#she actually makes a good point about using cavaliers

[thunderon]

oh so the EIGHTH can just use his cavalier as a juice box whenever he wants, but suddenly everyone has an issue when I, ianthe tridentarius,—

#literally chapter 34 of gtn when ianthe gives her villain monologue #she actually makes a good point about using cavaliers #and she actually didn’t take corona so bonus points for actually having something of a backbone there #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #cw ianthe #op #bestof

[gaslightgatekeepgirlbosscombat]

Group H, Round 1, Poll 9:

Propaganda under the cut

Ianthe Tridentarius

She is trying so hard to be the main character by lying and manipulating her sister, her cavalier, her mentor, her ?love interests? (Spoiler???) And also god. Not sure how it's working out for her but she does love to lie and manipulate

Worstie Ianthe is the DEFINITION of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. She is one of a set of necromancer twins that are the heirs to their houses rule. Except wait, only she is a necromancer and she has spent their entire lives doing necromancy for the both of them. She is constantly mean to their cavalier, Naberius, who she occasionally nibbles on like a chew toy, before eventually killing and eating him to ascend to sainthood. She goes to gods spaceship with another woman who ascended to sainthood who she has a crush on, this other woman is like…. Both incredibly mentally unwell and also haunted by at least 211 ghosts. Ianthes method of flirting with her? Gaslighting her about the corpse that keeps moving around and hiding under her bed. For no real reason tbh. She is clearly plotting to overthrow god, and at the moment that consists of her manipulating him while he’s too sad about his long term partners betraying him and subsequently exploding to really care. She dresses in terrible outfits and makes soup by burning onions to the bottom of a pot, putting meat in and some vegetables and then it doesn’t taste like anything so she puts in a few teaspoons of salt so it tastes like a few teaspoons of salt. She had her crush amputate her arm and regrow her a new one out of bone and it’s one of the horniest things I’ve read in my life.

"Gaslight = told her lobotomized (she helped), schizophrenic girlobsession that there was no corpse under their bed, even tho there totally was. Gatekeep = girl did NOT share the secret to god-like ascension. She kept that shit to herself until it was time to eat her boytoy, and by then everyone knew already. Girlboss = she has a non-necromancer twin sister, and literally Everyone thinks they r both necromancers because Ianthe is so good at it. She reverse engineered ascending to the aforementioned ascension without even completing any of the supplementary tasks. She held her own in a fight against a 10k year old lyctor. She becomes the figurehead of her entire empire. "

She uses a man as a chewtoy in the first book, literally gaslights the protagonist of the second book about a corpse, and elder-abuses God when he gets depressed in the third book. Nobody is doing it like her.

Dives headfirst with no regrets while basically laughing and covered in blood into murdering her cavalier once she realizes what the gothic locked room mystery/competition leads to while everyone else is questioning it, helps perform lobotomy on harrow so she doesn't remember the person she loves, manipulates everyone to get to the top

idk just everything about her

her relationship with her sister is incredibly Bad, she fosters codependency and views Corona(the sister) as an extension of herself. This does not stop her from keeping up the con that Corona actually has magic (She doesn't, it was always just Ianthe) for 22ish years and every single person who interacts with them falls for it. She killed a man against his will (most dying for this purpose specifically go willingly) and she consumed him and she will be burning his soul for eternity. She's completely repulsive and still somehow incredibly hot.

she takes advantage of the fact that the main character is prone to hallucinations. at one point she gaslights the mc into believing that the corpse under her bed isn't real just because she can. she reverse engineered a set of very complex trials on her own without anyone realizing she had the skills to complete them normally. she's also babysat god through his drunk and pathetic era.

Artist:@starcanist

Remy the Rat

Gaslight- 'hmm? Me? Steal papers? I'm just an innocent little ratty rat.' Gatekeep- I would debate he's gatekeeping food and taste from the other rats because they just don't GET it. Ugh! Girlboss- doesn't he own a rat restaurant at the end?

#round 1 #group h #tlt #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #the locked tomb #ianthe tridentarius #cw ianthe tridentarius #ianthe the first #Remy #Little Chef #Ratatouille #runner's note: not to be biased but that's my absolute participant here. Let this fight be fun and challenging #also Ianthe. Queen of the greatest amount of propaganda

[theflyindutchwoman]

And you're so concerned about my love life because? Because I don't want to drive around on patrol with you while you are moping about screwing this up. Look, if you like this girl, you should listen to her.

| ANATOMY OF A SCENE - CHENFORD EDITION 4.10 - Heart Beat

For a scene that is supposed to be about Tim and his relationship with Ashley, it is very interesting how it actually highlights the bond he has with Lucy… Something that is made perfectly clear with the way it parallels this moment from The Bet : 'Why do I care if Tim dates? […] You just want everyone to be happy'. (2.03) This exchange completes this scene so well, showing how this is really all about these two. How they just want the other to be happy. How she has often helped him in his relationships, how he has always listened to her and this, from the beginning. Lucy may not be particularly fond of Ashley but Tim is and that's all that matters to her. That's why she basically runs after him.

There might be a slight hesitation at first, where she realises that she might be overstepping a bit here, but she also knows that he needs to be made aware of her conversation with his girlfriend. The fact that Ashley felt more comfortable talking about her fears with her, instead of Tim, already speaks volume. And while Lucy might have joked around in the shop, I think that phone call shed a different light on the situation and made her understand that Tim didn't fully get what was going on. That what he interpreted as a dislike for Kojo is instead a fear of him. And she is so taken aback by how cavalier he is at first. I don't think she expected him to react this way. Though that is a thing with Tim : he can be dismissive but he listens. He takes the time to reflect on his own behavior so he can change it. Like when Lucy called him out for the way he treated the gardeners in the pilot or when she was upset that he was getting the credits for her hard work. And this is what is happening here, he's following that same pattern… He needed to hear this. More specifically : he needed to hear this from Lucy herself. Which makes her statement later all the more ironic.

This is really in-character for Tim to deflect a bit. But there's also a genuine curiosity when he asks her why she cares so much about his love life. They're still in this space where they're testing each other in some ways. It says a lot that he doesn't even think of biting her head off for interfering in the first place, like he used to. They are so far passed that. And it is a very good question… One she asked herself after setting him up with Rachel. And yes, this is who she is : she wants the people around her to be happy. But this is different. We have yet to see her set up anyone else on a date or try to help them mend their relationship the same way. Even when Jackson was having issues with Sterling, she simply offered a shoulder to cry on. That little extra is reserved for Tim, and Tim only. That's what makes this parallel so good in my opinion. Because he himself didn't even question it back then. But now that things are changing between them, he is. Their hug, that almost-kiss, their blatant flirting at work… The fact that he needed her at his side when he confronted his father… This is all adding up and there's an awareness that is starting to grow… But what makes this parallel even more special, is how it underlines their selflessness. They have always helped each other in their respective relationships, regardless of their opinions and feelings. The other's happiness is what matters to them. Even here, it's hard to know whether Lucy is aware of her own feelings for him at this point, but either way, she simply sets them aside to help him - consciously or not.

And like I said earlier, her advice is full of irony : 'if you like this girl, you should listen to her'. Because he does already follow this to the letter… with HER. She is the one person he always listens to. The one that makes him want to be better. Tim being offended at her implication that he mopes is downright hilarious - especially in light of season 5a. Her little smirk when she walks away… His epic eye roll… The more things change, the more they stay the same.

#the rookie #chenford #chenfordedit #lucy chen #tim bradford #4.10 #Anatomy of a scene - Chenford Edition

[lilareviewsbooks]

Queer Normal-World in SFF Books

Here are five books where being queer is the norm, aka there is no homophobia or transphobia at all! Not all these books are fluffy though -- most of them have heavy conflicts and a bunch of shit going down, but at least no one has a problem with anyone being gay!

These are my favorite kind of books and I have so, so many recommendations, so let me know if you ever want more of these :) And I can also absolutely do only fluffy queer books, too!

The Genesis of Misery, by Neon Yang

Mx. Yang's books are perfect for this type of prompt. The Genesis of Misery is their most recent, and the premise is absolutely killer. It follows Misery Nomaki (she/they), who is haunted by an apparition of an angel. While she is convinced she is mentally ill like her mother, and that her visions are a symptom, people around her seem more and more certain that she is actually some sort of messiah. 

I have my issues with The Genesis of Misery, but it’s a very creative sci-fi that’s worth the read. It includes mecha, interesting depictions of religion, which permeates the entire story, and, of course, excellent queer rep. We have characters who use neo-pronouns, a polyamory situationship and most characters are queer. Not to mention, it’s written by a queer and non-binary author, which is always a plus. It’s part of an on-going series, though, so be prepared to wait a little while for the sequel! 

Plus, The Locked Tomb fans might be interested to know that there’s a very cavalier-necromancer dynamic in this, and that Rebecca Roanhorse (who wrote Black Sun) described it as Joan of Arc meets Gideon The Ninth. 

Yep. You wanna read it, don’t you?

(Also, if for some reason you’re like: “gee, I really wish there was a black-and-white silent movie with a killer score that touched on these same themes”, then you should probably watch The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928). It’s not explicitly gay, but it is queer in my heart. And it rocks.)

The Locked Tomb Series, starting with Gideon The Ninth, by Tasmyn Muir

Since I mentioned it, I guess I might as well include The Locked Tomb in here! This is a Tumblr favorite, and with good reason, because The Locked Tomb fucking rocks. It’s hard to pitch it to someone without ruining the whole point of the series, but the first book follows a necromancer, Harrowhark and her sworn swords-woman, her cavalier, the butch-as-hell Gideon, as they’re summoned to the First House to compete to become Lyctors, the companions of God. 

Yeah, I know that’s a lot, and, to be honest, it’s probably not gonna make much sense to you at many points throughout the story, but that’s the point of The Locked Tomb - everything is confusing, and it’s about sapphics in space! 

The thing about this series is they’re the most unique books you’ll ever read. Every volume has a different approach to telling its story. There’s so many mysteries and it’s almost impossible to understand all the intricacies without sitting down and doing some work. The magic system is also the wonkiest, coolest thing - it involves eating people, sometimes, y’know. And, I promise, you’ll love every single second of it. Especially because there’s absolutely no homophobia or transphobia in any of it, and almost every character is queer as fuck - especially after the second book, when gender starts getting a little funky!

Winter’s Orbit, by Everina Maxwell

I love this book so much, and so know that it comes highly, highly recommended! I have a whole five star review on it you can check out here. (Do check trigger warnings, though! You should always, but especially for this one. I didn’t and they really got me!). 

Winter’s Orbit features my absolutely favorite trope - queer arranged marriage. (Nothing better - those three words and you know it’s gonna be a queer normal world, have some politics and probably be really fucking sweet.) This one is probably one of only ones out of this list where the romance is very predominant and serves as an important B plot. It’s also a standalone, but has a companion book in the same universe, called Ocean’s Echo, which rocks, too!

This one follows Jainan, a recent widower who is rushed into an arranged marriage with Prince Kiem in order to keep the alliance between their homelands intact. Together, they must navigate court intrigue I’m trying my best not to spoil and investigate Jainan’s ex-husband’s death, which might not have been an accident, after all...

In this sci-fi fantasy world, being queer is completely normal, and their system when it comes to gender is absolutely fascinating. People will wear little gender signifiers, like a wodden token for female, for instance, so that others know how to refer to them. It’s super cool to see these kind of things incorporated into the world-building, and it’s something you really only get when queer authors are behind the helm.

(Also, this was originally written online, and it was actually picked up and traditionally published! Which is so cool! Queer fics becoming traditionally published books is so rare, it’s so nice to see it actually happen!)

The Teixcalaan Series, starting with A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine

This is another one of my favorites! I read it last year and it blew me away - so much so that I’ve been itching to re-read it ever since I finished the second book.

The Teixcalaan Series is a political sci-fi duology focusing on the themes of language, empire and cultural domination through imperialism. It’s amazing, and I wrote about it in a full-length review, here, if you wanna take a look! 

It follows Mahit Dzamare, from the tiny Lsel Station, who becomes the ambassador to the huge Teixcalaan Empire, whose culture she’s been in love with for ages. The problem? Something happened to the Lsel ambassador, and the Empire’s control over the Station has been growing ever bigger. To make matters worse, Mahit’s imago machine - the cerebral implant full of her predecessors memories and experiences - doesn’t seem to be working properly, leaving her with a ghost of her predecessor inside of her head...

With all the problems the Teixcalaan Empire has, it’s not homophobic or transphobic, which is a plus for us gays who want to read in peace. Mahit has a charged relationship with her cultural liason, Three Seagrass (yes, that’s her name; yes, there’s an in-world explanation; no, I won’t tell you what it is, you’ll have to read it and find out), not to mention all the hijinks she finds out her predecessor was up to. And none of it needs to be justified or explained at all - people are just gay, and that’s fine!

On A Sunbeam, by Tillie Walden

This graphic novel has a stunning art style, and, listen closely sapphics, absolutely no men at all. Yep. Literally there’s only women and non-binary people in this comic! 

And guess what? It’s available to read for free, here. Thank you, Ms. Walden!

Here, romance is also an important plot point. On A Sunbeam follows Mia, who starts working for a crew of repair-people who rebuild broken down structures. In another timeline, we flashback to her experiences at her boarding school, and to her relationship with a new student.

What’s most unique about On A Sunbeam - apart from the fact that there are no men at all - is it’s unique version of outer space. It’s almost historical, with huge sprawling marble structures decaying, surronded by trees. The ships are shaped like huge fish. You can feel the whimsy in your bones from the colors and the art style that Ms. Walden uses, here.

This standalone is definitely worth a read. And if you like it, you should definitely check out the rest of Ms. Walden’s work - it’s all as beautiful as this is, if not more. Her The End of Summer was one of my favorite reads, last year.

That’s all I’ve got, guys, but lemme know if you want more of these - I have so many, I can definitely recommend you more! Drop me an ask if you have specifications, too - I’m always happy to do some digging :)

#booklr #book recommendations #book recs #queer books #sapphic books #lgbtq books #book review #queer sff #sff books #the locked tomb #the genesis of misery #neon yang #gideon the ninth #winters orbit #a memory called empire #teixcalaan #on a sunbeam #tillie walden

[paradoxcase]

John 5:4

THE TOWER HAS BEEN REACTIVATED

So I guess that is for "Earth" and then "Alecto" and then "Harrow". It's interesting that this little secondary story does not actually tell us anything about where the name "Alecto" came from. Was it a name that John gave to her? Or one that she gave herself? Given John's obsession with the name Gaia, I would have thought he'd pick that

You've proven over and over again that no one should trust you with anything, dude

Harrow mentions "waking up" as being a separate thing from resurrection again later, but it's not clear what this means at either point

Are you telling me that John made them forget everything just by doing something physical to their brains and Mercy the anatomy expert who definitely figured out what Harrow did to her brain after only a few months never figured this out in 10,000 years? I cannot believe that

This makes it sound like the other planets were already populated before John destroyed everything. So how did those people die? Did just killing the planets cause that to happen? Did John kill all the people on the planets in addition to the planets? I figured that at least the technology to make the other planets habitable had come from after the start of the 10,000 years, but apparently not even that was invented during John's regime, the whole society has just been completely static the whole time. This is straining suspension of disbelief here

There's no way they decided they wanted to do whatever John did with Alecto, because until the end of Harrow the Ninth, all of the Lyctors thought Alecto was just someone that John resurrected who came back wrong, they didn't realize she was Earth, and they definitely didn't realize she was John's cavalier, that was the whole point of the reveal at the end of the last book

So confirmed that John only created the Lyctors so that they would be roped into fighting the resurrection beasts for him. And then he talks about ripping his fingers from his hands and throwing them to the resurrection beasts, but what he really means is sacrificing his friends so that he can continue on

Oh my god, I don't think I've ever been this mad about someone misinterpreting a bible story before. The whole point of the flood story was that God said, oh, no, this was a terrible mistake, I'm so sorry, I promise I will never destroy the world again no matter how bad it gets. The point was not that the world was evil and needed a "fresh start", the point of the story was that destroying the world just because there are some evil people there is wrong. And like, this isn't a one-time lesson in the OT, either, it comes back again in the Sodom and Gomorrah story when God wants to destroy the cities because there are some bad people there and Abraham has a big argument with him and argues him down to agreeing to spare the cities if there is even one good person there other than Lot and his family. This was like, character development for God, he went from someone who destroyed the whole world because of some bad people and he is learning and relenting and getting some perspective from Abraham. And then later you have the story of Jonah, where now it's Jonah who wants the city destroyed, and God is lecturing him about why that's not right. Like, to the extent that the OT, which was written by like four or five different people with very different ideas of who God was and then frankensteined together by an editor hundreds of years later actually has a coherent narrative and consistent themes, this is pretty consistent. How does someone who grows up with these stories fail at understanding them so badly? How is it possible for someone who probably has advanced degrees to have such shit reading comprehension? This is the most infuriating thing John has ever said in these entire last two books

So this is what she meant by "where did you put the people" at the end of the last John chapter. I would guess the answer is either that he actually consumed all of their souls for power somehow, or that their souls are somewhere generating power in some way. I guess this probably won't be answered until the fourth book

The "tower" that's been menitoned... but it doesn't seem like this is meant to be Canaan House, as people have indicated on previous posts, and at least in this case it seems to be something that's in the River, or maybe she is just travelling through the River to get there?

Also, since this is the last John chapter, I have to ask, for poll-making purposes: Is it ever clarified in this book or elsewhere which country was the one that hired John to puppet around their dead head of state?

#the locked tomb #nona the ninth

[artbyblastweave]

Gideon the Ninth Liveread, Chapter 13

Gonna try and catch up on these.

Gideon is using increasingly possessive language used for Harrow- HER necromancer.

“I am just saying, you’d be dead.” More and more I understand the gestalt image of Harrow as the Kitten Who Thinks Of Nothing But Murder All Day. She’s a heap of bones and wet cloth held together with spite.

Big fan of the repeated use of "In a Bone”- “hiding in a bone”, “stuck in a bone”, “dying in a bone-” to describe the bone cocoon. This syntax smacks of Homestuck.

Okay. So Harrow was “just recuperating.” Here we see a reproduction of what Harrow did with her parents; sealing herself off from the world to try and recover, which is of course fruitless because you do it in a situation where you're starved for resources and there's nobody who even knows or cares something is wrong. Harrow rejects all solutions she doesn't execute singlehandedly; Gideon, meanwhile, snaps at opportunities as they emerge, even when offered by someone she hates; her brand of stubbornness only superficially resembles that of Harrow's because she was never given any real offer of assistance.

Finally Gideon starts flexing her leverage. This is good to see. Yell at your wet rat

Harrow is equally suspicious as I am of Dulcinea; she picked an interesting place to die! This, in turn, highlights something interesting about Gideon’s point of view; Gideon is cutting, but not consistently insightful. She’s very good at coming up with downright poetically mean and snarky things to say about the people and things around her; she can intuit the broad shape of the social dynamics, as shown in the chapter 12 intro- but she isn’t thinking critically about a lot of it. She’s routinely spending time with Dulcinea, and she hasn’t moved mentally beyond “she’s dying” to “why is she dying:” She hasn’t considered in the slightest the fundamental weirdness of sending a terminally ill person to complete a giant scavenger hunt. Gideon noticed and was put off by Canaan House’s dumpishness, but she didn’t parse it as a power play; instead, we overheard Naberius say that. Gideon noticed how incongruously constructed Canaan House is, but didn’t read much into it; Palamedes is the one whose bullshit detector actually went off.

The awful orange tone of human leather. Jesus fuck.

Alright, so they aren’t supposed to go through locked doors without permission. I didn’t remember the specifics of the wording on that one.

Harrow got ahead of the other houses because she has the force multiplier of skeletons; Palamedes has psychometry. The eighth house has... raw zealotry? There’s gotta be some necromantic element giving them a leg up. Here we get insight from Harrow about the other houses, insight absent from the narrative up till now because Harrow is, again, the protagonist of a very different story from that of Gideon's, with a very different set of known unknowns. All that buildup surrounding the sixth pair, and Harrow just kind of casually knows Palamedes by reputation. Also here we get a sense of who Harrow considers the functional competition- the Sixth, the Eighth, and possibly the Third. This makes sense; the Fourths are teenagers, the Second don’t actually seem interested in this, the Fifth were painted as pretty non-competitive in the dueling sequence, and the Seventh is.... actually, now that I think about it, Dulcinea is pretty heavily implied to be doing what Harrow is doing but with her Cavalier as her proxy instead of a skeleton army. Hmm. Harrow might not know this, having been AWOL the last week or so. And Gideon herself is not making that connection at the moment.

Harrow’s description of how she methodically swept the entire House for locked doors and then threw 163 skeletons into the bone grinder is yet another example of her being the protagonist completely different kind of book than Gideon. Harrow is the kind of prodigious protagonist who has incredibly in-depth understanding of the magic-system and to a lesser extent the setting politics; a strong insider of the sort whose "arc" often consists not of getting good, but of turning their incredible force of personality against the correct adversary, and whose minute-to-minute page-filling challenges consist of outsmarting hard-magic-system puzzles through cleverness and brute force. That whole "163 skeletons" thing, in a different kind of book, would be a triumphant sequence for Harrow where she tries everything she can think of until something finally works; but this is a story about how trying to do everything yourself fundamentally destroys you.

Brief aside- we get another mention of blood “skeletonizing,” which appears to involve rapidly drying it/ draining it of energy in the process; presumably this might allow for the rapid creation of occult diagrams, or that might be a mundane use compared to the mystical function of a quick powerup.

And Gideon puts the nail in the coffin; she found the door, she’s the only one of the two capable of standing upright, she’s successfully framed Harrow as being the weak link in their power projection to the other houses. Gideon is good at this kind of freight-train Laying Out Of Points when she’s given the opportunity; she hasn’t had cause or opportunity thus far in the book, but like any good swordswoman, when she sees an opening, she presses her advantage.

The sum of all necromantic transgression. That’s a fundamentally interesting concept to hear come out the mouth of a girl reading a book bound in human leather. Given what we've already seen of business-as-usual necromancy, what does the head of first house consider "transgression?"

Ten Thousand Million unfed ghosts. What do you feed ghosts? And why are there a billion ghosts? Someone was busy.

So Teacher is capable of specificity, if you hit upon the right questions. Florid specificity. Does he write his own lines? Is this his description of the situation down there, or did someone give him a script?

“Ghosts and you might die” is my middle name. Not far off- I haven’t really touched upon the bizarre circumstances of Gideon’s coming into the Ninth, but she was named by a manic ghost. (Does she, herself, know that? Did anyone tell her the profoundly bizarre circumstances by which she came to Drearbaugh, or is this something only the narrator knows?) 

#gideon the ninth liveread #gideon the ninth #gtn #gideon nav #harrowhawk nonagesimus #blastweave livereads #thoughts #meta #analysis #gideon the ninth spoilers #gtn spoilers #the locked tomb #the locked tomb liveread #the locked tomb spoilers

[abigail-pent]

My friend read Torah this morning, and it was the portion with Cain and Abel, and we were talking about it just now. And of course since I've got TLT brainrot, I'm thinking about Cain and Abel in the context of Cainabeth and Abella/Ianthe and Coronabeth. Some thoughts:

Cain was the one who had the idea to make a sacrifice; but the implication of the text (per my friend) is that the sacrifice he made wasn't "good enough," because he wasn't sacrificing the best of the land.

Abel, by contrast, does sacrifice the best of his portion (the animals) and this is why his sacrifice is accepted.

Cain is essentially told "better luck next time," at which point he kills his brother and hides this. G-d asks him "where is your brother, his blood cries out to me" and Cain says "am I my brother's keeper?" and he is forever cursed because of the blood he sheds.

Since I'm hearing this story again with Ianthe and Corona in mind, my read on the Cain and Abel story has now become: when G-d tells Cain to do better next time, to make sacrifices that are worthy, and specifically to sacrifice the best of what he has, Cain asks himself, "what's the best of what I have?" and the answer is "my brother, Abel." this is of course a deeply misguided Lyctor-ish kind of thought, and like the Lyctors in TLT, this act fucks up his sense of self -- so he hides, but cannot escape the curse that this murder puts on him.

Interestingly, in the text it isn't clear that it's G-d who curses Cain. G-d tells Cain that he shall be more cursed than the ground, and Cain blames G-d for putting this curse on him. The curse is that he won't be able to use his gift anymore -- he was a tiller of the soil and the curse is that he won't be good at that anymore. So he has to wander the earth. And in the text, when G-d puts a mark on Cain it's so people will know not to kill Cain. I hadn't paid this much attention to the text before but it's actually pretty easy to see a read in which the mark of Cain is not a curse, but an amulet protecting him from the consequences of his actions.

So... who is who, in TLT? On the one hand, seems clear to say Cainabeth -> Coronabeth and Abella -> Ianthe. Ianthe makes a sacrifice (Babs) which is accepted, so she can ascend. Corona makes a kind of sacrifice (pretending to be a necromancer all her life even though what she wants is to be a cavalier; asking her sister to "take [her]" instead of Babs) and it is not accepted; she doesn't become the furnace of her sister's Lyctorhood. And if that's the read, then if this parallel is actually going to play out in its entirety, Corona will kill Ianthe. But is she her sister's keeper? Ianthe is definitely Corona's keeper; we see that over and over again. We see it in Harrow's letters; we see it in the way she has been covering for Corona for her whole life; we see it in the fact that Ianthe says in Nona that she has a plan for "us to be us" again. Corona is not exactly Ianthe's keeper; she's definitely submissive where Ianthe is dominant; she does betray Ianthe to Blood of Eden, but she's so grateful to Palamedes for not hurting Ianthe, and just over and over we see that she doesn't want harm to come to her sister. Her values and actions are in conflict with the empire that Ianthe has come to symbolize, but it isn't at all clear that Ianthe isn't trying to subvert the empire from within, so they may not be working at cross purposes at all. Corona is not not Ianthe's keeper, and she does feel responsibility towards her.

On the other hand, the order of the names in the GTN end matter suggests Cainabeth -> Ianthe and Abella -> Corona. After all, of the two, it feels clear to me that Ianthe has to be the "worse twin." I just don't know if there's scope for Ianthe to kill Corona. As spectacularly awful as she is, Corona is the one person who's consistently important to her. G-d is not (she didn't say the prayer, her motivation to ascend is ultimate power and pictures of her face). But at the same time -- her sacrifice of Babs is certainly not her sacrificing the cavalier that's most important to her. Really, Ianthe's sacrifice is a lot more like Cain's sacrifice than it is Abel's. She refused to give up the best of what she had, instead giving up Babs -- nobody cares about Babs -- whereas Corona absolutely does give up the best of what she has. She literally gave Ianthe her whole life, and Ianthe didn't even want it. (ooh bonus Corona/Gideon parallel, I've got chills.) Corona's sacrifice is worthy in the way Abel's sacrifice was worthy; it hasn't been accepted yet, but who's to say that it won't be? What throne will she mount? Will someone bind her down?

A lot of this question -- who is Cain and who is Abel -- comes down to asking, who is G-d in the Locked Tomb? John claims the title, but he has all of his power because Alecto chose him; so isn't Alecto actually G-d here? Isn't Alecto the figure who could accept or reject a sacrifice in this tale? Or put a mark on someone to protect them from being killed? (Is the Lyctoral eye-switch a form of the mark of Cain? I think so.)

Also a lot of this question could be answered if you just assume that what we're looking at is a subversion of the Cain and Abel story and not a straight retelling. And I think we're more likely to be dealing with a subversion; in which case probably neither twin will kill the other.

I do think everything that follows after the murder feels extremely Locked Tomb. Being cursed to wander the earth, or the universe (Blood of Eden); having to give up the skill that made you you (HTN I'm looking directly at you); G-d putting a mark on you that makes you unkillable (Kiriona Gaia hello). The elements are extremely there.

so... not clear I've come any closer to unraveling the mysteries. but it's been fun anyway. good Shabbos, hope you enjoyed this little drash.

#tlt #tlt meta #cw ianthe tridentarius #coronabeth tridentarius #ntn spoilers #tlt spoilers #the locked tomb #locked tomb meta

[treeofnonsense]

Jodybeth

2. What would they do if the other woke in a manic state after a nightmare?

3. Do they wear the other's clothes? (sweatshirt, bandana, necklace, etc.)

4. Which one is more protective? Who needs to be 'protected'?

32. Who's the better story teller?

33. Who's the better cook?

47. Does either of them have a secret that could potentially ruin their relationship?

48. Who's the better driver?

49. Does either of them have a hard time being away from the other?

2. What would they do if the other woke in a manic state after a nightmare?

Post-nightmare Corona is mostly just tears and lonely desperation. All Judith has to do is let herself be squeezed and cried on for a little bit while she promises never to leave Corona alone, exactly like that birthday party so many years ago. Her stoic demeanor is strangely comforting, and this works wonders.

Post-nightmare Judith is actually kind of dangerous, when you combine Varun's influence, her combat instincts, and the Second House necromantic trademark of draining people. She tends to lash out at anyone in her vicinity out of panic. Despite Judith's assertions to the contrary, Corona refuses to leave her alone during these times and has instead developed the patented technique of just throwing a blanket over her so she can't fight back, and then using her superior size to make a Jody burrito.

Judith mostly hates that this works.

3. Do they wear the other's clothes? (sweatshirt, bandana, necklace, etc.)

Corona certainly tries, and has probably stretched out quite a few of Judith's outfits by now.

4. Which one is more protective? Who needs to be 'protected?'

Judith loves to think she's the tough protective soldier, and Corona is very willing to let her think this if it means she gets attention. In reality though, we all know who kept Judith alive through their time in Blood of Eden.

32. Who's the better storyteller?

Honestly? Neither of them. Judith speaks everything like she's writing a military document and bores people to death. Coronabeth gets too excited, finds herself lost on a tangent, and never gets to the point. They're actually most successful together, with Judith narrating and Corona popping in every so often to elaborate (it's mostly all true additions).

33. Who's the better cook?

Again, nobody. Judith's taste is horribly skewed by all her time in the military, and because she'll accept just about anything as food she's never bothered to learn to make things taste good. Meanwhile, Corona had Babs and servants to wait on her her entire life and would probably burn the kitchen down trying. She's probably the most likely to learn though, if only out of desperation.

47. Does either of them have a secret that could potentially ruin the entire relationship?

Actually probably not... but they sure as hell THINK they do. Judith, of course, is dead certain that confessing her terrible blasphemous feelings about her dead cavalier would run Coronabeth off, especially in a scenario where Coronabeth herself becomes her new cavalier. Corona would honestly not give a shit about the impropriety of Judith's old crush; that's pennies to the Third House. She'd probably think it's good drama.

When everyone thought Corona was a necromancer, she feared that revealing she wasn't one would make Judith even more uninterested and unimpressed with her. Now that that's out in the open, she thinks the true depth of her feelings for Ianthe might do it. She figures that as uptight and military as Judith is, she'd be furious if she knew Corona would absolutely turn traitor to whatever side Ianthe's on. Honestly Judith probably would be furious... but I don't think it's ever going to be enough to make her stop being in love, and I also think that Judith probably already knows. She saw them both at every birthday party. They're not subtle. Judith knows there's something going on, even if she'd probably rather not think about the details, but her self-loathing conclusion was that of course Corona would pick literally anyone over her, and of course she's not strong enough to stop loving her despite it.

They have secrets that would make each other furious. But I really don't think there's anything that could make one or the other truly cut that tie that keeps pulling them together, despite how much they might claim to want to.

48. Who's the better driver?

Of ships and shuttles? That would be Captain Deuteros. Of cars? Corona, who learned with Blood of Eden - though that doesn't mean much, since she's a terrifying driver.

49. Does either of them have a hard time being away from the other?

She went out for groceries.

I am fully onboard with clingy, needy Corona, especially in any post-canon universe where Ianthe is dead. Judith handles herself pretty well on her own, though she struggles somewhat with her injuries and she'll drop back into her own self-loathing, repressive, asshole instincts without Corona there to ground her a little.

#the locked tomb #ask game #judith deuteros #coronabeth tridentarius #jodybeth #this was fun - especially drawing them and trying to work out my designs for them #thank you!

[kadavernagh]

IRELAND PLOT SUMMARY (Regan)

“Myself I must remake.” ― Yeats

PART I: GOODBYES

What happens at the lake - Wynne / Regan

Cushion call - Emilio / Regan

Even duty may fall - Elias / Regan

When death hands you lemmings - Jade / Regan

Endless numbered days - Jade / Regan

Snaking in to say goodbye - Nora / Teddy

Lessons in leaving - Emilio / Wynne

PART II A: SAOL EILE

Myself I must remake - Siobhan / Regan

After a long car ride full of petty insults and complicated feelings, Siobhan and Regan arrive back in Saol Eile, their aos si in Ireland. For Regan it has been a year, and for Siobhan it has been decades. A magpie immediately dies at Siobhan's feet, which is obviously a good sign for her. The two walk through the village, discussing what has and hasn't changed, and Regan asks Siobhan who made the determination at her trial so they can make that their first stop. She is still in exile, after all. As they head over there, Siobhan realizes Regan is the doctor that left and that the stares of other banshees are for Regan and not Siobhan, who had been forgotten.

They make their way to Putrecia's home, which is right next to the big worm statue. Putrecia takes the magpie and allows both of them inside, where she's jotting something down that seems very important. Siobhan explains that she brought Regan as required, but Putrecia doesn't recall writing the letter requesting this, or who Siobhan even is (it appears). However, she gives Regan a nice enough greeting, and tells her to go off to see her grandmother, leaving Siobhan and Putrecia alone. Regan hesitates, checking with Siobhan before leaving, but she isn't stopped. As Regan departs for her grandmother's house, Siobhan is left with the old judge, and both of them sense that they're not going to see each other again.

The dying room - Regan solo

After parting ways with Siobhan, Regan returns to her grandmother’s (Cliodhna) home to greet her. Cliodhna is busy, though – too busy to talk to Regan. She’s absorbed in skinning a rabbit, and completely ignores her granddaughter who is standing behind her. She won’t even look at Regan. So Regan waits and watches the whole skinning process, which her grandmother makes quite pointed (and is she thinking about Regan a little as she’s doing it? maybe).

Regan eventually receives a simple acknowledgement that she’s back, but still not even a glance; she doesn’t feel like that’s enough because of everything she’s already sacrificed to be there now. So Regan tries to explain why she’s returned but Cliodhna is still uninterested and heads into the kitchen to work on her soup. Finally, Regan cracks and asks to be told that she did the right thing, giving everything back in Maine up to become a better banshee. Cliodhna says that in time, Regan will be righted. Which is exactly what Regan wanted to hear so why does it feel awful?

Paddington in Ireland - Nora / Regan

Released from dinner with her grandmother, Regan heads upstairs numb, exhausted, and jetlagged, but she makes an attempt to unpack. There’s something weird about this particular suitcase though, and when she opens it, Nora is curled up inside. Nora says it’s a rescue mission and is cavalier about the situation. Regan is having none of it and argues. Cliodhna hears them from downstairs and comes up to see what’s going on, and subservient, Regan makes no attempt to hide Nora.

Cliodhna figures out Nora is more or less human (as in, not fae) and as she’s thinking of potential uses for Nora, Regan actually lies to her grandmother; she says Nora is a banshee from Maine who has not awakened yet, and that her name is Hamstring. Nora doesn’t understand a lot of this conversation yet is pressured to not screw things up as Regan is ordered to leave the room and Cliodhna questions her (she did great!). Nora is expected to train and undergo her rites, and Cliodhna calls her a guest. As Regan and Cliodhna pass each other after, Cliodhna tells a terrified Regan to explain the first scream to Nora. She’s too pissed off to do it right now.

Hamstring - Nora solo

Nora has a complicated relationship with her birthdays, from running away on her 18th, to starting modeling on her 13th, to finding wicked's rest on her 20th. now she's 21, in a new place and she can't help but feel a little hopeful about being hamstring. Like maybe, just maybe, this will be very fun for her.

Ilomilo - Nora / Declan

Declan, the "tour guide" Hamstring was assigned, takes Hamstring to his favorite spot to skip rocks at a water fall, the two talk. There is something in the air between them that Hamstring is eager to ignore. Declan is a kind tour guide, and doesn't care when Hamstring's hamstring gives out and she falls on him. They talk about small things, and at the end Declan asks if Hamstring trusts him enough to show her a tricky path she might fall off of. Hamstring decides she does trust him.

How to train your banshee - Nora / Regan

[self harm tw] It's time to train Hamstring! Who is not actually a banshee. Regan assumes her grandmother would be the one training her but, actually, Cliodhna says that even Regan should be able to handle this, since Hamstring isn't even able to scream yet. She leaves Regan with a reminder to not neglect herself, either. So Hamstring and Regan head into the moors and Regan makes Hamstring promise that she won't tell any non-banshees about what occurs there. Hamstring asks what about Declan? Regan says fine but is uneasy about how quickly the two of them have gotten close and warns against it. She shows Hamstring a knife and demonstrates its use against her palm, knowing her grandmother would be looking for blood on the blade. Hamstring decides to try it herself which doesn't go so well. Regan then explains the whole point of the exercise and Hamstring thinks it's dumb and hates it. Hamstring leaves to go find Declan after being dismissed and Regan is left to continue on her own.

PWD to DUB - Elias / Wynne

Elias and Wynne board their plane to Ireland, where they're going to help their friends. It's Wynne's first time flying, and so they ask a lot of questions. Like if flying hurts! And how it works! It's a little silly but also very sweer. Wynne gets the window seat, because Elias is gracious. They talk about Elias' sister, who lives in London. Elias lends out his switch so Wynne can discover Animal Crossing. It's fun, even if it isn't a group sing-a-long with the whole plane. A nice start to what promises to be a peaceful trip.

A tip for a pint - Elias / Wynne

After a cab drops the investigative pair off at a pub, they are soon warned of a man who will yap about the 'folks' endlessly. They approach with a peace offering (pint of Guiness) and Wynne asks for any obscure tips for their hiking adventures. Elias spots a bunch of newspaper clippings and books on the table that make him sure this guy knows something and is way more forthright, asking where to find a community of fae because they took his friend. The pair sit down and Sheamus, the man, warns them of going to look for the women. They push a little and get more tips, mostly of where to go and how to see through the glamour. Sheamus also helpfully points out that Elias is a bearded man and will stand out. With the promise of finally getting some good tips, Wynne dips out to go get some food and more beers to smooth the conversation and Elias tells Sheamus more about Regan. The three of them share dinner and more is sure to be revealed.

Axis Investigations Gone International - Wynne / Nora

Wynne and Elias arrived at Saol Eile unscathed! And got separated immediately. Luckily Wynne manages to skate by until they find Nora, who goes by Hamstring now. They hug her tightly and have a scattered conversation. Wynne is stressed, Nora/Hamstring is chill. Wynne notes that Nora has scabs on her arms and is worried, but Nora assures that she isn't hurt and that there are nice waterfalls, actually. Also she's started Banshee training. Wynne points out Nora isn't a Banshee. Nora says it's chill. Nothing is chill, according to Wynne. They talk about Regan, who Nora hasn't managed to convince to come home yet, but maybe Wynne can help. It's a dialogue heavy thread! Eventually Nora points Wynne into the direction of Regan's house and the clinic where she's working now, and the two separate with the unspoken promise to meet up again.

Dead End - Elias / Wynne / Regan

Wynne and Elias are in Saol Eile! And were immediately separated. As Wynne ran into Nora who pointed her toward the clinic, Elias got himself in some trouble. At the clinic, Wynne finds Regan looking and acting a little rough. At first, Regan doesn't believe Wynne is actually there and questions them. Wynne explains why they came there and before they're able to make any progress convincing Regan to leave, Elias is pulled through the clinic door by another banshee. In order to not draw suspicion, Regan tells the other banshee that both Elias and Wynne are intended to be sacrifices! Which is no problem at all, they're both so ready for the role. They try hard to convince Regan to go with them, but she turns her back on them and leaves them in the clinic with a key to the upstairs space, giving them at least somewhere to stay safe.

!!!!!! - Nora / Declan

Hamstring goes to the waterfall when she can’t sleep after banshee training left her arm hurting. Declan meets her two. The two have been meeting there a lot in the time that Hamstring has been in Ireland. They talk, there is a little bit of banter, a lot of introspection and eventually Declan decides to teach Hamstring how to skip a stone the way every romantic lead in a romcom has ever taught anyone how to do anything, by directing her arms from behind.

Farraige na Buanachta - Elias / Regan

Every banshee loves the tar pit. Regan shows Elias the pit and explains how the banshees use it -- tossing humans in and treating it like TV! Knowing Declan's death is likely to come soon, she explains that humans who are caught here are thrown in the pit or become sacrifices. Elias is terrified but also furious and insists that he might as well be sacrificed now, if that's his fate. He tries once more to convince Regan she doesn't need to be here, and walks off back to the safety of the clinic, as Regan reminisces on how she was introduced to this place and learned how to hold back a scream. As Elias is leaving, she feels the presence of another fae… or maybe it's just unease with the whole thing.

Final Exam - Declan / Regan

[parental death mention tw] Part of Regan’s role in the clinic is checking an chéad scread sacrifices out and medically clearing them before their big day. She has especially been dreading today’s appointment with Declan, knowing how his relationship with Hamstring has evolved. The fact she screams when he walks in, predicting his death, means there’s no changing the course of things now. Regan asks Declan about his relationship with Hamstring, trying to figure out how much each of them know about their situation, which seems to be not much.

Regan is distant but says she has been thinking about her dad lately, and how even though fate caught up with him, he was able to leave, and smiled a lot. Declan is resigned to his duty and doesn’t completely understand. He says he’ll be buried in Saol Eile’s cemetery, which Regan agrees is nice, and it’s thought of as an honor. However, Regan brings up cremation, wondering if he might find some freedom in the spread of his ashes. They both know it’s a question that shouldn’t be asked. She talks about how these exams are pointless and just another way to hollow her out, but can’t bring herself to disobey (even though she briefly imagines all of them running away from here). Declan is itching to get this over with so he can spend his remaining time with Hamstring, but Regan – concerned with what might happen when Hamstring doesn’t change, and equally resigned to her lack of freedom – holds Declan there for as long as possible to keep the young lovers apart, stealing final, precious moments from the two of them.

Heads Underwater - Wynne / Regan

Regan is training (drowning) at the lake. Even with all of the effort she’s poured in, she’s still gasping for breath and is unable to throw away what holds her back (her ring, she thinks). Wynne meets her there and they try yet again to convince Regan to leave, but she’s not having it. In fact, she’s desperate to stay here and fix things even as nothing she’s doing is working. She tries to explain that she’s there for the greater good, and not only duty, much like Wynne thought they were doing back with the Protherians (which uh probably isn’t as convincing of an argument as she thinks it is… and Wynne points it out!)

Regan snaps under the weight of her failures despite the extreme measures she’s enduring and tries again to throw Jade’s ring, but can’t. So she walks into the water thinking she can drop it instead. Still no. This frustrates her more and she breaks down. She pleads with Wynne to leave because she can’t get this to work while they’re here. Wynne is horrified by all of this and tries to talk sense into Regan. As Regan continues to beg, she hears a kerplunk. There goes the ring. By mistake. She immediately tries to dive for it but Wynne gets there first and returns it to a very shaken Regan. It all sways her enough to ask for Wynne’s phone, and she explains that things are about to get really bad for Nora. She comes up with a loose plan to get them out on Worm Remembrance Day this Thursday, and for the first time, she indicates she might just come with them.

It's Conditional - Nora / Regan

Regan is not making a good banshee. She cares too much. Her recent struggles with her decision to get everyone out by Thursday, along with her struggle to decide if she will leave with them gets her to do one more unbanshee-like thing, she decides to tell Hamstring what Declan's role is in her activation. It doesn't go well. Regan gives a heartfelt and honest speech, pleading Hamstring to accept Declan's fate and leave before she gets hurt.

Hamstring thinks Regan is jealous. Hamstring has been a success with the full-fledged banshees in a way she's figured out that Regan never has. Hamstring tells Regan she's sympathetic to Regan. That she would be jealous if someone took her spot, that she's jealous of the baby sister she's never met before who replaced her. But that it's not fair that Regan keeps telling Hamstring people are going to die when she's angry at Hamstring. Call back to the mines plot where Regan told Nora she was going to die soon and Nora accepted it and went to die in the mines. Hamstring is pissed that Regan would pull this again, and put Declan in the crossfire. Regan tries to get Hamstring to listen, but Hamstring is so mad she storms out, refusing to listen.

A Good Corpse - Wynne solo

The thread explores how Wynne is doing at saol eile (bad) and how they keep going out in the hopes of finding some kind of answer or solution. Their investigation is interrupted by a banshee who invites them for tea somewhat forcefully. Wynne meekly follows/lets themself be guide (if there is a difference any more). The banshee introduces hersels as Mealla and compliments Wynne on being a good future sacrifice. She asks how she thinks they will be looking from their eyes when they die.

Wynne thinks back to being mentored by an elder who prepared them for their former impending sacrifice and asked them to be peaceful. So they echo the same sentiment to Mealla. Mealla thinks that's great! She also asks where Wynne would prefer to be cut. She holds some sway and could keep it in mind. They think back of their cult's patriarch showing them the knife he was going to slice their throat with and says they'd really prefer the thighs. Mealla agrees: the neck is so basic. She tells them to enjoy the last of their days and that she'll do her best to ensure Wynne is cut there first. How nice!

The Last Rabbit - Regan / Elias

It’s Worm Remembrance Day, the day Wynne, Nora, and Elias can escape. And maybe even Regan along with them. Regan gets word her grandmother wants to meet her at the tar pit. When she gets there, Cliodhna has Elias at knife point. She says she realizes now how to finally teach Regan. She’s going to stab Elias until Regan stops displaying any response, any reaction. Regan is terrified for her friend and tries her best to not react, but each time Elias is stabbed, Regan fails. Elias begs Regan to let him die, and knows this is it for him. His injuries are bad and Regan can sense a scream building for him. As Elias has a knife against his throat, Regan resorts to pleading with her grandmother. Cliodhna reminds Regan what shame she is, and goes to kill Elias, knowing there are more humans who she can use next time.

But Regan isn’t going to let Elias die, and she’s ready to push back. That’s exactly what she does. Regan rams into her grandmother, knocking her into the tar pit, where she becomes stuck. Regan spits her grandmother's words back at her, and turns her back on her grandmother in favor of helping Elias, who needs urgent help. But she can’t do very much. She gets him into a more secluded place. Regan knows all of the banshees will be headed toward the tar pit now to investigate, and she needs to be there to keep Elias out of danger. She goes back to meet her fate, whatever that may be.

What Dreams May Come - Elias / Wynne

Elias is where Regan left him in the previous thread and Wynne is searching for him. What luck! They find him, though in a state they couldn't have anticipated. Elias is barely present as Wynne frets over him but manages to get on his feet with their help. The pair slowly but surely make their way to their safe haven - the clinic - where Elias promptly collapses from the effort and blood loss. Wynne bars the door to the clinic and gets to work. It is WikiHow they turn to for help and with it, they manage to pack the wounds and dress them. Elias rouses to speak a few words about what happened, but Wynne tells him not to exert himself. At least he tells them he's not going anywhere, because he is a tough motherfucker. He dozes off again, but not after Wynne announces that they'll make him drink water next time. Water seems smart. The rest of the night is spent with Elias in and out of consciousness and Wynne getting him on a cot, cleaning the blood stains and falling asleep to the sound of his somehow still steady breathing.

Listen Before I Go - Nora / Declan

Under the approving eye of Dubhe, Nora runs to the waterfall to confess everything. The first confession is the truth. Her name is Nora, not Hamstring. She's a bugbear, not a banshee. She shows him the bear. He's not afraid. Declan confesses he was supposed to die for her. She tells him that dying would be a waste. She tells him she loves him. He's not afraid. He tells her he loves her too, but if they leave the banshees will chase them forever. She promises to protect him. She tells him about home in Wicked's Rest, and the life they can share together. They agree to run away together. He asks to kiss her. A little implied more than kissing at their waterfall, under the stars.

I Love You & Goodbye - Nora / Declan

The young lovers pack up and run away together. JK. Declan's mom shows up and kills him. It happens instantly with no way to stop it. He dies in Nora's arms. She screams about it.

Convergence - Regan / Nora

Nora is thrown in banshee jail after the discovery she didn't activate at Declan's death, and is presumably human. Turns out the banshees had thrown Regan in there too for what she had done to her grandmother. Nora is devastated and wishes it had been her instead of Declan. Weighed down by incredible grief, attacked by her own shadow, she sits with Regan and leans on her for support. Nora asks why Regan is there and Regan says she pushed her grandmother into a tar pit and it wasn't an accident. Nora thinks this is the funniest thing in the world and the absurdity of the fact Regan did what everyone wanted her to do FINALLY, when it was too late to save Declan, hits hard.

Regan encourages Nora to cremate Declan if she can, and gives her the key to the clinic. Nora is going to break out and do this while Regan will have her inevitable trial for being gay and doing crimes. Regan asks if she can free Nora from the promise she made four weeks ago, but Nora decides she wants Declan to stay locked behind it. For now, Regan lets Nora fall asleep on her so she can have a few moments of rest before fate comes calling again.

Another Kind of Nightmare - Nora / Elias

Nora isn't there to see Elias, but Elias can't go to the trail on account of being shred to ribbons. Nora is trying to talk to him, and trying to care about his survival. Elias is in pain but he's still kind enough to give empathy to the girl thats been bullying him for a year. He witnesses her grief, and she witnesses how the banshees have changed him forever. They are both never going to be the same in very different ways. After making sure Elias doesn't need anything, Nora leaves with Declan's body, saying she'll come back for him after the trial.

Icarus - Nora Solo

Regan told Nora, Declan had wanted to be cremated and taken out of this place. Nora had promised to free him. She fulfills both. She makes a pyre for him, and watches as he burns. She collects his ashes. She tries to move on.

Wheel of Fate Pt. 1

Faerie court is a chaotic affair. Siobhan is there to try and earn her way back inside Saol Eile, and Regan is there to be sentenced for pushing her grandmother into the tar pit. After ceremonial keening, Wynne is picked out to be the judge because the banshees like seeing humans tormented. Siobhan brings Anita to be her lawyer (who THANKS and entire crowd of fae but butchers the Irish enough it's fine) and Regan is issued a pubic defender. Anita argues that Siobhan is sexy and cool and should be allowed back in, and Metzli is sad about potentially losing their friend to this place but wants the best for her.

Wynne is forced to spin a big wheel of Fate with such items as "mushroom dance" and "bring out the worms" several times which the banshees use to move the trial along. Regan argues Siobhan is leaky. Finally, it's time for Siobhan's determination and Wynne, as the judge, has to decide between "tibia" and "fibula" as the two sentences. They choose tibia which turns out allows Siobhan back in, and "after today" there would be no more stipulations for Siobhan. Clare is PISSED. Clare hates Siobhan for basically killing her mom. Siobhan gets what she wanted but it feels rather bittersweet. And the trial is not over yet.

Wheel of Fate Pt. 2

Regan's future is up for trial now. Everyone calls her a child. Eithne determines that Regan is useful to the community and intends to keep her there, so makes her out to be even more of a child to have the crowd accept a light sentence. Regan assumes she’s staying here, so she is bracing herself for that. For better or worse, the wheel goes right to “determination” and Wynne is supposed to choose tibia or fibula again. Before they can, someone interrupts – and it’s Declan’s mom, accusing Regan of murdering her son (but more importantly wasting his sacrifice) by lying about the humans who have snuck in. Siobhan might not actually be such a good banshee because she’s having some emotions, and wants to know why any of this happened.

Wynne once again makes a tibia determination, hoping for a good outcome like one Siobhan receives, but that’s not what happens. Instead, Eithne announces that Regan is to spend the next hundred years in Saol Eile – which Regan expected – but she’s also going to have her wings removed for the lie she told about “Hamstring”. Siobhan, whose wings were removed in the past, is told to do it. Wynne probably feels guilty. Eithne collects the pubic defender back, and Siobhan still wants to ask why. Regan and Siobhan shuffle off the stage and head to the clinic for the wing removal, as the other banshees follow behind them, looking forward to hearing the screams.

I Wanna Fly Away - Regan / Siobhan

Regan has been sentenced to have her wings removed and Siobhan, who had hers removed 42 years ago, was sentenced to do it. They go to the clinic and insult each other for a little while as Siobhan plays around with all of the sharp things and doctors equipment. Regan is pretty resigned. Siobhan is pretty sexy (and still wants to know WHY this happened). They talk about the reason, and Regan says it was because she was pushed, first. Siobhan drops her glamour, revealing the scars all over her body, explains what she did to become exiled, and tells Regan about the loss of her wings. She decides to do this properly in the way Regan asks her to. But the more they talk, the more Siobhan doesn't want to see this happen and she says if Regan uses her legs, there might be an "oversight" where she slips out. However, she will need to cut Regan's wings (rather than fully remove) so she can show the other banshees. Siobhan gets to not feel terrible but has a lot to think about, and may potentially be caught in the future, and Regan passes out from the pain, but knows she, Elias, Wynne, and the ham child will be home.

PART II B: WICKED'S REST

Office Hours - Max / Inge

Meet & Greet - Eithne / Emilio

Not the right Banshee(s) Pt.1 - Jade / Van / Max / Tina

Not the right Banshee(s) Pt.2 - Jade / Van / Max / Tina

PART III: HOME

Coming soon

#plot summary #WHEW OH MY GOD

[friedwizardwhispers]

The Red eye mystery

Well we have answers to some of our questions at least.

Here is what we know so far.

We know for sure who Red Eye is. Li Tianchen could still be just the possessed one but that's less likely and that makes things a bit less confusing. We know that Qian Jin made them disappear and probably took care of them (probably) and he really hates people who betrays him. We also know that Li Tianchen wants to kill Lu Guang really badly but can't.

We have confirmation that both he and Qian Jin want to change the past (for obvious reasons) .

We know that Li Tianxi is not with them and they are looking for her.

We know Li Tianchen dressed as his sister to trick them and to make the police do the work of actually finding her for him.

We also know that Li Tianchen's power doesn't work through photo

From that we can probably infer several things:

Li Tianxi probably didn't agree with the things they were doing and probably ran away, she was probably the one who gave them the picture to go back in time. "Save my good brother" written in childish letters was probably hers and she is also probably the one who has Liu Min's phone, right ?

Considering the thing about betrayal, we can assume someone (Li Tianxi ?) seems to have betrayed them ? I'm guessing they considers leaving a betrayal (well Qian Jin does, Li Tianchen didn't really answer, I'm gonna assume he doesn't actually want his sister dead).

Here what we still don't know:

We don't know who killed theirs mother and how Li Tianchen's childhood friend with no face is related to all of it (except that he and CXS!Li Tianxi inspired Li Tianchen to act on the day of the murders).

We don't know what was the interactions between him and Qian Jin right after the murders and what convinced both of them to work together.

We don't really know how his power works actually, We thought it was pictures but it seems to be touch ? maybe ? but how did he manage to possess Emma ?

We don't know why Qian Jin seems to be so resentful of the police and just is okay with killing them and framing them for things they didn't do.

We also don't know if he is the only one with power in the family.

Here are some random theories:

The unknown kid is probably hat guy who is probably also Liu Min's younger brother (which... that checks out, siblings seems to be a major theme of the season). Maybe he is the one who has powers through photos like Cheng Xiaoshi. Maybe theirs power combined allowed Li Tianchen to possess Emma through photos/the cameras on the bridge.

I rewatched episode 6 and we know at some point the mother seems to be posessed but what was interesting was when she finally defends herself, she kicks that fucker in the ankle, it felt to me like a Cheng Xiaoshi move so I'm guessing we are getting back there, I think with him at some point defending himself.

Maybe the reason why Qian Jin is so cavalier about killing his ex-colleagues/friends to himself:is this " it doesn't matter if we kill them now, everything will be changed back anyway and they will be alive again".

That or he thinks they betrayed him because we are missing a peace of the puzzle in his wife's investigation. it feels like we don't know a lot about it.

In conclusion:

This episode just gave us so much more questions but I do think we have a clearer image of team red eye (even if we are probably still missing one player, looking at you, Hat guy but considering the promo of next week,we'll have more answers there 👀).

We have a confirmed motive and the confusion as to who was red eye is somewhat taken away.

#link click #time agents #shiguang daili ren #shi guang dai li ren #cheng xiaoshi #lu guang #li tianxi #li tianchen #qian jin

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Tuesday :) Ep been wanting to get to. Anytime we get little more depth to them and Tim as a character I’m a happy girl. I forgot s2 only has 20 not 22 eps HA We’re almost done which is insane to me. Feel like we just started s2. So after this one we have 3 left in this season. What a trip. Let’s delve in shall we?

2x17 Control

Thanks to Nolan our couple starts their day off with some foot patrol. Grey wants them more engaged with the community. Tim lets her know that while he finds foot patrol annoying he agrees this is important to do. That it creates trust and likability therefore they get more help. Lucy seems real impressed with his answer. I always love when Tim impresses Lucy with his insight. Also when she makes sure he knows how enlightened she finds him. She's hot for Tim in these moments haha

Lucy loves when he shows her his moral compass about this stuff. I said it last review Tim as a person is very attractive. It's definitely huge part of her draw to him. A random guy comes up to them asking for legal advice. They stop and address him. Lucy fully expects Tim to answer this man’s question. I’m rolling when he tells this guy they’re movie extras’. Lucy’s double take is too damn funny. How she kept a straight face idk. He’s such a grumpy old man sometimesI love it. Or as Aaron says in s5 he’s like the old dude from 'UP' LMFAO I love you Timothy Bradford haha

Lucy's smile when he tells her they’re not google is too cute. We all know she loves her grump of a man. She’s enjoying him cracking a joke with a side of heart eyes to go with that smile. Look at him cracking jokes. So proud. Their comfortability level at this point is off the charts. His sense of humor is so fun to see. (He cracked me up too. I laugh every time.)This came out all on its own. I love him so easily making one around her. Lucy is quite amused and enjoying it herself.

Side notes I love about this scene. The ever wonderful height difference I legit can’t get enough. How damn in-sync they are as they’re walking together. Honestly the entire scene. Look at them. Lastly a fan favorite the the lack of personal space. Within inches of each other at all times. Like moths drawn to a flame. Always gravitating back to one another. Their physical chemistry without touching always floors me.

We rejoin them still on foot patrol. Lucy asking Tim if Rachel was disappointed she canceled on her last night? Trying to justify to Tim why she ended up bailing on their bar plans. Clearly residual PTSD from Caleb manifesting into her doing this. She’s clearly wanting to be relieved of the guilt she feels for canceling on her.

Tim is usually that person for her with his insight and telling her like it is. Not this time...She doesn’t get the reply she wants unfortunately. Just Tim being a lying liar who lies, when he says they don’t ever talk about her. Ok honey we believe you…I’m sure he actually talks about her more than Rachel would like. Lucy is offended with his cavalier answer LOL

Their convo gets interrupted by a dope stealing Girl Scout cookies. He runs and ends up in someone’s windshield. One of the little girls shows up from the troop to help them. Tells them they can use her scarf and pen as a tourniquet. Even tells Lucy where to apply it. Pretty impressive composure for a kid haha

Tim’s face is my favorite part when she asks if she can get a badge for this? He’s not sure what shocks him more. Her knowing how to do this or asking for a badge for it haha Lucy’s smile back at Tim is pretty cute. I feel like this will be them as parents when their kid does something that shocks them haha

The fire dept. arrives and so does Emmett Lang. Not gonna lie everyone he is smokin. I remember first time I watched this episode, I was thinking holy hell this man is attractive. Lucy deserved someone on this level of hotness to re-enter the dating world with. He is instantly flirty with Lucy. Telling her his condolences for Tim being her T.O. (good thing Tim misses this part ha) Lucy has zero problems flirting right back with him.

Honestly good for her. This is so needed post-Caleb. She’s crashing Jackson’s date plans and canceling on Rachel. She needed something to get her back on her feet. Just like Rachel was the perfect person for Tim post-Isabel. Emmett was for Lucy in the aftermath of 2x11. Girl needed a win and to feel it was ok to re-integrate back into the world of dating. Quite the score to start back up with if I do say so myself ha

They flirt some more at the hospital. Emmett basically asks her out and Lucy panics. Lies says she has something going on. Oh my girl. That PTSD is showing and I can’t blame her. Just hate seeing it affect her. Tim comes up and says it’s time to go. He says bye to Emmett and Lucy makes the connection they know each other. So she leans on her lifeline since she’s having doubts.

Tries to ask Tim about Emmett. Says he seems nice. Trying to get a beat on him through Tim’s eyes. Tim doesn't understand her line of questioning at first. Just giving short answers that give her no depth. He's thinking nothing of it until she gives him that look above. Then he quickly pieces together what this is.

He instantly disengages about it. Telling her 'No.' Not S1 Tim 'I could care less about your life.' disengaged. More 'I don’t trust myself to give you the right advice.' kind of distance. He wants no part of this. Lucy seems so upset he won’t talk to her about this. This scene is funny in how he cuts it off. How upset she seems. The pointing of his finger. Sadly we know the deep kernel of truth he feels to that final line of the scene.

The weight he’s still carrying around about her abduction. He doesn’t trust himself to vet Emmett for her. Since in his mind he failed so spectacularly with Caleb. He’d rather pass that emotional responsibility off to someone else. The weight that’s already on his soul is crushing...he can’t add to the load. Oh my broken boy. I wanna give you the biggest hug.

Lucy breaks my heart when Jackson tells her he needs alone time with Sterling. Lucy realizes she’s a third wheel. Has been for awhile now. She is horrified by this. Luckily Tim saves her with an OT opportunity. Joining the DEA operation Nolan and Harper are running. Lucy instantly jumps on it. She looks so upset walking away from Jackson. My poor girl. I want to give her a hug. I wanna hug them both in this one. This OP was blessing in disguise for her to do though. We get the best part of the episode during the stakeout.

Lucy is "on the phone" with Rachel saying all the things she wishes Tim would engage her on. He’s shaking his head as she rambles on. It’s so funny. Telling “Rachel” she’s been using Jackson and Sterling as a crutch. That together they make the perfect BF. Saying how they’re safe and that's why she keeps choosing them. My heart. Tim interjects 'Who are you talking to? 'Cause he knows it’s not Rachel.

John interrupts asking if they want coffee? He is going on a run. Lucy is her adorable self and asks for a chai tea latte all excited. Tim cuts her off saying this is a stakeout he's not going to Starbucks LOL Lucy rolls her eyes at him. He’s such an ass sometimes but I love him dearly rough edges and all. John is so sweet tells her he’ll see if he can find her some vanilla creamer LMAO

Lucy returns instantly to her fake convo and Tim can’t take it any longer. Has to call her out in the most Tim Bradford way he can. By calling her and proving she isn’t on the phone…Lucy is mortified but answers LOL Poor girl she just wants to talk it out with her person. I’m a lot like Lucy in the way that I need to talk things out. If I don’t they’ll eat me alive. I have a compulsive need to confront things and not let them fester.

It’s good to have that person you can talk it out with. If you don’t you start to self advise and that’s never good. Tim is that for her. Her sounding board. To her she has a problem she reaches for the lifeline that is Tim to sort it out. So him denying her that catharsis is messing with her. Why she created this fake convo. It got his attention so in the end it worked.

What kills me the most with this scene is both their reactions honestly. Lucy for being utterly shocked Tim would think his opinion had lost any value post-Caleb. To her it never ever occurred to place any blame on him. To trust his gut or opinion any less because of her DOD trauma. Breaks my heart Tim doesn’t see this before they have this conversation. That he truly believes his opinion has lost its value in her eyes after Caleb.

Lucy is astonished he would think she doesn't want his POV. She lives for it. Its the most important one in her life. Tim is so very vulnerable with her with his follow up answer. So proud of him for this vulnerability BTW. Nothing scarier than being emotionally exposed with another person. You can see it written all his face. That guard is down. We see the toll this guilt has taken on him. He unburdens his soul to her. Tells what has been eating at him for months.

That his advice pushed her towards something that could’ve ended her life. Since then he has devalued his place in her life. Doesn’t find himself worthy to advise her in personal matters. He fought against it for so long. Then he gave in and Caleb happened. In his mind proving why he never should’ve gotten involved in the first place. Chiding himself for getting close to her and having that closeness which put her in danger.

Lucy truly had no idea the guilt he'd been carrying since 2x11. It’s six episodes later. At the earliest that's 6 weeks at the most its a little over 2 months if we include her recovery time. The latter is the more likely timeline. That’s a long time to be carrying a burden she never placed on him. She can't stand that he's done this to himself. Lucy immediately wants to put him at ease. Trying to offload that burden and chuck it far away. It never once crossed her mind he would take the sole responsibility. Because not for one second did she ever blame him for it.

She vehemently reassures him it wasn’t his fault. He could be told by everyone under the sun it wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t going to stop mentally flogging himself till Lucy forgave him. She is all the things he needs in this moment. Letting him know she thinks it’s ridiculous he would blame himself, that no one had any reason to suspect Caleb for what he was, and overall what happened wasn’t on him. Lucy is taking that weight off his shoulders and throwing it away. Never allowing him to pick it back up again.

He looks so damn relieved and honestly very vulnerable after she absolves him. It helps him start to close a self inflicted wound. Eric the king of facial expressions killing me softly in this scene. His eyes and the way he looks at her when she said wasn’t his fault. *heart clutch* He couldn’t even look at her till she said that. Then when he does he's in awe of her. Like he can't believe she doesn't blame him but is so grateful for her saying as such.

I love her also sharing it wasn’t hers either. It was not at all. (Growth for her too.) Looks like he's biting back his emotions when she lets Tim know how valued his opinion is. It's so sweet. He needed his sunshine human to apply some balm to his wounds. No one does it better than Lucy. She’s complimenting him while also reliving him of the guilt he’s been harboring for much longer than she would’ve liked.

Had she known this she would’ve absolved him the day after honestly. No way she would've wanted him carrying this guilt day in and day out. Her opinion matters so much to him. He NEEDED to hear her say these words. It had to come straight from Lucy or he’d never let it go. She reassured him that not only did she not blame him but his opinion was one that matters most to her. Two things that were in question for him. Quelled the storm in his soul.

It’s scenes like this that are the true building blocks to their foundation. Why they end up working so well in s5. I will die on this hill of loving every single moment of this slow burn. I’m so glad we had 4 seasons to truly make them rock solid. It was so necessary for them as a couple. I don’t regret the wait at all. Because piece by piece they were building toward ‘The Really Beautiful Place’ Lucy calls their relationship in 5x18. Everything happens for a reason for them before we get there. This is just another wonderful facet of it.

The minute he’s granted access and allowance to give her advice he doesn’t hold back. His way of showing he cares too. I love them so much for their ability to just bounce back like they do. After a deeply emotional and vulnerable chat they're right back to the banter. Easily fall back into teasing one another. Tim basically says in not so many words Emmett isn’t good enough for her.(I mean no one is but Tim lets be honest.)

Lucy probes and asks why he thinks that? Tim doesn't hesitate in the slightest. Saying he’s a firefighter for god sakes LMFAO. Clearly has a prejudice against them. For whatever Tim reason that may be. Lucy being all cute saying 'Yeah that’s what makes him so hot.' ha She’s not wrong the man is fine af.

Tim gets defensive and says he doesn’t want to talk about this if she gonna be contrarian about it. Which is Tim speak for being jealous let’s be real honest. Lucy doesn’t hesitate to call him out on it. God I love her. Jokes he’s just threatened by his ‘hunkiness’ I mean he is….his reaction alone proves that he is. It’s ok Tim she still thinks you’re smokin too. She just can’t have you just yet haha

I love them ending this scene on a funny bantery note. Shows how much Tim cares about her. The fact that he is allowing this conversation to even take place proves that. Indulging her in this. They’re so married with their banter. I Iove them sfm. Soulmate behavior the way she teases him about everything and he allows (and loves) it. We leave the scene smiling and laughing at these blissfully unaware idiots in love.

Harper has Lucy and Tim chase what they think is the decoy vehicle once their stakeout is made. They soon realize the decoy vehicle has their target and Nolan’s CI. They end up getting T-Boned in the pursuit of it. Hurts to watch. They're both knocked out cold. I adore how the first thing Tim asks when he comes to is if she’s alright. Always puts her first. The soft way he says ‘Chen’ then asks if she’s ok. It’s the little things I love so very much. ❤️

Emmett arrives on scene flirty as ever with Lucy. She decides to be honest with him. Tells him why she declined his date offer. That her social life is complicated right now. He is smooth af with his reply. Tells her once it’s not he’ll still be interested. Their scene ends pretty cute. This is so good for her. I’m really happy to see her get back out there. She really needed him to help her get over her DOD hump. Just like it’s nice to see Tim happy the same goes for Lucy. I love them both individually as as much as I do together. This cute flirt session is well deserved after all the trauma she’s been through.

Thus ends our episode for them. Such a damn good one for them. I love their building block episodes. They do depth and growth like no other. How I love them so.

Side Notes-Non Chenford

Nice to see Angela get her foot back in the door for Detective. Well earned after her fallout in S1.

Harper SL's and her backstory. Getting to watch her in UC action always fun to watch.

Thank you to those who take the time to like/comment and reblog. Means the world to me. Fuels me to do each review.

See you all in 2x18 :)

#Caitlin Rewatches The Rookie #chenford #chenford hiatus #summer rewatch #s2 #2x17 Control #The Rookie 2x17 #waiting on s6 #otp: doing my job #otp: you know me so well. too well. #otp: some things matter more #tim bradford #lucy chen #tim x lucy #lucy x tim #the rookie #eric winter #melissa o'neil #tim bradford x lucy chen

[gaslightgatekeepgirlbosscombat]

Semifinals, Poll 2

Propaganda under the cut

GLaDOS

I mean, obviously.

Ianthe Tridentarius

She is trying so hard to be the main character by lying and manipulating her sister, her cavalier, her mentor, her ?love interests? (Spoiler???) And also god. Not sure how it's working out for her but she does love to lie and manipulate

Worstie Ianthe is the DEFINITION of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. She is one of a set of necromancer twins that are the heirs to their houses rule. Except wait, only she is a necromancer and she has spent their entire lives doing necromancy for the both of them. She is constantly mean to their cavalier, Naberius, who she occasionally nibbles on like a chew toy, before eventually killing and eating him to ascend to sainthood. She goes to gods spaceship with another woman who ascended to sainthood who she has a crush on, this other woman is like…. Both incredibly mentally unwell and also haunted by at least 211 ghosts. Ianthes method of flirting with her? Gaslighting her about the corpse that keeps moving around and hiding under her bed. For no real reason tbh. She is clearly plotting to overthrow god, and at the moment that consists of her manipulating him while he’s too sad about his long term partners betraying him and subsequently exploding to really care. She dresses in terrible outfits and makes soup by burning onions to the bottom of a pot, putting meat in and some vegetables and then it doesn’t taste like anything so she puts in a few teaspoons of salt so it tastes like a few teaspoons of salt. She had her crush amputate her arm and regrow her a new one out of bone and it’s one of the horniest things I’ve read in my life.

"Gaslight = told her lobotomized (she helped), schizophrenic girlobsession that there was no corpse under their bed, even tho there totally was. Gatekeep = girl did NOT share the secret to god-like ascension. She kept that shit to herself until it was time to eat her boytoy, and by then everyone knew already. Girlboss = she has a non-necromancer twin sister, and literally Everyone thinks they r both necromancers because Ianthe is so good at it. She reverse engineered ascending to the aforementioned ascension without even completing any of the supplementary tasks. She held her own in a fight against a 10k year old lyctor. She becomes the figurehead of her entire empire. "

She uses a man as a chewtoy in the first book, literally gaslights the protagonist of the second book about a corpse, and elder-abuses God when he gets depressed in the third book. Nobody is doing it like her.

Dives headfirst with no regrets while basically laughing and covered in blood into murdering her cavalier once she realizes what the gothic locked room mystery/competition leads to while everyone else is questioning it, helps perform lobotomy on harrow so she doesn't remember the person she loves, manipulates everyone to get to the top

idk just everything about her

her relationship with her sister is incredibly Bad, she fosters codependency and views Corona(the sister) as an extension of herself. This does not stop her from keeping up the con that Corona actually has magic (She doesn't, it was always just Ianthe) for 22ish years and every single person who interacts with them falls for it. She killed a man against his will (most dying for this purpose specifically go willingly) and she consumed him and she will be burning his soul for eternity. She's completely repulsive and still somehow incredibly hot.

she takes advantage of the fact that the main character is prone to hallucinations. at one point she gaslights the mc into believing that the corpse under her bed isn't real just because she can. she reverse engineered a set of very complex trials on her own without anyone realizing she had the skills to complete them normally. she's also babysat god through his drunk and pathetic era.

Artist: olivecow (deviantart)

#decisive battle #semifinals #Portal #Portal 2 #GLaDOS #GLaDOS Portal #GLaDOS Portal 2 #tlt #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #the locked tomb #ianthe tridentarius #cw ianthe tridentarius #ianthe the first

[grison-in-space]

Speaking of rats playing hide and seek, do you ever play hide and seek with your dogs? My family's gsd loves it. We usually play with a ball--he does a sit, wait (or if he can't handle that, a kennel, wait) while someone hides the ball, then is released with an "okay! go find it!"--but he will also find a person if someone can hold and distract him while the other person hides.

Sometimes! It's actually a great way to practice getting a great recall for your dog that you can use in an emergency because playing that game teaches the dog that coming to find you is actually an interesting game, not just a signal that everything fun is ending now and you have to stop eating/doing/enjoying whatever was so fun in the first place. I should really play it more often. We did a bunch of it when Benton was a baby, but I haven't played that particular game with Matilda so much.

I've also hidden from my dogs outside the context of my household: Tribble was a little more cavalier than I liked in the giant off-leash dog parks Austin boasts when she was much younger, and several times when she got farther from me than I felt was safe, I deliberately didn't yell to her or show her where I was--I just watched from a hiding space, and I let her realize she didn't know where I was and start worriedly looking for maybe fifteen to thirty seconds. (This was not subtle--she'd start rapidly loping up to people, confirming they were not me, and checking the next person without bothering to interact.) Then I'd walk up and call her and she'd go OH MAN MY HUMAN IS HERE OH GOOD I THOUGHT YOU WERE LOST and I would go HEY MY DOG WHAT A GOOD DOG YOU ARE.

That's not what I would call a fun game from a doggy point of view, but it was a lesson I thought was really important having helped with a few dogs that got separated from their humans on those trails and panicked. I need my dogs to make keeping tabs on my a priority in unfamiliar spaces as a matter of safety, and I think the experience of briefly realizing that I could be lost cued Tribble to keep a closer eye on me in safe off-leash environments than she might otherwise have been inclined to do.

My life has changed a lot since I moved to Minneapolis, and I haven't gone looking for off-leash places for Matilda to explore. All three dogs (particularly the specklies) do love breaking into the basement to find "secret hidden Mo" when @kawuli is working down there. She's been gone on a trip for about a month now and they still occasionally scurry down there and check to see if she's been by. Matilda is also delighted when she jumps the baby gate and gets to find "secret Mo" in her upstairs migraine lair, too--there's something about finding a human that really seems to please the dogs.

#dogs

[travelerstakes]

anyone wanna hear a wrong theory?

Hello! It's the girl reading TLT wrong again!

I was thinking I might as well go over why I'm convinced that Gideon is possessing the sword. I do this acknowledging fully and readily that I'm probably more than half wrong, but I think my reasoning is fairly solid so for my own posterity and other's enjoyment, let's go.

(evidence at hand: Gideon The Ninth up till they first make planetfall and sunglasses get pulled out. Assorted osmosis tidbits. Harrow The Ninth up till mid chapter 21)

First, why I think the sword's haunted:

Look, nothing that wants to be bathed in arterial blood, casts the evil eye over entire rooms, and has an incredibly traumatized girl protecting it from thieves isn't haunted. I'm sorry, that's the rules. Additionally, this book made a point early on to make sure we knew how revenants work. You don't put these things next to each other if you don't want an audience to link them.

Second, why I think it's Gideon in there:

We're told three things that naturally get haunted by revenants: people they cared about, grave goods (stuff they cared about in life), and their murder weapons. If it's Gideon, at least two of these things are very readily available. Harrow, and her own two-hander. If there was actually a two-hander in the Sleeper's coffin (which I really doubt), that potentially becomes three things. If there was actually a Sleeper, anyways.

Now, I *do* suspect that Harrow's possessed. The second person perspective in the main timeline is incredibly suspicious, since it implies that while she's answering to "Harrowhark Nonagesimus" and is seemingly attached enough to the name to make its use a major element in probably-banging Ianthe, she isn't *actually calling herself that in her head.* Of course, given all the "reborn as myself" stuff and how incredibly messed up her life in general and during the events of this book specifically are, she might also just be dissociated as hell.

Besides, as a lyctor, she's clearly *supposed* to be possessed by her cavalier. And however the process of taking a loved one for parts and an auto defense system actually goes, it's obviously went funky as all get out with her.

It seems like a cavalier is supposed to be their lyctor's sword, at least on a metaphorical level. Knightly service, the godking calling his lyctors his fingers, and them apparently being supposed to turn into a lyctor's limbic system during the fusion. This being a very literal "hey, you're Her Sword now, have fun!" Situation is a logical extreme of that, and would probably piss Gideon off to no end at the beginning of the book. Of course, I know that GtN is a romance, so there's a non-zero chance that this has changed, which only makes it funnier.

Whoever it is playing Transistor at Harrow, Harrow has some *strong* feelings about it. They mostly aren't positive, but she's still incredibly, INCREDIBLY attached to her sword in often very literal ways. That implies it's someone she at least used to know.

Lastly, other people it might be:

Any weapon from the Ninth is gonna be a hand me down, and Ortus the Lyctor clearly super, SUPER wants it. Perhaps it's somebody he used to know?

I'd suspect Evil Femme Jesus, but it seems like she can get around just fine without being a hunk of metal, and Harrow has a pretty different feeling relationship with her that predates the sword owning.

A Memory of a Much Lesser Self? Harrow's clearly got a couple of those floating around...

#harrow the ninth #tale thoughts #Tale reads TLT wrong #the locked tomb

[blueeyedgrlwrites]

Get To Know Me

Tagged by @bigassbowlingballhead and @violetbaudelaire-quagmire

1. Were you named after anyone?

First name, yes. Some obscure Sally Field character from an 80s movie. Middle name, also yes. My momma.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Couple days ago? My memory is shit.

3. Do you have kids?

If you count my little cousins and my friends' kids that I would absolutely die for, then yes. Otherwise, no. The plan is to foster to adopt at some point.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

I've played basketball and softball, but I'm a much better spectator than a participant so if you need me, I'll be on the sidelines. Watching.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Me? Never.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Probably their eyes? It's true what they say and you can tell a lot about the type of person they are by their eyes.

7. What’s your eye color?

Blue.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings.

9. Any talents?

I used to play violin and my teacher told my parents I had natural talent for it. I can also sing, but you won't catch me doing that anymore outside of the shower or my car. Oh yeah, and writing.

10. Where were you born?

Colorful Colorado, U.S.A. (I'm sorry my country is a fucking mess right now y'all).

11. What are your hobbies?

coloring, writing, cross stitching, knitting, crocheting, reading, diamond painting

12. Do you have any pets?

I have an almost 13 year old cavalier king Charles spaniel named Lady, and yes, it is her house and she just lets us live here.

13. How tall are you?

5'4" on a good day

14. Favorite subject in school?

Choir

15. Dream job?

to not live in a capitalist hellscape where a 40 hour a week (or more) job is required to live. << you're right Jon, and you should say it more.

But in all seriousness, I'm actually thinking of going back to school to be an esthetician. How can you hate a job where you're making people feel good about themselves?

No pressure tagging @getmehighonmagic @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @firenati0n @bribumblebee

#get to know me #tag game

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 47 of Harrow the Ninth

Commander Wake's last thoughts, I guess? It's interesting that she could have chosen to save her own life by killing Gideon and didn't, especially since in the last chapter Mercy was talking about how she didn't care about family and didn't want to be a mother, and she doesn't seem like a motherly person, anyway, and she literally refers to Gideon as "the payload" here. Was Gideon's mere presence on Pluto meant to bring the plan to fruition somehow? Mercy definitely doesn't seem to think that worked out that way, but I don't know what Commander Wake was expecting to happen after she died, exactly

I'm not sure if he's trying to say here that she was haunted by a literal ghost, or haunted by a metaphorical ghost, or that going through that much bullshit fucks everyone up and she shouldn't be so hard on herself. Because I'm very interested to know if all those experiences were just due to her being haunted by literal ghost, personally

This is fun to contrast to Cytherea's recounting of this story back in Gideon the Ninth:

She makes it sound like they had some deep Seventh House heart-to-heart and Dulcinea was totally fine with this plan and didn't object to being killed at all. I love that we get to meet the real Dulcinea and find out that she does hate Cytherea just as much as everyone else does

Also, Harrow doesn't tell her this for some reason, but her lying about who her friends were did help Camilla figure it out, I think. Just not before she'd killed a bunch of people and Palamedes had figured it out by a different route

Who is she getting revenge on in this particular scenario, though? I don't think she really has a horse in this race. Cytherea is not here, John is not here, she doesn't have anything to do with Commander Wake and I don't think anyone in this scene actually knows who the Sleeper is at this point. Or does Dulcinea think that the Sleeper is Cytherea?

Is all the blood in the River bubble not actually real enough? Yes, it's all just a fake environment made of spirit, but like, other things in the bubble have been real enough to use for necromancy - the animal fat candles, or Harrow's bone chips, etc.

Does Harrow not recognize the suit? Gideon at least remembered the suit, but since Commander Wake's death wasn't actually all that relevant to Harrow and happened before she was born, maybe she was just never told about it. Did Wake then just randomly possess a sword that happened to be in the Ninth armory, and just by luck that sword was requested for Gideon? Only, when they were going through swords at the very beginning of Gideon the Ninth, all of them were old and rusted and unusable, so it would be probably somewhat remarkable for an actual good one to wind up in there, so maybe it does have some special history? Commander Wake almost certainly didn't actually have it on her when she died, she very much seems to prefer guns to gigantic swords

And Harrow always sensed that the sword was haunted, but Gideon never did, Gideon thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Is it just because Gideon has the necromantic ability of a brick, or did the sword being haunted by her mom actually draw her to it?

Is Harrow still interpreting her feelings about Gideon as just being like totally normal things to feel about you cavalier, and that's all that is, no romo, etc.?

It's definitely the sword

It's interesting that Wake calls them "wizards" and what they do "magic", you would think that BOE would really be playing up the evil necromancy angle here

So, I guess the ghosts can be killed permanently here, but since they're also imposing their own rules on the bubble, they can also survive things that should kill them in the real world with a strong enough belief, or will power, or something, like how Wake survived being shot multiple times by Marta?

This series sure does love long fights between people who technically can't die, I have to say it removes a lot of tension when so many people are immortal or otherwise unkillable

Can Wake actually exert her own rules on the bubble enough to make it possible to counter necromancy with guns?

I see. So Wake wants to take over Harrow's body, and presumably go kill John and end the whole war with a win for BOE. Or maybe she wants to resolve some shit with Mercy and Gideon the First as well, but I'm sure she also probably wants to kill John, and this book has been repeatedly promising that John will be murdered on every chapter header. I guess it was just perfect luck for Wake that the random sword she possessed wound up in Harrow's possession after she became a Lyctor and now she's on board the Mithraeum with everyone that Wake has unfinished business with?

I sense that Ortus is about to impose some hilarious new rule on the bubble, probably related to the Noniad

#the locked tomb #harrow the ninth