#she is the symbol of harrow's power as a necromancer she is the proof harrow deserves to live even if the price was so horrible

[eerna]

I just think that............. *gestures wildly to how Harrow experiences attraction* you know??????

#as you could probably tell by my fanart today i am having a Night #this funky repressed nun chose the object of her worship to double as her imaginary gf #she cuddles her she calls her beloved she tries to make a move on her #all completely imaginary of course. she doesn't feel any of that but likes to imagine she can feel it. #the object of her worship is also the death of god the monster he defeated once but couldnt defeat twice who resides in a tom under her home #a tomb harrow herself was conceived at the price of 200 innocent children to keep shut #she is the symbol of harrow's power as a necromancer she is the proof harrow deserves to live even if the price was so horrible #and then there's ianthe who is also a brilliant necromancer. who understands attraction at the level harrow does and uses it against harrow #how the only two times harrow even considered giving in to ianthe was when she was either at the end of her rope and insanely powerless #or when she felt at the top of her game like the powerful necromancer she is supposed to be and somehow isn't anymore #their touching is always threatening and uncomfortable and makes her feel on edge #and then there's gideon who just. has nothing to do with any of that. gideon exists on a completely different level. #she reduces alecto to ''ice lolly bimbo'' and ''big slut'' and ''bullshit dead girlfriend'' without breaking a sweat #she forgives harrow everything. things harrow had no part in and things she had. it doesn't matter she forgives it all #she holds harrow's hand she hugs her she kisses her she is REAL and the FIRST PERSON TO EVER PROPERLY TOUCH HER WITH AFFECTION #and it stuns harrow so much she is incapable of even processing it. she completely shuts down every time. we dont know how she feels aboutit #just. harrow and attraction and desire. holy shit #tlt liveblog

[ghostmartyr]

“She was the very best of all of us. The most loyal, the most humane, the most resilient. The one with the most capacity for kindness.”

“So I came here when the Emperor asked me... because I wanted to... even though I knew I came here to die.” Gideon said, “But I don’t want you to die,” and realised a second afterward that she had said it aloud.

The smile she got in return had no dimples. It was strangely tender---as Dulcinea was always strangely tender with her---as though they had always shared some delicious secret.

There’s something about Cytherea being gentle with Gideon. She’s gentle during the avulsion trial, having asked Harrow to put Gideon through it. She’s gentle when Gideon’s overwhelmed with grief and guilt over Jeannemary and Isaac, having killed them both.

Cytherea knows what Gideon is almost from the moment they meet. Gideon’s the spitting image of her mother, even before the eyes come into play. Gideon is the bomb that her esteemed sibling Lyctors plant the seed for. Gideon is living proof that their God betrayed them from the very beginning, and she wanders Canaan House like a lost puppy.

John’s chivalrous, lonely cavalier of a child.

Cytherea plays and she flirts, enjoying every thread of Gideon’s attention she can spool around herself, but throughout it, she is sincerely kind and soft.

The Seventh House kind of sucks. They look at cancer and think, “lo, you can make death magic with that!!!” To which everyone with half a moral looks at and goes, “lo, that’s some fucking bullshit what the hell!!”

Even back in Cytherea’s mortal lifespan, her slow, painful death is seen as a miracle. She’s more symbol than person, and that’s the last thing she wants.

“If they could figure out some way to stop you when you’re mostly cancer and just a little bit woman, they would!” [...] “Gideon,” she said, “I told your necromancer I didn’t want to die. And it’s true... but I’ve been dying for what feels like ten thousand years. I more didn’t want to die alone. I didn’t want them to put me out of sight. It’s a horrible thing to fall out of sight....”

Gideon is the child of God. She has what Cytherea would know as Alecto’s eyes and Wake’s face. Every inch of her physical appearance declares to the universe the sins and schemes of her parents that she has never known.

Cytherea is necromancer without her cavalier.

Gideon, at the start, is a cavalier without her necromancer.

Everything Gideon does screams for some sort of acknowledgement. She hates the Ninth loudly and prolifically, and wants so badly for them to find something in her to love or approve of. She acts as a cavalier to Harrow as a bid for full freedom, but spends the whole time wishing for Harrow to actually make use of her instead of having her stand around like an Ortus with no poetry.

Adding on to what Cytherea can see, Gideon has only her vow of silence for company. They are both creatures of immense power and significance, demeaned to sitting in a corner waiting for life to happen to them. While no one even has the decency to notice. The both of them have completely fallen out of sight.

But Gideon is welcomed into Cytherea’s invisible corners. She’s invited, she laps it up, and Cytherea returns the favor with the same consideration that she’s wanted to be extended for ten thousand years. She looks at this lore bomb of a human being, and after confirming a few key points, settles on being kind and enjoying her company.

Yeah, Gideon is a cougar thirst trap and this blog simps for Cytherea all day long, but that’s just the very fun window dressing: In a series full of lonely people begging for validation, Cytherea and Gideon grant each other the respite of being recognized as a human person.

For Gideon, it’s the first time. For Cytherea, it’s the last.

For both, it means the world.

#liveblogging #Gideon the Ninth #viva la pluto #tl;dr #yes yes the child murder and the other murder and the trauma #BUT CYTHEREA CARES SO MUCH YOU GUYS