#tenth aes

[theslowpath]

this is my blog to post mainly about my selfship and soulbond with the tenth/fourteenth doctor. its the longest selfship i have, it started over a decade ago. i have other f/os but the doctor matters the most to me, since we have the longest history and are soulbonded. Ten is a daytripper and fronts frequently so be nice! He sees what youre saying to us. I also have a telephone bond with martha jones who im best friends with, and rose tyler who's my younger sister.

Main blog: @undertow1993 (MUCH messier and entirely unorganized compared to here)

promo 💫 f/o list 💫 my oc + aus explained (all fictional) 💫 my soulbond/past life explained (not fictional) 💫

dni

[jessmalia]

JO AND MAL AES IN TV AND FILM: 80/? Doctor Who | Doomsday (2x13)

[th3-new-rom4ntics]

. ݁₊ ✶. ݁ ˖ˎˊ˗ val's hunter x hunter dr . ݁₊ ✶. ݁ ˖ˎˊ˗₊ ⊹ ⟡

warning: mentions of dark stuff typical of hxh and mentioned sex.

she's beauty, she's grace, she's 15 year old DION DAO (ディーオン・ダオ), soon-to-be famous hunter and unfortunate travel partner of GING FREECSS (ジン・フリークス).

dion was born in the last carne levare, a hedonistic sex ritual of the kakin empire's royal family. she's the daughter of king nasubi hui guo rou of kakin and an unknown woman. before she could be taken by the mafia, dion was left at an orphanage owned by the chengqian-bi mafia family, known as the most powerful and most merciful of kakin's four mafia families.

she had a relatively ordinary life after this, with some special doting by the nuns for reasons she never quite understood before being told of her past on her tenth birthday. she develops a fascination with puzzles, riddles and history.

after the death of her beloved teacher and friend sister hershi, dion is inspired to leave the orphanage for good and to travel the world. she then takes the hunter exam, where she meets ging freecss and begins travelling the world with him, intent to find some meaning in her (seemingly) meaningless existence as a mistake made by a man and woman who never wanted her.

dion is a manipulator with a truly prodigious mastery of nen. her hatsu is PRIVATE PURE LOVE RENDEZVOUS (プライベート・ピュア・ラブ・ランデブー), which has four different sub abilities.

ROMANTIC LOVE AFFAIR (ロマンチックな恋愛) is her simplest and most frequently used ability. dion assigns a number from one to ten on her opponents. she can then assign commands in order of the numbers to her opponents, which they have to follow. for example, if dion assigned two people with '1' and '2':

"1 -> leave the room."

"2 -> follow them."

if the commands are assigned incorrectly or incongrously, this ability will not work.

LOVE BEYOND REASON (理性を超えた愛) is her next ability and one she uses only in emergencies due to its nature.. she can assign a number of days to someone, where they obey her commands. on the final day, she is unable to give them commands and she can choose if they end up forgetting her or enter a state of 'devotion' for her, meaning that they end up loyal to her.. if a marked target becomes consciously aware of the nen and rejects the feelings or compulsions with clear intent, the countdown pauses — frozen at its current number,. this ability also does not work completely if the target has exceptionally strong nen, or they manage to get a nen exorcist before the final day.

IF YOU LOVED ME, YOU'LL LISTEN (私を愛しているなら、聞いてくれるだろう) is her next ability . if a target feels strong emotions to dion and confesses either love, lust or hatred to her, she can make them do up to five commands with starting phrase "if you love me.." after the five commands, the target ends up forgetting her completely. dion is unable to use this ability more than once on someone. if those feelings fade, she is also unable to give them commands.

DON'T YOU REMEMBER HOW MUCH YOU LOVED ME? (私をどれだけ愛していたか覚えてないの?) is her final ability. if she touches someone and feels genuine emotion to them, she can ask "don't you remember how much you loved me?" dion can then reframe the relationship between her and the target. love, hate-- its all up to her. however, if the target has exceptionally strong nen or clarity, this ability becomes void. along with that, if they witness undeniable proof that the memory didn't happen, the illusion shatters.

DION and GING fight like cats and dogs, as everyone loves to point out. they've been together since they were twelve years old, ever since the first hunter exam. through rain and heat, its just been the two of them. there's a certain bond the two of them share that no one else will be able to understand. a certain connection. sometimes, people will swear up and down that the two of them communicate telepathically.

along with that, their braincells ae simply non-existent around each other. seperate? they're both pretty competent. together? their iq goes down a freefall. they spend so much time fighting over who gets the firewood that they're both freezing by night time. but they'll never, ever be apart. plain and simple. one is never seen without the other. its a relationship that no one but the two of them are able to fully grasp.

and that's it from your favourite diva! tune in for more nonsense next time ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 49 - A Storm in Tear

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which coincidence twists.

PERSPECTIVE: Egwene. Ailhuin returns with Juilin, a lean man with a swordbreaker almost exactly like Hurin's. He says he'll help them if he can, but he's seen men in black walking across rooftops, and he expects the High Lords may hire him to seek out thieves sooner than later, though nobody's reported a theft yet.(1)

Nyn asks what he charges, and he says a tenth of the value of some goods, or a silver mark per person, and in this case they can have the choice. Elayne distracts him by mentioning that she knows another thief-taker, a very respectful man from Shienar, who carries both sword and swordbreaker. Why doesn't he? He doesn't seem to get her reference,(2) but says there are laws against commoners wearing swords in Tear. Nyn finally counts out thirteen silver coins, probably the lightest of the silver in the purse but still thirteen.

Juilin protests, saying he'd not ask for more than coppers from them, but Nyn says she's buying exactly what she's buying: he will find the thirteen women, find them and no more. He nods, and she describes each one, giving no names because names are so easily faked. Nyn adds that at least a dozen have died at their hands so far, and they are more dangerous than he can possibly know. If they find him following them, he will die, or they will torture him to find them, and Ailhuin will likely die with them. He says he was stabbed by a woman he thought harmless once, and never makes the same mistake now. He will treat them all as if they were Aes Sedai, and Black Ajah at that. Egg almost chokes but he apologizes, and assures her that there are no Aes Sedai in Tear.(3)

He leaves, and Ailhuin assures them he's the best in the business. Nyn feels a storm coming, it will rain again before morning.(4) They go to bed, and Egg tells Nyn and El to wake her after an hour, but she goes into TAR, makes her way to the Heart of the Stone, sees Liandrin, and wakes herself up almost immediately. She tells them that the women know they're here, they're waiting for them, and outside the storm breaks.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat, playing stones with Thom, who's the clear winner. Mat asks if Thom ever loses, and he says yes, Morgase would beat him about half the time. It's said that good stones players are also good at the Game of Houses and at war.

The ship docks at Tear, the captain swearing he'll never carry anything that can talk again, and Mat pays him an exorbitant fee. He makes sure the fireworks are protected as they walk into the rainy night. Thom asks if he's ready to sell them yet, but Mat says he wants to know how they work, and won't it be fun to see him set them all off?

They set off into Tear, Mat grumbling at the mud catching his boots. He plans to get an early start of looking for Comar. Thom says there are hundreds of inns, it'll take weeks, and some of them are so small you'd never know they were there. Mat thinks of home when he thinks of small inns, thinking they should never have left Emond's Field. But, Rand surely had to, and Egwene might have died if she hadn't. Well, maybe Perrin still has a chance to go home, and if he does, Mat hopes he takes it, though, why would he? As the thought finishes, lightning strikes, and illuminates a window with herbs hanging in the window.(5)

They take rooms at an inn, Mat paying in silver since the gold is running low (the men on the ship didn't dice at all) then he and Thom go around to a couple of other inns. It's late into the night when, looking for another to check, Thom says they've just walked past three inns, can they go back and sleep now? Mat almost gives in when he swears he sees Rand up the street,(6) but looks back instead. He didn't notice the last inn, but likes the look of the name and the sign, The Golden Cup, so he goes in.

And not two steps in, he sees Comar, dicing across the room. His current dicing partner leaves and he starts calling who's next, who wants to try his luck? Mat knows something is wrong, not least because Comar is the first man he's seen wearing a sword, so he tries to think it through from all sides before rushing in.

He and Thom approach the innkeeper and ask a few discreet questions about Comar. The innkeeper assumes Comar is a merchant, thumbing his nose at the poor of the Maule, and he keeps throwing the best rolls for any game he plays. Thom shows them a trick of replacing dice by sleight of hand, and says he probably has sets of weighted dice, and is doing the same trick.

Mat tells Thom to stay at the bar, and goes to dice with Comar. He feels the luck shift as he throws his dice, and lands the winning roll. He tells Comar his luck's about used up, calls him by name, and says if he's hurt the girls, it's all gone. Comar's face goes white as he realizes what Mat just said. He lets slip that he hasn't found them, but he isn't the only one searching. Mat tells him to leave Tear, tell Gaebril anything, but leave Tear tonight. Comar takes out his sword, and Mat defeats him handily with his quarterstaff. In fact, Mat does too well, and kills him by accident. The innkeeper tells him he must go, he'll tell the Defenders it was a man he dreamed of, a tall man with red hair and gray eyes. He can show them the weighted dice now, and everyone here lost coin, they'll all attest. Mat lets himself be dragged out of the inn.

On the way back to the inn where their rooms are, Mat says he's figured out the luck: it works best when things have an element of randomness. Not much good for cards, no good at stones, too much pattern. Even finding Comar, it was a random inn. If he's going to find the wondergirls in time, he has to search without a pattern.(7)

They go back and get some sleep, but for three days and three evenings, Mat lets luck decide where he goes, picking inns at random, or sometimes just flipping a coin at an intersection and turning this way or that. Thom develops a terrible cough, so he can no longer play flute or tell stories, but he insists on going out with Mat.

He's even started to have bad dreams, especially of a man in puffy sleeves and cropped white hair, weaving a net, sometimes over the wondergirls, sometimes Moiraine, and sometimes the man held a crystal sword, only sometimes Rand held the sword. In fact, Mat dreams of Rand a great deal.(8)

Mat thinks it must just be the lack of sleep, the lack of eating regular meals, but he can't stop. He means to win his wager.

=====

(1) We don't have very many clues about what might be going on here, certainly nothing definitive, but remember that we're getting awfully close to the end of the book. (2) Frankly, nor do I. Anyone got an insight check here? Pretty sure I rolled a 1 and none of the wikis and databases I have access to, even as a full-spoil, are helping. My best guess is it's a joke about Hurin the Tolkien figure that I also don't get. (3) Oh, buddy. (4) Do you think it's still the rain Nyn's feeling, or the looming climax of the story? (5) They're SO CLOSE! But they're not thinking like people trying to be sneaky. Well, at least we know they're nearby when Thom finally wants something for that cough. (6) Oh right, Mat's been WELL out of the loop. He hasn't any of the Dragon-search stuff on his itinerary, he's just here for the ladies. Well, it seems Rand did arrive ahead of them all. (7) Find the pattern, even if that pattern is randomness. Luck is his superpower. (8) So, both Rand and whoever the local Forsaken is are affecting people's dreams now.

[leituracarmesim]

I dreamed about you for the tenth time in a week

you were a typical American dream distant and completely alone

we walked down the hallway of high school close, but never holding hands

you found a group of friends and said I was too far from your reality

as if by magic

I became an absolute copy of you the same tastes the same ways

a colonizer in an inhabited land you offered me broken mirrors in exchange for the vastness of my love

my little boy a tiny colonizer you sank the silver stake into the cold flesh of my heart

I became an abandoned moon with a crimson flag fluttering in the middle of the universe

I woke up with a feeling of redemption

[AE]

[charlesjosephwrites]

Find the Word Tag

Thanks for the tag @oh-no-another-idea!

My words were yesterday, motto, specific, and green. I couldn't find the word motto in the current draft of The Magician and Ms. Psychic, but here are some snippets for the other words!

yesterday

“Morning!” Claire sounded way happier than anyone should have been at five A.M. “I’m gonna make breakfast. Do you…” Her voice trailed off, and a frown overtook her usual smile. “Are you okay?” I turned towards the TV. “Why wouldn’t I be?” “You’ve got a nasty bruise.” I instinctively brought a hand up to the side of my face where I'd been punched yesterday. “I’m fine.” “What happened?” “I’m clumsy.” A moment of silence passed over us as I refused to elaborate.

specific

I’ll admit, I wasn’t stoked about being in an enclosed space with Max, but I didn’t know this place well enough to just pop on up to a specific place, so I sucked it up, and I slapped the button for the tenth floor. The soft piano music coming through the elevator’s speaker definitely did not fit the evil vibe I was going for. I tried to hum my own suitably evil background music, but Max cut me off with a harsh glare. I crossed my arms, and I did my best to return his glare. “What’s your problem today?” I questioned. Max’s top lip curled up into a snarl, and his eyes took on a harsh shade of blood red. “I just don’t like playing babysitter.” “Babysitter?” I echoed. “The fuck is that supposed to mean?” “I’ve got to be the one to make sure that you don’t fuck everything up again.”

green

“You’re not going to get me down that easily.” Ms. Psychic;s words were as confident as ever, but her voice wavered slightly. I gritted my teeth and reached into my sleeve to start pulling out a line of handkerchiefs. “Oh, good.” I popped behind her to wrap the handkerchiefs around her neck and yank her back into my arms. “What kind of show would it be without a little drama?” She choked and kicked me in the shin, but I managed to pop us back up into the recording studio before I let go of her. “Here you go, folks.” I shoved Ms. Psychic towards the camera. “Our guest of honor!” She gritted her teeth and reeled around to face me. “I told you I’m not playing this game, Magician,” she growled. I huffed and stomped my foot. “Would you stop being such a bitch? This is supposed to be my big break!” One of the stage lights came flying at me, but I popped out of the way in time for it to rip through the green screen instead.

I'll tag @enchanted-lightning-aes, @space-writes, @author-a-holmes, @winterandwords, and anyone else who sees this and wants to play along.

Your words are forget, forever, favor, and forgive.

[natequarter]

Tell me about your ghosts ocs.

a brief history of button house through the many annoying people who had the misfortune to die there:

celtic:

diuset. "She had a fine blue cloak, as deep and wide as any ocean, and fierce eyes, a grey-green colour which shifted back and forth with the swaying of the grass. [...] Her hair was streaked with rust and iron now, and her days were numbered." married with children. had flaming red hair which began to fade as she reached her late forties. then she died. neither she nor robin know when, where, or how she died, due to a lack of medical knowledge and shifting land boundaries, but rest assured that she did die. the first ghost to really stick around (before, many come, and all go). unfortunately, they don't get along - robin is struggling to pick up her language at the point that she dies, and he hasn't had millennia of practice picking up foreign language just yet. they don't interact very much, but she's one of several people who helps shape his name and present identity - she's the first to associate him with robins. like him, she's around for a long time and as old as the hills, and eventually moves on in the early twelfth century. he doesn't really understand her, but he does miss her

anglo-saxon:

leofstan. died with an infected and broken leg, though robin doesn't know how he died either - more because he wasn't there than anything else. fourteen, the child ghost before jemima, swears and jokes a lot to hide how much he hates dying young. lived around the sixth to seventh century, and was a pagan anglo-saxon (with some celtic family). he moves on in the early 1400s, and he's robin's first enduring friend. according to west horsley place's website the house has indeed been inhabited since anglo-saxon times

godric. "[He] was a blacksmith—broad, tall, muscular [...] Godric brought his hand to the back of his neck, brushing under golden curls to get to the nape of his neck." thirties. robin's boyfriend <3 died in the first half of the tenth century. the first christian ghost. a happily married blacksmith until he was brutally murdered by a carpenter who got jealous of him. smashed his head against an anvil and the damage to the back of his head killed him. moved on... 1200s? 1300s? before the fifteenth century. (in terms of when they moved on, quite a few of these ghosts are just be (before elizabeth) and ae (after elizabeth) to me. the seventeenth century is also a game changer.) the most level-headed and rational ghost. probably one of the more, um, sensitive and emotionally intelligent ghosts as well. rare, i know! he clings to robin quite a bit, and doesn't really connect with the other ghosts on a deeper level

nobles:

william. widower, early thirties. should have cropped light brown hair, but as he died very slowly it's actually quite unkempt. he also has a fair bit of stubble. tall, lanky, and unnervingly gaunt, he looks like he rolled out the wrong side of the bed this morning. which is fair enough, because he died of tuberculosis! he died over the span of several months, and unfortunately was clinging onto his sword at time of death, so he now has to lug around his sword, adhémar, with the strength of a dying man. always breaking out into coughing fits and coughing up blood. he picks up a bit of old english before he dies. a cross between pat's infuriating optimism and the captain's tragic obsession with war - he was a norman knight, and inconveniently died soon after the first crusade was declared. he winds up with a love for crusading culture, conquering christianity, etc., but dislikes the sight of blood and also, crucially, died decades before richard i was born. so he's a failure all round. moves on in the 1590s; humphrey meets him, but not for very long. an obvious departure from the canonical william, but i'm not changing him now. his ghost power is a bit rubbish - he can still interact with the physical world, but only via his sword. there are some very weird rumours about tapestry-slashing ghosts in the centuries after his death

geoffrey. an idiotic anglo-norman knight who, on his way back home, fell off his horse and was trampled to death. yeah, he's not a fun sight. late thirties, early forties. really quite useless. dies a few years into the reign of henry ii - survived the anarchy but skipped the becket bullshit, basically. moves on in the 1300s, so most of the later ghosts have absolutely no clue who he is. dies childless

matilda. geoffrey's wife, and funnily enough also dies childless. a few years younger than geoffrey - mid to late thirties - and went out looking for him in a panic when he died, because there was no sign of him and he was supposed to be back. unfortunately, it was the dead of winter and she caught hypothermia. it's a loving marriage, but, like several of these ghosts, they have no children. (there is a bit of a running theme here - not leaving behind a legacy, in the nobles' cases; abandoning their families to potential danger and poverty, in the not rich dicks' cases.) moves on in about 1603 - to join her beloved husband

elizabeth. "Elizabeth turned away to face the window, the dying sun failing to breathe life into her black curls." "Elizabeth met his eyes: dark and shiny, not so unlike hers, matching the reflective gleam of the conkers that fell each year in the village next door." sometimes hangs around matilda because she's cold. slightly taller than the average height for a woman. early twenties, married to a yorkist before he very stupidly went and died. also childless. the lands she dies on, once the home of norman barons, then the home of plague ghosts, then the home of the bones, is passed over to [insert a yorkist here, honestly i don't know]. humphrey's... great-grandfather? something like that. well, he's a traitor blah blah blah, and stripped of his lands after the 1450s, so (a cadet branch of; humphrey de bohun, last earl of hereford, was already dead) the de bohuns lose what little wealth they had left and more or less disappear into disgrace. they eventually become elizabeth's dower lands until she very stupidly also goes and dies - of the sweating sickness. whereas william died very slowly, and matilda is permanently cold, elizabeth dies in the span of only a day and spends the rest of her afterlife permanently feverish. also, in only a shift - imagine a tragic gothic heroine walking around in only her nightclothes, then make it the 1400s and her reclusive, repressed, depressed, and some other words ending in -pressed. also bitter. she missed out on a lot. in fact, she died in august, 1485. (and moved on in the late 1600s.) the sweating sickness is generally associated with the arrival of henry vii in london, as well as later outbreaks throughout the tudor period - there was a particularly bad one in 1551, during edward vi's reign - but it appears to have been in england before bosworth, at least during august. she also died in her sleep, which is never a good idea, and her body was taken away before she woke up - so it took her a while to realise she was dead, never mind accept her. robin finds it awful and traumatic, then talks to her for five minutes and decides he hates her. she hates protestants, particularly the dissolution of local monasteries and the destruction of late medieval catholicism in england. but then, so do most of the ghosts around her. living people can sometimes see her if they're light-headed/dizzy/on the verge of passing out. also not very useful

edmund. looks similar to elizabeth. roughly in his forties, though i don't know how he died or indeed much about his life. honestly, this one is cheating - in my idea of canon he's humphrey's grandfather and lives and dies before moving on to the great beyond. but in my aus where humphrey doesn't die on schedule, he replaces humphrey as a ghost. it's probably a heart attack, unless you choose to believe that it's poisoning like people in the sixteenth century probably would. anyway, after the death of his father he rises to power as an advisor to henry vii (relatively late in his reign), and is restored to his family fortunes and titles (it's all a bit complicated, but the last humphrey de bohun died without male issue, so the titles ended up all over the place. eventually the earldom of essex went to thomas cromwell and the earldom of northampton went to william parr as a marquessate. here edmund gets the earldom of hereford as a reward. thrilling stuff, i know), as well as being granted bone hall. this runs contrary to both canon and also actual history, but if humphrey's allowed to live there with a nonsensical timeline then i'm allowed to ignore henry courtenay living there. (sorry. i won't reference henry viii, i swear, i'm trying really hard to not talk about him here.) elizabeth never forgives him for taking over her lands despite the fact that they're technically his anyway. because she already hates him, he grows to hate her when he dies - suddenly, without any chance to prepare. they eventually learn to cooperate, mostly because neither of them are close to the rest of the ghosts, who are all much older than them. it takes literal decades and realising that they've both missed out on a lot in life for that to happen, though. she has definitely told him to kill himself even though he's already dead at least once

the one modern guy:

clarence. early thirties. tall and strong. a gardener at button house whilst george is a child. he married his sweetheart, but died only a few years after that - a teenage george dared him to skate on the lake when it froze over. as you might guess, it cracked and he drowned. he's good mates with thomas, as they're of a similar age and died in relatively close proximity. he dies in the *counts aggressively on fingers* early 1570s - george has a crush on him, but fanny never meets him, except for a few years after her death. they never really get along and he never reveals his past to her. quiet and also immensely traumatised by his death - he can't handle entering bodies of water and he's cold and miserable because he spends the entirety of his afterlife in shock, freezing and in soaking wet clothes. he does like thomas's poetry, though - he's the first and very nearly the last. a lot nicer to the ghosts than they necessarily are to him. humphrey would pay him back for it but he never had the limbs

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 24: New Friends and Old Enemies

Spoiler alert: I don't know who made this. Eugene de Blaas definitely did most of the work, but I found this as a reblog of a now-dead account "laurientius" so... yeah. Also spoiler alert: My reread has spoilers for the entirety of the series. Don't keep reading if that's going to be a problem.

A second chapter in a row with the Flame of Tar Valon, which again is a reflection of us exploring the White Tower.

Egwene curtsied, then stuck out her tongue at the Accepted’s retreating back.

Egwene has a weird problem with authority sometimes. I suppose Pedra must have an unpleasantness in her voice, though we know from later on that she's not really that unpleasant.

“My name is Elayne,” she said. She tilted her head, studying Egwene. “And you are Egwene. From Emond’s Field, in the Two Rivers.” She said it as if it had some significance, but went right on anyway.

The significance is of course primarily that she's already met someone from the Two Rivers and not specifically that Egwene is her subject. Elayne's not awful like that.

Also: yay! Elayne!

From now on, you will be at training at this hour every day, as a matter of fact. From breakfast until High, then again from dinner to Trine. If you are especially quick or especially slow, they may take you from supper to Full, as well, but that is usually for more chores.

All the chores and training sounds like a particularly grueling schedule, though I suppose the average gal in this setting would probably find it relaxing since they'd be working all day at the farm or store anyway.

“You saw it around me?” she said excitedly. “I saw it around you. Sheriam Sedai said I would, eventually. This was the first time. For you, too?”

How can they not be fated to be bestest buds at this point? In a more sapphic novel this is the part where they'd kiss. Well, think about it anyway.

Abruptly Egwene found herself remembering a tale Rand had told, a tale she had not believed, about falling off a wall into a garden and meeting. . . . “You’re the Daughter-Heir of Andor,” she gasped.

Shoulda believed that poor boy.

“She keeps a willow switch on her desk. She says if you can’t learn to follow the rules in a civilized way, she will teach you another way. There are so many rules for novices, it is very hard not to break some of them,” she finished.

Elayne probably hasn't been spanked much before this. Considering the schoolgirl approach to the Tower training, the switch being present is probably some of the least eyebrow raising physical punishment we see in the series, but again it's important to note these things so we can discuss the more egregious examples later on.

But we are children. The Aes Sedai, the full sisters, are the grown women. The Accepted are the young women, old enough to be trusted without someone looking over their shoulders every moment. And novices are the children, to be protected and cared for, guided in the way they should go, and punished when they do what they should not.

In fairness to the Aes Sedai way of thinking here, novices are unlikely to be a tenth of the way through their natural lifespan at this point and Accepted only barely past that. The long life makes for longer periods of initiation.

Egwene, there are only forty novices in the Tower. Only forty, and no more than seven or eight will become Accepted.

Yeah those numbers are outright atrocious. Without change, the White Tower won't be able to last as an institution past the current number. By the time they've died of old age, there won't be enough Aes Sedai left just to train the new generation.

But the Tower will not . . . cannot . . . lower its standards.

Elayne is correcting herself here to be diplomatic, but she was right the first time, as Egwene shows. There's plenty of ways the Tower could have high standards without doing all the crap it does. And Sheriam badmouthing the current state of affairs is just so perfect. As a Black she's encouraging novices and accepted to despair at the current state of affairs while seeming to be arguing for something that would only hinder the Blacks and thus keep her above suspicion.

Elayne paused, and then said, “Is Rand well?” Egwene felt a sudden stab of jealousy—Elayne was very pretty—but over it came a stronger stab of fear.

Egwene just ain't used yet to Rand being off the table, but her heart's in the right place.

Anyway, I’ve not seen her since the day we arrived, with Whitecloaks dogging our trail. They are still camped on the Dragonmount side.

What delightful foreshadowing.

“Men,” Egwene muttered. “I dance a few dances with a nice boy, and Rand goes around looking like a dog with a sore tooth, but he—”

But he didn't dance with anyone and barely flirted except with Elayne. Calm down girl. Hypocrisy is your worst look.

The man rumbled a bitter laugh. “With two or three of you watching my every move? You’re just afraid I’ll find a knife.” At the look in the Accepted’s eyes, he laughed again. “For myself, woman. For myself. Lead me to your garden, and your watching eyes.”

Poor Logain. Elayne's quite wrong. At the moment he's less dangerous than most other men.

“Do they always have to be gentled?” she asked. Elayne stared at her, mouth agape, and she quickly added, “It is just that I’d think the Aes Sedai would find some other way to deal with them. Anaiya and Moiraine both said the greatest feats of the Age of Legends required men and women working together with the Power. I just thought they’d try to find a way.”

Good cover, Egwene. And honestly the kind of question that, even though you are asking it as a ruse, shows your potential and keen mind.

“I know you,” Egwene said. “You worked at the inn in Baerlon.” A light breeze riffled the water beneath the bridge, and graywings warbled in the trees of the garden.

You can see why people think Egwene should be ta'veren, though I'd say all these meetings are more about her being at the place that is the current fulcrum of the world than anything inherent to her.

She said I’d have to share my husband with two other women, and I’d never put up with that. She just laughs, and says it was never her idea of how to run things, either.

It's a little bit of a shame from a drama perspective that there's never any real fallout when Elayne realizes that Min knew she was one of the other two women all along. It's also sad for Min that it's quite clear she dislikes her destiny and never comes to terms with it.

“A white flame, and. . . . Oh, all sorts of things. I don’t know what it means.”

The White Flame is obviously the Amyrlin Seat itself - surprising no one makes this connection early. I expect she sees the lights she saw last book, more swallowed up now that Egwene is comparatively alone (though Elayne may be another person who has this image). She probably sees something about Gawyn in specific that she doesn't want to share in front of Elayne.

“One of the things she said she saw looking at me was a severed hand. Not mine, she says. She claims she does not know what it means, either.”

This would have been Rand's severed hand back when he was going to lose it by royal decree but I have no clue what it's about now. Maybe it's got something to do with the Band of the Red Hand?

She tried to settle herself, to think of Rand. He’s so . . . beautiful. She gave a jump, half afraid she had spoken aloud.

Galad's getting extra attention in this first meeting is probably an artifact of when he would have ended up with Egwene after Gawyn died. Still kinda works to subvert the first meeting of fated lovers kinda thing though.

I have met all sorts of people, and they’ve met Rand al’Thor. Some do not even know his name, but the description could not be anyone else, and he’s shifted every one of their lives. There was an old farmer who came to Caemlyn just to see Logain, when Logain was brought through on his way here; yet the farmer stayed to stand for Mother when the riots started. Because of a young man off to see the world, who made him think there was more to life than his farm.

We're going to hear a lot more about the lives Rand changes. It's funny that it's Gawyn who first really highlights it, considering how negative his obsession ends up being.

“We three are tied together,” Min said, “and we cannot let any man get in the way of that. Not even him.”

Min, when after this book is the next time you even see Egwene? Maybe in Caemlyn for a bit? You and she have almost less time together than you and Mat and that's saying an alarming amount.

“In Caemlyn, child, I am councilor to the Queen your mother, but this is the White Tower, and you, a novice.”

I mean yeah Elaida's being a bit stuck up here but is she wrong? I bet if Sheriam overheard Elayne not say "Sedai" to Elaida she'd have her horsewhipped before Elaida could get two words in. The whole point is to leave old connections behind, even if the Tower is hypocritical and wants the princesses it teaches to rise to power.

Behind them, Egwene heard the Aes Sedai begin, “I am given to understand, girl, that you were brought here by Moiraine Sedai.”

Does Min see the White Flame around Elaida? Does she see Fain? The vanity tower? The Black Ajah hunters? The a'dam?

She looked over her shoulder to make sure the Aes Sedai was not following her, but Elaida was nowhere in sight.

Dammit narrative I want my questions answered and here you are cutting in only when it's too late! It's frankly a bizarre choice at this point, as Min gets only the tiniest bit of POV and only to establish that she's pissed at Moiraine too. That could have been done in Egwene's perspective I think.

Next time: The House of the Rising Sun!

[aajjks]

i love how he’s like “oh, a snake?” like HOW ARE YOU NOT SCARED 😭😭

TC!dad!JK

ayra pouts when her father takes her snake away from her. yes, her snake, but of course you had to ruin any chance she had of keeping the snake because you’re afraid of snakes. with her head hung low, ayra mumbles a small “but i want a pet” and that’s all it takes for her to have her way with both you and jungkook.

seriously, the twins run the palace from time to time.

you turn around and face your pouting daughter who musters the cutest and biggest begging eyes she can muster, pouty lip included. normally, you don’t fall for these kinds of tricks with any of your babies. it’s definitely a trick jungkook falls for every time but you always see right through their façade. this time, however…

“fineee, you can have a pet”

you’ll let her have her way just this ONCE.

“yaaaaay!!!! can it be a tarantula?”

“wha-no! absolutely not. how about a dog?”

“but i don’t like dogs” ayra whines.

“a cat?”

“hmmm…i like cats”

“okay, go find ae-cha and get a pet cat. ONLY a pet cat, ayra”

“yaaaay! thank you mama. i love you so much!! love you papa!!” squeals your little 5 year old who bolts out of ji-eun’s bedroom and runs to find ae-cha. jungkook instructs both a guard and servant to keep an eye on ayra and ae-cha before he drags you somewhere to give you a relaxing massage, which, he is really good at giving.

“ugh, i’m so ready to give birth to this little rascal. i hope it’s a boy because every time we have girls, they either look just like you or you’re their favorite” you say. “ugh and i could really go for some blackberries”

blame your eighth, ninth, or maybe tenth child for your new cravings. lately you’ve been eating a lot of blackberries, mangoes, and cantaloupe lately which are your least favorite fruits, especially cantaloupe.

once the two of you are alone in the room together, you gently tug on jungkook’s arm and pull him into a sweet kiss, even tugging on his now shorter locks of hair (blame ae-cha).

“massage?” you pull away from his lips “is that your way of telling me you want to have sex because i could go a round, or two, or three..or five”

~🫧

“Yn do you want me to get these fruits for you? Well, would you just wait here so I can- oh wow yn… maybe this is one of the reasons why I want you to be pregnant all the time because you can never get enough of me especially whenever you’re expecting.”

You Shush him away with a kiss. And the way you kiss while being pregnant is so different when you’re not because your hormones are a mess. Jungkook loves it whenever you talk his hair, even though it’s very short now compared to his hair five months ago. But it was too long. It’s nice to have short hair for now.

“Yn do you think I look hotter with short hair or longer hair?” Cannot help and ask you that isn’t until you leave him speechless your next sentence.

Jungkooks why didn’t it surprised because frankly, your libido is almost dead when you’re not pregnant, he has to beg you, and he has to seduce you in order to get some from you, but..

When you’re pregnant you’re a whole different person, and he likes it very much, “what? Yn are you insane? I did not bring you here just so I could have sex.. not at all.” he blinks twice.

You’re almost 6 months pregnant now-and your belly is quite out. “I don’t wanna hurt the baby. So no sex.” he cannot believe that he’s denying you for something that he really wants but he can get a little rough. And you’re really fragile right now especially.

This is also a golden opportunity for him. “ did you really just say five rounds? Wow… where is my yn? And who are you woman?” He jokes, laughing, his ears definitely feel really hot because you’re making him really shy.

And mind you, he is he is the one that did this to you.

Jungkook not to look into your eyes because he might actually blush like a tomato, “ahhh come on, let me massage your feet or your shoulders tell me where it pains.” he just wants to take care of you because it’s the least he can do really.

He knows that child birth is not an easy thing at all- he has watched you give birth to all of his children, and it’s a really disturbing experience even though he has seen a lot of blood and gore in his life.

“How do you do it? Seriously like I actually feel bad for you, can you even see your feet?” How are you even so eager to give birth? He remembers, how scared you were when you were pregnant with jinseoul. But also, you were just 22.

“Yn you’re way stronger than me because I couldn’t do this.” He presses a kiss on your cheek, right beside the corner of your mouth, teasing you.

[alphawolfice1989]

people that found love in Springfield

comic book guy married a japanese girl name Kumiko in season 25

Moe got engaged to maya in season 32

groundkeeper willy married his childhood friend Massie in season 35

[poisonbat]

"The Giggle" thoughts

The post I promised, if you guys still wanna read it.

it's VERY long because I talk a lot, and gets into personal details and feelings, not all sunny ones.

I need to preface this with my status on discord currently.

Never 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 assume I'll agree with popular opinion. You'll only ever be wrong that way.

I am a strange individual with non-standard feelings, I kind of hate it because it makes me feel like a misfit in every community I come across. HOWEVER! My feelings I share are 100% my genuine ones and mine alone, and that's what's important.

Now.

I actually think this is a really good sequel to Legend of the Sea Devils, Remember the discussion yaz and the Doctor have on the beach?

The last 15 minutes of the giggle is really like a whole talk about that, between The Doctor and himself. The feeling that the doctor can never ever settle down and like process their trauma and like get back to a state of normalcy that they had before they started taking worse and worse hits to their lives. That they've never decided to stop and try to help themselves before they got so unstable and didn't know how to cope.

And in that context its also a good sequel to World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls/Twice Upon A Time, where the Doctor is so tired of this pattern of their life that they *refuse* to regenerate and act like someone dead set on commitfing suicide while their friends around them try to convince them not to.

(this is only his SECOND time he's died since the tenth doctor's whole "new man saunter's off" speech. in that time he's horribly lost more close friends, new family, a new lover. His oldest friend was seemingly mending herself and wanting to improve herself so they could be best friends again, and he had that cruelly ripped away from him by her past self and a momentary relapse. He doesn't even know that she stood by him in the end, in defiance of her younger self and she died for it.)

The twelfth doctor, in his wanting to die ae himself is already just wanting a reprieve and stop to what his life is. In the moment, he considers staying wherever the TARDIS has taken him until his body finally fully shuts down without regenerating. He wants it to end.

Glass/Memories Bill and Nardole bring up to the Doctor that he shouldn't end his life here, especially because, The Doctor is a net positive for the universe as was discussed earlier in the episode and understood by Bill from a talk with The First Doctor. To which, The Doctor replies, asking for the first time if he's ever allowed to take a break from what his life has become.

Bill and Nardole tell him that it is okay to rest, to take a break from what his life is. They just don't want him to die permanently, because they love him, he's their best friend, you know? He made a hugely positive impact on their lives and the universe, and they're trying to be there for him too, trying to give him permission and encourage him to rest and deal with his pain just so long as he doesn't end his life here.

Immediately, like lots of suicidals (trust me. i know, ive been here many times.) he immediately retorts how they don't understand the pain he's gonethru for so many years. He may be right in the literal sense, but in the broader sense he's just. exhausted and scared. Like we all can become when we experience constant pain and loss. But then he goes to thank them for being his friends, without giving them a concrete hope that he won't still end his life after all of this.

Of course, she didn't. But she wasn't okay, either. But she succeeded in one of the things she set out to do. She got every one of her companions home safely, without dying or having their lives ruined. A small but important victory after the constant loss of her loved ones before them.

Of course, the show didnt just outright play these scenes like flashbacks to hammer it into the audience. but we know russel's been watching the show, he's seen his friends work. It feels like more pieces to complete a puzzle thats been added to and being completed for the past 18 years.

being fair and honest to the text, What I felt was that it was an honest discussion about all of this. about all the pain and suffering from this and having to process it finally instead of running away from it. he took donna repeating what bill and nardole told him because he's felt guilty about what he did to her for all this time. He never forgot about what happened to her for 3 bodies since it happened. Her telling him the same things broke down his walls further, until they were crumbling. And then, bigenerating, he had HIMSELF telling him he needs to rest for them to get better.

From the way the Fifteenth Doctor is written, it sounds like that he does have memories of a full fourteenth doctor life that the fourteenth doctor hasn't lived yet, that he's benefitted from fourteen's retirement and that some day fourteen died and his updates consciousness came into the bigeneration into his current fifteenth body.

"we're time lords. we're doing rehab out of order"

it may just be my analysis of what's been put in front of me, but that's how I interpret it, and as far as that goes…I enjoyed it.

Very personal feelings ahead.

Every night i go to bed I'm scared I'm going to die and not wake up. The time I'm awake, it's not worth being angry over the non concrete stuff that I really feel is more projected fear than the actual reality. That stems from the lack of approaching things in good faith.

Doctor Who has been an emotional rock for me for this past decade, I got into it during the worst relationship I ever had and when that ended it was all i still had left and clung to. I was in a very very bad place during Series 10, I wanted to kill myself and have my life end strongly and intensely for the first time in years because I was so exhausted from losing all my close friends and people I trusted from how badly that relationship went. but... World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls/Twice Upon a Time helped me process and release my emotions, and stopped me from going thru with it. Every time after TUAT aired that I felt I wanted to kill myself and give up, I would go back to the twelfth doctor's regeneration speech, and go through it and convince myself to not give up there. I had a rocky time in 2018 because the steven moffat hate brigade was here and the actual show I felt really neutral on with series 11 upon first watch, and I lost the titan comics that I really loved and that changed my opinion on the tenth doctor and gave me one of the best eleventh doctor companions. so yeah, 2018-2019 because of those things were a little down as i wasn't as happy, but I was still here.

Then came 2020 and series 12: the entire season aired before the worst tragedy I've experienced in my life so far happened, and I also legitimately enjoyed every single episode a lot more than the previous series. But then that tragedy did happen. I lost my best friend, my best friend who trusted me so much that I was the second person after her fiancé that was told about her cancer diagnosis. I didn't feel I deserved that. She died within a month or two of her diagnosis. It was so fast, it blindsighted me. When she told me I asked her just to promise me she would call me for my birthday in case it fit bad because I wanted to hear her voice again, that year if I could. We assumed at least that she would at least that far along, because my birthday was only 3 months away. It seemed so simple and sure. She died a few weeks before my birthday that year. She didnt get to fufill her promise. It broke me. I wanted to die of course but...I knew I couldnt. I would be suicidal all the time and she always convinced me out of it. I hated myself so much and was so bad and intense about it and...she was kind to me. She refused to give up on me when I wanted her to give up on me to spare her pain when I was feeling bad.

so when she died i KNEW i had to live to make sure her faith in me wasn't in vain. I have gotten so much more mentally stable working on myself since then, but not a day goes by that I don't miss her. I never got to get her into Doctor Who but I would've wanted to.

Flux was my favorite season since the twelfth doctor years. I finally really emotionally connected with the thirteenth doctor era. I was really happy.

That year I met my current girlfriend whose been my best girlfriend I've ever had and whose given me everything I've ever wanted to be loved for. I got her into Doctor Who too.

But she lives in an abusive situation with her mom and her health keeps getting worse sometimes, getting more disabled with time while her fashy mother abuses her more. I feel useless sometimes during it because we live in two countries far away, even though we're planning our future together some days it feels like such a struggle to feel like we'll achieve our dreams together.

All of this has been going on while we've had to deal with the impending return of my least favorite doctor who writer, who barely is at 60% for episodes I enjoy, while his fans start to wake back up and start making it unbearable to be here because they spread misinformation and say horrible things about my favorite parts of the show, the ones that have helped me through my worst times. And recently they've started a vocal hate campaign against my first doctor, with more misinformation.

All of this along with fears for my life based on my physical health and fear based on real life politics has made it difficult to enjoy my rock, Doctor Who, for most of this year.

And yet somehow, the writer I didn't like at all has managed to give me 3 episodes I enjoy a lot more than anything he ever did 15 years ago when his sensibilities turned me off of getting into the show.

I haven't suddenly changed to liking RTD as a creator. I don't like series 1-4 more now. I don't suddenly like Damaged Goods. I just legitimately feel that these 3 episodes I enjoy a lot more than any of those previous stories, and as well, I don't feel like they perpetuated what the misaimed RTD1 era fandom wants, because I felt that it firmly felt that my favorite parts of the show happened and had a huge impact on all of this and how it went down. I'm more optimistic for the future of the show, even if the fandom will still be a hellhole to be in foe a while, i think eventually a lot of the loud awful people will leave because they're not likely to get what they want; and like the worst impulsives of fans are going to happen regardless of what actually happens in the text

other moffat era fans somehow took away from the episode that it ignored the moffat era, when it really didnt ignore it, to the point that steven himself got on his throwaway twitter account to disagree with it. The guy hates twitter and only remade his throwaway for the lockdown tweetalongs, so clearly it bothered him a lot to go out of his way to do this. I think if even your favorite writer says his work wasn't ignored by his friend, maybe you should try looking at it from a more neutral perspective.

I don't know, I just felt like the specials' themes and ideas were a good story that felt cathartic to get thru with my history, especially when this year I've developed an autoimmune disease that heavily restricts my diet and I've had to become a part time cane user. at 28!!!!

just with the very uncertain future, the fact I'm going to be older than my best friend ever got to be, there's just no energy that I have that I can spare to hate this when I think a lot of the feelings are either, premature or in the minds of people and less reality.

there are still people who are going to be racist and criticisms to be had but I don't think there's fundamentally this huge broken thing about the fourteenth doctor specials

anyway. this has been long, but this is all my feelings about the episode, i have a bit more talk but I'll save that for another post because this is long enough, plus its just lore stuff.

[theslowpath]

tenth aesthetic

[jessmalia]

JO AND MAL AES IN TV AND FILM: 79/? Doctor Who | Doomsday (2x13)

[hungnitan]

Amphoreus TB 3.1 Impression

It took moreless 7 hours for me, good enough puzzle solving become simplifier. Then again, X.1 deliver good story as always !

As I said at previous version, story pace so far so good, reasonable portion of comedy and serious scene, complicated Amphoreus backstory attached too while story focused on current version banner Mydei Tribbies backstory. we know a bit of Mydei stories from books and fragments scattered at Cremnos but this version explain more deeper of it while Tribbies more into her resolve on her self sacrifing.

Mentionable scene :

Penacony scene dejavu, to think writer remember Penacony honorable line and made jokes of it really funny to me 🤣👍

We should assume that bottle is requirement to become a chrysos heirs. Aglaea mentions she only have five out of twelve, assuming Cipher, Anaxa and Hyacine already have it, two into us, there are three left. Assuming two into new character appear at Tribbies trailer, we should assume last one into Nanoka later.

(this is my first time using game camera, IT'S JUST FOR THIS MOMENT !!!)

HAHAHAHA THEY'RE JUST TOO STUPID ! I GONNA MISS THEIR BANTER LATER...

IT'S NOT GILGAMESH, IT'S ALEXANDER THE GREAT (but line below feels like GilEnkidu copas lol)

Joke aside, to think Mydei past isn't all about throne and his dark childhood. I guess hoyo love not only double but triple the angst now ! (good enough I prepare myself from previous version after read Cremnos's fragment) One of biggest Mydei question answered here, the reason he don't want the throne. Yups despite lion like body he's having a hello kitty like heart (lol)

ummm... I know it should be deep conversation but WHY MENTIONED SO SPECIFIC LOCATION THERE !? TENTH OF WHAT !? Sounds so troublesome, Phainon use greatsword right, oh well just backstab him (lol)

NO NO NO MC !!! YOU SAID THAT RIGHT AFTER HE SAID WON'T COME BACK ALIVE ! THAT'S NOT THE RIGHT TIME TO SAID THAT !? IS THAT FOR HIS BURIAL PHOTO !? (lol)

Tribbies backstory, put aside it's sad, I think it's confirmed that TB and Mem have a power to direct contact with the past.

Well, I already had some thought about it since side mission with OkhemaCremnos romance story (forgot the name), now it mention directly so we can't brush it off.

My conclusion : I only smell "bad ending" and Kevin-like hero journey ending everywhere ! It's kinda sad everyone after claim their demigod, had same mind like "I will sacrifice myself for one step closer to create a deliverer named Phainon" and the scarier part is our MC readily to try the same demigod test at next version !

I even think is this the reason (spoiler) Phainon become a flamereaver !? Like after finish the trial, knows flamechasers journey are useless, so he backtrack into past, took the flames to save them from their doomed fate.

My Thought so Far : Considering RMC have overwriting the past ability, there's big possibility Amphoreus already taste at least twice time loop, one before MC came (world 1) and after MC came (world 2). World 1 finished with either Phainon eaten by black tide and killed everyone or Phainon turn back time after failed to save Amphoreus.

And with AE came to Amphoreus because of Black Swan, there's possibility BS (or even Fuli) turn back Amphoreus time before it's destruction to hold black tide came outside Amphoreus

And what's titan ? if flamecore came from Titan keep asking chrysos heirs to sacrifice themself for greater good, maybe we should questioning their existence as dangerous like blacktide...

[tenderhub]

Andhra Pradesh Tenders

Andhra Pradesh is located on the southeastern coast of India and ranks as the tenth most populous state in the country, covering an area of approximately 162,968 square kilometers. Government agencies in Andhra Pradesh regularly publish a large number of tenders, which can be found on numerous websites. Andhra Pradesh e procurement refers to the electronic tendering process used in this state for procurement. Tendersniper provides information on both manual and electronic tenders, offering a comprehensive platform for accessing these opportunities.

The top spending areas of Andhra Pradesh as of 30th August 2024 are:

CC Road has 69 live tenders. For example, Guntur Municipal Corporation has published a tender providing cc road to swarnadra nagara 4th to 10th line cross roads in pedapalakaluru, div .no 40 under ae-12 section.

Road and Drain has 61 live tenders. For instance, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation has published a tender laying cc roads and drains in akula veedhi in ward.no.72 (new ward.no.98).

Road Repair has 60 live tenders. Such as Municipalities Andhra Pradesh has published a tender bt patches at various locations of tadepalli urban and tadepallirural in mtmcl.

Drain Construction has 44 live tenders. Example, Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University has published a tender construction of cross drainage works with rcc hume pipes at kvk, kalikiri.

[iviarellereads]

Wheel of Time full series spoiler thoughts on EOTW Prologue through chapter 4

A probably semi-regular weekly bonus to my reread blog, since sometimes you realize things on reread that just make you need to yell in a full spoiler space. (Check out my project explainers here and here)

Gotta say, didn't expect to see the Song allusion in the prologue. This is probably my tenth time reading EOTW, my paperback is so battered, even though a lot of those rereads I quit a few books in. And even now, there's always, always some new detail. I love the story of the Song with the Tuatha'an, and how tragic it is that they're searching for something misinterpreted through several generations of storytelling.

Ishy already using the True Power in the prologue, another thing I never noticed before, or if I did, I'd forgotten since then.

MAT AND THE BADGER! I still can't believe Sanderson (or was it RJ, in the notes?) brought this back in book fucking 13.

The irony of Mat thinking the fade might have been Aginor is not lost on me.

And not just the badger, the ghost hounds! My goodness, the setup starts at page 1 and never stops in these books.

Do we believe that Moiraine was using a little Compulsion to get them to keep their coins? I mean, I know, our fave would NEVER, but… wouldn't she though?

Gotta admit, my line about Perrin's fans in chapter 3 is absolutely a reference to how much you have to love him to make it all the way through to Malden without wanting to throw him in the sea. Faile deserves better than a man with no empathy ethics, but she loves him so he can stay.

The layers, the LAYERS in accusing the Aes Sedai of breaking the world. In one way it's true, all the men were Aes Sedai. And, in some ways, it's absolutely true that the White Tower's meddling and power plays have left the world worse off. Yet in other ways, they were all that stopped it from being worse.

The first of so many "he couldn't talk to women, not like [other guy in the trio]" lines. I saw someone, somewhere, once observe that they drop off after the lads start actually having semi-serious relationships. I wonder if this is something I'll remember to track, or if it's already done been tracked somewhere I just haven't seen yet.