Has Anyone Ever Thought About How Ironic It Is That The Present Lines Of Blackthorns Possibly Only Exists

Just saw this pickup line "Are you a tower? Because Eiffel for you" and it just screamed Thomastair to me. Specifically, I think Alastair would say this to Thomas because

1) Thomas is a giant and towers over everyone

and 2) they were specifically talking about the Eiffel Tower in ChoG

And now I just headcanon that Alastair said this to Thomas at one point who just laughed himself to tears.

I sometimes have a few issues with facial expressions, especially if there's no words being said. In that scene where Illya shocks Rudi for the first time he looks at Napoleon, but I can't tell if it's from Napoleon still having his hand on Rudi or from seeing how strong the electric was. Can you break down his expression for me, please?

I think it’s open to many interpretations, but I’ll try to break down his facial expressions as I see them.

First, I think I need to consider where Illya is at mentally. He’s just been “betrayed” by Gaby and his first priority is, not contacting his commanding officer and telling him the situation or trying to find the bomb, but finding Solo. Illya had been listening to the conversation between Gaby and her Uncle Rudi; he knows Uncle Rudi “needs to make a telephone call” and that’s likely to tell Victoria that Solo is CIA—Illya knows Solo is in trouble and needs to get to Solo before it’s too late (although from his perspective, it might already be too late, but he’s going to try to save Solo anyway—which I think says a lot. Perhaps he felt he owed Solo since Solo had been in a similar situation of not knowing if he was still alive after the boat incident but Solo went to save him from drowning anyway?)

Let’s assume that Solo is being held at the Vinciguerra shipping facility since that is most likely and the design of Rudi’s lab matches the design of that facility. This gives Illya some advantage because he’s already been there before and knows about the hidden button to get to the basement, however, the facility is heavily guarded.

Illya would have to find a way to sneak past, or probably fight off, all these guards to get to Solo. This is probably why, although Uncle Rudi and Illya were at the same location (Vinciguerra’s Manor) when Gaby exposed them, that Uncle Rudi got to Solo before Illya.  So Illya has done all this work to find Solo although he has no way of knowing if Solo is dead or alive. Fortunately, Solo is still alive. Now here’s where it’s a bit confusing for me, does Illya know that Solo was being tortured by electrocution? I don’t see how he cannot given that there are no other physical signs of torture. Solo is sweating, blood is streaming from his nose, and there are tears along his cheeks. Illya is also a skilled tech with proficiency in computer programming languages FACT and COBOL, so he would be able to recognize how the chair is wired up. Yet, after he’s strapped Rudi’s right hand, when he comes to the front of the chair, he looks curiously at the contraption with a foot pedal.

Although, perhaps he’s merely looking for the on switch? Either way, he’s startled when Rudi is electrocuted.

Interesting thing, though, is that he checks Solo’s reaction, not Rudi’s. Is this realization of how badly Solo was tortured? Or surprise that it is an electrocution device? (Which I don’t think makes sense, again because of his specialities… but he was also surprised to see an aircraft carrier… while flying over the ocean… which is also confusing but I guess you can argue that he didn’t expect the British Navy to get involved? I digress.)

Illya’s expression does change from surprise to this expression:

He’s looking more intensely at Solo. Perhaps this expression is deep concern over Solo’s welfare. This realization of what this chair does, if you want to call it realization, is unsettling to him. Perhaps he’s realizing how close Solo would have been to dying if he hadn’t gotten to him in time. Or perhaps he was worried he’d injured Solo again because he hadn’t been paying attention to the fact that Solo was still touching the chair. In this angle, Solo is still touching the chair when Illya presses the pedal:

I think you can make a lot of arguments on what Illya’s reaction means, but either way, he’s not happy. Once he knows what this chair will do to Rudi, he’s quite keen to torture Rudi with it for information. The second time he presses the pedal it’s in response to Uncle Rudi being willing to testify against anyone, even his own niece. The third time, he’s taking his anger for Gaby betraying him (“It’s not the same”) out on Rudi simply for the sake of doing it, but the pedal doesn’t work that time, but he keeps jamming his foot on the pedal anyway until Solo tells him it has a glitch. Illya is clearly disgusted by what Rudi subjected Solo to and angry at Gaby for endangering Solo as well. Which is probably why he fights against believing Gaby didn’t betray them and learning that Gaby is a British spy working for Waverly (“You’re wrong. […] You’re wrong. I saw her betray us at Vinciguerra.”) It takes Waverly telling him that he told Gaby to betray them for Illya to accept what had happened and forgive her. He realized she had no choice in the matter, that she had to obey Waverly, even if it meant possibly getting her teammates killed.

A difficult situation that Illya probably knows all too well.

In the end, he would have done exactly the same thing in her position.

Yessss MY NAME IN A BOOK😱😱😍😍😍 I'M SO GONNA LOVE HER😍😍😍

Here are the responses I got for the name of Henri’s little sister! So all of the submissions are at the very top, and I made a word cloud. The bigger names are the ones that was submitted the most times. If the choice was made solely on how many people wanted it, then Annika Jaakoppi would win :)

P.S. I now understand why @partylikeawordstar was overwhelmed. 

Does anyone else feel like the title of the book Lucie writes and that Jesse advises her to shorten is a massive easter egg? Or is it more than that, is it foreshadowing? You cannot convince me that "[...] the wicked powers [...]" is pure coincidence

can we all agree if we get a season 2 of my lady jane, Guildford and Jane enjoying wedded bliss with little to no conflict should be a must, they survived an execution and almost burning at the stake together, let’s not do the breakup-makeup thing please

If Chain of Thorns doesn’t end with:

Lucie and Jesse engagement

Cordelia and James honeymoon to Constantinople

Thomas kissing Alastair in front of everyone at a party

Ariadne and Anna finally dancing together

Grace and Christopher working on science-y stuff together

and Matthew drinking water

imma riot

Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers

calling it right now! the short story collection will be called chain of flowers

maybe this is just copium but...maybe MAYBE cassie left so many unanswered questions because she wants to release what will essentially be book 4.

If a scene feels flat and you can't figure it out, ask yourself:

• What can MC smell? Is there an ocean breeze, sweat, a cinnamon roll fresh out the oven?

• What can MC hear, besides the dialogue? Is a bird singing, river flowing, a car speeding, clock ticking?

• Can they taste something, even if they're not eating? Previously drunk alcohol or juice, aftertaste of a cigarette, smog, too instense perfume?

• Can they feel something on their skin? Rough clothes or delicate material, blowing wind, an allergy or a rash, grass that theyre laying on?

• What does the character see, besides other characters? Is the room dark or is sunlight coming in nicely? Are the colours vibrant or dull? Are there any plants?

• What's the weather? Is it snowing and the cold is making goosebumps appear on their arms? Is it hot and sweaty and clothes are clinging to their body?

• HOW DOES IT MAKE THEM FEEL? To any of the above.

Do they like the smell of cinnamon rolls or are they weirdos (I'm a weirdo, I don't fit in).

Does the clock ticking calm them down or annoy them?

Do they enjoy the aftertaste of a cig and like how dirty it makes them feel?

Are they sensitive to touch and how their clothing feels on their skin or are they indifferent?

Would they enjoy the scenery more if it was more sunny out, because they're afraid of the darkness?

Do they like it snowy or are they always cold and hate winter?

Come on, give them persoanlity, likes and dislikes, don't be scared to make them people and not only likeable characters.