Nepenthe-of-the-nutcracker - Nutcracker

Lidia Yuknavitch, from Reading the Waves: A Memoir published in 2025

“You’d be surprised how often that works.”

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

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

If I cannot love you openly like I wish, if I cannot hold your hand when walking Or wrap you in my arms late at night. Then I will love you silently, in my mind and behind closed eyes For there, there is no rejection or heartbreak. And surely it is better to love silently than to not love at all?

—unknown

"There will come a ruler, who's brow is laid in thorn,"

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥’𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦.

—Ephesians 6:13-18

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*