn daughter. His second had been stricken by a pox. And his third . . .

"A king must have an heir," Hotho insisted. "The Crow's Eye brings three sons to show before the kingsmoot."

"Bastards and mongrels. How old is this daughter?"

"Twelve," said Hotho. "Fair and fertile, newly flowered, with hair the color of honey. Her breasts are small as yet, but she has good hips. She takes after her mother, more than me." – The Iron Captain, AFFC

+.+.+

Does the moon tea have anything to do with jonsa? I'll include it, and let you decide.

She had surrendered her virtue at six-and-ten, to a beautiful blond-haired sailor on a trading galley up from Lys. He only knew six words of the Common Tongue, but "fuck" was one of them—the very word she'd hoped to hear. Afterward, Asha had the sense to find a woods witch, who showed her how to brew moon tea to keep her belly flat. - The Kraken's Daughter, AFFC

x

"I swore a vow . . ."

". . . not to wed or father children. Well, I have drunk my moon tea, and you know I cannot marry you." She smiled. "Though I might be persuaded to keep you for my paramour." - The Soiled Knight, AFFC

x

"The little queen has appetites that Tommen is as yet too young to satisfy." That was always a danger, when a grown woman was married to a child. Even more so with a widow. She may claim that Renly never touched her, but I will not believe it. Women only drank moon tea for one reason; maidens had no need for it at all. - Cersei IX, AFFC

x

"As you will." Jaime turned to the daughter. "I am sorry for your loss. The boy had courage, I'll give him that. There is a question I must ask you. Are you carrying his child, my lady?"

Jeyne burst from her chair and would have fled the room if the guard at the door had not seized her by the arm. "She is not," said Lady Sybell, as her daughter struggled to escape. "I made certain of that, as your lord father bid me." - Jaime VII, AFFC

x

"You're bastard-born yourself. And if Ygritte does not want a child, she will go to some woods witch and drink a cup o' moon tea. You do not come into it, once the seed is planted." - Jon II, ASOS

x

Tears ran down her aunt's puffy red face. "I gave you my maiden's gift. I would have given you a son too, but they murdered him with moon tea, with tansy and mint and wormwood, a spoon of honey and a drop of pennyroyal. It wasn't me, I never knew, I only drank what Father gave me . . ." - Sansa VII, ASOS

+.+.+

Two prophetic conversations have Sansa and Cersei on the same path.

"When will I wed the prince?" she asked.

"Never. You will wed the king." - Cersei VIII, AFFC

x

"No," Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. "Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon." 

[...]

Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?"

"You," Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, "will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon."

Arya screwed up her face. "No," she said, "that's Sansa." - Eddard V, AGOT

+.+.+

Ashford Tournament!

Thank you @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly for the theory! (lol)

Thank you @butterflies-dragons for the additional parallels!

"Will there be another champion in Ser Humfrey's [Hardyng] place?"

"Lord Ashford had a mind to grant the place to Lord Caron, or perhaps the other Ser Humfrey, the one who gave Hardyng such a splendid match, but Prince Baelor told him that it would not be seemly to remove Ser Humfrey's shield and pavilion under the circumstances. I believe they will continue with four champions in place of five."

Four champions, Dunk thought. Leo Tyrell, Lyonel Baratheon, Tybolt Lannister, and Prince Valarr [Targaryen]. - The Hedge Knight

___

Lyonel Baratheon

Sansa must wed Joffrey, that is clear now, we must give them no grounds to suspect our devotion. - Catelyn II, AGOT

x

___

Leo Tyrell

The words came tumbling out of her. "Yes. I will. I would like that more than anything. To wed Ser Loras, to love him . . ." "Loras?" Lady Olenna sounded annoyed. "Don't be foolish, child. Kingsguard never wed. Didn't they teach you anything in Winterfell? We were speaking of my grandson Willas. He is a bit old for you, to be sure, but a dear boy for all that. Not the least bit oafish, and heir to Highgarden besides." - Sansa I, ASOS

x

Willas Tyrell was green as his surcoat and had no business riding in such company. The Fat Flower thrust him into tourneys at too tender an age, just as he did with the other two. He wanted another Leo Longthorn, and made himself a cripple. - Tyrion V, ASOS

___

Tybolt Lannister

"Yes. You are a ward of the crown. The king stands in your father's place, since your brother is an attainted traitor. That means he has every right to dispose of your hand. You are to marry my brother Tyrion." - Sansa III, ASOS

x

The Baratheon and Lannister defeat the maiden's brother(s).

Tybolt Lannister and Androw Ashford rode against each other thrice more before Ser Androw finally lost shield, seat, and match all at once. The younger Ashford lasted even longer, breaking no less than nine lances against Ser Lyonel Baratheon, the Laughing Storm. Champion and challenger both lost their saddles on their tenth course, only to rise together to fight on, sword against mace. Finally a battered Ser Robert Ashford admitted defeat, but on the viewing stand his father looked anything but dejected. Both Lord Ashford's Sons had been ushered from the ranks of the champions, it was true, but they had acquitted themselves nobly against two of the finest knights in the Seven Kingdoms. - The Hedge Knight

___

Humfrey Hardyng

When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright. So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa . . . Harry, the Eyrie, and Winterfell. - Alayne II, AFFC

x

A lady's armor is her courtesy. Alayne could feel the blood rushing to her face. No tears, she prayed. Please, please, I must not cry. "As you wish, ser. And now if you will excuse me, Littlefinger's bastard must find her lord father and let him know that you have come, so we can begin the tourney on the morrow." And may your horse stumble, Harry the Heir, so you fall on your stupid head in your first tilt. - Alayne I, TWOW

x

At the last possible instant, Ser Humfrey's stallion reared away from the oncoming point, eyes rolling in terror, but too late, Aerion's lance took the animal just above the armor that protected his breastbone, and exploded out of the back of his neck in a gout of bright blood. Screaming, the horse crashed sideways, knocking the wooden barrier to pieces as he fell. Ser Humfrey tried to leap free, but a foot caught in a stirrup and they heard his shriek as his leg was crushed between the splintered fence and falling horse. - The Hedge Knight

___

Prince Valarr Targaryen

Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh, it would be so sweet, to see him once again. - Alayne II, AFFC

x

But they were all dead now, even Arya, everyone but her half-brother, Jon. Some nights she heard talk of him, in the taverns and brothels of the Ragman's Harbor. The Black Bastard of the Wall, one man had called him. - The Blind Girl, ADWD

x

Six pups they'd found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow. - Jon XII, ASOS

x

He was a shorter, slimmer, handsomer version of his sire, without the twice-broken nose that had made Baelor seem more human than royal. Valarr's hair was brown, but a bright streak of silver-gold ran through it. - The Hedge Knight

x

The last pavilion was Prince Valarr's. Of black silk it was, with a line of pointed scarlet pennons hanging from its roof like long red flames. The shield on its stand was glossy black, emblazoned with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen. One of the Kingsguard knights stood beside it, his shining white armor stark against the black of the tentcloth. 

[...]

And the black-and-white knight, Lord Gawen Swann, challenged the black prince with the white guardian. - The Hedge Knight

+.+.+

#operation stumpy re-read #foreshadowing smorgasbord #affc summary #chapter transitions #jonsa #jon x sansa #sansa stark #jon snow

[grumpy-zane]

"General Cryptor? Oh my bad, its just Cryptor now, right?" The white-suited nindroid captain smiled.

"Showoff.." he growled.

"Gee, who would have thought you wound up on such a low note. What was your occupation again? Nurse? Traffic man?" His condescending tone oozed from mouth.

Cryptor twitched an eye, "It sure beats being out in the middle of a jungle guarding a hollow prism," his lips twisted into a cocky smile, "what good is a general if their troops can't even stop a rag tag team of prison escapees?"

The nindroid slammed his hand on the wall, "That was NOT my divison!"

"All you whites are the same: cheap, knock offs. Reprogrammed to hit each other with sticks and eat sand in the playground, crying when you scrape your 'wittle kneecaps', pathetic."

"At least I'm not teamed with a runt."

"Stumpy is short a few feet but he can land a shot at point blank unlike someone." Cryptor folded his arms.

The nindroid growled, his eye glowing as he charged up his lazer, "why you-!"

"Stop!" The doctor barged between them before letting his breath out. Borg held a clump of his greying hair in his hand and sighed, "I've had enough of this childish argument. Captain Sentury, if you'd please come in." He wheeled aside, giving the droid space.

The captain glared as Cryptor poked his bottom lip out, holding his hands up by his face and making an 'aw, so sad boo hoo' crying motion. "You're nothing, Cryptor!"

"Give it a break!" Borg butt in again.

"Yeah, Captain Cookies n' Cream, give a break."

"Cryptor!" The doctor piped, "I mean it!"

#Ninjago #Borg #general cryptor #ninjago sentry #If I got sentry wrong pls tell I am not well versed with the character

[pennamesareoverrated]

i alighted the train on my way back home from the doctor’s when i saw them. clad in azure blue nurse scrubs, hair up in a ponytail and walking ahead of me.

what had captured my attention was their right arm. it was covered in adorable little tattoos. possibly one of the cutest inks that i have ever seen.

where i reside in, older generations tend to look down and shun people who bear inks on their skin. they said they give off a “bad impression”, and that they were gangsters, thugs. i have never ever seen them that way. inks are just inks. they are a form of expressing one’s self. or as a reminder.

anyway, i digress. this nurse, they had cute cartoon inks. really cute. like those kind you would see in a children’s sticker book. simple lined hedgehogs, a long-necked giraffe, a cute stumpy little elephant.

it made me wonder, what kind of significance they might hold to this nurse. they weren’t names or words, but almost child-like drawings in their simplicity.

had they been designed by chlidren? are these possible said children still present? perhaps have they recovered from whatever illness they had met when they first encountered this nurse?

i sure do hope so.

because that is a lot of tattoos. the modest inks covered at least a good third of their right arm, like an elbow cast.

i hope the nurse is doing alright. i would’ve gone up to them to tell them i found their inks cool. i would’ve given them a hug, barring the pandemic and my own shyness

i hope they are doing okay, and i hope you are too.

#personal