#dt spec

[astudyinfreewill]

ambra... bestie... you can't just leave us hanging like this

TAS BELOVED I AM SO SORRY but it is sadly necessary because at the moment our Epiphany(TM) is just a fuckton of screenshots worth of truly unhinged yelling so i need the time to write it down as an actual essay kfdflsdfkjd <3 but rest assured we've already created the collaborative google doc!! it's gonna happen!!!!

[astudyinfreewill]

you mentioned before that you have some Thoughts about carliana already being teased in canon. since the carliana train is still on the beginning of its journey, and there's little to find online, i think it'd be neat to hear your thoughts!!

hey there! why i do have thoughts, thanks for asking :D

of course, as you said, the carliana train is only just leaving the station, so we don’t have a lot to work with, but here are my two cents:

so, visionaries shift through time, right? they shift bodily, transforming to any age between when they were children to the oldest age they’ve ever been before they die. now, when carmen finds liliana, she is not just old, she’s basically ancient – meaning, if nothing else, that she is extremely old when she dies, i.e. she’s going to be living on into the future for quite a while. my thesis is that she and carmen get together at some point along that future timeline, and i think there are quite a few textual clues that support it:

carmen asks liliana who she is, but we don’t see liliana ask carmen who she is, as if they already knew each other. this is actually confirmed by liliana herself in the text: 

“I think I must spend more of this year as one of the younger ages, because my memories are very distant now. I remember the moment we met well. I knew you were coming.”

so, liliana thinks she is going to spend most of this year (i.e. probably at least the next book/two books) as a younger version of herself – presumably the one she turns into towards the end, who seems to be in her early 20s

despite that being a long way in the past for her, and her saying that her memories from that time of her life feel distant and fuzzy, she remembers carmen extremely well – remembers meeting her very clearly. why might that be i wonder… ;)

sidenote: it is important to note carmen’s reaction to seeing that younger version of liliana for the first time.

Farooq-Lane’s lips parted rudely. Liliana was beautiful.

of course, aesthetic appreciation does not a romantic interest make – but there were so many other ways her reaction could have been written. “Liliana was completely different”, or “Liliana was young” – instead, she goes right for beautiful. words have meaning! 

(and yes, shawna from earlier on in the book also thought liliana was beautiful, but she wasn’t nearly as viscerally affected as carmen, rather she started thinking about her own innate beauty)

okay, now we come to the pièce de résistance. pay close attention to the body language and vocabulary choices in this part (because words. have. meaning!):

She set her hand on top of Farooq-Lane’s with such fondness, fingers slid familiarly through Farooq-Lane’s, that Farooq-Lane flinched. “I forgot”, Liliana said, going back to fussing with her braids instead. “You’re still very young. […]”

basically, what the above passage tells me is that in her own future timeline, liliana is used to holding carmen’s hand. not even casually holding it as a friend, but entwining their fingers together, which is very often used as a marker of romance (and i mean we all know about hands in the trc world, don’t we?)

however, carmen flinches back from this affection. to her, liliana is a stranger. now, we have established liliana knows carmen. she could have said something like “oh, i forgot, you dislike physical affection”. what we get instead is you’re still very young– implying that farther on in the future, carmen is not going to mind holding hands with her at all.

here are a few more markers of liliana’s fond familiarity with carmen:

Liliana said in a soft voice, “It still troubles me how fragile you are.” (sure, she could’ve been talking about humans in general, but come on)

“I wanted to see if you were all right”, Liliana said. (she seems very concerned about carmen for someone she’s only just met)

Liliana smiled as if she found [Carmen’s] anxiety familiar and amusing.

when lock is trying to convince liliana to work with them by offering her to stay in a cottage in between trips and have a moderator accompany her at all times, her first reaction is to ask “Can Farooq-Lane stay with me?”

and last but not least, our very favourite moment – right after carmen punches ramsey: Liliana looked from Ramsey to Farooq-Lane and said, “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

and look. okay. i get it. that was a MOOD. carmen just punched a sexist asshole. we would ALL follow her anywhere. but something about the way liliana says it seems like it may mean more?

it’s not “i’d (=i would) follow you anywhere”. it’s i WILL follow you anywhere. almost as if she’s just remembered this event as it was happening, and realised, oh shit, this is the moment i fell for you, of course i’ll follow you anywhere, i already know i will

and that’s all i have for now! i cannot WAIT for book 2 to see this carliana train properly gain steam!! :D

[astudyinfreewill]

adam, kidnapped: can i please have wifi for 5 minutes i'm not going to send an sos i just need to email in my essay by midnight

ALFJDKLGDFG PLEASE

(of course he’s stone-cold lying and he is going to send an sos… but he’s gonna submit the essay first)

[astudyinfreewill]

if adam did get kidnapped we all know his main concern would be that he has homework and needs to start studying for finals

bold of you to assume adam would let a mere kidnapping get in the way of his academic progress. he’s got those notes memorised

[astudyinfreewill]

I'm sorry but like I think I've just crippled myself with the fear that Adam really was captured by some opposing force, like the weird dreamer interpol thing that Carman works for, and that he's either got abilities akin to a visionary that they could use, but also the thought that they use the watch Ronan had dreamt Adam to track him and Hennessy down is just so sad. Please convince me this won't happen lmfao

ahhh i don’t really have a way to convince you it won’t happen i’m afraid, because at this point we literally don’t know what has happened to adam and also maggie implied there’s some pretty dark stuff on the horizon ;;;; 

it is possible that the moderators kidnapped adam to use as leverage for ronan, but i also think it’s not super likely (iirc, the moderators went to declan’s flat in hopes of finding and killing ronan, rather than kidnapping his brothers?). plus i have a hunch that whatever’s happened to adam is more supernatural than just a kidnapping?? not saying the lace but the lace...

as for the watch though, i really don’t think the moderators are going to use it to track ronan down - it tells ronan’s time zone, but it doesn’t pinpoint his exact location. i’d bet that the watch is just foreshadowing that ronan is gonna go to a very different timezone (my money is on bryde taking him to ireland) and adam uses the watch to know when to call. but it really is anyone’s game!

[astudyinfreewill]

well even if someone took adam im sure it will end well and they will get him back :) ofc we will be met with lots of drama and angst but she wont kill off adam or ronan.

oh no, i’m with you on that! there is zero doubt in my mind that adam and ronan will end the series alive and (relatively) well! maggie wouldn’t put them through another onslaught of drama without giving them a satisfying ending. in other words, we will suffer... but we’ll be happy about it ;)