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i have three brain cells

@enterausername8

and at any given point, at least two of them are thinking about camilla hect

I love how much Camilla Hect is always moving. She's so deadpan and stoic so you expect to see her standing stock-still all the time but then it's like "she shifted from foot to foot for a full hour and then tossed five swords from hand to hand for the remainder of the conversation :)"

How in the bone bubble she was probably shuffling her feet and prodding the bone wall and pacing around the perimeter a bit and that's the only reason Gideon remembered she was there at all for that whole scene lmao

(Together with Pal pushing his glasses up his nose all the time, they were just a couple smartass kids who COULD NOT SIT STILL and I love that. Pity the librarian tho.)

“She’d just skinned over the damage-a surface fix, hides the cracks. To really heal, she needs thalergy-life force-and she hasn’t got any to spare.”   “Oh, yeah,” said Gideon. “Sextus gave her turbo cancer”   Camilla nodded with enormous satisfaction. Well,” she said, “that’ll do it”

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon looked down into her solemn, obstinate face, and Camilla said-   “He say anything?”   Gideon wavered. “He said to tell you he loved you” she said”   “What? No, he didn’t”   “Okay, no sorry. He-said you knew what to do?”   “I do,” said Camilla with grim satisfaction, and laid herself back down among the bones.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

the ninth house being called the house of the sewn tongue. the sewn tongue, a ritual quite unlike any other form of necromancy that prevents the subject from speaking on a certain topic. the sewn tongue, which appears to be at least part flesh magic, something very much not typically associated with the ninth, and the only way to subvert it being to remove one's entire jaw. harrow kissing ianthe to confirm the sewn tongue was still in place. alecto kissing/biting harrow and verbally identifying her as the blood of anastasia. anastasia, who believed she had perfected lyctorhood, only to "fail" and "force" john to kill her cavalier to "save" her when she tried. anastasia, who in all likelihood had to be forcibly prevented from speaking the truth. anastasia, who then founded the ninth house to guard alecto and made some arrangement with her. the ninth house, which at terrible cost ensured that the blood of anastasia lasted those ten thousand years. the ninth house, the symbol of which is a jawless skull

Anyone ever notice that the black rapier in Harrow the Ninth (the one that keeps drawing her attention) is described in ch. 16 as decorated with canine teeth? Assuming the rapier is Anastasia's (or Samael's for that matter), does that mean they had a dog?

Now, this is gonna sound a little unhinged but around page 250 of my Nona the Ninth reread, I started suspecting Aim/the Angel/the Messenger is in fact a "perfect" lyctor. Pash refers to her as "they", and on page 250, Camilla/Palamedes "reads" them by touching their hips. Now, Lyctors as we know them are black voids for regular necromancers, right? What if that is a side effect of the cav being used improperly as a battery, and perfect Lyctors are not sucking away all thalergy like that? Did Pal glean something in that tumble which helped him and Cam create Paul? Is Aim the result of Anastasia's and Samael's "failed" (read: perfect) attempt at Lyctorhood? (Side note, even the name Aim works out if we're loosely working with the rules of Paul's name). Did they turn to BOE after EJG deemed their attempt as failed?

Another fun fact: Aim recognized the (I assume) elephant Nona drew as a "cradle creature". The Sanskrit word for elephant is Gaja, denoting fertility, abundance, etc. In many cultures, the elephant is a symbol of fertility, protection, good luck, or even a cosmic creature, which all together sounds pretty close to a cradle. (NOTE: not in Christianity, there it represents human kind as caught in sin and unable to rise.) Did Nona understand "elephant" literally as "cradle creature", like she understands many languages? Does that mean that Aim knows firsthand what an elephant is? Are they 10.000 years old?

Anyway, back to the point! Is Noodle (a descendent of) Anastasia's and Samael's dog??? And did they use their teeth to decorate their rapier? Is Noodle such a good boy that he's 10.000 years old? Or is teeth rapier dog such a good dog that their puppies and bloodline survived forever? Is Anastasia a dog person? Find out next time.

  “What do I do ,” she said, quite casually, “if she’s the murderer?”   His interest in the spinal column was not abating. Palamedes had slipped his glasses down his long craggy nose, and was holding the head upside down like he was emptying a piggy bank. He had even shone light into the nose and ears and horrible warp of the throat. “I don’t know,” he said. “What do you do?”   “What would you do if you discovered Camilla was a murderer?”   “Help her bury the body,” said Palamedes promptly.   “Sextus.”   “I mean it. if Camilla wants someone dead,” he said, “then far be it from me to stand in her way. All I can do at that point is watch the bloodshed and look for a mop. One flesh, one end, and all that.”

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

  “So hey. What do you really use when you’re not pretending the rapier’s your main wield? Two short blades of equal length, or one blade and one baton?”   Her keen eyes narrowed into black-lined slits. “How did I mess up?” she asked, eventually.   “You drew your rapier and your dagger at the same time. And you’re ambidextrous. You keep cutting like both your blades are curved. Also, there’s six swords and a nightstick on your bed.”   “Should’ve tidied my mess,” admitted Camilla. “Two blades. Double-edged.”   “Why? I mean, that’s boss, but why?”   The other cavalier massaged her elbow gingerly, flexing her fingers as though to make sure there was no correlating pain. She seemed to be considering something, and then she came to an abrupt conclusion. “I applied to be the Warden’s cavalier primary when I was twelve,” she said. “Got accepted. We’d looked at the data on weapons, before. Decided that two short blades had-more general applications.  I learnt the rapier,” -that was an understatement-”but I’ll be fighting with blades, when the time comes to really fight.”

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

“Ninth. When you’re finished, come with me.”     It didn’t take long for Gideon to finish, as in any case she hadn’t much bothered to chew. She stared with glassy eyes at Camilla the Sixth’s plate-Camilla, who had finished most of hers, rolled her eyes and pushed her leftovers to Gideon. This was an act for which she was fond of Camilla forever after.

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

so in Harrow the Ninth it’s established that Harrow uses the Ninth House prayer (”I pray that the Tomb stays shut forever, I pray that the rock is never rolled away…”) to steady herself before difficult undertakings, like Ianthe’s arm.

So my question is, did she use it like that before she (minor spoilers, if you’re finished with Gt9 you’re fine)

Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead got defeated by a Woken Remembrance of Valiant Dead - Matthias Nonius.

Abigail Pent 'woke' Nonius by summoning him from the river,

Nonius is influenced by Ortus' Noniad (like speaking in meter): he's not just Matthias Nonius, he's Matthias Nonius as 'remembered' by the Ninth House

And Nonius is considered one of the Ninth's House's most 'valiant dead'

hey ablebodied people please teach your children not to swerve in front of mobility aid users. We might accidentally hurt them (my power wheelchair does not stop quickly and the bones in your child's foot are small and breakable) or they might accidentally hurt us (someone who's already having trouble balancing is likely to fall if they have to stop short). You don't have to teach them everything about physically disabled people but these are basic safety things that can make the difference between a cordial interaction and 1-2 very injured people. This also goes for touching mobility aids without permission, we may not notice the child or they may do something harmful before we can stop them.

[image ID: a banner that says "this post is about physical disability, don't derail" on the first line and "physically ableds don't speak including talking in tags" on the second line].