#Athelas City between

[erawls-themaskedstoryteller]

The Winner of the Most Wayward Soul Silmaril 2023!

Winner of the Most Wayward Soul character from #fantasybooks! #bookcharacters #gollum #tolkien #Draco #Moash #Dustfinger #lotr #Athelas #citybetween #Kylegreenember #Silmawards2023 #harrypotter #inkheart #stormlightarchives #brandonsanderson

Gollum made his way along the gloomy cobblestone street of London, the smog dimming the late afternoon light nicely around him. You’d almost think it was night. Yes, precious, how lovely! But, ugh, precious–it was difficult to breathe in this place! He half coughed, half gagged to clear his airway. Why was he doing this, again? Coming all this way to such a foreign land to hand over some…

[lemonduckisnowawake]

You've heard of found family. Now get ready for found extended relatives. The "I barely know you but we have some sort of mutual connection that we can't really trace" and "can't really stand you but we're both in this family reunion/adventure so we can tolerate each other for a bit" and "I absolutely refuse to live in the same house with you for an extended period of time but call if you need help"

[sniffanimal]

portrait practice on Pet and Athelas for the wiki

[onaslansside]

“a reformed monster”

🤔beloved, you are not

[vamppeach]

it might be recency bias but that athelas fic is one of my favorite things I've ever written . for a fanom of like, 2. i am god's favorite fool

[taleweaver-ramblings]

First read of the new year! Yes, I am starting 2023 by rereading the City Between series, and yes I did start reading it at midnight last night. No, I am not accepting criticism at this time.

[theriu]

For the ten characters ask: Pet, JinYeong, Zero, Athelas, Marazul, Morgana, Daniel, Palomena, Camellia, YeoWoo (aka, main City Between/Worlds Behind casts)

Oooo excellent theme! :D Let’s sort these out! (Please note most of these should not be taken seriously as I would never, for example, push someone down the stairs) (on purpose)

Send me 10 characters and I will tell you who I would…

Marry: Daniel (shhhh we’re pretending there aren’t ships involved and that we’re the same age, grumpy protective-older-brother wolf boy is my favoriiiite and if I HAVE to pick one—)

Drink tea with: Athelas (look, statistically speaking, he’s been at his least problematic while enjoying a cup of tea, and I’m assuming he has no reason to poison me)

Party with: Morgana (I wanna have a gamer party with this girl, show me ALL the cool things!!!)

Kiss: Pet (platonically, on the head, combined with a hug and a “good job,” the girl needs hugs for all she’s been through)

Go out on a date with: Zero (it would be awkward for both of us, but I might get lucky and see him defrost enough to tell me some interesting stories about Behind or his adventures)

Push down the stairs: Marazul (1. He really annoyed me in the first series, and 2. I’m assuming his wheelchair is enchanted not to dump him so I am envisioning a cartoony juttering-down-the-stairs sequence)

Slap: Jinyeong (I enjoy his character but you know he deserves it, esp. if he goes on about how beautiful he is)

Invade the dreams of: Camelia (idk what this really means, am I showing up in her dreams or just watching them like a movie? I’m running out of options and she seems like maybe she’d have interesting dreams)

Take a nap with: YeoWoo (I feel like her fluffy gumiho form would be comfy to nap against? This is all assuming she would even allow this.)

Rob: Palomena (look I was out of options and this was almost YeoWoo but she would DEFINITELY murder me. I feel like Palomena would just be Disappointed which would still hurt because she’s one of my favorites and I wanted to put her on the friend-date one, but at least I’m not dead and she’s not gonna try and trap me with tricky fae consequences)

[activated-pen]

hi i’m gonna post rambles about a book series nobody knows maybe. i came across it while reading an anthology called fell beasts and fair. idk if anyone will read this and i don’t care but i need to get out something in my brain. i have a degree in fiction writing or something idk

i don’t think anything’s really inspired me to sit down and think about stuff like this in a while but i read a book of queer essays before the anthology (queer reflections on horror) and i guess ive been in “alternate analysis” mode

but anyways when it comes to fae there’s always something to be said about neurodivergancy 

i think, as a nonbinary autistic person, there’s something distinctly fascinating about the city between series and pet. i'd initially gone "omg this must be some it/its nonbinary child" (the anthology short story is narrated by a leprechaun who doesn’t know pet’s gender and constantly thinks of “it” though there’s actually a typo that calls pet “she” in narration once that i noticed because i was laser focused)  bc there was only one use of pronouns and it seemed to be corrected back to it/its. like, i thought pet was an it/its human that happened to be correctly gendered bc the leprechaun didn’t apply a gender to her

and then i still didn't quite get it until a good way into the first book that pet was probably a she/her because athelas called her she mistakenly. as far as i recall, pet never calls herself a girl. 

even tho ive only read one short story and the first book so far (gonna read more once i’m paid for freelance stuff,) i’ve felt like there’s a strong lack of an Image of pet. like yeah she’s narrating but also she carries the story and her weight based on her personality, voice, and narration, it feels a lot like you’re looking into the world through this narrator. she doesn’t really seem to react much to being called it besides mild annoyance at the confusion rhe first time, mostly it's annoying that they keep trying to pretend they don't like her

but like (within the context of the first book n stuff) pet is talked about so little and has existed by her/itself for so long, unnoticed and hidden, that it feels like she/it truly lacks a personhood and has for a Long Time. like it’s already noted that nobody knew she existed. she may well not exist, but of course she does, she’s got such a hyperactive and involved personality and is brave and kind.

and only the people who seem to recognize that about her actually seem to talk to her as a Person. even though she’s ostensibly dehumanized by fae that are detached from the concept of humanity, they also award her more humanity and recognize her individuality and personality more than anyone has in SO long, bc she’s been hiding and not really interacting with people outside of work. 

there’s some trans metaphor i can see in there, that’s all i’m saying, but also something about adhd + autism and masking

i feel like she/it isn’t too bothered by going by pet because she hasn’t really gone by a name besides “you” for so long and just no longer has interest in pretty much anything human of that sort. she also takes quickly (and in a somewhat silly way) to this “role” because she’s not really been given a role in so long. i don’t think pet knows how to be a person or human, and doesn’t CARE to understand a right or wrong way of doing anything, she just is and only begins to exist around the freak squad. (i keep thinking of her as it/they)

i feel like i could write a whole thing about the comparisons between neurodivergant (ESPECIALLY autistic) people and fae, and the idea of autistic people forcing themselves to mask and pretend. and then also how trans people often have to hide who we are and only be ourselves in private, or how sometimes there’s a uniquely isolating experience about being trans and nonbinary and feeling disconnected from other people, even other trans people sometimes, because it’s hard to be Seen when you’re nonbinary

anyways pet is autistic and nonbinary (she/it/they/maybe just doesn’t care) and i’d hazard a guess at bi and/or ace if i wanna keep pushing the disconnect from others angle. 

[erawls-themaskedstoryteller]

The nominations are in! Cast your final vote for Most Wayward Soul 2023!

The nominees are in! Cast your final vote for favorite book characters! #SilmAwards2023 #bestfantasybooks #sffbooks #bookcharacters #booklove #tolkien #moash #dustfinger #Draco #harrypotter #athelas #kylegreenember #brandonsanderson #inkheart #stormlight

Which character will win this brand new Most Wayward Soul Silmaril Award? And what of the other Silmaril award categories, such as Most Epic Heroine, and Most Majestic Ruler, and much more? The top 5 nominees for each of the award categories have been gathered, and now await your final decision! Follow the link to the voting form here to make your choice: https://www.silmarilawards.com/vote/ The…

[sniffanimal]

whatever *furries your fae*

[onaslansside]

We finally watched Alice (2009) after seeing the mutuals yell about it for years and. oh. such a good decision. Thank you to @as-dreamers-do, @taleweaver-ramblings and everyone else who insisted on yelling repeatedly about how much they loved this movie. I have a stash of DVDs for movie nights that no one has ever heard of but everyone winds up loving, and this movie is about to go in that stash. After watching, we both dived for our phones to see what all the other liveblog reviews said, so assume we yelled about all the normal things, and please enjoy this list of a few more unique/underappreciated reactions.

Alice is an A+ street smart heroine, love her. Every time we'd yell at the screen, "BAD VIBES, NO" she was also aware of the red flag and doing something about it. I feel as delighted about this as Hoid was about Tress requesting parental assistance/advice.

"Oh this is very Between." "Yeah."

Why does she run like that. I get that the blue dress, half updo, and mincing steps into the unknown are a homage, but SHE IS A BLACK BELT, WHY DOES SHE RUN SO BADLY.

I can't tell what's up with Hatter, every single description everyone has given of his possible motivations doesn't quite match. Like, he does think Alice is pretty, and he does want to help the resistance, and he does want to make money while doing so, but it feels like there's another more consistent reason lurking in his eyes and I have NO IDEA what it is, not even after watching Gen and Athelas for years.

"The decor of this casino is excellently stupid, this place would have Thumb Thumbs- *spots the Ten of Clubs* THERE'S ONE!"

LOVE a fight scene that understands that a gun within lunging range is no longer a particular advantage!!! Was NOT expecting Hatter to step between Alice and the threat with that little hesitation, that brings him up several points in my estimation.

That Jabberwock is so stupid. I love it. The design reminds me of the two-headed dragon in HTTYD.

I'm no film nerd, but the camera work is so good even I keep noticing it. The Scooby Doo chase with the Jabberwock, the focus shifting between Charlie and Hatter, the sliver of light when Alice opens the study door... *chefkiss*

I have known this knight for five seconds and I love him.

I need to rewatch this entire thing already, because the body language of EVERYONE is so good and so detailed that you can't get it all, especially when paying attention to the lines being spoken.

Every single shot of Hatter's reactions to Charlie are so funny.

Love both Hatter and Ten of Clubs doing beautiful sliding halts on the casino floors.

Wait, did the King just rescue not one but two of the clubs from the consequences of the Queen's temper tantrum?? I think he did. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Is he figuring out he's not okay with this situation? Is he secretly undermining her?

Somewhere in the middle of Jack explaining that Alice's father was being brought to the city, I suddenly began to wonder if he might be the Carpenter, because he'd been shown onscreen an awful lot so far...

"Hatter's going to follow her, isn't he. ISN'T HE? ... oh look, so is Charlie, that's great."

We made identical little sad sympathetic sounds when the explosion knocked Charlie over, but we were both very unconcerned for his safety.

I said, "That can be arranged," at the same moment as Alice and I'm very smug about it.

"YOU BETTER NOT GIVE ME THAT 'IT WAS ALL JUST A DREAM' NONSENSE!! >:(" Melwa smirked very loudly because A) that's canon for the original Alice, and B) she'd already seen spoiler gifsets of the end.

And T_T she flings herself at him before we can see if its like in Wizard of Oz and he just was glimpsed and got into her dreams vs he's real, and then we turn around and he DOES know her T_T, and THE POOR MOM who is cropped out of all the gifsets ajghksjfbfbk

[vamppeach]

There is something wrong with him

[taleweaver-ramblings]

City Between and Driving

I have no good explanation for this except that somehow my brain rabbit-trailed onto how Hobart must be an extraordinarily walkable city and how the closest most City Between characters come to using a vehicle is the one or two times Pet takes a bus. And then things went from there and anyway, here's my best guess on major characters' driving ability.

Pet: I don't know what the legal learner's permit is in Australia, but she has definitely been living alone since before she reached it. Cannot drive; might learn post-series but even if she does, absolutely no one will ride with her. I love her dearly, but she does not strike me as being a safe driver.

Zero: Knows the theory; has never done it in practice. Has roughly the same feelings about cars as Kaladin (Stormlight Archive) has about horses.

Athelas: Knows how to drive (quite well, in fact). Can even produce a proper license or other paperwork with a name and picture on it that feasibly could belong to him. Does not feel the need to volunteer this information because it's much tidier to just go Between.

JinYeong: Learned to drive before he was turned. Is probably capable of doing it now. If asked, will insist that he is absolutely still a very good driver, how dare you suggest otherwise. Absolutely has not bothered to get a valid license, though, and is only marginally safer to ride with than Pet.

Tuata: Is the singular character (as far as I can remember) whose ability to drive is canon. Also, he's a cop, and I'm pretty sure driving is a required skill in that field.

Daniel: Knows how to drive, probably has a valid license, possibly even enjoys it, but doesn't do it much. Gas is expensive, and he probably makes minimum wage.

Morgana: Learned post-series from Daniel. During the series, was busy being [spoilers].

North: Depends how human she is that day, but generally, no.

Marazul: Do his legs work well enough to drive? I know he can't walk, but I feel like there's a space between "can't walk" and "legs totally nonfunctional" and I don't remember where he falls in that. In any case, would probably be a good (if slightly nervous) driver if he had a car adapted to his needs, but thus far has not learned.

Palomena: Doesn't like driving, but is capable of doing it (and even doing it well). Agrees with Athelas that it's much tidier to just go Between; has strong feelings about the difficulty of driving while in armor.

Sarah and Ralph: Are, last I checked, literal children. Sarah might be approaching learner's permit age? I can't remember for sure.

Abigail: Learned to drive like a normal human, but cars are annoyingly unsubtle and easy to track.

Blackpoint: Has figured out self-driving cars; is not interested in sharing this with the rest of the world because they partially run on magic.

Lord Sero: Driving is a mortal practice and is therefore beneath him.

The Golden Git: How dare you suggest that he would need to use a mortal invention for transportation? But also, how dare you suggest that he is incapable of doing so? If the mortals can manage, he certainly can too! (Newsflash: he cannot.)

The King: Can drive, but has a bad habit of lurking in people's blind spots and giving them heart attacks when they try to change lanes.

[frodo-with-glasses]

More Reading Thoughts: “The Houses of Healing”

And now, the “comfort” segment of our hurt/comfort story, because Tolkien just Gets Me.

Oh, oh, Merry, my poor boi. I remember that his nightmarish walk through the City made me so mad when I was a kid. Poor thing just helped to slay the Witch King and here he is, passing out on someone’s doorstep.

PIPPIN!! AAAAAHHH! Boy am I glad to see you!

“It’s not always a misfortune being overlooked.” Yeah, no kidding…

Just thinking of the Witch King makes Merry swoon again. Holy cow. The thing is dead, and yet just the thought of it is still so powerful. 😨

“Are you going to bury me?” Aaaaahhhh Merry nooo 😭😭😭

BERGIL!! BERGIL I LOVE YOU! Bergil help a hobbit out!

Pippin holding Merry’s hands and letting him sleep in his lap. I am soft, but my heart hurts.

Gandalf restates exactly what I’ve been saying all along. If either Merry or Pippin hadn’t joined the Fellowship…well, the world might still have been saved, but there would have been far more grievous casualties in the meantime.

It’s interesting that those who are wounded by Ringwraiths in any way tend to sleep-talk. Frodo did it after his wound at Weathertop, and now Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry are doing it too.

Hey hey, it’s Ioreth! I’ve heard about this lady. I’ve been told she’s hilarious.

“The hands of a king are the hands of a healer.” FOOOOORESHADOWINGGGG!

It’s good of Aragorn to show his humility and political savvy by not riding into Minas Tirith as a conquering king—at least, not without having the support of its people first. But it’s nice that he has Eomer and Imrahil to back him up.

“Not a beggar. Say a captain of the Rangers, who are unused to cities and houses of stone.” And that is why I think Aragorn as king would be prone to hecking off into the wilderness on regular occasion.

It’s nice how lovingly Theoden’s funeral bed is described. Makes this part seem all the more like a historical epic…and also shows a great deal of love and respect for a good man and a great king.

I love the budding friendship that’s happening between Eomer and Imrahil here!

Imrahil: “Dude, your sister isn’t dead. You didn’t know that?” Eomer: “0.0 She’s ALIVE?? I gotta go see her—” Imrahil: “Hang on a sec bro I’ll go with you”

In which Aragorn gets a DRAMATIC ENTRANCE!!

I love how they stand around negotiating who’s in change before moving forward. This is why Imrahil is important in the books, so that Gondor isn’t without a leader while Faramir is convalescing.

Gandalf to Aragorn like “dude there are people to save here, and also it would be a great political move for you to heal some people and fulfill the old prophecies, so crack at it bro”

“And there at the door were two guards in the livery of the Citadel: one tall, but the other scarce the height of a boy; and when he saw them he cried aloud in surprise and joy.” EYYYYY PIPPINNNNNNNN

Imrahil like “dude isn’t it rude to talk to a king like he’s your bro?” And Aragorn like “nah man it’s cool, he’s my homie”

Eomer looking out for Aragorn. Such a good bro.

I love the hilarious annoyance of all the various people coming to Aragorn like “ah yes, athelas, we know all about it and here’s some useless information but no we do not have any” and finally Gandalf just snaps and voices everyone’s collective frustration with “THEN IN THE NAME OF THE KING, GO FIND SOME OLD MAN OF LESS LORE AND MORE WISDOM WHO KEEPS SOME IN HIS HOUSE!!”

BERGILLLLL

“Then looking at Faramir [Bergil] burst into tears.” Aww bby noooo don’t cryyyy 😭😭😭

Aragorn smiling at Bergil!! And telling him he did a good job and he can stay and watch!! I just! Aaahh! Good Dad Aragorn!

Faramir wakes up and immediately knows Aragorn!! And calls him his king!! DUUUUUUUDE!

“And [Aragorn] left the chamber with Gandalf and Imrahil, but Beregond and his son remained behind, unable to contain their joy.” Dude this is so cute 🥹😭💚 I can’t wait to draw this ahahaha—

Dude why are y’all standing around Eowyn’s bed talking instead of healing her

Eomer is learning a lot of things about his sister today

Aragorn pointing out that Eowyn loves her brother the most 🥺

EOMER IS THE ONE TO CALL EOWYN BACK FROM THE DARKNESS!!! AAAAAHHHH!!

Eowyn wakes up and immediately starts talking about battle again to the point that Gandalf has to tell her “yo sis chill out for a bit”, LOL

“But to hope? I do not know.” Oh, Eowyn, hon… 😭

Merry!! Poor Merry!

I love Tolkien doing his best to describe the scent of athelas each time. “You don’t get it, guys, this plant smells AMAZING, I have to emphasize again how good this frickin’ plant smells bro”

“I am hungry. What is the time?” YAAAAAAAAYYYY ROFLOLOL 🤣🤣

CLASSIC HOBBITS

This is why Tolkien put Merry last of the three. He’s the punch line. Everyone else has these beautiful speeches when they wake up and the second Merry’s eyes pop open he’s like “ey yo you got snacks?”

Aragorn roasting Ioreth AND the Herbmaster AND Merry all in the same breath is PEAK

And then he leaves after giving Merry a thorough verbal thrashing and then acting all sweet and Pippin’s like “DUDE. D**K. He’s the worst. Your bag is right here, stupid.” 🤣🤣🤣

Friendship goals: if you can’t call your friends “my dear ass” then what are you even doing

Merry getting all poetic and then going “LOL where did that come from??”

And at the end of it all, Aragorn still goes and sleeps in his tent, even as the people of the City are whispering that the King has returned. Good stuff.

[rj-anderson]

What was the last book series you binge-read? If you’d asked me that question a couple months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to answer — it had been so long since I’d done it. But once I succumbed to the lure of an e-book sale and bought BETWEEN JOBS, the first volume in the City Between series, I not only gobbled the whole book down in a day but immediately went looking for the next one, and the next, and the next… I don’t tend to read much urban fantasy, especially with horror elements. It’s usually too gritty for me. But this series is set in Hobart, Tasmania, which gave an enticingly unique twist to the story right from the outset. And once I’d met our cheeky human narrator Pet and the three non-humans she ends up sharing her house with, I was sucked right in to their adventures and never wanted to come out again. Stony fae warrior Zero, mysterious tea-loving Athelas and the vain and sulky Korean vampire JinYeong make brilliant foils for Pet’s down to earth humanity as she makes innumerable pots of coffee, serves staggering quantities of biscuits, and discovers that there is more than one layer to the world she lives in… and some surprising layers to herself and her strange housemates, as well. There are currently eight books in the series, every one of them deftly written and plotted, character-driven in spite of their high concept, and laced with a wry humor that makes even the grimmest parts endurable (though the emotional punches are no less devastating for that, as readers of Book 3 and 8 especially can attest). And though these stories may go down as easily as popcorn, they have a lot of meaningful things to say about friendship, loyalty, and love of all kinds — including a slow-growing romance that surprised but ultimately charmed me. The worldbuilding is great too, explained just enough to make sense without distracting or boring the reader, even as the scope of the story becomes increasingly epic and complex. There are ten books planned in this series, and with eight out already and the last two coming by the end of the year (HOW DO YOU DO IT, @wrgingell, TELL ME YOUR WAYS) this is a great time for new readers to hop on board! https://www.instagram.com/p/CRFgpo4LxyN/?utm_medium=tumblr