#just the whole gisela reveal

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

Au where keefe casually asked sophie out pretty soon after meeting her and they started casually going out (marella convinced sophie to go) and they started actually really liking each other and dating before she got kidnapped and they spent the series together

[ultracrazy-trashpanda]

celebrations

Pairing: Finan x f!Reader

Summary:

The camp is celebrating a battle that you have won, and while they drink and dance together, you sit by a lake alone. Finan has some ideas of what you could do instead.

Warnings: SMUT - 18+ - oral sex (f receiving), p in v sex, fingering, riding, unsafe sex + creampie :D (enjoy) - plus words such as "cunt" are used to descibe reader's private parts. No use of Y/N, only petnames

Word Count: roughly 1.8K (posted to ao3, too)

You have won a battle again. All the warriors are celebrating, feasting and dancing around the bonfire. You had enough of it a while ago, and now you are sitting by the lake alone. You said to yourself it would be only for a short while, but it is not going exactly that way. 

“Is everything alright with ya’?” you hear from behind. You hum as you look up at Finan, who has a jug of ale in his hand. 

“Oh, I’m fine, Finan, don’t worry. I just...wanted a little calm and quiet.” you smile at the Irishman. 

“Ya wouldn’t mind some company, would ya?” he asks, and he doesn’t sit down until you tell him that you don’t mind him being with you. “You don’t have anything else bothering you, right?” 

“Nothing’s bothering me.” apart from maybe seeing so many people happily together, like Uhtred and Gisela, Sihtric and his wife... 

“It seems like something does...” he nudges you a little, and it makes you smile a little. “You should be celebratin’! We won! Feast! Drink ale! Dance! Get yourself a man to hump!” you laugh at his last suggestion. 

“As if there were available men in camp who are not only caring about their own pleasure.” you take his cup and a sip of ale. You didn’t have the best past relationship with men, especially your late husband, who has put himself before you in every situation possible. 

“I know at least one.” he raises his brows suggestively. You stare into his eyes, your cheeks reddening. You know what he means, but you are not sure in yourself. 

“Well, I don’t think he would want to be with me.” you say, teasingly, with a small smile. 

“That is nonsense, half the camp wants to be with you.” he chuckles. “It is irritating...” he starts but doesn’t finish the sentence. 

“What is irritating?” you ask, now hiding away your smile. 

“Listening to them. With the urge to beat each of ‘em up, but I can’t, because we need the numbers.” he rolls his eyes again. 

“Well, none of them dare come close to me. I am sure what you hear are only words, and nothing more.” you say to him, your smile coming through. “Now, this one man you know...you sure he is in that half of the camp who wants to be with me?” you say cheekily, and you are not sure if he is catching on. 

“Oh, I am very sure.” he turns to you, only now realizing that you have been staring at him the whole time. “Very, very sure.” he says, his voice lowering as he leans slowly closer. “Darlin’...” 

“Yes?” you ask back as your noses are touching. 

“May I?” he asks, quietly, only for you to hear, although it is not like anyone else is nearby. 

 “You may.” you say, cupping his cheek as he leans in closer, capturing your lips with his. You giggle into it, his beard tickling you. He gets on his knees, and starts kissing down to your neck, sucking on your sensitive skin, making you moan. “Finan, please...” 

“How do you want it?” he murmurs between shaggy breaths. “Do you want to lay down, and I give you everything, or should I lay down and you take everything yourself?” 

“Both. One after the other.” you gasp a little, pulling him in for another kiss. He pushes you back, so you lay down in the soft grass, with him lying above you. For a few minutes, he is just laying on you, kissing you sweetly, letting you wrap your arms and legs around his body. He himself holds you tight, finally having you all for himself. He grinds down on you, and you feel him get harder through all the clothes. 

He starts kissing down your neck, setting your moans free again. With one hand, he unties your shirt, revealing only the top of your chest just yet, and kisses all over what bare skin he can find. What gets him a little frustrated, is that there are no more knots on your shirt, or buttons, and he doesn’t want to sit you up, as you just laid down. 

“How much do you like this shirt?” he asks. 

“It’s nothing special.” and as you say it, he rips it apart right in the middle, making you giggle a little at his eagerness. It didn’t surprise you at all. He is fast to attack one of your breasts, kissing you and sucking there, while massaging the other, earning more and more moans and whines from you. 

To his dismay, he has to lean away from you to remove the rest of your clothing. He is on his knees, looking down at your bare form. He has to stop for a moment, to keep his composure and keep it slow at the beginning. 

“Don’t you think...you are a little over dressed?” you ask, just before you would shudder from a breeze. Maybe the two of you didn’t think it all through. He gets up, grabbing you and carrying you away. 

“Don’t worry, my tent is nearby.” he says with a cheeky smile, watching out for the others so they don’t see the two of you. You giggle, hiding your face in his neck. He walks fast towards his tent, setting you down on his bed, where you are swallowed by the furs, and a sigh leaves your lips at the warmth. 

He takes off his own shirt, too, and you prop yourself up on your elbows to get a better look at him. It is not the first time you have seen him shirtless, oh no, but this time, it is all for you. He looks deep into your eyes as he starts to untie his pants. 

“Ya like what ya see?” he asks, raising his chin a little. 

“I don’t know, I might have to take a closer look.” you sit up and help him to untie his pants, as he is struggling with it a little. He groans. “I really like what I see.” you smile up at him before laying back and watching him take the rest of his clothes off. Your eyes wander over his body, his muscles, his scars, his thick, hard cock. You swear, throwing your head back. 

He just chuckles at that, then crawls back onto the bed and above you. He smiles down at you as he moves to kiss your jaw, then your throat, and from then on down to your stomach... 

He has his hands on your hips gripping into your skin, but one slides down to feel how wet you are. You gasp a little, then moan as he circles your hole. He pushes a finger inside, not breaking eye contact with you as he does so, then another one. You moan louder with each thrust of his fingers. 

“Come on sweetheart, I can’t hear ya’.” he smirks, latching onto your pussy. 

“Fuck! Finan...” you let out, throwing your head back. 

He works you slowly, moaning at your taste. You sneak a hand into his hair, which makes him even more desperate. You stroke and pull his hair slightly, moving him where you most want him. A chill goes down your spine, and you shake in his arms, making him chuckle. 

“Finan...” 

“Let it out, darlin’.” he says against your skin, picking up his pace as he feels you getting closer to your peak. You curse and try to close your legs, locking him in place between your thighs. He moans, rolling his eyes out of pure pleasure. He feels like he just ascended into a heaven he will never get into. 

You are soon arching your back, reaching your high, crying out his name. You pant, feeling as your legs give out, with a hand over your lips. He is still licking up your folds, but he is much gentler than he was before. 

“Heavens...” you sigh. 

“That good, ha?” he crawls up to look down at you, some of your juices glistening in his beard. 

You smile then laugh. “Very good, yes. Very good.” you nod, trying to clean his beard, even though you think he looks really good like that. “Can’t wait to have you inside of me...” you say quietly, and he groans, hiding his face in the crook your neck and leaving kisses there. 

“The things you say, you filthy heathen...” you laugh as you push him away and down onto the bed. You straddle him, your wet cunt making contact with his hard cock. You feel him twitch as you slide your folds over his base. 

He sits up, grabbing into your hips. You are on your knees, doing your best to help him guide himself inside you. He kisses you gently, as he pushes inside. You let out a long moan, which he devours instantly. 

You lean away to look him in the eyes. Into his pretty, dark eyes. You smile, giving him a peck on the lips as you caress his cheeks. 

“So handsome...” you say with a grin on your face. 

“Says the most beautiful creature amongst all people.” he huffs out. “Ya have no idea, just how heavenly ya look. If someone said to me ya are an angel, I would believe them.” 

You chuckle. “Give me a minute and you will think of me differently.” 

He hums with a smile. “Perhaps ya are a devil in disguise?” 

You kiss him, moving your hips faster. “Perhaps.” you murmur between kisses. You grab his shoulders for leverage, as you start riding his cock even faster. 

“Oh, fuck...” he moans. He bucks up into you involuntarily, making you cry out his name. He kisses down to your neck and sucks, leaving red bruises all over your skin there. “Darlin’...” 

“Finan!” you cry out his name before you reach your peak again. Your cunt clenches around his cock, making him release his seed deep inside you. 

He holds you close as he rests his head on your shoulder, grabbing into your hips with a vice grip. You pant into his ear, giving him some featherlight kisses. He holds his own lips against your skin, not exactly kissing, but just keeping them there. 

You run your hand through his hair, tugging gently, encouraging him to look up at you. You peck his lips, and he smiles fondly at you. He pulls out and you groan, feeling as his seed flows out of you. He grabs a cloth and cleans both of you off. 

“Everything alright?” he asks as you lay down on the bed and he sits down next to you. 

“Yes, my love.” you smile. “Now, come and rest with me.” 

And he does, laying down next to you and enveloping you in his arms, almost instantly falling asleep next to you. 

The next morning, you let Finan sleep in, and you walk out of his tent, just to be greeted by the other three, who are joined by the hip. 

“I told you so.” says Osferth. Uhtred rolls his eyes and Sihtric tosses silver coins at his head. 

[fucked-up-mover-shaker]

BOOK 10: ELYSIAN SIGN UPS

ALRIGHT! I HAVE ENOUGH INTEREST, IT IS TIME!

First off, the outline of everything we will be using in our creation of book 10, or Elysian (Endgame is a great name, but Marvel), as I call it.

Next, everything I'm using in Elysian.

I am also tagging everyone who has helped me come up with ideas, as well as edited, since we share one braincell, and have a lot of similar things.

Sorry for cut it's LONG

@moonlarked

Marellinh

Council gets overthrown

Sophie gets to kill Mr Forkle

Alvar dies in Fitz’s arms

Sophie starts an human outreach program

Jensi remains Talentless and helps other Talentless

Exillium gets to be relevant

Tiertice adopt Tam and Linh and Rayni

Fedex

Ruy appears and does something idk

Trix joins up with the gang

@the-great-gullon-incident

Biana, Stina, and Dex team up

Biana has a sword

Sophie teaches the rest of the keeper gang about lgbtq+ people

Crazy fights

Gethen and Ruy show up to do stuff

They/them Elysian

All the mysteries are finally revealed

@stopstealingtomatoes

Lady Gisela to die

Amy to have a bigger role

Lord Cassius to either formally apologize to Keefe or else shove a stick in it

T h e r a p y

Ships to finally sail

@amandayetagain

Elysian’s big naturals

frognate rings

explicit language

vertina pagetime

more void lore

Sophie strikes out on her own and forms her own group

we learn about Keefe’s human friends

Details on some of the parents top secret missions (mentioned in their unlocked files)

Embarrassing middle name for keefe

foot power

Sophie channels someone’s heart/skull, or uses telekinesis on someone’s neck (it’s them or her friends. And she’s already lost enough.)

Biana and Sophie commit arson again (Neverseen)

@you-have-been-frizzled

JENSI PAGE TIME

the triplets

Kesline

Elwin officially adopting Keefe

Biana kills somebody (can we just bring Vespra back so she can kill her)

Tam gets hurt and Linh goes batshit

Bronte with curly hair

Sophie eats sweet and sour chicken to everyone’s horror

MORE ARSON

Alina redemption arc (literally wouldn’t suggest this but Ciara is the one running it and they’re part of the Alina deserves redemption club)

Dex losing an arm (his name means right handed it’s ironic oaky!)

Tiergan punches Quan song when he tries to say something to the twins

Sandor and Giselle scenes

KESLER AND GRADY BROMANCE I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT THEM

Juline and Edaline being sisters

Keefe and Grady bonding

Alvar isn’t dead and gets redemption

Caprice is relevant other than just being the crazy lady

@official-kenralie-fanbase

Sophie loses it during a battle to fulfill the whole "the moonlark could tear this whole place down" thing

Sandor finally has to dance in sparkly pants

Someone punches Alden

Or Cassius

Or both. At the same time.

More of Grady's mesmerizing please and thank you

Gradaline moments

Sophie's dad reveal (maybe do a poll on who people think that should be? I'm hoping for Fintan)

Oralie actually fights in a battle

Someone finds out about Oralie and there's a bunch of drama with all the people

@ever-blaze

more jensi, dex and rayni

jensi not manifesting an ability yet playing more roles in the story (eg. fighting the neverseen with a weapon or something)

keefe and fitz friendship moments/actually being best friends again

MORE OF THE TRIPLETS !!!

more backstories? tinkers maybe?

blur or wraith or tinkers identities

the return of the amazing amy foster

keefe’s human friends (hoping at least one is a celebrity) and human world adventures

------

Next, breaking this up. Anyone can join, I just need people to help organize this, and the plan is we sort it up by character/group, and eventually break it down into chapters, ordered by what would make sense in a basic plot structure. Then we will start figuring out technical things such as who is writing what.

Simply send me an ask or message if you're interested in helping me organize this!

And, if you have any and all suggestions, feel free to tell me!

REBLOGS >>>>>> LIKES

[squish36-writes-and-draws]

23 November: Unraveling

Word Count: 733

TW: 1 fairly mild swear, unreality cameras

General Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @faggot-friday @kamikothe1and0nly @nyxpixels @florida-preposterously

@poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @corruption-exe @rusted-phone-calls

@when-wax-wings-melt @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @hi-imgrapes

@callum-hunt-is-bisexual @callas-pancake-tree @hi-my-name-is-awesome @katniss-elizabeth-chase @sillyguy-supreme

@void-kill @thefoxysnake @the-pre-quiz

Unraveling Project Specific Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed/upgraded): @cutebisexualmess @crippling-pages @daizythegreat @sophiefostersno1stan @iggydancebreak

@theleopardstalker @you-will-meet-your-downfall @multi-fandom-lunatic

On Ao3 or below the cut!

First (3 November) / Previous / Next

Another Keefe Transcript

    This time, Keefe is frolicking through the streets of Florence. Which is to say, he’s sat on a street corner the entire time looking sad. He hasn’t even gone exploring the tourist traps, and it’s not like those are difficult to find. He’s literally two blocks away from some big giant dome building that probably has a horribly fancy name based on the sheer vibes it gives off. 

    He just sits there. It is difficult to know how to feel about this development as it is of his own doing, but it is understandable why he came to the conclusion he did. It is an incorrect conclusion, but still a reasonable one. Gisela has this whole shadowflux magic thing to keep tabs on him, but the delay is still a bit annoying. There is a nonzero chance that he chooses to leap to a new icty and throw himself in front of a bus before the alarm goes off, and he is increasingly looking like that may occur. 

    This would be a tad bit unfortunate for scientific research purposes. Rerunning the experiment would be quite a hassle. Then again, a sample size of one is almost worthless in the larger picture. 

    Enough waxing poetic about the pointlessness of even bothering to write down these records. It is not as though it will be useful at any future point in time, and yet it is still a task to be completed. And, as such, it shall be completed. 

    It seems as though yet another human has taken an interest in Keefe. What reason she may have is as of yet unknown, but considering how this has played out twice in the last three weeks, it is not difficult to see how it might go. That, of course, is presuming that Keefe and Florent’s dynamic was of a romantic nature, which is currently still up for debate. It would, however, not be particularly surprising if it were, given the available evidence and Keefe’s marked tendency to disregard elvin cultural norms when it is convenient for him. 

    This new human has not revealed her name quite yet, which makes transcription more difficult, but anyone who is willing to walk up to Keefe and nearly get into a fistfight is worthy of a modicum of respect. Unfortunately, the speakers are not of the greatest quality, and the topic of the argument currently remains undetermined, but knowing Keefe, it was probably something incredibly inconsequential. 

    The only audio that was able to be parsed was the human, after roundly winning the fight, asking Keefe if, “You want to go get some coffee?” 

    Keefe refused this offer. It is unclear whether this is to avoid personal attachments or because he was trying to protect his own ego. Both may have played a role in his decision. It is quite likely that Keefe will be filling out a diary entry directly based on this event, which may have more information to provide further insight into these events, as soon as it is within the field of view. 

Keefe Sencen's Journal

    It is quite often that I am taken aback by beautiful people and, in doing so, I start the stupidest arguments to ever occur. Case in point: I had a fun time trying to defend my opinion that Stracciatella is the only gelato flavour to exist. I no longer acknowledge the existence of any others. 

    Anyway it’s my luck that I managed to find Lodo, who is apparently just as determined as I am to cause problems on purpose. 

    And, to top it all off, they asked me out afterwards. Like I have the emotional bandwidth for that. I really did want to accept their proposal though. It would’ve been absolutely lovely. We would’ve gotten into so many pointless fights. 

    They’re also just unfairly pretty. I do level that criticism against most everyone, but that does mean it still applies. I hope I never see them again. I may be a stubborn bastard, but I am also so bad at sticking to decisions I've made when the other option would be far stupider and far, far more entertaining. 

    I’ll be fine. I’ll figure it out. 

    I think I just want to make myself feel something again, even if that something is hopeless longing for a relationship I’ll never be able to attain in the way I want it. It’s been a long few days.

[cecebookworm]

I’m just going to drop three KOLTC theories down here quick because I’ve had them on my mind forever and I’m hoping with the graphic novel coming out in a few days we’ll also get news on the next book.

Theory 1: The mysterious person mentioned on page 527 of Unlocked who Oralie can’t remember is going to be revealed to be Prentice. We know form Stellarlune that I seems likely that Prentice did end up working with Kenric, on what? Don’t know.

NOTE: I also can’t help but feel like whatever he was doing with Kenric is what got him arrested but that’s more of a blind suspicious dart than a definitive theory.

Theory 2: This is more of a statement than a genuine theory but I think Keefe has already sort of reached the height of his ability. At least when Sophie is enhancing him. On the bottom of page 50 of Stellarlune Lady Gisela says, “I don’t know. Do you think he’ll (Keefe) be able to influence someone’s emotions?” Keefe’s dad replies with, “No Empath can do that.” We’ve seen Sophie Enhance Empaths other than Keefe a few times before (Stina and Oralie mainly) but what Keefe describes (Being able to tap into someone’s emotional center and “guide” there feelings) is never brought up expect with him. You’d think during the whole “Learning to control her enhancing” thing with Oralie in Legacy Oralie would have brought it up, but she doesn’t really seem to notice (or have it.) Leading me to believe that this is a Keefe exclusive thing. Having nothing to do with the strength of the Empath, and more to do with Stellarlune. Which means that the only way Keefe can ever reach his full potential and complete his “legacy” is if Sophie (or some other enhancer but that’s no fun) is at his side. :)

Theory 3: I have had this theory wading around my mind since the night Unlocked came out and I scimmed through the files on all the Intelligent Species. It states in the one about goblins that no goblin has defected to join the Neverseen yet but doing so would, quote on quote, “If they did decide to break their treaty with the elves, it would be disastrous— particularly if any bodyguard turned against there charge.” Hmmmm… hmmm… HMMMMMMM. Now, obviously this is foreshadowing but the two main goblin body guards present in the series (Sandor and Griziel) are so loyal it can’t be them. But not every bodyguard is as loyal as them, particularly when there charge, shall I say, enjoys vanishing and running off? Yes, I am referencing Biana and Woltzer. Now, I can acknowledge that merely having a bad charge who constantly runs off isn’t enough to build that kind of resentment (I mean seriously, look at Sophie and Sandor. Girl has done that a lot.) but, at the bottom of page 498 of Stellarlune (which really just solidified this theory in my mind and left me screaming) when there loosing there collective minds over the dropping of the trolls treaty and they bring up the goblin treaty Woltzer says, “Is this peace? Or forced submission?” AND SANDOR IMMEDIATELY SHUTS HIM UP! *cue the “I am telling you! That mfer— that mfer” meme*. So yes, he is definitely the goblin traitor who will defect first and get a bunch to join him.

All around… seems like the next book is going to be interesting.

[shithead-123]

Kotlc collecting habits Pt.1

Basically what I think various kotlc characters (mostly the kids) would collect. other than prattles pins bc we all know everyone collects those so.

this is inspired by my own habits of picking random shit up and stuffing it in my closet.

Sophie: she doesn't rlly have the time to like exclusively go out and collect things she wants. I think she's rlly causal act what she keeps. if she see's a pretty rock? yoink. some nice smelling flowers? she'll pluck a few to maybe sundry when she's not busy saving the world lmao. I do think she would collect garden gnomes tho. Bc of mr. forkle's human house having the gnomes (the most weird or scary looking ones ofc, shoppes a weirdo 100%). It reminds her or her human past, and it also srsly weirds out like everyone who comes Havenfield which is is plus. Like just imagine a whole line of creepy ass gnomes lined up right outside havenfields entrance. She names them all too. they all human names ofc ofc. like bob. and carl. and other such things.

Keefe: I think he collects things based off of ppl if you know what I mean. Like he see's a bottle caps that reminds him of Sophie's exact eye color and adds it to his Sophie collection. Or if he see's like idk a purple rock that reminds him of like that one time Biana painted his nails the most vibrant and gaudy purple color she had, he adds it to his collection of things that remind him of Biana. maybe he adds little pieces of art he did for each person he collects stuff for. idk. Omg and maybe someday like he has all these collections and like the gang happens to fid out, and they start going through that shit. Keefe's so embarrassed and low-key scared they'll be mad, but they all love it. Fitz finally reunites with his long lost Bramble Jersey! Keefe immediately steals it back tho dw. he's such a people person fr. Especially bc of his empathy. He doesn't have collections for his parents. He used to for Gisela but when she was revealed to be a part of the never seen he showed her's into some dark corner of the house and hasn't looked back.

Biana: ikkkk ppl are gonna say that she collects hair pins and like jewelry and makeup and other stuff like that. And she does, She has an entire closet dedicated to dresses and shoes she has over the year. Like this is canonical. But her most prized and valued collection, is her stick collection. She has so many sticks. She has such stick fight vibes. She used to beat Keefe and fitz up with them. She organizes them by height. She lovingly pets them all. No one is allowed to touch her sticks. Biana = stick girl. One time when the gang was like idk practicing fighting with their bodyguards, she found the biggest most beautiful stick ever and literally screamed. No one knew why Biana, the girliest of girlies (said lovingly ily Biana) was so worked up over a stick. It's ok Biana, sticks r amazing fr.

Dex: I feel like before he became a techno path, he would collect like plant ingredients for different potions and elixirs needed at slurps and burps. He likes the idea of being useful, bc all his life he's been seen as a mistake. He's trying to prove his worth constantly. Kesler happened to ask him to get a like plant in front of a noble, and the noble complimented Dex on being such a good kid, so now he's like oh, I'm a good kid! which makes me so sad. But also he collects like useful things exclusively bc of the triplets. Like he can't bring shiny rocks or shells that he finds on the beach bc the triplets will get to it so fast that he won't even be able to like have a collection to adds things to. Instead, he collects pieces of scrap metal, herbs, wires, wood pieces, etc. so that he has the excuse of saying that this is material he needs for gadgets and elixirs and whatnot, so the triplets can't steal/break anything. he collects pens too( he is anti pencil).

Linh: Because of her being banshed for like 3+ years, I can't say that Linh is a big collector, neither is her brother. She didn't have the means to have things simply for enjoyment. Whatever little she owned went to keeping her and her brother alive and fed. It's hardcoded into to only take what she needs and nothing more bc of her previous life style. But now that she lives with Tiergan (NOT choralmere I REFUSE), I think she might start buying like little trinkets. Maybe stickers or small bracelets, or charms. keychains. Friendship necklaces. She would definitely buy lotttttts of excess things for princess purryfins. Like fancy collars, or little animal clothes. combs to brush her hair. Linh spoils her sm I swear. I wish is was Princess purryfins fr. I also think she would invest in a lottt of water proof clothing/goggles/etc. Like overly so. More than she needs. it's a way of calming her anxiety act her ability. Even if she messes up and loses control, at least she and everyone in Tiergan's house (I forgot what hi should is called) will stay dry. She hasn't fucked up completely.

[crymeariveronceagain]

Favourite headcannons?

Heck yeah!

If you want me to expand on any of these, feel free to send another ask, but I think most of them are self explanatory.

Aro-Ace Linh Song. I will die on this hecking hill.

Sophie Foster has a crippling caffiene addiction. It's what's keeping her alive at this point.

The Hekses are French. That's it, that's the whole headcanon.

Alden Vacker is among the crappiest parents to walk the face of this planet <3

The Vackers are not white, anyone who tells you otherwise is probably lying. They're at least half Desi. I don't make the rules.

Keefe has Freckles.

Alden Vacker and Fitz Vacker are both unregistered Beguilers. Alden would never cheat on Della. He'd do just about everything else, though.

Dex hosts movie nights for the whole friend group, and they watch Barbie movies and Disney Movies and Harry Potter and Teen Beach Movie and Steel Magnolias and Titanic(which makes all the boys scream at the scene) and Keefe and Sophie and Dex and Fitz have to translate for the rest of the friend group and they all assign each other different characters and treat it like it's Shakespeare.

Speaking of, BianA VACKER. IS THE WORLD'S MOST HUGEST. SHAKESPEARE NERD. SHE LOVES THE BARD SOOOO MUCH. I think if she died tomorrow she'd want a line from King Lear(her favorite play) on her tombstone.

The Alenfar Family. I love this headcanon so much. Like, imagine, Edaline, Bronte, Juline, Wylie, Tam, Linh, and Glimmer all having a family with one cool dad who gives them hugs?!?!?!?! I could cRY.

Alvar Vacker is Wraith, and Alden Vacker is the leader of the Neverseen.

Kotlc is actually a dystopia written under the guise of a utopia and Shannon's actually aiming for something really deep and dark with the series and the way she's approaching it.

Sophie is amazing at flirting, but she never notices that she's flirting, and so everyone else is in love with her but she never actually noticed and she's just an oblivious little bean and I'd die for her.

Keefe is super hecking touch starved, and his love language is physical touch, and so he doesn't know how much he needs a hug until he's sobbing in somebody's arms.

Gisela dies at the end <3

Fintan is Sophie's biological dad. I can't wait for the angst fire that that's gonna be when it's revealed.

Glimmer has albinism!

Tam Song is an absolute fool for Biana Vacker.

Biana Vacker loves that Tam is an absolute fool for her.

Biana Vacker can run in heels in a ankle-length dress up a flight of stairs while carrying a sword.

Keefe's full name is Cassius Keefe Sencen. He hates it with everything in him.

Stina and Dex hate each other because they're trying to ignore their feelings for each other. *romantic tension*

Mr. Forkle actually doesn't know what's going on at any given moment and kind of thinks he can fake his way through it.

I honestly have so many more, these were just the favorites I could think of off the top of my head.

[bookwyrminspiration]

My kotlc theory that I won’t accept not becoming cannon is Sophie breaking Gethen’s mind. This series started with those two and it’s gonna end with those two. Sophie has always focused on him and pushed for the Black Swan and Council to interrogate him and push him to see what he’s hiding. In the Unlocked Neverseen section she stated that she believes he’s the villain they should be focusing on the most and she wants to break into his mind. The buildup to this has been left in breadcrumbs this whole time and I would cut off my left arm to see this happen for real.

Oh Nonsie now I am just as invested as you are in the completion of the circle for the two of them. For some reason my brain went "this started with Gethen bit by a dog and it should end with Sophie biting him this time." Um. Maybe she shouldn't bite him but like let's maintain the sentiment, you know?

I mean, of the antagonists whose names we know he's one of the only ones we haven't really explored. Yes there's also Trix, but Trix was introduced a lot later and we've never talked to him. But Gethen has always been there and yet we know so so little. Who is he? Why did he join the Neverseen? What's his goal among all of this? Fintan is in prison, Gisela's focused on Keefe, Vespera doesn't want to be associated with Gisela and has her own goals. Where does that leave the rest of the Neverseen?

It'd also be absolutely fascinating to see the immediate lead up and repercussions of Sophie making that kind of decision to break someone's mind. Not even necessarily her going "I'm going to break him" but her pushing so hard that it happens anyway. Because she has exerted truly impressive amounts of energy in someone's head without breaking them, so the level of anger or indignation she'd have to get to to reach that point. Then she's faced with the question of whether or not it was worth it, whether he deserves to be healed. Because no matter what anyone else decides, it's her that makes it happen.

I think whether or not she breaks his mind, we have to have a scene where she's in his head. The number of times she's been told not to search his mind and how eager he's been for her to do it...we have to see what happens when she finally does it! What she learns, what she finds, what it's like, why people tried to get her out.

If we go with the theory that Gethen, a powerful blond telepath whose identity reveal would shake their world, is her father, then I suggest a scene where upon finally disregarding what everyone else says about reading his mind, she goes all in and finds the secret he's been hiding--that he's her bio father and that's why Mr. Forkle has always insisted that he be the one to search his mind. Not just because she's important and Gethen is dangerous, but because inside his mind Mr. Forkle doesn't have control and he can tell her anything he wants, share any secret information Forkle has sequestered away. It could be like a power play. Gethen never says it out loud, he lets Sophie find it for herself as she thinks she's about to unlock some secret to defeated the Neverseen, and then also shattering her trust between Forkle and her because how could he pick Gethen, how could he not tell her?

We've got two books left and there's been reasonable build up specifically around Gethen and Sophie, Nonsie. There is not only a possibility but almost a necessity to address it in order to tie up the trail. I don't know if we'll get a broken mind, but we're getting something!!

[duchesspeggy]

This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever

[More thoughts under the cut because Alvar makes me sad and I need to share my thoughts. Warning: it’s very long and still doesn’t cover the whole thing imo.]

[Additional warning for Star Wars and ATLA spoilers, for comparative purposes.]

One thing that strikes me about Alvar is how close he came to be on the right side.

We don’t know at what age he joined the Neverseen but we know he was still in Foxfire (and according to Fintan, he was even the youngest to ever join them). Much like Sophie & co, he joined a secret group of rebels because he thought the Council was not ruling the Elvin society properly. His tragedy was being found by the Neverseen rather than the Black Swan. On that note, I think it should be worth noting that at the time Alvar joined the Neverseen, they probably seemed like a better group than the Black Swan. The Neverseen motives are still unclear (Lady Gisela joined them during her pregnancy, but I’m not sure what the Neverseen were up to before that. Were they just radical ecologists or did they already have some weird convoluted plan to take over the world ? idk) but from Alvar point of view, they were probably just a group set on taking actions the Council didn’t dare to. The Black Swan, on the other hand, created a genetically-manipulated child and dropped her in the human world for their own benefit. I know Forkle has all kind of well-crafted speeches to explain how this isn’t a bad thing and Sophie isn’t his little puppet but I’d argue that still doesn’t excuse the circumstances of Sophie’s creation (she was made for a purpose rather than being her own person. That’s messed up) and most of all, Alvar didn’t hear that side of the argument. From what he knew, the Black Swan really created their own little puppet with all kind of super abilities. So yeah, he joined the Neverseen, which was an incredibly bad decision because they’re still terrorists, but from his point of view, I think they appeared less radical than the Black Swan. Sorry for the long digression, back to Alvar’s tragedy.

Why did he join the Neverseen ? Because he thought his family had too many privileges and got away with too much. His biggest desire was literally to put and end to the cult surrounding his family and reveal them for the schemers that they are. He was himself involved in one of those casual ‘breaking the law because we’re Vackers who cares’ by his own father: “Hey Alvar, how would you like to ditch school from time to time and go to the Forbidden Cities to try and found a baby elf hidden there ? Don’t get caught, the Council doesn’t want me to investigate that case lol”. (Side-note again but I wonder if Alvar joined the Neverseen because, having seen humans first-hand, he shared their disgust towards them, especially with all the pollution).  Of course, joining the Neverseen ultimately proved to be a wrong decision, because their actions are morally reprehensible, but his core motivation was good. He saw an injustice and wanted to expose it, even if it meant losing his own privileges in the process.

However, at some point, you have to wake up and realise that kidnapping children and poisoning an entire species etc. is bad. Especially as an adult. It would have been difficult for Alvar to leave the Neverseen after so many years, notably because he joined them so young. He was craving the attention and recognition he didn’t get from his family and for a while, he thought he found it with the Neverseen (bad idea kids. don’t try this at home). Getting out of such groups ascendancy on your mind is very hard and you rarely manage it on your own. Alvar didn’t get any help to do so, except a little in Flashback, but by then it was already too late and not nearly enough. Also the length to which he was ready to go through to make himself useful to Vespera (getting drugged, having his memories erased, etc.) shows how much he depends on that recognition. No sane person would agree to that, much less think of it themselves. But he is still an adult. He is responsible for his actions and he is very much aware that his actions are evil. He hasn’t even shown remorse for them, not even in Legacy. 

Which brings me to the next point I wanted to discuss: should Alvar get a redemption arc? First of all, I need to state that nothing in the narrative points towards it so far. What happens to him at the end of Flasback and during Legacy is not redemption, it’s retribution. In a good story, characters have to face the consequences of their actions at some point. Good actions lead to a good reward. Bad actions to various pay-back. It’s what make it satisfactory: in the end, the villains get punished in one way or another (I really cannot wait for Lady Gisela to get what she deserved because imo, she’s truly the worst of all). Alvar took part in various schemes of the Neverseen and ultimately, put the entire society in danger by opening the hive. He deserves what happens to him. (Except he also doesn’t because so far, he is the only one to suffer a truly horrible fate, when he isn’t in any way as guilty as other characters and already suffered a great deal. Back to it later.) And when he meets Sophie and Keefe, he’s not remorseful. He is not in a redemptive set of mind; he’s only resigned to dying (which breaks my heart, but that’s my own bias) (part of me hopes his quiet place is just his dating spot with Ryu in the Neutral Territories but it’s just wishful thinking). All of this to say that, if Alvar gets a redemption arc, it hasn’t properly started yet (and with only two books left and so many matters to cover, I don’t think it will happen. I still won’t shut up)

Although such an arc hasn’t started yet, I’d argue the conditions to it are already planted. As seen above, Alvar isn’t your big villains with nefarious plans to destroy the entire world, nor is he subjecting his children to horrifying experiments for his own selfish purposes or whatever. His initial motive wasn’t evil and he has shown a good side several times, especially when interacting with Keefe. He is eager for him to see his point of view, he wants him to be properly trained (and teach him very useful skills), he reassures him about being his own person... He’s not pretending in those scenes. He has genuine goodness in him. He is also now separated from the Neverseen. This part is probably what saddens me the most, because deep down, Alvar’s story is one of a child who craves recognition (even if it meant searching for it in wrong places), but only ever got disdain. He felt neglected by his parents and overshadowed by his siblings. The Neverseen only saw value in him because of his family name, the very thing he wanted to leave behind, rather than his talents. Fintan forced him to reveal his affiliation with them, and then Alvar got blamed for it by Vespera and tortured. At the end of Flashback, Umber calls him useless the entire time and says Fitz would have been a better recruit than him. Finally, Vespera ditches him because he’s done serving his purpose. (Which is very stupid. He’s a Vanisher, and from what Della’s says, one of the best. He can still make a very good spy. But hey, she only ever saw him as the guy with the Vacker DNA.) Alvar being kicked out of the Neverseen speaks against him for a redemption arc, because it would be more powerful if he broke the bound himself (rather than “the baddies don’t want me anymore so i’m good now”). But it also means he has no part in whatever Lady Gisela is doing. Even before that, we never saw him take part in those schemes, and his words to Keefe tend to prove that he doesn’t support that plan. The series is too advanced for him to make a 180°C turn and reject everything the Neverseen has done so far. It seems like a good compromise to me to have him stand against that project (even more so if you consider that he was opposed to project Moonlark. I don’t think he likes the idea of manipulating the genes of children *here’s your ‘not as bad as you could have been’ star*)

Now, what makes a good redemption story? There are several examples out there (Zuko having the best one, obviously. Unfortunately, he is too different from Alvar to serve as a good example) but I would like to focus on one: Darth Vader. Anakin becomes evil with good intentions: he wants to save the love of his life and their children. He is also tired of the Senate inefficiency and the Jedi strict rules. A powerful member of the Senate happens to agree with him and encourage him on his rebellion. And listen. I know this post isn’t canon but I truly wish this is how Alvar encounter with the Neverseen happened. It’s plausible. Darth Vader commits infinitely more crimes than Alvar. He destroys an entire planet in the first movie. Not exactly a good guy. But he still gets a redemption at the very end. He kills the Emperor to save his son and loses his life while doing so. For a redemption arc to be good, the character has to sacrifice something. And it has to be proportional to the evil they did. (Zuko, for example, went through various trials and hardships in book 3, and ultimately sacrificed himself to save Katara, but he lived because he was not evil. He was always bad at being bad. End of the digression.) Also worth noting that Anakin was saved by Luke’s faith in him. If Alvar does get a redemption arc, I think it’s the direction it should take. He should be motivated by love (probably for his family since this what his entire arc revolves around ; on that note, even though Biana is the most obvious choice, I would be curious to see a confrontation with his parents. We never got that, I wonder how it would go) and he would have to suffer for it. Not necessarily in a physical sense, even though it’s the most obvious, but he has to sacrifice something. Since he is already dying, it would be very difficult to put in action unfortunately, unless he gets a miraculous healing. But then, the whole ordeal gets very redundant, considering he’s been found half-dead twice already.

Even though I wish Alvar had some form of redemption, I doubt it. Or I doubt it will be properly done, for a few reasons. First of all, as seen, it’s a little late. Besides, Alvar doesn’t have much to contribute to the series anymore. It’s a shame, because I think he had a lot of potential, but the story went in such a direction that he’s not relevant anymore. (Note that I’d love to be proven wrong!) Another thing that makes me iffy about a good redemption arc is, unfortunately, the quality of the writing. Alvar isn’t really Darth Vader; he’s closer to Kylo Ren. And Shannon Messenger doesn’t write him in a mature way, I’m sorry to say that. “He’s evil, therefore he’s the ugliest of the family. He’s vain and has mirror in every single room of his place (like Lord Cassius who has a statue of himself, wtf). Oh but wait, he’s evil! so his place is stinky and smells bad he obviously never cleaned”. Listen. You’re telling me he’s vain and has pristine clothes and is a womanizer (oh yeah, bad) but lives in a junk? This feels very gratuitous. Aside from that, many characters in the books suffer from this “immature” writing. For example, Keefe has no character development. I apologise to all the Keefe stans out there, but I find his lack of evolution incredibly frustrating and when at the end of Unlocked, he once again runs away “for everyone’s sake uwu��, I just wanted to punch him. (I won’t get into a full analysis of his character because this is already too long and also, I don’t like him enough to do that but in short, the sh*t his parents make him go through doesn’t excuse his lack of growth from a narrative point of view. It makes him frustrating to read.) Fitz development is... weird. Linh is forgotten halfway through. Dex and Biana are remembered once in a blue moon. Etc etc. Of course, the large cast makes it difficult to focus on all of them and honestly, kudos to Shannon Messenger for even building such a story. I could never do that. But I think character development is the weakest point of the series, which means I’m not very hopeful for a good redemption arc for Alvar. Even though I’d like to see him get more recognition, because I think he has a lot of untouched potential, I hope he just found his quiet place like he wanted to.

Tldr; Alvar had the potential to be a complex character. His core motives weren’t bad, but his actions were. He was corrupted (for the lack of a better word) at a young age, but is yet to show remorse in his adult life. I wish he got a redemption arc, or his backstory was more explored, because the potential is there. But it seems very unlikely to happen at that stage of the story. Sad.

[huntlowstan]

Kotlc ending and stuff

(mild stellarlune spoilers)

@officially-shannon-messenger this is for you.

don't want the end of the series to be super simple and the last line is something stupid like "We won." I feel like after a decade it would be a really disappointing ending. So hot take here. What if the last line of the next book is "We lost…" (Best/Worst cliffhanger ever)

BOOM another book about the new dynamic with the neverseen as a ruler maybe there's a thing where they wipe everyone's memories and everyone seems so ridiculously different and OOC because to them the neverseen is all they've known and they have fuzzy spots in their memories.

If someone finds out what they've done they get their washer and there's like scenes where they show them wiping their mind and it's absolutely terrifying because after the person just goes about normally as if they didn't just go through something traumatic. Sophie might not even be the main character here it could be someone else.

But regardless something triggers a memory and the whole book is trying to get everyone else to remember each other as they were and getting back to their old life. But there's someone who doesn't want to go back because their life was awful.

*cough* Keefe *cough* and he becomes the new villain. I mean how epic would Villain Keefe be? Especially with his new ability, he could be an incredible dictator.

He needs a way to control his ability so this could also be a way for the solution to be found where the others have a way to make themselves immune so that way Keefe wouldn't be numb forever.

He could've been controlled by Lady Gisela this whole time or at the very least influenced until at an epic battle he sees sophie and all his memories come flooding back because not plot twist he's a good person. He fights back against his mom killing her and the world somehow doesn't go back to normal. So they work.

They work to make it even better than before so something like this never happens again and Sokeefe lives happily ever after along with everyone else.

There could also be other things like Dex being relevant, the cover art would be sick and just imagine the ships that could come from it or the things that could be revealed

This is probably never gonna happen but I want this fanfic.

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

for the songs

New Person, Same Old Mistakes by Tame Impala

Killer Queen by Mad Tsai

Villain by Stella Jang

(ack sorry if these aren’t the best— they were the first songs from the top of my head 😔)

Ooooh okay

Maybe biana about her crushes? Like first she liked Keefe and then maybe her liking Tam or smth but feeling like it's unrequited

"Feeling it overtake/ All that I used to hate" she hated not having someone care for her like that other than surface level

"Wonder what if we trade" like she doesn't want to like someone who doesn't like her back

"All the signs I don't read" they're not interested right (although Tam kinda is in canon but maybe it's dex who is also kinda interested in canon??? Yk what. It's Keefe biana and insert person biana could have a Keefe situation with)

"Going with what I always longed for" she wants love

"Feel like a brand new person/ (But you make the same old mistakes)" she's changed sm but like same situation

"I don’t care I’m in love/ (Stop before it’s too late)" poor bbg

"I'm thinking it's worth the fight" she's trying tho

"Man, I know that it's hard to digest/ But baby this story ain’t so different from the rest/ And I know it seems wrong to accept" this sums up like biana having to go through that again

Gisela omg

"There was this girl/ The most beautiful in the world" leaving this here

"She would walk the halls/ And everyone would whisper and talk/ 'Cause all the girls in town wanted to be her" maybe kid Gisela??

"She's a devil in disguise/ The prom queen has blood on her hands" Gisela is so sweet idk what yall are talking about (lying)

"Every boy and girl she dates" very few believe in straight Gisela

"Disappears without a trace" she's just silly like that

"So be careful when she asks you to dance" if Gisela asked me to dance I would wake up to vesperas ghost torturing me

"She's a motherfucking killer queen/ A psychopath at seventeen/ A beauty in a blood-stained dress" she's so lovely wdym

"She'll fill your heart with kerosene/ And light you up 'til you can't breathe" soooo this is what she does to keefe

"If you cross her path you just might end up dead" *cough* vespera *cough*

"There was this girl/ Who was broken by the world/ 'Cause everyday at school they'd push and shove her/ But she had a plan/ One day she would get her revenge/ And those cheerleaders and jocks would be six feet under" this kinda sums up my theory for how she went batshi

"But behind those angel eyes/ Lies a devilish surprise/ The prom queen has killed for her crown" VESPERA

"Every boy and girl she seeks/ Never comes back in one piece" Cassius is fucked in the head and vespera is fucked in the existence

"She's dancing by herself" bro just left the neverseen

Omg this is Alvar to biana hear me out

"We all pretend to be the heroes on the good side/ Some things are black/ Some things are white/ You shouldn't look through colored lenses/ You're the good guy/ He's the bad guy/ Your boring world is in black and white" just the whole vacker legacy thing and how he's against the black swan

"So many shades of gray" He's trying to manipulate her

"Think twice before you like me" the reveal

"Because/ I'm a villain/ What makes you think otherwise?/ You don't know what a wicked little devil I am" basically the reveal

"You're a villain/ What makes you think otherwise?/ The villain you failed to notice breathes within you" this is so smth he would say to her

"I'm killing someone maybe/ You're killing someone maybe/ I'm killing you maybe/ You're killing me maybe" its so him!!

"We all pretend to be the heroes/ On the good side/ But what if we're the villains/ On the other" vacker legacyyyy

"The person you hate the most/ Is somebody's beloved child" he would!!!

"You don't know what wicked little devils we are/ We're all villains/ What makes you think otherwise?/ Look at us, the devils we failed to notice" eeekkk

[uni-seahorse-572]

okay but consider: what if the Black Swan and the Neverseen were one and the same?

They're all elves willing to make the hard choices to create change, and so their plan is simple: the Neverseen acts like terrifying villains in order to make the Black Swan look better, setting them up as the only people who can keep everyone safe... unlike the Council.

They plan everything together, from Sophie's kidnapping to Jolie's death to the Oblivimyre fire, all to create the perfect villains.

some interesting possibilities here:

Jolie was treated like a necessary sacrifice for the cause

Fintan and Mr. Forkle were the two main leaders, which could also lend credence to the Fintan is Sophie's dad theory

Sophie and co. endure all they do in order to use children to make the Black Swan look more innocent

Lady Gisela joins, but with a plan of her own, and it's through her influence and manipulations that the two groups start to truly split

The gnomish plague wasn't supposed to happen - the Neverseen decided that they needed a way to create a more severe impact, but the Black Swan thought it was wrong to harm innocent gnomes, and that worsened the divide

Eventually, especially under Lady Gisela, they broke apart - the Black Swan had to turn to working with the Council more and more, because things were no longer going to script

Also adds an additional angst level to Alvar - he was really joining the same side as his siblings, in a way, it's just that he was assigned to play the villain (with the reasoning that a Vacker turning could have serious impact on the pristine elven reputation) but his siblings didn't understand that, and since Alvar's allegiance was more strongly to the Black Swan that's why the Neverseen begins to turn against him as he starts to regret the evils he now knows he committed for nothing

(also all three groups in the series would be massively messed up)

The sheer impact this reveal could have... the betrayal... I think this could absolutely fracture the whole series and I love it

[sugarshackpeasant]

sophie and her friends: too predictable or do they have a spy

so i don’t think that shannon will have one of sophie’s friends betray her but this is who i suspect if shannon did:

so lets use the process of elimantion for this, in sophie’s main-ish group (i’m counting maruca and marella as part of the main group) there’s keefe, fitz, dex, tam., linh, biana, wylie, marella, maruca

keefe: obviously its not keefe, most of his character is about not wanting to be like his mom

fitz: i kind of suspected fitz in the earlier books, but his reaction to alvar being a traitor was way too strong for him to be a part of the neverseen

dex: he got tortured and kidnapped in book one, he’s definitely not a spy

tam: we say from his pov in the legacy short story and he hated being a prisoner of the neverseen, he’s not the spy

wylie: not the spy, he was tortured by the neverseen, the neverseen killed his mom, and prentice and tiergan are in the black swan 

marella: i think it would be too much like the brant plotline if marella was a neverseen member, and the whole evil pyrokinetic thing has already been done twice

maruca: hasn’t had enough page time, for her betrayal to be impactful and wylie’s her cousin and the neverseen literally tortured him

that leaves two main suspects: biana and linh

when i started writing this post i was leaning towards biana and i’ll make a case for her, but first let me address linh

i’m writing this while i’m in school (lol) but the more i thought about ti during english class the more it made sense

let’s break it down:

linh was banished and sent to exillium

wouldn’t that make your blood boil if your parents just let the council banish you for an accident instead of not taking a hydrokinetic under the ocean

being banished under circumstances like that would make you pretty angry at the council and your parents right?

angry enough to want revenge?

linh and tam were already treated horrible by elvin society because they were twins and wouldn’t you hold a grudge for that?

at exillium it seems like it would be pretty easy to recruit the kids for the neverseen

a bunch of angry and powerful kids and being anonymous is enforced all the time

and we know tam is more openly bitter about linh and his banishment, but couldn’t linh just be putting on a front when she’s around other people because she doesn’t want them in her business

okay so lets just assume that the neverseen recruited linh a little before the gnomish plague got spread

lets think about why the neverseen would recruit her: she’s banished and angry, she was already discriminated against before she was banished, she’s very powerful and she’s more likely to follow orders than her brother (remember that tam doesn’t like being told what to do by anyone), and she and tam lived right by wildwood (i think, but i know that they lived where the plague was)

okay the neverseen’s recruited her and she lives by the perfect spot to spread the plague, so they do the thing with the tree and now the plague is out in the world

and i know that you’re probably thinking that fintan made alvar reveal he was a spy so why wouldn’t he make linh reveal herself too?

think about it, if you were fintan and you were deciding who you wanted to reveal themselves as a spy to sophie and her friends would you rather reveal alvar who can spy on alden (that’s about it) or linh who is now trusted by sophie and the black swan?

make sure to remember that sophie doesn’t tell alden everything, the people she normally goes to first are either her friends or the black swan

linh is in the better position here and why would fintan want to reveal both of his spies, instead he could reveal alvar to fuck with sophie and her friends head while still keeping linh who is in a better position to gather intel

also lets not forget that everyone else in the friend group has been injured or had severe psychological trauma from the neverseen

sophie and dex were kidnapped and tortured, keefe’s had his ribs broken and his mom’s been emotionally abusing him his whole life, fitz was tortured by umber, wylie was tortured, tam was taken prisoner and forced to do a lot of fucked up shit (you really think that wouldn’t leave any trauma at all?), and biana has permanent scars and almost died

marella and maruca haven’t been majorly injured but they’re also a lot newer to the group than linh

linh has been with the group for a while now and nothing major has happened to her that i can remember

also maybe linh was another factor in gisela wanting tam in the neverseen, maybe linh just wanted her brother safe and on the winning side

and maybe that’s why linh doesn’t want to be around glimmer because she doesn’t want glimmer recognizing her or her voice

lets assume that linh probably had a code name 

so what do you think, is linh a spy for the neverseen?

alright, so i said that i also thought that biana could be the spy, but after everything i just wrote, i think it’s less likely, but it’s still a possibility, so here’s why is supect her:

biana vacker always being used to get closer to fitz, never the golden child, always in fitz’s shadow

she always just kind of gave me a vibe in the first three books that maybe she was in the neverseen

think about it, alvar was a member of the neverseen and he thinks that biana is the sibling that would understand why the vacker legacy is fucked up

so maybe once she manifests as a vanisher he recruits her

but idk biana also got scarred and almost died from vespera’s attack and that would take a lot of commitment to a cause to let them almost kill you just to maintain your cover

so personally i don’t really think that biana’s a spy anymore but if you can think of more reasons on why she might be, feel free to tell me

so what do y’all think is linh a spy or is biana a spy? or do you think that it’s someone else from sophie’s friend group?

[thelavendernarwhal]

Kotlc Oneshot Month - June 8th

June 8th: Characters reaction when Sophie shows Keefe’s letter to them

This one is a bit late and shorter to due crazy muralist times, but I couldn’t pass up this prompt. Also, my Dex-bias might be showing.

He couldn’t do this. After everything that his parents did, after every dangerous mission they’d been sent on, this was what crossed the line. Dex said he could help and, he still believed that he could figure something out to fix Keefe’s problem, but it was already too late for that. To be honest, everyone kind of figured that he was going to do something drastic soon, but why did Dex need to be the tipping point? Why did that little, stupid conversation need to be what pushed him over the ledge not even five minutes after it ended and there was nothing he could do about it. It was all so clearly his fault and everyone was just being nice by pretending it wasn’t.

Dex’s thoughts were running a mile a minute ever since Sophie sat everyone down with Keefe’s letter. It might as well have been a suicide note considering he couldn’t survive where he was. It wasn’t that Keefe couldn’t take care of himself; the human world was simply full of too much even without Keefe’s heightened abilities and with them, he was liable to pass out on the spot. Dex’s hands were balled on his knees, crunching in his shoulders and posture as if his whole being was collapsing in on itself. His expression was pained but paled in comparison to the reactions around him.

         Tam appeared to be vaguely angry but was more focused on Linh’s water stimming and Biana’s tears while most of the adults jumped straight into figuring out a plan for dealing with the impulsive teenager. Then there was Sophie; she had since sat down after revealing the letter, but she hadn't moved from there, with her head planted on her knees in a tight ball. Dex wanted to comfort her or just do anything to help, but he was just as frozen. He could’ve left and no one would notice.

        That was something Keefe was always good at. He noticed Dex when everyone else forgot about him. He reached out to him when he got regulated to behind-the-scenes work and made him feel like it wasn’t so bad like what he was doing was important. In turn, he helped Keefe stay sane while he was benched and couldn’t break through the tension of people’s cocktail of war and teenage drama blocking them both out. Dex would readily give anything to help Keefe through this, but all he ended up with was scaring him away.

Then that snowballed into everything with Rex. Of course, he was yet to sort through his storm of emotions on that one that still raged inside of him and made it so that he couldn’t look his brother in the eyes, but one thing was very clear; he couldn’t tell anyone the real reason Keefe left. He’d never come back if everybody knew he could sense and trigger the backbone of their society into existence. It wouldn’t matter if they caught Gisela or even took down the whole Neverseen; Keefe wouldn’t return if it would lead into another mess. It made Dex just want to scream at the universe why it decided to put such an amazing person through this and throw a fit until it put things back the way they were. 

Dex was tugged from his train of thought when a small ball of fur nudged at his hand. Right, Sophie brought Iggy downstairs with the note for some support, letting him scamper around the room and check in on the varying degrees of emotional messes taking place. For whatever reason, he settled on Dex’s knee, letting him pet his oceanic fur and think through what elixirs were used to make it that way. The little guy released a rumbling purr before rolling onto his back for some tummy rubs. Dex highly doubted that Iggy was trying to comfort him, seeing as no one else was available to get him the attention he wanted, but it did the trick for steadying his mind enough to come up with the bare bones of a plan.

“We can still find him.” Dex said bluntly, calling all eyes to him. He was still ducked in with none of his body language saying that he was okay, but he had to talk now before anyone planned something drastic. “We can use the camera system set up for the green door search to find Keefe and keep an eye on him. We can’t drag him back against his will, but we can make sure that he doesn’t get hurt.”

Questions started flying in, but he was too busy thinking through his next steps. No matter what it took, he would find a way to control Keefe’s powers. Dex wasn’t about to let the universe take him away again.

[cecebookworm]

Anyway, I finished Everblaze like three days ago but then I had to process a few theories and reread the information bit of Unlocked so this is technically late. But besides all that, which will be coming on a “half way there” wrap up style post after Lodestar, here are my thoughts after my Everblaze reread!

NOTE: I will be going back to my previous KOLTC reread thoughts and adding this as well because I forgot to but SPOILERS! I will be discussing everything I felt/noticed regardless of whether certain things were revealed in this book or in later books. So if you haven’t read the whole series I wouldn’t recommend this. (And if you don’t care then go off)

- I feel like this books strength is that when it starts it doesn’t stop. From Fintan’s healing onward it’s just bam bam bam with action or drama or mystery.

- Sophie is so iconic in this book. The Blackswan told her no and then she said, “UNO REVERSE!”

- Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeffffffffffffffffffffffffffeeeeeeeeee He hurts me in this book. Like look, it gets worse. We’ve all witnessed Neverseen Keefe, Legacy Keefe, UNLOCKED KEEFE! *shudders* But this is his early on set trauma pain, and I hate it.

- Fitz is actually nice in this book. Yes he has a lot to make up for after Exile, but I found his care for Sophie amid everyone detesting over the healing extremely charming and sweet.

- B I A N A !!!!!! Finally, after two books of being absolutely horrible she can have her icon arc. I love her in this book. I mean, the scene where Edaline gives some of Jolie’s old dresses to Biana rather than Sophie brings me some, shall we say, pain. But, that was unintentional on all fronts so it’s fineeeee. Plus Biana going bop bop to Gisela on Everest is a personal favorite moment of hers for me in the whole series.

- Oh Dex, where do I begin… mannnnnnnn, that circlet plot still annoys me to this day. I mean seriously, Dex? Your father is talentless and you’ve SEEN first hand how poorly people treat him over it but you’ll subjugate someone else to that WILLINGLY? For shame.

- I always wonder what his family thought in this moment. Specficlly, Juline. While we don’t know that she’s in the Black Swan at this point in the series, nor do we even meet Squall yet, I can’t help but wonder how she felt about witnessing this. Given that she’s in the collective, I doubt she was even happy that Dex was working with the council to create weapons, and then she had to witness Emery swear that anyone associated with Black Swan would be hunted down (aka her, lmao), AND THEN, she had to witness Sophie (the Moonlark) literally be nerfed in-front of the nation. Yikes.

- Generally speaking, the circlet plot is still really messed up. I would argue it’s one of the worst things the council present in the series did. Regardless of how many people perceived Sophie to be a danger to society, considering the circlets first version left her litteraly unconscious, then it’s second attempt left her physically and mentally weak, I would argue that’s torture to one of your citizens. But oh well. This is the council we’re talking about so are we really surprised?

- Can we talk about all of the non-council adults in that scene? Oh my god, we all know how protective Grady is of her, but seeing protective Edaline, Tiegran, and Elwin is so legendary.

- Grady in this book is double the pain. Like he was going through it in Exile, but that’s honestly worsened in this book. While his blame shifts from himself/The Black Swan, it immediately goes to the mysterious pyrokinetic (aka Brant) who he KNOWS killed Jolie and tortured Sophie during her kidnapping. At that point, he’s suffering from the fact that both his daughters suffered at the hands of the same person but he doesn’t know who it is. Then it’s revealed to be Brant, aka the person him and Edaline have been taking care of like a son for the past sixteen freaking years. WHEN I SAY THIS SERIES HURTS! I MEAN IT HURTS!

- That whole sequence is still sooooooo good. Grady’s rage, Sophie’s protectiveness, Brants mania. MY GOD! (Then there’s that really really really messed up line where Brant basically says he’ll kill Sophie but leave Grady alive basically just to make Grady suffer even more is still probably one of the most horrible throw away lines in this series. And that’s saying something)

- Silveny’s role in this book will forever pain. Not as much as in Flashback but close.

- The whole aromark subplot makes no sense to me as a student currently in biology. This is my favorite series of all times, and yes, it is fantasy, but I don’t think Shannon Messenger entirely understands what an enzyme is…

- The Fintan healing scene still pains me to this day. Especially when you find out Kenric kind of knew he probably wasn’t gonna make it. Plus those scenes are just so well written.

- Kenric is still a character that baffles me, something we’ll touch on further when I get to my rereads of Unlocked and Stellarlune. I always find myself wondering if he GENUINELY cared for Sophie. His constant gentle teasings when he’s around her, the fact that he’s the councilor with her during her second inflicting session after her really horrible first one, you get the gist. Did he genuinely care for her and see her as a symbol of hope? Or is it simply that he looks at her and sees Oralie’s daughter? I doubt we’ll ever get the full answer to this given that he’s dead as of this book, but it’s still something to consider.

- Okay, here’s where my notes come in. FIRST NOTE! Page 89, and this one isn’t about future theories or anything, I just find it really interesting that one of the poems Brant writes to Jolie is both an ode to her an ode to fire. Again, at the end of this book we know WHY, he’s a pyrokinetic blah blah blah. I just never noticed.

- Pages 156-158 are both sad and cute. Seeing Sophie try to comfort Keefe about needing more of his skin melted off pains me. Worsened by when he’s later like, “My mom actually seemed like she cared about me this time.” (Not verbatim) PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAINNNNNNNNN!

- Page 189. Here begins cognates Sophie Foster and Fitzroy Vacker. From here on out dear Keepers, take a shot of Lushberry Juice.

- HERE WE HAVE A MADDDDD SKIP: 324-325. I’m sorry, but I could really use some somnalene. My restless anxious can’t sleep ass really needs somnalene. Why can’t this exist irl?

- Page 409. This is something that just, bothers me. Keefe says, “Though of course my mom told me I fastened it to loosely and insisted I repin it. Twice.” (Verbatim) So like, Gisela is 100% a horrible person who just didn’t want Keefe to lose the pin because that would mean they couldn’t find them. I HATE HER! *angry pillow punching*

- Page 482. Emery calling Sophie, “Not Normal” is so shitty. I don’t care if she technically isn’t. Shamming a thirteen year old in front of the world before maiming her? NOT COOL MAN!

- Chapters 43-44. Peak Sophie dumbassery. “Read the ogre kings mind!” Her dumb dumb brain said. “It won’t be that bad!” Her dumb dumb brain said.

- It went bad

Anyway, Everblaze was fun. But most of the mysteries presented here have been solved. The next book, Neverseen on the other hand, well, that’s just getting started isn’t it?

(I’m so melodramatic sometimes lmao)

[tamsong]

like you said, the black swan would be a lot more interesting if they have actual goals they're working on outside of just...sophie saving the world. like. it feels strange that they're all so centered around sophie when they're supposed to be this far-reaching rebellion that does tons of work behind the scenes, and we dont even get real goals from them. its mostly just "yeah make the world better" but it never specifies. if they had specific goals like "get rid of the matchmaking system" or "reintroduce humans to the lost cities" (doesnt have to be those, they're just examples) i feel like they'd be a lot more engaging to read about and discuss.

FOR SURE DUDE like fintan had his “put all humans in a sanctuary” thing and lady gisela has her… well that’s a little more more vague but she’s Doing stuff, like messing w keefe’s abilities and the whole nightfall thing. the black swan feels less active and more REactive, just trying to stop whatever the neverseen is doing. i think the series could benefit from the vibe of the earlier books where the black swan was a bit more spooky and info was being revealed in chunks at a time (but multiple chunks per book) because rn it seems we’ve hit a wall with the information we’re getting