my little scientists

Saw this and i immediately thought of livvy. My girl still has all those colourful dreams of life to chase :(

you don't understand how badly i need anti-establishment kit herondale. i pray to god they don't lobotomize him.

I AM FREAKING THE FUCK OUT OMFG!!!!

big thanks to @wikitpowers for sending me the chapter <3

edit: now includes the excerpt from chapter two that was given out at some ragpicker king events!

Also, Mark catching strays 😛

So far I'm really enjoying the Mark and Ty connection. It's clear in COHF that even before Mark was taken he was closer to Ty than any of his other siblings, but I like how LM is creating parallels between Ty's autistic traits and Mark's faerie traits to show why they understand each other so well. It highlights that Ty doesn't socialize "wrong," and that there are in fact places and people who play by a lot of the same social rules that he does (for instance, extreme literalism and complexity in casual speech). While Ty and Mark obviously are not the same, I think it's significant that since they're both used to being misunderstood they make more of an effort to understand each other. Ty is always loved by his siblings, but he still constantly has to explain himself to everyone other than Livvy. Mark seems to be one of the only people with whom he communicates easily, so of course he values that connection.

I also find it interesting that Julian is telling Mark to act "normal" in this scene, because he's consistently very clear that he doesn't want anybody implying that Ty isn't normal. I think that's probably because Julian sees Ty's autistic behavior as normal for Ty, while he still thinks that Mark's faerie behavior is weird and wrong for Mark. This is another example of how the Cold Peace has completely isolated an entire culture, since we see in COB that Jace is comfortable conversing with faeries. Shadowhunters used to recognize faerie speak as almost a sort of dialect that they would learn in order to clearly communicate, but now young Shadowhunters like Julian just hear it as weird. There's no interest in understanding this form of speech because it's seen as inherently violent and unnatural, which just adds to Mark's lack of belonging.

Also also, I really like that Ty is stepping in to defend Mark in this scene. So far we've seen a lot of Mark looking out for Ty (before, during, and after his time with the Hunt), but in this case it's clear that the protectiveness goes both ways. Ty is the younger brother, but he's still got autonomy and he still knows how to advocate for the people he cares about. It's probably extra hurtful for him to hear Julian talking like this, since he expects Julian to be the one protecting him from people who think he's weird, so I like that he's willing to stand up to his older brother/parental figure to defend Mark and also (in a way) to defend himself.

There isn’t really one scene where Julian smokes. In the first draft, he smoked all the time, and then in the second draft I wrote over those scenes and he no longer smoked. I know it’s weird to imagine, but characters change; they evolve and become different people, the final people they were meant to be.

I did find a scene that was cut in its entirely that mentions Julian’s smoking. It’s under the keep reading tag.

they both face discrimination from others in their own tragic ways. helen tries to conform and blend in more than mark, but they both struggle to see where they belong and who they are, and where they will be accepted in. i think it’s interesting how mark was ridiculed and humiliated by faeries in the hunt for being a shadowhunter, while helen has been ridiculed and humiliated by shadowhunters for being a faerie. they parallel the discrimination on both sides so well.

helen, who is forcibly separated from her family, and can’t be a big sister, ending up distant from everyone in a way that when she comes back, no one knows her anymore? she has always lived as an outsider to the shadowhunters, overworking to prove herself worthy only to be cast away to wrangel island in isolation for her heritage. and then when she gets back, she has become an outsider in her own family.

but who gets her? MARK. mark, who was also abandoned by shadowhunters, who’s heart aches and who breaks down when he learns that his sister was banished. mark who was supposed to be a big brother but instead was traumatized by the hunt, and now he has to get to know his family again (just like helen!!), a family in which no one gets him (like helen does), because now he acts different too due to his time in faerie. and helen is not there to support him. how it must’ve felt for helen to watch her brother be abandoned in faerie by their own people, unable to do anything?