#YOU'RE A GUEST

[something-about-sunflowers]

ONE WOULD THINK.

THAT SOMEONE'S NAME.

BEING WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS.

ON EVERY SIDE OF A CONTAINER.

WOULD INDICATE THAT YOU SHOULD.

AT LEAST.

ASK SAID PERSON.

IF YOU CAN HAVE SOME OF WHAT IS IN THE CONTAINER.

AND THAT YOU SHOULD UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE.

TAKE SOME WITHOUT ASKING AT ALL.

ONE WOULD THINK.

[queerprayers]

Waiting for God is like... You're expecting a guest. You haven't seen them in ages. You know they're coming, although you forget the exact time. And you don't need to impress them—they'd probably sleep on the floor, but why wouldn't you give up your bed? And it's not clean enough and you don't have matching curtains and they're not gonna care because they love you but you'll still probably do your best. Scrub the counter, at least. So you try to stay up to greet them but they're late or you were wrong about the day and you keep dozing off. All you really have to do is be at home when they knock and you'll wake up and figure everything out when they get here—but who wants to answer the door half-asleep? And you can probably get a few more things done while you're waiting. You can light a candle—that's welcoming, right?

So maybe you stay up doing dishes or maybe you give up and go to bed, but the knock makes you jump either way. It's light outside when you let them in, and that's not right, it can't be morning already. The windows are dark. Anyway, you're pouring them tea and apologizing for the mess and you realize they're not a guest at all—they live here, actually. Have your whole life. They probably make your lunch every day. Your house isn't yours at all, now that they're here, now that they've arrived and always been here. It's been yours, plural, yours together, and isn't it lovely that you don't have to worry about the curtains matching anymore? They've already seen them and chosen to stay every time.

There's another knock at the door. They arrive and you pour them tea. You get some sleep. You stop being surprised when your lunch is ready to go. You're expecting a guest. They make themselves at home; they are at home; they've been making themselves a home.

Your days are spent opening the door. They've been gone for so long; how could they have left you; why are they always forgetting to use a coaster and leaving icy circles on the wooden table; why can't you have any privacy in this house; you can't find them anywhere; this is only home when they're here; they keep arriving and you keep making tea do you think they'll ever get tired of tea do you they'll get tired of you opening the door half asleep do you think they're secretly annoyed by the mismatched curtains

Someone knocks on the door. You are interrupted. You keep forgetting you're expecting a guest. You were hoping they'd come and interrupt you. Someone knocks on the door. You're awake. You always make enough tea for two.

Eventually someone doesn't knock on your door. You find them on your doorstep waiting. You've been expecting a guest. The windows of your house are open all the time now, even though it's dark and cold, and you make your home some tea. It's never cold inside, as if opening the door let in warm air instead of cool. The candle you lit has been burning without getting smaller. You can't remember why you used to be surprised, why waiting was frantic. You wash the dishes because that's the next thing to do; because you wash the teacup of your not-guest like it's the chalice of a king.

One day you don't have a door anymore. You can see through the walls of your house and the whole galaxy spreads out before you. They're expecting a guest. You walk outside. The universe makes you tea.

[canisalbus]

You mentioned before that the people who would have access to Machete's bedchamber would likely already know about Vasco. How did that come up in your mind? Did they get caught in the act or was the subject broached with enough trust? How did those people handle it? Sorry if this is a bit vague but I thought about it today and I'm very interested. :)

I think it just has to be the case, I can't imagine how they could manage to hide the fact Vasco is bunking with him from everyone, for years and years. Machete doesn't live alone, he has staff and servants who do his housekeeping and run his errands. Even if Vasco didn't stay there for any extended periods of time and snuck out the back door to avoid attention, I'm assuming at least the people who do his laundry and change his sheets would eventually detect that some sort of funny business had happened. But the number of people who are in on it is still very very small and tightly controlled. His assistant Vittorio definitely knows and helps to manage this situation, so does his personal doctor, and on top of that maybe a handful of most trusted high-ranking emplyees, which he has vetted extremely carefully and pays handsomely for their discreetness and prudence.

[backpackingspace]

Anyway I love hua cheng has """kidnapped"""" xie lian fics. It's about the chaos. The shenanigans! The duality of the heavenly Court freaking out! Cut to hualian having a cute date! Jun wu mentally trying to rearrange his plans realistically sending xie lian to investigate should have disrupted their relationship why are they now getting married??? Xie lian popping in to the heavenly group chat going I'm FINE!!! Please please stop sending people to rescue me. Yes I've definitely been kidnapped let it go!!

[nattikay]

friendly reminder that Neteyam is a well-adjusted kid who has a good relationship with his parents, that he tries his darnedest to be a good warrior because he genuinely looks up to his dad and wants to be like him, and that the idea that Jake and Neytiri are "forcing" him to be perfect, that they "stole his childhood" or that he's "not allowed" to be a kid, etc. are all pure fanfiction with little to no evidence in canon thanks bye

[caesthoffe]

people have said "the girls and gays" so much that a lot of cishet women are under the impression that gay bars are spaces that should prioritize their comfort as well, even if they're not queer

[oscar-fastri]

congratulations logan sargeant for getting a ttpd song just for him!

[vaguely-concerned]

Thinking about the symbolic weight of smoking in the TLT universe that comes to the fore in The Unwanted Guest -- the way it moves through from person to person: Pyrrha smoked, and Augustine wanted to impress her in all her stone cold fox MILF James Bond glory (and tbf who wouldn't) so he started too. and even though as far as he knows she's been gone for a myriad and is never coming back, he keeps the habit. Ianthe sees something in the hollowed-out Faberge eggshell of Augustine that resonates with her, all that gilded eloquent emptiness and disdain through the ages, so she picked it up from him to try to emulate it. She picked it up so hard that Palamedes -- the exact spiritual antithesis of the 'smoking! on a space station! what a powermove' ennui Ianthe so admired -- spontaneously unnerded enough to even known how to, simply from a sort of contact contamination of the soul.

G1deon and Augustine sharing a jittery smoke after their near-Harrow experience during soup night, and it's the closest thing to any real sense of brotherhood that remains between them. Pyrrha going ten thousand years dying both literally and for a smoke (and then Camilla sold her fucking cigarettes (for a third of what they were worth, probably Pyrrha's own good, and also more importantly grocery money). what an entirely haunted time to be alive etc.). Augustine and Mercy trading a cigarette back and forth in the middle of their collusion over the love and murder of god.

An act of small and measured self-destruction in the name of something a little bit like connection when you're stuck somewhere in yourself where love itself dares not or cannot tread (ritualized, transmissible)..........

[locked-in-the-tomb]

A Theory (or, Jod help me, I'm yanthy posting again)

As per always, I've been pondering the implications of The Unwanted Guest and what it might mean for Ianthe in atn. And I've come to a realization.

(Major spoilers for Nona the Ninth and The Unwanted Guest to follow.)

It's been a hot minute since I've reread htn, but from what I recall, Ianthe generally presents as femme and seems to push "femme-ness" on women in general, to the point that she manipulates Harrow's body so her hair grows out and there's an entire scene in which she dolls up Harrow in preparation for the big lyctor dinner party.

But then in ntn, we see Ianthe: 1. Is strutting around 100% of the time in a uniform that could be described as either gender neutral or literally masculine 2. Is calling herself a "prince" (recall that Naberius Tern was a prince) 3. Has literally renamed herself Ianthe Naberius (a female and male name shoved together, among other things)

(Another detail I want to mention from htn: Ianthe's eye is color constantly changing, showing how she is struggling to assimilate Babs.)

Moving on the The Unwanted Guest, we see Ianthe taking on anonymous dueling opponents and criticizing their form, then recounting Naberius' duel with Gideon as though she were present (she was not).

Now, consider this in light of the other lyctors, who lived for thousands of years without noticing themselves taking on characteristics of their cavaliers or recognizing it happening in the others. You'd think if a lyctor generally started virtually transforming into their cavalier as quickly as Ianthe, somebody would have picked up on that by now, right?

Now consider the one thing that makes Ianthe different from every other lyctor in the series: she ate her cavalier's soul against his will.

My theory is that Naberius is trying to take control of Ianthe. They are a house divided against itself. I think in atn Ianthe is going to be torn apart (maybe literally??) by the division in her soul. Hell, maybe we'll even see Babs take over for a scene. They are already a half-dead Frankensteinian wreck of a human being. Even though Ianthe is far from the worst (in terms of committing large-scale atrocities) character in the series, I think she is going to end up suffering one of the nastiest fates. Because for her, after a lifetime of trying to find a way to prove her worth, losing herself forever is the worst thing that could happen. Ianthe can't prove that she's better than everyone if there is no Ianthe! Ianthe Tridentarius is gone. (Long live İ̵̧̡̛̤̟̗̟͈̼̻̰̺͉̺̂̏͐͆͗͂͊͝ă̴͔̞̺̥͕̗͚͗̏̿̍̏̈́̎̏͊̆͑̚͠ṋ̴͕͕͕̥̰͓͖̬̪̖͖̩͙͗͜t̸̖̘̓̈́͜h̵̛̪͙̯͚͙̲͕̫͓͙̪̽̓̓̆̏̂̒̀e̸̡̛̫͙̩̭̼̙̤̱̪̩̦͇͑͒̂̈́̆̀̐̑̄͜͜͠ ̸͎̣̫̹̱̦̯̘̥̞͌N̵̢̨̢̛̬͉͖̰̖͈̝̦͗́̈̀̈́́̄̕͝͠ͅą̸̧̢̡̩̼̯̯̻͎̯͔̻̺͗̿̽̒̉̑͂̀̋̾̔͐́͘͝b̵̨͎̪͖͍̙̮̎̓̽̾́̉͂ę̷̩̻̼̼̙̯̭̩̘̳̖̅͗͐̍͘͜r̸͕̲̘͚̘̮̙̺̟͙̐͛̏̎̔͛̂̌̓̈́̐̿͆͌̏i̴̠͙̗͎̣̻̽̃͐̇̚͜ư̷̛͙͔͉̅̀͂̎̉͠s̶͙̤̗̻̫̹̯̞̦͔͛͑̌̃̒̏̊̊͌̉̆̄́̕).

Basically, we're going to find out what happens to someone who consumes a soul against that person's will. And it isn't going to be pretty.

[oksanasanna]

Re-reading The Unwanted Guest and realizing that Ianthe doesn't actually see Coronabeth as a mediocre cavalier. That's Babs trash talking because he knows Corona was his only real competition.

[quaranmine]

can people be nicer about the solar eclipse because i've had people irl laugh at me when i express disappointment over the bad weather forecast and online i see tons of people being rude about it too? like where is your whimsy and sense of awe at the universe and how dare you insinuate that i'm being frivolous to be sad about potentially missing what is, for my area, a once in a lifetime event?

[talesfromthecrypts]

Everybody talking about Walton Goggins this and that but nothing about how Criminal Minds tied him to a bed to exorcize him? Why not?

Google images gave me nothing so I had to take matters into my own hands and go get the episode myself.

We just don't tie men to the bed and exorcise them like we used to

[biweeklydavekat]

day 109

GOD I HATE THE MINIONS SO FUCKING MUCH, I'M CONVINCED THIS IS SOME SORT OF SICK AND TWISTED CORPORAL FUCKING PUNISHMENT THE PARADOX SPACE IS INFLICTING UPON ME AND YOU'RE AN ACCOMPLICE

[musette22]

Hi friends, just a quick message about the Seb in The Apprentice situation. I've (understandably) been getting quite a few messages about it, most of them wondering why on earth Seb had to take this role, and also expressing concerns and hurt about the whole thing. I absolutely hear all of you, and really feel for those of you who are worried and upset. I am too, to some extent, but I know it's far worse for some of you who have been directly affected by this despicable man's actions and influence. I'm so sorry this is bringing back awful memories and emotions, and that it's tainting what should be your safe space and/or escape. That genuinely sucks, to put it mildly 😔

While I always try to make sure that this blog remains a positive and safe space as much as possible, this is something that I couldn't help but express my own concerns about as well. However, I have done that now, and I feel like for the moment, that's all the attention I want to devote to it. The more we talk about it, the more negativity it seems to garner, and that's doesn't feel beneficial to anything. So for the moment, I won't be replying to any more asks about this situation, at least not until we have more substantial information about the direction this movie is taking and what its goal is. I hope that's okay. Thank you for understanding, and I'm sending lots of love and hugs to everyone who needs it ❤️

[neverevan]

One thing I really appreciate about the set designers on 911 is Buck's loft... because they're telling on him so hard without realising it lmao

like no offence, but have you ever been to a straight guy's bachelor pad? One where he lives alone? That doesn't look like that.

The furniture, the cleanliness, the apron and the gloves, the cooking supplies, the decorative items, the plants, the throw pillows and pictures on the wall... I'm sorry to generalise, but not many cishet guys care about any of this stuff.

[the-awful-falafel]

On another note: the way I render Fake Peppino's distorted gibberish dialogue can, in fact, be decoded, and is far from meaningless (although it's not necessary to understand the plot, since it's not like the other characters understand it either)

I'm not going to put up a translation guide until much later, since he doesn't have much dialogue in general at the moment, but if you want to figure it out yourself beforehand it offers a fun bonus :)