#put thEM TOGETHE RAND WHAT DO YOU GOT

[lonaami]

Literally done nothing but think about knives and vash all day their dynamic INTRIGUES ME I am LOSING IT

[cassandrablah]

So I'm about halfway through book three of the wheel of time right now, and I'm just thinking about the parents back at Emond's Field. Because (spoilers) Mat and Rand's fathers BOTH took a very long and harsh journey all the way to Tar Valon to see if their sons were alive or if any of the other kids were okay, only to be told that they had no idea where they were. I mean think about it.

These people woke up one morning to FIVE of their kids missing after a terrifying raid in the middle of the night, and the only way they were told that they left on their own free will was because at least one of them (I think it was Egwene) left a note. They go through the spring, summer, fall and then the winter and hear nothing. All they know is that their children has been taken by an Aei Sedai and there's a good chance that they won't be coming back. But they still have hope.

So now I imagine all the townspeople having a meeting thinking about what they should do, if they should do anything. Eventually they either decided to send Master Cauthon and Tam out, or they decided to do it themselves. They're farmers. They have no money and Tar Valon is very far. There are Trollocs and dark friends everywhere. They know this because they saw them with their own eyes. But they go anyway because they need to know if their children are okay. We have no idea (at this point) if they ever got into any trouble, or how they were doing on money and food. What we do know is that they got to Tar Valon, saw the Amrilyn Seat, and were told that they had no idea where their sons or the children of their friends were. Can you imagine having to walk away after that?

I know that if I had gone to those lengths, risked everything out of fear for my child, and spent at least a year and a half wondering if they were dead somewhere or brainwashed by these witches, I would have lost my mind. My heart would have broke and I don't think I would have been able to put it back together. Because not only does no one know where they are, but one of the strongest influences in the continent don't know.

I feel so bad for the Emond Fielder's. They just want things to go back to the way they were.

[ausssbutlershortstories]

y’all can I play devil’s advocate? and please feel free to disagree by any means..I think they both started off heavy for their own reasons but they just aren’t fated to be together and this is that kind of relationship that serves as a lesson for the both of them. I remember being shocked at their level of pda at Cannes esp that was Austin’s first big break and on a PR level stance he SHOULDVE been using that to catapult him as the it-man in Hollywood as a single man but he chose not to. So that gave, that he saw something in her that he liked allot. I think he THOUGHT in the beginning that she was mature. Kaia and Austin have allot of trauma, imo and they traumabonded. Y’all remember Kaia had images of her being tied up and gagged as a minor** tw** her family are sick people but they hide it well and I’m so sorry, and I love him DOWN y’all, but I think Austin was blinded a lil by the Gerbers A-list connections and enormous wealth. This is what he wanted his whole life, the rooms hes entered in are what he imagined his mama would be here to see. Austin is smart and empathetic enough, I think he just had to come to terms with things in his own way…life has a funny way of giving us signs. I think him and V had their time for a season too and they went through hell and back, but I wonder if her marriage, and seeing her with child put things into perspective for him. He’s been through so much and he deserves the best. I think this current project is good for him spiritually, it’s like he’s giving birth to something new just like what Elvis did for him

I can see your take. I remember Ausitn looking at her during Cannes and than winking at her. It was a sweet moment I must admit.

I think she put on an act for him to make herself seem mature. You know how when you’re younger when you wanna impress someone you like, you do everything you think they may like, hence as to why so many people have said Kaia likes to mold herself to her boyfriends .

I wouldn’t doubt seeing Vanessa and her husband & being pregnant put things into perspective for him. Me personally i got a whole entire opinion on that. I know people may not believe it but I wouldn’t be shocked if him and her still had feelings. You together for that long and they seem to really love each other, him being present for her dad’s death , her being present when his mama passed . Vanessa being in his sister’s wedding party .Vanessa even still being with him when he got the part for Elvis. He has told that blue christmas story over and over again. The same one Vanessa told Ryan Seacrest and looked ecstatic for her man when she was doing it too….this was not a woman who was looking for shit to end to me. To me that’s hard to get over . Vanessa still out here making comments about him. She went out her way to comment on an IG post where someone was making fun of hs voice. She with a whole other man about to get married and acting like that, and how she is trying to convince people Austin helped her find her person ? Yeahhhh my gut tells me there is some kind of unfinished business there. Not a bash at Vanessa at all but she seems like a woman who was definitely broken hearted. It couldn’t have been easy seeing someone else enjoy the Elvis wave that you thought you would be there for…

Also that story of Kaia, I remember reading that and became disgusted. Cindy and Rande had no business ever having children I’m sorry.

You saying that he was blinded by their wealth? I think that’s it but he was also blinded by the fact they were a whole family too. With two parents.Something I can see him having a desire to be a part of because his family dynamics. I love Austin as well and I hope I don’t upset anyone saying all this but this is my genuine take.

[a-cat-in-toffee]

uhhhhh. suck rand cleans and apartment. rolan gets hit by a car. it's kind of gay. 553 words. this is a horrible summary thumbsup

Staying home, Rand finds, is very boring when you have nothing to do. He had spent the first 30-something years of his life staying home, doing nothing, so he really had enjoyed and grown accustomed to having a job. To having something to do.

But not this week, apparently. The comic book shop is supposed to be closed for about a week, he didn't really ask why. Something about a fire hazard, and OSHA violations being much more closely monitored because of some club in a completely different part of town. Something stupid like that. Which left Rand with a week to do... basically nothing.

By the third day he had started cleaning. For fun.

He honestly doesn't know if their apartment has ever been cleaner. Rolan was the only one who ever minded, and normally by the time he got home he was too tired to really pick up. Kian and Rand did try to do their best, but on the whole neither of them really minded the mess.

But, now Rand needed something to do. So clean it was.

He had fully cleaned the living room and started deep cleaning the fridge by the time he got exhausted, letting himself collapse onto the couch. His legs hung off of the side of the couch, his torso and head taking up a good third of the cushion space.

Kian would be home in a few hours, but Rolan should be home much sooner, so he closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head and waited for the telltale distinct jingle of keys outside the apartment.

Only five minutes passed before the door slammed open, the sight of a tired, disheveled, and bloody Rolan greeting Rand. He raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised by the "bloody" part, slowly sitting up on his elbows.

"I got hit by a car." Rolan informed him, leaning back against the wall and letting his head hit the door. Laying back down, Rand gave him a minute to take off the ruined suit jacket and set down his briefcase before asking any questions.

"So what type of car was it?" He picks a pen up off the table, throwing it in Rolan's general direction and earning a glare despite the pen falling several feet short of its target.

"A Sedan? I think?" Rolan falls onto the couch next to Rand's head, exhausted. "I don't know, I didn't get a really good look at it."

Rand blinks, then grins. "Nice."

"Shut up."

He laughs but doesn't say anything more, staring up at Rolan through tinted glasses. Over the years since the trio had gotten out of Galloway Rand found himself just looking at the other two much more often. Or, he thinks more often? He couldn't quite remember if he frequently stared at Rolan and Kian in highschool. It all started to blur together a little after a while.

Certain escapades were burned into his mind, of course, as was late at night, laying on his bed with Rolan passed out next to him and Kian. He would never stay up as late as them. Rand remembered those late nights fondly. Sometimes he wondered if Kian remembered them, too.

"What?" Rolan brings him back out of his thoughts. Rand grins.

"You look like shit, dude." He lies.

[mass-convergence]

I’ll be honest with you - in season 1 of WOT:

I didn’t exactly love what I’m calling the Main Character Squad (Rand, Egwene, Perrin, Mat, Nynaeve). Like don’t get me wrong - I didn’t hate them. I just thought they were … idk … boring? And this may warrant a rewatch, I’ll admit I was not in the best place emotionally while watching the season. But I just felt like they were kind of flat with maybe the exception being Mat and Nynaeve who I was kinda like 👀 what’s going on. Mat had that whole corrupted by darkness thing going on with him and Nynaeve was just a fucking badass and seemed highly motivated to protect her friends from the get go. But idk Rand felt like he was just kinda …… there? Same with Egwene and Perrin.

(This is ending up turning into an essay so I’m gonna put shit below a cut)

They were cool characters and I obviously was rooting for them to get reunited and stuff but I was like “eh???” Until maybe the very end when things started falling in place and the plot became a lot more sticky (as my friend describes plots that suddenly have a lot of competing motivations all coming together)

So I think my main issue was with their writing rather then the characters themselves. I’m coming at this as a complete outsider to WoT - never read the books and even if I did, I believe an adaptation must be able to stand on its own. And what I think happened was that season 1 like *had* to catch everyone up on the lore of the world, why Moiraine was so hellbent on finding the Dragon, what the hell the Aes Sedai were, etc. etc.

And it may have somewhat put characterization on the backburner until the end when they were like “we caught you up to speed now here’s the plot”. I guess they felt passive, like the plot was just happening to them instead of them driving the plot. Like we got hints of stuff - I was confused about what was going on with Perrin, then really intrigued towards the end when the wolves attacked the White Cloaks camp. And then of course the whole Eye of the World thing and Ishamael being released and him cutting Moiraine off from the One Power.

But idk, most of that season just fell flat to me.

The second season however, whooooo boy did I get fucking invested in those crazy kids. I was like “why can’t Nynaeve deliberately channel? [Insert Spiderverse “can’t do it on command” meme here]”, “oh fuck how is Egwene going to get out of this and also fuck you Renna”, “Rand please don’t go crazy”, “Perrin is like spiritually connected to wolves??? I need to know more about how that is a thing”, “Mat I swear to god you better not be evil because I’m like rooting for you”.

And of course I was really invested in the supporting characters - like Moiraine’s journey, Liandrin’s betrayal, Lanfear’s … everything (god I love her).

And oh god was it almost empowering to see their arcs play out.

- Rand struggling with the fact that he is indeed the Dragon Reborn and that male channelers tend to go batshit and kill everyone they love.

- Perrin becoming more familiar with his wolf-powers (I forgot what they were called or if they even had a name I’m sorry) … and being caught between his humanity and his wolf side. RIP Hopper, I’m glad you were avenged almost immediately.

- Egwene first off like: struggling with the fact that Nynaeve was kind of distant (because Nynaeve was obviously dealing with her own issues) but sticking with her friend. And then getting fucking captured and enslaved and like thrown into one of the most disempowering positions one can get into… and she fucking still held her own and never gave in. God I think her arc is like my favorite one this season. Fuck you Renna I’m glad you fucking got what you deserved.

- Mat dealing with the aftermath of the dagger and just having this darkness inside of him. He had been pushed down and kicked all his life, people viewed him as a loser, and he had that attitude towards himself as well. I felt like a connection to him because yeah, that boy is just a touch depressed, and as someone who’s dealt with their own mental health issues and ADHD absolutely making me feel like I’m constantly failing everyone including myself …….. good lord did his arc make me feel some feelings. Like he took that darkness - namely the dagger - and he used it to fight his way out. And then he’s a fucking hero of the horn. That is unironically super fucking inspiring to me.

- Nynaeve not being able to channel on command, being almost afraid of the power she can wield (I think that’s the angle they’re going for at least - though it also does seem to be very attached to her emotions). Out of all the main character squad: I liked her the most in the first season. She was very much motivated to protect her friends. Like I do see her kind of as the mother figure of the group (and not in a derisive way - like she will absolutely fuck a person up if they hurt her friends as we saw in season 2 with that sul’dam), the “heart” in the five man band. Like *almost* like Katara in a way and I really loved Katara so there you go.

- honorable mention to Moiraine because she thought that she had to handle this shit on her own. She had to figure out what Ishamael and the Dark One were planning while protecting Rand and also dealing with the aftershocks of her being cut off from the One Power. Something that Verin very much analogized to being assaulted or raped. And Moiraine just kept trucking, carrying the burden of what she felt like her own responsibilities like she carried those fucking buckets up the hill. The season was her realizing she could rely on others and she didn’t have to be as closed off as she was being. And oh my god once she got the One Power back she (a woman who was already plenty fucking badass during this entire season) like went to fucking S-tier levels of badass. God I fucking love her.

Basically: I’m saying that I loved season 2 very very much and I’m now rooting for these crazy kids to fuck shit up and save the world.

Also I love every single woman in this show who’s not Renna or the Seanchan because fuck those slavery loving assholes.

[caracarnn]

information

basics

full name: Rand al'Thor

nicknames / aliases: the dragon reborn, car'a'carn, coramoor, shadowkiller, he who comes with the dawn, lord of the morning, prince of the dawn, defender of the light

height: 6' 6

age: verse dependent but 19+

zodiac: this doesn't exist in his canon

spoken languages: sometimes he can know the words and such of whatever it was that Lews Therin knew.

physical characteristics

hair colour: deep red

eye colour: gray-blue

skin tone: fair

body type: muscular but not BUFF

dominant hand: right

posture: he used to slouch and such because sometimes he was always embarrassed about his height BUT then when he became the dragon Rand got a far more kingly posture (thanks moiraine)

scars: he has two unhealing wounds on his side, two heron brandings on his palms, he's got scars on his temples from his crown of swords, other things have possibly healed from Healing. He also lost his hand

tattoos: not exactly tattoos but he has dragon markings twining around his forearms and ending on the backs of his hands

birthmarks: n/a

most noticeable features: in the books it's been noted that his eyes are striking, his features are noble and his aura is intimidating

childhood

place of birth: emond's field , the two rivers

siblings: one half brother Galad Damodred

parents: tam & kari al'thor (adoptive parents) janduin/tigraine mantear (birth parents)

adult life

occupation: the dragon reborn? lol High Lord of Tear & Cairhien (for awhile anyways), High Lord of The Two Rivers, Prince Consort of Andor, Chief of Chiefs?

current residence: always moving around. he has to or he's gonna get killed

close friends: mat, perrin, nynaeve, egwene,beslan, rhuarc, there are others...500 maidens? lolz, alivia

relationship status: verse dependent but he ends the books with 3 girlfriends

children: he's expecting twins at the end of the book and there have been some other viewings regarding this

criminal record: I don't think he has one although I'm sure that there are SOME THINGS

vices: isolating himself, death - WAIT ARE THESE VICES idk what his vices are? he drinks a bit? smokes tobbac A LOT

sex and romance

sexual orientation: heterosexual

turn-ons: nurturers, strong women, good conversations, people who are pretty up front about things

turn-offs: being made to do things he doesn't want to do, being told he's doing something he's not, mind games

love languages: physical touch, time spent together

relationship tendencies: he gets committed and he won't shy away from how he feels. He won't even put up a doubt ON HIS OWN FEELINGS however he is very...clueless about other people's thoughts and feelings. He won't know unless you wave it like a HUGE SIGNPOST in front of his face. once he's in a relationship however he's very determined to make his s/o feel loved. he spends time with them but never wants them to see any of the darker parts of himself or the broken parts

miscellaneous

hobbies to pass time: horse riding, training in fighting and in swords, traveling, playing the flute, drawing (thanks lews), reading READING READING

mental illnesses: he has dissociative identity disorder. suicide ideation. self harm. extreme paranoia. bouts of depression. ptsd. - all untreated. all raging rather unchecked. Most are caused by his severe ptsd.

self confidence level: I think at times he can be confident but he really struggles. Some people claim that he's arrogant but honestly he isn't. he feels less than up to par more than anything. he just won't talk about it.

tagged by: @luckhissoul tagging: @never-surrender @poeticphoenix @forwardlion @malumxsubest

[markantonys]

I haven’t read the books but I do know what they have done with Moiraine and Siuan’s relationship is way more than it was in the books. On the one hand they developed it fully, have given them a very clear and deep 20 year relationship. And on the other hand, they also destroyed it fully by the end of season 2. Where do you think they are taking this? Will they stick to the books and give them their other relationships or will they weave them back together. It’s anyone’s guess but am interested to hear what yours is. I like the theory that their fallout was preplanned and part of the reason the episode was called daes daemar. But me liking something does not equal logic and fact to be sure

imo there's 0 chance that either of them will have their book relationships, that's just not happening and i find it a little silly when people (not you! but i've seen others doing it) immediately panic and think the show broke them up for that purpose haha of course i can understand why people are worried and upset! but it feels so SO unlikely that either character would ever have a romance with anyone but each other in the show, so that is one worry i think it's pretty safe to set aside altogether. (for time constraint reasons if nothing else; giving moiraine and/or siuan a brand-new love interest and having to develop that relationship would be far from the best use of the show's limited time. plus, i remember rafe outright called moiraine a lesbian in an interview once, so i highly doubt he's got plans for her, at least, to have a male love interest at any point.)

this got a little long so putting a read more!

personally i don't buy the preplanned fallout theory because i think the waygate scene doesn't work with it. if their goal was to make rand trust moiraine, then they accomplished that with their scene in the throne room; there was no need for siuan to chase them down to the waygate, she could've just let them leave if she was in on moiraine's plan here. the only time this theory felt plausible to me is when someone suggested they were in on it together UP UNTIL siuan saw moiraine channeling after moiraine had told her she was stilled, and so everything before that point was an act but everything after was genuine. but even then, it's tricky to explain why siuan would have even chased them to the waygate in the first place - unless she just wanted to make sure they got away successfully and/or wanted leane & co to think she made an effort to stop them, but then catching moiraine in an apparent lie made her change her mind and actually try to stop them? but yeah, imo there's no way the waygate scene was not genuine, but it's possible (but still unlikely; again imo) that the scenes before it were part of a scheme.

and to me, that's okay! to me, as a queer person myself (but ofc i'm just speaking for myself, not for All Queer People), giving queer characters and queer relationships the same narrative weight as het ones also means letting them be flawed and have conflict, rather than keeping them up on a pedestal of perfection and ultimately relegating them to the background of the story because you won't let them face obstacles or develop. i understand why others don't feel that way and were upset by the way things went down in 2x07, but that's just my personal feeling and that's why i personally wasn't bothered to see siuan and moiraine have major conflict here (especially since, unlike the Queer Traumaporn in so much media, this conflict had nothing to do with them being queer - it just felt like a natural conflict that arose from the two characters' specific personalities and life circumstances, as opposed to feeling like they were being punished by their world or by the narrative for being queer, you know?)

duty is a huge theme of WOT and here we saw how moiraine and siuan are both so committed to duty above absolutely everything else. they are both willing to sacrifice anything for what they each see as the greater good, and here, when they realize they have different ideas* about what best serves the greater good, they sacrifice even their relationship with each other because they feel they have no other choice, because they've spent 20 years training themselves to think that the greater good is more important than their personal happiness. to me it's so beautifully tragic! and to me it felt like the best kind of tragedy, one that's rooted in the specific characterization of the individuals involved and on all the previous choices they've made that built up to make the moment of tragedy an inevitable outcome.

*and both are reasonable and in-character ideas that were set up last season. we saw how in their discussion of "can the prophecies be trusted?" in 1x06 that moiraine is skeptical of tower tradition/protocol because she's been out in the world and largely cut off from the tower for 20 years, whereas siuan tends to trust tower tradition/protocol because she's been in the tower leading it for 20 years. and now in s2, from moiraine's perspective they need to break with tower protocol because the tower is too fractured and they have too many enemies within it, but from siuan's perspective they need to return to tower protocol because they tried going rogue and doing so freed the forsaken and was a huge mistake.

all this being said, i do not by any means think the relationship is 100% dead and over for good. like you say, the show put in work to make their relationship much deeper than it was in the books, and i don't think that was for nothing! i think that siuan in particular has been set up for a really meaty character development arc and that this is only the very beginning for her, and that by the end of the show we'll see the two of them reconcile and come back together. maybe i'm totally wrong and maybe it'll turn out that i shouldn't have given the benefit of the doubt, but as of now i don't feel there's reason to worry the show has completely trashed their relationship for good. but season 3 will be a make-or-break season, so by the end of that, depending on how certain book events play out, we should have a much clearer idea of their long-term plans for siuan and siuaraine!

[ells-18]

- the one where she surprised him while filming -

SWIPE RIGHT, baby - Calfreezy

“Babe!” Callum shouts, walking into the living room to find my sitting on the couch cuddled up into a blanket watching some tv.

I turn my head to face him walking into our shared living room, leaning on me elbows. “Yeah?”

“Where’s the car keys?” He asks, looking at me from a few feet away. He’s ready to go out filming with the boys- but usual Cal loses the car keys.

I sigh, shaking my head. “Did you check your jacket pocket?” I ask.

He frowns, his hand leaning into his stripes/square jacket pocket. Automatically I hear a jingle sound.

I laugh. “There they are”

He shakes his head, grinning. He walks over to me and kneels down beside me.

“Are you alright?” He asks, tucking loose strands of hair behind my ear gently.

“Yeah I’m good, gonna miss you though. The guys always keep you for so longggg” I groan and he chuckles.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, love. Do you want me to bring you anything in?” He asks, caressing my left cheek.

I shake my head lending against his hand “just you” i smile, pushing his glasses further up his face.

He smiles back, and pulls his jiggers at his knees so he can stand up comfortably. “I’ll be back soon..” he makes his way to the front door. “Love you!” He shouts. He won’t close the door until he gets a response.

“Love you, cal” I say, smiling even though he can’t see. I then hear the front door close, meaning he has gone.

Callum and I are 22 and 24 now- we got together at a very young age and haven’t looked back since. We met when he lived in Scotland, then I eventually moved to London. We are still young, but I genuinely can see us together forever.

What a boring day ahead. I’m off work, cal and I were originally going to be going away for the weekend but Josh needed him for the video. So unfortunately, our weekend away has turned into me staying at home myself.

I felt my phone buzz beneath my arm, I sigh and try to find it. I was so comfortable!

I unlocked my phone to reveal a text from Josh.

- hey, y/n. You busy? I’m sorry for the short notice but one of the girls has pulled out of the Tinder IRL and I really need someone to help out. I thought you’d be a suitable option. You up for it? Was planning not to tell the boys and callum- a nice surprise for them.😀

I think for a second. This could be fun..

- hey Josh. Of course I’d love to help out. Is it far? Because cal took the car.

- it takes about 20 minutes- not to worry I’ll pick you up. Gonna bring Freya too she was complaining how she missed you. Is 15 minutes okay?

- see yous then. Xx

I hurry up and get up off the comfy couch. I was so unsure on what to wear.. though I don’t have a lot of time I decide on a pair of baggy jeans and a cute low cut crop. I threw a baggy leather jacket on over it and chucked on white converse with red hearts on them- to match the same ones cal is wearing today.

I brushed out my already curled balayaged hair, quickly putting on some blush, concealer and mascara with a bit of lip gloss.

I grab my bag and house keys, ready to leave as Josh has just text me that he is downstairs.

~~~

“You ready, y/n?” Randy asks, standing beside me as I’m due to ‘meet’ the boys.

“I don’t know why I’m nervous, Rand”

“Hey don’t be nervous” he pays my shoulder. “They love you. It’ll be such a laugh”

I chuckle. “Yeah it’ll be good. When am I on?”

He looks at his watch. “Right.. now” he gently urges me into the studio. “Good luck” he whispers.

I walk in and see all the boys lined up, callum was near the back. Harry was at the front and gasped like a child when he saw me. This caught the attention of JJ.

“No way!” Harry points. Callum is still clueless.

Ethan covers his face, and lays flat on the floor pretending to faint.

I stand infront of Harry and can’t stop laughing at their reactions.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cal asks Ethan.

“Yo cal. Are you not seeing this?!” JJ asks.

“Yooooo what!” Callux laughs, covering his mouth in shock.

“Hi I’m y/n, I’m 22 and I’m from Scotland”

“Huh?” Cal says, poking his head around the boys to see me.

“I’ll explain later..” Josh pats his back. “..Now hurry up!”

Harry composed himself and looks at me, and then looks down to the book in his hands. “Hello, I’m Harry. And-“ he drops the book. I look at him confused.

He bends down to pick it up. “I think I dropped something” he stands back up. “My jaw” he says, with his mouth wide open.

The boys burst into laughter at his silliness.

I laugh, shaking my head. “Oh, go on then Bog” I swipe to the right earning cheers from the boys.

Stephen approaches. “Hi. We’re a perfect match. Cos I like being pegged and you’ve been fucking an arsehole for a few years”

Everyone gasps and laughs.

I sigh, and swipe left. “On you go Stephen”

“What!!” He groans like a child, huffing away to the left corner.

JJ is next, Josh is behind them and then it’s my Cal.

JJ smirks as he approaches me. “Hi. I’m JJ I’m 26. Chicken is my second favourite thing to eat in bed.. wanna know my first?”

“Sure” I engage.

“Your pussy” he points at me.

The boys all gasp- Cal looks pissed off though he knows it’s just jokes.

“JJ you know that’s another man’s job” I fire back, and swipe left.

“Ayyyyy!” All the boys jump around Cal. He laughs along with them.

“Hi. I’m Josh. Did it hurt when you fell from the vending machine?”

I look at him. Trying not to laugh.

“Because you’re a snack”

…..

“Freya.. how do you put up with him!” I swipe left.

“Hi I’m Callux. Your tits are fake but our love would be so real”

“They’re not even fake, Lux” I roll my eyes. Swiping left.

“Are they real mate?” Ethan asks.

“Mate.. so real” cal says as he approaches me.

I couldn’t hide my smile.

He smiles and winks at me before speaking. “Hi, I’m Cal. Rock paper scissors- I win I shag you..”

“Cal!” JJ gasps, laughing as the other boys gasp.

“You win you swipe left. Up for it?”

“Go for it”

“3,2,1”

Cal has paper. I have rock.

He places his hand over mine and holds it there for a sec. “Swipe right, baby” he smirks.

“Go on then” I gently push him to the right.

“You’ve got an exciting night ahead with those fake tits” Lux laughs.

“Lux I swear to god!”

“I’d like a try on those” Stephen smirks to Lux.

I approach Harry, standing beside my boyfriend.

“Harry, can I borrow this book?”

“Yeah sure” he hands me it, a bit confused.

I make my way over to Stephen and Lux and hit them on the head with the book.

Everyone laughs at their reaction.

“Ouch, y/n” Stephen rubs his head.

Lux laughs. “You’re jokes, y/n”

“Who invited you here?” Cal jokes, wrapping his arms around my waist holding me closer to him.

“Josh- very last minute” I chuckle.

“Glad he did” he kissed my head, holding my head in his hands.

“Can we go home?” I ask, looking up at him.

“Of course. Wanna stop off for food on the way home?” He asks, tucking hair behind my ears.

“You read my mind” I smile, grabbing his hand as we exit the studio. Saying our goodbyes as we leave.

[ephemeral-winter]

what in the entire fuck

many many wot s2e7 spoilers ahead

young!moiraine would never just fucking visit cairhien with her lover be so fucking for real

jumpsuit good tho. i like the jumpsuit

the way they wrote the gitara scene is weird and overly didactic ??? i get that they need to compress like all of new spring into about 30 seconds but idk guys

why the hell did they bring the seat all the way to cairhien??? like why can't she sit on a normal store brand throne

that said i do appreciate the firm planting with the knees far apart none of this prissy legs crossed at the ankle shit for siuan that's a dyke for sure

siuan stroking moiraine's face put me in an early grave

madeleine madden emmy when!!!!!

i get it i get it they have no time to actually talk but like moiraine's facial twitches while siuan is all like omg can you imagine if a forsaken got to him lmaooooooo

i can't decide if siuan naming moiraine's fatal sin as pride is like true or not like sure there is some pridefulness there but it's way overridden by a crazy amount of 'i'm going down with him' and like i sorta think that seizing on pride is a misreading of siuan's understanding of moiraine??? or maybe i've been too into the fic where they have a psychic bond because anvaere's later explanation of moiraine's righteousness seems so much more correct

they are being soooo incautious about having important convos where other people can hear them like why did lan and moiraine have the suicide convo in that anteroom where the guards are and also like all your senses are heightened when you're holding the one power so like leane should totally be able to overhear moiraine and rand discussing going to falme idk guys

however i like how right before lan asks moiraine about suicide she's rubbing her fingers together and trying to calm herself. ms pike what do you know

it was cunty of lanfear to walk through the foregate like that i do have to give her credit for that

MADELEINE MADDEN EMMY WHEN!!!!!!

i love verin idc how they handle her later arc i fucking love verin

siuan channeling in the fur coat? yeah. let's think about that

the entire waygate scene. where to even start

1. arching and moaning.

2. i simply do not believe that moiraine was shielded for six months and then was immediately strong enough to open a waygate. girl needs the magical equivalent of physical therapy

3. the visual of the gate opening and closing is. hm. unbelievably sexual?

4. siuan in the fur coat. again. much to think about

5. hate to think that siuan is so angry with moiraine she can't hear that moiraine is not able to lie and like totally misses the part where moiraine is as close to begging as she'll ever get in public. that hurts my heart fr fr

6. arching and moaning. again

7. so rand when shielded is always crouching in on himself. neat little dumai's well/box arc foreshadowing i must say

8. i feel kinda crazy that lan heads for the waygate before moiraine. like i get that they are not so in lockstep as they once were but HE knows about siuan. and they just silently agree to leave her there? where is the lan who is the main shipper of siuraine

9. the dual trickle of blood. the 'moiraine please.' i'm going to cry for the next year

10. how are they gonna come back from this

11. fuck

[agardenandlibrary]

Fires of Heaven: Chapters 27-40 43

I was going to start writing this summary and then I took my lunch and read another 3 chapters, whoops.

Okay what the fuck has been happening.

Siuan in Salidar – she and Leane worked out a strategy for getting the Aes Sedai there to agree to their plan, to wit: WE’RE LEANING INTO THE SCHISM, FOLKS. They’re going to set up a “real” White Tower out in the wilderness and announce Elaida is an invalid Amyrlin. Is Siuan trying to set it up so they’ll choose Moiraine as the new Amyrlin? She’s obviously got someone in mind but I can’t tell who.

Then Gareth catches up, sees all the Aes Sedai, and goes “Hmm, I really. Should’ve stayed home.” The Aes Sedai, meanwhile, see an excellent commander wandering around without a task and they’re like “that’s for us, now” and he swears to help put an army together for them in their battle against the Elaida Tower.

Rand and the Aiel are still following in Couladin’s wake. They find out he’s besieging the city Cairhien and Rand wants to get there in time to help prevent the city from falling. The whole Aviendha situation happens.

Okay okay okay listen. Aviendha, this whole time, has been weirdly mad at Rand for ~unknown (but probably gay) reasons~ which culminates in him accidentally walking in on her bathing (because she’s in his tent. Bathing. girl.) and her being so upset that she rediscovers how to Travel using the One Power to get away from him. Unfortunately. She Travels to a blizzard. Rand immediately jumps after her, saves her life, builds them an igloo shelter, and warms her with his body. Insert saxophone solo. Aviendha’s like “FINE. I GUESS WE’LL BONE” and Rand’s like “we don’t have to?” Aviendha: “NO, WE’RE GONNA”. The next day they encounter some Seanchan and hop back through the portal. Nine Moons mention!!

Nynaeve & Elayne, meanwhile, are still with the circus. Elayne is really enjoying this.

Nynaeve gets caught by Moghedien in the Dreaming – Birgitte was helping Nynaeve spy on Moghedien and some other Forsaken. Mogs catches them, nearly twists Nynaeve to her will, gets shot by Birgitte, then makes Birgitte vanish in a cloud of smoke before vanishing herself.

Nynaeve wakes up to find out that Birgitte has been Birg-yeeted into the real world!! I don’t know what any of this means and Myth won’t tell me!! Everyone be cool, I want to find out what happens on my own. We’re finally getting Nynaeve backing down from her previous “I am always right” position and learning to work around her anger, rather than letting it lead her. Sort of. It’s happening. Egwene stood up to her, ignoring her anger, and now she feels at fault for Birgitte’s yoinkening, which Birgitte is rightfully pissed about. I know it takes her longer to figure out how to channel without being angry, but realizing that her anger isn’t always the answer and isn’t always something she can rely on is a step in that direction.

AND ELAYNE BONDS BIRGITTE AS A WARDER. SO THAT’S COOL. Also it was the only way they could figure out to keep her alive after being booted from the Dreaming in a very non-Wheel Approved way. I mean. I think the Wheel will Figure Something Out, y’know? But we’ll see!! I am inducting Birgitte into the wonder girls.

She’s like, Well! I’m here now! Time to make ridiculous bets and beat everyone at archery.

Ough this is why I usually do 5-7 chapters, not 16!!

NYNAEVE spots UNO (RIP show-Uno) and he takes her to MASEMA, who is KINDA NOT ALL THERE, and has been creating a Dragon-based religion which is giving ME big EVANGELICAL UPBRINGING flashbacks. She gets him to agree to try to find them a boat, gets cornered on her way out by Galad, and also gets him to agree to try to find them a boat. Then the Shienarans are like “hey, we’ll come with you because we’ve got fuck-all else to do and we’re down to clown with the Dragon Reborn.”

AND THEN WE’RE BACK WITH RANDRAGON. We’re about to start the counterattack on the Aiel besieging Cairhien. Mat’s like “I’m. Leaving. For real.” Rand’s like “Cool, have fun.” because he knows that, no matter how far Mat tries to run, the Wheel will bring him back to Rand eventually. Sucks to know you’re the reason none of your friends can live a normal life!

Rand is shepherded (ha, sheep joke) by the Maidens of the Spear to help Egwene and Aviendha channel lightning/fire down on Couladin. HE TRIED to keep the Maidens out of the fight by ordering them to guard Egwene while she channeled. They can SEE THROUGH your PUNY WETLANDER PLOTTING, Rand.

Mat leaves, only to immediately run into a group of soldiers about to be ambushed and he’s like “oh these fucking morons are fucked” and turns around to help them. But reluctantly!

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Christine Chapel

By Ames

We’ve hit upon all the main stars of The Original Series, but no list would be complete without giving a fair mention to the woman who stood beside the show, Majel Barrett. While we still wish in our hearts of hearts that the Number One we met in “The Cage” and “The Menagerie” got a fair shake, we are still glad that Gene’s main squeeze was reborn as the quippy and competent Nurse Chapel.

So join us this week on A Star to Steer Her By as we finish off our TOS character spotlights with a bunch of highlights and only a few lowlights on what’s probably going to be our shortest installment of this series. There just wasn’t enough stretching of the character moments to do as we did for, say, our Scotty or Sulu posts. Pick up your medical tricorders to scan on below and follow along in this week’s podcast discussion (jump to 58:16). Needless to say, Majel probably did more on the show than just Gene. Take that as you will. ;)

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best Moments

I know he’s alive down there, Captain Very early in the series in “What Are Little Girls Made of?”, Chapel’s backstory of joining the Enterprise as a way to find her lost fiancé, Roger Korby, is established. And it’s a testament to her character that not only is she right that he was still alive (in some form), but she also gets to convince Ruk the android not to kill Kirk AND make the choice to stay on the Enterprise after everything goes typically sideways.

Plomeek soup for the soul While you’ll see in just a moment that “Amok Time” also features some of the more tired and less positive aspects of Chapel’s character, we’ve got to admit that her dutifulness in trying to get Spock to eat during his pon farr was benevolent of her. She goes so far as to whip up some Vulcan plomeek soup to keep her patient well, little good that it ended up doing.

Sound it out I’m still minorly horrified by Nomad taking Uhura’s memories in “The Changeling,” and we’re left not knowing if or how she gets back to her normal self. But one thing’s for sure: she’s got a caring and patient nurse helping along the way, as we see Chapel reteaching the blank-slated Uhura how to read in English. It’s quite sweet, if you don’t think about how horrifying it is.

It has one word on it: Eat I could take a second to gripe that, between Chapel and Rand, the women of the show are very often seen just bringing the men their dinner like they’re waitresses instead of equal crewmembers. Or I could highlight how Chapel cleverly tricks a moping Garrovick into eating in “Obsession” by telling him McCoy’s prescription was a tape that just said “Eat,” so I’ll do that.

The pain will help me to consciousness We joke on the podcast that it was clear that someone(s) on the show was clearly into some kinky stuff, and it shines through in episodes like “A Private Little War” when Nurse Chapel is compelled to bitchslap a half-conscious Spock around until he wakes up, as is the Vulcan way. Or at least, as is someone on the writing staff’s dirty little fetish.

We shared consciousness together I’m sure now that Strange New Worlds is filling in a lot of the Chapel-Spock relationship, there are a ton more shippers out there for them, but back in the day, the best we got was this moment in “Return to Tomorrow” when Sargon put Spock’s consciousness into Chapel’s body to get Henoch out of the Vulcan. And Chapel was all too glad to be Spock’s vessel in a not entirely creepy way. Only a little bit creepy!

I am a nurse first and a member of the crew of the Enterprise second When Nurse Chapel learns that McCoy is dying of xenopolycythemia in “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky,” her resolve is to help him to live, while he seems to take it in stride that he is destined to die. She encourages him to “Please, give yourself every minute” of his year left in this world, and I’d like to think that that helped him get through it. Natira helped too, wink wink.

The spider catches a fly While we included moments from “The Tholian Web” in almost everyone else’s Worst Moments lists, Chapel actually got a good moment from this otherwise negative episode! When another of McCoy’s assistants has succumbed to the weird space occurrence and attacks him, Nurse Chapel calmly grabs a hypo and tranqs that guy, like a badass!

Now all I want is to crawl away and die While I found Uhura’s reaction to the forced kiss with Kirk in “Plato’s Stepchildren” to be uncomfortable in an entirely different way, the Chapel-Spock kiss is exactly as uncomfortable as it’s supposed to be. Chapel’s pining after Spock is used as a weapon against her in this moment of torture. A worse show would imply that she’s finally getting what she wants, but she makes it clear that without consent, there is no enjoyment and it’s commendable to state that so directly.

I heard Spock’s voice Unlike my reaction to the different women’s scenes in “Plato’s Stepchildren,” I must say that all the women in “The Lorelei Signal” are absolutely on point. While Uhura takes command of the ship, Chapel serves as de facto CMO in the absence of all the men. And what’s more: she uses that weird bond she has with Spock (perhaps lingering from “Return to Tomorrow”?) to save him from the temptresses!

And they've probably redesigned the whole sickbay By The Motion Picture, we see that Chapel found time to learn a new trade, as she’s an MD by the time McCoy arrives. Was it that the writers seem to incorrectly think that nurses are on the same job track as medical doctors, just a lower rung on the career ladder? Probably. But we can read it as her changing jobs because she wanted to do something new, and that’s a more exciting interpretation for this change.

Look for the helpers. You will always find people that are helping. Blink and you can miss it, but Christine Chapel in The Voyage Home is busy coordinating relief efforts at Starfleet Command during the whale probe attack. She gets like one line and you only catch quick glimpses of her, but it’s an excellent touch to show that her character is there and focused on doing the thing that she’s been known for all series long: helping people.

—

Worst Moments

You hide it, but you do have feeling Onto some of the lousier things Chapel does in the show, and you’ll find that most are related to her one-sided relationship with Spock. We first see it in “The Naked Time” (before we know that BOTH of them are engaged) when she dumps all her love on him while space-drunk. And it’s a little sad and pathetic knowing she’ll never receive it back [in this series], but also just annoying that it’s the main characteristic the writers ever give her. Sigh.

A mechanical geisha would be no more difficult While we did include some moments from “What Are Little Girls Made of?” above in our Best Moments list, there’s some bad to go around as well! Did you notice just how jealous Chapel immediately got of Andrea the moment she laid eyes on her? Before she knows Andrea is a robot, she’s immediately grouchy when Andrea calls Roger by his first name. And afterwards, Chapel is flat out hostile to the poor, jumpsuited thing!

You never give up hoping, do you? Now for all the times in “Amok Time” Chapel utterly degrades herself because she has a crush on Mr. Spock. Bones jokes about it when she brings him the soup, for one thing. For another, there’s an entirely weird scene in which she goes to tell him they’ve changed course to Vulcan, but he’s still pon farring around and she starts crying. And to top it off, she just had to be present on the bridge (for no reason!) to witness T’Pring on the viewscreen and learn that he’s engaged, just to rub salt in the wound. And then she has no lines the rest of the episode! Poor Christine.

Spock will be yours forever One last time to roll our eyes at how contrived it’s been all series long, and now into The Animated Series, to watch Chapel swooning over Spock so much. So much so that she’s easily swayed by Harry’s Mudd’s offer of some of his love potion in “Mudd’s Passion.” She falls for it, and when it turns out to be the real thing, she barely even gets to enjoy having Spock all to herself!

Since when did we even have ID badges? She makes such an ass of herself that I’ve broken “Mudd’s Passion” into two entries! She is so distracted (and a little drugged) by Mudd that he steals her ID badge. She almost makes up for it by capturing him in the shuttlebay, but instead ends up drugging the whole ship by accident AND gets herself kidnapped and forced into a pretty pathetic damsel in distress role for Spock to heroically save. Oh Chapel, this is all beneath you.

Plenty of fish in the sea One final ditzy moment from Nurse Chapel, and it’s in the clownishly inconsistent “The Terratin Incident.” Sure, everyone in that episode is made to look silly because they’re shrinking down to the size of cockroaches (or smaller depending on the scene), but Chapel nearly drowns in a fish tank after tripping over a sewing needle. Why a sewing needle was next to a fish tank might be the stupidest question yet.

— And that’s it! We couldn’t see stretching the list further than that since you didn’t get to see Chapel do much else in TOS, TAS, or the films. Keep your eyes fixed here because next we’re going to be repeating the same experiment with all the TNG main characters, as well as keeping up with our watchthrough of all of Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast. We also keep all our logs up on Facebook and Twitter. Now eat your plomeek soup! Doctor’s orders!

[thegeminisage]

it's STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. last night we watched voy's "faces" and ds9's "explorers."

faces (voy):

i feel like this one had the bones and potential to be good if 1. it had been set a couple of seasons from now 2. if they weren't so fucking RACIST. unfortunately.

so, in the tos episode "the enemy within" kirk is split into "good" and "evil" selves, though they realize by the end of the episode it's not so cut and dry - his evil half is responsible for his drive to action, his will to fight, and his "good" half is cowardly and soft and incapable of decision-making without it. this was a good and complex take on good vs evil which they promptly ruined with everything they did to poor janice rand

the problem with this episode is that they are tying b'elanna's "evil" traits to her klingon half and her "good" traits to her human half. this in itself is racist but they STILL might have managed to say something meaningful if they were using it as a way for b'elanna to tackle internalized racism - like, if she realizes her klingon half isn't the evil she thought it was. and i think they THOUGHT they did that (though if we're being honest "i'll be fighting with her the rest of my life" does not suggest that sort of resolution, only a grim resignation that she can't live without her klingon half even though she'd like to, and it's an open ending but also a bad one), but there are some problems with this

firstly that we haven't had a HINT from b'elanna that she struggled with this issue before now. like i absolutely believe she would, sure. in fiction, especially star trek, characters from two species or cultures struggle a lot with where they fit and who/what they really are, because that was spock's struggle in tos, and tos laid the blueprint for everything that comes after it. b'elanna wasn't the first or second and probably won't be the last. and it can be a compelling narrative! but where the hell is this coming from? i think she has only mentioned her backstory like twice and it was VERY light stuff

secondly, why why WHY do they keep putting the klingons in brownface...i can almost understand if you're trying to make them more orange the way you would make an orion character green, but they are literally not doing that. the woman who plays b'elanna is already NOT WHITE. you don't need to do that!!! is it my imagination or did they pale up her makeup for her human half...man come on

also like lmao having her human half cower in fear when guys with guns show up while her klingon half snarls and breaks her own chains. and her human half gets shielded by men and protected but her klingon half gets sexually harassed while strapped to a table and starts talking about how klingon women have hjigh libidos. because cowardice vs courage and fighting ability vs thinking ability are very much traits imprinted into dna. so is how you get protected or harassed. that's definitely how dna works. i know this is scifi but jesus christ

also, of ALL the fucking people to have to rely on in this sitch. WHY TOM PARIS. firstly, i can't believe they get together later. secondly, he fucking BLEW IT when she was opening up to him and he was like talking about haircuts and going yay you got what you wanted :) hooray :) could you have said ANYTHING more dumb. no. i also got the feeling he preferred her human half because she was vulnerable and needed protecting. gross.

anyway, it COULD have been something, but it wasn't. so

that said, the one right this episode had is when they took that guy away and the vidiian came back WEARING HIS DFACE. that was so completely and totally horrific i almost screamed out loud. the vidiians have the potential to be fantastic villains, i think...they just need a good episode

explorers (ds9):

this one was so cute. like, pure filler, but absolutely adorable. i lvoe when sisko gets to do stuff

his beard!! tbh, i really don't like his later seasons look of the beard but no hair, but the beard WITH the hair looks great. i'm sad he probably won't keep it like this for long

i love how in the 2300s a dad can just build a whole spaceship in his metaphorical garage. i think it was a little questionable to put his KID on something like that but i respect and support all of sisko's decisions because i love him.

the ship was so cool actually! like, completely implausible, but it looked like one of those treasure planet numbers. i have to wonder if it inspired treasure planet at all...

jake's little subplot about maybe going away to college...he got so big so FAST. i loved his joke about maybe joining the maqui not only because he genuinely got sisko (you could SEE him trying to frantically pull the right answer out of his dad skills toolbox) but also because for a second he almost got me. really good and funny. i love how much jake and sisko laugh together. and how much they worry about each other!! jake is so generous trying to set his pops up. not all children are so cool with that.

i was really shocked at the end they got fireworks for making their destination. i was FULLY expecting dukat to be like you arent allowed to be here :) and threaten to shoot them down. but he was like (to sisko who he's gay for) hiiii bestie hi do you want some space fireworks for your kid and sisko was like yes :) and they just did space fireworks. sure. most benevolent cardassian action ever after garak giving julian those chocolates last ep

julian meeting this fake patient at the beginning of the episode was really funny. his GO AWAY in the padd. jadzia doing...whatever that was. she develops a personality sometimes, for some episodes, and then it goes away again. it's not always the same personality but i did like this one. it was very funny.

i think quark and morn BOTH lost the bet since the doctor lady walked by julian without looking at him, by the way. i also love that the depth of julian's neurosis is that he has to go get drunk on real alcohol about this response despite the fact that they have NEVER EVEN MET EACH OTHER. like i spent this whole episode getting this lady confused with the ex he had the foot fetish for but THEY LITERALLY NEVER MET

drunk julian and obrien. ive never been happier. they were two drinks away from fucking right on that couch and obrien was right to switch them to synthale. it would have been funny but i DONT want him to cheat on keiko.

and then after all that he gets laid twice in one episode. good for him <3

TONIGHT: voy's "jetrel" and ds9's "family business." more ferengi stuff already :( give me a break i miss when i liked quark

[pillowfriends]

Lord of Chaos new reader thoughts: Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6: Threads Woven of Shadow

oh this was a juicy chapter. I'm interested in the relationships between the Forsaken and I'm enjoying all the information we're getting about their backstories, motivations and current plans. Sammael and Graendal working together and having been allies for a long time... I feel like your relationships after 3000 years are all going to be batshit. in my mind the Forsaken are the most fucked-up polycule of all time. like the Lyctors from The Locked Tomb but honestly the Forsaken probably won't be as interesting.

Semirhage: what theeeee fuck. I listened to this part while I was getting coffee on my lunch break and by the end of it my eyes were SO wide. first of all her whole backstory was like "I liked torturing people for fun at my doctor job but everyone else didn't want me to do that :( but I literally deserved it because I am so smart and they're so out of pocket for not letting me :(" GIRL??? and then torturing the Aes Sedai and her Warder. ow ow ow ow. this was my favorite chapter yet but it did fuck me up lol.

Chapter 7: A Matter of Thought

Elaida's stole has no blue stripe... the SHADE!! and demoting Shemerin to Accepted?? she is such a messy Amrylin. I have no choice but to stan.

Beonin is an evil-sounding name to me. there have to be Black Ajah in Salidar, so based on literally nothing I'm guessing she's one.

overall, I continue to really like tel'aran'rhiod as a setting and I like that it has rules that we're learning along with the characters. also all the Aes Sedai bitching is both fun and frustrating. we'll see which way the scales tip for me on that.

also! I forgot that Nynaeve and Myrelle are both in Salidar now!! I'm putting on my clown nose and wig and shoes hoping for a Lan/Nynaeve reunion this book.

Chapter 8: The Storm Gathers

this was a good chapter but I don't really have anything to say about it. yay for spending time with Moggy. I continue to dislike Gareth and love Nyaneve, what else is new.

Chapter 9: Plans

totally zoning out for the Whitecloaks politics sorry. I know this is important but I have better things to do (pay attention to the Aes Sedai instead).

Chapter 10: A Saying in the Borderlands

this chapter was WILD so I'm just going to work through it in order.

Rand you listened to Lan's advice a little too well. you might be the Dragon but you're also still a human being and it's okay to want things!!! on that note, please talk to Aviendha, good lord.

the Emond's Field girls were a gut punch to me, wanting to go to Tar Valon to become Aes Sedai. they're so young and hopeful and don't know about the Tower split! also Alanna mourning her Warder got me.

AND THEN SHE NONCONSENSUALLY BONDED RAND. first of all, what the fuck. second of all, why the fuck. third of all, no one in this situation reacted well to anything except Verin trying to be motherly to the EF girls when they were scared, although her attempt to be motherly did include giving them a bunch of brandy so... you know. I don't fully understand why Alanna bonded Rand or the implications of it, but after the initial shock wore off I'm not that surprised - I mean, she said outright in book 4 that someone should bond the three boys, and Elayne's nonconsensual bonding with Birgitte set up that possibility clearly enough that I did expect her to try to bond one of them.

Alanna fully breaking down with Verin was a standout scene to me. this woman is Not doing well and she isn't making decisions of sound mind and body. I mean, neither is Rand, so I'm morbidly curious about how this situation will work out.

overall: definitely hitting my stride now with this book. future posts might be shorter because while I love to talk, I'd also like to get a move on with this series 😅 it's starting to feel like I'll never finish, and I'm at a point where I need to know everything.

< last | next >

[onaperduamedee]

Hello! I watched the wot show and liked it but I’ve been really curious about all the complaints that people made about how the plots don’t fit with what happens later on in the books. My assumption is that it’s not that major a thing but is just the critique people latched onto and repeat. But as you’re now a way through the series and I appreciate the thought you put in, would you say this might be a problem or is it overblown that some later plots can’t be salvaged already? Is part of it true

Hello, that's a really interesting question!

I’m trying to keep this vaguely spoiler-free with the exception of elements from The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt covered on the show, but this still got long.

I do think it is overblown, but I also liked the changes made, so I might not be the best judge here. I'm trying to approach your question from the angle of what is there and how it affects the story.

From where I stand in my reading, the majority of the changes in the show can be categorized in:

moving forward some arcs (dagger theft, visit to Tar Valon),

new material introducing important groups and dynamics early (Aes Sedai, warders),

plainly streamlining those THICK books (cutting the 14578 villages Mat and Rand visit, merging certain elements)

To me, those changes will serve the story going forward, both in terms of pacing and clarity, and do not affect the core of later arcs. The plot points still happen, just differently or later. The complaints about some changes are honestly hair-splitting, like making the girls ta'veren or Lan not being stony enough: it’s POV adjustment, not plot-damaging.

Some important discarded encounters will obviously come up later when there is more time. I get the frustration of fans who wanted to see those relationships play out now instead of new material (Nynaeve/Moiraine dance battle, how I mourn you), but I disagree shifting them around altered the story. The Eye of The World consists of A Lot of traveling and encounters, with a clear focus on Rand, despite the established five main characters. I think these changes allowed the show to lay the groundwork more evenly, particularly for the girls. 

Now, the biggest change that could affect storylines soon is Moiraine being cut from the source. It could change her arc significantly, short and long-term, but I don't see it as a major hurdle since Moiraine gets a meatier arc that is thematically relevant to book 2. I have qualms about how it could make later arcs redundant, but the execution will do a lot of work here. Mirroring is good in a narrative. 

Another aspect is Siuan/Moiraine potentially affecting their respective story. It may require some reshuffling/cutting characters, which will happen anyway with so many side characters gallivanting. But I'd absolutely argue their love life is not the most important element on their gripping journey in the books. Also, although I loathe admitting it, being together now does not necessarily entail being together always: there's wiggle room here, even if I don't want it.

Giving Perrin a wife only to kill her is dumb, but does not really change his later arc, come on. It will certainly add a certain weight to the story, like with Siuan and Moiraine.

Overall, I find the criticism all the more unfair that fans admit the first book is not representative of the rest of the series (it’s mainly Lord of the Rings references with more innkeepers and jugglers). To me, there's a fair margin of improvement in the books, pace-wise and story-wise. If fans come from the books thinking not one line should be rewritten, of course they're not going to enjoy the show doing away with dated or slower elements. I do. Ultimately, we don’t know how the story will be told: even if certain plots seem barred to them now, it may not be always so.

I hope I answered your question and I profoundly thank you for asking it because I could talk about these books/this show for hours.

[iviarellereads]

The Eye of the World, Chapter 41 - Old Friends and New Threats

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

(Staff icon) In which the gang's back together, huzzah!

Rand runs all the way back to the inn. He asks a bouncer where Master Gill is, and is told he's in the library. Gill was worried Rand got into some trouble with the white-wearing faction, but Rand says that he saw the Queen and Elaida, and that's where the real trouble lies. Gill jokes about Gareth Bryne being in the common room an hour ago, and Rand grumbles that everyone thinks he's lying today. He tells Gill and Loial everything, and Gill says there's no more time to wait for their friends, Rand and Mat will have to leave the city before the guards can find them, and it takes two days to search every inn in the city.

Rand says he can probably get Mat on his feet, and Gill offers to lend them two horses. Loial asks again to go with them, saying he still wants to see the Tar Valon grove, and...

"You truly are ta’veren, Rand. The Pattern weaves itself around you, and you stand in the heart of it.”(1) This man stands at the heart of it. Rand felt a chill.

Rand snaps that he's not at the heart of anything, and awkwardness ensues. He finds the flame and void, and says Loial can come with them, he'll be glad of the company, if he can put up with Mat. Then a serving girl interrupts to tell Gill that there are Whitecloaks in the common room. Rand follows him down, though Loial stays in the library.(2)

There are five of them, and one says they're looking for Darkfriends, from the Two Rivers.(3) Gill snaps that there are no Darkfriends in his inn, they're all good Queen's men, and the Whitecloak says yes, the Queen and her Tar Valon witch . He threatens the inn with having the Dragon's Fang marked on its door, might not get much business, might have trouble with fire...

“You get out of here now,” Master Gill said quietly, “or I’ll send for the Queen’s Guards to cart what’s left of you to the middens.” Lamgwin’s sword rasped out of its sheath, and the coarse scrape of steel on leather was repeated throughout the room as swords and daggers filled hands. Serving maids scurried for the doors. The under-officer looked around in scornful disbelief. “The Dragon’s Fang—” “Won’t help you five,” Master Gill finished for him. He held up a clenched fist and raised his forefinger. “One.” “You must be mad, innkeeper, threatening the Children of the Light.” “Whitecloaks hold no writ in Caemlyn. Two.” “Can you really believe this will end here?” “Three.” “We’ll be back,” the under-officer snapped, and then he was hastily turning his men around, trying to pretend he was leaving in good order and in his own time. He was hampered in this by the eagerness his men showed for the door, not running, but not making secret that they wanted to be outside.

Everyone in the inn takes a seat, laughing. Some clap Gill on the back for his bravado, though he plays it down.(4) Gill tells Rand they'll have to stay out of sight until he can get them out of the city. Rand says there's no reason for them to be after him, but Gill points out they were clearly looking for boys from the Two Rivers, they're after them for sure, reason or not. Rand asks if he's worried about them coming back, and Gill says nah, he pities the man who tries to put a mark on his door.

Another serving maid comes to tell them there's a lady in the kitchens, asking for Rand and Mat by name. Gill says if he's managed to bring Elayne down to his inn, they'll all be facing the Headsman, then dismisses the maid, regretting his words. By nightfall the whole city will believe he's a prince in disguise.

Rand realizes he never told Elayne about Mat, then grins and runs for the kitchen, and there they all are. After some greetings, Gill offers Moiraine his best room, though surely she'll prefer the palace with Elaida Sedai. Moiraine, instead, comments on all the cats in the kitchen, and Gill says the whole city is a rat den, but the cats are taking care of it. She insists on paying for accommodations here, and Nynaeve asks after Mat. Moiraine suggests they all go up to see him, to get out of the kitchen, and she'll join them shortly, once she takes care of the rat problem with some magic.(5)

Rand leads them up, Egwene asks what the "red or white?" question means, they were asked it so many times in the streets. He says it doesn't matter. Perrin asks where Thom is, and Rand says he's dead, or he thinks he's dead, there was a Fade... Then he says that Mat's not sick exactly, but they'll see what he means. Mat's first question when he sees them is how Rand knows they're who they look like, and how Mat can know that any of them are who they look like.

Nynaeve feels Mat's face and asks Rand and Perrin to fetch cloths and cool water, but they can't move before Mat taunts them all with what he knows, on some level, will upset them the most. Moiraine arrives and says the Dark One can't see them for now, but... then her eyes fall on Mat and she drags Nynaeve away from him like a sack of potatoes. She tells them all to stay away from him and be quiet, watching him like you would a viper.

She approaches slowly until suddenly he pulls the dagger, and Lan is there, catching Mat's wrist. Moiraine asks how he got it. Rand says he took it from Shadar Logoth, he didn't know until after they were separated. Moiraine only knew when she saw him, but a Fade can sense the evil for miles, and will seek it out. Even Darkfriends who have truly lost their souls would feel compelled to seek it out.

Rand says there were Darkfriends on the road, but they managed to escape them, though there are rumours of other things in the night that could be Trollocs. Lan confirms Trollocs and Fades, he's seen signs of them coming toward the city. The Emond's Fielders have evaded them too long, the city wall won't stop them. They'll do anything to acquire their master's prize, including attack one of the major cities and bring half the armies of the world down on the Borderlands to fight another Trolloc War.

Moiraine says if they can find a way out of the city, the Myrddraal will have no cause to attack there. Perrin says they'd all be better off dead, echoing Rand's thoughts. She asks what he thinks to gain by dying, they can stop nothing in death. Perrin argues, but Moiraine says right now she needs to deal with Mat, who's still snarling in Lan's grip.

“What’s wrong with him?” Egwene asked, and Nynaeve added, “Is it catching? I can still treat him. I don’t seem to catch sick, no matter what it is.” “Oh, it is catching,” Moiraine said, “and your . . . protection would not save you.”(6) She pointed to the ruby-hilted dagger, careful not to let her finger touch it. The blade trembled as Mat strained to reach her with it. “This is from Shadar Logoth. There is not a pebble of that city that is not tainted and dangerous to bring outside the walls, and this is far more than a pebble. The evil that killed Shadar Logoth is in it, and in Mat, too, now. Suspicion and hatred so strong that even those closest are seen as enemies, rooted so deep in the bone that eventually the only thought left is to kill. By carrying the dagger beyond the walls of Shadar Logoth he freed it, this seed of it, from what bound it to that place. It will have waxed and waned in him, what he is in the heart of him fighting what the contagion of Mashadar sought to make him, but now the battle inside him is almost done, and he almost defeated. Soon, if it does not kill him first, he will spread that evil like a plague wherever he goes. Just as one scratch from that blade is enough to infect and destroy, so, soon, a few minutes with Mat will be just as deadly.” Nynaeve’s face had gone white. “Can you do anything?” she whispered. “I hope so.” Moiraine sighed. “For the sake of the world, I hope I am not too late.” Her hand delved into the pouch at her belt and came out with the silk-shrouded angreal. “Leave me. Stay together, and find somewhere you will not be seen, but leave me. I will do what I can for him.”(7)

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(1) Rand just can't catch a break, huh? (2) I'm leaving out the bit with Gill and Loial's game of stones for time, but I want it known I think it's adorable that Gill is no match for Loial's intellect. (3) He only gets as far as "a boy from the Two Rivers", but that much makes it clear, they're looking for Perrin and Egg. (4) How much was his natural bravery, and how much was the Pattern protecting Rand and Mat from attention, even though the Whitecloaks weren't looking for them? I know, I know, this is the sort of question that could drive one to self-medicate if you think about it too hard every time something happens in the story, but I've been here 15 years, you'll have to forgive me for, well, thinking about it too hard. (5) Rats being another one of the Dark One's eyes, it would do them very well to deter the rats from seeing what's going on in that inn for a bit. (6) A known effect of the One Power? Nynaeve's been channeling, if unconsciously, for years, and Moiraine's probably been somewhat careful not to scare her off with too much reference to her abilities on this little trip. (7) Which makes quite a long summary for a chapter that only brought everyone back together and started to bring them up to speed with each other's plotlines. Though, the bit about Darkfriends sensing the dagger if they've truly sold their souls is interesting.

[trashlie]

KOUSUKE KNOWS?? KOUSUKE KNOWS SOMETHING IS UP WITH HIS MOM

BIG SPOILERS TO FP 226 LOL I sure hope by now anyone following me who doesn't FP has blacklisted my spoiler tag aljkafkjajkfjaf LMAO

LISTEN I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was reading this episode on my friend's couch stuffing my fist in my mouth screaming to myself because HOLY HECK THAT EPISODE everything is happening SOOOOO much faster than I expected! I have given up on trying to predict ANYTHING lmao (but I will continue trying) I'll tuck more spoilery thoughts under the cut though.

Now, I'm not entirely sure HOW MUCH Kousuke actually knows, but he definitely is suspicious, and the way he looked down at his plate and saw the tea cup is pretty telling. He's having some significant flashbacks and just seems all around SO WARY of her and moreso of anything she's offering him. Has he figured out that she's slipping something into things he ingests or is it merely the feeling that he shouldn't take anything from her? You know when you wake up in the middle of a dream and suddenly you can't remember it, even though you were just in it? How it feels like you're reaching out and feeling traces of it with your fingertips but it's nothing concrete enough to make anything of? It's more of a feeling than anything? I think that's what it is for Kousuke. He knows something isn't right, that it has to do with her, and maybe with something she's given him, but I don't know if he's got his finger on just WHAT yet.

But that little fragment of her when she was having that conversation with Rand, and how it's colored in dark shades and red? I feel like he's got a lot of fragments he's trying to piece together but he just doesn't have enough substance to really make anything of them yet.

He says he feels too nauseated to put anything in his mouth but... I think he's just saying that. He lingered quite a bit before he denied the medication she offered him. I think he's not quite understanding it but I do think he's on the cusp of it - it's just hovering a little out of his grasp, like a fading memory of a dream, and that he'll get there. God I really hope he's going to. I think at the VERY LEAST he is feeling distrustful towards her, even if he can't understand why he is. On top of that, he's pointedly telling her he's not feeling well and she's trying to push him like everything is fine, push him to doing something really uncomfortable. She has no concern for his injury, for his well-being, for his state of discomfort, and the more she's pushing him, the more he knows something is Not Right.

I'm really worried about how it's going to play out for him, though, because she is NOT pleased with her inability to get him back under her control, but I'm nonetheless excited to see where this is going for him, even though I think he's going to really go through some hell contending with this

But yeah he definitely knows that something is Not Right and it's got to do with Yui (and the tea) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH