#saint-sebastian-coded

oh this is a very fascinating thought!!!! (and also ty hehe)

YESSSS!!!! HUGE harrow the ninth vibes!!! i’m so obsessed with sci-fi narratives that manage to make incarnate the experiences of loss and grief

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

I reread let it come down by @/antspaul, one of the fics of all time. Ted Lasso, Roy/Jamie. 1970s AU

i feel like this isn't unpopular in the mutual circle but. stop making him an idiot? bro invented airships i don't think he's stupid

He heard a small cough from behind him. "Excuse me, could you let me go past you or is being polite something Wundersmiths don't do?"

Morrigan couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but the thought of being abandoned for simply not being useful was clearly scaring him. She felt bad for Jupiter, but didn’t really know what to say. All she had to offer was a sympathetic smile.

I DO TYSM FOR ASKING

i’m lowkey considering writing a fic of what I think is the most likely way morrithad (yeah i’m choosing that ship name rn) would happen, which would be that Thaddea finally does teach Morrigan self-defense post-Silverborn, and Morrigan’s teenage brain melts a little when they spar and Thaddea gets her down on the mats because hey come on whose wouldn’t. And then smash cut to Morrigan lying face down on her bed screaming into her pillow because EUGH WHY OUT OF EVERYONE IN MY UNIT WHY THADDEA AWFUL THADDEA WHO STINKS AFTER SHE WRESTLES AND WHO KEEPS TEASING ME AND WHO HAS BIG MUSCLES AND IS SO TALL AND-

I like to imagine Thaddea wouldn’t be as oblivious to Morrigan’s little crush as Morrigan would like her to be, and maybe it’s just more fuel for Thaddea to (light-heartedly) joke around about. Unrequited romance played for comedy my beloved <3

HIIIIIII DEAR MUTUAL yes ofc!!! sorry for the slight delay, but here is the director's (writer's) commentary for my fic Highly Inappropriate Crushes: The Dread of Morrigan Crow

this fic idea really came about because 1) I was noticing a lot of little Thaddea/Morrigan moments in Silverborn which made me realize the potential of their ship, but I'm like 90% sure JT wouldn't make ANY Morrigan ships endgame becuase the main focus of the series is about platonic relationships, let alone Thaddea/Morrigan & 2) as it has been repeatedly said, all of Francis' family members are Wunsoc members on both sides, so I thought it might be a logical extrapolation that he might be expected to also pursue a romantic relationship with a Wunsoc member when he's older. However, with Francis being such an uptight rule follower under his Aunt Hester's thumb (that was zero shade to the character, I love him, especially now after having written a very him-centric fic), I realized it would be a reallyyyyyyy interesting moment of development for him to have that sort of "star-crossed lovers" relationship with someone who is the opposite of someone you'd find in Wunsoc. Hence, the bad boy bartender.

The Slumgullion bartender OC I made up for this fic is nonbinary only because I didn't want to specify a gender in my notes and then I just kept the they/them pronouns. Diversity win?

The detail of said nonbinary bartender OC is also smoking a blue cigarette because that's what a lady in the Bohemian district was smoking when Morrigan and Jupiter were going to get Israfel's signature in the beginning scene of book 2.

In my beginning author's note, I say in my content warnings, "there is implied grooming from the bartender that Francis has a crush on (though to my imagination it's more like the bartender is amused by Francis' puppy love, although they shouldn't be engaging with said crush at all)." Yeah, I very much took inspiration from the heterosexual trope of "young boy has crush on much older girl who is definitely out of his league" because it's the biggest (and pretty much only, off the top of my head) example in media of unrequited romance played for comedy, but yeah, that bartender really should be shutting down Francis' crush on them, rather than lowkey encouraging it by talking for hours in cold dark alleyways.

Tangentially related to a point above, my personal wish for the Nevermoor series is that ONE unit 919 x unit 919 ship is explicitly canon endgame (not necessarily Morridence, but that'd also be fun) because I think dating and crushes is a really fun and important milestone of growing up (if, perhaps, a little overhyped in media), and especially in a big and unique friend group like Unit 919, I think there's a lot of room to have fun with that.

as i mentioned in the ending author's notes, my original plan for Anah's little "twist" on the theme (because I wanted to give each member of Unit 919 their own twist on the titular problem of highly inappropraite crushes) was to have her have a comphet crush on Francis and therefore try to defend Francis when he denies having a crush on the nonbinary bartender of Slumgullion's. However, after I thought about it a little more, I realized that heteronormativity doesn't really make sense in a magical other world where homophobia doesn't exist. And Anah was raised by nuns anyway, so that hegemonic heteronormative romance model would probably not affect her that much anyway.

In the author's note, I also mention DC character Connor Hawke to compare him to Anah. He grew up in a monastery and was teased a LOT by other characters for being gay, just because he doesn't show sexual interest in any women. He's now (and has been for a while) canon asexual, btw. I bring him up because for the longest time, Connor kinda had a "compchastity" thing going on where--before he figured out he's ace--he thought that him being raised by monks was the reason he didn't really have sexual interest in women. I don't necessarily headcanon Anah as ace, but the comparison did sort of guide me in writing her reactions to everyone's titular highly inappropraite crushes.

On the subject of the ace spectrum, I made Hawthorne aroace because I thought it would be fun as his "twist" on the theme. And now that's just my general headcanon for him. He's just here for the vibes!

I accidentally called Slumgullion's just Slumgullion. singular. Whoops. By the time I noticed, I was too deep in the fic to really care. This is from Francis' civic duty task, mentioned on page 233 of Silverborn, which I somehow found important to note in my google doc for this fic. Wait actually nvm I think I did fix it

Also in my google doc notes: "Morrigan is constantly playing straight man."

I briefly considered reusing the treehouse sleepover in Silverborn before deciding that Room 85 would not be so gauche as to repeat a theme for a special event, even if it was a banger theme. I had to brainstorm a couple of themes before landing on blanket fort, which I'm pretty happy with. Another theme I thought of was aquarium, but that's more for a party thrown by Frank than a cute cozy night with the homies <3

I mentioned in my narration that Francis has braids because 1) I really love watching videos of braiders 2) to my knowledge, there's no specific description of what Francis' hairstyle looks like, so I had room for creative interpretation and 3) I figured it would be a really easy hairstyle to put underneath a chef's hat and to also have out of your face while cooking.

^ this is basically how I imagine Francis' hair.

my notes also say "Thaddea pipes up and says Brutilus Brown is kinda hot when he’s so focused and teaching, and there’s a line or two about human x wunimal major relationships and if that’s where wunimal minors come from." yeah uhhhh I think I said a little more than a line or two /s

jesus christ was Thaddea's Scottish accent hard to write. I'm American, but the characters of Nevermoor have various accents of the UK in my head just because that's what they sound like in the audiobooks.

other than that, writing Thaddea was SO SO SO much fun, she's so funny and I think she's a really underrated character. Well, everyone was really fun to write, but she was a standout to me <3

also: unrequited romance played for comedy, everyone give it up for unrequited romance played for comedy!!!!!

Francis does not have any confirmed siblings afaik, it's just not mentioned yet. But the idea of a little sister who he wishes he could warn of all the shit that Wunsoc made--and is still making--Unit 919 go through just wouldn't leave my heart...it brings the whole concept full circle, even if perhaps it's a little too negative on the child soldier part of Wunsoc than the series ever is.

Francis crying was not a planned part of the fic--well, as soon as I had the concept, the whole thing came to me pretty naturally as I continued writing piece by piece--but anyway, Francis implicitly admitting that he cries silently alone is so so canon to me

Albeit, Morrigan in her narration mentions that SHE didn't have to learn how to cry silently because when she cried in Crow Manor, nobody even heard, let alone checked in on her.

Despite what I just said, I don't think Morrigan really cried all that much during her childhood, actually, despite...everything about her childhood. She's actually rather well adjusted and not-angsty in canon, considering everything. Even when she worries about the curse post-reveal-of-her-actual-"knack," it always feels like something she worries that is external, rather than something she's internalized. IDK, I just thought it was a very interesting and cool characterization JT decided. Morrigan is NOT a woobie, she's a fighter <3 I simply decided to fudge my own interpretation of Morrigan a little bit to serve the themes of the fic

someone in the comments said that this fic was the most accurate to real life sleepovers, which is very flattering, especially because I had never had sleepovers when I was growing up lol (besides cousins and such, but that doesn't count). IDK, I just think it's a very kid-of-immigrants childhood milestone to miss out on.

In this fic universe, Morridence and Thaddea/Anah (I forgot their ship name) are endgame.

I also like to think Francis ends up with an (age-appropriate) unwun boy. Maybe even Jack, but I think it'd be thematically even better for Francis to end up with someone who has ZERO connections to Wunsoc, as Jack is still the son and nephew/ward of Wunsoc members.

I don't have any specific HCs for Mahir and Arch in this world. I honestly do see them both ending up with girls though, maybe a boy for Mahir (I think it would be funny if either of them was the "token straight" of the group, and in this fic, Arch was the token straight).

Really have no idea about Lam tho tbh because her future is so up in the air (is she going to go back to the Wintersea Republic to rule???).

In the fic, Lam has had small a crush on Morrigan since Morrigan saved her from the Ghastly Market, and Anah has a small crush she's in denial about for Cadence since Cadence got her into those mystery books, which are both my general HCs for those two. However, Cadence having a lowkey crush on Miss Cheery is not really my general HC for her, it just doesn't have enough "evidence" for me IDK. I do have a general HC that Cadence really looks up to Miss Cheery, though, because come on, Miss Cheery is definitely the biggest positive role model in Wunsoc in Cadence's life, considering her competition is the odious Baz Charlton.

Morrigan being scandalized that her unit members think her patron is hot is inspired by my conversations with various friends in which one of us finds the other's parents or other such relatives hot.

seriously. can wunimals have children with humans. jessica. jessica answer me. jessica. u can't just create another sentient species without addressing the very real possibility of inter-species relationships. jessica.

hehe I'm v glad to know I've endeared at least one person to this rarepair!! I've said before that I don't really see morrithad as endgame because that title belongs to morridence, BUT this ask reminded me that I wrote out some endgame headcanons for all of Unit 919!! Here r my post-canon headcanons for Morrigan, Thaddea, and Cadence that I wrote shortly after reading Silverborn and have since slightly revised:

Morrigan Crow

An accomplished Wundersmith, has earned all the Wundrous Art Seals

Also got together with Cadence by the end of the series, maybe in their late teens (maybe last year as a senior scholar) + got married in late 20’s

However, Morrigan and Thaddea had a brief thing in their mid-teens

Starts mentoring Wundersmith kids

Lesbian

Eventually also takes over the Hotel Deucalion as its proprietor (although maybe after Jupiter dies because I don’t know if he’d ever truly retire from that)

Advocates for refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants from the Wintersea Republic

Cadence Blackburn: “Detective Blackburn”

becomes a private investigator, Detective Blackburn fr fr

Keeps wanting Morrigan to “roleplay” as a femme fatale for her like Cadence is the main character of a noir movie but Morrigan cannot take it seriously

Mostly distances herself from Wunsoc (like Dame Chanda does) because she resents how they treated Morrigan

Lesbian

Thaddea Macleod

Part-time bookfighter at the Gob with Mahir + helps Wunsoc fight whatever monsters they need to use brute force for

After a long slowburn, gets together with Anah somewhere in their mid twenties

Lesbian

Like Cadence, thinks that Wunsoc’s institutions allow for abuse, but disagrees with Cadence that distancing themselves from Wunsoc is the best solution (Cadence: "it’s not about a SOLUTION it’s about standing your ground and saying this is not something I’ll abide by—"). instead does the thing of trying to work within the system to redeem it.

I want to especially point out that I think Cadence and Thaddea both resent Wunsoc for how they treated Morrigan because they're both protective over Morrigan, but whereas Thaddea engages with it directly, Cadence is more avoidant. (And maybe this is just because I read Worm where people get superpowers from things called "shards" that mess with their heads a little, but I now can't help but wonder where knacks come from, and if it's from Wunder, if knacks do influence how people in-universe think and behave on a subconscious, metaphysical level rather than just on the practical, empiric level.)

Now that I'm writing this out now, I also can't help but compare Thaddea to the guardian-soldiers of Plato's Republic (which, if you've beens talking my blog recently, you know i've been positively obsessed with platoposting as of late lmao), where they have to learn both gymnastics (as in, combat and exercise) and music (as in, the arts of the Muses) during their education. Gymnastics for courage (as Plato defines it: being able to distinguish what you should fear and what you should not fear) and music for moderation (as Plato defines it: a kind of harmony or like an absence of conflict in a positive way; consensus among people). If only taught music but not gymnastics, these "overly musical" children will become too weak, agreeable, cowardly, etc.; if only taught gymnastics and not music, these "unmusical" children become too obsessed with honor and become too warlike to actually be good guardians of the city. These unmusical guardian-soldiers then become like Spartans where they enslave the producer class/the common people.

This causes a transition from Kallipolis (the perfect city) to a regime referred to by Plato as a "timachy", and Plato also describes a "timarchic soul". Long explanation made short, a timarchic soul is one in which the "spirited" part of the soul (the part that is concerned with honor) rules over the "calculated" part (the part that is concerned with wisdom) and the "desiring" part (the part that is concerned with needs and wants).

What I'm driving towards is: you could kind of interpret Thaddea as a timarchic soul? She as a character is very concerned with honor: I'm particularly thinking about in the second book, she sees losing to that one weakass guy at Wunsoc's Fight Club as dishonorable, but she still honors her agreement to throw the fight, but at the end when it's revealed the whole blackmailing thing was their Loyalty Trial, Thaddea is the first person to say that it was injust and cruel to put them through that.

Also, in contrast, I think, Anah would be an "overly musical" soul. Or maybe Francis. Or both of them.

I could probably also make some sort of argument for Morrigan's learning the Wundrous Arts as her coming out of the Cave (and her going back into the cave as a metaphor for her returning to the fucked up political intrigue realm of Nevermoor), but that would be stretching the metaphor, I fear. But if I were to make that case, then I could argue that Morrigan has the soul of a philosopher-king, or at least has the potential to be so.

Hawthorne is totally a "democratic" soul btw: he's ruled equally by his spirited, desiring, and calculated parts.