#to realize that just because there were no more prophecies with her doesn't mean her life is over and she has no choice but to accept it

[twilit-tragedy]

And what’s funnier is that the prophecies DO come true. It’s just that characters made the wrong assumptions about them. A man wielding a spear leads the armies at Ragnarök and a bearded, bald man dies in Atreus’ arms. Brilliant.

“Fate only binds you if you let it”- no, but, actually. The characters kept saying it but only in hindsight do I realize how deep it goes. Truly the best way forward, even with some hint of the future, is to proceed as you would regardless. Make your own story and ignore if it matches the prophecies or it doesn’t. Or else you end consumed by thoughts of it (cough, Odin). And in the end it’ll come somewhat true without the details that YOU projected onto it.

[rise-my-angel]

It is much easier for me to believe that Lyanna was manipulated by Rhaegar in some way, if not outright kidnapped. You won't believe me but I have seen people argue that since we know her personality was like Arya's so how could she "allow" herself to be kidnapped 🤦🤦 as if Arya doesn't get kidnapped so many times. The biggest evidences though for Rhaegar being a sinister figure are found all over Sansa's story. Bael-ish kidnaps Sansa, Joffrey sings a song for her and Marillion offers to make a song for her, calling her a rose, and all these men sexually assaulted her. Tyrion on their wedding, wears rubies and he forcibly married her.

My best guess for what actually happened is that the only way in which Lyanna "allowed" herself to get kidnapped, was by not pulling out a sword she didn't have/was not trained to even use, and fight back against grown men trained in combat.

So, here's my theory:

What likely happened, (in my opinion just to cover my ass), is that Rhaegar at the tourney at Harrenhal gifts the crown of love and beauty to the already betrothed 14 year old Lyanna, since he likely knows that Elia will not be able to have more children after Aegon is born, considering she known to be prone to illness and was in medical distress for some months after giving birth to Rhaenys. And at this point he is obsessed with this prophecy and he thinks he needs three heads of a dragon, i.e three children born of his line. And he will need a third child from someone after Elia can't give him more. So, he chooses Lyanna and has to bide his time.

It isn't an unreasonable guess to say that it probably was becoming more well known that Lyanna didn't want to marry Robert due to his irresponsible appetite for bedding many women. It makes sense people could put that together, Lyanna is dedicated to her family and Robert would undoubtedly be unfaithful their entire marriage. If Rhaegar has developed an obsession with her being the one to provide him that third child, it makes sense he learns she is unhappy in her betrothal.

Likely somewhere around the Vale is where this happened, considering the timeline of where all of the Starks currently were at the time she disappeared. So when she is in the south, Rhaegar has a lot more resources to do this. So he waits for a time Lyanna is alone and approaches her. Now she's just a 15 year old girl now suddenly alone with the Crown Prince, likely as intimidated as she is a little star struck considering who he is. Rhaegar needs to lure her away far enough that she won't just run for help. So he promises that as the prince, he can help legally break Lyannas unhappy betrothal for her but does not tell her how.

Offer her something she wants without details and get her to come with him. By the time Lyanna likely put together this isn't what she thought it was and that she's too far away from her family to be safe, is when the actual kidnapping occurs. She goes with him willingly thinking he wants to just help her with something in her life, with no way of knowing he was about to separate her from her family.

By the time Lyanna realizes she is in a bad situation, she's too far away from anywhere she knows to get help and has no choice but to go with him. She is 15 years old, she's just a girl now fearing for her life if she tried to run or fight now. And by the time he takes her to Dorne, he keeps her in a tower with three of the best Kingsguard to ensure she does not escape and no one comes to get her out. He then stays there until he knows shes pregnant, a situation she also likely did not fight back on because of how isolated and powerless she already is here. She is all alone, fighting back could mean her life.

Then of course, word gets out of what Rhaegar has done, Brandon Stark, who has no way of knowing he's taken her to Dorne, goes to Kings Landing to try and demand his sisters return, accompanied along with their father to help and the rest is history.

Make no mistake. They never spoke before that day.

Rhaegar was the Prince and heir to the Iron Throne, who is married to a Dornish Princess and now has 2 children of his own including his own son and heir. Lyanna is a 14-15 year old girl, and the firstborn daughter of a major Northern house who live a thousand miles apart in completely different regions of the country. They would NEVER have been able to share any correspondence together and no one knew or would have found out long before that day.

Ravens dont just fly to the person the letter is for, it goes through a system of people, usually a Maester who facilitates the incoming and outgoing letters, who then either himself or a squire, hand delivers the letter to the correct person. Note most times especially in the first season, when important letters are delivered to the Starks its by either Maester Luwin or Grand Maester Pycelle, and the letters seals have already been opened, hence why they know who to deliver the letter to. Example: How would Luwin have known the letter at the start of the series was from Lysa or how would he have known it specifically was for Catelyn if he did not have to open it first to read its contents to find out.

SOMEONE in the Stark household would have realized that the 14-15 year old Lyanna was receiving letters from the Prince, if not just someone important from Kings Landing, and stepped in then and there. And if he wrote her out of the blue, the first thing Lyanna would have done was tell her family that the PRINCE had sent her a letter. We know the Starks are all very honest with each other, if he wrote her out of the blue, she would've told her brothers.

Also, there are spies everywhere in Kings Landing. If Rhaegar was sending secret letters, someone would've found that out and to whom. Note Catelyn had said she doesn't trust a raven to carry the words to Ned about the attempt on Brans life, or her saying Lysa's head would be on a spike if the wrong person read her letter about the Lannisters. Meaning even she well knows that it is very easy for letters to get into the wrong hands.

Someone (lets be real, probably Varys) would have learned Rhaegar was sending letters to Lyanna. Which in the well over a decade after her death, would have said something to SOMEONE that they were sharing correspondence. Davos line in season 2 of "Lord Varys knows what you had for breakfast three days ago. There are no secrets here." Is clear cut enough to imply that even a man who grew up in Flea Bottom, knows that if you live in Kings Landing, Lord Varys knows you and your secrets already.

Rhaegar was not sending secret letters to Lyanna and no one knew or no one said anything in the conflict that followed or in the decades since.

Lyanna did not run away nor go to him willingly, she would have no way to even communicate with the Crown Prince and heir to the Iron Throne without a single soul learning that information. Her family would have found out and the Starks would have done something about it then and there.

Lyanna likely went with him thinking that he was taking her somewhere reasonable to help her legally end a betrothal she didn't want, not knowing it meant he was taking her away from her family and by the time she realized, she was likely too powerless and in lands she's never been in before to try and run.

Also Lyanna deeply cares about her brothers. The story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree is all the evidence needed to show that she is deeply loving and loyal to her family and the people of the North. She would not run from them just beacuse of a betrothal she didn't like, she loved her brothers dearly.

She was taken from them. She was tricked into walking into a kidnapping under false pretenses. Rhaegar was a fully grown man in a position of great power who used Lyanna's young naivety and venerability to his advantage.

Lyanna did not need to be carried away kicking and screaming for it to still be a kidnapping.

Also the idea that Lyanna did not want to marry Robert because he already had bastards and slept around, would leave her entire life and family behind to run away with a man who is married with 2 children is braindead.

And if I even hear the word annulment, I will explode into rage like I'm Oberyn Martell's fucking head.

[umbran6]

What if... Leo Became a God?

Okay, but what if Leo literally burnt away his mortality during Blood of Olympus while fighting Gaea?

Now, before you go ahead and bring out the sledgehammers and pitchforks, or think I'm just doing it as a joke, this is a possibility that I'm being very sincere in considering this. And it is a possibility, because this isn't the first time this has happened in myth - Heracles did it first. So if burning himself alive in a freaking pyre was all Heracles needed to ascend to godhood, Leo literally burning himself alive using his own flames to kill a Primordial should be more than enough. Plus there's the whole Hera mimicking what Demeter did with Demophon, so we could say he's nearly there. Him burning himself alive is just that final push he needed to become a god, burning away his own mortality.

I mean, think about it. The prophecy always said, an oath to hold with a final breath, but it never meant Leo had to get close to perma-dead. Riordan did it just fine with the Physician's Cure, having Leo achieve apotheosis to do so would also be a way to circumvent the loophole in the prophecy. The phrasing is vague in that 'final breath' could be interpreted in multiple ways, such as 'one's final breath as a mortal.'

Oh the irony. We all thought Leo was going to die, then bam! Boy ends up with a permanent lease on life by literally burning himself alive, a lot more power than he could ever imagine getting, and a lot of freedom he never had as a mortal. He's lucky demigod #3 to ascend to godhood without divine patronage, right after Heracles and Dionysus. When he returns to Camp Half-Blood, it isn't on Festus, but him straight-up materializing in the middle of his funeral. Nearly every Greek and Roman but especially Nico mentally screams WTF as they realize that the funeral hasn't even ended, and Leo's shroud is basically his first offering.

His friends reactions to seeing him - and realizing the truth of what he has become. Jason and Piper are in shock, realizing that their friend is now going to stay young and will eventually watch them die and have to move on. Frank and Hazel are bewildered, because Leo's plan to burn himself alive to defeat Gaea had gone horribly right and now they have to deal with the fact that they had a hand in Leo's apotheosis. Percy and Annabeth are bewildered and shocked at the fact that Leo just straight up became a god - and the now very real reality that one of them may eventually do so (cough cough Percy).

When Leo goes to free Calypso, she literally has to process the fact that the boy she may have liked is now a god - the very beings she despises for imprisoning her in Ogygia. That eventually Leo may most likely move on to someone else and dump her. This crashes especially hard when she gets out of that island and realizes that she's become mortal. The dynamics between them have completely changed and Leo isn't aware of it, and Calypso doesn't know how to process that.

Hera is the one to explain exactly is going on to Leo, because she knows she had a hand in Leo becoming a god. She owes him at the very least to guide Leo in his new reality, and both the positive and negative benefits that are associated with ascension to godhood. Hephaestus doesn't know how to handle Leo now basically being just there forever, because none of his children ever became gods unless they were the children of him and a god. Nemesis marvels at the irony of Leo becoming a god while stealing Gaea's life, noting that this was a rather marvelous way that Leo rained his vengeance upon her. Apollo's just friendly because now he has a new friend to be with him in Olympus.

But this ending - for Heroes of Olympus as a whole - would be more poetic and a parallel to The Last Olympian. Percy was satisfied with who he was, protecting the world to save those he loves and he's happy with that. Leo is one who ascends to the heavens in his feat to avenge those he loves and destroying those who tried to destroy him.

But... there's one thing they have in common.

Leo's first act as a god isn't to rescue Calypso. It isn't to appear before the Seven and let them know he's alive. Leo appears in the Underworld and requests for only a single soul to be allowed a second chance at life. The single soul that he loves the most.

Esperanza Valdez is brought out of the underworld, and Leo freezes. The boy on fire who became a god turns back into a boy of eight years old as he finally gets back the mom he lost so long ago as he hugs her as best as he can. He hadn't expected to be a god. He didn't know what would happen next. But this - this is one of the few times things actually feel right. They've both been given a new lease on life - one longer than the other, but they can finally keep moving forward.

[golden-flute]

No one asked for my opinion on The Sun and the Star, but I’ve been thinking of nothing else since I finished the book, and I have to write my thoughts or I will explode, lol.

Fair warning: Spoilers and long-ass thought dump ahead.

Gif Originally posted by riptides

On the Themes

I picked out a few different themes that I found carried through the book:

Self-acceptance

Living with trauma

Embracing change

What healing looks like

I thought they were brilliantly approached because there was a lot of nuance for each theme. Particularly when you consider that these are pretty heavy topics for middle-reader age groups!

The biggest theme directly relating to Nico was this idea that it's possible to embrace your trauma, to accept it, and to grow around it. In his case, it's literal, with the Cocoa Puffs hanging around him now like a little parade of Walmart Ghibli Sootballs, lol.

I think that Nico was working through his trauma well before he ever heard the prophecy. The fact that he was able to accept his darkness so easily once Nyx forced him to confront it was more a mark of how far he'd already progressed than it was a big moment where he was suddenly magically healed from all of his baggage. The entire purpose of the Cocoa Puffs was to act as a physical representation of Nico's existing trauma. They will always be a part of him, but they don't define him. He's simply accepted them and freed himself from them without avoiding the fact that they'll still be there. That's such a healthy place to be, particularly because I think a lot of people tend to fall into the same trap of toxic positivity that Will did....

Many people who are natural healers and problem-solvers often fail to realize that being healed doesn't always mean that pain has totally been eradicated, hurray. In their minds, there's always some way to fix broken people. And I think that's why Will's conversation with Persephone was so important for his growth. I think he always saw Nico as someone who needed to be fixed, and to Will, that meant that Nico must hide from his trauma, or ignore it. Will's story arc centered around his acceptance that he can't (and shouldn't) always try to heal people "his way." With Nico, he had to get on his level, see him, and accept his pain. I've known people in my life who tend to avoid negative emotions because they think it's totally bad. But hiding from the pain can often make it worse. Darkness only grows stronger in the shadows, after all.

Nico and Will's internal journeys were two sides of the same coin in that respect. I loved it. Nico was ready to accept his trauma, but in a way, Will had to accept it too.

By the time they reach Nyx, these internal struggles had been mostly resolved and simply need to have their big final moment to totally hit home. But there's another kind-of-subtle-but-also-not theme for Nyx that ingeniously ties into the idea of questioning gender and sexuality. Nyx sees things as black and white. Even her own children, who are more than their labels, have to fit into these perfect molds in her mind. She's the BBEG because she struggles to change or to accept others changing around her. Talk about a heavy topic, right? But then at the end of the book, this idea of change is also beautifully encapsulated in Nico and Piper's discussion about sexuality labels. Particularly from Piper's perspective, since she's still figuring herself out and just going with what feels right in the moment. People are beautifully complex creatures who are capable of being something new every day.

On Characterization

Over the years, I've discovered that I gravitate toward the reformed, darker characters--the gloomy cinnamon rolls, if you will. Nico. Laudna and Caleb from Critical Role. Hunter in the Owl House. Zuko. Kaladin from the Stormlight Archives. Riku from Kingdom Hearts. So on and so forth. Something about their stories is so compelling to me. Perhaps seeing them overcome their own trials is a symbol that light comes after darkness, which is a message I have clung to my entire life, because it gives me hope for myself. And that’s exactly one of the messages I got from TSATS. This time, it was Nico’s turn for a reprieve from his trauma.

Y'all. Nico's a fucking NERD. The moment we met him as a little kid, he was talking everyone's ears off about Mythomagic, and he revealed he had a pirate phase and... yeah, he's just a nerd. His carefree personality took a huge nosedive after Bianca was killed, and then he became this unrecognizable dark creature of vengeance. I know some folks felt that he was really out of character in TSATS, but I find the shift just harkens back to the themes of change. Nico's transforming before our eyes, guys. Though Apollo's series and into TSATS, he's come to a place of peace where he could let go of his anger and his darkness... or at least accept them. And that's given him the space he needed to kind of get back on an even keel. He's finally able to return to his natural progression as a hyperactive dork. That's what we saw in TSATS and I loved it so much for him.

I found Will's progression really interesting as well. He's always been seen as the intrepid healer with a sometimes-literal glowing halo around him. In this story, the tables were turned and he had to accept that he needed support sometimes too. But more than that, this is the first time we've really gotten inside Will's head. We've only ever really seen him from the perspective of Nico (his admirer) and Apollo (his affectionate father). But this time, we were able to get Will's thoughts, and he's... not as perfect as we expected. And I love it. No one is perfect, and I think that in the absence of more information on Will, people sort of developed headcanons of him that understandably made the TSATS version of him a bit jarring. But if he were this perfect pariah of a character, that would hardly be interesting. I really enjoyed that in the first half, he spent so much time complaining about the Underworld, because it just meant there were some lessons for him to learn as well. He's complex, just like the rest of the PJO cast.

Other Incongruent Thoughts

Guys, I'm dead. When we finally heard the fated prophecy, I was... really underwhelmed. It didn't feel like it was literarily as impressive in the same way the other prophecies had been. It just... wasn't very good poetry. But then Dionysus criticized the rhyme structure and called it "a bit forced" and I was like "Hang on..." Come to find out, Hades made up the prophecy to get Nico to go save Bob! Can you just imagine Hades sitting at a desk, surrounded by crumpled pieces of paper, writing bad poetry that's convincing enough to get Nico off his butt and into Tartarus? I'm deceased.

The reunion between Nico, Maria, and Bianca BROKE me, y'all. I was full-on sobbing and my eyes were swollen this morning when I woke up. I was confused by how they were there, since past books said that they'd "moved on," insinuating they'd tried for rebirth. But I saw another post someone made about how Hades (or Bianca?) mentioned that they were the barest of essences remaining. I'm not saying it very well, but it made a lot more sense, and I hadn't caught that insinuation in my read-through. But I absolutely loved that we didn't get this reunion until after Nico had already accepted his trauma. If this meeting had come before, I'm sure he would have fought to "save" his mom and sister--I mean, he even says it in the book. But by that point, all he needed was to say his piece and get some closure, and that was enough for him. It was a mark of how much he's grown, and I just... *chef's kiss*

I love Hades. He's genuinely a good dad. Well... sort of. Maybe not at the beginning of PJO. But he, too, is changing his ways and taking more of an interest in his children. Or at least Nico. I wonder if we'll ever get more Hazel/Hades content? But Nico pretty much confirmed that Hades was around when he was a kid, and Hazel said the same thing in a previous book, which is more than pretty much every other demigod can say, so there you go. By Olympian standards, Hades deserves that #1 Dad mug.

I was really surprised that it took over half the book for Nico and Will to make it to Tartarus! Don't get me wrong, there was still plenty going on, but I was so used to the idea of Percy and Annabeth dropping in at chapter 2, it surprised me!

Anyone else peep the really big typo on page 401 of the US hardcover? "My mother is Bianca di Angelo, and she loved me and my sister." I stared at that for a long time last night wondering if I was going crazy, lolol. From what I've heard, the typo has already been fixed on the kindle version of the book, but those of us with physical copies have got the OG mistake. Whoops, lol!

I'm having a hard time discerning if the "'Dam it,' said Nico." on page 352 is a typo or not, for the pure and simple reason that there were so many dam jokes in PJO. And somewhere else in the book, Nico actually says "Damn," so... was it a typo? The 'dam' joke didn't really have a purpose for being there, and it wasn't repeated later, so I feel more like it might have been another typo?

We got a little Percy and Annabeth action! And Sally and Estelle! I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that Percy and Annabeth had already forgotten about Bob. Especially since Percy's whole growth in the House of Hades was to realize how many people he'd left behind. I never expected them to join Nico and Will in their Tartarus journey, but they apparently brushed him off so fast I got whiplash! What was that about? I wonder if we'll get more on that in the short story that comes out later this year?

We got a little mention of Damasen in this story as well, and obviously if he hasn't regenerated yet, there wasn't much they could do for him. But... I'm surprised that Percy and Annabeth didn't mention him or ask Nico to keep an eye out for him as well because he was there at the Doors of Death, making the same sacrifice as Bob. Will there be another Tartarus rescue mission in the future? Nemesis told Nico that any future journies into Tartarus would be unsuccessful. While I feel like it's unlikely we'll get any more Tartarus field trips, those little asides made me wonder if Rick Riordan's got more ideas floating around that he wanted to leave open for later, just in case.

They used the words gay, bisexual, and lesbian! I don't think this book series has ever done that before! I have a sneaking suspicion that this was part of Mark's contribution to the book. RR usually tends to talk around those words--he'll make it obvious, like when Apollo talked about his love for Hyacinthus, but I don't think Apollo ever actually used the word bisexual to describe himself (correct me if I'm wrong). I think that it was a really good step forward for children's literature. If you're going in, go all in, you know?

Lil Nas X made an unbelievable appearance! Lol! Though I have to admit, the inconsistency of the timeline of references sometimes gets me. Like many books ago, some character probably dropped a reference from ten years ago, and a year or two in book time, we get a Montero reference. Like, it's a small nitpick, but that inconsistency always pulls me out of the story a bit. Yeah, you heard right--I'm totally fine with the issues everyone else had with the books, but the weird timeline of references messes with me, lol. That's where I draw the line! That's not the say the Lil Nas X reference wasn't spectacular, though, lol.

Do I... like Mr. D now? I love Dionysus from the mythologies, but Mr. D was always so... blegh. But he's like legit a decent person to Nico. He shared his popcorn! That. Was. HUGE. Hahaha.

We finally got the full scoop on Nico's first trip to Tartarus!

The nickname "Night-Light" is endlessly adorable. And then Will ruins it by turning around and calling Nico "Death Boy" lol.

The trogs were never my favorite mythological creature ever, but they grew on me in this story.

So... Menoetes and Geryon, huh? Menyon? Geroetes? What's our ship name? Lol.

Will having the hots for Persephone was not on my bingo card, lol! I did really enjoy their talk, though. It really set up Will's character arc very nicely. And I loved that Persephone seems to be taking a leaf out of Hades' book and trying to be a bit kinder towards her stepchildren. It's not their fault, you know?

I'm seeing a lot of reactions to Nico's coming out story. I agree, that's one part I felt was a little bit forced. Introverted people can have moments where they're feeling brave and don't mind an audience (Hi, I'm exhibit A), I wouldn't say it's out of character per se. But it was a little bit... shall we say out of context? Since we didn't get the actual scene, but Nico and Will's recollection of it?

I really liked Gorgyra. The random chapters of stories from Nico and Will kind of jarred me a bit, but I think they were a nice touch, but would have been too much if they'd all been told chronologically. I agree with Rick and Mark's decision to split those up.

Amphithemis was a trip! I wish we could have lingered a bit more on Nico being upset at Will for tricking him away. I was glad that Nico at least asked Hades to free Amphithemis.

I saw some complaints that Nico and Will were super cringey around one another. To that, and as someone who's ace, I say... most couples are cringey around each other, particularly young couples. Nico and Will are still feeling out their relationship, and they don't have the years of friendship that Percy and Annabeth had that made their relationship so easygoing. I think Nico and Will's relationship is a bit more realistic in terms of first loves.

I loved the frank conversations about PTSD. I eat stuff like that up, because when I read it, I can just imagine someone else who really needs that sort of representation reading this book and finding comfort in characters like them.

And I'm literally out of space. I had no idea Tumblr had a character limit, but I hit it, lol. But if you got this far, thanks for reading!

[iwillberunningfromdemons]

Thoughts about 2x08 - What Was Meant To Be (show + book spoilers)

Okay, I have a lot to say about this episode. Let's start at the beginning. The bit with Ishamael and Lews Therin Telamon... I mean, we all thought the fragment would be about the Breaking, right? Instead of that, we just got LTT sealing Ishy. Not a big deal, just not what I expected, but of course I'd like to see the prologue of EotW in live action, eventually. Hopefully next season?

The opening is back and I don't really get why. There didn't seem to be any visible changes to it.

The build-up of the episode is done really well. The set-up of the war of the Whites against the Seanchan, the interaction between Moiraine and Lanfear, between Lanfear and Ishamael, Egwene as part of the defense in the tower, Perrin, Elayne and Nynaeve trying to reach her and Mat being handed the dagger.

I really liked Moiraine and Lan's bit, them forming a bond again. I liked the reunion between Mat and Perrin, and between Perrin and Dain. In fact, I think I really enjoyed Perrin's storyline and that hasn't happened until now. This felt like the first time we actually saw Perrin from the books. How Geofram Bornhald kills Hopper (most heartbreaking moment for me) and how Perrin is just in rage and takes revenge for his good boy... And then the moment that Dain realizes this, wow, this was good.

They handled Mat's blowing on the Horn well enough, I think. I don't think the Heroes of the Horn looked cringy. Uno being a Hero is a creative way to keep him in the story, but yeah, to me he wasn't established well enough in the series. The thing I liked the most was Mat remembering who he actually is (and using the Old Tongue), although not enough information was given to show-only watchers.

I don't like Rand's storyline. He kills Turak without using his sword. I mean, does Rand in the show even have sword skills? I've never seen him use a sword (and I don't think he will become a Blademaster in the show). Then he gets shot by Mat's dagger spear, after which Elayne heals him (this dagger is a literal artifact of Shadar Logoth and she is not thát good at healing..), while Egwene is protecting them against Ishy (like, how?). Eventually Rand is able to stab Ishamael with his sword, but it was a small moment.

What I mean is that there were too many players in that moment (Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, Mat), while there should only have been Rand and Ishamael, so it doesn't feel like it is special that Rand is the Dragon Reborn. Instead, Moiraine just makes a dragon for him (that felt sad) and it feels not earned or something. Maybe Ishy and Rand fighting in the sky would have been cringy or something, but then Ishamael's defeat would have marked him the Dragon. Now, he has done almost nothing.

Sorry, I really want to like this show. I do like it, I think, just less than before this episode. I want them to show the importance of the Dragon. I want prophecies and the key moments from the books, because I think they are vital to the story.

Now another wait of 2 years, in which I'm certainly going to reread WoT. And in season 3 we are going to see a lot more Forsaken (like Moghedien, liked her performance).

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 2: Saidin

I am running out of pictures so rapidly it's alarming. It's as if I've moved beyond the territory of the show and the comic books and so all we've got left is text, which is apparently terrible for engagement. Also terrible for engagement is warning people about spoilers, which is why I won't tell anyone who doesn't already know that this post contains spoilers for the whole of The Wheel of Time series. Come right in and make lots of outraged replies about how I've ruined everything for you instead.

This chapter starts with the dragon's fang symbol, probably because it's literally called "Saidin" and Rand will be fucking things up with it.

All the women who came insisted on speaking to Moiraine immediately, and alone. The news that Moiraine chose to share with the rest of them did not always seem very important, but the women held the intensity of a hunter stalking the last rabbit in the world for his starving family.

It's almost like they're working for an Aes Sedai, and not just any Aes Sedai but one of the few left who tries to live up to the old standard. I'd think that pretty important too unless I was literally dyingn of thirst.

Or ever, he added to himself. Moiraine had kept them there all winter. The Shienarans did not think she gave the orders, not here, but Perrin knew that Aes Sedai somehow always seemed to get their way. Especially Moiraine.

I get that you're stir-crazy bro but do you really WANT to be wandering the wilderness in the middle of winter, fighting battles that you can avoid by staying still? What alternatives do you have other than "Don't do what Moiraine wants because she's Aes Sedai"?

“The Tinker woman is going to die,” she said softly, eyeing the others near the fires. None was close enough to hear.

It's times like this you can remember why Min doesn't particularly want her powers. She's probably seen quite a few people who were going to die soon by this point, just because when you walk by so many people in a city it's bound to happen sooner or later.

“Is that her name? I wish I didn’t know. It always makes it worse, knowing and not being able to. . . . Perrin, I saw her own face floating over her shoulder, covered in blood, eyes staring. It’s never any clearer than that.” She shivered and rubbed her hands together briskly.

I wonder if these omens she sees are realistic enough to be as traumatizing as seeing the actual thing.

He thought of the wolves. No! The scouts would find anyone or anything trying to approach the camp.

Good job helping fulfill Min's prophecy, Perrin. Things might have been different if you'd used your resources to your fullest advantage.

She had told him; she had tried warning people about bad things when, at six or seven, she had first realized not everyone could see what she saw. She would not say more, but he had the impression that her warnings had only made matters worse, when they were believed at all.

Poor Min.

It had made him cautious and careful, and regretful of his anger when he let it show. “I am sorry, Min. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I did not mean to hurt you.” She gave him a surprised look.

Really I think my problem with Perrin is that it's very obvious that he has completely over-corrected for problems in the past to the point where he's now too afraid to do much of anything on his own.

“Strange,” she said softly, “how you seem to care so much about the Tuatha’an. They are utterly peaceful, and I always see violence around—” He turned his head away, and she cut off abruptly.

And again, it's other women tearing Perrin apart with words much more than him hurting them physically or emotionally. Perrin's problem is that at heart he absolutely agrees that violence is damaging even in self-defense but he exists in an Age where that self-defense is very necessary.

She rolled her eyes at Perrin, a wry twist to her mouth. “All I wanted was to live as I pleased, fall in love with a man I chose. . . .” Her cheeks reddened suddenly, and she cleared her throat.

1. Min, almost no one chooses who they fall in love with. 2. You're lucky you're blabbering in front of Perrin and Loial and not anyone with an understanding of love because for all your "don't like to talk about your visions" thing, you sure are signposting it for everyone.

The Ogier looked at them, suddenly shy, his ears twitching. “Promise you will not laugh? I think I might write a book about it. I have been taking notes.”

Really, you could argue that Loial has hardly been swept up into the ta'veren stuff at all yet. If he'd met anyone so interesting as Rand and crew, he might have chosen to go traveling with them anyway. After all, his choosing to leave the groves had nothing to do with them.

Uno, who could hardly say a sentence without a curse, spoke now with the deepest respect. The others echoed him. “Honor to serve.” Masema, who saw ill in everything, and whose eyes now shone with utter devotion; Ragan; all of them, awaiting a command if it were Rand’s pleasure to give one.

While Rand of course dislikes this treatment, I do think that having to deal with this for a few months is the start of his arrogance. You can't be treated like this by every normal person you spend time with without it starting to rub off on you.

And aside from Moiraine and Lan, there were only the three of them—Min, Loial, and him—who did not stare at Rand as if he stood above kings. And of the three only Perrin knew him from before.

It's rather unfortunate that Perrin instinctively understands why Rand needs him here and tosses that aside much later on in the story. All three of the boys seem to backslide a bit as a result of what happens to them.

A man—a thing!—everyone was taught to loathe and fear from childhood. Only . . . it was hard to stop seeing the boy he had grown up with. How do you just stop being somebody’s friend?

Prejudices - even really rational ones like "Don't trust the dudes who can and will melt you in their sleep" - tend to have a hard time sticking around in the face of empathy, which Perrin to his credit does have a lot of. It's why he's a little better at dealing with this stuff than Mat.

He began to laugh mirthlessly, his shoulders shaking. “I have the duty, because there isn’t anybody else, now is there?”

Rand's not going mad from the taint here, but rather from the reality of his position finally setting in. The weight of the world is on his shoulders so it's understandable that he's cracking under the strain. And that more than anything is why Moiraine is right to have him wait - if he did go out onto the Plain in this state he'd probably snap in battle instead of thrive like he has before.

Perrin almost laughed himself, in confusion. “If you agree with her, why in the Light do you argue all the time?” “Because I have to do something. Or I’ll . . . I’ll—burst like a rotted melon!”

Like Perrin, Rand's big problem in this sequence is that he doesn't have any viable alternatives and just whines a lot instead. There's a lot Rand could be doing (more training with Lan, trying to learn politics from Moiraine, studying with Loial, etc.) but instead of dedicating himself to his fate he just laments all the deaths that are happening in his name instead. This is naturally only going to lead to more problems down the line.

Rand shivered; despite the chill, there was sweat on his face. His eyes were still shut tight. “Oh, Light,” he groaned, “it pulls so.”

Nope, this isn't taint madness either (I will be doing my best to demonstrate to you why NONE of his craziness in this book can be chalked up to that specifically). Remember: Rand is a wilder and he's still in that awkward "could easily draw enough power to burn himself out because he doesn't even know the proper exercises for starting out with the power" phase.

Rand stood with his head thrown back, his eyes still shut tight. He did not seem to feel the thrashing of the ground that had him now at one angle, now at another. His balance never shifted, no matter how he was tossed. Perrin could not be certain, being shaken as he was, but he thought Rand wore a sad smile. The trees flailed about, and the leatherleaf suddenly cracked in two, the greater part of its trunk crashing down not three paces from Rand. He noticed it no more than he noticed any of the rest.

The land and Rand are one, so he externalizes his temper tantrum out onto the world to avoid having to acknowledge his actual feelings.

Rand looked around as if seeing things for the first time. The fallen leatherleaf, and the broken branches. There was, Perrin realized, surprisingly little damage. He had expected gaping rents in the earth. The wall of trees looked almost whole.

And of course, Rand hasn't really addressed any of his internal issues so while he's a little disheveled, nothing has actually changed.

“They’re always there, dreams,” Rand said, so softly Perrin barely heard. “Maybe they tell us things. True things.” He fell silent, brooding.

Rand is of course also snapping under the pressure of Ba'alsy's TAR campaign. The lack of good sleep is already catching up to him here and it's not going to be getting better anytime soon.

Ah well. Next time: News!

[toastywatchesstevenuniverse]

S1 E45

Rose's Scabbard

Okay so I've learned a lot today.

Also this episode much like the fireworks one made me..

Very uncomfortable. But even more so than that one did.

This episode was just......really fucking sad man.

First off:

None of the gems seemed to like Greg so far (Except Amethyst) but Pearl especially seemed particularly not very fond of him. I kinda didn't think much about that. I just assumed it was because "Greg is a slob & Pearl doesn't like that he's a slob." And honestly given his current state in the show rn, I ain't exactly too fond of the man either. Though the winter episode definitely made me like him more.

But uh....now I'm starting to think Pearl's distaste for him isn't as simple as that. Because Pearl....

This whole episode Pearl was being like....

Okay look we can't word this in any other way: PEARL WAS BEING A MASSIVE HOMO™ THE ENTIRE TIME LIKE GOD DAMN SHE WAS GAY™ AS FUCK ABOUT ROSE THIS EPISODE LIKE WOAH OKAY NOW I GET WHATS GOING ON HERE. PEARL IS A MASSIVE FUCKING LESBIAN™ FOR ROSE & NOW THAT THIS REVEAL HAS HIT. Well to be honest that actually explains a lot. Like, huh, yeah actually this makes sense & explains a lot about why she's like this.

Guys when I called her a Gay™ Disaster™ all the way back in the start I wasn't expecting to actually be correct. I was like half joking when I said that????

I WAS TRYING TO BE FUNNY I WASNT TRYING TO BE A PROPHET HERE WHAT THE FUCK WHY WAS I ACTUALLY CORRECT¿???????¿¿¿¿¿???

I WAS JUST BEING A GOOF WHY DID I END UP HAVING THE GIFT OF PROPHECY???? FUCK OFF APOLLO.

PEARL & ROSE WERE APPARENTLY 'VERY CLOSE FRIENDS'. ROOMMATES OR WHATNOT. SHE EVEN FUCKING BLUSHED & HAD THE QUEER™ EYELASHES. DAMN PEARL I THINK YOU MIGHT BE SUFFERING FROM A CASE OF BEING A FUCKING SIMP, YOU FUCKING LESBIAN™.

MY GAYDAR™ IS OFF THE CHARTS RIGHT NOW. THIS MF IS GAY™ AS FUCK. 💀 THIS IS BEYOND NORMAL GAY™. THIS IS ADVANCED GAY™.

So idk what happened that led to Rose vetting with Greg but yeah, suddenly I'm realizing Pearl disliking Greg is definitely a case of her being....

Well. And excuse me for the vulgar metaphor here but I can't resist.

Pearl is bitter because Greg was the one who got to put the sword in Rose's Scabbard when she wanted to put her sword in there in the first place.

And honestly if I lost out to someone like Greg who....let's face it is kind of a pretty shit dad so far. Yeah I'd be bitter too. It actually makes the fact she's the one trying the hardest to be Steven's mother make more sense & honeslty it makes her even more sympathetic. He's the closest thing she has left of Rose & the fact she's so caring & all just....if Rose had to sacrifice herself for Steven to exist, the fact Pearl isn't resentful towards Steven at all for that is so nice. Because it'd be so easy for the writers to just have her be like that for cheap drama but no, they don't. Thank you for that writers. That's so wise to avoid that bullshit bc I'd hate this episode if they went that direction....look idk how to word this rn but damn Pearl has some serious emotional issues. And Amethyst had some trauma reveal a few episodes ago too....

So if this pattern continues....

Guys I don't even know if I want to find out what fucked up shit Garnet is going through because I feel like hers is probably gonna be the most fucked up of the lot. Like I don't even think I WANT to find out what shit she's carrying in her head. I mean....like, fuck all of these people need therapy & a hug.

Anyways Pearl was definitely being shitty by the halfway mark (I mean what she said to Steven was legit fucked up I ain't gonna lie, like, damn, you said that to a CHILD, Pearl. Holy shit. I get that you're upset about the wife thing but he's literally a child I think he's probably upset about his mom being gone just as much as you are.) but y'know-

Okay quick side note: Amethyst I get that Pearl was being shitty but you have no right to be talking shit about her like you didn't just do some pretty fucked up shit just a couple episodes ago. Neither of y'all are in ANY position to be acting all high & mighty. Pearl just SAID something but you straight up fucking used your transformation magic to torment a man about his dead wife. You don't have any fucking high ground here girl. Garnet is the only one of you that has any room to be acting above it. She hasn't done anything like that so far so she's the only one that gets to talk shit. Sit tf down ma'am.

ahem, anyways Amethyst was being shitty too just a bit ago. And like I said then: when you're that mentally fucked it leads to that kinda behavior. It's not an excuse but it does mean you know there's a legit reason for why they'd act out like this. And it's not entirely their fault that they have a tendency to be that irrational. But Pearl, like Amethyst, you can tell she felt remorse.

Again, the way they resolve it without a drawn out argument...but instead it's just Pearl openly showing her vulnerability & Steven just showing her a sign of affection. No argument. No yelling. Just a genuine moment of sincere emotion. Steven understood. While what she said was horrible, he gets why she said it. They both miss her. But they have eahcother. I am going to fucking sob typing this oh my god.

Yeah this episode made me cry a lot. Absolutely stellar episode. And the ending was just beautiful.

Further cementing the fact that Pearl is my favorite. I can't wait to see how much the show uses her emotional baggage to rip my heart in half & stomp on it mercilessly.

Second best episode of the entire show so far. Only just slightly behind 'On The Run'. (That one just hit me on a more personal level so it still has my heart by the throat.)

[pterodactylterrace]

"I don't understand why Alicent didn't accept Rhaenyra's apology in ep6 but did in ep8

The apology in ep6 felt way more sincere to me and happened before Rhaenyra had done anything that bad. I mean the worst thing she had done at that point to Alicent was getting her father fired (which Alicent was more than prepared to forgive her for as we see at the beginning of ep5) and sleep with Cole (Alicent doesn't even know that Rhaenyra lied to her about going to a brothel with Daemon). But then in ep7 Rhaenyra's son takes out Aemond'e eye and Rhaenyra shows zero empathy and even asks him to be "sharply questioned" while he's sitting there bleeding from a hole in his eyes. She insults Alicent. She then lets Alicent believed she murdered Laenor to strike fear in her and marries a man who hates her father and is known to be dangerous. Then in ep8 her husband brutally murders Vaemond (who is also supposed to be part of his family) without a trial for saying the exact same thing that Alicent, Aemond and Aegon have said out loud. Rhaenyra's "apology" in ep8 doesn't contain any mention of Aemond (does she even know he's her brother?) or reassurance that she will keep Alicent's children safe (whereas in ep6 she proposed a marriage between Helaena and Jace, which I know can be seen as her taking Helaena hostage but it can be also be seen as a genuine effort to build a relationship between the families). Is it me or is this really stupid? Or maybe I'm missing something?"

https://www.reddit.com/r/HOTDGreens/s/OFHTcsesQ6

My answer is, likely out if desperation. The plan to have Luke disinherited due to his bastardy ended up failing. That was meant to be the catalyst for keeping Rhaenyra off the throne.

It seems the original plan in episode 6 (iirc) was to sway Viserys into seeing reason and replacing Rhaenyra as heir. That didn’t work, either.

Now, Viserys is dying, the only man willing to say the truth in open court is dead, the walls are closing in and Alicent submits and admits defeat.

Then Viserys mumbles some incoherent stuff about Aegon and prophecy, which Alicent thinks he is referring to a prophecy he thought he had about having a son that would wear the conquerer’s crown.

Now she thinks she has the official green light from the king to do what she has wanted to do this whole time and allow Viserys eldest son to inherit. A lot of people don’t realize that it’s Rhaenyra that is taking Aegon’s birthright.

A birthright is something that is rightfully yours, just because you were born. Being born male, Aegon rightfully should be heir. Rhaenyra’s claim is “daddy said so”, not a birthright. She was named heir, not born heir like Aegon was assumed to be.

The master of laws was on board with Aegon being crowned king. The precedent had been set. It was that very precedent that allowed Viserys to rule to begin with. Daughters aren’t supposed to inherit before sons in this system. It’s bonkers chauvinistic, but it’s fantasy. No real people are being hurt.

TLDR: Alicent thought she lost the battle to get Rhaenyra’s claim renounced in episode 8, so she submitted and was going the “pray for mercy” route Otto suggested.

Thank you for the ask! Always happy to throw my 2 cents in 😂

[satancopilotsmytardis]

Moth God Shigaraki! Yes!

Oooh, the hinted backstory is nice so far! I like magic AUs :)

A bit different from your usual writing style, probably because it's a God AU. God AUs are always a bit different. But I like it a lot! It still has your characteristics, but the general vibe is a bit more fairytale like? Dark fairytale, but still. More mythical than your usual fics.

I like the nicknames Shigaraki gives Dabi. The little spark that starts the fire. The kindling that sets the forest ablaze.

I want to wrap Dabi up in blankets and keep him safe. I think Shigaraki might agree with that idea.

Dabi, you are such a simp. Not that Shigaraki is any better.

"Will you feed me to the roses?" "Would you like to be roses?" I love the conversations in this one.

Shigaraki has such a sad existence. I mean, yeah, he wants to kill everyone who lives on his land and destroy their homes, but they locked him up for so long. I feel like his story might be a selffulfilling prophecy. They anger him, so he wants to take revenge, so the keep him locked up. A, to Shigaraki, neverending cycle.

And even still Dabi manages to find a way to cook. Nice.

For once Shigaraki can handle the cold better than Dabi.

They are both lonely and desperate for good connections :(

Oh Dabi. Shigaraki doesn't want him to die. I think the other sacrifices made their choice quicker. I don't think he interacted with another person for as long as he did Dabi in all the time he was trapped. He doesn't want Dabi to die, so he gives him the chance to save who he wants to protect.

"I can't just let you kill everyone." "Yeah, but what if we were boyfriends, would that change things?"

Ugh, this whole fic is a tragedy. They are both so, so desperate to protect who they love. Shigaraki would become a monster a hundred times over to help Dabi. Dabi would give up his life, his choice, to the ambition of others if he believes that to help his siblings. He is still so caught up in "his purpose".

Oh, stabbed by his own father. Ouch.

And Shigaraki gave up his destruction for the person he loves. That's a theme in your fics, him willing to give that up for the League, even when they would never ask that of him. Just like it's always Shigaraki accepting Dabi's plan, trying to give him options that allow him to survive but ultimately accepting his choice.

Honestly, it's impressive how this stays the same even in an AU so different from what you usually write.

They are so in loveeeee. And now they can spend eternity together ;-;

"I will give up my weapon to save you. I will give up revenge as long as I can have you." "Then let me be your weapon, let me destroy what harms you."

The last time Fuyumi sees her brother is next to her mother's bed, with golden blood on his face and hiding in the shadows after he was supposed to be gone forever. Then she's away and her mother wakes up and her father is dead and her brother is gone (and who knows what happened to her village). How is she supposed to explain that to her brothers? (What happens when mortals spot Dabi, one of the two monsterous Gods of the forest? Will his siblings look at him and realize what happened?)

(the comment is so long because that was my prompt request and I love fantasy AUs. Amazing work! I love this one.)

Thank you so so much! I'm so glad that so much of this story resonated with you!

I'm glad that the change of tone came across! I definitely wanted this one to read like a poem/fairytale, so I'm glad that the writing achieved that!

Shigaraki's situation was absolutely supposed to showcase that self-fulfilling prophecy, and it was inspired by the imprisonment of Morpheus in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman!

Dabi was definitely the sacrifice Shigaraki spent the most time around, but not the only one who took the full week to make their decision. But Dabi is among a very small handful who ever entered his prison and stayed with him during that time.

I like to play on the theme of love and sacrifice in my works, I think it's romantic for a character so devoted to a specific goal, to choose the person (or people) they love over that goal when it comes down to it. It often shows most with Shigaraki because I usually really want to avoid any final confrontation with Endeavor, but in my writing, Dabi would do the exact same thing for Shigaraki and the League. In fact, in this fic, the final thought he has before killing Endeavor is not about him getting his revenge, it's about protecting Shigaraki and all of the innocent people who would have been used as kindling to fuel the stone in his father's plan. He was killing to save people, not for his own revenge, they just happened to coincide in this instance!

Poor Fuyumi had a NIGHT. While Rei was being seen to by healers, and reeling herself from the fact her young daughter is now a full-grown woman, Fuyumi would be sending arcane messages back to the house through a magic mirror. Of course these would get no replies, she would try the guard station next and be informed that the house had burned down and that her father was dead. She would jump to the right conclusion that Dabi killed him and burned down the house, but she would have no idea why because, like Dabi guessed, she was not told he was sent to be the sacrifice that year. She would try to reach out to him, but of course he's not home either. From there she would call Natsuo and Shoto to get them to come see their mom and the three of them would try and figure out what to do next from there. Ultimately, I don't think they could be stopped from going back to their village when Rei is well enough to travel, but it wouldn't probably be until the following spring!

[hepaidattention]

the scene where JJ calls Kie a Kook, regret washing over his face instantly, says so so much.

JJ is saying all of this because he doesn't want Kie to love him. He's trying to convince her they won't work, and no matter how much he throws stuff at her she just turns it back with "I care" and "I'll help." Basically, hes saying "I suck I suck I dont deserve you no one should ever love me" and Kie is just saying, "I love you I love I love you" and he can't take it. 

Then JJ pushes so much that he ends up saying something he doesn't really mean to push her away, and he ends up hurting her. I think that's why he ended up running away. 

He thinks he's destined to hurt her, because he thinks how his whole life his father hurt the people he loved, and everyone in OBX tells him he's destined to be just like his father. 

So he's pushing her away to protect her, but by trying to convince her they're not right for each other, he hurts her, and he can see the hurt he caused. He hates himself because he can't handle the idea that he hurt her in any shape or form. He thinks of his father, and how he used to say shit he didn't mean to him when he was mad, the shit he would say to his mom. 

He saw himself being his father and he couldn't do it anymore. 

So, just like he always does, he takes himself out of the equation. If she stays he might just keep hurting her and he can't do that, and no matter what he says she won't leave, so he leaves. 

And when he goes to the dock to have his little anger fit, kicking a few buckets before breaking down, I think he's beating himself up because despite his best efforts he still manages to hurt the people around him, just like his father. 

And becoming his father is a self-fulfiled prophecy mainly put on him by OBX itself, one that he has deep down started to believe. 

But JJ finally got away from that mindset on the island. No one telling him he was useless, no more poverty to force him to steal, no more house of beaten memories. JJ could be his whole self, he could be who he wanted to be. 

But the moment he comes home he's faced with every mistake his father has ever made thrown in his face, and he's reminded again that as long as he's home, he is seen as absolutely no one else but his shitty father (Mike and his old boss to verbally tell him this themselves). 

So, he can't understand why Kie doesn't see that, because everyone sees that, even John B has said it before, even JJ believes it.

But Kie just sees JJ for JJ.

The more she pushes, it breaks down his walls because she's not just saying "I care" and "I love you" she saying that she sees JJ for JJ, not his past, not his asshole of a father, but for the guy she knew on the island and the guy she's known since they were kids, and she loves him. 

and that's scares him, because he doesn't even know who that JJ really is. but the most beautiful thing about them is Kie helps him see who he is, really, because she believes in him enough to actually start believing in himself. 

and then she confesses her real feelings for him and if you notice, he decides to be soft and gentle with her. She's saying she loves him and she shouldn't be saying that because there's nothing to love but god did he want to say it back, and so many different responses run through his mind, all of which are self destructive.

Then he remembers how his dad would have handled this and he shakes his head and gently looks her in the eyes says that they won't work. He won't be his dad. He wont intentionally hurt her again just to push her away. He's done it twice now he refuses to become in father, he won't.

Every response possible runs through his head but no matter what he says, he knows he's hurting her. But he'll tell the truth, his truth, to minimize the pain. She'll move past it, its for her own good, and he'll do anything to make it as painless as possible.

Little did he realize that rather than being an ass and denying his feelings, rather than telling her that she'll get over it, rather than telling her she needed to stop loving him, all options he considered... His way of gently just saying the truth in his mind, telling her they would never work despite what both of them wanged, was also telling her he loved her back.

He didn't deny his feelings, all he denied was the possibility of both of them being able to actually be in love and happy for once. This let Kie hold on hope, this let her know he was just scared, and this met her confess her feelings again to him. She wasn't expecting a reply, but she knew he loved her back now.

JJ saving Kie from Kitty Hawk and apologizing and confessing his love was all actions he took that were something his father would never do.

Because John B said, "I think we've all done some things thag we regret" and JJ felt it in his soul. He felt the regret as heavy as a ton of bricks, the feeling weighing him down and making him want to do anything to not feel like this. Not to feel like his father.

So he didn't. He wouldn't live in regret anymore. Never again.

[panlight]

It makes things a little dark and unsettling, but after reading discussion of Alice not taking any blame for not telling anyone about Bella being alive for two days, I had the thought that with her visions powers, Alice has the ability to manipulate people and situations to her benefit. How else were the Cullens so okay with her and Jasper showing up out of nowhere and proclaiming they were all family? (Granted, we don’t see it in canon, but knowing SM, she expects everyone to believe that Alice and Jasper showed up and it was sunshine and rainbows from that moment on because she needed them to be a close knit family.) Alice finding Jasper and saying that they were mates and he just goes along with it. Rosalie gets blamed for Edward trying to kill himself and no one comes to her defense, while Alice seemingly has no blame placed on her. The books make everything so peachy keen, it’s just kind of interesting to think how different things could have been in the hands of a different author. And there’s probably stuff in the books to counter all of this, but it was just a thought I had.

You definitely start to wonder about self-fulfilling prophecies.

Maybe she saw Jasper as a warning when she thought of going to Mexico or Texas or wherever, and she being brand-new to random visions decided "oh he is my future mate" and THAT choice is what led to more visions and she fell in love with him and then she meets him and says "we're mates" and like, whether it's true or not it's going to make someone think, right? Especially in a world where a) mates are a thing and b) so are psychic powers.

(Not saying A/J aren't for realz, just using this as an example of what I mean by maybe Alice even unintentionally shapes the future).

And Alice can smooth things over by looking ahead at a future argument and seeing how she can prevent it or win it, she can see the words she needs to use to calm a situation or win someone over. She probably had seen/practiced the meeting with the Cullens so many times that she knew just the right things to do and say to get them to feel at ease around her and Jasper. Is that manipulative? Maybe! But it's also just how Alice's gift, and thus Alice herself, works. That bit in Midnight Sun where she's running through all the possible futures to find the best way to fake an accident scene at the hotel was fun (and didn't feel canon-breaking at all since we DID know about that happening from the original series vs the car chase).

So, yeah, it doesn't have to be malicious (but if can be if you want it!) but Alice's gift by nature gives her the means to shape reality almost as much as Siobhan. And Alice might not even realize she's doing it sometimes because it's just second nature to her.

But honestly I think the New Moon plot hole of her not bothering to tell anyone Bella was alive and then everyone blaming Rosalie are mostly out-of-universe writing issues more than Alice-as-a-character ones, but you can certainly interpret it that way and run with it and there's some interesting stuff there.

[our-blood-is-our-ink]

27 with Agatha and whoever you want?

Thank you for sending this in, dear anon! I enjoyed writing for this prompt, it gave me the opportunity to write for an idea that's been bouncing around my head for months now.

✧—»•«—✧

"It aches, so deeply. I ache, so deeply. And when I'm with you, I don't. I feel whole. Complete." You fidget with your hands as you admit, "I feel your absence in everything that I do alone, in every place I go without you. I always have, ever since we met."

Agatha looks away from your eyes, as if it's painful to see how earnest and truthful you're being.

"I'm not good for you, buttercup." Her tone is flat, which means she's desperately trying to hide behind the mask that always seemed to be so flimsy when it's just the two of you. "I've changed. You've been gone for a long time."

"That wasn't my fault."

Agatha closes her eyes for a brief moment as she lets out a long breath. "I never said it was."

"Then why are punishing me for something I couldn't help? I never wanted to leave. I didn't get a choice when-"

"I know." A crack, finally. A weakness.

"Is that what this is about? Did you think that she sent me away from you for my own good?"

"Yes." Suddenly Agatha's eyes are boring into the depths of your soul, blue fire alight from within. "Why else would she have done that? She approved of us being together, goddess knows it's about the only thing she approved of when it came to me, and she didn't-" She breaks off, cuts herself short. "She didn't send you away until she realized I had been practicing dark magic." Agatha's voice is small, and in a single instant she seems to have shrunk, curling in on herself as if making herself smaller would protect her from things that have long since came to pass.

"She didn't just snap her fingers, Agatha." You say. "She made sure to go into excruciating detail about her reasoning behind her decision. How it's my fault, because I was supposed to encourage you to be a better person, to shun what came so naturally to you it was like denying you air when you tried to avoid it. How in actively giving you a safe space to find someone to love you, even if you practiced and became versed in the unthinkable, I condemned us both." You shake your head, a small, hysterical laugh bubbling up. "She knew then. She knew she was going to try to kill you. And she tried to lay the blame at my feet, telling me if I hadn't changed your perspective on that of which was forbidden, she'd never had to take such drastic measures."

"It doesn't change anything." Agatha insists.

"Of course it does." You snap. "Don't tell me you're allowing your long dead mother to manipula-"

"It's not manipulation when it was the truth!" Agatha's voice rings in the sudden silence. "Mother was right. I can't possibly be good, not when my magic finds it's call in such twisted vileness. You think you know, but you don't. We were young, hopeful and idealistic, but above all else, exceedingly stupid." The last word is spat out, disgust dripping from it. "I have killed more people than the years that have passed for you. I have harmed innocents and sown discord and ruin. You don't get to tell me that I can be good when I've long since fulfilled Mother's prophecy about me." Agatha then holds up long, black stained fingers.

"Fine, then." You say. "You're bad. Congratulations, you have as much of a moral back bone as a chocolate eclair. Guess what, dumbass? That still isn't a good enough reason for me to walk away from you."

Agatha opens her mouth, then shuts it, before opening it again.

"I'm walking away from you." She says, stumbling over the words.

"No, you're not." You sigh. "Agatha, admit it. You can't help but want me to stay, but you're so fucked up, you don't think you deserve anything good. But you can't make a decision for me."

Agatha's eyes are suddenly like steel. "Of course I can. I'm telling you, I don't want to have anything further to do with you."

You can tell she wants it to hurt, and it does, but the fact she hasn't just teleported away betrays her. That and-

"Then why did you fuck me the night I returned?"

Agatha colors.

"A moment of weakness and poor judgment."

You smirk. "Oh, yes. Because you and I both know how deeply you regret having mind blowing sex."

"I-" Agatha looks away, swallowing. "That's not fair."

"You're not being fair." You step closer to her, gently reaching out for her arms. "Agatha," you say softly. "I love you. It's that simple. And you can turn me away, you can never see me again, but that won't change how I feel about you. The only thing your denying us is going to cause is pain, for both sides."

And suddenly, her head thunks down onto your shoulder, her hands coming up to clutch at your shirt material.

"It's not fair." She whispers. "I'm trying to protect you."

"Can't you see?" You beg. "You don't have to push me away to protect me. All I want is for you to allow yourself to love me back."

Her hands tighten and her shoulders shake, and you know she's fighting back tears if she hasn't already lost to them.

"I do love you." Her voice is wet, burdened. "That's why I can't-"

"You can."

Silence follows your declaration.

"Please, Agatha. I don't think-" Your voice breaks. "I don't think I can survive without you anymore."

There's more silence, until-

"If I ever hurt you, in any way, I need you to be able to protect yourself from me."

You open your mouth to protest, but then shut it, thinking about what Agatha is offering.

You hesitate.

"Perhaps," you start. "It would better if we simply agreed to essentially start over. Relearn one another."

Agatha pulls away, and it's then your realize as cool air hits the wet patch on your shoulder that she had been silently crying the entire time she had her head buried against you, though there's no trace of tears anywhere on her face.

"I need you to promise me you'll learn how to protect yourself and demonstrate your willingness to first." She replies firmly.

"From you."

"Yes." She pauses. "I'm dangerous, angel. It's just a fact. My greatest fear is losing control of myself and harming you. I need the reassurance that you won't let me if I try."

"Oh."

When she puts it like that...

"I suppose I could agree to that."

Her entire body sags with relief.

"Thank you." She roughly whispers, before giving into what you both desire, yanking you by your shirt, pulling you into a searing kiss, sealing your agreement.

"I love you." She says against your lips.

"And I, you." You reply, before kissing her once more.

[ask-courtney-and-scott]

So I feel like something is missing in this. Which is why i wanted to post it here before ao3. Because the crisnyra community on here seems very friendly and helpful with so much literary talent. If you guys have anything to add or critique please share.

Inspired by a post I read that unlike Daemon Criston would've believed and supported Rhaenyra if she told him about Aegon's prophecy.

The bell rang signaling his night shift was finally over. But before Criston could make it to his quarters he was pulled from the hallway into a hidden passage.

"Criston! It's me!" The knight put his dagger away and a bead of blood dripped down Rhaenyra wiped it away carelessly. 

The anger Criston felt just hours ago melted away replaced with concern and guilt.  Instinctively he reached out to stopped the bleeding he unknowingly caused. "My apologies, princess. I didn't realize-"

Rhaenyra shielded her neck with her hands but he nicked her throat. Years of serving her meant Criston knew when she was hiding something just by her facial expressions and her movements.

Criston pushed her hands away and held them down as Rhaenyra twisted not wanting him to see it. A fresh bruise blooming around her neck. 

"Rhaenyra!" Her honorific title slipped with his distress. Who would dare hurt the princess? Didn't they know Criston was her sworn shield and he'd would burn down the world for her? Even if it meant him incinerating in the flames.

"Shh," Rhaenyra said placatingly but it did nothing for his murderous thoughts.

"Who did it?!" Criston growled savagely. He thought her refusal had dulled his love for her. He was a fool once over.  "'l'll fucking gut them and bring you their-"

"That doesn't matter now! What I have to tell you is bigger then you or me. Bigger then kingsguard vows, bigger then the crown and the iron throne." Her eyes were wide and voice verged on hysteric.

Without thought Criston took her in his arms. Rhaenyra's face pressed against her breast plate as he stroked her hair. He had done this before, even before their kiss, Rhaenyra just learned  about her father's bethoral to her best friend. Alone together, with only the trees of the godswood to wittness, Cristom hugged her as she told him he was her only friend now. Tears forming in her violet eyes. Criston immediately apologized but the princess hadn't minded. She tucked her small body into his.

"You must put away your anger at me away and listen, please." The princess was never one to plead. Criston her loyal servant nodded.

"My refusal of your's wasn't as simple as I made it to be." Criston furrowed his brows, a voice in his head insisting that she was manipulating him. The same voice warned him that night in her quarters to not to give in to her. Again he pushed the voice away until it's an irriting buzz in the back of his mind. *Give me a reason Rhaenyra, give me a reason to stay by your side.*

"Please know I don't give this information lightly. Know how much you mean to me to tell you." Rhaenyra took a long deep breath readying herself.  

"Aegon didn't become the conquerer from ambition alone." Criston held back a scoff. In his experience men were ruled purely by their ambition and greed. But Criston is ruled by his heart which Rhaenyra still owns so he let her continue and bit his tongue.

"Father told me when he proclaimed me his heir the prophecy that's been passed down since Aegon the first. The Conquerer saw in a dream the end of the world. Beginning with coldest, darkest winter since the age of heroes. Out from the cold will be terrible beast will feed on the living."

Was this a joke? Was Rhaenyra mocking him once again like she had on the boat. He could still hear the condescending tone of her voice. Was this her attempt to keep him serving her? By making up some ludicrous fairytale?

But it was any more unbelievable then the dragon she rode? Also the trepidation and stark terror in her voice added weight to her other wise insane words.

A distant memory from his childhood formed. Of his mother in red, tucking him in at night telling him of the Lord of Light and the prince that would be promised. Those weren't just superstition and fairytails. Her eyes posessed the same seriousness of the princess.

"I knew would have a son before you were even born. And I know you are destined for either greatness or infamy. Remember what I told you so when the time comes you pick the right side, my son. The side that will combat the coming darkness."

"The seven kingdoms must ally together against this threat and for that to happen a Targaryen must sit on the throne to unite the kingdoms." His eyes grew accustomed enough to the dark so that he can see she was distraught fidgeting with her rings. "I see a civil war blooming along the horizon and I can't let that happen not just me but the future of the realm!"

What were the chances his mother and princess thousands of miles away believed the same thing?

"My white knight, do you- you must-" Her voice is breaks. "Without you by my side I see destruction. I need you to believe me. Believe in me."

"Ofcourse I believe you." On the boat Criston had been selfish, but now he must see beyond himself. Rhaenyra was putting the realm before herself, as must he. How hard it must have been for her carrying the heavy burden of that knowledge alone. Rhaenyra lets him hold her. Daemon's taunt of the prophecy and the constriction around her neck lessening until she feels lile she can breath again.

Even though Criston was powerful, the best knight in the realm she believed. He never made her feel small, or intimated like Daemon. She felt self assured again with her white knight back at her side.

"I do love you Criston in my own way." Gently unsurley her hand clasped his face. He leaned into her touch placing his hand over hers. Criston's heart soared. Her feelings may not be all consuming as his. But it's enough, he will make it be enough.

Intensely she looked into his eyes "But I have to heed the prophecy Viserys entrusted me with. Aegon is too feckless. Alicient doesn't believe in magic or prophecy. Do you understand now why I must sit on the throne?"

He nods *Rhaenyra didn't refuse your offer because she does not love you.* The voice in his mind now told him. *But for all humanity's sake.* Before there had been nothing but darkness. Thoughts that scared him telling him the only way out would be death.

Now Criston has a renewed purpose and he knows Rhaenyra does in fact love him, he couldn't turn his back on her now. Now life was worth living again.

[artificialkids-2k23-official]

As someone who has never watched Ducktales but doesn't mind spoilers and is curious can you explain why May, June, and Webby's clone origin story is considered bad?

Under the cut for anyone who wants to avoid spoilers

So the extremely short version is that Webby is a clone of Scrooge and May and June are clones of Webby, in an attempt to create "the true heirs of Scrooge McDuck" due to some exact words legal documents horseshit.

Now, this is stupid for a number of reasons, of which I will list two, because if I sat down and listed all of my beef with the finale we'd be here all night.

Webby's arc had a lot of her finding out about her family, and her origins, and culminated in realizing that blood and genetics didn't MATTER. Webby is part of clan McDuck because Scrooge and the rest of the family love her. That's it, that's all she needs, she doesn't need anything else to make her family. This was then promptly undermined like five minutes later by going "sike! she's actually been family all along, lol, now she is a legitimate McDuck and a member of the family for realsies cause he's her dad".

Scrooge's "heirs" are the people in his will who inherit his possessions after his death, whenever that might happen to be, assuming he ever bothers to die. We know of one of them for sure, Donald, because he referenced it, and we can assume that Della and the triplets and, frankly, probably Webby too are also on that list. But the important part of this isn't who is in the will but the fact that he has it + who isn't in it. You know who isn't in it? May and June, whose existence he was completely unaware of. Meaning that May and June CANNOT, legally be considered Scrooge's heirs by any interpretation, which means that they wouldn't have been able to fulfill the prophecy ANYWAY if the writing wasn't stupid. And if we go "well maybe they were using a more archaic interpretation of heirs that means most direct offspring" that STILL doesn't count because that interpretation always came with a caveat of LEGITIMACY and they are not legitimate descendants.

Anyway basically they undermined their own moral with their twist that wouldn't have reasonably worked anyway.

However, in giving Scrooge female clones they accidentally made him trans, which is why we just remove Webby from the occasion and assume Bradford was an idiot. That way we still get Scrooge clones and Bradford's plan, and Webby fulfilling the prophecy because either she is one of the heirs to Scrooge's legacy as the world's greatest adventurer, or legally she is his heir in the sense that he has named her as such in his will, and May and June not being able to because Bradford doesn't understand family and/or succession.

[ratmor]

Wolves of Greed IX. Truths and Lies of Owen Sinclair

"You've got it wrong, Suni." it was a woman's voice, unfamiliar and pleasant. "Really? How then?" the voice was soft, it was clear that he was talking to someone for whom he feels tenderness and affection, perhaps even love. Betrayer called a wolf, who accompanies purification seeking priest to the warding woods. Another is Hatred, He, who is the Famed Wolf's son, Sows derision in the presence of The pure bride in the sky. "Now remember, dear?" her voice was filled with answering tenderness and warmth. "A prophecy for the future of our family? What does it mean?" "This is a prophecy for all of us. If I knew how to avoid it, I wouldn't try to pass it on to others, and woud've done something myself. You know me." "Ragna, the prophecy doesn't apply to our child, does it?" "No, Suni." "Then let's worry about it later. You're going to be a wonderful mother."

The conversation in the darkness was interrupted again by the appearance of other sounds and smells, although for some reason Enid continued to feel the emotions of this Suni, the desire to protect, love and tenderness, which she had never felt before. The roasting meat once again pushed Enid out of the dream, and this time she was greeted by the undoubtedly most expected, and most importantly, causing undoubted relief, worried face of Uncle Owen.

Enid felt the tension drain away. Visibly staggering, she got up from the floor and rushed to hug him. But Owen ruined everything when she stopped squeezing him in her arms and pulled away.

"I'm sorry, Enid, I didn't realize everything was that bad here!"

He was holding Enid by the elbows, because she was shaking, but what he said made her throw away his palms and recoil.

"You knew?! Did you know where you were sending me?!"

"I knew that there were certain kinds of problems here, but I didn't even think that I would stumble upon this leftover..."

Owen scratched the back of his head with a familiar gesture, he clearly felt uncomfortable, but...

"What the hell?!"

"One of the traces of smuggling operation of mythical creatures led here, my partner interrogated the man who locked you up, and we have more leads now. Everything is settled!" Uncle blurted out, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"This does not negate that..."

Enid was wound up, and how could she not be. From such stupidity, you'd not just want to growl at, you'd probably want to murder someone.

"Enid!" Peter's voice was even more emotional than before, and he practically ran into the room.

Both Sinclairs turned their heads toward the door.

"Mr. Aras and Mr. Owen came by half an hour later. It turned out that they suspected something was wrong..."

"Paz," Owen nodded to a dark-skinned man in a floor-length raincoat and sunglasses. "Is everything settled?"

"And they work for the FBI, ain't that cool?"

"Peter?"

"Yes?"

"I'll meet you at Nevermore, okay?" I'm not in the mood for... all this."

"Uh-m-m... You're absolutely sure you want to be... uh, to be friends with me?" Peter hesitated, losing his enthusiasm. "I am, well, boring?"

"Are you asking or claiming?" Owen interjected and grinned. "Boy, be so kind, don't talk much about what happened here. Would you?"

His eyes flashed scarlet.

Peter turned pale and nodded very quickly.

"You and her," the boy nodded at Enid, "totally have a family resemblance when you try to threaten."

"Well," Owen snorted and stepped closer. "Come on, kid, I'm ordering you not to tell anyone except those who are already here about this whole situation. So it will be easier for you, and for me to fill out lesser amount of papers. Paz?"

"Hmm?" The silent man pulled his raincoat closer and shrugged. "Hmm."

"Well, good talk. And you..." He turned to the still very much irritated Enid. "We're going to my house. Paz, you can go rest. The mission is over."

Paz shrugged again, reached for the light switch. He left only the desk lamp on. Owen rolled his eyes at this, and the teenagers looked at each other, not without fright. As soon as the shadow appeared in a room, not as brightly lit as before, the man disappeared into it, and not just became invisible, but actually dissolved. It was clear to the werewolves right away - the smell, the sound, everything wasn't there.

Owen flipped the switch and muttered to himself, but of course Enid heard.

"What a drama aficionado..."

"Owen..." She rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly and grimaced at the pain in her stomach.  "I'm not very well, and yours... your actions..."

"I'm sorry," the man shrugged and scratched his head again. "I can try to make you feel better by the fact that we got some distant relatives incoming, extremely fun kids, one even your age. They will be visiting..."

"Not interested," Enid growled. "Don't try to change the subject."

"Well, not in front of him, right?" Owen nodded at Peter, and Enid also looked at him.

"Agreed," Sinclair somehow deflated and continued pinching the bridge of her nose.

The man sighed and jerked his head towards the exit.

"The camp continues its work, boy. You'll be contacted later to testify, but for now, go rest. The director was not aware, Paz  checked."

"And who is this... Mr. Aras?" Peter asked with evident curiosity. "He's simply... odd."

"He's... an immigrant," Owen shrugged and turned to Enid, clearly considering his answer completed, ergo generating even more questions. "Let's go get your stuff. I've arranged it. You'll spend the rest of the summer with me."

"And if I don't..."

"We'll discuss it in the car," Owen interrupted, pointedly glancing at the boy.

"All right," Enid surrendered, and followed Owen.

"Wait for me!" Peter caught up with them a few steps later and asked, "Enid, are you sure you're going to be friends with me in Nevermore? I don't have any friends, so I would like to make sure we meet in advance, well, and..."

There was an awkward pause, which Enid's tiredness and Peter's finished charge of enthusiasm did not allow to fill.

"There's a statue of Edgar Allan Poe," Owen shared. "The one with the book and the raven. My wife studied there, why are you looking like that! She says it's a good meeting place. Well, or the crypt of some psychopath. But this is more the thing for my wife, the graves, the crypts... Ugh."

"It sounds like your wife is an Addams, not a werewolf," Peter chuckled, but when there was no answering laughter, he stopped and even quit walking. "You're... an Alpha, aren't you?"

"Well?" Owen asked lazily and stopped. "What does this have to do with my wife?"

"Peter," Enid folded her arms and leaned forward. "Do you think that werewolves become spouses only with werewolves? If you remember, our stupid captor decided to give me a ticket to the past."

"What do you mean, Enid?" Owen frowned.

"We'll discuss it in the car," she mimicked Owen irritably. "So," Enid continued, looking closely at the nervous boy. "What I heard was a conversation between two spouses. One is a werewolf, the other is his wife, according to the modern classification, a psychic oracle. She said something about a traitor who leads a priest into a protected forest, and about a hater who sows discord, as I far as I understood. Is the message clear?"

"Clear," Peter nodded and sniffed. "Near the Poe's statue?"

"Near the Poe's statue," Enid hastened to agree.

"But wash your hair first, kid," Owen added, and when Enid nudged him in the side, he shrugged and muttered. "I know you'd like to say that too! His hair's oily!"

"Don't pretend that you don't know how to lie when it's convenient for you, Uncle!"

Owen Sinclair shut up after it, and the rest of the time before arriving home - which was three to four hours - they spent in relative silence.

Enid kept thinking that she didn't know her uncle at all and couldn't understand his motives. It was the first time that mortal danger had touched her life so closely. And it seemed as if her unconditional trust in Uncle Owen was partly to blame for that.

Owen kept thinking about how he would have to explain his wife that Enid did not want to reveal herself to the family once again and even hear about the move. And how the wife will react to the girl's wounds. Though, as that nervous boy correctly noted, such things are not very significant for the Addamses.

Especially if no one has died, and especially, if no one has died irrevocably.

[pantherlover]

An Artificial Night Re-Read: Part 4

Hello again! Here's part 4.

Chapter Twelve:

Man, Quentin really threw himself into the deep end re: quests, didn't he? The last book he was only supposed to tag along to figure out what was going on with January, and then just refused to leave when people started dying; this one he snuck into Toby's car and made the Luidaeg let him tag along. (Also, *how* did that meeting go?) Toby might've honed Quentin's bullheaded heroic tendencies, but they're definitely all his.

Spike is the *best* sidekick; I hope he gets the best fertilizer after this.

Chapter Thirteen:

This book has made me more interested in Amandine than I've ever been before, if only because I'm very curious now about a) the specifics of the prophecy about Amandine's line and b) when she started hiding that she was a Firstborn. Acacia says that Amandine was 'very... visible, once. Before her choices were made.' I'm guessing that this doesn't refer to Amandine becoming a Faerie Bride after August disappeared, because Acacia didn't know that Amandine had had a second daughter. Could this possibly refer to refusing to stop Blind Michael's Ride?

@figmentera mentioned that the 'road' Blind Michael (in chpater 11) said Amandine set aside was referring more to the prophecy about her bloodline than a literal road, which feels more and more likely the more she gets brought up. Which makes me a little curious about when the last Ride happened; I assume that it would've had to have happened while August wasn't in the picture, because then the prophecy wouldn't have depended on Amandine filling it.

Chapter Fourteen:

I'm not sure why Toby's so mad about Quentin sneaking into her car to follow her to the Luidaeg's; that absolutely sounds like something teenage Toby would've done. (On second thought, that might be why she's so mad!)

Quentin's a great squire; even when he's confused by what Toby's doing, he'll back her up when she needs it.

Oh, Jessica's so *happy* to see Toby in this book; I'm so sad that she died still being scared of Toby.

Chapter Fifteen:

'Spike trailed us to the edge of the trees before stopping, clearly intending to stay where it was most needed.' Seriously, Spike is the BEST sidekick.

'[Quentin] was Daoine Sidhe, and the smell of mortal blood was strong enough to be almost choking. He should have smelled it before I did. So why didn't he?' More hints that Toby wasn't what she thought she was!

Reading about Katie's partial transformation reminds me that Seanan McGuire can be SUPER terrifying.

Chapter Sixteen:

'Five of the older kids were busy lashing bundles of sticks together as they finished Helen's litter, and there were sentries posted in the trees, almost invisible through the leaves until you walked under them.' Raj did SUCH a good job organizing the kids. I hope Tybalt makes sure that Raj knows how well he did.

''...I almost envied [Helen]. Whether we lived or died, the pressure wasn't on her. She was taking care of the children and leaving the heroics to Raj - and to me. Lucky us.' Honestly I think this is pretty unfair of Toby? Calming that many kids down in such a stressful situation is HARD, especially when she must've also been freaking out, and Raj definitely wouldn't have been able to rally the kids if the youngest ones were panicking. Helen was doing more than enough to make sure everyone made it out.

'[Karen] gestured frantically, and i realized with dim horror that I could see through her. In my experience, see-through people are usually dead.' I have two questions about this. 1) Toby mentioned in Be the Serpent that the older Karen got, the more time she would spend sleeping. Does this mean she can project herself so people can see her when they're awake? Or will she only be able to visit people while they're sleeping? 2) Can the fae be ghosts/spirits, or is Toby referring to her mortal side re: see-through people?

'The Luidaeg was on the other side, white-eyed and frantic, with ashes in her hair.' WHAT was going on on the Luidaeg's side???

I'm not gonna lie, Toby pushing the kids through the door felt very '101 Dalmatians' to me.

I bet all of these kids hear that the Luidaeg is supposed to be a terrifying monster and just. Refuse to believe it. Nope, that's the nice lady that let us cry all over her kitchen floor, she's not scary!

'"You need to get these brats out of here. I can't stand kids."' This is somehow the truth (because the Luidaeg can't lie) and the biggest lie we've ever heard her say.

I *love* that Danny's voice message already has info about Barghest rescue.

That's it for this part! I'm going to try to get these out a little faster (guueeeessss who just realized she only has 10 days until the next book comes out!) but we'll see how it goes. See you next time!