#after Nona

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

I genuinely think Jod might be my favorite character in the series. He's a very unique brand of horror, that of someone who had a strong moral sense and a possibly excessive amount of empathy and was on the right side and kept trying to make choices… and is now in too deep to look back and reevalue. There's a lot about him being part Resurrection Beast, too.

I also have feelings about the psychotic break where he reached for Alecto. So much shitty “man bad” analysis about how “he chose Barbie because he wanted to objectify a woman” when, yes, that's partly how he treats Alecto later, the way everyone in his empire is ultimately a resource—but there's something horrifying and tragic about John (the Māori guy with a hinted backstory of institutional abuse) having basically been Touched By Cthulhu and reaching for one primal image of comfort and love from his childhood, and that image being a white plastic Barbie he used to love and identify with. It's one of the more emotionally devastating scenes in the series for me.

I think what bothers me most about how John is talked about in the fandom is the implication that a different (implied: better) person would've done things differently and somehow more right than he did.

When the text goes to lengths to explore how suddenly coming into an incredible amount of power in a fatally constrained situation cannot lead to a good outcome.

If you're putting John in dialogue with the concept of the "magical girl", which Muir has said he is (a little tongue in cheek, but)--these are young, often profoundly unready people, who often get taken advantage of by the people who give them their powers. And like, yes, John is not a teenager, but I think that's part of the point, is that at no point is a person really prepared to become as powerful as he did--even before he merged with Alecto. Even when he was fully in control of his powers, even when they were given with honest intent and trust, even when he used them with the best of intentions and tried to do the right thing, there was no way for him to be prepared, especially given the situation he was in.

And it's funny to talk about how bad John must be in bed, but also, this isn't a scenario where John is some self-deluding Elon Musk-like villain or loser. He is genuinely trying to do the right thing, in terms of rescuing the Earth's population, rescuing the Earth Herself, and doing it ethically (see: M--'s insistence that they perfect the cryo containers until they could transport pregnant women).

I really do think this is something people are blocking out, because it is one of the uncomfortable parts of Muir's message with the series. But ESPECIALLY because the people "critiquing" him as an embodiment of patriarchy and empire are failing to see that part of Muir's critique is of human vulnerability to power: That is, that power corrupts.

And this even has echoes with Gideon & Harrow's story! Harrow begins the series in a deeply unequal dynamic with Gideon! And she does horrible things, not just because she is traumatized, but because she is traumatized and has the power to act her desires out on Gideon. She might have the motive (trauma), but that's not enough without the means (power).

And, yeah, I do have a semi-salty angle on this because people are frequently loath to think critically not just about axes of oppression but individual relationships of power when it applies to them and to people they like. ESPECIALLY when there is a very vocal segment of the fandom that is enthusiastically pro-harassment. It's very convenient to villainize John and actively dis-identify with him, because otherwise, you'd have to face the question of whether you'd do any better in his place. But the thing is, the mission of revenge he embarks on is a lot closer to many peoples' hearts than they'd like to consider.

That's the whole point.

[eledsart]

griddlehark, in bed the kiss

[aiiwa]

after you and suna link for the first time, you try to leave the man in complete ruins. you both know how this works. yet he can only gape at you when you roll off of him and start putting on your clothes.

“and where in the fuck are ya goin’?”

his question has you turning to look back at him, tilting your head curiously. “um home?”

his dick is still wet with your juices and your cunt feels empty without him inside you but you’ve decided to head home? he doesn’t know whether to laugh or pull at his hair. he does both.

“stay.” he groans out, sitting up and reaching your bare hips to tug you against him.

“rin—”

successfully capturing you in his arms, he cuts you off, leaning back so the two of you fall into his pillow.

“shhh, just stay with me woman. damned near rocked m’world and then ya try to run away? fuck off.”

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

“The water is risen [but] so is the sun. We will endure” is one of my favorite lines in TLT. Especially after reading the John chapters.

gtn 29/ntn john 19:18/htn 31

atn river sweep incoming

[nepenthean-sleep]

john gaius is an interesting character because he is a charismatic and nice and funny guy AND he is an indigenous man living in his homeland that has been colonized by a brutal imperial force for centuries AND he's an anticapitalist working hard to prevent climate change AND he's a biologist trying to save all of humanity and get everyone out alive, not just the elite with the means to pay for it AND he is an indigenous healer being targeted and hunted down by multiple colonial governments AND he is entrusted with the powers to save people by the spirit of the earth itself AND he kills everyone on the face of the planet to try and stop the trillionaires from leaving but fails AND he resurrects his colleagues and friends but wipes their memories AND he cannot forgive himself but also cannot let go of the very feeling that made him guilty to begin with AND he puts the soul of a planet and 10 billion people into a flesh-and-bone doll AND when she is furious at him (what they did to you and what they wrung from you and what shape they made you fill) and scaring the others he locks her away AND he's a masterful manipulator AND his actions towards the earth are a metaphor for sexual assault AND he based an entire society around violating other people's bodily autonomy AND he's committing genocide by killing all the other habitable planets AND he kills his closest friends a second time when they learn the truth about him AND he half-resurrects his own daughter to use as a weapon AND he's a neoliberal fascist and serial liar and in all his time searching for revenge, he still hasn't noticed that revenge is out for him instead

[zombie-bait]

I can’t believe Gideon and Harrow had like 3 weeks of something approximating fun before experiencing 2 solid years of endless suffering 😭 lemme tell you, nothing could’ve prepared me for that or the realization that post book 1 these poor fuckers just never get to spend any time together, I miss the old days of One Flesh One End Bitch!!!!! We had it so good and we didn’t even know it

[ratcaveart]

Very much needed griddlehark reunion

[chekhovs-tantrum]

All of the kisses in the Locked Tomb series thus far, organized chronologically and described accurately

Inspired by @wifegideonnav's post on Tamsyn torturing us:

Suicidal ten-year-old makes out with corpse; gets possessed

^Same kid gets eyebrow kissy and baptism from hometown butch who she's definitely killed a few times

^Same kid sticks vomit-covered tongue into throat of vicious socialite immediately after lobotomy to forget dead girlfriend

Honorable mention because it happens offscreen: Dead Girlfriend's Mom (haunting same kid) (different haunting) vent-reminisces in memories about her unholy thruple-with-two-bodies

Socialite delivers averted cheek kiss with a womp womp womp

Sloppy bisexual thruple (different thruple) fuck God after lemon queen's ex-husband takes her cannibalized nun-wife's name in vain 

Dead planet baby feeling herself; kisses own reflection

DILF distributes daddy forehead smoochies

Dead planet baby perfectly mimics dead bestie's knuckle kiss to codependent bodysharing cousin

Honorable mention because there's plausible deniability: "horrifying noises" made by twins upon reunion 

Dead Girlfriend sees girl who owned/tortured her for years, stares longingly; dead planet baby rolls with it 

DILF gives real kisses to members of thruple (different thruple-in-two-bodies) before besties mutually explode in death-by-codependency

Dead planet back in second body. Bite. 

[vvienne]

knowing what we now do about pal's ideas about the permeability of souls casts this interaction in a fun new light

[haveyoumetmythief]

Don’t interrupt, she’s doing important teacher’s assistant work

[notedchampagne]

later loser! you took the part that cared

[noctilia]

[talysstan]

I saw someone on Reddit call our Best Girl tm

Harrow, The Human Clowncar, Nonagesimus

And I never truly recovered.

She plays a game of hide and seak mixed with soul hitchhiker at a frankly Olympic level.

[pygmypouter]

those are my speed holes. they help me go fast

[dirtshack]

just a girl and (not) her dog

[muskrosevetiver]