carelessflower

[carelessflower]

bib spoiler

Let imagine a scenario where malec is featured in better in black and they got the same misunderstanding/fake cheating plot line as black stairs, how would you react im curious 🧐

[carelessflower]

Happy Wednesday! Alec gets turned into a cat and Magnus is the one who finds him?

happy wednesday! it has been a while but here we go. slightly different as while alec hunts magnus down, magnus is the one who decides to keep him. i hope you enjoy it and it still makes it to you!

<3 lumine

these streets are a jungle

The Institute will be useless for his needs. Alec’s quite aware of that as he watches them running about. His lips curl, nearly showing his fangs when he spots the stupid little red-head who got him cursed like this.

Insulting the faerie queen and having Alec pay the price as her ‘leader’.

As if she’s ever listened to a thing he’s said, let alone followed a single command.

They didn’t see what happened to him. 

Only knew that the vines took him to a pool that he was thrown in and when he’d dragged himself out he’d had fur instead of skin and claws instead of fingers. The body is unfamiliar yet powerful and Alec isn’t afraid for himself.  His teeth can clearly bite through whatever he needs to, but he can’t risk being attacked by his own people.  The very oaths they hold would cripple their energy internally.  For all that it would be the easiest way of exposing himself, it would also bring harm to those under Alec’s command.

Harm that is owed to Fray, not the loyal hunters under Alec’s command.  Jace is too enchanted to let her face a true unknown.  No, he’d use Alec’s well-trained, bred for battle, baptized in blood and tempered by death hunters as fodder for the daughter of a megalomaniac. One who shows no care for the lives they live, the sacrifices they make or the burdens they carry. 

This is an adventure to her.

Something she even dares to involve a mundane in.

Fray is asking for her friend’s death and when it comes, she’ll undoubtedly blame everyone but herself and her friend.  Both who insist they understand the cost, as if they’ve ever paid or held the worth of a life in their hands before.

Alec pads quietly away from the Institute.

No, he will find no sanctuary or aid there.  Not right now and not while it puts his own at risk.  There are other options and among them his best choice is to try and meet with the local high warlock.  No one will be stupid enough to think he’s a mundane creature but Alec doubts they’ll be able to guess what and who he is.

The club he heads to is the same as the one they met Fray in and Alec hopes this is a site of fate realigning and not further testing him. 

It’s bright and dark at the same time. Pulses of light and snatches of music amid the screaming and it reeks of sweat and sex and beneath that power. Magic brushes across his fur like a hand petting over his spine, but it’s curious not harmful.  It feels much safer than the fae magic that still clings to him despite escaping that forest.

Alec doubts he was supposed to escape.  No doubt the queen expected him to wander and wait and be lost in his animal mind and he almost was.  Except nephilim are not human. Alec thinks a mistake was made.  That perhaps this ritual has never been done on one of nephilim blood.  Whatever lived in Alec that was mundane is gone.  It was weak to the primal instinct and devoured but his nephilim blood remained.

Hungry and stronger than a mere beast.

So Alec remained in control but felt different.  It was easier to think now, easier to compartmentalize and Alec no longer felt torn between instinct and duty because he knew better.  Without more petty emotions controlling him like shame and guilt, Alec could see where he’d made missteps.  The weakness he’d allowed to grow within his own pride.  The infection of disloyalty and disobedience that was slowly festering into rot.

Alec would cull his own before he allowed such a thing to pass.  It was not merely fondness and emotions on the line, but the lives and legacy of every single shadowhunter who had sworn to Alec personally. The bonds of family could not be allowed to prevail over the honor and loyalty and lives that are in Alec’s hands.

Every disrespect and careless remark towards Alec is a blow to everyone who follows him, who takes sincere pride in being one of Alec’s hunters.

It means that when this is over, things will change and not in the way he had once expected.

The local High Warlock is located here, most of the time and Alec can only be hopeful that this is one of the night Bane is in.

He is.

Better yet his scent is as soothing as his features are stunning and Alec can only be pleased he doesn’t have the ability to blush or stumble over his words.  Even a beast can recognize a god and while that might seem blasphemous, Alec doesn’t care.

Alec’s allowed to approach and he’s very aware that he’s being allowed.  Most likely as an indulgence of curiosity for Bane than as a courtesy for Alec.

Except, Bane only draws Alec in the closer he gets and so instead of doing something normal, like offering a paw. Alec just steps into Bane’s space and brushes against the outstretched hand in greeting before lowering his head to rest on Bane’s lap.

There’s a moment of stark silence in a space that should be roaring with noise and then Bane’s hand is on his head and Alec doesn’t think anything has felt so much like benediction before. Even if Bane can’t figure it out quickly, or doesn’t try to at all. Alec’s aware enough that if Bane decides to protect him — even if only for curiosity or amusement — it will be the safest place for him.

—

Magnus isn’t sure what to expect when his magic dances beneath his skin.

His interest is piqued by the power approaching, the force of energy and the magic that his own power finds both enthralling and delightful.

What approaches is even more extraordinary than he thought.  Magnus can’t determine the last time he saw someone so completely comfortable in their animal skin.

Interestingly enough, Magnus also can’t tell what it is.

Even his magic can’t decipher the creature before him but Magnus doesn’t care.

It’s panther shaped, for the most part.

It even mostly as the coloring of a melanistic panther, yet the rosettes of it’s coat gleam a cold hoarfrost blue against the abyssal black of it’s coat.

It’s larger than a mundane one would be and very clearly magical as it ignores the crowd and walks confidently to Magnus.  Though, considering that Magnus has been practically petting it with magic since it arrived, he’s not surprised.

Magnus expects some sort of formal greeting. There are ways that these are done even when in another form like the panther is.  Except his guests bypasses all such formalities, only brushing a soft jaw against the tips of Magnus’ fingers — permission to touch then — and sets their head down on Magnus’ lap.

Like it belongs there.

Magnus marvels at the heavy weight on his thighs and pets over smooth, gleaming fur and listens to a purr deeper than the roar of a storm.

Fae magic clings to his guest but beneath that is wildness and a cold, foreign energy that Magnus only recognized from his many — and often lamented — mishaps involving nephilim.

Yet Magnus feels nothing but the growing of his interest and the waning of his patience.

The night continues and despite Magnus' own impatience his guest making no move to rush him and Magnus sits there. Entertaining and corralling his court while he pets the danger purring in his lap.

—

AN:

Alec: actually i planned on just, asking for help but you smell really nice and i may have been in crisis mode and had my identity rewritten and so i'm going to take the peace i have here on your lap before you change your mind once you find out i'm nephilim.

magnus: oh yes, of course... changing my mind is actually something i will not be doing. thank you very much alexander for that lovely suggestion but shush. pretty kitties should be pampered and you are the prettiest of my cats

alec: ... you have other cats?

magnus' balcony clowder of cats looking at Magnus in pawtrayal:

magnus: merely a metaphor sweetheart *sends up ward to redirect the strays to a local shelter* purely a metaphor.

-

alec: well im not risking anyone of my peoples lives and jace wont let fray face me and since she hasn't sworn any oaths to me it wouldn't work... but it would sure be poetic

alec: guess i'll find the local high warlock

alec: oh no he's hot

alec: oh no i feel comfy and safe and i am suddenly very tired and his hand is nice and he smells good

magnus: i have no idea who or what this is but it's mine okay? okay. thank you for coming, goodbye

-

magnus: since you cannot possibly give me your name like this i will simply call you kitten

alec getting scritches: mhmm, okay sure. thats fine.

magnus: i have perfected the art of petting and shall finally put it to good use

-

magnus with a collar and a bell: it will help make sure you can move through my wards freely and are protected

-

magnus when alec transforms back: oh well i guess i will not be finding a way to keep him as a cat. clearly he needs to be capable of being in both form.

magnus is not losing his kitten okay? also he likes how terrified people are when alec purrs in his lap but growls at others.

[carelessflower]

Alec: Do you want me to pretend I can't see you sneaking out right now?

Izzy: if you could, yeah. That'd make this a lot less embarrassing for both of us

[carelessflower]

all i remember from the book is malec domestic and magnus ready to sacrifice to become a demon for alec

idk about you guys but nothing about the main plot of tlbotw feels canon to me? what my brain does accept as canon are rather tons of smaller moments taken out of context such as Magnus and Alec being unable to get their hands off each other for a few seconds; cardboard Alec; Simon having a breakdown over George; Malec's domestic life in general; and tons of other small things I can't remember because it's been a while since I read it.

but tmi gang having to go to another hell dimension and whatever happened there read to me like a fever dream. overall the book was funny as hell and I remember laughing a lot while readingー but I do hope story-wise she'll take a different approach for the last tec book. there are other ways to keep readers interested than making the stakes as high as she did with the events in tlbotw, I think? I believe most of us where there mainly for post-cohf tmi gang and malec anyway.

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im in love with their love

Malec textposts

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h-hey guys

apparently clouded leopards can use their claws to hang upside down

wild huh

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Mark Zuckerberg made a pedophile AI

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Making this its own post because listen. The parallels between Maryse and Alec both losing their brothers as teens and then going on to name their sons Max. Neither of them were able to have a strong connection with their brothers because of the age difference and they both felt as though they failed them (Maryse let her Max leave without a fight and Alec wasn't there to protect his Max from Sebastian), but their sons became proof that Maryse and Alec could rebuild the family they had lost, and that their love for their brothers lived on into the next generation. And then Maryse lost her son but she got her brother back, and Alec will never see his brother again but he'll get to watch his son grow into adulthood.

[carelessflower]

​alec really just gonna be a small part of that box im crashing tf out

"how long do i have left with my dog 'till i start forgetting shit?" but it's tessa realizing all her friends have gray hair and her kids look older than her. it's "she had forgotten the precise blue of his eyes and the depths of his laugh". it's magnus keeping a box of memories of his past lovers and alec asking if he's gonna end up there one day. it's magnus telling max that one day it'll be just the two of them..

[carelessflower]

Oops no bestie max here is maryse brother!

better in black & cheating

Again, big spoilers for Better in Black, so click away if you haven't read it yet.

Is it just me, or is the theme of cheating, infidelity, and broken trust so prevalent in this collection?

First, we have the full-on cheating

Who the Wolf Loves: Luke-Jocelyn hooking up after the uprising - breaking of Luke-Valentine parabatai oath and Valentine-Jocelyn

Nene's sister, who was betrayed and then seduced Nene's lover

Then there's the "mistaken" cheating:

Bred in the Bone: I mean, I'm tempted to put this in the full-on cheating category; lots of people think it's not that. But in my opinion, it did end up crossing into the cheating category; the intention doesn't make it not cheating, despite how much good intention it is. I really do like this story, though, also Thule!Emma taunting Emma, the theme of cheating and broken trust again.

A Surfeit of Annas: The narrative makes Ari think Anna is cheating on her

City of Broken Hearts: Ajatara's demon lover thought she cheated on him that caused all other issues making the main plot on the story

Not romantic cheating, but a betrayal:

The Time of Two: Max was essentially kicked out of his family, especially feeling shunned by Maryse

The Judgement of King Kieran: someone pretending they were not who they were

The Beautiful Ajatara: The relationship between the author and the reader, and how the reader can feel "betrayed" if the story doesn't go in the direction they have anticipated

8 out of 10 stories contain some elements of betrayal and cheating. What is going on?

[carelessflower]

characters raised to be tools

Weapons. Trained, tested, forged in steel and fire. Failure is an inevitability that ends in death. Pain should not be felt--it should be recognized, familiar, and inconsequential

Martyrs. In the form of servants and princes, of leaders and underdogs. If blood is necessary, the martyr will lift their hands and offer it all

Shields. Like tempering a sword, but only to bear and not to lash out. Wounds are medals--not symbols of pride, but symbols of worth. A pretty shield is useless; scars mean a job well done

Experiments. Raised on the cold comfort of a lab table. Restraints are only necessary when they're not in their right mind. Is it honorable, to be twisted beyond recognition? Or is it just a necessary evil?

Monsters. Cruelty, caution, and regarding one as a creature beyond reasonable thought is tempering in its own right. But if you keep a leash at the right length, perhaps the massecre won't reach you. One can hope.

Idols. Pretty face, pretty name, pretty hands around their shoulders and throat. There to seduce, manipulate, force any feeling to come to the surface and twist it to their favor. Any genuinity stays locked behind the guilded cage that surrounds their pretty little heart

Trophies. Status and wealth and the traditions that keep someone at their heels, on their knees, to display and serve and decorate one's ballroom.

Sacrifices. Drenched in honorable clothes, prepared and adored and cleansed. The gift of hope at the cost of one's life. Is it taken with no fight? How can you escape the ropes you were born in?

[carelessflower]

on survival

-// @aridante // @orivu // @buzzkillgirls // ? // ? // richard siken// @cemeterything // moomin, tove jansson// @disenchanted-killjoy // isn't that enough, shawn mendes// @ prettytheyswag on twitter// @ coletyumuch on twitter// ? // ? // bird by bird, anne lamott// undertale// @strawberrycircuits

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after getting cockblocked by a herd of demons Magnus would have been completely justified in making this joke, really

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“You could give me the past,” he said a little sadly. “But Alec is my future.”

—City of Fallen Angels—

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SKSKEKEKDEOEOEODODKDIEIEIDO HELP

Okay you know what, I'll just say it

Magnus Bane would own a labubu

Not because he's rich, no. He actually, unironically, loves them

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why does this articulate perfectly how I feel about meeting people and trying to get closer to them— I get you completely on this Alec.

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they are each other anchor and ocean

one thing that stands out to me starkly in trsom so far is the tranquility that settles over Magnus in Alec’s presence. on the train to Venice Magnus describes that his soul has been spinning freely within himself for a long time with no place to point home. then he holds hands with Alec and they have dinner in companionable silence.

it only occurred to me after a while that on any other occasion, prolonged silence on Magnus’ behalf might have seemed uncharacteristic; usually Magnus is a whirlwind and chaos with a sharp tongue. the man loves to yap and charm and joke around and flirt a little. when he does fall silent there’s often a sense of gravity or deep seriousness involved, or perhaps some bad news that is his to share. but with Alec it seems so normal to let silence settle comfortably; I almost glanced over the scene without noting how not normal this is for Magnus.

which reminded me of tftsa: when Magnus is holding Max for the first time and Simon feels instant relief because he trusts Magnus is the most adult-adult person out there to take care of the situation, always the picture perfect of level-headedness with nerves of steel. Alec arrives later. he puts a hand on Magnus’ arm and Magnus visibly relaxes— only then it becomes clear that he was not feeling nearly as collected as he appeared to others. Simon steps away with full confidence in Magnus, commending him on how he dealt with the situation so calmly; meanwhile Magnus was quite literally feeling on the verge of a heart attack.

early in trsom Magnus also notes how utterly strange it feels to be taken care of by someone. I can’t imagine what a relief it must be to finally have someone to put a protective hand on yours, or to support your head on their shoulder in order to share a little of the weight that is stacked too heavily on your own— allowing to be comforted and learning to feel comfort after centuries of always having to be the dependable one for others to rely on.