#and with that I will re-read gtn today!!

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

You know how when you’re re-reading a Locked Tomb book after having read its sequel, a pattern emerges where you learn new things every single time?

tl;dr Upon rereading Gideon the Ninth after reading Harrow the Ninth, I wondered if Cytherea was working with Blood of Eden, and finding that note after the confirmation in Nona has me aglow.

Thus far, I have made... at least a dozen notes in Gideon the Ninth over the course of a reading and four rereads in which I made notes. (I read GtN, then HtN, reread the second half of HtN, then reread GtN, and must’ve re-read HtN again and will of course end up reading it AGAIN after I comb through GtN ONE more time....)

Anyways. Setting aside my utterly unhinged determination to wring every bit of canon lore in this world-building rich series...

This is my copy of Gideon the Ninth. Specifically, the hardbound copy I bought when I realized I was not only going to read these books once and I wanted something that would stand up to heavy reading.

After I read Harrow the Ninth, I started writing notes and questions and marking them on little scraps of paper for later revisiting.

These are just the notes you can see from the BOTTOM!

(The white ones aren’t as important; they’re counting how many times the word “bad” appears. So far it’s at LEAST 17.)

So I reread the final fight scene today. There’s a note there. A couple notes, actually, but this is the relevant one.

They’re very tiny because I write most of these notes while at work, and while I have them in blue, they are still written on post-it notes in an 0.38mm pen and stuck in the book for unintrusive Further Study.

This one in particular says:

“You don’t even know what you are to me” + “not going to die here” Is Cyth w/ BOE too?

This was, of course, after having seen Mercymorn’s abstruse babbling to Gideon that included the line about, perhaps paraphrased: “Cytherea would’ve known the moment she saw you.”

Which means she’s in on the plan, right?

And which explains why Gideon wasn’t taken out when she took out Jeannemary. (Which bothered me quite a LOT on my first read, and second read-through before I put the pieces together.)

Listen, I know people have put together much harder puzzles in this series (shoutout to the folks that predicted Alecto being Earth’s soul!), but I have many Shit Brain disorders and have to take the wins when they come.

[blackwinged-soul]

Ode to  G i d e o n

Furious for being made, until you remade me.

Amongst atrocity, the foundling found me.

Forgiven, for what? Rewarded, with what?

It was all nothing, nothing, nothing.

But you:

You were everything.

[hedaclexastally]

My friend gave me my copy of GtN back today so I can finally go back to lovingly re-reading the pool scene over and over again

[blackwinged-soul]

My introverted ass is tired from socializing today. Two things worth noting:

1.) Apparently I get a flush of Delight whenever someone gushes about R\you (me) or Thief K\ing (also me). I also get a rush of horror when (that same) someone t/e/n/d/e/r/ships. And I got a little offended when she called R\you (me) a liar, and said the Ri|ng Spiri|t wasn’t. Like... how the actual fuck.

2.) The H|arrow shift MUST be letting up, because I straight-up ate 1/4 of a lemon with dinner (no salt, no sugar, really straight-up), and it didn’t immediately overwhelm my taste buds. Also got sa|miac (which is REALLY fucking salty, and also b|ack |icorice), and that’s not overwhelming me, either. I’m also finally getting out of that Desperation to Unearth Memories and Scour Canon for Clues about My Life, because I went to bookstores with the people I spent time with today, and I Had Interest in other books, and actually! Wow!!! Plan to READ THEM! (And not, at least not for now, read GtN for the third time and HtN for the 3.5th.)

(There’s enjoyment hyperfixation, and then there’s that feeling of desperation to understand yourself and a sliver of your identity. Constantly re-reading tlt was equal parts of both.)