#Mr Gray

[coveredinbutterflydust]

obsessed with this interaction between mr. gray and a literal stranger

[romantichopelessly]

I cannot believe Maggie Stiefvater invented this insane character of an old English historian turned assassin with a serial killer brother and a milf he’s in love with who exemplifies themes of detachment and coming back into living your life for yourself and violence and being a tool to the narrative and then DIDNT include him in her trilogy about ‘what happens after the prophecies’ and what family means and finding something to do with yourself after you’ve learned who you are and generational violence. but instead she made another character who makes herself a tool for a cause she doesn’t believe in because she’s trying to escape her serial killer brother. Okay. Yeah. That’s Fine.

[millionancientbees]

I truly fear Maggie Stiefvater ruined me for all other books. It’s been nearly ten years of trying to find another series that breaks me open and destroys me and fills me back up like The Raven Cycle and nothing has come close.

Like?? HOW am I supposed to get over “while I’m gone dream me the world. Something new for every night.” Or “Look, his face looks a little like yours” and “And that sword looks a little like you.” Or “Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn’t all-encompassing, that wasn’t blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was just that now that she’d had this kind, she didn’t want the other.” Or “And what is it you think my dog needs?” Or!! “It was nothing, but it was Adam Parrish's nothing. How he hated and loved it. How proud he was of it, how wretched it was.”

Like?? Maggie!! How did you distill all of the yearning and hope and heartbreak of being a teenager into these books and expect anyone to ever be okay or normal about it again?? Goddamnit.

[squash1]

(extra) mr gray, our fatherly figure:

[goddessofwisdom18]

Maura and her boyfriends and the Fox Way psychics (my fan cast)

[madamevandeleur]

♛┈⛧┈┈•༶.・゜゜・✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*.・༶•┈┈⛧┈♛

[deklo]

effervescent amiright :3c

notsfw link under read more!

LINK TO NSFW DECLAN/MR GRAY FANART

[sun-archeron]

currently rereading the raven cycle (right now i'm in dream thieves) and MY GOD!!!!

i had forgotten how nice mr. gray and maura's dynamic was

once i'm finished, 50% of my highlighted quotes will be of their interactions

their chemistry is so intense and so effortless AAAAAAAAA they make me sick

(also, mr. gray interacting with blue is adorable)

[ravensonravens]

The Gray Man

Academic. Killer. Poet.

[alexanderlightwoodbanes]

My headcanon is that if Adam was the one blackmailing Mr. Gray in TDT, Mr. Gray would never return to Henrietta.

[lucimiir]

Rereading the dream thieves and I need to be reminded: do Blue and Ronan ever have the “my stepdad killed your dad” talk?

[clotpolesonly]

i figured out why Declan is my go-to blorbo, and it's because he's one of those characters where i can find common emotional/experiential ground between him and practically every other significant character and that just makes him fascinating to me and so so versatile

Declan and Gansey: repression, repression, repression!! so much anxiety rolled up into a tiny little ball and stubbornly ignored because feelings are unseemly and have no place here. they will feel things when they're dead, thank you very much. responsible beyond their years, on their own/taking care of themselves long before they should have been. tending to other people or the practicalities of the moment take precedence over themselves, at all times. unfortunately, Ronan is very important to them and they will go out of their way to protect him. also the insomnia and the autism vibes.

Declan and Adam: ruthlessly practical people. hard working and ambitious but for a reason, not for its own sake (Adam to get out of the trailer park, Declan to camouflage his other activities). they would rather die than admit to weakness or vulnerability in front of another human being. Do Not Let The Emotions In Or You Will Never Stop. feeling alienated and fundamentally from their peers, and distrustful of/disillusioned by the idea of help from authority figures -- if you have a problem, solve it yourself. both very very accustomed to lying, constantly and about everything, in order to disguise their home situation and deflect attention from anything that might cause people to ask questions. complicated relationships with their mothers, at least partially rooted in negligence and not stepping in wrt the situation with their fathers. and of course, there's a difference in scale and severity, but feeling unsafe due to the aforementioned fathers.

Declan and Blue: the particular brand of resentment that comes with being the only unspecial member of a special family. being the sensible one and stubbornly proud of how well they manage to get by without any of the ✨ super specialness ✨ that everybody else has. torn between wishing and wondering what it would be like to be special too and being desperately grateful that they're not. wishing that somebody would understand how fucking lonely it is knowing that you and your loved ones will never truly understand each other. being too proud to ever admit as much out loud.

Declan and Noah: this one's more nebulous, but the idea of being not fully real, not fully a person, and definitely the idea of not being seen. of being invisible and looked through. Noah's is because he's a literal ghost, obviously, and it's through no fault of his, but Declan has gone out of his way to cultivate that experience, to make himself as overlookable and forgettable as possible, for safety and security. but it doesn't feel good. the erosion of the sense of self as time goes on, worn down by the life they're living. and a shared understanding of being the victim of extreme violence (Noah's murder and Declan's attack by the Grey Man, at least).

Declan and Henry: the children of criminals. burdened with the knowledge of a world -- two worlds tbh, the criminal and the magical -- that they can't speak about to anyone else. socially isolated and starved for emotional connection. uncomfortably comfortable with the violence that has permeated their lives and always acting under the assumption that it can and will find them again.

Declan and the Gray Man: business is as business does and it's not personal. ✨ depression ✨ and going through the motions because this is just their life and they don't have the emotional or mental capacity right now to think of how their life might be changed. making themselves as dull as possible and then not being able to find their way out of the hole they've dug themselves, at least not until someone comes along to remind them of what it feels like to feel things.

Declan and Jordan: repression of self and lack of identity. not being allowed the space to be their own person, always forced to cram themselves into a tiny box for the sake of others. bursting at the seams with dreams that they're not allowed to chase and feelings they're not allowed to express. feeling truly seen for the first time when they meet each other.

Declan and Hennessy: being preceded by the reputation of a parent they resent. living in Niall and JH's shadows, always compared to them, even when they suspect that they may actually be better than their parents at what they do. the struggle not to let that bitterness swallow them whole before they can grow into their own reputations and make names for themselves.

Declan and Farooq-Lane: young professions who have worked very hard, thank you very much, to be as competent as they are. logical thinkers with a brewing storm of emotion that they try not to let interfere with their logical thinking because they know it makes them impulsive and they don't like that loss of control. loss of control is the enemy. they are the only grown-ups in the room and they would rather die than acknowledge that they are actually scared kids in way over their heads. both with complicated feelings about dreamers and deep-seated issues related to their dreamer brothers. also they have very similar taste in women.

honestly, the only people that Declan doesn't have common ground with is his brothers, and that's what makes his relationships with them so interesting and so fraught. there's something to be explored between Declan and Ronan wrt their suicidal ideation (though they have very different flavors of it) and perhaps with them both feeling insecure compared to each other, but so much of their conflict is about just how different their experiences and perceptions and personalities are.

and Declan being unable to relate to Matthew on a personal, empathetic level is probably part of why he finds it so hard to really think of Matthew as a fully independent PERSON in his own right. though, if Declan's experiences with the bag of Niall's memories had gone a little differently, there could have been a connection over the experience of being denied full personhood by a well-meaning but ultimately overbearing and neglectful guardian. 🤔

anyway, these have been my musings on Declan and why he continues to fascinate me. he has the range, darling.

[sunkissedandkissable]

As I tagged a post about Mr. Gray/The Gray Man/Dean Allen, I added some variants for the sake of coverage and realized:

Mr. Gray ✅️

Mr Gray ✅️

and yet...

Mister Gray ❌️❌️❌️

^^^ 0/10. Hits very bad. It fills me with the most intense sense of dread.

[lizpaige]

the fact that everyone was at the jordeclan wedding EXCEPT mr gray and bryde makes me giggle.

[romantichopelessly]

If I were stronger, I’d write a one shot fic where Mr. Gray, Declan and Carmen sit down and have a talk about brothers/family and forgiveness. Maybe even throw Jordan and/or Adam in there for fun.