#p.o.s.

She considered going to the refrigerator and piecing together something from the scattered ingredients or even the identical stacks of picked at leftovers before deciding against it.

Too early for dinner, she thought, glancing at the large, sensible clock mounted above the kitchen doorway. She took a sip from her mug, brow furrowing the star between her neat, black horns, Not that anyone makes me dinner when I’m on a full shift.

The sky was almost black now and Marla gave her tail an incredulous shake—though she couldn’t decide whether it was because of this thought or the weather. Or, perhaps, even because Patt was on his way back to the apartment.

“That’s kiddish of you, Mar,” she said aloud, meeting her own doe-eyed gaze in the window, and drank again—only to find the mug empty. A sigh as she turned away from herself and made for the fridge, then, “Serves you right.”

Though she wasn’t sure why she said it.

The bright melody of her flip phone sounded from the living room and Marla paused, refrigerator door half open, as she waited for the song to end. When it did—followed almost immediately by the “New Voicemail!” alert—she finished fishing out the last bottle of white wine from where she’d hidden it behind Patt’s protein milk and filled her mug again.

There was something knitting itself into a heavy, terrible ball in her stomach and she downed this fresh pour in a single gulp.

It's not like he would need a ride, she thought, ears back now as she went for yet another refill, Goodness fucking knows he went on about “the walkability” from here to the station. He—

Thunder rumbled, distant and threatening. Marla tried to remember if Patt was or ever had been afraid of thunder.

“It’s a common phobia of Lupes, you know,” she could hear how his voice would drop as he said it—as if they were anchoring together during a morning special—before his tone would dissolve into the same pathetic, condescending one he’d asked her to marry him with, “And you just left me out there, all alone in it. I could get disoriented and run into the street—My Father—“

“Fuck!” she hissed, slamming the mug onto the marble countertop, and stomped into the living room, which was as appropriately fashionable and large as everything else in the apartment.

Her flip was on the floor, where she’d meant to leave it, and she nearly snapped it in half as she wrenched it open. 7 UNREAD TXTS. 3 MISSED CALLS. 1 NEW VOICEMAIL.

A wave of relief: none of them were from him.

Marla thought, suddenly, strangely, of one of her friends from primary school—an undersized, over-zealous yellow Pteri who everyone else called “Pissilla” despite their protests. She could remember having to stand behind them, often after particularly brutal recesses, as whatever monitor or teacher explained to the scrawny ball of anger and feathers that they needed to ignore their tormentors. That this indifference allowed them—little, odd Priscilla—power over anyone who wanted to make them upset. How Marla never got upset and, even though little, pretty Marla didn’t have a lot of friends either, she also never acquired eager bullies and the humiliating names they brought with them.

And she remembered that one day, after strings upon strings similar advice, Pissilla had turned back to look at her in her soft, pinkish eyes and said, “I hate you” before never saying anything else to her again.

Marla looked down at the screen of her flip, imagining herself saying the words into the stale floral scented air of the apartment. She would time it perfectly: right as he walked in the door with soaking fur and wet whiskers and enough surprise in seeing her standing there that he’d read it off her lips. They would be unmistakable, even to him, in the exactness of that long-premeditated moment…

Then she held down the worn paint of the “123” button and waited for the speed dial to run through to a ring. Then another. Then another. Then—

“Hello? Mar? I told you I was running late today, Mar, I did tell you that—Is something wrong?”

Rain had begun to batter the wide, lovely windows in the living room but, despite the storm and the square of light escaping from the kitchen overheads, Marla could still see the shape of herself in them as she breathed a light, inoffensive excuse into the receiver and hung up. She could not, however, see her own eyes.

This has been pretty clearly explained in the SMCU Ep : 1

æ's are said to be our alter egos from the internet. That is, they are formed out of all the data we upload to the internet. Thus, in very simple words, they are the digital and physical forms of our persona that we have created for ourselves online. They are never the exact same as us (since we tend to lie a lot when online) but in certain instances, they may be better than us, since they could be what we wish to be.

EMERGENCE OF NAEVIS AND BLACK MAMBA

This is purely my speculation. Basically, I believe neither Nævis (naevis) nor Black Mamba are æ's of a single person respectively. They are the polar, digital representations of netizens in general.

On one hand, the internet is full of love and support and this aspect is what gave birth to naevis. That is why she tends to do good and helps people connect with their æ's.

On the other hand, hatred, jealousy and maliciousness is also found in abundance when one goes online. The black mamba could have emerged out of all this collective digital negativity, which is why she tries to disconnect people's synk with their æ's.

I also have this theory that since both the black mamba and naevis have essentially arisen out of the same source - netizens - their abilities are similar to some extent (they look alike too). But nothing from sm's side has confirmed this so far so it has been pushed to the back of my mind.

TERMINOLOGY

Synk : The very connection that a person has with their æ is called their synk.

Rekall : Once certain criteria have been fulfilled, an æ can cross over into the real world (where aespa lives) in order to spend time with its counterpart. This is know as rekall. The limited time that an æ can spend in the real world is know as rekall time.

Flat : The world where the æ's live

P.O.S. : Portal of Soul. It is the portal that connects the real world and the flat. (Naevis can open a P.O.S. that leads to kwangya too)

Kwangya : An unprescribed, infinite extent with no rule and form, says naevis. I think kwangya is a universe. Something that is bigger than aespa's lore alone. It has to do with the smcu as a whole.

Kosmo : Idk ask Ten, he seemed very passionate singing about it in 90's Love.

Anyways, moving on to the best part....

THE STORYLINE

Black Mamba

Black Mamba, the villain on aespa's story creates a massive synkout which forcibly disconnects everyone's synk with their æ, thus making them unable to contact their æ's. The four aespa members, who had grown extremely close with their æ's decide to take matters into their own hands.

Once they discover the synkout and its cause, they come to know that the black mamba is in kwangya. They resent it for what it has done and thus decide to go to kwangya in order to find and defeat the black mamba.

Next Level

This mv is almost fully about aespa's journey to kwangya, in search of the black mamba. It also hints on the fact that they got trapped in a 'hallucination quest' crafted by the black mamba once they reached their destination. This aspect is explored more in their next mv. Next level mv also tells us that naevis has been helping aespa by leading them throughout this ordeal.

Savage

After reaching kwangya, aespa immediately get pulled into a 'hallucination quest' which was created by the black mamba for the sole purpose of trapping them.

The hallucination quest, as the name suggests, projects mental images or hallucinations into aespa's minds with the intention of making them feel alienated and criticized, thus making them lose their mental balance and willpower, weakening their resolve. Each member faced different hallucinations.

But the girls regained their mental strength and broke themselves out of the hallucination. This helps them realize that their adversary is much stronger than they expected. Thus they retreat to go train more. Their sharpen their respective skills : rocket punch, armaments, xenoglossy and hacking.

Once they feel confident, they seek naevis's help to open the P.O.S. for them to step into kwangya once more. This weakens naevis, turning her into her alternate form - a brilliant butterfly. After promising her that they'll help her resurrect, aespa reach kwangya again.

This time, aespa taste success as they manage to destroy the contraption that created the hallucination once and for all. They have a long was to go until they reach the final boss - the black mamba. Knowing this, as they take a step further, a thick, dark, liquid like substance envelopes them, leaving the future uncertain.

To be continued....

This is where we have been left hanging. I'll have to wait till the next mv to know if I've been right so far or if I'll be required to re evaluate my life choices.

I've left out Forever and Dreams Come True because I don't think they show any part of the storyline that is essential to the main course that aespa has been following.

P.s. If you want a more elaborate depiction of this theory with more details presented in a narrative manner, check out 'æther', a wattpad book I made especially for aespa's lore!