Sobh - Blog Posts

COMMUNICATION! The divine gift in TSC!

Julian to Magnus

Hi Magnus,

So I know you told me only to get in touch for a “real emergency,” and I think you might have already left for vacation. But we’ve got some ghost trouble here at Chiswick House and we could use a little advice. Just in writing! No need to interrupt your time away! Unless, um, you think it really is an emergency.

Chiswick House is in awful shape in general, so it’s hard to know what’s a real problem and what’s just a hundred years of neglect. Other than one small area nobody’s touched the place since, it seems, the time of Tatiana Blackthorn.

We have some garden gnomes here doing the structural repairs and the big stuff, masonry and framing and so on. I mean, they’re not actually garden gnomes, I think they’re brownies, but they have the big pointy hats and the beards and everything. They’ve been moving pretty slowly, but recently Kieran was here and he had a talk with the foreman (this guy named Round Tom who is not even all that round) and since then things have sped up a lot. And there is a lot less complaining about the work conditions, and a lot less disappearing for the day if the tea runs out for more than five minutes. On the other hand, they’ve started leaving little offerings around intended for “the Un-Seel Laird,” which I gather is Kieran. Not anything Kieran would want, I don’t think. A lot of acorns and pretty rocks, mostly? And the occasional portrait of Kieran in chalk, which let me tell you, it’s a good thing they’re competent at construction because their portraiture could use some work. We’ve been keeping all the stuff in a box for him just in case.

I’m rambling, sorry. It’s just us rattling around in this giant ruin and all we want is for someone to listen to our dull stories about home renovation. But what I actually want to tell you about is the ghost.

I’m sure there are dozens of random spirits going back centuries that have some kind of faint presence in the house—Round Tom hinted as much to me—but there’s definitely some specific one that is actively haunting the place. We’ve had some poltergeist-y stuff. Mostly harmless pranks: vases overturned, drinks spilled, music faintly playing in the distance but originating from nowhere, weird hot spots, weird cold spots, doors slamming, doors closing very slowly on their own. To clarify, I do NOT mean poltergeist as in the movie Dru made me watch. No one has been sucked into evil dimensions or levitated (yet!). Still, it seems like we ought to try to get out ahead of this, so Emma and I have been trying to communicate with the presence directly. Whoever it is, they haven’t responded to us speaking to them, and it’s starting to feel silly to constantly talk in a friendly voice to nobody, like we have an imaginary friend. All that happens is the next morning someone has stacked all the gnomes’ hats into a hat tower and we have to convince the gnomes it wasn’t us.

Lest you think we haven’t tried smarter things than just yelling “Here ghostie ghostie ghostie,” Tiberius sent us a device he’s been working on, like a Sensor for ghosts. I spent some time walking the halls and eventually found a spot along some random corridor where the Sensor went crazy. I busted the wall open with a sledgehammer—somehow I feel like you would approve, although the gnomes did not—and behind the plaster, wedged between two of the beams, was a Ouija board that must go back to at least Tatiana’s time, if not before. There was no planchette, so we made our own out of scrap wood and furniture tacks. Maybe there was something bad about using that instead of something that went with the Ouija board, I don’t know how it works, but in any event, we tried the board and it went really badly.

We tried to do things officially—Emma and I waited until midnight, we got dressed up nicely, and we went down into the cellar. (There are a bunch of rooms down there that are highly spooky and look like they’ve been used for ghost-ish business in the past.) We extinguished witchlights (no electricity down there any more than it’s anywhere else), lit lots of candles. Ghosts love candles, right? We had a bolt of black silk to sit on that Emma found in a trunk somewhere, and we sat on either side of the board and both put our hands on the planchette.

Us: HELLO

Nothing.

Us: WEMEANNOHARM

The candles guttered, but most of the windows in the room are smashed, so with the usual draft from outside I’m not sure we can count that as a response.

Us: WHATISYOURNAME

We heard a scratching sound coming from one of the walls, and we opened up that wall in great excitement, but it turned out to be a badger. Actually, it was a mother badgers and some badger cubs, which was very cute until the mother starting trying to kill us. So we had to interrupt and go get the gnomes to help us and they relocated the badger family to a glade of some kind. (They also issued us a bill for “badger decampment.”)

This was all very disappointing. Emma said that maybe it was rude to ask for the ghost’s name before introducing ourselves.

Emma: MYNAMEISEMMACARSTAIRS

Me: ANDMYNAMEISJULIANBLACKTHORN

Well, that got a reaction. As soon as I finished the last “N” the board leapt off the ground and twisted violently around. The planchette went flying and Emma went to go retrieve it from the other end of the room, but then when she came back the board went flying around in the air and, I am sorry to say, we chased it around for probably two full minutes without catching it. Eventually the ghost got bored, I guess, and the Ouija board stopped in midair and shattered into pieces, which fell to the ground. And all the candles went out. (There were sixteen pieces, if that means anything. Emma says no, I said we should mention it anyway just in case.)

So…any advice? Too much ghostly energy for an old Ouija board? Defective board in the first place? Does the ghost want to be left alone? (If so, why does it keep knocking things over?) Did we offend it? There hasn’t been anything like that since, but exploding Ouija board seemed sufficiently threatening that I wanted to get in touch. What do you think is our next step?

Again, I’m really sorry to bother you, but your help would mean a lot to me. I really want to make Blackthorn Hall a place that the Blackthorns can use again, a place that will feel like a second home for all of us. And it would be nice if people in London associated the Blackthorns with a grand manor house rather than an infamous wreck. Which is not going to happen if visitors wake up with their hair tied to the bedposts, or have their suitcases upended on the staircase. In payment, we promise you as much babysitting as you like, whenever you need. Although maybe once we’re no longer living in a collapsing death-trap.

Much obliged—

Julian

I love this!!

EMMA TO DIARY

Dear Bruce,

Sorry it’s been a long time since I’ve written in you. Everything’s been kind of crazy since Ty sent the Ghost Sensor. Which was incredibly helpful and nice of him, and we decided that even if it didn’t work we’d still tell him it did, but that didn’t turn out to matter. It definitely works. The minute we unpacked it, it started to make weird little crackles and beeps. It didn’t seem to be reacting to anything specific, it was more like it was reacting to the environment of the house, fussing about it like a grumpy baby.

Julian decided to use it kind of like a divining rod, following where the strongest crackles and beeps seemed to be. We spent probably an hour traipsing through the house while the sensor made whistling sounds like an angry teakettle.

Eventually the sensor led us to one of the upstairs hallways. There’s no furniture in it now, and it looks a bit forlorn, with bits of tattered curtains hanging from the windows and an empty frame on the wall. It was also pretty eerie, standing in that room with the sensor going crazy but not being able to see anything. We both looked at each other, thinking,

Is there a ghost in here with us right now?

At that moment, I remembered what I’d read in Tatiana Lightwood’s diary, how she’d hidden the pages of her old diary in the wall. I went over to the wall and tapped on it. Jules picked up on what I was doing right away and started tapping on the wall as well, and we found a spot that echoed hollowly. We both stared at it for a minute, before Julian said, “Hang on.” He went downstairs and returned with a sledgehammer. He started to swing at the wall but I stopped him. “I really think you should take your jacket off while you do this. And maybe your shirt, too.”

Obligingly, he stripped down to his undershirt. That’s my guy. I may have taken a picture.

Plaster started flying everywhere. Pretty soon Julian had smashed through the wall, revealing a dark hollow space behind it.

Julian backed off while I reached inside. I cannot tell you how many spiderwebs I touched, Bruce. It was disgusting. Finally I pulled out a bunch of old clumped together pages. I can’t help but think they are Tatiana’s old diary pages, the ones she talked about destroying, but they were so water damaged that I couldn’t be sure. I was just wondering if I should tell Julian about the diary—for some reason I haven’t mentioned it to him yet—when he reached into the hole and pulled out a hard wooden board that had been engraved with letters and numbers.

“It’s a Ouija board,” he said. “Dru wanted one for Christmas last year.”

I’ve always thought of Ouija boards as being part of human superstition. Like palmistry, not something that Shadowhunters needed to take seriously. But the sensor was going crazy, beeping these dark red pulses that reminded me of Isabelle’s necklace.

“Should we try to use it?” I asked. Julian frowned. “I don’t know. When I was looking into getting one for Dru, I found out that these things can be kind of...dangerous.”

So I’m writing this right now while I’m lying in bed. Julian is already asleep, with plaster in his hair. He looks so cute. Anyway, we decided that we’d try using the ouija board tomorrow. We’re Shadowhunters, we can deal with ghosts, right?

Goodnight, Bruce. I think I’ll read a little of Tatiana’s diary to put me to sleep. Meanwhile, enjoy the eye candy.

You might think I'm normal but I actually have an unhealthy obsession with the never ending saga of unnecessarily attractive queer demon-slayers who solve generational trauma with swords, sarcasm, tragic love triangles and making-out-in-the-middle-of-war. Or best seller YA series "The Shadowhunter Chronicles" by former fanfic writer Cassandra Clare as some might call it.

I lied. It's not just obsession. It's actually the sole reason I'm still alive.

About SOBH, when Clary was trekking to Alicante with Luke, Luke said Idris was a country and Alicante was the only city and was surrounded by agrarian lands. The Cohort can sustain themselves of those. Also people lived there. It's not like all the food was imported into Idris because that would cause a lot of financial problems. Simon got lots of snacks for his date with Isabelle from vendors in Alicante. They're literally selling food in Alicante (there's no guarantee that all the vendors are anti-Cohort and it's sensible to assume that they know where the food is coming from and they can supply it along with adding variety due to lessened competition)

As a fellow Indian, I agree and hope Kamala doesn't get this treatment.

stop whitewashing cordelia.

actually i have been thinking about this since last night so i need to post. this is the latest official art that was commissioned and shared by CC. and cordelia does NOT look like a woman of colour.

THEIR SKIN TONES ARE LIKE BARELY ONE SHADE APART. i am SO mad that there are STILL whitewashed artworks being shared by CC. especially with cordelia, where there is a history of whitewashed artworks, as you can see.

now compare all these with these two art pieces and tell me they're all the same person.

let me illustrate further. in the cordelia and james art, at least a contrast can be seen between the colours of their skin. in the matthew and cordelia art, their skin tones look the same.

and i'm not much of an artist, but i do know with certainty that it's not because of the "lighting" or whatever.

cordelia is simply whitewashed in this art piece and we need to call it what it is. and this is not ok.

EDIT: please read my reblogs in the notes before commenting.

By the angel, FINALLY

~Matthew Fairchild's ghost (allegedly to Emma and Julian in a rant)

If someone called me a ten, I'd take it as the greatest insult ever. I'm an infinity. Everyone knows that.

First of all, what stuff did they remove or refurbish from Jordelia's house to accommodate the sightseeing throngs? What's gone and what's left?

Also Rupert just trying his best to get Jemma to poke around in the right direction:

This is great 👍

Kraig’s Retirement Party is about to get absolutely WILD this week 👀

As @bookishjules and I prepare to break down Julian’s letter to Magnus and all the theories that come with it, catch up with last week’s episode where we ranted about inconsistencies, our favorite crack ship, what Rupert being the ghost means for both the story and the enchantment and everything inbetween!

Oh, and we did A LOT of SoBHing.

If you have any theories, thoughts or questions, send them our way! We want to know all of them!

Reminder! This is our first episode, so bear with us as we fumble through editing and recording. We’ll get better as we go, swear on the Angel!

Here it is.

I plan to draw Kamala Joshi in a Nauvari sari. I feel it would suit her and hope @cassandraclare can include this in her story or maybe @cassandrajp can also draw her in this attire. I was born and raised in Mumbai so I’m very excited at the prospect of my city being included in a series I love. The Nauvari ( Nine yards of fabric) is also referred to as the Kaashta or Lugade. It is a traditional sari of the state of Maharashtra and Mumbai is the state capital. Unlike other sarees, the Nauvari is built to mirror the traditional trousers that men wore and is made to be comfortable and easy to move in. It was also the staple of the Maratha clan of fighters, which was a clan that rivalled the Mughals in power and firmly established guerrila warfare training in their soldiers. 

Thanks bro, good to know.

Tatiana is an anti-vaxxer. I just know it in my heart. 

Good to know.

So apparently there will be "some perspectives on the journal" (Thomas' journal) in secrets of blackthorn hall. I asked on twitter and I got this as a reply.

Rupert has been finalized.

Well, there it is. Rupert Blackthorn is officially our ghost.

Or it's James. He was extremely concerned with Matthew's drinking, the annoyed shake may be him being annoyed at them for dredging up memories of his parabatai or may even be him sobbing or dry-heaving at Matthew's name, he was bound to Grace since childhood, Lucie risked herself for Jesse Blackthorn, he could easily recognise Alastair's dagger and to Cordelia and Alastair, Cirenworth was the home of the Carstairs. Also the wine flask may remind him of what Cordelia suffered due to Elias. He is also mentioned in the Bane Chronicles, The tales of the Shadowhunter Academy and in the epilogue of the TID series. His ring (a silver band with herons) was also given to Jace and Jace gave it to Kit. Also he was mentioned by Tessa and Clary in the epilogue of a City of Heavenly Fire.

GUYS IT COULD BE RISA OR SONA

DISLIKES MATTHEW ( Risa does, Sona could after Cordelia ran away with him) ✅

Has something to do with Alastair ✅

I think it's Sona Carstairs, nee Jahanshah. Cordelia was almost killed due to Tatiana, Alastair has his heart broken due to Grace and so did Cordelia, not only that but the flask was clearly a wine flask and she may have had an adverse reaction to it due to Elias. Also at her depths Sona always considered herself a Jahanshah.

GUYS IT COULD BE RISA OR SONA

DISLIKES MATTHEW ( Risa does, Sona could after Cordelia ran away with him) ✅

Has something to do with Alastair ✅

Fuck.

What if the ghost is Thomas? Like... he reacted to Matthew's flask, told them to go to the tavern, reacted badly to Blackthorn (Tatiana killed his sister), and led them to Alastair's dagger

Tatiana's Diary Theory

Wait! What if the diary works like Tom Riddle's diary. Emma's been acting weird for some time now... Everyone online was so suspicious. Even her sense of humour was all wrong! After I while I thought that I might be overreacting, but now Julian noticed it too!! He said she was very 'un-Emma'. What if Tatiana's diary is like Tom Riddle's diary and is making Emma weird!! Probably not, but whatever....

A typical morning in the Clace household: