mistsandshards

[mistsandshards]

[Magnus] put the bottle down to one side and pressed his lips to the fuzzy curls covering his son’s head. He heard Max make a small murmuring sound in his ear. “Don’t worry,” Magnus murmured back. “We’re all in this together.”

-Born to Endless Night

~

“You’re too little to know that’s you in the mirror,” Alec said, “but I promise it’s you. It’s you and me.”

“Da,” said Max.

“You and me and bapak,” Alec murmured to himself, and his heart hurt with love.

-A Tale of Brunch

~

I love a good parallel 🖤💙

[mistsandshards]

The Time Catarina Called It

“And if it all works out,” said Catarina, cackling, “I want to be best woman at your wedding.”

- “The Course of True Love (And First Dates)”, The Bane Chronicles

Magnus made to follow them, warlocks having no tradition of suggenes—a companion to the altar—but Catarina stepped forward, smiling, and took his arm. “I fought our mutual green frenemy for the privilege of escorting you,” she said, indicating a fulminating Ragnor with a tilt of her head.

- Queen of Air and Darkness

#catarina loss #magnus bane #the shadowhunter chronicles #lightwood-bane wedding

[mistsandshards]

The first time I heard someone mention monkey pox I immediately thought of demon pox and couldn’t believe it was a real thing.

#monkey pox #demon pox #one of these things is not like the other

[mistsandshards]

Perhaps these candlesticks from Chain of Iron? 🤔

Julian to Alec

Dear Alec,

Hello from Chiswick! I’m sure Magnus has been keeping you up-to-date on the adventures we’ve been having here at Blackthorn Hall. We’ve been making progress, slow as it is, but the place still feels very far from being a house I or my family would want to live in. Except Dru, who claims she’d rather keep it cursed for the ambience (not that she’s been here yet.)

All of that is to say I suggest you thank the Angel every day that Tatiana Lightwood married a Blackthorn and this house is our problem and not yours. Anyway, you get the update this time instead of M.; you’ll see why soon.

Our search for the objects that hold the Curse of Tatiana continue! We’ve run out of objects that Rupert has any inkling about, which means we have gotten into the ley-line maps. I can hear Magnus groaning from here as you read this to him. Yes, Eighteenth-century ley-line maps, second only to ancient Babylonian star charts for their ease of reading and understanding. You can tell Magnus he can stop putting his coat on, though, because we got in touch with Ragnor Fell asked him to come from the Scholomance to help us. I suspect Ty harassed him until he agreed (though I have no proof) but he was polite enough about it. Polite for Ragnor, I mean.

The ley-lines suggested two possible locations where something important might be kept—a Downworlder gentleman’s club and a church, both in central London. We decided to start with the church, which is named St. Mary Abchurch. (Am I wrong or are British names weirdly silly sometimes? Emma immediately started calling it “St. Church von Church,” and now that’s the only way I can think of it.)

Anyway, St. Church the Churchiest is a not-huge red brick church on Abchurch Lane (funny how that works out). We took the train and then the Tube to get there, which may have been the most complex part of the day, just figuring out how to navigate the whole weird mundane system. The church was pretty quiet and empty—it was the middle of the afternoon and there were a handful of tourists, but I don’t think it’s well-known so we didn’t have to worry. We weren’t glamoured, but nobody paid any attention to us anyway. Tattoos are pretty common in London.

We walked the whole church, pretending to gaze thoughtfully at the memorials and the paintings on the inside of the dome and so on while waving the Sensor around as much as we could and waiting for it to respond. 

And it was not responding. Covering the whole church didn’t take all that long; like I said, it’s not huge.

Emma pointed out that just because the church was on a ley-line in London didn’t mean Tatiana had necessarily left anything there, since there are way more ley-lines than objects we’re looking for. And she’s right—we’re assuming Tatiana didn’t break into some mundane’s house on the same ley-line and leave anything there, but I guess she might have. It would have been a very strange thing to do, but whatever else we’ve learned about Tatiana we do feel pretty confident she was a strange one.

We did get a break, though—just before we were about to leave Emma went to look at a display for visitors on the wall about the history of the church. There was a whole bit about how in the Second World War the dome of Abchurch St. Abchurch was hit by a bomb during the Blitz of London (Tessa was an nurse during the Blitz — did you know that?). Most of it was just about the dome and how it was broken and how long it took to fix and who fixed what, but at the end there was a bit about how for safekeeping a number of the church’s more valuable possessions were removed. There was an artist’s rendering of those possessions—I guess most of them didn’t end up coming back to the church—and now at last you get to find out why I’m writing to you and not Magnus!

Right at one end of the illustration was a pair of candlesticks and on the candlesticks, a very familiar symbol indeed. Flames—and not just flames, but the same flames you’ll find on that family ring of yours. And also a big script “L.”

So, any chance you or Isabelle recognize these? Did they get taken out of the church by a Lightwood, or returned to one? I know it’s a long shot but it seems like it would be too big a coincidence for a pair of Shadowhunter candlesticks to randomly be in St. Mary Abchurch. Let me know if the candlesticks ring any bells for you or Izzy and give our love to the kiddies!

Julian

#secrets of blackthorn hall #sobh #chain of iron #candlesticks

[mistsandshards]

[mistsandshards]

I don't just do D&D tutorials! Sometimes I go off on entire pole archery tangents!

[mistsandshards]

Alternately, maybe invite her to go fight some fire demons with you, and follow up with a lunch date?

How am I supposed to get a girlfriend if get shy and flustered when a girl calls me cute or when I panic at the sight of a pretty girl like I'm a victorian man seeing a woman's ankle for the first time???

[mistsandshards]

I want, what Lily Chen and Alec Lightwood-Bane have

“This is Lily, who is no help”

“Thanks for coming with me, also you’re the worst.” - “Don’t you forget it!”

It’s the ✨bullying affection✨ for me

“Are you not aware that Alec is dating famous warlock Magnus Bane and isn’t interested in ladies of any persuasion?”

“Let’s be clear on this matter. This is my friend Lily, the Head of the New York Vampire Clan. Think very carefully about how you wish to speak of her.”

“What are you talking about? If they won’t have you, I won’t stay here. The hell with this place! I’m going with you.”

Them defending each other >>>

“What a wild time you seem to have on holiday, Alec” - “I had a totally standard and boring time.” - “Sounds like it.”

“I don’t really think about Jem that way.” - “How can you be good at archery, when you’re so blind?”

“Who do you think is hot? We’re on a bro-road-trip, we’re meant to share secrets.” - “Magnus is hot.” - “Wow, you and Monogamous Bane make me tired.”

“I said to call me the Jazz Baby.” - “I’m still not gonna do that.” - “I still think you should.”

“You do realize she gets to go to the Jemnasium anytime she wants.” - “I’m never talking to you again if those names don’t stop!”

“Uhm, Lily, are there keys on that warlock?” - “Yeah, I just grabbed them. I’ll open the doors with the keys and you keep doing your cool, dramatic axe-thing.” - “Fine…”

Oh, don’t mind me, I just think that their interactions are comedy gold

“I don’t want anybody to hear it but you.”

“I never told anybody. Anybody but you.” - “I won’t tell anyone.” - “I know you won’t, Alec.”

Lily only trusted Alec with her backstory

“Are you hungry? If you need blood you can take mine.”

“Ah, there’s that smile. It’s been two days and I missed it.”

The way they’re caring for each other is just-

“Sleep, Lily. I’ll watch the doors.”

*slams head on the table*

#lily chen #alec lightwood #i love these two #so good #brotp

[mistsandshards]

Every time I read “malloc” at work my brain substitutes “malec.”

I am not complaining.

#malec #random #work thoughts

[mistsandshards]

A bit messy, but finished

[mistsandshards]

alec lightwood :,,))

[mistsandshards]

I wanted to do a little writing tonight, to practice balancing dialogue and description. Apparently I was feeling a little angsty. This snippet is from a college AU I have been mulling over. It begins after Magnus and Alec have been dating in secret, while Alec is still closeted:

“Alexander, darling,” Magnus sighed. “I … can’t. I just can’t do this anymore.”

Alec’s heart dropped to his stomach as he stared back at Magnus. His mouth was too dry to speak, and he bit his lip as he felt tears spring to his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to hold them back. He swallowed twice before forcing out, “Wha — what do you mean?”

“I can’t be your secret.” Magnus frowned, his eyes reflecting Alec’s sadness back at him.

“You’re not!” Alec cried. “You’re — I’m — I just need a little more time.”

“That’s just it. You always need a little more time, and in the meantime I have to sneak around with you. You had me literally climb out the window when Jace came back to the dorm early last night.”

Alec felt his breath coming faster as he ransacked his thoughts for the words Magnus needed to hear.

“But that’s not the real issue,” Magnus continued. “If it were just waiting, and keeping things private, I would understand. I could wait with you.” Magnus raised his hand, placing it against Alec’s cheek. “It’s the denials that hurt the most, Alexander. When you so vehemently claim that we aren’t together, that I don’t mean anything to you. I deserve more than that."

Alec shook his head but knew he couldn’t argue the point. He wanted the world to know how amazing Magnus Bane was. He wanted to hold Magnus’s hand as they walked down the street and have everyone know that this incredible man had chosen him, out of everyone. But every time he imagined it, he saw their scorn. He saw Jace’s frown as he turned away, moved out, abandoned him. He saw his parents disowning him. He saw everything he so carefully balanced in his life crumbling, and he panicked.

“Magnus, I …” He placed his hand over Magnus’s, holding it against his face.

“I know, Alexander.” Magnus leaned in and kissed him softly, briefly. “But it’s not enough. This is it, for now. This is goodbye.” He withdrew his hand and, a moment later, walked out of the room.

Alec could only watch as the door snicked shut after him.

#wip excerpt #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #college au #fanfic #writing snippet #angst

[mistsandshards]

hi cc, my questions here is how do you do to write such amazings arc redemptions?? Like when I try to write the arc redemption of a character I feel that no matter what I say, it always seems like people aren't going to understand their reasons or they going to hate that character and is so difficult to me to accept that

(sorry for my English)

Okay, I'm going to tackle this from the perspective of "Here is how I approach redemption arcs" rather than "I WRITE GREAT REDEMPTION ARCS" because I promise, nobody thinks about their writing that way. Writers are all balls of neurotic self-doubt, my friend, and we all think we suck. We just do. :)

So here's my general thoughts about redemption arcs:

1) Know from the beginning you plan to redeem the character. People often write an irredeemable character, then want to redeem them, but it's too late. There's no way back from what they've done.

2) The character must genuinely have a reason for the bad things they did. This reason is not there to excuse what the character did. It is there to explain it. You are not trying to convince the reader that what the character did was okay. You are trying to reveal the thought process that led to the bad behavior. It's not your job to tell readers that bad actions are actually fine, it's your job to illuminate the universal truth that sometimes people do bad things, and that they do not do them thinking "I am doing this because it is bad! I love evil!" but rather because they have reasoned themselves into believing it is justifiable or right.

3) The character must genuinely want to change and make redress for their wrongs. They must want to do this because they regret what they did, and they regret the harm they caused; that regret must be genuine. They cannot do it in order to get something. If someone wants to be better in order to win someone else's love, well, that's not redemption even if it's sympathetic. The character has to want to redeem themselves in order to right the wrong they did. In order to ameliorate the pain they caused. They have to know that they are not doing this with any expectation of forgiveness, or being loved, or getting literally anything out of it at all for themselves.

4) The process should be gradual. Redemption doesn't happen overnight.

5) Lastly, don't worry too much about whether people love or hate your characters. Worry about them finding the characters interesting and compelling. Love and hate tends to be really personal, and people will always surprise you by hating characters you find perfectly likable and liking characters you thought were repellent. What you want is for people to think "This character is super compelling" and want to follow them on their journey.

[mistsandshards]

I started reading Legendborn and it has gems like this:

#legendborn #this fits every ya tv show ever #but I thought of Shadowhunters immediately #😂

[mistsandshards]

For the anon who asked you if people in long term happy committed relationships also read fanfic:

Yes we do.

I can’t speak for everyone but I’m in a happy committed relationship of 5+ years and I don’t miss a single thing in my relationship and yet I spend almost every free evening with either Tumblr, a book or a fanfic. And yes, I read fics of the same couple in 100 different situations, not to fill the void in my heart but because it makes me happy.

^^^

#same #10+ years #i ❤️ stories

[mistsandshards]

ARE WE GETTING LIGHTWOOD-BANE FANILY CONTENT AMD MAYBE PHOTOS?

Indeed. :D Cassandra Jean is a master at Hawaiian shirts, that's all I'll say.

#definitely looking forward to this #sobh #lightwood bane family

[mistsandshards]

It took Kit a moment to notice that there was already someone standing in the library. Someone he didn’t know, who moved toward Magnus just as the warlock eased Livvy down onto the long table. It was a young man about Jace’s age, with straight dark hair that looked as if he had slept on it and not bothered to brush it. He wore a washed-out sweater and jeans. He glared at Magnus. “You woke up the kids,” he said.

“Alec, we have kind of an emergency here,” said Magnus.

So this was Alec Lightwood. Somehow Kit had expected him to look older.

“Small children who are awake are also an emergency,” said Alec. “I’m just saying.”

“All right, move the furniture back,” Magnus said to Ty and Kit. “I need some working space.” He glanced sideways at Alec as the two younger boys moved chairs and small bookcases out of the way. “So where are the kids?”

Magnus was stripping off his coat. Alec held out his hand and caught the coat as Magnus tossed it to him, a practiced move that suggested he was used to the gesture. “I left them with a nice girl named Christina. She said she likes children.”

“You just left our children with strangers?”

“Everyone else is asleep,” said ALec. “Besides, she knows lullabies. In Spanish. Rafe is in love.”

— Lord of Shadows, The Dark Artifices 2.