#timestamp annotations

[cannoli-reader]

Watching the Wheel of Time show, season 3, episode 7

Originally posted on readandfindout.com on 4/11/25

Quick reminder: My own reactions at the time of watching are in red. Editorial meta comments are in blue and lines in green are points made from the perspective of a strictly show-watcher to point out places where such viewers might not understand something without the book content.

Emond's Field now has a log wall and a watchtower. Perrin is forging weapons while people drill with weapons, under not-Owein's eye, and Alanna trains the Cauthon girls. Perrin pauses to survey the preparations for war and advise a couple of helpers who are making weapons with him. One of them refers to him as Lord Perrin, and when he says not to call him that, the other calls him Lord Goldeneyes.

2:14 LoL. He's only teaching black guys how to be smiths. It's "black" smiths or nothing.

A bell rings. People start calling out that the Trollocs are coming, despite it being bright and sunny and the show's CGI not capable of enduring that kind of scrutiny. Everyone runs to the gate, where an old guy I am going to assume is Cenn Buie, says "Trollocs! And their wagons!" Perrin is puzzled by the mention of wagons and goes to peer between the logs, to see it's people. He says it's the Tinkers and to open the gate.

2:41 Oh, cool. Raen & Ila showing up again, with zero context. This oughta be good.

Quite a few wagons roll in, and in the middle of the line, sure enough, we get Ila and Aram.

3:03 Oh, I forget. Raen isn't really a thing in this version, is he?

They greet Perrin happily, although Ila doesn't seem pleased that he has an axe, and he asks about Raen, who was recently killed by Trollocs. Some of the wagons have arrows sticking out of them.

3:46 Not Taika Waititi! Those bastards! They killed my favorite Tinker. Because he was the one who never said anything stupid.

Perrin sends them off to get water, and Faile & the Maidens follow in behind the wagons. They all exchange looks with Perrin who says, "They'll come for us tonight."

3:57 So why were they not in front, to let the village know the Tinkers were friendly? Also, why are Bain & Chiad so sanguine about following after the Tinkers?

We get an overhead shot and pull out of the village to reveal several abattises erected outside the walls, in the area between the forest.

4:10 Awful lot of trees so close to the village, considering they are expecting an attack. Also, there is a lot of new wooden structures, which meant they needed wood, but could not be bothered to cut down the trees that would cause problems.

Title Card!

Perrin is eating with the Tinkers, and Marin serves them meatless food. Ila wishes Perrin had joined them, but Aram is still bitter about the attacks, and says he'd probably be dead like Raen. Ila pushes back with Way of the Leaf, because that's what they have always done.

5:10 I notice she's saying the "we bury our dead and go on" line from the Rhuidean flashbacks.

Perrin says that maybe the leaves are falling now, but people will long for spring when they see how bare the trees are, and then the Tinkers' "wagons will fill again." He looks around like he's expecting applause for stretching out the metaphor until it screamed, and Ila says maybe there's hope for him. Faile looks proud or miserable.

5:35 That sounded so patronizing. And nonsensical. What are the trees supposed to be in this metaphor? And Ila's reply sounds like Perrin has proved he can stoop to be as stupid as a Tinker.

Bain and Chiad eye Aram from another table, saying he's handsome for a coward and express with hand gestures what they might like to do with him. Loial doubts he'd like it, but Chiad says Bain would not actually do it, and "no Aiel would dirty themselves with a Lost One." They both spit in disgust, because wasting body moisture like that is a totally sensible custom for desert dwellers.

5:58 Can't even have Bain & Chiad express their issues with the Tinkers without using sex.

Several villagers appear to be making Molotov cocktails. Several women are hefting or sharpening blades as the men work on stakes and abatises.

6:10 Our second montage of military preparations in less than five minutes, and I've yet to see any evidence of the Two Rivers longbow. Which is the only way the village holding off the Trollocs was at all plausible.

Alanna is coaching the Cauthon girls through novice exercises, and one of them wants to learn to throw fireballs. Alanna says they don't have time to learn, so she's just going to use their strength in a link. They ask if she can throw lightning like Moiraine did, and she turns around in exasperation or something, and suddenly notices Daise Congar watching (behind the girls, the direction she was already facing, so that could not have been the reason for her spin). She greets her, guessing Daise is the new Wisdom and saying that she can see the weaves, so she must be able to channel, and has been watching the lessons all week. Daise isn't interested in learning to channel if she has to stop drinking. Light help me, but that is the actual script and not remotely my joke.

Not-Owein is guiding a group of villagers in spear moves, telling them that they just have to touch the enemy with poisoned spears, and being accurate isn't important, so they just have to hold the line.

7:13 That's bullshit. A. Trollocs, I am pretty sure, have much stronger constitutions, at the very least being capable of eating things that would make humans sick, and they are already much bigger and stronger than humans. And I doubt there are many natural poisons, available in temperate climates in the small mountain villages in large quantities, that can kill a Trolloc quickly enough to matter in battle. But even if they have something fast-acting, like liquid nerve gas, the last people who should be using it is a bunch of amateur, barely trained villagers, in close formation, where they are as likely to flick drips into each other's eyes or scratch themselves or each other with their weapons. When you're a bunch of effeminate theater kids and writing nerds, stick close to the methods given in the book written by a decorated military veteran, rather than trying to get clever, 'kay?

Cenn Buie takes exception to the admonition to hold the line, and not-Owein condescendingly tells him that the longer he holds, the longer his family will survive. Cenn retorts that he can hold the line all night with a Two Rivers longbow. Not-Owein is amused at the idea, and asks if Cenn can actually draw a longbow, which he insists he can, "better than you, boy." With a smirk he makes no effort to hide, not-Owein dismisses poisoned-spear class to fetch their longbows.

7:35 This should be a moment of not-Owein getting the smug wiped off his face, but they are playing this like Cenn is just an old crank.

Not-Owein gets himself a drink in the meantime, when Alanna comes up to ask about their progress. He says they're all going to die, LoL. Alanna is more optimistic because she found another powerful channeler, and blah blah Old Blood. Not-Owein concedes she was right & he was wrong and hopes that comforts her when they all die.

They look up to see a banner being unfurled, a white, or dingy tan, field with what looks like a pencil sketch of a wolf with a pig snout. Music starts up as everyone oohs and ahhs, and comes to look. Faile mocks Perrin saying she knows he loves it. He doesn't think the Two Rivers needs any banners, let alone that one, and she objects that she told people about Trollocs being afraid of wolves, and it gives them something to rally around. Perrin worries that he's not ready and Faile agrees he's not, but the people follow him because he's one of them, not the best fighter, like the Aiel or best general available, like Alanna. His ability to fight monsters gives them confidence they can do the same.

8:49 I just noticed but Faile is always kind of hunching forward.

Perrin appears to accept this and asks if she got a message to Lord Luc, and she replies that he said "they'll meet us at the pass."

At the pass, there are more people erecting abatises in the roadway and prepping arrows, and Dain Bornhald is waiting, taking a swig from his official Children of the Light flask.

9:38 Dain drinks. I'm going to start keeping track of these shots.

Faile speculates what if they just murdered Dain, but Perrin says they need their help, since the Children have 200 trained men, and reiterates that he means it, while she rolls her eyes, because she's so cute and spunky. Dain asks if they are trying to keep out the Children's patrols and Perrin says he's asking them to join the villagers against the Trollocs. Dain is skeptical of his claims about their numbers, but Perrin says they've taken as many refugees into their camp as the village has, and does that sound like only a few Trollocs, with his aha! posture.

10:13 That's not a win or even a smart argument. It says nothing about the Trolloc numbers, just how many people went running for shelter at the first sight of them. It could be the same band making the rounds, with each family having seen the same ones before fleeing. That was kind of the point of Emond's Field standing together, to have the numbers that can resist what scattered families can't. Also, the Children are taking in refugees. Their ITB incidental help is rather more substantial on the show.

Perrin insists that the Trollocs want to destroy them and will attack tonight. Dain is still skeptical and dismounts, saying Perrin knows a lot about them. Perrin says he's not a Darkfriend, no matter how much Dain wants him to be. Dain asks why he'd want that and Perrin says to make it easier to hate him.

10:36 He doesn't need any reason other than you murdering his father, while he was trying to save people from the Seanchan!

Dain makes that very point. Perrin says he's sorry. Honest.

10:52 Do the writers honestly think that apology makes it better? Perrin literally did that. There's no excuse. No justification. Also, he has no way of knowing the Trollocs are going to attack tonight, or if he has, the show has done nothing to establish their knowledge of that.

As Dain is stomping back to his horse, Perrin calls after him asking if he's sorry for what he did to Natti. He calls her "an innocent woman, burned alive, in your camp." Dain turns back as he adds the irrelevant datum that Natti was already their prisoner (like, those are the only people you actually can burn alive). Dain says she was a witch and Perrin says, without offering any sort of proof or counter, that she wasn't and died for Dain's grief.

11:15 This just sounds really stupid (and Marcus Rutherford's dumb voice doesn't help), because we saw what happened, and as far as anyone knows, Natti channeled, and received the penalty the Children exact, as we see in the first ever scene with the Children. Whatever one thinks of that practice, it is an established one, and Dain's grief has nothing to do with it. What's more, Perrin is not actually offering a diegetic argument, he is not saying anything to convince a person in the same world as he, who had the One Power used on him, and heard Natti take credit. His argument is aimed entirely at the show's audience the writers assume are automatically ready to accept all the worst things about the Children of the Light.

Perrin adds that Dain's father died for his (Perrin's) grief, and rhetorically asks "Where does all this stop?"

11:18 This is not some cycle of revenge nonsense. Perrin got mad that a soldier, in the middle of a pitched battle, killed a wild animal who was attacking his comrade in arms, so Perrin ran him down and attacked him by surprise and kept up mutilating his corpse, all while a battle was raging against their common enemies, and Perrin was ostensibly undertaking a vital mission to retrieve a critical object from enemy territory. Dain did not kill Natti out of revenge, he was holding her prisoner as an accessory to obstruction of justice, he was very much insistent on doing things by the book and not letting the Cauthons be harmed, when he was assaulted with the One Power for grabbing her hand when she was trying steal from him. He turned her over for execution when she admitted to doing it, in the first ever demonstrated instance of her prioritizing her children over herself. Perrin, and Perrin alone, has the information necessary to make all the right choices here.

Bornhald Sr had no way of knowing that Hopper was quasi-sapient or that Valda had gone off-mission for his own deranged grudge. Perrin knows these things, and knows the limits of Bornhald's knowledge (also he knows what a piece of crap Natti is). He is the one who had the power to not start the cycle by accepting that Hopper got involved in human shit, and paid the price and Bornhald's killing him was in innocence and ignorance. His implied plea to end the cycle, in his current position, is that of a man trying to evade the consequences of his own part.

Dain's answer for when it ends is "when the Light's justice is done." Perrin passionately argues that letting the village full of accessories after the fact be slaughtered isn't justice or revenge. He says it's a betrayal of what Dain claims to stand for and what his father stood for. Dain states, gesturing with his flask, that his father fought for the Light.

11:44 Seriously, if it was not for the usual shallow dipshit channeler-stan hate-boner the writers have for the Children of the Light, they'd never write this stuff, with a guy who wrongfully murdered a man, deigning to speak of and for him, to his bereaved family and ideological kindred.

Dain demands to know why they should fight for Perrin. He pompously replies that it's the right thing to do. He approaches Dain closely and offers that if Dain & the Children come to the village and fight for the Two Rivers, he'll go with Dain afterward.

12:05 Rutherford has three acting moves: there is the constant whispery voice that sounds like a normal person affecting stupidity. He furrows his brow, or scrunches up his nose, to indicate emotion. And finally, cocking his head with one of those expressions when he thinks Perrin has just said something clever. And that's it. Marcus Rutherford's entire acting repertoire.

12:16 Dain drinks.

He says he won't waste his men's lives on an empty promise, and that if the Trollocs don't finish Perrin, the Children will.

12:30 Notice how despite all the extra alcohol consumption they have inserted into the show, the signal that Dain is not reliable or "good" is that he punctuates every scene or conversation he is in by swigging from that canteen?

Loial is writing in a book, with Bain & Chiad standing over him. They ask him about a word in the text and he tells them it's the name of the last king of Manetheren, who died fighting Trollocs where they are. Bain notes the similarity of his name to Rand's. Loial stares at the camera for a bit, then gets up and turns to the Maidens, saying that if this is going to be their last night together, he'll finally play Maiden's Kiss.

13:24 Is nothing sacred? Keep your disgusting, grubby, sex-addled hands OFF of Loial you perverted hacks!

Not-Owein approaches Alanna in their attic, offering her a choice of food. She is excited for one of the choices, but when he hands her a bowl, she looks less than enthused, so I guess he lied about the good option. She asks, with too many words, if he wants her to turn off their bond so he can enjoy a little peace before the battle starts. He says no and her face lights up. He goes on to say that if it's going to be their last night together, he doesn't want to miss it. Also, he has a fig. They playfully fight over it, and she calls a man "you bitch" isn't this progressive?

14:08 Why is this getting serviced instead of the main characters? Oh, right. These are the main characters, in the writers' eyes at least. Yay, nepotism. But notice we know absolutely nothing about Alanna & not-Owein and especially Ihvon, outside of their relationship? Every trait, every datum that does not go on a resume, concerns their relationship. It's the entirety of their personalities and motivations.

They start getting their bond on, if you get my drift. He stops her from using one of Ihvon's moves, because he wants to build something new with Alanna.

Perrin is brooding over an axe, he looks up at something blurry in the foreground, as Faile comes up and leans on a post behind him looking very pleased with herself. Perrin tells her that her hidden knives give her away trying to sneak. She comes up to reassure him that it's okay to be afraid before a battle, her father is and he's stupid enough to marry a Darkfriend and let her get to the kids fought in many. He asks if she's afraid and she scoffs that she's not a baby.

16:20 I'm gonna let that slide on the girl-power charges, assuming she's joking.

Perrin says he's not afraid of dying, but of seeing everyone realize he's a shitty leader who has doomed them all. Faile says they would never have fought without him, but he says they'd have had to, since it's their home, missing the point. But, he adds, it's not Faile's home, and asks why she's fighting for it. She gives him a look, and he says it's not just because of him, since they only met a day or two ago and their relationship is based on exactly zero character development and makes the book version look like a slow burn. Her answer options are that A. the question proves Perrin doesn't take her for granted, B. Mat ruined her plans to win glory with the Horn or C. she likes lost causes (despite her fleeing the lost cause of exposing the Darkfriend general in the Saldaean army), but lucky for Perrin, she's here. He tries to convince her to leave to spare him her death, and she asks if he's afraid he'll kill her like his wife. He gets mad and tells her to leave, but she yammers about her choice and whatnot.

18:12 Once again, they're doing the thing where the answer does not fit the connotation of the other party's question on argument. Perrin is telling her to go away, because she went too far with her comment about his wife, separate from the 'please get clear of the fight,' request, but she's answering that one.

Loial has two spear points at his throat.

18:21 Nope. Skipping.

After the game, Loial asks if men have died playing it. Chiad says yes, and women, because we're so progressive, and Loial says that by stopping the game, they saved his life and met their toh and can leave.

19:26 And their version of making Loial clever is really just making Bain & Chiad incredibly stupid.

Chiad gets mad, saying it is dishonorable to cheat an Aiel of her toh even though that means cheating the person who is OWED the toh does not get repaid. She storms off, but Bain rationalizes that by his efforts, Loial is trying to save her, Bain's life, who didn't have any toh issues, so now she has toh and Chiad is part of a package deal.

20:00 Well, ji'e'toh is incoherent gibberish in this medium. Must be a day that ends in Y.

Perrin is chatting up Bode & Eldrin and they are bummed about not being more successful at channeling and Mat not coming home and he finally takes the opportunity to show them the stupid portrait of Mat with the Horn. They are amused by the appearance of the Horn and start making jokes about it and mocking Mat over it, with the best laughter child actors can fake.

20:48 Their father is missing, they haven't seen their brother in over a year and they just watched their mother burn to death. Glad we're taking characterization seriously, instead of selling out for cheap laughs.

The alarm bell starts ringing as Trollocs are spotted. They decide this is the time to all sit down in the inn for a meeting. Since they have torches, Perrin assumes they have Darkfriends with them, even though Trollocs were seen carrying torches the last time they fought in a battle on this show. Alanna is sanguine about the numbers, and they have eliminated all the approaches but the mountain pass, and the strategy is to wear down the attackers at the pass and then retreat back to other fighting positions along the way to the village. Ila asks why the Tinkers are in the meeting since they won't fight, no matter what. Perrin has a special mission, because no one can run faster than a Tinker. Bain and Chiad make some noises.

21:49 Okay, that was funny. I'll give them that.

Perrin wants them to take the kids out through a secret tunnel that the Women's Circle dug under the inn after the last Trolloc attack. They agree. Now Loial points out that the Trollocs will eventually win by attrition as long as they can keep bringing in more through the Waygate. He is going to go shut it for good, with Bain & Chiad. Perrin tells him once he completes the mission to return to a stedding to recover from the Longing. He says that three more fighters won't affect the outcome at the village, but if they fall, Loial's book might inspire others when it's their turn to face the Trollocs. Actually, his words suggest the book will tell people how to fight the Trollocs, but if someone else hasn't written a book or 500 on that subject over the last three thousand years, the world-building is even more stupid than I like to believe. Perrin bids him farewell, using the Ogier phrase of introduction, because it's book words, so what's the difference.

24:19 This is multiple commercial breaks, and we're still in Emond's Field. I am afraid this is going to be an all-Perrin episode.

Perrin, Faile & not-Owein ride up to the first line of defenses. Perrin has armor now, and he checks the swords of the two guys he was teaching in the opening scene, Just Like Aragorn At Helm's Deep. The multiethnic Two Rivers men & women collectively do a much better job of conveying nervousness than all but a handful of main characters on this show are generally capable of.

25:07 Suddenly everyone has a bow. Is the show saving the Two Rivers archery skills for a surprise?

Perrin starts singing the Manetheren song from the first season and everyone joins in.

26:04 Remember, in the first season, none of the Two Rivers folk had ever heard of Manetheren, and Moiraine did not tell the whole village, she told the three boys & Egwene once they were on the road. This song should be utterly meaningless to them. And Rutherford sucks at singing, too.

The trollocs approach, not-Owein is apparently in charge of the archers, because Perrin says to shoot and he gives the individual orders. Blessedly, no one says "fire!" They do a number on the trollocs, Perrin gives the most underwhelming roar of triumph ever, and the rest of the people respond better, and not-Owein archly indicates he's impressed by the Two Rivers longbow, despite the non-longbow appearance of the bows in question. Perrin orders shields, as the Darkfriends with the Trollocs run up to the first obstructions and loose a volley and we do the scene from Braveheart.

Loial & the Maidens are observing the Waygate, while the Maidens in handtalk indicate they think it's lightly and poorly guarded. A courier runs up to tell the guards that they need reinforcements, which seems to be ahead of their intended schedule, so the guard turns to open the Waygate.

27:50 It's not a reinforcements cupboard! There aren't (or shouldn't be) reinforcements just waiting on the other side of the door for when they are needed! Anyone remember Journey of Destruction? The Black Wind of Lies That Are True?

Loial says they need to close the gates before the reinforcements arrive, so I guess the guard is going to run back through the Ways to the Blight to call for more Trollocs, who will run down through the Ways to join the battle.

27:54 In the first season, it took more than a month to travel from the Two Rivers to Tar Valon, which was then an overnight trip away from the Borderlands, and they bailed early, before getting to the Blight. At a minimum the courier won't reach the Blight until tomorrow, but more realistically, much longer, and the same amount of time (actually longer, for larger groups) for the Trollocs to return. So the master calling for reinforcements is counting on not getting them for at least three days, and more likely several weeks. Which is why I thought at first the guard was just opening the Waygate to let more Trollocs out. So damn stupid.

The Maidens veil up and move out, with Loial carrying a giant hammer and they make a frontal attack on the guards.

Back at the pass, a Trolloc heaves up an abatis, overturning it, and missing the point that it does not matter which end is up, it's still in the way and you still have to get around it, making you easier to shoot. Perrin tells not-Owein "now", he calls for the archers and starts ordering them to shoot. IDK why this is a new thing or what "now" was supposed to mean. Not-Owein is drawing a bead on another target when Perrin comes up to him and tells him "now" again, and the warder looks down all grim. On a hill overlooking the battle, Alanna is apparently telepathically signaled by not-Owein, and links with the Cauthons and Daise to channel at the sky. A spirally pattern causes stormclouds to form, and both sides, including Trollocs, pause to stare up at the sky. Perrin & not-Owein start ordering their men back.

On the hill, the girls are starting to spasm, and Alanna screams, but in a deep, macho way, not a high pitched girly tone, Light forbid. Giant shards of ice start slicing down onto the battlefield.

29:55 Blizzard, huh? I'd have preferred Death and Decay, personally.

The Trollocs and Darkfriends retreat and everyone cheers. Not-Owein sighs that Alanna will be insufferable now. On the hill, the girls are thrilled and Alanna & Daise look tired but satisfied.

Faile wonders if they've given up, Perrin says if they are lucky and looks at the Warder who tells him to go see what's happening, that they will hold the pass.

Perrin & Faile ride back to the village, where people are running around in the streets. Alanna & co are coming from another direction and Perrin asks if she saw where they went. Alanna says they made a tactical retreat, which Faile is skeptical because Trollocs. Perrin confirms that their use of armor & discipline is unusual so someone must be controlling them. He hears a rumbling noise, but Faile doesn't and he calls out a warning to Alanna, right before she gets shot by a giant arrow, and screams, low and manly. Over at the pass, her warder reacts as if he has been shot.

Well, this bond is a singularly bad practice for combatants. One shot, two kills, eat your heart out, Billy "Ishamael" Zane.

Daise holds up a shield while the girls drag Alanna to safety, but arrow hits disintegrate the shield like she's playing Space Invaders, until it collapses and she gets shot.

Back at the pass, the Two Rivers folk guess why not-Owein fell down for no reason, and then the Trollocs show up. Cenn Buie suggests retreat, because they are not soldiers and now there is no Aes Sedai cover. Not-Owein makes a speech invoking Two Rivers stubbornness and contrarianism, and they are fired up.

32:55 Not-Owein has taken over the leadership role now. Hey, remember in the books, how the Aes Sedai visitor specifically said that the Two Rivers would not have accepted her leadership, or that of her warder? That it had to be Perrin? And how Faile made a similar point earlier in this episode? Guess not.

Loial & the Maidens finish off the Darkfriends guarding the Waygate. The Maidens wonder how to close it, and Loial holds up an Avendesora leaf saying it can only be closed from the other side. He opens the gate and turns, formally asking them if they will defend his back. They just stare as he enters the gate closes behind him.

34:20 I guess their answer is "No"?

Back in the village it's now dark and Perrin sees not-Owein leading the defenders back to the village, saying they held as long as they could without an Aes Sedai. Faile is concerned that without her they can't hold in the village either. Meanwhile, the Cauthon girls are failing to Heal Alanna. Rather than a "there is no try" lesson, she gives them a participation trophy pat on the head.

Outside a horn is blowing and Perrin asks who it is. The lookouts say it's the Children of the Light with a truce flag. The gate is opened and the Children ride in.

35:42 They have the abatises lined up alongside the road, leaving open to the gate. That's not how you do it! You put at least one just in front of the gate, so that no one can ram it, or rush the gate when it's open, and others in staggered positions so there is no straight path, breaking up the momentum of oncoming enemies, by forcing them go wind around and through the obstacles.

Faile expresses surprise that they came, because she wasn't at Falme, where they saved the continent by driving off the Seanchan. Dain says that it was the right thing to do. Dain says they came by way of the pass, and saw no Trollocs, that it was abandoned so Perrin, channeling the Stalinist sympathies of the showrunners, promptly executes not-Owein for cowardice in making a tactical retreat. For the slow kids, not-Owein explains that the Trollocs took the pass less than an hour ago and it should not be abandoned.

Then Fain rides in wearing the uniform of the Children. Perrin is shocked and tells Dain he's a Darkfriend, ordering the gates closed, but Fain's men kill the gatekeepers and Fain orders them to hold the gates. Long pause for drama, and he orders an attack and his Whitecloaks charge the good ones, and outside Trollocs come rushing, shooting fire arrows ahead of themselves. The villagers start hucking Molotov cocktails off the walls and they blow up in the Trollocs' faces, but they have a straight shot at the open gate, almost like one of us, and I don't mean the show-writers, knows what he's talking about.

The Children of the Light are pushing the gates closed, but the Trollocs reach them and shove them open again, and are now in the village. Perrin orders the archers who are on the rooftops to shoot, not-Owein orders the fighters back to form a line and hold the village square, and Faile shouts, quote "Guys, let's move!" For real. Dain tells Perrin he didn't know about Fain and Perrin shouts "You should have," officially rebuking the Children of the Light for not being sufficiently paranoid about Darkfriends.

A group of people of a certain gender, guess which one, are standing in a line, looking determined and grim, with Marin al'Vere behind them. Ila comes out of the inn behind her and Marin tells her to go now. Ila backs into the inn as Marin shouts for the Women's Circle to hold the line. They hoist shields, and hold spears over them, like hoplites in dresses.

Inside the inn, Ila and Aram start leading the kids to the escape tunnel. Outside, people are fighting and the Trollocs are getting all the kills, are you worried yet?

In the Ways, Loial is hammering at the frame of the Gate, and making it vibrate, but causing no damage. The lines of torch-bearing enemies is visible in the distance and he starts to get worried. Outside, Darkfriends approach calling for reinforcements, and seeing all the bodies. Bain & Chiad are just chilling on the steps, and when the Darkfriends and Trollocs get close, walk down the steps, veil and hoist their weapons, which I guess is what Loial meant by watching his back.

In the woods, Aram and company emerge with the children, children, not the heroes of Falme, only to hear a Trolloc, so they run as it pursues them.

In the village, Valda is lurching around holding his side, but still cutting down false Whitelcoaks, looking around like he's searching for something.

In the woods, the White Walkers are closing in on Winterfell, but, actually, I mean Aram is running with the Trolloc in hot pursuit.

40:12 Let me guess. Aram's going to kill this Trolloc and they're going to try to draw parallels to Hobbit Rand from the flashbacks.

He stops to hide behind a tree that is not as wide as he is, and the baby he is carrying starts to cry. The Trolloc pounces on someone and then turns toward Aram and he runs. It lunges at him from all fours, he ducks and it rolls over, dropping a blade. Aram stares at the blade, then as the Trolloc draws near, grabs it and stabs. He gets up with the baby still crying, holding the bloody sword and of course, Ila shows up. Aram drops the blade, but she backs away from him, horrified, because the Way of the Leaf is a hymen.

Perrin is defending the forge by punching a Trolloc. He uses the dangling chains to shove the Trolloc into the coals. He then watches out the window as Trollocs start carving up the Women's Circle, exclaiming "Everyone's going to die tonight because of me, I failed them" so we understand his arc.

Actually Faile is there with him, and he was talking to her. She says that failure is liberating, because now he's faced his worst fear. She asks what would he give for the Two Rivers, he scrunches his face and says everything. So she tells him to show them, he scrunches his face again and charges out. After tossing a Trolloc out through the wall of the forge, he is all manfully stomping around snarling when he sees a big hammer hanging up, that I think he was staring at earlier in the day.

Holding both hammer and axe, he heroically moves to the door, preparing to enter the fray and tells Faile to stay behind him. She starts to whine about trying to protect her and he tells her to kill the ones he misses. She grins. He wades into the fight, swinging both weapons, and one-shotting Trollocs, while Faile does spins and flips behind him and the soundtrack makes slicing noises, and Trollocs fall.

He rallies the people in the square and everyone is all hyped. Fighty-fight-fight. Dain and not-Owein are also shown fighting. Women kill some Trollocs and Faile expresses admiration for the Women's Circle. Valda comes into the area where the Cauthon girls are still trying to help Alanna. He tells them to step aside, and they do, only for the Power to start swirling around them as they hold hands, just like they did every time we've seen them channel before, but which they haven't tried while hovering over Alanna. Valda stares at them in horror, realizing he was duped by these devil children into executing their innocent mother for their crimes, and they incinerate him. He falls screaming, while Alanna laughs hysterically.

44:17 R.I.P. Emmon Valda. He died trying to save children from a witch. Congrats on that, show. You've repeatedly made the Children of the Light more heroic, despite your mindless contempt for them.

The watchtower is on fire, and collapses. Two women take down a Trolloc with the rope-held-between-us trick that only ever works on screen. Fighty-fight-fight. Perrin's just kind of standing there watching. Fain is also staring, giant teeth gleaming as he cuts a woman's throat. Perrin strides out to fight him, cutting down Trollocs that get in the way. Faile is riding one piggy-back, and prison-shanking it in the back of its head.

Perrin comes up to Fain, who laughs, but then looks worried when Perrin handily dispatches his two bodyguard Trollocs. He turns to run, but Perrin throws his hammer and knocks him down. He tackles Fain when he tries to get up again, and knocks the blade from his hand, and yells as he holds his axe over him. He just holds the axe while we follow Faile running somewhere for some reason. Back to Perrin and he is still holding up the axe, but can't bring himself to use it and holds it to Fain's throat.

He screams at Fain "Why did you do this to us! Why do you hate us?" but it sounds like "Whuh did yuh do dis do us! Whuh duh yuh hay tus?" And Fain can't believe this idiot, responding that he doesn't hate them, he DGAF about the people or the place, he's just following the Great Lord's orders to eradicate it in order to spite Rand.

46:00 You really needed to know this? You're as dumb as you sound, Perrin. By the way, what is the show's excuse for Perrin not surrendering to the Children after the battle, since they're actually fighting? Are the Children going to be slain to the last man defending Emond's Field? Or is Perrin going to just blow them off, after he has shown more scruples about killing a known Darkfriend then he did murdering the man who was leading the fight against the Seanchan?

He tells Perrin to kill him or don't, he has too many Trollocs coming through the Ways to stop, and the village won't live to see Bel Tine.

Back in the Ways, Loial is still banging on the doorframe, to no avail. He can hear their screams now. He stops, closes his eyes and hums, before holding the hammer, and then starting to bash the floor at his feet. He stares determinedly at the approaching enemy, and roars at them, before striking a final mega blow. The Waygate, with Loial, falls off the end of the bridge, just as they reach it.

47:41 Welp, guess they got tired of doing Loial's makeup each episode.

Dramatic music and singing over the Aiel slo-mo fighting outside the Waygate. Their enemies knock them to the ground, but before they are killed, the Waygate explodes in a fiery blast.

Perrin sees the light of the explosion in the sky. He tells Fain that he's not getting reinforcements, but Fain is undeterred, saying he has enough troops already. Perrin asks why he smells afraid, and points out that his people are just shepherds and farmers, but Fain is the only one who is afraid. Fain blurts out an offer of a deal, but Perrin says, no, he'll make Fain a deal. He stands up and tells Fain that he knows he's been controlling the Trollocs the whole time, so if he wants to live, he has to call off his army and run far away and never return. Or he can die right here for no reason.

Fain asks if Perrin will trust him to keep his promise, and Perrin says to trust that he'll keep up his end if Fain doesn't.

49:24 The only justification for Perrin to make this offer is that the Two Rivers folk are going to be overrun and killed without the deal. Which completely negates his ability to follow through on his threat if Fain backslides. This is a nonsense deal, allowing Trollocs to run free, and counting on the word of a Darkfriend. This is treason against the Light and criminal stupidity all in one.

According to Fain, the Dark One wants the Two River eradicated. So what he is going to do, go back to the Great Lord and say "Sorry boss, but they were going to kill me unless I called off the attack"? Either Fain is dead anyway, with no incentive to comply, or the Great Lord is a wuss and a pushover of a boss. Are we supposed to be worried about Rand facing him?

Fain starts calling out commands in what I assume is Trolloc. Suddenly, the Two Rivers folk are looking around with no enemies in sight. Fain keeps yelling as Perrin lets him up. He and the Trollocs and Darkfriends start running, and no one bothers to chase them too far, except for a couple of Children of the Light, briefly. Faile comes up to Perrin and they kiss for a bit despite their gross, bloody faces. Marin hugs them, there are backslaps with Cenn and then he grabs his pupil from the opening scene by the face, and presses their heads together, calling him "warrior."

Suddenly it's daylight and the cleanup is well underway. Alanna is sitting on the steps of the inn under her Warder's arm, when the Cauthon Twins approach holding hands. They ask if she'll take them back to the Tower, but she says no, because the Pattern has bigger plans for them, since they saved her life twice. They accept this means they have been drafted into her private organization and wander off. She & not-Owein exchange looks. Aram watches Ila on her wagon from a distance.

51:29 Good thing the Tinkers somehow knew to bring the kids home.

Marin comes up to Aram and informs the show-only crowd, and reminds the book readers, that his people are really good at mending pots, so she offers him the job of Two Rivers blacksmith.

Inside, Perrin & the girls process up to Loial's desk, where his book sits in a sunbeam, because he's dead, and not around to worry about the damage sunlight would do to his book. Perrin notes the presence of the book is inconsistent with his final orders to Loial and Faile says that leaving the book meant he knew he wasn’t coming back.

52:08 Shouldn't Bain & Chiad be getting punched repeatedly for letting a comrade get killed?

They say the stuff about waking from a dream. Perrin scrunches his face to indicate grief, while Bain mashes up Aiel & Ogier courtesies in a half-assed eulogy. She and Chiad wave their hands in a synchronized motion and smile like "We're done here" and walk off.

Perrin opens the book to the last page, and Loial voices over a pseudo-poetic description of how the Two Rivers leveled up and became badass. Perrin walks out of the inn just as Voiceover Loial starts to blow smoke up his ass, and the Children of the Light ride in.

Dain dismounts and approaches Perrin, with the moral high ground, now that all the evil black guys have been purged from the organization, and reminds Perrin of their deal. Faile's all WTF? And Dain goes on to recite the terms of Perrin surrendering.

Faile holds a knife and points out the correlation of numbers and other people start hefting weapons, with the Children drawing swords in response.

Perrin stands there like a lump for a moment, then remembers his lines and starts waving his arms, telling everyone to stop. Bain sheathes her knife. Perrin tells Dain he'll come.

Faile points out the "gonna kill you" drawback, and Perrin sanctimoniously says that's their choice. He compares it, with much face scrunching, to her choice to fight and adds that his choice is to >scrunch< stop fighting. He asks her to respect that and she's a WoT-on-Prime character, so she is dumb enough to accept it. Perrin makes eye contact with Ila, who is watching with her arms folded, and a vaguely quizzical look, like he's doing okay so far, but will he stick the landing.

Then he sanctimoniously proclaims to Dain that "Violence never ends until someone says 'enough'" and then the Dark One takes over the world. Ila seems proud and Faile's expression is as opaque as ever, but devoid of the usual smirk, so she's probably just glad she didn't let him past second base before she realized what a tool he was. Perrin holds out his hands for cuffs and the Children lead him off while Loial keeps on hyping him in voiceover.

As the Children mount up to lead Perrin away, his pupil shouts "Hail Perrin Goldeneyes, Lord of the Two Rivers!" Others join in as he walks with his hands held out melodramatically and a possible CGI tether leading him behind his captor's horse.

55:52 This is just retarded. There is no cycle of violence going on, just a case of either the Children interposing themselves where they don't belong, or Perrin being a criminal. And the way the show has depicted it, he is. Also, hailing him as your lord while he is being led off in fetters is weak. And on the show's part, having a voiceover claiming Perrin is awesome does not make up for the complete failure to show his awesomeness over three seasons.

The end.

55:59 Liars!

That was utter shit and the fans are probably going to eat it up, because of all the awesome battles. Even though they sucked and there was barely any story. Ugh. Also, they're all acting like the village is saved for good and for all time now, except the Dark One wants it destroyed because Rand. Well, nothing has changed in that regard, so why do we think there is not going to be a bigger, badder attack, escalating if they are fought off, until the Dark One gets what he wants?

[lunarcry]

I HAVE LISTENED TO LEONEEDS APPLE SALESGIRL I HAVE WON MASSIVELY

[sreegs]

I reblogged it earlier but I'm glad the Something Awful Forums 9/11 thread was archived because it's an incredibly important slice of internet history. For the record I think 9/11 was thousands of personal tragedies for the direct victims of the attacks but one big national farce that led to America's ongoing slide into fascism, and the nationalism and remembrance around it is a joke especially in the wake of the same amount of deaths every fucking day in the US during the height of coronavirus.

Nevertheless I think it's important that if you do not remember because you were too young or just didn't exist on Sept 11, 2001 to read the Something Awful 9/11 forums to get an idea of what the internet was like at the moment when America changed to 24 hour news cycles and renewed hyper-nationalism not seen since WWII.

This all happened before Twitter, Facebook, before Discord. Before smart phones. Before most people had cell phones. When a lot of people still had dial-up internet, even. Some people in the thread were relying on radio because internet and TV weren't keeping up.

It was a live event of internet denizens reacting to the biggest national event (and among the biggest international events) of the past 25 years. It was also a slice of what the internet was like at the turn of the millennium. Not only that, but people accurately calling out who was responsible, and what would result before the attacks even finished.

Keep in mind that the links that follow contain images of the event, lots of Islamophobia, people calling for the Middle East to be nuked, people blaming Palestine, casual racist and homophobic language (this was Something Awful after all), etc etc. They preserved the first 17 pages which spanned about 24 hours during the events. It's the origin of the "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR" screenshot.

Links under the fold. I've also annotated the pages with notes regarding the timeline and any posts of interest. Note the thread was preserved in Pacific Time even though the page says times are Eastern. That's incorrect. Post timestamps are 3 hours behind Eastern Time, which is the time zone where the attacks occurred:

Page 1 - Note the first post was edited to include images of the second attack. The thread started after the first plane hit. Second plane hitting the WTC happens here too.

Page 2 - Poster accurately calling out Bin Laden was responsible at 9:14 AM EST

Page 3 - "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR"

Page 4

Page 5 - First official acknowledgement it was a terrorist attack.

Page 6 - Pentagon hit

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9 - Commercial flights grounded by FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)

Page 10 - First mention of towers collapsing at end of page

Page 11 - More reactions to collapse of first tower. People thinking it was a bomb or yet another plane. Rumors about a fourth plane just missing the White House (these are false and predate the actual 4th plane crash by minutes)

Page 12

Page 13 - By this point there's just rampant speculation about more bombs at the WTC, the US Capitol building being hit, etc (all false). Remember this is all just people reacting to TV news and radio and the rumor mill via phone, AIM, IRC, and maybe text messages.

Page 14 - By this point internet news sites are overwhelmed

Page 15 - Second tower collapses. First acknowledgement of the fourth plane that crashed in PA.

Page 16 - There's an abrupt time jump in the threads, I think it was the result of admins pruning the activity or the SA forums going down. This page starts on 9/12 even though it is page 16. American flag signatures and ribbons start appearing.

Page 17

[looking4thatqueersubtext]

i dont think you understand i need to ANNOTATE movies

[jackie-shitposts]

Lost Carmen Sandiego Content Masterpost

This post details everything related to the recently uncovered Lost Carmen Sandiego pilot clips. All posts related to it on this blog will be tagged under #Lost Carmen Content. I encourage other users to use the same tag.

The Lost Content Clipshow is a compilation of everything that was changed or excluded from the Netflix version of the Carmen Sandiego 2019 pilot. It includes annotations describing every change that was made. The Tumblr version has been split into 5 sections due to file size limits. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 The full Youtube version has timestamps and extra details regarding each change.

The Lost Content Youtube Video is also viewable via the Wayback Machine. This was useful when the video was temporarily taken down by Youtube between July and September 2024. Part 4 here on Tumblr includes an altered version of Shadowsan and Black Sheep's argument that couldn't be included in the youtube version due to copyright.

The Lost Carmen Sandiego Content Caper is a youtube video detailing how the content was found and why it was missing to begin with.

The Lost Content Discord is a temporary discord server that does regular streams of the full pilot with the missing content included.

This post was last updated on September 3rd, 2024.

[the-penguin-of-baskervilles]

Chapter 26

Summary: Princess makes a worrying discovery while looking through Lloyd’s briefcase. Zach and Lloyd search Copper Ridge Quarry and have an argument. Meanwhile, Princess becomes entangled in the issue of a spy operating inside of Bishop & Howard.

Word Count: 5,024

Warnings: This story contains content that is intended for those who are at least eighteen years old, such as explicit sexual content, strong language, references to spying, murder, kidnapping and criminal elements. 

Masterlist

Author’s Note: I did get this chapter published today as promised but editing took a really long time because it snowed here today, which was really depressing for me (come on, it’s March, give me sunshine) so I was feeling very unmotivated and lazy.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Chapter Twenty-Six

As promised, you reviewed the footage of Nguyen’s interrogation. Two moments raised red flags. The first occurred when Lloyd mentioned Tate Corbin’s witness statement. From his previous interviews and court testimonies, you knew Nguyen wasn’t easily drawn into speculation, but the topic of his neighbor’s observations caused an abrupt change in his demeanor. Suddenly, he was eager to speculate. You marked the timestamp and wrote a note for Lloyd. The second red flag was more significant. As an interrogation subject, Nguyen was usually willing to answer questions, though the quality of his responses varied. That said, an outright refusal to respond was rare; in fact there was only one instance where it cropped up. 

When questioned about his former colleague who testified against him at trial his evasion stood out sharply in contrast to his typical style of guarded cooperation. It caught your attention, so you annotated that spot as well. Nothing in particular jumped out at you as significant in the rest of the footage, but watching it all together, it irked you that Nguyen hesitated to challenge his colleague’s testimony. Most murder suspects protested vehemently when confronted with false accusations.

The fact that Nguyen didn’t was unsettling. 

A staccato rap of knuckles on your door startled you from your musings. Landon stepped into the room and raised an eyebrow when he saw you massaging your temples. 

“Headache?” 

"Yeah. Re-watching Nguyen's interview is driving me nuts."

"Skip the aspirin this time."

You snorted. "Never again. What's up?"

"Jake and I have a stakeout. Need a ride home?"

"No. Lloyd's my ride, whenever he gets back."

"Text if you need us. Remember the silent alarm triggers are under the receptionist’s desk and in Zach’s office. He showed you?"

"Yeah, he did. Thanks."

- - - - - 

After the guys left, the office was silent. You finished reviewing the interview footage and made an attempt at Lloyd’s strategy of listening to the interview audios alone, which proved fruitless. The audio alone was too dull to be endured. After saving your notes to the shared drive, you strolled around the office to stretch your legs. It was nearly nine o’clock, and there was still no word from Lloyd or Zach. You opened the tracking app on your phone and verified their location in the woods near Copper Ridge Quarry.

You needed a distraction, so you poked around in the share drive and read the report Lloyd had filed on his meeting with Tate Corbin. When you clicked through the attachments for his handwritten notes nothing came up. There were no attachments anywhere in his last few uploads so they hadn’t been filed mistakenly. Your gaze landed on the hazelnut leather briefcase he’d left beside your desk. After a brief debate, you decided he wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t snooping if there was a purpose, right? You lifted the briefcase to your desk and took a deep, steadying breath. As you unzipped the main compartment, your phone rang, making you almost jump out of your skin.

Jen’s face flashed on the caller ID.

You sank back against the cushioned backrest of your chair and answered. “Hey, Jen. What’s up?”

“Not much, just checking in. How’s working from home?”

"It’s different. Kind of boring, but I’m getting a lot done.” 

“I haven’t seen much of Lloyd around the office lately. Is he working from home, too?” 

“He’s been doing a lot of field work,” you said, ducking the question.

“Mmmhh, really throwing himself into it, is he?”

Knowing Jen as long as you had, the dry tone of her voice tipped you off that she wouldn’t let the matter of Lloyd's absence go. She’d poke and prod and side-step you down the garden path until she had an explanation. You should’ve anticipated that the cover story Bishop had spread around the office, spinning your attack as a slip and fall by the pool, wouldn’t pass the smell test with Jen. 

“Yeah. Things picked up a bit in the investigation… uh, new leads….” 

“I’ve always appreciated that Lloyd goes after things like a force of nature.”

“Have you?” You raised an eyebrow, reaching into the front divider of Lloyd’s briefcase and pulling out a stack of files. The third degree was coming, and you knew it.

“He takes the bull by the horns,” Jen said.

“Interesting. Are you developing a soft spot for Lloyd?”

Jen snorted. “He’s right up there with Hawaiian pizza in my book.”

You laughed, flipping through the files. None of them were related to the Harmony case, so you set them aside and searched the second pocket in the briefcase.

“Wanna know something else about Lloyd?” you teased, hoping to distract Jen.

“Hmmm?”

“I only found this out recently, but he actually was a cowboy.”

“Are you for real?”

“Would I lie to you? He called me when he was in Idaho and told me about herding cattle and roping and my ovaries almost exploded.”

“I love that for you. Did he bring you pictures? Also, does this have anything to do with his odd choice of facial hair?”

“What do you mean?” you asked.

“Right, you’re too young to remember Westerns. You know the old movies about Doc Holliday, The Sundance Kid, Wyatt Earp…? I could go on, but you get the point.”

“I’ll have to ask him,”

“How’s your neck?” Jen asked.

“A lot better.”

You cringed, waiting for the attack to begin. 

“Mmmhh. Glad to hear it.” 

There was a long pause and you held back, distracting yourself from the temptation of talking by opening the next compartment of Lloyd’s briefcase. There was a padfolio and a few more files. You opened one of them and found insurance paperwork for a 1971 Mercury Cougar. 

“Listen, I heard about your fall by the pool from Bishop, and I know it was bullshit. Tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t really talk about it, Jen. I’m sorry.” 

“Talk about what, exactly?”

“Jen… I can’t tell you what’s going on, okay?”

“Is it personal? Professional? Does it have something to do with Lloyd?”

You blew out a breath, considering your answer. The stalking was personal, but the IP address that the stalker had used to hack your work laptop was definitely professional. If he’d hack your laptop, who was to say he hadn’t tapped Jen’s work line, too?

“I’m dealing with some personal stuff.”

“And you were in the hospital twice this past month. There was an ER visit at Georgetown University Hospital and another in Harmony.”

“How do you know about those?” you demanded.

“Your apartment building forwarded over a stack of mail. I saw the medical bills and figured they were ER visits, thanks for confirming, though. I didn’t actually open them.”

“I can’t share it yet, but me staying out of the office is what’s best for right now.”

“Why were you in the hospital?” Jen asked.

You rubbed your forehead and wondered why you chose to develop friendships with people who had the personalities of Jack Russell Terriers. “I hurt my neck, just like Bishop said. The other one was for a medication reaction, but it turned out fine.”

“Fine? But who picked you up from the hospital? Did you call your Mom? Never mind, don’t answer that, I know you didn’t. Have you told your Mom what’s going on?”

Jen meant well, and you knew that, but she’d never comprehend that your Mom didn’t take her responsibilities as a parent to heart the same way Jen did. 

“I didn’t tell her I was in the hospital because it’s just not something she could handle. She’s kind of high strung,” you gently reminded her. “Lloyd drove me home both times.”

“So, Lloyd is taking care of you? Adequately?”

You rolled your eyes at her suspicious tone. “Yes, he’s shockingly good at playing nurse. And he can cook.”

“Thank goodness, I’ve been worried that you were subsisting on takeout alone.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch,” you said.

“Mmmhh. Well. I’m not trying to be pushy, honest. I just… worry about you.”

“I know that, Jen. Give me some time, okay? I’ll tell you everything when I can and hopefully I won’t seem like such an asshole then.” 

“You’re not capable of being an asshole except when you’ve been provoked to it,” Jen said. “That’s why I’ve been so worried.”

“Thank you.”

You picked up another file that had been in Lloyd’s briefcase and leafed through it. Once you realized that it was a copy of Joe Hansen’s will, you snapped it shut. Jen’s voice morphed into the background as she turned the conversation to a recap of current affairs at the law firm. Why was Lloyd still carrying a copy of his father’s will? On a scale of one to ten, how much of a violation of privacy would it be to read… maybe just the first page? The first few pages? Your internal debate was interrupted by a gasp from Jen. 

“I almost forgot to tell you! I met Mr. Howard the other day!” 

“Mr. Howard?” You drew a blank, having been more preoccupied with the will than the conversation. 

“Wilson Howard? The other half of Bishop & Howard? The infamously silent and absent founding partner of B&H…?” 

“You’re kidding!” 

“No, it was crazy, like stumbling on a unicorn on a jogging trail. He actually came into the office.”

“Why did he come in?”

“Because of you,” Jen said. 

“What did I do?!” 

“Remember the emails that you forwarded to HR? The ones from Westin Tafferty? According to the grape vine, they made their way up to Bishop, who responded by siccing Mr. Howard on Westin.”

“Oh, shit.”

Jen chuckled at your dismay. “He was here all morning and met with paralegals to get the tea on Westin before coming to visit me. He asked about you.”

“This is not good.”

“Relax,” Jen said. “He just wanted to know if Westin had harassed the whole paralegal department, or if he’d focused on you. And you’ll never guess what else I found out…”

“I’m afraid to ask,” you said.

Jen snickered. “Per Mr. Howard, there was a conversation between Mr. Bishop and Lloyd a month ago where Lloyd threatened to ‘use the Geneva Conventions as a to-do list’ if Westin kept bothering you.” 

You buried your head in your hands, groaning, while Jen laughed.

“Anyways, after he’d interviewed the team he went down to HR and had a two hour chat with Westin, who denied everything, but given that it was a two hour meeting, I think we can guess how that went.”

“No one called me about this.”

“You’d already done your part by reporting him,” Jen said. “Also, according to my sources, Westin left that meeting looking very rattled.” 

“I almost feel bad for him.”

“Ugh. Get a grip and cut that out, girl. You have no idea how incredibly therapeutic it was for the whole paralegal department to vent about Westin. The best part was that Mr. Howard just listened and took notes. If a man ever listened to me that attentively on a date, I’d jump his bones.”

You commiserated with her about Westin, and let the conversation drift back to the latest gossip from the office. When you finally hung up, you stood over the mess on your desk and examined the damage. It was littered with a treasure trove of mundane artifacts - five khaki file folders, a tin of mints, sticky notes, a travel tube of cologne, a power bank and phone charger, airpods, reading glasses, and three hundred dollars in cash. The files were what drew your eye. 

Curiosity was killing you, especially about Joe Hansen’s last will and testament, but you forced yourself to set them aside. It would be a betrayal of trust and if the situation were reversed, you’d be offended if Lloyd went through your private documents without asking. You surveyed the items you’d strewn over the desk from Lloyd’s briefcase and sighed, dipping your hand into the last, smaller back pocket of the briefcase in search of the missing interview notes. Your fingers brushed against paper and for a moment, excitement surged, but instead of papers you pulled out an envelope. 

Inside were three laminated bookmarks.

They were delicate and beautiful. One featured a bold splash of golden petals with a dark center like a miniature sun in bloom - a long stemmed Black-Eyed Susan. The other two flowers weren’t familiar. You inspected the bookmark that contained pale lavender flowers with tinges of blue, then examined the third marker, which featured pink petaled blossoms. Frustratingly, it was another flower you didn’t recognize. The pink flower reminded you of Prairie Phlox and Fire Pink, except to the best of your knowledge, no one had ever crossed those plants. There was no receipt in the envelope but when you flipped it over, the outside read: “Josephine.” 

Your eyebrows raised. Josephine? Who the hell was Josephine? Why had she given Lloyd pressed flower bookmarks, and more confusingly, why had he accepted them?

It crossed your mind a second later that the floral bookmarks might be a gift for you. That was a logical enough explanation but it didn’t hold up to closer inspection. Lloyd took pride in being an excellent gift-giver. He knew your tastes, interests, and preferences. The bookmark with the Black-Eyed Susans would be the kind of gift he would give you, but the other two were decidedly not. 

Using the plant identification app on your phone, you scanned the bookmarks to identify the flowers. The lavender flower was Common Camas and the pink was Elkhorn Clarkia. You didn’t recognize either name and when you checked the map of their native range, it made sense why you wouldn’t - they were native to the upper Northwest. Lloyd must have gotten these in Idaho. Frowning at the bookmarks, your mood slid from confused to suspicious, then darkened. 

Your chest was tight and your heart pounded out a chorus of eighth notes, turning your skin hot. The floral bookmarks weren’t something Lloyd would keep without a good reason. On the envelope, you inspected the handwriting of the name ‘Josephine’ and confirmed it was Lloyd’s. Who was Josephine? Did she live in Idaho or had she traveled there for his father’s funeral? Did they spend time together while he was there? Was she the real reason he’d neglected to call you while he was gone? There was a horrible feeling in your gut that you couldn’t ignore. 

The realization that there were parts of Lloyd that you were completely closed off from hit like a slap in the face. There were sides to him you’d never seen. He had a past that transcended the three years you’d shared. Of course that was normal, but the utter lack of awareness you had of Lloyd’s past wasn’t normal at all. If you knew who Josephine was, maybe these bookmarks wouldn’t make your heart slam against your rib cage. You’d know if she were a matronly ex-neighbor or an ex-girlfriend. That was something you ought to know, and the fact that you didn’t have a clue made your stomach churn. It seemed that beneath the veneer of trust you had in Lloyd there was an abyss of uncertainty. While your friendship had been built on healthy habits, it was painfully obvious that your romance lacked the same sturdiness. The dawning awareness that all it took was three flimsy bookmarks to fracture your relationship burned. 

You took a deep breath and tucked the floral bookmarks into the envelope and returned it to the same pocket. Then you began methodically returning all the items back to their original position, careful to order them exactly how you’d found them. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

A strange chemical scent hung in the air. Lloyd wrinkled his nose and swallowed, grimacing at the bitter taste of rotten eggs. He stood with Zach at the chain link fence that sealed off Copper Ridge from the rest of the world, looking up at the double rows of twelve-foot high razor wire topped fencing. The sight reminded him of prison.

Decorating the fence were brightly colored posters signaling danger lay ahead. 

Zach coughed into his elbow. “This place smells like my grandmother’s garden, but way, way, worse.”

“What?” Lloyd asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Her garden plot had alkaline soil, so she treated it with Lime-Sulfur every spring.” Zach coughed again, then examined the warning posters. “Arsenic, sulfur, lead, benzene, radiation… What did they do? Nuke this place?” 

“That probably would’ve done less environmental damage.”

“Check those security cameras,” Zach said, tilting his chin at the gate post. 

“We can assume the killer isn’t just driving up to the main gate.”

“Given what they’re containing up here, those cameras probably aren’t new.”

“He must have a more discrete method of accessing the site,” Lloyd agreed.

“So, we’re hiking the perimeter?”

“It’s due diligence. The three bodies we have prove that we’re looking for an experienced hiker who isn’t afraid of moving his victims over rough terrain.” 

“The perimeter is thirteen miles and the sun’s about to go down.”

“Got an extra flashlight?” 

Zach smirked, and quipped, “one is none.” 

Their flashlight beams were necessary under the thick canopy of vegetation, even with the sun still shining overhead. The trees cast long shadows and stretched their fingers across the forest floor. Recently fallen leaves squished under their feet as they followed the fence line, still too wet to crunch. Crisp air whipped against his neck and Lloyd flipped up the collar of his jacket. 

“I hope Princess doesn’t intend on letting your genes into her bloodline. Not after this.”

“Shut up,” Lloyd muttered.

Zach snickered. “Touched a nerve, eh?”

“You’re getting exposed to this shit right along with me, asshole.” 

“Not really. I had a procedure in the 90s to ensure none of my swimmers were medal contenders.” 

“For the love of all that is holy, please shut up.” 

“Why didn’t you bother with a vasectomy? Nervous about someone poking around down there?” Zach asked.

“Getting clipped has never been on my agenda.” 

Zach stopped abruptly. “You want kids? Really?” 

“Fuck no! You of all people get why.”

“I do. Hence, the vasectomy I got at twenty.”

“I don’t want kids,” Lloyd stated.

“Your actions say otherwise,” Zach said. 

“No, they don’t. All my actions say is… Why are we having this conversation?”

“What about Princess?”

“What about her?”

“Does she want kids?” Zach asked.

“How should I know?!”

“You’re dating her.”

“This is what you want to talk about right now?” Lloyd demanded.

“Does she?”

“Come on, we’re in the middle of something. Now isn’t the time.”

“What are your intentions towards Princess in the long term?” 

“Zach, are you giving me the shovel talk?”

“Why would I bother digging a grave when I know this place exists? Answer the question. Where is this thing with Princess going? Are you serious about her?” 

“She’s important to me, of course I’m serious.”

The blond man’s eyes sharpened. “Serious is different than being serious about her. Are you going to move in together? Get married?” 

“Move in where? The townhouse? Her place? She was nearly strangled in my backyard and Aiden planted a camera at her apartment.” 

“Fine, sell both places, combine funds and get a house with a yard for the kids. I’m in Thursday night golf league with a couple realtors. You want me to hook you up?” 

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Nope,” Zach agreed cheerfully. “Look, the past three months are the happiest I’ve ever seen you. Princess, too. But I also know your track record with relationships so I need to know that you’ve got your head screwed on straight when it comes to her.” 

“I appreciate that,” Lloyd said. 

“Good. When are you going to talk to her about moving in together?”

“Have you always been this pushy?” 

“That’s not an answer.”

“I don’t know, damn it!” 

“You’ve been dating for three months. Figure it out,” Zach said. 

Lloyd sighed. “Three months isn’t very long.” 

“Sure, but the math is different for you two. You were friends first.” 

“She’s my best friend. I don’t want to see her hurt. Not by a stalker, or anything else.” 

“Look, Lloyd, Princess is a good friend to me, too. I don’t want to see her hurt either. She’s going to need a commitment from you soon and what I’m trying to ask is this: how close are you to giving her that?”

“You know my track record with relationships,” Lloyd deflected. 

“I also know your track record with Princess. You’ve never disappointed her before and I’d prefer not to see you screw that up.” 

“I care about her, Zach. More than I’ve ever cared about anyone, and I don’t want to lose her or hurt her.” 

“But you’re afraid you will.” 

“My issues with women are legendary.”  

Zach snorted. “Let’s not pretend they’re just with women. You’ve got issues with everything.” 

“I’m not the white picket fence happily ever after type of guy.” 

Silence descended, lingering in the air, as if Zach was waiting for Lloyd to continue. He gritted his teeth and held his peace, refusing to add fuel to the conversation. 

“Figure it out, man. Lay your cards on the table soon, because Princess deserves to be with someone who’s all in.” 

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but-”

“What? You’re waiting for the right time to make up a bullshit excuse and end things with her? Once we catch her stalker, and we will, you can’t just turn around and break her heart-”

“Shut up.”

Zach sneered. “Like hell I will. Don’t tell me-”

Lloyd grabbed the Texan by the collar and covered his mouth, silencing him. 

“Shut up and listen, damn it!” 

Zach froze, alertness sweeping over him in an instant. They waited, silent. From somewhere ahead of them in the woods came a rustling sound. 

“You heard that?” Lloyd murmured. 

“Yeah.” 

Lloyd reached into his jacket and pulled out a Glock 19 while Zach took a .38 pistol from his boot. The gun clicked as Zach chambered a bullet.

“Turn off your flashlight,” Zach whispered. 

From ahead there was a flurry of rustling accompanied by the sounds of breaking twigs and branches. 

“An animal wouldn’t make that much noise,” Lloyd muttered. 

“Whatever it is, we’re not alone out here.” 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

You struggled to focus on the computer screen. It was 10:30 and your eyes stung from too much screen time. Blinking against the dryness, you watched the rapidly moving footage flashing on the monitor. You’d shut off the lights in the office and re-played Nguyen’s interview at 4 times the normal speed. The rapid fire images helped to exaggerate changes in body language, which was what you’d decided to focus on. 

After attempting Lloyd’s technique of listening to the interview without visuals, you’d come to your senses and realized that while Lloyd could listen more accurately than anyone you’d ever met, you needed visuals, especially body language. Therefore, you turned off the audio and sped up the footage, watching Nguyen speak, noting his facial expressions and movements. 

Your eyes watered in protest at the excessive amount of blue light they were enduring and you squeezed them shut.

When they opened again, the laptop screen wasn’t as bright. You tapped the trackpad and the screen brightened. The laptop was plugged into the wall socket next to the desk. You leaned down and double checked the connection, then looked at the icon menu on the bottom right corner of the screen. The battery was at fifty percent and the plugged-in symbol was conspicuously absent. Your eyes darted to the digital clock on the wall and found its dial frozen, displaying the time as 12:00 AM.

Your stomach dropped. 

No electricity. Shit. How long? You had no illusions that the source of the electrical disruption was anything other than man-made. There was no heat wave, thunderstorm, or high winds. You moved to the window and peaked through the blinds to see that the lights were still functioning in the shopping mall. Zach’s suite appeared to be the only one without electricity. 

You grabbed for your phone, only to find that the spot where it had been was bare. Goosebumps broke out on your skin. The room was eerily silent. Your heart raced as you scanned the deep shadows and debated whether to run or scream.

“Sorry to drop by after visiting hours.”

The voice from the darkness was calm, almost conversational, but laced with an undercurrent of humor that was more terrifying than malice. You lurched back, eyes focused on the barely discernible silhouette of a man standing in the corner of the room. 

“Who are you?” you gasped, the catch in your breath turning your voice into a whisper.

The figure moved and you lept backwards, then screamed when your back slammed into the solid barrier of the wall. A man stepped out of the shadows, into the pool of light from the east window. He had sandy blond hair and cerulean eyes. Something about him triggered a wave of recognition, but you struggled to place him in your memory. 

“Hello, Princess.”

Your muscles bunched and your nostrils flared at his casual use of your nickname. The man raised his hands in surrender. Despite his overture of peace, you didn’t relax. 

“My name is Court Gentry. We met briefly in Singapore.” 

“When and where?” you challenged.

“The casino bar. It was your birthday.” 

The memory came flooding back. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you. Alone.”

Hair rose on the back of your neck, but you defiantly tilted your chin. 

“I know Lloyd,” Court said, taking your lack of response for confusion.

“Yeah, I’m aware. Why are you here?”

“Because Lloyd refused to help me.”

“Sorry?” 

“I need someone to help me get into Bishop & Howard,” Court said.

“By ‘get in,’ I’m going to assume you actually mean ‘break in.’”

Court’s lips twitched into a split second smile that faded into seriousness.

“There’s a spy in the firm,” he said. 

“And you know this, how?”

“I keep tabs on Lloyd. I assume you’re aware of why?” 

“Mmmhmm.”

“A few months ago I was on a job and… came into possession of a laptop. There was a reference to Bishop & Howard on the contents of that device, so I followed up. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I’d uncovered a plot to steal top secret information from the U.S. military.” 

“You thought Lloyd was behind it, didn’t you?”

Court inclined his head, conceding the point. “It wouldn’t be the first time he betrayed his country, Princess.” 

Your eyes narrowed. “That’s why you were in Singapore.” 

“Yes. Events in D.C. from the law firm proved Lloyd innocent, so I approached him and asked for help. His answer was a very vehement ‘no.’” 

“He doesn’t do that sort of thing anymore.” 

Court nodded. “But that puts me in a bind, because the spy is making his final transmission tonight and I need someone to help me get past security. That’s all I’m asking, Princess. If you can get me to the sixth floor of the firm-”

“Bishop is the spy?!”

“No. He’s not behind this. I already cleared him as a suspect.”

“Executives and administration are the only departments on the sixth floor. What kind of government secrets would they keep up there?”

“There’s another department on the sixth floor,” Court said. “Patents.” 

“Right. I knew that, but there’s only like five people in the patent department. They keep to themselves and everyone else kind of forgets they exist.”

“Will you help me?” Court asked.

“What, exactly, am I helping you with? You never told me what these secrets I’m supposed to be protecting were.” 

The blond man studied you, weighing his words, before he spoke. 

“It’s a Department of Defense project called Project Prometheus. Whenever the government enlists private groups to develop top secret technology, they allow them to file patents on their inventions with a private firm. Only once the technology is de-classified do the patents become public record.” 

“What’s Project Prometheus?” 

Court sighed. “If I tell you, will you help me?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Project Prometheus is next generation jet fuel. It’s designed to power the upcoming F-37 Valkyrie fighter planes. The spy at B&H already sent information on the chemical structure of the fuel and how to synthesize it. All that’s left for him to transmit is the engineering specs of the jet’s fuel system.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I think the cat’s already out of the bag if they have all that.” 

“It’d be more accurate to say that they have the cat, but no bag. Without the right bag to put the cat in… ka-boom,” Court said, illustrating an explosion with his hands. 

“Why are you reaching out to me now?”

“Because the spy contacted his handler today to let him know that he’d be sending the rest of the documents at midnight tonight.” 

“All I would have to do is get you past security?”

“You have access to the sixth floor,” Court said.

“What about the security around the patent department? I’ve seen their door. It looks like Fort Knox.”

“Doors, plural. I have a plan for that. All we need to do is get in, set up some equipment and hole up in your office while we wait for the spy to show.”

“Are you going to turn him in or capture him?”

“My goal tonight is only to block his transmission and learn his identity. Once I have that, I’ll go to the FBI. Confronting him on my own would be counterproductive. If the authorities can get him to flip on the Chinese, that would be the best outcome.” 

Lloyd would kill you for even considering this, but at the same time, you felt compelled to help Court. He’d go after the spy with or without you and his chances of success were a lot higher if you went along.

“Okay. I’ll help you.” 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Next - Chapter XXVII

- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Masterlist

Tag List:

@denisemarieangelina @before-we-get-started @buckysteveloki-me @patzammit @badassbaker @meetmeatyourworst @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @thiskindahotkindamusic @jesgisborne @charmingprincess @amiets2 @seitmai @elle14-blog1 @chaoticsteverogers @kaleidoscopepov @fangirl-and-doctor-help @terry2227 @jesevans @mjey12 @openup-yourmind @kandierteveilchen @adoreyouusugar @ultrasilentwhispers @awkwardgiraffe726 @pono-pura-vida @mysweetlittledesire @maylaysia109 @liecastillo @unluckyevans @marantha @literaturelove @babyevansblog @lizzzaaaaaaaaaaa @thegirlnextdoorssister @ladygrey03 @cynic-spirit @rosedpetal @roseeatta @pensieve-foryour-thoughts @jeremyrennermakesmesmile @bambamwolf87 @michalkasimp @namelesssav @yiiiikesmish @lavenderx0 @calwitch @peachiestevie @texmexdarling @here4thefanfics @rogersbarber @spikeluv84 @dear-fifi @crayongirl-linz @bigcreatorwombatdreamer @andydrysdalerogers @mrsbarnes32557038

[kyokosasagawa]

I started writing "4 srs" this month and I like how free and accessible writing is, so I'm recommending free software I've experimented with that might help people who want to get into the hobby!

“Specifically Created for Writing Stories”

-------------------------------

Manuskript – Story organizer / word processor. Has an outliner and index card function, along with distraction free mode. Lets you switch between different templates such as a non-fiction mode or a short story.

Bibisco – Novel writing software that includes writing goals, world-building, distraction free mode, and a timeline.

“I Just Want to Write”

---------------------------

LibreOffice – Microsoft 365 alternative, but free! LibreOffice Writer is what I wrote this tumblr post in before I posted it. Also if you copy & paste the text into the Rich Text Editor on AO3, it seems that it actually converts it properly. Nice! No need for scripts.

Note-Taking

-------------------------------

Zim Wiki - note taking application that is very, very lightweight (1.1mb). It functions with a tree structure, so I’d personally recommend it for world-building and character bios. There are built-in plugins that also turn it into a good software for task management (it even has a article on how to use it for GTD) and journalling. See also: CherryTree (2mb), which is a more outdated-looking app, but functions similarly.

Obsidian MD – The Big Boy. markdown note editor that has been adopted by personal knowledge management fans---if it doesn’t do something you want it to do, just look in the community plugins to see if someone has already done it. Some unique non-word processing related usages I’ve found is the ability to create a table of contents dashboard, a image gallery for images, embedding youtube videos and timestamping notes, so forth.

Logseq – A bullet point based markdown note editor that also has PDF annotations, Zotero integration, flashcard creation, and whiteboards. Best used for outlining projects due to the bullet point structure.

Joplin – A modern app comparable to Zim Wiki, it’s basically just a note-taking software that uses folders and tags to sort easier. Looks prettier than Zim Wiki and Cherry Tree

Notion – An online-only website that allows usage of different database types. Free for personal use. Note: I dislike the AI updates that have been making the app lag more. I prefer the others on this list.

Mind Maps

-------------------------------

Freeplane – So much goddamn features, including a ton of add-ons. Looks somewhat ugly, but it works for anyone willing to spend a while learning how to use it.

Mermaid – Text-based diagram creator. Can be used in apps like Joplin, Notion, and Obsidian.

Obsidian’s Canvas – A core plugin for Obsidian, it deserves its own mention in that it allows you to create embedded notes of the mindmap nodes. Thus, if you want to create a 20-page long note and have it minimized to the size of a penny on the mindmap, you could.

Other Things That Might Be Of Interest

Syncthing - A free software that allows you to sync between two or more computers. Have a desktop but also laze around on a laptop in bed, coming up with ideas?? This is your buddy if you don't want to use a online software.

[drwannabebigger]

AI for Workout Planning

I've been changing up my workouts recently, and I've stumbled upon a helpful way to use AI. Wanted to share it with you guys. I watch a lot of workout videos on youtube and I'll oven bookmark ones that I think would be good to try myself. Historically I'll have to go back, rewatch the video, and take notes of exercises, order, and form techniques. I save the notes on my phone and refer to it during my workout at the gym.

Here's how to use AI to make this go faster.

Open the video in youtube. For example, I've found Eric Janicki's training videos to be particularly insightful recently, so here's his video evaluating and ranking 20 different back exercises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aetDaN5ZJLc

Save the transcript. This takes a couple steps:

Click on "...more" In the information box below the video. This expands the info box to show notes, links, "chapters" of the video, and a link to get the transcript

Click on "Show transcript". The transcript will appear to the right of the video in a box annotated with video timestamps

Click on the three vertical dots and select "Toggle timestamps". This updates the transcript to be just text

3. Copy all the text in the transcript and paste into a text file on your computer/phone. I saved this one as "EJ back exercise rankings.txt"

4. Open your favorite AI (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, etc; everyone I've tried can do what is needed).

5. Ask the AI to convert the transcript into a table. Here's the prompt I use: "Hi, please convert this transcript into a table containing exercises names, ratings, order in transcript, and brief comments."

6. Voilà, the AI parses the transcript into a table.

7. Save the table on your phone for reference at the gym. The easiest thing for me is to save it to a Google Spreadsheet.

8. Other tips

For a rating video like this, I'll sort by the "Ratings" column and can focus on the top-ranked exercises

Make sure to save the link to the video along with the table. Sometimes I'll be at the gym and can't recall what the form for a particular exercise is. Having the link handy saves time.

Make sure your table includes the order in which the exercise appears in the video. This also saves time in the gym when you're trying to look up a particular exercise within the video.

Let me know what you think, and please pass along any AI tips you find useful for planning your own workouts.

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 8🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Fracas at the Frostyfaire Folk Festival

Timestamp: 34:54

Video Length: 4min. & 45sec.

Research into Cassandra and Ruvina + Learning about Oblivati Mori (Pt.1 | ‣Pt.2 | Pt.3)

Fig: "Do you want a Bardic?"

Fabian: "I can... Hey, The Ball? Let me help."

Riz: : "Okay, yeah. It's just-"

Gorgug: "Can I have a Bardic?"

Riz: "It's just the dust mites."

Fig: "Do you want some help?"

Riz: "I'm a little worried about the dust mites!" 😭✋ (Murph's CONCERNED FACE! 😭✋)

Fig: "Here!" *starts to play* 😭✋

Riz: "Oh no! It's okay!" 😭✋

Emily: "If you see me wink, you get a Bardic." (😭😭😭😭✋✋✋✋)

Murph: Okay, okay. (*blocking Emily's winks with his hands*! 😭✋)

Lou: "Can my Bardic just be that I run screen?" 😭✋

Fabian: "No, no, look at me. No!"

Emily: "Don't you want it? Don't you want it?" (😭😭😭😭)

Murph: "Okay, right off the bat, dirty 20. Should I throw this on there and try to-"

Emily: "Yeah!"

Siobhan: "why not?!"

Lou: "Come on, baby. Let's cook."

Murph: "26."

Lou: "We stay eatin'!"

Brennan: "Hell yes."

Ally: "A feast."

Murph: "So afraid of dust mites. Are there..." 😭✋

Brennan: "So I think you're going through Rana's stuff, which is all the actual, the poetic... She was the cleric of the group, right? And you're going through Cormyr's stuff. Cormyr was a sorcerer, but you actually see, for someone that was innately magical, Cormyr had very meticulous notes, beautiful script, and has something written out which is a long... You can tell it's a copying of another text. As you arrive at it, it's basically, he wrote a glossary literally for the possibility that they would all die on this mission, and another group of adventurers would find this stuff and could pick up where they left off."

Emily: "We should remember to do that in the future." 😭😭😭✋✋✋

Siobhan: "Put it on the board. Put it on the board!"

Brennan: "You find-"

Gorgug: "A for Adaine."

Brennan: "You find-"

Adaine: "That's my name! What?"

Fig: "I think it's the information, not us." 😭✋

Gorgug: "Oh, well, how holistic is it?"

Adaine: "Catch up. Stop thinking about-[inaudible]"

Riz: "I texted you this stuff, man!" 😭✋

Gorgug: "Got it." 💀💀

Brennan: "What you see is, there is the beginning of a text that is written- and I think that... Adaine, go ahead and give me one more- give me actually, an Arcana, 'cause you rolled History. Give me an Arcana real quick."

Siobhan: "I did roll History...23."

Lou: "Sexy." 😂💀

Brennan: "You are able to point out- you know that what you're looking at is not a spell. But Adaine, you're familiar that there's lots of kinds of magical writing that are not spells. There's ways of annotating things that are magical laws or precepts, and what you are seeing here is a dually arcane and religious axiom of magical law of Spyre. And what you see is it says, "Obliviati Mori."

Emily: "Remember you will die? Or forget you will die?!" (👀👀)

Brennan: "Clerics call it Obliviati Mori, but you see that as an arcane rule, it is called the Law of Theothanatic Silence."

Siobhan: "So that's when a god dies, you forget their name."

Brennan: "Yes. But you see that he's writing down all the mortal stuff you already know. When a god dies, you forget their name. When a god dies, they're scrubbed from existence. When a god dies, da da da da da. But you guys also know that for all that being said, 'Yes!' is dead because nobody believes in it, but people remember 'Yes!', right?"

Siobhan: "Oh, we all remember 'Yes!'." 😭✋

Brennan: "You all remember 'Yes!'."

Zac: "I'll never forget that thing."

Siobhan: "They had a cogent philosophy that we comprehended deeply."

Ally: "Maybe we should forget, though." (😭😭✋✋)

Fig: "Just to be clear, when I was talking about becoming a paladin, it was for 'Yes!'." (😭😭✋✋)

Kristen: "Wait, what? No, no!" 😭✋

Adaine: "Wait, for 'Yes!' or for 'Yes??'" 💀💀💀

Zac: "I'll never forget that thing sliding out of-" 😭✋

Ally: "Yeah, sliding out of that hole." 😭✋

Siobhan: "Just so wet."

Murph: "That thing getting pooped out of space." 😭😭✋✋

Brennan: "Basically, there is an intense series of rules and restrictions, but you see this rule doesn't apply to mortals. It applies to the gods."

Siobhan: "Oh! So the gods also forget the name?!"

Brennan: "They do not."

Siobhan: "Oh! And that's why we remember Yes!, 'cause we're all gods!" (😂💀 IMAGINE! 😂💀)

Brennan: "You're all gods! Obliviati Mori is a precept that binds deities to not evangelize or even speak of fallen deities to mortals. In other words, it's written out as a precept of basically like, if a god succumbs to some form of death, they become archfey, they become a demon or a celestial rather than a full deity, if they only have a few dozen followers and another god kills them and they don't have the strength to withstand that, or if literally, in the most extreme cases, their name is fully forgotten, other deities are not allowed to effectively remind mortals of their existence."

Siobhan: "So does that mean that the person who wrote the note that is supposed to be from Lucy was actually a god?"

Brennan: "It makes it very unclear who could have written that. Because you're in this weird position where you guys can all write Yes!, you can write Cassandra. This god is one whose name has actually been forgotten or scrubbed by every single mortal."

[cannoli-reader]

Watching the Wheel of Time show, Season 2, episode 6

Originally posted on readandfindout.com on 9/23/2023

1:16 I burst out laughing. Not because it’s happening to Egwene. Slavery, and especially via the violation of one’s personal agency by something as invasive as the a’dam, transcends personal dislike. I am Team Egwene when it comes to her coping with Seanchan captivity. But what the heck were they thinking?

First of all, dragging people is not easy. I am the eldest child of seven. I have experience in this regard. And yet, this is an Empire of experienced slavers, whose most important characteristic ITB is not slavery, but organization and institutional adaptation. The Seanchan learn and adapt and do so on a large scale, surprisingly quickly. They would have figured out a long time ago that the best way to transport a reluctant captive is not by dragging them. Also, a damane is very valuable. You don’t want to damage it.

And, of course, they can compel pain and do so with new damane in order to make them understand the need for compliance. They would be brain-tazing her to make her walk.

1:22 How did they make her flip over, by tugging on a chain to her neck? That’s not how you physics or anatomy.

1:27 That is a solid collar, not a noose. It would not have been choking her, especially with all the vocalizing she has been doing until now. The rule of thumb is that if you can complain about being choked, you are not being choked seriously.

1:43 Between Lanfear in the dream sequence and Darth Bangs in Ahsoka, I have to ask, are raccoon eyes the new symbol of preternatural power? Did anyone tell the show runners that unlike Lanfear or Darth Bangs, or Mads Mikkelson & buddies, sul’dam are not tapping into an objectively evil energy source?

2:41 No Seanchan believes in cultivating a friendship between sul’dam and damane, because damane are not people. What’s more, the power imbalance and compulsory aspects of the relationship make friendship a hypocrisy. Renna was many things, but not a hypocrite. She did believe in being indulgent with her damane, but as to an obedient pet.

I think the show is more about demonizing the Seanchan and sul’dam, than developing real characters or telling a coherent story. Because they are stunning and brave in their defiant opposition to an institution that no white people anywhere, or primary speakers of the a decent language actually support, and no non-shithole countries actually practice.

3:35 Why are all rooms on this show so huge? Why is the kennel of a single damane so big? Back in the Tower, it took me a couple of episodes to realize that Liandrin was not keeping Mat locked up in her own bedroom, but a prison cell, because the size made me think the former. The hotel room a couple of indigent farmboys could afford in Tar Valon, after a month of travel depleting their purses (and no entertainment skills to replenish them) was cavernous (and had a balcony!). The novices’ quarters in the Tower look to have room to practice gymnastics.

5:18 Are we supposed to take her even a little bit seriously? I, personally, do not have any sort of bondage fetish, corsets and collars and leather and whatnot don’t do anything for me (also the whole goth thing, which to me seems to generally be a personal statement rejecting objective conventional standards of beauty, because the people in question cannot meet them), so maybe I am missing something here? That light, I should also add, does nothing for her looks, seriously calling into question her casting as impossibly beautiful.

Also the cut of her … dress … for lack of a better word, makes it look like she, in WoT parlance, does not have lot to fold her arms over?

5:34 Because no one trusts clowns, Lanfear.

For the record, Lanfear is ITB, objectively, a clown and an idiot. The other Forsaken do not take her seriously, except perhaps the equally pathetic Semirhage, and everyone she tries to manipulate in the books blows her off and runs their own game, generally to her detriment. I have yet to see any evidence that the writers of this show are aware of that, since the first time her name was spoken, it was in close proximity to a description of her as the most dangerous of the Forsaken. Which she sort of is, only in the sense of her generally unhinged mentality, not because of any level of competence.

5:54 Stop giving us wind sounds in the background, while she is wearing something that looks like she should be about to take off flying like Sally Field as a nun.

6:07 Lews Therin was pushing people away to protect those he loved in his last life? Why? How? And since the only thing we know about his relationships with the people in his life was that he killed every single one of them … wouldn’t that statement be the most credibility-damaging thing she could say for both the audience and a person in the Third Age? Like, the guy’s name is Kinslayer. There is a mountain range named after him. Everyone should automatically know that he killed family members, suggesting either that he was right to push them away, or that Lanfear is talking out of her ass. Which for all I know, she has a special part of the dress for that purpose.

6:42 ITB, Moiraine has basically done nothing but try to deceive or control Rand since they met. Show!Moiraine, not so much. Or at least to the point that her methods of control are not tremendously obvious, as they were to Rand in EotW. Moiraine told him he was the Dragon Reborn and rubbed his nose in it, and did it in such a way as to catch him off guard. On the show, Rand went to her with the news that he was the Dragon Reborn and could channel, and she acceded to his request to let everyone believe he was dead. She Healed Tam unasked and told the gang straight out that she was looking for the Dragon Reborn and it could be one of the kids in town. She told him, honestly, as the viewers know and Rand has no reason to doubt (recall his brilliant line “nothing an Aes Sedai says is optional” ) about all the ramifications and the potential danger of the plan to go to the Eye of the World. She was not the one to lead the gang into Shadar Logoth, nor did she give them roofie trackers. She saved Rand from a sexual partner who was deceiving him as to her identity and nature.

7:27 He does not actually want to work with you, Lanfear! He just presented a condition for you to earn his trust! This is just more of the show’s typical characters talking past one another, instead of having a conversation. Now, it is not out of character for book!Lanfear to ignore what he is saying and only hear what she wants and have the conversation that matches her view of reality, but even if the writers are aware of it, they have botched so many other conversations that this one is a case of a stopped clock being right twice a day, rather than actual characterization.

7:58 Why is he acceding her condition? First of all, trying to isolate someone and make them dependent on you is the mark of an untrustworthy person who likely does not have your best interests at heart (of course, in the books, that was much more Moiraine’s MO than Lanfear’s). Secondly, it’s just sending a message that he can be manipulated. Rand ITB did not let Lanfear know that he cared about anyone, specifically to prevent her targeting them. He would cite their utility or feign indifference. He did NOT respond to threats toward them. Also, it is supporting her claim that he always tries to push people away to protect them. Third, the best way to handle two persons of dubious trustworthiness, and competing agendas, is to play them off each other. Bounce what Lanfear says off Moiraine and vice versa, which is something Rand understood long before he even realized he could channel (so many people discussing the first season of the show made a big deal about aging the characters up and also their having sex lives as evidence of that maturity, but they are so much less mature or sophisticated in so many ways than the book versions, that I don’t see the point) Finally, the only way to protect Moiraine at all for certain is to stick close to her.

8:13 Setting aside Moiraine’s motives, I would have serious questions about how she moved Logain. See, in the books, Rand knew she was in cahoots with Siuan. He’s never even seen the Amyrlin on the show.

8:46 I can barely see anything in this episode not set in a dream desert. I can barely see that Mat is reacting to stuff and not what he is reacting to.

9:01 Min looks like Prax Meng from The Expanse. Which is kind of ironic, because he was a male character, whose parents didn’t know that Praxidice was a female name.

What should her new name be, Prax Min, or Meng Farshaw?

10:06 We are 14 episodes and a 1.75 seasons into the show before we learn that A. Two Rivers Wisdoms have a raiment of office, B. Nynaeve has been wearing it this whole time and C. the White Tower let her keep the belt during her training? This is not how you indoctrinate people and the books made a point, for the stupid among us, in the case of Nynaeve in particular, of showing the Aes Sedai denigrating her skills and other artefacts of her experience as a Wisdom, to drive home that none of that matters next to her studies in the Tower. Part of Nynaeve’s identity conflict was holding onto her own identity in the face of the Tower’s efforts to fit her into their own mold.

10:45 Really, Elayne? Liandrin broke “every single one” of the Three Oaths? Tell us please what weapon she made for one man to kill another? What word did we ever hear her speak that is not true, for that matter? I am legit asking that latter one, because Book!Liandrin was very careful to adhere to the letter of the Oath until her allegiance was exposed. She did so with Amalisa, and when inducing the girls to leave with her, and I don’t feel like going back to check all her show!dialogue to see if it was technically true. Also, we don’t know of her even breaking the Oath against using the Power as a weapon, because she did the same thing to Nynaeve in the kitchen as a lesson, which is more or less transposing what Siuan did to her ITB. So either they have weird ideas about what constitutes a weapon, or Nynaeve is an idiot for not catching it the first time.

11:53 So Aes Sedai don’t ward their dreams. They are probably going to have to explain at some point why the Shadow doesn’t take advantage of that …

12:04 “You hate men” says Lanfear to a woman in a room whose only other occupant is the only known person that woman loves. And is a man. The question is why Liandrin serves a man, when she hates men … which makes no sense, because serving is not loving, and Darkfriends serve the Dark One, with Ishamael as a mere intermediary. And they do it for power or immortality and like most people, don’t really give a shit where the power or immortality comes from if they can actually get it. Also, the Shadow is not big on free consent or willing service, so it’s not like quitting at the sight of the boss’ facial hair is an option.

12:18 Aludran might be a legit Taraboner name, since one of the most important Taraboner characters is Aludra.

13:18 What kind of a world IS this?! Wheel of Time is a world where the only women forced to marry anyone are those the Tower wants to use for some purpose. The most visibly patriarchal Borderland culture considers an 18-year-old woman too young to marry without her mother’s permission. There is not the slightest evidence of prepubescent girls being forced into marriage! This is a world where ruthless Darkfriend war criminals legitimately deplore rape, where teenage males consider practical skills to be of comparable importance to physical beauty among the appeal of a woman, there is no such thing as prostitution, and marriage as an institution is entirely under the control of women wherever the subject comes up.

What is the point of taking a feminist approach to WoT if they are going to undermine the ways the setting is under female influence at every turn?

13:27 “You swore your oaths to the Dark, not to Ishamael” says the woman who questioned why Liandrin served Ishamael. First of all, until very recently, Ishamael was the only path to serving “the Dark.” Which sounds utterly stupid, for the record. It’s the Shadow or the Dark One, not “the Dark”.

Secondly, the notion that service to their side encompasses something higher than obedience to the Forsaken, is not a point any one of them has an interest in making.

Also, let’s take a look at Lanfear’s recruitment pitch. “You don’t just serve Ishamael, you serve the Shadow as a whole, and there are many paths to walk through the night. You can choose whether to serve the guy who preserved your son’s life or me, who killed him.” I thought she was going to heal Aludran to alleviate his pain to reinforce her point about men sucking and showing how she is a more beneficial mistress. Because I have a functioning brain and a modicum of human empathy. Lanfear was so solipsistic ITB that she had difficulty persuading or manipulating people, but she was miles ahead of this moron.

14:50 Why is this the first demonstration of Loial’s abilities? I thought they had forgotten it. The Seanchan are bringing out the best in their slaves! Was this written by a Florida textbook author?

15:16 Suroth is also being very egalitarian with her slaves, now that we established in a prior episode the significance of speaking to people directly. Also, ITB she was a competent villain. This one we have only seen getting humiliated by Turak and now acting like a twit. Are we really supposed to be afraid of her or her capacity to oppose the heroes?

15:45 How does Loial always find Two Rivers women? How on earth would they have any idea she was a captive? Why would Ingtar, if he is remotely the same person as ITB, give the slightest shit about Egwene, much less follow through on Loial’s request to find her? “Sorry, no luck there, let’s concentrate on our universe’s equivalent of the Holy Grail for the time being,” is what he would and should be saying, after having made only the most desultory, if that, attempt at locating her. Also, when you are enslaved and trying to escape with the Holy Grail equivalent prize, every little thing you do to break cover, or draw attention to yourself, like poking your nose into damane matters, has to be weighed against your chances of succeeding at the important thing. This is not like Rand’s and Ingtar’s argument ITB, where they were free, armed and mobile.

It's also worth noting that the Seanchan honor was about status among the aristocracy. Their lack of conventional security methods spoke to the extreme level of control they had, and the power at their disposal to rectify breeches. They could let civilians come and go in their conquered lands, because it upheld their image and because people posed no threat. They have the most elaborate intelligence and police apparatus, and a draconian system of punishment to deter transgressions, which is why certain things appear lightly guarded to the eyes of wetlanders. They can catch lawbreakers more effectively and efficiently than preventing crime in the first place. They don't skimp on guards because of their honor. Of course, on TV, honor is dumb and makes you vulnerable to smart people.

16:14 The debate about Egwene could have been much better handled by including the point that a channeler could be very useful in effecting their escape with the Horn. If you are too dumb to think of that, you could read the books, where Nynaeve uses that as incentive to get Bayle Domon to take them out of Falme. Loial has to be aware that Egwene was part of the force that left a lot of Trolloc carcasses outside Fal Dara, as he was the one who let her and Nynaeve know about the call to arms issued to channelers in the city.

16:19 I thought Ingtar said “they call it the kennels” to humanize him, to show that even though he prioritized the Horn over and above her plight, he was appalled at how the damane are treated, but Loial is responding as if he is arguing that there is no point in trying to rescue her, because if they call the barracks a kennel, it must mean the residents are broken to the leash.

And of course, he has to praise her to the skies, because Egwene. First, why would Loial call her sweet, when most of what he witnessed were arguments where she was putting down her fellow villagers or complaining that they don't cook for her? Second, ITB, her very close friends, who had spent far more time in her company than Loial, were extremely worried about the effect her captivity would have on her, and saw a need to get her out ASAP. Every female character (aside from Nynaeve) on the show is so awesome, so badass, so indestructible that there cannot be any real stakes in threats like this, because she is just too awesome to be beaten, so there is no real urgency.

16:44 This better be a dream, or the whole thing is bullshit. Either the a’dam is pathetic or Egwene’s strength of will has been taken up to Mary Sue levels.

16:51 It kind of says something about the show that the better of two options to expect is extreme predictability, rather than outright stupid impossibility.

17:00 The best way forward is for the prior sequence to be what Egwene wanted to do, and now we see the canonical result.

17:09 Okay, apologies, and so forth. But I still stand my ground on the basis of their shitty writing lowering my expectations.

17:50 And the last punch was just stupidity. But I don’t think the writers know that, I think they believe she is being admirable.

19:27 That’s mostly book dialogue, but first Renna talked about Egwene’s strength, then cited her strength in the Power, and then said that the strongest damane are the hardest to break. She makes no distinction between strength in the Power and strength of will or character and thus gives the impression that to whatever degree Egwene manages to hold out from being broken to the leash, it will not be because of any sort of fortitude or moral fiber or sense of will, but by the fortuitous circumstance of being born with a degree of power.

20:28 Even in the closest thing to good light she has been in all episode, I could barely see Egwene’s nosewart, even looking for it. Are they using makeup to minimize it this season? Did Madden have a procedure done?

Come on, Maddy, that was our thing!

20:36 Why did we need to end the scene on such a long exterior shot of the kennels? Why not zoom in through the window to Egwene, after transitioning from Loial & Ingtar discussing where she was, if we need to be able to recognize the kennels from the outside for the rescue attempt?

21:27 So Min is a Darkfriend because she wanted to get rid of her viewings. That’s it. There is no going on with her. She has to die or be an enemy or at least stuck with the status akin to that of Asmodean, always on the periphery, never to be trusted, having to prove her use and value to buy her life anew every day. I don’t care what they call it. She admits to, in her words, making a deal with the Shadow. That’s being a Darkfriend. Period, full stop.

21:46 What makes this a good place to stop? And why phrase it like that, when it gives the impression that Alanna DGAF about anything other than her desire for tea? Which is entirely in keeping with her self-indulgent behavior to date, and in the absence of any knowledge about this random spot in yet another scene in the dark, the only possible interpretation. Edit from the future: Okay, there was a ruined building there, not that you could tell in all the darkness.

21:51 WHY?!?!? Why do they have temples to the Forsaken? What the hell is a Forsaken, anyway? According to a bunch of irrelevant novels, they are Aes Sedai who went over to the Dark One and were his most powerful servants in the War of the Shadow. On the show, the name has only been referenced in respect to their being reverenced by the people of the world, including a Warder, openly in the White Tower, along with the tidbit that they are apparently impossible to kill. There is nothing on the screen to date suggesting they are human beings, instead of spirits or divinities.

22:10 Lan can’t return to the Tower, because the Amyrlin’s banishment applies to him, until his bond with Moiraine is formally removed from the Tower records.

Just

What

I

Fuck it.

This show.

22:48 “Generals in the Dark One’s army” does not clarify the matter of my previous question one bit. And, as is typical for the show, Lan speculates about their repertoire of powers and Ihvon responds by citing their moral threshold or lack thereof, and Alanna, in turn, seems to be excusing them or suggesting that Aes Sedai could stoop as low.

Making a case for moral relativism is a teensy bit problematic in an episode focusing so heavily on the evils the Seanchan inflict on their captives. But it’s also the episode that reveals Min is a Darkfriend, clarifies the terms of Liandrin’s service to the Shadow, and in the barely-covered conflict between arguably the two main characters of the show, calls into question Moiraine’s tactics in handling Rand, and their contribution to the possible rift Lanfear is creating between them.

So Alanna’s line touches on the closest thing to a theme or through-line in this episode. Is her dialogue there to justify Min’s turning to the Shadow to be relieved of her viewings, Liandrin to help her son and Moiraine’s transgressions in dealing with Rand? If an argument can be made for all those things, then too, the same moral principle must be extended to the concerns of the Seanchan in dealing with the Power that Broke the World, and has largely been wielded for evil on the show thus far. Can we blame the Seanchan for preferring to lock the perps up rather than put their faith in something like the White Tower, which teaches girls the so-important skills of filtering water and pervert sex while letting people like Liandrin run around wielding authority and abusing it for the Shadow’s agenda? Whose sole contribution on the show so far to the eternal fight against the Shadow was to ignore the threat to the Blightborder defenses while tossing potential Dragons Reborn into the Eye of the World and hoping that will make the Last Battle go away?

I don’t agree with the Seanchan solution, because I am an unapologetic moral absolutist. But Alanna has been portrayed as a voice of reason here, and she's being all relativist.

22:58 The one canonical instance of Green sisters camping in a tent, in the whole book series, included Alanna, and made a note of them sitting up late outside the tent chatting with their warders every night.

23:25 WTF is this? Lan is not bonded to Alanna, so far as we know. He has sworn no oaths to her, and has just now stated that legally, he is still Moiraine’s warder. So why are they being all menacing about him leaving? Because the way this group has been depicted so far on the show, the strong subtext here is “We might not have got to rape Steppin, but by the Light, you sure as shit are not getting away.”

Actually, I want to restore Lan’s established proficiency by watching him open a can of whoop ass on these tiresome freaks.

23:36 Sigh. Nightmare. Warders’ dreams are also apparently no longer protected. Not that Sanderson remembered this either…

24:41 Wait, is this actually really happening?

25:08 Fuck this shit. Lan would die before admitting that. And a big huge chunk of this is on Moiraine, for all her shenanigans pushing him away for no discernable reason.

26:27 Why would Rand believe for a moment that Lanfear did anything more than dispel an illusion of her own making?

28:45 “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not polite to talk to one woman about another” – a line spoken by the far and away most accommodating of all the women to legitimately love Rand, who usually encourages his relationships with other women. Because anyone with common sense knows you don’t do this. Rand slipped up and drew that comment, because, as he says, he was not thinking of Min as a woman, much less romantic competition for Elayne or Aviendha. For someone who has actually slept with Rand and is openly asserting her romantic interest in him, this is an utterly moronic request or demand. Book!Rand would view this level of desperation as a fatal weakness that could get a woman he cared about killed. He’d pursue the inquiry with affected skepticism, questioning what she just showed him and fishing for more information. Because that’s what we see him do when Lanfear reveals Elayne’s mother’s situation.

I think the writers are so bound and determined to show the male characters as emotional and not 'toxically' masculine that they are going to do so, whether or not it makes the slightest bit of sense.

30:42 Egwene seems to think, on absolutely no basis whatsoever, that the words she is hearing are a damane repeating what her sul’dam as told her, instead of a sul’dam instructing a damane. If she is actually hearing the latter, she could end up in a lot of trouble for trying to encourage the subject of her teaching.

31:39 Why can an Accepted and a novice say this stuff to Aes Sedai? Do the writers think (No) this makes their characters look smarter or more capable to just repeatedly refuse orders like petulant children and the supposed authority figures give way? Book!Nynaeve would “Yes, Aes Sedai/Mother” her to her heart’s content and then figure out a way to do what she needed to anyway.

Also, why would you send a novice and Accepted, who would automatically be suspected as runaways making up wild stories to excuse their transgression, with the news of Liandrin, instead of an Oath-bound sister reporting it herself? And it’s not my book analysis predicting they would be seen as runaways, that is the conclusion that Ryma leapt to on finding them! If she thought they were runaways, why would anyone in Tar Valon think differently?

Also, also, pursuant to my first point, having Ryma believe the truth simply because Our Heroines told her so robs them of development by squandering an opportunity to demonstrate or discover powers of persuasion. Most importantly, it utterly violates the most important themes of the series!

But at least the writers don’t have to work so hard. Not that they had to in the first place, since keeping close to what Jordan already worked out for them would take even less effort.

32:13 How many accomplishments are they going to take from Nynaeve?! Instead of figuring out on her own, with no help, in incredibly adverse circumstances, at great risk to herself and her companion, how to open an a’dam, and then obtaining one to use to infiltrate the kennels, an Aes Sedai Ex Machina just hands her an a’dam in a safehouse she has already prepared and brought them to, after finding them on her own. And not for nothing, but in lab conditions like this, Elayne is the more natural one to figure it out, making Nynaeve’s primary contribution to this part of the story being “I’m not pacing, I’m investigating!”

32:27 If they can speak English, why can’t the write with the actual alphabet? Or just have Moiraine do a voice-over instead of making us read?

32:57 Moiraine has been stilled, she is not shielded, she is not stuck with her bond to Lan on mask. So what does stilling even mean in the arbitrary congruence of show rules for the Power to those of the books? In the books, it means Moiraine is freed of the Three Oaths, and her bond to Lan has been broken with traumatic effects not much less than her death would inflict. Actually, in the books, there are at least two cases of Warders dropping dead when their bonded sister is stilled, and not nearly as many instances of them doing so at her death. For instance, none of the five warders of the sisters who die in the house on Full Moon Street died from the bonds breaking, nor Kairen’s at her murder, but Irgain’s and Martine’s warders died when they were stilled by Rand and burned out, respectively.

So what does being stilled mean for Moriaine? How is this going to be fixed, to wrench her plot closer to the real story? (especially since it seems that they are ignoring what actually happened in Season One, and basing this season’s scripts on the events of Eye of the World instead, on more than one occasion) Because Nynaeve only figured out how to Heal severing after a lot of essential build up, ITB, and not until well after Moiraine had become irrelevant to the plot.

33:11 Buttering both sides of the bread just makes a mess! How are you supposed to pick up a sandwich where you do that? And for the record, the sandwich was named after a man who was born in 1719. Well, after any equivalent time period in this world. Why did we think it would be cute to have this overgrown child bringing Moiraine a sandwich and referencing his old habit of doing so? What does this do for anything other than forcing their Moiraine slice-of-life backstory fan-fic down our throats? It’s not going make the reveal of him being a Darkfriend more shocking, if that’s the way they go, nor make us regret his death in the Cairhien civil war that may or may not break out (the same political pressures would seem to be in place). The show hasn’t exactly made me invested in seeing what sort of role he plays in the politics of the series going forward, either.

We had interminable and numerous scenes of Moiraine being cold and dismissive toward Lan earlier in the season. And if we were going to give a damn about her relationship to anyone, it would be him. This weenie with a 1920s women’s haircut doesn’t come close.

34:16 Moiraine was busy! Also, sending word to the White Tower does not mean she got it! Remember, show, because I do, that you said she was never in the White Tower! Home was her saddle and the brooding man by her side! We know and Moiraine knows, that she was trying to stop the apocalypse and she has shown not one iota of sentimental attachment to Anvaere or the rest of her family. Since we know that she was really fucking preoccupied with the apocalypse, how are we supposed to take Anvaere’s whinging seriously? Why are we supposed to think Moiraine does?

34:35 I saw Lindsey Duncan on two other TV shows. In one, she waged a covert war of attempted assassinations against a rival woman, tried to cast magic curses on her, seduced her rival's daughter and persuaded the girl to seduce her own brother, and eventually committed suicide, on her rival's doorstep, just because this person spread gossip about her affair with a married politician who dumped Duncan as a result. Among the results of her machinations were the assassination of the head of the nation, which was thrown into civil war and her only son killed in battle. On the other show I saw, she advised her boss, the Prime Minister of the UK, to commit porcine bestiality live on national TV. Both of these women seemed more reasonable than Anvaere.

Anvaere professes to know and emphatically asserts, that Moiraine loved their father. And yet she keeps demanding “What was so important” that Moiraine was not there for his death. By her own admission, by the facts as she cites them, it would have to be something incredibly important or Moiraine would have come! Why does it matter? You ask this sort of question because you don't believe there was anything important, you ask it rhetorically to accuse the subject of not caring, except she is vehement that Moiraine did care! Either she’s wrong that Moriaine cared a great deal about Dalresin, or it was something so epically important that Moiraine prioritized it over her beloved father! And if it’s that important, why on earth does she think Moiraine will reveal it to someone for whom she has never cared?

Because the writers want to justify Moiraine stupidly blurting out the truth, or want us to feel weally weally bad for her.

35:10 We don’t care what you think about Moiraine, because we know she is trying to save the world and has suffered an unimaginable loss, that, if we are to go by the show’s intermittent bothering to mention it, will also permanently estrange her from the love of her life. Just shut up and get out of the room, Anvaere. Sorry, but the writers dealt you a really shit hand. I was hoping to see you playing Daes Daemar with all the aristocratic cunning Duncan is capable of portraying, but we’re just getting low stakes family drama distracting us from the prophesied champion of the apocalypse and a group of characters suffering, or in danger of, enslavement.

35:22 Among the numerous female characters assassinated by this adaptation is Moiraine and Anvaere’s mother, a scholarly woman Moiraine loved enough that Dalresin begging her to come to her was a challenge in her test for the shawl. To the extent that Moiraine and her sisters were better or more decent people than Dalresin’s other child, Tarangail, the implied factor is their mother, as Tarangail was born of a political marriage and got the full share of Damodred qualities. But according to Anvaere, their Damodred father was the nice one and the greatest insult, her final parting shot at Moiraine, is that she is just like their mother.

Progressive feminism FTW! If you don’t like the show, you must be racist!

36:44 Are we to take from the letter with the broken seal next to the one Moiraine was trying to compose, that Siuan is publicly sending letters to a woman she exiled from the Tower? Only thing I can think is a repeal of her banishment, which would explain why she is trying to write a letter revealing what happened.

I am also curious how Lan’s confession to Alanna got him Siuan’s itinerary and permission to go to her. Where was she, where was he and the Pervert Trio? What are timelines again?

37:45 You know, maybe I should take back what I said about making the characters actually compose a persuasive argument. I don’t think the writers are capable of it. And in spite of this, they put the characters in situations where they need to, and fail, but get what they want anyway. All they had to do was have Logain reluctantly acquiesce to Rand’s demand, because we know Moiraine has already made that bargain with him. Fine, Logain is trying see if he can weasel something else out of Rand. He’s a dick, that’s canon. But now you have Rand making this nonsensical appeal to his legacy, and an intelligent steelmanning of this scene has Logain mentally rolling his eyes, and going along with this idiot bumpkin, because he really doesn’t have any other choice and has already made his deal with Moiraine.

The end result of this whole exchange is Our Hero looks like a chump.

Again.

I know there are theories that this denigration is deliberate in the case of the men, but the writers are clearly doing it by accident to the women, so who can even tell which they are trying to do and which are they doing by incompetence?

38:18 Are they going to have the women surrendering to the Power as in canon, now that they have established that a male channeler must seize the Source and take control?

And how can Logain tell Rand is taking too much? He also claimed to have sensed Rand’s ability to channel, a month after Logain himself had been gentled.

Remind me again what it means that Moiraine has been stilled?

39:03 So now Rand, determined to avoid all his friends for their own protection, turns around and walks down the street to where he hears Mat’s voice.

Since we’re being all consistent and stuff, Mat was not formally told of Rand’s death, because he was imprisoned in Tar Valon, but also Liandrin was reading the letters from Perrin to the girls which IIRC implied as much. But we know Liandrin was editing them, and we know Mat’s supposed to be at least a little clever in his approach to breaking out, even if Liandrin was on top of it, so how much does he trust what she read him? He showed no real interest in saying goodbye to the girls when he left.

I have no idea what it means that Rand and Mat are about to reunite. They spent most of their travel time belittling, and arguing with, one another, but then Rand took his part in the arguments about him in Fal Dara.

39:14 Who or what is this “God” one of the gamblers just invoked (and the captions confirm he said)?

39:46 Who or what is this “Light” you are each invoking? Might a potential “God” be annoyed at your apostasy?

39:58 I guess Mat didn’t believe anything Liandrin read, since he seems to think everyone would be hanging around with Rand, instead of training in the White Tower or writing letters to friends in the Tower that imply Perrin believes Rand is dead.

40:16 Genitalia are invoked pejoratively. Because sex is icky in our progressive new setting.

40:26 +Sigh+ Okay, now why can only “some” of their damane sense when a woman is channeling, and not all of them, as every woman who can channel can? Hell, every person who can channel can sense when a woman is channeling! Or did they mean sul’dam instead of damane ?

41:44 How did Ryma get the ring off the Blue Sitter who was collared? And what exactly were the logistics of getting their hands on an a’dam, with two sisters getting killed and another collared, while Ryma managed to escape with a collar she does not know how to open? Just how well can an Aes Sedai fight when they are aware the Seanchan are not interested in killing them, and thus, combat against the Seanchan does not remotely count as “the last extreme in defense of my life”? Plus they would have had to dismember the damane wearing that collar. The answer is, they almost certainly forgot.

45:18 How do the writers of this show not understand the properties of water? First Alanna has trouble believing that ice was once water, and now Renna tells Egwene to turn steam into fire. Steam is water. It is not fire. They are the exact opposite, from a classical elements, or Five Powers, perspective.

47:00 Overall, that was a pretty decent scene. Up until the end, when Renna started whaling on Egwene for no reason. Again, the deal with the Seanchan is that they are very competent, and have established procedures and protocols that they follow, because these are proven methods. Having Renna just lose her shit and beat her damane physically, rather than use the a’dam to give her pain, not to mention visibly getting agitated, is incompetent training.

But there are a lot of elements in the fandom for whom any depiction of the Seanchan as competent grinds their gears, even if it's being done to build them up as antagonists to the heroes.

47:21 “Why are you risking everything for someone you barely know?” “Well, you see, Nynaeve, there just aren’t that many women out there who will take my retarded brother off my hands…”

49:06 This is almost book!Mat. Except he wouldn’t put it like that, he’d be complaining about Rand making him go.

49:23 Up and at ‘em Prax Min! You’ve got some traveling to do. This is such a better story than her doing her best to comfort a friend in captivity and facilitating her friend’s escape plan by bringing various people she knew together.

What is our investment in a Darkfriend again?

51:25 Okay, Mat is clever, but how did he get all that from Prax Min saying she saw him kill Rand in a viewing?

51:50 Are us readers supposed to infer “If you love him stay away” is why Prax Min isn’t joining them? Or does her viewing last season of “three beautiful women” exclude her by definition?

52:43 By marrying an established, ruling queen, Barthanes, whose family was so recently in such ruin that his mom had to beg for leftovers, takes over the country as jure uxoris king. This setting just gets more and more feminist every day.

There is the outside chance that king merely means a consort instead of ruler, as queen does in real life, but they have done none of the work to establish that, or make us think so for any but metatextual reasons.

53:08 :headdesk: :headdesk: :headdesk: Powerful people do not ask, request, or demand audiences with social inferiors, much less their professional subordinates. This is not WoT lore, it's human interactions and the English language.

53:21 Did we just drag every Aes Sedai with lines out of the Tower for this scene? How much time has elapsed while Moiraine finished that letter, that the Amyrlin would make a detour to Tar Valon, pick up all these sisters last seen there, and then travel overland to Cairhien? Because we cut from Moiraine addressing her latest draft, to Lan intercepting Siuan on the road. Seriously. What are timelines?

And what is the purpose of this? Is it all about Twue Wuv?

53:36 Okay, so they came from the Tower to meet Siuan in Cairhien. I guess she was equidistant to the city from them, or far enough away to get to a point equidistant from the city by the time word got from her to Tar Valon. Just very impressive coordination without any form of telecommunications. Not sure if it’s better or worse then a detour.

Also, does Liandrin have a loose hinge in her neck, swiveling it around like that? It’s like she’s a cat following a laser pointer while trying to talk to Siuan.

54:12 Why does Mat have such blind faith in Min’s viewings? No one except maybe Rand or Elayne would react this way to Min seeing their own actions, however counterintuitive. And they’d ignore the warning, because both of them trust her viewings and don’t believe they can evade them, so why avoid their friend or loved one when it won’t make any difference?

57:03 So the dismemberment of Rand’s leadership arc from tGH is that Perrin gets the setup with Ingtar, but exercises no leadership over anyone at all, and Nynaeve gets the “it’s up to you, now” parting scene, but with Ryma, and with no setup that gave Rand & Ingtar’s moment such weight.

57:08 Got nothin’ to say to that cracka bitch.

58:10 Just a suggestion, have the Warder lie low, so that he can lead the rescue party to her location once she’s taken, hmmm? ITB Egwene encounters Ryma in captivity, so it might actually help them find her, too.

58:07 Maybe it’s seeing Prax Min, but in that last shot, Basan looked like Chad "Fred Johnson" Coleman.

58:45 Nope, Basan’s just going to die pointlessly. Which undermines the otherwise nice characterization going on here with Ryma.

59:04 Was that a trick or just bad direction? Basan takes a near-miss from a fireball the damane shot, then suddenly he is behind Ryma, walks around in front of her and they make One Power eye contact. Is this an illusion or something to keep him alive? Based on what comes next, incompetent fight direction.

59:30 How is this at all productive? How does hanging Egwene get her to obey or break her of her hostility?

59:41 Dying on your feet instead of living on your knees for a few days, knowing that a rescue op is in the offing, and there are other victims your survival could help save, is not remotely cool, badass or principled, Ryma.

1:00:19 Wow, she’s even worse. She got Basan killed, futilely, rather than suffer to help someone else.

1:00:41 Ryma, allegedly bound by the Three Oaths, is killing a woman she knows to be a victim, to prevent herself from being taken alive. This. Should. Not. Happen.

And her shrieking emotional outburst does not make her look cool or pitiable, just contemptible, for killing someone so brutally, for something that’s more or less all her fault.

1:03:19 Hey, remember last season, when they totally destroyed Nynaeve’s backstory anecdote, all to repurpose it in order to demonstrate that Egwene is “indestructible”? How’d that work out? Looks kind of destructible right here…

I know in the conventions of recent genre adaptations and sequels, women start out awesome and stay that way, and the story is a progression of people realizing and accepting this as she gains accolades, titles and accomplishments, without ever learning anything other than how powerful she always was, but there is a reason that it has traditionally been preferable to build a character up to their ultimate state, rather than simply asserting it exists when they have barely heard the Call to Adventure.

1:03:57 See! We can’t even go a whole minute without someone reaffirming how awesome Egwene is.

I mean, based on what we see of them in the books, I would not take bettering a Sitter for the Blue Ajah as much of an accomplishment. Rank does not equate to character, either.

1:04:09 Liars!

Two episodes to go. What's the story of this season? Besides Egwene, what the arcs of the actual main characters from the series? Perrin gets to wolfbrother, but what about all the other episodes? Mat ... exists. Rand had a channeling lesson. He hooked up with Lanfear and now it looks like he has a makeup date for his audience with the Amyrlin that never happened. And what mechanic are they going to use to get Mat back into the plot? Is he going to help Rand get away from the Aes Sedai or something? Are we going to get another month-long time jump for the two of them to get to Falme? What are Nynaeve and Elayne going to do for all that time if they do?

It's not like there is any point really in speculating. They generally don't feel constrained by such arbitrary standards as logical character progression, coherent story development, the books, or making sense.

[aq2003]

I'm late to the game but, similar to much ado about nothing I'm intrigued by this twelfth night business! I'm not sure where to listen to the version you've been talking about though. All I can find are film versions.

you can listen to it here! and you can find an annotated ebook version of the play to read alongside it here. it's REALLY fucking good, probably one of my favorite shakespeare adaptations and not just because david tennant gave me malvolio derangements in it. it's just really excellently done - i feel like you can so easily imagine the setting and the characters etc SO well from the performances and the music

they split up and moved around the acts/scenes so i'll timestamp them for clarity here but imo the choices they made were all so effective! (for instance: starting with actually showing the shipwreck and viola and sebastian getting separated, then jumping right into act 1 scene 2 with viola and the captain. then act 1 scene 1 comes afterwards, with viola/cesario already being in orsino's employ. they're the one playing the music for him in the scene and they take up curio's lines. it sets up viola and orsino's dynamic all the more esp with orsino's first line being "if music be the food of love" - such a great adaptation decision!)

act 1 scene 2: 0:00-5:05

act 1 scene 1: 5:06-7:45

act 1 scene 4 (pt 1): 7:46-8:19

act 1 scene 3: 8:20-14:03

act 1 scene 4 (pt 2): 14:04-16:10

act 1 scene 5: 16:11-29:20

-

act 2 scene 2: 29:21-32:15

act 2 scene 3: 32:16-42:50

act 2 scene 4: 42:51-48:30

act 2 scene 1: 48:31-51:12

act 2 scene 5: 51:13-1:02:42

-

act 3 scene 1: 1:02:43-1:08:38

act 3 scene 2: 1:08:39-1:12:07

act 3 scene 3: 1:12:08-1:14:29

act 3 scene 4: 1:14:30-1:32:00

-

act 4 scene 1: 1:32:01-1:35:01

act 4 scene 2 (pt 1): 1:35:02-1:37:53

act 4 scene 3 (pt 1): 1:37:54-1:39:13

act 4 scene 2 (pt 2): 1:39:14-1:41:24

act 4 scene 3 (pt 2): 1:41:25-1:42:34

-

act 5 scene 1: 1:42:35-2:01:23

[poems-of-the-anentomologist]

what's your poem saving method

Why thank you for asking (said the person who asked you to ask this)

So, in reality, I don't have 1 poem saving method, I have 4 because the internet and google docs are a bitch

My first and primary method is well, the google document all my poems are on. It's where I write my poems, it's long (so long) and also really laggy. Gonna fail one day? Yeah. Do I have backups for that reason? Also yeah.

My secondary method is saving each individual poem as a PDF, it helps with archival reasons (each pdf has a timestamp) and also probably won't fail (the files can still get corrupted though)

My third method is this blog, which is self-explainatory and also if I ever get termed I will cry

My fourth (and most reliable) method is the physical copies of all my poems I keep in a drawer on my bedside table and I also annotate with meanings and why I wrote the poem and notes and stuff. These I print out btw, and I need to update them soon because I haven't since like august 20th. The worst that happens to these is something eats them (highly unlikely) or the house burns down (highly unlikely) so I am not too worried about them, although I do have to fight to keep them order

[theerastour]

Graphics tutorial requested by anonymous

All made with adobe photoshop 2023 (you can find free downloads of cracked versions on here occasionally, photopea.com is also good I've heard) I'm assuming basic knowledge of photoshop/similar editing platforms and their tools, but you can always message me or comment if you are confused about anything!

Also, I used keyboard shortcuts sometimes to change the size of a brush or toggle the brush options, I'm not going to annotate this because it's a lot but here is a resource for basic photoshop keyboard shortcuts

Firstly, the sizing of your edit matters! Max sizing for best quality on Tumblr is 1280 x 1920. If you want to put to put two images next to each other sizing should be 640 x 960.

Next, always try to find the highest quality picture of whatever you're using. Good resources include taylorpictures.net, 4k Taylor Swift, and if I can't find them here I do a google image search of my photo to see if any other websites have a bigger/hq file.

This video is a couple clips I screen recorded for you to see my process and demonstrate a few different tools I use regularly. I added timestamps for you to follow along as you read the rest of this.

Here's a photo of my workspace I am working with and what I will do first is cut out Taylor from this photo and move her to my correctly sized canvas. There are multiple ways to cut out an image in photoshop, the easiest I've found is the select subject function and using the quick selection tool (see toolbar beneath the photo). Other tools include the magic wand tool, lasso tool, and quick selection tool which I will show later.

Now you will see that my selection isn't perfect, so I will use the quick selection tool to fix a few areas that I'd like to manually select/correct. This isn't totally necessary at this stage as you can always perfect your cutout in the next few steps, but it does help save some time.

This is where I'll use the quick selection tool to either subtract or add to my selection. There are keyboard shortcuts to toggle between + and - to make this quicker.

See my screen recording of the process from 0:00-1:07

Now that we have our image selected and cut out, I copy and paste it to my canvas I want to work with (size 1280 x 1920) and this is what I've got:

As you can see there's a few spots that need cleaning up in order to make our cutout perfect. You can do this with the eraser tool, magic wand, quick selection, or lasso tool.

See my screen recording of the process from: 1:08-3:50

Now that we're happy with our cutout, we can play around with it in any ways we want! Typically you're gonna do things like change the background color/texture, add elements with the square/circle tool to create what you're looking for, overlay elements and/or textures, and finally recolor it to your preferences.

This part is where you can try new techniques and play around to find what you like. I recorded some of my process of playing with different ideas and elements until I got to something I was happy with! The video explains the tools I was using as well

See my screen recording of the process from: 3:51 - the end

I hope this helps you with creating graphics in the future! The fun thing about photoshop is there are multiple ways to get what you want done. I showed you my way but there's plenty of other techniques and methods out there to try if you're unable to achieve what you want!

Best of luck and feel free to reach out to me if you are struggling/have questions! <3

[floraracoon]

Gems of Dupont - Rewrite

Since it's been bothering me these past few days, this is a list of how I would rewrite a fic I wrote last year, called The Gems of Dupont on Ao3 if I were to do so.

Spoiler Warning if you want to read the fic then read this

Premise: There is a group of students who while anonymous, are known to have a lot of power. Namely, they have a history of getting rid of unsavory figures in the school or associated with it. Their current targets are Marinette (stalking, minor abuse of power, and her actions towards her 'rivals'), Adrien (bystander, actions as Chat Noir towards Ladybug, etc.), Lila (obvious), Alya (misinformation, slander, and something else), Mme. Bustier (bystander, emotional manipulation, poor teaching methods), Mr. Damocles (fraud, neglect, etc.), and Fu (facing the consequences of his own actions)

Problems: A scene that I did not flesh out enough to show the reasoning behind it, too many characters involved in the takedown, illogical plot points, involving characters that make no sense, and moving too fast due to me losing interest but not wanting to go on hiatus or abandoning the work.

The Rewrite:

Establishing the Gems -

The sign of the Gems (a wreath of gems on Mme. Mendelieve's door) is shown, causing rumors to spread through the school

Adrien, Alya, and Lila ask what they are, giving them the full explanation

The Gems are a group of six that every year go through and gather evidence of people's wrongdoings, before giving them to those that would cause the most change. This most of the time results in someone leaving the school. When they are done, gems are left where the person sits. Each gem represents something, and while there are six Gems, there are more gems.

Chloe scoffs out loud while Lila internally scoffs. Chloe thinks she is immune, as she has never been hit before. Lila scoffs because she thinks she hasn't been caught, to begin with.

Cut to a group chat, where two people are arguing over the nicknames they have in the chat. "Eye candy" seems particularly frustrated and claims they bring something more to the team than their good looks.

Safety Measures -

We see a week pass, with people becoming more and more anxious waiting for something to happen. Some sign that this wasn't a fluke. The first week is always when it is that they send out the warnings, where are the warnings?

But one day, as Nino walks in, having not arrived with Alya due to her running off to record an akuma fight, he finds a note sitting on his desk. The note contains a list of numbers and timestamps. A small doodle of a gem sitting in the corner.

On another day, Rose finds a small slip of paper that has Prince Ali's phone number on it, also with a small doodle of a gem in the corner

Luka opens a note left on his bed. He finds the chords for a song, with no lyrics. Each page has small annotations of cherry blossoms in places where lyrics would be, and a doodle of a gem in the bottom corner.

Kagami is surprised when a note falls out of her locker, with a message in brail saying "He hesitates, where is his backbone?". A gem is engraved on the page

The first -

Alya is the first to go down. After a fight between her and Nino that results in their break up, she learns that her parents got a similar note to the one that started the fight.

The numbers and timestamps were coded for different videos on the Ladyblog. The one for Nino was instances where Alya endangered him and those around him. The fight was about her recklessness, and her want to get up close to akuma fights with little regard for her safety.

The one her parents got, however, was every single time she had endangered herself.

The two of them were busy with work often, so they only really watched the videos Alya sent them. Often those were the ones where she stayed safe for the most part or had a lot of views.

So they opened her blog, to investigate what these timestamps were, only to find their daughter once again throwing herself into situations she shouldn't have. Along with countless posts trying to figure out the identities of people who were trying to protect the city and a single post that had them questioning her integrity.

The next day, Alya was pulled into distanced learning. She was also grounded until further notice, with no blog posting for one day per timestamp listed.

Will continue this post tomorrow, as this is getting really long

[princess-of-the-corner]

Amnesia!Dabi: ok, so, now I have a need for- like, the story on Himiko's parents breaks. Actually, let’s say the Toga's go to the media to try & get support "oh no, our poor monster daughter, we just want what's best for her, but this 'hero' is encouraging her satanic tendencies!" & the LoV sees this, & about how U.A. is "yah,no, we'll see you two assholes in court". Anyway, Nezu wakes up the next day to plenty of incriminating evidence about the Toga's just left on his doorstep.

Honestly it's not a lot and some stuff might not be allowed in court, but there's a good chunk of what they can do in

general testimony of stuff Himiko had said to them and things they observed. Not allowed in court, but does give the Heroes a good direction on questions to ask.

A few videos Himiko had made. Because even if she can't really post things to social media, she recorded some friend shenanigans for herself to keep(nothing incriminating or with the LoV's plans but just goofy stuff like karaoke night and Shiggy destroying the couch after a bad round of mario kart). This was mostly on a phone she left behind, and is to be returned to her. But it's annotated with which file and timestamp has a symptom like dizzy spells and migraines or where she kinda says something one-off concerning.

Evidence of what they did to help. Like I mentioned robbing pharmacies to help her, and they'd say to look into exactly /what/ was stolen in the robberies. Alongside basic first aid stuff and pain meds for the group as a whole, the high ticket items were all stuff that's supposed to help with the aforementioned symptoms. Nothing exactly sellable(or at least not high sellers like opioids)

[thegeminisage]

sea of blood WITH the lucanis prison clothes mod. mwah 10/10. as usual apologies for my framerate. timestamp annotations/mod links in video description (other mod links) (dragon age masterpost)