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[perzo]

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RHAENYRA

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un: daemon

[bloodstone]

Baela is here. As is our least favoured of Alicent's children. Be wary, Rhaenyra.

[perzo]

They have both made themselves known.

I am certain that Jace would see Baela protected here, but there may be little keeping Aemond at bay.

un: hightower

[unapparent]

[ what an eventful day. ]

Our sons intend to fight to yield on the morrow.

[perzo]

For what purpose?

text — un: aemond_

[provoke]

[ everyone said he can't murder so he's just going to be extremely annoying. ]

Mandia. Have you broken fast?

[perzo]

You ask to ensure my presence at the table?

[ she'd just as soon take a tray in her rooms — so long as giles hand-delivers it himself. ]

text — un: aemond_

[provoke]

My sympathies, Rhaenyra, for your losses.

[perzo]

I would have expected more in the way of celebration, not condolence.

un: daemon

[bloodstone]

[ After his resurrection; ]

Prūmia. I swore that I would never leave your side, and my word will be kept.

[perzo]

It is this place that has sought to keep you from me.

Yet I know you were of the right in your challenge, and gave your life in seeing to your word.

un: daemon

[bloodstone]

Dinner with me. Tonight.

[perzo]

In our rooms, or have you found somewhere else for us to dine?

— text | un: jacaerys

[vermax]

( this is not intended for his mother, far from it, but he doesn’t notice that he’s sent it to an unintended recipient when he tosses his phone aside on the bed. )

[perzo]

[ would it be better to say nothing, pretend she hasn't seen it? or would he prefer she bring it to his attention so that he might send it to its intended recipient?

in the end, rhaenyra chooses the latter. ]

This was meant for another, I assume?

text — un: aemond_ ( first of december )

[provoke]

Mandia. I know we do not agree on most things, but in the interest of peace — there is a tapestry in my possession now that you might like to see. It bears our family's lineage, from Aenar to Jaehaera, with portraits well-painted.

Will you come?

[perzo]

[ the name jaehaera gives her pause — when will it not? when will it cease to leave her filled with regret over what has transpired? ]

How did it come to be in your possession? Was it a gift from this house's strange library?

— text | un: jacaerys

[vermax]

Mother. I must speak with you in person. Somewhere no other may overhear, our hosts included.

[perzo]

Do you know the stables?

[ once, she might have suggested her room, but there may even be ears to listen there. ]

🎁 — 24/12.

[unapparent]

[ On Christmas Eve, the manor staff kindly deliver the gifts Alicent prepared for family and friends.

— Inside an ornate hat box, Rhaenyra will find the crown of Viserys Targaryen.
— The envelope attached by a gold ribbon bears no name, but smells of Alicent’s perfume.

Dearest Rhaenyra,
I have written and discarded several letters now, as I have with all our correspondence. Words seem inadequate, don’t they, for all that we have experienced together and apart.

I requested this when my team won the werewolf game, knowing even then it was not for myself but for you. For even when your father forgot me, he remembered the daughter he loved best. And even when I acted against your interests, I could not forget you.

It is hard to say why I have waited two turns of the moon now to share this with you. We have both been waylaid by our families since arriving, as we will always be. I cannot abandon my sons any more than you can forsake yours.

And yet I am sorry, for the mistakes I have made and harm I have done. I meant it truly and without reservation when I said you would make a fine queen.

I think of you often. And even when I am not thinking of you, I am trying to keep myself from it, which is much the same thing — don’t you think?

Yours,
Alicent

text — un: LITTLEPRINCE (following alicent's death)

[hymen]

hi.

you don't know me. i'm embry. alicent's friend.
i know you as her princess.

i died a few months ago, right before the werewolf games started. and when i did, alicent made sure the person i loved the most wasn't alone in his grief. i could count on one hand the number of people who even knew what he meant to me. she was one of the few people here i trusted.

what she did meant everything to me. i want to repay the favor. i don't know if the number of people she trusted is even less than mine, but i know what it's like to stand beside someone and still have an ocean separating you. i know. it should be you with her right now. i'm sorry that it can't be. i'm sorry that no one else can know.

i can't compare to her in any life, but if you want to go somewhere, if you want to talk, if you just want me to stand at the door while you yell at me to feel better, i'm here.

i'm here for whatever you need.

[perzo]

[ it is a long time, of reading the message again and again, sometimes with tears silently streaming down her face before she remembers to wipe them away, sometimes sitting completely still without a mote of emotion in her expression.

days later, she finally musters up a response. ]

It seems you know much already.

Do you also know the path to my room?

[ it's as much an invitation as anything else, without her actively extending it. ]

— text (evening of Alicent’s death announcement)

[vermax]

( it is rare he finds his own name day overshadowed by something he is sure to shake his family, but in a place like this Jace understands there is little in their control. they are all left to react, to roll with punches and support one another when grief strikes. even if, truth be told, he can summon little for the dead in this case. despite that he drew breath again and lived during werewolf because Alicent asked for it.

he aches for his mother instead, for what is lost to her with a dear friend taken. ) Your continued friendship is not one I can claim to always understand, nor support, I am grieve for the ache this loss brings to you. If there is anything you need, mother, I am a shoulder you can lean on. Let us not hide from each other when we most need support.

[perzo]

I have been absent, largely because of my own fears in the wake of their games. It has been... difficult, to leave the safety of my rooms when I fight not to view any stranger's face as a potential enemy's.

Yet I cannot help but wonder if such a tragedy would have come to pass if I had mustered up the courage for the sake of one who remains dear to me, despite the sorrow we have visited upon each other.

I intend to meet with Aegon and Aemond, if only to offer condolences. Our grief cannot divide us further, as you have already written yourself.

gift.

[bloodstone]

[ Left on their shared bed are a series of gifts:

🐉 a necklace, in a red box with black ribbon.
🐉 a matching ring, because that's his wife baby!!
🐉 one cute little dragon toy, because why not. it's cute. she might like it.
🐉 the silhouettes that emmrich got him, placed on their bedside.

There's no note, but does there need to be? ]

text

[bloodstone]

Where are you.

[perzo]

Our quarters.

[ she has ventured out very little, ever since the house's game — and even less since alicent's death, apart from her morning rides. ]

text; un: bugs ; shortly before event shenanigans

[honorism]

Rhaenyra? Sister.

It's Helaena.

[She pauses. Jace said that Rhaenyra would like to hear from her, but it feels-- awkward. She's never had a problem with Rhaenyra herself, but it feels weird to try and consider herself queen with her. Was this how others had felt with Rhaenys? Well, maybe not. That had been different. Rhaenyra would rule in her own right, after all. Helaena was simply attached to the actual problem.]

I have a warning for you. Will you hear it?

[perzo]

[ it's difficult not to consider a message like this with some inner conflict, particularly with the knowledge of what had been inflicted against helaena and her children — rhaenyra knows that she would not be nearly so forthcoming in warning if their positions were reversed.

it speaks to the possibility that helaena may not even be aware of what's transpired — or perhaps she is, and is simply choosing to set aside those events in service of something greater.

it's the sudden swell of guilt, as well as the desire to not be rude, that ultimately drives rhaenyra to answer. ]

I will.

— text | un: jacaerys (as the undead invade)

[vermax]

Mother.

Where are you? (He returned to the library, the small little nook they have gathered to shelter from the perils, and could not find her. Which is very concerning at times like this where it feels as if Aegon's dream is come to life, as if he'd spoken it into existence here. Jacaerys finds he feels the same anxiety he'd felt in the days she had been gone, when the council was unaware she'd gone to King's Landing. )

[perzo]

By the library's hearth.

[ she'd gone there to find respite from the cold — her blood does not warm as strongly as it once had, leaving her forced to rely on sources of heat that she would not otherwise even need to consider, but they are all changed by this place, the ones who possess a power that renders them greater in some way. ]

I will remain, if it should allow you to find me more easily.

@hightower, pre-event.

[unapparent]

Has my daughter told you of her dragon dreams?

[perzo]

She claimed she had words of warning for me, but she has only shared one as of late.

— voice | un: jacaerys

[vermax]

Mother. ( Don't mind him just having a very parental tone with his own mother. ) Why are you, Daemon, and Alicent in consideration for anything akin to a relationship?

voice;

[perzo]

[ it is a question that catches her so much by surprise that she falters, briefly, before responding. ]

What… why do you ask me that?

𝖆𝖚 text @il sangre

[interpersonally]

What wine do you think pairs well with a sister you never knew you had.

Different pairing from the bitter soon-to-be ex-wife, the scandalized son, or the breakable brother?

[perzo]

Ouch.

Kind of feels like you need something stronger than wine.