branw3lls

[branw3lls]

happy birthday to our lovely henry!🎊

he’s promised charlotte that by his birthday next year he will have invented a contraption which not only keeps the rain away and doesn’t turn inside out in the wind but it will also provide warmth to use on those cold, wet days whilst waiting for spring!

characters by @cassandraclare 💛

[branw3lls]

“Do you play? Chess, I mean.”

“Oh. Yes.” She replied feeling rather dumb.

He had a lovely face. Equally as lovely eyes. They were perfectly hazel; the inner ring of his irises starting out a pleasant bright umber sort of color, turning darker as it spread out, deep, and rich bringing to mind chestnuts, chocolate, and the bark on an old oak tree. Spots of gold and flecks of green seemed to litter the brown indiscriminately.

A triangle of gold in his left eye caught Charlottes attention. It was the exact gold of fresh honey- so sweet and warm she would have been content to stare forever, though even in that moment her eyes trailed downwards, wandering over his pale skin.

It seemed every inch of his face had some smattering of freckles- darker along his jaw, over his nose and across his cheeks- paling to only just visible where they ran down his neck, then darkening again when they reached his collarbone, disappearing beneath his shirt.

She wished she could count them, memorize them along with the colors in his eyes. She wished she could slip a hand under his shirt, pull it away, run her hands over every hidden freckle and pour over him the way an astronomer poured over the stars, and a cartographer poured over the rivers that carved the land. She wanted him to hold her, run his long fingers along her sides, over her hips and up her ribs, then a little farther up, cling to his shoulders and stay with him until she knew every inch of his skin like she knew the back of her own hands and and he knew her just as well-

“Charlotte?”

His voice snapped her out of her daze, bringing her back to reality- where Henry was looking at her expectantly, if not somewhat nervously. Clearly, he'd asked her a question.

“Beg pardon” She asked hastily, feeling herself flush with embarrassment “What did you say?

“I just-” Henry turned equally as red, but gestured at the chess board  “Would you care for a match?”

“Ah” Charlotte could still feel some heat sticking to her cheeks, but couldn't help but feel her chest warm at the proposal “Yes.”

- Snippet from a pre-TID Henry and Charlotte Fic

[branw3lls]

🫡

🌹

(send me a 🌹 and I'll give you a WIP snippet)

 “I want to be handled like that clock.”

“What was that, dear?” Her aunt asked from the doorway.

“Nothing,” Charlotte said quickly, hurrying after her. “Absolutely nothing”

[branw3lls]

…..um i still haven’t read chain of thorns 🙃

[branw3lls]

Hey, Happy Valentine’s Day!!

happy valentine’s day!!! ♥️♥️♥️

[branw3lls]

cassie leak the scandalous letters!

[branw3lls]

halfway through chain of gold and i’m not gonna rush my re-read, be back w my CoG thoughts while i try and dodge anymore spoilers and hopefully i’ll finish chain of thorns by the end of next week

[branw3lls]

“she’d had no idea grace was interested in reading, or anything really besides torturing men and raising jesse from the dead.” *

[branw3lls]

“When he was tired, or people were unreasonable, or his little brother wailed outside his door, Christopher remembered the smile on the face of the Shadowhunter he respected most, and Henry saying ‘Come, Christopher. Take up your best weapon, and fight your best fight.’” 

[branw3lls]

cp2 thoughts!

-i’m stressed!!!!! theres no chain of gold audiobook available at any of the 3 libraries i’m a member of and it’s gonna take me too long to read during the week. i want to read CoT when it comes out, i am so bad about staying offline when i know there are spoilers but i want to give myself time to process my re-read. tlh books are so fucking long! thankful but i’m stressed!

- again listened to the audiobook and forgot it’s daniel sharman of teen wolf fame lol but he’s very good! was he another will fancast of the time? does not sing the irish ballads but he has a very nice voice and does all the accents well. does will with a welsh accent, you gotta love it

-this book this book this book. it’s gut punch after gut punch

“though i am the consul and lead the clave, it seems very much to me that this will go down as the time as charlotte branwell, and my legacy will be lost.” WELL! 

-consul wayland’s turn is still very abrupt to me, at least how it escalates from clockwork prince. he really turns to comically evil and i feel like we’re getting that with bridgestock. bridgestock has been much more straightforwardly a dick and but still. god will she ever catch a break 

-curse-less will is so heartbreaking and wonderful to see. makes me love dad!will even more. he’s just a goofy guy 

-‘that is what it means to be consul, charlotte’ i really think chain of thorns is going to put charlotte into more duty over family/loved ones whether that’s lucie being charged w something for necromancy or the inquisitor learning about matthew’s secret and forcing her hand in front of everyone to have him punished and to hurt her. i don’t think she’d punish either of them but i do think it’s going to be put in front of her. she will always bend the law for the ones she loves but how long/to what degree is she able to do that and still be consul. i’m scared!!!!!!!

-‘even his tufts of ginger hair radiating anxiety and love’ charlotte and henry showing small little affection towards each other makes any onlooker have to look away from them almost every time. their power

-can’t believe cecily is only in one book and is still such a big presence. gabrily forever! they fucking rock. charlotte gave gabriel one comforting hug and he said ok actually, i would die for you queen 

-i love these siblings and i love that tlh is even more about siblings and families

-charlotte interrupting literally every couple’s tender moments by abruptly swinging the library door open. i can’t imagine the institute after clockwork princess, too many couples, everyone had to be secretly making out in corridors constantly

-gewgaws!! gideon writing these letters to the consul about charlottes fake spending habits is soooo funny. lucie needs to ask her uncle gideon to be her editor

-mortmain is a fun villain. it’s almost scarier that he’s just a mortal human man who has twisted technology and dark magic and created something more sinister than a supernatural villain would and his motivations are all very tragic. i like exploring more of the downworlder tension/ shadowhunter relations and how that’s always an undercurrent of all these series

-bridget daly what the hell are you, sister

-the cadair idris battle scene kills me every time every time! “i am not mad! he is alive! he is alive and i will not leave him!” henry and charles both have been brought back from the brink of death by warlock magic and if charlotte has to also hold matthew while he’s injured and dying, i’ll lose it. no more gravely injured fairchilds! 

-it does feel like this book has about 6 different endings but i kind of always love that about tsc books. the big climax/battle is almost in the middle of the book and there’s plenty of fallout. like as much as there will always be angst and people we love dying, cc will always give us so many small sweet scenes as a balm. not that CoT will end happy per say but that’s a long fucking book. christmas at the institute is so so beautiful and i am dreading this christmas party at the institute where ‘terrible things happens”

-do you think callida fairchild died at the clockwork attack at the council meeting

-the god damn epilogue....nothing has messed me up quite the same way since. traumatizing truly. herongreystairs really is something else.  tessa leaving really makes me cry cry cry.  i know will’s death scene is not to be referenced for any tlh outcome anymore but “fairchild sons and daughters with curling red hair like henry’s had once been” i choose to believe this not referencing henry being dead but actually henry’s hair is just grey at that point

[branw3lls]

“‘the last time i saw you this shocked was when that iblis demon was sending christopher love letters’ ‘i have a dark charm.’ said christopher sadly.” *

[branw3lls]

While his sister ran wild playing with their cousins Kit was often quite content to watch quietly in his mothers arms or sit breaking apart one of his toys

[branw3lls]

clockwork prince thoughts

-ok i’m so not gonna finish my re-read in time even with audiobooks unless i do literally nothing this weekend- godspeed to all trying to re-read at this point

-i listened to the audiobook for this one which is sad bc it’s my favorite tsc book and probably my one of my top favorites of all time but it’s also nice to listen to. ed westwick who is cancelled but really was the will fancast of the time and they have him do all the will scenes and the poetry quotes between chapters and it’s unfortunately quite good. i also like him reading the magnus chapters. the female narrator gets points for literally singing all of bridget’s irish ballads but loses a few for making charlotte sound like mrs. potts

-i love this fucking book! everyone is kissing everyone everyone is freaking out and the full angst hasn’t set in yet

-you knooooooow i love the charlotte and henry confession scene. i could quote it. those two are it, they’re everything. if they don’t have some semblance of happiness and also twin girls by the end of chain of thorns i s2g...

- “i married you because-because i knew i wouldn't mind how difficult directing this place was, or how badly the clave treated me, if I knew yours would be the last face i saw every night before i went to sleep” why does this part get me the most! how were they so lonely for 4 years! they make me want to sob! it’s enough to just be around each other even though that’s so painful 

-cc really put her whole ass into this love triangle. there’s nothing like it never had been never will be, it transcends

-woolsey darling

-the trip to york- everything with aloysius and his granddaughter. i like seeing other institutes. also the fallout of the accords and certain shadowhunter’s reluctance to follow them/ having spoils. the accords are still so new at this point and it’s so interesting to me

- “it was a rare and novel thrill when henry gave orders”

-this is such a good second book 

-is cyril in the last hours?? i wonder where he ended up. are mundane servants allowed to work in houses in idris? he should have a little scene 

-i looOOooove the brothers lightwood. gideon really is that girlie who studies abroad for 6 months and makes it their whole personality 

- charlotte- when she kicks a fucking stone wall in the council chamber ♥ when she has to interrogate jessie with the mortal sword then bursts out in tears ♥ when the hell did she have time to get tessa a new wardrobe ♥ “it’s my plan now” ♥  mother

-sooooo many mentions of the chain of gold/iron/thorns/flowers dickens quote in these books

-nate is the worst so long clown bye bye

[branw3lls]

a playlist for matthew fairchild 

[branw3lls]

oh consul my consul 🫡

[branw3lls]

brother snackariah jem carstairs, character by @cassandraclare

[branw3lls]

various clockwork angel thoughts

-listening to the audiobook so i can get through everything before chain of thorns. i’ve both read and listened to the infernal devices books so many times, and prefer to read but i have a deadline baby! miss elizabeth bennet herself, jennifer ehle, narrating is so fun. her choice to give gabriel a goofy ass lisp is so fucking nuts but i respect her giving us variety in her accents 

-thomas tanner making me sad this time for some reason! never cared too much about him before but the bit about how thomas and will were so close before jem arrived, shadow hunter and the servant boy 

-charlotte always worried and henry always making soothing noises, i think this is mentioned like 20 times in 3 books 

-holy water, holy water and blood 

-i would read a brother enoch novella

-i never really appreciate how much i like tessa as our protagonist. she strikes a really perfect balance for me. i’m never annoyed with her, i love her i get her choices, i’m so FOND of her, i want her happy, i want her to have it all. she could very easily be boring at any moment but never is 

-god this would make such a fun show! will it ever happen

-ok now how the fuck did balios and xanthos the horses become magic horses who can take a carriage places without a driver??? thomas or cyril always has to drive in TID but in TLH these horses are on autopilot! i’ve never seen cassie answer this in an ask and maybe i’ll find it this time in my re-read but please let me know if you know because it’s so fucking funny to me

- forgot about the mention of guns and why they can’t use them as weapons against demons and that henry has been trying to get them to work even back then and then we got to see that come back in tlh

-jessamine rules, truly so so mean and so so funny. i can’t believe jessie has just been hanging out as a ghost for 24 years

-i want to see grownup sophie and will hanging out. they are so funny in this book. sophie hates his guts 

-jem and charlotte also have a dynamic i love. jem supports and listens probably more than anyone else in the institute

-drama queen will makes me wonder what it would be like if we got midnight heir version of james. i do really love the james herondale we have but would LOVE to see what cassie was originally do with the melodrama

-i think i also love this series the most bc i don’t love faerie/ the fae or seelie queen/ court drama and there’s practically none to be found 

- i love everyone i love these people i love their children and i don’t want to see them sad EVER AGAIN

-are we gonna see tessa use her power in chain of thorns? i know tlh is not about the parents but i do think they’re all going to play a larger part in events or be in peril and have to be saved by their kids or something in that vain