#﹠✟﹔judith ends up being possessed

[lorimnnn]

Mine (Michel Myers x AFAB!Reader)

summary: before Michael was ever ‘The Shape’ of Haddonfield, he was just a boy. he was a boy in love with the girl across the road, his sister’s best friend--- the only girl to show him kindness, love and warmth. you. 

Basically, Michael falls in love with his sister’s best friend at 6, who sometimes played emergency babysitter especially when Judith was fooling around with her bf. He clings to those memories growing up in the asylum until the day he breaks out, where he decides the first thing he wants to do is find you and keep you, your sunshine only for him. Reader is super girly and feminine, which just fuels michael’s possessiveness. 

cw: gore, violence, kidnapping, obsession, manhandling, possessiveness

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

~

Michael remembers the first time he saw you in perfect, vivid detail. 

When things get bad at the asylum, he closes his eyes and remembers, and sometimes it feels like he’s really there all over again. It’s like he’s four all over again, sitting on the sofa with the TV turned on, squashed between Mom and Dad. They still loved him, then. They act differently now, so remembering is like remembering different people. 

But everything was different. 

He remembers the door swinging open so roughly, it smacked the wall with a bang. In strolled Judith, and after, you. And he couldn’t stop looking at you. 

“Judith! I swear to-”

You, frowning at something Judith was saying, quickly schooling your expression when you noticed Michael and his parents. An uneasy smile settled over your face as you turned to his sister and glared that little bit. You looked so fierce. He’d wondered what you were warning her about with that look, because Judith had passed you a smile so smug back. A smile that said trouble of all sorts of alarming degrees, but that was Judith. And that trouble would later become Danny. 

This is where Michael started to get a little distracted. It all starts to come back when he remembers-

Back to you. 

You were so angelic back then. His parents had loved you. Judith, while often mistreating you and taking your kindness for granted, was protective of you for as much as her selfishness would allow. That wasn’t much. It wasn’t long until Danny burst into the picture and whenever you were available and their parents weren’t, he was kicked out into your house. But that wasn’t so bad. He liked your house. 

And he liked you. Loved you. 

Not in the way he loved his mom and dad, or the way he loved Judith, even if he was sometimes so mad at her he thought he hated her. But loved you. There were no words to describe it. 

Anyway, the first time you came to his rescue he’d been sitting on that same sofa. Judith had told him to stay down there as she wondered upstairs with Danny. He didn’t like Danny. He dragged her upstairs and weird noises started punctuating the silence, and they sounded like they hurt, but the door was locked when he checked. And Judith had screamed at him to leave, so he had, and reassumed his spot on the sofa all over again. 

You walked into the house a moment later. You must’ve heard her yelling. 

The walls were thin. 

“Hey, Mikey.” You knelt down in front of him. “Why don’t you hang out with me for a little bit?”

“Why?”

“It can’t be all that fun sitting down here all by yourself. Judy is having her own fun.” You casted a sharp glare at the ceiling. It creaked with movement in response. “Why don’t you come to mine? I still have all my toys from when I was a kid. I’ll let you play with them, or we can play together, if you want.”

He didn’t like toys too much. But he liked you. 

So he let you take him by the hand and lead him out the door. Your hand was warm. So soft. It was all he could think about. He didn’t even process it until he was sitting on your pink bed, the fluffy pink duvet pillowing his sides. Everything was pink. Your walls. Your furniture. The toys you were talking about, which ended up being in a pink box you dragged out from under the bed and showed him. He was interested in them for about two seconds until he saw you approach your vanity and start poking and prodding at your face with those little tools. 

You were pretty. So pretty. 

And Michael was mesmerised. 

When he thinks about it now, he realises that you were supposed to go out. You were all dolled up and prettier than usual, so pretty that it was almost dangerous. A hazard to other boys. Boys like Danny, maybe? No. No no no. You picked up your phone a minute later and dialed a number. 

“Sorry, but we’ll have to reschedule! I know, I know. I’m sorry. Things came up. But I’m hanging out with my most favourite person in the world.” You winked. “Hm? Oh, don’t worry about that. But call me when you’re free next time, okay?”

Those words had meant nothing. All he’d heard was that he was your ‘favourite person in the world’, and he’d fixated on them, obsessed over them, replaying them over and over again until he was a hot, blushing mess. But all he could do was blush. He was your favourite person? You were his favourite person, too!

He ended up returning home when Danny left. 

He ended up going back to your’s every time he came back. He didn’t care. He was delighted. You would watch movies with him and eat ice cream and cuddle under a blanket. He liked the last part best. Sometimes, he would pretend he was asleep just so you would let him lie there, close to your breast with his head tucked under your chin, your hands stroking through his hair. 

“Mikey?”

“Mmh?”

“Nevermind, go to sleep. Long day, hm?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course. Life must be so stressful,” you would tease. 

Michael would just play along with a very high-pitched, whiny, “yeah, I’m so tired.”

Each and every time, you would cancel all your plans to be with him. He could tell you were getting sick of it. He really, really hoped you weren’t sick of him. 

Because he really liked your cuddles. 

But all good things came to an end, didn’t they? Of course they did. Your mom just had to take you on a holiday and leave him all alone with Judith, who was just going to do what she would’ve done the first time. Ignore him. Choose Danny over him. And she did. 

Well, then she died. Or he killed her. Same thing. 

Then he went to Smith’s Grove. He didn’t really feel anything towards it. Not good, not bad. It was alright. It just was. The only time he ever missed home was at night when it got cold, and all he could think of was how much he missed being cuddled up in your arms. How warm you were. How soft you were when he leaned his head against you, the perfect pillow. He missed you so much. 

He would think about you all the time. 

As the years passed, he would think about how you changed. If you grew up at all. What you looked like now. If you would still love him like you did when he was a kid, before everything happened. Of course you would, wouldn’t you? He was your most favourite person in the world. 

Right?

As he grew older, those thoughts descended into uglier ones. Not once did he think of killing you, so no, no that type of ugly. But ugly in ways that sapped at the last of his shame, his sanity, what was left of his fractured humanity. He was sixteen when he first wondered if you would like doing with him what Judith used to do with her boyfriend. He was sixteen when he first touched himself to the thought of you, his movements clumsy and inexperienced. Grinding his hips into the bed when you possessed his dreams, palming himself desperately when he was reminded of you at random, inopportune times. Who cared who watched? Who cared who saw?

All he wanted was you. 

According to everyone else, he was incapable of emotion, let alone sexual desire. Those were two things he knew that nobody would dare to associate with him. And they weren’t wrong. He wasn’t capable of emotion. He wasn’t capable of sexual desire. That was on a general basis, anyway. 

But you weren’t everyone else. You were you. 

And he wanted you. 

But that was the thing. As he aged, he was beginning to realise that if he really wanted something, he could have it. It was all so easy. 

And he would have you. 

~

Haddonfield is... Well. It has memories. 

Maybe it isn’t your wisest idea to move back, after all that happened. Losing your best friend. The little boy you used to babysit sometimes turning out to be the culprit behind her sudden death. Sometimes you blamed yourself for it.

The police had said it’d been coming. He probably felt neglected. Lonely. 

If you hadn’t gone with your mom on that holiday... 

Ugh. Ew. 

You hate having sombre thoughts like that. Does it help you’re cleaning out your mom’s place after she passed? No, it really doesn’t. But nobody else was going to do it. Fuckers. And they had the audacity to say that they loved her, cared for her, appreciated her. Seemed there’s no reason to keep up the pretences now that she’s not around to check up on it. While they may be in the mourning phases, it really isn’t an excuse. So are you. 

Yet here you are. 

The neighbourhood is basically deserted. It makes for eery quiet as you meander about, boxing up your mom’s old stuff and scouring through the little nooks and crannies where she liked to hide things. Sometimes it feels like you’re breathing too hard. Moving too loudly. Everything feels like too much. Maybe you’d cry if you had the energy to. 

Now, this place is... It just is. And it isn’t. You realise maybe you’re the only one who came in not because you’re the least cowardly, but the most brave. 

Because this is not just the place your mum died. Not just the neighbourhood where once upon a time, a little boy committed his first act of insanity. It’s the place where just a few months ago, Michael Myers was taken back to the Sanitarium after a Halloween spree. There was no telling when he’d come back. It all seems so random, the motivation too vague to pick out, his acts too gruesome to discuss. As someone who knew him, it’s nothing short of a bad idea to be around. But it’s for your mom. 

At least, that’s what you tell yourself. 

You were in the bar when the crowd silenced, and the news boomed into the room with chilling fervor. 

‘Breaking news, clinically insane serial killer Michael Myers, nicknamed ‘The Shape of Haddonfield’, has escaped for the second time from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. Five found dead and severely mutilated. While his predicted path is unclear, residents of Haddonfield are warned to be cautious and call the authorities immediately if any suspicious behaviour is seen. Police will be on high alert. Stay safe.’

You knew in that moment that you were so, so fucked. Somehow you also decided that would have been the best moment to drink yourself stupid, hook up with some other blackout drunk fellow, and pretend none of that happened. 

It’s been a week since the announcement. Police have been patrolling the streets. More than once you’ve received a few knocks on the door, asking if you’ve seen or heard anything. Those come around almost everyday, since you live right across where he used to. Every time, you say the same thing. 

‘No. I’m just here for my mom. I’ll be out soon enough.’

You’re lying. You’re lying through your teeth. 

Logically, you know you should leave. He’ll come back for Haddonfield. You know it. Everyone knows it. There’s no reason for him not to. 

And he’ll come back for that house. The one across yours. 

He might even come back for you. 

But winning over your logic side is the stupid part of you that denies it. That still can’t believe that little boy became that horrid man, when just days before he killed Judith he was sleeping against your chest watching cartoons on the TV. Putting makeup on his face because he wanted to do what you were doing. Watching you doll yourself up each and every time with red-faced admiration. He’d been so innocent. 

It’s just... It’s inconceivable that he became whatever he is. A monster. A nightmare. Something of both. 

So maybe it isn’t really denial that he’s coming. More so denial that he won’t touch you. 

And it’s so arrogant, and it’s so selfish, because you’ve seen his picture on the TV and he’s nothing short of terrifying. 

It’s your arrogance and selfishness that you cling to when you hear the floorboards creak behind you. 

---

GUYS I POSTED THIS LITERALLY FIVE MINUTES AGO, LIKE DUDE OKAY OKAY PART 2 COMING SOON

since it’s a side blog i can’t reply to ur notes, if you drop your name in tho i can tag you for when pt 2 is out! (either that or follow hehehehehee)

BUT Y’ALL OMFG-

also pls reblog! It really helps boost my post!

:)))) <3

[theriverbeyond]

who's alive, dead, in between or beyond! pre-alecto the ninth character masterlist

After my previous pre-nona the ninth character status masterlist, I'm attempting another one! Some characters have been grouped for ease, and I did not include any characters from the previous post that are not mentioned as doing anything in NtN (i.e. Wake, Canaan House crew, previous lyctors et. al). They are all, presumably, in the same place as they were before.

Also not included is the empty stretch of time between Harrowhark's soul exiting the bubble-memory with John and reappearing in her own body at the end of the book - this is relevant as based on the preview, AtN may not immediately pick up post-NtN.

(current date: 12/12/2022, #ntn spoilers)

ALIVE (characters who have been alive continuously since their birth, and whose body&soul have never been separated)

The Gang - Hot Sauce, Honesty, Born in the Morning, Beautiful Ruby, Kevin (all last seen on New Rho)

We Suffer and We Suffer (last seen on New Rho)

Jolie/the teacher (last seen on New Rho)

AIM/the Messenger (Last seen in the megatruck on the top tier of the Ninth)

Noodle (last seen in the megatruck with AIM, barking)

Our Lady of the Passion (Last seen in the megatruck)

Crown Him With Many Crowns (formerly Coronabeth Tridentarius, last seen in the megatruck)

Judith Deuteros (Body still partially possessed by Varun, last seen in the megatruck under the care of Crown Him with Many Crowns)

The Sixth House Oversight body (notable member Juno Zeta, all last seen in the megatruck)

Various OG members of the Ninth House (last seen under Devil attack, sheltering in the catacombs of the Ninth)

Aiglamene (last seen outside the unlocked door of the Tomb)

Ianthe the First (feat. the chewed up battery of Naberius Tern' soul) (last seen in the Unlocked Tomb, having just been smacked by Alecto & thrown into the water)

Grand Admiral Sarpeadon (Presumed to be on Antioch with EJG. has received a large promotion!)

ALIVE (reunited and it feels so good)

Harrowhark Nonagesimus (feat. the cheeseburger portion of Gideon Nav's happy meal soul) (body & soul together, last seen being carried unconscious by Alecto. lyctoral/power status unknown, eyes black)

KILLED BUT NOT DEAD (they got better!)

Emperor John Gaius (presumed to be on Antioch, last seen being stabbed through the chest by Alecto but still chatting it up. previously murdered by Mercymorn the First)

Alecto (presumed to be on Antioch with EJG and Harrow, last seen putting a sword through EJG's chest. previously murdered by John's nukes)

Pyrrha Dve (soul active, body G1deon the First's, last seen in the Unlocked Tomb. no necromantic powers & immune to herald fear, lyctoral healing intact. previously murdered by John's nukes and also again by an unknown party - presumed to be self or G1deon the First - to attain lyctorhood)

Various members of the neo-Ninth (notable member Sister Berta, last seen sheltering in the catacombs of the Ninth & under Devil attack. previously murdered by John's nukes)

SOUL GESTALT (mutual death & rebirth, fusion)

Camilla Hect (body active as Paul, individual soul consumed by grand lysis)

Palamades Sextus (body blown to pieces & bones presumed to have been abandoned somewhere along the way consumed by Camilla Hect to complete ascension process (updated 12/14/2022), individual soul consumed by grand lysis)

Paul (revived/lyctorized soul gestalt of Pal&Cam, body Camilla Hect's, last seen in the Unlocked Tomb. presumed to have full suite of lyctoral powers, herald reaction unknown. implications of soul gestalt vs. traditional lyctorhood on abilities is unknown. grey-brown pupil, lambent grey iris)

Nona (amnesiac 6 month old world-soul of planet earth. last seen in the Tomb, currently presumed to have been subsumed into the body and greater consciousness of Alecto)

DEAD

Naberius Tern (body last seen on New Rho, empty. soul being used as a battery/chewtoy by Ianthe the First)

Crux (killed by Kiriona Gaia to provide the thanergy needed to unlock the Tomb. prior to death was soul-infected by the Devils, implications of which are unknown. soul status unknown)

Anastasia (soul status known, body last seen as only bones, nestled by the rock in the Unlocked Tomb)

DEAD*

Varun the Eater/Number 7 (revenant world-soul currently periscoping in Judith Deuteros, with Heralds currently attacking New Rho. Body is dead/revived as a House planet)

DEAD?

The River (what does a river of the dead being dead even mean? no idea, but Alecto found it so and was thus grieved)

MEGA DEAD

Gideon Nav/Kiriona Gaia (sans cheeseburger portion of her happy meal soul) (mega dead, aerodynamic, sad bitch and the most special girl in the universe. soul & body together, eyes gold. last seen in the Unlocked Tomb)

???????????????

Devils/Stoma creatures (are they individual beings or is it hand, finger, spider, web situation? what's their relationship to the Tower? what's their relationship to the Stoma? Spirit magic, possession shit, specific abilities unknown. Currently on Antioch and the Ninth. Seen also at Canaan house in the body of Colum Asht)

[bazaarwords]

in spite of war [2/? | griddlehark | post-canon]

more! so soon! thank you guys for the feedback! :)

prev

🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴

Cyprus-b was a shithole.

It was a shithole planet on the outskirts of a shithole system with the shittiest people I’ve ever met. And that is saying something.

Someone, covered in mud, slapped me across the face within the first twenty minutes. My vision had gone starry, and Paul had grabbed me by the arm, lest I “Begin another interplanetary incident.” Which was a thing that had happened one fucking time and afterwards everyone had to watch Gideon like a hawk because Gideon couldn’t control her temper.

Shut up. I hated it there.

We’d surveyed the planet, and you and Ianthe had begrudgingly done your lyctor business, which I guess I could have helped with but I was feeling moody and my cheek was swelling up and I didn’t want to.

I’d loitered around with Coronabeth, who’d somehow gotten in the good graces of the mud-asshole who’d slapped me, just as quickly as I’d pissed him off, and was now in possession of a rather large chunk of crystal.

“What are you going to do with that?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.

She smiled at me, which was not a luxury I was afforded often. I didn’t have a heart, but if I had? It would have turned into a jackhammer.

She held it out in front of her like a puppy or a baby. “I think it’ll make a nice statement piece in my room. Or I could smash someone’s skull in? One never does have enough bludgeoning instruments, hm?”

Remember what I said about the horniness? Yeah.

“You could smash my skull in, you know? Really freak out mud-boy and the shitheads over there.”

Corona laughed. It was so nice to hear—a laugh. We’d killed Dad-God and we were doing what someone could arguably call “good work” and the worst was seemingly over and no one was laughing. Except for Ianthe every once in a while, which sounded like a smoker with a deflating balloon caught in their windpipe. She sounded like shit.

Corona let me hold the crystal. When she passed it to me, she touched my fingers for a little too long. I might have blushed, she might have winked. All I know for sure is that the weight of the thing suddenly felt like nothing. Something heavier made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

And I knew, obviously. I knew you were looking at me.

I knew you hated when I didn’t help. You were staring at me and judging me and fine. Fine. I should have helped. I should have shoved my hands in the dirt like you and Ianthe and I should have done anything but what I was doing.

But I didn’t want to. I felt petulant and bitchy. I felt like I wanted to throw the fucking crystal at your head. Then regret it. Then probably get a crystal to the head myself.

I handed the thing back to Corona, feeling something that tasted like blood rising up in my chest. I wanted to say something catty, to share a dumb little secret with her, and to make you watch like I knew you were.

Then, how-fucking-ever. Judith Deuteros hobbled out of the ship, looking as proud as she could whilst being absolutely fucked up. And then, well, I kind of ceased to exist.

I felt when you stopped looking at me, too. It made me feel like nothing. Like less than nothing.

I ran my bitten nails over my scalp as hard as I could, wishing that they were sharper. Wishing I could draw blood.

next

[dve]

my main thoughts about judith is like she's been in the military for most of her life. ive had two drinks so i might be misremembering but like she was like six??? or something to do with that when she joined the cohort. her dad is high up so she wasn't sent out at that age but it does suggest something about child soldiers outside of the fourth. also like the drainage part of her necromancy like how do you teach that to someone?? she's very interesting anyways

really good points anon!!!! i think that the houses' normalization of children being introduced to warring for the empire at such a young age is so interesting, especially given how fourth and second seem to function in tandem with each other even though typically fourth is more closely associated with fifth fandom-wide. in turn it's intriguing to see how people in the fandom respond to that association and the military structure of second, how judith functions within it, etc.,

the drainage part of her necromancy seems to be second house standard fare (although i think being a generalist is also fairly common if i recall correctly) and i wish we'd gotten to see at least a little bit of it in action through judith in gtn since it's used to empower the necromancer and not the cavalier, separate from any of the trails which i think are at the ultimate extreme of what necromancy means / does / the theorems of it all. for me it brings to mind the blood of eden memorandum at the end of htn before AYS when blood of eden points out that one should not engage with the enemy unless absolutely certain that there is not a necromancer present in the unit, and even then, maybe still don't, because if there's a necromancer among the enemy and that necro can essentially embolden and strengthen the non-necromantic parties, then it makes combat even more frightening than it already is.

as for judith being in the military all her life, yeah! yeah. yeah... i find some people's hostility towards judith as a character interesting when it makes sense to me that judith, who is still so young by the time she's been dubbed the captain in ntn and possessed by varun, is obviously clinging to the beliefs and ideals of the empire taught to her from childhood, seems to need that belief in the empire to survive in the conditions she ends up in. she serves as a fun narrative contrast to characters like corona or camilla, obviously, in that they've got doubts of their own, but judith's dogmatism in AYS especially is also a response (to me) to her own doubts, fears, and further goes to show how deeply-ingrained her beliefs are and how deeply-ingrained those beliefs may be in second house and the cohort altogether.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Having marinated in the locked tomb brainrot for a bit, Here are some things I would really like to see in the next book.

Pash and Gideon meet each other, Get along startlingly well, Realize they are half sisters, And then hate everything about everything.

Something desperately needs to be written down, and Harrow coughs up the pencil, eraser, and a piece of paper that Nona ate. Paul says they did their best.

I really liked Hot Sauce, so I would love a scene with her and Harrow. Whether or not Harrow remembers who she is is a question. And honestly both the options are good. Existing as Nona while being the secret weapon of a terrorist cell is probably the closest thing Harrow will ever have to a normal childhood where she was loved.

Hot Sauce and Gideon having a conversation would also be very good. Wonder why she likes this 14 year old orphan girl beholden to systems far greater than she is who solved her problems with violence. It already happened once. Also Gideon is the kind of person to ask why Hot Sauce is a named Hot Sauce and the conversation about naming yourself whatever you like just because you like it, is probably something that needs to happen.

Noodle. Noodle for everyone. Especially if he recognizes Harrow as Nona and licks her face paint off.

Judith Denteros trying to figure out what the fuck is going on because she's been either sedated in a coma or possessed for almost a year. She will have some opinions.

Those 500 people resurrected to rejuvenate the house of the ninth. Those people are pre initial Apocalypse. Jod- did you just grab a whole bunch of people whose last memory was nuclear fire to go be death nuns on Pluto?

Someone needs to go apeshit with a double handed sword. I don't even care who. In fact, I think every character in the series has the motivation to go apeshit with a sword.

Commander Wake doesn't seem to be the rules following type, so I think she should come back and make everyone's life worse.

Notice I said nothing about happy endings or reconciliation or whatever the fuck is going on with Ianthe. Or even Alecto beating the ever living shit out of God like she deserves.

There will be angry women. There will be swords, there will be bones. Everything else is up for grabs.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Is it weird that I want recs of books with kidnapping?

Not at all! I love kidnapping books. Totally natural. There's a reason why it's a mainstay in the genre.

Historical:

A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart. This is a dark historical romance, so TW for past sexual assault of the heroine (not by the hero, but described fairly explicitly), the Reign of Terror in France, and some preeeetty heavy dubcon with the hero. I know a lot of discussion has been had about what constitutes enemies to lovers... THIS. IS. IT. The heroine attempts to poison the hero (she actually does poison him, he just doesn't die as she was planning) for revenge early in the book, then escapes his clutches after he figures out it was her. He chases her down and kidnaps her. Ridiculously good and stupid hot if you're down for some true loooooathing and very complicated feelings.

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale. Allegreto kidnaps Elayne/Elena to force her to marry him as a part of his Evil Scheme. Noncon first encounter, Kinsale is very true to medieval values--Elena's honestly more bugged by the complications that come with her not being a virgin anymore than anything else, AND I will say this is one of the most fascinating sex scenes I've ever read, because when she bites his shoulder he comes like, immediately and looks at her like FRIGHTENED after, and she realizes that it's because he gave up the game and revealed his fetish for pain/being dominated. Which she does use against him! DELICIOUS.

The Hawk by Monica McCarty. This is kind of a medieval kidnapping of convenience. The hero fishes the heroine out of the water and basically hauls her along with him because she's the daughter of an enemy. He's a pretty jolly kidnapper.

The Last Crimes of Peregrine Hind by Sierra Simone. This is an m/m kidnapping. This highwayman kidnaps a dandy because revenge and ransom reasons, and the dandy is like "I can work with this". Much sex enues, and it's GREAT.

A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught. Classic medieval kidnapping; the heroine is Scottish, and the English hero has his men kidnap her (and her sister, I think?) because war. Unfortunately for him, this girl is PSYCHOTIC.

Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas. Not a traditional kidnapping, but Kev does kidnap Win as a part of some marriage tradition stuff--ties her up and everything. She is VERY enthusiastic about being kidnapped because she's been begging for his dick for the entire book, and he does give it to her for like 24 hours straight.

Duke of Desire by Elizabeth Hoyt. This is one where the hero kidnaps the heroine and forces her to marry him to keep her safe from the villains, but he then refuses to consummate the marriage because he has some pretty severe trauma from being sexually abused as a child (TW, obviously). The heroine wants children, so this presents a problem.

Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt. This is kind of a coerced kidnapping--Mickey left his infant daughter on orphanage lady Silence's doorstep, and she's been raising the baby for months and has fallen in love with her. So when Mickey takes the baby back (because his enemies are after him and he doesn't want her used against him) she comes running, and he's basically like, if you want the baby you have to stay in captivity here. She agrees.

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin. DELICIOUS. The hero is a warlord, and the heroine is the previous emperor's concubine. He's sure she knows secrets, so he kidnaps her to get them out of her. Sadly, she is very smart, and he finds this Difficult.

Contemporary:

Possession by Adriana Anders. This is more of a kidnapping kink--the heroine fantasizes about being kidnapped, so her husband enlists his buddy to help him fulfill that fantasy in a BIG way. A threesome ensues!

Mafia:

Mafia Mistress by Mila Finelli. Fausto kidnaps Frankie so that she can marry his son, Giulio. However, Fausto ends up being muuuuch more into her, so he pivots to making her his mistress. Duology, leads into Mafia Darling.

Mafia Madman by Mila Finelli. Enzo blows up a bar and fakes Gia's death in order to kidnap her for revenge (against Fausto; this one stands alone, but I'd recommend reading them in order). He then keeps her in a cage on his yacht and intends to humiliate her, but she actually turns out to be almost as batshit insane as he is, and it gets Out of Hand.

The Professional by Kresley Cole. The hero in this book kidnaps the heroine on the orders of his boss (her biological father). But, after he gets her off in a cornfield, things get complicated...

The Master by Kresley Cole. In this one, the heroine is initially a sex worker hired by the hero, and they hit it off. However, she realizes she missed her birth control or something, and they had unprotected sex during her fertile window, and he's VERY pissed and kidnaps her to wait it out. Much more sex is had, and a chastity belt is involved. Loooove.

Dark:

King's Captive by Amber Bardan. The heroine is kidnapped by the hero on the day he crashes her birthday party and kills everyone there, including her dad. Then we jump three years into the future. This one has... quite a twist.

Paranormal:

Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. The hero is an ancient dragon shifter, and the heroine steals one (1) penny from his horde as a part of a job she's blackmailed into doing. He is NOT PLEASED and chases her down and kidnaps her. However, he's also quickly like "I like the way she smells and her pretty hair and I want to keep her forever".

The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole. Nikolai (a vampire) kidnaps Myst (a valkyrie) as revenge/also just to claim her because she left him with a literally unending boner for FIVE. YEARS. So his long game is to basically keep her captive and shower her with sexual pleasure until she agrees to stay with him forever. Some pretty heavy dubcon/noncon, but in a "she is loving this but says she doesn't" kind of way.

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole. Lachlain (a werewolf) realizes Emma (a valkyrie/vampire hybrid) is his mate and kidnaps her because, you know, mating, even though he's VERY displeased about this, what with being tortured by vampires for 150 years. Noncon/dubcon involved.

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole. A lady kidnapping a man! Sabine kidnaps Rydstrom and sexually tortures him in an effort to get him to fuck her and get her pregnant as a part of her brother's nefarious schemes. Dubcon, obvi, though he for sure gets her back on that score...

Lothaire by Kresley Cole. Lothaire keeps Ellie on death row, and when she decides to just not fight it and die he's like "WOW. RUDE." and kidnaps her because he believes she's the vessel for his actual fated mate, an evil goddess. (He is, in fact, incorrect.) One of my favorite things about this is that he has magical wards set up to keep her from escaping his penthouse apartment, so he just sits there and counts down as she runs to try to throw herself out a window or something and nods when he hears her like, bounce off a force field lmao. LOVE THEIR LOVE.

The Fae Queen's Captive by Sierra Simone. F/f kidnapping. The heroine is kidnapped by the fae queen for Mysterious Purposes and becomes her pet. Not a bad gig.

Sci-fi:

Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon. The heroine is kidnapped by her fated alien mate, which is very against the rules because these aliens are Feminist Kings. Fortunately for him, she is very horny and decides to go with it.

Barbarian Mine by Ruby Dixon. In this one, the hero is a SUPER barbarian alien, because he was literally raised off the grid by his dad who died when he was young (his dad raised him off the grid because he did in fact kidnap the hero's mom). He kidnaps the heroine because mating bond, and she's also like ".... fine".

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 23 of Nona the Ninth

I have actually already read Chapter 24, because I got to the end of this one and was like "...what?", but they're both long chapters, so they get different posts

Right at the beginning of this chapter, we are back to referring to Ianthe with she/her pronouns, right after we were referring to her with he/him pronouns at the end of the last chapter. I'm not sure what we are meant to understand here in terms of what Nona's thoughts on Ianthe's gender are

So Ianthe also doubts that blindness would protect necromancers from the resurrection beast. Also, her referring to Naberius's body as "some old thing from last season" is hilarious

Wasn't it Pyrrha who told Ianthe that Harrow was around? Ianthe did ask We Suffer to send her Harrow before Corona ever mentioned her

Ianthe is just so mad that she did everything right and was the smartest girl who succeeded the best at the Canaan House trial and ascended to the highest position possible in this society for anyone who isn't John and she saved the Nine Houses from being destroyed by saving John from the Stoma, but I think she still feels like she's made less of an impact on the world/John's general temperament than Camilla did by stealing the Sixth House. And now she's stuck alone with John being cranky and Gideon, who probably also isn't a big fan of her, and she's been stuck in Babs' dead body for three days and it's just not fair

I mean, the last time Ianthe actually interacted with Harrow, Harrow didn't even remember who Gideon was. It's interesting that she's not even entertaining the possibility that that's still the case. Also, like, Ianthe showed Gideon's body on the broadcast, but she named her as "Kiriona Gaia" at that time and she's now under the impression that Harrow has been blind all this time. So I'm surprised that she doesn't also think that that gambit failed to work for that reason. There's really a very large number of reasons to be pretty confident that Harrow wouldn't be asking to see Gideon's body at this point

Interesting, so this method of FTL travel is limited based on mass, and more obelisks transport more mass. I'm not sure if the "compensation" referred to is compensating for needing more obelisks than could be safely used, or just a general compensation needed for transporting something so large, or what "compensation" means here. Did they have to sacrifice people for thanergy? Also, if they can go wherever using these obelisks, how are BOE keeping them captive?

Right, so that's the "break clause" courtesy the Lyctor who used to be a contract lawyer. But it doesn't sound like this was a contract she made with John, just something she set up within the Sixth House leadership

Also, I love finding like, the urls and blog titles and stuff of my Locked Tomb followers and other people I see in the tag in the book and going, oh, that's what that means, so shout out to @jods-duplicitous-sluts for this one

I mean, this sort of raises the question of how Ianthe was planning on bringing Corona and Pyrrha and the Sixth House back to John? They're not Lyctors, and therefore can't survive physically going through the River

So the absence of live soldiers is because of Pyrrha

Who does she think is in Harrow's body here? Originally I figured she thought it was Gideon, but she's got Gideon in the back, and I think these two chapters establish pretty well that Gideon is in fact still moving around and generally being Gideon. Does she think Gideon has somehow left her body and is now possessing Harrow for some reason? I think she would have expected Gideon to talk back to her, too, though, wouldn't she? Ianthe doesn't have any knowledge about how Harrow opened the Tomb and was being haunted by Alecto

I'm not sure what happened here beyond that Nona is probably Alecto and did something resurrection-beast-adjacent, and maybe Judith screaming was also resurrection-beast-related since her issues are caused by the resurrection beast? Also, it seems to have done something to the electricity, which reminds me of how the lights dimmed when Mayonnaise Uncle did his soul-summoning thing, but I don't think necromancy has ever been described as having an effect on electricity outside of those two events

I wonder if these instances of water coming out of Nona's orifices are symptoms of her impending death, or what

Does John actually have multiple Hands, plural, at this point? I think at last count it was just Ianthe, right?

I love that there's all this high-stakes drama going down and Corona is threatening to kill herself to get Ianthe duel Camilla, and this is the thing she's being dying to say to her this whole time, that Ianthe is disrespecting Babs' body by not styling his hair correctly

So Corona at least threatened to commit suicide multiple times as a teenager. It makes sense, she was under a lot of pressure to be something she wasn't. She does genuinely like Ianthe and is glad that Palamedes didn't kill her, but I imagine it was different from her side where she knew that her survival in her social context probably depended on Ianthe being with her and supporting her her whole life. Maybe that's part of why she became so good at being likeable

What does "none of us ever could" mean here? It's not like they have a long association with Camilla

Camilla's completely deadpan sass is off the charts. I hope she winds up keeping it

Is she giving verbal orders to a bunch of dead bodies that she's directly controlling using necromancy?

Hot Sauce is a cut the Gordian Knot kind of gal

Apparently:

So it's another joke. Also, something something Saint of Awe probably goes here, but I'm not clever enough for this right now

She never fought Babs, or witnessed Babs fighting anyone - she must be referring to Ianthe fighting Colum and Cytherea at the end of Gideon the Ninth, when she was having a lot of trouble fully integrating Babs. So yeah, there's multiple reasons why she would be much better now

[woman-of-balnain]

Undone in Sorrow Part 7/10 (Alpha Rick x Omega Reader)

Previous Part | Collection Masterlist | AO3 Ver. | Next Part

Pairing: Rick Grimes/Fem!Reader

Summary: After a brief period of calm and peace, Negan comes to visit Alexandria again.

A/N:

Okay, so most importantly, I initially had a very different ending to this chapter but I also felt really crappy about how it turned out. Shortly after posting it, I got an idea and deleted it so I could make the necessary changes. So, just in case you managed to see the old one before I deleted it, this is the updated version.

This is gonna be a chapter where the timeline gets a bit murky but please just roll with it because if I kept overthinking it, I never would’ve gotten any of this story written 😅

The drama picks up in this one again, but I promise that the drama is over between Rick and Reader in terms of their relationship.

TW: Non-consensual touching at the end of the chapter, though nothing explicit.

Warnings: Protective Rick, remnants of feral and possessive Rick, angst, forced scenting from Negan, some non-consensual touching (nothing explicit though)

Word Count: 3,508

Dividers by: cafekitsune + newlips

God blessed me, I'm a free man

With no place free to go

Paralyzed and collared-tight

No pills for what I fear

You couldn’t stop the smile that spread across your lips as you woke up to the feel of Rick kissing along your neck. Your head tilted automatically, giving him better access to your skin and you heard him let out a light, relaxed laugh. He was lying behind you, with one arm around your waist and his hand covering your lower stomach in a way that was both protective and loving.

“Mornin’ sweetheart,” he mumbled against the column of your throat.

Your only response was a soft and content moan, as he continued his ministrations. Your side was sore though, after sleeping on the floor and the sound quickly turned into a groan of slight discomfort. Rick noticed - of course he did - and moved his hand to your back so that he could gently roll you both over until your body was above his.

“Morning handsome,” you grinned happily, now looking down at him.

Rick’s fingers trailed feather-soft patterns along the naked skin of your back, taking in the sight of you with a dazed smile of his own. You lifted one of your hands to gently caress his cheek, the coarseness of his short beard tickling your fingertips as you did.

“We’ve gotta find somewhere better for you to sleep,” he murmured.

“It’s okay,” you assured him.

“You’re pregnant,” he reminded you. “You can’t keep sleeping on the floor.”

“It can wait for now. You’re busy with other things.”

He nodded, letting the topic go for the time being. It had been about a week since you returned to Alexandria and while your body still hadn’t gotten used to the lack of a warm and comforting bed again, you were just glad to be home. Things had been relatively calm, with you spending most of your days with Judith, while Rick and the others focused on the war they were about to undoubtedly start. With that ominous inevitability looming in the back of your mind, you had been trying to just make the most of whatever peaceful moments you could enjoy.

After coming home, Rick had pulled the cushions off the sofa and brought them upstairs to create a makeshift mattress for the two of you, but they often shifted in your sleep and your bodies were still left stiff and uncomfortable the next day. So, you sat back and stretched to relieve some of the soreness in your muscles. You didn’t miss the way Rick eyed your naked body with desire as his hands fell to their usual spot on your hips. Before he could get any ideas, you moved to stand up, causing a look of disappointment to cross his features.

“What time do you all leave?” You asked, reminding him that he had somewhere to be.

Rick looked over at the clock while you pulled a shirt over your head.

“In about an hour,” he sighed, the reality of everything coming back to him.

Along with some of the others, Rick was planning to visit Hilltop that day and discuss everything with Maggie, like he had promised to when you both left to come home.

“Can you do me a favor?” You asked as Rick also started getting dressed.

He paused to look at you, showing that he was listening.

“Can you make sure Maggie’s okay?” You requested. “I know you’ll have other stuff to worry about while you’re there, but I hate being so far from her with everything that’s going on.”

Even with Carson’s assurances that everything was fine with your sister, you were still worried.

“’Course I will,” Rick replied, moving over to you and taking your hands in his. “But can you promise me something?”

“What is it?”

“While we’re gone, if they show up… just keep out of sight if you can. They’re not meant to come for another few days, but they’ve surprised us before…”

You knew he was talking about the Saviors - about Negan.

“I promise,” you nodded, giving his hands a reassuring squeeze.

“I hate leaving you…” he admitted softly.

This was going to be the first time the two of you would be separated after you woke up in Hilltop, and you knew Rick was on edge about it.

“I’ll be okay,” you tried to ease his mind a little. “Even if they show up, I doubt they’ll do anything.”

“Y/N… I don’t like how interested he is in you...”

“Negan’s not interested in me,” you pointed out, still trying to pacify him. “He’s only interested in what I mean to you and as far as he’s concerned, you’re still playing by his rules.”

“You haven’t heard the things he’s said about you,” Rick argued.

You frowned, wondering what kind of exchange had occurred between the two men that you hadn’t witnessed. But ultimately, you were confident that nothing would happen.

“They’re just words, Rick,” you said gently. “It doesn’t matter.”

“No, Y/N, they were threats.”

“Okay,” you relented, not wanting to push him. “I’ll stay out of sight if anything happens. I promise. So, don’t worry, okay?”

Rick just nodded and you could tell that he was still on edge about leaving, but he didn’t want you outside the walls of Alexandria either.

“You’ll be back by tonight,” you reminded him. “It won’t be that long.”

“I just need you to be safe.”

“I know,” you gave him a small smile, hoping to reassure him.

Rick stepped closer, so that he could cup your cheek in his hand and then he brought his lips to yours in a quick, but loving kiss.

“I’ll be as quick as I can,” he promised.

“And I’ll be here when you get back,” you assured him.

He just nodded before leaning in to kiss you again, not ready to let you go just yet.

You wondered if Rick had some kind of psychic powers or if Negan somehow knew your alpha would be leaving you in Alexandria without him that day. Maybe Rick’s earlier trepidation and uneasiness had something to do with your bond, since it seemed like he could just sense that something would go wrong that day. Because that afternoon, Negan decided to stop by with a large group of Saviors.

The sound of numerous vehicles coming through the gates was what alerted you to it, and at first you thought it was Rick’s group returning. But a quick glance out the window told you otherwise and you stayed inside, remembering your earlier promise to him and intending to keep it. So, you occupied yourself with Judith and tried to ignore whatever was going on out in the streets. You knew that Gabriel and Aaron would most likely handle it.

But then you froze out of instinctual fear when after a long time, you heard Negan’s voice as it raised in volume like he was pissed off about something. It seemed that it wasn’t just your body’s reaction to hearing him again, for the first time since that night. It felt like your mating gland was reacting to it as well; signs that your bond with Rick was negatively affected by any knowledge or reminder of Negan’s presence.

That only seemed logical, as you believed that one of the main reasons you had slipped out of consciousness at Hilltop was due to him forcing his scent on you. So, you tried to just ignore it and focus on something else, believing that as long as you stayed inside, nothing would happen, and he would leave again eventually.

Yet, Negan seemed to have other ideas and you panicked when you heard heavy footsteps coming up the porch and towards the front door. Setting Judith down, you steeled yourself for the fact that you were inevitably about to come face to face with him again, and you had no time to try and hide. When the door was forcefully pushed open and Negan caught sight of you, he seemed surprised at first. But then there was that cocky grin again, the one that still haunted you after that night.

“Well, shit,” he greeted you with interest. “Long time no see, darlin’.”

You just stared back at him, unable to get any words out and feeling trapped. Negan didn’t seem to care, getting straight to business.

“Where’s Rick?” He asked, turning serious again.

“Out,” was all you could manage to say in response.

“Out where?”

You hesitated, not able to speak the truth but also not wanting to incite Negan’s wrath.

“Getting supplies,” you decided on as your answer. “For you.”

“Well, he sure as shit better come back with one hell of a jackpot. Because I am gettin’ damned tired of his bullshit.”

Your body tensed as you realized you had just backed Rick into a corner. Whatever Negan had found within the walls of Alexandria during his current visit wasn’t good enough. And now he was expecting Rick to come back with supplies that he wouldn’t have, because instead of looking for that, he was currently planning in secret to fight back against the alpha in front of you.

“You look nervous, darlin’,” Negan observed, voice dripping with false concern.

“No,” you scrambled to think of something to say. “Just… just morning sickness. You know, it’s… it doesn’t always happen in the, uh, mornings…”

You trailed off, slightly embarrassed by your poor attempt at a lie, but Negan just laughed in that way of his where it seemed like he found humor in the situation, but really it just came across as malicious.

“Let’s get you some fresh air then,” he suggested, as though he was doing you a favor. “You, me… and the kid.”

Your heart skipped a beat as his gaze fell on your daughter and you realized how vulnerable you were in that moment. You reacted too late, only able to follow him helplessly with your gaze when he moved past you and bent down to pick Judith up and hold her in his arms. He walked by you again, heading for the front door and only stopping at the threshold when he realized you were rooted to the spot in fear.

“Omega,” he warned you lowly.

You snapped out of it, panicking over the fact that he had his filthy, bloodstained hands on your daughter.

“Let her go,” you begged him softly. “Please, I… I’ll hold her.”

You knew there was no getting out of whatever he wanted you to do, but at the very least you could keep him from touching Judith.

“If you insist,” he shrugged, turning to hold her out to you.

You were quick to take her from him, letting out a breath of relief once she was snuggling back into your arms.

“Outside,” he ordered you. “Now.”

He didn’t bother using an alpha command, likely because he knew it wouldn’t work, but probably also due to the fact that you didn’t have any choice other than to obey. When you stepped out onto the porch, you caught sight of Aaron in the street and the worried look he was giving you. Knowing that he was just as powerless against Negan as you were, you just gave him a small nod to hopefully show that you were okay, before turning your attention back to the man in front of you.

“What do you want from me?” You asked Negan quietly, unsure as to why he had made you come out of the house.

“We’re gonna wait here for your alpha to come back,” he replied. “Because when he does, if he doesn’t have the shit I expect to find, I want him to be reminded of what’s at stake.”

You let out a shaky breath, but ultimately you couldn’t do anything, and you hated that fact. Rick had only just started to seem more like himself, and you dreaded the idea of something pushing him back into the despair and self-doubt he’d been feeling before. Yet, with nothing to do but wait, you sat yourself down on the top step of the porch, holding Judith tightly to you and trying to ignore the ominous feeling of Negan looming behind you.

Your body was on high alert as his scent swirled around you. It meant that your earlier lie about morning sickness no longer seemed to be obviously untrue, because now you really did feel sick. It was like he was suffocating you, without even having the need for physical touch. Your stomach churned with both dread and nausea, but all you could do was sit and wait.

When Rick finally did return, you instantly grew worried because it was just him and Carl. There was no sign of the others who had gone with him, and he looked like he was barely holding back his fury when he saw you there with Negan. You realized that you were shaking and tried to calm the relentless anxiety running through you, but it was no use.

“Where’s the rest of my shit, Rick?” Negan asked him coldly, once he was close enough. “Because what you’ve got here ain’t gonna cut it.”

Rick’s eyes were focused solely on you though, and it gave you the opportunity to try and silently communicate with him to just play along. Rick gave a subtle nod, showing he understood, but his anger didn’t fade one bit.

“We couldn’t find anything else,” he replied, keeping his answer vague enough and turning his attention to the other alpha.

“Well, you see, Rick,” Negan stepped down from the porch and approached him. “That’s just not good enough.”

You set Judith down and Carl moved over to stand protectively in front of her.

“I told you,” Rick tried to reason with him. “We barely have enough for ourselves, just give me some time.”

“I’ve given you enough time,” Negan snapped, getting right up in the other alpha’s face. “You don’t get special treatment. I told you what would happen if you pissed me off, Rick and I’m at the end of my god damned patience.”

Suddenly, Rick was looking at you with unbridled fear and your eyes widened as the realization washed over you. Whatever he had threatened, it had to do with you, and you remembered what Rick had told you earlier. Not just words, but threats.

“Come here, omega,” Negan ordered you without taking his eyes off Rick.

You loathed the fact that you had no choice but to do what he said, because if you resisted, he would hurt someone you loved. That was just how it seemed to work with him. Rick’s eyes were fiery with anger when you met them again and it unsettled you that you weren’t sure if it was directed at you, for not managing to stay out of sight, or at Negan.

Once you were close enough, the alpha you despised with every fiber of your being pulled you into his side, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. Your body reacted instantly, as that freezing chill swept over you once again and the nauseous feeling within you got worse.

“You smell a little too much like prick here, darlin’,” Negan observed sadistically. “Let’s remind him who you really belong to. Who you all belong to.”

You were shaking uncontrollably now, partly from the return of that icy feeling and partly out of pure fear. Rick’s eyes were becoming absolutely feral with barely restrained rage at the insinuation that you belonged to anyone else but him. You shook your head slightly, catching his gaze just in time to silently plead with him to not lash out. Because right after that, Negan was burying his head in your neck and forcing his scent on you once again.

You were no longer able to focus on your alpha, as your body reacted violently, and you struggled not to pass out from how queasy you felt. Negan’s hand wrapped around you to keep you still, his hand falling over your stomach and touching the place where your child - Rick’s child - lay. That pushed your body over the edge and all logical sense left your mind.

You thrashed wildly against him and even though you could feel his rising anger at your obstinance through his scent, while also hearing Rick’s distressed voice calling out, you couldn’t stop. You wanted to be as far away as possible from him, as your body screamed out at you that just being near him put you and your bond with Rick in danger.

The only thing that stopped you was when he retaliated, and his teeth sunk into your skin, tearing directly into your claiming bite. The one that had been left by Rick, that belonged to Rick.

You screamed in pain and horror at the vicious sensations rushing through you. It was all wrong, every part of you felt violated and damaged by him and the worst part was that you couldn’t do anything to stop it.

He let you go unceremoniously, causing you to fall to your knees, the blood pooling out of your neck. Your head throbbed and your vision swam as you struggled to not completely collapse or pass out.

Maybe the only thing that kept you conscious was your fear for your alpha as he attacked Negan, being truly pushed past his breaking point. But your oppressor had the upper hand, just with the sheer number of men and firepower he had behind him and even though it took more Saviors than it should have to contain Rick, they ultimately did in the end.

You pressed your hand up to your neck, trying to stop the flow of blood as your body continued to torment you over something that had been done against your will. It felt like a million insects were crawling both over and inside your skin, giving you the impulse to scratch so hard at your neck that you would just make yourself bleed even more.

Negan didn’t seem surprised or even that annoyed at Rick’s outburst. Instead, he just got right in your alpha’s face again.

“This isn’t a fucking game,” Negan warned Rick lowly. “You come up empty handed one more time and I’ll do a lot worse.”

He didn’t need an answer, because he knew Rick got the message. So, he had the Saviors release Rick, and they began to walk off, getting ready to leave again. Your alpha looked ready to attack the other man again, but when he caught sight of you and how you were barely holding onto consciousness, he rushed over to you instead.

Your body relaxed just slightly when you felt Rick’s arms wrap around you, cradling you to him. You felt like you imagined someone would if they had been poisoned. In a sense, you supposed you had been, and you had no idea what the action might do to a regular mated pair, let alone to you and Rick. Your alpha’s frantic and desperate expression conveyed that he was worrying about the same.

“You’re okay,” he murmured, like he was trying to persuade himself of that fact more than he was trying to convince you. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.”

You were so dazed and uncomfortable that you couldn’t find the words to reply to him and he just kept repeating his own reassurances over and over. His head dipped down to your neck, and he was breathing heavily, struggling to ignore the scent of Negan as he lapped his tongue against the fresh and violent wound that had been placed over the one Rick himself had put there in such a loving way so long ago.

You recognized that he was trying to stop the blood flow and it was only when you felt his chest wrack with a sob that you realized part of the wetness against your skin was now also from his tears and not just your own blood.

His actions did soothe you to a certain degree, as your body and the bond between you recognized that your alpha was there and trying to make it right. But it didn’t erase what had been done - the ramifications of which you couldn’t begin to comprehend yet.

But when he pulled away and you looked into his eyes again, you saw a more fierce and unwavering sense of determination that hadn’t been there before. He had been ready to fight, sure, but now Rick looked like he was ready to do absolutely everything in his power to win.

“I’m gonna kill him,” he repeated the promise he had given Negan that night, his tone dark and full of hatred for the other man. 

There was so much more underlying in those few words now though. Rick’s scent gave away the resolve he felt to never let Negan hurt you again and you realized that this time it was a promise he was giving to you.

So, you used what little strength you had left to reply, trying to ignore how weak your body was and how frail your voice sounded.

“I know.”

--

A/N:

I just want to point out that Negan doesn’t really have a thing for the Reader. Like, there’s obviously the fact that she’s an omega, and it's not necessarily unpleasant to him when he scents the Reader (even with her smelling so much like Rick, I can see him looking past that and just focusing on the Reader's scent). But the main motivation is to get under Rick’s skin and assert his authority over him.

--

Next Part

- -

[with-my-murder-flute]

Further adventures in TLT brainrot

(Like, hyuuge spoilers for Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Go read them, then report back here for indoctrination.)

I've got a theory about the missing days between GTN and HTN, why Harrow instructs her future self to use blood on the sword, and how Blood of Eden ties into everything.

Two puzzle pieces that have been rotating in my brain nonstop since last September:

We Suffer saying they had thought Wake's mission to the Ninth House was a failure, "Until the posthumous contact a year ago."

Pyrrha saying, "Why the hell did John let her bring the kid’s body? He must have known that Blood of Eden would go apeshit the moment they saw it."

So here's my theory:

Wake hitched a ride to Canaan House with Harrow and Gideon, in the sword Gideon put so much effort into smuggling there. (I also have a theory about Wake and Gideon before that, but that's its own post.) Much plot happens, and Gideon's soul ends up in Harrow's body.

Wake has, I would argue, strong thanergetic ties to Gideon's body. She was the thing Wake died for; her survival killed Wake. They fell together, Wake dying, Gideon living. So going by Revenant 101 from HtN, one of the most sensible things Wake would go back to is... Gideon.

So, what if Wake, in the sword, suddenly goes, oh look! Gideon's body is empty! And she possesses Gideon's body. Gideon "wakes up", which Harrow would absolutely 100% know is not her. But Wake-in-Gideon goes and finds some form of communications device (maybe that Cytherea brought, since she warned BoE that the lyctor trials had been announced), and contacts Blood of Eden.

Blood of Eden that lost her twenty years ago, being contacted by someone who is the spitting image of Commander Wake, and was convincing enough that Blood of Eden came to the First House with some kind of transport vehicle.

In the time between Wake making that call, and the shuttle arriving, Harrow took her steps to keep Gideon partitioned in her brain, but she also orders her future self: Wipe [the sword] down with your arterial blood nightly. Coat the blade in the ash which regrows. Do not cut flesh with the naked blade. Do not cut bone with the naked blade. Even this may not prove enough. Treat the sword as your promised death, and act according to the first guideline.

What that says to me is: Harrow (and maybe Ianthe or Judith) worked to yank Wake out of Gideon's body, and stuff her back into the sword. When they split up, Harrow took the sword, and offered it blood on a regular basis, the way Abigail would when calling a spirit. Or maybe "offered" isn't the right word--she might have been forcibly binding Wake's soul to the blade to keep it out of Gideon, which fed some of Wake's enormous fury towards her. (Along with like. Years of Gideon telling her dead mother all about Harrow being a giant bitch to her.)

And then, I feel like it's practically textual that Wake begins haunting Harrow, then makes her sleepwalk in her first night at the Mithraeum and drive the sword into Cytherea's body, so that Cytherea and Pyrrha can have their little trysts.

But meanwhile Blood of Eden showed up and grabbed the three non-lyctors and Gideon's incorruptible body. Not Cytherea's, which was presumably easy to find; just Gideon's.

Blood of Eden aren't experts on weirdo zombie wizard shit, and their new captives probably weren't eager to share information. What if they just thought: this body was Wake, Wake was somehow alive in this body, but she isn't now, and if they only woke her up, they might get their leader back when they desperately needed her.

(Some of them might also have known about Wake's pregnancy, and have interest in Gideon as herself, since she is related to some of them. Thus Pash's extreme repugnance towards sitting in a truck with Prince Kiriona)

[thechimerasdiary]

reviews | absurd cinema | biopic | comic

𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠

An artist biopic unlike anything you have ever seen

.·:*¨༺ __________________

Judith (Anaïs Demoustier) trying to conduct an interview with Salvador Dalí (Gilles Lellouche) on the beach.

How many Dalís is one too many? You might ask yourself this while watching Quentin Dupieux’s latest work. Daaaaaalí! (2023) is, as the screaming title already suggests, a film about the Spanish artist – but not like you have ever seen before. In the opening scene, mustache-twirling and cane-bearing Dalí (Gilles Lellouche) strides down a hotel corridor. Only for Dalí (Édouard Baer) to walk its length once more. And then, who would have guessed, Dalí (Jonathan Cohen) does it all over again. In this comic prelude, the ever-body-changing character is late for an interview but never seems to arrive at his destination as the distance of the hallway stretches into infinity.

Daaaaaalí! is full of such amusing instances. Dupieux’s film depicts a young pharmacist-turned-journalist, Judith (Anaïs Demoustier), who attempts to start off her new career path by meeting one of the biggest artist names of the 20th century. What begins as a simple interview with the surrealist ends up being a headlong plunge into his whimsical world. Judith soon realizes that Dalí has his own ideas about her project. And while the interview turns into a documentary film that never gets off the ground, reality is turned upside down. Characters wake up from dreams that never end, dead dogs rain down from a cloudless sky, and gun-slinging cowboys terrorize art auctions. 

Sounds a little absurd? Well, that’s exactly the point. The film successfully manages to break out of the never-ending stream of solemn self-assertive biopics by being less concerned with an accurate portrayal of reality and more with crafting a tone that honors the ethos of the historical figure. What makes the work so cleverly charming is that Dupieux has encapsulated the bygone spirit of Surrealism in contemporary form. Daaaaaalí! is a delicious accumulation of absurdity, much like the movement itself. 

Two of Dalí’s models posing for the artist’s painting.

In an early scene in the film, a highly-focused Dalí is seen sitting in the midst of a desolate landscape. With close precision, he is applying brush strokes to his easel. “Sir! Can we take a break?” comes a shout off-screen. The camera whips around to reveal a baffling setting. The two men acting as the painter’s models possess strangely disfigured proportions, one of them propping up his grotesquely elongated head with a wooden pitchfork. The scene pays a delightful homage to Dalí’s 1932 The Fine and Average Invisible Harp by transforming his vision into cinematic reality. And even beyond such clear referentialities, the film’s visual themes closely evoke the artist’s comically-constructed compositions. Dupieux has reached deep into Dalí’s palette, painting a Surrealist masterpiece of his own.

Daaaaaalí! certainly is a testimonial to the persistence of the bizarre. At the same time, the film works so well because it does not try to infuse the scenes with a layer of sober significance. It departs from a purely rational treatment of the narrative it creates. Instead, the events on-screen rely on ridiculousness. The audience is expected to laugh, to get lost in the endless comedic repetitions and the silly oddities of the characters. When Dalí is involved nothing makes sense, nor does it have to. Consequently, watching the film is a lot like contemplating one of the painter’s works: initially confusing, undoubtedly absurd, yet highly entertaining for eyes and mind.

With that, Dupieux's work tells more about Surrealist ideas than many previous documentaries out there could. Daaaaaalí! has manifested itself as a monument to the movement, a rollercoaster of funkiness and madness that the painter himself would have certainly appreciated.

Judith (Anaïs Demoustier) wearing the Dalí mustache.

__________________ ༻¨*:·.

[empty-pizza]

thoughts on gideon the ninth chapter twenty-five, and predictions for the ending

now that's a locked room murder! And if you read to the end of this post, I'll actually have a complete guess for who I think is behind it.

first of all, i do not believe that the monster is something that was there all along. no, someone is taking advantage of the monster story that teacher told, i'm sure of it. there was no monster sighting for magnus and abigail's deaths, but after that, teacher told the story, and now someone behind this is enjoying the effect of showing everyone the monster. but in reality, this isn't some insane, crazy thing — it's just a big bone construct any sufficiently cracked necromancer could make. especially one in a facility that's been teaching them how to improve their necromancy. also, the messages in blood — let's flip the chessboard. why would a random monster want to show them that? i can think of a few possibilities, but i think it's more likely that the person behind this is trying to give off an effect that will scare gideon.

rip isaac. he was a good kid, in the end.

now, the proper locked room mystery is what happened to jeannemary. i don't think i know the full details — we might get some more next chapter as we investigate the scene — but we can still start thinking. Speculation incoming:

Option 1: Jeannemary let someone in while Gideon was asleep. For her to do that, it has to be someone Jeannemary has reason to trust, even without waking Gideon up (I can believe that she distrusts Gideon enough to not wake her up, though). There are only three people this could be; Isaac, Magnus, or Abigail. If one of them is secretly alive, then it's probably Abigail, because we did just see Isaac die, and I dunno, Magnus was very nice while we never actually saw a ton of Abigail. Alternatively, someone could have reanimated and been controlling one of their bodies. It could also be someone Jeannemary didn't trust, but did consider not a threat, like Dulcinea.

Option 2: There are more keys. The fact that there was only one key for each room was a guess, not a fact. Any of the people actively working on stuff could be the one who has it.

Option 3: Someone made a duplicate key. Who was in possession of the key before Gideon? Harrow.

Option 4. There is another way into the room. This would be in violation of Knox's commandments, which you totally can do (Zero Escape), or you can specifically avoid doing for the sake of it (Umineko). I'd lean toward the latter for this story but I can't say for sure.

Option 5: Someone shot the spears of bone that killed Jeannemary from underneath or above the room. It was not described in so much detail so honestly this is possible. How would they know Jeannemary's position, though?

That's all I have for now. Unless someone fed Jeannemary small bombs that exploded into bone spikes inside her body. The chef was the culprit all along :)

Now, let's look at this from a different angle and consider suspects:

It has to be a necromancer involved, due to how Jeannemary died. The funny thing about this whole Locked Room situation is that it typically might make Gideon a suspect, but Gideon literally couldn't kill Jeannemary in this way. Or could she? I mean, I know she didn't, but from the perspective of the others, she could have just prepared preexisting bone spikes. Anyway, that's a tangent.

Judith: Even with them having sucked shit, her team just feels too irrelevant. I don't believe they had it in them to pull this off, I don't believe they would have secretly had a key, and I don't believe Jeannemary would have let her in.

Coronabeth: She would have to have been a big time actor to play this whole act of being inferior to Ianthe only to have been planning all of this on her own all along.

Ianthe: Definitely possible, she's one of the biggest unknowns and potential schemers. The problem with her being the culprit is honestly that she's done so little that there aren't really enough clues to go off of.

Isaac: That would be a pretty hard death to fake, imo, and he'd also have to have faked his bestie's death, since I don't think he'd have killed her. Not hi.

Abigail: A very real possibility, assuming that the magic is so strong that she actually could pretend to be dead. That would feel a little cheap, but it's possible to make it work. Like what if she did one of the challenges and learned to resurrect herself? I don't think it's likely but it's possible.

Palamedes: Kind of a similar option to Coronabeth. He has such a strong existing personality that it's hard to imagine him actually having been faking all along. But that doesn't mean he couldn't have been. I mean, that's kind the point of a secret culprit: That they were faking their personality. I trust people too much, so it's very hard for me to consider possibilities where someone was faking how they act. That said, he's also a dweeb.

Dulcinea: Honestly, very possible. There are clues to pick up and tie together. I don't know what shape they'd form, but they're definitely out there. Maybe sending Protesilaus out is part of some plan. I can definitely believe she's pulling some shit.

Silas: Kind of like Ianthe — possible, but he's done so little that I'm not sure what clues are there.

The fact that I haven't noticed enough clues does not necessarily imply that they aren't there. It could very well be revealed to be Ianthe, Silas, or Palamedes, and turn out to have been foreshadowed in ways that I simply missed. But I can only go off of the information I'm aware of.

There's one other thing we have to keep note of, though, before we get to our final suspect. Other alibis. Many, like Ianthe and Silas, have no alibi. But there are some we know were together while Gideon and the teens were busy. Palamedes, Camilla, Dulcinea, and Harrow.

I think that honestly rules out Palamedes. I don't know how he'll get around it. Short of next chapter saying "oh yeah he left for a bit" I don't think he has a way around it. Dulcinea, probably not as well, unless she had a really clever plan, with some remote controlled skeletons, and whatever Protesilaus has been instructed to do.

But Harrow.

Let's talk about Harrow.

Palamedes says something in particular. He doesn't trust Ianthe, and he doesn't trust Silas, but he does trust Harrow. Mysteries are about subversion. When you say something like that, in a mystery, there's a good chance you're gonna get completely clowned for it. I personally consider narrative framing as important as hard evidence, but you do need hard evidence alongside it.

One possibility is that Harrow made a duplicate key out of bone. But to use it, she would have had to have left the group she was with. So it's likely impossible for Harrow to have entered the room Gideon and Jeannemary were in.

BUT WHAT IF-

SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO ENTER IT!

What are two of the skills we explicitly saw Harrow learn? We saw her learn to create crazy, regenerating skele-constructs, and we saw her learn to remotely watch Gideon. Who else could have created the creature that attacked Gideon and the others? If it's not Harrow, we'd have to answer that with someone else having developed or already had the skill. It's more narratively elegant if it was simply done by the character we already know learned it — a chekhov's gun that seemingly hasn't gone off yet! That would also explain why it didn't chase down Gideon, despite her carrying a lanky teenager — Harrow would have wanted to kill the Fourth, but leave Gideon, and had to improvise after Gideon took Jeannemary away.

Secondly, how do you kill Jeannemary while Gideon is in the room? And how do you facilitate this entire thing while Gideon is there? Simple. You watch through Gideon. Again, Harrow learning this power is a chekhov's gun that hasn't been fired yet!

There are lot of ways this could have gone. Harrow could have left a trap in the room and activated it with the knowledge she got through Gideon's eyes. Harrow could have simply used her knowledge of what happened inside of the room to tell a skeleton to go, with a copy of the key, and stab Jeannemary, while Gideon slept. Of course, a big assumption in this is that making a copy of the key is actually something that you can do with bone — it seems simple enough, but the powersets are vague in this story and it might just not be on the table.

Of course, there's a big difference between watching and controlling. Did Harrow even know she could pull this off? Well, it's more likely than you think. She probably didn't plan on doing it this way, because she didn't realize Gideon would have saved Jeannemary. She might have only realized it worked when Gideon fell asleep. Or, there were several prior times Gideon was asleep in the story — Harrow could have secretly practiced it during then.

But there's an even simpler way. If Harrow didn't just look through Gideon's eyes, but controlled Gideon. Why did Gideon fall asleep so suddenly? It could have been induced by Harrow's powers. Even if it was natural, it could have been taken advantage of by Harrow. I have to go check and see if Harrow watching through Gideon was actually something Gideon could perceive, or if only Harrow felt the brunt of it. Honestly, once Harrow mastered that power, why wouldn't she constantly surveil through Gideon's eyes?

Edit: Alternatively, Harrow could have used the other power she learned, soul siphoning, specifically to drain Gideon's energy and make her fall asleep.

How, then, could Harrow have actually killed Jeannemary? It could be something she left behind in the room in case. It might be a stretch that Harrow could actually use her powers through Gideon's body. But she also could have just opened the door with Gideon and let a skeleton in.

Now, there's the question of why. And here's the thing: I could completely believe Harrow would do this. We've seen some development between Harrow and Gideon, as they've gotten closer and more trusting. But that's been personal between them. It hasn't been making Harrow a better person. And the overall stakes of this — what being a Lyctor even means — are not something the book has really made clear. That means it's open to reveal the details are something that would believably make Harrow sacrifice others for her own success.

Harrow is one of the most pragmatic and smart players in the game, from the very start. As the game developed, we saw the choice established, between working communally to win and working solo. There are no rules. You can try to win as a group or individually. Harrow worked with others, but every situation in which she did is a situation where it would have been disadvantageous to not, or where it would have made her look bad and untrustworthy. None of that means she doesn't WANT to win solo, or that she isn't willing to kill for her success. Just that she is smart enough to be careful and secretive about it.

And Gideon is still alive.

If anybody else was trying to kill off their rivals to win at the game, why would they leave Gideon alive? Unless their way of killing Jeannemary was absurdly indirect, or they have a very specific plan that goes beyond just rival-killing, why would they leave Gideon? Simple. Because Harrow cares about Gideon — and knows she doesn't have to try to kill her loyal ally.

And the thing is, we already have a guess at what a specific plan might be. Death to the Fourth House, the words in blood said. Whoever did this wants people to think that this was done out of a specific grudge. But as far as I've noticed, we haven't seen any hints of another group having a grudge against the Fourth House, so far. Rather, I think this is a cover. This is Harrow's attempt to explain why the killings would leave Gideon out, while still removing her rivals.

Harrow, I just noticed, was even the one who suggested that Gideon and the teens go downstairs, while she waits upstairs with Palamedes and Camilla. She knows to pick on the targets she can handle.

Most of all, I think the answer should be whatever causes Gideon the most pain. It's one thing if it's a really hot girl. But it's something else if she has to face the person she doesn't realize she cares about so much, but is slowly starting to trust, is actually the killer.

If I could say it in blue right now, I would (I don't know how to do that on tumblr). Harrow killed Isaac and Jeannemary, and possibly others, in an attempt to remove her rivals, using the skills she learned to create great hulking skeletal constructs and to watch through or even control Gideon.

I am not 100% sure. This theory has many holes, some of which can easily be filled in simple ways, but won't necessarily be. There are valid alternate explanations that could be extremely interesting. But out of everything I've got, this is by far the most interesting and believable option I can see.

If I'm wrong, laugh at me later. If I'm right, send me money in the mail and don't spoil me.

[countingnothings]

my spouse has moved on from “nona is the soul of a dog” (true, valid, what nona would say about herself) to “if varun the eater possessed judith deuteros, but everyone except nona just sees her as having the same issue as all other necromancers in the presence of a resurrection beast, then every necromancer in the presence of a resurrection beast is experiencing possession by said beast via a thanergetic link. the resurrection beast’s soul is travelling along that link innately and is too large a soul squashed in too small a body, so of course shit gets unhinged. also tamsyn loves literary foils, and what is nona if not the soul of a planet in a human body, a body that has an expiration date because it physically cannot contain that much soul?”

which you know what? i’m here for it. i hate it, but it makes a twisted kind of sense, especially since we know that revenants can possess bodies when the souls of said bodies are sent away (see: eighth house shenanigans; whatever is happening on the ninth at the end of nona), or there is some kind of emptiness (see: wake possessing the parts of harrow where the memory of gideon should be; alecto possessing the parts of harrow that harrow has abandoned to curl up in her river bubble), and we know that resurrection beasts are revenants of planets. and we see in the river travel at the beginning of harrow the way souls seem to be magnetically, automatically attracted to living bodies - even john’s, which is arguably a unique body, and even those of lyctors, whose empty spaces are filled with dead cavaliers. perhaps the revenant of a human does not have the “weight” needed to muscle into a mostly-full space, hence why necros aren’t walking around getting possessed by every two-bit ghost they come across, but the revenant of a planet might just be heavy enough to press in. to make emptiness by compression, something along these lines.

what is number 7 trying to communicate when it screams through mercymorn’s mouth? christabel (dead, not a necromancer) fills up her body when mercymorn is in the river, or perhaps by virtue of being dead is not attractive to the revenant number 7, or perhaps by virtue of being not a necromancer can’t have a thanergetic link with anything, or perhaps a combination of all three is the magic formula that is a side effect of the lyctoral process (or an intentional outcome; who even knows with john). but when mercymorn surfaces into her body, suddenly that body is again attractive, or capable of necromancy, or riddled with empty spaces, or all three, and number 7′s herald is close enough to send the saint of pfaugh!! into a gibbering tailspin. gideon, of course, doesn’t speak planet the way that nona does, so she hears only screaming, but what is number 7 trying to tell her?

and this is also why john has to hide from the resurrection beasts and the heralds, as possibly the most attractive and necromantic body out there. he already has (most of) a planet’s soul inside of him. he cannot possibly fit another one - there isn’t the space (or, says my spouse, he is worried that the beasts might travel along his thanergetic link to alecto, a body built to contain a planet, and who KNOWS what would happen then). and if somehow even john’s fullness can be compressed by the weight of a resurrection beast’s agonised soul, what might it try to say through HIS mouth?

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Here's thought about number 7.

Now the houses are not in any sort of order when it comes to which planet they're on. 6 is on Mercury, The 7th house is on Venus, The 1st house is on Earth, The 9th house is on Pluto but it wasn't supposed to be a house and I am fairly certain the 2nd is on Mars.

But the resurrection beasts just have numbers not names. So if their number system actually makes sense, unlike everything else in the entire series, with Alecto being number 3, Varun the eater would be Saturn.

Now when people talk about Earth being a goldilocks planet the layman's terms are generally referring to earth as being in the perfect temperature range. We're not too close to the sun and we're not too far away. Which is true, kind of but there's a lot of other things that make Earth a special planet that allowed life to exist. The planet is the right age, we have the right sized star, we have a molten nuclear core which provides a magnetosphere, we have an atmosphere, we have liquid water, we have all these fairly nit picky precise details about our planet that allows for life to exist. But Earth also got really lucky in its location and its neighbors.

Complicated astrophysics aside, big asteroids hitting Earth are bad for life on Earth. Our Solar System has an asteroid belt right nearby Earth, that catches stray asteroids before they get close to us. The bigger rocks from deep space entering our Solar System generally get caught up in the gravity wells of the gas giant planets. Jupiter is big enough that it just subsumes everything, Saturn and Neptune end up catching rocks in their rings.

These planets are our guardians. They can't support life as we understand it, but they are the reason Earth had the stability to grow and flourish.

With that context, Varun the eater is a failed guardian meeting the soul of their murdered charge after millenia. Which makes that whole conversation make alot more sense.

The Earth got murdered by her boyfriend and then the boyfriend went and murdered all her friends too. And now their souls are both possessing traumatized teenage girls. And the Earth says she still loves things, and Saturn is like, honey, no. The time for forgiveness and forgetfulness is past, now is the time for bloody vengeance.

When Judith is screaming everyone just assumes she's having a bad time with the blue madness. But Nona understands the words that she is saying if not what she's talking about. But she doesn't say anything, in that language, until she has to fake being Harrow and she screams for help. Which Varun hears and responds to at the first opportunity.

I'm having feelings about older sibling planets failing to protect their baby sister planet and her fucked up mold evolution science project. This subtext is so subtext I'm pretty sure I made this up. Nona still loves life and living things and human beings, even though that went so badly the first time, and Saturn is so mad about all of it.

[charlottenorthup]

Viewing Response 8

This week we watched episode six of the Netflix series, “Sandman,” paired with Ally Brisbin and Paul Booth’s “The Sand/wo/man: The Unstable Worlds of Gender in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series.” The piece discusses queering and draws on points made about gender and sexuality by Judith Butler. After watching the episode, I found myself focusing on the short scene at the end where we see Desire. In the reading, Brisbin and Booth write, “In the realms of the Eternal, Desire appears as an androgynous being, often with soft, feminine features but no clear sex markers. However, Desire has also fathered a mortal. Despite this constant state of flux (which in itself is a feminine quality), Desire possesses a masculine sense of absolutism and control” (29). Despite Desire being an androgynous being, I found it interesting that the reading still separated the parts of their life and personality that were inherently feminine or masculine. I think this really puts emphasis on the fact that gender norms and stereotypes in society have been so firmly constructed and held up that it is difficult to completely see someone as just their own identity on the screen. The villainization that we see of Desire at the end of episode, where they seem to be planning something evil, is likely to be seen as inherently masculine when breaking the scene down by gender stereotypes, as the reading points out.   

@theuncannyprofessoro

#oxyspeculativetv

[paradoxcase]

Glossary at the end of Harrow the Ninth

So they were named in order of discovery, not in House order or in the order of their distance from the sun, so Number Seven could be anything. But surely that would have made Alecto Number One, right? If John told all his Lyctors the truth about what she actually was, and they didn't find out that resurrection beasts were going to be pursuing them until later, then she would necessarily have been the first one they encountered, right? So why is she not Number One?

Also the implication that BOE probably has other names for them - BOE must know about them, since they specifically sought out Heralds to turn into anti-necromancer bullets

This sort of resolves some confusing and contradictory statements about how the beasts don't move through or exist in physical space but still somehow have a physical body. It would have been much cooler if this had all been clarified in the actual text of the story

Surely this means the end of Harrow the Ninth, right? Gideon didn't die fighting Number Seven until the very end

Is this only because they were more recently created, or is there something special about the OG beasts because of the Resurrection?

How did BOE know that Wake was a revenant? Wait. Wake was still possessing the sword when Harrow used it to kill Cytherea and then passed out, and then subsequently we know that BOE came to Canaan House, captured Camilla, Corona, and Judith, and took Gideon's body. Did they know that Wake was possessing the sword at that time and were planning on having it be taken on board the Mithraeum with Harrow and that's why they didn't mess with the Lyctors? This seems like kind of a stretch, since none of the actual necromancer characters even suspected that the sword was haunted at that point in the story, and the only necromancer that BOE had access to was Judith, who was for sure not going to willingly tell them anything useful about anything. Or did Wake possess Cytherea's body right after she was killed, and then when BOE came she was actually able to speak to them and tell them what happened?

I mean, this is believable, mostly, but if BOE are now speaking languages that have been evolving for 10,000 years since these references were originally made, the names would logically also have undergone a lot of phonetic shifts in order to match up with the phonology of whatever the commonly-spoken language was in the area that the name was being used. They might still have been long, but after 10,000 years of phonological changes, they probably won't sound anything like the original 21st century things they reference. Even if these names were understood to be names in a dead language, they still would have undergone phonological changes, they wouldn't be completely fossilized. Like, consider the name Caesar, which we currently regard as being a name in a dead language. In the original Latin it was /kaɪsar/, but now in modern English it's the very different-sounding /siːzɚ/ because English has a completely different phonology than Latin and that word has changed its pronunciation as English changed, just like every other word in the English language has. If there were somehow some immortal Ancient Romans who were still speaking Classical Latin and didn't know any English, and you asked them about /siːzɚ/, would they know who you were talking about? Definitely not. So even if we buy this idea that John has somehow prevented every single resident of the Nine Houses from producing any kind of linguistic innovation for 10,000 years, Wake's name as rendered in Wake's native language would not sound like anything that John could recognize as 21st century renderings of Shakespeare or Eminem