nepenthe-of-the-nutcracker

Latest Posts by nepenthe-of-the-nutcracker

𝑀𝑦 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝐽𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑦𝑛, 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘, 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑙𝑒. 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟; 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑧𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜. 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠, 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐻𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒… 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡.

—William Thatcher, A Knight’s Tale – The Letter

My friend recommended it to me as her favourite series after I told her I wanted to read more books with knights and the like. Read RoG and… didn’t vibe with it. Four years after that I received yet another recommendation (+ felt bad for not giving it more of a chance) so I tried again and now here we are. Whacking my high-school self with a sledgehammer for missing out on it all this time

fun fact i only got into rangers apprentice because the first like 5 books were in a free box from the library because they didn't want them for whatever reason and i took all 5 because the covers looked cool.

Yes.

Weird thought, but do you think Halt ever thought about the fact that Lord Orman’s situation was similar to his own? Being the unlikable, aloof one, and having to contend with the fact that people preferred your much more charismatic relative, regardless of their true nature?

Just a thought.

“Some people are artists. Some themselves, are art.”

“Bet I know a thing or two about your dove.” “Like what?” “Like she’s delightful to look at, swishes around in bright colors, and sings like a mockingjay. You love her. And oh, how she seems to love you. Except sometimes you wonder, because her plans don’t include you at all.” Something something, Coriolanus calling Lucy Gray "my girl" versus Haymitch calling Lenore Dove "my girl."

I don't know why but I always imagine Caitlyn with brown hair as if everyone in her family has black hair and she's the only one with a lighter hair color

“Captain?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it was destiny that brought us together?"

He squinted and, after a thoughtful moment, shook his head. "No. I'm pretty sure it was Cinder.”

𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔𝘩𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒, 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑤; 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑦𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝘩𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒, 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡, 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑜. 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝘩𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔𝘩𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑠𝑛𝑜𝑤; 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑜. 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒, 𝑊𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤; 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒: 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡, 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑜.

—Emily Jane Brontë, The Night

In the lunar chronicles universe there are hour long compilations of every time Cinder or Kai has ever accidentally called the other by their informal name during an official government meeting or press conference

Like ✨Kaider being bad at hiding their relationship for 10 minutes straight✨

And then it’s just clips of Cinder going “Kai— Kai— Emperor Kai— Kai….to—“ Kai calling her Cinder instead of Selene over and over again.

🌿📖

𝑇𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝐴 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝘩𝑒’𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑑. 𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑒-𝘩𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝑢𝑔𝘩 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟.

𝑇𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑠𝑜 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝘩 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝘩𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑎 𝘩𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑜𝑙𝑑. 𝐻𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑐𝘩 𝑡𝑜 𝘩𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑟, 𝐴 𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑜’𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒.

—A lady and her quill, Courage Worn in Scarlet and Green

Weird thought, but do you think Halt ever thought about the fact that Lord Orman’s situation was similar to his own? Being the unlikable, aloof one, and having to content yourself with the fact that people preferred your much more charismatic relative, regardless of their true nature?

Just a thought.

"𝐽𝑒 𝑡’𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑒. 𝐴𝑢𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑑’ℎ𝑢𝑖. 𝐶𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑟. 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠".

—Michelle Hodkin,The Retribution of Mara Dyer (the third book).

Not you giving ME ideas shsjbs. You’re actually making me reconsider when to place it. Ahhhh so many ways this could go. I love the idea of Will meeting Caitlyn and telling Halt 😭😭 and yes about Pritchard!! I can also imagine that Will would almost immediately tell Pritchard that he’s from the far future (it’s Will. He would tell SOMEONE there) and telling him all about how Halt and Crowley are doing and Pritchard being so proud!! And yeah, Will would absolutely ask Pritchard to take him on as an honorary apprentice lolll

I’m also still debating on how Will goes to the past. Through a dream? An object? ??? Even more possibilities lol. Think I might lay out at least three different routes this could go and decide from there. One of my original ideas was of Will wishing his dad hadn’t died (because we all know who Daniel died protecting…) Like imagine Will thinks he’s saving his dad only to realize he’s condemning Halt 😬 but that’s the least wholesome route so we’ll see hahah. At this rate I’ll write all three. I’m growing attached to the crack treated seriously approach

Seriously tempted to write a time-travel fic about Will meeting teenage Crown Prince Halt and royally screwing things up in the process. Someone slap me with a brick.

how embarrassing skdjdn. so confident too. really hoping this is a case of Flanagan changing physical attributes on the daily

reading The Hibernian:

surely no one will be able to tell who my favourite character is…

bless this man 😭

just the absolute worst luck (mostly due to Morgarath’s blazing target on his back, but I digress)

could’ve sworn his eyes were green?? *scuttles off to edit fanfic*

it also just hit me that it’s never mentioned in the first 10 books that Halt and Crowley trained under the same man. could’ve used more of Crowley in the original books in general, imo (definitely no personal bias here)

ah… so we meet at last

reading The Hibernian:

surely no one will be able to tell who my favourite character is…

bless this man 😭

just the absolute worst luck (mostly due to Morgarath’s blazing target on his back, but I digress)

could’ve sworn his eyes were green?? *scuttles off to edit fanfic*

it also just hit me that it’s never mentioned in the first 10 books that Halt and Crowley trained under the same man. could’ve used more of Crowley in the original books in general, imo (definitely no personal bias here)

ah… so we meet at last

CHOOSE YOUR TREATY

But seriously, I wanted to draw this for so long now. It always excited me, for no apparent reason, when Will was changing his ranger uniform.

Also: Skandia Will is there 100% only because I needed an excuse to draw him with slightly longer hair (XD).

passing on ownership of this post to you because yeah he absolutely would loll

a series of incorrect quotes based on personal interactions:

tennyson: don’t listen to anything this man says. half of what comes out of his mouth is lies!

halt: no

halt: more than half, i’d say

duncan: when halt began teaching crowley hibernian, i was convinced the two of them would use it to talk about me behind my back

*muffled hibernian bickering in the background*

duncan: as it turns out, they mostly use it to antagonize each other without my interference

halt: do we have to go to this funeral? i don’t even know this man!

pauline: he’s dead, if that helps, so you aren’t likely to meet him!

halt: it doesn’t help

will’s fortune cookie: your persistance will soon pay off

will:

will: I WANT A DOG I WANT A DOG I WANT A DOG I WANT A DOG I

crowley: i don’t see how anyone can drink their coffee with honey. it’s disgraceful

halt, behind him, pouring a copious amount of honey into his coffee: oh, yes — truly unthinkable

crowley: *writes “project” on a chalkboard* alright you motley lot, what should we name this project?

berrigan: operation oakleaf

farell: project coffee-beans

halt: mission ‘see-that-morgarath-never-shows-his—sorry-backside-outside-of-gorlan-again’

crowley:

crowley: *underlines “project”* we’ll think on it

will: *carefully places the final card on top of his card tower and sits back proudly*

pre-character development horace: *turns on fan*

It annoys me when people say that Jest died because Cath decided to save a traitor. Mary Ann was her best friend. She was one of the few people who she loved and who loved her back. Mary Ann was confused and didn't know what to do. The nuance and heartbreak that is Cath's decision to go through the door and save Mary Ann is what's so compelling about Heartless.

Cath saved her best friend. She didn't kill Jest.

Yes, the prophecy was going to be fulfilled, but what was she supposed to do? Let Mary Ann die? The deepness of her decision comes from the fact that whatever she did, someone she loved was doomed to die. That's why this is a tragic story. Whatever Cath decided to do, someone was going to die. And yes, Mary Ann was impulsive and scared, and you could interpret that she "betrayed" Cath. But when was love conditioned by loyalty? Cath loved her, and she couldn't just leave her there to die.

Headcanon that during Scarlet, Cinder and Thorne have one of those cliche late night conversations 😂

Thorne: If we’re not married by 30, let’s marry each other! Cinder: I’d rather stab myself with an eggbeater. Thorne: I’m just saying, we’d make a great power couple. You’re smart, I’m charming— Cinder: You’re delusional. Thorne: Delusional and charming. [*Fast forward to Cinder's 30th birthday*] Thorne: Happy birthday, Cinder! Cinder: What is this? Thorne: An antique eggbeater. It felt appropriate. Cinder: I hate you. Thorne: You say that every time I get you something meaningful.

— Jonathan Safran Foer

"i don't comment on ao3 because i don't wanna be annoying or weird" skill issue + you greatly underestimate the power dynamic here, writing multi paragraph comments is like feeding a bunch of deeply insane and possibly starved ducks at the park and watch them go completely mad over having received a piece of bread

“They’re just fictional characters” ok then why do I feel like their heartache personally cracked my ribs?

I come bearing gifts! our in motion versions of our princess portraits! A true collab of everyone's hard work! The motion done by Tori, character portrait by Bry, and the rest of the assets done by Nat!

Seriously tempted to write a time-travel fic about Will meeting teenage Crown Prince Halt and royally screwing things up in the process. Someone slap me with a brick.

would I run off the world someday, nobody knows

See I have the opposite problem 😭 I’m lukewarm on Will/Alyss but I desperately want to love them together. At this point I need someone to make me a PowerPoint on why they’re such a good pairing because I am very willing to be persuaded

thinking about Will/Alyss rn. someone should invent a surgery that removes a fictional ship from someone’s brain this is out of hand

Kaider Wedding Portrait version two~ (version one)

Golden child, Lion boy; Tell me what it's like to conquer. Fearless child, Broken boy; Tell me what it's like to burn.

—oh darling, even Rome fell // p.s.

The mockingbird, the jabberjay and the mockingjay 🕊️ inspired by this post by @fromevertonow