#broken wings network

[yanderenightmare]

Gojo Satoru x darling

TW: NSFW, noncon, fantasy au

gn reader

Thinking about hunter Gojo and the pretty little nymph that gets themselves snared in one of his traps.

You can’t get your poor leg loose, having twisted your ankle in your fall to the ground – something’s wrong with your wing too, you can feel it – the thin network’s been folded, almost broken – so even if you did manage getting loose, you wouldn’t be able to fly away.

Branches snap around you along the crunch of old leaves – and your heart’s beating out of your chest in fear of it – knowing something large and dangerous is not far behind, that whoever set the trap is not something that wishes you well.

“You’re not a rabbit.” The man says, having crept in close before you’d even heard him approach – crouching in front of you with a hunter's grace. Hawk-eyes ice-blue and piercing, hair as white as pure snow.

He’s got three daggers sleaved in his belt – a fillet knife, a gutting knife, and a larger one you imagine is meant to slice throats. He doesn’t carry a sword like most men but has a bow and sack of arrows slung on his back. Otherwise, dressed lightly – brown leather boots, brown slacks, and a blue cotton shirt. You could have mistaken him for a woodland elf if it weren’t for the thick stench of man.

“Eating creatures from the holy forest is forbidden.” You snip, despite your wide eyes and the wobble of fear evident on your lip.

He only smiles at the quip, a grin like a predator humored by prey. “You wouldn’t tell a wolf not to hunt.”

He stalks you, leaning in closer, and you try shuffling away – but the movement only makes you wince.

“I’m just another hungry animal…”

Rope gnaws into your fine skin while his breath puffs hot and dewy on your face.

“And tonight… seems lady luck has favored me once again.”

He gags you and ties you further up before redoing his snare for the next unlucky creature – then carries you over his shoulder until he’s dropping you down on a bed of furs.

Your skin flushes with goosebumps at the thought of being skinned the same way – mouthing a little prayer around the cloth he’s split your teeth and lips with. He’s cut trees down as well; you hear their pitiful screams when he lights a fire with their bodies. You mourn them, too.

At his full height, the man must be two heads taller than any male nymph you’ve ever seen and at least three heads taller than you. You hope you’re enough to satisfy him tonight, to spare the forest of further bloodshed.

You shiver and sniffle when he starts prepping you – removing your clothes and groping your tender, fleshy places with a strength you’re not used to – hands large and crass – kneading you like dough – probably to assess the quality of your meat. He has a smile on his face while at it. 

Humans make you sick – to think he’s planning on roasting then eating you despite the soul fueling your spirit and the beating heart in your chest. But you’ve long known that all death but their own matters little to them – they don’t feel the same way nymphs do – they don’t regard life with the same respect they’ve donned themselves. It must be a sad and lonely existence, you think. It even makes you feel a little sorry for him.

You yelp when his gritty fingers brush the area between your legs – shimmying when he lowers his mouth down to the same place. Oh God – does he plan on eating you raw? While your body’s still hot and pumping blood?

But the bite never comes – not yet eating but tasting it would seem – licking and slurping and sucking on you.

He takes his shirt off. Probably to avoid spilling on it, you think.

You don’t really understand what’s going on until he’s got his fat manhood pointed toward your kernel-sized hole. Eyes wide as he splits you apart slowly and unabashedly – as though it isn't as deviant as a dog mating a cat – sinking in inch after meaty inch.

You whimper at the stretch – wincing when the plush mushroom-shaped head grinds against that special place inside you. 

It doesn’t fit more than halfway, but that doesn’t seem to bother him – rolling his head back with a rusty groan, even with just the tip gaining purchase within you – pounding into you like a beast in his rut.

“What's the matter, pretty nymph? Did you think I was gonna eat you?” He laughs, bearing over you – his hands steadying your hips to meet his sharp thrust – each hit deeper than the last. “I’m the only hunter in this forest; I can eat what I want when I want – but eating you?” He scoffed and snickered. “That would just be a waste.”

The blood on his breath makes you wrinkle your nose – squeezing your eyes shut as his tongue sweeps up the tear streaks on your cheek.

“My stomach’s already full. Time to empty my balls.”

[five-rivers]

The next part of my Kingdom of Fish pollfic! Continued from here.

.

It wasn't the practice he'd been intending, but… “I'm fluent in Elysian Greek.”  That was the dialect Pandora's people used.  

“Oh, thank goodness,” said the attendant, handing him a pair of scrolls.  “People have been requesting these, and of course we don't get many people who know those dialects out this way, so…”

“Right,” said Danny.  “Where should I…?”

“Oh, right here!  But… oh dear, I'll need to find a booster seat…”

“I don't need one,” said Danny, quickly.  “I can just hover.”

Danny needed one. 

(But unlike what the attendant said, he didn't look absolutely adorable in it, nor was he perfectly precious when pouting.  He wasn't pouting at all!)

He unrolled the original scroll, weighing it down with the scroll weights on the table, then did the same to the blank scroll he was copying onto.  

“Are arrangements like this common?” asked Mom.  

“What arrangements?” murmured Danny, keeping his voice down.  

“Arrangements between groups of ghosts.  Between your library and this one.”

“The library network is a bit unusual,” said Danny.  The scroll appeared to be a transcription of the life story of an Eleusinian farmer.  “The Library of Tongues gets relatively good deals, too, since most libraries need translators at least some of the time.  But there are other groups that do similar things.  Like, alliances and stuff between Realms.  I think the Goblin Market started off that way.  And there are the universities.  Schools.  Museums, too, but I don’t mess with them.”

“Why not?” asked Dad.  “I’d think that they’d work closely with translators.”

“Well, yeah, but museums aren’t always very good about asking.  And a lot of them get overly interested in things that are one of a kind.”  Like Danny himself.  He trimmed the quill pen provided to him and dipped it in the inkwell.  He started writing.  

“Oh, avoiding them is probably a good idea.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised, Mom,” said Danny.  “I have all sorts of good ideas.”  He wrote in relative silence for a while, pen scratching at the scroll.  

“What’s in that?” asked Dad.  

“The writing?  Record of someone’s life.  Not very long.”  He hummed and contemplated how to translate a complicated religious passage.  

“Where were they from?”

“And when?” added Mom.  

“Eleusis,” said Danny.  “And, hm, there’s not a date.  Usually stuff like this is pretty old, though.”

“Eleusis.  As in the Eleusinian Mysteries?”

“Yeah, I think so.  This doesn’t really say anything about them, but I’m sure there’s stuff in the library proper that does.  Why?”

Mom sighed.  “Sometimes, finding things in the Ghost Zone, it’s a bit like time travel without the time travel.  It’s a window into history.”

Danny frowned slightly.  It was history, and books were always a bit like that, but it wasn’t as if the person who the scroll was about was necessarily gone.  There was a very good chance that they still existed.  They had already been dead when they’d dictated this.  

Well, it didn’t matter, he supposed.  It was very unlikely that they’d ever meet the guy.  He wasn’t sure why it bothered him, anyway.  

He finished the scroll and rolled it up.  He looked up scanning the room for the attendant.  His eyes, however, caught on the large man with the bat ears and moth winds.  He looked like he was suffering, his skin soft and melty.  The thin man didn’t look like he was having a good time, either, fighting with his wings and an over-the-shoulder bag.  Oh, and there was something broken on that printing press that he could definitely fix.  And then, if he thought about it, this translation hadn’t taken him long at all.  He could certainly afford the time to do a few more.

… Danny realized, then, that in addition to not having much of a chance to travel and explore, lately, he hadn’t had much opportunity to indulge his primary Obsession beyond helping in the lab, and now that he wasn’t swamped in the haze of cabin fever, it was itching its way out of his skin.  

He was going to be horribly nosy about things.  He could just feel it.  All the practice in minding his own business he’d gotten in high school was years ago now. 

[dbs-scans]

Halloween Event 2023 — The Kamome Monster Nursery Monstagram Account (OLD)

Hello all! In this post, we've compiled the event hosted on AidaIro's Twitter account in 2023 to celebrate Halloween: a return to the Kamome Monster Nursery!

This time, we take a look at the nursery's new social media account...

This post is broken when viewed on our tumblr desktop theme! Check out the new version of the post by clicking here!

If you're on mobile, you should be fine. Go ahead and continue reading!

🎃Announcement🎃 To all nearby residents: First, allow us to express our gratitude to everyone for always being such good neighbors to our monsters and researchers. Tonight, we have taken it upon ourselves to review a common concern we receive: that our facility seems dangerous and gives people the creeps.

In light of this, we have decided to set up a social media account to allow all of you to see our monsters and researchers in action. By viewing the feats and day-to-day lives of our nursery, we hope it may help you better understand our noble mission. 🎃🎃🎃

—The large-scale social networking service, "Monstagram"... Apparently there's an account on there that posts not just the day-to-day lives of humans, but monsters as well...

What spine-chilling lives could these monsters possibly be leading? With shaky hands, I decided to take a peek at this "Kamome Monster Nursery" account on "Monstagram"...

There are already a few posts here. Now, which one should I view first...?

POLL:

【We're gonna bite'cha!】✅

【The Monster Prodigy】

【Aim to hollow out your opponent, and... Punch!】

【Who's up? ～Whispering Sweet Nothings・For Eternity...～】✅

Alright, let's open up Monstagram...

【Who's up? ～Whispering Sweet Nothings・For Eternity...～】 Oops! I accidentally clicked on a weird video! This man is treating me like a kitten. Is the sexy voice really necessary...? I think I'll go to sleep early tonight...

【We're gonna bite'cha!】 It's a video of three monsters practicing their dance moves. Their footwork's a mess, but you can tell they're giving it their all. I wonder if they're going to put on a show...?

—Setting aside that researcher's cryptic video, it seems to me that the monsters are planning something. What could it be...? Now, which one should I look at tomorrow?

POLL:

【The Monster Prodigy】✅ 【Aim to hollow out your opponent, and... Punch!】 【Outing With the Older Boys】✅

OK, let's open up Monstagram again...

【Outing With the Older Boys】 Three monsters are being lead through town by an adult monster and an adult human male. The monster in front is leading them with a flag. He's so cool and collected... wow... I've decided: in my next life, I want to be reborn as a flag!

【Target Spotted!】 I found the continuation to the last photo. It seems they went to the city to go shopping. The monster is pointing at a hat shop. I guess she found what she was looking for. That's nice.

【The Monster Prodigy】 The three monsters are practicing writing. There are envelopes and stationery nearby. Are they writing a letter to someone...? The one with the best handwriting out of the three of them seems to be the one with all the wings growing out of it. That one's so skilled, I... I can't even read it...

—I feel like I'm beginning to get an idea of what the monsters are planning. I'll take a look at the rest of the posts tomorrow...

I'm going to go on Monstagram today, too!

【Secret Nightly Routine】 I-I didn't know monsters could be this adorable...!! The secret to keeping her tail so fluffy is by brushing it daily and bribing it with cookies, it seems.

【Aim to hollow out your opponent, and... Punch!】 The Three Monsters are training. No way — are they preparing for battle...!? Maybe they're planning on beating somebody up. Monsters are awesome... ...

—Tomorrow it will finally be Halloween. I wonder how they're all going to spend it......

Looks like they didn't post any updates on Monstagram today. The monsters and researchers must be too busy to post anything.

Judging by the posts I saw, those monsters were probably doing all that work in preparation for today. I wonder if the three of them are enjoying Halloween with the researchers right now...? If they come to town, I'll hand out treats to them. ...

🎃 Happy Halloween! 🎃

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kerry Eleveld at Daily Kos:

Republicans have two distinct media advantages as November approaches: a propaganda machine on the right that creates and amplifies disinformation and a presidential candidate so flawed and broken that his outrageous behavior barely registers among corporate media anymore. Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters for America, illustrated how the media environment benefits Donald Trump by pointing to his remarks earlier this month that his administration would "root out" his political opponents that "live like vermin within the confines of our country." Gertz contrasted this month's coverage of Trump's Nazi-esque language against the wall-to-wall coverage in 2016 of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton referring to Trump's "basket of deplorables." In the first week following Clinton's gaffe, network news outlets spent 54 minutes on her comments. Meanwhile, they only devoted three minutes to Trump's "vermin" comments. The disparity on cable news was far worse, with 1,662 mentions of "deplorables" throughout the first week versus 191 mentions of "vermin."

Trump has lowered the bar so far that the relentless amount of garbage he spews barely causes a blip in corporate media coverage. At the same time, the right-wing propaganda machine routinely fabricates and disseminates controversies to its audiences. Perhaps the most recent example was the easily debunked falsehood that the FBI sought to assassinate Trump when it searched his Mar-a-Lago residence for presidential records he had deliberately refused to return to the National Archives. The bifurcated media treatment of Trump versus that of President Joe Biden incontrovertibly benefits Republicans this election cycle, as journalist Greg Sargent pointed out on The Daily Blast.

[...]

Generally speaking, Republicans who are open to voting for Biden don't believe he stole the 2020 election and were horrified by the violent insurrection attempt, so revisiting that concern is a worthwhile endeavor.  However, if you're talking to voters who are primarily worried about the economy and inflation, it might be better to phrase the question as “who do you think will fight for you?” Democrats are the ones cracking down on price-gouging corporations by capping bank fees and insulin prices, while Trump is promising corporations another $2 trillion tax cut. Younger voters might be the most difficult to reach of all the potential swing voters. As Dan Pfeiffer, former Obama senior adviser on strategy and communications, wrote on Substack Tuesday, TikTok is hurting Biden, especially among young people who are the platform’s primary users. Trump’s right-wing influencers are outgunning progressive firebrands such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on a platform that is featuring political news even as other social media platforms de-emphasize it. 

The corporate media has a pro-Trump (and pro-GOP) bias, and there are ways to combat such bias.

[demonslushh]

Oh yeah, i just realized that I actually have some more Mind stuff from like, forever ago. A doodle page sort of deficated to my headcanons. (Don't mind that these are all uncropped for some reason?? I'm not fixing it. Too many screenshots.)

One aspect of this I do want to delve into are his wings, or moreso his lackthereof. In my other post you can see he does have wings but they're broken and totally nonfunctional, and really either way it works, i just changed to the latter when drawing him because it looked cooler.

abut overall, I've not really seen the idea bounced around too often to play with angel/fallen angel imagery between heart and mind, and I thought it would be really fun to play into fallen angel imagery for mund since a lot of demons represent knowledge and science, which is very applicable to him, and since Heart is already angel themed. Much like the headcanon that heart's eyes were taken as a punishment by Soul for the fighting, I like to think that at some point, Mind's wings were shredded by either soul or Heart — Soul, as a punishment just the same, or Heart, in a different attempt to let out his anger and violent tendencies on Mind.

The Halo is more straightforward. But there is the one where Mind seems to be crying, which I don't necessarily think he Feels sadness because his emotional network isn't very complex (for ... obvious reasons.) But no less, being in a manifeststion of a body gives him tear ducts, and under stress he just cries oil or something akin to it, a dark black sludge. He doesn't understand why it happens even when they're not whole, because he thinks he shouldn't be able to cry at all. He doesn't like it.

And that's about it. Enjoy!

[kivaember]

i just wanted rusty to yell worm

-

Rusty paid little notice to the PCA's System droning over the spaceport's failing network, its feminine voice rasping with static and its syllables stated with clinical flatness. He was more focused on his heart beating rabbit-fast in his chest, uncomfortably hot as his body came down from the adrenaline rush of going toe-to-toe with the PCA's most cutting-edge mech.

He'd grown too reliant on STEEL HAZE's nimbleness. The 'HC' he had fought had been just as nimble and precise, its feet never touching the ground as the gigantic boosters installed on its shoulders gave the mechanical impression of wings, elegant and authorative when combined with its sleek body.

He wouldn't be surprised if the PCA named those mechs 'Archangels' or something equally pretentious, Rusty thought darkly. Their cold guardians wielding burning blades of plasma, and cutting down the innocent sinners fighting to survive in a scorched eden, condemned for the simple sin of living.

"Tired," Rusty mumbled, realising the caustic poeticness of his own thoughts. He always did find his mind travelling in odd directions after a hard battle. "But at least that should be the end of it."

The PCA's System had finally shut up for once, leaving a ringing silence in its wake. Rusty cast a quick glance over his HUD, seeing nothing but the blinking blue dot of Raven's AC somewhere out of sight. The battlefield they had fought the HCs was a twisted maze of two collapsed warships, debris crafting towering walls of bent metal that threatened to topple over from a too-powerful gust of wind. Rusty's HUD indicated Raven was somewhere slightly elevated. On one of the crashed ships?

He activated their comms, wondering what Raven was up to. Maybe it was a little self-centred to point it out so bluntly, but after a successful shared sortie, Raven usually came gamboling up to him with a muted sort of eagerness. It was odd for him to simply wander off without (figuratively) saying a word.

"Hey, buddy," he said. "What're you-"

The ground trembled minutely, and a few of those towering metal walls shuddered warningly, their shrieks drowning out his words. Rusty tensed, but his HUD didn't indicate an artillery strike or an orbital bombardment. Tectonic activity, maybe? The Central Ice Fields were prone to devastating earthquakes every few years or so. They had caused the earth to swallow up more than a few old cities, the capital included.

Another tremble, more violent, and one metal wall collapsed with a tremendous crash. One of the shipwrecks started to peel apart as well, its broken skeleton causing the already split hill to fall away from the continuous vibrations.

"Buddy, we need to go," Rusty said, keeping his tone calm but threaded with a taut urgency. STEEL HAZE leapt upwards in a boost-assisted jump, and he chanced a glance towards Raven - seeing his AC standing atop of the sturdier shipwreck, staring East-Northeast.

"Buddy," he said again when Raven stayed in place. He made STEEL HAZE hover, a hint of impatience in his voice as the vibrations grew worse: "This place isn't tectonically safe. We need to-"

«Worm.»

What?

Rusty stared at that word blinking across his HUD in open bafflement. He opened his mouth slowly, wondering if the vibrations had Raven mistyped, and asked: "W-"

The ground exploded in a shower of frozen rock and cement, a metallic groan-shriek reverbing through the air in deafening volume. The snow that plumed upwards with the explosion created a brief obscuring haze, but it quickly thinned, revealling something huge- no, massive, towering, jet-black, rusting metal coated in permafrost, its flat head bending low towards them, a great, massive, unearthly-!

"Worm?!" Rusty blurted in disbelief, and was very nearly crushed as a result when said worm promptly bellyflopped at them.

-

Later, far later, after the pang of terror at coming face to, err, face with an ancient C-Weapon capable of squashing him like an ant unintentionally had faded, and a sharper, colder fear at realising the entity was utterly impervious to any and all weaponry, Rusty was forced to sit in a dark meeting room with the other Vespers where they reviewed the Ice Worm's first appearance.

Forced to sit there, and listen to his past-self's high-pitched, comically startled shriek of "woRM?!?!" echo over his combat log's recording, as said worm aimed a deadly bellyflop his way.

He hadn't died, obviously... but it would've been one embarrassing way to die, in retrospect.

"...worm," Pater mumbled under his breath. A muted, not-quite titter rippled through the rest of the Vespers - sans Snail, of course - and Rusty had to fight the urge to sink low in his seat until he disappeared entirely underneath the table.

Would've been even more embarrassing to have 'worm' as his last word, though.

[zvaigzdelasas]

The IB affair (Swedish: IB-affären) was the exposure of illegal surveillance operations by the IB secret Swedish intelligence agency within the Swedish Armed Forces. The two main purposes of the agency were to handle liaison with foreign intelligence agencies and to gather information about communists and other individuals who were perceived to be a threat to the nation.[...]

The story was immediately picked up by many leading Swedish dailies.[3] Their revelations were that: •There was a secret intelligence agency in Sweden called IB, without official status. Its director Birger Elmér was reporting directly to select key persons at cabinet level, most likely defence minister Sven Andersson and Prime Minister Olof Palme. •The Riksdag was unaware of its activities. People with far-left views had been monitored and registered. •IB agents had infiltrated Swedish left-wing organisations and sometimes tried to induce them into criminal acts. •There were Swedish spies operating abroad. IB spies had broken into the Egyptian and Algerian embassies in Stockholm. •The IB co-operated extensively with the Central Intelligence Agency and Shin Bet, in contrast to the official Swedish foreign policy of neutrality.[...]

In the following issues of Folket i Bild/Kulturfront the two uncovered further activities of IB and interviewed a man who had infiltrated the Swedish movement supporting the FNL, Vietnamese National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam - at this time the FNL support network was a backbone of the radical opinion - and among other things, visited Palestinian guerilla camps in Jordan. The man worked for IB and had composed reports that, it was surmised, IB later passed on to the Israeli security services which resulted in the camps being bombed. [...]Swedish authorities claimed they were unable to locate him to stand trial. In 2009, he released an autobiography of his years in IB[...] He also confirmed that he had been transferred from IB to the Mossad, an Israeli intelligence agency, immediately prior to his exposure.[...]

The magazine had information from a previous employee of IB, Håkan Isacson, who claimed that IB had broken into the offices of two political organizations: the FNL Groups, a pro-North Vietnamese organization, and the Communist Party of Sweden, a Maoist political party. This concerned a Jordanian citizen and a stateless citizen. A wiretap was installed in the latter case. After this uncovering, the defense minister did admit that IB engaged in espionage outside of Sweden and infiltrated organizations within Sweden, including wiretaps. Evidence was put forth in 1974 that IB had built up a large network of agents in Finland, which included the Finnish foreign minister Väinö Leskinen. This network's main mission was to gather information regarding the Soviet Union.[...]

In November 1973, Prime Minister Olof Palme denied any link between IB and the Social Democrats. However, according to the memoir of ex-security service chief P.G. Vinge, Birger Elmér had regular contact with Palme and made his reports regularly to the Social Democratic Party secretary, Sven Andersson.[...]

Jan Guillou, Peter Bratt, Håkan Isacson and the photographer Ove Holmqvist were arrested 22 October 1973[2] by the Swedish Security Service on suspicion of espionage. On 4 January 1974 each was sentenced to 1 year in prison. Bratt and Guillou were both convicted of espionage; Isacson was convicted of espionage and accessory to espionage. After an appeal, Guillou's sentence was commuted to 10 months. The Swedish Supreme Court would not consider the case.[4][...]

In 2002 an extensive public report, named Rikets säkerhet och den personliga integriteten (Security of the Realm and personal integrity), was published on the operations of IB. This report clarified the details of the case, but it did not have any legal impact. To date, no member of IB has ever been indicted, nor has any politician or government official, despite the revelation of widespread extra-constitutional and criminal activity.

[butterflydm]

looking towards s3

I'm going to be doing a bit of wild speculation for s3, here, after going through the various book narratives and moments to check off what the show has already covered (including some speculation about certain plotlines having been subbed in for other ones) and so what's likely next for them in s3. Contains book spoilers through Knife of Dreams and casting and location spoilers for s3.

(for a more thorough "what's already been done", @sixth-light has one here: what's in and what's out: characters; worldbuilding)

The Eye of the World:

I think we can probably all agree that the one big thing from EotW that hasn't been covered yet is the introduction of the Caemlyn-related characters, other than Elayne -- namely Elaida, Gawyn, Galad, and likely Morgase. We know that this will happen in s3, at least to a certain extent.

They came in clutch at the last minute with giving us Elayne taking care of her 'bird with a broken wing' aka her meet-cute with Rand.

The Great Hunt:

Pretty much everything narratively important about TGH was covered this season. Some of it was remixed (Rand's 'Fal Dara' encounter with Siuan and the Aes Sedai happening in 2x7 in Cairhien instead of at the start of the arc) but pretty much everything important has been done.

And Siuan being much harsher with Rand in the show than in the books makes it understandable why Rand is not willing to trust Aes Sedai (with a handful of exceptions). imo the change in Siuan's plotline was done for three reasons: a. to set-up Rand's increasing wariness around the White Tower and Aes Sedai; b. to have a narrative reason why none of our main characters are going back to the White Tower next season; c. to set up a character arc for Siuan in s3+. Obviously, time will tell on whether or not I'm right, but those were the reasons that came to mind immediately after 2x7 and I still think they're likely reasons.

re: 'flicker-flicker' - the most important thing coming out of flicker-flicker is that Mat is determined never to 'betray' Rand, like it's implied that he did in some of the flicker worlds, and Mat has absolutely made that emotional commitment due to the events of this season.

The only important minor character from bk2 specifically that we don't get introduced to is Egeanin, I think, and again, that's a case of "if we have her, we want to introduce her when she's more narratively relevant", which would be either s3 or s4 in this case, for Nynaeve and Elayne's storyline. We also still have Egwene's introduction to Gawyn being held in reserve for when he enters the story.

The Dragon Reborn:

Elements pulled from TDR into s2:

Perrin (and thus viewers) getting introduced to Aiel culture (though through Aviendha rather than Gaul, combining two separate elements of bk3 into one introduction).

Mat being trapped in the White Tower and then released back out into the world.

Our introduction to Moiraine's spy network.

I think that Elyas being more human-apathetic plus Ishamael telling Perrin that "the more wolf you are, the more you're mine" may have subbed in for Noam and his loss of connection to humanity, driving Perrin to be wary of the wolf-connection.

Moiraine threatening Lan with a forced bond-change because she's trying to push him away.

Rand being hounded in his dreams and being lured to a site of prophecy by one of the Forsaken in an attempt to rescue Egwene.

Rand's moment of killing people and them kneeling to him (in the books, he actually sets them up to kneel; I liked the show's approach much better)

We also witnessed Mat having an actual reason for his Old Tongue memories and his fighting prowess and the show also may tie his luck into him blowing the Horn, given that he said his battle-cry, so I feel like the "archetype" he has in the Heroes is the Gambler (which I think the 'finn call him?). I really loved that all of Mat's random stuff has kinda been consolidated (and the Horn scene might be my favorite scene of the whole series thus far).

Rand being recognized as the Car'a'carn by Aiel searchers.

Elements that were not used but will happen next season: Perrin meeting Faile. I also think it's likely that Perrin will start going into TAR next season (which could give us either Birgitte or Uno | Gaidal Cain in a re-occurring role). Elayne and Nynaeve becoming Black Ajah Hunters (I'm unsure if Egwene will or if she's going to go straight to her bk 4 plotline; I suspect that she's going with Rand), which is also their bk4 plot. I do think we'll get both Perrin (via Hopper) and Egwene (via the Wise Ones) learning TAR.

Things I'm not sure we'll get:

I'm doubtful that we'll get Egwene & Elayne's Accepted tests at all:

Egwene may come across as an even better patsy/figurehead to Salidar if she's a novice

2x7 really makes me feel doubtful that The Dragon Reborn's friends will be able to waltz into Tar Valon and then waltz back out again (unless they are returning specifically to spy out the mood in TV re: the Dragon and Moiraine?)

Egwene choosing over and over to abandon Rand in the Tests feels like it would directly contradict her character arc in s2, where her motivation for working so hard in the Tower was to give herself the strength to protect the ones she loves.

@sixth-light suggested the idea that Egwene might get her "what is to come" vision in Rhuidean and I like that idea a lot -- if she goes with Aviendha to the silver rings and catches glimpses of her potential futures!

I feel like Aludra might not get introduced until very soon before we need to take the Stone of Tear (or potentially not until after Ebou Dar, when she's needed to create the dragons).

I also suspect that we'll skip Thom's storyline from this book just like we skipped his storyline from bk2 and go straight into his post-Tear bk4 storyline, since Rand is going to be doing Aiel politics and not Westlands politics next season. So my current suspicion is that Thom is going to be part of Elayne & Nynaeve's storyline (and then once Elayne and Nynaeve come back into Rand's storyline, that could be when Thom helps Rand).

This is also the book when balefire first appears (Rand uses it on Darkhounds; Nynaeve uses it for the first (and only?) time; and Moiraine uses it twice). Not sure when the show will introduce it, because I feel like it's going to be The One Way to actually kill Forsaken, so it may be held back closer to when one of them dies. I suspect we'll see Lanfear get doorway'd in s3, but I don't think any of the Forsaken will get killed off until s4 (Rahvin, if he exists) at the earliest. If Rand kills Rahvin with balefire in s4, that gives the rest of the Forsaken a reason to back off and keep their distance (especially if Moridin shows up in s5 to take the reins back over on prioritizing corrupting Rand over killing him).

What might happen in s3 but might be reserved for s4: the convergence on Tear and the various roads people take there. I feel like Tear is likely to come after the Waste and maybe even after Cairhien (Tear may be where Sammael is instead of Illian, but then Rand fails to kill him there and he flees to Illian?).

Also, as I keep noting in my reread posts (which is where I'm getting this info from) Mat is much less anti-Rand than fandom agreement had led me to believe/remember was happening in the books at this time. He dislikes The Dragon Reborn (TM) but his thoughts about Rand as a person tend to be more regretful or frustrated than fearful. So the show is doing fine there, since they've dealt with the The Dragon Reborn (TM) issue by having the whole "who is the Dragon plotline?" in s1.

The Fires of Heaven-A Crown of Swords:

I think we already covered "oh no someone else may get Lan's bond" and he'll go directly from Moiraine to Nynaeve, because Alanna has a more important forced bond to take (probably in s4). I am wondering if we'll see Nynaeve bonding Lan much earlier than in canon, maybe even at the end of s3 if Moiraine goes through the doorway and Nynaeve ends up in the same city as Rand & co.

Crossroads of Twilight-Knife of Dreams:

Guess who just got murdered! So... no Renna and no Seta. And maybe no more Suroth. The show has been ruthless with the Seanchan (not a complaint). The show is also leaning much more heavily on the friendship of the Two Rivers Five (plus now Elayne), so Mat doing any of the bullshit that he does in CoT & KoD feels less likely because this Mat doesn't have the excuse of dagger-sickness to forget what happened to Egwene in Falme. After the show made such a (beautiful! spectacular!) show of Mat being a good person at heart, even being a Hero of the Horn, which he wasn't in the books... yeah, they are not doing the book version of Mat & Tuon (thank fucking goodness). They may do a version of Mat & Tuon, but I think it will be very different from the books, if it happens.

One of the new interesting changes that the show appears to have done (from what Egwene said in 2x8) is make sul'dam extremely weak channelers instead of being learners. I think this has some fascinating implications re: Tuon because it means that a collar would 100% work on her. In the books, the sul'dam get tested along with all the other women to see if they are damane and if any of them have sparked, they end up caught.

It's only over long years of use that they develop their 'affinity' with their damane and this is when the collar would work on them. So, per book canon, it's entirely possible that putting a collar on Tuon during any of the books would fail to do anything, because she's still quite young and also is not 'complete' as often as many other sul'dam because of her high status. But in show canon? That collar will work 100%, because they use the Searchers to find marath'damane instead of testing every woman in the Empire every year (until they turn 25, I think it was). If the show is working backwards to decide on these changes, then it's entirely possible that this change in the way finding marath'damane is done was 100% specifically for Tuon's potential storyline down the road.

Also, I love that it means that Tuon is a weak-ass channeler, because that was always my head-canon for her anyway.

The Shadow Rising:

Elements already pulled from TSR+ into s2: Rand knows that Selene is Lanfear and Lanfear is offering to protect him from the other Forsaken and wants to work with him. And Rand also knows that "the Dark One" is actually Ishamael and the rest of the Forsaken are now out in the world. We've also learned about ji'e'toh already. TSR is also when Moghedien was introduced.

What likely won't happen in s3: I think Tear itself will be held back until after the arc in the Waste. They've already done some of the related character-work from the start of bk4 in s2 already, with Lanfear and Rand, and most of the other stuff (the 'finn doorway) could be moved to Falme if need be. Or, since we have the all characters going east, maybe it'll be in Caemlyn when the characters split up to their various plotlines (which would give us Elaida's Foretelling for Rand and Egwene meeting Gawyn) and then they wouldn't have needed to have Falme as a location shoot for s3 at all.

I do suspect that the Rand & Elayne relationship is being pushed to a later season and we'll likely get the beginnings of Rand & Aviendha instead (which makes me suspect that Elayne's storylines would get adjusted in a later season to actually give her time with Rand).

What likely WILL happen in s3: the Tower coup and Elaida taking over as Amyrlin; Rand & co going to the Waste and Rand becoming Car'a'carn while Mat gets his medallion and Egwene gets Wise One training; Elayne and Nynaeve (and Thom?) going Black Ajah hunting (or specifically after Liandrin?). Potentially we will see Rand and Aviendha catch feelings for each other as Rand and Egwene fall apart (and Lanfear stalks Rand from the sidelines, since she's not supposed to be interacting with him). And Perrin defending the Two Rivers, of course.

I don't think that we'll get Tuon this early, though we may get the prophecy (and the dread from the audience that Mat is destined to marry one of these horrible slaver people, because the Court of the Nine Moons has already been mentioned).

In addition to being a big book for Rand & Lanfear developments, TSR is wonderful for Rand & Mat as well. There are so many amazing moments for them in this book. If the show hits even a handful of these beats, s3 will be great for the Cauthor side of fandom. Especially with how Josha and Dónal are playing Rand & Mat as very handsy friends who are comfortable with physical touch.

So, what are some potential ways they could go with s3?

(I promise that any and all speculation with be at least 85% inaccurate and may be as much as 100%; does contain some casting and location spoilers for what we know about s3 so far)

Starting place in 3x1:

Option One: Falme subbed for Tear

We do Tear-stuff in Falme (doorway; maybe bubbles of evil) and then the characters split up for separate journeys.

Pros: making the most out of our current location! the characters are already there!

Cons: Have to pay a location fee for an additional season when they could instead use a s3 location.

Option Two: Caemlyn subbed for Tear

We know that Caemlyn is going to be in s3 and they might want to get the most out of their new location.

Pros: Might get Elaida's Foretelling of Rand. Egwene meets Gawyn without needing to go to the White Tower. Mat could do his 1v2 quarterstaff battle against Elayne's brothers. Means that everyone has already traveled significantly to the east during the break between seasons but they're all still together as a group, meaning we won't need as big a timeskip after this. And Elaida's Foretelling could even be the trigger for Rand & co needing to flee the city.

Cons: can't think of any but I'm sure they exist; this genuinely seems like such a good option to me that I am 100% marking it down to potentially write as a fic, if I ever get the time (I continue to collect plot bunnies at an alarming rate in this fandom!)

Option Three: Hurrying through BK3's ending (aka Tear is Tear)

This seems more expensive than it's worth, but maybe they got more money for s3!

Pros: bk3 Tear will be done, I guess?

Cons: expensive set piece and location that is then promptly abandoned so that everyone can go somewhere else

So, we've done our set-up episode and now we've moving on to: everyone goes somewhere else!

Where do they go?

Stop, Wait... Option Four: There Isn't A Set-Up Episode

This is the option for not having any set-up at all and just jumping into everyone's individual journeys.

Pros: Faster to get into the main story

Cons: No bonding time for the group as a whole; fewer character interactions; would probably make me sad

Well, we've either done our set-up or we haven't, so where is everyone going?

Perrin -> The Two Rivers

I mean, we all know it. Perrin is kinda the reason that I think we won't start with everyone already at their destinations, because I don't think Perrin's storyline in the Two Rivers is meaty enough to be stretched out over eight entire episodes.

Wondergirls -> ???

A White Tower stop-over seems fairly unlikely to me after 2x7, though there's a chance. I think it's more likely that we'll get them splitting up to go into their bk4 plotlines.

(If the Wondergirls do go to the White Tower, what is Rand doing during this time? How does Egwene reunite with Rand for her bk4 plotline?)

Verin burned her bridges with Siuan & Leane, potentially (she COULD probably talk herself out of being viewed as Black Ajah... maybe... but it's hard to see how she could talk herself out of being viewed as breaking Tower law) which implies to me that SHE isn't going to return to the Tower, and she is the one who introduces Dreaming to Egwene in the books. Which makes me lean towards the idea of Doing Tear (and the White Tower plots) in Caemlyn.

They could take some of the characters back to Tar Valon in s3 but... but that bridge between Moiraine and Siuan is so scorched right now that it's difficult to see Siuan being willing to let any of them leave the White Tower if they go there again.

Mat -> Rhuidean

Mat didn't touch the dagger, so he has no need to go back to the White Tower literally ever, especially since one of his Hero friends put the Horn away into an interdimensional pocket for later.

Rafe has implied that we will see Mat's quarterstaff battle at some point (unless he just meant that we would see Mat wielding a quarterstaff against two opponents at once, which definitely happened in 2x8), which leads me further to think about s3 starting in Caemlyn, because after that, Gawyn and Galad go off into separate plotlines.

If we assume that Caemlyn takes the place of both Tear and the White Tower for book 3 & early book 4 events, then everyone would go to their book 4 plotlines from here -- Perrin would go west to the Two Rivers; Rand & co would go to the Waste; Elayne & Nynaeve would go to do some Liandrin-hunting. We would only need five main locations for the season, at least two of which are pre-existing -- Caemlyn, the Two Rivers, Tar Valon, the Aiel Waste/Rhuidean, and whichever city Elayne & Nynaeve go to in order to hunt Liandrin (and if it's Cairhien, then they already have the location/set).

Events that I'm Pretty Sure we'll get in s3:

Rhuidean. Rand's walk through Aiel history and Mat's encounter with the foxes. Rand saving Mat's life. <3

Asmodean becomes Rand's teacher.

I do think we'll likely get Couladin proclaiming himself as the Car'a'carn and the chaos of Alcair Dal, because Mat killing Couladin is really what creates the BotRH and cements him as the leader.

The White Tower coup.

Nynaeve faces off against Moghedien... or maybe this season she will still be focused on Liandrin?

The Battle of the Two Rivers.

I think we will start to get Rand & Aviendha in this season, but slow-burn. But if they plan to do the Moiraine & Lanfear show-off at the end of the season, then you'd want the Rand & Aviendha relationship to begin to flower. And then Lanfear is out of the picture (as far as Rand knows), which would let him worry less about her killing any woman that he's attracted to.

Things that we Might Get in s3 (depending on pacing):

We might get either Cairhien or Tear at the end of the season. That really depends on pacing and I don't know how fast they plan to move through the arc in the Waste. There are really only two big Events in the Waste in bk4 -- Rhuidean and Alcair Dal; though there's also visiting Cold Rocks Hold and the attack there.

Moiraine and Lanfear's encounter with the doorway. The reason that I'm thinking this might happen in s3 is because someone (was it Rafe?) teased about a "big cast change" at then end of s3 that book readers would be familiar with. Losing Moiraine right as he gets a Forsaken as a teacher would be very intriguing.

If we are going to do the polycule (*crosses fingers hard*), then there needs to be a decent stretch of time where Elayne is actually allowed by the plot to spend time with Rand. We got our meet-cute and it was beautiful, so I have high hopes. There is also a new tor.com interview where Rafe says that Elayne and Rand have a 'huge arc' together.

For now, I think the time period after her book 4 plotline and before she gets involved in Ebou Dar seems like the best time (as opposed to just wandering the countryside for weeks because Nynaeve can't remember the word 'Salidar'). So after Rand has returned to the wetlands. I am going to speculate that s3 ends with the Battle of Cairhien while, at the same time, Elayne and Nynaeve go to Cairhien for their own story reasons. Because they've already done their book 4 plotline, and maybe part of their book 5 plotline, there's no need for them to hurry off right away. And Elayne spends most of s4 with Rand (and Aviendha) (and Mat). Elayne can help Rand navigate politics in Cairhien, and they can fall in love while being big ol' workaholics. We also could have Dumai's Wells happen here so that Rand can get rescued not only by Perrin but also by Mat, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, & Aviendha. Which would just be nice.

I do think, based on the Power of Friendship vibe that we had in the s2 finale, that the show is going to be bringing our characters back together a lot more often than the books did (and I'm happy about that).

So, based on that idea... a tentative outline for s3 (I am not expecting this to end up being at all accurate, lol, just feeling some things out about a potential way things could go based on what we've see so far in terms of how quickly the plot moves and how the show seems like it's more willing to reunite all the characters, so I am going to try to get everyone to Cairhien by ep8 so that they can reunite again; we also might be doing Tear instead at the end of the season):

ep1: The opening of the season is supposed to start with a 'bang'. Would they do the Tower coup this early in the season? Siuan ended s2 in a terrible political position, having the Dragon in her possession and then losing him. And if anyone finds out that she was conspiring with Moiraine for twenty years... otoh, would they want to show us Elaida in Caemlyn first, before taking her to the Tower for that plotline?

I'm not sure how much of a time-jump we'll get, though probably a bit of one, but I'm hoping we'll get to see all the characters together in the same location, as happened in Tear in the books. This may take place either in Falme or in Caemlyn, but our characters will have a chance to regroup and mingle. We may get some of our action from the start of book 4 here -- the bubble of evil, getting rumors of trouble in the Two Rivers. If the opening episode is in Caemlyn and not Falme, it may also feature: Mat vs Gawyn & Galad; Egwene and Rand (at least) meeting Gawyn and Galad. Rand meeting Elaida and getting a version of the Foretelling. This might also have our characters meeting up with Verin and Alanna in Caemlyn, and we may get our Verin & Egwene scenes and a certain gift of a twisted stone ring.

perhaps spurred by Elaida's Foretelling, our group scatters to their future destinations. Since they are much closer to the Two Rivers than they were in the books at this time, it might be that Loial leads Rand's group through the Ways to Rhuidean, rather than leading Perrin to the Two Rivers. Egwene meets the Wise Ones in TAR and decides she also needs to go to Rhuidean with Rand.

ep2: Perrin arrives in the Two Rivers and we get a look into that situation; Elayne and Nynaeve get interrogated by a woman who is definitely not secretly Moghedien. Rand and Mat ask permission to go to Rhuidean. In order to make it so that all the characters are heading in to the same place, maybe Elayne and Nynaeve went to Cairhien to investigate Liandrin's disappearance? Since all the 'known' Seanchan were killed off in the Battle of Falme, the show may have the Seanchan take s3 (and s4?) off as they regroup before their next offensive.

ep3: They've put a pretty heavy-hitter in as ep3 in s2 and it seems likely they would try to do the same in s3 because of the way that Prime drops shows, so let's call ep3 the Rhuidean episode, where we learn about the Aiel's past and Mat finds a doorway. Moiraine goes through the silver rings, learning about what will happen to her in the future, and writes some letters (alt: Moiraine goes through the doorway in Rhuidean as well and learns it there?).

ep4: Rand & co travel towards Alcair Dal (skipping Cold Rocks Hold); If the White Tower Schism didn't happen in ep1, maybe it happens here. I'm going to tentatively put the Coup here. Rahvin arrives in Caemlyn, if he exists?

ep5: Alcair Dal & Rand trapping Asmodean as a teacher (with Lanfear's help). Couladin announces that he's the Car'a'carn and decides to march on Cairhien, and Rand already feels guilty about getting Lanfear to help him escape in 2x7 and her torching the city, so he's extra motivated to stop him.

ep6: Battle of the Two Rivers, so that Perrin will be able to start his cross-country road trip to meet back up with everyone else by the end of the season? Maybe including the 'trap' for Faile that happened in TDR and it makes Perrin realize that he has feelings for her, which he feels guilty about. Asmodean begins teaching Rand.

ep7: Nynaeve and Moghedien have a confrontation in Cairhien and Nynaeve manages to defeat Moghedien, causing her to flee (or maybe this is Nynaeve defeating Liandrin? We might want to keep Moggy scary for the moment). At the end of the episode, the Shaido Aiel have arrived to lay siege to the city.

ep8: Battle of Cairhien - Mat kills Couladin and forms the Band of the Red Hand; Lanfear finds out that Rand and Aviendha have... slept together? kissed? have feelings for each other? And Moiraine and Lanfear have their appointment at the docks when Lanfear loses it as she realizes that after all her work, Lews Therin/Rand is never going to love her the way that she wants him to.

Then, in the name of 'letting the characters spend more time together', Rand's friends maybe actually get to hang out with him in s4 before people split up again, giving us a situation where the whole group gets to reassemble to save Rand at Dumai's Wells? Hard to guess without knowing how much will get covered in s3. They've done a great job pulling in plot lines from various books so far.

s2 did an amazing job of having a handful of themes that they explored through multiple characters and storylines, so I expect that s3 will also have some themes that they will be using. Not sure what it might be yet though once we get our s3 trailer (in, like, a year or a year and a half, lol) we'll probably have a better idea, because Halsey's "Control" being used for the s2 trailer was INCREDIBLY accurate for some of s2's themes -- "who is in control?" and the idea of fear and control and trying to own someone's power were very much at play in s2.

So what character arcs might we see in s3?

I think we're going to see Moiraine & Lan firmly established as mentors to Rand throughout the season, doing their best to prepare him for the future. And then Rand is potentially going to lose both of them at the end of the season (since I think that the show might bring all the characters together at the end of the season again, we might even see Nynaeve "bonding Lan to save his life" at the end of s3).

In general, there's just... honestly gonna be so much Rand stuff that I will be absolutely overwhelmed (in a good way). TDR-TSR-TFoH are my favorite run of the books and there are just so parts of TSR that are SO good (and a lot of them are Rand).

Theory for Mat's arc in s3: I wonder if we're going to start with him choosing to take a bodyguard-type role for Rand (because of his guilt over the stabbening) and transition to taking a general/captain-role at the end of the season (which would involve more independence in the future when he needs to leave Rand's plotline) as the Maidens take over as Rand's bodyguards. TSR is such a good book for both Rand and Mat in general, so I'm really looking forward to what the show does because the show has invested so much in their relationship already.

I am so so curious about what dynamic will be established for Rand & Asmodean and how many of the other characters might know the truth about him. In the books, Moiraine reveals in her letter to Rand that she knew who he really was but agreed with Rand that perhaps there was no choice but to work with him, because she agrees that Rand needs the training.

I do think we'll see some vibes between Rand and Elayne in the first episode, but that they won't act on them. But Rand was clearly struck by Elayne tenderly healing him with the sunlight in her hair and I do think we'll get some follow-up on that moment in ep1.

We'll also be getting Rand and Egwene pulling away from each other as romance partners (but perhaps settling into being trusted friends?). And I agree with @markantonys that it makes the most sense to have Rand & Aviendha as Rand's first established romance post-Egwene, because of the way the plotlines are set-up (Aviendha is actually going to be around Rand all season) and because she comes from a culture that leaves space for adding additional partners, so you don't need to use the misunderstanding loophole for Elayne and then Min to be added to the relationship in the future.

Perrin is going to come face-to-face with his guilt and grief over his wife's death when he goes back to the Two Rivers. Especially when he begins to catch feelings for Faile. We'll also see him training in TAR with Hopper. We'll see the continuation of his struggle with Dain. I do wonder if Dain might die at the end of s3, for similar reasons to why Renna, Seta, & Suroth died at the end of s2, leaving room for Galad to become the main Young Whitecloak figure in the future. Because the Whitecloaks spend several books not really being relevant in the middle part of the series.

Given how Nynaeve struggled with her block this season and it's been a real obstacle for her, one that she can't handwave away by doing the Bruce Banner "I'm always angry" thing like she kinda does in the books, I think that her main struggle this upcoming season is going to be trying to break her block and that they might even have her succeed at the end of the season against Moghedien -- much like s2 featured Egwene, Mat, & Moiraine coming into their powers (or back into their powers for Moiraine), s3 may see Nynaeve, Rand, & Perrin doing that.

The fact that Siuan disagreed so strongly with Moiraine in 2x7 makes me feel that it's more likely that she will survive the coup, because now she has tons of space for a character growth arc once she's struggling with actually dealing with her own stubborn Two Rivers person in the form of Egwene.

This will be Elayne's first season as an established member of the group -- one of the reasons that I think we'll get a set-up episode at the start of the season is that it makes sense to establish what her place is within the group. And then if Thom is in her storyline, we'll be able to explore a lot of her feelings about being the Daughter-Heir and her relationship with her mother, even if Morgase isn't shown on-screen.

Given that we killed off* all the 'known' Seanchan, I wonder if that means that we'll be taking a break from them in seasons 3&4, and then have them return at the end of s5(?), after Mat, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Lan have all gone to Ebou Dar (maybe Egeanin's plotline is shifted to Ebou Dar and we see that being explored at the start of s5 before the bulk of the Seanchan attack at the end?).

(* well, Suroth might not be dead, since we didn't actually see her die and she might have gotten rescued from the water, so she might be existing in a quantum state -- dead if they can't get the actress back later on but alive if they can)

We had a LOT of plotlines in s2 -- five major plotlines (Rand, Mat, and Perrin each got their own, while Egwene & Nynaeve and Moiraine & Lan did some sharing) plus we had the villain plotlines.

I’m guessing that we’ll only have three main plotlines in s3, which will give them all a bit more breathing room — we’ll have Rand & co in the Waste; Perrin & co in the Two Rivers; and Nynaeve & co doing a version of Tanchico. I think that the White Tower coup is likely to be a plotline for one-three episodes rather than something that spans the entire season.

And now, just for fun, a WoT s2 speculation scorecard! How well did I do?

I'll go backwards in time, so starting with my most recent speculation (that I did based on the 2x8 trailer that aired post 2x7).

That shot of Rand asking "who are you?" would be to that lovely shot of Elayne with sunlight in her hair: Correct!

Lanfear and Ishamael will fall apart while the Two Rivers kids stick together: Correct!

Elayne and Nynaeve will have to separate due to only have one sul'dam outfit: Wrong!

Hopper is going to die; Perrin will kill Daddy Bornhald in retaliation: Correct!

I had, like, three different guesses for the Horn situation so I'm not giving myself any credit there, lol

Turok will die by channeling, not by sword: Correct!

Moiraine and Lan will free damane as their plotline for this episode: Wrong!

Speculation for 2x7 made after trailer that came out after 2x6:

I do a lot of vague spec, the first firm thing I say without as much waffling is that Rand will be put under 'house arrest' by Siuan: Correct!

Mat saw Rand get taken by Lan & co: Wrong!

Lanfear and/or Ishamael arranges the fire in Foregate to free Rand from his 'house arrest' by the Aes Sedai: Correct!

Egwene gets to socialize with other damane: Wrong!

Speculation for 2x6-2x8 based on imdb listings for the last three episodes:

again, I do a lot of waffling and 'maybe this, maybe that', my first solid spec is that Liandrin's son would die in 2x6: Correct!

I did think we would get the royal wedding, so I will mark that: Wrong!

Natti Cauthon would appear as part of Ishy messing with Mat: Correct!

I thought the White Tower would be a location in these last three episodes: Wrong!

Yacissa will get killed by the Black Ajah: Wrong! (very happy to be wrong; I LOVE her)

Lanfear will help Rand out as his presence creates a wedge between Lanfear and Ishmael: ...kinda? I mean, she was Team Rand the second she learned Rand existed, lol.

Rand will leave Cairhien via Waygate: Correct!

Maigan will be Pura: Wrong! (no one is Pura, at least not now, and Maigan is very dead)

Loial will get to visit Egwene in the 'kennels': Wrong!

Egwene won't be freed until 2x8: Correct!

The 2x8 cold open will focus on LTT & Ishamael: Correct!

Ishamael will experience a painful reversal of expectations in 2x8 as his plans fall to pieces: Correct!

I also speculated here that Perrin would kill Bornhald in this version but I already counted that one above.

Uno will reappear as one of the Heroes of the Horn: Correct!

Speculation for 2x4 based on the first three episodes:

Moiraine doesn't already know Rand is in Cairhien: Wrong!

Lan will show the Lanfear poem to Alanna & co: Wrong!

Liandrin will tell Nynaeve that Perrin & co were captured by the Seanchan: Correct!

Logain was deliberately placed in Cairhien to lure Rand there: Correct!

Before we got the episode titles but after the trailer came out:

Siuan's trip to Cairhien occurs in episode 6: Correct!

Rand will still be wandering around the countryside when he meets Selene: Wrong!

Moiraine and Lan will be researching at Verin's in 2x1: Correct!

Rand and Selene's main episode will be ep2: Wrong!

The shot of Lan on Mandarb in the woods will be in Nynaeve's Accepted Test: Correct!

Nynaeve's Accepted Test will happen in ep3: Correct!

Moiraine and Rand reunite in ep4: Correct! (wrong about how/why though)

Perrin meets the Seanchan in ep5: Wrong!

Perrin meets Aviendha in ep5: Correct!

Rand meets Logain in ep6: Wrong!

"We get the New Spring flashback scene, see Moiraine & Siuan happy and young, then hear Gitara's Foretelling": Close! (I guessed it for ep6)

Verin will be in Perrin's plotline: Wrong!

Liandrin will be confirmed as a darkfriend in ep6: Close! (it was ep5)

Egwene, Nynaeve, & Elayne will spend the first 5 episodes in the White Tower and the last 3 in Falme: Close! (it's more 4 in WT; 1 traveling; 3 Falme)

I did a huge post of How Does Mat Get To Falme, which ended up being hilariously incorrect as "Lanfear has him bonked over the head and then Travels him there" was not on my radar, lol. But my favored method included him reuniting with Rand in Cairhien, so I'm glad that part still happened.

Anyway, I didn't do so awful in my predictions, I think.

(In terms of 'accidental predictions', I did write a fic involving Rand being tied to a bed in Cairhien by his lover literally months before we had any clue it would be happening in the show, - and while I'm talking about randomly accidentally being a Prophet in my fics: in Voice, I had Lanfear (who we had not yet met in the show) giving solid relationship advice - "That's fear talking, not fact" & I had this line for Mat: "Maybe Mat was destined to be a failure and a disappointment, like his father. But he wouldn't just lie down and let it happen." which is essentially what it feels like we just got from him in 2x8.)

[inkformyblood]

for the mission (CWFKB #9)

Hand Kiss for @codywanfirstkissbingo Canon Era, Undercover as a Couple, Pining, Yearning etc

The manor house doesn’t just dominate the landscape; it sprawls across it, the wings thrown wide and opening into vast courtyards for the invited guests to cluster together, break apart and reform like a living sea. Obi-Wan strides through one of the cobblestone walkways — a mind boggling expense given that the planet is mostly soft soil compacted on top of itself with minimal landscape features that could be described as pebbles, let alone true stone — and swings left, his hand securely in Cody’s. The other man’s pulse is steady in his wrist, higher than normal but that is to be expected given the battlefield they’re striding across is an entirely different calibre to what he is used to. 

Still, Obi-Wan’s heart twists in his chest, guilt and shame warring in equal devastating measures. He could have requested a fellow Knight for this mission, an older Padawan or a member of the Corps at a stretch, but when the parameters had been laid out, Cody had simply nodded, not entertaining the thought that it would be anyone other than him accompanying Obi-Wan as his companion to spy on a ludicrously fancy party. He does look stunning in his outfit. The replicators could work wonders on short notice if the Engineering department was given enough creative leeway. 

Obi-Wan tugs at Cody’s wrist, drawing him alongside. He tips his head sideways as they step through one of the open doors — stretching from ceiling to floor with delicate panes of glass, no true cover to be seen — and carefully crowds Cody back against the doorframe, lowering his mouth to his right ear. “How are you holding up, my dear?” He carefully sweeps his fingertips up Cody’s neck, a shiver rolling through the other man, and brushes against the earpiece in his other ear, concealed enough by a decorative metal framework and the fall of Cody’s curls. 

“Well enough. It’s a little cold however. Love.”

Through the crack of his lashes, Obi-Wan can see Cody’s expression falter, his eyes widening as his gaze wanders, settling everywhere except Obi-Wan. He swallows, his tongue prodding the barely healed scab on his lower lip, and carefully leans into Obi-Wan’s touch. Cody holds himself still, his muscles locked into place until he’s near enough trembling from the effort. “You’re doing very well. Just relax.”

Cody pulls in a breath through his teeth and blows out slowly, his shoulders inching downwards, his head growing a little heavier in Obi-Wan’s palm. “I’ll try.”

Obi-Wan nods, brushing his thumb over Cody’s cheek before he parts, taking the other man’s hand once more. The set-up for the mission had been simple enough; a pair infiltrate the party, one taking to lead to avoid suspicion from the other guests and their eventual targets, the other acting as the pretty sidepiece and listening to the network of devices scattered around the grounds to monitor the retrieval of information. Obi-Wan just needed to look after Cody. He weaves through the scattered groups, the heels on his boots clicking against the floor. Along one wall is a stretch of mirrors and Obi-Wan allows himself a glance, no more, no less, to drink them both in. They’re well-matched in the intricacies of their outfits, the crossing ties that run from the base of Obi-Wan’s spine complimenting the similar network over the planes of Cody’s chest, the gold bright against the dark fabric of his shirt. The clothing is tailored for them both, drawing in at the waist and flaring out over the hips, and the trousers cling tight enough that they’re barely there for anything other than texture. The outfits would be recycled when they return to the transport, possibly on the transport if the way Cody had only just stopped fidgeting when the manor had broken on the horizon, but Obi-Wan would remember this. 

A small sitting area is tucked against an unnecessary amount of plants, secluded enough that it wouldn’t raise any questions if a pair were to fold themselves away for a time and it would let Cody rest his feet. Soldier boots are world’s away from the delicate golden strappy set that had been produced for him. 

“Just relax,” Obi-Wan murmurs as he unfurls himself across the seat with a sigh. Cody’s hand tightens in his, one blink, then two, and Cody follows where Obi-Wan leads, carefully perching himself across the stretch of one thigh. He draws his legs up at Obi-Wan’s urging, stretching his legs across the other seat. His sigh is low, near reverant, and he relaxes against Obi-Wan. 

“Thank you.”

“Taking care of you is no trouble.” Obi-Wan draws Cody’s hand to mouth, kissing the curve of his knuckles. It’s just for the mission, ostensibly for the mission despite how much Obi-Wan craves the small piece of contact. He glances at Cody, his eyes wide and dark, and settles back for a long evening. 

[dissentersrising]

hmm. retainers.

actually, let's first talk about the leylines of sornieth. the network of magic running beneath reality that all magic flows through. the world's natural mechanism for cycling magic.

all magic flows from the leylines, returns to the leylines, and is broken down by the shade within so the cycle can start anew.

(as you might have noticed, the leylines and the shade both are the source of many superstitions and misunderstandings, but this isn't about them.)

near-to-all creatures on sornieth are magical in some way, which means that their magic, too, will return to the leylines upon death.

all that is to say that the leylines are the afterlife. purgatory. whatever. which means that every now and then someone will realize this and try to break out. because that is something people will want to do, because a good few people do not want to be dead and/or do not want to simply fade into oblivion. and because that is something you can do, since magic can, in fact, flow out of the leylines.

(which means that you can, in fact, revive someone if you drag them back out but WE'RE TALKING ABOUT RETAINERS HERE.)

retainers aren't actually dragons. they are just kind of... spawned in by purgatory to keep people from breaking out of the afterlife. luckily, they're usually passive. won't bother you if you're just chilling (or, more likely, dying a second time) in purgatory.

they'll beeline for anyone causing trouble though. this includes people trying to break out, people trying to break in, or people who have already broken in and are running around in the leylines while still being very much alive. they will not pursue people out of purgatory, but they will remember and they will come for your ass once you die again.

physically, they're pretty damn big. about the size of a particularly large imperial. they don't have any limbs by default, but they can grow any number of them so one can absolutely have, i don't know, twenty arms if it needs that many. their wings and haloes (for the ones who do have haloes, at least) are not quite solid, but you'll encounter some resistance if you try to touch them.

they can technically be killed if you fight them hard enough, but so long as they retain a connection to purgatory they simply will not stay dead. "killing" one is a pretty tall order in the first place. they're stupidly big, they can channel lightning (not actually lightning- just raw magic. remember, purgatory is inside the leylines) they're able to teleport, and they can straight-up change the geography of purgatory at will. if you want to get out of purgatory, you're better off trying to avoid these things instead.

they seemingly answer to the employers, despite the employers... not actually having created purgatory. still, some of the employers have taken it upon themselves to watch over purgatory and have managed to intertwine their own magic with that of the leylines. as a result, they have some degree of control over both purgatory and its retainers.

anyways out of universe um. hi it's me i'm being insane about madness combat and making fandragons of the most random things. gabriel ultrakill is here because it makes the most sense. he's a retainer now because it's my lore and i get to pick the writing also i use "the leylines" and "purgatory" pretty interchangeably above because they are interchangeable. two names for the same thing. btw sorry i keep drawing things that are not actual flight rising dragons who are actual flight rising breeds. it Will happen again

[somber-reads]

angst - 💔 | fluff - 🤍 | smut - 💋 | humor - 🤣 | 🩸 - violence/ gore | 📱 - sm!au | ✍🏻 - written fic | ongoing - ❌ | completed - ✅

please double check any warnings made by the author!

long way home - @sparklingchim | 💔🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> dilf!jk x female bff!reader

sum. “jungkook's life makes an 180 degree turn when he's suddenly a single dad and while you're trying to help him come accustomed to the new circumstances, your long-standing friendship takes new turns as well.„

carved - @sailoryooons | 💔💋🩸✍🏻❌

pairing -> demon!jk x female angel!reader

sum. “Hundreds of years after the Underworld wins the war, Vaesen - demon kind - rule the Realms. The Vanir - creatures of light and the Heavens - are hunted and enslaved by Vaesen. When the demon prince Jungkook is given one of the Carved - angels who have been stripped of their wings - he has no idea what to do with you. You, however, have plans you are determined to see through. Even if it means death in the end.„

red light - @kookieswan | 💔🤍💋🩸✍🏻❌

pairing -> nightmare!hoseok x female psychologist!reader

sum. “Fresh out of school with your psychology license, you would have never guessed your first job would be to take care of those who hide in the dark… The Nightmares.„

just friends - @kinktae | 💔🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> childhood best-friend!jk x f!reader

sum. “The transition from best friends to best friends with benefits is never easy, especially when there’s a daddy kink involved.„

color me in - @taegularities | 💔🤍💋✍🏻❌

pairing -> artist/fuckboy!jk x f!reader

sum. “Jungkook’s door only opens for you when there’s a barter: a trade of lust and haze. But today you knock for something more, as intriguing as it is frightening – and you hope it doesn’t close his door forever.„

all i want - @sxtaep | 🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> fuckboy!jk x textbook nerd female!reader

sum. “you fall into the temptation of fucking your best friend, aka the biggest fuckboy on campus.„

the a-listers - @httpknjoon | 💔🤍🤣✍🏻❌

pairing -> actor!jin x famous female!reader

sum. “Meet Y/N and Jin, two of Hollywood's hottest celebrities and couple— or are they? Media and fans have been wanting to hear a confirmation for years now. But you two are always good at confusing everyone. Watch as everyone else play this guessing game of what's the relationship between Y/N and Jin.„

an abundance of luck & a sprinkle of fate - @borathae | 💔🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> ceo!jk x female sex worker!reader

sum. “When two souls with different reasons for why life has broken them find each other, it takes an abundance of luck and a sprinkle of fate to make them see that maybe healing together isn’t as bad as it sounds.„

feels like home - @btsrunmylife | 💔🤍🤣📱✍🏻❌

pairing -> a/b/o!bts x beta female!reader

sum. “Emotional Support Werewolves. You never thought you’d hear those words in the same sentence. As a beta yourself, it should be insulting. It would be if it weren’t for the fact the Bangtan pack provides these services to other werewolves separated from their packs. Your refusal to take advantage of such services only lasts until one difficult night in particular, where being separated from your parents’ pack is too hard to handle on your own. Who knew your roommate’s insistence would eventually win you over?„

thirty-five - @bangtansmauyeondan | 💔🤍💋🤣📱✍🏻❌

pairing -> in-studio director!jk x female stage director!reader

sum. “It has always been the battle of the best between you and your college rival, Jungkook. What happens when years later, you cross paths again working for the same broadcasting network company, and the competitive flame is rekindled? Well, a whole new drunken bet that determines your futures wasn’t in your line of vision, but here you are… and you have until 35.„

camp bangtan - @eoieopda | 🤍💋🤣✍🏻 [DISCONTINUED]

pairing -> camp counselor!jk x female camp counselor!reader

sum. “After a successful first season, Camp Bangtan is back open for the summer - and this time, it's co-ed! Surely, seasoned counselor Jungkook can promote healthy competition amongst the campers without antagonizing his new co-counselor - right?„

risqué - @mercurygguk | 💔🤍💋✍🏻❌

pairing -> older!jk x younger female!reader

sum. “in which jungkook becomes involved with his boss’ daughter, who’s 10 years younger than him, despite knowing he shouldn’t. however, no matter how hard he tries, he’s unable to stay away. eventually feelings get in the way and so does jungkook’s subconscious, making it difficult for him to decipher if he should give into his lust and feelings or walk the other way before anyone gets hurt.

what started out as a one-time-thing to get the tension out of their systems ended up being a whirlwind of confusing feelings, doing the right thing and letting themselves fall in love despite the odds that are against them.„

our time - @taestefully-in-luv | 💔🤍💋✍🏻❌

pairing -> detective!jk x amnesiac graphic designer!reader (side pairing for seokjin x reader)

sum. “After an accident and being in a coma for three months, you finally wake. But the last nine years of your life have been completely erased. You rely on none other than your best friend, Jungkook, to help regain your memories and yourself. But what happens when the truth of your missing time starts unraveling and it isn’t all it’s made out to be?„

art of the soul - @jvngkook97 | 💔🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> artist!jk x female model!reader

sum. “this concept came to me from an artist koo compilation on YouTube that had me daydreaming on some “what if’s”. more specifically, ‘what if Jungkook used your body as a canvas’ and it was really soft and cute and then I realized I needed this in my life and maybe you do too so here you go!” no actual summary, author’s note for first chapter

the iron ring - @haliiimede | 💔🤍💋🩸✍🏻✅

pairing -> fae prince!Jimin x human female!reader

sum. “After finding a mysterious ring while cleaning out your late grandmother’s attic, you receive the unlikeliest of visitors: a fae prince who claims you have something that belongs to him. Discovering the fairytales your grandmother told you are true is the least of your problems when you’re taken to a world dangerous and unfamiliar.„

gym bunny - @bebejungkook | 💔🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> muscle pig!jk x shy chubby female!reader

sum. “After being tired of feeling insecure you decided to take your friends advice and hit the gym. The only problem is you don’t know what to do, but luckily the very muscular and scary guy next to you offered to teach you a couple things. He just also happens to be the sweetest man you’ve ever met and not scary at all. You catch yourself falling in love with him on your journey of self love, but old insecurities stop you from doing anything about it.„

paradise - @sunshinerainbowsbts | 💔🤍💋✍🏻❌

pairing -> stripper!jk x financial analyst!f!reader

sum. “That sexy man on stage - the one currently giving your friend the lap dance of her LIFE - is your super shy neighbor, Jeon Jungkook?!„

swing - @shina913 | 💔🤍💋✍🏻❌

pairing -> rower!jin x student! f! reader

sum. “You and Jin have been friends for years. You’ve been in sync in almost every aspect of your lives–even scoring full-ride scholarships to the same university! You, based on academics and him, in athletics. Although you both said that your friendship would remain the same, changes were inevitable. You grew apart and watched your friendship wither until it was all but a distant memory. When you reach your senior year, he finds out that his scholarship is on the line and you are the only person he can turn to for help. Will you come to his aid for old time's sake?„

.

idealizations concerning real life relations - @venusiangguk | 💔💋✅

pairing -> fuckboy!jk x literature student!f!reader

sum. “jungkook loves to be loved, but he doesn’t love in return.„

perilla leaves - @onlyswan | 🤍🤣✅

pairing -> idol!jk x f!reader

sum. “in which jungkook is team not okay for the perilla leaf debate.„

real or not real - @nmjoo-n | 💔💋✅

pairing -> fashion designer!hoseok x female student!reader

sum. “‘you’ve been begging to get fucked since the moment you walked through that door, beautiful. real or not real?’ or; hoseok respectfully couldn’t give less of a fuck what your father thought of him. he wouldn’t stay away from you.„

what if i love you too much? - @taleasnewastime | 💔🤍💋✅

pairing -> jungkook x single mom!reader

sum. “Jungkook. It’s only a name you learn after your son kicks his ball over the fence. Before that you only knew him as the hot new neighbour who mows his lawn topless. And though you have no intention of getting to know him anymore than that, inevitably you do. You don’t necessarily fall, it’s too slow for that, but you definitely develop feelings you don’t intend to feel. Because you know men like him, and you know that whatever you’re feeling, he’s probably not feeling the same. All the same, however hard you try, you can’t help yourself.„

stretch you out - @chateautae | 🤍💋✅

pairing -> gym employee!jk x f!reader x gym employee!joon

sum. “you have a plan for your crappy, diabolical ex who’s set on ruining your life; making him jealous by snagging a raunchy photo with two hot employees at the gym. what you didn’t have a plan for? befriending the mischievous pair to aid in your revenge and ending up underneath not just one, but both of them.„

pink carnations - @fizzydrink698 | 🤍✅

pairing -> florist!jk x female tattoo artist!reader

sum. “‘They’re not,’ Jungkook hurried to say, swallowing. There was the faintest hint of pink in his cheeks, almost but not quite unnoticeable. ‘They’re just…I thought they looked cool. That’s all.’„

…being soulmates… - @soraviii | 💔🤍💋✅

pairing -> soulmate!bts x f!reader

sum. a/n. ��soulmates are my favourite trope cause of low self-esteem, I hope it is yours as well. The trope, not the issues.„ lol I got both

stay - @koostarcandy | 💔🤍💋✅

pairing -> Jungkook x f!reader

sum. “jungkook comes in and out of your life like a recurring side character in a 90s show. you wish that he would stay, just like the main character that he is.„

canvas - @sugar-petals | 🤍💋🤣✍🏻✅

pairing -> dancer!jk x female tattoo artist!reader

sum. “jk serves as your canvas for a renowned LA tattoo competition. experienced in keeping it calm, you lift the trophy by giving him a full torso makeover. the prize money and glory is yours, plus his new tattoo couldn’t look any better. so, what are you gonna do with all that?„

paint me naked - @gimmethatagustd | 💔🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> artist!jk x female poetry student!reader (feat. taehyung)

sum. “After the mysteriously hot guy in your university class starts taking an interest in you, should you really trust that he’s not like all the other college fuckboys? Especially when his best friend is the guy who broke your heart?„

oreos and electroshock couples therapy - @ladyartemesia | 💔🤍🤣✍🏻✅

pairing -> detective!jk x female detective!reader

sum. “You and infuriating precinct playboy Jeon Jungkook go undercover to lure out a killer targeting engaged couples. Literally nothing goes according to plan…„

fade into you - @nmjoo-n | 🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> barista!jk x f!reader

sum. ““oh angel, for how fucking adorable you are, you sure don’t use that pretty little brain of yours much,” or jungkook has no limits when it comes to you. you’re his, he’s gonna get it through your head, eventually.„

perhaps love - @mangowillow | 💔🤍✍🏻✅

pairing -> childhood friend!jk x f!reader

sum. “for as long as you can remember, you have been in love with your childhood friend turned roommate, but jeon jungkook remains oblivious even when he comes to comfort and help you sleep every night.„

come sail away - @the-boy-meets-evil | 💔🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> seokjin x f!reader

sum. “kim seokjin is the captain of a sailing team bound for one of the biggest regattas around. only one problem: that team also includes taehyung, who's incredibly accident prone. will he let you save the day despite your history?„

all you’re giving me is friction - @hot-soop | 🤍💋✍🏻✅

pairing -> surfer!jin x f! lifeguard! reader

sum. “You’ve graduated! Congratulations - you’ve got one thing checked off your parents ten year plan! Now all that’s left to do is start your dreary office job, drag yourself up the ladder to CEO, marry your (as yet unknown) dream guy, and carve out some time to pop out a few kids before your ovaries shrivel up… Except all of that sounds horrendous, and you’d much rather spend the next three months at Hoseok’s beach house with your closest friends - relaxing, partying, and sleeping late while you still can. And it would be your last perfect summer break, if it weren’t for the most irritating man on the planet (and his chickens) living next door. “

[ladydeath-vanserra]

yeah see seeing all these ✨️city people✨️ and people with a lot of privilege and classism routinely calling rural iowans (SPECIFICALLY iowans) 'hicks' makes me angry and it makes me sad

we're not fucking STUPID. and a lot of the "stupidity" is often intentionally CREATED by making sure our schools are underfunded without access to proper education to build critical thinking skills and proper RESEARCH skills and limited access to news outside of newspapers and fox news. it's intentional. it's by design.

Educated rural folks who have the luxury (yes LUXURY and PRIVILEGE) to go to college to get educated LEAVE the areas where they could be the most beneficial for change and making communities diverse and more progressive and it furthers right wing, republican agendas by keeping people without access to resources and desperate and angry with the wrong people

"well you have access to the internet" yeah and the internet is full of misinformation and a lot of people are not taught how to look for credible sources or websites or how to look at biased language in writing so they ARE more susceptible to propaganda via fox News and the internet. you know what the internet also has? targeted ads and algorithms making sure you keep seeing the same kind of content and people who don't know DON'T know

however a lot of practical skills? knowledge that isn't BOOK SMART? I know plenty and they're so, so, so smart. but all I see from liberals and leftists is the refusal to use layman and simplified terms and "um! actually you need to educate yourself ☝🏻" and use unnecessarily difficult phrases

you say "defund the police" and people hear "be lawless and have no safety networks to prevent crime" instead of trying to find less #edgy slogans for what you ACTUALLY mean

you don't know what you don't know and calling us fucking hicks and ignorant isn't helping anyone. Tumblr was my first experience outside of Facebook where I learned about asexuality? it Didn't have an algorithm so I'll was able to be immersed in different cultures and view points

I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone being in rural Iowa for being hateful or racist or queerphobic but after living in the city for the last few years, I still see the same shit. it's just less covert in rural Iowa and in your face and I see leftists and liberals using their proximity to cities, and the problems in rural america as a Shield for their own bigoted and hateful behavior

I remember being on Tumblr, slowly inching into the queer community spaces, bec I wasn't used to online spaces, i was too poor at the time to have access to computers [2013+] and I came across the terms "trans man" and "trans woman" and I thought that meant a someone assigned male at birth who was trans and identified as a woman was called a 'trans man' bec I didn't know the terminology or how it was supposed to be used. I didn't know "transsexual" was considered a slur and I got attacked online for accidently using the wrong terminology because I couldn't remember the term transgender

I was from rural Iowa, a notoriously white, cis het area, fairly religious area, without a lot of access to the internet so I just. didn't know. and then i was afraid of ever saying anything again or asking questions. pls for the love of God use discernment and don't immediately vilify and attack well meaning people for not knowing what they don't know. that is EXACTLY how you can prevent people from ever being willing to grow and become educated

I remember watching the movie "Boys Don't Cry" with my mom about Brandon Teena, a trans man, and we both didn't know enough or understand enough about trans people we were unintentionally misgendering him when we talked about it but we both were so empathetic and heart broken for him

rural people I know are Prideful! they're constantly working to make ends meet and they have pride in themselves and their communities, often to the point it's at their own detriment and republican law makers KEEP it that way and rely on the classism and anger and diversion to keep it that way

a yt rural American in Appalachia is going to have more in common with a black American living in the city in the Projects more than we ever will with upper class yt folks. the wealthy yt #liberals will mock us and call us fucking stupid and ignorant and get in their own way of wanting any kind of progression. it! is never! black and white!!! PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BE KIND

why do you think rural Republicans don't trust the government? couldn't possibly have anything to do with the government IGNORING us or preying on poor folks who live paycheck to paycheck. of COURSE it makes sense they'd be leery about government wide programs. the government DOESNT CARE ABOUT US. and most rural "Republicans" I know aren't even republican. they don't have the time to invest in politics when we have to Work and can't Miss Work to go vote or find ways around road blocks.

most people don't know enough and vote for people they know and most don't Know democrats or their policies or their progressive goals and you know WHY that often happens? BECAUSE DEMOCRATS IGNORE THEM IN FAVOR OF CITIESSSSS. they call them STUPID and IGNORANT and can you really blame people for "not voting in their best interest" when the people who "care about their best interest" are people calling them stupid and ignorant and HICKS

I've been around Republicans in the city and Republicans in rural Iowa and if you look and listen close enough the *reasoning* for their racism (especially) tends to differ. racism is a social construct (that does NOT mean it isn't real or not important) and it was used specifically as a tool to create tension and a divide between the poor yt folks and the poc *by* yt, wealthy capitalists. the Irish were finally allowed to be #white bec they were identifying with the struggles of the marginalized folks being targeted just like THEY were in Ireland by Europe

the cold hatred I have seen from rural Republicans vs city, wealthy Republicans has been vastly different. don't get me wrong there are plenty of rural Republicans that are just as disgusting (I'm related to some lmao). often a lot of racism i see from rural folks is tied to anger and desperation from the lack of jobs and its designed that way. a lot of the racism from yt wealthy folks is tied to greed and wealth and capitalism. Donald Trump is a blaring example of an unchecked, racist, vile, classist man

I'm sorry I've had a REALLY bad week and living in a city with people who are so self centered and selfish and refuse to help has only made me miss home and despite all of the raging issues of rural america, I know a lot of kind and well meaning people who are just doing their best and willing to help you because we fucking know the government doesn't care about us

just. be kind. you don't know what you don't know and I think a lot of well meaning people shouldn't be getting attacked for it. empathy and grace should be given (when able) and people should be allowed to grow from innocent ignorance and mistakes

intersectionality and empathy and grace are so important and honestly rural america can be really beautiful and it really sucks to see it given up on in such a cruel way

I follow a person on tiktok who really embraces the idea of radical love and I think more people should too

[discar]

HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

Chapter 43 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

DIVINER: And now I think Aloy is a Tenakth saint or something because you gave her the sunwing override.

β: wasnt she already a saint

MARSHAL Kotallo: She was well-respected, that is all.

FlameHairSavior: I'm still JUST well-respected, right?

MARSHAL Kotallo: Aloy. You flew overhead on the Wings of the Ten. It doesn't matter that everyone knows how you did it, it's still a miracle.

β: oh god shes an angel now isnt she

FlameHairSavior: Oh, look! A change of subject!

DIVINER: Uh, let's see...

DIVINER: There's not really all that much more interesting that happened while you were gone!

DIVINER: Tilda hated memes and French people and Minions!

β: knew that

DIVINER: Sylens loves holo-calls!

β: oh ew

Icarus: You are all savages.

HIMBO: YOU CAME BACK, SO IT'S OFFICIALLY YOUR FAULT.

ADMIN [Zo]: Please don't scare him off now.

ADMIN [Zo]: Sylens, I know I said it before, but truly, thank you for coming back. It means a lot.

Icarus: I fully intend to flee the second you people prove incable of living up to Aloy's promises.

Icarus: I am not willing to gamble with yet another malevolent AI bent on our destruction.

HIMBO: RIGHT, I HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS NEMESIS THING.

FlameHairSavior: Can they wait? We're a little busy.

HIMBO: THE REST OF US ARE JUST RIDING. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

β: were hooking up gaia

HIMBO: OH, I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST ABOUT DONE BEFORE WE LEFT.

FlameHairSavior: We ARE just about done. Still, it takes time.

β: goota make sure we do it right

β: gotta

β: or shell wake up a blank slate and have to download everything again

FlameHairSavior: All right... that should be it.

DIVINER: Wow, that was fast!

[FlameHairSavior] has invited [GAIA] to the group

GAIA: Thank you, Aloy, Beta. You have both been incalcuably helpful.

FlameHairSavior: Of course.

β: sure

DIVINER: Oh no!! Now I have to go over everything that happened while you were gone again!

DIVINER: So, it started with Aloy getting kidnapped by Tilda!

DIVINER: Or rescued, technically.

GAIA: That will not be necessary. I have already read all of your Focuses and have fully assimilated everything that happened while I was gone.

HIMBO: SO... YOU CAN JUST SEE EVERYTHING WE'VE EVER DONE WHILE WEARING THESE THINGS?

GAIA: Yes.

HIMBO: GREAT.

HIMBO: THAT'S NOT CREEPY AT ALL.

β: remind me to show you space odyssey

DIVINER: Do you want him to smash everything with a hammer?

DIVINER: Because that's how you get him smashing everything with a hammer.

GAIA: 2001: A Space Odyssey is not in the media archives.

DIVINER: Mmm-hmm.

DIVINER: [SkepticalOwl.gif]

DIVINER: Let me take a look.

GAIA: I'm sorry, Alva, I can't let you do that.

GAIA: Oh dear.

ADMIN [Zo]: What?

GAIA: Alva just fell off her strider laughing.

DIVINER: I'm okay!

HIMBO: WHATEVER. CAN WE GO BACK TO NEMESIS FOR A BIT?

FlameHairSavior: Sure. What's your question?

HIMBO: I WROTE IT DOWN, ONE SECOND.

FlameHairSavior: Oh no.

HIMBO: OKAY, QUESTION ONE: WHY DID THE ZENITHS MAKE MIND COPIES IN THE FIRST PLACE? THEY WERE ALREADY IMMORTAL.

β: they wanted more

MARSHAL Kotallo: More than unaging bodies and perfect shields?

β: their shields werent perfect its just no one on this planet had enough firepower to break them

β: there was always the chance of random accidents killing them having a backup mind would mean they could just download into a new body

HIMBO: YEAH, I MUST BE MISSING SOMETHING, BECAUSE THAT STILL SOUNDS CRAZY.

Icarus: Think of it for keeping a blueprint for your favorite invention, along with all the parts required to build it. When your invention is broken or lost for whatever reason, you can build an exact copy quickly and efficiently.

HIMBO: BUT THE ORIGINAL IS STILL GONE. IF IT'S JUST A TOOL, FINE, WHATEVER, BUT IF IT'S YOU THEN IT'S A WHOLE OTHER FORGE.

β: its called the contuinity flaw and there were long arguments about it even before zero day

HIMBO: SURE, OKAY, GUESS I HAVE TO JUST ACCEPT THAT.

HIMBO: QUESTION 2: THE MIND COPY THING FAILED, RIGHT?

Icarus: Yes. The exact reason they considered it a failure is unclear, however. There are any number of possibilities. Perhaps the copies weren't perfect. Perhaps the copies were too perfect, and insisted they were the originals.

HIMBO: I KNOW I DON'T KNOW A LOT ABOUT THIS COMPUTER SLAG, BUT WHY COULDN'T THEY JUST DESTROY THE COPIES?

FlameHairSavior: Actually, I was wondering the same thing.

ADMIN [Zo]: If the copies were even slightly functional, that would be murder.

FlameHairSavior: There is no way the Zeniths cared about murder.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Even if they did, it would be easy to rationalize it as either putting down a wounded animal or killing an enemy, depending on circumstances.

GAIA: I am afraid that I have no more information than you do. Perhaps Sylens has the answer.

Icarus: There were no explicit explanations in either the extinction signal or the Zenith database. I would only be able to speculate.

FlameHairSavior: Go right ahead.

Icarus: I can only think of two reasonable possibilities: That they were continuing to test the copies to determine what went wrong, or that they were putting the copies through a series of experiments that they would never want to perform on themselves.

Icarus: Either way, it is clear they were not paying enough attention, which is why the copies were able to merge into Nemesis and escape containment.

DIVINER: Even I know how to keep a dangerous virus quarantined from the network! Surely they should have known better than to leave a data link, even a locked one!

MARSHAL Kotallo: They were masters of their world for a thousand years. I suspect they were simply overconfident and had not faced a real danger in centuries.

Icarus: I am still astounded they made such a basic mistake.

MARSHAL Kotallo: We cannot understand the depth of their overconfidence. Putting aside their technology, none of us have lived even a single century, and our lives have not been complacent. How would we relax our guards, if we were safe for hundreds and hundreds of years?

MARSHAL Kotallo: I don't think any of us have ever been truly safe for so much as a year.

DIVINER: My life was pretty calm for the most part! I mean, we had to deal with the Derangement, but things only started getting REALLY bad in the past couple years!

β: i was safe pretty much my whole life

MARSHAL Kotallo: I was including psychological torture and manipulation in the general arena of "unsafe."

β: it wasnt really torture

DIVINER: [UCDavis.WhatIsPsychologicalTorture.pdf]

β: why would you have that

DIVINER: Why wouldn't I? It's not like it takes up much space!

β: i mean because i would have thought it would be from a chinese or japanese college

DIVINER: Oh, I pretty much only have English language data on my Focus! I barely passed the foreign language courses!

FlameHairSavior: Wait, they spoke different languages across the sea? Why is everything you have in our language, then?

DIVINER: Translation software was VERY advanced by the time of the Plague, and even our relatively primitive Focuses could translate almost anything! Furthermore, English was a very common trade language, so many of the files we found had an English language option by default!

DIVINER: Foreign languages were an elective, because they were largely unnecessary!

β: dont know how i feel about that

ADMIN [Zo]: I'm not sure what you mean.

β: language shapes culture and culture shapes language

β: forcing everyone to use english seems like something is lost

MARSHAL Kotallo: Surely it is better that everyone can communicate.

β: i dont know

MARSHAL Kotallo: ...I suppose it's something to think about.

FlameHairSavior: Zo, have you reached your people yet?

HIMBO: SUBTLE SUBJECT CHANGE.

FlameHairSavior: You hush.

ADMIN [Zo]: Not quite. I've reached Plainsong, but I dismounted to walk in.

FlameHairSavior: Have you decided if you want to give them Focuses or not?

ADMIN [Zo]: I know I SHOULD.

β: there has to be at least one person you actually like among the utaru

ADMIN [Zo]: It's not that. The problem is that, no matter who I give it to, the Chorus would find out about it. Their reaction could be... unhelpful. For the time being, I will wait to see if my negotiations bear fruit.

Icarus: If your people had any wisdom, they would accept any weapon they can in this struggle.

ADMIN [Zo]: You haven't met many Utaru, have you?

Icarus: No, not particularly.

ADMIN [Zo]: Let's just say that I'm considered an aggressive firebrand.

Icarus: Why are we bothering with these people?

FlameHairSavior: Doesn't hurt to try. If things go sour, Zo can just leave.

β: yeah no need to worry about her safety with the pacifists

MARSHAL Kotallo: Do not underestimate the value of Utaru farmlands, and Utaru farmers to work them.

MARSHAL Kotallo: They are the reason that that the Utaru and the Tenakth have had strong relations for so long.

FlameHairSavior: Speaking of the Tenakth, any progress there?

MARSHAL Kotallo: I have reached the Clanlands. Everyone is very happy to see me. I am sure Hekarro will accept a Focus gladly.

FlameHairSavior: Is there any reason he wouldn't? Worst-case scenario planning.

MARSHAL Kotallo: The only reason I can think of is if he wanted to make sure all Marshals and Veterans have Focuses of their own. If we don't have enough for all of them, he might not accept it.

MARSHAL Kotallo: But I find even that scenario unlikely.

β: actually we should have enough for all of them right

β: there would

β: there should be thousands in the cradle

FlameHairSavior: I only brought a pouch full. That still might be enough, but it might be a bad idea to use so many, at least until I replenish my supply.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Regardless, I guarantee that Hekarro and the Clans will stand with you. You have earned more honor than anyone I have even heard tales of.

MARSHAL Kotallo: I suspect at this point, if the Ten descended from the sky, they would receive less trust.

FlameHairSavior: [Groan.gif]

MARSHAL Kotallo: Problem?

β: she really doesnt want to be a saint

ADMIN [Zo]: Again?

FlameHairSavior: Again.

DIVINER: I think it's a good idea to bring in as many into the network as possible! Even if it means you have to go back to the Cradle and collect more Focuses, more is always going to be better!

FlameHairSavior: Oh, I forgot that you have a big network in your homeland. I don't think you said how big, though.

DIVINER: I'm sorry citizen, that is a state secret kept closely guarded for tactical and strategic reasons.

DIVINER: Sorry!!

FlameHairSavior: I just wanted to know how a network with a lot of people operates. We'd go crazy if we were getting constant messages from a dozen more people.

DIVINER: Oh! Well, first off, you can parcel off people into their own message groups! You'll want to make one main group with everyone in it for emergencies, and then everyone can be part of multiple smaller groups! So one will be us, another might be you and just the tribal leaders, and then at least one more for each tribe!

Icarus: I would also suggest that you codify the rules early. They are easier to enforce from the start. Don't let anyone post in the emergency channel frivolously, stamp down on any harrassment, so on.

Icarus: This is especially important for you, since you won't be able to use the Eclipse's method of dealing with rule-breakers.

FlameHairSavior: ...which was?

Icarus: They killed them.

FlameHairSavior: Of course they did.

Icarus: They had more loyal officers than they had Focuses. From their perspective, the math was simple.

FlameHairSavior: [Sigh.gif]

FlameHairSavior: Alva, how are you doing?

DIVINER: I'm almost to the Sunken City!

HIMBO: HOW? IT'S SOMETHING LIKE FIVE TIMES FARTHER THAN WHERE ANY OF US ARE GOING.

DIVINER: I don't take as many breaks, and mapped out my course in advance!

HIMBO: YOU CAN USE THESE THINGS FOR MAPS?

ADMIN [Zo]: By all the songs and shoots Erend, did you never read that primer on how to use your Focus?

HIMBO: VARL SHOWED ME HOW TO PLAY MUSIC, AND THAT WAS BASICALLY THE END.

FlameHairSavior: Erend, stop playing the idiot.

HIMBO: BUT I'M SO GOOD AT IT!

FlameHairSavior: Alva, are you still going through with it?

DIVINER: Yep! It's going to be scary, but it's important that I stay close by to help you! I gave Overseer Bohai a warning, and he's okay with it! I think most of the expedition is staying behind, actually! Just one ship is going back to the homeland!

β: is he staying

DIVINER: Oh, definitely not!

β: does that mean youll be in charge

DIVINER: .

DIVINER: .

DIVINER: .

DIVINER: ٩(●ö●)۶

FlameHairSavior: Taking that as "I didn't think that far ahead."

MARSHAL Kotallo: It is a shame we will not be able to communicate with the Quen homeland. Coordinating with a powerful military empire would be invaluable in the face of Nemesis.

β: we might

β: probably not

β: but we might

MARSHAL Kotallo: Interesting.

FlameHairSavior: We shouldn't discount the Quen in the Sunken City. They have enough experience with Focuses to be valuable. Especially if we manage to take over a couple Cauldrons and produce some personal machines.

HIMBO: ANY LUCK WITH HEPHAESTUS?

FlameHairSavior: Nothing concrete yet.

Icarus: I am searching for clues in the APOLLO database.

β: he means hes playing around with the engineering tools

Icarus: I mean that I am investigating our most valuable tool for any and all leads.

β: which looks a lot like playing

FlameHairSavior: Erend? You at Vegas yet?

HIMBO: I SEE SAND?

FlameHairSavior: Well, keep me posted.

FlameHairSavior: Oh, and did I thank you for volunteering to go to Morlund?

HIMBO: YES YOU DID, BUT YOU DON'T NEED TO. I LIKE MORLUND! I WONDER IF THEY'LL REMEMBER ME.

FlameHairSavior: I think Stemmur still has the wrench you threw at them.

Icarus: Remind me again why you feel the need to involve a trio of entertainers in our attempt to save the world.

FlameHairSavior: They're smart, resourceful, motivated, and currently sitting on one of the most intact Old World cities. I don't think it has any printers, but if nothing else it has a power source that's still going strong.

DIVINER: And don't underestimate the value of entertainment! These next few years are going to get dark, we're going to need something to keep our spirits up!

Icarus: I suppose.

GAIA: Aloy, I can confirm that I am fully stabilized. Your concern was ultimately unecessary.

DIVINER: What was that?

FlameHairSavior: Oh, I need to leave the Base for a while, but I wanted to make sure GAIA was fully online first. I told her to text once she was sure.

β: it only took her twenty minutes to be sure you could have just turned around if something went wrong

ADMIN [Zo]: Why are you leaving the Base? I thought you had handled all the emergencies in the region.

MARSHAL Kotallo: I know you finished with all the rebel camps before the assault on the Zenith compound.

FlameHairSavior: I'm going to try and find Talanah. She should still be somewhere in the area.

MARSHAL Kotallo: The Carja woman?

HIMBO: THE SUNHAWK?

FlameHairSavior: Yeah.

FlameHairSavior: I'm going to give her a couple Focuses. She might be heading back to the Sundom, she might not.

HIMBO: WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?

FlameHairSavior: She can give Avad a Focus.

HIMBO: ...OH NO.

β: your drinking debts were going to come due eventually

HIMBO: MAYBE WE CAN JUST TELL HIM I'M DEAD.

Chapter 43 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

[moralpuppet]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN. || respond to the prompts out of character!

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have?

oh my rodness it was hard ! because when you watch Moral Orel for the first time season 1 is very crude ! but I knew there was something to be desired by the end because I was first exposed to the episode 'Sacrifice' first and foremost which had me very curious.

I knew I wanted to write Orel because we have a lot of similarities and he's a precious son boy . I actually deleted this url 5 times before I settled I was intimidated by the lack of rep for the show here but I'm glad I finally stuck the landing .

is there anything you don’t like to write?

well the obvious given the circumstances of this blog . Anything nasty and nsfw is a big giant no no .but even on my blogs with adult muses I don't like this sort of thing anyway .

is there anything you really enjoy writing?

I really enjoy , found family , trauma bonding , kids being kids , and exploring Orel's broken relationship to his father / family and town .

how do you come up with headcanons?

I usually take something that's cannon and make it worse tm.

do you write in silence or do you play music?

Music ! I need background music for sure ! And also can help with writing specific moods/feels . <- I'm terrible at explaining stuff ooc as you can see

do you plan your replies or wing them?

WING THEM ! Sometimes I do think about the odd thread all day long but I wait until I get home to go crazy on it.

do you enjoy shipping? 

it's never my priority on any blog but I do have ships for Orel as I expressed mostly silly childish crushes because he's just a baby tm

what’s your alias/name?

Sav/Savbear

age?

I'm an adult though I prefer to be ageless due to age anxiety but I am 21+

birthday?

June 9th

favorite color?

pink ! pink ! pink !

favorite song?

I love a lot of songs !

last movie you watched?

Rewatched Spirit the Stallion of Cimarron with my twin sis two days ago ! It was a childhood fave for both of us !

last show you watched?

Watched a few of the g3 monster high eps lately

last song you listened to?

cowboy dan modest mouse

favorite food?

boring but I love a really good sandwich .

favorite season?

summer ! / I love dresses and swimming / iced coffees

do you have a tumblr best friend?

I have online family members ! A platonic soul mate , online found siblings and a special puppet family ! so a great support network here !

tagged by : @facedented / thank you !

tagging ( only if you want to! ) : @rvrend , @dollene , @therelentless , @redemn , @wildlcck , @painmon , @homingshot !!!

[laresearchette]

Friday, September 13, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: HOW TO DIE ALONE (Disney + Star) IN VOGUE: THE 90S (Disney + Star) CHOPPER COPS (Paramount+ Canada) DORA (Season 2) (Paramount+ Canada) UFO COWBOYS (The Roku Channel) THREE WOMEN (Starz Canada) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT? THE 76TH EMMYS: A NIGHT OF FIRSTS (ABC Feed)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA DREAM DEALS EN FIN THE FALL GUY NO ACTIVITY (Season 2) OSORONGA WNBA: NEW YORK LIBERTY AT DALLAS WINGS

CBC GEM THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY LOUDERMILK (Season 3)

CRAVE TV THE AMAZING RACE CANADA (Season 10) AUTUMN AND THE BLACK JAGUAR JOHNNY MNEMONIC A MIGHTY WIND SEAGRASS SONG OF THE SEA SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME THREE WOMEN WEATHERING WITH YOU WHEN NIGHT IS FALLING

DISNEY + STAR HOW TO DIE ALONE (four-episode premiere) IN VOGUE: THE 90S (first three episodes) LEGO STAR WARS: REBUILD THE GALAXY (all episodes) FX’S THE OLD MAN (Season 2, two-episode premiere)

NETFLIX CANADA OFFICER BLACK BELT (KR) SECTOR 36 (IN) UGLIES

MLB BASEBALL (SN Now) 6:30pm: Mets vs. Phillies (Apple TV+) 6:30pm: Dodgers vs. Atlanta (Apple TV+) 6:30pm: Red Sox vs. Yankees (SN) 7:00pm: Cardinals vs. Jays (SN1) 7:00pm: Rays vs. Guardians (SN1) 10:00pm: Rangers vs. Mariners

AUTUMN AND THE BLACK JAGUAR (Crave) 7:15pm: After years in New York City, 14-year-old Autumn returns to the Amazon rainforest to save her childhood village and beloved jaguar friend.

WNBA BASKETBALL (TSN3/TSN4) 7:30pm: Aces vs. Fever

THE REAL CROWN: INSIDE THE HOUSE OF WINDSOR (CBC) 8:00pm/9:00pm: Members of The Royal Family wrestle with the ultimate dilemma: whether to choose love over duty to The Crown. In Episode Two, the Royal Family come face to face with danger. Heir to the throne Prince Charles has yet to find a bride, placing the future of the monarchy in peril.

REPOSSESSED (History Channel Canada) 8:00pm/9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): On a trip to the Deep South, Moe and his team visit a giant limestone cave that is the namesake of this haunted town. In Episode Two, Moe brings the team to Eastern Ontario to the scene of one of his most terrifying previous investigations.

FRIDAY NIGHT THUNDER (APTN) 8:30pm: Rookie Allan Downey races in the faster, fiercer and more expensive 360 class for the first time; on a rough and wild track, he contends with numerous challenges that test even the most experienced drivers.

THE CASES OF MYSTERY LANE (W Network) 9:00pm: Alden and Birdie Case find a new way to keep the mystery in their marriage alive; Alden takes classes to become a private investigator and Birdie may hold the key to solving one of his mysteries.

SEAGRASS (Crave) 9:00pm: A Japanese-Canadian woman grapples with the death of her mother as she brings her family to a retreat. When her relationship with her husband begins to impact the children's emotional security, the family is forever changed.

CFL FOOTBALL (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 10:00pm: Argos vs. Lions

RORY SCOVEL: RELIGION, SEX AND A FEW THINGS IN BETWEEN (CTV Comedy) 11:00pm: Scovel takes the stage at Minneapolis' Goodale Theater to offer his observations on disparate subjects.

[soapver4]

Soul Nymph Engines

Platform idea: A micro-journaling app, coupled to a network of digital billboards displaying selected journal records, in which users post in the form of a female artist's elegant, fairy-like butterflies uplifting acts they have performed for or received from specific individuals.

Compassion is small, winged creatures — butterflies or otherwise — that angelic souls passing by leave in one's soul cradling and mending one's heart as treacherous, hideous cracks start to run over it one day.

That sentiment has evolved from a stream of thoughts on tragic lyrics played in Till The End Of The Moon: "Compassion is cradling a butterfly while broken and dying. (惻隱是碎殞時懷抱一隻蝴蝶)" The idea that there is so much scope for kindness even at the time of the moral agent's crushing death is exceptionally powerful. Couple that with the potential mental picture of a butterfly, said to be the representation and manifestation of the hero's deceased mother, being the preceding giver of kindness. Who and what else can be at even earlier points of a chain of altruism? Bring on the arthropod effect and the tornadoes. No being is too lightweight, weak or vulnerable to elevate life.

When users log on to the app or return to it after hours or more of inactivity, heavy rose-gold doors (or doors of another color selected by them) slide open to reveal a low-angle view of a boiler room, complete with the steam generator, which naturally stands for their own internal combustion. On reflection of the day, users shall type out descriptions of the uplifting acts they have performed or received. Since supporting people in the abstract does not always translate to supporting actual people, app instructions encourage users to state (without naming in the case of shareable entries) the precise beneficiaries of acts they performed. Clicking "Post" for a description will transform that text into one of the 25 delicate, ethereal butterflies in a painting scroll, 花蝶圖, attributed to ancient Asian female artist Ma Quan. Busy, rotating gears on the ceiling of the boiler room subsequently move apart to unveil a pastel-colored sky, into which a butterfly enclosing an uplifting act performed by the user soars and from which a butterfly enclosing an uplifting act received by the user enters into the boiler room.

Butterflies that have arrived drift around the boiler room forever, ready to offer users doses of positivity on rainy days, which is notably not a credible value proposition of currently popular social media platforms. Users can retrieve an enclosed journal record by clicking on a member of the swarm. Butterflies that reach certain numerical limits will be largely clustered as spots of lights of sizes that represent the numbers, with a few of the creatures remaining discrete to retain the enchanting visual effect. Similar to some interactive dot density maps, clicking on a large spot will magnify and split it into smaller, clickable spots. Click elsewhere to revert back to a single large spot. Butterflies that have taken flight are represented as a similar hierarchy of record-enclosing light spots, sans butterfly visuals, in the sky, which can be viewed by pulling a lever to open the ceiling again and scrolling upwards.

Pollen gusts and glows ripple through a user's handle on user lists, in group pages mentioned below for example, when the user is drafting or reviewing journal entries. In such a way, the micro-journaling and journal browsing give one a sense of connection to fellow users even when journal entries do not make it to billboards.

The digital billboards are updated multiple times a day, as close to real time as possible with serene but captivating flight animations, serving not only as publicity for the app and as journaling motivation but also as crucial reminders that altruism is not extinct even in bleak times. The shared journal entries can shape social norms and set some passersby thinking about how they can make someone's life better or whether they have overlooked the good in their lives in their attentional bias towards the bad. Users who consent to automatic consideration of their content for billboard display can check out in-app AI sentiment evaluation of their shareable entries by adjusting setting options. Filters bar journal entries with overall negative sentiment, perhaps pranks or hate speech sneaked in, from billboards. Nevertheless, passive-aggressive and sarcastic content may be challenging to detect. In the interest of user protection and AI fine-tuning, utopian feedback channels are available. The difficulty of securing a sustained dialogue with human staff members on various Western social media platforms, hopefully except the one you are reading this on, in our present Internet reality sets a low bar for that utopia.

Advertisers and investors need to brace themselves, however. To ameliorate cynicism in relation to sycophancy and other personal profiteering behavior, all individual users' journal entries away from billboards are visible only to themselves and eligible for billboard display only in anonymized formats and only in states and countries of their choices outside their frequently visited geographic regions. For the sake of privacy, users are permitted to opt out of selection for display and any name (e.g. of beneficiary or benefactor) mentioned in entries slated for display is screened away in advance.

Here are some connection opportunities and financial cheer all the same. Users are free to organize themselves into groups, such as alumni clubs, interest groups, charities and companies, on the app. Only human imagination further limits this space for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) campaigns and other publicity efforts, billable by the app depending on factors such as activity scale and group type. Journal entries posted by or tagging any group are publicly visible on all relevant group pages, subject to abuse detection filters and group-administered moderation options. Notably, too, there is strength in numbers, so groups are better primed to tackle harassment and exploitation problems than individuals. Discussion boards are available for group members to brainstorm philanthropy or other outreach initiatives that can feed new posts (or to just exchange virtual brews). Public visibility of such posts is not merely a financially motivated compromise. With hope, each group post shall be one small step for a light organism born from paper, one giant leap for civil discourse, interfaith understanding, peaceful negotiation and finding ground for mutual respect despite deep-rooted differences.

Notice that financial balance is not the only staggering challenge that stems from the idealism of this technology setup. Moral accounting is another pitfall in this positivity app. Psychologists have observed a phenomenon known as moral credentialing, whereby people gain more confidence to engage in immoral behavior after performing good deeds that tell themselves they are virtuous people. Before those familiar congratulatory messages marking numerical milestones on the app are dispatched to users, they must be added with Google's former motto, "Don't be evil." Neither refraining from bad behavior nor doing the right thing is sufficient on its own.

May feminist care ethos have a prominent place.

May art be timeless.