#actually ended up making them not address their problems with each other and therefore have their friendship fall apart

[bloomingsalma]

okay... so I get why I was hesitating to watch soulmate (2023)

[scrapyardboyfriends]

After that ask yesterday I've been trying to think how I would even attempt to fix Emmerdale.

I really just want to lock all of the producers and storyliners and decision making creatives into one room and ask them a lot questions.

I'd want to go through each and every character and be like "tell me this character's job (cause some don't have any), tell me what this character's hopes and dreams are, career ambitions, tell me what their purpose is in the village, tell me about their family, their romantic relationships/prospects and why they actually like/love those people, tell me about their friendships and the last time they had any meaningful interaction with those friends (cause most don't have any or don't talk to them if they do)" and if they don't have answers to some of those questions, we'd sit there and figure some out. I want everyone to have a prospective friend or at least address why they don't have one and what that says about their character.

I'd want to go through all of the businesses in the village and figure out which ones are actually worthwhile and how many are just blatantly ignored. I'd want them to give me story ideas to incorporate all of those businesses. I'd want them to explain to me why the HOP exists and why the Woolpack no longer feels like the heart of the village.

I'd want to force them to go through every terrible story from the past 5-7 years and tell me what impact they had on the show so they can see how 90% of them were pretty pointless in the end.

I'd want to challenge them to find me one character introduced in the last 5-7 years that didn't have a convoluted backstory that connected them to a current character or two. And ask them why that's their only means of brining in a new character.

I'd want to ask them what they think the public perception of each character is and whether that matches up with what they've theoretically been trying to do with them.

The biggest problem with the show is that they don't care about the characters anymore, or the village as a character. They're just chasing big headlines and things that get people talking for a moment. And yes, part of what goes into that is the way the world has shifted and our attention spans are garbage and part of the reason people respond to the older episodes is due to nostalgia, but it's also because there was a level of care with the characters that's not present on the show now. The reason those big hyped up events of the past worked better than they do now is because there weren't as many, but also because we cared about the characters affected by them. And they had longer lasting impact on village life. Now everything feels meaningless because you don't care about the characters or whether they live or die and these events happen every other week and there's zero lasting impact moving forward.

So I'd want to lock them all in a room and make them care about and understand their characters again and if there's any that are falling by the wayside, maybe they're not needed anymore.

And then from that basic level of care and understanding, I'd want to challenge people to build stories out of that. Stories that matter to the characters and therefor to the viewers. Maybe if they cared about the characters they were writing for, they'd want them to succeed every now and then and they could find the occasional positive story to tell.

I don't know. It just feels like without that level of caring about the characters, there's no hope for the show and that's why it just makes me sad these days.

Sure maybe a lot of robron things I loved happened kind of on accident but they just had so much more depth than anything happening in the last five years and I miss that. I miss caring about it and if the creators don't care, I'm sure not going to.

(and...end rant)

(wow I haven't done one of these long winded rants in a while. you should be thankful I'm not actually watching anymore or they'd still be happening frequently I'm sure)

[mlyscha]

𝒮𝗎𝗋𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗌𝖾, 𝗌𝗎𝗋𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗌𝖾

( ENHYPEN ── 𝒻𝗼𝗿. 𝓑IRTHDAY. ) ✧ ℐ𝗇 𝗐𝗁𝗂𝖼𝗁 . . .you secretly book a flight to korea to celebrate jake's birthday with him. 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝗋𝖾 : fluff, suggestive. 𝓌𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌! none. ( 𝗐𝖼. 17OO ) 𝓮𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮' … 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗈𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽, 𝖾𝗇𝗀𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗁 𝗂𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗆𝗒 𝗆𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋-𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗎𝖺𝗀𝖾 ༘ . 𝒻! 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋.

𝒶-𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲. i am baack! back with a birthday headcanon for jake, a little bit late? yes, a little bit late, but, anyway, enjoy!

𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗎𝗉𝗉𝗈𝗋𝗍! ♡ 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾&𝗋𝖾𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗀&𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍.

WHEN ENHYPEN'S COMEBACK WAS RELEASED, you couldn't hold your excitement for the boys and specially for your boyfriend. but, you as soon as you remembered jaeyun has to be in korea and promoting with the members for a bit of a while, you got a little upset. however you knew this was something you and jaeyun had talked about a long time ago: his schedule.

to be honest, jaeyun had never complained about you feeling upset against this whole situation since he were the first one to get all pouty and whiny about it. and throughout the years, when it was "jaeyun's birthday season", both of you tried their bests to keep contacting each other frequently or face timing each other too. this usually ended up in late night calls where your boyfriend would usually sleep; while you were talking about your day. you didn't mind this at all, until a certain limit was reached the distance actually became a main problem in the relationship.

that's why you decided to, instead of ordering a surprise cake for him or waiting for him to visit you, you booked a flight a week before to celebrate the day of his birthday with him; and visit korea for the very first time. and then, the next day you sent him a text, wishing him happy birthday like you always did.

― asshole. a spider-man lego set? pft...

you packed up your belonging and sent a message to one of the members saying that you were going to the airport and asking them to get everything ready.

you are probably wondering how’s the surprise going to happen, so, you asked jay to book a table — at night — at jaeyun's favourite restaurant like they always did. however, you would wear a waitress clothing and when it was time to sing happy birthday begin, you would be the waitress placing a cake at the table.

i know, sounds confusing, so just for a little bit of a context: you called the restaurant asking for extra waitress clothes, explaining about the surprise and the situation.

A FEW STRESS, NAPS AND hours later, you arrived in korea. you couldn't speak korean very well, just a few words, so, getting a taxi was difficult, leading to a waste of your precious minutes. but, thankfully you were able to drive safely at the hotel you booked a room for the rest of your trip.

when you got in your room, you quickly changed after taking a bath and got yourself ready earlier, knowing you had to get at the restaurant an hour before the boys. you left the hotel and tried getting a taxi, however, jay texted you saying that he could pick you up, not wanting you to waste time; knowing how excited you were to see jaeyun. therefore, you sent him the address where you were staying and a few minutes a black car parked in front of you, and jay's masked figure appeared.

"hey, let's get going?" he patted your shoulder, nodding to his car.

you nodded, getting in the car. "how's he feeling?"

"oh gosh, when he woke up he was whining about not having you here," he began driving. "you know, nothing really new." you laughed.

"how do you think he'll react?"

"we'll see, but i pretty much think he's gonna be confused at the very start, then he'll realised and go like: "*gasp* baby!" ― just like that."

arriving at the restaurant, you started to feel nervous. excitement and anxiety just spread all over your body, even making your legs feel weaker and your hands shakier. but, there is no time for freaking out and no reason to feel like that, right? it's just your boyfriend haha...

you entered the restaurant like an abandoned puppy, scared of your surroundings since everything was new to you. people speaking another language and sometimes even looking at your weirdly. besides that, you went to talk to a nearby waitress and, even though she couldn't speak english very well, she managed to understand you and call the manager to help you.

"hello, nice to meet you," the manager spoke with a funny accent, still understandable. "my name is kim seong-ho and i am the manageah." he explained, spelling the last word with an accent.

"oh, nice to meet you," you smiled, shaking hands with mr. kim. "um, was that you who i talked on the phone a few days ago?"

"huh?" he seemed to have a hard time understanding your speaking. "sloweoh, pleaseu..."

"okay, so-"

OH GOSH, EVERYTHING HAPPENED IN a blink of an eye. quickly summarizing everything: basically, the manager showed you where you were supposed to stay, where was the employees room where you could stay whenever you want, where you were supposed to take the orders ― of course you were table's seven special waitress ―, the bathroom and finally gave you the clothes.

you were at your spot wearing a hat, just to make sure your boyfriend couldn't tell who were you that quick. hearing a subtle ringing bell placed just above the restaurant's door ring, you discreetly looked over and saw the seven (7) boys standing there, waiting for the waitress to lead them to their table: the special table seven, served by a special waitress on a special day.

anyway, you felt a sight burning just above your head, making you look up with a slight move. you saw sunghoon and sunoo looking at you while giving you a excited discreet smile. seeing them happy about the situation made you feel even happier, already picturing jaeyun's big grin while hugging you and kissing you and- ugh... just everything!

you were holding a waiter tray, you were standing in front of the paying balcony and felt the waitress who just attended them poke your shoulder. she nodded at their table, like she was telling you: GO SERVE THEM NOW. and you thought like: wooooww... calm down baby girl, it's not that deep.

anyway, you walked over their table, trying your best to not reveal your face just yet while grabbing the menu for the whole group sitting on the table. "hello, here is our menu," you placed the menu on the table. "um, are you guys ready to order a drink? we have some good fine wine."

after they ordered their drink, you went and carefully placed each of them at the table. the other waiter has placed a small basked of bread on the table as an appetiser. "are you guys ready to order?"

they all ordered their meals and one thing you realised jaeyun didn't figure out was that you were speaking english. a table, with, apparently, just asians, in korea, a waitress speaking english...? doesn't make sense, but, anyway, it was working so... yeah? flex? maybe you were a good actress ― suck it up, riki!

you placed the order at the kitchen and before their plates could arrive at their tables ― knowing you had long minutes to enjoy ― you decided to reveal yourself to jaeyun, texting jay while you hid in the employees room, searching for your belongings. you brought from home a unusual bigger bag so you could fit your clothing and, specially, the spider-man lego set he asked for.

you grabbed the lego set and walked off of the room, taking a deep breath before walking back at the main dinner room. you saw them just chatting while waiting for their foods and as you watched them you saw your boyfriend's big grin, making your heart melt watching from afar.

you discreetly walked over their table hiding the building toy behind you, leading to others looking at you.

"excuse me," you spoke close to jaeyun. "a little bird told me it is your birthday, so..." you placed the spider-man lego at the table, in front of him.

he frowned before babbling. "wha-? how'd you- what is-" you took off your hat. "WHAT?" he screamed. "sorry..." standing up from his seat and apologising, jaeyun immediately looked at you and cupped your cheeks, like he was trying to feel if it was real or if he were dreaming about this again.

"baby!" he whispered-yelled, holding your hand and walking out of the restaurant. "my baby! are you really here?" are you real?! am i tripping or-" kiss.

"hi." you smiled at him and you felt his warmth as he hugged you, tightly.

"my baby..." his choked voice was muffled by the thick jumper you were wearing, due to korea's cold weather.

"hi, i am right here," you caressed his hair. "come on, give me a kiss." and he did so, savouring this sweet moment he has been dreaming about and wanting to have for a long time.

"i missed you," his teary eyes and wet cheeks showed how much he craved you. "i missed you so much, you have no idea." he smiled, analysing your face while cupping them, quickly smooching you again, making you smile while kissing.

"i love you,"

"i love you more,"

"happy birthday."

"happy birthday too- oh wait, never mind, happy birthday to me... too...?" he frowned, trying to find the right words, but nothing else came to his mind since it was filled with: you, you, you and you, and y/n, a.k.a, you! "yeah, i guess so, happy birthday to me!"

bonus scene! ⭑

"DID YOU LIKE WHAT I got for you?"

hours later everyone went to their dorm, however, of course jaeyun wanted to stay with you, going to the hotel where you were staying. your boyfriend has just opened the lego set you got for him, and you saw how his eyes were shining bright like an ocean of precious diamonds.

"it's so pretty," he replied, amused. "just like you, by the way." he blinked at you, making you let out a chuckle and blush.

"we can eat some cake tomorrow, sorry i didn't brought you any," you pouted.

"babe," he turned at you, embracing you onto his arms, looking down at your face and slightly chuckling because you looked so cute pouting while your cheeks were being squished against his chest. "you are the only thing i need, and, also, you already brought the cake and i can have it tonight; what are you even talking about..." he smirked, but playfully asked nonchalant.

"are we talking about my a-"

© 𝓪𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝓮, 𝗺𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗮 𝗌𝓽𝓾𝖽𝗂𝗈𝓼. ⋆ 24.

[hmanhh]

Week 10: Online harassment and its consequences for the digital citizen community.

Social media, where digital communities are strongly active and allow people to have the right to freedom of speech. Recently, there have been a lot of concerns across platforms that directly threaten users and one of them is online harassment. Online harassment refers to threats or other abhorrent behaviours targeted specifically at youth through new technology channels, such as text messaging or the Internet, or uncovered online about youth (Jones, Mitchell and Finkelhor 2012, p.54). As it brings back high risk to victims that can influence badly on mental health and behavioural problems, hence, it needs to be thoroughly addressed to reduce and prevent the worst situation from occurring. 

In many pieces of research, there is a variety of harassment such as offensive name-calling, purposeful embarrassment, physical threats, sustained harassment, stalking, and sexual harassment (Duggan, 2017) and among them, the most common types that happen online are offensive name-calling, purposeful embarrassment and sustained harassments. In addition, another typical type of online harassment is cyberbullying - "an act of sending or publishing mean, hurtful, or intimidating text or images via the Internet, cell phone, or other electronic device" through websites including but not limited to chat rooms, instant messaging, emails, and social networking sites (Feinberg and Robey 2009, p.26). Besides those types, online harassment can exist in many forms, such actions include the spreading of false information, abusive direct messaging, and even the distribution of private information without consent, including sexual images. If those who commit online harassment single out a person based on an aspect of their perceived or actual identity - for example, their gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or disability-those protected characteristics (Haslop, O’Rourke and Southern 2021, p.1420). 

There is no doubt that this phenomenon will leave consequences that have negative impacts on digital citizens. Some of them could affect the self-esteem and the online presence of a part of the user like emotional discomfort, self-censorship, and withdrawal from social media and other online platforms (Vitak et al. 2017, p.1233). Moreover, the worst situation as long-term emotional trauma when numerous studies have indicated that victims of online harassment may suffer from a series of negative effects of stress, worry, fear, panic attacks, and suicidal ideation in severe conditions (Haslop, O’Rourke and Southern 2021, p.1421). 

For more details, I will analyse the Snowflake generation as an example. This term is indicated to young people, particularly university students to make fun of their alleged intolerance and easily offended disposition (Nicholson, 2016). Haslop, O’Rourke and Southern have analysed and deduced a conclusion about this generation: these ‘snowflakes’ are too sensitive and often encounter derogatory, abusive, and harassing internet communications. The survey found that one-quarter of the students were harassed online or thought they were themselves. Overall, this cohort of research participants indicated that a variety of unwelcome, abusive, and harassing communication could well occur when they interacted with other peers online, thus appearing to demonstrate their belief in these practices being common in such digital spaces. The study also identifies that transgender and female students report their experience of online harassment more often than their male-identified counterparts. Based upon such findings, social inequalities between groupings of gendered individuals are influenced by deep-rooted gendered injustices in a digital environment that is masculinised (2021). 

Therefore, some actions need to be taken to prevent or even end up consequences of online harassment. The most basic thing still comes from the consciousness of each of us by raising awareness and advocacy in resisting and condemning bullying or threatening others online. Furthermore, instead of deactivating individuals, all social media platforms should provide options such as blocking a harasser, banning people who harass others repeatedly, or making it simple for users to convert to a limited version of their account that only permits a select group of users to interact. Algorithms and machine learning techniques could be a good way to detect harmful language and content that are always evolving to better classify those harassments. (Vitak et al. 2017, p.1240).

References:

Copp, J.E., Mumford, E.A. and Taylor, B.G. (2021) 'Online sexual harassment and cyberbullying in a nationally representative sample of teens: Prevalence, predictors, and consequences,' Journal of Adolescence, 93(1), pp. 202–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.10.003. 

Duggan, M. (2017) Online Harassment 2017. http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/07/11/online-harassment-2017/ (Accessed: November 17, 2024). 

Feinberg, T. and Robey, N. (2009) 'CYBERBULLYING,' The Education Digest, pp. 26–31. https://www.proquest.com/openview/df7b85db5268ac4d18d07478e8fe197f/1.pdf?cbl=25066&loginDisplay=true&pq-origsite=gscholar. 

Haslop, C., O’Rourke, F. and Southern, R. (2021) '#NoSnowflakes: The toleration of harassment and an emergent gender-related digital divide, in a UK student online culture,' Convergence the International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies, 27(5), pp. 1418–1438. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856521989270. 

Jones, L.M., Mitchell, K.J. and Finkelhor, D. (2012) 'Online harassment in context: Trends from three Youth Internet Safety Surveys (2000, 2005, 2010).,' Psychology of Violence, 3(1), pp. 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030309. 

Nicholson, R. (2016) '‘Poor Little Snowflake’: the defining insult of 2016.,' The Guardian [Preprint], (28). 

Vitak, J. et al. (2017) 'Identifying Women’s Experiences With and Strategies for Mitigating Negative Effects of Online Harassment,' CSCW ’17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, pp. 1231–1245. https://doi.org/10.1145/2998181.2998337. 

[ledmessageboardss]

Synchronized Clocks for Hospitals

A Bell System for Schools under Clock Control

A bell system for schools makes certain that all the bells throughout the campus ring simultaneously, therefore appearing as one. The bell system for institutions in this way synchronizes all timekeeping mechanisms-- specifically clocks and bells-- and does so either wirelessly or by using wired links. The vital element is a clock master that accesses a temporal requirement (e.g., atomic clock) and afterwards broadcasts its worth to all (servant) devices at the same time, thus ensuring synchrony.

A bell system for colleges obviously come from educational settings and attended to certain requirements. However the clock control facet of it has actually made such a system very useful in a variety of other setups. This is specifically real if the sounds utilized display what one would certainly call binary acoustic messaging, or a signal that is either on or off.

Bells have a long-standing practice of revealing crucial public events to the entire community, such as calling church participants to worship or bringing a tone of gravity and regard to a funeral. One factor for this custom is that human hearing is maybe the most sensitive of the senses, having actually come to be finely tuned over the centuries to warnings of danger. (You can shut your eyes, however you can't really cover your ears.).

The contemporary school bell likewise interacts public events, specifically, the end or start of a class period. Its buzzing comes to be an embedded signal to depart right away for another class (possibly offering remedy for the peril of being gotten in touch with). The next ring, coming mins later, symbolizes that silent is in order for paying attention to the instructor.

For the system to function appropriately, every bell in every corner of the campus has to call synchronously with every other one. If they are close to remaining in sync yet not quite, you can get strange, perplexing echoing impacts, potentially triggering confusion. Even better time lags result in pupils having different periods for transitioning from one course to the following.

Though the ringing bell indicates a particular significance, it is simply a binary signal; either it is appearing or it isn't. An even more comprehensive set of definitions needs extra complex coding that requires various rhythms or distinguishing tonal patterns, and it is asking excessive to expect all audiences to have actually learned the code. In practice, it is more reliable to connect vocally that setting up will begin or what occasions are coming up.

In colleges particularly, verbal interaction is normally completed using a public address () system, which can also be applied with hardwire connections or wirelessly. Below, the audio source is systematized, typically somebody talking into a mic in the admin office, and the audio is relayed to loudspeakers found in each classroom. There is normally some quantity of synchronization of the PA system with the master clock.

The selection of cordless versus wired connections depends upon numerous variables. If wires have actually already been mounted, one might too use them; otherwise, one can conserve upkeep and setup expenditures by going wireless. With complete synchronization, both modes are basically just as reliable.

Wireless transmissions when underwent inference from other close-by electronic tools, preferring wired installations. Nonetheless, when policies appointed specific applications to specialized carrier frequencies, superhigh frequency interference was basically eliminated. Wireless installations are also efficient in better flexibility for utilizing tonal patterns and bell substitutions. synchronized clocks for hospitals

Tones can likewise supplement interaction by signaling audiences to an upcoming message. Individuals problem themselves to react to the tones by quieting down and listening; this is all possible through synchronizing all the clocks. Modern innovation makes numerous types of communication possible, consisting of the growth of a bell system for colleges under clock control.

[govindhtech]

Prewave: Boosting International Supply Chains with AI

Prewave is using AI on Google Cloud to help protect deep supply networks globally

Most companies are aware that long-term prosperity depends on accepting accountability for their social and environmental effects. But since most businesses can only see their direct suppliers, how can they make completely informed decisions? Prewave helps companies improve supply chain resilience, transparency, and sustainability.

Prewave AI

Its end-to-end platform monitors and forecasts supply chain threats using AI. At the scale they operate to assist Prewave clients, managing enormous volumes of data and deriving significant insights from publicly accessible information would be nearly impossible without artificial intelligence (AI). Prewave must therefore have a strong technological base that is dependable, safe, and extremely scalable in order to consistently meet this demand. For this reason, starting in 2019, they developed the Prewave supply chain risk intelligence platform on Google Cloud.

As a tiny team back then, They didn’t want to be burdened with hardware or infrastructure maintenance. Google Cloud managed services stood out for offering security, dependability, and availability while freeing us up to work on Prewave’s goal and create to a product. Their choice was also impacted by a common concern for sustainability, and Google cloud are happy to be collaborating with data centres that have such a small carbon footprint.

Monitoring thousands upon thousands of vendors

The Prewave end-to-end platform solves customers’ two key issues: By identifying important risks and creating mitigation plans, it first strengthens supply chains. ESG hazards like forced labour are identified and mitigated to improve supply chain sustainability.

As part of her PhD research in 2012, the co-founder Lisa designed Prewave Risk Monitoring function. It uses AI. With it, They search through publicly accessible data in more than 120 languages for insights that might alert Prewave clients to potential risk events before they happen, such labour disputes, accidents, fires, or any of the 140 other risk categories that could interfere with their supply chain. Clients can use Prewave platform to conduct risk-reduction measures, such as filing an incident review or scheduling an on-site audit, based on the insights that are obtained.

Prewave uses this data to map google cloud clients’ supply chains from direct and tier-one suppliers all the way down to the suppliers of raw materials. New rules like the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) now require this degree of depth and openness, yet it can be difficult for Prewave clients to accomplish this on their own. Their platform assists them in getting to know each of their hundreds or thousands of suppliers while also allowing them to concentrate attention when necessary on those that pose the most risk.

The Prewave platform minimizes the amount of work required by the supplier. They only need to take action when Prewave’s Tier-N Monitoring capacity detects a possible danger; in that instance, google cloud help them address problems and improve. They also avoid having to manually respond to hundreds of surveys in order to be eligible to conduct business with more partners thanks to this degree of visibility.

Google technical teams mostly rely on scalable technology, such Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) to support Prewave SaaS, to make all of this possible. They just made the conversion from Standard to Autopilot and have seen significant improvements in time efficiency. This is because google cloud no longer have to worry about making sure that node pools are set up or that all available CPU power is being used effectively, which can result in resource savings of up to 30%. Because they only pay for the deployments that they actually conduct, this has also assisted us in cutting costs.

Furthermore, Google think that providing the greatest experience to both Prewave internal teams and clients depends on having the best technologies available. As a result, cloud manage the docker containers that also use for GKE and experiment, build, and deploy artefacts using Cloud Build and Artefact Registry. In the interim, Cloud Armor serves as a firewall to keep out web and denial-of-service threats.

The application development and data science teams use Cloud SQL as a database since scalability is critical to their goals. google cloud can concentrate on creating their product because this completely managed service takes care of managing the servers in accordance with demand. These systems form the backbone of Prewave daily operations, and data science teams additionally use Compute Engine to host Prewave AI implementations as Google cloud create and maintain their own models.

Prewave supply chain

Prewave clientele has increased from three to over 170 since 2020, their staff of ten has risen to over 160, and the company’s revenue growth has quadrupled by 100, marking an important milestone. Since then, they’ve also added a tone of new features to platform, which has forced us to grow both the business and the product. Google Cloud solved this problem. They only increased the resources that the new solutions required, which helped us attract more clients and increase it’s awareness at the appropriate moment. Growing their firm has been easy because of scalable and extremely robust basis.

After then, Prewave intends to carry out its 2023 expansion ambitions into Europe before advancing to other regions, including the US. This is progressing smoothly, and they are gaining the confidence of early-stage clients who evidently also have faith in Google Cloud’s dependability and security thanks to Prewaves partnership with them. They have no doubt that partnership with Google Cloud will continue to provide enormous advantages as cloud assist an increasing number of global businesses in achieving legal compliance, transparency, resilience, and sustainability throughout their intricate supply chains.

Read more on govindhtech.com

[5t4r5-4nd-5t1tch35]

Horoscopes for today

These were all taken from the app Daily Horoscope, but I edited them slightly

Aries ♈️

Depending on your state of mind, you can find either comfort or torment on a very dark night. If you lean toward being hopeful, you will notice the brightness of the stars, the vastness of the sky, the light nightly breeze against your cheek, and so on. If you lean toward fear, though, you might feel dwarfed by the darkness, and you might be worried about what might be lurking in the shadows. There is beauty in most things, Aries, and while you may be going through a journey now that is somewhat unpredictable, don't fear it. There are treasures hidden there, and if you look, you will find them.

Taurus ♉️

There is a lot of talk these days about toxic relationships. These might be defined as an involvement that brings nothing but negativity, argument, and a loss of self-esteem. But not all difficult relationships should be simply tossed away. Sometimes, there is room for improvement and a way to make things better. Don't get drawn into a self-righteous need to end something that isn't ideal if there is a chance that you can make your investment of time worthwhile by making the relationship better. If people work at it, they can find better ways to relate in an amicable way and move forward successfully.

Gemini ♊️

You may want to make it an early night tonight. Get home as early as possible, and forget about any errands you can put off for now. Sometimes it's good to just call it a day and dedicate the balance of the evening to relaxation and centering yourself - even if all you do is fix a cup of tea or a cold drink and sit on the porch, enjoying the view. A simple break like this during the week can be a good way to take care of yourself and can offer you a fresh start for your next day. Invest some time in destressing your life and yourself.

Cancer ♋️

Are you making a problem more complicated than it has to be? Are you sure you even have a problem? Just because a plan you had is not going exactly as you assumed it would go does not mean that it's becoming a problem, and therefore it may not need a complex solution, which you may already be foreseeing and are worried about. Maybe if you just go with the flow, you will find that things are actually working out for you better than they might have otherwise. If you decide not to see an unexpected change as a problem, you will open up the potential for what you are trying to do.

Leo ♌️

Resentment may be building between you and someone you are working with, either on a work or personal project. It may have started out as a simple misunderstanding, but each of you has expectations that were not clearly understood by the other. As you realize that you aren't getting what you expected, it can certainly create tension. If you keep going on without addressing this, it may reach a boiling point pretty fast. If you discuss it right away, though, you can clarify and move forward.

Virgo ♍️

Pace yourself today. Although you might have a long list of tasks to complete, you shouldn't push yourself to the point of exhaustion. In fact, if you don't feel up to getting all of it done, do what you can and relax - and don't feel guilty about it. You have a tendency to make a plan and then stick to it no matter what, because that's a way of maintaining order for you. But pushing too hard and too fast can make you less productive and less happy.

Libra ♎️

Today, you are encouraged to turn off the news, walk away from negative people, ignore gossip, and steer clear of conversations that invite worry or conflict. You are also encouraged to gravitate toward hopeful thoughts, seek out the company of people who are fun and funny, seek happy truths, and engage in conversations that are positive. Try to remain mindful and aware of these things. You may be concerned that this day will hold upsetting moments, but by doing this, you can carve out a day that will be rewarding and much less stressful.

Scorpio ♏️

You may have spent a lot of time and energy recently engaging in a futile effort - or at least that's how it may now seem. That's because you did not realize the goal you were after, and therefore, all that you invested has been, seemingly, a waste of time. But there were other things to gain, and if you are conscious of what those things are, then nothing was lost, and much was gained. You now have more experience, insight, and wisdom than you had before, and that's something you can't buy.

Sagittarius ♐️

Many people have had the experience of asking a friend for feedback on a relationship, an opportunity, or a dream, only to have it criticized. Most likely, it was validation that was sought, and instead, you wind up feeling disillusioned. You may have recently shared something with someone - something that was important to you or something you felt hopeful about. But the response you got may not have lived up to what you imagined. Don't let that stop you from believing in it. Seek validation only from your own experience.

Capricorn ♑️

Following a path that has been neglected for a long time can make for a difficult journey. If you are traveling through the woods, for example, and the pathway is strewn with leaves, vines, and overgrowth, you will have to work much harder to find your way. That does not mean that you won't end up enjoying your travels and being grateful that you had the experience. You may be embarking on the path to a once-beloved goal that you had forgotten for a while. The experience may be more difficult than you imagined it would be, but it will still be worth it. Take your time, find your way, and you will see.

Aquarius ♒️

Some children have a way of wrapping the adults in their lives around their fingers. Some children grow into adulthood while maintaining this ability. Someone who is especially charming may be manipulating you emotionally now, but you may not realize it. A coy smile, a charming manner, a talent for saying things in just the right, sweet way - these things may be causing you to cave in and agree to things you don't really want to do. If you are aware of it, you can stick with what's best for you. You should try to be conscious of this today.

Pisces ♓️

When you spend time with a certain person or a specific group, you often feel like you're putting on a show. You are more formal, more restricted, and more limited in what you say and do. You may even worry about what you wear in their presence and the things you share. But you are an extraordinary individual, and your light can't shine as bright when you hide your unique brilliance. You may also be limiting the depth and richness of the relationships you could have if you set yourself free. You may need this little reminder of your greatness today!

[book-lover85]

and now I'm back to elaborate on my point buckle up cause this is long and kinda badly organized sorry I didn't cite my sources because I don't have the books rn if someone asks me to I'll edit them in later

first things first vocab cause I'm not explaining these things over and over

talentless elves: an elf that does not have an ability, they are still capable of using skills, are still smarter than humans by a large margin, and live forever. talentless are barred from being part of the nobility and must get working class jobs

working class: anybody with a job not in the nobility these are not necessarily less respected jobs (i.e. jurek working in the sanctuary) but they're not nobility jobs and are not as “important” in the sense that they aren't classified and don't have any relation with the council Mysterium is where many working class shops like Slurps and Burps are set up

matchmaking list: a list given to them with 100 elves that they can choose from, elves can get a new one every month until they have 5 lists with 500 options total

matchmaking: a system used by the elves to ensure they 1. don't marry a relative since all elves live forever and 2. have the most genetically perfect children matchmaking does not allow talentless elves and elves with talents to be on each other's matchmaking list and therefore married without being labeled a bad match

bad match: elves that were not on each other's matchmaking list either because one elf has a talent and one doesn't or they just didn't have the luck to be on each other's list and got married anyway bad matches are uncommon and bring scorn and shame upon the couple and their children (and possibly the rest of their family)

siblings: the elves think that the more children a couple has the less likely it is to have an ability because their genes become “diluted” after the first child, they feel that this is even worse when the couple has twins or triplets etc

unmatchable: a status as of now only given yo Sophie Foster due to the fact she doesn't know who her parents are and therefore her genetic lineage and so she can't be properly matched with anyone, this means that any and every relationship she gets in will be a bad match

now obviously it isn't perfect so first I'm gonna address some problems

1. Shannon emphasizes constantly that the lost cities has no discrimination of any kind in the way the humans do and while the point of this is to emphasize how much better they think they are, it's not actually shown in practice, all of Sophie's closest friends and family as well as most adults she interacts with are white up until book 4 and it doesn't improve all that much afterwards (and there are literally no canonically queer characters + Shannon has added a lot of misogyny into the characters and world building)

2. I worry that she won't resolve the problems in a way that is realistic or even good and will undermine the great build up she's had throughout the books by slapping some “oh everything is perfect and fine now because Sophie said so” bandaid at the end

3. there are definitely more and I just can't think of them

now onto what she did well

so first I want to establish what the systemic problems are, they almost exclusively revolve around abilities: who has an ability, what your ability is, how compatible it is with other abilities (this is more relevant to matchmaking), and ofc in the case of pyrokinetics it's not even an ability that can be used anymore so you're labeled talentless

so issues like matchmaking, bad matches, disrespect towards shades, the banning of pyrokinetics and making them talentless, the labeling and bigotry towards talentless is all related to this

the reason Shannon does this is because all these issues are very other to the reader

it sounds super stupid and dumb to most if not all readers to think that an elf not having a talent makes them lesser because we fundamentally can't understand (or at the very least justify) this logic humans don't have abilities (or skills and immortality which all elves have) and we function perfectly fine and good without them so why should it matter if an elf is talentless they're still crazy smart and can lift whole buildings if they tried with just their mind so to us it seems like why would abilities matter so much that you'd isolate your own people in this way

so essentially Shannon does this because it is an easily understandable problem that most readers know is bad if she made the problems something that humans also struggle with then the readers would struggle with message more (ofc many stories can and do get across this message even while using issues that we have in our society)

my second point is I think Shannon is really good at subtly (and unsubtly) showing how this affects people

Dex is obviously bullied, mocked, and isolated from his peers at Foxfire because his parents are a bad match it is shown from book one how this affects his world view and personality

Sophie being unmatchable is literally one of the worst thing that could happen to her and she's incredibly upset because it's another thing that isolate is her from elves

Marella being a pyrokinetic makes many people scared of her and puts her under heavy supervision from the council

Tam as a shade is seen as untrustworthy purely because of an ability

Linh's ability is so strong (because it's elemental) that people are all scared of her and keep their distance and it even got her banished

and related to that many elves who have incredibly strong abilities (elemental is more common but this can be true for any ability) will be banished when their ability gets out of hand and they're deemed “unfit” for society and banished even as children these elves are essentially left to die because their abilities are too strong abilities that are supposed to garner them respect have been used against them when they needed help (we'll get back to this)

Ruy joined the Neverseen after he was banished for unknown reasons but it can be assumed that the banishment was related

Rayni’s parents being banished because her dad tweaked the matchmaking system (we'll get back to this) leads to her literally joining the murderous insane rebellion group with her desperation for change

onto to my third point Shannon is very good at showing how some people will struggle to grapple with and change their views despite understanding they're bad because it's been ingrained in them since birth; it's the norm

Sophie is very clear that she doesn't agree with the elves or their views on abilities as a whole and doesn't even want to apply to the match for months a knowing she can and that it exists

contrary to this most of Sophie's other friends are incredibly oblivious to these problems and have trouble coming to terms with its issues

Biana shows excitement towards getting her match lists in book 5 along with many other characters Tam and Linh don't seem to swing either way Keefe had never thought about it until Sophie and Dex became his friends and Fitz still has trouble grappling with it

in Legacy and Stellarlune Shannon makes a point to show Fitz’s internal conflict (at least from a distance) he has much higher expectations as not only a Vacker child but as the one that has the most expectations to succeed and so it's hard for him to cope with the fact that Sophie is unmatchable

if he makes the decision to continue dating her and possibly eventually marrying her he will live with the label of bad match forever or at least until they know her parents this is why he's so desperate to find out her biological parents and puts emphasis on it every time her unmatchable status is brought up even when it very clearly upsets Sophie

because to him her being unmatchable possibly forever is a big deal that will follow him forever and as the Vacker that is always looked up to that's hard to grapple with

even if people may agree that it makes no sense and there's a very good chance they would've been each other's #1 match the fact is they're not and they won't be until she finds out who her parents are and tells the matchmakers

so when she tells him no he freaks out and makes it about him (which was absolutely selfish and rude don't get me wrong) but it's understandable why

then in Stellarlune when doing the third step of the cognate inquisition Fitz tells Sophie that he knows that matchmaking is bad and hurts people but some part of him can't just let go of this thing he's been told all his life by everybody is incredibly important and will determine his whole and he hasn't gotten to point where he can just “oh yeah that's fine” to Sophie being unmatchable forever

ON THAT TOPIC

Sophie is not only shown how the discrimination towards talentless elves and certain abilities hurts people through her friends and family (like Dex, Marella, Tam, Jolie and Brant, Grady, and even Linh) she then becomes directly affected by it when she's given the unmatchable status

this gives her a personal connection to the problems (not that anyone should need one to see the issues and work against them) and helps her empathize a lot more people in bad matches

onto my fourth point I think Shannon shows how easily and causally this is held up by not only people in power (mainly the council but also high ranking nobility members) as well as the people that participate in the society

in book one Marella gossips about anything and everything without much awareness to who she may hurt (because she is unaware of how hurtful and discriminatory many of the things she's talking about are and this improves greatly as the series goes on) she talks about Grady's ability and acts as if he's incredibly scary for an ability he has no control over, gossips and bad mouths bad matches right in front of Dex’s face and flaunts Stina’s father being talentless to her like it's something that's obviously bad

Marella is not the only example of course but she's an obvious one especially in book one and throughout the series many offhand comments like this are thrown around like all of Stina’s insults to Dex in books 1-9 (I am including 8 and 9 since while I think that Stina has marginally improved since book 1 [and I want her to have even more improvement so she can be friends ish with team V and others] I think there are still several moments when she insults Dex and his family and other characters) Cassius in general, many people that gawked at Sophie and her friends at multiple points in the series

the council is shown to support matchmaking system and it's essentially a government entity similar to Foxfire they back up anything the matchmakers say and when the rules are broken the council heavily punishes the perpetrators the councilors were the ones that banned pyrokinetics and every person who's banished is banished by them the council does a lot of the work to keep the shitty discriminatory systems in place

at my fifth point matchmaking and the discrimination towards abilities affects everyone in the lost cities

while it obviously is much worse for Dex who's parents are a bad match and not in the nobility even Noble families and people with power aren't helped by a system that has flaws built into it the way the treat talentless elves and the way the matchmaking system works hurts any and everyone

councilors aren't allowed to be married or have children because they'd be biased (which is an obviously flawed law since literally all elves have living family members) and it's shown how much this hurts Oralie and Kenric when they can't be with each other but can't leave their position as councilors without causing lots of tension in the lost cities at the loss of 2 councilors (that are both beloved)

Stina’s family is gossiped about constantly and believed to be a faked good match since Timkin is talentless and can't marry someone with a talent like Vika without being a bad match

this relates back to the obvious problem of the matchmaking system and how it's not only very flawed and causes more harm than good but ALSO how easily it can be tweaked one question was changed for Rayni's parents and boom good match one matchmaker was likely bribed by Vika and bam impossible good match if the system was fair and non discriminatory like it should be then it wouldn't be this easy to trick it

coming back to the banishing of literal children, the system works against even the people it's supposed to protect which is an AMAZING thing to address when talking about these problems Sophie has abilities and her boyfriend does too but they'll eventually be deemed a bad match ruy, linh, and Tam were all banished as children despite having abilities because they got too strong and the council wouldn't put in the effort to support them

bonus this is somewhat unrelated but I think it's kinda crazy how the elves see themselves as this advanced society while believing essentially bs superstition about genetics that forkle literally said had no standing in science when he researched it let me emphasize the elves entire society is built upon a set of beliefs that is scientifically wrong that's actually insane

anyways thanks for asking for my thoughts id love to see what other people think or if I missed something I'll add it this took forever to write so

Tag List: @readingismypurpose

and what if I said that kotlc actually handles systemic problems that are perpetuated by society and people in power and hurt everyone participating in that society really well

[blognarrymybabes]

My mini Rant !!!

I have couple of questions to ask duffers with all this mess in the vol2 regarding Byler and El. Now, looking at the tag I do have some hope but I still don’t know if I trust duffers at all.

Why did they involve Will in that mess of Milkvan relationship?

They had the opportunity with cali plot to get Will a love interest. They introduced so many characters this season why not one more ?

And if that is such a pain then they could have shown Will crushing on some guy in the new school or finding someone attractive(like they showed Mike idolizing Eddie).

This would have clearly indicated audience towards Will’s sexuality and then later they could have addressed this with a coming out scene with either Jonathan or Mike. This way they could have kept all of Will’s inner turmoil the same that would make him vecna’s target.

If they are sticking to Milkvan Endgame, they could have focused more on Will’s connection to Vecna rather than involving him into their relationship.

I noticed the pattern they have for every season for Milkvan : they split at the start of the season and they end up together at the end.

Now I am confused whether the Duffers think that is romantic, creates some tension between the main couple and that works, that’s their whole story

Let’s for a second consider that their idea of Mike and Eleven. Then why not make their relationship healthy with each season. Why make their reunion rushed in someone way. Because god they have so many problems !!!!

1. They never learn from their mistakes instead just kiss each other at the end

2. They never talk, no actual deep heart to hearts ever

( this is my biggest problem with them! All the other couples have meaningful heart to hearts that showcases the problems they are going through, the character struggles and them working on it.

why not the main couple????!)

3. They never speak the truth to each other. They lie, a lot ! maybe out of fear of losing each other but they pretend to be someone they are not

4. They have very different ideas of each other and therefore different expectations.

5. Mike only sees her as a superhero. Even in his monologue that vision of his doesn’t change when in their fight Eleven clearly states she doesn’t like it. And during his monologue that should have changed, which it should if he loves eleven because then it looks hero worshipping , him still thinking of her as E.T and that is not ideal.

Now looking at Jopper, Jancy and Lumax. Especially, Jopper and Lumax they can write a healthy relationship. They can write a good slow burn. And they can showcase relationship problems and know how to tackle them.

They just don’t do it for Mike and Eleven.

Honestly, I think the entire Milkvan fans don’t ship Mike and El they are more into Millie and Finn. They love the two leads and they want them to be together (no hate to anyone this is just my personal opinion)

If Milkvan is the ship the audience is supposed to root for. If Milkvan is true love and love conquers all. If Milkvan is the endgame then why the love triangle?!

Leave Will alone. No need to add him into it. Show him as this miserable kid, never happy with now his ‘one-sided’ love and his feelings that were used for that shitty monologue

There was no need for that. Period.

But they did !

That’s what gets me !!

If I have to trust duffers and the whole subtext, the whole narrative then I believe they are trying to showcase how Milkvan doesn’t work, how it is not true love. Then the fact that eleven doesn’t defeat vecna after monologue, them not talking after whole confession that Eleven desperately wanted would makes sense.

Especially considering all the problems above and the side by side build up of Byler in vol1

Also, the whole switch in Mike’s character. If they don’t like or want Byler then Mike could still be Will’s bestfriend, supportive and still the same Mike from season2 now just in a relationship, has a girlfriend. Nothing has to change.

But they didn’t.

He flips between Will and El showing us two completely different versions of him when he is alone with either. That for me is obvious in all of the Byler scenes and especially the ones when Mike reunites with Eleven (this includes the Pineapple pizza scene)

If they wanted substance for Will’s main character era or want to showcase him with the heaviest trauma then he already has a lot of that!! This unrequited love wasn’t necessary.

My worry for Will’s character is that they will make him struggle to either make him sacrifice himself or just sideline him with Eleven coming to his rescue.

That is another problem I have with the duffers, the blatant importance to Eleven’s character in the series. I love her, I do. But it’s just so much detailed backstory, so much showcasing of her relationship with other characters and emphasis on her that from season3 it felt more like her show. This sidelined other characters especially the original main characters both Mike and Will.

The other characters have their separate storylines that doesn’t involve her so that is good.

But Mike and Will’s storyline are completely intertwined with hers. This way atleast Mike gets showcased although poorly as only her boyfriend.

And Will’s character gets more sidelined due to him in love with Mike’s.

They could have had a much better storylines for these two character separate from her.

Now with vol2 I don’t know where to stand. I worry they won’t do Will justice, rectify Mike or even go for Byler.

I feel this is why a lot of Bylers are a mess right now because the narration, character placements, subtexts and last scenes from vol2 point towards Byler endgame. But they also held no clear indication of Mike’s feelings.

I feel if we had even a slight peek into Mike’s mind we would know for sure where this is headed for us.

Maybe that is the point ? They want to keep the suspense

But then it also comes as of one-sided Byler which then paints Mike as a horrible, self absorbed person if he truly is straight and in love with Eleven

My biggest question is that His contradictions are intentional or just bad writing ?

Also it makes it hard to hope for Byler when Milkvan is so in the face and loud !

These are my thoughts for now, please let me know what you guys think in the comments !! I would really like to know your perspective.

[tenthgrove]

Can I request a yandere poly! La Squadra with a darling that gains a dangerous stand? Maybe they felt they were in danger enough that it just suddenly manifests?

Panic Response

La Squadra (Poly) x Reader (GN), Yandere, SFW

Risotto doesn't like sitting out, but he knows it's probably the best thing he can do in this situation. He can't see you right now, crowded out of view by the four men desperately vying for your attention, as well as trying to get rid of each other.

He cannot make out a word that Illuso, Melone, Sorbet or Gelato are saying, though they all seem to be doing their best to comfort you so he won't intervene. Slightly clearer is Prosciutto behind them, chastising each of the men for their tactless manner in consoling you. Behind him, is Formaggio clearly contemplating whether to join in, Ghiaccio staring on in utter bewilderment and Pesci crying almost as loud as you are.

Risotto does feel bad. Seeing you so distraught really does wound his soul, but he knew days like this would be inevitable if he were ever to obtain you for him and his team. You will calm down eventually, and then they can start to explain their real intentions to you.

Perhaps it would be best to make them leave you alone for a minute.

"Hush sweetheart, don't cry. You'll feel better with some water," Gelato coos. Sorbet reaches out to pet you, but you bat him away.

"Don't be foolish. They aren't going to take water from us. You saw how they reacted last time we tried to get them to drink something we poured out for them," Melone reminds him. Gelato tuts angrily.

"Let me be alone with them for a minute, I'll calm them down!" Illuso suggests, like anyone's actually going to let that happen. "You never let me be alone with them, so you don't know until you try!"

"We are not doing that!" Prosciutto interjects.

"Illuso does have a point though," Risotto says, stepping forward. He locks with one of your eyes through a gap in the crowd, red and tear-stained. "Not about him specifically, but this may be easier if it's just one or two of us alone with them. I think someone ought to take them into a different room."

Everyone turns to you.

"What do you think sweetheart? Do you want to come up with us, or is there someone else you'd prefer?" Gelato offers. You shake your head.

"Wanna stay here," you sob weakly.

"How about we go to my room for a bit?" Prosciutto offers, stepping forward. "You liked it before, didn't you?"

"No! Leave me alone!" you whine more loudly. This isn't good. Risotto needs to put a stop to this before you lash out.

"Hey," he addresses you. Your eyes snap up in fear. "Don't be afraid. I'm going to take you into my office and then the others won't disturb you. I'll carry you, okay?"

"N-no," you protest, trying to back up further against the end of the corridor. "Don't!"

"Shh," Risotto hushes you. He reaches for your sides to lift you.

"I SAID GO AWAY!"

There's a jet of light, and the next thing Risotto knows he's being thrown back by the most brilliant stand he's ever seen.

____________

Formaggio- You have to hand it to him, he might not be known as the smartest guy in the squad but he does know how to react quickly. He jets forward to pull Risotto from the stand's grip, rapidly shrinking himself with Little Feet to slip back past the stand and towards you. He knows this stand probably isn't under your control yet so you could be in danger as well. Priority 1 is defending you.

Illuso- Not to be outdone by Formaggio's heroism, Illuso charges at your stand with Man in the Mirror and casts it into the mirror world (lucky Sorbet did get you that glass of water, otherwise he wouldn't have had a point of entry). It can't hurt anyone there, and will eventually demanifest once you calm down. The initial emergency is over, and La Squadra can focus on what to do next.

Prosciutto- Everyone agrees pretty quickly that they need to get you somewhere quiet to calm down, and after how you reacted to Risotto, it's probably best someone else does it. When Prosciutto gently leads you away to his bedroom, you're too tired to protest but still terrified. He assures you they aren't angry with you and can explain what happened once your ready. He lets you sleep alone in his bed.

Pesci- Fra said not to bother you while you sleep, but nobody is letting Pesci get a word in as they discuss down in the meeting room what to do about your stand, so he doesn't know what else he can do. Hearing his voice outside the bedroom door, you are relieved. Pesci is quite possibly the only one you completely trust not to hurt you. You let him in, and he reiterates Prosciutto's earlier promise. You ask him what the others have decided yet. He says they still don't know.

Melone- By the next morning, La Squadra still isn't sure how they're going to manage an unwilling lover with a dangerous stand, but they have agreed it's only right for you to receive an explanation for what you saw and for that they send Melone. Melone gives you a crash course on the nature of stands, why yours probably emerged and the fact each of them have their own. He assures you they don't view you having a stand as a bad thing, but it does create problems. He advises you not to attempt to bring it out again as it (truthfully) could hurt you. He hopes that will be enough to keep you secure for now.

Ghiaccio- He doesn't share it with the others, but this whole mess takes him back. He recalls how unfamiliar with stands he was when he joined the team, practically a child, and how White Album's great power caused a similar chaos for the team. Sure, your situation is different because you're here against your will, but quite frankly Ghiaccio agrees with Pesci that the others aren't respecting your boundaries enough. Maybe if they showed you the same understanding they showed him, you might come around. He'll bring it up with Risotto.

Risotto- It's rare, but Risotto doesn't know what to think. Of course he still loves you and of course there's no way he's abandoning the team's pursuit of you as a lover, but this development could cause some serious problems for the team, and you. Worst comes to the worst, they may even have to restrain you in the basement until your fight wears down enough to stop being a danger to them. Risotto would hate to do that to you. Pesci and Ghiaccio think they should try and make a deal with you. Maybe that's not the worst idea.

Sorbet and Gelato- It's them Risotto sends. They've always taken good care of you, and he rightly trusts them for this important task. Sorbet and Gelato begin by telling you how awesome it is that you have a stand; generally trying to get you excited by the possibility of learning to use it. They then move on to what happened, how scared you must have felt to react like that and how sorry all of them, including Risotto, are. Then they tell you Risotto is willing for you to go on as before. No extra security, no new restrictions on your freedom, and definitely no punishments. The squad has come to the realisation that if you're going to trust them, they have to trust you back, and therefore, they want to offer you this chance. If your stand comes out accidentally they won't be angry as long as you tell them, and if not, you'll get to learn to use it soon enough. Perhaps this is the first step towards peace between you.

[ironwoman359]

This is probably not the best place to ask, but you’re also a Christian woman too. I was wondering what you thought about what the Bible says about women and how we must submit to husbands and some other stuff that has me (a potential ace) Christain woman kind of terrified. I would go to my church but social anxiety and my church is pretty conservative. I don’t want to think that we’re just second rate citizens with this. Um…that’s all. You don’t have to answer. Love your Tumblr. It’s one of the main ones I look at. Thanks for countless enjoyment!

— — —

(I’m responding on the submission and not the ask because the ask refused to post properly, I think it was too long for Tumblr’s fancy)

So I know you just asked for my thoughts and not a biblical interpretation lesson, but I didn’t spend 3 months writing an exegesis in college for me to never use those skills again, so buckle up for something of a long answer! (literally, this is almost 3 thousand words, so....sorry about that) *rubs hands together* The thing we need to take into consideration when reading the bible is Interpretation; any truly honest biblical scholar would tell you it is a mistake to take every word in the bible at its literal face value, ESPECIALLY since most of us are reading translations of scripture, not the original ancient hebrew/greek/aramaic/whatever else. So when interpreting scripture, we must consider these things:

Author (Who wrote it?)

Audience (Who was it written for?)

Context (What is written around it?)

So the verses you’re referencing are Ephesians 5:22-23, and in the NIV, they read as follows:

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Isolated from author, audience, and context, they sound pretty sexist, don’t they? And male authority figures have used these verses as justification for the oppression of women for centuries, just as white men used the passage only a few verses away, Ephesians 6:5, as justification for the oppression and ownership of black people (Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ). So let’s look at each of the points above in regards to Ephesians 5 and 6. First, who wrote it? Sometimes that can be a tricky question to answer, but in this case, it’s actually very easy (though there is still a bit of fuzziness/debate). Traditionally, Ephesians is one of the Apostle Paul’s letters to the early church. Specifically, to the body of believers in Ephesus, a Greek city that was a part of the Roman Empire at the time. According to two different study bibles I have, the letter of Ephesians was not addressing any particular problem that the church in Ephesus had (as was often the case with Paul’s letters), but was meant as an encouragement of faith and to increase his readers’ understanding of what it meant to be a follower of Christ. So now what about the Context? Why are the verses at the end of chapter 5 and beginning of chapter 6 so damning to our modern sensibilities? To answer that, we must look at the passages both in context to the verses around them, and in historical and cultural context (which is where 1 & 2 come into play again). Going back to the beginning of chapter 4, which is subtitled “Unity in the Body of Christ” (and remember, these subtitles and groupings were come up with LONG after they were written; we grouped sections together in a way we thought was most logical, which honestly for a book as short as Ephesians I would argue is barely even necessary), we can see that the letter from chapter 4 onward is about living a Holy and Godly life. Chapter 4 urges us to be “completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love” and warns us against living “as the Gentiles* do, in the futility of their thinking.” *Gentiles in this case meaning not neccesarily all non-Jews, but non-believers. AKA, we should live like Jesus lived, WWJD and all that jazz. If the Holy Spirit is in our hearts and our relationship with God is at the forefront of our lives, then that should show clearly in our actions. The very first verse of chapter 5 reads “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Chapters 5 and 6 especially are meant to act as a sort of guide for how a follower of Christ should act. There’s some stuff about obscenity, greed, sexual impurity, 5:15 sums it up pretty well basically, “Be very careful, then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise,” and then we reach the all important verse. Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” That’s a full sentence, just that there. Submit to one another. The following three sections are all subsections of this point: one for Wives submitting to Husbands, one for Children submitting to Parents, and one for Slaves submitting to Masters. But when looking at all of these, bad shepherds (ie, racist, sexist assholes) like to ignore that first bit, submit to one another, just as they like to ignore 5:28, which says “husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself;” or they ignore 6:4 which says “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord;” and they ignore 6:9, “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” I do highly encourage you to read chapters 4, 5, and 6 in full, or at least start at 4:17, which is where Paul starts talking about “Living as Children of Light,” because it makes the intent of these apparently damning verses much more clear. Paul is stating that as Christians, we should treat everyone around us with honor and respect. According to one of my study bibles, the grammar of the original Greek suggests that the “submission” involved in all three sections is intended to be mutual submission, and is to come from a filling of the Holy Spirit. However, to be quite frank, Paul still Lived In A Society. A highly structured, patriarchal society, in which all members of a household (women, children, slaves) were expected to submit to the patriarchal head of that household. Male children until they reached adulthood, Slaves until they were freed (remember that, while by no means a purely morally good thing, the system of Roman Slavery was VASTLY DIFFERENT from the Atlantic Slave Trade that men later used this passage to justify existing), and women, unfortunately, for their whole lives. In another one of his letters, what is now the book of Galatians, Paul says in chapter 3 verse 27-29 that “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” This would have been radical at the time. Paul is promising all people of all genders and classes that, in the eyes of God, they are Equal, One, and all “sons,” meaning that they all have a right to the Inheritance of the Father (remember, at this time and in this culture women did not get any inheritance, and younger sons got significantly less than the firstborn. Paul assures the believers that they ALL are equal receivers of the Promises of God). But this equality that Paul speaks of was, in his eyes, a spiritual equality. He was not particularly concerned with overthrowing the earthly patriarchal society that subjugated women and lower classes, but rather instructed all members of that society who also were Believers to submit equally to one another out of love and respect, for they were all Equal in God’s eyes and would be Equal in heaven. This is why he both tells women to submit to and obey their husbands, but also husbands to love, cherish, and care for their wives. Children, obey your parents, but Fathers, don’t be dicks to your kids. Slaves should obey their masters (slavery was much more like a job that you weren’t allowed to quit until your boss said so) but Masters shouldn’t abuse their slaves. There are Societal Authorities, and Paul is telling his readers “look you can’t just go around not respecting those Authorities, but also hey, if you’re the Authority? That’s not a free pass to be an asshole.” As one of my study bibles puts it, “Paul counseled all believers to submit to one another by choice…this kind of mutual submission preserves order and harmony in the family while it increases love and respect among family members.” Paul is basically saying “it’s better for everyone if we all get along, and remember that Christ had a servant’s heart, and intentionally lowered himself for us, so we should do the same for each other.” And while a patriarchal class system is still super sucky for like 80% of the people involved, at least it’s a whole lot more bearable if everyone involved is being a Nice, Good Member of that Society. You mentioned being worried about being treated like a “second rate citizen.” The fact of the matter is that when this was written, women were second rate citizens; that is the context in which Paul is writing. And while I firmly believe that that was wrong, in every sense of the word, Paul wasn’t especially concerned about challenging that aspect of society. Priority one was “Spread the Gospel” and Priority two was “Don’t Get Killed while Spreading the Gospel.” Speaking of Paul, let’s talk a little more about Saul of Tarsus, shall we? In all literary analysis, it is important to examine the author’s beliefs and what biases may have made their way into the work. And while we believe the bible to be a Holy Book, it can and should be subject to the same rules of literary analysis as non-religious texts. First, you must ask yourself, what do you believe about the bible? There are four general ways of looking at it (which are called Theories of Inspiration).

The bible is the Divine Word of God, dictated word for word across centuries directly to its human authors by God Himself.

The bible is the Divine Word of God, written across centuries by men Inspired by the Holy Spirit. While they are writing in their own words, this Inspiration means that the bible is Wholly Perfect with no errors.

The bible is the Divine Word of God, written across centuries by men Inspired by the Holy Spirit. However, because they are imperfect, fallible men, there is a possibility of errors in the text, both in the account of events that happened and in the teaching therein.

The bible is a collection of accounts written by men, with no Divine Intervention from God. It is not Holy, God’s Word, or Infallible.

I was raised to believe theory 2, but now I personally believe theory 3. And since I’m the author of this analysis, it is through the lens and bias of theory 3 that I now present my next point: Paul was sexist. I don’t think he was maliciously so (see again, Galatians 3, and the statement in Ephesians 5 that men should honor, cherish, and care for their wives), but he was a product of his time who had ingrained ideas about women and their place in society. This does not A) mean he was right about how women should act OR B) mean that we should toss out everything he had to say, about women or otherwise, because he was Problematic. Most biblical authors were, in fact, Problematic. Either by our modern standards, due to the time in which they lived, OR by the standards of their own time, because God liked to use Imperfect People (we’re all imperfect, but He liked particularly imperfect people) in His plans. David was an adulterer and murderer. Paul happily sent dozens of Christians to their deaths. Peter was hotheaded and super prejudiced against Gentiles and Samaritans. And most of them were, in one way or another, sexist, racist, and homophobic. These biases then found their way, intentionally or not, into their writings, and then other racist, sexist, homophobic men used those writings to justify systemic oppression of anyone who was not like them. Oppression that is not Christlike. So where does that leave us, in our 21st century application of scripture to our daily lives? We must examine how it was to be read at the time (which we have done), and then see what we can apply from it to our own lives. For myself in my marriage, I look again to the original grammar of Ephesians 5, that indicates the submission is to be mutual. I “submit” to my husband, and he “submits” to me. In other words, our relationship is built on Trust, Clear Communication, and Respect for one another. Sometimes we have to compromise, and I have to put aside my own desires for his sake, or he must set aside his own desires for my sake. It is a willingness to listen to one another, to approach conflicts with an open mind, to consider each other’s feelings before we speak. It is an equal, mutual submission based on love for each other, which doesn’t contradict what Paul says at all. God created all people to be equal. Humans are stupid sometimes and try to insist that we know better, try to create hierarchies and use the bible to try and justify that, but that doesn’t mean those humans are right. If your church is trying to make you feel less than because of your gender, or if you date somebody who pushes TradWife rhetoric and tries to use Ephesians as their justification, then you Run, and feel justified in doing so. (Especially if they also try to use Paul’s words to tell you why you owe your partner sex; see again, Paul was not only sexist but also lived in a patriarchal time when women were second class citizens that had very specific expectations placed on them AND he wasn’t even in a relationship himself, forgive me if I take his advice on my sex life with a grain of salt. Without doing this whole process again, a good modern reading of “don’t deprive one another” is “don’t use sex as a weapon in your relationship/withhold it for bs reasons when you’re mad at each other, etc. Like all other relationship things, sex (or a lack thereof) with your spouse should be based on mutual trust, communication, and love, not petty arguments or the standards of others.)

Trust me, as an ace woman myself, I totally get the fear. I’ve felt it myself, in the past. But God’s intentions for you are not that you become a doormat or servant to a man. If a romantic relationship (or any other partnership) is part of His plan for you, then the bible clearly states, both in Ephesians and elsewhere, that it should be one built on Love and Trust, not Subjugation and Servitude.

I hope this helped you, and again, sorry it was so long XD. Have an amazing day! <3

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

I know you’ve talked about how all the Cullen pairings are eventually going to implode - glad someone said it - but I was wondering if you wanted to talk a little bit about what you think Meyer INTENDED with the pairings - tropes and whatnot? And what you think would have to change in her narrative to make what was intended what we actually saw on the page? Or — what do you think each cullens’ Perfect Spouse would actually look like?

Anon is referring to this post.

And well, you've certainly given me quite the challenge.

Some Musing Ramblings Before We Begin

Sort of like asking me to make Dramione work, I'm not sure I'm the person to ask this. Anyone who reads my work knows that... well, that's a lie, every story I secretly write is a love story. But it's not Twilight in any way shape or form.

Twilight simply isn't a story I would set out to write. This isn't a good thing or a bad thing, it just is, which means that asking me to make Twilight work the way Meyer intended is probably not your best bet.

But I'll try regardless, it's what we're here for.

Bella/Edward

Meyer intended Bella Swan and Edward Cullen to be the best and brightest of all the pairings in Twilight. They have the love and devotion of Carlisle and Esme, the physicality and sexual attraction of Rosalie and Emmett, and are such a grand love that even depressed Marcus takes note. This is the love story that drives the entire series.

Edward is an improvement upon Carlisle, a Carlisle with even better control, and the most beautiful man you ever did see. He's also a gentleman, a man of his time and from an era where chivalry was alive and men courted women. Bella is one of those disturbingly altruistic people who makes you feel bad about yourself just by being in the same room. She's incredibly selfless, kind, and also quite brave.

Together, despite their ups and downs and the many obstacles in their way, they're disgustingly perfect.

However, that's not what we get. On Edward's end he's... Edward about loving Bella. On Bella's end, she has no idea who Edward even is but she does know he's beautiful and special.

And to get what Meyer actually wanted... Christ, Anon, I'll try.

So, the first problem, if Edward was truly a good person then Twilight would never happen.

Edward would have his first day of Biology, miraculously maintain control, and flee to Alaska as he does in canon. However, he would not return. Edward in canon returns due to his budding obsession as well as his wounded pride, in fleeing Forks he feels he has lost to Bella. When Carlisle later points out that a girl's life is on the line, that Edward is foolishly endangering this girl solely for his ego, Edward refuses to acknowledge this.

A good man would never have returned from Alaska, the Cullens would have moved in short order, and Bella may or may not have died in a parking lot or in Port Angeles.

That said, what if Bella is not, in fact, Edward's singer? Then there's not this constant debate of him eating her or his creepy, budding, obsession with his personal brand of heroin.

Well, the trouble with that is that Edward would then never notice her. Even were Edward not a colossal dismissive dick, required per this ask, Bella is one mortal out of many and someone he shouldn't grow close to. Associating with her just exposes her to unnecessary danger from him and his family. Edward is a guest in our world, nothing more, and a kind Edward might chit chat with her in Biology but even if he had a growing crush he'd keep his distance.

As he tried and failed to do in canon, actually.

Basically, change Edward alone, and it's not enough. The Edward Meyer wanted would never get together with Bella. At least, not without a lot of AU-sauce.

But let's look at Bella for a moment. Bella's character also has to be entirely stripped down. The Bella of the books is extremely depressed and her infatuation with Edward is fueled in part because of this. Edward's obsession with her gives her worth.

Obviously, in this new and improved edition of Twilight, Bella can't use either Edward or Jacob for validation. She has to be able to stand on her own two legs. If she does use either for validation, then the relationship must come to an end, as she and her significant other realize just what it is Bella's doing.

The trouble is, what does this not-depressed Bella have to fall in love with? Yes, Edward's beautiful, and that certainly goes a long way, but in canon he's a dick. Bella even thinks to herself that he's a complete dick (even when he's trying to be charming). Luckily for Edward she later decides that this is cryptic and therefore appealing.

Well, in AU land, Edward might be so damn charming that Bella likes him anyway but we come back to Edward keeping her at a polite distance.

So, what we need is a terrifying villain. Let's call him Angelus (though per Twilight this would probably be James). Angelus is a vampire that will force Edward's hand. For whatever reason, he decides to torment and ruin Bella's life, ending the hunt in either eating her or turning her into his bride. Angelus' existence forces Bella to be in the know and for Edward to have to take extreme action.

The pair become closer, grow through undoubtedly horrific trauma, and through said trauma Bella understands not only the pros of being a vampire but the terrifying cons.

Basically, it'd be this story. Just replace the name "Carlisle" with Edward and "Edward" with James.

Alice/Jasper

Alice and Jasper are supposed to have this ineffable, mystic, connection where they're together because... Alice saw them together. And in a way, that's true, but it's supposed to be a thing of beauty, soulmates if there ever were any, and instead it's this dumpster fire with nothing holding them together.

This one's easier in a way, well, sort of. Alice would have to be a completely different character and we'd have to see a lot more of Jasper.

Alice has a bad habit of treating those around her, even those she loves, as chess pieces. She'll put them in significant danger, court their misery, so long as it gets her the future she wants.

And she's extremely controlling.

Right away in the opening of Midnight Sun we see this and how it affects her and Jasper's relationship. The novel opens with Alice hovering, scanning the future for Japser fucking up, while Jasper just sits there in misery. Due to her obsession on making sure Jasper doesn't eat students, she actually misses Edward's plan to massacre Biology and his many plans to eat Bella Swan.

Even if she wasn't, this isn't good for anyone to live with. Jasper has very little concept of free will, whatever happens to him, whatever he'll do, Alice tells him and the worst possible option is always on the table.

For Jasper/Alice to work either Alice's gift needs to go (and that's... sort of all Alice is) or she has to tell no one any vision ever unless under extreme circumstances.

Which would be devastating for Alice. Rather than this mostly well-adjusted, perky, girl, Alice would be crippled by her gift. The weight of the world, everyone's free will, rests on her shoulders and she has to constantly avoid temptation to simply pick everyone's future for them.

Without the attitude Alice has in canon, I think she'd go mad with such a gift, or else be consumed by the responsibility of it.

Then we get to the mess that is Jasper. Jasper's complicated, and I don't want to get into it here, but his love story would have to be... too large to be put to the side like that. The redemption he'd need is not one that can be shoved into a few paragraphs told to Bella, it's frankly the kind of story that would drive an ordinary story.

So we'd have to see a lot of Jasper and Nouveau Alice. Which, of course, detracts from Bella/Edward which is the main point of the story.

Honestly, I take it back, there's no salvaging this relationship. They would have to be completely different people to the point where they're entirely different characters wearing nametags 'Alice' and 'Jasper'. Alice couldn't have her gift, which informs her entire character, and we'd have to see way too much of Jasper who is ultimately a tertiary character.

Carlisle/Esme

Thoughts on Carlisle/Esme.

Carlisle and Esme is a very 'spiritual' relationship per Meyer. They're... mom-bot and dad-bot. Alright, fine, they're the perfect parents with this deep love for each other and a very parental bond with Edward especially. It's the relationship Edward admires the most in his paired off family.

I don't even know how to fix this one.

Again, they'd have to be such different people. The trouble with Esme and Carlisle is that they share no values and are plagued by massive miscommunication. The Carlisle who is perfect for Esme... No, wait, this Carlisle is perfect for her, but that's because she's in Esme Land.

The Carlisle that would be perfect for a grounded Esme is not the one that exists. She'd want someone who would always put the family first, who would treasure her above all other things, that's not Carlisle.

Carlisle, similarly, would want someone that truly shares his ideals. That's not Esme.

So, we're back to nametag land, because one or both have to completely change for this to work. (Not to mention that Esme's probably not supposed to be Esme).

So, I've got nothing for this.

Rosalie/Emmett

I actually think these two are what Meyer intended. They love each other but are mostly held together by attraction. They're a very physical couple and good for the most part but inherently lesser than Bella/Edward.

Sure, I'd argue that they're the most put together couple in the house, but I think they're meant to have flaws. They work well together, but every other relationship in the Cullens has to be a step up or at least have something more to it.

Something Edward and Bella can be better than.

Conclusion

Dear god. Did I only manage to somewhat address Bella/Edward? Was that it? This was worse than I thought.

[greensaplinggrace]

honestly THANK YOU for saying all that abt baghra bc i thought i was going crazy from not liking her??? bc i haven't read the books and only summaries of them on wiki and like. i dunno why ppl like her actually even in the show bc this guy, her son, is like "i wanna make the world better for us grisha" and she's just like "no." even tho he sees that she's MAKING HERSELF SICK from suppressing her powers! she's literally like in bed coughing in the flashback yet seem much healthier at the little palace. also like after everything, after her disapproval, after the fold, after centuries of waiting for the sun summoner.. he never abandons her. he makes sure she's cares for. he doesn't harm her. and i have to wonder if baghra has ever thanks him for that, for just not leaving her alone. like i dunno how im suppose ro believe aleks is a heartless villain when he still cares for his abusive mom like this. like has baghra even told her she loved him (honestly she reminds me of a classic emotionally unavailable asian parent but maybe that's just me). also im wondering if baghra ever told aleks that he had an aunt.. bc like.. now that u bring up her isolating him it's like hmmmm...

not at me being like alina... why do u trust the bitter old woman who literally beats u with a stick and verbally abuses u every chance she gets.. just bc she showed a bad painting... like.. pls use two braincells to see that who u figured out as his mother... is also using his protection..

like baghra could've upped and left with alina. but no. she stayed bc she knew she was safe under aleks's protection.

alsoim just impressed that after his first friend tried to drown him and harvest his bones... he didn't go into hiding???? he still wanted to make a safe heaven for grisha!!! HE STILL WANTED TO PROTECT GRISHA EVEN AFTER HIS GRISHA FRIEND TRIED TO KILL HIM FOR HIS FUCKEN BONES. like... this is the guy im suppose to believe is the villain???

honestly i feel like part of the reason why LB's plotlines seem so bad and disconnected (and sometimes outright racist but that's another rant) and why darkles is disproportionately more violent and villainous in the later books is bc she didn't expect the darkling to be so popular and wanted to stick with her guns of making him the villain. but also wanted the money from aleks's popularity. but like you can't have ur cake and eat it too.

Well thank you for sending this ask! It's very sweet and very passionate. I'm glad you liked my post! I didn't put as much thought into it as some of my others lol. I kind of just talked. But it was nice to be able to finally talk about some of the problems I have with both her character and the fandom/author's perception of her.

HERE is the post this is referring to, in case anyone's wondering.

👀👀 You've hit the nail on the head for so many things, here!

Baghra is extremely emotionally unavailable, basically to the point of neglect. She's also verbally and physically abusive, traits which I doubt were only reserved for her students and not her son. Baghra claims she would do anything to protect him, but I've known a lot of parents who have that mindset and yet still harm their children because they think it's "good for them".

Aleksander stays at Baghra's side for years, and even when they're opposing each other she's never too far away from him. Idk if you've read the books but he does eventually hurt her. And as much as I don't like Baghra, I think his actions were horrid. But I'm also honestly kind of surprised it took him so long lmao.

Yeah I mean, in terms of isolation, let's not forget that she never wanted to introduce him to his father, either. Baghra's sense of eternity clouds a lot of her judgments on relationships, which means she views most people as dust and therefore teaches her son to as well. The problem with that is that he's a growing child, and he needs those social and emotional attachments for healthy development.

I would bet quite a bit of money that Baghra has either never told him she loves him or she has told him so few times it's practically forgettable.

And everything becomes more complicated because so many of Baghra's actions are understandable because of her life and her history, but the impacts they have on the people around her, especially Aleksander, are permanently damaging. And the fact that that's never gone over in critical depth in the books or how it's glossed over in fandom is just very disconcerting. Like, acknowledging Baghra's failings doesn't mean we're excusing Aleksander's actions, it just means we're holding Baghra liable for her own. Which the fandom should be doing, considering she's the epitome of an abusive parental figure.

And Alina trusting Baghra over Aleksander is even more confusing! Especially in the show!! This is the woman who beat her and abused her and tortured her friends when they tiny little children (and who probably still does so now that they're adults). This is the woman who mocks you and harasses you and insults you on a regular basis. Why does Baghra revealing she's Aleksander's mother make Alina change her mind?! Like fuck, I'd just feel bad for Aleksander. No wonder he kept it a secret, I would too! And that painting is enough evidence?! Really?! A random painting shown to you by this abusive mentor that's been making your life hell. That's what you're going to betray your new lover over?

The friends trying to harvest his bones thing is a good point, too. I think Aleksander, especially show Aleksander, is incredibly idealistic. I think he cares too much for others - those he's deemed worth his care (a sentiment given to him by Baghra). Despite everything she's tried to teach him about hiding and abandoning others and never caring and never doing anything to help or reach out or connect with people, Aleksander still continues to do so. It's likely because he never got it from Baghra growing up, and so is desperate for those emotional needs to be fulfilled elsewhere.

His turning point, when Baghra tells him it was understandable that those kids tried to kill him because the world is such a hard place for them - that's crucial. And the reason it's possible as a motivating factor is because of that idealism and that desire to help and that desire to be everything his mother isn't. Baghra tells him this trauma he just experienced was because of the oppression of his people, and instead of following her lead and accepting that, going into hiding and abandoning everybody to their misery, he goes I can do something about that. I can make it so this never happens again. Which is usually how trauma like that combines with one's core personality traits at a young age, especially when there's none of the essential support systems in place to aid in recovery (ie, the role Baghra should have been filling but wasn't, because she decided to exacerbate the problem instead).

And yeah, one of my biggest problems with the ham-fisted "beating you over the head with a sledgehammer of evil deeds" look-how-bad-this-character-is! portrayal of the Darkling in the later books comes from the impression I get that Bardugo doesn't trust her readers. She's so desperate to have us hate this character and think him an irredeemable villain, not trusting any of her readers to engage critically with a morally gray character, that it feels quite a bit like condescending fucking bullshit. Which ew, I know how to engage with literature, thanks.

She really does seem to look down on a large part of her fandom, and imo, the infantilization of the female characters in her books seems to carry over to her impression of most of her female readers as well. Which is why the Darkling's character arc gets fucking destroyed. But he's still a good cash grab, of course, so she'll shake his dead corpse in front of the fandom for money every time she wants something from it.

Also! Another reason I think her plotlines feel disconnected (I'm sorry Bardugo I respect you as a person, but shit-) is because the writing in SaB is just bad. I mean, nevermind the absolutely nauseating implications of the way she portrays the Grisha as a persecuted group who's situation is never actually fully addressed as it should be, considering Grisha rights is what her main villain is fighting for (imo for a series called the Grishaverse, LB seems to be pretty anti Grisha), but her characters and story alone are just wrong for each other. They don't fit together.

And the ending is one of the main pieces of evidence in that regard! You can’t say the ending where Alina isn’t Grisha anymore is her “going back to where she started” when she’s always been Grisha. She just didn’t know she was Grisha because she denied that part of herself that she was born with.

Alina is reluctant to move forward or change, she struggles with adapting, and she’s very set on the things she’s grown attached to throughout her life. She also has some latent prejudices against the Grisha, and so denies the possibility of being Grisha for those reasons as well.

Alina’s lack of powers in the beginning of her life because she willfully doesn’t learn about them to avoid change versus her lack of powers at the end of the book when she’s accepted them and then they’re stripped away from her by outer forces are two entirely separate circumstances. You can’t make a parallel about lost powers and lack of Grisha status bringing her back to the start when she was always Grisha and she always had powers and she simply refused to come to terms with it because of personal reasons.

The first situation is an internal conflict that indicates a story about growth and a journey of self acceptance. Denying herself the opportunity to learn about her heritage and to find acceptance with a group of people like her because she’s tied to the past and because of the way she was raised is the setup for a narrative that tackles unlearning prejudice and learning how to connect with a part of her identity that was denied her and learning how to grow independent and self assured. It’s the setup for a different story entirely. The second situation is an external conflict that centers around the ‘corrupting influence of power’... for some reason.

In a world where Grisha do not have social, political, or economic power and they are hunted, centering your heroine’s journey of self acceptance and growth around an external conflict about... the corrupting influence of power (in a group of people that don’t actually have any power?!) just doesn’t work. It is literally impossible to connect the two stories Bardugo is trying to push in Shadow and Bone without seriously damaging the main character’s developmental arc.

The only way a narrative like this would work, claiming that she has gone back to where she started, is either a) if the Grisha weren’t actually a persecuted group and instead were apart of the upper class, or b) if the one bad connection between the two instances is acknowledged - that Alina denied a part of herself crucial to self acceptance and growing up, and that losing her powers at the end has also denied her. It is a tragedy, not a happy ending.

Alina suffered because she didn’t use her powers. She grew sick. It was bad for her. This was not a resistance to 'the corruption of power and the burden of greed', it was her suffering because she couldn’t fully accept herself.

Framing the ending as a return to the beginning can’t be done if you don’t address how bad the beginning was for your main character. You brought her back to a bad point in her life. You regressed her. This should be a low point in her arc. It should be a problem that’s solved so she can finish developing organically or it should be something that is acknowledged as a tragedy in it’s own right, for the future the world (the writing) denied her.

This is a ramble and it makes no sense and I’m really sorry, but my point is that Bardugo put the wrong characters in the wrong story. The character arc required for organic development doesn’t match the story and intended message at all. The narrative doesn’t fit the cast. She's got two clashing stories attempting to work in tandem and she ends up with both conflicting messages that fans still can’t comprehend in her writing and an ending that doesn’t suit her main character to such an impossible degree that it’s almost laughable.

So yeah, there's a few reasons why I think the story and the plot feels so bad and disconnected. I hope you don't mind me making this answer so long! 😅 I was not expecting to write this much.

[scorpionatori]

Forbidden Book of Friends Reveal: Anime vs. Manga

I don’t know what decision making goes into the ordering of anime episodes when adapting them from the manga, but it’s a shame the scene of Natori telling Natsume about forbidden exorcists techniques was moved around when it was one of the biggest revelations in the series. The anime moving the scene from the arc with Takuma and his shiki to the arc with Matoba’s letter worked, but it took a lot of impact out for Natsume and Natori and the audience. Let’s compare these two arcs and the topics and story elements they deal with:

Matoba’s letter (ch52-54):

Matoba sends Natsume a lengthy letter that he never opens, and ends up finding him and blackmailing him into helping solve a dilemma for his clan. Earlier Natsume had lost the letter at Natori’s apartment after asking for his help resealing a youkai. Natsume finds out more about exorcist drama and politics with Matoba’s clan. He also learns that Natori is regularly being threatened with curses and that the lizard not going to his left leg may mean he’ll lose it one day. Natori finds the letter Matoba sent to Natsume and sees that he is getting further pulled into the world of exorcism, and he destroys the letter. The main topics this arc deals with are:

Exorcist clan politics and history, Natori being targeted by colleagues, exorcists colluding to sabotage the Matoba clan

Natsume becomes increasingly worried about Natori’s safety due to his colleagues trying to hurt him and the unsettling implications of the lizard avoiding his left leg.

Natori becomes increasingly worried about Natsume’s safety and involvement with exorcists and tries to intervene secretly.

Takuma and his shiki: (ch60-62):

Natsume finds one of Natori’s paper dolls damaged by rain after watching one of his movies at a downtown cinema. He worries he’s in trouble and heads to the address on the doll where he ends up finding out Tsukiko had hired Natori to investigate something for her. They ultimately find out two of Takuma’s shiki thought they were abandoned by him after he lost his sight, and Tsukiko had put up barriers out of worry, which kept them trapped outside. Natori accidentally overhears about the book of friends from the other shiki, Ginro, who mentions Natsume having something dangerous on him that exorcists shouldn’t even have. Later, Natsume finds out that Taki’s circles and the book of friends are forbidden by exorcists because they’re considered cruel and dangerous. Natsume performs the ritual of release for the shiki. After he and Natori say goodbye to each other, Natori tells Urihime to find out what dangerous item Natsume has been hiding. The topics in this arc are:

Human and youkai relationships, complications from them making contracts with each other, humans losing their ability to see youkai, therefore leaving behind the ones who cared for them.

Humans who can’t see youkai feeling helpless to protect those who do.

Exorcists have rules about what kind of spells and contracts are allowed, and Taki’s circle and Reiko’s book of friends are both forbidden objects.

Continued from the Matoba’s letter arc, Natsume and Natori are both becoming more and more worried about each other’s wellbeing.

Natsume’s ongoing dilemma about wanting to tell Natori about the book of friends but not knowing if he should.

The topic of forbidden techniques does work somewhat in the Matoba letter arc, as it fits in with exorcist politics. However, the arc did NOT deal with what was most important about the revelation: the book of friends.

The book of friends was not a topic in the letter arc. The arc mainly focused on the turmoil in the exorcist community and the history of the clans, Matoba’s desire to acquire Natsume as a powerful ally for his clan, Natsume’s increasing concern for Natori’s wellbeing, and Natori’s increasing anxiety around Natsume getting sucked into the world of exorcism, and his overprotectiveness and attempts at intervening in secret.

There was no room in here to fit in the book of friends revelation in a way that was actually impactful. Natsume didn’t have time to reflect on finding out his grandma’s book is considered too cruel to exist, he was too busy having to help solve a massive problem for Matoba at a large exorcist gathering. Natori knew nothing about Natsume carrying something forbidden at this point and barely noticed his concern. And besides, he was also too busy worrying about Natsume receiving letters from Matoba. The very important revelation about the titular item of the series becomes a fleeting anecdote that isn’t touched on or important for the rest of the arc, and therefore diminishes its impact.

The Takuma arc, on the other hand, was perfect for this revelation. The main plot of the arc revolves around the messy complications of contracts between humans and youkai. Natsume spent a lot of time thinking on his desire vs hesitation of telling Natori about the book, only for Natori to accidentally overhear about it. And shortly after that, Natsume innocently asks if there’s spells that allow humans without sight to see youkai (thinking of Taki’s spell) and immediately learns that that sort of thing is forbidden. Then he hears that the exact sort of contracts that are in the book of friends are also forbidden and considered cruel.

There was way more tension here with this scene happening shortly after Ginro mentions the book when Natori walks in. Natsume knows he caught at least part of the conversation, and Natori now knows Natsume has something dangerous on him called the “book of friends”. He doesn’t know what it is at first, but later when he sees Natsume’s reaction to hearing about forbidden contracts, it becomes pretty obvious what kind of thing the book is. This also causes Natori to become very concerned.

Natori was definitely able to connect the dots between what he heard earlier and Natsume’s face when he finds out about forbidden contracts, which gives him more clear motivation to find out what it is as well. In the anime, all he knows is that Natsume has something called the “book of friends” that is the kind of thing exorcists aren’t supposed to have. In the manga, he hears this and then afterwards sees how scared and worried Natsume is when he hears about forbidden contracts for the first time. It’s safe to assume at this point that something that was titled “the book of friends” is probably a book of forbidden contracts with youkai. This makes the reason behind Natsume’s constant involvement with youkai even more apparent. Not only is he in possession of something outlawed by exorcists (when he was recently dragged into a big dilemma by the leader of the community), if he’s in possession of a large collection of youkai contracts who are bound with their real names, this explains why they go after him so much and why he can not keep a distance from them. Natori knows for sure now that Natsume has a massive target painted on his back for both exorcists and youkai, beyond just his strong spiritual power. He knows full well what his colleagues and Matoba are like, and how dangerous youkai can be. This gives him a much stronger motivation for gathering info on the book of friends when he has a pretty good idea of what it is, as opposed to in the anime when he only had a very vague idea. Even if it was wrong to search for info on it without Natsume’s knowledge anyway, Natori’s fear of the book of friends and urgency in finding out what it is is more understandable in the manga, whereas with how it was framed in the anime, people probably found it easier to read him as suspicious and sneaky more than very genuinely concerned about Natsume’s safety with such a thing.

Again, I don’t know what all goes into the ordering of episodes in anime adaptations, and it doesn’t matter as much in an episodic series such as Natsume Yuujinchou, but there’s still definitely important things that can get altered or left out or taken out of a better context when the order is changed from the manga. Natsume finding out his grandmother’s book is forbidden was a very important reveal for a lot of reasons. It’s very difficult for him to learn that the item he already had a lot of complicated feelings on is considered cruel even by exorcists. This increases his feelings of guilt for having such an item and his love for his grandmother vs his fear that she was a bad person for binding so many youkai (in general this was not touched on enough in the anime, but I could write a whole other essay about that). He’s also been debating whether or not to tell Natori about the book of friends since they first met, only for him to find out on accident. And then shortly after he learns from him that it is forbidden in the exorcist community to bind youkai with their real names when making contracts. Overall, while they made it work with the changes, it wasn’t as impactful for the characters or the audience to move that scene from its original context.

[shihalyfie]

Daisuke and Ken’s dynamic, and what Ken does for Daisuke in return

Everyone in the main 02 cast can be said to be a little surface-deceptive in some way, and so, even with Daisuke and Ken as the relationship at the forefront of 02′s story, there’s still more going on behind it than first glance would initially make you suspect. It’s all too easy to just take the surface reading and decide that Daisuke is some kind of saint whom Ken is singularly dependent on for his happiness (which would really be quite the unhealthy relationship), or, worse, shove them into the stereotypical BL tropes just because they’re the two at the front, even though the story practically went out of its way to depict them as unusual characters who don’t fit into those kinds of boxes as easily.

Even though it wasn’t stated outright in words, Ken did a lot for Daisuke in return, and there’s a lot of layers to their relationship to each other both in the series and in going forward after it.

What Daisuke does for Ken

That Daisuke and Ken have very “complementary” personalities goes without saying, but this applies to both their surface demeanors and what lies beneath them. Daisuke has an abrasive surface demeanor and a tendency to get defensive, but isn’t actually very assertive at all; on the other hand, Ken is more polite and ostensibly “soft”, but is significantly more assertive than Daisuke is. This also means that, while it would of course be foolhardy to pretend that Ken could easily shrug off all of his trauma, it’s also conversely reductive to shove the two of them into boxes where Ken is a constant crybaby angsting over everything bad that’s happened to him while Daisuke’s the only ray of sunshine who can get him out of it. A lot of Ken’s strength in the series is self-supplied; he of course does end up needing the others’ support at times, but extreme readings like this really don’t give the kid enough credit for how good he is at gritting his teeth and pushing on without anyone prompting him.

The initial problem, however, is that Ken is too assertive about the wrong things at first. Like, say, in 02 episode 26, when he assertively says that he’s going to...recklessly chuck himself into an exploding reactor! For the third quarter of the series, Ken deliberately tries to keep his distance from others, and is very clear and open about his reasons why: in his mind, it’s his responsibility, and the others shouldn’t have to be involved. He doesn’t want their friendship, he doesn’t even think he deserves their friendship, and here’s Daisuke going “okay, yeah, but that’s stupid, shut up and let us help you.”

Adventure and 02 have a strong thread of driving it home that “doing things on sheer principle eventually becomes pointless when it gets in the way of being practical” -- and Daisuke, being a simple-minded and “straightforward” person who doesn’t overthink things, is basically there to keep Ken’s focus back on the proper picture. Because yeah, Ken can attempt to do things like frame things in terms of whether he “deserves” all of this, or “whose responsibility” this all is -- but the fact of the matter is that Daisuke and his friends want to do something and help instead of being sitting ducks about it, Ken’s practically not going to be able to do this alone, and, well, that’s the base of their first Jogress in 02 episode 26! Ken says outright that his goal is to do something to help, but then decides that “helping” should involve suicidally chucking himself into an exploding reactor, and Daisuke, hearing out Ken’s troubles, reminds him that him dying there won’t actually help the way Ken wants to help, because it won’t leave him alive to do all of the other things he wants to do and will hurt his family even more just when he was starting to repair things with them -- and as much as this extremely suicidal plan might temporarily spare the others from dying in an explosion, Daisuke would have to live with the guilt of letting Ken go off to die like that, so it won’t make him happy either.

So in other words, while Ken’s trying to sort out his complicated feelings of guilt, shame, and sense of responsibility, Daisuke’s there to keep his head on straight and remind him when he’s about to run himself in mental circles. Ken would have easily spent the rest of the series trying to make up for what he did even without Daisuke’s help, because he’s such a strong believer in “the right thing to do”, but his way of going on about it would have involved him staying in isolation out of a perceived sense of responsibility, endangering himself out of a sense of self-sacrifice, drowning himself in self-blame and feelings of regret, and, eventually, not addressing the very gaping hole in his life that he very much needs emotional support from others right now.

One thing particularly interesting about the Japanese version of 02 is that, for nearly the entirety of the second half of the series, Ken only refers to Daisuke as “Motomiya”, which is surprising given the fact that he employs given-name basis with the others quite quickly. Ken eventually does commit to “Daisuke” after the series in almost all post-02 material, and this image fits the two so well that pretty much every doujinshi artist has caught onto it despite it not being there all that much in the actual series, but it really took him a while; what gives? (Daisuke himself committed to “Ken” from surname basis “Ichijouji” starting in 02 episode 39.) Well, the important distinction is that Ken dropped the honorific with him from very early on -- meaning that he did want to approach Daisuke with a little bit of casual bluntness in a way beyond the distant respect he treated the others with, but at the time, going straight to buddy-buddy on given name with no honorific at all would have been a bit too much for him, and it comes off as him almost deliberately giving off a sense of distance. Why?

Ken didn’t have too much of an opinion on each individual kid in the group until 02 episode 8, when he developed a particular hatred for Daisuke for “ruining his pride” and decided to emotionally torture him a bit. Then, come 02 episode 25, this same kid approached him with no sense of grudge whatsoever, and presents him with a completely different way of seeing things: “whatever you did in the past, you’re clearly trying to help now, which means we’re now on the same side, so we should work together.” It’s pragmatic; it’s extremely pragmatic, and it’s not like Daisuke was working off of blind optimism and trust as much as he observed, very practically, that Ken was clearly trying to do better now and that therefore they should work together and make use of it. This kind of thought pattern is completely alien to Ken’s “I deserve/don’t deserve this” mentality at this point of this series, and by all standards of his own logic Daisuke should be one of the people who hates him the most, and yet -- nope!

By the time of their Jogress, Ken of course understands that Daisuke’s trying very hard to communicate with him, and thus they develop a sort of rapport -- but they’re not quite friends yet at the level of truly being “comfortable” with each other, because most of the second half of the series involved circumstances where Daisuke was helping Ken through a very emotionally hard time. It’s only at the point of the Christmas party in 02 episode 38 when Ken can really think about having these kids as real friends in terms of socializing and not just people who are willing to work with him in his penance journey. It’s enough that Ken’s able to admit that he wants the help of Daisuke in 02 episode 44, when beforehand he’d been trying to keep everyone out of what he’d perceived as his business. And, as Ken’s slowly more exposed to Daisuke’s way of life and its influence on the rest of the group around him, he comes to understand that maybe having a “close friend who can support him” isn’t that bad after all, since it’s not like these friends are just being “open-minded” towards him; they really are there to support him and his actual feelings and welfare, not just “cutting him slack” because he’s helping.

And so, with that, once the crisis is resolved and all is said and done, Ken finally truly accepts Daisuke as his friend and moves him up to given-name basis (no honorific!). This is most prominently shown in Diablomon Strikes Back, where their interactions are now removed from the question of Ken’s former actions and his emotional problems, and it turns out, they’re still good friends in the sense that friends are. As in, people who laugh together, hang out together, converse with each other casually; even if they are working together on the same thing for the duration of the movie, it’s not such an emotionally tense situation that you could chalk their interactions up to sheer necessity. With Daisuke’s help, Ken was able to move on from all of his past hangups, and the two of them became able to enjoy the moment of “now” like normal children.

What Ken does for Daisuke

Daisuke may be simple-minded enough to not have deep-seated concerns that eat at him every day, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was a bit socially maladjusted during the early parts of the series. Namely, being really insecure and prone to getting defensive whenever he felt he was being made fun of. Those kinds of things were what was most likely to get Daisuke to “lash out” at others, because he slips into his worst bouts of these whenever he’s lacking in validation.

Daisuke was, undoubtedly, improving over the course of the series, with him slowly starting to become more assertive by the time of 02 episode 20. It’s incorrect to say that Ken was the only person who could truly help him with this; 02 is a series about a group dynamic after all (even if the Jogress pairs are the most instrumental in helping each other), and it would be a pretty unhealthy relationship if one person were so dependent on another to even remotely function. But starting in 02 episode 22, when the crisis is momentarily resolved and everyone’s not sure what to do, Daisuke’s feeling of being third wheeled by Takeru and Hikari shoots up right at the moment everyone’s feeling a bit lacking in purpose. Two episodes later, Miyako immediately stages an intervention to help keep his mind off of things, and she’s arguably even the most comfortable with him at this point in time.

It’s not that Daisuke isn’t improving, nor that his friends aren’t trying to help, but, well...emotionally sensitive as Miyako can be, she’s also a bit all over the place herself and sometimes needs restraining; Hikari may be assertive, but she’s pretty obviously apprehensive about shutting Daisuke down too bluntly, and Takeru being so hard to read and evasive about everything means that Daisuke can’t really tell what he’s thinking or understand his intentions; Iori is younger and is restraining himself, so he still won’t cross certain lines with Daisuke. So as you can see, they’re all doing their best, and they’re not doing a terrible job of it either; hell, the rest of the series involves them maturing into people who can better interact with and support each other, so their own relationships with Daisuke are likely to improve even well after the series ends. It’s just that, especially at this point in the series, there’s definitely room for an extra person to fill a certain niche that’s got a gaping void here, begging for someone who’s assertive and put-together enough to regularly keep Daisuke in check, yet also willing to be properly straightforward with him to the extent that he doesn’t have to feel insecure about their intentions. Hmm, who could that be?

Although “the priority of reaching out to Ken” eventually becomes enough of a distraction that it certainly takes Daisuke’s mind off potentially feeling insecure, as we start to see more “casual” interactions between Daisuke and Ken, we see that Ken actually fills in a lot of the gaps that had been so sorely missing in this group dynamic for a while. Forward-thinking as he is, Daisuke’s simple-minded way of going at things has its drawbacks in that he’s not very smart or good at thinking, but Ken is the opposite, being intellectually analytical and much more thoughtful overall, and since Daisuke is the kind of person who defers to others when they’re better than him at something, Ken being right next to him means that he can give him a hand in making important decisions he can’t by himself. This is especially so in Diablomon Strikes Back, when Ken’s role is largely keeping an eye on Daisuke and making sure he’s not a loose cannon -- something he’s very capable of doing -- but also simply being there as a springboard whom Daisuke can comfortably approach and talk to, since Ken is such a mild-mannered, straightforward person who won’t set off his overly defensive tendencies as easily.

That doesn’t mean that Ken is completely above teasing him, of course -- a lot of post-02 material in fact makes sure you understand that he’s not just some soft-hearted saint and can be quite the snarker when he wants, since his increased comfort level with Daisuke means he’s now able to poke at him here and there, even doing something as mean as dumping all of the Christmas shopping on him (the character songs and other related in-character material lie in questionably canonical territory, but that kind of punchline is not unreasonable to imagine given their respective personalities). But, overall, he sets the right tone for Daisuke to have a friend he’s able to be around regularly and receive support from, and to fill in that niche of his casual interactions so that Daisuke can have some more solid grounding in his life.

It’s also a testament to how much Ken himself had changed in terms of becoming the kind of person who could handle Daisuke like this. When the two of them first “met” in 02 episode 8, while Ken was still fully under the influence of the Dark Seed, even if we were to put the part about him being the Kaiser aside, this sort of person would never be able to become a good friend to Daisuke. This episode had Daisuke put him on a pedestal -- someone he’ll never be able to be as good as, whom he looks up to as an “idol”, much like the way Daisuke has a tendency to instinctively put himself down in uplifting others. Thus, it was a negative relationship for both of them; Ken being put on a pedestal that ultimately made him uncomfortable, and Daisuke contributing to putting him there in the first place, and taking it extra personally when that pedestal was shattered. But then, Daisuke himself (and, ultimately, the rest of the group) became able to treat Ken like the “normal person” he wanted to be, with no pedestals, simply considering him as a friend with his own feelings and needs; as a result, being this sort of “normal person” making friends through his true personality and desire to support others meant paved the way for him becoming the one person who was best equipped to deal with the very difficult-to-handle Daisuke.

Incidentally, in terms of Kizuna: considering how 02 was such a series about everyone becoming people who could fundamentally interact and communicate better with others, it stands to reason that everyone’s relationships with each other would uniformly improve even after the events of 02, and you can see better interactions between everyone that go beyond just the Jogress pairs. Ken’s clearly able to interact with more of the people in the group in a much more casual manner than he did in 02 itself, and it’s made an important point in the drama CD that Daisuke took everyone’s incidental advice to heart, not just Ken’s. However, advertising material still prominently features the two as a pair, and although part of this is of course due to marketing, Ken is also the one who gets the final words in extracting his “promise” from Daisuke in the drama CD; the official website also calls special attention to him being the one to accompany Daisuke on his ramen outings, even though the one depicted in the drama CD and movie was planned to involve everyone in the group. There are multiple indications that Daisuke himself has learned to become somewhat less defensive and prone to insecurity compared to himself in 02, and it seems that this was accomplished via Ken still actively putting himself in a role of checking on him and making sure he feels properly supported in all of this.

[peppermintbee]

OMORI has poor writing (Part 1)

OMORI stans, just block the #omori hate tag now because I’m going to use it to vent my frustrations with this game. If you love this game, I am not going to try to convince you otherwise. I am glad you enjoyed it so much. I am glad it means a lot to you. I’m not here to take that away from you. I honestly wish I felt the same way!

However, if you are like me and finished the game feeling disappointed, underwhelmed, and maybe a little frustrated, then I am here to say you are not alone. OMORI--while having the right set pieces for an interesting game--is a narrative mess.

I’m splitting this into two posts. This first post is about problems with the plot. The second is about problems with the message/moral. 

(Note: I use “OMORI” in all-caps for the game title, and “Omori” in title case for the character name.)

Spoilers and criticism below.

Part 1: Plot Writing Lies

There’s a book by Brian McDonald called Invisible Ink which is about how to write a compelling story (you can read this great book online for free here). There’s an explanation of the writing “lie” that I find myself frequently thinking of. A “lie” in this context does not mean something is literally untrue, it means something FEELS untrue, unrealistic, improbable, or unlikely. For example, if a character gets shot in the leg but manages to do parkour, this is a “lie” since it seems unrealistic for that to happen. If a character witnesses their beloved parent’s death and shrugs it off, it’s a “lie” because that reaction seems highly unlikely.

In OMORI, the plot is held together by multiple little lies that--try as I might--I just couldn’t bring myself to believe.

1. Sunny’s friends care about him, and vice versa

A major theme of the game is how friendship can overcome any obstacle. Friendship gets Sunny over his fear of heights, spiders, and water. Friendship is what Sunny remembers before the final boss fight, and allows him to face his guilt and defeat it (and prevent him from committing suicide). With the photobook and dialogue you are reminded over and over and over and over and over again that Sunny’s friends love him unconditionally.

However, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe it. The childhood memories are cute but shallow, boiling down to simply hanging out and eating treats. Plus, Kel and Aubrey fight constantly, with Aubrey even physically hitting Kel when he steps out of line. Hero and Mari behave more like babysitters than true friends to the younger kids. 

But at least the other kids interact with each other. Sunny, on the other hand, showed nearly no affection or consideration towards his friends. He floats through the memories like a ghost--he could have been completely absent from all the photos and it would have made little difference. I was ready to accept this as Sunny being an unreliable narrator and not thinking he was a good enough for his friends, but this never contradicted. Instead we are given even more memories where Sunny just silently exists there being “cute.”

[Sunny enriching the lives of his friends by LARPING as a cat.]

Because of the lack of meaningful interactions between them, there was nothing in the game that made me think that these 12-15 year olds would have a strong enough bond that would survive 3-4 years of no contact after finding their friend hanged. In fact, that discovery only drove them farther apart. The only person who I could believe actually had a close bond was Basil, who almost literally filled that trope of being the friend who would help you bury a body (or in this case, help Sunny cover up the accidental manslaughter).

The writing fix for this would be simple: instead of showing us the same boring birthday and beach scenes over again, give the kids memories of overcoming some age-appropriate adversity together: heartbreak over an unrequited crush, anxiety over homework, sports injury, lost dogs, divorced parents, running away from home, bullying, etc. Set a precedent of the friends supporting each other through good times AND bad times. Without such backstory, Sunny’s friendships allegedly giving him the courage to overcome his guilt feels like a lie.

2. Sunny abandoning Basil in the bathroom scene

One of the most confusing moments in the game was Sunny’s negligence when Basil has his first breakdown in his bathroom. This part of the game is player-controlled, which is a strange writing decision because all you can do is click on Basil and various bathroom amenities over and over which completely saps the urgency out of the scene. When you try to leave, Basil begs Sunny to stay, but (due to a lack of player options) Sunny walks out without a word. With no option to talk to him OR get help for him, it makes Sunny seem exceptionally cruel to Basil. In fact, I was starting to wonder if the game was setting up for some sort of twist that Sunny DIDN’T care about his friends, which would fix some of the confusion in point #1. However, as we know, that is not the case. Therefore, Sunny’s negligence/apathy towards Basil’s pain feels like a lie.

The writing fix would be to make it MORE clear that Sunny is intentionally running away from Basil. Make it a cutscene, or, give a false choice such as “Leave Basil? Yes / Yes”. After Sunny leaves, Kel should make some remark about Sunny looking odd, “You look sort of shaken up, is there something you want to tell me?” then hit it home with Sunny shaking his head. This would make it more clear that Sunny is intentionally hiding Basil’s state, as opposed to just being a bad friend. As it stands, it just felt like a writing mistake.

3. Basil and Sunny working together to stage Mari’s death as a suicide

This is the plot hole that I see the most complaints over, but it’s so big I have to address it. Accidentally pushing Mari down the stairs I understand, but the rest is too absurd. Below are some of the “lies” that the writing tries to get away with:

That Sunny and Basil wouldn’t just claim she slipped and fell.

That either boy would even come up with this sick plan.

That they wouldn’t back out of this idea during the multi-step process (carrying her downstairs, outside, getting the jump rope, tying a noose, putting it around her neck, stringing her up, hiding the evidence... This is a series of multiple decisions, not one quick accident like the initial push.)

That it’s not the image of Mari’s death that traumatized Sunny, but the image of what they chose to do to her body that traumatized them. I understand the image of Mari hanging is more dramatic, but they literally did it themselves so why is that more haunting than Sunny killing her?

That Mari’s true cause of death wouldn’t be immediately obvious to the parents, the police, the friends, EVERYONE. (I’ve seen fans try to get rid of this plot hole by hypothesizing that the parents knew and covered it up, but the evidence of this is circumstantial at best. The father saying, “You’re not my son,” is unreliable since it happens in Sunny’s headspace. Divorce is common after the death of a child, and, at the very least, Sunny’s mom doesn’t show any evidence of knowing what happened. The way it is written, only Sunny and Basil know the truth.)

The ridiculousness of this twist is so extreme that it completely broke any immersion I had left. Frankly, the reveal that the happy, loveable Mari committed suicide is a far heavier and more realistic twist than a crazy murder-cover-up story is.

Additionally, it seems like Basil was only written into this scene in order to make Sunny the true victim of what happened. After all, Sunny may have pushed her, but it was Basil who came up with the demented cover up. (This is apparent from just the photos but the datamined Truth Album confirms it.) By having Basil come up with the plan, the game splits the guilt between the two of them to make the kids easier to sympathize with. It’s problematic because if Basil was not in the scene, there would be no way to justify what Sunny did to Mari. So why is what they did easier to accept when they worked together?

Fixing the writing lie: Sunny lies and says that Mari slipped. Remove Basil from the scene, and instead have Sunny confide in Basil which forces Basil to become a co-conspirator and burdens him with the terrible truth.

4. Sunny’s friends forgiving him and Basil for what they did to Mari

Last but not least, the story heavily implies that Hero, Kel, and Aubrey will forgive Basil and Sunny for what they did to Mari. I found this to be almost as unbelievable as the staged-suicide stunt.

It feels like a lie since the group’s friendship is never established as anything beyond shallow hang outs from 3+ years ago (see point #1).

It feels like a lie because this is hot off the heels of Aubrey being so distraught over Mari and the following fall out that in the last three days she 1.) attacked Sunny and Kel with a nail bat TWICE, 2.) Stole Basil’s photobook, and 3.) Shoved Basil in the lake. This trauma is still very fresh for her.

It feels like a lie because the complexity of the staged-suicide is so extreme, one would be hard pressed to forgive ANYONE for doing that, be it friend, foe, parent, sibling, lover, etc.

I’ve seen fans argue that the ending is not about forgiveness, it’s about telling the truth, and I want to believe that. Really. If the ending was about Sunny starting his redemption arc by telling the truth no matter what the consequences are, that would be a meaningful lesson. But the writing does not support that. The ending headspace segments are focused on assuring Sunny that his friends will support/forgive him no matter what. To do this, the game shows us the shallow photobook memories (again) to show how much they allegedly care about each other. Then, when fighting Omori, Sunny remembers these quotes from his friends, which directly correlate to their unconditional support:

KEL: Friends... Friends are supposed to be there for each other.

AUBREY: I hope you can find some peace... or you know... some happiness.

HERO: We made the mistake of leaving each other when we needed each other the most. This time... we’ll stay together.

BASIL: Maybe one day... things can go back to the way they were before.

The really direct evidence that this ending is about getting forgiveness is this quote from Basil in Sunny’s headspace:

[BASIL: “AUBREY, KEL and HERO are good friends. You have to trust that they’ll forgive us.”]

This is one of the last scenes before Sunny tells his friends the truth, proving that obtaining forgiveness from his FRIENDS is in fact the leading motivation for Sunny’s actions.

Fixing this writing lie is easy. Instead, adjust the writing to be about telling the truth, not about how much the friends will still love Sunny. Have headspace Basil say, “Even if they don’t forgive us, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero deserve to know the truth. It’s the only way to make things right... or close to it.”

Conclusion

OMORI is undeniably a cute game with a strong visual identity, and has a premise that could make for a very compelling experience. However, the sloppy plot and weak character writing cause the potential of this game to be squandered. There are other issues as well that I chose not to cover for the sake of time, such as the poor pacing of the dragged out dungeons and the bizarre, unrealistic behavior of characters in the “real” world. 

However, there are a few more glaring problems with OMORI that I have to address: In part 2 of my critique, I break down what may be the biggest problem with OMORI’s writing: the message.

[ Link to Part 2: OMORI’s Message is Mishandled and Distasteful ]