1883.

They haven't left my brain for years and I don't think they're going to anytime soon.

I’ve been trying to draw this bloody little watchmaker for years. For anyone who’s read Natasha Pulley’s Watchmaker of Filigree Street, I hope you recognise this as the precise moment Thaniel decides what to do on his wedding night✨

I can’t recommend these novels enough. They’re fucking magic.

"The stories are all remarkably similar. They all seem to describe a person, and not an actual god. They're all tricksters - you never get what you expect from them. And, they are always attended by owls."― Natasha Pulley, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow

Recently reread this and annotated it, which was a lot of fun. Keita Mori is still such a fun character to read about, I had to do a mock cover.

based off this

don't forget the umbrella, thaniel. there will be a rainstorm in the afternoon.

Thaniel canonically being a disrespectful motherfucker means so much to me. This man walked into Spindle’s shop, grabbed him by the fuckin shirt, and slammed his face into his workbench without a word. Was he supposed to be there??? Absolutely not, but since when does that matter??? He looked Grace dead in her face and told the stupidest lie he could think of fully expecting her to get pissy and leave. New boss??? Not one ounce of respect, in fact he WILL make fun of him at any given opportunity. Has on multiple occasions screamed and swore at Willis for doing his job. Would absolutely smack the shit out of the Japanese prime minister. Any kind of arrest means nothing. He’s just That Girl. It’s just so easy to forget bc he only ever focuses on Mori and he loves and respects him too much to be a prick to him.

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Thaniel Steepleton- The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

Iäna Pel-Thenhior- The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

Murderbot- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Vanyel Ashkevron- The Last Herald-Mage Series by Mercedes Lackey

'They had lived together for three years and never once had Mori knocked on Thaniel's door. It was always the other way around, and Thaniel agonised before he did. He was never sure he was welcome. Mori let him in, always, but Mori was Mori; he wasn't English, wasn't a Christian, had grown up in a place where a knock on the door between friends was unremarkable. It didn't mean he was in love, only that he was being polite. Thaniel didn't dare ask him which it was. It was cowardly, but if he didn't know, he could live hoping.'

'Mori kissed his forehead. Thaniel bumped forward against his chest and felt safe again, but ashamed too. It had been the sort of kiss you might give to a child that had got itself flustered about a spider.'

(The Eel Singers, Natasha Pulley)

Thaniel "I can't breathe when you're not here" Steepleton being terrifically stupid.

Just a lovely little photo of one of my favorite books EVER.

Every Natasha Pulley book ever:

Bulky Man is unintentionally bulky, he's just sort of stronger than everyone because that's the nature of his life. Everyone assumes Bulky Man is violent because of his girth, but he actually hates violence and is really just the nicest little dude inside.

Fragile Dude is little and/or easily breakable. Fragile Dude is brilliant and/or powerful. He too is pretty nice, but he's probably had to use his intellect and/or power to commit some kind of atrocity in the past that he will be attempting to keep secret over the course of the story. This will be revealed 3/4 of the way through the book, but the circumstances surrounding the atrocity will be so horrible that everyone will agree it was probably justified.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are both dissatisfied with their lives to some extent.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude meet through a series of unlikely and often unfortunate events.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are forced to work together in some capacity.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are both a little bit afraid of the other, but there's also some quality that they really like or respect in the other nonetheless.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude continue to work together, but now they're starting to reluctantly take a liking to the other. Neither of them realize that the other actually likes them though.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude have had to help each other out of some sticky situations by now. They're clearly head over heels in love these days, but circumstance and/or society is keeping them from acknowledging it. People have started to hint to Bulky Man that Fragile Dude is actually super shady, so you better watch your back. Bulky Man doesn't really care that much at this point, but he's like, I guess I better look into these accusations.

(Some kind of cute but unusually intelligent animal is usually involved with the plot and/or their relationship by this point. Also, there's at least one loveable child character that usually helps the characters bond.)

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude have a nice, cheerful break from all of the traumatic events they've been experiencing, which inevitably ends in a romantic encounter.

Because of communication issues or societal issues, both chraracters still don't actually believe the other character loves them, and they both act like it was just a one off thing and an accident and that everything is totally fine.

Things are awkward between Bulky Man and Fragile Dude, but the traumatic events have really fired up again so they still have to work together. Plus, they're both just that desperate to be together, even though they think the other character hates them now.

Bulky Man finds out Fragile Dude's secret, but usually he doesn't get it quite right or he's missing some essential information. Bulky Man is temporarily horrified of Fragile Dude. Bulky Man chides himself for being so desperate for affection that he fell in love with some kind of psycho.

At this point, either Bulky Man makes a stupid mistake while being horrified or circumstances just happen to suddenly get a lot worse or both. Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are physically separated, often by force and some kind of authority. At some point in here, Bulky Man realizes he was wrong about Fragile Dude.

A slapdash plot is hatched to save the stolen love interest. Usually Bulky Man has to save Fragile Dude, but occassionally the script is flipped.

Ultimately, the stolen love interest is rescued, though it was a real close thing at some point. The Day is saved, usually through murder/s, caused by a combination of Bulky Man reluctantly bashing some heads in and Fragile Dude using his wits and/or power to get the right people killed. Often, our protagonists are then forced to straight up run away from the Bad Times, leaving their lives and families behind. (The loveable child from earlier will either be tragically left behind or adopted by the now happy couple.)

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are a little bit sad at the things they've lost along the way, but mostly they're going to live happily ever after.

In honour of a certain clairvoyant’s birthday 🐙

Morse code jewellery inspired by The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and The Lost Future of Pepperharrow.

Bonus for everyone who, like me, would die for Six because they were Six:

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

‘I’ve never known you do a bad thing,’ Thaniel said honestly. ‘You haven’t known me long,’ Mori pointed out.

I wanted to redraw this old Pepperharrow piece.

cast of the watchmaker of filigree street and the lost future of pepperharrow. I'm not over those books btw 👍

One (of many) things that will always make me insane about tlfop is the way that Thaniel and Takiko respect each other from like their very first meeting, bc you KNOW Kuroda told her all about what he learned and the fact that her husband was cheating on her and all this thinking she’d care, and kind of forces her to form this image in her head of like a normal side piece for a rich ass dude. So that’s what she goes in expecting, which is why she starts off talking about how she’s the Baroness and how they’re married, and she watches as he realises what exactly is going on, and just how much he fuckin crumbles under the weight of all that, but then she sees what she never expected; he looks at his daughter, looks at her, reaches out a hand, and greets her with the respect she is deserving of. He didn’t fuss, he didn’t get upset, he just took all of the shit in stride and kept going for the sake of his remaining family, and that’s something she very ardently respects. And he respects her off the bat too!!! He knows she had absolutely no hand in the fact that he was lied to, and he understands any jealousy he has towards her is not fair and does his best to guide his actions around those feelings instead of giving in to them, and he forms a genuine respect for her and can’t help but enjoy her company!!! Like!!! Are you kidding!!!

the boys (they're very in love, but are afraid to say it)