#alecto's rant

[eta-volantis]

I am starting to get annoyed with people calling LycaHugo and PhaiDei "bait" like there isn't even a canon straight ship wtf do you mean??? This is a game where they sell you characters, not ships. They can add them in as best they can while avoiding censorship, but they also have to allow player freedom to interpret relationships how they like because a lot of players are going to be attached to the chars they potentially paid for. If the game is full of confirmed straight ship then sure! Yes! The most crazy part is that the only confirmed ships Hoyo have are both wlw from HI3 like??? Not straight, last I checked. Hoyo does a lot of scummy stuff, but disregarding attempts to add gay ships around strict censorship that could fuck up their game as bait is starting to really annoy me. If they don't have it, they're scum, if they do have it, they're bait. Like what?? If you don't like the games then just don't play it, why is it so hard!!? Move on to something you like!!?? Continue to call for better ratio between male and female chars instead of trashing something they already actively do maybe??!!

[nona-gay-simus]

Some days I truly feel like TLT has ruined... books for me. Like, I don't even like ACOTAR but I can think of at least four series that are basically ACOTAR with dragons, ACOTAR with gods, ACOTAR with vampires, ACOTAR with witches, and that's just off the top of my head.

But there's truly nothing out there that captures all or even some of the elements that enthralled me about TLT. The characters, the character dynamics, the magic system, the voice, the mix of science fiction and fantasy, the prose that knows exactly when to be funny and when to be serious, the queernorm world-building and variety of lesbian genders... It does not exist. Even if I find something with similar themes it will be bland fantasy voice and (most likely) boring straight ship of fem4fem.

It's even ruined audiobooks narrators because no one can compare to moira quirk and her sexy accent and wonderfully animated narration that makes the characters come to life.

And it makes me really sad to think i might never discover another series I love as much as this one. Not even close.

[going-loud]

what is the cost of resurrection?

okay so. im going to preface this with a caveat that this question is likely answered already in the existing tlt books, but if it is, i do not know where! and also i'm going to be discussing this per my interpretations of the books, and that might not be totally accurate. if anyone as input on any part of this post please chime in! so i'm asking/discussing it here because... what is the answer...

throughout the series, John regularly says that he cannot (or will not) perform Resurrection again, because the cost is too high. but the only repercussions we know of are revenants, and Revenant Beasts in the case of planets. however, it's my understanding that revenants are the result of violent and quick death, not Resurrection. we also know that John likely did not Resurrect the planets or the people he murdered during the apocalypse immediately; the flashbacks in NtN seem to be taking place after the apocalypse, but before John Resurrected any of the OG Lyctors or just the population in general. (side note: did John Resurrect the planets? or did he simply flip them to thanergy planets by killing them? is that the same thing?)

so that leaves me with the question, what exactly happens when John performs Resurrection? does it have something to do with the creation of the River, and the place souls go after death? it is mentioned multiple times in HtN and NtN (i think, im not referencing text rn) that there was a discrepancy between the original number of souls versus the ones that John Resurrected. he also has some Resurrected corpses on retainer, apparently, as he used those to refill the population of the Ninth House in HtN. i don't know if this discrepancy is only related to the number of Revenant Beasts (when Harrow notes the math isn't mathing) and how Alecto was the reason for that discrepancy, or if there are references to the number of human souls that were brought back in the original Ressurection (again, i'm not referencing text and it's been awhile since i've read the series so if there isn't anything about this then you can ignore this lol).

anyways, that's all to say that i don't actually know what happens after Resurrection. John refuses to actually Resurrect Gideon, even though he is capable, or anyone else for that matter. is he just lying about the cost, the way he lied about Lyctorhood? or are there implications of what that cost is somewhere in the text that i missed? or maybe it will be explained in AtN? if any of you know or have theories, please share because i need to know if i missed something important lol

TL;DR: is the cost of Resurrection ever actually stated in the TLT series? do we know what it is, and did i miss something? or is it still a mystery?

[svenghouly]

Not to like simp for Jod like a devotee or anything but what if the permeability thing was Humanity leeching it’s cruelty and indifference into Jod that made him The Worst and now Alecto is the one that holds Jod’s purity and morality like Nona did before she remembers. Nona was Pure Jod.

[we-are-the-graves]

Okay. I'm not trying to gatekeep the series here, I'm really not. But good lord, people, you need like, some actual reading comprehension with these books. If I see one more post *anywhere* that says "yes, I've read all three books so far, where are people finding [major plot point]? I didn't get that at all." I'm going to send them to the Third Grade English Dimension.

[chironshorseass]

ok i really really really enjoyed watching the first two episodes and i think the show is already so faithful to the books in ways the movies wished they were BUT i’m gonna be a bitch just because i can and rant about a few insignificant but at the same time very important Things the writers didn’t Understand:

percy is angry.

and i know this is seen with his anger towards poseidon in the show, but i’m talking angry. as in, generally speaking. when he’s with grover and they’re talking about nancy, percy says something along the lines of “we should fight back,” and grover’s like “noooo we can’t stand up to bullies.” and then percy stands up to her and blah blah blah…but in the books percy’s first line is “i’m going to kill her” after she throws a sandwich at grover. grover talks him out of it because he’s already on probation.

with just this scene we know percy stands up to bullies, and that’s partly why he has so much trouble at school! in the show, he stands up to nancy, apparently for the first time, and gets kicked out because of it! sorry but as someone who worked in a school, i know for a fact that kids can get away with so much more before they’re actually kicked out lol. it would’ve made sense, like in tlt, that he’s already at risk of suspension so him “pushing” nancy is the final straw. it’s just very weird, considering it could be only a line of dialogue that makes percy’s anger and the connection between his outburst and him getting kicked out more clear.

consequently, percy arrives at his appartment and gabe is just a general (still admittedly abusive) jerk instead of a drunk, violent (also abusive) man. when we meet gabe, it makes a lot of sense why percy has so much trouble with his anger. it’s easy to see that connection. literal child + alcoholic abusive father figure = there’s bound to be some trouble….that’s not really the case in the show, especially in the way that sally easily stands up to him. people have said a fair bit about this topic already, so i’m not gonna expand on that, but i really wish the writers had focused more on percy’s internal anger, as it’s such an important part of his character and affects the way he reacts to things throughout the books; it just worries me that in the first episode it wasn’t as established. i. e. he hates dionysus on sight because he reminds him of smelly gabe, he hates the gods—is angry at poseidon—because, where was he when my mom and i were suffering at the hands of smelly gabe? ok i’m not gonna talk about more of this or of sally because other people have said it and i could write a four page essay of what the show got wrong plus i want to talk abt other things before this gets too long:

the monster scenes.

the mrs. dodds being a fury reveal felt sooo…weird? even the movie version did it better lol. it felt super rushed and strange how percy’s just standing there and the next he’s on the ground, but he had riptide with him so he just impaled her and then she turned to dust??? in the books, not only does she get percy alone, but grover tries to stand up to her—which is a big deal since he knows what she truly is and shows how much he cares for percy in that moment. percy has time to be genuinely terrified bc he’s alone with a literal monster and he’s about to die…and chiron throws him riptide just in time, but then he too vanishes so percy’s left wondering if he imagined everything. but no, in the show mrs. dodds comes out of nowhere and attacks him, and it’s so fast that percy doesn’t have time to dwell on wtf happened. the situation doesn’t seem as serious as it does in the book; in the book she tries to interrogate percy bc she thinks he’s the lightning thief, and when she doesn’t get her answer, she attacks him. this is another thing: the stakes. they don’t feel as high in the show because there’s no annabeth trying to ask percy what was stolen, no hellhound, no fates cutting a string, and no alecto/mrs. dodds interrogation. there’s not much of a lead up to the quest, really.

theeen the minotaur scene, which also feels super weirdly paced and there’s just not that same sense of urgency. again, other people have talked about this, so i’ll just stick to another main concern of mine: grover’s role in the scene. it was so strange how in the book he’s semi unconscious and in the show he’s fine (so fine that sally does something completely out of character and makes grover swear to keep percy safe? she would never put that much pressure in a child???) ok so he seems fine in the show, but then when they’re running percy’s holding him as if he can’t walk???? they’re not even fully sprinting, given that a monster is chasing them lol. (the problem with the stakes; i mean with the way they run and have an entire talk with sally makes it feel like they’re not in any real danger).

back to grover: he was perfectly fine, and he got percy back safe. not at all like in tlt, where percy has to practically carry him back, after loosing his mom and killing the minotaur. THEN percy passes out and later wakes up at the big house. this is important, bc grover’s entire THING is being percy’s protector, and he couldn’t do that properly bc he was indisposed. he felt awful. of course he did. his character arc is overcoming the guilt and insecurities—that he’s not a proper protector and therefore can’t search for pan; his main character motivation—by successfully completing the quest and helping percy retrieve the master bolt.

these are just little seeds that needed to be planted in the first two episodes of the show…so that the rest of the show feels cohesive and makes sense with what happens in tlt. if these character traits and scenes are looked over and not given proper importance/not replaced with something similar, then the show will have a different tone than it does to the books. i don’t think it’s necessarily bad, but it is disappointing that the details sprinkled in the source material are lost in translation. they may have seemed insignificant to the writers, but not to meeee!!!!!!

[cafeetchaos]

I’m going to be super honest…. I think Gideon would have felt something good after killing Crux. I don’t think she can feel emotions after being reinserted into her body. Her little rant after killing Crux was to John.

Alecto constantly questions her ability to love too after coming back, despite the text saying she can love before being put into her body.

Kiriona tells Aiglemene to be careful when Aiglemene pushes her because “that’s where my heart used to be”. I know that it’s literal, but I think everything in TLT is literal AND figurative.

[billyshakesp]

Understanding Monsters: Augustine and Mercymorm, John and Alecto

I find these characters and pairings in TLT particularly deep and visceral. So here are some of my thoughts on them. I'll be focusing more on John and Augustine in this post as they are outliers in TLT universe as powerful and significant male characters. Disclaimer's out of the way, here is my autopsy on these people.

The four mentioned in the title are truly some of the most conceptually disturbing characters I have ever read, period. This isn't exactly a new point, but the Lyctors in general are absolutely terrifying. They reside in the depths of uncanny valley. They are two people in a meat suit. Their lives have been painted over by grief for ten thousand years. They have singlehandedly orchestrated the deaths of solar systens. They are fundamentally beyond human experience, and yet. They are human. Or, at least, they have scraps of the humans they were buried within them. Again, the so nearly human but not human-ness which forms uncanny valley. Alecto is not a Lyctor, but she is five billion dead souls in a barbie doll, and the same concept apllies to her.

I personally love Augustine and Mercymorn's relationship. Not necessarily in a sexual, or romantic, or quite frankly platonic way. I just think they're such an exquisite case study on "the horrors of love." We know that Cristabel's death absolutely fucked Mercymorn up-and that would be the understatement of the myriad. I suspect Augustine has his own inner turmoil over the death of Alfred, though he doesn't show it. He does describe Alfred as "his other half." Alfred is his brother. He comments once that "I have built an entire myriad on the idea that I could have made him come around, given five minutes." Augustine's aloof attitude doesn't strike me as very genuine, but a facade. In any case, the two have suffered trauma beyond human comprehension. Yes, they're awful people, but in the end they have the humility to reach out and behold each other and understand each other. The interaction between Augustine and Mercymorn right after the capital-d Deicide might not be love, per se, but it is the first step in that direction. They have the respect, the humility, the humanity!-to take that step.

John and Alecto are...not that. Honestly, John's head is shoved so far up his ass and Alecto is so monstrous (not through any fault of her own, to be clear) that I don't know what absolution for those two looks like. Sure, John does love Alecto; he probably loves her more than Augustine and Mercymorn ever admitted to loving each other. The difference, of course, is that John's love is birthed from trauma and self-hatred. The difference, of course is that Alecto embodies all of John's vindictive, destructive tendencies, and John keeps clinging onto her. Augustine and Mercymorn may embody the worst of what Lyctorhood creates, yes, but together they try to rectify all of that. Alecto represents the worst in John, and John loves her and clings to her obsessively. There's a lot more to say about these characters and there is a lot more that I plan to say, but there's my mini-rant concluded. I really need to see Augustine and Mercymorn go a secind round against John in Alecto the Ninth (in a sex way? In a fatal combat way? Are they all literally inside of Alecto the Ninth, the person, while this is taking place? Find out in Alecto the Ninth, the novel, coming to shelves the myriadic year 20000 of our lord!). Thanks for making it this far, dear reader. Together we sleep the night, and we wait for the morning.

[foursaints]

oh please don’t leave us hanging with this barty and alecto college roommates tag…

bartyalecto college roommates彡

-> imagine, if you will, the nastiest most man-hating misandrist dyke to ever walk the earth. alecto carrow wears a burgundy red lip & knockoff louboutins to class, has been buried in the closet since age 12, carries feminist theory in her leather purse, and loudly professes that all men are pigs. -> now imagine this woman being forced (through the uni housing process) to share a two-bedroom apartment with Campus Bicycle barty crouch jr. he steals her nice uniqlo black tanktops to wear to the gym and returns them all stretched out and sweaty. on their first week he leaves his mounting collection of random hookup's forgotten thongs in her laundry hamper. -> in many ways they are natural enemies. it's a militant radfem being forced to cohabit with a guy who thinks that getting to first base in the back of an uber counts as adequate foreplay... they're the campus scumbag x the SCUM manifesto -> but barty is so incapable of viewing alecto sexually (he enjoys pretty things that are soft and pliable... she is decidedly neither) that this is one of the few non-predatory relationships she has ever had with a man in her life. alecto maintains this Classy Feminine Image in pursuit of male approval (though she loathes herself for it), which is a mask that barty mocks and refuses to take seriously. he admires her the most whenever she's undone, vicious, clumsy, messy, unpalatable. -> he's like her annoying disney channel older brother who is always standing shirtless in front of their open fridge & ruffling her hair. barty shocks her with the revelation of his hidden seriousness. alecto shocks him with the secret of her steel backbone. they are the worst enablers of each other's elaborate revenge schemes and decade-long vengeful grudges. -> you have to imagine alecto furiously scrubbing off her makeup in her ratty comfort hoodie, splayed on the couch next to barty and ranting about how much she hates guys exactly like him. he hums contemplatively and passes her the joint. they're going to watch real housewives for the next 4 hours and gossip.

as always this concept is straight from my dms with ivy @jewishregulus

[6ftofsteelandsexapppeal]

I feel like i need to rant about the fact that Harrow literally has never said she’s into Alecto romantically at all

Like every instance where it’s described as romantic is either

1. Something gideons said to Harrow

Or

2. Gideon narrating their interactions/memories

And harrows never specifically said that it’s not romantic attraction either but I do feel like the most likely reason is bc either she doesn’t realise Gideon isn’t taking the piss, because she’s never had the room to grow emotionally enough to understand the difference in forms of relationships, or (most likely) a bit of both.

She specifically met Alecto during an attempt which is an extremely emotional time and quite often where a lot of people who join different religions start bc it gives them a reason to keep going

Harrow literally confronted face to face what she was told her entire existence added up and became obsessed

I think it also makes a lot more narrative sense if she isn’t personally bc it does show the dichotomy between their skewed views of relationships

Gideon doesn’t think anyone could be that devoted unless it was romantic love for a partner

Harrow feels very all or nothing love, complete devotion or complete hatred and doesn’t understand any inbetween

[mediumgayitalian]

part three

———

The first step should, in all likelihood, be the easiest.

(“I’m not sure this is something you can really plan,” Annabeth had suggested gently, “as much as my mother would disown me to hear it. I mean, everything I did with Percy kind of just…happened.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure the five years of pining misery and fighting off several other people — one of whom was literally me — was a real walk in the park for you.”

“…Plan on.”)

It is not the easiest.

“You’re telling me the flowers…say things.”

If Nico reaches back into the farthest recesses of his memory, as in things that are shoved somewhere between his sister’s soft sobs the one time he got sicker than he’d ever been and has ever been since and the time he’d walked in on Alecto skinny dipping in the Phlegothon, he can vaguely remember a lengthy rant from his stepmother on something called the language of flowers. He had, at that time, assumed she was simply trying to convince him that everything had voices again, and ignored her.

“Yes,” says Miranda from Demeter Cabin patiently. “Every flower has an assigned meaning. More than one, usually. You can say very rude things with flowers.”

Nico perks up, intrigued. “How do you say ‘you’re a fucking c—”

“Okay,” Jason interrupts, plastering a strained smile on his face and slapping a hand over Nico’s mouth. Nico bites him, hard, and the smile becomes even more strained. “We are actually looking for much nicer things to say with flowers. Kind things. Appreciative things. Feelings, you know. Nico?”

He lifts his hand, looking at him in warning as if Nico is going to be quelled by his Stare of Judgement, of all things. Nico stares back at him until he starts to look appropriately cowed, satisfyingly afraid of the horror that lives inside Nico’s eyes, except he — doesn’t.

He doesn’t look scared at all, actually, which is — which.

Nico takes all thoughts pertaining to the issue and shoves them away.

“I need,” he says haltingly, looking back at Miranda. She looks at him encouragingly.

She doesn’t look afraid of him, either, although she glances quickly down at the circle of grass he’s killed by virtue of standing on it and says, politely, “If you could maybe stop that, I would appreciate it.”

Nico swallows, stepping back. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” She swoops down, hands outstretched, murmuring something too soft for him to pick up. Under her gentle fingertips, the grass blooms slowly back to life, tiny strands uncurling and swelling with virility, stretching towards the sun. Even the dirt smells sweeter, like churned garden soil rather than graveyard dirt.

Something dark and bitter crawls up Nico’s throat — he will always need people to clean up after his messes. No matter how hard he tries. Miranda with the plants, Solace with every one of his endless injuries, Bianca with — everything. She cleaned up after him a lot.

She was only twenty-seven months older than him. He wonders how she would have liked being fourteen, and has to choke back the sob that tries to claw its way out of his trachea.

“Not a lot of people have flower language memorized,” Miranda says, dragging him roughly back to the present. Her large brown eyes are back to focused on him, so he forces himself into normalcy and stares back. “And it’s kind of vague, so I need something to start with. Who’s it for?”

“Classified.”

Nico considers, once again, opening up a chasm beneath his feet. His geokinesis is no bene so he’d probably take Jason and Miranda down with him, but. Necessary sacrifices, et cetera.

“Understandable,” Miranda responds without so much as a beat. Huh. Suddenly, he feels bad for considering her collateral. “Just this then: friend or foe?”

Nico looks at Jason. Jason looks back at him, like, dude, seriously. Nico scowls at him and his uselessness.

“Friend,” he says begrudingly. “…More.”

Miranda nods in understanding. “Ah. Will, then.”

Nevermind. Chasm it is.

“Man, I hoped you guys would finally do something,” Miranda continues, oblivious to the ground trembling slightly under her. (Jason, however, appears alarmed, so Nico summons a tiny skeleton hand to grab his ankle in revenge.) “I love Will to pieces, but there are only so many times I can hear him wax poetic about you before it starts to get embarrassing. When we were twelve you saved his life and he actually cried because he didn’t know how to form the words. Just weeping everywhere about your sword and your hair and how you look a little crazy when you smile in battle. Did you know there are, like, a million syllables for brown? I do. He thinks your eyes are a tie between moonstone and agate, in case you were wondering.”

“I have actually heard that,” Jason mumbles, as Nico’s brain whites out and leaves him, tragically alone, to suffer. “I thought he was just super into geology.”

“Oh, he is. He’s a little into everything. There’s a bi joke, for you.”

“Oh, ha, I get it.”

Is that his body, stranded somewhere below him? Hi, body. Good to see you. You look like hell. Feel free to summon your soul back into yourself at any time, that’d be great.

“I am generally bad at functioning,” he admits, once his essence has begrudgingly reattached itself to his cells and his blood stops ringing quite so loudly in his ears.

Miranda shrugs. “I think you’re pretty okay. Once Percy had to get five stitches on his lip because he was half asleep and mixed up his plate and pizza and bit clean through his plate. It only really needed four stitches, but Will laughed so hard he couldn’t focus right and tore the wound a tad before fixing it. By accident.”

Nico tries very hard not to picture that laughter, not to remember the first time he heard Will laugh, not the hundreds of times after; a loud sound, a musical sound, despite his insistence that he has no talents. Laughter like olive oil laughs in the pan, like wind laughs as it rushes through the poplar trees.

Jason nods sympathetically. “Mondays are hard.”

“Please,” Nico begs the both of them. The nerve he’d summoned after the encouragement of his friends is slowly leaking out of his eyeballs and soaking the ground. “I just need —”

He can’t finish that sentence, either. I need to give Will flowers so he knows I have….intentions, with him, is the most embarrassing sentence ever to be conjured by man, and if he has to say it aloud he knows his father will smite him out of pity, as is their deal. It must only be implied, and even then, he could get egged by any member of Cabin Eleven and turn into a breakfast buffet, his face is so godsdamn hot.

“Will, is, like, unbelievably dense,” Miranda says, taking pity on him. She waits for Nico to finish choking, patting him firmly on the back before continuing. “I guess that’s not fair. He can be quite observant, he just has worse self-esteem than you, even, no offense, so if you are trying to seduce him you’re going to have to be very obvious.”

The wheezing that she has just circumvented starts all over again. This time, Jason joins him. Miranda has no qualms or shame — fitting, since Nico has met her mother, who also has no shame about anything. Nico will never be able to forget that she is the goddess of fertility.

“Who the fuck said anything about seducing,” he manages, finally, lungs chilling somewhere on the grass.

Miranda ignores him. “I would usually say something simple like daisies, but they can be representative of friendship and he will for sure assume they are friendship flowers. Hyacinth can communicate a much deeper breadth of emotion, but, uh —” she glances at the Apollo cabin — “I would avoid Hyacinth.”

Nico sobers. Yeah. That would be wise.

“I think roses send a little too strong of a message for your purposes, so I’m thinking carnations. Pink ones.”

Recovering from the implications of the roses — he’s a little out of time, not stupid, he knows what they mean — he looks at her curiously. “What do pink carnations mean?”

She shrugs. “Love and affection, really. Sometimes gratitude, and in some poetry their colouring is compared to a pleased flush.”

Although he expected much more agony in this particular step of the journey (not that their wasn’t a good, healthy amount; can’t feel good feelings for too long if you’re Nico di Angelo, Cursèd, Son of Hades, Prince of the Underworld, Ghost King, Et Cetera, Et Cetera), pink carnations seem surprisingly…right. Love and affection, he can handle that, and if there’s one thing he always is, regarding Will, it’s grateful. Maybe the whole damn camp should be giving him pink carnations.

“Here.”

Sensing Nico’s hesitant acceptance, Miranda swoops down to the ground, digs around a second, shoots a quick prayer to her mother, and waits. A moment later, several blush-pink flowers shoot from the dirt, along with — Nico squints to read it — a book about the history of grain cereals. Miranda looks confused about one of those two things.

“I am constantly plagued by the Ancient Greek Theoi and their various whims,” Nico explains.

“Your life confuses me,” Miranda responds. She hands him the book and the flowers. For once, Demeter’s gift seems to be the less volatile object of the two. “I’m going to go meditate about it.”

“Good call,” says Jason.

“Thank you,” Nico calls, belatedly, to her retreating back. He glances down at the flowers in his hand. “Jason,” he says, voice strained.

He sighs. “Oh, here we go.”

“Jason, I have to move.”

“You’re fine here,” Jason says patiently. He places a hand on Nico’s shoulder and begins to steer him towards the Big House. Nico, distraught, refrains from judo flipping him into a tree.

“I ruin everything I touch, Jason.”

“You helped out with the strawberries just fine last week.”

“Strawberries are not people, Jason.”

“The kids seem to like you. You let them keep weird skulls and rocks and shit they find in the woods, and they like that.”

“Children are not completely incomprehensible sons of the sun, Jason.”

“Will likes you. By his own admission. He thinks — and I’m quoting here — that you’re gorgeous, even when you’re glaring at him and rueing your own existence.”

Nico has nothing to say to that, because he still can’t quite believe that’s true. It’s — surreal. He had no arguments against it, because he knows, objectively, that Will was not lying, and he can see, with his eyeballs, that Will smiles every time they make eye contact, unless Nico did something stupid in which case Will is huffing and muttering about patients and demigods and how increased power is directly correlated with increased stupidity.

Mostly smiling, though.

At Nico. With love and affection and oh, gods, he is going to ruin things so bad.

“Look,” Jason says, stopping them in front of the porch. Nico takes the pause with equal parts relief and panic, turning to him with the flowers clutched to his chest. “You have — issues.”

Nico blinks, waiting for more sentence. Surely that cannot be all of it.

“…Yes,” he acquiesces, when no sentence is forthcoming. “I am an interloper in this timeline. I am an omen of death. I am —”

“Gods, you’re dramatic.”

Nico agonizes.

“You will be fine, Nico, please, I don’t even know what the hang-up is. He said he likes you, there is literally not a single soul in this camp unaware about how much he likes you. Right?”

The rickety screen door of the infirmary bangs open, slamming against the frame, startling them both so hard they cause a slight earthquake.

“Oh, you got them, you got them!”

The overworked and overstressed whirlwind known as William Andrew Solace bursts out of the infirmary, tripping over his own shoes and nearly landing on his face had Jason not caught him.

“Woah, dude,” he says, steady hand on his waist. Nico reacts to that totally normally and Jason’s shadow does not at all try to swallow him. “What’s wrong?”

Will barely responds. “Nico, you are the best, I owe you forever —”

Stumbling out of Jason’s hold, he lunges over to Nico, plucking the flowers out of his hand and spinning right back to the infirmary. In total bewilderment, Nico and Jason follow him, watching as he tosses the bouquet in the air, hands glowing golden, and mutters a quick hymn. The flowers begin to droop, then wrinkle, then fully shrivel up, totally dead as they land back in his hands.

“What the fuck,” Jason whispers.

“Sun-dried is better, but I don’t have time,” Will frets. “Son of sun will have to do. Ha. You, and you, over here.” He points to the nurses desk with the yellowed stems, no trace of a question in his voice. The two of them scramble to comply, ducking under the half-door and standing awkwardly behind the counter as Will clears it off.

“That stupid prank — remind me to kill Cecil tomorrow, Nico, if you don’t mind — has three whole cabins covered in skin welts. I don’t have enough beds for them all, and they need to be quarantined, anyway. I haven’t had time to go get more ingredients in between cabins, let alone time to make more ointment.” Two massive stone mortars slam the counter, making both of them jump, followed by pestles with blunt heads roughly the size of Nico’s fist. “Pulverize the petals as fine as you can.” He splits the dead bouquet in half, handing them each six flowers each. “Petals only, no stems or seeds. I’ll be back in twenty minutes to gather it. Oh, and Nico —”

He pauses for a moment, taking a breath. Hesitantly, Nico reaches out and places a gentle hand on his wrist. Instantly, the worried line between his eyes melts away, and he smiles; tired but radiant.

“I owe you one,” he says softly. “You always know just what I need. I’ve been using rose, ‘cause that’s what we have, even though pink carnations is better, but we ran out an hour ago and I’ve been freaking out cause I —”

“Solace,” Nico interrupts. He squeezes gently. “Breathe.”

He does. Inhale, hold, exhale, breath tickling the hairs in Nico’s arm, causing goosebumps to bristle all over his skin. (The grateful smile pointed towards him at full power has nothing to do with that. Obviously.)

“I’m good. Just — thank you, Nico. You knew exactly what I needed.”

A loud groan sounds from somewhere to the east, in the vague direction of Cabin Ten, and Will rushes off without another word, medical bag stuffed to bursting. There’s a thump, and a quick, “I’m good!” and then the sound of running in flip-flops. Nico ducks his head to hide a smile, turning to the dried flowers.

“Well,” says Jason after a moment. “You tried.”

Nico shrugs. He starts plucking the petals off and dumping them in the mortar, Jason quick to follow his example.

“I’ll just have to try harder next time.”

———

part five

[elfieafterdark]

As agonizing as the alectopause has already been for me, a poser who only read the series last year, I...

I have to confess my friends, I almost hope that Tamsyn IS splitting Alecto in two again, here's why:

(possibly lengthy rant under the break)

I have never read a series quite like tlt. And make no mistake, I've read plenty of books. Plenty of series. Plenty of fantasy of all kinds.

It's true, now that I'm older and burnt out I read less than I should, but I read fanfiction readily. I've seen good stories, and many many many really bad ones.

The good news for any aspiring authors out there, is that the worst fantasy book I've ever read was a published book... Meaning that if they had a shot, then so do you bucko.

But I've never read a series quite like tlt. The layers of mystery, the careful planning, the minute details that all add up to a picture, the twists that flip that picture on its head and set it on fire and kill it dead.

Gideon's past. Harrow's future. The way that reader's instantly pick up on the fact that these two aren't being honest with their feelings for each other from the word go.

From the very first instant we see Harrowhark, from Gideon's perspective mind you, we know she's full of it. We know that no one would work so hard all night, digging holes in packed dirt literally for 8 hours straight in order to keep someone she allegedly hates from running away.

We know she's full of shit, because of how God damn well the story is written and how well Tamsyn relays that information without spelling it out.

Indeed, my favorite part of the series is the subtlety. I'd say it is a textbook example of show don't tell, however, I think it's more prudent to call it better than a textbook example.

Tamsyn understands something that a lot of writers struggle with, I count myself among those who struggle. She understands that people lie, she understands that bias forms our perception of the world around us.

She's a master of it, a master of seamlessly distorting information through the lens of the character giving that information.

It's such an exceedingly rare quality in writing, I can't recall anything I've read, ever, that matches her prowess. She's so good at it that it confounds me in a compelling way I can't shake.

The Locked Tomb has wedged its way into my brain, it's seeped through my veins and deep into my marrow. That level of engagement, that level of obsession is only possible when you create a story with inexorable pull.

To borrow from the series, Tamsyn has created a story with an inescapable gravity well. And in my opinion it's all down to her skill with character, controlling information, and nuance.

That's why I'm fine if she keeps splitting the books until I'm 50. I'll also be happy if she doesn't split alecto again, she's earned herself a lifelong fan. I'll read anything she puts out, solely for the delight springing forth from her terrible mind.

Kiriona the Ninth? I can dream.

[twicedone]

Firstly, I want to say that I adore each and every TLT fan fic author... but every single story I've read has Harrow drinking COFFEE!!!! Like this girl cannot even handle water with a splash of lemon in it, she would burst into flames if coffee touched her tongue!!! Harrow wouldn't even be able to eat buttered noodles (though that's far less of an issue to me...) without cringing the whole time. I think the only way Harrow would enjoy eating is if she got a single pill that had all the nutrients she required in the day and even then she'd STILL hate eating it!!! Jod... Anyways, rant over. Keep writing pleease plealse please please please I can't get e-fucking-nough of Griddlehark and whenever I finish another story I feel an intense and all-consuming dread because that's one less fanfic to hold me hostage until Alecto finally comes out... ADDENDUM: Okay I forgot about the coffee shop AU but I maintain that she would've hated coffee and only went to stare at the SUPER HOT and BEEFY Bari while sipping on her vile bean water and would never admit that she hates it and only goes there for Gideon...

[sirjuggles]

Things My Partner Knows About The Locked Tomb Through Osmosis

I am an unrepentant and annoying TLT fanboy, to the point where my partner has sworn to never read the books on principle (for this I respect them). However, given that I never shut up about these miserable books, they have picked up quite a bit of knowledge about them purely through my rants. With that in mind, I asked them to describe to me everything they think they know about The Locked Tomb (notes in italics are mine)

There are characters named Gideon, Nona, and… something like… Pacifica Sales Bonecruncher of the West? I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be Harrow's full name and title.

It's a scifi-fantasy world in a necromancy space realm 

There's… 10 kingdoms that are all part of an Empire? Or maybe houses? But they're part of a monarchy? 

The ruling classes of each of the realms gets summoned by God because they want to play a Hunger Games thing to find their… new God child? 

It's not a God child like he's gonna adopt them… it's like rebirthing them into a new god? They will also become God? 

Each one of the realms has a special quirk about them, something that's their specialty. Like, one realm are accountants. Shockingly accurate.

Gideon and Pacifica’s realm are like cool goth themed? More goth than the others. Extra-goth.

Oh there's a person named… Electra? They have long blonde hair and kickin curves and they're really hot? Everyone likes them? I'm pretty sure this is a conflation of Alecto and Corona as seen through reblogged fanart.

Personal philosophy aside rant: The whole necromancy-as-center of-an-empire thing… I find it kinda rude? I don't like the idea of people and their remains being used as a resource/tool. Like, I don't like using people as interchangeable cogs in a machine under someone else's control, both in life or in death. It doesn't seem consensual or respectful. In death your obligations should be released. 

I think Gideon has a big hero’s death while trying to save Pacifica, and then their… souls mingle? And then after that Pacific has Gideon-flavored intrusive thoughts? And I'm not sure if it actually is Gideon or just, like… the same as if you stare at the sun and get the after image burnt into your cornea. This isn't wrong, but I'm almost certain part of this is actually my ramblings about Baru Cormorant leaking through.

Is reincarnation or resurrection a thing? I feel like it should be in a necromancy setting. 

DIRECT QUOTE: “Is there a Jesus allegory in here? I feel like there is. Wait... Is Gideon Jesus?” Folks, upon hearing these words casually spoken out loud by someone with no knowledge of context, I straight up left my body.

God is just a chill dude. He's just a guy making pancakes, and occasionally he'll go “How's that whole Hunger Games thing going? You want a snack? I'm just gonna be over here.”

God was wanted by aliens or something? There's something bigger going on with entropy or heat death or the Discworld auditors and it's a problem for God and that's why he's doing the whole Hunger Games thing. 

I think God used to be not a God and that's why he's such a chill dude. And then there was a problem and everything was dying so he did something and necromancied everything and that's why he's God now and also why things are so weird? 

One of the groups from the houses was two annoying siblings who split from the party and died really quickly. 

Gideon is big and bulky and has short red hair. 

[thechekhov]

Nona Liveblog. (4/5)

Warning: THIS LIVEBLOG WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE BOOK. I have finished reading and am posting these notes after the fact. Therefore, it will also contain blurbs about things I missed on my first read. Please be cautious.

Once again, big thank you to @elexuscal for reading my rants and reacting with frustratingly vague emojis~

(I keep on thinking about this Above Thought and Below Thought thing. I think Nona is the sandwich entity between Alecto and Harrow. Because clearly there are two streams there, not one. It's described as the two of those thoughts with her being the sandwich filling multiple times. I think there is a thread of Harrow in there as well.)

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 13

given how John seems to have co-opted a lot of Christian imagery i have a feeling ‘Our Lady of the Passion’ would not be incredibly pleased to find out where her name comes from originally

they’re going to go visit a mysterious ‘her’ in a hospital room - perhaps it’s Gideon’s body, given that her corpse was in BoE possession last we saw it in As Yet Unsent. speaking of, given that Gideon apparently looks a lot like Wake with the hair and all (bar her eyes), i wonder if anyone in BoE is aware of/suspects at least half of her parentage at all

oh wow its Captain Deuteros!! i feel bad for Judith, i keep forgetting she exists. and she's being very badly affected by the RB, although to be fair there aren’t a lot of necromancers around to compare her behaviour to right now 

and Judith’s got some impressively opaque and confusing ranting going on right now. i feel like i’m in Harrow’s weird mindscape with the messages from Wake all over again 

oh Judith does not seem to be doing well at all, even bar the RB inducing madness, she’s clearly got a lot of grief going on 

‘the grey water’ what Judith is saying here is very interesting, this really makes me think of all the salt water references connected to Alecto. and there’s also a repetition of the colour green for some reason

‘It was all kind of weird, in my opinion’ me and you both Nona

even though Corona has joined BoE, she does still have some level of loyalty to Ianthe, even though they’re on two opposing sides of a war (which Ianthe is possibly not actually aware of?? unclear). although that is also assuming that Corona’s joining of BoE is genuine and not some kind of front 

it does kind of feel like there is some level of coercion from BoE to Corona? but even though there was obvious tension between them at the meeting, Corona’s actually remarkably high up & involved in BoE already for someone who is also royalty in the Houses 

and Corona’s talking about wanting Cam and Pal to forgive her for … something mysterious? something to do with how BoE betrayed them? there’s an awful lot being said under the surface here 

‘The Captain didn’t say anything when you came into the room. She only screamed’ well shit. that’s certainly something, and probably to do with how Nona has some kind of connection to the RB