#is there hope for marellinh

[exvelovly]

shannon.

shannon talk to me. keefe has interacted with like 4 human people so far and 2 of them have explicitly mentioned gay partners, excluding the very first girl who had blue hair and an eyebrow piercing.

alvar explicitly states that he loves how humans don’t have matchmaking and points out— while talking about how dating with “no lists. just love” is so much better— that “did you notice? the waitress said she has a wife.” and says he thinks it’s “really cool.” (this is explicitly from the text)

alvar. babe. the closet is glass. shannon would you like to tell us something.

unraveled spoilers

lord cassius being a repressed yaoi art king was not on my 2024 bingo

[bookwyrminspiration]

so like. as the keeper expert. do you think marellinh will be canon?

There's no clear answer, but I can bring up some points in favor either way

On the one hand, we've seen very little (if any) inclusion or hinting towards canonically queer characters; the fandom's favorites are potentially queer if reading them a certain way, but it's not explicit. There are other readings.

However, just because the series has been one way in the past doesn't mean it can't grow. In regards to inclusion, while the original cast of characters is entirely white, with time Shannon has included more characters of color. Is it still predominantely white? Yes, but an effort and improvement has been made (if imperfect).

This could apply to queer inclusion as well. Sure, the books have been overwhelmingly heteronormative, but Shannon has since expressed support for queer readers and may now be trying to add queer representation in the same manner. Is it perfect? Again, no, but improvements can be made.

Additionally, regarding the Marella short story and lines such as "Especially a Hydrokinetic who was currently looking all peaceful and pretty and perfect," especially the use of the word perfect. We see Shannon use that word frequently in romantic contexts, but I want to focus on: "[Sophie] stood in the doorway, looking wary and worried and...Absolutely perfect" (Unlocked, p. 565). Sokeefe is the ship of the series, and Keefe describes Sophie with an incredibly similar sentence structure. This could be evidence that, looking at patterns in Shannon's writing, there is potential romantic intent behind Marella's observations.

However, we do also see Sophie describe her companions (i.e. Linh and Biana) quite strikingly as well, and she's entrenched in a very heteronormative love triangle. While Marella isn't, her compliments could be like Sophie's--more complimentary than expected, but ultimately meaningless. I will point out, however, that Sophie's compliments tend to sincere and unthinking. Marella's holds a hint of exasperation or annoyance, perhaps indicating that she's thought about Linh's beauty/perfection and focused on it. That's she's annoyed with herself for doing so because she's hiding something from herself or others.

To sum this up, I can't say for certain. Just because Shannon has improved on other shortcomings in the past doesn't mean she'll do so in this regard, and given character's like Sophie, Marella's comments may truly be innocuous.

But until proven otherwise, there is potential, and it's not grasping at straws; there are some actually solid points to refer to, so I'll be keeping my hopes up :)

[reokimio]

i'm spiralling through my thoughts rn but imagine the literal REVOLUTION shannon would start by making marellinh canon. she's gone 10 years without a single canon lgbtq character while majority of the fandom is in the community and is desperate for a queer ship to be canon. the closest we have is marellinh and possibly tiertice, but i really hope and pray she has the courage to make at least one canon. its impossible for shannon messenger to not know about them since they're 2 of the most popular ships in this fandom. she knows what she's doing, and if she confirms marella has romantic feelings for linh (which i'm 99% sure she did on purpose) she'd be doing her fans and herself a favour.

[aurenflare]

i think i misunderstood this prompt but marellinh for day 1 (canon) of @kotlc-sapphicweek because well. i hope they r canon

taglist <3

@xanadaus @camelspit @purplesoup-lad-le @gay-otlc @fintancest @icantrememberwhoiwaslastdecember @an-ungraceful-swan @hydroflxwers @bookwormgirl123 @amandayetagain @bookworm-fangirl1 @amandayetagain @loveution

[camelspit]

is it bad that I think a marelinh nation win is possible now??? like looking at our Shannon Messenger sees shipping culture, how she's aware of it, how marella and linh both are already kind of set up, I genuinely think she's going to go there and I really hope she does

Ik!!! even before unraveled i was convinced marellinh had a decent shot, ESPECIALLY after the marella short story. im p sure her og plan was wylinh, but when she realized how creepy that was, she backtracked and now im sooo excited. maybe im just optimistic but i think marellinh is standing at a 90% chance of success rate.

[ethervalism]

i love when kotlc tumblr comes back from the dead so i’m gonna be sharing some random opinions of mine

tam is one of the most under appreciated characters by the fandom and it makes me upset

subsequently, platonic sotam is elite and i get SO excited when i see content of them and there just ISNT ENOUGH

like so many others, i will defend fitz vacker with my life. just thought i’d share that

i ship sokeefe and one of my favorite parts of their dynamic is that sophie says everything that keefe never dared to hope to hear from someone, and she understands him so well. and she does it in such a sophie way. like no doubts. like if keefe were to hit her with any insecurity about their relationship she wouldn’t just reassure him, she would be shocked that he’d ever feel insecure in it because she loves him so much. i’m doing a bad job explaining this but sophie’s steadiness and loyalty when she decides to put her mind to something is just perfect for what keefe needs

…and as someone who also has mommy issues, keefe’s soggy cat energy is so personal to me and i’d also need to be with someone as steadily passionate as sophie about the people she cares about

calla is one of my all time favorite characters

fedex.

I HAVE QUIET HOPE THAT MARELLINH IS GOING TO BE CANON IDK WHY BUT I JUST DO

livvy is so cool

[fintan-pyren]

Chapter 28

wife!!!!! (and they have kids together <333)

I like how Shannon is presenting queerness as this normal and mundane thing. Just normal happy humans mentioning their spouses.

this seems to answer the question of whether the elves have gay marriage, but it also sounds like that might be something that we could see changing by the end of the series? Hope for canon Tiertice or Marellinh?

[lezabeththetheodoraimposter]

non cannon ships I ship categorized

cannon, literally cannon, will throw hands if they don’t end up being cannon

- prentiergan

delusional enough to gaslight myself into thinking it will happen

- fedex (I REALLY want them too)

i can see it happening

- Tiana (I feel like Biana just has a crush on tam but idk if he likes her)

LOVE THEM NEED THEM but I’m not getting my hopes up

- marellinh

- ravioli

I ship it but as a thing of the past

- fallon and fintan (idk why tho)

- quinlin and alden

ship it but its one sided and the other person was just leading them on…

-fintan and Bronte (brontan??)

[everliving-everblaze]

Hey, does Marella X Fitz make either or both of them OOC? Or can it work with them in character? Or is the fandom just the ones doing it OOC?

I don't think it's out of the question! I mean, Marella literally says Fitz is dreamy. I think where it gets complicated is once again running up against unmatchability, since Marella is a Pyrokinetic. But Fitz finds power attractive, so who's to say he couldn't ever be attracted to Marella?

I suspect a lot of the reason people are reacting so strongly against it is that they're hopeful for Marellinh being canon. It's one of the most popular fandom ships, and it's also probably the most likely gay ship to go canon. So that's going to raise hackles. But as long as you're being respectful, go crazy!

[lucyshypemaster]

my thoughts on marella's short story!!! SPOILERS‼️ (obv)

i want to start off by saying that her short story definitely surpassed my expectations. I didn't want to have high hopes in case shannon decided to make it all about keefe/sokeefe and not focus on the plot but boy did she prove me wrong.

first off, I'm extremely uncomfortable with the fact that pyrokinetics can store heat in themselves. if marella who has only recently started training is capable of storing a little heat in an ICE CAVE, can you imagine fintan??😭😭💀 I believe shannon will definitely have bigger plans for his character in the future books (hopefully, I need more fintan lore)

also I'm SO GLAD we're finally getting to know caprise redek and what caused her to be in this condition bc now it's clearer than ever that caprise's accident wasn't an accident at all and that there's a reason why she couldn't be cured.

it also was hinted that marella's father was tired and disappointed with caprise's current condition so perhaps in the next book, sophie and her friends might finally visit marella's family and know more about their history??? idk but for now, I'll be cautious regarding marella's father.

I suck at theories so I'mma let the analysts' of our fandom to create theories about the noxflares. clearly, the noxflares will be extremely important- like EXTREMELY important to the plot later on sooo yeah I don't really have any ideas rn

overall, I'll give marella's short story a 10/10 bc we got soooo much info and foreshadows for future events + marellinh content 💪🏼 (marella was clearly flirting with linh y'all and she kept describing how perfect linh is LIKE-????)

[geneticallymodifiedidiot]

5 female celeb "crushes"

by crushes i mean role models, celebs you fw

oh interesting

I don’t really think about celebs that much but I’ll try (these will be in no particular order)

Lena raine, I really like her music in all her games

chappelle roan just because of all the good she’s done (I don’t even listen to her music that much [but hot to go bangs])

Suzanne Collins because I freaking love the hunger games

in that same vein I could say Shannon messenger because I like the community she’s spawned on tumblr (but I wish she had canonically queer characters) (I’m holding out hope for marellinh)

and like idk can I do dead scientists? if so I’m saying Marie curie

[kotlc-ships101]

Top 20 Kotlc Ships

#1. Sokeefe/Team Foster-Keefe

#2. Keefiana/Beefe

#3. Marellinh/Linhella

#5. Darella/Mex

#6. Tiana/Bam

#7. Chandelitz/Fandelier

#8. Mareliniana/Linhelliana

#9. Staruca/Marina

#10. Stitz/Fina

#11. Sophela/Marphie

#12. Sotam/Tophie

#13. Laruella/Marulinh

#14. Maritz/Faruca

#15. Dexiana/Bex

#16. Lex/Dinh

#17. Sophiana/Biophie

#18. Kam/Teefe

#19. Keefitz/Feefe

#20. Fitzphie/Sophitz

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please remember, these rankings are purely my opinion. If you have a different idea of how they should be ranked, please say so in the comments!

[bookwyrminspiration]

do you know where i could find the text of the marellinh short story? i've been looking for a bit and it seems like it's nowhere right now

I actually created a (imperfect) transcript! Here's a link to it. It may be in some other places as well, but I haven't looked. Hope that helps :)

[primalmagic]

fic list

school bus graveyard:

flat pancakes (no, literally)

when horror movies become therapy

waking up to the start of the end of the world (but it’s feeling just like every other morning before) // benlor

rock-a-bye baby // emike

my home moves with you // taylyn

letters written in incognito // benlor

my mind, your thoughts, our echoes // benlor

the art of your heart // benlor

agony, agony // ben clark

a leap of faith was all it took // benlor

haunted by the ghosts of your past (just kidding, it's not that serious) // benlor

i awake when you awaken, i sleep when you are safe // taylyn

promises of fear are all we know, but your promise of hope is what i keep close // benlor

pastry shops & holiday lights (sometimes the gifts we receive aren't all that tangible) // benlor

you drove along and left me alone in the parking lot (emma x maverick? one-sided? idk just. read it)

something stupid (like being in love) // benlor

the owl house:

small sacrifices (you are my life) // raeda

the dragon prince:

duck you (sorry, that was autocorrect) // rayllum

original:

the carpet

heartbeat

kotlc:

stars in the noon sky // marellinh

kotlc characters read the books

riordanverse:

dear diary

[archived-and-moving]

thoughts on marella and linh's relationships w/ pining? before they got together? (examples: was there obliviousness at play? did they immediately just /know/? how long did it take them to act on their feelings? etc. may or may not be asking for fic reference-)

I think that there'd be a little bit of a pining period.

Because I think that Marella would be the person to start making moves, because she noticed signs that she had a crush on Linh, and she was ninety (Fintan told her) percent sure that Linh liked her back.

So she readies herself up to try and figure out what to say. Her being Marella, instead of being straightforward and telling Linh, she decides to try and flirt with her while they're warming up.

And... it went over Linh's head. It's not anything crazy like Sophie's obliviousness, but I think because of her upbringing it's hard for her to separate people into certain categories, y'know? So for a while she thought she really liked Fitz or someone, but then she realizes that she just really wanted to be friends.

It's hard for her to see the signs I think, because Tam's the only person that's ever really loved her.

So there was this one point in their relationship where they would literally never leave each other's sides and Marella would just be throwing flirty remarks and soon even cheesy pickup lines that she learned from Keefe. They all just kind of flopped, because Linh would think Marella was being friendly (because they're now BFF's in Linh's brain. Although she's a little confused as to why she wants to kiss her best friend.)

This flabbergasts anyone in the near vicinity, especially Tam. Edaline told Sophie that she thought they were dating for months before they finally got together.

Then Marella was finally able to buck up and ask Linh out on a date, and she happily said yes, and everyone in the lost cities could finally live in peace.

[cowboypossume]

Finding Home in a Snow Day

Pairing: romantic Marlinh

Summary: it’s snowy and Linh and Marella simp 

Trigger Warnings: kissing, cussing, mentions/use of fire, let me know if anything else!!

Word count: 2,317

AO3 Link: here <3

Now onto the fic :D

-

-

-

-

-

Marella never was one for physical affection. It’s not that she was uncomfortable or didn’t like it when her friends were physically affectionate with her, she just didn't crave the feeling.

That was until Linh came along. Linh was the type of person who, whenever she felt anything needed to be physically affectionate with the people she trusted around her. And as the two girls started to grow closer, Marella, more often than not, became the person on the other end of Linh’s emotions turning into a hug, a shoulder bump, or anything physical. It wasn’t that Marella liked it when Linh did it, she just knew she couldn’t stop it. Of course Linh wanted her to be there to hug, and so of course Marella started to miss it when Linh wasn’t around. She’d never say it aloud, but she grew fond of not only the physical contact that came with her crush, but the girl herself. 

As they grew to be attached at the hip, late-night study sessions had become very common between the pair. The previous night however, time seemed to have slipped away as the two girls got whisked into the safety of each other’s presence. When they were together, the only thing they felt could be encapsulated into a film’s montage of two characters falling in love. The sweet sound of the laughter that stemmed from the nothings that come alive at two am bounced off the apartment walls. Marella should have gone back to her own apartment, but it had gotten to be very late, and if she was being honest with herself, Linh made anywhere feel more like a home than she’d ever thought possible. So, as the moon started to lower itself, laughter had only grown louder and gotten filled with more affection. They needed to sleep, yet the urge to be around the other made their exhaustion fade into a low humming that fit within the melody of the songs that had lightly playing in the background. 

The music’s hum had grown louder, and their conversation had come to a comfortable silence, in which Linh managed to fall asleep with her head on Marella’s shoulder. Had it been anyone else, Marella would have immediately pulled away and not thought twice about it. With Linh though, she found herself growing fond of the warmth. She wanted to protect the person who’d fallen asleep on her, and she knew that she could, even if it was for a night. Instead of pulling away to make her neck and back more comfortable and turn off the radio’s faint buzz, Marella stayed where she was, and let her free hand brush through Linh’s hair. The quiet hum of the empty apartment around her reminded her she was free of others judgement, so she didn’t stop the contented smile that found its way onto her lips. 

When she woke up, that warmth and safety had escaped her grasp and sent her into an immediate state of panic. Linh never woke up before one pm unless she absolutely had to, and judging by how cold the apartment was, it couldn’t have been past ten, and Linh fell asleep way later than she normally did. So, where was she, and where was that draft coming from? After a quick glance around the building, she found that the back door had been cracked open. Looking onto what could be considered a sad excuse for a backyard, a white blanket of frost draped itself over the roof of the apartment buildings, giving the air around them this brisk and brittle reminder of winter. On the skyline of the city, the smoky clouds had made the typically vibrant buildings full of unorthodox colors seem dull and lifeless, giving the specs of white dropping from the air all of the attention. The sight would have been beautiful on its own, but Linh stood right in the middle of it, awe and uncertainty slipping into her face. 

Something must have clicked in her brain because after she took a steady breath, a ball of snow formed in her hand. Before Marella could process what was happening, the circular shape started to expand and slowly mold itself the spinning image of an otter, similar to how people design with clay. They knew what they were doing and were in their element, but to anyone who had never worked with clay themselves, every small movement was astounding. Marella felt herself become an observer from the distance once one otter turned into two, then two turned into four, then eight, and slowly there was a raft surrounding the girl. If Linh had noticed that she was there, Marella would have wanted to step closer and see the tiny details on each one up close. 

Linh, however, seemed too wrapped up in what she was doing to pay attention to anyone but the otters and herself, and Marella couldn’t disturb that, even as there were water droplets starting to appear in trails, creating the illusion of the otters interacting with one another. They started to orbit around Linh, each one of the animals doing something different with the water. Some of them laid on their back and lazily stroked along with the current, some even had a child resting on them while they did it, others would splash their friend and then swim away, there were several that were in an intense game of tag, among so many others; no matter what they were doing, they were dazzlingly well animated. The one Marella had been focusing on flickered for a moment. Alarmed, she suddenly looked back at Linh standing the same as before, but this time, she was far more drained than she was concentrated, and the following moments blurred together too quickly for Marella to fully process it all. 

Linh’s concentration and energy gave out, so the otters and their water counterparts lost their animation and fell to the ground as just normal piles of snow or water. She herself started to lose energy and fall. Marella had her arms outstretched so that she could catch her. “Are you ok?” A genuine tone of concern slipped into her voice as she stared into the half open eyes of the girl in her arms. 

“Yea, I think so. That was way more draining than I thought it would be, but I’m ok.” Lihn said as she slowly sat back up. 

“So in that case: what the fuck were you thinking, Droplet? It’s, what, nine degrees outside? And the only thing you have even resembling anything warm is a long sleeve shirt, and that’s not even close to enough for this weather.” As if reiterating her point, she put a weighted blanket between the two of them. “You could have gotten a cold, or something worse. You should have been safer, or at least woken me up to help.”

“Awww, if I didn’t know any better that concern makes it sound like you care about me.” A smile grew on Linh’s cheek as she said that. 

Marella glared at her.

“Ok. Ok! I’ll be more cautious next time, I’ve just never experienced, uh,” she paused and gestured to the piles of white around them, “whatever this is before. What is it by the way? It’s clearly water, but it feels different than normal rain or ponds, more cold? I think that’s the right word to describe it?” “Snow,” Marella replied, unable to hide the affection creeping into her voice. 

“Well, I wanted to figure it out by myself for a bit and I got too caught up in the feeling and forgot a couple of basic things.” There was a slight chuckle as she tucked the blanket under her feet for makeshift socks. Her tone grew serious and affectionate as she leaned her head on Marella’s shoulder.  “Believe me, I wouldn’t just take off; I care about you too much.” 

Normally Marella could just repress the fluttering heartbeat that came along with any to do with Linh, but something felt different. They’d been in this position an infinite amount of times, yet with the snow picking up around them, it felt more intimate. Words escaped Marella as what Linh said sank in. Linh cared about everyone until given a reason not to, but she never explicitly said it to them, especially not followed by ‘too much’ and a widening grin. So, was there a different tone to it that was making it feel more intimate? Or was Marella reading too much into something that wasn’t there?

Lihn’s head slightly shifted and she let out a breath that went directly onto Marella’s neck. Goosebumps were sent flying down every part of Marella’s body as she sucked in a breath. Linh pulled her head up and looked her in the eyes. “Did I make the infamous ‘I don’t have feelings’ Marella blush just now?”

“I’m not blushing!” 

“And what do you call that hint of pink growing  on your cheeks then?”

“It’s-“ Marella paused, scrambling for something she could blame this on. “It’s not a blush.”

“And what if I did this?” Lihn leaned forward and put her face a few inches away. “Are you still ‘not blushing’?”

“Nope.” She said, feeling the burn in her cheeks rising. 

“Uh huh. What about this?” Linh started to twirl a braid that was dangerously close to Marella’s ear between two of her fingers. 

“Nope,” Marella tried to reply, but it came out cracked and hoarse due to how much strain she was putting on not reacting to the feeling of Linh’s hand so near her. 

Linh stopped playing with the hair and started to trace her thumb across her cheekbone--and as if they’d been waiting for it to happen,the butterflies that had never gone away started to flap even harder. Linh hovered her fingers the smallest bit away from her lips and leaned in, almost whispering as she said, “I’m pretty sure I see a blush here, Ember”.

Marella wanted to say something, anything at all, but Linh looked so confident, and goddammit Marella fell. Hard. That entire moment the two of them had never broken eye contact, but now with Linh being so close, and words seeming to not be enough, she got to actually look into them. The caramelized line around the iris was sprinkled with splashes of gold and a question somewhere. Marella wasn’t quite sure what it was, but she followed it with a slight nod, hoping she knew it meant she trusted her. 

“And what if,” Linh started while tucking the same braid from what felt like hours ago behind Marella’s ear, “I asked to kiss you? Would that make you blush?” 

Linh’s hand rested on Marella’s cheek, and she leaned into the touch as she finally composed herself enough to get a sentence out.  “Guess you’ll have to ask and see.” 

Linh pulled her hand away slightly, showing if the mood changed she wouldn’t mind. “So this is ok? That was you agreeing to kiss me?”

Without pausing a second Marella responded, “yes.” 

All of her life Marella thought a first kiss would be the emotional equivalent of what a firework going off in the sky feels like: electric and breathtaking, but this was nothing like that. This felt like walking home from a long day on a trail she’d walked a thousand times before; like wearing that comfortable sweater on a bad day because it made something feel right. The feeling of closing a finished book with a perfect ending on a rainy day was wrapped into this kiss, and it felt perfect. Linh moved her hand from Marella’s cheek and pulled on the collar of her shirt, changing the feeling of the kiss to be deeper than before. Marella got so caught up in the moment she lost the composure of her ability and a burst of fire jumped to where Linh’s blanket rested on her lap.

Consern flooded Marella’s features as they broke apart. “Shit, sorry. Are you ok?” 

The snow around them put out the flame almost immediately, yet the question hung in the air between them like it hadn’t been said. Lihn was still trying to catch her breath and couldn’t speak, so Marella just started to ramble.

“I’m really sorry. I normally don’t do that while doing that, but in fairness I’ve never really done it before so I’m not sure what I would normally do and. I wasn’t really focusing on the environment, which by the way is really weird that it’s snowing and somehow I feel fire stuff? But I guess I- ” 

Lihn cupped her cheek to cut her off. “You’re blushing again.”

Marella let out a soft chuckle, put her hand on top of her cheek, and the two of them stared contentedly at each other. Another round of snow began to fall, and upon seeing the pure excitement light up Linh’s face, Marella fondly smiled at her. “I won’t drag you back inside if, and only if, you agree to go inside for a minute and put on something warmer while I make us something to drink. Deal?”

“Deal,” Linh replied, giving Marella a kiss on the cheek. 

The rest of the time spent together, instead of going inside and spending the day watching the city slowly get covered in layers of white fluff through a window, the two girls sat outside. The crackling sounds of a fire filled the air as they slipped into their old routine of talking about everything and nothing, except this wasn’t an old routine. This time Linh wrapped her arms around Marella’s stomach from behind and rested her head on her collarbone, and neither of them was afraid of overstepping a boundary. The opposite could be implied. As the snow came falling down harder, looking back at their partner, they finally felt like they were home.

-

-

-

-

-

thank you for reading !!!

taglist for when i randomly decide to write: @brilliantblindinglights and let me know if you want to be added or removed !!