Casteel: May I approach the bitch?

Isbeth: What did you say?

Casteel: I said, 'May I approach the bench?'

Isbeth: Ah.

Casteel: What did you think I said?

NOT THE NIGHT-NIGHT KISSES. HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO BE OKEY AFTER THIS??

you know what the worse part is??? THAT I KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO JADIS UGH that sweet little angel who is the light of her father’s eyes and who would harm nobody was taken away from her home and held against her will

I really really really truly sincerely hop isbeth' character suffers a lot in the abyss for this like i want sera to basically play football with her head

from blood and ash ; simple+aesthetic lockscreens

like/reblog | @spearbinsung

so i'm currently rereading TWOTQ and i am on page 65 but i'm reading the dutch version. now, a little background information, i'm rereading it because the next book, soul of blood and ash comes out tomorrow in the dutch language and i didn't understand it completely after ALITF. now the real problem, i feel like i only read half of the book while i still remember telling people, i read the fourth book in the FBAA series and i need to wait until april 2024 for them to release the next book in dutch. i was on tumblr a month ago and (SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOKS), i saw a post that said that Isbeth died and i was like, WTF is that gonna happen in the fifth book? and today i picked up my book and it fell open on the page where they said that Isbeth died and i thought to myself: what? i thought that was gonna happen in the fifth book. does anyone have the same problem when you're rereading the series or is it just me? i would really appreciate it if someone would tell me if they had the same problem or if they know what could cause it because i'm really confused right now

Spoilers for FBAA #5 (teaser) and ALITF

Also, trigger warning for mentions of SA and consent.

So this teaser for the next Blood and Ash book has been making it's rounds again...

And it got me thinking. Because I also recently reread The War of Two Queens and came across this passage:

This is, of course, Poppy reflecting on the dubious "consent" Ires would have given Isbeth in order to conceive Millicent and Poppy. Dubious because Isbeth had all kinds of power over Ires in that moment, starting with the fact that she was holding Jadis hostage too. The part that stuck out to me the most after reading this passage after A Light in the Flame is Poppy's use of 'the worst sort' to describe Isbeth.

I know JLA has a tendency to reuse the same words and phrases throughout the books, so this could entirely be a coincidence or mean absolutely nothing. But, just in case, just for shits and giggles...

In both A Shadow in the Ember and A Light in the Flame, this same language is used by Nyktos and later Sera to describe Veses, the Primal Goddess of Rites and Prosperity. Who was called 'the worst sort' for forcing herself on Nyktos by blackmailing him into giving up his blood. In the process of that, she liked to 'push limits' and, essentially, sexually assaulted him. Nyktos allowed this in order to protect Sera.

Later in the book, we see exactly how angry and violent this knowledge makes Sera, with Sera threatening as still mostly mortal to kill the Primal Goddess. To make her suffer. Promising herself that she will get revenge for him.

Now...can you imagine how Sera feels about Isbeth? Beyond the two genocides, wars, abuse, and the violent harm Isbeth has caused. Just based on this one situation where Isbeth clearly had power over Ires. And she forced herself on him, one of Sera's own babes, for her own personal gain. And Ires who might` have given in just to protect Jadis.

I don't know about you, but I have to imagine Mama Sera is very, very pissed off.

Was the first fbaa book title a coincidence?

‘From Blood’ - Isbeth is also titled ‘The Blood Queen

‘And Ash’ - Nyktos’s nick name is Ash

Isbeth and Nyktos were basically the things that clicked both the events of Fbaa + Flesh & Fire together- IT STARTED WITH THEM!

Isbeth

Poppy @ Isbitch

✨I don’t make the rules💅✨

Millie and Poppy’s mom 🤝 Malik and Casteel’s mom

Really fucking up their kids lives

ALERT SPOILER A SOUL OF ASH AND BLOOD.

I repeat SPOILER

Okkay so I finished the book in one sitting and even tho i got a headache from it, the book was more than worth it . I just can"t get over the ending, jennifer, how could you do that to us 😭.

However i ve got many theories and also many questions

Starting with Casteel and Malik's heritage. I am now 100% sure they descend from a primal,more precisely Attes, the primal of War.

The thing is, they must be close descendants for Casteel to have that much of a power ( he could be Attes's grandson, or great grandson). Or it could be his bonding to Poppy and Kieran that made him that powerful. If not, then Valyn is hiding a lot of things.

Also, Casteel said he did something to Shea that he will share with Poppy once she is awake. That got me thinking : maybe he didn't exactly kill her, snapped her neck and left her "dead", and maybe Isbeth found her and made her a revenant?? That would be a very twisted sort of event, Casteel meeting the woman he once loved and who betrayed him and his brother. This would be so intriguing, or it could be just me overthinking and rambling.

Also in the chapter " Present X" when Millicent Malik showed up, Casteel said that Millie ran away because Poppy killed her mother. Millcent then laughed at the mention of mother :

" i have no desire to harm her , " She killed your mother "

"Mother" Millicent laughed, the sound high pitched and maybe a little crazed, causing Delano to tense. "Yeah" he laughter faded as she clasped her hands together "That was our mother".

I know that it was mentioned in The war of two queens that Isbeth shares some looks with poppy , Casteel said that Isbeth"s hair was a sbade dafker than Poppy's and they share the same jaw's structure. However the resemblances stop here. Isbeth could've stolen them from their real mother, whom i yhink is Jadis , Nektas's daughter. But then again Nektas would've felt it. Which leads us to this question :" is Isbeth their real mother, or just some psychotic mad woman who stole babies ??"

Oh ma , i can"t wait for the next book to come out, cause this is killing me .

Isbeth, introducing Millicent: This is one of my Revenant. She knows she can’t afford new clothes, so she just doesn’t grow.

FBAA characters: cat or dog person?

Casteel: he loves both but 100% a dog owner. He loves a big dog that can be taken out for long runs, to run by the side of setti and that would fight next to him

poppy: again loves both but a dog person, she is messy and energetic and needs a bestie that matches all her chaos, maybe a small or medium dog that wages it’s tail when it sees her

Kieran: cat person. He wants to chill and wants the pet to rest on his chest while reading or knitting. He has enough chaos in his life only by being cas's bestie

Malik: cat person but an orange cat. Idk why a cat person, it’s just his vibe but I am sure it’s orange because it matches his insane spontaneous energy

Millie: she would literally die for both, like seeing kitten would bring her to tears but as a pet she would choose a gigantic fluffy female dog

Isbeth: she hates animals. Isbeth dislikes pets because she likes to have the attention all to herself, believes that dogs are dirty and she would recent cats because 1 scratched her when she was ten

sera: she would love a street, one-eyed, cat that dislikes absolutely everyone but would purr on her lap

Delano: he would love to take care a very tiny dog or a dog with special needs

Eloana: she likes dogs but she wouldn’t like to have one, she prefers cats and mostly black cats that would side eye people

Nyktos: he says that the dog or cat discussion is pointless. He would later agree to adopt whatever sera wanted

Valyn: he adores dogs, like he has the vibe of having grown up with like 8 dogs. He would definitely have a strong dog that would follow him loyally like a pit bull, a rottweiler or a german shepherd

Emile: a dog but not a very smart dog, more likely one of those dogs that crush windows while running

facts.

Theories on how Sera will survive the Ascension: (SPOILERS for ALITF)

ASH will Ascend Sera:

1. Ash has "fallen" for Sera in the same vein as the Ancients "fell" and developed kardia/emotion in the first place. This is evident in Nektas's language "he is how you wish him to be." It's clear he is unable to recognize what love feels/tastes like and is unable to place the emotion at the coronation once Sera realized she was in love with him. He feels peace with Sera according to Nektas, we know peace is a defining feature of true love in the JLA-verse because Aios (goddess of love, etc in Poppycas time) describes it as such when Sera asks her before the coronation. He is willing to choose Sera's safety over that of his people/the shadowlands/the world - he admitted he wasnt protecting the embers, he was protecting Sera. This emotional reaction is not the logical/able to put aside caring for the greater good he described in SITE as the advantage of not loving one person above all others.

-there's also the language I've seen pointed out that without a kardia you cannot love someone "not of your own blood" and how Sera has consumed Nyktos's blood so its a loophole

2. Ash will have his kardia restored by Maia or Aios (since Sera Ascended her at the end of ALITF) and will make it to Sera before Kolis drains her of blood and starts the Ascension

-I havent thought this one out as much because it seems more direct narratively, but the “narratively direct” route just doesn’t seem like JLA’s style so this one is much less likely to me

KOLIS will Ascend Sera:

1. This was my immediate assumption at the end of ALITF because Kolis had already begun the process of draining Sera for the embers when he realized she had Sotoria's soul within her. We know that Kolis loves Sotoria (in a twisted, possessive way) and he is currently the Primal of Life, so he could meet the "blood of the Primal that one of the embers of life belonged to" criteria even though he stole his embers from Eythos. Holland states "she will die without the love of the one who Ascends her." We know that only one of the embers in Sera technically belongs to Ash so the other ember (I believe it belonged to Eythos, right?) is the one that would likely respond to Kolis since he stole his brothers birthright and we know he drained Eythos's life force as well (there's also the loophole of blood meaning family, Kolis being Nyktos's uncle and blood relative). 

Narratively, Kolis saving Sera and Ascending her into the Primal of Life makes sense because of the narrative trend of Kolis/Nyktos being swapped in Sera's understanding (her destiny was to kill Kolis, not to kill Nyktos; Kolis caused the Rot, not Nyktos; she tries to run off to seduce Kolis and continue her plan that was originally meant for Nyktos, etc). This also provides reason and closure for Sotoria's soul and possibly explains why Nyktos states he believes Sera is right and she has two souls, hers AND Sotoria's, instead of being another reincarnation of Sotoria alone (I imagine Sotoria's soul/life force would be removed from Sera's body/drained in place of Sera's).

Also Kolis bringing about his own reckoning because of his obsession with Sotoria, giving her/Sera the power to end him and fulfill the prophecy makes for great storytelling

-my main hangup about this is that its not a great message about love because clearly Kolis is toxic and I would hate for it to be confirmed he does truly love Sotoria, but with the narrative trend of unhealthy/ obsessive love (Isbeth to Malec, Eythos/Mycella/Kolis, Nyktos's whole reason for removing his kardia being the fall of the Ancients due to love) and Sera's philosophy on goodness/trying to be good I feel like its a real possibility

——

also thoughts on how the requirement to Ascend a mortal into a primal impacts the original Ascension between Poppy/Casteel? Was Poppy's Ascension into the True Primal of Life and Death/Blood and Bone also reliant on Cas's true love and will for her to live?

About halfway through The War of Two Queens and God I hate Isbeth. Like she better suffer. She better not get a quick death. I need genuine prolonged suffering. Aldo I feel bad for saying this, but I'm not feeling Millie or Malik. I know who she really is and that they've been through a lot but there attitude is very grating.

Oh yeah Isbeth is the worst, just completely crazy and deluded! It's how deluded she is that I think enrages me the most. But she makes for a good villain. And like I get it, I get why she became an unhinged mad woman after being poisoned and losing her mate and child.

And I can understand that, they're not really the most developed characters at this stage. Personally I like them both. Millie's a weirdo and I'm not sure I trust her but I'm curious about her, and her and Malik's relationship. And I have a soft spot for Malik, maybe because of how much he and Casteel have done for each other in the past and how much they love each other. It actually pains me so much to see them so at odds when they're finally reunited.

I'm exhausted and have nothing better to do, so that means crazy theory time!!

So Millicent sits upside down in chairs.

Perhaps just a weird quirk of her character, she has a unique flavor to her personality, but can we pretend for a minute that it's something more? Because I really like some of the possibilities, listed most to least likely for reasons.

-First (and most obvious) is that this is to be different or just an outward expression of a "weird" personality. Probably the most likely, but also the most boring.

-The second possibility is that this is an attempt to be contrarian or to rebel against her mother in any single possible way she can without rocking the boat so much as to cause any real harm to anyone. Something she did once that Isbeth didn't like so she made it a regular occurrence.

-This third possibility is where we start branching into crazy theory territory. This could be a learned behavior. This has no real canonical basis to it, so stick with me, but what if Ires in a way taught her this? What if Ires had access to young Millicent, was able to spend time with her as she grew, and was actually kind of a father to her. We don't know anything about this time yet! What if this was some silly little thing Ires did as a child himself that he did with her as a way to bond. This could even tie into #2 as something she could have kept up after Ires was caged as a way to honor her father even if her mother hated it.

-And the fourth, and most unlikely possibility, what if this is a weird inherited behavior and not necessarily from Ires? We've seen similarities in the personalities of Sera and Poppy before, even up to them both hating snakes. I know behaviors aren't technically "inherited", but I like to imagine that the snake hating is something that Poppy got from Sera, along with her taste of recklessness and curiosity. So what if Millicent got this from someone too? And if so, who? I put this at four instead of tying into three because I really want this to be a quirk of Nyktos' childhood. Please let this be canon! I think it's so cute, and would be such a fun way for them to try to bond when they eventually meet (if they ever meet).

Types of gamers I hc these fools to be (note: this only inclues characters I can remember off the top of my head) (modern au obvs)

Rose- Rose plays games like a crazy person. A speedrunner to her core. She even speedruns games like stardew valley. Her favorite game is probably Ultrakill. Has a streaming channel where she doesnt talk just decimates with ruthless efficiency the whole game while chat gapes silently in awe. Breaks almost every speedrunning reccord she can. Mostly plays horror or fighting games. Gets every achievement.

Belladonna: Belladonna plays games where she can hit things with hammers or solve puzzles. Plays shit like hotline Miami or portal 2. Terrible at multiplayer fighting games. Streamed ddlc once and got the shit scared out of her. Mostly action games and rune factory.

Lily: Chill minecraft streamer. Sometimes does art for a stream, or animal crossing. Sometimes she and Rose will collab on an animal crossing stream and Lily will get increasingly distressed (affectionate) by Rose's un-chill gameplay style. Harvest moon.

Kivan: Lily's co-streamer. Mostly does animal crossing, and also does art streams. Multiplayer stresses him out, but he still mains Bridget in guilty gear. He thinks hes really bad at fighting games. He is not. Plays games like ddlc and such in his free time. Stardew valley.

Madam Spiceberry: Streams cute and nice games. Most people stay for her charming voice and kind words. Mostly minecraft as well. Plays games like Rune Factory (specifically 4) and Harvest Moon, mostly. Bad at fighting games.

Opal: Bad at fighting games bc they get bored of it. Very good at fishing games though, for some reason? They love the game Dredge so much. A huge fan of "chill" horror games. Loves open world games and platformers like Slime Rancher.

Carter: A sweet and kind streamer with a gentle voice & comforting voice who exclusively fighting and horror games. Will be gently talking about her day while running from a murderous rabbit in game. Does a lot of sweet little cooking streams too. Also playing Dredge.

Isbeth- Doesnt know what a computer is

Radiance- Streams completely random games at random times. Her subscribers are deeply confused by her. Gets every achievemen.

The Chronicler: Gets EVERY achievement and skin and collectable and etc. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Loves playing games like Slime Rancher. Is secretly running an arg in the background. Also has a book restoration channel.

OH AND LUX- The type of streamer to own cat ear headphones idk. Also a minecraft streamer. Plays a lot of "meme" horror games. Him and Rose stream together sometimes and its hilarious because its all him talking and her completely carrying him through the game

sorry you said belladonna plays rune factory and i blacked out and hit post-