#256 - the book of lost things

[thousand-winters]

"And now for a word from our sponsors." "Today’s show is sponsored by your local friendly ritual mound." "Mmmm. No, it’s Chick-Fil-A." "Come on by any time of day or night and someone will be doing something interesting at your local ritual mound, I guarantee it." "That’s not what the ad copy says. It clearly says that there is no human meat in Chick-fil-a’s sandwiches, guaranteed."

[vilevilescorpio]

"Pisces - There are two wolves inside of you. This is not a metaphor. You require urgent medical care."

Episode 256 - The Book of Lost Things

[flying-fangirls]

WTNV 256 Listening Thoughts

- LOVE THE OPENER

- De Tours plotline has me invested, I'm such a sucker for this podcast's particular brand of capitalism critique

- JEFFREY!??

- "and our religion has a rather strict policy on rudeness" trying so hard to not compare new episodes to old episodes, but it's pretty hard when the new stuff is just. not actually new material.

- RIP fellow overthinkers, guess we're getting devoured tonight

- ohhhh that Taurus horoscope :'( Carlos bby blink twice if you're in plot danger

- well ok, maybe there is something interesting with this Book of Lost Things stuff... I like the focus on information suppression/denial in that second reading, so if they keep that up I'll be excited!

- oh my god. that final reading. idk what I'm feeling but whatever it is, it's a lot

- maybe I'm stretching, but I'm gonna say that the whole focus on "lost things" and how we discard so much of our lives as "trash" or "used up" totally supports my consumerism-critique theory

[frayed-symphony]

Part 2 of the OC lore dump for my second self-published picture book 256 Postcards Ago under the cut. This one is mostly about the RPG maker game I wanted to create for it!

I wanted to explore the family's backstory more in the rpgmaker game I mentioned in the previous post; Nicholas is a lonely kid so his dad makes up some friends for him to play with while he's busy at work. In the game you would pick up collectable postcards that explain the story;

Some of the shops are also references to things. For example 'Marble's' is a place in the Gamecube game Tales of Symphonia and 'Charlotte' is a reference to a character from Madoka Magica. I love her cute witch design and made a shop based on her which sells toys.

I also wanted to hint that Charlotte's might be where Digit originally comes from and drew some similar toy designs to him which would appear in the window. Digit is the only friend who Nicholas can actually see and he also functions as a backpack!

The town in based on the English seaside location 'Walton-on-the-naze' I used to visit every summer as a child. My favourite restaurant is the building on the right in the first image and the promenade also makes an appearance during the lunch scene.

I planned to show a more locations of the town and was making a game with a talented artist and programmer Dejan90 but we both had a lot of real life commitments at this time and didn't get too far into making it.

My plan was to have characters from all three books appear in the game as well as some original characters. The idea of the game was to tie all three stories together somehow.

There would also be minigames you could play with your imaginary friends!! I think we were a little ambitious with the scope of what we wanted to do.

Marina from The Midnight Chimes would also make an appearance and be able to join your party. Here's some more of the unfinished sprite work from the game;

While my three picture books are not directly related I also added some visual references between the books; a lighthouse and windmill on Amelie's shelf in HL, a purple dinosaur at the playground in 256 which also shows up with Digit in The Midnight Chimes!

Almost finished now!! Just like with my last book I made a little soundtrack.

The playlist for 256 Postcards Ago is here!

1) Postcards From Far Away 2) Dear Vienna 3) Town of Albano 4) Breezy 5) Point Me At Lost Islands 6) Cycling Road 7) 幸福時計 8) Dark Cave 9) The Elemental Stars

(And last thing! Reminder that you can read the book here;) Amazon paperback; http://amzn.com/1484839765 eBook; https://frayedsymphony.gumroad.com/l/JVgUp

Thank you for reading!

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (13-19 Oct 2024)

this show is so, so dumb and so watchable (gifs by @livelovecaliforniadreams)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😍 Lost Vocabularies that Might Express (The Memory of These Broken Impressions) (dorian_burberrycanary) - final in A Man Takes His Sadness Down to the River (The Consolation of Philosophy) series (111K out of 151K total); a marvelous stucky post-EG/TFATWS fix it (knowledge of TFATWS canon not required) - this one is an exquisite road trip fic

🥰 we shut ‘em up, and then we shut ‘em down (greatunironic) - 41K, Steddie, street racing AU - absolutely in love with this version of babygirl Steve Harrington. a very fun street racer AU. Steve's lewk is impeccable; he is 'street racer Barbie'. filthy in the best way, makes me understand the appeal of spit kink (tho not bringing me into the fold entirely)

😊 ice cream before dinner (cloudydaisies) - 58K, buddie - cute, fluffy, very domestic Eddie-POV getting-together fic

💖💖 +71K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

No Vacancies (darter_blue, the1918) - MCU: stucky, no powers, 6K - reread - co-working annoyances-to-lovers, only one bed, very hot

Complications (LearnedFoot) - Suits: harvey/mike, 12K - different meeting AU with fake dating

Carried Away (LearnedFoot) - Suits: harvey/mike, 9K - canon-divergent, sort of 'didn't know we were dating' vibe

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Dimension 20: Behind the Scenes - Starstruck Origins with Elaine Lee; Starstruck Post Season Talkback with Elaine Lee

Seas The Day: Life Lessons From Cephalopods With Dr. Sarah McAnulty - Part 1

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #9; Nikki Glaser asks about compliments

D20: Misfits & Magic 2 - "A Place of Knowing" (s23, e3)

D20: Adventuring Party - "You Had a Bad Day" (s18, e3)

D20: Misfits & Magic 2 - "A Change of Plan" (s23, e4)

D20: Adventuring Party - "The Funny Season" (s18, e4)

Elementary - s2, e20-24

Dr. Odyssey - s1, e4

Only Murders In The Building - s4, e1-4

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

The Allusionist - 201. Singlish

⭐ 99% Invisible - Brilliantly Boring

⭐ Imaginary Worlds - To Seek Out New Life

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - The Sound of… BLUEY!!!

Hit Parade - With or Without U2 Edition

Morning Edition - Going deeper into some claims in legal filings against TikTok that NPR uncovered

Morning Edition - The U.S. gets a new national marine sanctuary, the first led by a tribe

Throughline - The Union That Shook New York City

The Sporkful - Ed Gamble Is More Than A Diabetic Comedian (Live)

Shedunnit - Book Club Fact File: Death in Fancy Dress by Anthony Gilbert

Shedunnit - Book Club Conversation: Death in Fancy Dress by Anthony Gilbert

The Curious History of Your Home - Wallpaper

Short Wave - 5-Year-Olds Asked Us Science Questions. We Answer

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - A Visit to the Reptile Super Show with Jacob Wysocki

Re: Dracula - October 15: Hear it in the Shrouds

All Songs Considered - The most terrifying film scores of all time

Switched on Pop - The last decade of pop explained

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society - The REAL Charles Dickens with Miriam Margolyes

Welcome to Night Vale #256 - The Book of Lost Things

It's Been a Minute - Sasha Colby takes us to Drag college

Outward - What Arabic LGBTQ+ Slang Tells Us with Marwan Kaabour

Outward - Bonus: New Additions to the Gay Agenda from Marwan Kaabour

Outward - Bonus: New Additions to the Gay Agenda from Frankie de la Cretaz

Vibe Check - If You See Us, No You Didn’t!

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Skinny Houses

Re: Dracula - October 16: We Shall Be Ready

Short Wave - Europa Clipper And The Search For Life In Space

Pop Culture Happy Hour - The Pop Culture That Scared Us As Kids

⭐ Song Exploder - Pharrell Williams "Piece By Piece"

Shedunnit - Mysterious Knitting

99% Invisible - Trompe L'oeil

The Curious History of Your Home - Laundry

Happy Place - David Tennant: Internal voices, LGBTQ+ activism, and 80s nostalgia

Ologies - Momiology (MUMMIFICATION) Part 2 with Salima Ikram & Kara Cooney

Re: Dracula - October 17: Fall Into Dust

Monét Talks - Orville Peck Talks Shortening His Masks

Short Wave - New Frogs Just Dropped

Dear Prudence - I Love My Family. My Husband Doesn’t. Help!

Dear Prudence - Prudie Plus: Am I Toxic?

It's Been a Minute - The false promise of climate havens; plus, the 'help' in horror

Morning Edition - A company says it created a milk protein that could revolutionize dairy-free cheese

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Hogs of Ossabaw Island

Today, Explained - Reconsidering the Menendez brothers

Storylines - Hana's Suitcase

99% Invisible - The Power Broker #10: Clara Jeffery

Welcome to Night Vale - Bonus Episode: Behind the Scenes (October 2024)

The Sam Sanders Show - Pop Culture Can Help the Climate w/ Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

The Curious History of Your Home - The Fridge

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Soundtracks Radio • Upbeat

Teenage Werewolf Rock

'90s One-Hit Wonders

Duran Duran

Presenting Bruce Springsteen

Stereophonic (Original Cast Recording)

Soft Rock Ballads

[omniversecomicsguide]

Volume 5 is finally here! Looking forward to completing this series that only receptor got the spotlight in our TOP TEN MOST WANTED NON-MARVEL/DC OMNIBUS episode! I know there are some who’d like a compendium (or so), which makes sense to me! But, man, I’m more than happy with my Library Editions!

WORLD OF BLACK HAMMER LIBRARY EDITION vol.1-5

Collecting…

Barbalien: Red Planet 1-5

Black Hammer ‘45 1-4

Black Hammer Visions 1-8

Colonel Weird: Cosmagog 1-4

Doctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows 1-4

Free Comic Book Day - Stranger Things/Black Hammer 1 [part]

Quantum Age 1-6

Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil 1-4

Skulldigger & Skeleton Boy 1-6

Unbelievable Unteens 1-4

256, 300, 294, 288 & 224 pages

Library edition hardcover

#WorldOfBlackHammerLibraryEdition #BlackHammer #WorldOfBlackHammer #JeffLemire #DeanOrmston #DarkHorseComics #DarkHorse #DarkHorseLibraryEdition #DavidRubin #TateBromball #TylerCrook #PattonOswalt #ScottSnyder

[ibtk]

Book Review: Stephen McCranie's Space Boy, Volume 6 (2020)

The one where we finally discover Oliver’s flavor!

— 3.5 stars —

A long-running weekly comic on WEBTOON, Stephen McCranie’s SPACE BOY is teased as “A sci-fi drama of a high school aged girl who belongs in a different time, a boy possessed by emptiness as deep as space, an alien artifact, mysterious murder, and a love that crosses light years.”

The MC is Amy, a sixteen-year-old girl who’s pretty normal except for the fact that she’s an unwitting time traveler. Born on a mining colony, her family was forced to return to earth when her father lost his job. Since it’s a thirty-year journey, Amy and the ‘rents were cryogenically frozen for the trip: hence the “girl out of time.”

The family settles in Kokomo City, where Amy enrolls in South Pines Academy. Though she misses her BFF Jemmah (now old enough to be Amy’s mom; could this be the “love that crosses light years”?), she soon finds her own new social circles: football star David, his girlfriend Cassie, and their friends Zeph, Meisha, Maki, Logan, and Howard; and the school’s agriculture club, which includes fellow crossover Meisha, and Tamara and Shafer.

And then there is Oliver, the mysterious, silver-haired boy who does not seem to have a flavor. (Amy has synesthesia and “tastes” peoples’ personalities.) Though her friends think he’s trouble with a capital T, Amy gravitates to Oliver, and vice versa. But for reasons not yet revealed, Oliver’s very existence is classified – and their continued friendship endangers Amy’s life. Enter: the alien artifact and mysterious murder.

Volume 6 collects episodes 76 through 92 of the WEBTOON comic, originally published between 8/24/16 and 12/15/16 (yes, the trade paperbacks are very far behind! Do yourself a favor and create a WEBTOON account so you can stay up to date.)

One thing I don’t love about the trade paperbacks is that the plot seems to progress at a snail’s pace, and Volume 6 is no exception; 256 pages and we’re still not done with Spirit Week! Still, this is an enjoyable and bittersweet collection.

Volume 6 sees Oliver continue to distance himself from Amy, while fissures deepen among some of Amy’s friends. Amy gets to experience her first snowfall – and snow day! – for which mom thankfully yet temporarily lifts her grounding (that’s a whole ‘nother story). Amy finally discovers Oliver’s flavor (orange with hints of cinnamon, brimming with passion and vibrancy and life – the complete opposite of Nothing) – revealed, oddly enough, as he’s beating the piss out of a bully. Before she can even begin to process, Oliver and his foster dad Dr. Kim vanish, just as mysteriously as they arrived.

The agriculture club’s baby chicks make a quick cameo, as part of Tamara’s efforts to lift the spirits of a mopey Amy. My feelings about the ag club are something of a roller coaster: initially I was overjoyed that Amy made the connection between the soft, floofy, sentient creatures she was loving on and the chicken salad sammie on her plate, and vowed to go vegetarian. This quickly crumbled when she got an accidental mouthful of bacon on Oliver’s sandwich and decreed that it was fine, so long as the agriculture club doesn’t start raising baby piggies. Speciesist much?

And the very existence of animal agriculture so far in the future feels like a disappointing lack of imagination of the artist’s part. When I first started reading SPACE BOY, I thought it had to be at least 30 years in the future, to allow for Amy’s travel. Probably more like 100+ given all the new tech. But when Amy starts researching the Arno and its mission to reach the alien artifact, we learn that the year is actually 3355: The Arno launched in 3051, and was supposed to reach the artifact in 300 years – which, for Amy, was 4 years ago. 3051 + 300 + 4 = 3355.

So you’re telling me that it’s more than a thousand years in the future and we don’t have synthetic or lab-grown meat yet? That we’re still breeding and raising sentient creatures to be slaughtered for food? That our morals have evolved so little? Gross, dude. If this is the future, I hope humanity burns itself out well before 3355.

But yeah, baby chicks are hecka cute.

[alsjeblieft-zeg]

256 of 2023

Who in your life has given you the most inspiration?

My husband constantly inspires me to be better.

How has your personal style changed in the last five years?

Not much, it has changed before.

Have you ever put on or lost a significant amount of weight?

Lost.

On a scale of 1-5, how often do you curse?

10.

Do you like or dislike your own handwriting?

No strong feelings either way. I write how I write.

What do you typically do with your spare time?

Travel around the country.

How many different phone numbers have you had in your lifetime?

I don’t remember, but I’ve had this number for 15 years.

What is your favorite scent?

Cinnamon and vanilla.

Do you play any instruments?

No, I’m disabled. Why does every survey ask the same questions?

If not, have you ever tried to learn or maybe wanted to learn?

Wanted, but oh well.

Do you have any book recommendations for me?

No. I don’t know what you like.

Tell me something you like about yourself.

I’m non-judgemental.

Do you prefer salty or sweet treats?

Salty. I’m not a big fan of sweet.

Do you have a favorite actor or actress?

No, I don’t.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Rice with veggies.

How is your posture?

Bad. Genetic disorder lol.

Are you or have you ever been a smoker?

No.

What are your favorite summer activities?

Long walks on the beach.

What is the worst thing you've ever smelled?

Someone’s socks, not on purpose.

Have you ever taken an Uber or Lyft?

No, I haven’t.

What's your favorite social media platform?

Tumblr.

What is your favorite type of survey to take?

Bolding. It’s easy.

[jalules]

I posted 2,934 times in 2022

That's 1,018 more posts than 2021!

83 posts created (3%)

2,851 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dianapocalypse

@bonesmakenoise

@baladric

@chickencourtesan

@edoro

I tagged 1,038 of my posts in 2022

#the owl house - 295 posts

#the locked tomb - 119 posts

#the owl house spoilers - 50 posts

#huntlow - 31 posts

#toh spoilers - 30 posts

#my wife's art 😍 - 22 posts

#hunter toh - 21 posts

#harrowhark my beloved - 13 posts

#personal - 12 posts

#dianapocalypse - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#idr if i reblogged this before but that pose with willow gently touching hunter's chin and him looking at her like 😳 means the world to me

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

something something the way belos manipulates lilith so effectively because in truth he can relate to her struggle and knows the pain of betraying/feeling betrayed by a beloved sibling, how he likely used their similarities to hone in on her as she worked her way up through the ranks of the coven and hand selected her to be coven head with every intention of using her to play out yet another version of his twisted little roleplay game where he's constantly reliving the way things went with caleb, how he dangles the hope of reconciliation with a sibling, something he himself had hoped for, in front of her to keep her going and then punishes her for ever having that hope in the first place (it didn't end well for him, why should it for her?,) how he probably hoped to convince lilith to put eda down herself "for her own good," and effectively forces her into that situation anyway by convicting eda and sentencing her to petrification, how he could then use the trauma of that loss to further project onto lilith and bring her in even closer ("i know how you feel, i lost a sibling and best friend to the perils of dark magic once too... ")

something about that

256 notes - Posted June 8, 2022

#4

couldn't help but notice that wittebro classic didn't have a toothgap

(i process fandom emotions through shitpost comics sorry 🤷)

299 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

#3

if i'm right about grimwalkers growing out of the ground, willow's gonna find out hunter's a grimwalker and be like 👀👀👀 a plant boy you say???

402 notes - Posted May 21, 2022

#2

i made this joke to my wife and now it's bouncing around my head on repeat so i have to inflict it on y'all

733 notes - Posted May 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

you know like that joke in spice world

(been a minute but i"m back with a locked tomb shitpost comic circa idk between book 1 and 2 i guess)

1,322 notes - Posted January 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[tetsvhoe]

I KNOW WHO YOU PRETEND I AM [2]

you know the only time they look into your eyes is to search for someone else.

kuroo, bokuto, atsumu, suna, and sakusa’s part

pt. 2 regret and other cliches akaashi, kenma, iwaizumi

character/s: timeskip!akaashi keiji x f!reader ; timeskip!kenma kozume x gn!reader, timeskip!iwaizumi hajime x gn!reader

genre/s: ANGST pls don’t say i didn’t warn y’all

warning/s: none i think except for gut wrenching angst

gwen's notes 🤍: ik i promised a part two for the first one where they regret it and i swear im already writing it, i just couldn’t help myself from writing for other boiz

MASTERLIST | TAGLIST

akaashi keiji

akaashi is a living breathing piece of art work. with his stoic expression, silky black hair, piercing emerald eyes, honeyed voice, calm and collected behavior, it seems as though he stepped right out of a portrait and escaped a museum. what a strange coincidence that he also has a passion for making art of his own—he weaves words into stories, turns the black and white of ink and paper into a kaleidoscope of hues painted on a canvas of his memories and emotions. lately, akaashi’s been lost in a world of his own. on top of editorial duties, he’s locked up in his office most of the time, building his own palace from paragraphs and verses. you try not to miss him too much when he ventures deep into the crevices of his mind as this is one of the things you loved most about him, he is perceptive and profound. akaashi hides his works from you and you assume he’s just being doubtful of his own talents as usual. you sneak around to read the portraits he’s painted about his muse. he immortalizes his love through art. akaashi writes about the knots in her hair, you note that he describes a different color from yours; how she stirs up a storm in her coffee every morning, you prefer cold coffee though he says it’s warm; the stardust in her tears when she cries, but he’s got your eye color wrong. you flip through the pages until the very end until you realize it is you who’s got it wrong. you learn that you are a side character in his narrative and none of the poems and sonnets are about you. akaashi has been writing about heartbreak when all you’ve been giving him is love. the hurt from his past takes up all the pages. he has no room for your love so you settle between the empty spaces, you’re reduced to nothing more than scribbles and notes on margins in a book he’s written about someone that’s not you.

kenma kozume

kenma says he hates being tired. he only played volleyball for his best friend. he neither enjoyed nor hated playing the sport. similarly, that’s how he goes about his life. he half asses tasks that aren’t important and does things merely out of compliance. he agrees to going out on dates you carefully map out so you stop nagging him about it. he poses for pictures with a thin lipped smile and an annoyed expression he doesn’t bother to hide so you could both get going. he holds your hand just to stop you from wandering places when you go out, he can’t wait to go home. he opens his arms to welcome your embrace even if just to tune you out while he games or scrolls through his phone. he answers your texts and calls quickly because he can’t stand the constant vibrating. you never take it to heart even when you know kenma says he hates being tired but he’s a college student, a professional gamer, a youtuber, a stock trader, and a CEO. why? because kenma, to put it more accurately, doesn’t hate being tired. he hates putting in effort to things that don’t matter to him. kenma is a lot of things, but he is not yours. he does put in effort when he patiently teaches you how to play his favorite games. he rushes you to reach AR16 in genshin impact so he could visit your world, steal your resources, and bully the bosses. he frequently visits a profile which has been active 256 days ago. he shows you around a wonderful cottagecore house he spent days building in minecraft. there’s already a bed next to his and you note this was someone else’s home. he puts in effort because from behind a screen, he could pretend you’re someone else.

iwaizumi hajime

iwaizumi has a short temper and a sharp tongue but you know he means well most of the time. he calls his best friend “shittykawa” and tells him to look after himself all in one breath. he’s known to hit oikawa every chance he gets but then goes around and studies sports science in another country as if it had nothing to do with the fact that oikawa injured himself and he would never let something like that happen twice. you wholeheartedly believe that there is a reason for everything iwaizumi says and does, even though he’s a little rough around the edges and poor at his executions. so you don’t mind the opinions he has about you; i think this style looks good on you. that color suits your skin, you should wear it more often. i like this perfume you’re wearing better than the other one. i think you would look good with this hairstyle. there is a reason for everything iwaizumi says and does. and you only find out what it is when you finally meet his ex for the first time and realize how similar you’ve become to them. he’s turned you into someone he could love, someone he still loves. apparently, you as yourself wouldn’t suffice.

[imabee-oralizard]

Navigation

About me

My name is Kylie but I am fine with nicknames

Not a minor

She/her

Pansexual

Leo

Ravenclaw

I write poems

Poem masterlist is here

I am married too @gilmore-angel

Hopeless romantic

Obsessed with fictional characters

Super unorganized

I had adhd and dyslexia

My Side account is @imalittlebumblebee

DNI

If you’re homophobic

If you’re transphobic

If you support jk Rowling

If you cyber bully

Sexist

Guidelines

I will block you if I don’t feel comfortable

I do not need to respond to your asks if I am not comfortable

You can dm me if you want to! I am a safe place!

My account

Account started on this date

Currently have 256 followers- July 8th 2023

Socials I have

You can ask me for any of these and I’ll be more than likely to give them to you. (Mostly for moots)

Instagram

Snapchat

Twitter (book twitter and main)

TikTok (main and poems)

Discord

Pinterest

BeReal

Favorites

Books

Movies/ shows

Animal

Bands/ singers

Celebrity

10 things I hate about you

Supernatural

Fault in our stars (and movie)

Marvel

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PALAYE ROYALE

Yungblud

Pit bulls

Labyrinth lost

Harry styles

Taylor swift

Harry Potter (and movies)

Heath ledger

Stranger things

Heathers

Shadow and bone

More info

I reblog stuff a lot

Trying to make a master list for my poems

Also trying to make another blog specifically for what I’ve read but idk

I’ve read the first 3 Harry Potter books

Trying to watch all the marvel movies/shows

Comfort characters

Regulus black

Draco Malfoy

Remus lupin

James potter

Harry Potter

Luna Lovegood

Hermione Granger

Sirius Black

Wanda maximoff

Bucky Barnes

Pietro Maximoff

Peter Parker (Tom and Andrew)

Loki

Void stiles

Stiles stilinski

Derek Hale

Lydia Martin

Theo reaken

Dean Winchester

Castiel

There’s more but they aren’t here

Links I recommend to look at

Will link post later

Some blogs

@gilmore-angel @curseofaphrodite @mirclealignr @mendesxruel @padf00ts-l0ver @nottluvr @cupids-crystals @mellifluousart @papillon-mechant @angelzone @miss-aesthetic-being @missunholyspirit @thismessymasterpiece @immrbrightsideeee @lily-rose-the-ravenclaw @doctor-disc0 @lazydreamer19 @natti-ice @sarahisslytherin @magicchai @marcela6malfoy @morwap @dr4cking @starconfettii @cauliflowertree

I’ll add more as I think of them

Made - August 3rd 2022

Last updated- 8/10/24

[thousand-winters]

"Wow, that was actually quite pretty." "That’s right. And it comes to us straight from the big mouth in the sky." "What big mouth in the sky?" "You know, the big human mouth taking up most of the sky? Big red lips? Big lolling tongue? Blots out the sun?"

STOP CONVERSING WITH THE SMILING GOD, HARRISON

[ray-ray-writings]

No Worries-Technoblade

#256 and 257 from this prompt list. Check out my masterlist here!

This is a Techno x gn!reader in the dreamsmp! I hope you enjoy!

Y/N’s been missing for almost a week and the one person that should be worried about them most isn’t worried at all, which upsets some people. 

Third Person POV

Everyone was freaking out. Y/N had been missing for a few days and no one knew where they were, not even their boyfriend Techno. Niki had been the first one to notice. Usually Y/N shows up Saturday mornings to help prep the bakery as Saturday was usually her busiest day. But when they didn’t show, Niki went to their house to try and find them. No one was home. There was no note, no warning, no anything. They had just disappeared. Niki told a few people and all weren’t too worried at first. The excuse that maybe they had gone on a short adventure and forgot to tell anyone. Techno wasn’t too worried and that seemed to calm people’s nerves. 

So everyone went on with their day. Day turned into night and then night back into day and they still were nowhere to be found. Once again, a little bit of panic seemed to rise through the people of the server. Their worries were once more brought to Techno who once again waved them off. Y/N was a big kid and they could take care of themselves if push really came to shove. Tensions settled once more. 

This continued for three more days. Everyone worrying and Techno down playing their worries. His seemingly disintrence in the subject sparked rumors to fly throughout L’Manberg. Maybe Techno never really cared about Y/N. Maybe he hired some hitman to take them away in the middle of the night. Maybe Techno disposed of them himself. They were ridiculous, but when something doesn’t make sense, people tend to jump to conclusions. 

Almost a week had passed since anyone had seen or heard from Y/N. Y/N was well loved on the server and it hurt everyone that they had gone so long without seeing their friend. A small group of people worked up the nerve to go to Techno’s house and demand answers. 

“Techno!” Tubbo shouted as he pounded on the pink haired man’s front door, “Open up! We need to talk to you!” Confused at the sudden appearance of the young President, Techno swung open his front door to find a small angry mob on his front porch. The mob consisted of Niki, Tommy, Tubbo, Quackity, Fundy, Ranboo, and Ghostbur. All, but Ghostbur, had angry looks on their face while Ghostbur didn’t seem to know what was going on. 

“Hello Techno!” Ghostbur greeted the Blood God with a big grin and wave. “Hello Ghostbur. And everyone else. To what do I owe the pleasure,” He questioned the mob with a raised eyebrow. “Where is Y/N?” Tommy demanded. Techno rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, “I told you. I don’t know. They must be out adventuring. They’ll be back any day now. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Techno made an attempt to shut the door, but someone’s hand stopped it. Quackity stood there, fire in his eyes, hand pressing the door open. “They’ve been missing since Friday and you’re not worried?” He questioned harshly. Techno let out a small chuckle at the thought of being worried about Y/N. “They’re missing. Not dead. If they were dead, I would have seen it by now. We all would have seen it by now” Techno announced, motioning to his right arm. He was right. If Y/N had died, they all would have been notified. 

“You’re really not worried about your partner?” Fundy prodded, stepping up so that he was next to Quackity. Techno chuckled once more, shaking his head at the question, “It is obvious you don’t know Y/N as much as you think you do.” Everyone made some sort of noise of protest. All of them would like to think that you’re one of their closest friends! Of course they know you well! Don’t they? 

Tubbo opened his mouth to ask what Techno meant by that, but was cut off by someone behind him. “What are you guys talking about?” Everyone in the group whipped around at the sound of that familiar voice. 

*POV Switch*

Y/N’s POV

A smile fell onto my face as I saw the warm glow of my boyfriend’s house in the distance. I had gone on what I thought would be a short journey to a not so nearby village to get a book I needed for my enchantments. On my way there, I ran into a pillager captain. Not thinking anything of it, I killed it and went on my way. Only I forgot about a small thing that happens when you kill a captain. You get a bad omen. 

So there I was, waltzing into the village in search of a librarian to trade with, when boom! A raid starts. Well I couldn’t just trigger the raid and then leave, that would be so wrong. I helped the Iron Golem defend the village. It took a few days because it was 2 v all of them. Nevertheless, we won. I got quite a bit of loot from the dead bodies of the pillagers, including two totems of undying. After all was said and done, I began to do what I went there for. The Villagers were kind enough to give me a discount on all of my tradings for protecting them, even though I was the one that made it so they needed protecting. I stayed for a few extra days to make sure that everyone was okay and healthy. Once I was sure, I set off back toward home with my riches. 

As I grew closer, I was greeted with the sight of many of my friends standing on Techno’s front porch. It caused me to grin. I really did miss my friends while I was gone. My slow pace turned into a jog as I grew nearer and nearer. As I got closer I began to hear part of their conversation. “-Would have seen it by now…” “You’re really not worried about your partner?” I heard Fundy question. I came to a stop behind the group with a furrowed brow. “It is obvious you don’t know Y/N as much as you think you do.” Techno responded. “What are you guys talking about?” I questioned, extremely confused as to what I had just stumbled upon. 

In sync, all heads whipped toward me. “Y/N!” They all cried. I brought my hand up and gave them a small wave, “Hell-OH!” I let out as the weight of seven bodies hit me. Everyone began speaking at once causing all meaning to be lost in the noise. I was able to catch a few words such as ‘missing’ and ‘worried’ but other than that, I was lost. 

“GUYS!” I finally shouted, breaking free from their clutches, “One at a time! What’s going on?” I questioned the group. The seven exchanged glances before Niki stepped close to me, “You were missing and nobody knew where you went and so we were worried.” Niki murmured, looking down to the ground. My heart melted at the words, “Oh Niki,” I murmured back, reaching forward and wrapping the girl in a tight hug. “I’m okay! I just had to go to the village.” I let go of the girl and gave the rest of the group hugs as well before making my way to my boyfriend. I greeted him with a big grin, which he returned, before placing a sweet kiss to his lips. After we broke apart, I turned back to the group as Techno wrapped his arm around my waist. 

“So you said you had to go to the village. Why did it take you so long to come home?” Tubbo asked shyly. I let out a laugh as I thought about what had happened. “Oh well, it was supposed to be a short journey. And then I accidentally triggered a raid, so I had to fight that,” I stated casually, shrugging my shoulders. The group stared at me in shock. “You fought a raid? All by yourself?” Ranboo questioned a little star struck. “What? Like it’s hard?” The group was silent, just staring at me. “Did you guys not know that Techno personally trained me? Like All my PVP I’ve learned from him. I’ve got to say I’ve gotten pretty good!” I boasted proudly. Techno chuckled beside me, squeezing my hip and kissing the side of my head. “You sure have.” 

“So that’s why you weren’t worried about them! You knew they could take care of themselves.” Techno rolled his eyes at Tommy’s statement. “Of course I knew they could. I was a little worried, but I knew they could handle themselves.” Techno’s confidence in me made me feel warm inside. “Well we’ll let you get settled and rest. I’m sure you’re tired from your traveling.” Niki said, reaching forward and tugging on everyone’s shirts getting them to slowly shuffle away. “Come by tomorrow, yeah? We all missed you a lot.” Niki requested with a smile. I returned the girl’s smile and nodded, “Yeah. I’ll definitely be by tomorrow to see everyone.” Niki gave me one final smile before ushering everyone away from Techno’s house. 

Once everyone left our eyesight, Techno ushered me back inside his house. “Are you alright? Have any injuries you need me to look at?” He rushed, sitting me down on the living room couch. I laughed at his concern but shook my head. “Nah, I’m good. I did take a few hits, but the villagers took good care of me,” I answered, grinning at him. Techno returned my grin before sitting next to me, reaching down and holding my hand. “I really missed you love,” Techno hummed, pressing his lips against my forehead. I let out a sigh of content, my muscles relaxing at his touch. “I missed you too lover.” 

The two of us sat there for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. Being away from my boyfriend from so long had taken a harder toll on me than the literal battle I fought just a few days prior. I really had missed my boyfriend. I let out a sigh as my eyes closed in exhaustion, “You ready to go to bed love?” Techno questioned softly. I tiredly nodded at his words, opening my eyes slightly to look at him, “Carry?” I pondered gently. Techno chuckled but nodded. He stood up and delicately picked me up, wrapping his arms around the middle of my back and pressing me tightly to him. Techno carefully walked down the hall and laid me down in his bed, quickly crawling into bed next to me. 

Techno was quick to wrap himself around me and cuddle me tightly, causing me to sigh in content once more. “Thank you for believing in me” I whispered to my boyfriend. Techno smiled and kissed the bridge of my nose, “Of course love. You’re my little badass. I’ll always believe in you.” He murmured. I couldn’t help but giggle at his words. “I’m a badass,” I responded sleepily. Techno chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “Yes, you are love.” I sleepily smiled at his words, and buried myself into his chest, closing my eyes to fall asleep. I let out a yawn as the warmth of my boyfriend began to spread through my body.  “I love you” I sleepily murmured out to my boyfriend. I felt Techno’s lips press against the top of my head before he also murmured, “I love you too”. And then I fell asleep, safe and content in my boyfriend’s arms, not a single worry in my head. 

Oh god that ending sucked, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same! Be sure to leave a like if you did!!

[cakesunflower]

a court of golden shadows: elain archeron and azriel endgame

so this is like an 11 page paper i wrote on why i think Elain Archeron and Azriel from Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses are endgame. i made a joke on twitter that i’d write a proper MLA format styled paper on them because i love them so much and a bunch of my moots convinced me to do it so here i am.

this is for the Elriel lovers like myself. if you read it, which you don’t have to, please refrain from commenting anything negative. everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and this whole essay is just my opinion on it. so if you read, i hope you enjoy!!

keep in mind, it’s LONG.

         A Court of Golden Shadows: Elain Archeron and Azriel Endgame

Sarah J. Maas’s fantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses displays epic, world-shattering love stories among the thrilling action and fantastical elements present throughout the novels, as seen in the romance between Feyre Archeron and Rhysand and, most recently, Nesta Archeron and Cassian. Two sisters have already accepted and embraced the (so-called) rare mating bond with their respective counterparts, yet the question remains on what is to happen with the middle sister, Elain Archeron, who apparently has a mating bond of her own with Lucien Vanserra, but has not, for two books and a novella, made any indication of accepting it. However, Elain, in her quiet, gentle way, has shown to be more attentive towards the Night Court’s resident Shadowsinger and Spymaster, Azriel. Who, in turn, has notably started to move on from a five-century long love harbored for another female and gravitating towards the last remaining Archeron sister.

It can be said that the concept of the three Archeron sisters all ending up with the three Illyrian males is a cliché, but if done right, they can capture the reader in their grasp—one that no one would want to get out of. Taking a look at the novels, particularly starting from the second book, A Court of Mist and Fury, since this is where Azriel’s character is introduced, it is difficult to ignore the fact that Maas has been laying the groundwork for Elain and Azriel—or Elriel, as I will refer to them throughout this paper—to be a couple from the moment they met, whether these hints are subtle or obvious. In chapter 24 of ACOMAF where Feyre, the Illyrian faes, and her sisters have dinner together, we see tentative interactions between Elain and Azriel, despite the two of them having just met and Elain, as a mortal who grew up with stories of the terrors of faeries, seems to look towards the spymaster more. The first glimpse of their interaction, no matter how small, is shown on pages 253-254 when “a faint smile bloomed upon Azriel’s mouth as he noticed Elain’s fingers white-knuckled on that fork”. Though this moment can be overlooked, it is only the first of many oncoming moments of Azriel noticing Elain and her actions, a subtle hint of the spymaster’s attention towards Elain. The focus of attention is returned when Elain then turns to Azriel a few pages later, wanting to know more about their ability to fly, even so far as going to say “That’s very beautiful” when Azriel describes Illyrians as being “born hearing the song of the wind” (256-257). Additionally, there are two moments in this particular chapter where Elain, in some semblance, looks towards Azriel as a way of relaxing herself. The first is noted when Azriel’s attention is said to be on Elain, and he offers her a “polite, bland smile”, and Feyre notices how Elain’s “shoulders loosened a bit” in response to it (256). Rather than looking towards Feyre for indicators during an unexpected dinner with faeries, Elain seems to be more drawn to looking at Azriel, which is shown once again in the following passage: “Rhys chuckled, Cassian’s wrath slipping enough that he grinned, and Elain, noticing Azriel’s ease as proof that things weren’t indeed about to go badly, offered one of her own as well” (258). Elain tends to check everyone’s reactions to the circumstances to determine the levels of tension in the atmosphere, but she truly seems to be put at ease when she notices Azriel’s own relaxed state, once again indicating the attention she pays to him from the moment they met.

The first three books in Maas’s series are told through Feyre’s perspective, so it can be said that our perception of and desire for Elain and Azriel getting together is skewed because of the point of view we are given. I, however, consider this to be a moot point because Feyre’s character is the type to notice everything around her. She comes to grow close to both Azriel and Cassian, and with Elain being her sister, the reader can depend on Feyre as being as much of a reliable narrator to tell us exactly what she sees and how she sees it. With this in mind, some of the examples given will be from Feyre’s own musings, but it is important to note that she, more than once, groups Elain and Azriel together. This is shown when, in chapter 49, Feyre is distracting Rhysand as she tries to take care of his wounds and muses about her sisters visiting Velaris. There, Feyre mentions to Rhysand, “I think Elain—Elain would like it, too. Though she’d probably cling to Azriel, just to have some peace and quiet”, before proceeding to think to herself—and the reader, “I smiled at the thought—at how handsome they would be together” (487). Of course, this observation is followed by the acknowledgement of Azriel quietly loving Mor, as he has for centuries, yet what we don’t know, during this, that this wouldn’t remain an issue for long.

Moving on to focus on the third installment of the series, A Court of Wings and Ruin, there is a solemnity surrounding Elain, who, at the end of the second novel, was forcefully turned into fae against her will. After the transformation, Elain has become a shell of who she used to be, trapped in a state of deep mourning of the humanity she lost, of the love of her fiancé she inevitably lost, too. She doesn’t eat nor does she speak to anyone, an empty yet no less beautiful version of herself as her Cauldron given powers, unbeknownst to everyone else, manifest. But even in her state, in her indifference towards her mate Lucien and yearning for her human fiancé Graysen, Elain managed to acknowledge Azriel. He is gentle with her, much like everyone else, as he carries her into the townhouse, smiles, inquires if she’d like for him to show her the garden. And although he stands tall, intimidating in his fighting leathers and large wings, Elain does not recoil from him in fear or shyness. Instead, she takes the arm he offers her and, although it is unsure if she is looking at his Siphon or his scarred hands, she still utters “Beautiful” in response to him (254). Even when life has unexpectedly turned bleak for Elain, even when the world loses its color in the aftermath of the trauma she suffered, in that moment, there was a glimpse of who she used to be as she found beauty in nothing but Azriel.

This same chapter is followed by an insightful conversation between Feyre and Rhysand, triggered by Feyre watching her sister and Azriel. Feyre notes how at odds Azriel looks sitting in the garden next to Elain in his armor, yet she still questions, “Why not make them mates?” (257). This spurs a significant conversation between the High Lord and High Lady, where readers are given some more history on mating bonds and introduced to the prevailing concept of rejected bonds. Rhys provides examples of ill-chosen bonds, such as his parents, who were mates yet their relationship was not ideal in the least. Here, we are told that sometimes fate, the Mother, whatever chooses two mates can be wrong in its pairings, and it is rare for the bond to bring together “true, paired souls” (258) like Feyre and Rhysand. It has been established that the female can reject the bond, and while the male may feel the tug of it, it’s their burden to push through it. Maas spends an entire page or so talking about the concept of ill-chosen or rejected bonds, so it would be naive to look over these details if they weren’t placed in the storyline for a reason. Elain and Lucien may be mates, and Azriel (at least currently within the book) may be in love with Mor, but the idea of free will is not something to be so easily dismissed. Elain already had the choice of her humanity, her mortality, ripped away from her—it’s doubtful she would let this pattern continue.

In chapter 24 of A Court of Wings and Ruin, when Elain is having her first conversation with Lucien, she states, “No one ever looked—not really” (252), and although here she is referencing Graysen, this statement comes around a few chapters later. In chapter 27, Elain walks in on a conversation amongst the Inner Circle, and Azriel was the first to step forward as he noticed something amiss. His observations and questions when he says to her, “[But] you heard something else” and “What did you see” indicate that he, unlike Feyre and Nesta, believes that Elain’s riddled musings have a deeper meaning and need to be heard. The scene ends with Feyre looking to Azriel, noticing that his “hazel eyes churned as he studied my sister, her too-thin body. And without a word, he winnowed away” (287). Azriel didn’t brush off what Elain said, because while her sisters thought Elain had gone mad, Azriel listened to her—he looked. He looked past her “too-thin body” and read between the lines of what she said, and knew there was more than what meets the eye. He looked, which was exactly what Elain had wanted.

This is repeated in chapter 32, when Elain brings up another queen and no one is quite sure what she’s talking about, except for Azriel, who steps forward and gently prods Elain to elaborate. Even Lucien watches Elain warily, questioning if they need to help her, yet Azriel is firm in his assessment that Elain doesn’t need help, that they need to be the ones who need to listen, before ultimately determining that she does, in fact, have powers and is established to be a seer. So while Lucien “stared and stared at [Elain], as if he’d never seen her before”, it was Azriel who actually looked at her and saw what no one else was seeing, whose acknowledgment of her gift and the attention he brought to it from everyone else “freed her from whatever murky realm she’d been in” (336).

The idea of Azriel truly looking at Elain transitions into him looking for her, too. But first, another example of the former is seen in chapter 63, when Feyre, Nesta, and Amren hear the call of the cauldron in the middle of the night. They wonder about it, question why they three heard it because they were Made, not noticing that another who was Made was missing from their group. That is, until, Azriel asks, “What about Elain?” (560), and he is moving alongside the sisters to inspect Elain’s tent, only to find her missing. Azriel notices Elain—whether she is present or not. And so the concept of Azriel looking for Elain is introduced when they are discussing Elain’s rescue from Hybern in the following scene:

“From the shadows near the entrance to the tent, Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, “I’m getting her back.”

Nesta slid her gaze to the shadowsinger. Azriel’s hazel eyes glowed golden in the shadows.

Nesta said, “Then you will die.”

Azriel only repeated, rage glazing that stare, “I’m getting her back.”” (563).

There was no hesitation on Azriel’s part in being the one to get Elain back, but there was obvious rage, as noted, in his gaze at the very idea of Elain having been kidnapped. A silent, lethal aura surrounds the shadowsinger that can be so clearly picked out within that scene, showcasing Azriel’s unwavering determination in returning Elain, even if it meant slipping into the heart of enemy camps—especially if it meant that. And throughout the dangers and urgency of this particular mission, when they do reach Elain, Azriel takes a moment to be tender towards her as he “gently removed the gag from her mouth” (573) and asks if she’s hurt. Elain, in turn, is shown to be “devouring the sight of him, as if not quite believing it” before she says “You came for me” (573). Elain looks at Azriel in wonder and disbelief, and this reaction hints towards how she feels drawn towards him. In their very first meeting during the dinner in the Archeron house, Elain looks to Azriel for reassurance, for judgement of the situation, and in the event of her rescue, she finds that same kind of comfort on a far more intense level. Because here, he truly is her rescuer, appearing in front of her to save her from the dangerous hands of their enemies and bring her to safety. And Azriel, in this sense, is devoted to her, holding up his fierce promising of getting her back. Even when he was injured, Azriel held onto Elain, refusing to let her go even while getting shot at and chased, and when they landed in their own camps, the first thing he claimed was for someone to get the chains off of her, rather than even mentioning his own injuries. This just reminds us of ACOMAF when Elain was being dragged to the cauldron and Azriel wasn’t even conscious to witness it—there is no doubt that if he was awake—and uninjured—he would’ve done all he could to save her. Maas robbed us of that type of scene.

Furthermore, evolving from the concept of Azriel rescuing Elain, we get another significant scene between the two of them that displays the kind of trust these two characters smoothly and effortlessly developed. On top of Elain accepting Azriel’s offers of taking her to the garden, a silent indicator that his company was one she enjoyed, Azriel shows a great act of trust to Elain as well when, in chapter 69, he offered her the use of his beloved knife, Truth-Teller. This blade is Azriel’s most prized possession, and to offer it to Elain to bring her the same kind of comfort and safety that we have seen she finds in Azriel himself portrays the trust he has in her—and his desire to protect her. This is emphasized when Rhys tells Feyre, “Never. . . I have never once seen Azriel let another person touch that knife” (610). Even Cassian was stunned that Azriel would let someone else use Truth-Teller, which is significant to note given that he has not let even Cassian nor Rhys—his brothers he has known for centuries—even touch it. And Elain, who had refused to take the knife Cassian had offered her, ends up accepting Truth-Teller—because it’s Azriel’s, and because through the short time she’s known him, he is someone she has poured her trust into and understands he wouldn’t lead her astray. And he didn’t, for it was Elain who “stepped out of a shadow” (653) and used that very same blade to kill the King of Hybern. A temporary gift, given from Azriel, that she used to put an end to one of the greatest threats to both the human and faerie realms.

In the post-war novella A Court of Frost and Starlight, Maas furthers the Elriel endgame agenda by continuing both subtle and blatant hints in their favor—and not just through actual interactions between the two. The concept of Azriel avoiding Lucien because of his mating bond with Elain is important to remember, for it will come back around later. But in this novella, we see it when Rhysand asks Azriel if he keeps an eye on Lucien, given that he is the spymaster. Azriel, in turn, informs him that he does not track his movements, because “He is Elain’s mate” and “It would be an invasion of her privacy to track him”, which Rhysand, since this is shown from his perspective, notes is because Azriel does not want to be aware of if and when Lucien seeks out Elain, and what they do together—if they do anything at all, given Elain’s tendencies to utterly ignore Lucien (70). Rhysand questions Azriel’s motives on this, but doesn’t get a response, but there is an understanding of Azriel’s intentions behind it. Not only does he want to remain ignorant of the forced bond between Elain and Lucien, but a big motivator for him is also Elain’s privacy, which he doesn’t want to intrude on—ironic, given that he is a spy, and it’s his job to know of others’ movements and thoughts.

Another example of Azriel very subtly showing his blossoming feelings towards Elain is when he unforgivingly states that if Lucien were to kill Elain’s ex-fiancé, then “good riddance” (71). He was well aware of how Graysen treated Elain after finding out she was fae, is the one who sits with her in the gardens because he is a comforting presence for her in the face of mourning, so he understands her. This idea is repeated in Azriel’s bonus chapter in A Court of Silver Flames, when Rhysand catches Azriel almost about to kiss Elain—that is definitely to be unpacked later—and warns him that Lucien has the right to invoke a Blood Duel to defend the mating bond, and Azriel does not hesitate, is confident, when he retorts that he would easily defeat Lucien, would have no problem in pulling Elain out of a bond she doesn’t even want.

The novella also includes some more obvious, sweet moments between Elain and Azriel, ones that show Elain’s own growing interest and feelings towards Azriel. Like in chapter 12, when Feyre notes that when Azriel enters the room, she feels Elain freeze at the sight of him, and then Elain proceeds to be almost in a trance when Azriel, after she greets him, moves towards her and takes the heavy dish of potatoes from her hands and says he’ll take care of it for her (105). This scene then continues when Elain hurries off to make herself more presentable, and rather than letting others dive into the food, Azriel stops Cassian from putting food on his plate and all but commands him to “wait until everyone is seated before eating” (106). Rhysand informs Feyre that this sudden reaction from Azriel stemmed from the treatment his mother received as a near servant, but it can also be tied to how Azriel keeps aware of Elain and the recurring theme of looking after her in any way. He notices her, just as she notices him, a subtle way of this being present in Elain’s solstice gift to Azriel. She doesn’t get a gift for Lucien, her mate, but does get one for Azriel, one that makes him laugh in a way that, Feyre notes, she’s never heard before. A genuine sort of joy breaking the cold, indifferent mask of the shadowsinger as he accepts and cherishes the gift Elain gave him—the extent of which we see in his bonus chapter, where it is revealed that he looks at the small vial every night before going to sleep, a not-so-subtle showing that Elain is the last thought on his mind before he descends into slumber.

This notion of the two of them looking after one another in their own ways is again repeated in A Court of Silver Flames in the following passage on page 221:

Azriel smirked. “You and Nesta are wanted down there.”

“Because of the shit with Elain?”

Azriel stilled. “What happened to Elain?”

Cassian waved a hand. “A fight with Nesta. Don’t bring it up,” he warned when Azriel’s eyes darkened.

Throughout the friendship they have formed, Azriel becomes a kind of protector of Elain’s, deriving from her being a part of their Inner Circle as well as the notion of Azriel’s own personal feelings for her. He is so obviously shown as going on the defense at the news of Elain getting into any kind of fight, of Elain potentially being hurt. It’s repeated on page 233 when Elain and Nesta are arguing, and after Nesta utters a nasty comment that lands on Elain like a blow, there is an acknowledgement of the “shadows gathered in the corners of the room, like snakes preparing to strike”. The shadows, of course, are Azriel’s, ready to jump between the sisters and defend Elain from Nesta’s verbal attack, to once again be her protector.

Of course, we can’t forget that Elain has a mate in Lucien, and how it seems to offer the enticing forbidden love trope between her and Azriel. We see a hint of it in A Court of Wings and Ruin, when in chapter 24, Lucien can scent where Elain had gone off to and who she’d gone with, in this case having it be Azriel, and he’d nearly snarled until Rhysand assured him that Azriel wasn’t the “ravishing type” (254)—although I think we can all agree that he most likely is, but wouldn’t even dream of it in terms of the state Elain was in at the time. Maybe it is the mating bond or maybe it’s both Elain and Azriel’s quiet personalities—or perhaps a combination of the two—but the shyness that has them looking at each other and then looking away continues. On page 467 of A Court of Silver Flames, Cassian notes how Elain nods shyly towards Azriel, who in turn offers her a small smile that she quickly looked away from, prompting Cassian to be puzzled as he wondered, “Lucien was certainly not here to snarl at any male who looked at her for too long”. Elain doesn’t look away from Azriel because of the bond, but perhaps because she is well aware of her feelings for him and, for the moment, is too shy for them to be known, especially by Azriel.

The mating bond between Elain and Lucien does serve as a barrier between her and Azriel, though. This is particularly present during the Winter Solstice, when a layer of Azriel’s character specifically has been peeled back to show his feelings for Elain. Like on page 597, when Elain is laughing at Nesta, the older Archeron sister notes that “Azriel stood in the doorway, monitoring them. As if he’d heard Elain’s sharp laugh and wondered what had caused it”. And if that wasn’t enough, Nesta watches as Azriel’s “gaze shifted to Elain, and though it was utterly neutral, something charged went through it. Between them. Elain’s breath caught slightly, and she gave him a shallow nod of greeting”. This is perhaps the most prominent moment of both of their feelings being reciprocated by the other, because Nesta notices the way they look at one another, as if they both see past the person they put in front of everyone else and truly see the other. And even Nesta understands that there is something deeper between the two, even if they themselves haven’t figured it out yet, when she approaches Azriel where he stands by the doorway and, when asked why he doesn’t sit, responds with a “pretty lie” of his shadows not liking the fire. But Nesta looks to where Elain is the one sitting by the fire, and why Azriel chooses to stand as far as he can, because it is “his secret to tell. Never hers” (600). Just like that, Nesta is aware of Azriel’s feelings for her sister and, perhaps, her subtle way of comforting him was her showing her approval.

We get a deeper insight of this scene in Azriel’s bonus chapter—an entire chapter that allows readers to see exactly how he feels about Elain, and that she returns those feelings, too. It is confirmed that Azriel stands by the doorway, away from Elain, because Lucien is in the same room, and the sight and scent of their mating bond is one that Azriel cannot stand. Because the female he feels deeply for, according to fate, “belongs” to another male and he needs to put distance between himself and the two of them when they’re in the same room. Yet, the mating bond doesn’t prevent Azriel from thinking of Elain, from fantasizing about her every night. He goes from being shown as relieved when Rhys tells him he doesn’t have to buy the sisters presents for the Winter Solstice in A Court of Frost and Starlight, to actively buying her a beautiful flower necklace that she would no doubt love. Their secret exchanging of gifts leads to an epic, steamy, full-of-yearning almost first kiss that shows so clearly that Azriel’s feelings for Elain aren’t unrequited, that she, just like him, is desperate to give into what’s been brewing between them for so long. Yet it’s all cut short when Rhys interrupts Azriel, reminding him of a mating bond that Azriel’s painfully aware of—and confidently willing to pull Elain away from if Lucien decides to invoke the Blood Duel. Azriel’s questioning of the cauldron, wondering why it picked three sisters and had two of them end up with his brothers while the last remaining one was mated to another, is not him declaring that he has a right to Elain. This is him questioning the powers and forces that no one truly understands, this is him questioning from a place of heartbreak, wondering why, yet again, he was the one left behind. It happened when his father imprisoned him, forcing Azriel to delay in his training as an Illyrian, it happened when the female he spent centuries loving never once returned the same kind of love, and now it’s happening again. Azriel does not believe he deserves Elain—it goes against his character, because he is self-deprecating, does not think he truly deserves anything good and worthy. He is simply questioning why his choice doesn’t ever seem to matter, and why Elain is yet again left having her decisions being taken away from her.

Because the matter of choice is a prevalent, significant theme for the two of them. For Elain, she was never allowed to truly make a choice in her life. Her mother’s death, her family falling into poverty, turning into High Fae, losing Graysen, the mating bond, her father’s death—these were all huge, significant life changing moments that she had no say in and was forced to endure, completely upending who she was and how she lived. But there is one choice Elain can make, and that is to reject the mating bond with Lucien. There are so many examples throughout the books where Elain turns away from Lucien; she doesn’t express any interest in him—it’s like he doesn’t even exist to her. There is utter indifference on her end, despite any effort made by Lucien, and that in itself is Elain choosing to all but formally reject the bond, however that may come about. There is a moment in A Court of Wings and Ruin in chapter 54 when Elain, while pleading with Graysen, claims, “I belong to no one. My heart belongs to you” (498). Of course, Azriel has nothing to do with what Elain was saying at the time, but her declaration of this speaks to her character and how dearly she holds onto the idea of being with someone of her own choosing, with someone she loves. This can further be developed into the idea that although fate, the cauldron, the Mother may have chosen Lucien for Elain—a pairing that can, ultimately, be ill-chosen—Elain would not give it the time of day unless it’s what her heart wants. And from what we have seen so far, her heart wants Azriel. She chooses Azriel over Lucien, and that holds significant weight to her and, I imagine eventually, to Azriel as well.

Azriel, who has not been other people’s choice. Azriel, who was imprisoned by his own father, who was rejected by the Illyrians. Azriel, who has spent five centuries loving Mor, who will never love him the way he did her. And it’s saying something, isn’t it, that he has finally stopped yearning for her, and that it was Elain who he is enraptured by? Even Cassian noted that the way Azriel used to look at Mor have become few and far in between, telling the audience that the spymaster has finally begun to move on, or already has, from Mor. And Elain wanting to kiss Azriel confirms to him, in particular, that he is her choice as well. And she is his, as further confirmed when Azriel tells Rhys he has no problem engaging in the Blood Duel with Lucien if it means freeing Elain from a bond she doesn’t want, and allowing them both to dive into the choices they clearly want to make.

Truthfully, there are many examples throughout the books where I can talk about Elain rejecting Lucien. She cringed away from the very first time he touches her in ACOMAF—though, granted, it happens right after she comes out of the cauldron. She is unsettled when Lucien tugs on their bond, saying that it felt as though he pulled on a thread connecting to a rib, which sounds painful and nothing like the comforting bond readers have seen between Feyre and Rhys. Elain doesn’t buy Lucien any presents for solstice, and the first present he got her, gardening gloves to prevent her hands from tearing, are ones she doesn’t use. Because she would much rather feel her hands get torn up while she’s working in her garden, uncaring if they scar, which in turn is a reminder of Azriel’s scarred hands and how she found them beautiful. And for those who wonder about Azriel giving the necklace he got for Elain to Gwyn, it is important to note that he tells Clotho to give it to any priestess who would want it, and merely mentions Gwyn by name because he trained her, because he was the one who rescued her after an attack, and she is the one he knows most familiarly by name because of it. At the end of it, Azriel only wanted the necklace gone because he didn’t want to see it, didn’t want to remember that the female he wants, wants him back just as much, but he was all but forbidden to pursue her. Once again, a choice that was taken away from him, and giving the necklace away is far easier than keeping it and remembering how he couldn’t be with Elain. At least for now.

Throughout the novels, there are many symbols that hint towards Elain and Azriel being together, but that is a paper for another day. This one’s goal was to simply point out the many physical and emotional indicators of the way the two of them are drawn to one another, despite the obstacles that are thrown their way—the biggest one being the mating bond no one asked for. There is comfort in the relationship they have, an ease you wouldn’t expect someone with Elain’s light to find in Azriel’s darkness. He offers her comfort in shy smiles and soft looks, and Elain does the same for him, which we see in the act of his shadows disappearing around her. These very shadows provided him comfort when he needed them, were his friends in his prison, and them leaving him when Elain is around is a sign of the contentment Azriel feels, because he doesn’t have to protect himself in her presence. Azriel loved Mor, and it has been noted that he lights up when she is around, and Elain is the only other person he reacts similarly to—because Elain is who he wants now that he has moved on from Mor. It’s important, isn’t it, that Elain is who pulls Azriel away from the centuries-long love he’d been lost in? That she is who he looks for, thinks about, wonders after?

Elain has found comfort in Azriel’s darkness, and he has found peace in her light, and so how could they not defy what’s been expected of them and rewrite fate to fit the choices they make themselves?

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2022!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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251. Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely devoured this book. Although you can tell that this is a product of the time (mainly by certain derogatory words that King uses), the story feels timeless. I also think that this is the perfect read for October. The artwork, the atmosphere, and that build up of terror is definitely going to keep you up at night.

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252. Just A Bit Obsessed by Alessandra Hazard--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Re-Read in October 2022: This is the one I was most excited to re-read in the early books of this series. I love how certain events in this book happened because the actions of the woman in this felt very petty. Definitely made me feel giddy as I re-read!

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253. Two Truths & A Lie by April Henry--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I usually enjoy YA thrillers because they're fun and there isn't a lot of thought processing behind it because of their predictability (save for a few I've encountered in the past), and this one wasn't any different. While it was fun, it wasn't mind blowing. I had my suspicions over who was the killer and what some of the twists would be, so it wasn't entirely surprising. But with all of that being said, it was still an entertaining read and would make for a great cozy murder mystery by the fireplace as the weather gets colder. I don't have a fireplace, but the image just sounds nice. Will this blow your mind? No. But it might just entertain you!

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254. Nick & Charlie by Alice Oseman--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I LOVE MY BOYS. Even if they sometimes lack communication and let their insecurities get the better of them. I loved that this had Oseman's classic art throughout the book. I love these two so much and like one of the characters said, if there was an example of what soulmates look like, it would be them. Please read Heartstopper before you read this!

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255. Two Degrees by Alan Gratz--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was the second book I've read by this author and I am convinced that I need to read all of his books. I loved this novel and what it could represent, AND that it is aimed for the younger generations (anyone of any generation SHOULD read this). Just like in the last book I read by Gratz, this one tells three separate stories that eventually come together into a great overarching narrative. What I love about this is that it makes me want to connect the dots before the epilogue and try to guess how these characters might know each other. I think each story carries its own important message in regards to the climate change currently happening, how people are reacting (or not reacting) to our changing world, and the aftermath of the consequences of our actions. Gratz doesn't hold back when it comes to giving us the jarring reality of the situations these characters face, including the casualties that occur during these events. I also found it so terrifying how the hurricane story mirrors what just recently happened in Florida. That timing was just...wow. I highly recommend this book and I think it should be taught in schools. Our world is changing and I'm glad to have another book that explores the topic.

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256. Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a copy via the publisher because I interviewed the author on Indigo's Instagram page. This did not affect my review in any way. Much like the MC of this book, reading her story was like taking a trip into the whimsical world of family and Salem. I enjoyed getting to know more about this witchy family and their cursed history. I also loved how the male MC learned to trust and love those who offer him a home and felt for him as he faced some of the darker realities of his situation. I adored watching the two of them fall for each other as they tried to solve the mystery at the heart of this book, and how they helped each other find themselves. This was just such a sweet read about family and magic and I think if you want a good October read that won't give you nightmares, then this might be perfect for you! The atmosphere and setting is great for those who love realistic fiction with a touch of the otherworldly, and the humour will make you want to wish you were a part of this family. I didn't make this a five star rating because it took me a bit to get into the story but once the mystery started, I was hooked.

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257. Nowhere Girl by Cheryl Diamond--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The moment I heard about this book, I absolutely wanted to read it. This was so heavy, but so good. I couldn't stop listening to it--even through the darker moments. I think that if you're thinking of reading this, definitely check for trigger warnings. Diamond had such an incredibly rough life leading up to this book's publication. I think she put the perspective of the situation (from the POV of an outsider) best herself when she shared the POV of a man in her life: how her childhood is so fascinating, but it's easy to think that when you're not the one living it. She lived with an abusive father, siblings, and a mother who fell more and more into herself. Despite the heartbreak and the moments where my heart dropped for her, I am so glad I read this and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for incredibly hard hitting memoirs that don't shy away from the dark realities of some families.

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258. How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The fact that this book was on my shelves for years hurts my heart because IT WAS SO GOOD. I was so surprised and hooked from the beginning! Gilliland deals with some heavy topics in this, but I love that these topics were explored (especially because we are seeing more and more fatphobia in society). I think this book will help anyone who thinks they are alone in hating their bodies, or thinking that the insults thrown their way makes up who they are. Moon struggles with her self-image and the way others see her because she has always been compared to her "perfect" twin sister. I think exploring these topics will help (even if they can be triggering) because it will hopefully help the reader feel less alone. Don't even get me started on Moon's love interest. I loved how their romance flourished and that this was a classic enemies to lovers romance trope, intermingled with some pretty bugs. Her love interest was such a cinnamon roll and I'm so happy that they found each other. However, you can see their ages in how they react to certain situations (even though Moon is more mature in other situations.) Also, this book is definitely for the older teen (and up). Keep that in mind if you're recommending it to anyone younger than fifteen or sixteen. Please read the trigger warnings for this book!

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259. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I finally read this one after it was so popular during the summer. I can see why, though. This has summer written all over it (especially because of the title and cover.) I enjoyed this and I loved that it was set so close to home (for me). I liked seeing how the relationship between the MC and the brothers was slowly developed through flashbacks. I wasn’t a big fan of one of the big twists and how the love interests acted at various times (although I understand too because they’re so young). Not going to lie though, I’m team older bro. Sorry not sorry. One of the main reasons why this isn’t higher rated for me is because while everyone hyped this up, I just kept thinking of the other romance novels that used this same theme and storyline. I know there’s no true original ideas anymore (for the most part, save for the few instances) but I mean, this was still not as good as other novels I’ve read with a similar storyline. Would I recommend this to others? Of course! It’s a great summer read and if you haven’t read the books I’m thinking of, then I think you will love this.

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260. The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was NOT expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. There was something about it that just kept pulling me in when I wasn’t listening to it. Also, a Toronto setting? Heck yeah. This building made me think of the Ice towers in the city. The mystery was fun and the twist was unexpected. I mainly loved this book for the voyeuristic storyline of this ghost watching these lives continue—no matter how chaotic. It shows that we truly never know what a person is doing behind closed doors. This was also surprisingly terrifying. I wasn’t expecting to feel moments of discomfort (despite the topic and genre of the book). There are various scenes that are definitely nightmare inducing. Perfect for October tbh. If you want a thriller/horror novel with compelling characters and a unique perspective on what it might be like to be a ghost stuck where you were murdered, then you might enjoy this one. But read it with the lights on.

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Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend them?

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Happy reading!

[books-letstalkaboutem]

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Quotes that I Loved

This is just a list of quotes or excerpts that I highlighted while reading the book- literally all of them and there are a lot. I’m going to go ahead and say spoilers below just because there are so many quotes and while I don’t think the quotes actually spoil anything, I don’t want to accidentally spoil something for someone.

Some of the quotes might seem a little weird out of context but these are quotes that hit close to home, made me say “Hell, yeah, Addie!!!", quotes that made me laugh, and then basically all of the other quotes that I loved while reading.

I know that I didn't completely fall in love with this book like so many other people did, but it was still so beautifully written and there were so many amazing quotes in this book.

And just a heads up, I read this on my kindle, just in case the page numbers I list don’t match with your copy of the book.

Spoilers Below:

Quotes that Hit Close to Home

“Three and twenty, a third of a life already buried.” Page 39

“The day passes like a sentence. The sun falls like a scythe.” Page 41

“[...] and when she dies it will be as though she never lived.” Page 42

“I am so tired of not having choices, so scared of the years rushing past beneath my feet. I do not want to die as I’ve lived, which is no life at all. I—” Page 46

“[...] she swears sometimes her memory runs forward as well as back, unspooling to show the roads she’ll never get to travel. But that way lies madness, and she has learned not to follow.” Page 61

“His parents meant well, of course, but they always told him things like Cheer up, or It will get better, or worse, It’s not that bad, which is easy to say when you’ve never had a day of rain.” Page 97

“But then a night would go long, and a day would start late, and now he feels like there’s no time at all. Like he is always late for something.” Page 119

““I see someone who cares,” she says slowly. “Perhaps too much. Who feels too much. I see someone lost, and hungry. The kind of person who feels like they’re wasting away in a world full of food, because they can’t decide what they want.”” Page 140

““Life is so brief, and every night in Rennes I’d go to bed, and lie awake, and think, there is another day behind me, and who knows how few ahead.”” Page 167

““I mean feeling like it’s surging by so fast, and you try to reach out and grab it, you try to hold on, but it just keeps rushing away. And every second, there’s a little less time, and a little less air, and sometimes when I’m sitting still, I start to think about it, and when I think about it, I can’t breathe. I have to get up. I have to move.”” Page 177

““Small places make for small lives. And some people are fine with that. They like knowing where to put their feet. But if you only walk in other people’s steps, you cannot make your own way. You cannot leave a mark.”” Page 179

“It was such a lovely jar she had kept them in. But the glass is cracking now. The water leaking through.” Page 215

“Moments of joy register as brief, but ecstatic. Moments of pain stretch long and unbearably loud.” Page 225

“[...] you’ve never felt called to any one thing. There is no violent push in one direction, but a softer nudge a hundred different ways, and now all of them feel out of reach. Page 226

“[...] in wanting to live, to learn, to find yourself, you’ve gotten lost.” Page 226

“He lets it ring, holds his breath until it stops. He tells himself that if they call again, he’ll answer. If they call again, he’ll tell them he is not okay. But the phone doesn’t ring a second time.” Page 229

“He misses the structure, misses the path, misses the purpose. And maybe it wasn’t a perfect fit, but nothing is.” Page 257

“That he’d blinked and somehow years had gone by, and everyone else had carved their trenches, paved their paths, and he was still standing in a field, uncertain where to dig.” Page 283

“And those first two years, he was happy. He had Bea, and Robbie, and all he had to do was learn. Build a foundation. It was the house, the one that he was supposed to build on top of that smooth surface, that was the problem. It was just so … permanent.” 283

“Choosing a class became choosing a discipline, and choosing a discipline became choosing a career, and choosing a career became choosing a life, and how was anyone supposed to do that, when you only had one?” Page 283

““The vexing thing about time,” he says, “is that it’s never enough. Perhaps a decade too short, perhaps a moment. But a life always ends too soon.”” Page 333

“He is all restless energy, and urgent need, and there isn’t enough time, and he knows of course that there will never be. That time always ends a second before you’re ready. That life is the minutes you want minus one.” Page 421

“The world is wide, and he’s seen so little of it with his own eyes. He wants to travel, to take photos, listen to other people’s stories, maybe make some of his own. After all, life seems very long sometimes, but he knows it will go so fast, and he doesn’t want to miss a moment.” Page 438

Quotes that Made Me Laugh

“Henry loves his sister, he does. But Muriel’s always been like strong perfume. Better in small doses. And at a distance.” Page 120

““Sorry, Book,” she mutters, lifting the cat gingerly onto the back of the old chair, where he does his best impression of an inconvenienced bread loaf.” Page 248

““It’s Halloween!” defends Robbie. “It’s the twenty-third,” says Henry, but Robbie treats holidays the way he treats birthdays, stretching them from days into weeks, and sometimes into seasons.” Page 274

Quotes that made me say “Hell, yeah, Addie!!!”

“If she must grow roots, she would rather be left to flourish wild instead of pruned, would rather stand alone, allowed to grow beneath the open sky. Better that than firewood, cut down just to burn in someone else’s hearth.” Page 31

“[...]from this moment forward, her life will be her own.” Page 48

“There is a defiance in being a dreamer.” Page 117

““It has only been two years,” she says. “Think of all the time I have, and all the things I’ll see.”” Page 132

“It will take time, but time is the one thing Addie has plenty of. So she opens her eyes, and starts again.” Page 192

“But then Addie straightens, lifts her chin, smiles with an almost defiant kind of joy. “But isn’t it wonderful,” she says, “to be an idea?”” Page 261

Quotes that I Love

“[...] never pray to the gods that answer after dark.” Page 7

“What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?” Page 15

“The things that last, even when memories don’t.” Page 16

“As if you couldn’t like one place and want to see another.” Page 23

“Books, she has found, are a way to live a thousand lives—or to find strength in a very long one.” Page 35

“The kind of place where time slips and blurs, where a month, a year, a life can go missing.” Page 39

“[...] attraction can look an awful lot like recognition in the wrong light.” Page 56

“The rise isn’t worth the fall.” Page 56

“Being trapped, buried alive, these are the things that scare you when you cannot die.” Page 57

“Funny, how some people take an age to warm, and others simply walk into every room as if it’s home.” Page 58

“Déjà vu. Déjà su. Déjà vécu. Already seen. Already known. Already lived.” Page 66

“[...]a lifetime of knowing brushed away like a tear.” Page 73

“[...] and it is sad, of course, to forget. But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten. To remember when no one else does.” Page 77

“[...] ideas are so much wilder than memories, that they long and look for ways of taking root.” Page 77

““These days, everyone’s looking down,” muses Sam. “It’s nice to see someone looking up.”” Page 101

“Being forgotten, she thinks, is a bit like going mad. You begin to wonder what is real, if you are real. After all, how can a thing be real if it cannot be remembered?” Page 103

“If a person cannot leave a mark, do they exist?” Page 103

“Dreamer is too soft a word. It conjures thoughts of silken sleep, of lazy days in fields of tall grass, of charcoal smudges on soft parchment.” Page 11

“She considers the cut of their clothes, the absence of bone stays or bustled skirts, and thinks, not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, how much simpler it would be to be a man, how easily they move through the world, and at such little cost.” Page 129

““I remember you.”” Page 135

“The darkness claimed he’d given her freedom, but really, there is no such thing for a woman, not in a world where they are bound up inside their clothes, and sealed inside their homes, a world where only men are given leave to roam.” Page 163

“She watches these men and wonders anew at how open the world is to them, how easy the thresholds.” Page 165

““I think there are many ways to matter.”” Page 179

“But ideas are so much wilder than memories, so much faster to take root.”” Page 210

“He is full of roots, while she has only branches.” Page 212

“Easy to stay on the path when the road is straight and the steps are numbered.” Page 229

“Outside the window, the day just carries on as if nothing’s changed, but it feels like everything has, because Addie LaRue is immortal, and Henry Strauss is damned.” Page 235

“[...]I didn’t want to live forever. I just wanted to live.”” Page 236

““There’s this family photo,” he says, “not the one in the hall, this other one, from back when I was six or seven. That day was awful. Muriel put gum in David’s book and I had a cold, and my parents were fighting right up until the flash went off. And in the photo, we all look so … happy. I remember seeing that picture and realizing that photographs weren’t real. There’s no context, just the illusion that you’re showing a snapshot of a life, but life isn’t snapshots, it’s fluid. So photos are like fictions. I loved that about them. Everyone thinks photography is truth, but it’s just a very convincing lie.”” Page 239

“God, it feels good to be wanted.” Page 256

“[...] And ideas are wilder than memories. They’re like weeds, always finding their way up.”” Page 261

“Homesick—Henry knows that one is supposed to mean sick for home, not from it, but it still feels right.” Page 262

“Dressing up, he thinks, is just like watching cartoons, something you enjoyed as a kid, before it passes through the no man’s land of teen angst, the ironic age of early twenties. And then somehow, miraculously, it crosses back into the realm of the genuine, the nostalgic. A place reserved for wonder.” Page 274

“Bea always says returning to campus is like coming home. But it doesn’t feel that way to Henry. Then again, he never felt at home at home, only a vague sense of dread, the eggshell-laden walk of someone constantly in danger of disappointing.” 282

“He doesn’t know what he believes, hasn’t for a long time, but it’s hard to entirely discount the presence of a higher power when he recently sold his soul to a lower one.” Page 284

““You can’t make people love you, Hen. If it’s not a choice, it isn’t real.”” Page 290

“He has asked the wrong god for the wrong thing, and now he is enough because he is nothing. He is perfect, because he isn’t there.” Page 290

“A life reduced to a block of stone, a patch of grass.” Page 299

“The present folding on top of the past instead of erasing it, replacing it.” Page 306

“She knows the paint will fade, rinsed off by a puddle, or simply wiped away by time, but that’s how memories are supposed to work. There—and then, little by little, gone.” Page 307

“Without the bells, the organ, the bodies crowding in for services, the church feels abandoned. Less a house of worship and more a tomb.” Page 311

“God is so large, why build walls to hold Him in?” Page 311

“Once you know about a thing, you start to see it everywhere. Someone says the words purple elephant, and all of a sudden, you catch sight of them in shop windows and on T-shirts, stuffed animals and billboards, and you wonder how you never noticed.” Page 314

“There is a freedom, after all, in being forgotten.” 325

“Memories are stiff, but thoughts are freer things. They throw out roots, they spread and tangle, and come untethered from their source. They are clever, and stubborn, and perhaps—perhaps—they are in reach.” Page 327

“They’ve been lucky, so lucky, but the trouble with luck is that it always ends.” 329

““You said it yourself, Luc. Ideas are wilder than memories. And I can be wild. I can be stubborn as the weeds, and you will not root me out. And I think you are glad of it. I think that’s why you’ve come, because you are lonely, too.”” Page 332

“She closes her eyes, reminds herself there are many ways to leave a mark, reminds herself that pictures lie.” Page 337

“She may not feel the years weakening her bones, her body going brittle with age, but the weariness is a physical thing, like rot, inside her soul. There are days when she mourns the prospect of another year, another decade, another century. There are nights when she cannot sleep, moments when she lies awake and dreams of dying. But then she wakes, and sees the pink and orange dawn against the clouds, or hears the lament of a lone fiddle, the music and the melody, and remembers there is such beauty in the world. And she does not want to miss it— any of it.” Page 342

“Luc’s smile darkens. “Because time is cruel to all, and crueler still to artists. Because vision weakens, and voices wither, and talent fades.” He leans close, twists a lock of her hair around one finger. “Because happiness is brief, and history is lasting, and in the end,” he says, “everyone wants to be remembered.”” Page 351

“It is a sign, when even gods and devils dread a fight.” Page 367

“And this, he decides, is what a good-bye should be. Not a period, but an ellipsis, a statement trailing off, until someone is there to pick it up. It is a door left open. It is drifting off to sleep.” Page 419