Silver Elite: Chapter 51
Nov. 29th, 2025 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaWren arrives at the ball.
The chapter does not mercifully start with a description of how hot Wren is and instead Wren arrives and immediately starts tracking down Ivy to get her to keep her mouth shut about being a Mod. This is in fact the correct thing to do. I do wonder if Wren has told Cross about any of this, because it seems to me that the easiest way to sell this lie would be to convince Cross to find Ivy and corroborate it.
Once again, we are focusing on superficial markers of the General being bad instead of his actual crimes.
Cross links with Wren, and she tells him about what happened with Ivy and Lyddie. Cross seems like he's going to go along with it, but before they can decide, he gets called on stage to join his father for a speech.
Wren sees Adrienne briefly in the crowd. You would think she would immediately try to link, but she does not.
Now, the book briefly gets interesting. The General's speech is weird. He starts by telling his origin story, but then...
My guess is that he's being incited, and this is the Uprising's plan: to hijack his broadcast using him as a puppet.
The General keeps talking, but his speech gets increasingly fragmented, and then he started hitting himself.
Hmm. Okay. If Wren betrays the Uprising because she thinks taking out the fascist leader of the government that wants her dead is immoral, I'm sorry, but I will be throwing my laptop into the sea.
The chapter does not mercifully start with a description of how hot Wren is and instead Wren arrives and immediately starts tracking down Ivy to get her to keep her mouth shut about being a Mod. This is in fact the correct thing to do. I do wonder if Wren has told Cross about any of this, because it seems to me that the easiest way to sell this lie would be to convince Cross to find Ivy and corroborate it.
Sadly, I’m too shaken from killing a woman today to admire the silk gowns. But I do note that there’s more color and life in this room than I’ve ever seen from the General. Even his broadcasts feature a gray background, and when he delivers them outdoors, it’s almost as if the weather knows there’s a broadcast scheduled for that day, because it’s always overcast.
Once again, we are focusing on superficial markers of the General being bad instead of his actual crimes.
Cross links with Wren, and she tells him about what happened with Ivy and Lyddie. Cross seems like he's going to go along with it, but before they can decide, he gets called on stage to join his father for a speech.
Wren sees Adrienne briefly in the crowd. You would think she would immediately try to link, but she does not.
Now, the book briefly gets interesting. The General's speech is weird. He starts by telling his origin story, but then...
“We were bold in the Coup, and fortune did indeed favor us. But the world he described is not possible, and we took the train there when my son was five and—”
He stops for a second. An uneasy feeling tickles at my gut.
“It was the kind of day that makes you want to stay at home with your family.”
What the hell is he talking about now?
“Severn wasn’t the sort of man who would, and before that, I knew. Before that, he knew.”
My guess is that he's being incited, and this is the Uprising's plan: to hijack his broadcast using him as a puppet.
The General keeps talking, but his speech gets increasingly fragmented, and then he started hitting himself.
The General stops hitting himself. Then he stops talking altogether. He mumbles gibberish under his breath while everyone stands in wide-eyed shock.Travis starts to lead his father off the stage, and something explodes. Chapter end.
He transforms into a pitiful figure up on that stage, and a chill goes through me as I watch his mind slipping away. Seeing him now, without knowing what came before, I would assume he was a fragmented Mod. But I do know what came before. I literally saw it happen, right now, right here. In warp speed. I watched his mind fragmenting in front of me, as if someone was—
Corrupting it.
Jayde Valence’s voice reverberates through my brain.
They’re unnatural. They’re corrupting minds.
Hmm. Okay. If Wren betrays the Uprising because she thinks taking out the fascist leader of the government that wants her dead is immoral, I'm sorry, but I will be throwing my laptop into the sea.
