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DNA tests could do wonders for shadowhunter society

#This is so true but also I feel like they wouldn’t know how to use it on their own so they would either not get used or #certain higher ups in the clave would make mandatory testing of everyone and public documentation and be weird about it #The Shadowhunter Chronicles #The Mortal Instruments

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It’s MerMay and I’m starting a new series!  TSCxMermaid #1: Cordelia Carstairs 

What do you think? 

#Omg this is so pretty #Cordelia Carstairs #The Last Hours

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Julian Blackthorn:

#Tbh #Julian Blackthorn #The Dark Artifices #TDA

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Does anyone else feel like almost all of the conflicts that had to do with the various character dynamics in Chain of Thorns didn’t actually get resolved, they just unexplainably ceased to exist after two books of building them up because CC didn’t feel like writing them anymore and she didn’t know how to resolve it naturally after how she’d built the issues up so much?

Like how none of the characters but Cordelia and Thomas had any clue about the Alastair and Charles situation and then suddenly in CoT it was like who doesn’t know? Of course Matthew knew and didn’t say anything before and then randomly brought it up to Cordelia in Paris while assuming she knew too

Or how Alastair and Thomas went from how things were at the end of CoI with Alastair thinking it could never work because Thomas’s friends hate him to oh look everyone suddenly is friends with Alastair with no grudge with no development of that in this book at all, just an abrupt shift

Especially the Alastair and Matthew dynamic where Matthew hated Alastair and wanted him to have nothing to do with any of their friends and he spent CoI ranting about him to Cordelia. And then suddenly in CoT it’s like of course Matthew is supportive of Thomas and Alastair and oh look Matthew and Alastair are suddenly not just tolerating each other for Thomas’s sake but friends despite barely interacting and no development actually showing and never getting any mention of the other in their own POVs, just having Cordelia be like Alastair stop being dumb, you’re literally friends with him now

Or like everyone other than Christopher and Grace where it was like oh we don’t like her for how she’s treated us and her friends straight to anyway she’s one of us. Like yes Grace was useful and yes Tatiana manipulated her whole life, but none of that was why anyone changed their minds or opinions? It was just suddenly the flip of a switch when it was convenient for CC

Or Anna and Ariadne where it didn’t so much develop as Anna just acted mean to Ariadne on and off throughout the series and at the end of CoI she wanted nothing to do with a relationship and then in CoT she was just suddenly like sure I guess I do. Also, slightly different note, but I did not like that Anna barely interacted with anyone else for the entire book and she was just off in the corner being an irrelevant romantic subplot for almost all of the book except when she showed up to barely even be shown in the background being sad about her brother being dead

(Although Anna still got more of a reaction than everyone else and his death was poorly executed all around in the sense of how did you write this so predictably and poorly that no one even knows when he died and it’s so background and 99% of the characters don’t care at all and we don’t see his parents finding out or much of Thomas’s reaction or anything and it’s just as if he wasn’t a character anymore 2 seconds later which is a different genre of issue with CoT but similar problem in the sense that both issues made the book feel a lot more emotionless to read)

And how the issues of Thomas and Alastair being together as two men and Anna and Ariadne being together as two women in this time and the issues of what would happen if the fact that Charles and Alastair were gay got out to the entire Clave just disappeared and never got addressed at all. We know how the ClVe reacted to Alec Lightwood YEARS later. We know society was homophobic at the time TLH is set and that it seems like shadowhunter society was a lot less open-minded than mundanes a century later

I understand that Charles being blackmailed and making shitty decisions was annoying but it was like suddenly everyone finding out wouldn’t have consequences and all the other queer men characters were like how could you possibly be worried about this :/ as if they haven’t spent the whole series knowing they have to be careful about who they tell. And then suddenly it was just of course it’s totally fine and safe to have everyone find out and why wouldn’t you be fine with that. And it was really written in a way that had other queer characters like oh Charles is such a coward for not being ready to publicly tell a bunch of homophobic people his sexuality and it just wasn’t it??? And super weird after Thomas was terrified of telling even Anna and Matthew for years. And also, I did not care for the fact that when Charles did go risk getting outed to finally do the right thing, we didn’t even get to see it through any character’s perspective or how that important meeting went, we just got one line of dialogue from somebody else saying that it happened with no details at all. And I can’t think of other examples right now but there were quite a few moments like that where we got one line saying that something had happened that was important to the plot and to characters’ development that seemed like it would have been more interesting than some of what we did get to see where it was just totally breezed over and way too easy and totally background to less important stuff

And then there was the whole no one reacting to Ariadne and Anna dancing together publicly thing was like yeah that’s nice I guess but not realistic and it doesn’t go with the way things have been presented up to that point, it also just feels like a situation where CC was like well this would be easier for me so there just won’t be consequences and then they can easily end up happily together

And then there was the whole Thomas and Alastair thinking they couldn’t realistically be together thing and knowing they couldn’t get married or be known to be together by anyone they’re not close to and then at the end it’s still not really addressed how they’re going to be together? Like there was the laziest write off of the family tree being wrong and then we still are just left to assume that eventually they move in together and suddenly it’s not a problem and everyone’s fine with it? And then I also feel like we don’t actually know if everyone found out about Alastair and Charles’ sexualities after the blackmail or if people are going to assume about Thomas and Alastair or if that’ll cause issues or if no one knows outside of who they’ve told and they have to be careful or what. Which like wouldn’t necessarily need to be addressed if it wasn’t for the logistics of being together as two men in that time being part of the obstacle that they were struggling with being in their way and then it felt like it was totally forgotten to even be one at the end by CC

Idk like I’d love to think they just lived in a world where homophobia didn’t exist but it felt like homophobia was a plot point when CC wanted it to be an inconvenience and then suddenly disappeared just to make her writing easier the moment she didn’t want it there anymore instead of actually addressing the plots she raised with it if that makes sense?

And sorry, I really did not mean to go on a rant this long. And maybe everyone else had a very different reading experience than I did and other people don’t agree with some or all of this. I personally am just very confused about how the book was almost 800 pages long and it felt like so much of the development in it was us abruptly being told that development had happened rather than actually getting to see it and how so many of the issues were abruptly solved in an I don’t want to write this issue anymore kind of way rather than anything actually needing to be worked at outside of the Belial situation

Edit: You know what, I mentioned it in my tags but I feel like it’s annoying enough to put in the body of the post and make it even longer. What the fuck was with everyone outing or potentially outing everyone else just so that characters could openly talk about the queer characters and tell them to do what they want them to? Why did Matthew out his brother multiple times? Like yes, the people he said it to coincidentally already knew, but he didn’t know that. And why was Thomas outing Alastair? The straights got to keep their secrets as long as they wanted and fix their problems more naturally. Why did I have to sit through queer characters constantly having their sexualities and romantic histories to everyone else when they clearly had not okayed it? Why were the queer characters doing so much of the outing? Why were people who cared about them and knew what it felt like to be afraid of the wrong person finding out just broadcasting their sexualities to make it easier for CC to breeze past development to have their things get resolved fast? Why did no character have an issue with it at all?

#As a queer person the whole using homophobia against her characters as plot just to pretend homophobia doesn’t exist and call her characters #cowards for worrying about it as soon as she’s decided writing it doesn’t serve her plot agenda anymore really icks me right out #Like yeah I’d love homophobia to not exist but girl what are you doing that’s so gross to go about it that way #ALSO everyone outing or potentially outing everyone else to other characters to make it easier to get the queer characters to do what she #wanted them to was a HORRIBLE vibe. Why is Matthew outing his brother? Why is Thomas outing Alastair? Why is everyone telling everyone else #people’s sexualities as if it’s nothing and everyone has a right to know when that character clearly did not feel that way #And it’s so out of nowhere every time too #Hot take: Charles protecting Alastair’s privacy instead of outing him was more valid than anything any of the other queer characters said #about Charles or Alastair’s sexualities even if I hate Charles and his going along with the blackmail was bullshit #Also now that I’ve written all of this down and 99% of what I wrote about in here has to do with the canon queer characters that’s not #a great look either that she did breeze over some of the stuff with the other characters for sure but she was way more likely to skip depth #and development with the queer characters in CoT #CC said no slow burn gradual changes in this book… there’s only room for abrupt 180s and Cordelia running 🏃‍♀️ #Sorry if this has weird typos and other mistakes in it. I typed on my phone and didn’t check for autocorrect nonsense and I’m too lazy to #reread this all rn at my current brainpower level #CoT #Chain of Thorns spoilers #Chain of Thorns #The Last Hours #The Shadowhunter Chronicles #Cassandra Clare #My Posts

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I might fuck around and have Thomas’s pov every second chapter now, but I haven’t decided yet

Way earlier I was thinking part 2 from Thomas’s pov but now I’m like what about just fully switching to both of them now that there’s more reasons to have Thomas’s side of things than earlier chapters

I could also just go fully switching between them within chapters but I’m gonna hold off on any decisions until after next chapter

I just know a lot of things that are going to be going on outside of Alastair’s pov in future pieces so I’ve definitely gotta think on how the part we’re getting to soon is going to go which is definitely part of how I ended up not updating for months when I wasn’t sure what I was going to do

#I’ve already destroyed all consistency anyway but idk #10tihay fic #My Posts

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the worst part about cot is not having a real pov from Thomas after what happened in the chapter we will from now on pretend never happened

I need to know what he felt. I was scared about the intermission:grief mostly after what happened but I ended up kind of disappointed it was only Cordelia's pov

I get that she's the main character and everything but have you considered how much pain was Thomas through at that point

#TRUE #That whole writing of that event was done in the most emotionless way and it did not serve the character or book well #Chain of Thorns #The Last Hours #Thomas Lightwood

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*Chain of Thorns spoilers in the following images and caption*

Grace enjoying blowing things up as much as Christopher did makes me happy ❤️

Alastair, Thomas, Grace, and Jesse are from The Last Hours series by @cassandraclare​ 😊

#fhjsgdvnasvja #Jesse Blackthorn #Grace Blackthorn #The Last Hours #Chain of Thorns

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are we allowed to know what Thomas sent Cordelia?

I may or may not have gotten carried away, so now there's a whole chapter about it 😂

#10tihay fic #Ask #Anonymous #My Posts

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I think you'd do amazingly as a tv show/film writer because it is coming up to a year of me waiting for the thomas/alastair scene where they actually sort everything out in this fic and the hold you still manage to have on me is astounding. I'm so excited when you post (I love your commentary on the characters/books/the memes too <3 ) and I love the extra stuff you always add but it is both a blessing and a curse (affectionate). How's it gonna go? will they be okay? will there be an argument? when/where will it happen? will they go back to dating or take some time? how will it factor into everything else? how will the merry thieves respond? of course I want an extra thomas pov even if it slows ch22 writing wdym? and the whole luciejesse thing? oh my god

(This is not a critique in any way btw I love 10tihay I'm just in awe more than anything 💕💕)

Thank you! This is so nice!

I swear the scene where they actually talk about things is coming up. Somehow chapters keep being too long and it keeps getting pushed back and now I have a chapter I'm posting today from Thomas's POV that happens before we finally get to what happens next, but the next regular Alastair POV chapter DEFINITELY has Thomas going to apologize and talk to Alastair

And most of those questions will be answered during that chapter

Some might take a little bit longer

Oh, and Lucie and Jesse won't really have a role in the Thomas's POV chapter but I would just like to point out that Lucie leaving James' house before Thomas even texts Cordelia is not me forgetting the timeline. There's a reason that Lucie is leaving her house well before she shows up at the Carstairs' place 😂

#10tihay fic #My Posts #Ask #Anonymous

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your fic being back is exactly what i needed after watching the tlh fandom die slowly, thank you 🙏 can’t wait for the next chapter

Thank you so much! I just finished 4k of a Thomas's pov chapter I never intended to write so that should be up as soon as I've edited it.

I definitely did not intend to have a bonus thing of Thomas's pov on Sunday, then Alastair's Saturday and Sunday, and then Thomas's Saturday after that but I don't want to delete and repost and rearrange things and lose comments that made me happy so we're just going to have to live like this I guess zsdxfcvgbhnvhb

I also have like 1600 words of Alastair's POV for Monday already written so hopefully it won't be too many days before I finish what I meant to have as the next chapter

#10tihay fic #My Posts #Ask #Anonymous

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Never mind this is being a whole ass chapter from Thomas's pov before we go back to Alastair's pov again next chapter

I started answering an ask about what Thomas sent Cordelia and now I'm somehow over 1200 words into a Thomas's POV version of Saturday morning up to when he texts Cordelia so oops but I guess a pile of bonus scenes to the point of almost being a bonus chapter are coming in an ask later today

This is another sign that I really need to sort out my posts and make tags for the extra content I keep posting outside of the actual fic

#Why am I like this #10tihay #My Posts

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thomas being babied by an overbearing family + alastair being forced to grow up too fast due to a drunk for a father = alastair treating thomas like the man he is & thomas taking care of alastair

#Too true #Thomastair #Thomas Lightwood #Alastair Carstairs #The Last Hours

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I started answering an ask about what Thomas sent Cordelia and now I'm somehow over 1200 words into a Thomas's POV version of Saturday morning up to when he texts Cordelia so oops but I guess a pile of bonus scenes to the point of almost being a bonus chapter are coming in an ask later today

This is another sign that I really need to sort out my posts and make tags for the extra content I keep posting outside of the actual fic

#I’m not sure how I went from what was in the text to bonus chapter with the Thomas calling out Charles on his bullshit but I’m having fun #10tihay fic #My Posts

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Oh my god I thought I was imagining things when I woke up and saw an update on your fic!!! So excited!!!!

Thanks! I’m happy to know that people are still invested in it after such a big gap 😂

#10tihay fic #My Posts #Ask #life through the eyes of

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Not now, Malcolm 😌

Jesse, Lucie, and Malcolm are from The Last Hours series by @cassandraclare 😊❤️

#SXDCFGHVB accurate #Lucie Herondale #Jesse Blackthorn #GhostWriter #The Last Hours #Chain of Thorns

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Sona: You don't have any plans on Wednesday, do you?

Alastair, who has been locking himself up in his room with no intention of ever intentionally facing another human being again:

#HDJSHDJAGSKA I just found this in my drafts from a year ago but it definitely applies to the update #10tihay fic #My Posts

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Cordelia Carstairs isn't allowed to date until her older brother does. Alastair is in a secret relationship with Charles Fairchild, but can't tell anyone that he's dating him. So, at Charles' suggestion, and to give his sister any chance at dating, Alastair reluctantly decides to go on a date with someone else. It's supposed to be just one date and mean nothing, but things get complicated and Alastair starts to question his real relationship.

(A modern era 10 Things I Hate About You style Thomastair AU where they’re all mundanes)

#I already have 1600 words of the next chapter written so it should be up much faster than the long gap there was between this chapter and #the last one! #I may or may not have stayed up way too late finishing this #10tihay fic #Thomastair #The Last Hours #Thomas Lightwood #Alastair Carstairs #My Posts