our lady of tears. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unapparent) wrote2024-07-16 06:59 pm
unapparent) wrote2024-07-16 06:59 pm
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WELCOME TO THE SALTBURNT NETWORK
USERNAMe
@hightower
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WELCOME TO THE SALTBURNT NETWORK
USERNAMe
@hightower
text đź‘‘ audio đź‘‘ video
@t.laughlin
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Has he been harmed?
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But he does think it's normal for brothers to bite each other on the mouth.
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Targaryens have strange customs. I know not all of them, being the outsider that I am, but it is chiefly expected to wed brother to sister and sister to brother, protecting the blood of the dragon from outside influence. This is partly why my marriage to the king was so poorly received.
They have no recorded interest in our own proclivities.
[ being gay, she means being gay. ]
He has assailed you?
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No. That would be too strong a word. I just wasn't expecting it.
I'm more worried about him.
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What is it that worries you?
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He called me brother and then questioned my loyalty immediately.
It's like he can't imagine affection without a price attached. He's shown kindness and he spends the whole time looking for the catch. I want to help him.
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perhaps it is the events of this week and the last. perhaps it is the ever-growing weakness in her heart. she blinks back tears, regardless, knowing that for all she fought for aemond — blade in hand on driftmark, politicking keeping him from a young betrothal and duties abed — she has failed him. she failed them all. ]
You must understand, Tim. Our world is not kind, and it will be no kinder to him when we return. [ he will die, she does not — cannot say. ] His father only paid him mind to scorn him. And he has watched the other men of the court circle my family, wanting of my flesh.
His elder brother is…I know not the word for it, in your tongue. Difficult, lascivious, where Aemond has been ever dutiful. Aegon cuffed him about a great deal in their youth, until Aemond outgrew him. If they hold love for each other still, it is tainted by violence.
That is to say, he does not imagine that such prices needs be paid. He knows it to be true.
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[ That he believes his death is imminent, should he ever return home. That Aegon is a monster, and there's no room in his life for any softness. He knows it. But it is too sad and too cruel for Tim to accept.]
But that doesn't have to be true here. If we make it through this game.
Will you not tell him I said anything? He'll think I'm pitying him and get upset. It's not that.
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[ a beat, before she decides to tell him more, believing that Tim wants the best for her son. for as many people as he can help. ]
He weathered my softness when he arrived and again a little after. The latter instance…he has not allowed me so close since his eye was taken. He is not lost to me, although he oft rejects my tenderness.
[ telling, perhaps, that she says to me and not in general. she thinks of him pulling her hand from his cheek, and her palm stings anew. what sort of boy dismisses his own mother from her seat? what sort of son would not promise to keep her from another marriage, after all she’s suffered? she does not dare think the word. ]
Mayhaps if he is given time here that he would not otherwise have. Such cruel learnings cannot be undone in a day.
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I'll keep trying. You were right that he's been sharpened by his circumstances. But he's earnest, in a weird way. He's told me a lot for how briefly we've known each other. I don't think he perceives it as opening up, but he wants to be understood beyond just his duty.
For whatever time he has left, I think he deserves that.
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how could she possible live if he dies? if aegon burns? she doesn’t know. it is impossible to imagine a grief yet to come and not spiral into her sorrows. ]
Thank you. You do more for our family than I would dare ask of another. I’ll not forget it.
And I know you are your own man, but you need not abide Aemond’s…sharpness, if you do not wish it. Not for my sake.
[ alicent knows she’s difficult to love, and that her children take after her in this. ]
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What about you? How are you holding up? The vote was hard.
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[ little whore, green witch, cold queen, seducing a grieving king and stealing the crown for her southern blood. it will not matter that she gave her youth to childbearing and her adulthood to caretaking. it never has. ]
I only regret that I stooped to ugliness in turn and harmed those I have cared for as my own.
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We did what we had to. What we thought was right, with the information we had. And between us, I said Alia's name first. You can blame me for it, if you need.
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Did you kneel beside Paul in the chapel? Did you hear him speak of a boyish longing for his mother and offer him the comfort of one who misses her sons?
Did you hold Alia’s little hands in the lake, and see your daughter in her all-seeing eyes? Mine own girl shares her gift of prophecy, her strangeness, her joy in the smallest wonders of life.
I cannot blame you for what I have done. They feel a different kind of pain, at my betrayal. I would not cower from it, or ask it to be forgiven.
[ the betrayal of a brother or sister can be forgiven, a peer or even a father can be understood, but a mother — a mother should never do what she has done this day. ]
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I didn’t mean to make it out like your choices weren't your own. I don't know her family well, so it's different for me, I know that.
When we're revealed to be right, she'll thank us. Because I know she doesn't want to use her power to hurt anyone. If she did, I wouldn't be here. We have to have faith in that.
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[ for the reasons that tim speaks now. alia did not wish to do harm. ]
I have been remiss in asking how you are keeping, after all that. I know it was not an easy choice for you, either.
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If we're revealed to be correct, I'll be at peace with my vote. But I'm afraid. Everyone I've held close to me here has someone angry with them now. I'm scared that I can't protect you all.
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[ she hesitates. then — ]
I ask that you tell no one of this, not even my Aemond or your Hawk. Not sweet Koby or Lady Baela.
There is another role. That of the Witch, who can return one of the dead to us. If they have spoken true, Jacaerys may yet live.
[ not rhaenyra. her heart pangs. ]
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The witch. Can you say who?
[ That changes things. At least some. One less death to mourn, if they are not found and carried first to the slaughter. The one brought back could potentially name their killer. This is good.
What about Rhaenyra? The question is on his tongue, and he's grateful that it does not reach his fingertips. It'll only cause her more pain, all the what-ifs and impossible choices that come with it. ]
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No, I have sworn it.
Their role will be targeted above all, for bringing back one and not another, for allowing the dead to name their accused themselves. I fear they will make enemies of all.
I tell you this in case the witch and I are both targeted, so that there is one who knows why the Prince Jacaerys yet lives and will be unafraid to speak true.
[ so that jace is not thought of as a ruse or abomination, merely another potential outcome of the game. ]
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Do you know if they must reveal themselves to use that power? Because if not, the killers will think it's you or your family.
I'm not saying they shouldn't save him, obviously. There's just...too many possibilities. I'm driving myself crazy.
I'll speak on it if I need to. But I won't. You will be alright, Alicent.
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[ one that she has agreed to pay, evidently. ]
They have already targeted us, Tim. Two dead, my son nearly accused. Baela has been exposed as a necromancer, communing with the dead. Our accusation carried the day, and our remaining numbers represent a danger, particularly to the one who killed Rhaenyra.
If Baela and I are not targeted, I must look more closely at those who love me best.
[ because any wolf playing to win will surely leave the vampires to be suspect. the only other large alliance crumbled in the final round of voting. ]
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But I promised that you would be safe here as long as I'm around, and the game doesn't change that. Have some faith in me.
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