#candleshade

[jeannefostergoriot]

Guys.

I re-opened Unlocked.

This is what Candleshade looks like.

Honestly? I think there are 100 levels of pure stairs. The base of the candle doesn’t look like it’d be inhabited…

[vildefol]

Chapter 2 of The Keefe Collection Part 8: Dare to Tread is now up on AO3 😊

[permanently-stressed]

we all know Candleshade is a very excessive tower and etc. but am I the only one having trouble imagining what Cassius even does with like 200 floors?? is it three mansions in a trench coat?? does it just start repeating itself after awhile?? WHAT ON THIS EARTH COULD OCCUPY THAT MUCH SPACE???

[team-moonlark]

Everybody say it with me now: 👏 Alvar 👏 is 👏 still 👏 alive👏

[tangents-from-an-awkward-void]

Y'all i was searching up Tarot cards for a different thing and realized how Keefe fits the Tower card so well-

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

if Fitz is British then Keefe is Australian and Dex is Canadian

[crymeariveronceagain]

Keefe, on his imparter: hello? Gisela, calling to talk about his lodestar position: You should identify yourself when you pick up a call. Keefe: Hello, Candleshade residence. Major Disappointment speaking. Better?

[arcadialedger]

Sokeefe is a gender swapped Tangled story I don’t even want to hear any arguments.

Anyways someone please draw Keefe as Rapunzel stick in his tower (Candleshade) now please.

[milo-igidk]

shannon make up your mind is candleshade soundproof or not?

[famousinfamous]

ok so hear me out ok! Just hear me out…. What if, in unraveled, every third chapter is a flashback chapter. Like to before Sophie got to the lost cities. This could really help and three dimensionalise (that’s not a word but whatever hopefully you get what I’m trying to say) all the characters, to get to see them before the story starts. This could be especially helpful with Fitz and Biana since Biana has just not been getting much attention the last couple books and Fitz has been used like a climbing rung for Sophie’s ark, not to mention how it could give us more into Keefe’s early childhood trauma and what happened to him at Candleshade. AND Shannon could sneak in that plot twist to the flashbacks instead of setting up something in the human world which I feel like would be way easier.

[crippling-pages]

I need,, kotlc in Tam's pov. No offense to Sophie, but Tam's pov would be 10x more interesting and hilarious.

He's so freaking hilarious and funny; like imagine Keefe says a joke and internally Tam's like "DUDE when will this guy SHUT UP omg cmon"

and the sarcastic comments gyutfrd5ertfgyu idk who you are but we can all already that Tam's sarcasm is the best and I bet its a million times better in his head

Tam Cam guys!! Tam Cam would be there too!! like *sokeefe moment in front of everyone* Tam: BROOOOOOOOOOOO pleASE for the loVE OF MALLOWMELT just kISS alREADY!!!!!!!!

When Shannon finishes kotlc (if she ever does..), she should do a bonus series (or whatever its called) and rewrite the kotlc series in Tam's pov.

PLUS!!! We'd get so many extra deets,, we'd get him in the Neverseen, him and Linh in exilium, him and his childhood life, him and Linh moving into solreef, him and Biana working in the silver towers, candleshade, and everglen; him training with lady zillah, him after he returned from the Neverseen; LIKE SHANNON DO TAM'S POV PLZ

[the-way-astray]

Keefe headcanons???

when keefe realized he could inflict, he had mixed feelings. on one hand, he always wanted to be able to. on the other, he can only really do it because his empathy's so strong and why is his empathy so strong? because of his mom's genetic manipulations. so like. he struggles with that

he takes longer than cassius to do his hair. look, i know canonically he makes fun of how long cassius takes to do his hair, but you know keefe takes longer then thirty-one minutes, let's be so for real here, anon. canon doesn't exist actually

anyway fitz taught him to do his hair, actually. they were experimenting and keefe liked that style so fitz taught him how to do it

speaking of fitz, they share a room in the elite levels. oh, but the elves don't really do sharing rooms because there's space enough for every- well, guess who doesn't care. that's right. me

keefe learned his . . . dubious use of empathy from his dad. when he was a kid, his dad would always read his emotions and then just casually tell his mom what he was feeling, so keefe learned to do the same thing and doesn't realize it's fucked up

fitz was the first one to call out that behavior but keefe still struggles with it

fitz keeps keefe in line. in my head

fitz is actually the one that won't let keefe touch his hair everyone has it flipped

this post is turning into a keefitz post lemme backtrack

keefe really likes the elvin equivalent of oranges/citrusy fruits and in unraveled if i don't see him intimidatingly eat a lemon like an apple i will simply perish

before the series started, he changed his hair and eye color all the time with elixirs from slurps and burps so he did know dex kinda even before sophie was in the picture

one time he dyed the tips of his hair black so he looked like a porcupine

he's one of those people that buries himself under the comforter even if it's like 150 degrees outside and inside (i think this is canon actually)

(spoilers for crooked kingdom whoopsie) you know that scene where they fall through the ceiling because they spilled really potent acid on the ground? keefe has definitely done that. that's why Nobody Goes To The Fifty-Sixth Floor Of Candleshade. there's just a gaping hole in the floor between the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth floor

keefe decorated the rim of said hole with tiny chunks of lumenite he secretly shaved off his dad's statue and since his dad never goes to that floor he doesn't know about it

keefe performed the elvin equivalent of a satantic ritual with the hole (he was high on fathomlethes)

his favorite scent is sharpie. unfortunately he's never actually smelled it before. come on, shannon, give the people (me) what they want in unraveled

when he first heard about sophie (not from fitz) he thought she was a rumor

he's ridden verdi before once when grady made him do chores waiting for sophie to come home

he fell off. painfully

he has never baked ever not even once in his entire life. not ever. this is important to me

keefe and fitz are the epitome of the newest, hottest romance trope that's taken the book world by storm: baker x cannot bake for the life of them

keefe was the one that painted that vacker family portrait actually

della told fitz she wanted to commission a portrait of them to celebrate alden's recovery and fitz was like "i know just the guy"

fitz just didn't tell sophie that because he didn't want to ruin the mood during the flashback scene

remember when fitz said he went to the hekses place for a delivery once? actually alden took keefe too and keefe thought it was cool. yes i know canon says keefe wasn't there and thought it was gross but we ignore canon in this headcanon household

he tried to convince fitz to join his hair and eye color changing ways by changing his eye color to teal and hair color to brown but alas fitz refused to join him

oh shit i'm keefitz posting again

he only turned the lab table to silver because it was ugly he wouldn't have done it if it wasn't so crusty-looking why doesn't lady galvin appreciate his efforts no one understands him

he once showered in the elvin equivalent of orange juice

[thesfromhms]

KEEFITZ THOUGHTS

Hi sso I'm gonna do this now. Give me your KOTLC ships and I'll think of thoughts and headcanons for em :3 just reblog with your ship or comment your ship!

Fitz getting stabbed by the Neverseen and Keefe desperately tries saving him, but he refuses care because he knows it's finally the end for him

The Neverseen forcing Keefe to hurt Fitz, or else they'll do much worse to him (Fitz)

Ok headcanon time

—Keefe is the only one that knows what happened to Fitz in full detail

—Fitz is the only one that has had a sleepover at Candleshade

—Fitz bought home a comic book once when they were around 11. He said that Alvar got it for him, but in reality, he was the one that bought it. They talked about it for HOURS

—Their kisses mostly consists of Keefe kissing Fitz's cheek and Fitz kissing Keefe's hand

—Keefe secretly likes their height difference. Well, more like has a love hate relationship with it. He definitely likes whenever Fitz is happy, but he does NOT like being used as an arm stool

—Fitz bought Keefe to the forbidden cities when they were around 9. Secretly, of course

—Keefe, for some odd reason, prefers if mallowmelt is made by Fitz specifically. He'll est whatever, don't get me wrong, but he prefers it more if the 'whatever' is made by Fitz

—Fitz tried growing out his hair once. Keefe just kept on saying that he "had a tail", so he cut it off. Just to spite him

—FITZ BODYPILLOW WAS ORIGINATED BY KEEFE. POINT BLANK PERIOD. He quite literally said, TO THE ENTIRE GROUP, "Fitz is comfy. Like a pillow". Poor Fitz's body has been extra numb ever since

[lumieumie]

A little drabble that I might fix up eventually!

This is my take on what happened when Keefe decided to run off and join the Neverseen! This is directly after the part where Keefe leaped away from Havenfield once Calla made her decision. This is just a short little drabble on what I thought might’ve been going through Keefe’s mind when he got his memory back.

This has not been edited or revised, and I kind of just typed whatever until it became this, so please don’t be too harsh! I’ll fix it up and make it nice later maybe. Also, Keefe pricks his finger so there’s an eensy teensy weensy bit of blood!

When Keefe arrived at the daunting towers of Candleshade, his father wasn’t there.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise—Keefe had long been aware of his father’s secret havens. But Keefe had pictured his father alone in his cold, lonely tower that he took so much pride in. It would certainly be fitting for Lord Cassius Sencen.

Either way, it made things much easier.

He wasted no time, climbing onto the Vortinator with his goal clear in his head; trash his mother’s room. Er, search it, too.

He tried—he really, really did try to convince himself that’s all he was there to do. But he knew there was more to it—knew that despite all she had done to him and his friends, he just… couldn’t seem to let go. He had to make sure she hadn’t left anything behind he could trace, or maybe there were clues of her intentions, or… something.

Who was he kidding. His mother was too careful to leave anything behind. But even so, he needed a way to get all his pent up emotions out. There they were, bubbling just below the surface, and if Keefe didn’t find a way to let the pot boil over in private, he was certain he’d explode at the most inopportune moment.

He kicked the door to his mother’s room open, relishing in the way in squealed on its hinges before slamming into the wall. Keefe hoped it left a dent.

His mother’s room was… well. There were clearly marks that said it had been searched in the not so distant past. Footprints disturbed the thin film of dust on the floor, and he could see signs of disturbances on most of the fancy furniture. But other than that, it was just how his mom had always kept it from what he remembered. Not that he’d been in here more than three times. His mother definitely wasn’t the type to invite him in and cuddle his nightmares away.

He marched straight to the closet, throwing it open and getting to work—tossing clothes, shoes, capes, anything he could grab onto the floor. He searched the pockets of a few of them, but mostly, he was just throwing things. He wanted to rip up his mother’s stupid dresses, lay waste to her obnoxiously high heels, and his anger only grew as he caught glimmers of himself throughout the closet.

A small picture of him on his first day at foxfire. Crumpled drawings he’d thrown away. Bits of jewelry he’d made for her when he was young, that she’d never worn but kept anyways. His search turned into a mission to tear through each and every piece of art, break every beaded string. The floor was a mess of glass beads and shreds of paper, and clothes covered every corner of the room, but he still wasn’t done.

He grit his teeth and yanked on one of her fancy capes folded at the top of the back shelf, sending a diamond-encrusted jewelry box crashing to the floor.

Keefe recognized it, vaguely. It was his mother’s plainest jewelry box, despite its elaborate design. She used it for all the trinkets she never wore. Made sense that it would be tucked in the back of her closet.

Or… she could’ve pushed it to the back of her closet because she was hiding something in it.

Dropping to his knees, he slid the latch and opened the small chest, fumbling through the contents of the box, searching for… something. Anything—

Keefe hissed as something pricked his finger, yanking his hand back. Blood welled on the pad of his thumb, and… oh.

“It’s a rare starstone.”

“Don’t you feel powerful?”

“This is your future.”

“The washers will be here soon, Keefe.”

He clutched his head as if it could save him from the oncoming headache, scrambling away from the jewelry box like it was full of boiling acid. His ears were wringing, and his heart was pounding, and his lungs were begging for air, but he couldn’t seem to get any in.

Legacy. His legacy. On top of some mountain, in the middle of nowhere, was a plan that the Neverseen had made—a big plan. And it involved him.

The starstone.

He crawled to the chest, dumping out the jewelry box and shuffling through the assortment of hairpins. When that yielded no results, he leapt to his feet. He overturned furniture, emptied out drawers, pulled back blankets—looked anywhere and everywhere in the room, but… of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

Either it was hidden somewhere in the tower, or his mother had brought it with her. Or…

The Neverseen had it.

Pieces started coming together in his head, forming a plan. Well… sort of.

He was vital to the Neverseen’s plan—him. His mother had something planned for him, locked behind the door of that desolate building in the middle of a frigid mountain, and the Neverseen knew where it was—knew how to take him there.

And a smaller, childlike voice that he tried time and time again to squash whispered that the answers regarding the state his mother was in lay with the Neverseen as well.

He could end this. He would end this. This was what he had to do.

His friends… and Sophie… they would hate him. By some miracle, they’d kept the son of a traitor around, but this?

Knowing he was a part of the Neverseen’s plan, that he’d gone along with it, was just… too much.

His friends would never forgive him.

Sophie would hate him—everyone would.

He had no other choice. He had to try. He had to make this right.

Something wet slides off his face and drips onto the floor, and it takes Keefe a moment to realize they’re tears. He lifts a hand, letting his fingers graze his wet cheek, before staring at the small splatter on the floor.

It had landed next to a painfully familiar necklace. Each bead with a different bloom, capturing every little detail.

He knelt down, picking up the necklace. For some reason, the flowers made him think of Sophie; but these days, there wasn’t much that didn’t make him think of her.

She’d be angry. She’d probably never speak to him again, but…

He had to do this. He would fix this, even if it killed him. It was the least he could do, and… it was the best plan he had.

With his decision set in stone, Keefe tried his best not to let his heavy heart weigh him down as he closed the door to his mother’s room, necklace in hand.

[myfairkatiecat]

What's your stance on that one line in lodestar when Cassius says "tell Keefe he'll always have a home at candleshade" cause it messes me UP

OKAY AGAKHHSSJSJS HANG ON HANG ON

So I do in fact have. THOUGHTS. About Cassius’s little reform where suddenly he sort of cares about his son??

Because like on the one hand. I’m glad he loves his son even if he’s messed up. But in the other hand. YOU HAVE NOT MADE CANDLESHADE A HOME TO HIM. YOU HAVE MADE IT A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT HE DREADS RETURNING TO. HE SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD AT EVERGLEN PRETENDING TO BE A VACKER AND THEN GOES ANYWHERE ANYWHERE BUT HOME IN THE LATER BOOKS

Why do you think keefe is so good at running away? Maybe cause he planned how to FIFTY MILLION TIMES AS A KID

this and the whole “let keefe take care of himself he’s been doing it for his whole life” WELL AT LEAST YOU’RE SELF AWARE I GUESS BUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU😭😭

It messed me up too believe me

[doodle-do-wop]

Stina and Keefe HC inspired by this post!

Buckle in this is gonna be a long one

Stina can't fucking stand his ass

Someone save her he's so annoying

Why in the name of the prime sources does Sophie even like this boy he's so obnoxious

He's not even that funny literally why is she laughing at all his dumb jokes

She's in the trenches

This is her personal Exile

Stina can't fucking draw

Like at all

She can't draw

She can draw a horse! A really good horse!

But nothing else it's indistinguishable unless it's a horse

They're literally the same person in a different font

They're both empaths with self esteem issues, the hair(tm), down bad beyond down bad, extremely corny, actually touch starved as all hell, would crack a hole through the earth to reach their partner, self sacrificial morons, unnecessary sarcastic while bleeding out, sassy, detention occupants so frequently in detention once they both attended when they didn't even have detention

They're two cats in a burlap sack(Keefe's the orange one, Stina is the grumpy black cat that will actually kill him if left alone in a room with him)

The simping, did I mention the simping?

Keefe and Stina DONT get along (mostly just Stina) for bloody ages and Sophie and Dex (yes this is also a CopperMares post) wish for them to just grow up and be able to tolerate each other for more than five minutes (Stina lasted SEVEN minutes thank you very much) and the cousins immediately regretted that wish because they forgot how annoying their partners can be

The empath duo will do anything and everything in their power to flirt with/look hot in front of/tease/taint/smirk/smile/wink etc etc etc at their respective partners and it drives them crazy

Sophie and Dex have not know peace (to be fair look at who they're dating, it's a conscious choice)

Keefe might technically be older but despite his white boy attitude and his looks you'd think Stina was his older sister the way she will fully strangle him within an inch of his life and then yank him out of his shoes to buy him lunch

Empaths by genetics, siblings by torture

She still can't stand his ass but at this point that's just Stina's weird way of saying she cares for you (just look at Marella, Stina literally tackles the shit out of her despite Marella being about as tall as your average stepping stool but Stina would still lay down her life for her)

They hang out in the silliest way possible and it's trashing Cassius' house and getting ice cream (not always in that order)

Once they found one of Gisela's wallet cubes and they went to town buying supplies, food, clothes, random furniture (some of which may or may not have been shipped to the neutral territories, what are you a narc?), got their usual ice cream (Stina makes a face at Keefe's order but he swears when there's just the melted stuff at the bottom of the cup it's flavors mix really well) then they leap off to Candleshade and use some of their supplies to trash the house (again)

Cassius' big ass statue of himself has never seen a good day since the two have gotten along

They haven't hit all the floors yet but they will some day

It's a shame the Sencen's suck because they have pretty great taste in furniture and silverware

Sometimes they spray paint a big ass target and have a contest to see who can throw at Cassius statue on the bullseye and get it to stay on the wall (Ro is winning by a lot but Stina's telekinesis is getting really great)

Not an AU goes by where Stina hasn't somehow been stuck with Keefe and at this point I don't think there is

Keefe pretends like he can translate Stina's Stinaness the way Maruca can (ex. Stina telling Maruca she hates her and hopes she falls on her face and Maruca responding with "I love you too Stina") and he's almost never right

Stina 'commit to the bit' Heks has fruitlessly vetoed every Keefe Idea that's ever been brought to the table but guess who's the first person to jump on the bandwagon the second the plan falls into action

Sophie and Dex swap scoldings with each other before they go yell at their idiots for whatever big stupid thing of the month they've done now because otherwise the said idiots might be able to flirt their way out of most of the scolding part

Top 5 people who would sing Agony the way it was meant to be sang, dramatically, competitively, and over a waterfall on the forest with very dramatic very swoonable action

Keefe is princess coded while Stina is reluctant but roguishly handsome prince coded you cannot change my mind

Both would be Flynn Rider though (Keefe can also be Rapunzel though, Stina on the other hand could not)

There's probably so much more I'm forgetting but this is long enough for now

Anyway thanks for reading this all if you have and have a good one

@myfairkatiecat