pippychick

It’s a good job that characters never get to see their fanfic authors. Because soon all that will be standing between Tormund Giantsbane and Sandor Clegane, and what they want most in the entire world, which is a naked and sweating and luscious Brienne of Tarth… Well, that would be me. With a pen. They do say it’s mightier than the sword. I get the impression I’d be deader than dungarees. Fuck. And in case anyone is still following this, and was wondering… no, I haven’t stopped them yet, and it’s nearly at fever pitch, and I have a fairly good idea, but… I just don’t know if it’s going to work at this late stage. I really don’t. This could teach me a valuable lesson about, I don’t know, testosterone or something... Though, if they think they’ll get away from their fate like this… nope. They’ll just deny Tyrion a chance to appear in the story, which would be rubbish because I’ve already written his dialogue. And theirs. I do hope they aren’t going to be spoilsports about this. Hmm..

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fourteen I, erm, kind of had a day off. Work tomorrow.

I love the novel, and I love this idea. Unfortunately, there’s no way I could write about the onset of the industrial revolution without the Lizzie in my head getting involved in actual, well, revolution (organising workers’ and such), which would likely lead to the following kind of conversation at Pemberley: DARCY: It will not do! You are my wife of twenty years, and we have been happy. I cannnot have you undermining me by fraternising with the workforce. LIZZIE: [laughing] Fraternising? DARCY: The old ways are dying, Elizabeth. Capital can no longer live on itself. It must work. [LIZZIE SCOFFS AT THE MENTION OF WORK] DARCY: When class distinctions blur, we will lose all of this, everything you enjoy, until we are left only with the sanctity of our marriage. Will you be happy then, with me, to be worth nothing? LIZZIE: [coughs] Well… DARCY: Well, what? LIZZIE: You’re away from home so often, and Jane did offer. And I thought it was very nice of Mr. Bingley, to be so selfless. DARCY: … LIZZIE: He’s been very good to me. DARCY: [growls] That’s it! I give up!

Chapter Thirteen

Ok… commencing read through of Chapter Thirteen, which is currently 5270 words. Oops… well, now it’s 5524 words. Which is kind of going in the wrong direction. *tries again*

Next chapter is partway done, but won’t be finished until tomorrow. But I do have a day off tomorrow, so it will be finished. Unfortunately, while it will be a very long chapter, there’ll be no adult content in it – sorry about that! It’s set out in three parts. The first part, which is written, being the three of them helping Podrick out (in their own way, which is kind of innovative), the second part will feature Jon Snow, and the last part will be a flashback of what happened to Tormund after the wall came down. The entire thing is written from Tormund’s point of view. So, obviously, when I say there’s no adult content in it, I mean, there are his thoughts… and he’s an adult, all right. He just won’t be getting the opportunity to act on any of them.

Chapter Twelve And I am off to bed before I fall off of my chair.

Commencing read through of Chapter Twelve, which has really no plot at all and is basically just another 4000 words of gratuitous smut. Going to see if I can cut it down some. After which I will begin archive work. I slept this aft, so I’ll probably be up late, despite work tomorrow.

Hello, Isolden, and thank you for your review! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it, and I’m so happy you feel it’s true to character. That the most important thing to me, so it feels great when someone says I got it right. The posting speed may slow down a little during the weekends when I work, but I’m usually free in the week, and the characters just keep yammering away in my head, making me write their words down in odd places, so… seems like it might well continue for a while yet. And although I’ve had to go out this morning, it looks like there’ll be another one by the end of the day, because I’m already on nearly 2000 words of that one. Again.. thank you!

Thank you for this too, Bronx! lol.. I don’t think Tormund could resist that little bit. I suspect Clegane’s dreams are going to be all Brienne, but with a bit of Tormund flavouring from now on As for her, I can’t help imagining that once she’d set her mind to achieving something, she’d just keep right on at it, no matter what. She’s very bright, and it won’t have escaped her attention that oral is a lot easier for them to give to her, but it also won’t have passed her by what a wonderful gift the previous night was. Especially since, despite the Tormund insanity in the morning, she’ll have been feeling pretty damn good about herself all day long. Ah, yes… he is rather special, isn’t he? It’s one of the things I love about his character. Every now and again, just when you think you’ve got him down, he turns around and surprises the hell out of you in wonderful ways. I liked that it happened here too.

Thank you! I’m especially glad you like this chapter, since it’s my favourite so far, even though Brienne’s not actually in it. After I’d written it, I did think about the placement of it, but then I reasoned that there’s a whole lot to get through, in what is really such a short space of time (I’m thinking they have a few weeks, at best), and really, the issues in it for Clegane needed to be faced early on. There is a growning respect between them, and I’m glad of it for Clegane’s sake, since the way he usually gains respect is by fear, and Tormund is not afraid of him at all. It’s a new thing for him, and I think he’s quite enjoying it, really, having a friend in Tormund, as well as a lover in Brienne. Of course, I’m glad it looks like there will be bits of slash content here and there, but I’m still not sure if that will ever go all the way. From the tv canon, I do interpret Tormund as that experienced. I think to him sex is a lot more casual, kind of a means to an end at times. But I also think that as long as Brienne’s around, that’s where he wants his dick to be, so Clegane’s quite safe, lol. As for the issues Clegane faces, I think here I came across a difference between the two of them. For all that Clegane is bitter and twisted, and for all of his encouragement of Arya when she was under his care, he’s part of a world where, deep down, a gentleman (if there is such a thing) doesn’t let a woman just walk into certain death. While Tormund… well. Tormund is from an entirely different world, really. Where men are men. Women are women. And small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri are… no, wait… sorry. He’s from a world where when trouble comes along, if a woman wants to pick up a weapon and walk into almost certain death, fighting, a man probably kind of looks on in sheer admiration for a few seconds before joining in wholeheartedly, hoping they’ll all make it out alive so they can have the chance to proposition her afterwards. It’s not that Clegane doesn’t respect Brienne, it’s that he does. He’s just a victim of his own culture, no matter how fucked up he is, somewhere it still has him in its grip. The more important she becomes to him, the more he’d to struggle with that, so in a way it’s good that Tormund has nipped it in the bud early.

Chapter Eleven

Ok… read through commencing of the 4000 word monster that is Chapter Eleven, and which consists mostly of first time oral from Brienne. To kind of steal a phrase… she’s a lucky woman.

Well, that depends… what exactly do you expect to get from being redeemed? Absolution? I don’t have any kind of faith, so I’m afraid that’s out for me personally. *g* If a character has done bad stuff, there’s not much they can do about it but resolve to do better the next time that situation presents itself, but it’ll always be something they did. In terms of story, it’ll always be part of their background. It’ll be on their sheet, so to speak. And that’s not dissimilar to life. A blank slate is impossible. Forgiveness might be feasible, but then again in my eyes even that might not save a character. Say at some point in the past a character has committed a murder, or even some stupid petty crime like a theft. They might spend the rest of their lives (in the story) doing the right thing. They might do more good than all the other characters put together, but that initial crime is still impacting upon everything they do, not just altering them, but altering the whole storyline around them in its turn. And because of that, it’ll always come back to get them. Everything in a story is significant, even a dropped handkerchief. Going on from that, every action a character takes is significant, and redemption is a cheat. It’s an attempt to delete the handkerchief. It’s already written. It’s already done. There’s no changing it. There’s no escaping it. There’s only dealing with it and writing the consequences of it right up to the very end, whatever those consequences turn out to be. To redeem a character in those terms… impossible. It’s like Astinus says to Raistlin. You may as well throw a pebble into a fast flowing river. It changes nothing. History continues.

And Chapter Ten This story is going to be a hell of a lot longer than I envisaged. I thought about twenty five chapters. It may turn out to be as many as thirty five or so. A long story for me.

Thank you! Well, not quite sex, but definitely the next best thing for Brienne. I’m sure she had lots of fun. Regarding Tormund. I kept looking at it, and thinking to myself: But Tormund, you seem so intelligent, would you really go and do a thing like that just to provoke her? And the Tormund muse just kept nodding madly at me. So it went in. He’s just ever so slightly insane, that one. Lol… Clegane and doors. I kept imagining him building that sept thing, and saying something along the lines of: “Look, just give me an axe and set me on the trees! I’m no fucking carpenter!” Also, fitting things into spaces that are really too small for them.. well that might come in handy for him soon. Did I just say that? I’m very dirty lately. It’s having the two of them constantly running around in my head, thinking about it all the time. Oh, they want to, but they’re going to find themselves in trouble, so ha! And lastly, to Podrick. Aww… well, for all that Clegane’s brief assessment of him was rather harsh, it’s also kind of true. But Brienne will help him out, in the morning. He might not exactly feel like she’s helping him, until it’s over. And she won’t help him out later in the story, when Arya gets to hear about his *ahem* talents and decides to drag him off somewhere... the life of a mouse can sometimes pay off. I’m sure it will for Podrick in time.

Hmm.. maybe I’m just too cynical (I am getting old now!), but I believe that characters, like people, are mostly selfish. That’s the most realistic flaw you can write into any character, whether they’re yours or not. Sure, they all have moments of altruistic selflessness, as do we all, but I really think at the end of the day the great majority of the world goes around thinking about itself. And usually in quite a small way too, rather than master!villain selfishness. ie. worrying what other people think is probably pretty high up there for most people. Sad but true. I don’t exclude myself from that either. Whether a character is redeemable or not (let’s imagine they have a more major flaw for a moment) is an entirely different kettle of fish. I don’t think the two are necessarily connected. Bad things happen to good people, the same as they happen to bad people, and vice versa. Doesn’t mean anything. Doesn’t make them better, or worse, than they were before said event. I like irony. I like it when characters doom themselves in surprising ways, and make traps for themselves, sometimes millennia in the making, and they still don’t see it coming. That satisfies my evil muse. The problem with redemption is that it’s largely a mythical concept. Kind of like: everywhere you go, there you are. You can’t escape yourself. No character is redeemable in that sense. Ok, so a character could maybe stop doing a load of despicable stuff like murder, rape, dismemberment etc. But unless they’ve had some kind of drastic conversion that’s changed them completely into someone else, underneath they’re still pretty much the same dickhead, they’re just.. well.. dry drunk. Sorry, I can’t think of any other easier, short way to describe it. And then there’s the outside world, and how that can interact, because characters don’t live in a vaccuum. I said I like irony. The redemption of characters can be argued for or against, but if they then go and damn themselves via what is generally supposed to be one of their “good” qualities – what then? Or better still, if on the path to some kind of “redemption” they’ve gotten hold of the very instrument of their doom… then what? If the character really deserves their fate, taking into account everything they’ve done, isn’t that kind of balancing? Sorry if I wandered off topic a little. I tend to do that a bit.

Ok… I have a strange short chapter ten with a kind of important (but quite sad Clegane/Tormund scene). I’ll see if I can read through it before I head on up to bed. And I think I’m going to have to let it settle until the morning. The important bit is fine, it’s the rest that’s trouble. I’m off to bed! *yawns*

And… Chapter Nine – enjoy!

Commencing read through of Chapter Nine.

Thank you so much! Yeah, I think they fulfilled their objective. She won’t be forgetting that night in a hurry. But there’s lots more for them all to do, and lots for her to learn. While all this is going on, I’ll be subtly advancing the plot. You might notice certain little bits here and there. Jon Snow might get a couple of little cameos of his own soon. Maybe even before Tyrion does. I’m afraid those bits might come off as sheer author manipulation on my part, but I’ll try my best to make them seem… plausible. But I want something in particular to happen. First, I want to really annoy Clegane, just because he’s hilarious when he’s fucked off. Then, I want to give him the best present he’s ever had in his entire life, and I don’t mean Brienne. I hope he’ll appreciate it. He’s already expressed a wish for it in canon. Well, tv canon at least. Brienne teasing? Well, I think I had to let her, after the way they were both going on when they woke up. She thought it was hilarious, though somehow I don’t think they’ll fall for the same trick twice, so she’ll have to get quite creative if she wants to keep that up. Thank you… you’ve literally made my day. I am walking on air here! Next chapter: Before the fight scene, Clegane and Brienne eat breakfast to win. Seriously.

Thank you! I really wanted this to work. Tormund wouldn’t let that pass – not at all. I see him as very astute as well. He sees a lot, and says very little about it. When it matters, I think he’s very capable of sorting out a great deal of trouble. And not just by ‘being good at killing people’ though he is quite good at that as well, clearly. It’s not Jon Snow who rescues the wildlings from the white walkers, really… it’s Tormund. He is the one who really convinces them. After that, convincing both Brienne and Clegane that the opinions of a bunch of dickheads are worth precisely nothing… piece of cake. As for Brienne, I watched and rewatched that scene where she confessed what happened at that ball to Pod, when she told him what Renly did, and she’s lived a lot of her life since then. I feel like even though she felt as though Renly saved her from it, he didn’t challenge it enough, and it would have set in her psyche. You can hear it in her when she speaks: “… and I knew then that I was...” *sighs* Poor Brienne. All this time, every snicker, every jeer. Just imagine. She’s hardened herself to it, sure. But only by believing in it and making a conscious decision not to care, if that makes sense. By breaking that belief, she’s being made vulnerable, and that’s frightening for her. It means that not only can they hurt her, but the world outside can too. I’m not sure how this will play out further down the line, if at all. Time will tell, I suppose. It depends how well they build up her confidence in those particulars. For the record, I personally think Brienne is beautiful, and I so would. Although, sadly, I suspect that like Clegane, she’d kill me soon as look at me. Oh, woe... *giggles* I’m really glad you’re still enjoying it, even the massive chapter dump. I’m afraid they are going to slow soon. I’m coming up to another one of those fight scenes. They’re outside right now – practising, with an astonishing relaxed, sexually satisfied Brienne. They’re lucky right now, I suppose. Just wait until they’re out there facing sexually frustrated Brienne. I don’t think they have a clue what’s going to hit them when that arrives. *gulps*