#is camilla also god made flesh?

[sailormoonsub]

I'm. Uh. Well. There is MUCH to unpack here. I have follow-up questions.

#sms watches lupin #lupin 34 #is camilla also god made flesh? #is she the lord's only daughter? #is being born a vampire just...... something that happens or was mary fucking dracula #they're glossing over this information WAY too fast #*1000 #greatest hits

[ossifer-bones]

On the Mechanics of Lyctorhood

I want to preface this by saying this is a long, long post that is going to delve deep into lyctorhood, skim the surface of physics and biology, and fully embrace conjecture! If I'm right about all this then I'm very happy, but I also cannot wait to be disproven in Alecto the Ninth.

Thanergy

Thanergy is the product of the decay of thalergy: this is the principle that underpins all of necromancy. All necromantic adepts are capable of manipulating both thalergy and thanergy, but necromancy is shown to be reliant on thanergy specifically, and is most geared toward utilising thanergy as a result.

“Thalergetic decay causes cellular death,” you said carefully, pressing the nail in harder, “which emits thanergy. The massive cell death that follows apopneumatism causes a thanergetic cascade, though the first bloom fades and the thanergy stabilises within thirty to sixty seconds.” [Harrow the Ninth]

As shown by @pokkop15 in this post the term thanergy is almost certainly derived from Thanatos, the Greek God of Death, but thalergy's origins are more murky: likely candidates are thaleros (a greek word that means lively), Thalia (the muse of Festivity whose name also means blooming), or Thalassa (divine personification of the sea in greek mythology, which would fit considering how life is very associated with saltwater in TLT).

The Eightfold Word: What is Lyctorhood?

According to the resident tall glass of skank and questionably reliable narrator, Ianthe Tridentarius, the Eightfold Word is composed of the following steps:

Preserve the soul, with memory and intellect intact.

Analyse it—understand its structure, its shape.

Remove and absorb it: take it into yourself without consuming it in the process.

Fix it in place so it can’t deteriorate.

Incorporate it: find a way to make the soul part of yourself without being overwhelmed.

Consume the flesh [NOTE: Ianthe says 'a drop of blood is enough to ground you', which to me indicates that this step serves as a way to ground the incorporated soul into the lyctor's body, by having material from the soul's original body. This is very significant.]

Reconstruction—making spirit and flesh work together the way they used to, in the new body.

Hook up the cables and get the power flowing.

Lyctorhood seemingly works by providing the necromancer with, among other things, a near limitless reserve of thanergy that is presumably derived from the incorporated soul once the power is flowing: as we see with Cytherea healing herself, lyctors are either unable to generate thalergy—or their ability to do so is lessened in comparison to their ability to generate thanergy—and must instead siphon it from external sources when their own thalergy is depleted.

In Nona the Ninth we are introduced to Palamedes' conception of Lyctorhood in terms of Lysis: the Lyctorhood we are most familiar with is Petty Lysis, where only one of the components dies, while Grand Lysis is a mutual death—a gravitational singularity creating something new, as is the case with Paul. Lysis is a term used in biology that refers to 'the breaking down of the membrane of a cell', which as I've explored before

In the series, Lyctorhood is spoken of in terms of fire: there are repeated references to Gideon's soul being made the furnace of [Harrow's] Lyctorhood and serving as a furnace of power, Mercymorn refers to her cavalier's mortal soul burning in her chest, John says that the risk posed by fully incorporating Alecto into himself completely would be that he'd probably burn to death, and Paul's birth results in Camilla's body being consumed by flames. This leads us on to how lyctorhood is also characterised as consumption: eating the cavalier, absorbing their soul, burning it for fuel.

What is the mechanism behind the thanergetic generation of lyctorhood?

Lyctorhood is barbaric, it is cannibalism, it is taking another and burning them in yourself for power. But that raises the question of where that power comes from. By the way that thalergy/thanergy are spoken of with terms reminiscent of radiation, coupled with how lyctorhood is rendered through metaphors and imagery related to fire and/or consumption, it would seem that the logical conclusion behind this is that the soul is being subject to continual thanergetic fission.

The terminology Tamsyn uses is something that lends credence to this: nuclear fission 'occurs when a neutron slams into a larger atom, forcing it to excite and split into two smaller atoms—also known as fission products'. Sudden, sharp decay/conversion of thalergy into thanergy could be the mechanism behind thanergetic fission, as we see with Harrow's description of apopneumatic shock and how the burst of thanergetic energy (a neutron slamming into a larger atom, forcing it to excite) is sufficient to prevent liminal osmosis from taking place: "In cases of apopneumatic shock, where death is sudden and violent, the energy burst can be sufficient to countermand osmotic pressure and leave the soul temporarily isolated."

But from what we know of the nature of the thanergy, thalergy, and the soul, this explanation makes no sense. Thanergy is emitted by thalergy decay, but souls in of themselves are not a source of thalergy nor thanergy, as shown by Anastasia's tripod principle: “The body needs thalergy and a soul to keep the lights on. Anastasia’s tripod principle. Body plus thalergy, but no soul, is basically a very weird vegetable … after a while it gives up and shuts down.” [Nona the Ninth]

Going back to the nuclear terminology, I'm going to cut straight to the core of this theory: the mechanism behind the thanergetic generation of lyctorhood is thanergetic fusion.

What is thanergetic fusion?

The term I use here is a misnomer, because a more accurate term would be pneumatic fusion, considering how Tamsyn Muir is fond of using the Greek pneuma to refer to the soul: nuclear fusion 'is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles'.

A nucleus in physics is 'the positively charged central core of an atom, consisting of protons and neutrons and containing nearly all its mass', while in biology the term refers to 'a dense organelle present in most eukaryotic cells, typically a single rounded structure bounded by a double membrane, containing the genetic material'. Palamedes uses the term lysis for Lyctorhood, which as you'll recall refers to the disintegration of the cell membrane, thus exposing it's innards: such as the nucleus. The soul is the nucleus.

Nuclear fusion involves combining two or more atomic nuclei to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles: the difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of energy; as a rule of thumb the fusion of lighter nuclei releases energy, making it an exothermic process, while the fusion of heavier nuclei results in energy being retained by the product nucleons, and thus the resulting reaction is endothermic. An exothermic reactions releases heat, causing the temperature of the immediate surroundings to rise, while an endothermic one absorbs heat and cools the surroundings.

In the context of this nuclear fusion explanation of Lyctorhood, an exothermic (exothanergetic) reaction releases thanergy while an endothermic (endothanergetic) reaction absorbs thanergy: the fusion of lighter souls release thanergy, the fusion of heavier souls absorbs it.

What are the implications behind these mechanics?

The question that comes to mind is what is a heavier soul? The answer, once again, lies in physics: "The heaviest atomic nuclei are created in nuclear reactions that combine two other nuclei of unequal size into one; roughly, the more unequal the two nuclei in terms of mass, the greater the possibility that the two react." [Wikipedia]

How does John explain the soul of a planet to Harrow?

John: “And what has a soul?” Harrow: “Anything with a thalergetic complexity significant enough to … have a soul. So, humanity.” [...] Harrow: “A planet’s a ball of dust. Its thalergy comes from the accumulation of microbial life. You can’t consider it one coherent system.” John: “Call it a communal soul. What’s a human being, other than a sack of microbial life?

Planets' souls are communal, formed from the thalergetic complexity of an entire world coalescing into a nuclei that lies at its heart, heavy in a way a human soul is not: a human soul is light, a planet's soul is heavy. In other words, Alecto is a heavy nuclei and John is a light nuclei, with the resultant nuclei of their combination forming something heavier than either: an endothanergetic reaction.

Moving back to thanergetic fission and the apopneumatic shock of a violent death, we can now examine what happens when John becomes God:

He becomes aware of Alecto when Cristabel kills herself in front of him.

Now aware of Alecto, he creates a massive flood of thanergy by inciting the violent deaths of millions, possibly billions, through the detonation of nuclear devices.

Empowered by the mass thanergetic fission caused by an untold number of apopneumatic shocks, 'I became a demigod', he finishes off the rest.

He kills Alecto, takes her soul in his hands, and attempts to become one with her.

He almost fails, and during this flawed process is forced to split her soul between his body and another, hiding himself in her and herself in him.

Fusion still occurs, this reaction is endothanergetic and allows him to near absorb a massive amount of thanergy in one sitting: "And when we were together … once the shaman had claimed the sun … I became God."

He violently kills the rest of the planets in the system, flipping them and creating a surplus of thanergy, a process of large-scale energy creation and transferall: to quote Ianthe once again, "You see, my field has always been energy transferral … large-scale energy transferral. Resurrection theory."

What this all means is that the secret behind the Resurrection is that John's Lyctorhood works fundamentally differently to that of his Saints, because his is endothanergetic where theirs is exothanergetic, a reaction between a heavy and a lighter nuclei.

Not only is it endothanergetic instead of exothanergetic, it generates a different form of energy. Emperor John Gaius produces thalergy.

Resurrection Theory

As we know from Anastasia's tripod principle, thalergy alone cannot make life, a soul is also needed—meaning that the inverse is true, in that a soul alone cannot make life, thalergy is needed; In order for John to have performed the Resurrection, he would have needed to imbue bodies with both their soul and thalergy to recreate the life he took in the first place. Logically, this means that John would have to be able to create thalergy. John is the only being in the universe who is able to generate thalergy, namely via the continual fusion reaction between a heavy soul and a light soul, also known as Alecto and himself, to produce it.

Let us return to what Augustine says of the nature of his power: “You don’t get your power from Dominicus,” said Augustine. “It gets its power from you. There’s no exchange involved, no symbiosis. You draw nothing from the system. It relies on you entirely, as we all know. You’re God, John. But—as the Edenites are fond of pointing out—you were once a man. So whither that transition? Where does your power come from? Even if the Resurrection had been the greatest thanergy bloom ever triggered, it would drain away over time.”

John is the source of fresh thanergy in the system: he produces thalergy, which he can decay into thanergy. The thanergy in the system is finite, it would drain away after enough time, but his heavy and light soul reaction producing thalergy that can then be decayed into thanergy allows for new thanergy to be introduced into the system; John's necromancy's unique in that it relies on the rapid creation of thanergy via accelerated thalergetic decay, resulting in thanergetic fission.

Why do I say thanergetic fission? Becase it could explain why his necromancy is shown to manifest as large amounts of light, because what does thanergetic fission result in? We see when Palamedes utilises the rapid thanergetic fission of his thanergy reserves to blow up in Cytherea's face:

The sickroom exploded into white fire, and the bonds pinning Gideon snapped. She fell hard against the wall and spun, drunkenly, lurching back down the corridor as Palamedes Sextus made everything burn. There was no heat, but Gideon sprinted away from that cold white death without bothering to spare a glance behind as though flames were licking at her heels.

White light that gives off no heat. What happens when John reassembles himself?

White light. It bleached the insides of your nose and the back of your throat. It hurt coming out your ears. It bled out your eyeballs. It wasn’t a flash of light, more … a suddenness; when it was gone—as though it hadn’t even existed, but had been a luminous hallucination—time stopped.

Speaking of that scene, it is likely the most definitive proof we see that John produces thalergy, because there is no way for his body to function without thalergy, and thanergy cannot be converted to thalergy (as far as we know). That thalergy has to come from somewhere. John, the Resurrector, is able to create thalergy.

Do you know where else we see what is explicitly called a form of resurrection? The endothanergetic reaction that created Harrowhark Nonagesimus: "My parents gassed fifty-four infants, eighty-one children, and sixty-five teenagers, and harnessed that thanergy bloom to conceive me. My mother used the resultant power to modify her ovum on a chromosomal level, so thanergy ignition wouldn’t compromise the embryo. She did this so I would be a necromancer." [Harrow the Ninth]

A large amount of thanergy is generated within an instant by closely-timed apopneumatic shocks caused by sudden death via what Harrow specifically names as nerve gas [Gideon the Ninth]. This brings to mind thanergetic fission as opposed to fusion, due to the fact it relies on thanergy, but the key detail here lies in two factors: the unequal size of the nuclei (souls) involved here, and the fact these souls are shown to have been manipulated.

The souls—emphasis on souls, as opposed to thanergy—of a large amount of children, of varying ages, are forcibly prevented from passing to the River via liminal osmosis due to the sheer amount of thanergy involved, and they are tied to Harrow's soul, as shown by Abigail commenting on her unique spiritual signature: "I’ve counted up to one hundred and fifty signatures contributing to you, and there’s more—they’re stamps rather than complete revenants, of course, which means their spirits were manipulated to leave marks on you in some way, which is fascinating if it means…"

What is a planet's soul? A communal one, the thalergy complexity of a world. What is Harrow's soul? A communal one, exactly two hundred sons and daughters of her House, manipulated to be stamped on her original one. I cannot speak of what this means, but it means that Harrow's soul is naturally heavier than John's: a nuclei formed from two hundred others.

Conclusions

Lyctorhood is nuclear fusion, with souls as the nuclei: the combination of souls produces thanergy as a byproduct of the process of forming a new nuclei; Souls are not a perpetual energy source, and are unable to generate thanergy or thalergy on their own, it is the combination of them that creates thanergy or thalergy.

Petty Lysis, the Lyctorhood of the Saints, is an exothanergetic reaction which produces thanergy as the two souls involved are melded over untold years: it is not a one-way consumption, it is a fusion, but the power transferral does only go one way, due to the fact it is not a mutual death. Grand Lysis is a more complete, and thus powerful, version of this reaction wherein the two nuclei are fully combined within an instant, as opposed to gradually combined.

John's joining with Alecto works on the same fusion principle of Lyctorhood, but the difference lies in the nature of the reaction at the heart of it: he is endothanergetic and produces thalergy as opposed to thanergy, which he can subsequently decay into thanergy to fuel his necromancy. The Resurrection was made possible by him generating thanergy.

Final Note:

I want to point out something before anyone else can, and that is the fact Lyctors could be interpreted as working on pneumatic fission as opposed to fusion: meaning that the constituent souls are split to produce power, and that the exothanergetic and endothanergetic reactions would be reversed—John exothanergetic instead of endothanergetic, and vice versa with Petty Lyctors, which explains why they appear to be thanergy voids: they absorb all thanergy in their surroundings.

I considered this while writing this theory, but ultimately I found that fusion seemed more likel. Alternatively, both Paul and John are examples of pneumatic fusion due to their more complete Lyctorhood while the Petty Lyctors are working on pneumatic fission. I prefer the idea that all Lyctorhood is pneumatic fusion, which is why I ultimately leaned into that interpretation in this post.

Thank you for reading.

#the locked tomb #nona the ninth spoilers #nona the ninth #tlt theory #tlt theories #tlt meta

[liesmyth]

the locked tomb holiday exchange rec list (part 2)

Some favourites from a first partial skim of works posted for @tlt-holiday-exchange. Find the entire collection HERE. Find my first rec list HERE.

art fills

Do you know, Ninth, I've always wanted to challenge you? “aka a little sketch of a sweaty mid-practice moment:” Gorgeous, fierce Coronabeth.

hold their lives from a string. “God and his two dead kids.” John, Ulysses & Titania. Haunting and gorgeous.

John is actually cybersmith, send tweet. Or: memes. For the prompt: “ John trying to tell Gideon the specifics of a ten thousand year old internet drama that he thinks people on twitter had incorrect opinions on” :D

oh, to be proud of one's handiwork! Harrow/Ianthe, art of Ianthe’s makeover of Harrow in HtN.

The Birthday Supper. Nona is at the beach. it's her birthday. The composition looks suspiciously reminiscent on da Vinci's The Last Supper. Varun is there.

fic fills

Bar the Doors (Let the Games Begin). Corona/Ianthe, pre-canon, codependent incest ft. vaginal fisting.

bluebells. Modern AU, Mercy/Cytherea. “There is Cristabel, and then there isn't. Mercymorn is in therapy about it when she meets a woman named Cytherea who likes to garden.” Beautifully written, 10/10 will murder you.

Both halves sword and shield. Camilla/Palamedes role reversal; backstory fic up to GtN with necro!Camilla and cavalier Pal.

Can it really hurt you if you’re already dead? HtN canon compliant for the Canaan House river bubble. While Harrow is away, Magnus and the other ghosts have begun to realize what's happened to them. While Harrow is away, the silent specter of her true cavalier drifts through the halls.

composed of shadows, surrenders, offered love. Pre-NtN, Camilla and Palamedes navigate bodysharing and looking after an amnesiac body on a refugee planet. Cam/Pal (bodysharing masturbation ftw).

Elision. Immediately after NtN, Corona/Ianthe. Codependent incesty twins + smutty angst.

i will stay here when she goes. Anastasia/Alecto, set on the Ninth before it was the Ninth and before there was a tomb. Really beautifully written, this is going to stay with me for a while.

i’m almost me again (she’s almost you). The story behind Ianthe and Kiriona’s friendship bracelets. Ft. Gideon/Harrow feelings, pining, tentative friendship of convenience between two deeply messed up women, casual slut shaming of God. I absolutely adored this one!

Incident Report. Judith/Coronabeth, written as a mission report from Judith’s POV of that time Corona seduced her. This is HILARIOUS, in the best possible way.

John 69:420. Look at those numbers. Look at them. This fic is pure delicious crack and Tazmuir would be proud

lay all your love on me. Nona/Camilla, Nona/Palamedes, sort of Camilla/Palamedes. “Palamedes and Camilla exchange more kisses with Nona’s help. The kisses turn into something more.” Set pre NtN, absolutely lovely.

rest your head for just five minutes. Camilla and Palamedes through the years, three first nights spent in new lodgings together. Bittersweet and fluffy, canon compliant.

some assembly required. Paul/Dulcie, Paul and Dulcinea build IKEA furniture in the River. Smut, flesh magic, lots of feelings.

Technically a boner. Gideon/Harrow. “Camilla and Palamedes make an attempt to make Gideon and Harrow be less stupid about their feelings resulting in Harrow making a big dick skeleton to absolutely rail Gideon.” (YES it’s exactly what you’d expect from the summary :D)

ubi tu gaius. John/Alecto, or: a love story to end the universe. “You wrenched out my heart, put out every flame between our joined fingertips. With newly made eyes I raised my gaze to meet you, and I thought—here you are.” Gorgeous writing and wonderful Alecto POV.

you haven’t changed a bit. Jarpedon crack treated seriously, I haven’t laughed this hard at a fic in months. Also it was my gift for the exchange, give it love <3

your churning, wracking wheel. “ Lord Magus John Gaius has some with his entourage come to Rhamnous House because they have miracles, but need money, and the people at Rhamnous House have money, but need a miracle.” John and the Lyctors as a creepy Victorian cult, ft. inhuman Alecto. Temporary death, love as destruction, gorgeous, haunting prose

[recs part one] [exchange wrap post]

#fic recs #tlt fic #long post #fic exchange #tlt holiday ex 2022 #the locked tomb #tlt

[nepenthean-sleep]

griddlehark fic recs

what's up i'm tumblr user nepenthean-sleep and the locked tomb books psychologically destroyed me so i read griddlehark fic to cope. here's a list of some of my favorite fics. tumblr usernames added if i could find them (sorry for the notification!). part 2 here.

Kiss Me, Idiot T - Antipode oneshot. post pool scene, canon-compliant, just generally cute (understatement).

do what you can with me, and do it quietly T - cobrakids / @funsizedshark oneshot. college AU. this one is BRAND NEW but its so good. the author has gideon and harrow's voices down 100%. i really hope it becomes a whole AU or a multi-chapter fic!

for the gleam of a jewel, or a smile T - cristabeloct / @gothicenjoyer long multi-chapter. third house murder mystery featuring all the heirs and cavs from canaan house! i will admit i have not yet finished this fic but everything about it so far is incredible. i love how fleshed out (heh, flesh magic joke) the third house feels in this fic. it reminds me a lot of the mysterious study of doctor sex in that it's very interesting to see the inner workings of another house.

for better, for worse T - mutterandmumble oneshot. college AU. oh my god this one is hilarious i was crying laughing. two absolutely insufferable lesbians argue in a wendy's drive-through at 2am. one of my favorite fics of all time.

The Long Defeat G - pipistrelle oneshot. harrow's letter #24 of 24 from htn. this one hurts, lmao! absolutely wonderful, great job.

at arm's length T - mutterandmumble oneshot. college AU. harrow has to call gideon to pick up a drunk pal from her apartment. this whole fic is very funny. i am a big fan of unnervingly out-of-character drunk palamedes.

i will learn to love the shears T - corpsesoldier / @corpsesoldier oneshot. set after the avulsion trial. gideon helps harrow cut her hair. very introspective and i think it made one of my friends cry.

you kissed me (you heathen) T - its_alenatic oneshot. the kiss from ntn from gideon's perspective! this fic made me want to throw my laptop out a window!

Safe Words T - zoicite short multi-chapter. set post-pool scene when gideon and harrow talk about random things. gideon tells a very funny story about camilla handcuffing harrow that reveals more about gideon's own psyche than she probably intended.

How It Happened T - YeeHawmura oneshot. pool scene with a htn twist. also made me want to throw my laptop out a window!

#gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #griddlehark #the locked tomb #fic recs #neph.txt #neph tltposting

[clueless-fan-critic]

The Owl House Season 3 Review: Embracing Change

Season 3 of The Owl House concluded with an explosion of heartfelt emotions that no human has ever felt. Luz and her friends are sent into the Human Realm on the Day of Unity with Belos seemingly destroyed by the Collector. Now, with him/them free, the Boiling Isles just became a playground from the god child. As the three specials progress, we get to see how Luz, Eda, King, and many other characters are impacted by the story.

My overall impression was that Dana Terrace and the crew did fantastic with what they were given. This made it even more satisfying to how almost all loose ends were tied up. I loved every second of the specials right up til the end. Although that a fantastic show like the Owl House has left us, we won’t forget it for a very long time. Now, with that out of the way, I want to discuss in detail each special and what I believe their individual themes are.

Episode 1 “Thanks to Them”: Moving Forward

The first episode of Season 3 went off with bang, picking up where Season 2 ended with Luz and her friends in the Human Realm. Luz is grappling with the guilt of unintentionally helping Belos find the Collector while Amity, Hunter, Willow, and Gus adapt to their new settings.

What I love about this special is how the gang adapts to the Human Realm with Hunter thriving to become himself while Luz struggles with her own guilt. We get to see some levity for the gang before jumping back into the realm of chaos that will eventually come. Willow, Amity, and Gus acknowledge that their friendship took time to get there, implying their past experiences before. Halloween itself plays a roll in how we, as the audience, gets more backstory to Caleb and Phillip in the 1600s and their encounter with Evelyn. The holiday also has significance with how it’s a time where the veil between different worlds is at their weakest, thus playing into the gang finding a portal back to the Demon Realm.

Hunter has the most development with him finally accepting himself as his own person (due to being a Grimwalker) while letting people into his life. His confrontation with Belos possessing him makes more impactful about how he wants to learn to carve Palisman and be a normal student at Hexside. I liked that Hunter was given more agency to his character and flesh out how he’s adapting to his life outside of Belos’ influence.

Camilla gets more context to her reasons for sending Luz off to camp as she wanted to encourage Luz’s more eccentric traits, but felt that the people around her didn’t have their best interests at heart. In the flashbacks, it was revealed that the principle influenced her decision by bringing up that she had a hard time growing up and fitting in.

Luz’s guilt and trauma over what happened during the Day of Unity doesn’t exactly hinder her ability to enjoy her time in the Human Realm. In fact, she even teaches Camilla what she learned about Glyphs. But, she feels that she’s undeserving of her happiness and keeps messing things up. This prompted her decision to stay behind on Halloween. This is pushed aside when her friends encourage her to come with them to stop Belos. While not immediate, Luz does develop to overcome her trauma and not let that define what she does.

Overall, “Thanks to Them” was a fascinating and lovely beginning to the end of Season 3 and made me excited for what would happen next.

Episode 2 “For the Future”: Understanding Yourself

The gang returns to the Boiling Isles as the Collector “plays” with the residents as puppets while Belos tries to regain his strength. They are still reeling the previous events of “Thanks to Them” and still figuring out what happened with the Collector and the aftermath of the Day of Unity. We discover that the Collector is playing out “the Owl House” with King as a game of pretend using people transformed into life-sized toys. The gang find refuge in Hexside with other students under the command of Boscha manipulated by Kikimura. Belos is scrambling for a host to possess, resulting in taking control of Raine and manipulating the Collector once more. We get a cliffhanger with the gang reaching the Titan’s skull, Luz getting her Palisman, and the Collector starting a new “game.”

King and the Collector both stand out in this special as two different characters with almost identical lives as the children of god-like beings who grew up alone. Unlike the Collector, King found his own family in Eda and Luz, growing more mature and understanding before and after finding out his origins as a Titan. Now he wants to try reasoning with the Collector into freeing the people and without violence.

There are good moments of character growth from various characters like Amity choosing her own path against what Boscha wants her to be and Hunter learning to open up about how he feels. Also, Willow gets some growth (plant pun, ha) to becoming more open with her feelings after bottling her emotions for the sake of staying strong for the group.

Finally, we get to see Eda Clawthorne after recovering from her Owl Beast form as she trapped in the Collector’s castle by the Coven Heads as toys while reeling from Luz leaving the Demon Realm. She doesn’t have a lot to do, but it’s great to see her after a long time.

What I felt was pretty underwhelming were some characters like Odalia being a caretaker for King and the Collector, and even the main antagonist Kikimura felt like a one-off bad guy. I would of liked to see more exchanges between Kikimura and the gang about the state of the Coven system and Belos’ reveal as a witch hunter. Like Kikimura still wants to follow the system blindly and make herself the new emperor in spite of its failings, while the gang make their arguments against it.

Luz finally learns to overcome her guilt by having a heart-to-heart with her mother Camilla about how Camilla was much like Luz as a teen but wanted her to grow up without being bullied. This finally allows her Palisman to emerge from their egg after Luz realizes that she wanted to be understood for who she was and have someone know this and embrace her, flaws and all.

Sure, “For the Future” wasn’t the best overall, but it does get the ball rolling. Now, we finally reached the point of no return. Let’s talk about the final special and episode of The Owl House “Watching and Dreaming”.

Episode 3 “Watching and Dreaming”: Embracing the Future

Luz Noceda must face her greatest challenge as Belos possesses the Titan to destroy the Isles once and for all in the final special and episode of the series. Luz, Eda, and King are trapped by the Collector in nightmares surrounding their fears and guilt, but are freed because of the Light Glyph. We get a sort of victory lap around the Boiling Isles as Luz, Eda, and King show the Collector the places that hold the most significance in their lives while teaching him about making friends. Luz is killed and then revived as Titan Luz by the Titan themselves and defeats Belos once and for all. After a time jump, Luz is attending the University of Wild Magic in the Demon Realm with Eda as headmaster, as well as a glimpse into everyone’s lives as they gather for Luz’s King-ceanera. One final scene ends with the entire party saying “Byyyyeee” to the Collector and the audience.

One of the more impactful scenes comes from Luz’s nightmare created by the Collector when each of her friends tells her off about being the villain and everything happening to them was her fault. The ones that hurt the most was Gus saying Luz is a hypocrite for getting her back to the Human Realm while their families are missing and Hunter for how Luz got a Palisman while he lost his own. These details seem like the kind of ideas in Luz’s mind that she make herself feel guilty over. I liked the part that Luz recognizes the trick by hearing “Witch’s Battle” instead of “Witch’s Duel” to cement her fan girl nature of spotting small details from the Good Witch Azura.

Another scene is when Luz, Eda, and King tell the Collector about how they’ve felt alone, abandoned, and misunderstood, but now want to show him how they became friends and a family. They lead him all over the Boiling Isles to have him understand how to make friends without forcing people. First to the Owl House where Luz tells the Collector about meeting her friends and then to the Knee where Luz connected with the Titan. She finally tells him that people are complex and need some kindness and forgiveness. I liked that she tries to teach the Collector about her time because it really did make a great deal of change within her.

The Collector gets major development as we find out he doesn’t understand the concept of death and is using the games he plays as a way to “pretend” to have friends who won’t lie or trick him. Luz taught him about empathy and understanding in order to make friends, only to fail with Belos killing Luz. This leads up to The Collector finally understanding what he’s done as he breaks down in tears while Eda and King turn monstrous from grief. He tries to make up for it by saving the gang in the castle from falling. In the end, he returns to space in order to “grow up” but not before a farewell gift from King.

I loved that Raine Whispers gets a much more significant role in the final special by breaking free from Belos’ possession, trying to stop him, and as a part of the team who takes out Belos. This is great for nonbinary representation to go beyond and become more than just flat cutouts and more fleshed out.

We finally meet the "King and Queen, best of both things” themselves Papa Titan when Luz ends up in the In-Between realm. They explain to Luz, thinking she’s just like Belos, that their feelings to protect their families are genuine while Belos’ desire to save humanity stems from his need of control.

The final death of Belos caught my attention because he does the exact same tactics of manipulating people into getting what he wants and Luz basically being done with his games. This gives us that Belos hasn’t even tried changing his tactics even on the brink of death. We are also treated to the best scene with Eda, King, and Raine curb-stomping Belos to death, treating his death less epic and more hilarious.

“Watching and Dreaming“ was an epic series finale, the animation, story, and characters just flowed almost perfectly with a few nitpicks like the Light Glyph Deus Ex Machina. It almost felt like something that was part of an episode between specials. But that’s nothing with the incredible finale we got out of it.

Conclusion

After watching all of the season, The Owl House gave an uplifting end to its run. The ending was a perfect sendoff to all that Dana Terrace and her team did for the show and what it has given us as an audience. The animation was a major treat with Titan Luz fighting Belos with all the flashy blasts and the smoothness of the movements. That wouldn’t matter if the story wasn’t almost flawless with everything that happened behind the scenes, which is honestly a miracle with most shows that ended abruptly. Most of the characters feel as if they came full circle in their development. I loved every moment of this show (with some exceptions but that’s not important) and hoped for another show like this in the future as an example for years to come.

#the owl house #luz noceda #eda the owl lady #eda clawthorne #king #dana terrace #thanks to them #for the future #watching and dreaming #toh spoilers #gus porter #willow park #hunter #amity blight #papa titan #Disney #disney animation #disney plus #toh season three #toh

[discet]

AU like your “Marcy in the Boiling Isles” one, only both Marcy and Luz go to the Isles.

Not sure if they becomes friends at school or if they first meet in the Isles, you choose.

You know I never wrote about it here, but this was actually my original idea for a crossover AU. However unlike MitBI, this whole story would take place post Amphibia wherein Marcy is an isekai veteran of Amphibia rather than a fellow wide eyed adventurer.

(I realize that this isn't what you really asked for but for the record, I'm not super interested in fleshing out an AU with pre-development Marcy and Luz, cause while there are interesting nuances and differences in their characters, narratively doubling up on a 'Naive nerd explores a magical world' character would feel a little redundant to me personally)

I had a whole spiel of set up working through things, but Im pretty sleepy and the moment but here's a bullet point list.

After the events of Amphibia, Marcy moves out to Connecticut with her parents.

Marcy's parents are overbearing and all the more so after she disappeared for a year. Neither take responsibility for the part they played in Marcy leaving in the first place.

Marcy starts kind of acting out refusing to just be plunked back into the pressure cooker of a home without a fight. Gets in trouble at school a lot. Earns a bit of a reputation. Probably gets into some fights that, considering her Knight Guard training she manages to win.

Ends up befriending Luz as a fellow outsider. They hit it off quickly bonding over their shared interests to the surprise of no one. Notably not isekai though, for obvious reasons.

Despite making a friend, this does not reassure Camilla. The school informs her that Marcy was a problem child since she arrived.

Both are signed up for reality check summer camp. Marcy overhears Camila's speech to Luz about giving up her interests and sees too much of her own parents in Camila to pick up the caring underneath.

Both end up in the Boiling Isles following Owlbert. Luz has her trepidation, which is only made worse by Marcy basically having a panic attack cause God Damnit how is this happening again. From here I see

A) They end up staying with Eda. Marcy encourages Luz to come back home but Luz insists on staying. Marcy, unwilling to leave Luz behind or drag her back to a home life Marcy imagines is much worse than it actually is, decides to stick around. Hoping that she can spare Luz some of the pain she experienced during her own go around. (Not to mention to see if she can find a way back to Amphibia for her Anne and Sasha's sake. )

In this set up I think Eda appreciates Marcy's utter distrust for authority figures, scheming ability, and general scoundrel's attitude. Marcy's generally far more

In Witches Before Wizards(The episodes Luz is tricked onto going on a quest) we get this exchange at the end.

Luz: Eda, how did you know that wizard was lying?

Eda: Look, kid, everyone wants to believe they're "chosen". But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, [Chuckles.] we'd die waiting. And that's why you need to choose yourself.

Luz: *smiling gratefully*

Marcy: Also? For the record, being a chosen one isn't all its cracked up to be.

Luz: Wait, what?

Marcy: Yeah, that adventure I told you about? My friends and I were prophesied chosen ones, there to save the world. Which for the record, we did, and that was cool. But only after I was betrayed, impaled, and possessed by a hive mind of ancient beings.

Luz: You were impaled!?

Eda: What kind of demon is a Hive Mind?

Marcy lifts up tshirt enough to show burn scar.

Eda: Whoa nelly!

King: Holy moly does that hurt? *pokes it*

Marcy: No, totally numb. *after a couple of pokes Marcy swats King's hand away *

I think Marcy either finds a crossbow for herself or fashions one with whatever she can find

B) Marcy and Luz end up pretty separated from Eda so the option to just bail back to Earth isn't there and Marcy takes Eda's place as Luz's slightly jaded mentor figure. Which has a lot of inherent comedy to it I think cause

They are basically the same age

Marcy is by far the weaker of them when it comes social encounters.

This set up also has I think a lot more potential for a lot more contrasting plot points with canon Owl House.

I don't know where it goes ultimately, and its late so Im gonna stop here. But it was one that was cooking in the back of my head back when I first got my Marcy in the Boiling Isles question.

#au workshop #luz noceda #Marcy Wu

[thetypedwriter]

Violet Made of Thorns Book Review

Violet Made of Thorns Book Review by Gina Chen 

Blooming like a lovely violet, this novel thorned me right in the heart. Puns aside, this book was wondrous. Right from the beginning chapters, I knew I was going to like this book. From Chen’s writing, to the enemies-to-lovers premise, to the fantastical setting, everything about this book was a dream come true. 

The plot surrounds Violet Lune, the official Seer for the Kingdom of Auveny. A coveted position, not to mention rare, Violet goes from pauper on the street to being the right-hand of King Emilius. As she grows up in the palace, surrounded by greed and corruption, she learns to divvy truth and lies and to use whichever suits her needs better. 

Beloved by the king, tolerated by the citizens, befriended by the Princess Camilla, and confidante of the pseudo Prince’s adviser, Dante, the only so-called thorn in Violet’s side is prince charming himself: Cyrus Lidine. 

Right off the bat, the premise is intriguing. A morally gray seer, a prophecy speaking of blood and roses and war, a dying King, tumultuous kingdom relations, horned beasts covered in moss roaming the lands, a rot spreading across the bewitched and unnerving Fairywood, and of course, the sizzling tension-filled relationship between Violet and Cyrus. 

My regular readers probably know this, but I’m a sucker for any hate-to-love story. It is my absolute favorite trope of all time. The tension, the build, the slow transformation—it just gets to me. Chen does the trope so incredibly well in Violet Made of Thorns.

To my surprise and delight, however, she also does everything else prodigiously well too. Her writing is smooth and inviting, it sucks you in and keeps you there. The premise has multiple mysteries raging at the same time to keep you on your toes as a reader. The characters were all decently fleshed out, but Violet as the main character made this story shine for me. 

Cyrus is charming on the outside, smirking on the inside sort of Prince, his sister Camilla is unabashedly loud and confident, Dante is studious and reliable, and the other characters are entertaining.

Violet Lune steals the show. She’s cynical, selfish, and cunning, but also caring, ambitious, daring, and funny. As a main character, she was such a fresh breath of air compared to the slew of YA protagonists I read about that are wholly altruistic and mind-numbingly boring. 

I really enjoyed Violet’s POV. She was a complicated protagonist who was simultaneously looking out for herself, for others, wanting the best for Auveny as a whole, but also craving power and status. 

Her POV enthralled me, but also made sense. Violet encapsulated what it’s like to be a human being rather than some perfect literature archetype that doesn’t exist. 

Everything mixed in this novel perfectly. I’m a very character driven reader and while the book had action, an unraveling plot, and intrigue, it also placed a huge focus on the characters and their desires. The pacing aligned with Chen’s writing and I didn’t see it as too fast or as too slow. 

The end delivered everything I wanted from it: drama, blood, tears, reckoning, and suspense for the sequel. For a debut novel, Chen really knocked it out of the park, leaving me craving more. 

Recommendation: A witchy concoction of titillating ingredients: a cursed prince, a selfish seer, looming war, evil witches, bloodthirsty gods, and love that will either be salvation or damnation. What more could you ask for?

Score: 8/10

#violet made of thorns #ya fiction #YA Books #YA literature #book blog #book review #favorite books #top books #popular fiction #Popular Books #Book Recommendations #book rec #YA Book Review #book recs #hate to love #enemies to friends to lovers #8/10 #gina chen

[lilaqpetal]

General Knowledge - SHS

get to know the band!

LILINIETH AEYSS (LILI) :

her full name is lilinieth aeyss, but the name lili is fine too!

she is 6”5.

lili is a succubus, although expressing natural and stereotypical succubus features, she tends to steer from the stereotype of “i have sex with guys and then steal their soul” (although, she could’ve taken that career path)

her lifespan derives off of eating arms — typically human flesh. (it only adds about 3-4 years.)

in the first game, she is presented with short hair, messy, but kept to her neck. over the next two games, it grows longer. by monster roadtrip, it is styled into a long high ponytail.

she dawns a third eye and four horns on her head, with two of the horns being smaller than the other two. this third eye has a mind of its own, but decides it doesn’t want to harm lili or anyone else- purely because its too lazy and it likes to see the crazy shenanigans SHS get up to. sometimes, it likes to speak through lili, but such occurrences are rare.

she has an interdimensional pet named bluey! it dawns multiple eyes and arms. it is 10ft tall when it stands, but it likes to shrink to a cute size, about the size of a cat.

lili is the lead singer of SHS.

she is also the song writer!

she dawns a tattoo of the SHS logo on her waist (it was a stick and poke. her first ever tattoo!)

she is the last to die out of all her friends

her family consists of her older sister: aurora, and her blind mother: camilla. her father is dead.

her main group of friends consist of SHS (of course), but out of the love interests, she is mainly friends with vera, polly and liam.

out of the playable characters, her favourite is vicky.

voice claim : panty from Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt

assigned song - cherry bomb, the runaways

NYX :

nyx is 4”11.

nyx is made of dark matter, since they are a boogeyman. this means they can shapeshift, transform, and yes, she can turn into liquid.

she has a pet bird named niel cockatiel!

they also have an orchid mantis!

nyx has two dads, a grim reaper and poltergeist (with a tragic story too!), noah and rex!

nyx is the bassist of SHS.

originally, nyx was called ‘bookshelf’, because she liked books, and used to have glasses!

now instead, they dawn white freckles!

nyx loves everything to do with space, plants, literature and birds.

she has a burning hatred for leonard, even to go as far as to make her twitter username dissing him.

out of the love interests, their main friends are zoe, scott and kale.

out of the playable characters, their favourite is brian.

she and oz like to joke that they are long lost siblings, since the two are very similar, oz being the embodiment/god of fear and nyx, a boogeyman.

they are the third to die out of the band

they dawn two antler-like horns on their head.

voice claim : Baby from Five Nights At Freddy’s - Sister Location

assigned song - Thus Always To Tyrants , The Oh Hellos

APUT :

aput is a yakutian horse from canada!

he is 6”0.

aput actually had moved to america to attend a highschool there- that is where he met the rest of SHS (and eventually got expelled and moved to spooky high.)

before moving to america, aput actually had a boyfriend in canada! his name was aaron, but since aput moved to america, they could not stand a ldr (long-distance relationship), so the relationship ended.

his family consists of his mother, cupun; his middle brother, panuk and his oldest brother: nuniq.

the tufts on their chest represent their status in the family.

cupun’s tuft is the largest, and nuniq’s being the smallest.

he is the drummer for SHS.

aput loves to race and run track!

he is the first to die out of the band

out of the love interests, he is mainly friends with damien, cal and mothman.

out of the playable characters, his favourite is oz.

he was once a lead in a school production! that being a princess and he had to wear a dress. there is more to this— but that’s a story for another day..

yes, he has crashed into many people, and yes, he has crashed through a wall. this was because of the haunted house at spooky camp, to which he crashed right through the wall and dragged scott with him.

voice claim - jack frost, rise of the guardians

assigned song - love grows (where my rosemary grows), Edison Lighthouse

SANRIO + THAF :

sanrio is the guitarist for SHS.

he is selectively mute- so his puppet, thaf, speaks for him.. despite his vulgarity.

he is 5”3.

sanrio has a fear of ants.

he dawns a mask and his hair covers his eyes— due to the fact his eye sockets are empty and his mouth is torn.

his puppet, thaf, knows how to make alcoholic beverages. he has the ability to possess sanrio, but doesn’t unless necessary.

he is the second to die out of the band

thaf used to be human.

sanrio only really speaks once in a blue moon, but even so, it is raspy and almost inaudible.

sanrio’s only family is his father, who is currently unknown.

he has no pets - unless you’d like to count thaf, then be my guest..

he has the most tolerance of spicy food.

out of the love interests, he is friends with joy, miranda and scott.

out of the playable characters, his favourite is amira.

voice claim - ???

assigned song - devil town, cavetown

fin.

(the image above depicts cupun showing sanrio aput’s baby photos.)

art credits to sadratatouille on instagram

#monster prom #monster prom ocs #oc #ocs #group of ocs #oc band #dating sim #general oc knowledge #monster camp #monster roadtrip #monster prom imagines #i love writing abt ocs #this game is so cute #self insert #imagine #self inserts #friends #me and my friends ocs #unsurprisingly theyre all homosexuals #writing #fanfic #fanfiction #writingfics

[recentlylocal]

Agape and 'til I reach you for....1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11? Actually, if you just wanted to ramble on about those fics, that would work too

Send me writing questions!

WELL TWIST MY ARM I GUESS

I blame Moira Quirk’s audio book narration for ‘til I reach you, because that scene absolutely CRUSHED ME when I listened to it. I was very no thoughts, head empty about writing it otherwise, it was once of those snippets that just fell into my head fully formed. I wrote and edited the whole thing in half a day. As a fic it made a nice home for a lot of my meta-thoughts about Camilla’s story and how she’s just...put up with so goddamn much in this series. Poor Camilla, Queen of Hypovolemic Shock.

I will also take this moment to point out that Camilla has the line “it’s just a flesh wound,” in this fic, which is 100% an intentional Monty Python reference, and I am shocked nobody yelled at me about that one in the comments.

Agape, on the other hand, took me FOUR MONTHS so I have way more thoughts.

1. What inspired you to write the fic this way? I got a Nona arc in July and of course the knuckle kiss scene sent me spiraling. I drafted a couple of scenes really soon after I read it, and then figured if I could come up with a few more I could format it as a 5+1 instead of just a snippet. (Side note but 5+1s are apparently fandom old school now?)

2. What scene did you first put down? I actually wrote them more or less in the order they appear in the fic which is VERY unusual for me, I usually write out of order and then stitch everything together. I considered re-ordering them chronologically before I posted but I liked the dreamy sort of atmosphere of skipping around, felt more true to how someone would actually be recalling a bunch of related memories.

3. What’s your favorite line of narration? "She said nothing, because every word she could conceive of was even worse than this awful, broken silence." Felt really good about this one, especially since it was like the ninth time in this fic I had to come up with another emotionally charged way to describe Cam not saying anything.

Honorable mention to “Seis muttered something about teenagers with God-complexes“ because can you imagine how insufferable those two would have been at fourteen??

4. What’s your favorite line of dialogue? I struggle to pick between any of the dialogue in snippet #3 (everyone is being SO bitchy in that one which was fun for me) but "four hours ago you called it a placebo" still makes me giggle AND I migrated it over from a scene I cut from two corpses, so I was happy to re-home it.

ALSO I really enjoy Pal’s “I could find the courage to walk backwards into hell, would I know that you were behind me” vis a vis this dril tweet.

5. What part was hardest to write? Cam's dialogue always takes a long time to write because she says so much with so few words, I have a separate, specific editing process JUST for her lines (which is a whole other post.) Of all the snippets, #6 was hardest to write because it was SO charged, and it was a rare moment of writing Cam and Pal not seeing eye to eye.

9. Were there any alternate versions of this fic? Well there was an alternate version where I didn't write an entire extra scene so it was actually a 5+1 and not a 6+1 😆 I briefly considered cutting a scene when I realized my mistake, but I'd sunk way too much effort in at that point and I was attached to all of them.

11. What do you like best about this fic? I tend to write too much dialogue and not enough description of what’s happening around the dialogue, and I really worked at writing body language and emotional pauses into this one. It’s something I really struggle with (writing body language especially), and I'm really happy with how well I managed in this fic, it was a really good writing exercise for me. 

#fic writing #asks #thank you so much for sending!!

[thunderon]

Please summarise what we know in the last few chapters of gtn. I mean about lyctorhood and the end of the world (not all the deaths)

-🦁

i will do my best! i am writing this with a working title of “So You Just Finished Gideon the Ninth and Want to Know What the Fuck is Up with the Epilogue and Lyctorhood Before You Embark on Book Two”. this isn’t an analysis post but more of a comprehensive summary of everything we’ve learned about lyctorhood and the war specifically in the final chapters Gideon the Ninth. this will remain spoiler free for Harrow the Ninth, but will point out some points that readers should take particular note of.

im going to start with chapter 34. this chapter can also be known as: ianthe reaches new levels of being a terrible girlboss. in this chapter we see ianthe trientarius use naberius tern’s soul to ascend to lyctorhood and she duels the eighth. and we learn a lot.

forgive me if it’s unnecessary but just so everyone’s clear about lyctorhood here’s the 8-step megatheorem as explained by ianthe:

preserve the soul

analyze the soul

absorb the soul

fix the soul in place

incorporate the soul

consume the flesh

reconstruct the flesh and soul

get the power flowing

after hearing ianthe’s monologue about the 8 Simple Steps for Ultimate Power, column asht remarks:

“To walk with the dead forever … enormous power, recycled within you, from the ultimate sacrifice … to make yourself a tomb.”

which is a *coughs* accurate description. silas and column are (ironically) horrified and decide to fight ianthe, a fight that is very illuminating .

first ianthe squares off against column in a sword fight. gideon describes it as follows:

“It was only then that it hit home to Gideon what Ianthe had done. The bizarre sight of a necromancer holding a sword—a ghost fighting inside the meat suit of his adept—made it real that Naberius was dead, but that he was dead inside Ianthe. It was not that he had taught her how to fight: it was him fighting.”

so we learn that the necromancer will inherit the cavaliers swordsmanship. cool. ianthe is able to hold column at bay and silas realizes he must engage ianthe in a necromantic duel. we then see ianthe and silas face off. ianthe is wiping the floor with him when silas then attempts to siphon her, but it's shown she is unable to be drained. ianthe tells him “you can’t take it faster than I can make it”. so this confirms what we already suspected: the soul of the cavalier is being used to create an everlasting battery of power for the necromancer.

another thing we also now know from watching ianthe is that lyctorhood isn’t immediate. ianthe is ‘fighting’ naberius’ soul and her eye color switches back and forth from his and her own, indicating the soul incorporation is incomplete. ianthe appears at various points to be in pain or fighting with naberius, at one point even verbally saying "stop. listen, babs, listen". this later comes into play when ianthe duels cytherea.

speaking of, as described by gideon, "A fight between two Lyctors was a swordfight on a scale beyond mortal". even severely wounded, cytherea proves to be an excessively formidable opponent. at first ianthe seems to have the upperhand, but cytherea tells ianthe: “You aren’t completed, are you? I can feel him pushing … he’s not happy. Mine went willingly, and it hurt for centuries.” and then siphons from her, healing herself. ianthe gets rocked after that and loses her arm. i will not say anything more on this particular fight because it’ll get into spoiler territory. but everything i said here is important.

so to summarize, here’s what lyctorhood gives us:

cavalier is an everlasting battery for power

rapid healing/superhuman reflexes and strength/etc

cavs swordsmanship ability

immortality

now what do we learn in the epilogue? well harrow gets to meet God! harrow is not a happy camper and wants him to undo the process, but God says her and gideon's souls are intertwined and it would kill them both. harrow is not pleased. also, God tells harrow things are apparently not going so well for him right now. he’s informs her that he's been fighting a war since the resurrection and that he is losing. we don’t know who/what he’s fighting yet, but he says he has lost most of his lyctors and that is why he called for more. God tells harrow he has three teachers for her if she decides to join him, which harrow accepts.

now onto the matter of our characters: only harrow and ianthe ascended. harrow inquires about the survivors of canaan house and God tells her that camilla hect, coronabeth tridentarius, judith deuteros, gideon nav, and some of the remains of palamedes sextus remain unaccounted for. additionally, God promises to renew the Ninth (which is curious because harrow never told john about the ninth house population crisis) by doing something he hasn’t done in “10,000 years”.

i really can't say anything more than that without spoilers, but everything above should be all the major points we know heading into htn.

#asks #🦁 #hopefully this was helpful #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth

[ledbiantastic]

Okay, it's time for my Harrow The Ninth read through post. Spoilers, obviously. Thanks to @shakespearerants, @irascibubble, and @mayasaura for encouraging me to keep going. Enjoy!

I am on page 33 of Harrow the Ninth and I am making a prediction. I initially thought the Body referred to the dead girl in the locked tomb, but now I think it's Gideon. We'll see if I'm right.

Page 44 says it is the dead girl in the tomb, but I'm not convinced it isn't also Gideon

Gideon must be important to have to be erased from Harrow's mind like that, right?

Did Ortus the First kill/try to kill Gideon's mom? The timeline adds up, they said he messed something up nineteen years ago, Gideon was 18 in the last book and time has passed

In the weird retconned memories, after every death, or during, someone says "is this how it happens" which makes me think it's, like, Harrow's brain asking that

Who are those notes from and to? What's up with that?

I love seeing Harrow spend time with Magnus and Abigail. I liked them

If Harrow is haunted, but this is not the real version of the past, is her mind creating the ghost? Is it Gideon? I don't think Gideon would write notes like that though...

Page 291 is Ortus talking to her like she's Gideon's mother? IS HE ASKING WHY SHE BROUGHT ALONG THE BABY?

Is Ortus' cavalier more active or something? Like he doesn't remember because she takes control?

Page 315 "he had seen me" who is he and who is me? Who is narrating this to Harrowhark? Is. It. Gideon? (Later I decide it's Palamedes seeing the Sleeper, who is also narrating and is possibly Gideon. We'll see if that's right.)

Is the poster on page 318 Gideon? Is It? IS IT? But Gideon's hair didn't go down to her shoulders. Is it her mom?

Are Camilla and Coronabeth on the side of the rebellion? BOE? Is old Harrow? I KNEW IT! But I'm sad they're on different sides.

Is Ianthe the spy? Is that how she knew Coronabeth was alive?

Does the Sleeper represent the part of Harrow and/or her brain that erased her memories and it's cleaning up the debris in her psyche? OR IS IT GIDEON? AKA the DORMANT part of Harrow-as-Lyctor? When the Sleeper is unmasked, will we see Harrow or Gideon?

Did Gideon's mother start the rebellion or something? Is that why they had a poster of her? Was she Eden?

So, Canaan house was on earth then?

Did Harrow (old Harrow) tamper with her own temporal lobe? Did Mercymorn? Ianthe?

Whose idea was it for Ortus to kill her then? John? Augustine? Mercymorn? Someone else?

Did Harrow break into the locked tomb? I want to believe she did, because I support her. But if not, who is the Body?

Shit, I can't remember what color Gideon's eyes were. Page 363 when Harrow's eyes are two different colors, black and gold

Ianthe wants to marry Harrow? Weird. I don't ship it. But I'm kind of stuck on Gideon and if I wasn't, maybe.

See a man about a queen? What does it mean? What is Ianthe doing? Also love that she cursed Harrow's hair to grow extra, just to be petty.

I'm so confused by chapter 40. What the hell is going on? Why is Harrow trying to be a cavalier? The fuck? Role swapped false memory? What is even happening?

Is Harrowhark's brain just, like, randomly spit-balling while she's dying or something? Love that Abigail and Magnus seem to be aware that it's not real.

OH OH OH THAT WAS GIDEON! SERVING THE COFFEE AND MAKING HARROW BLUSH IN THE THIRD(?) FALSE MEMORY OR DREAM OR WHATEVER! I love that Abigail is NOT having this, like, no I'm not gonna watch your romance novel version unfold.

I think I've noticed that the ones who have speaking roles the weird memories are the ones who died in the last book.

Are they all taking active part in these false scenarios? All the dead from Canaan house?

Oh my god oh my god here it is she remembers and she's so sad!

So she erased Gideon to save her soul. Nope nope nope nope nope I can't. I can't deal with these feelings. Y.Y

Who the fuck is the angry spirit?!?!

Who fucking stabbed her?

IS GIDEON DRIVING HARROW'S FUCKING BODY AROUND DURING A FIGHT? HELL YES! AND THAT MEANS I WAS RIGHT THAT SHE'S NARRATING!

OH AND I PREDICT THE GHOST IS CYTHERIA!

I'm still thinking about what Harrow did. It's so sweet and so sad and she's so lonely and she didn't even know how lonely she was.

Also I'm already excited to reread this series.

Oh yeah, this is GIDEON in here, swearing up a storm and trying to use a sword.

Okay, first I'm getting emotional just from heading Gideon's voice, then I'm emotional about what it was like for her to be in Harrow's body/mind, then I'm emotional about all the things she wanted to say but didn't have time, AND THEN I'M EMOTIONAL when Gideon says why she thinks Harrow did it and I'm like baby nooooooo it was because she loved you, not because she didn't want to rely on you! Honey, baby, no!

"Harrowhark, I gave you my whole life and you didn't even want it." HARROWHARK, I GAVE YOU MY WHOLE LIFE AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN WANT IT. 💔💔💔😟😟😟😭😭😭 Excuse me while my heart breaks.

Oh, also a bigger issue in this book is the whole concept of the afterlife? And it's messed up because of the emperor? I don't know why I wasn't prepared for that but I wasn't.

Ortus holding Harrow and pointing out that she and Gideon were neglected children is making my therapist soul ascend.

I'm such an idiot. His name wasn't Ortus, it was Gideon. He did kill Gideon's mother, that's why she shouted his name. Or they were in love? One or the other... Or both?

Harrow did a find and replace in her brain and it had unexpected consequences.

I've been leaning more and more towards the Sleeper and ghost being Cytheria.

Oh my sweet sword lesbian himbo, how I've missed you. "The sword I had to hold overhead in one hand as I used the other to keep everything inside you; stuff was coming out, Harrow, I don't know precisely what stuff because I'm not a goddamn necromancer."

Gideon is OCCUPYING HARROW'S BODY during a deadly invasion and is like, 'I'm gonna shut my eyes to reach under the shirt and get rid of encumbrances. I tried not to touch you, so don't get mad.' I feel like Harrow would be the first one to say 'do whatever you have to do to stay alive, you imbecile!'

So Mercymorn stabbed Harrow... So the heralds would eat her as a way to buy time? Was that the plan? Gideon calling her "my necromancer" made my heart do a thing.

I want to understand what she's saying about Gideon's mother. Was Gideon a science experiment? Like Kipo?

Where. THE FUCK did Cytheria get the gun?

Dulcie is *horny for revenge* Abigail is a BAMF and my new (and final?) prediction is that the Sleeper is Gideon's mom.

Gideon and Ianthe is a fun dynamic. I love how protective Gideon is, that she's mad at Ianthe for hurting Harrow's heart.

Gideon must have her mother's eyes to be freaking all the lyctors the fuck out.

"I wanted you to use me... I wanted you to live and not die... Harrow. I already gave my flesh to you, and I already gave you my end. I gave you my sword. I gave you myself. I did it while knowing I'd do it all again, without hesitation, because all I ever wanted you to do was eat me." Why am I crying? 😭😭😭😭😭 Why is this the most romantic thing when it's also full of insults and curses and is followed by a your mom joke? What a Gideon thing to do, be so romantic and gross and sassy all at once. I love her, I want to be her. Gideon forever.

Love that Ianthe also thinks Harrow got rid of Gideon because she didn't want her. /s I'm starting to worry that it's silly for me to hold onto the 'because she can't live without Gideon' explanation.'

"But Nonagesimus, you hating me always meant more than anyone else in this hot and stupid universe loving me. At least I'd had your full attention." That's why indifference is the opposite of love, hate is still passionate attention. But this also makes me feel so bad for Gideon because she deserves to be loved, dammit!

Okay, "gall on gall" is pretty hilarious. Good job Ianthe.

Love that the ghost of Matthias Nonius speaks in meter because he's been so deified by the Ninth house, and he's confused by it. It's like people in a musical being aware they're in a musical, like, why am I singing?

Ortus' poem was important after all!

Is it the sword? Does Harrow have to destroy Gideon's sword? Because that would break my heart a little.

"It bewildered her, back at Canaan House, how the whole of her always seemed to come back to Gideon. For one brief and beautiful space of time, she has welcomed it: that microcosm of eternity between forgiveness and the slow uncomprehending agony of the fall. Gideon rolling up her shirt sleeves. Gideon dappled in shadow, breaking promises. One idiot with a sword and an asymmetrical smile had proved to be Harrow's end." I just... This is so beautifully written. And describing Gideon as one idiot with a sword is so perfect and right and I just... 🖤🖤🖤😭😭😭

No no no I hate this either/or bullshit! I know I'm a sappy optimist, but I want both of them to survive, damnit! I want Harrow to be able to go back to her body without losing Gideon's soul. I want Gideon to keep existing.

What does Dulcinea know?!?!

Commander? That's Gideon's mom, right? Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity

What does that all mean? Are those Eminem lyrics? What other language is in there?

WHAT'S ALL COME OUT?

I knew she was in the sword.

Oh my god, if you need John to get in the tomb, and she was trying to get in the tomb and had something, a tool... Samples... She was armed with the baby... Is Gideon's father John? Is Gideon the fucking child of God?

She named the baby Bomb... This whole series could have been Bomb the Ninth... Bomb Nav...

Yep yep called it, child of God. The first time they put that plan in action was to get sperm to make Gideon. The second time was so Harrow could kill the first Gideon.

A dad joke?! A DAD JOKE?!

Gideon and Harrow were so cruel to each other as kids. It just makes me so sad.

Was Harrow able to get into the tomb because she made Gideon bleed?

So is Alecto John's cavalier? Annabel and Alecto... Are the same person? I'm so confused. She's the body in the locked tomb? But how is that related to her eyes being in his genes?

Wait, the eyes switched? I continue to be confused. Did he do the lyctor thing but also put a part of both him and his cavalier into the cavalier's body? But she was never human? What's going on? Why do they think she never had genes?

Oh cool, Mercy killed God and now everyone's gonna die... ... ... Ooooor not.

I love that beating up Harrow is Gideon's job AND saving Harrow is Gideon's job. Very cute.

Sooooo Gideon the OG and Pyrrha both fucked Gideon's mom... With the same body...

Gideon, such a romantic, wishing she had Harrow's name on her lips as she died. "I mean, yeah, I was thinking about you too; if I could've turned that off I would've turned it off years ago" HAHAHAHAHA You can't stop thinking about Harrow even if you want to! God, what a sweet himbo.

"Yes, well, jail for mother" says Gideon... Is she referencing Miette? Jail for mother for one thousand years!

Okay, so we have definitely confirmed that the Body is Alecto/Annabel/God's cavalier.

What did Dulcinea tell her? That Gideon is moving her body around? Doesn't she know that? Shouldn't that not be a surprise?

Okay, so, wait, what happened to Harrowhark?

ARRRRRGH I'm not smart enough for this book! Or I'm not visual enough! I know I should recognize the description of bobbed hair and "lambent" eyes but I have no idea who it is and also WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO GIDEON AND HARROWHARK?! UGH NOW I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK AND I'M GONNA BE SO IMPATIENT AND CONFUSED!

Well that was fun to reread. Impressed I got some things right, but mostly I was very wrong.

#harrow the ninth #spoilers #locked tomb spoilers #locked tomb trilogy #doing my best #lesbians are just so good #disaster lesbian #it's me i'm the disaster lesbian here #i love this himbo #himbo gideon nav #live blogging #abigail pent #dulcinea septimus #ianthe the first #long post

[blackestnight]

a few weeks ago, after seven days spent mired in physical and emotional hell (but getting paid for it), i decided to Treat Yo Self by spending money on books that i had been meaning to read but had not gotten around to. reviews:

the valley and the flood: stellar. poignant. beautiful. perfectly toes the line of my tolerance for horror, which is historically Not Great, in order to bring me unfathomable eldritch terrors that i both want to run screaming from and invite over for a potluck. someone please give the flood a hug. can i give the flood a hug? would it kill me to give the flood a hug? i’d try it anyway. also i adore cassie and she and rose should go on to have a beautiful friends-to-lovers slowburn and there’s a fic brewing somewhere in the back of my mind about the third most accurate prophet in lotus valley and the girl who is the harbinger of apocalypse by living history walking into a bar, but i need a good punchline.

call down the hawk: technically i (re-)read the raven cycle first, because i’d only read trk once and needed a refresher, so that wrecked me all over again, and then cdth just fucked me up. i’m spiritually putting a “PROUD HARVARD MOM” bumper sticker on my car in honor of my son, adam parrish, and i am also extremely proud of him for following the age-old tradition of just not having time for straight friends in college. i also adore jordan and hennessey, my terrible daughters, thank you maggie for both of them. i adore hennessey’s dynamic with ronan. i’m incredibly jealous of both hennessey’s and ronan’s swords, even if it’s probably a bad decision to let ronan near a sword. ronan and adam slow-dancing in the kitchen made my eyes mist over because they both deserve the best things in life. i have not yet gotten my hands on mister impossible, which is a tragedy, but in the meantime i’m going to be stewing in my feelings because this book somehow made me like declan lynch, of all people, who i have regarded with complete disdain for an entire four-novel series. what the fuck. (tragic lack of gansey, blue, henry, and opal, but i will forgive this on the grounds that we know for a fact gansey spent at least part of the book chained to a redwood tree and opal is living her best, most feral satyr child life.)

the locked tomb books: i stayed up until 1 am to finish bingeing harrow last night/this morning and what the fuck. oh my god. i’m ruined. how did nobody make me read these books before now?? i am UNDONE. please put “one flesh, one end” on my gravestone. i am still reeling from emotional hangover. i don’t think i’ve ever read a series where i was so completely invested in every character, even the minor characters who got written out a handful of chapters in, even the antagonists despite historically not being a villain appreciator. i made the mistake after finishing gideon of saying that ortus was probably the single exception to this because he just literally was not in the book except to have all the resolve and personality of wet cardboard, and then harrow served me my own words on a silver platter so i could choke on them. i love all of them so much. also, camilla hect? ma’am? ma’am. even aside from the incredible cast and the jaw-dropping narration (”let me live long enough to die at your feet,” “she was the first resurrection. she was my adam,” “i gave you my whole life and you never wanted it,” ffffffffuck) the plot is just so fucking good?? it keeps taking hairpin turns but they’re so masterfully laid out that i’m not even mad??? also, the absolute audacity of including a roleswap au, and a regency arranged marriage au, and a coffee shop au, in your own novel? miss muir you absolute legend.

#journal #HELLO i am alive. i read some books. they were good books. you should consider reading them

[aliypop]

Blood Lust

Word count :  2,105

Warning: Language

A/N : Some more Tiffany and the boys in the past! I did it I wanna dedicate this 2 days of writing this fic to  @whatisgoingonpaul the source for the lost boys prequel as well as @a-supernatural-writer and @pitiful-anonymous-vampire

Near the dark, damp, humid Santa Carla bluffs sat several outlaws around a campfire. Tiffany and Stewart waited behind a few trees, her fangs sharp and ready to rip into the first ounce of flesh that she could get into. "Did ya hear somethin..." the two men who looked like bandits asked each other. The sounds of waves crashed against the rocks from below as the trees rustled. Darkness spreads across the bluff as Stewart blew out the fire. "Wh...Who's there..." one of the men says, feeling a deathly still presence from behind him. The cold hands of death touch the man's neck-snapping it in half as the mark of a lover's kiss is left on the corpse. 

"Well, boys, don't just sit there..." Tiffany turned to face the freshly turned vampires and their sire Max. Standing like statues, the boys only looked at Tiffany and Stewart. Who were both covered in blood,

 "Don't tell me you didn't ..." Tiffany glared at Max, who had the grin of a conman on his face. 

" Didn't what Ms." 

"How dare you turn these boys into vampires and yet have them figure it out themselves!" Tiffany shouted, her hands close to ripping her hair out. "First of all, little girl..." his hand underneath her chin. Tiffany nearly snapped at his finger, "I will rip you apart from where you stand..." she growled at him, hearing his already sickening laughter. 

"Is everything okay..." David asked, his reddish-blonde hair poking up from behind Max. 

"Not to worry... someones just being disrespectful, isn't she..." 

"If Camilla hears about this... she'll make you wish you never were born... " Tiffany laughed as she then saw a long-haired blond pounced on top of a body, "Paul use your hands first and then teeth!" she smirked, her dark blue gown trailing behind her. Flesh ripping apart was the only sound that Max and Tiffany heard as the two sat by a fire admiring the skill that "his" boys were learning. "Jasper!" Max shouted at the younger boy, his hair almost as long as his older brothers. 

"Yes..." 

"Try harder, will ya..." Max said, a bit disappointed in the boy. Jasper only sighed as he continued trying to find the right vein to feed on; Max only watched as Jasper struggled, almost as if he got a kick out of seeing the young boy starve to death. Stewart shook his head, taking his nail to the wrist of the soon-to-be corpse splitting it open. 

"Thanks..."

"Don't mention it, kid." he ruffled up his hair, getting a glare from Dwayne. The vampires had begun to travel further into the woods, trying to find the perfect place to make camp. Horses trotted in the woods, 

Stewart, whose hands were around Marko's waist, rested his tired body against his back and turned to look at Paul, who only rolled his eyes at him and kept riding past. "I'm just saying, Tiffany, you'd make a great..." 

"A great what..." she turned to face Max, her horse catching up to his.

 "I would say mother, but you can't even side-saddle..." Max mumbled, taking note of the way she rode. "And to think you've trained to be a lady... " Tiffany only laughed as she shook her head, " I am no lady..." taking the reins of her horse galloping in the wind past Max, "I suggest we trot faster if you want to live." she sang from afar. Marko, Stewart, and Paul had taken camp together. The three wrapped tightly in a blanket. Tiffany stood in her tent, her locket an ice blue amulet in hand, memories of a life she wanted to leave behind. Tiffany could feel a cold touch reach up to her back, her skin crawling as the hand reached up to her shoulder. 

"Poor little girl ... still waiting for happily ever afters, huh..." 

"Leave me alone..." 

"Or what you'll cry..." he laughed, "Lestat was right about you... You're easy too, eager," Tiffany wrapped her hands around his neck, urging her to squeeze him harder. Her vamping out only grew pale while Max nicked her with his nails.

"Hey, anyone seen my cigarettes ..." Dwayne poked his head in; The smell of her blood luring both him and David, Max, had only excused himself as both David and Dwayne invited themselves in, Tiffany began to back away from the two. Her eyes were now yellow and red from tears that wouldn't come.

 "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay..." David took her hand, 

"Look at me..." Dwayne said, his eyes trailing back to her wrist. Tiffany faced the two vampires as she took a deep breath.

 "I'm so sorry I wish you didn't have to..." 

"You're bleeding, dear..." David pointed out as Dwayne's eyes followed suit. Adjusting her wrist out, she watched as he hesitantly bit down on the already semi-healing skin. 

"Wanna tell us what the hell that was about..." David pried. 

"Just vampire stuff..." She shrugged, watching as Dwayne glared at her. 

"I promise you two it's nothing... I need to rest and..." 

"Tell us what's going on, Monroe." Dwayne pulled away from the wound, his hand firmly holding onto her hand,

 "I'm not that important ..." she mumbled as the two boys looked at her, 

"Max only wants me around you guys like a mother figure..." she laughed, removing her skirt, 

" So what do you want to be..." David turned away, letting her undress. "Well, I want to be myself... " she bit her lips feeling hands ghost over her corset. 

"And who would that be," Dwayne asked, glancing at the whalebone marks on her skin, "You tied this yourself..." 

"Mhmm, what's wrong with it..."

"It's shit." he laughed, 

"I beg your pardon!" she gasped, "It's perfect. "

"Yeah, if you don't wanna breathe." David turned his head, "You know Anastasia taught me how to lace up a corset."

"Here we go..." 

"No, no, let him speak..." Tiffany suggested as she sat down in the grass, 

"But if you can tie nautical knots, you can lace a fucking corset." David looked at the woman as she laughed. There was a sadness behind his eyes every time he mentioned the name Anastasia, but she must have meant so much to him. The colors of orange, pink, and blue began to crack amongst the dark sky as both David and Dwayne were asleep in her tent. Sitting out in the Dawn were Tiffany and Stewart watching daybreak hatch. 

" I think it time I change a new leaf..." she huffed, the warm rays on her skin, 

"What do you mean ..." 

"It's a new era, and I can't keep being what everyone wants me to be... I can only be who I'm supposed to be." she looked back as she saw Jasper, who was getting a peek of what would be his last sunrise over California.  

Sitting in the lobby of the Santa Carla resort was Tiffany, her thoughts heavy and her mind scrambling around. Looking down at her engagement ring, she admired every detail that Dracula had put into it. But she knew that none of it was hers: instead, it was just another way for her to become a trophy in his collection of wives. Max had then sat next to her, his hand on top of hers. 

" Go away..." She grumbled. 

"Or what..." Max smirked, tilting her head up with his chin, 

"I'll take everything you've ever loved away from you..." she growled, "Including the boys..." 

"You wouldn't..." His control over the other vampire fading, "You wouldn't know the first thing about raising boys..." Tiffany laughed as she broke from his grip, walking away from the power-hungry sire,

 "You know something, Maxi..." 

"What..." 

"You've no power over me... nor does Dracula..."

"You sure about that..." 

"Highly sure ... now if you excuse me, I've made arrangements with Paul and Jasper to go pickpocke-" she stopped talking as the ground under her began to shake, the infamous earthquake of 1906, the residence of the hotel had all rushed to the door,

 the chandelier had started crumbling down from the lobby ceiling. As a few people got caught from underneath it, Tiffany looked back to see Jasper, who was reaching out for his brother's hand, Dwayne looking at Tiffany, while Marko Paul and Stewart tried to help.

"You stay awake, do you hear me ?! don't you dare close your eyes."

 "Leave them, Tiffany..." Max said, watching as Tiffany tried to run from his hypnotic grasp,

 "I gotta do something..." she tried to pull away as he only beckoned for her to follow as well as the rest of the boys.

"Who has the power over who now..." he mumbled, the once ever so astounding resort torched with flames and burnt memories; faded into the night sky, leaving the sound of silence and howls of wolves in the background. "I'm sorry about your brother I-" Dwayne kept looking ahead as the two kept walking, 

"Don't worry about it, snookums, Dwayne, gets like that when he's upset..." Paul mentioned as Tiffany giggled, "Snookums eh... What god awful human did you learn that from."

"Some guy named Walter Emerson..." he looked at the pocket watch that he stole. He then looked back at Marko and Stewart, the two chatting away, while Tiffany looked at David, who had lost the love of his mortal life. She wanted to ask if he was okay, but his eyes looking towards the North Star said differently. 

Tiffany sighed as she kept walking, her boots getting stuck in the mud while her hair begun to stick from sweat to her face. " Can't we just fucking rest for the night... " The young woman groaned, 

"I mean David's fucking out of it, Stewart and Marko ate two rats, and Dwayne he's practically falling asleep, and Paul..." she looked back, "Holy Hell, where's Paul!" Tiffany turned to see the blond ripping the neck off a wolf open. Max grumbled both by his and her actions. He was irritated, but the nagging and the tiredness reminded him why he hated dealing with such newly turned vampires. 

"My Feet hurt..." Marko grumbled, 

"It's too hot..." David groaned. 

"FINE WE'LL STOP." Max turned towards the boys, his teeth out and ready to rip into anyone else who so had a complaint. They found a campsite with fire, a few tents, and what seemed to be a few drunk soldiers. 

"Tiffany, get rid of them." Max pointed in the direction of the men, "See boys: When you're more experienced, you'll also be able to cause as much bloodshed just like that..." he turned back to see limbs discarded amongst the ground, the perfect meal for a vampire feeding their young. "The place is all yours, boys..." 

As the boys went to rest, Tiffany did as well. Dressed in her nightgown, laying on the cot, she could feel a hand stroking her hair as it kept singing her name.  

Tiffany 

Tiffany

Tiffany 

She tossed and turned on the couch from up under her, teased out hair drenched in a cold sweat. "It's happening again..." Marko sighed, dabbing away beads of sweat from her forehead. Paul rushed over, holding her hand feeling, the odd heat radiating off her skin. 

 "Tiffany, sweetheart, I want you to drink this..." David said, trying to get her to look at him. It was the third time this month that Tiffany hadn't been so lucky when it came to feeding. She had caught a case of Blotoisis better, known as Vampiritis, a flu-like sickness that happens when a vampire consumes blood from a sick human. 

"I ... I don't wanna..." she shivered, her eyes closed from the lighting of the fire barrels, "You gotta toots..." Marko kissed her forehead. Dwayne rolled his eyes, placing another cold towel on her forehead, noticing Angelica, who had been holding hands with Sam, and someone else who he presumed to be a friend of hers that she met. 

" Babycakes..." Tiffany reached out to Dwayne, "Je ne me sens pas bien je veux des câlins." she pouted as Dwayne held her hand, "No cuddles until you feel better."

"I want you all to meet my friend..." Angelica said, walking further into the cave holding a can of chicken noodle soup. 

"Not now, kiddo..." David shooed her away. 

"But..."

"Tiff's sick..." Dwayne shrugged

"Will ya stop shooing away my girlfriend for one second," Jasper smirked, standing to the side, his dark hair almost as long as his brothers, 

"Jasper..." the boys said, turning to face him.

"Sheesh, love what you did to the place..."  

"I must be hallucinating ..."

#The Lost Boys 1987 #the lost boys the beginning #new stuff #paul the lost boys #david the lost boys #dwayne the lost boys #jasper the lost boys #marko the lost boys #tiffany monroe the lost boys oc #max the lost boys #fanfiction #the lost boys

[liesmyth]

Yeah the reason for the 3 you mentioned are

Palamedes/Cytherea- 100% gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, replacement goldfish girlfriend and hot librarian with a heart of gold boyfriend trying his best to make her better. It does not work, Cytherea gets better but it's in the most "still toxic doesn't matter" way possible, and Palamedes is dragged down to her level

Pyrrha/Camilla- During Nona or pre-Nona events. Just two people absolutely fucked up in a body sharing scenario, going through the roughest year of their life. Pyrrha's last relationship was hate fucking her ex girlfriend in her coworker's body, Camilla was in love with a guy who's now inside her in the least pleasurable way possible

These two were made to be in a relationship 100% built purely on ignoring their issues through sex and being in a pseudo marriage with their daughter Nona

Mercymorn/Harrow- Both ate people they loved and were an emotional wreck afterwards. Harrow's a nun, Mercy founded one of the most religious houses. Both are annoyed with everyone and disillusioned with God. Mercy's longest lasting relationship is with a guy she hates, but is the only one who will consistently talk with, hang out with, or have sex with her. Harrow's longest lasting relationships are with an ice cube and whatever she had going on with Gideon

Their relationship is 100% based around slowly realizing how much they have in common, bonding over that, and then getting into the most toxic and codependent relationship built around validating their own issues to each other and making it everyone elses problem. It is Augustine and Mercy's worst arguments, but they can channel the energy purely toward the other four lychtors while having nasty necromancer love

Also big agree, the vibes are friendly, call me

10/10, no notes, I am BLESSED to have this in my inbox. Pal/Cytherea is an underrated gem. Also... You know what has decent Replacement Goldfish potential? Gideon Nav/Pyrrha. I feel like Pyrrha's attitude around Gideon is much less "you could've been my kid" than it is "let me tell you about all the times I fucked your mum. You look a lot like her, btw"

I think A Lot about what if Mercy had a conversation with Harrow about her lobotomy. They could've bonded over grief! (If the lobotomy hadn't happened: same!). They both had to ascend through cavalier sacrifice... Mercy can insult Harrow beautifully for her disdain of flesh magic... I often think about this.

Also I've got to ask if you have read the Jod/Ianthe fic I got :3 mind the tags etc but it's SO fucked up (delicious)

#anonymous #ask

[keyofjetwolf]

@cello-moon submitted:

SO! Submitting as this is long. You certainly don’t need to publish it if you don’t want to!

Tipsy Sumerian/Akkadian Mythology 101 as relevant to Camilla.

Our Relevant Mythological Cast

The Dean - Inanna later known as Ishtar, the Goddess of Love, War, and the Sky

The Death Goddess - Ereshkigal, Queen of Kur, sometimes called Irkalla/Irgal (depending on the translator), the land of the dead

These two are sisters, possibly twins depending on the translation.

(also named dropped are 2 of the 4 members of the Silas Board of Governors - Enki, Patron of Eridu, God of Knowledge, Mischief, and Seawater who is the sentience behind the Library originally and the Owl Lady whom Laf calls as Ukuku, the prophetess of Eridu.)

So mythology backstory as paraphrased from memory (and let me preface this with, scholars argue which of these myths happened first because they both reference the other at some points as if the other one happened first.)

Epic of Gilgamesh - King Gilgamesh (the main character of the Epic) is the 5th King of Uruk - the city Inanna is patron of - and he’s kind-of an arrogant bag of dicks (example: he’s credited with starting the practice of prima nocta). Inanna decides she wants to take Gilgamesh as her lover and consort and refuses to take no for an answer when he turns her down. Specifically, he mentions that she got her husband trapped in the underworld, has generally mistreated many of her previous lovers and he wants no part of her lack of … non-sexual care for her lovers. She goes to some of the higher ranking gods in the Sumerian hierarchy and basically throws a temper tantrum demanding that they hand Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, over to her to best Gilgamesh in combat and make him agree to her demands. If they won’t hand Gugalanna over for her to use, she threatens to tear down the gates to the underworld and let loose the dead to devour the living.

One problem here? Gugalanna is Ereshkigal’s husband.

Another problem here? Gilgamesh and Enkidu, his Best Friend/Lover (depending on the interpretation/translation) kill Gugalanna and Enkidu decides to desecrate the body by tearing off the bull’s right thigh and throwing it at Inanna’s head.

Descent of Inanna - there are 2 majorly different version of this poem - the Sumerian one and the Akkadian one.

Sumerian - Inanna decides she’s going to visit her sister, Ereshkigal to attend the funeral rites for her dearly departed brother-in-law, you know, the one Inanna got killed in the Epic of Gilgamesh. This pisses Ereshkigal off so she orders the 7 gates of Kur bared shut and sends her gatekeeper to only allow Inanna through each gate after something is sacrificed/removed. St the first gate, it’s her scepter of power, further gates are jewelry, armor, clothing, ect (all standing for some mastery or strength) and at the last gate she must give up her Divinity to enter Ereshkigal’s throne room - naked and moral. Ereshkigal screams at her, kills her, and chains and mounts her body on a meat hook in her throne room for all the dead to see.

Three days later, Inanna’s handmaiden goes to the other gods of the Sumerian hierarchy asking for help for her mistress. Only Enki agrees to help - sending two divine spirits made from the dirt under his fingernails to help. They retrieve Inanna’s corpse and one gives her their life and the other their divinity to restore Inanna to her original state. Ereshkigal demands a replacement for the no-longer-in-Kur Inanna and, through a series of not relevant to Carmilla events, Inanna’s husband Dumzuid is trapped in Kur forever.

Akkadian - Inanna decides to conquer the underworld for no stated reason other than perhaps shits and giggles and encounters the same 7 gates where she must remove her the same clothing, jewelry, makeup, and divinity. In a rage, when Inanna reaches the throne room, she tackles Ereshkigal and they engage in combat where Inanna loses, is imprisoned in her mortal flesh, and inflicted with 60 diseases. While Inanna is being held in the underworld because she is a goddess of love, no sex can happen on Earth. It takes 3 days for the other gods realize this, come together, and ask Ereshkigal to give Inanna the water of life and restore her to her original state.

Plus, there’s a whole lot of blink (or be unfamiliar with this mythology) and you’ll miss it foreshadowing and namedropping happening even as far back as season 1 indicating that the Sumerian language may be important/relevant, since it just kept popping up in various ways. I’d be happy to point out some of them to you, but I remember from the SU Freezer Friendship Bracelet Shenanigans from ages past that you usually prefer to notice or choose not to notice them yourself.

Hopefully this makes somewhat sense and you can see where the Carmilla authors took inspiration, pulled themes and such, and how it’s similar to what they did in Season 1 with the Sheridan Le Fanu Carmilla novel being a close, but not perfectly accurate record of what happened in the show’s past and what is happening in that season.

(AND HEY! Carmilla doesn’t have to be over unless you want it to! There’s still the movie, if you’re up for it!)

and:

I FORGOT TO INCLUDE THIS PARAGRAPH IN THE SUMERIAN SUMMARY! OH GOSH! THE REASON INANNA'S HUSBAND IS PICKED AS THE ONE TO GET STUCK IN THE UNDERWORLD IS BECAUSE HE WAS THE ONLY ONE NOT WEARING MOURNING CLOTHING/MOURNING FOR INANNA. HE WAS JUST SWANNING AROUND IN HIS DIVINE FINERY WHILE SHE WAS TEMP DEAD. SO REGARDLESS OF IF IT WAS GILGAMESH OR HER HUSBAND WHO WAS MEANT TO BE HER BELOVED RAISED BY THE PORTAL, NEITHER OF THEM WOULD BE HAPPY TO SEE HER. YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT DUDE LEAVING HER ON READ.

I need you to know how delighted your conclusion made me. MY SHITPOST TIME WAS WELL-SPENT

All of this was super fascinating, thank you for writing it up! I still can’t stop laughing at the particular Venn diagram for all this, it’s amazing and a full 60% of the charm of the whole thing, I love it. If you’re still moved to do so, please feel free to send me the specific bits you mention in S1!

(I’ll contact you privately on the movie!)

#jet wolf watches carmilla #new shirt idea: be gay use sumerian mythological themes #submission #cello moon #long post for ts

[waitwhathappenedin]

Wait, what happened in Harrow the Ninth?

This is a note from my current self, giddy with finally finishing Harrow the Ninth, to my future self, when she sits down to read Alecto the Ninth and doesn’t remember the basic plot details or who any of these characters are.  So!  Major spoilers for the ending of Harrow the Ninth are below - read this if you want some incoherent, disorganized reminders of what happened at the end of the book!

- The Emperor is Gideon’s dad??? What!! And she was conceived to be born at the Ninth House specifically to unlock the tomb!!

- OK I’m a little more confused by exactly who her mother was - like Mercymorn and Augustine seduced the Emperor because it had to be like his cells or his flesh or whatever, but the woman who gave birth to Gideon was Commander Wake?  Who has a longer and even fancier name.

- Frankly the whole first quarter of this book was a confusing retelling of Gideon the Ninth but everything was changed and bad, alongside a lot of Harrow puking and not doing much else.  But it all made sense in the end because Harrow tried to remove all traces of Gideon from her brain because she loved her too much to let her die. Incrediyble.  But frankly neither of those two are known for their stellar choices.

- The epilogue!! So mysterious.  Someone is in a city (that seems like Earth? or at least not like the Ninth House or Canaan House or any of the other places we’ve been so far), and Camilla Hect is with them and they must be a Lyctor or at least a necromancer or somebody because they eat hot food and it doesn’t burn them.

- Some other characters - everyone who died in Gideon the Ninth came together like a super ghost squad to save Harrow from the Sleeper that was haunting her, and they called back the ghost of this long-dead super swordsman from the Ninth House.

- It ends with Harrow getting into a tomb? Is she dead? Obviously I hope not but she never brought her soul back into the world of the living so I’m curious to see what that’s about.

- There’s all of this drama with the Emperor’s cavalier at the end of the book - A.L. - she’s the only cavalier who survives and all of the other Lyctors are salty about it when they try to kill him.

- Something else to remember - Gideon is back but in Harrow’s body.  She and Pyrrha (saint of duty’s lyctor) watch Augustine and God fight in the River.  Ianthe (other lyctor, don’t trust her) helps God and it seems like Augustine dies?

- Harrow wrote all of these letters to herself before she lost her memory and I love that plot device holy cow.

- Ok this is a minor thing but God makes enough like pop culture references that it seems like he came from earth - so what’s up with that?

Characters:

Augustine, Mercymorn, Gideon/Ortus are the OG Lyctors.

Ianthe is the new baby Lyctor with Harrow

Camila Hect is mysteriously alive and met Harrow mysteriously on this planet and now she’s in this mysterious new city with a new mystery person.

Abigail Pent is Harrow’s best buddy in her spirit world constructions and helps her out with the Sleeper.

Commander Wake inhabits Cytherea’s body and is also a ghost stalking Harrow for most of the book.  Comes back and drops some information until Gideon/Ortus the Lyctor kills her.

Anastasia had some role in creating the Ninth House.

The Emperor’s mysterious A.L. who went crazy.

Ok there’s definitely more but this is just what I’m vomiting out right after finishing the book.  Enjoy Alecto the Ninth, future self!

#the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #harrow the ninth spoilers