I know TWP will be the final instalment in TSC

But, bear with me for this wonderful concept: A team made up of Max Lightwood-Bane, Rafael Lightwood-Bane, Octavian Blackthorn, Baby Carstairs and Baby Haline

Max Lightwood-Bane, the young warlock, still figuring out his powers, but trained by the mighty Magnus Lightwood-Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn. Adorable and friendly to everyone he meets, always willing to lend a helping hand. However, he's also incredibly awkward and terrible with words, constantly embarrassing himself (people don't believe he's the son of Magnus Bane, but then they spend some time with Alec and it's all made clear...)

Rafael Lightwood-Bane, a too-cool-for-this Shadowhunter, who's at the same time a great fighter and a great politician (trained both by his dad, the Consul and his parabatai, the best Shadowhunter of his generation, with angel blood). He's also usually super smooth, and constantly trying to help his brother become cooler, but supporting him anyways when he makes a fool of himself

(Alec and Jace 2.0)

Octavian Blackthorn (when he grows up, he refuses to be called Tavvy by anyone other than his family but the others still do it though), a soft boi who loves stories, and was raised in such a loving environment, surrounded by his brothers and sisters. He brings that familiar and bonding energy with him wherever he goes, uniting the group, but he's also been through some pretty intense stuff by the time he was 8, so he's also the one  always on high alert, the most defensive one. Also, he's the oldest, even if he's always been young at heart, so he's kind of "in charge" of the group, always making sure his friends are okay, and the one they go to with their problems. (I'm not saying less-intense-mini-Julian but I'm also not not saying it)

Baby Carstairs - let's call her Cordelia for this headcannon -, a part-warlock Shadowhunter with mysterious powers, who was raised by the gentlest, most loving parents and an older brother who adored and constantly spoiled her. The nicest girl, with a love for books and music, as well as incredibly caring for everyone around her and willing to do anything for the people she loves (yes, the mom friend - what do you expect with parents as sweet as hers?)

Baby Haline - let's call her Eleanor for this headcannon -, the (part?)faerie youngest girl, who is usually very "girly", but perfectly able to kick some ass. Raised surrounded by Shadowhunters, but with a mom who made sure she knew of her fairy heritage, and the Unseelie King as an uncle, she's well-rounded and quite aware of the world around her, keeping it real and facing issues head on. Also a great Downworlder rights activist (especially faeries, who were still suspected, even after the Cold Peace was ended). Helen's sensitivity and Aline's fierceness and impulsiveness combined.

Even if, technically, most of them aren't full-blown Shadowhunters, they still train and fight monsters, because that's what their parents did and what they grew up around and want to do

Max, Rafe and Tavvy quickly became great friends from childhood, and though they grew up apart, always kept in touch and constantly trained together, becoming a very close-knit trio

Though Tavvy is technically Eleanor's uncle, they were always very close, and he's constantly fussing over her and taking care of her - he's basically her big brother - which she used to love, but now, grown up, finds annoying

Cordelia grew up in Devon, away from everyone else, even though she knew the Lightwood-Banes very well 'cause you best believe Magnus and Tessa are going to arrange so many playdates and had met Eleanor a few times, so she's eager to connect with her friends and go out and have the adventures she always read about

She and Max always got along great, the two cinnamon rolls (Rafe, on the other hand, whenever they went over to Cirenworth Hall, completely looked up to Kit, whom, to him, was just the coolest guy ever - something which made Jace kinda flip out when he found out) and totally eventually start dating, even if they were too shy and had to be pushed by Rafe and Eleanor.

Cordelia and Eleanor are a little awkward at first, not really knowing each other, only from a few occasions growing up with their close families, but then they totally become BFFs (kinda like Clary and Izzy's relationship)

Eleanor also knew the Lightwood-Banes very well, though, as their parents were close too, and also having accompanied Tavvy to hang out with them, when she was older (she was in that stage of following her best friend wherever he went)

So, yeah, they're all pretty much friends right off the bat, but would then be truly thrown together by some of those usual Shadow world shenanigans.

A diverse group of not just Shadowhunters, navigating the new world the Clave-In-Exile has built, much more open and well-functioning, and inclusive of Downworlders

Baby baby baby there is a Marcus Pike (aka our favourite soft! boyfriend that we love being filthy with) NSFW alphabet in the works? Holy mother of God. I hope you know that An Acquired Taste is legit the hottest piece of Pike fic on this goddamn website. An NSFW alphabet might just blow my brains out.

WIP Game Ask:

Baby baby baby there is a Marcus Pike (aka our favourite soft! boyfriend that we love being filthy with) NSFW alphabet in the works? Holy mother of God. I hope you know that An Acquired Taste is legit the hottest piece of Pike fic on this goddamn website. An NSFW alphabet might just blow my brains out.

Thank you so much for the lovely complement and your enthusiasm, @leonieb! 🥰

I’m incredibly flattered by your kind words about An Acquired Taste!! 🥺😭🙈  I can’t even bring myself to retype your description let alone begin to agree, but I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!  (I certainly had fun writing it! 😉)  I also owe you an apology for not posting this last night like I said I would, but better late than never.... The filename “Marcus Pike NSFW Alphabet” should be fairly self explanatory.  It’s still very much in progress, but I’ll give you the letter “A” as sneak peek (behind a cut because it is kind of NSFWish):

A = Aftercare [What they’re like after sex]:

Marcus is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful partners you will ever have, and that definitely extends into the realm of aftercare.  Once the two of you get your breath back, he’s going to be checking in to make sure you’re okay. If you’re at home, he’ll grab a warm damp cloth and help you clean up, and then see if you’d like him to bring you a drink of water, another blanket, or a shirt to wear (one of his, if he thinks he can get away with it).  Once he’s sure you don’t need anything else, he’s going to want to cuddle and/or press kisses into your skin while waiting to see if you’re up for another round. It’s the same story if you’re out somewhere... say, in his car, parked above the city to watch the lights.  (Yes, Marcus is down for semi-public hanky-panky; the man may be vanilla, but he’s not boring. He’s not actually all that vanilla either.)  

If it’s an excursion he planned (or hoped) for, he’s going to be prepared with wet wipes, bottled water, and a blanket at the bare minimum.  If not, well, he’ll do the best he can with what’s available.  

Surprise him with a quickie at the office, and you may very well find yourself sitting in his rolling chair, his suit jacket wrapped around you, shivering with overstimulation while Marcus kneels before you, his big hands gripping your hips to keep you still so he can bury his face between your legs and clean you up with his tongue.

Thanks for playing, and thank you again for your enthusiastic comments!!💕

🧡twp

Want more sneak peeks?  Check out the WIP Game to see the list of files in my WIP folder and/or request a snippet.

QoAaD theory: Julian’s death

I should preface this by saying I know there are already tons of theories surrounding Julian’s death, and I’m not writing this to add to the collective morbidity... I should also say that I in no way want Julian to die (I think he’s by far and away the most interesting character in TDA -- one of Cassie’s most compelling characters ever, to boot -- and I’m going to be devastated/very disappointed if he dies). 

But nonetheless, something occurred to me the other day -- Cassandra is very much a writer of patterns (I’ve been in this fandom a very long time, and I’ve predicted several character deaths and plot twists etc. in the past simply through analysing narrative patterns she tends to favour). Broadly speaking, Cassandra tends to punish her villains -- almost always through death; if not immediately, then eventually. Even, importantly, when that villain is portrayed as partially sympathetic -- either Cassie humanises them or otherwise morally justifies their reasons for being the antagonist (see: Valentine; Mortmain; Malcolm; Sebastian) -- then they usually end up dead. Fine. Most villains do, right? But with Cassandra, this can be extended further to characters who are morally grey, or more generally have done problematic things. These characters also tend to end up dead. Case in point: 

Robert Lightwood 

Hodge Starkweather 

Andrew Blackthorn 

Arthur Blackthorn 

Jordan Kyle 

Stephen Herondale 

Imogen Herondale

Jessamine Lovelace

I could go on. In fact, I really struggle, actually, to think of a character who has, broadly speaking, ~done some bad shit/later atoned for it~ who is STILL ALIVE [in the narrative world, once the series has ended]. To this end, I’m not sure Cassie really believes in ‘redemption arcs’ in a standard sense; I can’t think of a character who has atoned for their sins, and then been allowed to live out a rehabilitated/reformed life -- the end point is always death. (< This point is precisely how I ended up predicting Jordan’s death in TMI -- and also Robert Lightwood’s, eventually). 

Looked at from this perspective, Cassie can be surprisingly merciless with characters who cast their hat into the wrong ring, regardless of whether or not they later regret it. 

Seeing as, in LoS, Julian very definitively becomes one of these morally grey characters, this poses a serious question mark over whether or not Julian will emerge from this series alive (regardless of whether or not he’s pulled back from the ‘brink’ in QoAaD). HOWEVER. The one way in which Julian is a different case from the rest of the aforementioned characters? He’s a protagonist. 

The killing of Julian, therefore, would be a deviation of another kind: Cassie doesn’t, as a rule, kill off her protagonists. Important secondary/main characters? Yep, absolutely (see: Livvy Blackthorn); but protagonists? Cassie shies away from. (This is not unusual btw, just a general rule of fiction -- very rare to have writers killing off their protagonists).

[IF YOU’RE STILL WITH ME AT THIS POINT, THEN THANK YOU!]

But isn’t that what Cassie does with Will, and with Jem (sort of) in TID? TID is actually a case where Cassie does her darndest to achieve the effect of killing off her protagonists without really, properly, killing them off. (Cassie could potentially try to do something similar at the end of QoAaD?) Jem ends up occupying a weird in-between life/death space by becoming a silent brother; Will ends up dead but only in the epilogue / after the main events of the novel are long beyond finished, and only of natural causes. So. Neither of those really count. Both of those characters are also nothing near problematic in the same sense that Julian is. 

The fact that it would be breaking a pattern, then, is both a reason (and is not) for Cassie killing off Julian -- Cassie may go for it simply because no one would expect her to go there / there’s no precedent for it. The other breaking of a pattern would be is that Julian’s death would make TDA a tragic story, and generally, Cassie doesn’t go in for blackest-of-black Shakespearean tragedies: she’s writing for a YA audience, after all -- most of her endings are bittersweet if not fairly happy. Even if, lets say, they figured out a way to break the parabatai bond and everyone else was still alive -- the fact of Julian (a protagonist’s) death -- would very significantly shift the tone of the final book towards a tragedy, because she’s never killed off a protagonist before. So, Cassie might not do it because it’s not her style; but then, she might do it because she’s never done it before. 

The other point about Julian as a protagonist is that his status as a protagonist (and by extension, Emma’s as well) was somewhat eroded/complicated in LoS. When Cassie first pitched TDA, Emma and Julian were the protagonists, straight up. However, by LoS it’s clear that Cassie is so much writing TDA with TWP in mind that the characters that would have been taking over the mantle then (narratively, in 3 years’ time) have actually ended up prematurely (?) taking over TDA as well (Kit legit has enough pagetime in LoS to be considered a traditional protagonist -- and it’s not even supposed to be his trilogy yet!) Cassie is passing over the baton, then, to the likes of Kit, Ty and Dru very early on -- perhaps suspiciously early on. This is normally something that would be set up in the final instalment, not in the second (see: featuring of Blackthorns in CoHF). Given that Cassie has confirmed that Dru has a bigger role to play in QoAaD, it doesn’t look like their roles are being diminished any time soon. It’s clear to me that TDA and TWP are starting to be treated (despite the 3 years time gap between them) as one continuous narrative/series in a way that mirrors cycle 1 and cycle 2 of TMI. Thus, killing off Julian would be nicely symbolic not only in the sense that it would be officially ‘handing over’ but it would also give Kit, Ty and Dru additional baggage / tragic backstory going into TWP (would certainly fulfill the trope of killing off parental figures for character development/ would be fitting for the apocalyptic nature of that series). 

Ultimately, I’m not saying either way if I think Julian will die -- I’m still not personally convinced either way yet, but these were just some of my thoughts (I do have more -- there are other more micro-narrative level things I haven’t looked at -- but this is already far too long!).I don’t know if Cassie would kill him off, but I wonder if she would perhaps just make him suffer for his crimes instead i.e make him a mundane/exile him etc. I personally hope that Cassie won’t decide to kill him as I genuinely love Julian -- but i also know that Cassie has shocked me recently in the narrative decisions she’s taken; and that it’s also her job to make the state of things, going into the final (ever) series, look pretty bleak.