#what doesn’t break spoilers

[dadrielle]

[thewhalelord]

“I just want you here, that’s all. Next to me.”

[musicinherhead]

I am speechless after this book. There are just.. SO MANY THINGS I CAN TOUCH IN WITH THIS.

[Overall book spoilers, please read only if you read cover to cover<3]

• If Delilah Briarwood has no haters I’m dead.

• I didn’t expect the banquet and Sun Tree narrative to get worse. But it did. My therapist will be hearing about this.

• I did NOT anticipate the double edged dagger to the heart in Kymal with the “Fun Scary” to “Scary Scary” pipeline. That was— again my therapist will be hearing about this.

• Sharing a name with Laudna’s very first human friend was a very unique and personal experience I wanted to cry that entire timeline.

• Speaking of Bella, it is WILD TO ME how she and Imogen are the same age and probably have the same birthday— and Bella was implied to be a Ruidisborn, which tells me we get a reunion cameo soon I hope. I don’t know if I’d rather it be in a friendly way, or a villain way but I reallllllly hope it happens.

• Speaking of Imogen— how in the many planes of existence did they not kiss sooner?????? I never read something more romantic than Laudna’s thought on meeting Imogen and Imogen’s flustered reactions to Laudna. The blushing. The stammering. The devotion?????? I love them so much, they are so so special to me

• I adore Pate de Rolo with all my heart. His creation was so beautiful. Laudna making Delilah talk to and acknowledge him gave me joy.

• I adore the name Adorabelle so so much

[rjl11898]

Nothing gets me crying in the club faster than these two specific lesbians 🥹🥹🥹 their fate is INTERTWINED and they are eachother’s HOME UGH!!

[ratinayellowbandana]

I feel like there are a few ways to read the imodna part of the epilogue:

1) damn they moved fast [rushed writing]

2) damn they moved fast [imogen was desperate]

3) damn they moved fast [down bad from day 0]

[callmerootbxtch]

only finished the prologue of what doesn’t break and i’m already fighting for my life. how did they make it even worse than i thought it would be???

[imogens-temult]

just out here weeping over laudna and imogen first meeting. my heart cannot handle any of this. i love them so much it hurts. must protect at all costs.

[floweroflaurelin]

I just finished What Doesn’t Break and now my own painting makes me sad 😭😭

Huevember day 10: The Patron

—

Let’s do terrible and beautiful things.

—

I’M STILL REELING FROM LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE I had something totally different planned for Day 10 and I shoved it to the side and made this instead. Shaking and screaming,, I’m just lucky the colour of Delilah’s influence is green…. Losing my mind over here

[nolagranola]

“home can be a person, too.”

what doesnt break was absolutely amazing, and even though im busy i decided to whip up something quick.

[marvelousbelladonna]

The level of feralness I’ll reach when this come out

[dadrielle]

[fumifooms]

Chilchuck analysis speedrun: As a hardworking half-foot who grew up poor and discriminated against and had his gullibility taken advantage of multiple times in his early adventuring days, Chilchuck thinks optimism is a dangerous flaw. He’s stressed and strict all the time because his job is noticing details like traps that could get everyone killed before anyone knows it, he takes the lives of everyone to be on his shoulders, and with the way he speaks about it that probably partly reflects how he felt about taking it upon himself to provide for his family too. His life’s always been pretty centered around work and has become even moreso now that his wife left and everyone is independent, and due to past events he’s very iffy with bonding with coworkers. He thinks feelings and job are a disaster mix. Like with his wife or with parties hiring him as sacrifice, being open or having good faith is vulnerability which can get you hurt, so he processes and shows all his stress as anger instead of worry. Doing strict dieting probably isn’t helping the irritability what with hunger, and on top of being a hunger suppressant alcohol might be the main stress reliever he has.

His grey hairs are so earned

[goated33]

It’s not my fault! I’m not to blame. It is that wretched girl, the witch who sent this flame!

Inspired by @sharkscene ‘s tags

[silverhalla]

Back at it again with another theory: What if Lucanis’ betrayal wasn’t a betrayal at all?

(obviously, spoilers below the cut)

During The Wigmaker Job, we have some dialogue between Illario and Lucanis about their position within both the Crows and the Dellamorte family. Illario wants Caterina to step down so he can take the coveted First Talon spot. Lucanis reassures him that his time is coming, to which Illario makes a snide comment about whether his cousin would ever go against their grandmother’s wishes. When they continue the conversation after the job, Illario states that Lucanis is the potential heir, that he’s her favorite, and that he’s unlikely to say no to her. Lucanis doesn’t argue, only insists that he doesn’t want to be First Talon, and that he hopes she’ll see reason before that. It’s mentioned again in Eight Little Talons - Caterina favors Lucanis. It’s well-known enough among the Crows that Viago and Teia discuss it in front of her (not on purpose, but she doesn’t deny it). He’s her prodigy through and through.

In the opening scene for the Lucanis quest in Veilguard, Caterina is poised, as you’d expect of the First Talon. She’s certain that the body they buried wasn’t her grandson, that it had been altered with blood magic. She doesn’t pose it as a theory, though: she poses it as a fact. It could, of course, merely be her confidence, but there’s another very unusual aspect to the scene – everyone else discusses how Lucanis was clearly betrayed, that someone must have sold him out in order for the Venatori to capture him. Caterina is the only one in that room who never speaks on it. She doesn’t ask for justice, doesn’t mention vengeance, never acknowledges that her grandson was sold out by someone he trusted – perhaps because he wasn’t. 

What if, when Caterina comes to him with a plan, with an impossible request, he’s still her favorite prodigal grandchild, and he still does whatever she asks? She’s had him tortured before as a child, has tortured and starved and beaten him herself before, because it makes him stronger and more resistant to it in the future. He says in The Wigmaker Job that he used to hate her for it, but now he understands. He justifies it. All Crows justify it, because they have to - if they don’t, then the cruelty wasn’t for survival’s sake, and their suffering meant nothing. Perhaps he doesn’t even question it. When Caterina tells him that she has a job for him, he takes it. 

What if the contract has a caveat? Sure, Calivan must die by his hand by the end of it, a little treat for a job well done, but what if his primary mission is reconnaissance, is discovery? The Venatori are using blood magic to torture and corrupt prisoners. It would behoove the Crows to find out what it entails and how to resist it, before it’s turned back on them. It would have to be someone so deeply, unabashedly loyal to her that when she asked them to infiltrate a Venatori prison, expecting torture at best, their own death at worst, they’d take the job anyway, no questions asked - someone Caterina can trust, certainly, but also someone who has never once said no to her.

And Lucanis has always been a loyal grandson. 

[ratinayellowbandana]

the part of what doesn’t break where laudna befriends the rats was written for me, personally I think. if we learn pate was a pet first I’m walking out bc I was the first fic author to write that back in January 2022

[callmerootbxtch]

delilah and pâté interacting is my new favorite thing lmaooooo