Just Here for The Stories

Day 15: Parallels - The apprentice

Thobo Mott's forge: The man they wanted was all the way at the top of the hill, in a huge house of timber and plaster whose upper stories loomed over the narrow street. The double doors showed a hunting scene carved in ebony and weirwood. 

Day 13: Class Differences - The daughter of the Hand and the son of the King

The Red Keep and Flea Bottom

Flashback to Siena

Finally had some time to post the second part of my Gendrya Big Bang story. Thanks again to @thereluctantbadger for creating a cover art for this chapter.

Click the link to read on AO3

Despite knowing it was a waste of time, Gendry rammed the scoop into the loose sand anyway. Dumping out the content next to the hole, he swirled the pointer around as he couldn't see anything right away. When the incessant high-pitched beeping –he’s gonna be dreaming about that sound later, he’s sure– became more frequent, he went in with his fingers again only to pull out… yep, another bottle cap. Of course those spoiled pricks litter. Not only that, it also makes retrieving the ring that much harder. All these false alarms almost make him want to quit. 

He slips the cap into his full pocket where it joins the sixteen other caps he's found around the fire pit so far. Did they find that much trash on that Father's Day too? He only knows they each got to keep something. The mediaeval, hand-forged nail still sits in a designated tin on his bedside table. And the strange coin Arya found turned out to be Braavosi and she carried it around for weeks, showing it to everyone and poring over books to learn everything there was to know about it.

by @thatsaysalotalotalot

Christmas Eve: Gendry

If the Fates Allow

If anyone had told 22 year old Gendry Waters that the gangly 17 year old best friend he said goodbye to when she left for university in Braavos would return four years later a stunningly beautiful, accomplished woman, he would have laughed in their face. 

by @welt-verbessererin

by @tanyaspartak

carol of the bells: ₘₑᵣᵣᵧᴍᴇʀʀʏᵐᵉʳʳʸchristmasₘₑᵣᵣᵧᴍᴇʀʀʏᵐᵉʳʳʸchristmas. creepy as shit and loving every moment of it. perfect for holiday-themed vampire lurking outside the gothic cathedral of your choice. just enough of a frantic tone to keep you on your toes. and sung with a child choir? you’ve knocked it outta the park, bud. 10/10.

hark, the herald angels sing!: not the best. a bit dry. can lose you if you’re not paying attention. points for being easy for kiddies to sing at church though! we froth accessibility. 5/10.

good king wencelas: thin 👏 and 👏 crisp 👏 and 👏 even 👏 6/10.

o come, all ye faithful/adeste fideles: sex symbol. inventor of the crescendo. the absolute vibes this thing has are haunting, especially under and good church roof. smack an over confident leading tenor in the mix and you have a winner. 10/10.

ding dong! merrily on high: makes me feel like i’m a young peasant girl running through the streets of a quaint european village in the wintertime with no cares save what father christmas shall deliver to my stocking this eve. would definitely ₒₒᴼooᴼᴼᴼᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᴼᴼₒₒₒₒₒoooₒₒʰᵒˢᵃⁿⁿᵃ ᶦⁿ ᵉˣᶜᵉˡˢᶦˢ again. 9/10.

o holy night: the shift from relatively normal sounding verses to 𝖋𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖔𝖓 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖘, 𝖔𝖍 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖑 𝖛𝖔𝖎𝖈𝖊𝖘 will never fail to shatter me like glass. 11/10

away in a manger: like hark, the herald angels sing! this one is pretty simple. easy for the whole family to sing which makes it an ideal church song! but lacks energy. a good wind down, but that’s about it. 5/10.

we three kings of orient: i always thought the “three kings” were sorta stupid and unnecessary. like, the shepherds i understand, but three randos from “the east”? seems shoehorned in honestly. kinda feels like whichever apostle (matthew?) wrote that in somehow knew that, years in the future, groups of unenthusiastic children were gonna have to be assigned roles in nativity plays and added three more possible characters just to stop half the kids from having to play sheep and grass so they could be “included”. cheers matt. song is okay i guess. 6/10.

once in royal david’s city: pretty inconsequential hymn, but the Choir of King’s College Cambridge do an arrangement that makes me believe in God for approx. four and a half minutes every time I listen to it. 8.5/10, bonus points for the king’s col. boys. ur doing so good lads. big love.

2) it’s missing some of my other favorites so:

silent night: ~controversial opinion~ but this song only works if you’re doing it as minimalist as possible. no fancy orchestras, no belting, no vibrato. IF YOU’RE NOT DOING IT WITH A SINGLE GUITAR BECAUSE YOUR ORGAN IS BROKEN THEN YOU’RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT. 6/10 (the Austrian version is 10/10 because everything sounds better in German and that’s that about that)

god rest ye merry, gentlemen: super spooky. has satan in it. sounds like a threat. subsequent verses are kind of boring, though. 7/10.

coventry carol: ALSO super spooky. literally just about dead babies. there’s a reason it’s in the soundtrack to a vampire movie which otherwise has zero connection to christmas. 7.5/10

Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom;— Sorrowing, sighing, Bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.

It came upon a midnight clear: A lullaby or a lover’s song. Fun to sing, stunning to listen to. Makes you believe in angels. 8/10.

Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother And in His name, all oppression shall cease

There was just a Twitter thread on this a few days ago, which noted a lot of popular versions of the song omit the third verse.

Also, amazing version of the song:

by @welt-verbessererin