Oh, Alastair

Firstly Anon, welcome to the fandom! Secondly, I hope you are prepared for this story, which all happened about a year ago.

It all started with a picture someone posted of a zoomed in picture of some beige food. No explanation was given, and four teams were given: Team Panini, Team Baguette, Team Pancake and Team Burrito. To put it mildly, things got heated. Each of the teams INSISTED that they had it right. No clarification on the picture was ever given.

Not long after this (we are talking within a fortnight) someone posted mock-up Instagram accounts for Cristina, Mark and Kieran. On Marks Instagram, there was a picture of a lamp. They had included comments from the other L.A residents, and all the comments had the same feel: “nice lamp Mark, but I have never seen it before”. Someone re-blogged this post, jokingly saying that they shipped Mark with this lamp.

To say things escalated rapidly would be an understatement. Things got really out of hand. The ship name Lark got created and numerous stories were written about Mark and the love he had for this precious lamp. Someone reminded the fandom about the payphone Mark had walked into during Lady Midnight and had called “Miss” and somehow the payphone got involved. Another person got the gnome from Lord of Shadows, the one Mark hadn’t trusted involved. Somehow, Mark had found himself in a polygamous relationship with a lamp, a payphone and a gnome.

But dear Anon, our story gets even more dramatic. Cassie made a post, and made reference to something she had seen on her dash. That sent us all into a panic: Had Cassie seen all the posts made in our insanity? We assumed she had. So, when her asks were open, I like the idiot I was, asked her about it. Where she got her ideas and if she would consider referencing the debate, and Mark and his dear lamp.

She replied, much to my surprise (it was my first ask, and I was a small blog at the time) saying she had no idea what I was talking about. The fear was very much real, and I asked my small number of followers “what should I do? Do I explain?” and @jessamine–lovelace encouraged me to do so. So I did. I sent an explanation and exposed the fandom’s current insanity. I confessed to my actions and there was a mixture of panic and humor from the fandom. 

This month’s patreon picture!! 

Michael / Robert won the poll. For the “back to school” theme. 

Robert, confused by his dreams about that time he went totally heterosexually skinny dipping with Michael in a hallucinogenic lake.

I feel enlightened!

I think you are right about fantasy stakes. When I think of romance, at least in a Shadowhunter context, I think high stakes, high emotions, massive consequences and, usually, the absence of the luxury of time. Also, usually Magnus walks in on you at some point or another.

I do think of TWP as very romantic books. Part of focusing in so closely on the main four characters is to give those romances space and time. It allows for Kit and Ty to be on a desperate chase across Europe but occasionally have time for squabbling over whether licorice is disgusting (yes, yes it is) or you, know being terrified about the other person's safety (which I find romantic, though not domestic.)

If the question is just whether Kit and Ty ever do anything romantic, I do not know what terrible person would promise a romance between two characters and then never let them do anything romantic. Kit and Ty must reconnect after a bad split, but that in itself is a romantic process. Also, they are quite a bit older than they were in TDA so "I don't know, do I maybe want to kiss this person?" is more like "I desperately do want to kiss this person, but maybe they do not return the feeling."

Will we learn more about Andrew and Eleanor Blackthorn in TLKOF? Will Ty or Dru be thinking about them as they go on their adventures?

A very little. In the scenes in TLKOF from Ty's perspective, there is no room or reason for him to think about them. Dru wears her mother's gear and thinks briefly about her father, but he died when she was eight, and Eleanor when she was even younger. To her, her parental figure is Julian, who she thinks about a lot, as does Ty.

svnshinee9 asked:

I was just wondering, since it's mentioned quite a few times, does Ty's hair and eye colours (different from the rest of the other blackthorn siblings) hide a piece of information we're still missing??

Nope! It is meant to be a fun piece of business tying him back to Jesse and the other Blackthorns of that time. That's all.

izzylightwoodfledaway asked:

Hey Cassie, I know we've just got A Sea of Change where we saw what happened to Mathew Fairchild after the TLH. And we sort of know that James and Cordelia lived happily ever after TLH but are we gonna see them later in their lives? Maybe James or Cordelia or Lucie could even get mentioned in the TWP? Maybe their ghosts could make a cameo? Or their story ended at TLH?

The forward progress of their stories ends with TLH. They do not live on forever or return as ghosts. We may hear bits and pieces about their lives, as history (Matthew's apartment in Paris lives on). It's not to say someday there might be a short story or something, who knows?! — but not in TWP.

laamedusa asked:

Hi Cassie!

I was wondering, does Ash remember or have any memories of Nene? I totally get if you can’t answer this but I loved their short story and would love to see more of them!

He does! He remembers her well though he won't necessarily admit it at first. She certainly changed him, as he has only known otherwise terrible role models.

smrxlmn asked:

Will we get any boyfriend moments in the first book? I know it's too spoiler, but.. but...

I don't know what that means! — and googling did not help me. Google did tell me that boyfriends should go canoeing or kayaking together, though I am not sure they would like that. You will have to clarify next round. :)

maryheronthorn asked:

hi cassie!

i was wondering if we are going to see a little bit of the sill on-going beef between emma and zara. i remember zara still being super angry and promising to kill emma when she got out of idris soooo maybe IF she gets out… will we see round 2? 👀 or is zara over it?

Zara is never over anything, but she also has beef with a lot of people. You'll definitely see her though she has bigger problems than Emma in TLKOF.

heronstairs asked:

hey Cassie, i'm super curious to know if we learn why the runed gun only fires for James & Kit during the plot of twp. it's been haunting me. very excited to reenter the shadow world in tlkof!! <3

We already know why it fires for James, but we will indeed find out why it fires for Kit, too, in TWP. Ty figures it out.

iveneverbeenanaturalt asked: Will Maryse’s brother be in TWP? any chance we'll see them reunite?

We will definitely see Max. (Max 2? Max 3?) His knowledge proves invaluable. Maryse and Max reunited before TLKOF so that would have to be in special content or a deleted scene. (For those of you who have not read Better in Black, you will find out who Max is!)

ecairis asked:

Are Emma and Julian planning to expand their family?