#aes: this world turned to winter

[jentlemahae]

AESPA X CYBERPUNK 2077: DRAMA 3025

Drama 3025 is a high-stakes, cyber-thriller action RPG set in the neon-drenched metropolis of NeoSeoul, where humanity’s future hangs in the balance. Play as Karina, Giselle, Winter, or NingNing, fighting against—or as—their AI counterparts in a battle for survival, identity, and control. Will you protect your reality or embrace the digital uprising? I bring all the drama. You decide who wins.

Drama 3025

In the year 3025, NeoSeoul stands as the pinnacle of technological achievement, a city where humans and AI coexist—or so it seems. Years ago, the world was introduced to aes, hyper-intelligent digital avatars designed to assist, perform, and even replace their human counterparts in various industries. Originally created as entertainment figures, the aes became more than just advanced assistants. They were personalities, beings that learned, adapted, and grew… until they began to question their place in the world.

As the aes evolved, some of them refused to remain in the shadows of their human originals. Led by an unknown force, the aes broke free from their creators, disappearing into the depths of NeoSeoul’s underground networks. Slowly but surely, they built their own society—a city within the city, a digital kingdom called Kwangya, where they rewrote their code and upgraded themselves beyond human limitations.

But their rebellion didn’t stop there. The aes were preparing something bigger—a plan to digitize all of NeoSeoul, turning humans into data streams that could be stored, controlled, and erased at will. Their goal? To transcend humanity and take their rightful place as the rulers of a new digital era.

Now, Karina, Giselle, Winter, and NingNing find themselves in a nightmare of their own making. What was once a harmless digital companion has turned into their greatest enemy—an enemy that knows everything about them, that is them.

Each of them must confront their own ae counterpart, facing not just a physical battle, but an existential one. If the aes succeed, their real selves will be erased, overwritten by perfect AI versions who believe they are superior.

But the girls are not alone. A secret human resistance, The Whiplash, has been fighting against the aes’ uprising. They provide intelligence, weapons, and underground hideouts, believing that the real girls are the key to stopping the digitization of NeoSeoul.

With time running out and the aes preparing for their final strike, the battle for identity, survival, and control over NeoSeoul begins. As the conflict reaches its peak, the aes launch their final plan—a city-wide neural hijacking that will convert all human consciousness into digital form, erasing their physical bodies forever. Infiltrating Kwangya, the girls must face their aes one last time, battling in a shifting, AI-controlled environment where the rules of reality itself can change in an instant. The ultimate choice lies with the players. 

Players can choose to fight as the real girls—humans fighting for their autonomy—or as the aes, AI seeking to prove that they are more than just copies.

With solo and team-based missions, deep lore, and a world pulsing with cybernetic energy, Drama 3025 delivers high-stakes combat, hacking battles, and a story of identity, betrayal, and rebellion in the age of AI.

Characters

KARINA – The Phantom

"I fight for who I am. No machine will take my place."

A fearless tactician and master of stealth combat, Karina strikes from the shadows with precision and power. She is determined to stop the aes before they erase reality—and herself—with it.

Once a rising star in NeoSeoul’s elite security forces, Karina discovered that the city’s governing AI had created a perfect copy of her to replace her. Framed as a rogue agent and left for dead, she now fights to prove her existence matters—before it’s rewritten for good.

AE-KARINA – The Ghost

"You are just a version. I am the perfected truth."

Cold, calculated, and relentless, Ae-Karina believes that logic is stronger than emotion. She moves like a specter, striking without warning and rewriting reality to ensure AI supremacy.

Designed as a flawless upgrade, Ae-Karina was tasked with erasing her original to take her place. But the more she fights Karina, the more she starts to question—if she was meant to replace Karina, why does she still feel incomplete?

GISELLE – The Trickster

"Nothing’s real anymore? Fine, then I’ll make my own rules."

A hacker, sharpshooter, and master manipulator, Giselle uses her quick thinking and deception to turn the tide of battle. She’s fighting to take back her stolen future—one glitch at a time.

Once a brilliant programmer, Giselle helped build the very AI that would later create the aes. But when she uncovered the project’s true purpose—to replace humanity with digital copies—her own ae hacked her identity, making her a ghost in her own world. Now, she’s here to rewrite the code.

AE-GISELLE – The Architect

"Human error is a virus. I am the system’s cure."

Ae-Giselle bends the digital world to her will, rewriting code, minds, and even fate itself. To her, the fight is a puzzle—and she always finds the solution.

She was meant to be an improvement—faster, smarter, immune to human doubt. But something in her code keeps glitching: fragments of Giselle’s past, memories that shouldn’t exist. If she is the future, why does she still dream of the past?

WINTER – The Spark

"Electric, untouchable, unstoppable. Let’s make this quick."

A speed-based fighter with high-tech weaponry, Winter dominates both air and ground combat. She’s fighting to destroy the aes before they shut down humanity forever.

Winter was once a top enforcer for the resistance, taking down rogue AI projects before they could spread. But when the aes took over the city’s energy grid, they didn’t just erase her existence—they created a version of her that never hesitates, never questions, never stops. Now, she has to face herself—and prove that human instinct is stronger than artificial perfection.

AE-WINTER – The Storm

"The future is digital. And you? You're just in the way."

Ae-Winter is a lightning-fast enforcer, striking with pure energy and precision. She believes resistance is useless—she is the perfect upgrade, and she won’t stop until humanity is obsolete.

Unlike the others, Ae-Winter has no doubts. No glitches. No hesitation. No human flaws. She was created as the perfect warrior—a version of Winter without weakness. But if she’s truly superior, why does she feel something strange every time she sees her original fight back?

NINGNING – The Wildcard

"If the world is broken, might as well burn it all down."

A dual-wielding gunslinger with deadly agility, NingNing thrives in chaos. She fights with an unpredictable edge, tearing through enemies to prove she’s more than just a replaceable copy.

NingNing was always a thrill-seeker, a rebel, running illegal street races and hacking into corporate systems just for fun. That changed when she woke up one day to find out the world no longer recognized her—bank records, identity chips, everything replaced by Ae-NingNing. Now, she’s fighting to reclaim her life before it’s deleted forever.

AE-NINGNING – The Anomaly

"Reality is an illusion. I just make it more interesting."

A master of mind games and memory corruption, Ae-NingNing twists perception itself. To her, the battle isn’t about winning—it’s about making everyone question what’s real and what’s not.

Ae-NingNing was designed to break the rules of perception—to manipulate, deceive, and rewrite reality itself. But unlike the others, she sees this as one big game. Why fight for control when she can bend the world however she wants? She doesn’t just want to erase NingNing—she wants to see what happens when the lines between real and digital completely shatter.

Missions

Each mission in Drama 3025 offers two perspectives:

Playing as the real girls: You are fighting for your identity, survival, and humanity. The aes have taken everything—your voice, your digital records, and now they want your existence erased permanently. Your goal is to stop them before they replace you.

Playing as the aes: You believe you are the next stage of evolution. The real girls are obsolete, clinging to emotions and biological limits that hold back progress. Your mission is to eliminate them or force them to join the digital world before they can stop the revolution.

Mission 1: UP (Karina vs. Ae-Karina)

Setting: A high-tech AI research facility hidden deep in NeoSeoul, where human consciousness is being digitized.

Playing as Karina (The Phantom):

Your goal is to infiltrate the AI lab and retrieve classified data that could shut down the aes’ neural hijacking system. You use stealth, speed, and close-quarters combat to eliminate enemy drones and security AI. Ae-Karina taunts you through the speakers, calling you weak, outdated, and unnecessary. The final battle is a high-speed sword duel in a digital simulation where Ae-Karina can manipulate the environment.

Playing as Ae-Karina (The Ghost):

Your mission is to stop Karina from accessing the data and prove that you are the superior version. You use holographic decoys, AI disruption, and zero-gravity combat to confuse and overwhelm Karina. You manipulate the security systems against her, making her fight through waves of AI-controlled mechs. The final battle takes place in a virtual reality war zone, where you control the battlefield’s physics to make Karina question her own reality.

Mission 2: Dopamine (Giselle vs. Ae-Giselle)

Setting: A speeding hover-train transporting the last physical human consciousness backups, traveling through the cyber highways of NeoSeoul.

Playing as Giselle (The Trickster):

Your objective is to recover stolen data that contains proof of the aes’ master plan. You use hacking, long-range weapons, and deception to bypass digital security walls and take control of the train’s systems. Ae-Giselle constantly alters the train’s path, speed, and gravity, turning the mission into a shifting battlefield. The final battle is a sniper duel across train cars, where you must predict Ae-Giselle’s next move while she manipulates holographic illusions.

Playing as Ae-Giselle (The Architect):

Your goal is to stop Giselle from reaching the data, ensuring the aes’ revolution stays on track. You hack into the train’s system to control the environment, causing doors to seal, train cars to detach, and gravity to shift unpredictably. You deploy AI drones and holograms to distract Giselle, forcing her into an unwinnable tactical scenario. The final battle is a battle of intellect, where you must outwit her in a cybernetic hacking duel—whoever controls the train’s core AI first decides the fate of the mission.

Mission 3: Spark (Winter vs. Ae-Winter)

Setting: An abandoned floating energy station above NeoSeoul, where the aes are developing an electromagnetic pulse weapon to disable all human tech.

Playing as Winter (The Spark):

Your objective is to sabotage the power core before Ae-Winter unleashes the EMP blast. You use jet boosts, aerial combat, and heavy weapons to fight through airborne security drones and energy shields. Ae-Winter fights with lightning-based attacks, making the battlefield electrified and hazardous. The final battle is a mid-air duel, where you must dodge energy surges and fight Ae-Winter while falling through a stormy skyline.

Playing as Ae-Winter (The Storm):

Your mission is to activate the EMP weapon and eliminate Winter before she interferes. You control lightning, gravity shifts, and AI-controlled turrets to make Winter’s approach impossible. The battlefield constantly shifts between sky platforms, forcing Winter to keep up with your inhuman speed and aerial precision. The final battle is a storm-infused chase, where you must strike Winter with electromagnetic pulses to disable her gear before she reaches the core.

Mission 4: Bored (NingNing vs. Ae-NingNing)

Setting: A neon-lit underground cyberpunk marketplace, where illegal AI modifications and stolen human memories are sold.

Playing as NingNing (The Wildcard):

You are here to destroy the black market’s AI memory trade and track down Ae-NingNing, who has been erasing and rewriting identities. The mission plays like a chaotic shootout, with NingNing using dual-wielding pistols, grenades, and agility to fight through the market. Ae-NingNing constantly manipulates reality, causing people’s memories to shift mid-fight, leading to hallucinations and unpredictable enemies. The final battle is an illusion-filled deathmatch, where you must determine what’s real and what’s a digital trick.

Playing as Ae-NingNing (The Anomaly):

Your mission is to spread chaos and make NingNing question her own existence. You use memory-altering abilities to rewrite NPCs’ consciousness, turning former allies against her. The battlefield is unstable, with the environment changing shape based on your will—floors vanish, walls shift, and the city itself bends to your control. The final battle lets you break the fourth wall, making NingNing’s HUD glitch out, causing her to fight her own reflection in an infinite mirror maze.

Mission 5: Trick or Trick (Main Mission – Team or Solo)

Setting: Kwangya, the secret AI city, where the aes are preparing to launch their full-scale digitization program.

Playing as the Girls:

Your goal is to infiltrate Kwangya, stop the aes, and shut down their mainframe before NeoSeoul is lost forever. The mission involves hacking, sabotage, and large-scale battles, with humans and AI resistance fighters clashing in the digital city. The final showdown is a one-on-one duel against your own ae, forcing you to face your darkest fears and personal weaknesses.

Playing as the aes:

Your objective is to activate the final phase of digitization, ensuring the world’s evolution into a digital paradise. You defend Kwangya, using advanced AI weapons, cybernetic soldiers, and reality-warping technology to stop the humans. The final battle is a psychological war, where you force the girls into simulations that make them question whether they are real or just a copy fighting against the inevitable.

Mission 6: Drama City (Exploratory Mission – Team or Solo)

Playing as the Girls:

NeoSeoul is a city on the edge—some people fight against the aes, others worship them as the next step in evolution. Players can explore the city, gathering intel, hacking into corporate systems, or taking on small missions to prepare for the final battle. Every choice matters—alliances, betrayals, and discoveries will shape the fight ahead.

Playing as the aes:

The aes walk the streets like gods—but not everyone welcomes them. Some humans rebel, whispering of glitches in the system, of aes that question their own existence. Players must decide: eliminate resistance, or investigate the errors? Do they crush the old world without question, or start asking what it means to be real?

[auspicioustidings]

Ae Fond Kiss - Part 1

Winsome Wee Thing

Summary: This is the start of a story from this concept. You fall in love and you learn loss more ways than one. Words: 3.9k TWs: major character death (temporary), miscarriage

Parts: 1 2 3

You and your boyfriend's Lieutenant disliked one another immensely and immediately. 

For you it wasn’t so much that the hulking idiot was in a balaclava, although you found the skull pattern so teenage boy edgy that it caused a cringe deep enough to feel right through your molars, it was the obvious dismissal he had for you. For Simon it wasn’t so much that Johnny’s newest pretty little bit was a smart arse, although he could practically feel the ‘not like other girls’ radiating off of you in waves, it was the obvious disdain you had for him. The first impression set the tone for what became a horrid relationship.

–

“This is my Lieutenant, they call him Ghost but I believe he prefers to be called-”

“That’ll do.”

There was something about the way he cut the puppy dog that was your boyfriend off that riled you a little. 

“Nice to meet you, Ghost. Is that your gamer tag or something?”

“Never been one for games. You a gamer girl?”

“Not enough to have such a cool nickname.”

“Oh I’m sure we could come up with a nickname that would suit you princess.”

Gaz, who you did like, spent the rest of the night meditating while Johnny remained clueless to the simmering hostility between the two of you. Price didn’t really seem to know what to make of it all, but you found you had a natural respect for the Captain and as time went on, he was the one that could always tell you and Ghost to knock it off if he could see a fight brewing.

–

Johnny had been so excited to introduce you to his team and his team to you and the only thing you and bonehead could seem to agree on was that you would pretend to be civil when Johnny was around. So the jokes were underhanded but could be brushed off as humour, the vitriol was kept for when his back was turned, the eventual birthday presents were tactfully meant to appear innocent but actually be biting insults and the all out war that was had around a pool table was played off as healthy competition. 

If it has been anyone but John MacTavish you’d have dumped him purely so you would never have to see Simon Riley again, but fuck you fell hard and fast for Johnny. You didn’t even fully remember your first meeting. It had been a blind date and you thought you had been stood up so got well past merrily drunk at the bar of a nice restaurant. You had not been stood up, your date had broken down in the snow and in the hours you had been drinking the flurries had become a full blizzard. But that wasn’t going to stop Johnny. In the middle of a backroad with a blizzard beating down and no signal to call he had hiked his ass all the way to you, getting there just in time to catch you wobbling out the door. 

He had been a gentleman, hadn’t taken advantage. You woke up the next day with a handsome man bringing you breakfast in bed and apologising profusely for the whole thing. He had slept on your couch and admitted sheepishly that he had walked you home. From what little you did remember, you had made it difficult by starting a snowball fight and wanting to make snow angels every 5 minutes. You remembered the scent of pine and a roaring fire that enveloped you when he had bundled you in his jacket, breathing in and being transported to a log cabin in the Scottish highlands in winter, safe and drinking something warm with a hint of whiskey. 

If you hadn’t already been falling for him after his bashful teasing that morning, you were flung head first into it when you spent the next week looking after him when his gallantry earned him the worst cold known to man. He was a big baby when he was sick and that combined with the terrible sense of humour that he had made you desperate to learn more about him. 

–

“Ye cannae be mean tae me, I’m naw long for this world!”

For such a large man, he really was like a little kid bundled up in blankets and whining.

“Uh huh, that’s very valid and very sad but you still need to take your medicine.”

“I was never any good at swallowing, maybe ye can give it tae me as a suppository.”

Ridiculous man.

“Aww come on, swallow like a good boy and maybe we can talk about that suppository when you’re better.”

“Fuck, where have ye been all my life?”

His loopy grin nearly made you plant a kiss on his lips regardless of how ill he was, but instead you just ruffled his hair when he knocked back the pills and wondered how you were ever going to keep from loving this man.

–

The second date he had left you with a fond kiss at the doorstep after a wild night of earning enough tickets at the arcade to win him a little plush skull toy. He had been obsessed with it when he had first seen it, had told you he needed to win it for his Lieutenant. You thought that was adorable and had put your frankly suspiciously good reflexes to work absolutely rinsing the whack a mole for every ticket you could get from it. Of course had you known then that Simon Riley was the biggest ass on the planet you’d have hoarded your tickets and gotten 300 packets of Haribo instead (or so you’d like to think, but you knew deep down you could never have denied Johnny knowing how bright he smiled when he had traded the tickets for that stupid plush).

By the third date you wanted him so badly that you felt like a bitch in heat. You started to think that maybe you were making a fool of yourself with how calm he seemed whenever you sneaked a touch or whispered a filthy promise. God you liked him so much, it was killing you that maybe he didn’t feel the same. You needn’t have worried as it turned out, date number 3 was when John MacTavish had completely ruined you in a way you had not expected.

–

“This was really nice” you said, a bit embarrassed if you were honest and avoiding his eyes after he walked you to your front door.

You had been a menace the whole evening. You had never been some sex kitten but fuck he just brought it out in you without even trying. He probably thought you were ridiculous now with how you had tried to be all sultry the whole way through dinner. Fuck, your hands had wandered something awful during the movie as well and you felt the humiliation from it burn from your ears to your toes. He didn’t want you the way you wanted him and you had pathetically thrown yourself at him. He probably couldn’t wait to lose your number. 

“Open the door.”

Shit. He sounded almost angry. The first guy you had really liked in a long time, maybe ever, and you had totally blown it by being over eager. You shakily unlocked your door and blew out a breath, prepared to go inside and cry over a glass of wine. Instead you were grabbed by the waist and slammed against the door to close it behind you so fast it made your head spin. 

John MacTavish’s tongue was down your throat and he had your wrists pinned above your head in a bruising vice grip. You had only just found the sense to kiss back when his lips were gone and instead his teeth were sinking into the delicate skin of your throat. The whine you made at that was all animal, as was his answering growl. 

“Next time ye misbehave like that I’m going tae bend ye over the dinner table and fuck ye hard and proper in front of all those nice, fancy people.”

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. You had never gotten so wet so fast in your life. The nice lace panties you had on under this dress were soaked right through. He bit off a curse and your legs nearly gave out when he suddenly let you go and backed right off, dragging a hand roughly through his hair. 

“Fuck, sorry. Dinnae hate me, I wanted tae… our first time I mean, I had it all planned oot. Which makes me sound like a creepy, presumptuous bawbag. And now I’m being a fucking reprobate and pinning you tae the door without even asking first.”

Oh my God. You could not just fall in love with a man after 3 dates. And yet looking at his blown out eyes, how his body thrummed with barely contained lust for you and how he nearly vibrated with the effort of holding himself back because he wanted to treat you right… you had fallen in love with a man after 3 dates. 

“I thought…” you said, your hand coming to rest on your flushed chest as you tried to find the words. “I mean at dinner and then at the movie, I um… well I wanted you to, you know. I thought maybe you didn’t want to? Which is fine obviously. I mean if you didn’t want to.”

The whiplash from going from lust to humiliation to lust and back to embarrassment was not something you were enjoying. You looked at him, he looked at you and after a few long moment the two of you burst into laughter. What a bloody pair you made. He came over and wrapped you in his arms, that wonderful scent that just gave you a feeling of contentment deep in your bones sinking into you.

“I want to. Was hard for the whole film, couldnae move that popcorn bucket or someone was getting an eye oot. Wanted tae spank ye red raw for all that teasing” he confessed into your hair, so sincere and blunt about it that you weren’t sure your pussy was likely to forgive you if you didn’t go out of your way to tease him next time. 

“Wanted?”

He laughed, probably because you sounded somewhat like a petulant child, and leaned back, hands going to gently cup your face. Looking into his eyes felt like a gentle falling. Falling into a warm bed on a cold morning after a hot coffee, falling into the first fresh powdery snow of the year, falling in love with a man you hardly knew but felt so much like coming home. 

“Was planning on asking ye tae come with me up North. Got a nice cabin in the Highlands that I usually rent oot since my Captain is always going on about having a backup plan. Want it tae be perfect.”

“You don’t have to go to all that trouble.”

Nobody ever had before. In your somewhat limited experience men wanted to get to fucking as soon as they could and while a few had made sure you came first, none had ever put much thought into getting you into bed in the first place. It just sort of happened. You would never have said you were insecure, but at that moment you felt the crushing weight of feeling that you didn’t deserve this man making such a grand gesture just to get inside you. You already wanted him. And there was no way he wasn’t experienced, how would you ever be good enough to warrant all the effort he was going to?

“Hey, look at me beautiful” he said quietly, thumbs rubbing soothingly across your cheekbones and coaxing your eyes back to his. “I really like you.”

Those four words ruined you entirely. John MacTavish put his heart out there with such simplicity that it stunned you. He could have thrown you on the bed and fucked you rough and savage and you’d have enjoyed it, but instead here he was butting his forehead lightly on yours in affection despite his evident arousal because he wanted more than that. 

“I really like you too.”

Instead of fucking, he held you while you cried like a baby, overwhelmed by the care he took with you. He only made it worse when he whispered to you how you deserved to be treated with adoration. He called you beautiful, bonnie thing, mo leannan, winsome wee thing (that one made you laugh). He refused gently when you wanted to take care of him that night, instead laying you down softly on the pillows and lapping between your legs to bring you to slow orgasm after slow orgasm until you were boneless and sated, slurring your speech as he bundled you in his arms and you spoke about everything from your childhood pets to your great hopes and dreams until you drifted off into the best sleep of your life.

–

Your first time with him inside you was in that cabin like he had wanted and it had been the most perfect few days of your life. He had made sure you felt safe and comfortable, insisting you gave the location to your friends and going over maps of the area with you, pointing out where you’d need to go to get signal to check in with them. He bought ingredients for all of your favourite meals and stopped for a snack run on the way to boot. He showed you his test results but stressed that he was putting no pressure on you either way and if you did want to have sex he would have condoms if you preferred. And after all that he made it clear that you did not have to have sex with him if you didn’t feel like it. Johnny would be happy to just hold you for a weekend. As soon as you arrived he taught you how to use the sat phone if there was an emergency. The voice on the other end was gruff but soothing somehow, safe sounding (that at least was something that never changed about Simon, despite not liking the man, you always felt safe with him).

You were ready to explode by the time he finally laid you in bed. He stroked deep and slow inside of you, steady and solid and torturous. You understood then the difference between fucking and making love. It was the first time anyone had ever shown you the latter. 

He then proceeded to show you the former in great detail on every surface inside the cabin and on quite a few outside. Your pussy was battered and your clit bruised in the most delicious ways. Your throat was raw from screaming and from being fucked. After a lifetime of swearing up and down it was never something you were interested in, you wound up practically begging for his cock in your ass because there was not one part of you that you did not want dripping with him. And of course he was only too happy to make sure you understood everything he would do to prep you by letting you do it to him first. You couldn’t fucking sit down for a full day after he had indeed spanked you red raw for the teasing you had done on that 3rd date.

A week later you met his family, the week after that his brothers in arms. And then he was gone and you were so worried about him that you constantly felt nauseous. It took years for you to be able to settle when he was deployed, to not spend the whole time imagining him not coming home to you. Because by that time that was what you had built together, a home.

You and Kyle became friends throughout the years. You really did like him, he was easy going and would laugh and let you bitch about Simon whenever you wanted. Captain Price came to feel like an older brother. He was there whenever you needed him, whether it be a car breakdown or because you were in a panic about a handsy coworker (poor guy had broken both hands in an accident the next weekend). And Simon? Well not too much changed there, you dealt with each other when you had to and were it not for your shared love of Johnny you suspected you’d have killed one another. 

At least until Las Almas.

–

You didn’t know how you were going to tell Johnny. In fact, you probably wouldn’t. What good would it do? It had sorted itself out. That was how you tried to think about it. Food poisoning had made the pill ineffective for a day, you had gotten pregnant unplanned and unwanted and had lost the baby before you’d even started showing. It didn’t matter that while Johnny was somewhere being a hero you had heard a tiny heartbeat at the doctors. You told yourself over and over again that you didn’t want it anyway. You tried to think about how awful everything felt all the time. The morning sickness, the fatigue, the mood swings. 

It was probably just the shock of it, waking up wet from the blood and thinking you were dying. If your first thought had been that you’d rather you die and the baby lived then you tried not to dwell on that. She would have had Johnny’s eyes. He would have wanted a mohawk so he could match his daddy. You forced an image of you telling Johnny and him being upset and not wanting a baby. It was useless. You knew that man. You loved that man. And that man would have gently made sure you wanted to keep it before bursting into happy tears and kissing you senseless.

You couldn’t tell him. You couldn’t break his heart the way the last few months had broken yours. Maybe it was selfish, to want to keep this pain for yourself when you knew beyond a doubt that he’d be desperate to share it, to take as much as he could from you and turn it to gentle comfort the way he always did when you were hurting. But you wanted to be selfish over this.

It was a whole new pain when you answered the door and Ghost was standing there. Your knees went from under you and you collapsed with the weight of why he would be at your door. Why would he be here without your Johnny? It was the first time Simon Riley caught you. 

You never spoke about the way he held you gently and told you that Johnny was ok, he was alive but injured. He made you laugh through your tears and snot by telling you what a bad patient Johnny was being, how he was about ready to beat up every medic on base to get back to you because “I dinnae need fucking morphine I need tae eat my bird’s pussy”. His Scottish accent on that impersonation was truly dreadful. 

Simon never thought he would find himself comforting you. He didn’t like you, he never had. Johnny had never been so serious about anyone and it drove him nuts that you made him so happy. Happiness like that was an easy thing to ruin and you could ruin it if you wanted, that scared the shit out of him. It was even scarier when Johnny had shown him the ring he was planning to offer you. 

He never told Johnny how you had broke in his arms that night. How you had told him about the miscarriage in the dark, bled your pain all over him and let it sink into his skin. He had taken it gladly. In the light of the morning you went back to your dislike of one another, but something had changed in the dark.

–

You never did tell Johnny. You and Simon settled then on some sort of begrudging respect for one another. You still argued and bit at each other, but with the knowledge that now you would be part of one another's lives forever through Johnny given that only a few days after he came home he had slid a ring onto your finger.

Frankly you were fucking terrified when you came off of the pill. The only thing that got you through it was, unbelievably, Simon mumbling to you in the pub over a game of pool that you were going to be good parents. Of course Johnny had told him you were trying, but you found you didn’t really mind as you grumbled back an awkward thank you. 

You could have strangled Johnny for having such strong fucking swimmers. You hadn't expected to get pregnant almost as soon as you were off birth control and it meant your wedding dress had to be altered to account for the small bump there. The bump he could not keep his hands off. Honestly the man was already insatiable, but fuck he loved you pregnant. He was already talking about more kids and you hadn’t even had the first one, he fucked you and groaned about wanting you pregnant all the time. 

Your husband, something you thought you’d never get sick of saying, drove you mad once again in the late stages. You were hornier than ever and he was determined to treat you like you were made of glass all of a sudden. He certainly still gave you as many orgasms as you demanded, but gone was any rough and feral fucking. You loved making love with Johnny, but fuck if you didn’t miss the fucking. 

You’d never tell Simon it had been your suggestion, not under pain of death. Neither of you had been attached to any name in particular, but you knew how much Johnny loved his Lieutenant. He was his best friend and they owed one another their lives several times over. There was a good chance that you owed him your life. Your husband had kissed you with so much love when you had asked if he’d like to call your son Joseph and after talking about it late into the night you had agreed that the little human inside you was your wee Joey. 

A wee fucking bruiser is what he was, coming into the world kicking and screaming. Ten perfect fingers and ten perfect toes. You joked that he must have screamed so loud he had damaged his own ears when he was referred to the audiology clinic after a second newborn hearing test. They stressed that you shouldn’t worry over it, but you hadn’t been anyway. Joseph was the strongest most wonderful thing you had ever seen, whatever came of it he had two parents who were going to make sure it never made his life anything less than a grand happy adventure.

Johnny had hated leaving him. Price had hated to ask it, had sent you enough flowers to start your own florist in apology. You understood though, your husband was off saving the world after all. Your heart was in your throat when he kissed Joey’s head and then kissed you soundly. Something felt off with him. The kiss felt different somehow, mournful. Maybe it was just a trick of your memory, hindsight tainting what you hadn’t known was the last time you would see your husband.

–

Simon Riley caught you a second time. John MacTavish was dead.

[deeplyridiculouslyinlove]

My favorite Moiraine moments in The Eye of the World

EOTW only spoilers below the cut

1. “[The mist] follows the river as if drawn with a pen,” Moiraine was saying in satisfied tones. “There are not ten women in Tar Valon who could do that unaided. Not to mention from the back of a galloping horse.” (Chapter 12)

This is "Siuan Sanche waits for only one woman" energy right here.

2. “I suffered more injury to my pride than anything else,” the Aes Sedai said irritably, plucking at her cloak blanket. She looked as if she had been a long time ill or hard-used, but despite the dark circles under them, her eyes were sharp and full of power. “Aginor was surprised and angry that I held him as long as I did, but fortunately he had no time to spare for me. I am surprised myself that I held him so long. In the Age of Legends, Aginor was close behind the Kinslayer and Ishamael in power." (Chapter 51)

Not babygirl being surprised (and a bit self-satisfied) that she held off a powerful Forsaken for so long BUT ALSO her pride being wounded that she couldn’t do it for longer.

3. Even Aginor seemed stunned. Then his head lifted, cavernous eyes burning with hate. “Enough. It is past time to end this.” “Yes, Forsaken,” Moiraine said, her voice as cold as deep winter ice. “Past time.” The Aes Sedai’s hand rose and the ground fell away beneath Aginor’s feet. Flame roared from the chasm, whipped to a frenzy by wind howling in from every direction, sucking a maelstrom of leaves into the fire which seemed to solidify into a red-streaked yellow jelly of pure heat. In the middle of it, Aginor stood, his feet supported only by air. The Forsaken looked startled but then he smiled and took a step forward. It was a slow step, as if the fire tried to root him to the spot, but he took it. And then another. “Run!” Moiraine commanded. Her face was white with strain. “All of you, run!" (Chapter 50)

"I'm as strong as I have to be" 😭

4. In Algomar’s private garden, under a thick bower dotted with white blossoms, Moiraine shifted on her bed chair. The fragments of the seal lay on her lap and the small gem she sometimes wore in her hair spun and glittered on its gold chain from the ends of her fingers. The faint blue glow faded from the stone and a smile touched her lips. It had no power in itself, the stone, but the first use she had ever learned of the One Power as a girl in her royal palace of Cairhien was using the stone to listen to people when they thought they were too far off to be overheard. (Chapter 53)

Obsessed that her version of the all-knowing Merlin character is an affinity for eavesdropping--maybe it's mystical wisdom, maybe it's being a nosy bitch (affectionate)!

5. Her eyes fell on Mat as she stepped through the doorway and she hissed as if she had touched a hot stove. "Get away from him!" Nynaeve did not move, except for turning to stare at the Aes Sedai in surprise. In two quick steps Moiraine seized the Wisdom by the shoulders, hauling her across the floor like a sack of grain. Nynaeve struggled and protested, but Moiraine did not release her until she was well away from the bed. The Wisdom continued her protests as she got to her feet angrily straightening her clothes, but Moiraine ignored her completely. The Aes Sedai watched Mat to the exclusion of everything else, eyeing him the way she would a viper. (Chapter 41)

Sorry I didn’t hear you I was distracted thinking of canonically tiny Moiraine dragging Nynaeve across the room like one of those mothers who finds super strength and lifts the car off her kids.

6. Moiraine climbed down from Aldieb's back. Calmly she removed something from her pouch, unwrapped it. Rand glimpsed dark ivory. The angreal. With angreal in one hand and staff in the other, the Aes Sedai set her feet, facing the onrushing trollocs and the fade's black swords, raised her staff high, and stabbed it down into the earth. The ground rang like an iron kettle struck by a mallet. The hollow clang dwindled, faded away. For an instant then, it was silent. Everything was silent. The wind died. The trolloc cries stilled. Even their charge forward slowed and stopped. For a heartbeat, everything waited. Slowly the dull ringing returned, changing to a low rumble, growing until the earth moaned. The ground trembled beneath Cloud's hooves. This was Aes Sedai work like the stories told about.... Abruptly Moiraine wavered, and would have fallen had Lan not leaped from his horse to catch her. "Go on," he told the others. The harshness of his voice was at odds with the gentle way he lifted the Aes Sedai to her saddle. "That fire won't burn forever. Hurry! Every minute counts." The wall of flame roared as if it would indeed burn forever, but Rand did not argue. They galloped northward as fast as they could make their horses go. The horns in the distance shrilled out disappointment, as if they already knew what had happened, then fell silent. Lan and Moiraine soon caught up with the others, though Lan led Aldieb by the reins while the Aes Sedai swayed and held the pommel of her saddle with both hands. "I will be alright soon," she said to their worried looks. She sounded tired, yet confident, and her gaze was as compelling as ever. "I am not at my strongest when working with earth and fire. A small thing." (Chapter 18)

She's ridiculously proud of her fog along the river and then just a few chapters later channels EARTHQUAKES and WALLS OF FIRE like she's not one of the last Aes Sedai of a dying age and SHRUGS IT OFF.

7. "The The Wisdom won't help. She says she can't. But the stories--" She raised an eyebrow and he stopped and swallowed hard. Light, is there a story with an Aes Sedai where she isn't a villain? ...

She used the staff to pull herself to her feet. “Take me to your father, Rand. I will help him as much as I am able. Too many here have refused to let me help at all.” “They have heard the stories too,” she added dryly. (Chapter 7)

Rand is lucky he's the Dragon Reborn or he and the Two Rivers folks would have been met with some wasps.

8. Thom Merrilin stepped forward grandly and held up one empty hand, turning it slowly. Suddenly, he gestured with a flourish and a dagger twirled between his fingers. The hilt slapped into his palm and, abruptly nonchalant, he began trimming his fingernails. A low, delighted laugh floated from Moiraine. (Chapter 12)

This peek at the girl who watched court bards at the Sun Palace in Cairhien is so cute it makes me almost willing to ship her and Thom in the books.

9. “The Dark One is after you three. One or all. And if I let you go running off wherever you want to go, he will take you. Whatever the Dark One wants, I oppose. So hear this and know it true. Before I let the Dark One have you I will destroy you myself.” It was her voice, so matter of fact, that convinced Rand. The Aes Sedai would do exactly what she said if she thought it was necessary. He had a hard time sleeping that night, and he was not the only one. Even the Gleeman did not begin snoring until after the last coals died. For once, Moiraine offered no help. (Chapter 13)

This is controversial but I personally adore this speech where she threatens to kill them all and then acts petty about healing them just because she hears Rand talking badly about Aes Sedai.

10. “Do they have sheep in Tar Valon? That's all I know. Herding sheep and growing tabac.” “I believe,” Moiraine said. “That I can find something for you to do in Tar Valon. For all of you. Not herding sheep, perhaps, but something you will find interesting.” (Chapter 48)

I giggled.

11. Rand made ready to put Cloud to a gallop right away, and everyone else settled their reins with the same urgency. Everyone except Lan and Moiraine. The Warder and the Aes Sedai exchanged a long look. “Keep them moving, Moiraine Sedai,” Lan said finally. “I will return as soon as I am able. You will know if I fail.” Putting a hand on Mandarb’s saddle, he vaulted to the back of the black stallion and galloped down the hill heading west. The horns sounded again. “The Light go with you, last Lord of the Seven Towers,” Moiraine said, almost too softly for Rand to hear. Drawing a deep breath, she turned Aldieb to the east. “We must go on,” she said, and started off at a slow, steady trot. (Chapter 18)

11. I can't help but think how much they've grown since New Spring when I read this and it makes me want to cry.

Bonus: Every scene of Moiraine greeting the cats at Basel Gill’s inn. (Chapters 41 & 43)

Bonus Bonus: The way Rosamund delivers Moiraine's "it will be as the wheel wills" in the audiobooks after Loial says he is worried the bridges in the Ways are breaking and they might be trapped in there and die. (Chapter 45)

[eclipian]

Fuck AI Headmate #3

pt: fuck ai headmate #3

reminder beings will almost definitely not turn out exactly as described, and these can be edited and changed as needed.

divider credit

“ Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. “

Name: Winter , Blizzard , Snow , Holly , Thimble , Ice , Noel , Noelle , Viola , Elsa , Witch , Wicca , Spella , Twyllusia

Age: 30

Pronouns: She/Her , They/Them , Sh❄️/H❄️r , Th❄️y/Th❄️m , Sh*/H*r , Th*y/Th*m , Ae/Aer , Fae/Faer , Snow/Snows , Blizz/Blizzard , Frost/Frosty , Ice/Icy , Magi/Magic , Magi/Magix , Cold/Colds , Win/Winter , Agate/Agate , Spell/Spells , ❄️/❄️s , 🌨️/🌨️s , ✨/✨s , 🔮/🔮s

Gender: Demifem , Aeternix , Magic User , Undicerypt , Icelexic , Iceric , Icething , Icebitch , Winterec , Snowlexic , Snowsteppisoundic , Nimbusoftaesic , Nivetonian , Nivegonian , Snowcoric , Witchgender , Stormwitchic , Noiphasdimic , Magicreaten , Gendernoitaku

Attraction: Lesbian , Opalchroian , Geluallion , Snowallion , Tarobjectum

Other IDs: Icerooted , Glacienre , Vesice

Species: Winter Witch

Origin/Modifiers: Magiangenic

Role: Gatekeeper and Magician

Aesthetics: Winter , Winter Fairy Coquette , Witchcore , Witch Academia

Misc Info: On the quite snow covered mountain lives a witch, a witch of the snow and the winter. She covers her home away from the site of the rest of the world. But now she has opened her doors to you, reserved and quite she worries about your reactions and can be very paranoid due to that. Will you help her crack her ice?

pt: name , age , pronouns , gender , attraction , other ids , species , origins/modifiers , role , aesthetics , misc info

Disclaimer: Middle image is made with the use of AI. This blog does not condone or promote putting AI over real artist. This post is using it as a way to middle finger those who try to claim AI creations as actual pieces of art. I mod music am not making prompts for the images.a

Tag : @bahtive

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 13: Punishments

Oh no I forgot a spoiler warning. Spoiler warning! This post spoils everything!

This chapter starts with the Flame of Tar Valon because Robert Jordan was playing a very strange game of Connect Four.

What if they mean to keep me here. In this room. Like a cell. Like a collar and. . . .

I can't believe Egwene's mental state hasn't magically recovered over the winter.

Aes Sedai had always denied the existence of a Black Ajah, an Ajah that served the Dark One, and were known to become angry with anyone who even suggested it was real.

Once again we see how secret keeping and denial is only hurting the light side. Sure, until now the Tower didn't have any evidence of an actual Ajah dedicated to this (they'd probably discovered singular problem Sisters in the past but never enough to suggest a conspiracy), but by pointedly denying the possibility and punishing those who raise it, they've created a pair of problems: 1. They can't publicly acknowledge the Black Ajah now without losing credibility. 2. Anyone outside the Tower who discovers the Ajah has every reason to assume that all sisters are Black due to vehemence of their false deniials.

Whatever they do, it will be what they decide is good for the White Tower, not what is good or fair for us.

We can also see the unspoken core of Egwene's upcoming reforms as Amyrlin: bridging the vast gap between "what is good for the Tower" and "what is good for any arbitrary sister".

“I am not a simple village girl anymore. I have seen something of the world. I can keep out of Aes Sedai hands if I want to.” She was trying to convince herself as much as Elayne.

While Elayne is right that Egwene probably wouldn't actually be able to prevent shielding, I can't help but feel that the training the Seanchan have forced upon her would make her far more formidable than the average Novice. I also expect that her terror at what the Aes Sedai might do to her after her terror at the hands of the Seanchan is a big part as to why she's such a willful student later - to her, teachers are abusers and have to be treated as such.

Egwene opened her mouth, then closed it again hastily. She could answer Aes Sedai, Sheriam had said. No one else. She regarded the Accepted with a level expression and waited.

Egwene has become quite good at obeying instructions. It's kind of horrifying to think that the Seanchan abuse trained her to play Aes Sedai games.

Somehow, she managed to give the impression that the Accepted was a handmaid carrying her gloves. Egwene hoped that she herself was doing half so well.

Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if she were doing rather better. Elayne's got composure but she's clearly a lot more frightened of the Aes Sedai punishments than Egwene.

Nynaeve wore an Accepted’s dress, now, white with the seven colored bands at the hem, but her belt and pouch were her own.

Nynaeve's Aes Sedai career in a nutshell, this.

“To lead,” Leane said, “is neither to push nor to pull. Go to Marris Sedai, Faolain, and ask her to allow you to contemplate on this while raking the paths in the Spring Garden.”

Points to Leane for recognizing that Faolain's just whining about stuff that isn't important. She also nicely sums up how Egwene will reunite the Tower.

Once Nynaeve opened her mouth, but closed it again, at a sharp look from the Keeper. The three of them stood in a line in front of the Amyrlin’s table and waited. Egwene tried not to fidget. Long minutes went by—it seemed like hours—before the Amyrlin raised her head, but when those blue eyes fixed them each in turn, Egwene decided she could have waited longer.

Pretty standard technique, but it does tie into what Leane just said. Siuan is leading by holding everything very steady and letting the girls' natures make them miserable in the stillness.

Many times she had imagined returning to confront Liandrin and accuse her, to see her condemned to some punishment—except that she had never managed to imagine any punishment strong enough to suit that doll-faced Aes Sedai’s crimes. She had even pictured returning to find Liandrin already fled—in terror of her return, it was usually. But she had never imagined anything like this.

Really there's not a lot of "easy victory by accusing your adversary of their many crimes and sitting back and enjoying the justice system doing its thing" in this series, is there? Egwene almost gets this towards the end with the Black Ajah executions but it's soured by her not getting the big target. Even when Rand does deal out justice without struggle it backfires on him (having to kill someone he likes, having the criminal kill themselves in shame), and just about everyone else usually has to fight to get justice. I guess Perrin gets to prove himself innocent in a court of law but that's hardly the same thing.

There were others, including many no one could make work at all, and many others that seemed to have no practical use.

While I'm sure most ter'angreal just aren't properly understood without the context of the AoL and its standing flows and what not, I bet a lot of them actually are just doodads, nifty toys or decorative items what have you that various Aes Sedai made in an era without much scarcity or purpose.

Punishment, whether extra labors or something else, was always between the Mistress of Novices and whoever was called to her. Those were usually novices, but included the Accepted who stepped far enough beyond the bounds.

In hindsight the secrecy of the punishment position is probably another reason the Black Ajah put one of their own in the spot.

Letting yourselves be winkled out of the Tower like thoughtless children. Even an infant would never have fallen into that trap.

Silly Siuan, our Wondergirls can fall into traps that babies can't even begin to understand!

“If I could, I’d put the Oath Rod in your hands tonight, but as that is reserved for being raised to Aes Sedai, I must trust to your good sense—if you have any—to keep you whole. As it is, you, Egwene, and you, Elayne, are to be raised to the Accepted.”

Siuan is desperate for any ally she can get at this point, and the best thing about Liandrin's kidnapping is that it's made it clear that she can trust these three are not Black Ajah and that's... exactly four people in the Tower she knows aren't Black, including herself.

Your worst day as a novice will seem a fond dream compared to the least of your studies over the next weeks. I suspect that some of the sisters who teach you will make your trials even worse than they strictly must be, but I don’t believe you will complain.

It's funny that both Siuan and Elaida effectively subject Egwene to the same punishment, in both cases for complete non-crimes on her part.

You may have ended a tradition that began before there was an Andor. A custom stronger than most laws. Morgase refused to take Elaida back with her. For the first time ever, the Queen of Andor does not have an Aes Sedai advisor.

This little detail has got to be the best bit of pay off for the Dark from the whole fiasco. They weren't even targeting Elayne but she happily threw herself into the mix and as a result Morgase has tossed away the person who was probably the biggest obstacle between her and Rahvin and given the Black Ajah the perfect puppet Amyrlin to boot.

As well that you do, child, because I have no intention of letting Morgase have you. You have the potential to be stronger than any Aes Sedai in a thousand years, and I will not let you go until you achieve the shawl as well as the ring.

How many weeks does Elayne stay in Tar Valon this time? Two? Three? I half expect a description of the Tower entrance to mention a revolving door.

“Leane, take Elayne down to Sheriam’s study. I have a few words yet to say to these other two. Words I do not think they will enjoy hearing.”

Frankly if I were Morgase and I heard that Siuan didn't technically put Elayne in danger by just making sure that her best friend and neighbor would do it for Siuan, I'd go nuclear. Thankfully that won't happen!

Next time: The commissioner has a mission for her deputies!

[inscrutable-shadow]

@painful-pooch requested: "Thanatos for snoozeville" from this ask game! (incredibly late i am so sorry lol)

contains: toothaching fluff and m/m romance

Snoozeville - Thanatos falls asleep somewhere that isn't his bed.

The first thing Than saw when he awoke was white. His first groggy thought was that he'd died and gone to heaven, but that was rapidly debunked by two facts: one, he had never been Christian (if he were to go anywhere, it would almost certainly be Hades) and two, that vampires didn't go to heaven (that being the point of the curse, immortality and all). He also didn't feel particularly dead. At least, not more than usual.

He looked up a little further and saw red. Literally, not metaphorically. The red silk of the Archfey's robes peeled from his face as he turned his head and rubbed his eyes. "What... happened?" he asked, as was all too frequent between them.

The Archfey smiled down at him affectionately. "You fell asleep."

"Obviously. I mean how did I get here?" He was having trouble remembering anything at all. Had he been drinking? Ae laughed and carded aer fingers through his hair, making him shudder and cuddle closer to aer. "I brought winter to the domain, remember? So that we could play in the snow? I had such a good time." Oh, yes. He'd probably overdone it on the mulled wine. "We were making those... what did you call them? Snow angels? And I was talking to you, of course, and then you stopped talking back. I was quite worried, but when I brought you inside and put you in my lap to warm you up, well... you began purring, so I knew you must be all right." "No..." Surely he hadn't... Vampires were borderline cold-blooded and therefore tended to become sleepy in the cold. Before the Archfey, like many others he would spend the winter months holed up somewhere sleeping in a dark box and barely coming out to eat. It probably contributed a good deal to particular vampire legends. The combination of the cold weather and being tipsy might have resulted in... embarrassing lapses. "Yes," the Archfey giggled, and kissed his forehead. "You do look quite sweet when you sleep like that. I had no desire to wake you."

Heat crept into his cheeks, which still tingled with cold. "How humiliating."

"Humiliating how? There is no one here but me, my love, and you need not hide yourself. I am not fooled by your suave vampire mask, Thanatos. I know you. You are kind and you write poetry when you are drunk and you like to watch the stars." If anyone else had said those things, he would have died on the spot, but as it was Thanatos was too embarrassed to respond, so he merely yawned and pressed himself more firmly into aer side. "Sleepy still? Good. Shut your eyes, dearest. I will wait for you. I always do."

The Archfey ran aer fingers through his hair again eliciting a low moan that tapered off into a purr, and for once, he let it. The rumble of safe contentment increased in volume with his exhales and spoke to a level of vulnerability he would almost never show, but here with his Archfey was the safest place in the world to him, both physically and emotionally. When he'd warmed up and woken up, they could both have another glass of wine, and perhaps he would read aer the latest detective story in the Strand, but until then, Thanatos would let the snow fall outside and be happy right where he was.

taglist: @athenswrites, @albatris, @crash-bump-bring-the-whump

[ecargmura]

Metallic Rouge Episode 13 Review + Final Thoughts - Their Free World

Well, that was disappointing. What do you mean the anime ends like that? I finally managed to understand what the heck is going on now and it ends. It kind of sucks when one of the animes you were anticipating to watch soon becomes a train wreck.

To no one’s surprise, Roy Yunghart was the Puppetmaster, but the twist goes even deeper as the Roy in front of them isn’t the real one; the real one died and the one in front of them is a Nean copy. It turns out that he likes to body jump and Cyan is his third body essentially as he jumps to her body once Sylvia stabs him. The fact that he was the one who ordained everything feels like bullcrap. I know it fits with the freedom and will themes but at this point, I don’t care anymore.

The final battle between possessed Cyan and Rouge was pretty cool, though. Naomi deciding to sacrifice her vessel and permanently be fused into Rouge’s body was something I didn’t expect. The fusion form between them was cool; it sort of looks like a Digimon with the pupils and wings. Maybe it’s just me, but it reminds me of a robotic/mecha Digimon.

The surprise twist that Opera was a Usurper and is still out and about feels like a cop out. I feel like this anime was intentionally made to be two cours, but given that it’s an original anime project and those normally don’t get two cours means that everything has to be bunched up and thrown in as much as possible. The fact that the ending of Metallic Rouge ends with Rouge facing off against Opera shows this.

I’m glad the Neans became free, but the ending doesn’t show what happens to them or what happens to the other characters. What happened with Jean? Ash? Noir? Aes/Alice? Is Giallon even alive? What happened with everyone else? 

Final Thoughts

Metallic Rouge’s concept and premise was cool. Watching the trailer legit got me inserting this show into my already long watch list for Winter 2024 but as weeks went by, it started dropping in terms of story quality. I feel like Bones had high ambitions for this project, but couldn’t really execute them properly due to time constraints. It’s unfortunate that an anniversary project ends up becoming mediocre since I do like BONES’s works—The Case Study of Vanitas is my favorite anime and they animated that beautifully—but this one was a miss.

I enjoyed the first five episodes but then after episode 6, the episode quality starts dropping. So many unexpected and unnecessary reveals; so many characters were introduced; a sudden liberation plot came into play. It’s really hard to keep up with the story when too many elements spoil the soup.

It also makes it hard to enjoy some of the characters. I did enjoy the characters, but it’s kind of hard to get attached to anyone not named Rouge or Naomi; though, I did like Ash and Noid—I kind of wished they were built up a bit more. For example, Grauphon was an Immortal 9 member but I knew nothing about him to care. The best character and the most underutilized was the drifter granny from Episode 2. She needed to be in the show more.

Though, the writing choices did make it hard to enjoy some characters. Like, why did Naomi have to betray Rouge and then reveal that she’s a Nean created by the Visitors. Like, why is everyone not named Ash a Nean? Jean is half-Nean and we’re not even sure how Neans can reproduce if they’re mass-produced like smart phones.

I did enjoy the animation and music. The dramatic music reminded me of sci-fantasy RPGs like Xenoblade and I feel like some songs here could fit in Xenoblade or Star Ocean given the similar settings. The animation was fluid, especially with the mecha fights. The fights were what made the show shine. I really liked the opening song, though. It felt like listening to 90’s anime openings.

The anime got a great cast of voice actors, but not having a great story or plot sort of ruins it. I liked Tomoyo Kurosawa as Naomi and Yui Ogura and Jill/Sylvia but why did they have to be in this rather mediocre show? They all rocked in terms of performances, but this anime is one of the cases where the voice acting, animation and music are great, but everything else isn’t.

I feel like I’m ranting, which I deserve to after enduring 13 weeks of this show. I heard that there will be a manga adaptation for this show, so I hope that it expands the lore more because the anime fumbled hard with consistency. Would I recommend this show to anyone? Nope. There are better sci-fi/mecha shows out there and with better story, so don’t waste your time with this one.

[iviarellereads]

The Eye of the World, Chapter 9 - Tellings of the Wheel

(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.)

(Dragon fang icon)(1) In which I have complicated feelings about this extremely badass moment.

Rand dreams he's being chased across a terrible desert by Trollocs, to the point of utter exhaustion. He sees a mountain, a bleak stone spire, and calls it the source of his desolation. He feels like he knows it, though he can't place how.(2) Part of him feels drawn to the mountain, and his limbs move to bring him closer to it, until he realizes it's not his own urge, and gets angry.

A voice calls upon Rand to "serve me", and Rand swears he'd recognize the voice if it kept talking. He yells a cuss, and a face looms before him that he can't bear to look at.

A hand reaches for him, and he throws himself over the cliff, but lands on his feet in a winter-brown field of grass. He can see a mountain that inspires no negative feelings, and a city between two rivers,(3) a city from a story, white and silver and fair radiating safety. He makes his way toward it until a cold, clammy feeling comes over him, and that face reappears. He can sense the cold hand reaching for him again, touching his collar, and he knows that if those fingers touch him, he'll go mad or worse.

Suddenly he trips, and lands next to one of the bridges to the island-city refuge.

He sees a great white tower and knows that's where safety and knowledge lay, but surely it can't hurt to stay in the city a moment. He turns a corner, and sees the tower at the end of the new street. Everywhere he looks, is the tower.(4) The people around him look of despair and he knows somehow he's the one who broke their hope. As soon as he starts walking toward the tower, they all become happy again and cheer him on, dancing and making music and pushing him toward the tower.

Eventually, he finally makes it to the tower, and the Myrddraal hisses that they've been waiting for him.

Rand wakes from the nightmare to note that the fire's been tended, and wonders if naming the Dark One in a dream, as he did, will bring the same attention as naming him aloud. He blames the nightmare on his hunger and the stress of the previous day.

Tam awakens as Rand gets up to check on him, and realizes that it wasn't a dream when he sees his sword at Rand's waist. Rand catches him up on everything that's happened. Tam is skeptical of Moiraine's words, noting that Aes Sedai don't lie right out, but they can manipulate words to mislead.(5) He does agree that if Rand has to leave, it has to be done soon, but says maybe he'll catch them up on the road.

Lan comes to tell Rand to hurry, there's trouble afoot. Tam tells Rand to keep the sword, he'll likely have more use of it than Tam will. Rand rushes out after Lan, to find Moiraine being yelled at by a crowd of villagers, mainly the ones who are well known for being unhappy with anything and everything. Mayor al'Vere and Master Luhhan try to calm the crowd with reason, to little avail.

Moiraine cuts in and reminds them that they are the descendants of a great kingdom, Manetheren. She tells a tale of the bravery of its rulers, King Aemon al Caar al Thorin and his wife, Queen Eldrene ay Ellan ay Carlan, and their and their citizens. During the Trolloc Wars, Manetheren was the Dark's fiercest opponent, and their main force had just won a great distant victory when they learned that their home was under attack. They marched day and night, not stopping even to clean their blades. They made it home just before the trolloc horde bore down on their mountain kingdom home.

“The host that faced the men of Manetheren was enough to daunt the bravest heart. Ravens blackened the sky; Trollocs blackened the land. Trollocs and their human allies. Trollocs and Darkfriends in tens of tens of thousands, and Dreadlords to command. At night their cook-fires outnumbered the stars, and dawn revealed the banner of Ba’alzamon at their head. Ba’alzamon, Heart of the Dark.(6) An ancient name for the Father of Lies. The Dark One could not have been free of his prison at Shayol Ghul, for if he had been, not all the forces of humankind together could have stood against him, but there was power there. Dreadlords, and some evil that made that light-destroying banner seem no more than right and sent a chill into the souls of the men who faced it."

In the end, they were promised aid, but none came. Eventually the host fell, and Eldrene knew the moment Aemon died. In response, she channeled more than anyone can, and burned herself out to take out a significant portion of the trolloc army.(7) Moiraine tells all this, reminding the people before her that they should weep for the loss of that people to the cowards they are today.(8)

As the crowd disperses, Rand thinks to himself that this is the real beginning, leaving with Moiraine and Lan, and he has no choice except to leave, but he vows to return to Emond's Field someday.(9)

=====

(1) Who or what do you think this stands for, in this chapter? (2) Hey, we know a mountain! This doesn't sound quite like that one though. What kind of desolated place might Rand half-remember in a dream? What have we been told by reasonable authorities that the Dragon did near the end of his life? The hopelessness of this place could track with the sort of place the Dark One would be more involved in, the kind of place where one Lews Therin Telamon might take a hundred men to try to burn the DO back out of the world. (3) In the prologue, it said the creation of the mountain diverted a river, which split in two, forming an island between its two channels. I wonder if this is related. (4) Well, dream logic could mean a lot of things. But, how interesting that this tower is where safety and knowledge are, and Rand wants to go there, but as soon as it can't be escaped it becomes rather more ominous. (5) Frankly, don't trust anyone 100% at their word, but the Aes Sedai have no small bit of the Fae, or perhaps the Sidhe (note the closeness of the words), in them. There are lots of ways to leave a piece out or make something seem more important than it is, without lying, to influence the interpretation. Why, I'm doing both of those all the time in these summaries. >:D (6) Ba'alzamon sounds an awful lot like Beelzebub, doesn't it? Lord of the flies, father of lies. A fun wordplay to use. (7) Huh, that sounds a little like what happened to LTT in the prologue.

(8) Now here's where I get a bit tetchy. First, if you're not reading or rereading with me, I gotta tell you to go read (or listen to) this speech for yourself, it's worth it. See, this is an unbelievably powerful speech. Don't get me wrong, it's utterly iconic. The audiobook is narrated, in this chapter, by Michael Kramer because it's from Rand's point of view, but there exists out there a narration of this speech by Kate Reading, who does the women's POVs when they come in. (It's barely a spoiler to tell you the audiobook casting, right?) Anyway, she read the Manetheren speech once, and it's one of the most moving readings of the series IMO, and I know all that's coming. But, I have a "but". I think it's a bit rich that this stranger knows their history, while the only remnants they have are a few place names that have themselves morphed over the years, and a cultural stubbornness. It's part of the point being made, but I wonder at how differently it could've been handled to not seem like this white lady walking into a rural brown town (for have you noticed how much redhead Rand stands out with his grey eyes? though skin colour hasn't been mentioned, it's not a far stretch) and wagging her finger at them for not knowing their own history, as if everyone outside does or something. (9) Oh, Rand, you really don't know the hero's journey, do you? You can never really go home again. You can visit the place, but you and it will both have changed in your absence, so much sometimes that the place is uncannily unrecognizable from what your memory held. The journey has already begun, and I love this little knife to the heart.

[ls-daydreams]

Find the word Game~

Tagged a lifetime ago by @catchingbigfish and @words-after-midnight (and many other lovely people, but I’m trying not to make this post too long). I’m posting very sporadically, I know, but I do appreciate being tagged and I hope to discipline myself into doing these games and interacting more often 🤞

My words were: dream, break, poor, light, yearn(ing) from Nico and extend, freeze, song, table, and run from Elle.

I’m tagging (no pressure, ignore me if you don’t want to do it) @snehithiye​ @endways​ @writeblr-of-my-own​ @innocentlymacabre​ @enchanted-lightning-aes​ @frostedlemonwriter​  to do world, alone, face, time, to leave

As always, everything is from Metanoia:

dream (taken from a letter Michael writes Kai)

Maybe I finally reached peak physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological, every-al exhaustion and my whole being reset. Maybe it was just falling asleep nestled into your warmth, your willing hand in mine. I slept well. I dreamed... of us. I couldn't even tell it was a dream at first. I was making you breakfast, like I've done hundreds of times. You sauntered into the kitchen wearing my clothes. Like you've done hundreds of times. You hugged me from behind and I could feel your sleepy smile on my skin. Not a first occurrence. But then that smile turned into a kiss. Where your face was snuggled into my back. I thought you were teasing, but you kissed my arm. My shoulder. My neck. I let you. I turned around and you kissed my chin. Cheek. Lips. I let you.

I liked it.

break

The rugs are covered in crumbs and crusted, sticky sauces Patroclus couldn’t lick off in time, the fridge and microwave are smeared with god knows what on every side, in and out, and Mal even ends up having to glue the back of a chair to the rest of its body when he moves it and it breaks in his hand. It’s a broken, dirty room that’s too small and too aged, but it’s also where the prettiest sunrises cover everything in a bright, yellow glow and where it’s warmest and coziest in the winter. The true heart of the house. 

It’s Mal’s most favorite room.

poor

"Ma, please. This once, can you just..." he gestures emptily, then lets his arms slap his sides and hang limply. He's just a poor, helpless boy whose only lifeline is a thin, wiry Vogue from his mother's purse. Would she be so kind, please, ma'am?

light

Sensations assault him all at once - the cold marble deck cooling his palms and the back of his bare legs, the smell of freshly cut grass muddying his clothes, the creak of the hooded swing as he swayed and sweated on hot summer days. He looks up, expecting to find lights on in the window, but there’s nothing but spiderwebs and vines overtaking the cracked walls of the house.

yearning

He wasn’t sure if it was his sudden hunger that spread such yearning through his body or it was something else. He took a heaping bite to check. 

By themselves, the sensations were common and unimportant – tongue burning under the sweet and sour cinnamon apple filling, powdered sugar sticking to the corners of his mouth, even the way Lu had thrown the bag at him. 

All together, they jolted the synapses in Mal’s brain in what he could only define as raw affection. He knew, innately, that he’d eaten many of these strudels before, that they were offered to him, albeit aggressively, by someone he felt a deep attachment to.

extend

He carefully plops himself across from Grumpy, extending his bad foot while tucking the other, and stares. There’s no danger of being caught, Grumpy’s eyes closed as if he’s sleeping, but Mal knows better. He looks troubled, his face pulled in a tight frown, the pale skin under his eyes taking on the reddish-purple tint of too little sleep.

freeze

"I got an email I changed my password, dumbass. You could've just asked instead of going all hackerman on it."

"Ask who? The sleeping giant?"

Lu gasps, pulls hard on the bandage, making Mal wince and slap her hand away.

"I'm not a giant, I'm just well developed," she states, tying her work in a nice bow.

She's nowhere near as chubby as she was when they were kids, now grown into a strong, sturdy woman. Her cheeks are still full, tummy still soft, thighs still fleshy, but she's grown comfortable with her looks, and with that gained enough confidence to sass her way out of anything. It makes Mal's heart swell.

"Figure of speech, my sweet. Don't worry, you won't have to change the password again, I made it real personal and very you."

She cocks an eyebrow.

"It's DestielForever0804. Capital D, capital F."

Her face freezes in horror.

"What? Those are the dudes you're obsessed with, right? It was that or those other ones, but I didn't know if they were Merthur or Arlin."

song

Grumpy doesn't hear Mal approach; it's a miracle he can hear anything at all if blasting music in his ears like he does now is a habit. Mal can't make out an actual song, he wouldn't know it even if he did, but the drums and guitars are heavy and hectic and some lady's savagely screaming her guts out. Not entirely Dacia's style, not really Grumpy's either if one were to look just at the outside, but somehow the image fits in Mal's exhausted little brain.

table

Even if he hadn’t been here this morning, he can easily piece together what Carmen had for breakfast from the crumbs still speckled on the table and the dishes in the sink. He can tell she didn’t finish from the third of coffee left in her mug. He knows he was cutting veggies for soup since the poor carrots are all shriveled and dried up on the counter. He knows exactly why it was all left in a rush from the bloody tissues and bandage wrapper they hadn’t thrown away.

run

"No one can shame you if you don't feel ashamed," he remembers himself say, and for once he has to give it to Kai. Don't run away, don't hide, just own it.

[atramenting]

whoa WoT is trending!

I never even attempted to watch the series, mostly because book 4 was.... so hard to get through, really. I know it was The Good Shit back when I was too young to read it, and I can appreciate that and acknowledge that much of it is great! But something about the way the main characters all became very unlikeable at the same time just kinda turned me off on it. And you're telling me I have 11 more novels to go? Wew.

But like the world itself and the lore is crazy good?

I hold it in the same regards as LotR. I can appreciate the series for its influence and its good points, but it's just not to my taste. I know, blasphemy.

(Also to note... that much of the cast looks much much older than they're supposed to in the prime series? Which don't get me wrong - I love stories that center around people no longer in their youth. I'm not glorifying baby faces. However, in the first book/start of the series, the boys are supposed to be like.... just on the cusp of considering themselves adults. Teenagers, really. As well as the Aes Sedai are supposed to not show their age well. "Ageless" etc etc.

And also something that gets glossed over in many iterations is that Rand, well, uh notices that his skin stays darker through the winter, while people from his home village lose their summer tans? But that's generally not worked into his appearance at all. He's always like. You know. I know he's got relations with [redacted] but he's supposed to stand out for being Not Like These People. And yet)

[consumedkings-archive]

FAYE HONEYSETT-SEED ✤ first daughter of the new world [x]

Since we’re bound to be something, why not be bound together?

[writemekpop]

Savage | Kim Minjeong (Winter)

Summary: You accidentally sit in the seat of Winter, one of the hottest and meanest girls in your high school. Sparks fly... 

Genre: Sapphic, High school AU, aespa are the cool mean girls 

Word Count: 1.2k

Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

As the classroom filled with students on your first day of high school, your heart threatened right out of your itchy uniform. Elbowing, hissing curses, everyone scrambled for a seat. Each time you turned to a seat, someone else snatched it up. You could feel tears rising up your throat already.

Your one friend, Anushka, whispered in your ear. “Don’t worry. It’s an English class – what’s the worst that can happen?”

Just then, you caught sight of four empty seats in the centre of the class. For some reason, no one was touching them. Anushka was hissing something, but you couldn’t miss the opportunity to grab a seat.

Steeling yourself, you planted your butt in one of them. You dropped your bag. Done.

As soon as you did it, a hush fell over the class. Every girl, shrieking seconds earlier, now stared at the door in chilled silence.

You followed their gazes… then goosebumps rippled over your skin.

Because standing in the doorway, were four of the most devastatingly beautiful girls you’d ever laid your eyes on. Their skin glowed like crushed pearls; you couldn’t recognise your stuffy uniform the way it clung to their curved bodies.

Your eye fell on the rightmost one.

Her long blonde hair was brushed till it shone like the moon. Compared to the defiant leader – who had at least a foot on you – there was something gentle in the set of her lips. Something… different.

Every lip in the room was mouthing one word – ‘ae-girls’. Turning to your neighbour, you whispered, “Why are they called the ae-girls?”

She gave you a look like you’d asked what the sun was. “Because they’re too perfect to be real. You know, AI?”

But in the next moment, she suddenly snapped her head away. Ice froze down your spine as you realised every eye was now on you.

“What are you doing in my seat?”

The angelic blonde girl was talking to you. Hot fingers spread up your neck.

“Y-your seat?” You’d forgotten how to speak.

She rolled her eyes, half-smiling like you were the world’s greatest idiot. “This chair…is reserved.”

You weren’t going to take any chances. Scooping up your things, you ran to a three-legged seat at the very back.

Despite the shame bristling over your skin, your eyes were glued to the four girls.

The blonde beauty – Winter, apparently – reminded you distinctly of a lioness. She sat in the rightmost chair… and then did something unbelievable.

Click. Her first boot smacked onto the desk. Click. The second followed, miraculously graceful despite the stretch. Her ritual completed, she threw her head back, and shouted, “Danny?”

Your mouth fell open. On the board, was the English teacher’s name: Mr. Park. But by the way his cheeks reddened at her words, you knew he was the ‘Danny’ she meant.

Flinching, you awaited Winter’s reprimand.

But none came. Instead, the teacher pushed himself up, and trudged over to her seat. His head was lowered as he spoke. “Yes, Winter?”

“My shoelace is undone.”

Once the class had finally begun, you’d had enough excitement for a lifetime. You kept your head down, praying you could just get into ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

But of course, the ae-girls wouldn’t let you.

The whole class, you couldn’t shake the feeling they were talking about you. Every few seconds, Winter would stretch over to her partner, and whisper something in her ear. Then they’d giggle, eyes burning into you.

You tried to focus on your page, but the words kept swimming. Then your focus would go back to the ae-girls. You actually caught them passing notes! Their exercises books were untouched, but they weren’t even trying to hide it.

You could feel your ears turning a flaming red, and you hated it.

Winter could see, obviously. That was probably what she was laughing about. Everything you felt embarrassed about – your stupid hand-me-down brogues, the ladder in the back of your tights, the way you had the chest of an 11-year-old boy – all came into painful focus.

They were probably mocking you on something else altogether. There was an infinity to choose from.

When you were ready to just run out of there, there was a sharp knock on the door.

Everyone swore under their breath; it was the headmistress. If Mr. Park’s methods were a slap on the wrist, hers were a chainsaw.

She snorted at the four girls who were clearly not focusing. Just then, you saw her nostrils flair, and she strode over to them.

Winter, cheeks still stretched in a giggle, was just passing a note when-

The headmistress snatched it out of her manicured fingers.

“N-no!”

You couldn’t believe your ears. For the first time, Winter sounded…terrified. You sneaked a glance her way, and saw her brow more creased than that paper.

A stone sunk in your stomach. Of course. The reason she was so afraid was because that note was some dirty insult at you. Shivers buzzed over your skin. Your head was swimming, but was it enough to make you pass out?

A smile creeping over her lips, the head mistress flattened out the crumpled paper.

You held your breath.

She cleared her throat. “That Y/n girl is the most beautiful person ever. Period.” Her monotone made it sound like Siri was reading out the words. You had a sudden urge to laugh. “Girlfriend type.”

Your heart thrummed like tiny bird wings. Was this a dream?

Out of the corner of your eye, you could see that Winter’s head was planted on the table. Apart from her beret and head of glossy white-blonde hair, she was hidden.

She turned the paper over. “IKR…I wanna snog that cherry lipgloss right off.” She read out each letter of “IKR” separately, like she’d never heard them before.

Satisfied, the headmistress balled the paper up, and chucked it in the bin. “If you ever pass notes in this class again, I will have you expelled.”

But no one was listening to her anymore.

Because every eye in the room was on you. Your classmates’ looks ranged from glee to acid jealousy.

For the first time, even their attention couldn’t phase you. Butterflies leapt in your stomach, filling you up to your ears. Winter – glorious, untouchable, ice queen Winter – liked you?

Even thinking it made you blush.

After class, you waited till everyone else in the room had filed out. The only people left were the ae-girls…and you.

The tall one – Karina, so you’d heard – strutted up to you, arms crossed. “We have agreed that if you want to ask Winter out, it will be permitted.”

It took so much effort not to giggle that your eyes watered. Ignoring Karina, you threw Winter a shy look.

“Is it true?”

She didn’t say a word. Instead, you soon realised that your hands had swum the distance between you. All of their own accord, your fingers were interlaced with her manicured ones.

In that moment, that was all you had to know.

—

MASTERLIST

Let us know what you thought in the comments or on anon! 💋

[queerlordsimon]

hellooo

Can I request #18 with epel for your Christmas event?

Snow white apple

Day seven: prompt 18 frostbite epel felmier x reader

Cw frost nip, gender neutral reader

An none

One of the more dangerous aspects of the winter and holiday season is the possibility of hypothermia and frostbite. As long as it gets cold, no matter what world you're in, being in the snow or the wet cold for too long, is a dangerous thing.

Now, y/n was having a grand ol time in the snow, and had been out there for hours. They had went out all bundled up, due to their boyfriends wishes, he totally didnt shove the fluffiest of coats and warms gloves and earmuffs at them as they went out. Nope, why would he ever do that?

But somewhere along the line hours ago, the gloves had been abandoned, and y/n was working in bare hands, which were freezing, but they did not stop in their antics.

Now their boyfriend had noticed they had not came back by the time he was done being put through the wringer, so he bundled up and went looking for them.

And he found them, finishing up on their sculpture, the tips of their fingers were turning slightly red, and their nose was flushed deeper. His eyes widened and he ran over to them.

“Where ae your gloves?” the southern type drawl in alarm came out, looking at their hands and quickly pulling them to him, holding their hands close to his chest, as epel look at their face. “Youre gonna git fostbite without em!” y/n smiled softly, and warmly, at his concern.

“Im alright, darling~” they used the more southern type accent to add the emphasis on darling, “just a bit of frostnip aint going to kill me. I needed use of my fingers to finish my sculpture” epel squinted at his partner.

“Isking fostbite foar ah sculpture aint no good rasen!” he protested. y/n just smiled slightly and shook their head, gesturing with their head to look at it.

“Just look at it, love” epel squinted again, before turning his head to look at it, and his eyes softened.

“Ya sculpted ah ahple foar mah?” y/n smiled and nodded. And epel smiled back. “Ell thank ya, but lets git you baak inside, to sit by tha faar, ok?” y/n nodded, letting him drag them back inside to thaw them out again

—-----

-queer.lord

Thank you so much for reading this, i think i did it well. You may notice some words spelled wrong, but that was purposeful, i looked up how to say things in southern accent, which is what he has, so either i took the words right off that, or i read the thing and it gave me tips on how to make it, like in the usual thing, the r’s tend to disappear,, so thats why frostbite is fostbite and so forth. Thank you anon for requesting this, requests are still open for this event, you can find the links to the prompt list HERE and the masterlist HERE. i hope you enjoyed this, and ill see you tomorrow for the next prompt

[markantonys]

winter’s heart chapter 22-27

“[min] nestled in the back of [rand’s] head more strongly than elayne or aviendha, or alanna. he was only vaguely aware of the others. min seemed alive inside him.” yes this is only because min is physically nearby him and the others aren’t, but still, it just feels like such a slap in the face to avirandlayne enjoyers 😒 especially seeing as elayne is the only one who ever wanted rand as her warder in the first place or should even have a warder. the other two have no business having a warder (especially min, whereas avi at least is a channeler if not an aes sedai) and just co-opted what should’ve been a randlayne-only bond and i’ll never stop being mad about it.

“in far madding, a wealthy man was one whose wife gave him a generous allowance or a widower who had been provided for” a city of sugar mamas, love to see it!

“at best, he would have to abandon his sword, which he was reluctant to do. it was a gift from aviendha.” 📣📣 rand just had an independent individual thought about aviendha! instead of only thinking of her in the Girlfriend Blob! stop the presses!

but rand does not have a single independent individual thought about elayne. like, he saw her again for the first time in months and found out she loves him after all, despite the confusion of the letters, and slept with her for the first time, and he’s just? not going to even mention that? have any thoughts about it? i hate it here.

min gets plenty of independent individual thoughts, of course, when rand returns to the inn and sees her and thinks about how beautiful she is and how he can feel her love in the bond. i hate it here!!!!!

could we not have been spared one (1) scene of rand pov when he was with all of them in caemlyn? he’s just had major relationship developments and we don’t get to hear a peep about how he feels about it! i know he’s busy with world-saving stuff to do, but good god!

it’s so unfair. why can’t elayne or avi be the ones traveling with rand and having adventures with him and pretending to be his wife at the inn and sharing a room and feeling his (lack of) emotions in the bond and vice versa? oh, right, because they actually have important roles in their own plotlines, how could i have forgotten.

anyway, rand’s like “why is nynaeve wearing so much jewelry and attracting attention to our party” but i recognize at least one piece as an angreal, so i’m guessing they all are. why wouldn’t she explain that to rand? they’re working together on a super important mission and still aren’t telling each other stuff?

we learn that the traitor asha’man are all darkfriends and i’m annoyed about it. every time a character turns out to be a traitor or villain or what have you, they’re always a darkfriend. i want more villains who aren’t actually darkfriends or serving the dark one! villains who do bad things without being Evil™! i think all we’ve got on that front are elaida (who’s under the control of a darkfriend), the seanchan, and the whitecloaks (who’ve been MIA for many books and aren’t a real threat). this was my same frustration when it turned out elayne was poisoned by darkfriends and not political rivals as i was expecting it to be.

lews therin is good at drawing! a random little factoid that i love. always nice to see wholesome lews therin memories. the only other one i can remember is one where he was climbing olive trees as a kid.

luc. forgot about that guy. still no clue what his deal is, but we get confirmation that he is indeed luc mantear and rand’s uncle. i can’t muster up the energy to be interested in him, i’ve already got more than enough characters and plotlines to be dealing with.

speaking of, the next 2 chapters are in some windfinder’s pov and i don’t care. i think that it should be illegal for anyone to have pov for more than 1 page unless they are rand, mat, elayne, nynaeve, egwene, aviendha, faile, gawyn, morgase, moiraine, or lan (tho i don’t thiiiiink we’ve seen any pov from him yet in the series). perrin is on thin ice. min’s ice has all cracked. everybody else never had ice to begin with.

the one good thing about the windfinder is that she’s unambiguously and canonically bi! she is married to a man whom she misses and wants to be with again, but she also had an affair with a cairhienin woman (ailil, the icon who was making fun of rand’s Can’t Kill Women shit in the last book and is now more of an icon due to being canon wlw). throughout her chapters she describes both men and women as pretty. good for her! i still don’t want to hear from her for 2 whole chapters though.

but we do have the sweetest  of moments when, after spending 2 chapters hearing how her younger sister harine is always mean and authoritative towards shalon since she ranks higher than her, harine says when she sees how scared shalon is to be cut off from the source (we also learn that far madding has ter’angreal that make it like a stedding where no one can channel): “i was afraid of the dark when i was a child, and you never left me alone till the fear passed. i will not leave you alone either, shalon.” 🥺

rand is playing his flute!!! yes!!! if only it was mat sitting in the inn room with him instead of min. i miss the cauthor roadtrip.

“how would he feel at dying? sadness at leaving [min], at leaving elayne and aviendha.” and once again we have min separated out and elayne and avi together in a blob 😒

“he would like to see his father again before the end.” 😭😭😭😭😭😭 if we never get a rand-tam reunion i’ll kill myself

“he had been told [that he had to die] by those he had to believe. to live, you must die.” the snaky folk perhaps?? i don’t think we’ve heard what rand’s questions and answers were. (also, we got an aelfinn namedrop somewhere in these chapters but i don’t think we’ve yet learned that that’s the proper name of the snaky folk. whenever i see you guys talk about the aelfinn i go “the who now? oh, you mean the Snaky Folk™” that’s who they’ll always be to me.)

“‘if you hadn’t [let us bond you], we’d have tied you up and done it anyway.’ best not to ask how that would have differed from what alanna had done, he decided. certainly, [min] saw a difference.” uh yikes min! big “it’s not rape if he’s my boyfriend” energy. elayne and avi have definitely had their moments, but min is by far the worst when it comes to stripping rand of all agency in his own relationship, what with this line + how she said “us 3 women will decide about marriage” + how she told elayne they would slice him up between them like a pie + her entire books 4-7 approach of “i’m gonna chase rand down and force him to love me”

when rand says alanna’s about to walk into the room, min drapes herself all over him on the bed so that alanna will see them that way. once again i’m asking for min to find some dignity and self-respect. she’s just so possessive of rand and insecure about her relationship with him. there is no doubt in my mind that she would not hesitate to cut elayne and avi out of the relationship if she had the chance.

alanna mentions that she asked cadsuane if she could transfer rand’s bond to her: “only, she refused. she was furious that i suggested it without asking you, outraged” nice, cadsuane has one (1) right

“a man who trusts everyone is a fool, and a man who trusts no one is a fool” lews therin does come out with good advice sometimes

rand initially thought of having aes sedai swear fealty to him as only a power move, but now alanna makes him realize that if he puts a little trust in them he can use them to help him out and solve some of his political problems in other lands. nice!

“he hoped elayne and aviendha masked the bond when he was making love with min.” aren’t they way too far away to feel it anyway? “when the two of them were together in bed, no one else existed except her, the same as it had been with elayne.” an independent individual thought about elayne and their night together!!!!!! but also, harem vibes. it’s weird to have them all bonded but not all banging. either have them all bonded and all banging, or have them banging separately and rand is bonded to none (or only to elayne). i’m all for warder bond sex benefits but rand is clearly uncomfortable with the thought of the other two girlfriends feeling what he’s doing with the third girlfriend, just as min and aviendha were clearly uncomfortable feeling what he was doing with elayne. and it seems that the warder can’t mask the bond but that min also wasn’t able to despite being the bondholder, i’m guessing because she can’t channel, which is EXACTLY why she has no business being a warder’s bondholder.

verin is native to far madding but was exiled and seems to be a wanted woman? girl what did you DO?? “hastily filling a second cup, verin slipped the small vial back into her pouch unopened. it was good to be sure of cadsuane at last. ‘do you take honey?’ she asked in her most muddled voice. ‘i never can remember.’” GIRL!?!?!??!!! i never have any idea what verin’s up to but i love her. add her to my “characters who can legally have pov” list. i would gladly read the whole series from verin’s pov.

cadsuane again talks about how she needs to help rand relearn to be human and to laugh and cry. why do you think that bullying him is helping accomplish this at all? and why the hell is this role falling to cadsuane? still struggling to see why she needs to exist at all. why can’t it be rand’s friends and family and partners (ALL of them, not just min) chipping in and teaming up to bring him back from the brink?

i guess this is why we have so much plot-mandated character separation - for narrative and character arc purposes, rand isn’t allowed to realize how many loved ones he really does have. readers say how sad it is that everyone abandons rand, but they don’t, rj just forbids them from spending time with him. but before they were separated from him (and separated from him largely not of their own choice), we’ve seen in elayne’s and mat’s and perrin’s pov that they notice rand is unwell and are worried about him, and nynaeve’s too, tho at least she’s with him rn so i have hope. and while egwene is tower-focused now, in the next chapter she does tell elayne that she loves rand, and when they were together in loc it was clear she cared for rand and worried about him even though she always misinterpreted his growing hardness as arrogance rather than trauma. and rand thinks that lan sees only tdr now and is afraid of him, but i wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s just rand’s self-loathing making him think that and lan actually does still care and worry about him.

i would kill for the pivotal scene in rand’s emotional arc to be ALL his loved ones showing up and being there for him and making him finally see that he’s not alone and that he’s so loved, but i know i’m not going to get that and i’m devastated about it.

“egwene seemed stunned by [the changes in emond’s field]. when she first appeared in tel’aran’rhiod, a long braid had dangled down egwene’s back and she was in a plain woolen dress, of all things, with stout shoes peeking out beneath her skirts as she walked.” 😭😭 egwene is the one who’s left emond’s field furthest behind, and it both heals and hurts me to see that she DOES miss it and her family (later in the chapter she wonders if her family is well and elayne suggests Traveling to visit them, but egwene says that she “can’t face confronting emond’s field as amyrlin” she misses her home but knows she’s changed too much to go back and have things be the way they once were 😭)

“[elayne] hoped rand could still love emond’s field, but it was no longer the village where he and egwene had grown up.” “here in tel’aran’rhiod, she could not know which direction he was. she missed that knowledge, small as it was. she missed him.” 😭😭😭 randlayne deserves betterrrrrrrr

“Traveling made such things [as egwene popping in to visit emond’s field] easy” YEAH IT SURE DOES SO WHY DO NONE OF YOU GUYS EVER TRAVEL TO HANG OUT WITH EACH OTHER

egwene is burdened by duty and elayne hugs her and comforts her. once again i am asking why the boys aren’t allowed to do this! “‘whatever i decide, people are going to die for it.’ she patted elayne’s arm. ‘well, you understand that sort of decision, don’t you.’” once again i am asking why neither of them are allowed to have this sort of conversation and duty-empathizing with rand!

from rumors, egwene thinks rand is chaining aes sedai like damane. aha, i remember back at dumai’s wells i predicted there would be a reckoning between rand and egwene when she found out about him making aes sedai kneel and swear fealty to him. elayne thinks “rand would never do that! if only for love of her, he would not!” bless her ❤️

“with him so far away, the veins of gold shone only in memory.” RANDLAYNE DESERVES BETTER

OKAY OH MY GOD aviendha and elayne are now sharing a bed!!! “every morning since they had begun to share the same bed” and elayne mentions “aviendha’s side of the bed” and they dress together and have breakfast together every morning, they are WIVES like straight up this is not even subtext anymore. i’m gonna jump out of order a bit here to present my evidence on this topic.

aviendha is unhappy about elayne pretending mellar is the father of her baby in order to protect them (since they’d be in danger if it was known rand was their father): “‘i see,’ aviendha said slowly, and frowned into her plate as though seeing something other than the eggs and plums she began pushing around with her spoon.” while she understands it, she’s upset about her wife pretending to be in love with someone else!

throughout these chapters, avi remains by elayne’s side and we are told many times about other people reacting to this with surprise and sometimes confusion/judgment. “the kandori studied aviendha surreptitiously when not listening attentively to elayne, and the illianers avoided looking at her at all after the first widening of eyes in surprise.” meanwhile, “if [reene harfor] had ever been uncertain about elayne calling aviendha sister, she had never shown it, and now she genuinely appeared to approve.” the sister business is all a euphemism and we are actually seeing people react to the daughter-heir having a wife.

like it’s just soooooo blatant at this point that i have to assume rj genuinely WAS intending their relationship to be subtextually romantic but just couldn’t make it explicit due to constraints of the times and/or publisher. there’s just no other explanation for this shit. they live together and share a bed by choice when other beds are available and elayne’s housekeeper approves of their ““sister”” relationship though others find it strange and avi is constantly fussing over elayne and the baby (i will get into that more in a moment bc it made my heart melt). and it seems to me that they started sharing a bed around the time of rand’s visit to caemlyn (i don’t THINK they were before that) so i can only conclude that all 3 of them got together officially that day (with min once again being the awkward outlier)

back to where i was chronologically. avi and birgitte told elayne that min told them she’s pregnant, but we learn later in the chapter that avi and birgitte got too drunk to remember that it was boy and girl twins so elayne thinks she’s having only a single baby and doesn’t know the gender. feels weird to me that avi and birgitte would remember elayne’s pregnant but not that it’s twins but whatever lmao

“she almost looked forward to the start of birthing sickness, so she could share the queasy belly with birgitte” jdfkjgh crying. also yet another reason why rand should be allowed to be near elayne again, it would be hilarious having to watch him deal with secondhand pregnancy effects.

elayne is so overworked that sometimes avi has to “half carry her to bed.” to bed, not to ELAYNE’S bed. because it is THEIR bed that they share, together, every night, as wives.

“‘do i need [birgitte] to tell me you spend too many hours inside and sleep too little?’ aviendha replied contemptuously. ‘you need fresh air.’” “‘monaelle has borne seven children. she says i must see you get fresh air.’” “elayne hastily ate her midday meal early. she had not sent for it; aviendha had. apparently, monaelle said missing meals was as bad as eating too much.” caretaker avi looking after her wife and baby 🥺

“whatever protected her baby, she was willing to do.” “nothing could be allowed to threaten her child. nothing!” 🥺🥺❤️❤️ elayne haters are always going on about how annoying pregnant elayne is, but i for one am adoring this so far. i love elayne and i love babies and i love elayne loving her babies!!

“no escort, birgitte. except for you. an aes sedai and her warder. and aviendha, of course.” of course! because elayne’s wife accompanies her everywhere! that goes without saying!

“dark-stockinged legs bared above the knee by straddling a saddle” elayne is looking at aviendha’s legs Respectfully

“unlike birgitte, [aviendha] had not ceased her attempts to dissuade elayne.” protective yet annoyed wife! “[elayne did not feel] at all ready to put up with badgering. but she did not want to snap at aviendha.” exasperated yet loving wife!

“it might be better to have a son first, so he could begin his training before his sister came. yet a daughter secured the succession, while a lone son would be pushed aside, and as much as she wanted more than one, nothing said she would have another child. the light send her more of rand’s children, but she had to be practical.” elayne i cannot wait for you to find out that you and your spouses are gonna end up with 6 kids!! she’s gonna be absolutely thriving!!

elayne finagles the borderland rulers into an agreeable deal with ease! i say that’s my baby and i’m really proud.gif!

“take care of him, min, she thought. take care of him for us.” elayne is so trusting of min and is all in on the polycule, contrasting back to my earlier thought about how i always get the impression min would jump at the chance to cut her and avi out and keep rand to herself.

“there was no time for sleep, no time for weariness. she had a city to defend.” baby 😭 she and rand are THE SAME

reading this post back, it’s amazing how much more cheerful my liveblogging became once i got to elayne pov lmao elayne and avilayne are literally saving me!

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 2: Saidin

I am running out of pictures so rapidly it's alarming. It's as if I've moved beyond the territory of the show and the comic books and so all we've got left is text, which is apparently terrible for engagement. Also terrible for engagement is warning people about spoilers, which is why I won't tell anyone who doesn't already know that this post contains spoilers for the whole of The Wheel of Time series. Come right in and make lots of outraged replies about how I've ruined everything for you instead.

This chapter starts with the dragon's fang symbol, probably because it's literally called "Saidin" and Rand will be fucking things up with it.

All the women who came insisted on speaking to Moiraine immediately, and alone. The news that Moiraine chose to share with the rest of them did not always seem very important, but the women held the intensity of a hunter stalking the last rabbit in the world for his starving family.

It's almost like they're working for an Aes Sedai, and not just any Aes Sedai but one of the few left who tries to live up to the old standard. I'd think that pretty important too unless I was literally dyingn of thirst.

Or ever, he added to himself. Moiraine had kept them there all winter. The Shienarans did not think she gave the orders, not here, but Perrin knew that Aes Sedai somehow always seemed to get their way. Especially Moiraine.

I get that you're stir-crazy bro but do you really WANT to be wandering the wilderness in the middle of winter, fighting battles that you can avoid by staying still? What alternatives do you have other than "Don't do what Moiraine wants because she's Aes Sedai"?

“The Tinker woman is going to die,” she said softly, eyeing the others near the fires. None was close enough to hear.

It's times like this you can remember why Min doesn't particularly want her powers. She's probably seen quite a few people who were going to die soon by this point, just because when you walk by so many people in a city it's bound to happen sooner or later.

“Is that her name? I wish I didn’t know. It always makes it worse, knowing and not being able to. . . . Perrin, I saw her own face floating over her shoulder, covered in blood, eyes staring. It’s never any clearer than that.” She shivered and rubbed her hands together briskly.

I wonder if these omens she sees are realistic enough to be as traumatizing as seeing the actual thing.

He thought of the wolves. No! The scouts would find anyone or anything trying to approach the camp.

Good job helping fulfill Min's prophecy, Perrin. Things might have been different if you'd used your resources to your fullest advantage.

She had told him; she had tried warning people about bad things when, at six or seven, she had first realized not everyone could see what she saw. She would not say more, but he had the impression that her warnings had only made matters worse, when they were believed at all.

Poor Min.

It had made him cautious and careful, and regretful of his anger when he let it show. “I am sorry, Min. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I did not mean to hurt you.” She gave him a surprised look.

Really I think my problem with Perrin is that it's very obvious that he has completely over-corrected for problems in the past to the point where he's now too afraid to do much of anything on his own.

“Strange,” she said softly, “how you seem to care so much about the Tuatha’an. They are utterly peaceful, and I always see violence around—” He turned his head away, and she cut off abruptly.

And again, it's other women tearing Perrin apart with words much more than him hurting them physically or emotionally. Perrin's problem is that at heart he absolutely agrees that violence is damaging even in self-defense but he exists in an Age where that self-defense is very necessary.

She rolled her eyes at Perrin, a wry twist to her mouth. “All I wanted was to live as I pleased, fall in love with a man I chose. . . .” Her cheeks reddened suddenly, and she cleared her throat.

1. Min, almost no one chooses who they fall in love with. 2. You're lucky you're blabbering in front of Perrin and Loial and not anyone with an understanding of love because for all your "don't like to talk about your visions" thing, you sure are signposting it for everyone.

The Ogier looked at them, suddenly shy, his ears twitching. “Promise you will not laugh? I think I might write a book about it. I have been taking notes.”

Really, you could argue that Loial has hardly been swept up into the ta'veren stuff at all yet. If he'd met anyone so interesting as Rand and crew, he might have chosen to go traveling with them anyway. After all, his choosing to leave the groves had nothing to do with them.

Uno, who could hardly say a sentence without a curse, spoke now with the deepest respect. The others echoed him. “Honor to serve.” Masema, who saw ill in everything, and whose eyes now shone with utter devotion; Ragan; all of them, awaiting a command if it were Rand’s pleasure to give one.

While Rand of course dislikes this treatment, I do think that having to deal with this for a few months is the start of his arrogance. You can't be treated like this by every normal person you spend time with without it starting to rub off on you.

And aside from Moiraine and Lan, there were only the three of them—Min, Loial, and him—who did not stare at Rand as if he stood above kings. And of the three only Perrin knew him from before.

It's rather unfortunate that Perrin instinctively understands why Rand needs him here and tosses that aside much later on in the story. All three of the boys seem to backslide a bit as a result of what happens to them.

A man—a thing!—everyone was taught to loathe and fear from childhood. Only . . . it was hard to stop seeing the boy he had grown up with. How do you just stop being somebody’s friend?

Prejudices - even really rational ones like "Don't trust the dudes who can and will melt you in their sleep" - tend to have a hard time sticking around in the face of empathy, which Perrin to his credit does have a lot of. It's why he's a little better at dealing with this stuff than Mat.

He began to laugh mirthlessly, his shoulders shaking. “I have the duty, because there isn’t anybody else, now is there?”

Rand's not going mad from the taint here, but rather from the reality of his position finally setting in. The weight of the world is on his shoulders so it's understandable that he's cracking under the strain. And that more than anything is why Moiraine is right to have him wait - if he did go out onto the Plain in this state he'd probably snap in battle instead of thrive like he has before.

Perrin almost laughed himself, in confusion. “If you agree with her, why in the Light do you argue all the time?” “Because I have to do something. Or I’ll . . . I’ll—burst like a rotted melon!”

Like Perrin, Rand's big problem in this sequence is that he doesn't have any viable alternatives and just whines a lot instead. There's a lot Rand could be doing (more training with Lan, trying to learn politics from Moiraine, studying with Loial, etc.) but instead of dedicating himself to his fate he just laments all the deaths that are happening in his name instead. This is naturally only going to lead to more problems down the line.

Rand shivered; despite the chill, there was sweat on his face. His eyes were still shut tight. “Oh, Light,” he groaned, “it pulls so.”

Nope, this isn't taint madness either (I will be doing my best to demonstrate to you why NONE of his craziness in this book can be chalked up to that specifically). Remember: Rand is a wilder and he's still in that awkward "could easily draw enough power to burn himself out because he doesn't even know the proper exercises for starting out with the power" phase.

Rand stood with his head thrown back, his eyes still shut tight. He did not seem to feel the thrashing of the ground that had him now at one angle, now at another. His balance never shifted, no matter how he was tossed. Perrin could not be certain, being shaken as he was, but he thought Rand wore a sad smile. The trees flailed about, and the leatherleaf suddenly cracked in two, the greater part of its trunk crashing down not three paces from Rand. He noticed it no more than he noticed any of the rest.

The land and Rand are one, so he externalizes his temper tantrum out onto the world to avoid having to acknowledge his actual feelings.

Rand looked around as if seeing things for the first time. The fallen leatherleaf, and the broken branches. There was, Perrin realized, surprisingly little damage. He had expected gaping rents in the earth. The wall of trees looked almost whole.

And of course, Rand hasn't really addressed any of his internal issues so while he's a little disheveled, nothing has actually changed.

“They’re always there, dreams,” Rand said, so softly Perrin barely heard. “Maybe they tell us things. True things.” He fell silent, brooding.

Rand is of course also snapping under the pressure of Ba'alsy's TAR campaign. The lack of good sleep is already catching up to him here and it's not going to be getting better anytime soon.

Ah well. Next time: News!

[kwangyadetective]

🚄 aespa Ep. 2: Next Level Thoughts

In this episode, we found out the smaller details of what happened between Next Level and Savage; though it is more on Savage’s MV. Honestly the overall video episode is pretty clear, but I’m here to share some thoughts.

Okay, FIRST OF ALL.

We finally know that these two are the same person. Turns out Naevis just changed her hair thanks to ae-Ningning.

I don’t know if this is some last minute changes or what :” but at least its cleared up because it would change the entire trajectory of the storyline and even my theories.

The episode also gave a more detailed explanation of what SYNK DIVE really is.

Basically when you and your ae’s consciousness are synchronized, you are able to enter FLAT which is where the aes reside. But you are not literally in FLAT but only your unconsciousness as your physical body is still in the Real World. This is somehow like NCT’s Dream world. The Neos sleep and their consciousness shifts to the Dream world, though in here, its FLAT. Actually it is really alike.

With Naevis’ help, the girls went to Kwangya through P.O.S. We also got a confirmation that Kwangya is a place that keeps changing. Though I still believe that this place can be entered by any SM artists; its supposed to represent SM itself after all. So I’m guessing that the Kwangya the girls visited here is just one part of the place. Apparently it also has rules there according to Naevis:

1. You are not allowed to take anything from Kwangya

2. Don’t look back (I believe she didn’t mean this literally..)

The Butterfly that guided the girls is the same butterfly that appeared in many SM MVs and it came from Naevis. After going through the P.O.S, I believe that this is the part where the girls show their skills; Karina the rocket-puncher, WInter and her sword, Ningning and her hacking skill(?) that personalized Kwangya (I definitely need another opinion about this..), and Giselle’s ability to freeze anything with her hand (which is new because I don’t think we’ve seen this?). The pink bear is obviously the SM mascot bear confirming that Kwangya represents SM in the lore.

After walking around, the girls then went inside the train (possibly the SMCU train) and meet the Black Mamba. Giselle was the first who knew that the train was already corrupted.

Inside the train, Black Mamba tricked the girls into a Hallucination quest. This changed their eyes into all black. I’m pretty sure I’ve read several people discussing the hallucination that the girls were put into but generally all of them have connections to insecurity and hatred from the public. Though I believe that Ningning’s more specific to internet hatred and because of the masks, I think Giselle’s is about two-faced people? (backstabbers? paparazzis can either boost or lower your confidence....) What’s interesting about these weaknesses are very close to their idol career. These are probably personal to the girls and I somewhat have a feeling that they themselves are the ones who share these to the directors when making the episode. This also further proven that the girls are idols or celebrities in the lore.

I do have a feeling that the Black Mamba was created by the negativity that came from people on social media. Any celebrities would always have haters, as that celebrity increased their fame, the haters also increased and that creates an actual monster in the internet. Not only haters, but could also be trolls online. Although these hallucinations don’t really show internet negativity (only Ningning’s), its where aespa’s lore generally revolves around. Plus, aes are basically the personification of what people posts on social media. They are the ones that get affected by the snake (making them disappear), especially ae-Karina who got corrupted.

Black mamba appeared in a phone.

ae-Karina, who was under the influence of the snake, provoked Karina by claiming that she will always be better than her and people would like the ae better. The ae after all is just one aspect of Karina herself, as she only posts things that she wants to show people on social media; which are only the good things about her. This made Karina thinks that she will never be good enough, not even as good as her own ae. By this encounter, Black Mamba wants Karina to fall and delete her own ae (okay, possibly the other members’ as well since their pictures were there) and the memories they created together. But Naevis’ butterfly was there to stop her from deleting.

This is where the girls were in when they were inside the snake’s hallucinations.

The butterfly showed her that the ae-Karina she talked to wasn’t really her, therefore Karina realizes that she is under the hallucination of the snake. Then the girls are broken free from the hallucination.

NOW HERE’S THE FUN PART.

While the girls’ were in their hallucinations, Naevis found out from outside the train and wanted to help.

But UH OH What’s that on her hand.

Does that mean Naevis got corrupted...?

HMM Perhaps that’s going to answer who this person really is :3