#under this image? i have put both spoiler tags just in cases regardless

[whatudottu]

In the words of someone I can't remember the blog name of; The King in SASASAP genuinely had something wrong with him :P

Anyway, say hi to Loopabelle AKA Fortune (Because Mirabelle mistakes her for being connected with the Favour Tree, she is 'good fortune' for breaking out of the loops, and 'Fortune favours the bold' etc etc), who retroactively has a design element connected to physical trauma in a similar yet differing way to actual loop :P

Yipippie!

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 44: The Dark Along the Ways

Spoiler warning: The first paragraph of this post contains spoiler warnings. Particular spoilers warned of include those for the entirety of The Wheel of Time series, not merely the first book. The most efficient way to avoid spoiler warnings is to block the spoiler tags below, but of course the constant influx of new users and fans means that every single post must have a warning regardless just in case. Very silly. In an ideal world my posts would only be visible in order.

Anyway, our chapter opens with the icon of the leaves on the vine. As the Waygates are super associated with the Ogier, generally whenever they're relevant we're going to get this icon.

“We don’t go running about in the dark in the stedding. I’m an Ogier, not a cat.” Rand had a sudden image of Loial’s tufted ears twitching irritably.

Content warning: Loial is far too adorable for human minds to comprehend.

“Perrin’s making me nervous,” he muttered. Rand looked at him sharply. “Well, he’s acting strange. Don’t you see it, too? I swear it’s not my imagination, or . . . or. . . .”

Ah yes, the awkward, "I know I'm magically compelled to be hateful and paranoid but I think I'm objectively right in this instance," moment. Luckily for Mat, Rand is actually pretty reasonable about this.

“Remember, good innkeeper, if you fear any trouble from this, write to Sheriam Sedai, of the Blue Ajah, in Tar Valon, and she will help. I fear my sisters and I have a good deal to put right already for those who have helped me.”

Meanwhile Sheriam is laughing at every letter that mentions Moiraine and either tossing them into the fire or sometimes rolling them up to whack stupid but not especially disobedient novices upside the head with. It really says a lot about how corrupted the White Tower was that even Moiraine can't manage to pick all her allies effectively.

The panniers bulged with supplies for the journey, most of it clay jars filled with oil. A bundle of poles was lashed lengthwise down the horse’s back, and each had a lantern swinging at the end of it. In the Ways, Loial said, it was darker than the darkest night.

The Ways in fact have that exciting trope of "darkness that literally swallows light", which is hopefully just the taint and not some warning that the local space-time continuum is slowly coming undone. That would be bad for anyone who gets caught in it in the Fourth Age or so.

Loial appeared to be following the most direct path to the Waygate, wherever it took them. Sometimes they trotted down broad avenues, empty save for an occasional dog skulking in the dark. Sometimes they hurried along alleys as narrow as the stable run, where things squished under an unwary step.

Just Robert Jordan predicting the awkward paths of people following minimaps and indicators in 3D open world games ages before they became a thing.

Moiraine studied the lock intently for a moment. Suddenly she gave the rusty iron a tap with her staff, and the lock fell open neatly.

I'm sure that there's just a generic "open lock" weave that Moiraine used here, but I like the implication that perhaps Moiraine is super familiar with most kinds of locks so that she knows how to get the various tumblers and bars in place depending on the make. That's totally a weave that twenty years hunting for a kid would get you.

The Ogier was angry, Rand realized with a shock. “Once trees stood here. Every kind of tree that would grow in this place, every kind of tree that Ogier could coax to grow here. The Great Trees, a hundred spans high. Shade of branch, and cool breezes to catch the smell of leaf and flower and hold the memory of the peace of the stedding. All that, murdered for this!”

Loial, we both know you're perfect and are never wrong ever, but have you considered the possibility that maybe at some point in the last three thousand years a fire broke out that the people here couldn't contain, or that the groves weren't able to sustain themselves over such a long period? Trees can get fucked by weather or plague too you know! Not saying it wasn't asshole people necessarily but it does seem premature to get yourself worked up about it.

“Avendesora,” Moiraine murmured, resting her hand on a trefoil leaf in the stonework. Rand scanned the carving; that was the only leaf of its kind he could find. “The leaf of the Tree of Life is the key,” the Aes Sedai said, and the leaf came away in her hand.

A nice bit of information loss here: we know that Avendesora wasn't one of a kind back in the day, and there's little reason to think that the Aes Sedai who made the Ways knew of it in particular. They modeled the Waygate keys after chora trees as a general concept.

Lan went past her, leading Mandarb, poled lantern in hand. His shadowy reflection approached him, leading a shadowy horse. Man and reflection seemed to step into each other at the shimmering surface, and both were gone. For a moment the black stallion balked, an apparently continuous rein connecting him to the dim shape of his own image. The rein tightened, and the warhorse, too, vanished.

You really have to give the male Aes Sedai props for managing to create something that is entirely out of a horror story even before getting into the decay.

“You could walk all the way around it, and you would not see a thing from the other side. I would not advise it, though. The books aren’t very clear about what lies behind the Waygates. I think you could become lost there, and never find your way out.”

"We Ogier used to understand, but a few generations back we ran out of particle physicists because no one wanted to practice a science they couldn't actually do any work in. From what little we can still parse from their notes, there was a high chance of... becoming noodles? But don't worry. Our walking around on the inside surface of an 'event horizon' should be completely safe otherwise! Events are fun! We're pretty sure all that stuff about getting crabs inside you was a myth because that doesn't make any sense."

Finally only Moiraine was left in the cellar, dimly lit by the lantern she had taken. The Aes Sedai still moved in that dreamlike way. Her hand crept as it found the leaf of Avendesora. It was located lower in the stonework on this side, Rand saw, just where she had placed it on the other. Plucking it free, she put it back in the original position.

And just like that, Moiraine doomed Caemyln to fall. It really is a shame she didn't have the usual ruthless drive at this point (she's very tired and who can blame her). If she'd been in Taren Ferry mode, she would have had Loial tell her how to destroy Waygates here and now.

The bubble of light around them could as well have been a cave surrounded by stone, completely surrounded, with no way out. The horses might have been walking a treadmill for the change around them.

The singular path here compared to the more open design of the Ways proper may well reflect this Waygate's late addition to the system: awkwardly patched in rather than part of the original design of Islands of the male Aes Sedai who connected steddings.

After an interminable climb, curving continuously, the ramp let off onto another Island just like the one where it had begun. Rand tried to imagine the curve of the ramp and gave up. This Island can’t be right on top of the other one. It can’t be.

Frankly, that's a much less upsetting outcome than the possibility of tracing Islands around in such a way that you should have ended up exactly where you started but didn't.

I suspect that the Ways is one of those exciting physics things wherein you can use a two-dimensional surface to emulate a three-dimensional space, so I also suspect that if you tried to extend a ladder down from the upper island you might not ever find the one you started below.

The Ways were almost boring. Then the silence was broken by a startled grunt from Loial. Rand stood in his stirrups to peer past the Ogier, and swallowed hard at what he saw. They were in the middle of a bridge, and only a few feet ahead of Loial the bridge ended in a jagged gap.

I hope that we're all in agreement that this particular catastrophe is entirely Rand's fault. If he just hadn't gotten bored right there, they would never have had these troubles.

As for this reread, I'm afraid each chapter break is a jagged gap in our attempts, so I'll be stopping here. Next time: the Ways get increasingly horrible.

[midnightroseprincess]

Random Thoughts on Shizuo Heiwajima (w/ his brown hair)

Recently saw (and reblogged) that photoset of Shizuo screenshots that were edited to have his blond hair replaced by his natural brown hair, jokingly referred to as a “cursed image” in the captions. For those not familiar with said edits, here’s an example: 

I briefly rambled in the tags when I reblogged it about how while I understand why it’s odd to see him without blond hair, I’m more intrigued by it than unsettled. My rambling in the tags was cut off so I figured eh, why not make it a post? My thoughts on it got a bit long, so under a read more it goes. 

So we know why Shizuo dyed his hair blond. Tom suggested it as a way to intimidate the guys who would pick a fight with Shizuo to back down or not engage Shizuo in a fight to begin with. (I heard this was probably inspired by the stereotype of delinquent students dyeing their hair bright colors.) If not for Izaya’s... tomfoolery, to put it simply, it might have worked better than it did. 

There’s also the idea that another reason Shizuo dyed it blond in particular was that blond looks yellow, which can mean “yield” or “caution,” and he wanted to convey that to anyone who approached him. (Not sure if this was stated in canon at any point, confirmed by Narita, or just fanon, since it’s been a while since I reread the novels.) 

Shizuo is not fond of his strength or his rage. He doesn’t like violence in general, but especially hurting other people. So he tries to give those looking for a fight a chance to back off/yield and warn those looking to approach him as a person to proceed with care/caution. And for the most part, it’s worked. (Though on the first meaning it’s grown with his reputation to be “blond man in a bartender suit.”)

So a Shizuo Heiwajima without blond hair gets me thinking about what that could mean for Shizuo’s character. To name a few that I find the most intriguing: 

Is this an alternate universe Shizuo who wasn’t born with abnormal strength (and/or his temper)? What would this mean for him? 

Shizuo without his strength could be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, he could live a more peaceful life since less people would be looking for a fight and maybe he’d even be outside Izaya’s realm of interest. He wouldn’t live in fear of hurting someone with his strength or getting his life disrupted regularly by someone who views him as a monster. On the other hand, he wouldn’t be able to protect those he cares about as much as he could with that strength. (Using it to protect others is a part of how Shizuo comes to accept it in canon.) Not to mention the lack of strength might also mean Shinra would never have approached him, and thus neither would he have become besties with Celty. Tom approaching him is a 50/50 in that same sense. Shizuo may have gained other relationships, but maybe not the ones we know and love. 

Is this an alternate Shizuo who DOES still have his strength, but has learned how to control it (and maybe even his rage), to the point where he feels he doesn’t have to warn people to stay away from him?

In that scenario, one may debate that Shizuo would still have left it dyed regardless of the amount of control he had over it (arguably as he does in canon eventually) to still warn off the newbies or extremely foolish punks in Ikebukuro. Not to mention in honor of his and Tom’s friendship, and just the fact that it’s become a familiar routine for him to upkeep it. 

At the same time though, a Shizuo whose reputation as a “bodyguard/debt-collector in a bartender suit” is enough to ward troublemakers away and is comfortable enough to allow strangers the chance to get to know him without fear of hurting them by accident... is a Shizuo who’s gotten some peace. Peace that he can protect with the strength he can now control. 

OR, if it is our Shizuo, more amusing what-ifs come to mind: 

Was there a blond-hair-dye product recall of the brand of dye Shizuo used which has caused him to go with his natural brown? 

Or did he just run out and has to wait to get more? 

Or did someone, for a prank, keep stealing all the dye Shizuo bought? 

Or did Shizuo stop using the dye for a while because Shinra was putting experimental crap in there and yeah, right, sure it was only the one bottle, Shinra. 

This leads to many amusing scenarios, regardless of the cause. 

Shizuo going through countless other brands that just don’t work for whatever reason, and getting fed up enough to decide to just stick it out. 

Oblivious and foolish Ikebukuro citizens not realizing Shizuo’s the same bartender they were warned of due to the lack of blond hair. Property damage and visits to the local clinic increase by 15-20%. 

Rumors flying around Ikebukuro that Shizuo has an evil twin brother with brown hair that’s replaced him. Is the real Shizuo still alive? How come his friends haven’t noticed? Who knows? The conspiracy theory chains on the internet forums go haywire. 

People noticing his resemblance to Yuuhei Hanejima, since having his natural brown hair makes it easier for people to notice the facial similarities between the brothers. 

People he knows (aside from Tom, Kasuka, and Shinra -- who were used to him with brown hair for a while in the past) being amused, bewildered, befuddled or outright unsettled by the lack of blond, because that’s how they’ve known Shizuo for years. 

Kasuka calling to let Shizuo know not to worry about his real identity getting public (he has agents monitoring it) and even it he did, he’s not ashamed to have Shizuo for a brother. Spoiler: Shizuo worries for Kasuka’s loss of privacy and safety anyway but is secretly happy Kasuka feels that way.

Ruri, for that matter, sending a text like, “I’m good with cosmetics and disguises. If you want I could maybe try to make a blond hair dye of my own for you until your normal brand is restocked. P.S. No offense, but Kasuka is still more handsome.” Shizuo keeps that offer in mind and is confused but amused at the last bit because yep this is likely gonna be my sister-in-law someday.

VARONA’s reaction to it!!!! Shizuo noticing her staring and asking, amused, if he really looks that different. Varona getting flustered because how-to-word-good? 

Akane giving a drawing of Shizuo with brown hair to him saying something like, “Still look cool!” and he treasures it. 

Shinra, if he had nothing to do with the original hair dye’s malfunction, maybe teases Shizuo about it until Shizuo flicks him in the forehead to get him to knock it off. If he had something to do with it, he’s cautiously avoiding Shizuo or vainly trying to insist it was only the one bottle he tampered with. In either case, he may contribute some theories of his own online. Two in particular: one of Yagiri Pharmaceuticals making a clone of Shizuo that’s gotten loose or one that a clone made by aliens who abducted Shizuo having their mole exposed because the clone’s DNA only had the genetic data for Shizuo’s natural hair color.

Celty is initially slightly unsettled by it, but adapts easily. She comments to Shizuo that she agrees with Akane basically, and then pulls Shinra’s cheek for the alien-made clone theory, which freaked her out. 

Remember those conspiracy theories from before? Erika and Walker are the key theorists of multiple forums. Togusa’s exasperated and doesn’t get why the subject’s more popular than gossip about Ruri’s upcoming concert. Kadota is both keeping Shizuo updated on the more hilarious theories to have a good laugh about it and also wishing for death because this will last until Shizuo’s hair is once again blond. 

Kida decidedly not mentioning it for fear of another flick to his forehead. Anri initially surprised but accepts it easily. Mikado being so utterly bewildered that it takes him a bit to readjust but it’s such an unexpected change that he becomes delighted by his initial surprise. 

Shizuo and Tom are both highly amused a majority of the time at everyone’s reactions. Until the theory of a lab-made clone has to be publicly denied at a press conference by Yagiri Pharmaceuticals, at which point Shizuo starts seriously considering Ruri’s offer to have her make a substitute dye so everyone will stop fussing. 

Shizuo eventually gets his hair back to blond either via Ruri’s substitute hair dye or his preferred brand finally getting put back on shelves after the issue with it was resolved. (Or he and Celty are certain Shinra has no access at all to Shizuo’s supply of dye anymore.) Ikebukuro goes back to the norm, but he still hears remarks months later about “where’d his twin go?” It annoys him but keeps the focus off of Kasuka, so he’ll put up with it... to a point. 

And maybe -- and I put this in here for mutuals of mine who are more fond of Izaya than I am -- Kururi and Mairu take a photo of Shizuo before he gets his hair dyed back and send it to Izaya like “only thing you’re missing in Ikebukuro is Shizuo turning to the dark side after aliens abducted him / no, it’s definitely his evil twin, Kadota told me.” And Izaya is just a mix of extremely unsettled, confused, and annoyed. 

The possibilities are endless. 

TL;DR: Brown-haired Shizuo edits can be a blessing more than a curse due to the interesting alternate universe character studies or the hilarious, typical Ikebukuro shenanigans that can come from it.