Joanna had never been to Casterly Rock before. The old family estate had always seemed big and lonely in her mind's eye, with its row of servants, huge rooms and humongous outside area. But now with the number of people her own age increasing, it became an inviting thought to go there for the vacation.

This is why she had said yes when her father, Jason Lannister, asked her if she wanted to go visit her uncle, the current owner of Casterly Rock.

On the train, Joanna had spent most of her time with her younger brother Stafford, wondering together about where they would sleep and what kind of person their cousins where. At one point they started laughing loudly and their older half-brother Damon started scolding them.

"Be quiet will you!" Ah Damon, ever the father pleaser. He thought that if he acted more mature than he was (aka stopping his siblings from having fun) he would gain their father's pride.

"God! Will you be this annoying for the remainder of the trip?, Stafford asked with a mocking tone, wouldn't surprise me though…" Joanna laughed at Damon's expense, she and Stafford would always gang up on him when he started being a bother.

Damon put a hand to his golden hair as he was starting to get angry, luckily their father stopped them before he could start fussing. "Children we've nearly arrived at Lannisport, prepare yourself to quickly get off the train". He then proceed to tell their other siblings to tone it down. While doing so, Jason couldn't help but wonder how the hell he got stuck with eight children, two of which being brooding teenagers.

Lynora, Joanna's sister out of wedlock and Jason's first child, could have been as beautiful as her younger sister if she was not miserable all the time. She had beautiful curly auburn hair and sad Lannister green eyes. She was closest to Damon, the son of Jason's first wife Alys Stackspear. Damon did like his younger siblings, but he always felt different, like he didn't belong to this family as much as Joanna or Stafford. This is probably why Lynora and he got along so much.

When the train finally stopped, they were all ready to get off. Once they had left the station they were welcomed by a domestic of Casterly Rock. Joanna could see the disappointment in her father's eyes. "I was hoping my brother would be there to welcome me".

"My name is Creylen and I regret to inform that Master Tytos is currently occupied but he informed me that he would welcome you alongside his mistress and children when you arrive."

He father had a hard time hiding his annoyance at the mention of his brother's current girlfriend, "I see…", he answered slowly.

"Damon round up the kids, I'm going with Creylen to get the cars." Jason ordered his oldest son, who didn't seem to be too eager to do it as the younger children started running around and playing about the sidewalk.

With a heavy sigh Damon obliged, "Tya! Lelia! Come back here!" He barked at the the twins who were having fun pretending to be princesses while riding the stone lions that were located next to the station's entrance. They both looked up at him with sad, puppy eyes, reluctantly joining him and Lynora, who was watching after their bags.

Looking around, Damon noticed that several people were missing, in fact his three brother and Joanna were nowhere to be found.

"Fuck, he cursed, where the hell did they go!"

As he ran a hand through his hair in frustration, Lynora answered him nonplussed, "Don't worry they just went back inside the station to look at the shops."

"And you didn't stop them?!" Now he was starting to get a bit pissed off at his sister's nonchalant attitude, "How do you wish to be accepted in the family if you never do anything?". This earned him a glare from Lynora who just turned around and refused to speak to him. Tya and Lelia couldn't help but roll their eyes at their so-called mature siblings.

-oOoOo-

"Joanna! Stafford! Wait for us!" Joanna could hear her brothers, Tywald and Tion, especially Tion, whining after them, so annoying…

"We've never asked you to follow us, ya know!" Joanna answered back without even looking back, "Why don't you stay with Lynora? She probably wants to play with you", yeah, probably.

Tion, a stranger to sarcasm, cried "No, she's mean! And you're just as mean as her!"

"You wound me" Joanna smirked, making fun of Tion was always, well, fun. As the youngest of the family one could easily pick on him and all he would answer would be pathetic excuse for a comeback ("Oh yeah, well… YOU'RE ugly!").

Stafford interjected "Look pipsqueak, either you stay with us, the big guys, and you don't make a fuss or you go back and hide behind big brother Damon's legs". That seemed to have calmed him down as stopped protesting immediately. Tywald shook his head but didn't say anything, he would never go up against his older siblings.

As they were walking through the station's mall, looking at the goodies behind the shop windows, Tion started speaking again, "Shouldn't we go and join big brother, dad was just getting the cars and he should be back by now…" He was ignored, "I'm serious…" Ignored again.

Stafford turned to Joanna, "Do you think heels would look go on me?"

"I think you would look smashing" She answered with a grin. "I bet every eligible bachelor would come running to get a piece of that."

He put his hands on his face in mock embarrassment, "You make me blush."

Sick of being ignored Tion was think about yelling at them and intimidate them into going back, at least as much as a seven years old could intimidate people. But before he executed his very simple yet flawless plan, another voice rose, "JOANNA! STAFFORD! You come right here this instance!" Turns out their father had came back and he was furious that four of his children had left on their own.

Sensing the trouble, the older children tried to sweet talk their way out of this… by blaming it on their younger, less eloquent brother. "Why're you yelling at us! Tion's the one who wanted us to explore." The accused boy turned his head sharply in their direction, eyes as dark as their father's.

"WHAT? I didn't do it! I tried to talk them out of it, I swear daddy!" Jason was looking between his the three children, two against one. They all had convincing façade, probably through years of lying their way out of trouble. With a sigh, Jason turned himself to his third eldest son, Tywald, the fury replaced with resignation, begging silently for his honest son to tell him the truth. Tywald met his father's pleading eyes and couldn't help but look at his siblings, who were now staring intently at him, the message behind those stares varying greatly depending on whom they came from.

With a sigh so alike his father's, he answered "Joanna and Stafford wanted us to explore the mall and Tion and I tagged along." He glanced at his big sister and big brother who had a look of betrayal on their faces, he would have almost felt bad for snitching on them, if not for the look of utter relief and gratefulness etched on Tion's face.

Jason turned sharply towards Stafford and Joanna, "For leaving without permission, lying about your part in this and accusing your brother, mark my words, the two of you will be punished, I don't know how, I don't know when, but you will be. Now follow me to the car and shut up!" He now addressed Tion and Tywald, definitely in a more gentle manner than he had with the other two, "And you, you shouldn't do everything they do just because they're older, they are definitely not smarter".

When they got to the cars, Joanna glanced towards Damon and Lynora. Damon had a kind of sorry-not-sorry look while Lynora looked smug and all Joanna wanted to do was punch her in her stupid, smiling face.

-oOoOo-

Joanna and Stafford were forced to sit in the same car as their father and the twins. Since they were eight children, two cars were needed to accommodate all of them. At first Jason wanted Lynora, Damon and the twins to come with him but obviously he couldn't simply leave those two alone with Tywald and Tion. He sighed for what felt like the tenth time that day, having them with him would show them that he wasn't bluffing, still he wished that all his children would go along together and not form groups that seemed to be competing for his attention, if that were the case he wouldn't forced to resort in punishing them all the time. He tried to cheer himself up with thoughts of his wife.

Marla Prester was a very straight forward person, sometime to a fault, and she would often treat Jason like a child in account of him being younger than she was. At the sweet age of sixteen, he had knock up one of the many domestics of Casterly Rock, a sweet girl with auburn hair and blue eyes. After she gave birth to Lynora, Jason never saw her again, he suspected that they had bought her silence and given her extra money in accommodation for the child she lost. His father, Gerold Lannister didn't want the risk of having her come back once older and claim some part of the heritage, and create drama (Gerold hated drama, he already had plenty of it during his lifetime to not want to risk having more). Jason's father had preferred to raise her in the household alongside the servant girls, like that she would be taught her place in the family.

He had always felt guilty about her treatment, especially since she was a clever girl who deserved more than this but he could never disrespect his father's wishes, he could bend them a little, yes, but never disregard them completely. At eighteen he had impregnated another woman, this time the daughter of a family friend, Alys Stackspear. She had been beautiful, with jet black hair and sea green eyes, the same eyes as his son. When their parents learned of this, they immediately wedded them and Jason could still remember the disappointed look on his father's face as he pulled him apart of the others, "I could have perhaps let it pass for that whore of yours but this is lady of noble statue that you dishonored. If something like this happens again, you will be disinherited and cast out of the family home, do you understand?" He had been so serious that Jason never looked at other women again, that's not true actually of course he had! But he would never go that far again. Kisses and oral pleasures were his limit.

Alys had died in childbirth and he could still see the look of fury on his father's face, this is your fault, he had seemed to say. His father had made sure that Jason was married by the end of the month. And that is where Marla Prester came in. A woman twice his age, more experienced and more capable of whipping Jason into the respectable young man he was suppose to be. At first he hated the old hag, that's what he used to call her. He hated the fact that he couldn't charm her as easily. He hated the look she gave him, like he was a piece of meat waiting to be cooked. He especially hated how she had dominated him during their honeymoon, the memory of it would still make him blush, even today. Now he wouldn't say that they are in love but there is love in their marriage, a different type of love. He had found a great friend in her and he found making children with her truly enjoyable. That's probably why he has eight children now.

He couldn't help but smile at the memory, when he proposed to go visit his brother to Marla she had looked at him with wide eyes "And make idle conversation with that mistress of his while he gets himself piss drunk? As fun as it sound I have better things to do, like reading this very interesting book!" Jason glanced at the object she was holding, a book boasting the reasons why men were superior than women, Father Above it was called. Jason never understood why she had bought it.

"You just told me yesterday that it was atrocious."

"And yet more interesting than spending time with your brother! And i'd rather not see that harlot who make the person writing this thing seem full of sense. But thank you, dear, I'm touch that you thought of me." Then she had smiled the smile that she has when she would think of something that wouldn't conform with the teachings of the Faith, she got close him and whispered in his ear, sending shivers in his entire body, "When you come back, I'll have something in store for you so… be patient." And then she had kissed him behind his ear and down his neck and she had made him gasp and moan like only she could, only to stop when one domestic of Feastfires, their home, had knocked on the door to deliver a message.

She had smirked, he natural strawberry blond hair making her look like some sort of she-demon, and winked at him teasingly, "Be patient," she had said in a sing-song voice.

As he sat in the car with Creylen driving, he couldn't help but shiver at the memory of her touch and at the sound of her promise. He was snapped out of his daydreaming by Lelia, who was sitting on Joanna's lap (not very safe but he trusted Creylen not to kill them), who started shouting with excitement, "Daddy! Daddy! It's beautiful!" Jason looked up only to see the beautiful mansion that is Casterly Rock, his childhood home. It was located on a hill, next to the sea, so tall that the mansion couldn't be seen from Lannisport which was located right next to it. It was beautiful, if one would stare closely, the hill almost looked like a resting lion. He turned to his children.

"This is our destination, Casterly Rock! Impressive, eh!" They were all in awe, even Joanna and Stafford who were sulking couldn't help but smile at the sight. Their home at Feastfires was definitely more grounded and humble than this. Joanna had always imagined it as this dark and gloomy place, a place fitting for a name as dark and gloomy as Casterly Rock, but with the sunset illuminating the hill and the huge mansion, it looked like a place fit for kings. Joanna turned to Stafford whose eyes were alight with excitement and the two couldn't help but wonder what kind of stuff they could do once they get there.

Creylen informed them "We're almost there sir."

"I haven't been there for so long, I almost forgot how breathtaking it was!" Jason smiled, his sour mood completely gone.

"Why aren't we the ones that live there?" Tya asked.

Joanna was quick to answer, "That's because dad's brother is our grandfather's heir and such the family home belongs to him, she added under her breath, even though he doesn't deserve it." But of course her father heard it.

"Joanna, respect him! He's the head of our family." Jason protested half-heartedly, deep down inside he knew she was right.

"But it's true! You're always the one working when he's off doing god knows what!" This is something that Jason got use to do. Tytos was rarely present at the Lannister company's headquarters in King's Landing, Jason often found himself doing the paperwork that was supposed to be his brother's responsibility. But sadly Tytos lost all sense of responsibility since his wife Jeyne died. She was the one who got him to go to work in the morning, she was his main adviser and in truth, the brain behind the company after Gerold died. Jason respected Jeyne and the two of them could often speak business without having to remind each other of what they were talking about, something that was fairly common when Tytos was involved. Jason appreciated how even though he wasn't the smartest of man, Jeyne had love and compassion for his brother, and would help him in anyway possible. It wasn't uncommon to see Jeyne at the office signing contracts, proposing ideas, and speaking up when she felt her husband interest wavering. Everybody loved and respected her, and that love extended to Tytos who was a very kind and gentle soul, who would do his best to make sure his employees were happy.

With a sigh he retorted "But he is my brother, and I'm loyal to him. All I can do, is my part well." He turned his head towards the two oldest in the car with him, "Do you understand that? When we leave the car and Tytos will welcome us with his children, and mistress, he thought with a sneer, I want you to be example of order, paragons of honor and that nobody can say one wrong thing about you… If you can do this for at least one day I'll try to give you a small and painless punishment, got it?" He added with a smile. This seemed to have calmed the troublemakers down as they looked at each other, nodded, and voiced their agreement. Nothing like promises of non-retaliation to make children agree. Jason still hasn't decided if what he just said was a lie or not.

"Sir we've arrived and master Tytos is waiting for you at the entrance." Said Creylen who pretended not to have hear anything, after all he did kind of agreed with the little girl.

"Thank you Creylen." Jason good out of the car first and was quickly followed by his children. Joanna was grumbling because of her sore legs and Lelia apologized with a laugh. Stafford was helping Tya detach her seatbelt. The second car containing the rest of his children arrived and Damon got out first followed by the domestic that drove them there. Lynora, Tion and Tywald soon followed their older brother as he directed himself toward his father. Joanna smiled as she said "Didn't miss us too much, I hope?"

Damon ruffled her hair a bit as he ignored her words completely, "Quite the view! I always imagined it as a rocky kind of place, you know? Turns out it's very beautiful." The mansion in way looked like a castle, its stone facade gave it strong and sturdy feel. The windows were big, built to let as much natural light in. What stood out more for Joanna were the lion statues, not unlike does at the station, who were located at the front of the mansion, on both side of the entrance. A lion and his lioness roaring together, guarding Casterly Rock from all those who wish it harm. The motto of House Lannister came to her mind, Hear Me Roar.

"Indeed it is, but my brothers and I would found it quite lonely, we preferred going down wind to go play one the beach." Jason smiled at the memory.

Stafford looked surprised, "The beach at Lannisport? It's seems awfully crowded…" he absolutely detested crowds.

"Of course not! There is a part of the beach were nobody ever goes too, probably because you have to walk on rocks, but from here you have a small path which lead to it. You kids could go with your cousins and try to know them!"

Joanna was a bit sceptical "If they're anything like uncle Tytos then I'd rather jump off a cliff."

"Sister's right, if the main branch's an embarrassment then we shouldn't hang out with them." Stafford agreed with his sister. Those two really understood each other. Damon however was less extreme on his view about their uncle.

"Guys I'm sure, he's not that bad," he then added, "even if he was, from what I hear when I visit the company, Tytos's eldest is nothing like him."

Jason nodded in agreement, "I've seen Tywin before and there's more Jeyne in him than Tytos."

"If you say so." Joanna shrugged. She turned around at the sound of footstep, it was Creylen who was walking toward them.

"Sir, master Tytos is ready to receive you."

Author's Note

Hello!

Thank you for making it to to the first chapter of my very first attempt at a complete story. I really like ASOIAF and I was always fascinated by Tywin and his past. Although this will not be a counting of his childhood in the Westeros that we all know and love but rather an alternate take of how Joanna and Tywin came to be husband and wife in a more "modern" setting, abandoning the whole fantasy aspect of the original story (and the constant deaths).

This will be an mostly character driving story with no world-ending or ground-breaking plot. Mostly just a fun, basic story about teenagers and perhaps more as the story progresses.

What I want the most with this fanfiction is to learn how to write a story from start to finish and to be able to develop the characters involved in it. That is why I would like, if possible, constructive criticism from all of you, from a writer to the next, in order for me to grow as an author.

If you have something to say about the dialogue, the grammar, the pacing, the characters, everything really, I would very much appreciate to hear from you.

I anticipate slow updating on my part, in order for me to apply what I would have learn from your feedback or event to simply focus on my own life but regardless I firmly intend to continue this fic and see it through to the end.

Thank you again for reading!