Very good job, curious about your actual plans for Mercury.

No prelude this time - I liked this chapter! Despite the fact plot progression wasn't the main objective of this one, I found that the character conflict between Emerald and Mercury not being resolved in a single call felt 'right.' Sure, would it be nice if they could kiss and make up over the phone over the course of a single call? Yeah, but as was made clear amid this chapter and throughout the previous, Mercury has a tad too much machismo in him to admit when he's wrong or when his fear's genuinely affecting him in a major way. Since the whole Ruby situation occurred, the jury's still out on whether he'll live long enough to overcome this particular character flaw of his, but for the moment? I appreciate that neither he nor Emerald are at the top of their game. As with many things in WYS, it makes sense - suddenly shifting alliances from the immortal Mommy Salami to the Sun Squad is a very risky thing to do, so it'd honestly make *less* sense if they felt fine and dandy, these days. Regardless, I look forward to seein' more from them!

Also interested in Shiv appearing eventually;
~Constipated Genius~

Well, then! While this chapter certainly could classify as an 'in-betweener,' I must say that it didn't necessarily feel like one - and I mean that in a good way. While some in-betweener chapters are neat and not necessarily particularly profound or memorable, I feel that the character progression given to Emerald and Nora - on top of the rest of the interactions/moments in this chapter - raised its quality an appreciable amount. Regardless, as for the chapter's contents overall? I liked 'em!

On the note of scene one, I found the use of Nora's scroll as a holographic projector a lovely little subtle bit of worldbuilding. Sure, it might've occurred before but with how long it's been since the WYS world had communications, it feels brand new and I like it! Beyond that, though, the various bits of character work in the scene worked well, too! Roman's smarminess, Nora's clear and dark development into someone who's all-too-willing to torture Tyrian if it means getting actual insight into Mommy Salami's plans, Mercury's newfound cooperativeness, and even Sage's oddly charming stoicism made the scene fun to read overall. Throw that small section of not-so-subtle Chillydog into the mix and the entire sequence was just... a good time, and one that served a secondary purpose as to continue everyone's character development (minus maybe Roman) at the same time. Good stuff, all around!

Aaaand on the note of the second scene? Also solid. Emerald still ain't in the top twenty by any means, but the progress she's poised to make in the coming chapters as a person might just let her break into that ranking depending on how her call with Merc/many other things go. Illia? Illia's still a treat to see, what with her attitude and all, but I find her self-reflection in this chapter when it comes to how much she's grown as a person over time rather sweet, despite how dark her mindset might've been concerning the situation she's in. Final note? Their mutual love/lust relationship is very on-brand for your style of writing and I very much enjoy seeing it in action, and Shiv... is still a great mystery to me overall, but I reckon I'll like the guy. Hopefully... maybe.

Possibly(?);
~Constipated Genius~

Excellent dialogues as usual, best of luck with this last part of the war

Y'know, compared to the overall hype that EINE's chapter contained this week with Shinso showing up and all, I think that this chapter was much more grounded in a very good way. Where I expected Sun's realization concerning what's happening to him to take at least until his squad was en route to Vacuo to hit him, I was surprised in a very pleasant way to see the thought cross his mind earlier on. It grants a little insight into how he and Blake will confront the issue (or at least how they 'think' they will) when it comes around, and it lets the amount of stress surrounding it drop down a tiny bit as a result. Yes, it's going to be absolutely insane when Oz starts speaking in Sun's ear and arrests control of his body (or not, who knows) at times, but at the moment, it's comforting to see that Sun n' Blake are so set on not letting it beat them, even without knowing what's coming for sure, when it comes to the Oz situation. As for the remaining bits of the chapter? I liked 'em! Neo coming clean off-screen was just fine by me, and Blake's reaction was equally understandable and mature given the situation - both of these things were rather nice, since on a meta level and in the story of WYS, more stress isn't reaaaaaallly what anyone needs, at the moment; thus, it makes more sense to at least 'try' and keep things relatively calm. Oh, and uh... that last lewd-ish bit was... also nice, for obvious reasons. That is all.

Cautiously hoping Sun doesn't smash his skull/hip in the shower;
~Constipated Genius~

Very touching moment

Now this was another calm chapter, and one I welcome with open arms! For the longest time I've felt that WYS would remain at 'maximum tension' narratively, what with what went down during the actual Atlas Invasion arc some time ago, but it's only now that I'm really realizing that... yeah, there's still time to exist before the world ends, here - suppose that means my mentality's got some similarities to Harriet's then, huh? At any rate, let's talk about Harriet - while she still isn't one of my top-tiers in terms of how much I reliably find her presence entertaining, I did very much so enjoy her introspection and overall behavior in this chapter. It shows she's capable of self-awareness, but re-emphasizes that she isn't really someone who can cope with stress in a healthy way, given her predilection to pushing people away who'd otherwise wish to help her. Regardless of however long she and the Sun Squad stay at Qrow's vacation home, I shall remain interested in seeing if/how she changes as a person, over time. As for everyone else? Given Corsac n' Neo weren't necessarily THE most important people in this chapter, I'll summarize their actions as... well, charmingly in character, and I'll state up-front that I'm intrigued in seeing what they get up to, too. As for Blake? I find her return to prominent screen time after being passed out for like... IRL months VERY refreshing, and although what Sun's bound to realize in the coming chapters is far from pleasant, I'm optimistic that his iron will and Blake's presence will help him overcome/cope with what's coming.

Hoping Sun can/will remain in control when you-know-who appears again;
~Consitpated Genius~

Excellent dialogues, cannot wait to have Salem enter the picture again

Welp. Reviewing the second scene first - I absolutely agree. Sucks to suck, and Mommy Salami got what she deserved by failing to achieve her goals. Sure, she's going to successfully slaughter all of Mantle (most likely) and she still has 66% of her current army alongside a 'fuck you'-sized whale of a Grimm, but without the lamp/staff in her possession, she's effectively wasted a notable amount of time on an invasion that didn't 'really' achieve much in the grand scheme. She'll come back from this little loss with a vengeance to be sure, but for the moment... cope and seethe, Remnant-Satan. Oh, and as for the first scene? Everything in it spoke for itself. Alice's aussie energy continues to make her more and more enjoyable and unique to read about despite how recent of an addition to the plot she is, and I'm interested to see where her potential partnership with Illia might lead. Furthermore, I'm even more interested in seeing more of Aurora's Cradle - yes, the potential partnership and learning more about Emerald's history as a 'Dragline' is going to be interesting, but like... come on. I'm SUCH a sucker for worldbuilding, so it's basically a foregone conclusion I'll be more invested in that whenever it occurs than anything - Emerald, Winter, and even Alice's plotlines included! At least for a little while, I mean.

Lookin' forward to the exploration of this highly unique WYS locale;
~Constipated Genius~

Strange-ass title aside, I think that everything I could say about this chapter is either self-evident or is something I might’ve mentioned in our private conversations. Nevertheless, I’ll try to summarize my thoughts thusly - Alice? Rose? Jane Ironwood? Blue Lady? Instant hit. Combined with the stellar scenery and world building of Aurora’s Cradle, Alice felt like a natural culmination of WYS’ approach to creating new characters without seeming out of place whatsoever. Despite how recent of an addition to the story she is, I’m relatively confident in claiming that Alice is a character I’ll grow to like more than a good number of other characters in this story, over time. Why? Well, because she’s got the kind of devil-may-care attitude I really like in some of your characters, but it’s been taken to a reasonable extreme that makes that trait all the more endearing, to me. Sure, she might seem nuts and all, but with the way she has people aligning with her left and right thanks to how well she’s handling the war situation/Aurora’s Cradle, she’s clearly competent too, which is another admirable trait that adds to her likability, too. As for everyone else? As usual, they were all in-character and charming enough to see in a scene together - OH! And the environment they’re in added a really nice amount to the enjoyability of this chapter too, but I’m rambling nonsense again at this point, so-!

Cutting myself short to save our sanities;
~Constipated Genius~

Quite cool chapter

Personally, I feel like Roman's doing much more than merely 'meaning well.' At this stage of the story, Roman's gone through a lot - not nearly as much as others, like Sun, Yang, or Corsac, but a lot - and he's emerged as a better man, all the same. Whereas so many characters in WYS require or are at the very least influenced by Sun to become better people, Roman's becoming better entirely of his own accord, so although that last bit of advice of his isn't exactly wise... overall, he is a much, much more well-rounded man than he's been, historically, and the rest of this chapter furthers that notion. Roman of the before-times would've, as this chapter outright stated, not tolerated Nora's mourning, wouldn't have even been around to assist Glynda in Vale's defense, and would've simply left to wait things out - but instead, thanks to the state of the world in WYS, he's evolved as a person to prioritize siding with 'the good guys' despite how he is so vehemently against their heroic attitudes, overall. That, I think, is solid character development for someone who in the grand scheme has been a rather secondary character in WYS... but as for everyone else? I liked how everyone else behaved, too. Seeing Neo and Roman's utterly unique relationship in action via text is a nice treat, Nora and Ren's characterization was solid and I very much so like the fact that the former wants to get revenge but isn't blinded by bloodlust (it seems), and Mercury - while he had only a very minor role in this chapter, really - having the same shift in priority that Emerald did many chapters ago was also nice to see. Granted, he has a long ways to go before he's on the same level as Nora or Roman in terms of how much I like 'em, but... he's making a solid enough start, for sure!

Looking forward to the events to come;
~Constipated Genius~

PS: Oh, and yeah. Sage was... there, too, and I forgot to say anything about him. Woops~!

Excellent dialogue

Good lord. Compared to the amount of massively-mysterious fuckery that went down in AB this week, this WYS chapter was a treat. Sure, we're still in the opening phases of the Vacuo arc and we're still bouncing between settings and situations a lot, but you know me - I'll never complain when a good bit of worldbuilding occurs in a chapter. Aurora's Cradle was and is an amazingly neat setting that I'm almost shocked I didn't imagine existing earlier, and while there're still tons of questions that require answering when it comes to who Rose is, what role Shiv plays in all this/who he is in the context of WYS, what role Aurora's Cradle will play in the future, et cetera, I'm as interested in this new locale as I am to see Vacuo or the Vale Hideout-City again, sometime soon. Also, character-wise? Glad Whitley's still trying to turn into a better lad, Moss is charming, Ilia doubly so, and I'm interested to see what exactly Emerald's history is, with regard to Rose's group. Well done, my guy!
~Constipated Genius~

Excellent dialogues and introspection