#because he'd have his daughter—the greatest cavalier in the nine houses—to protect him

[mayasaura]

Piggybacking on my “John’s waiting to resurrect Kiriona after he resets everything again” ask from before: he knew he was lying when he said killing Alecto would make Kiriona his cavalier, but he justified it to himself because all Kiriona would do was wake her and then they could reset everything and Kiriona would be alive forever and never have to know he lied

(The ask from before for reference)

I'm kinda skeptical that he ever actually said he would make Kiriona his cavalier. That smells like an extrapolation Gideon would come to herself from a more vaguely worded promise, because she's never felt secure in her value to anyone except as a cavalier.

You're right, tho. If he did say that, he said it with zero intention of ever following through. John's never openly had a cavalier, that title was assigned to Alecto by third parties in retrospect. He's never participated that closely in the culture of the Houses, and I can't see him starting now. And from his perspective, what are a few lies in the endgame? It's not like she'll remember his promise long enough to expect him to follow through

[haphazardlyannotated]

#the best explanation I ever saw of the whole 'he'll make me his cav' thing was in the kidfic 'And rising in the dead time of the night'#where John told Kiriona that killing Alecto would make him mortal but it was okay#because he'd have his daughter—the greatest cavalier in the nine houses—to protect him#and Kiriona interpreted this as saying she would be his new cavalier#which is a legitimate takeaway given her cultural background#but not really what John said

(tags via OP)

Piggybacking on my “John’s waiting to resurrect Kiriona after he resets everything again” ask from before: he knew he was lying when he said killing Alecto would make Kiriona his cavalier, but he justified it to himself because all Kiriona would do was wake her and then they could reset everything and Kiriona would be alive forever and never have to know he lied

(The ask from before for reference)

I'm kinda skeptical that he ever actually said he would make Kiriona his cavalier. That smells like an extrapolation Gideon would come to herself from a more vaguely worded promise, because she's never felt secure in her value to anyone except as a cavalier.

You're right, tho. If he did say that, he said it with zero intention of ever following through. John's never openly had a cavalier, that title was assigned to Alecto by third parties in retrospect. He's never participated that closely in the culture of the Houses, and I can't see him starting now. And from his perspective, what are a few lies in the endgame? It's not like she'll remember his promise long enough to expect him to follow through