#denarian brainrot

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today I'm thinking about that time when Nicodemus offered a jewelry box to Harry, and Harry, bless him just snarked and acted like it was a marriage proposal

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😍😍😍 bless you @badassbutterfly1987 I love this so much 😭😍

Let’s play “Obsessing Over Weird Denarian Facts in the Middle of the Night!”

Tonight, I’m sitting here wondering, how long is Deirdre’s hair, really? I was thumbing through Small Favor looking for a quote earlier, and saw that it’s described as 20-30 feet long in one chapter and 10 feet long in another. Does it change length the way her skin/scales change?? WHAT IS THE TRUTH

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a low-quality gif set because I had this idea for a while and today for some reason I couldn't get it out of my head

[image description: a gifset of a scene from the movie Hellraiser (2022) with a quote overlaid on it. In the scene, Goran Višnjić is playing Roland Voight, talking and smiling. The quote is from the book Small Favor by Jim Butcher from the Dresden Files series. The text reads: "It was the kind of smile you see at country clubs and in boardrooms and on crocodiles. /end id]

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On a slightly similar topic to my previous post, it amuses me to no end that:

A. Drakul spent two minutes talking to Harry and went: yeah, no, I'd rather kill him. Not even going to give him a join-up-or-die offer, because I can't stand the way he talks back.

B. Meanwhile Nicodemus spent years coming back, time and time again going out of his way to get Harry on his side. Even after multiple mutual murder attempts he just smugly rolls his eyes, talks through the nonsense that comes out of Harry's mouth, and goes: yes, I will take one more round with Dresden, thank you. Like, I'm sorry but that's a kink lol

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I pulled this scene out for research purposes and I have to say it's another one of my favorites from Skin Game.

Grey considered it for a moment and then nodded once. “I doubt I’ll be able to fool his wife for more than a moment. But then, you only need a moment.” Deirdre grimaced. “Just press your lips together as hard as you can and keep quiet. He gets like that when he’s angry. I’ll talk.”

The idea of Nicodemus choked up with anger is just so funny to me especially since we don't really see that in other parts of the book. My man will be monologuing in the middle of fights and stuff. I guess it's something only Tessa can bring out of him lmao

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apropos of nothing - reasons why Harry and Nicodemus make me personally insane:

that time when Harry is like "I know he hasn't been trying to hurt me (otherwise I would have been really hurt by now), he just pinned me to the wall". Dude. My dear dude. "He could squash me on the wall like a bug but he was mindful of my human squishyness and just pinned me to it with his body" is such a normal heterosexual behavior between enemies. Seriously.

Nic "I'm going to grab this almost seven-foot-tall giant brat by his hair as often as I can so he pays attention to me". I know Harry cuts his hair way too infrequently but the visual of that... What are your fingers doing there Nic, hm??

Harry "he's so dangerous I know I shouldn't piss him off by mouthing back or putting him through solid objects..." *proceeds to do exactly just that*

Nic in between mutual murder and or choking attempts "Let me feed you breakfast. Coffee? Doughnuts? Spend a week with me!" Doing what? Kinky BDSM sex? Because you're really giving off courting vibes here Nic with the whole "I'm going to take you apart but promise I'm good with aftercare let me prove it by feeding you" bit

I am so normal about them, for real

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You know... I have really high hopes of finding out sometime in the future what this little jab was all about. With Kincaid's former employer being Starborn and the two of them looking like they were about to rip each other's throats out... the backstory here must be juicy.

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incorrect Dresden Files quote about Skin Game inspired by my re-watch of Justified

Nicodemus: "Now, more than once we've found ourselves on the same side of a fight."

Harry: "I'm on assignment by Queen Mab. You're the sociopath leader of a demonic organization. Now, the only thing that we're on the same side of is, like, this car."

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“No demonic power or Fallen angel could save Nicodemus from that blow, delivered by that man, with that Sword. Nick saved himself with pure nerve.“

- add this to the long list of things why I love this bastard

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spring ice

I don't think you can realistically feel comfortable outside in a t-shirt in Chicago yet, but here *throws virtual Spring at you like confetti*

I haven't written them for like a year and a half, so I forgot that something just seems to happen in my brain when writing Harry/Nic fanfic. Where often the idea of the whole fic is completely batshit crazy in theory. Yet the finished result ends up being surprisingly polished.

I could spend so much time in this head-space. Ngl writing Harry/Nic is kind of my ideal writing experience. It's weird and I love it.

Fandom: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher Rating: Explicit Relationships: Nicodemus Archleone/Harry Dresden Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Book 17: Battle Ground, Casual clothes, Almost Meet-Cute, except you know they already tried to kill each other, this has so many random headcanons in it, made-up Outsider lore, Misunderstandings, Jealousy, yes jealous Nic is back, Smut, Anal Sex, Harry already likes anal play because I said so, he still has a teeny bit of a gay panic bc of course, we're talking about Harry, there is also, The Toxic Masculinity of the Winter Knight, Dirty Talk, Hair-pulling, and, Explicit Consent, to Harry's chagrin that he has to talk about these things, this is also kind of silly, hope that helps, good luck figuring out what kind of fic this is

Summary:

Spring arrives, and one afternoon Harry unexpectedly bumps into someone. He decides to start seeking answers to questions that have been bothering him.

"Still, as the morning air lost its bite, with it the grip of the Winter Mantle’s claws around my heart seemed to loosen as well. I found myself being able to focus on the good things in life again. Maybe, this was a perfect time to do something simple and pleasant. To live a little before gruesome death or ruthless survival were the only options."

Set after Battle Ground.

Read on AO3

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call me a crazy shipper but I really think that if you read between the lines it seems that Nicodemus favors Harry.

It's not a kind thing, it's not a safe thing but he does and a number of events would have turned out very differently if he didn't.

(my actual theory is that he does it because Harry is a Starborn not because of whimsical shippy reasons lol but this leads to some hilarious results and I find it really compelling)

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I'm losing my mind. So I realized that my version of Shang-Chi had the commentary version audio on it, and I was curious so I started listening to that. And the co-writer, Dave Callaham admitted that he wanted Wenwu to have GIANT PRAYING MANTISES and bring them to the fight.

Do you understand how hilarious this is to me? When the only reason I gave this one Marvel movie a go was that someone suggested that Tony Leung (specifically in this film) would be a great Nicodemus fancast? And the two characters really have many similarities to the point that it's no wonder I enjoyed this film so much. And now I found out they wanted to basically put Tessa in the film loool

Anyways, if you are looking for me I'm just going to be here giggling about this.

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If I were in the DF I would play this on repeat for Nicodemus Archleone to lovingly annoy the shit out of him. And then he would murder me.

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I finished Battle Ground and I have to have these two quotes next to each other and stare at them for a while. No other reason for me posting this. Please don’t mind me. Obvious spoilers ahead.

From Death Masks:

From Battle Ground:

Alt text

From Death Masks:

““Hey!” I shouted. “Old Nick, can I ask you a question?” “Please do, wizard. Once we get to the fighting, there really isn’t going to be much opportunity for it.” “Why?” I said. “Beg pardon?” “Why?” I asked again. “Why the hell are you doing this? I mean, I get why you stole the Shroud. You needed a big battery. But why a plague?” “Have you read Revelations?” “Not in a while,” I admitted. “But I just can’t buy that you really think you’re touching off the Apocalypse.” Nicodemus shook his head. “Dresden, Dresden. The Apocalypse, as you refer to it, isn’t an event. At least, it isn’t any specific event. One day, I’m sure, there will be anapocalypse that really does bring on the end, but I doubt it will be this event that begins it.” “Then why do this?” Nicodemus studied me for a moment before smiling. “Apocalypse is a frame of mind,” he said then. “A belief. A surrender to inevitability. It is despair for the future. It is the death of hope.” Michael said quietly, “And in that kind of environment, there is more suffering. More pain. More desperation. More power to the underworld and their servants.” “Exactly,” Nicodemus said. “We have a terrorist group prepared to take credit for this plague. It will likely stir up reprisals, protests, hostilities. All sorts of things.” “One step closer,” said Michael. “That’s how he sees it. Progress.” “I like to think of it as simple entropy,” Nicodemus said. “The real question, to my mind, is why do you stand against me? It is the way of the universe, Knight. Things fall apart. Your resistance to it is pointless.”“

From Battle Ground:

““So you sent him at Etri. At the svartalves, someone almost everyone respects. Why? To shatter the Accords?” “Apocalypse isn’t an event,” Nemesis murmured. “It is a frame of mind.” I probably would have staggered anyway, but the phrase hit hard. “This was less a plan than . . . an act of faith, I suppose you would say,” the Outsider continued through Justine’s lips. “Faith?” I asked. “In what is coming,” the Walker said. “The unraveling of all things into darkness and silence.” “Empty Night,” I breathed. “Empty Night,” the creature echoed, in the hushed tone of a holy phrase. “So we pressed the attacks at the Outer Gates. While I sowed havoc within the walls of reality. We loosed some of the primal forces of your own precious Creation against you. Undermined Mab, her people, the Accords, the delusion of order you force upon the universe with your useless presence.” She smiled, dropping lower, the motion feline, sensual, hypnotic. “You may have survived the day. But the deed is done. We are the tide. Infinite. Unrelenting. And one day, starborn, make no mistake, we will wipe away all that you know. All we need is a single opening.”“

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Look who grabbed a shiny little collection of the Denarian books before Bookdepository shut down 👀

It's a rainy day here and all I want to do is stick a million post-it notes in these and take pictures with some fun props lol

While the audiobooks are amazing and ebooks are better for searching, it just makes me happy to have these in my grubby little paws.

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I’m suddenly convinced that Nic somehow figured out Harry had soulgazed Rasmussen/Ursiel.

Just imagine him racking his brain about what could have possibly spooked this manchild so much. I think he expected Harry to be easier to tempt with him being Margaret’s son and the black sheep of the White Council and here is Harry quoting holy scripture back at him in Death Masks.

Then maybe he figures it out when Harry mentions Rasmussen in Small Favor, and that could be why he offers Harry to soulgaze him, to show him that it doesn’t have to be like that. And maybe he genuinely thought that was going to work, not realizing even the offer would scare the shit out of Harry lmao

This is making me feral.