#narinder basra

this is so stupid and im talking to myself atp but whatever lmao

harvey being so used to forever being loved in half measures by bryce that he can't comprehend narinder loving and accepting him for who he is

see: "I don't hate you." "You should," + harvey thinking that narinder is manipulating him ouhhh they make me sick

harvey seeing himself as broken and unfixable (is that a word?) and lashing out when narinder tries to help him get through what he's going through

see: "Then call me shattered. Call me beyond repair. But don’t pretend like I have the power to fix myself. Because I…I’m sick. And that isn’t how being sick works!" im cryinggg

harvey thinking narinder should fear and despise him like the others for what he's done and also hating himself for always going back to bryce

(These are all post-Queen of Volts unless otherwise stated)

Marcy, obviously, has thirteen cats named after legendary street lords (but all the Spirits help out).

While Lola is writing her book and still trying to fix her relationships with Justin and Enne, she gets pretty lonely sitting in front of a typewriter all day. Tock suggests getting a pet to cheer her up, but Lola doesn’t want anything noisy or time-consuming, so she gets a little fish for on her desk while she’s working. Tock doesn’t get the point of having a fish for a pet at first, but then she sees that Lola sometimes will take a break and watch it swim around, and she looks really calm. So they get a few more and have a lovely fish tank that helps Lola feel less isolated at her desk and that Tock likes to fill with those colorful pebbles.

Narinder hires some more people to work in the Catacombs so he can have a more reasonable schedule. Once he starts spending less time frantically moving back and forth behind the bar and more time in the back of the club doing paperwork, he gets a black Labrador named Delilah. Most afternoons he ends up sitting on the floor to go through the ledger because she likes to curl up next to him and rest her head in his lap while he works. She is an absolute sweetheart and Harvey will stop by to “help Narinder with work” and end up barely paying attention to a word because he’s playing with Delilah.

(pre-series for obvious reasons) Reymond has a ball python that he found god-knows-where and that he carries around his neck to terrify people if they’re giving him or the Scarhands a hard time. He never mentions the snake’s name in public, leading most people to think he doesn’t have one and that he’s just Eight Fingers’s nameless python. Little do they know that some young Scarhand thought they were being clever and started calling him “No Fingers” after the Scar Lord. Reymond was not amused, but behind closed doors the name stuck.

Poppy really wants a few parakeets, because her father got her one when she was younger and she has a lot of good memories associated with it. Birds are way too loud and chaotic for Delaney to handle, and Poppy realizes that parakeets might complicate her busy dance schedules. She ends up getting a tiny Maltese dog named Snowflake that she can easily take with her wherever she goes. Thankfully, Snowflake is very friendly and loves meeting people at her recitals. Delaney swears up and down that he’s Poppy’s dog and she has nothing to do with it, but she not-so-secretly adores him and melts any time he looks in her direction.

One morning when Sophia goes over to Harrison’s apartment for brunch, a gray cat follows her into the building and won’t go away no matter what she tries. The poor thing is very battered like she got into a fight, so Harrison sees what’s going on and cleans her up before giving her some food and a makeshift place to sleep. The next morning, the cat won’t leave. Harrison and Sophia have to have a serious talk because he’s a busy man and she isn’t ready for 100% responsibility for a pet yet, but they work out a system where the cat (which they name Jade, as a tip of the hat to the eye color that unites their awkward family) mostly lives at Harrison’s apartment but spends time with both of them. They’re still figuring out how to be a family, but their arrangement with Jade helps.

We know right from the beginning that Harvey is apprehensive and sometimes even afraid of Bryce’s malison abilities, to the point where he labels it dangerous and unholy (more significant because of Harvey’s religion).  When Harvey is talking to Jac in the church, and he’s asking those questions that are very clearly about Bryce without explicitly being about him, one of the things he asks is if Jac believes in demons.  He compares Bryce summoning the Bargainer to him bringing the devil to the city and making New Reynes hell.  He says to Rebecca that she’s the reason why Bryce is terrible, but never denies that he is in fact terrible.  When he and Bryce are making out in Queen of Volts, about 50% of his thought process is about how it reminds him of his own sins and complicity.  When he finally calls Bryce a monster, it’s such a big moment for him because he’s finally admitting - not just to himself or Narinder - to Bryce how toxic their entire relationship is and how unsafe he feels around Bryce.

Time and time again, there are so many analogies that Harvey makes about Bryce relating him to a demon or the devil or anything unholy and wrong.

And then there’s Narinder.  When he saves Harvey from Her Forgotten Histories, Harvey’s first impression of him is that the glow behind him makes him look like a martyr - and granted, Harvey is really out of it and kind of delirious, but that’s not the only time he thinks things like that.  There are multiple occasions where - I don’t have the exact quotes right now - he compares Narinder to a saint or something along those lines.  And, of course, there’s the huge significance of Narinder living in a repurposed cathedral with all the stained glass.

Idk it’s just the whole dynamic between Harvey and Narinder is amazing and I loved reading every page of it.  Narinder is so sweet to Harvey and so understanding of what he’s going through, but also recognizes boundaries (both Harvey’s and his) and what he should and shouldn’t do to help.  The entire “I’m sick” scene was SO WELL WRITTEN and I reread it so many times before continuing because the dialogue is AMAZING and I keep coming back to it because wow.  It’s just...wow.  And how Harvey finally realizes that the reason why Narinder won’t help him with Bryce is because he can’t, and that it’s Harvey’s responsibility to help himself with that but that Narinder will help him with anything else he needs after, and that Harvey realizes he shouldn’t need someone to tell him how to fix himself, and so he goes to the prison on his own, and it’s just PERFECT.

This is straying from the initial point of the symbolism, and I’ll probably make a whole separate post for the “I’m sick” scene because - to reiterate - wow, but I love how the last line from Harvey’s POV in that book is when he’s kissing Narinder and thinks to himself how it’s the first prayer in a long time that didn’t beg forgiveness.