#cr what doesn't break

[immult]

"there is the simple beauty of coming to one of many homes that you've called home, especially one as welcoming as zhudanna's." - c3e65 / "a sense of home wound its roots around her heart and anchored her to that place (...) laudna always came back, drawn irresistibly to the cottage and its curmudgeonly keeper" - ch7

[acebender]

I've been seeing people talking about the gold cuffs in Vex's ears, comparing them to Laudna's, and saying that maybe now that we've seen Vex wearing them it's a trend and that's why Laudna wears them. And babes...

I'll take the little gold cuffs, little pointed ear gold cuffs off. I wear these to hide it, because people get all gagged out about it, but they cut my ears to make them pointy, to further match whatever warning signal that I was. - Marisha, episode 17 of campaign 3

From Marisha/Laudna herself. She wears them to hide her docked ears! Couldn't it be, maybe, that Vex was so moved by the existence of Laudna, a girl that looks so much like her and suffered at the hands of Delilah because of her...

“Don’t forget to dock her ears. It’d be such an utter waste if our darling Vex'ahlia fails to recognize herself.” - Delilah, page 21 of What Doesn't Break

... that she felt inspired to add them to her look? Mayhaps? I wouldn't put it past Laura to do something like that, let's be honest.

[dadrielle]

[nezumidou]

Chapter 3, What Doesn't Break by Cassandra Khaw

[pocketgalaxies]

i just realized that marisha ray recorded an audiobook with her longtime idol grey delisle. weeping

[paperglader]

one hour into what doesn't break: cried three times, just saw my lockscreen (imodna) and almost started sobbing

[nellasbookplanet]

OKAY Laudna book opinions:

Overall I really enjoyed it! It's really atmospheric and has this almost fairy tale vibe to the prose which I think suits Laudna's story really well (also Robbie does an excellent job narrating the audiobook with a similarly whimsical tone). It reads less like an adventure and more like a character study of Laudna discovering who and what she is, the psychological impact of existing in the world but outside community. I also think it does an excellent job of portraying the push and pull that is her relationship with Delilah, showing that Laudna always distrusted her and would sometimes even push her away, but also how easy it was to cling to this one loyal companion when everyone else either left or made Laudna leave. The sense of loneliness throughout was palpable.

The one thing I felt was a poor choice was an overall theme of "young woman in a world that treats women who don't fit in poorly". This is usually an interesting and prescient theme, but in a story set specifically in Exandria, which doesn't align with our gender roles and doesn't have our same misogyny, it felt like an awkward fit, and also not needed. Laudna as a character was already ostracised due to her undead nature; I would rather the story have leaned harder into that.

[spookydicks]

WHAT DOESN'T BREAK SPOILERS

Laudna's whole epiphany GAVE ME LIFE!!

"And, despite everything, was till the little girl raised to believe nobility meant more than a title, a name, an accident of birth, She caught herself nodding syphethetically until her thoughts snagged again on the memory of her parents dead, butchered."

DELILAH CUT OFF PAPA BRADBURY'S FACE TO USE FOR THE GROG DOUBLE????????????????????????????????????????????????? OOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO GET ME THE FUCKING BAZOOKA, A LAND MINE, AND A GUILLITINE. THIS CUNT NEEDS TO LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAVE

"There should have been fear. There should have been the memory of pain. Instead, her anger had burned it down to a singular emptiness, a perfect nothing that Laudna could fill with whatever she wanted, her old life ashes swept away with the wind. Because the worst had already happened.

And she didn't break."

"Because when I'm finally dead, it'll just be you and my corpse." GET, HER. FUCKING. ASS

Laudna feeling so empty and numb that she's laughing

It takes an awful amount of strength to stop in the middle of defending yourself, really think about what her words mean to Bella, and say "I deserve that. It's ok that you hate me. " This puts swordgate and shardgate into SUCH A DEEPER AND DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

"I want you to promise me I'll never see you again. You'll go away forever."

"If that's what you want, darling, you'll never see me again." "Ever."

"Never ever."

[15lehna]

Covid is homophobic because me getting it the week we got What doesn't break, WBN, Zerxus and the Mighty nein is absolute hell. Did I still read/listen/watch most of them yes was I dying while doing it also yes

[meid4]

I just finished listening to the prologue of "what doesn't break"

Cheesus christ, you guys this is intense ! Of course we knew story already but the details, her thoughts, I am flabbergasted

Fuck you marisha for this, it's amazingly horrible <3333

[inconmess]

Orym is fucking cold tonight and between him and Ashton, the anger is running high? Thems not pulling any punches

That Liliana convo, I just want to bash my head somewhere. I mean, good for you that you want to be an inside man for your daughter but at the same time, stop being wishy washy and open your fucking eyes for once if you want a life with your daughter?

Also, Evarova and the lore...

Air out the feelings tonight man. Air out the feelings

and indeed MFMM indeed. Are we going back to Aeor now? Are we going to see FRIDA soon? We still need to break the shit to them 😭

[immult]

oh my fucking god. her name wasn't borne from how pretty songs are. but from how she cannot feasibly garble out any coherent words for the past twelve months, she is only capable of singing simple vowels since she found herself on the noose.

and she sung to remember desperately her mother's lullaby believing it could fix everything wrong. she named herself from it in an attempt to undo this hurt. if the voice keeps calling her by this name, maybe it'll help undo the cruelty bit by bit.

[acebender]

The moment Imogen speaks in the book I'm done for

[thesunwillsingasong]

I've finally got my hands on "What Doesn't Break". I only finished the prologue, and I'm unwell.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely knew what I was getting myself into reading this, but I sat in horror with every word passing before my eyes. I'm tearing up as I write this.

Holy shit. This book will devour me.

[dadrielle]

5 days!!!! And this fanart made it into the gallery so I'm even more awiggle about it!

ONLY SEVEN DAYS UNTIL “WHAT DOESN’T BREAK” Y’ALL!!!!!!

(quote repeated here for screenreaders:)

“So now she had hope, even if it was a frail and rudderless hope, and a bird astride her head. Given the circumstances, it was absolutely an improvement.”

-Bells Hells: What Doesn’t Break, by Cassandra Khaw, page 25

[pocketgalaxies]

i'm gonna scream and cry and forget how to breathe when marisha speaks for the first time in this audiobook btw