#idk my thoughts are a mess

[fallloverfic]

The Tomb of Dragons spoilers

I'm not broken because Thara and Iana didn't get together, but it makes zero sense that they didn't end up together. This isn't me being blinded by shipping sunglasses. This is a series of very obvious events that I had assumed, certainly by the end of book 2, would have resulted in Iana/Thara being a couple, if not leading into it at the start of book 3/at some point in book 3. They held hands in the dark after Thara met Iana's mother, who clearly thought they were dating, how else do you read that???

If Monette wanted to highlight that supportive male-male platonic relationships can exist, Anora is right there, and a mainstay of the series and the book in particular. Ulzhavar, Csathamar, Rohethar, Ormevar, Maia, Csevet, Azhanharad, Teru, Thilmerezh: all these other platonic male friendships exist in Thara's life, and literally all of them come back for Tomb. Heck, even Hanu is a good example of this kind of relationship (until it ends where it ends). The build-up of Thara and Iana's relationship makes no sense if this is where it leads, even in the context of strong friendships. I love a good strong platonic friendship, too, and showing men comforting each other outside toxic masculinity or romance matters, I get it. And I don't dislike Hanu as a character, and I even find his relationship with Thara cute when it doesn't feel really forced. Their ending probably makes up for things about as best as it could when you introduce a brand new character and romance in the third novel of a trilogy (and not many of Monette's gay leads get this much! It's good it ends this way!). But just... why?

I don't know. This is massively disappointing. And after knowing this was coming (ARC readers wrote reviews about it months ago), reading the actual novella at last, hoping she had better explanation for it, only to find out she didn't, is not helping.

I enjoyed the book. I really did. It's got a whole lot of great stuff in it. But just... why?

Also, I enjoy bodyguard romance as a trope. I've had shippy thoughts and Cala/Maia and Beshelar/Maia for years. I've been a Jago/Bren stan since like 2005. I always thought the Queen and Joe were adorable in The Princess Diaries. I love Choi Han/Cale Henituse as a ship. And there are lots of manga ships I can think of that fit the trope... It's not the trope I have an issue with, and I'm not averse to it appearing, canonically.

But seeing this as "what if this is about fan thirst for the bodyguard ships in TGE" or "we can't feel bad about it because we've been asking for it" is... I mean sure. Whatever. It feels way too forced. I hope Monette found her bliss with it. Difficult as the book was to write, I hope she wrote the version she wanted to.

Like just imagine, if Monette had read a series where a bodyguard character was introduced in book 1, with a canon crush on the protagonist, got closer to the protagonist for the next two books (and the interest was returned if highly conflicted), and they became an official couple in book 3 of the trilogy, and this was inspiration for Osreth. Wait, what is C.J. Cherryh (author of Foreigner) doing in this Monette interview???:

Sarah Monette: I don’t know if I can claim her as an influence, but I really like Shirley Jackson. Definite influences are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ellen Kushner, Joan D. Vinge, C. J. Cherryh.

The thing I’ve read most recently that I really enjoyed is Martha Wells’s Network Effect.

Uncanny Magazine: What are you working on next?

Sarah Monette: I’m currently in the middle of revisions on The Tomb of Dragons, which is the third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy (the first two being The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones).

Just... there are ways to do the trope. Even speedier ways in one novel (e.g., Bad Judgment by Sidney Bell, though that's a romance novel). This ain't it.

[gilsart]

when every equation was solved, all that remained were fields of dreamless solitude. there is no prize to perfection; only an end to pursuit.

[nerolikestowander]

Really weird set of drawings that doesn’t go together at all

[groovyace]

RED ROBIN REDESIGN RAHHGGGG 🗣🗣🔊🔊🔊📢📢📢

I took elements from his different suits plus added some extra flair. My favourite being the addition of climbing shoes.

[nouverx]

A very specific idea/scenario I have about Alastor's sleeping habits

He barely even sleeps in the first place. He sleeps like only a few hours a week, in one go. He locks himself up in his room once a week, sleeps for 4 hours straight and that's it. And since he doesn't sleep much, each time he does he falls into a deep slumber and it's absolutely impossible to wake him up he's straight up passed out until he gets fully recharged.

He does this because the idea of being in a vulnerable position where anyone could do anything to him while he's completely defenseless is too unsettling for him, so he sleeps as little as he can and always makes sure he's locked up first, away from everyone else's eyes.

HOWEVER, one time he's playing cards with the rest of the hotel, and because he got unconsciously so comfortable around them, he accidently falls asleep on the couch during the game. Everyone is shocked because they didn't even know he actually needed to sleep (they always hear him walk around the hotel humming at night like an absolute creep so they just all collectively assumed he didn't need to sleep).

Charlie panicks a little because nothing seems to wake him up, but he's still breathing and seems fine, eventually they all just let him sleep there and keep on going with their card games since the noise doesn't seem to bother him. Charlie even put a blanket on him, and Angel initially wants to draw something on his face as a prank but in the end everyone agrees not to try anything like this, because who knows how the radio demon would react,,, could be dangerous.

A few hours later Alastor finally wakes up, immediately understands what happened and plays it cool like "Oh dear, looks like I passed out, too bad I couldn't finish the game :) oopsie" but internally he's SCREAMING

EDIT: greykolla was faster than me and made a comic about it it's so so good 😭 crying

[slasherflicks999]

thank you pinterest for launching me into yet another multiple day drawing :3

I LOVE HIIIIMAKAMSMSBDIHSSKBSDFHKJABSFD we know this

but oh my god this took almost 7 hours overall LMAO im so tired but like in a good way

you may be looking at his hair and saying “heyyyy gravity doesnt work that way….” in which case you are correct but i thought it would be cool if BEN’s hair kinda floats when he gets all glitchy like how hair does when it’s in water :3 in my head this would also mean it would poof up a little when he gets mad like in a ghibli movie or a cat bc…. cmon that’d be so fun

also idk what his outfit is i just improvised it bc i didn’t wanna design bro a whole outfit LMAO i never know what to draw him wearing!!!!! smh smh.. it’s okay he’s serving

but anyway…….. im so proud of this and how i did the shading hehe :333 i love him i love him i love him im so tired i love him

ref for the pose after the break if anyone wants it :D

[itadooori]

s2 gihun with s1 characters PLEASE

wait i love this concept omfg

[ghostbredtt]

sketches doodles useless thingies

sorry guys I'm dead summer finally killed me so baii 😁

[mephostophilis]

citrus fruit 🍋🍊

[contrarianwitt]

i will forever believe that gansey and blue can kiss after. idgaf. because what was the point? they did all of that to save gansey and he could still die just by kissing his girlfriend?

with the symbolism of the camaro always being close to breaking down representing gansey’s fragility, and ronan giving them the dream camaro that will keep running seems to show that gansey is safe and will live? it’s clear gansey was always in limbo and in danger after his first death, so that moment and ending feels like he’s moving on and growing up.

especially since it’s shown gansey is almost obsessive with his own death. re-enacting his death, not killing the wasp, dating a girl that could kill him - it doesn’t make sense symbolically that he could still die so easily.

and don’t even get me started on blue, who would literally have to live with the knowledge that she killed gansey, and can still kill him again.

i understand the more tragic elements of the story and why they’re there (noah being forgotten the gangsey going their desperate ways) but like…. it seems pretty clear that gansey does not see a life worth living where he doesn’t get to kiss blue sargent. it just doesn’t make sense to me character and story wise that they have to continue living under the curse and can never truly be free, especially since that’s the end of their story.

[darkbluetennessee]

do older fans have vault songs that are in their top favorites of the albums that have been re-recorded thus far? because I think I’ve seen newer fans include vault songs when listing their favorite songs on those four re-recorded albums and I wonder if there’s something there about older fans having lived with the albums for so many years and not really having a place for vault songs in their top 3 or 5 for those albums—even if there are vault songs they’re really enjoy and love

[xuxudio]

sometimes you gotta give the coolest most badass character you know a really silly trait

[pretty-boy-baby-girl]

Garcia buys her and Reid matching/complimentary outfits. Reid finds it highly amusing.

Every now and then, he and Garcia will coordinate their fits and show up to the office in the same outfit at which point everyone busts up laughing. (Partly because it's always startling to see Reid in anything even half as outlandish as what Garcia usually wears, and partly because of Morgan's reactions every time.)

Garcia does a pretty good job of getting an even number of matching outfits for both her eccentric style and Reid's more neutral one.

And yes, this does mean that Reid sometimes wears dresses, skirts, and high heels.

The first time Garcia and Reid walked into the bullpen wearing matching checkerboard dresses with chess pieces patterned across them (I'm imagining they were custom made and are supposed to reflect a moment in an actual chess match of some sort which Reid was over the moon about bc hes a dork and Garcia knows it) and little black pumps (because Reid wasn't tall enough already) with both of their hair up in half pony tails and matching glasses, Morgan tripped over his own feet and almost ate it right there in the middle of the bullpen because holy shit his Baby Girl and his Pretty Boy are stunning and hold up he needs a minute.

Spencer, walking into the bullpen with Penelope: *info dumping about the chess match modeled on their dresses*

Morgan, getting coffee across the room: *chokes on his own spit and almost drops his mug because he's busy staring at Spence and Penny*

Prentiss, walking up beside him and slapping him on the back as he coughs: lmao real smooth, Derek. *sips at her own coffee*

JJ: *enters the bullpen in a pencil skirt and an off the shoulder blouse, her hair put up in a bun*

Prentiss: *chokes on her coffee, unable to tear her eyes away from JJ*

Derek: lmao real smooth, Emily. *walks away laughing*

[insignificant457]

There is a nebulous jordie lives au which lives entirely in my head in which jordie recovers from the plague while Kaz is still sick. He gets up to find them food and water only to return and discover Kaz is nowhere to be found. Still recovering from the fever, he searches the barrel for days before he finally sees Kaz wandering down the staves in a sort of fugue state, soaked to the bone with a haunted look in his eyes.

Kaz won’t tell him what happened, but jordie knows it’s bad because his baby brother flinches every time he touches him, and soon enough he’s started wearing gloves, even in the height of summer.

Soon, they discover kazs gift for cards, and it keeps them fed and clothed, if not much else. Kaz is angry at jordie for losing the money, refuses to let him make any decisions. Jordie is beholden to his angry traumatized little brother because he can’t deny that he failed them the first time around.

Kaz is offered a place in his pick of the gangs, but the only one willing to take both him and his tag along older brother is the dregs. Jordie dies a little bit inside when they join up, when they take the tattoo side by side, but he’s not sure they’ll survive another winter on the streets.

And the plot of SoC generally goes on from there. Jordie tags along on the ice court, he and Jesper test kazs patience at every turn, he’s constantly offering unsolicited annoying older brother advice about Inej.

This lends itself to a really interesting exploration of Kaz and jordies relationship, what holds brothers together in the face of incredible trauma, the skewed power dynamic of Kaz becoming the breadwinner for them both at the age of nine, etc etc. But mostly, this au is a vessel for the sailing of the ultimate crack ship, which is of course, jordie/alys Van Eck.

[turtleblogatlast]

No but like every time I think about Splinter and what he had to go through just to keep the boys alive, my heart hurts for him so badly. Is he perfect? No not at all, but none of them are and by god does he love his sons.

The fact that all of them are alive, and grew to thrive despite the circumstances surrounding them is a testament of how much Splinter loves his boys. He raised four babies following the most traumatic time of his life, all alone with nothing but the sewers to house them (to hide them.) I feel like he’s not given the credit he deserves for all he’s done.

And I get that it’s easy to hold up his flaws and faults when it comes to parenting, I myself like looking into them because flawed characters are super interesting and said flaws make them more realistic and engaging, but he tries, and again, so many others would have given up on the boys or failed along the way but Splinter didn’t.

He’s their father, for all his faults he did his damndest to make sure they survived.

[thelilylav]

He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

(He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother, The Hollies)

My art, The World at Its Beginning (Dustin Pearson), The Tyrant's Tomb (Rick Riordan), The Fall of the House of Usher (Steven Berkoff), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), Leto and her Children (William Henry Rinehart), The Moon Had No Light of its Own (Imaginary Future), My Love Mine All Mine (Mitski), Untitled (Lyra Wren), The Tyrant's Tomb (Rick Riordan), Electra (Sophocles), To Forgive (The Smashing Pumpkins), Unknown, The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), The Sun is Also a Star (Nicola Yoon), Doomed From the Beginning (@/veniennes on tiktok), On learning to write professionally (Interview with Jazmine Hughes by The Creative Independent), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), My art