#late answer but we've finally discussed it and come to a conclusion

[tka-calendar]

Regarding the “no holidays” rule, would you consider allowing depictions of holidays that have appeared in canon? In-game Glory holiday events (eg Christmas, Halloween) have served as backdrops for entire story arcs, and China’s real world holidays help develop the characters (eg Ye Qiu wanting Ye Xiu to return home for Spring Festival, Chen Guo reflecting on their team’s progress during Qingming or Christmas).

The "no holidays" rule was more to prevent participants from focusing on the holidays only. We want to create a calendar focused on TKA, not the holidays.

That being said, we will allow holidays but only in terms of it not being the main focus of the fic/art--so depictions of the holidays and using the holidays as a way to explore other things would be allowed.

[solipsistful]

director’s cut on automatisms? 👀👀

this took a while to figure out what to even say, but i think i'll go chapter by chapter and say something interesting about each of them

but i'll first say that the very first unfinished draft of Automatisms was actually a NaNo project by Serpent, which i (ace) then took over and rewrote into its current form. so i'll be making this post and seeing if he wants to chime in (not that anyone except me has been particularly talkative lately rip)

XX01: Re-entry

i love that the fic starts (after the pretentious epigraph, im sorry) with a canon line. not only does it temporally set Automatisms as essentially an alternate Acceptance, but i think highlights how it really does follow from Control's canon experiences. like, i could absolutely see an argument that Control canonically just has a dissociative disorder (Authority begins with a dissociative episode, his guides…).

funnily, it wasn't actually any of our idea to go "what if him plural". that was a friend lol.

XX02: Breaching

Finally, a conclusion. Denouement. Control let out the breath he hadn’t intended to hold.

my desire to copy canon's style means hooray narrative (and ghost) metaphors.

XX03: Returning

this chapter has the big freaking problem of being extremely important in canon but not at all changed by Control getting some Lowry commentary. i know one answer would be to just… not follow canon so closely, but shh.

what this means is that it's basically best to read this fic with a very good memory for what happens in Acceptance, which probably isn't great. (i fall into the exact same problem with Doubled)

XX04: Waking

ive mentioned this before, but isn't it fun that Lowry's first time fronting alone occurs off-screen and is never really discussed explicitly? something with Narrative there. (it's also fun how canonically that's just Control having a freeze reaction to the biologist anyway, "playing dead to keep his head")

XX05: The lighthouse

god we had the HARDEST TIME deciding what person and tense Lowry's sections should be in. there's several version of this chapter trying to figure out first vs second vs maybe just third? and present vs past. first person present eventually won out as Special enough, even if i struggle to write it (even more than second person). it also leaves second person for the voice of Area X-as-narrator later, which is probably better.

and then Absolution is just gonna be plain old third person past, boo.

XX06: Somewhere else

just some Control reckoning with wtf is Lowry even doing in his head. i mean, it's an important question, like the most important thing in the world for Control right now, but it's sorta hard coming up with scenes where he can both think/talk about that without just going in circles about how unanswerable it is.

XX07: The tower

i hope this chapter feels as Significant as i intend it to be. this is, after all, the real moment of divergence from canon: Control never goes down the tower!

there are, like chapter 5, versions of this chapter where the "beckoning" is in the first person vs second person, italicized or different fonts or right-aligned or not set apart from the rest of the text at all, etccc. i Care about this formatting stuff okay. (had to go digging into how AO3 work skins work at all in order to get the chapter numbers right, for instance, lol)

XX08: The border

it really strikes me, given what we've seen of Absolution, that Lowry should be way more over-the-top in his reactions here lol. he's not a quiet shut down type like Control; he's over the top and angry and should have, i dunno, punched a tree or something. oh well. maybe he's just relying on not being in the body to give him some distance from basically the worst thing imaginable that could happen to him in this moment.

XX09: The teeth

ok i told myself i wouldn't say this about all the chapters, but i think this chapter in particular should've been longer lol. i mean, it's a Good Chapter, but that's why it should've been longer! there's a lot of implications of things that probably should've been explored more. i'm thinking in particular of Lowry wanting to go retrieve the videos. this is the guy who retrieved the videos from the first expedition, as awful as that must have been. he's abandoning all that and the first expedition overall by leaving the SR building.

ah well.

XX10: The throat

i think im so clever for the "are you real" repeat

XX11: Humanity

after all that kerfuffle over whether Lowry would be in the first/second/third person, we actually hadn't considered what that would look like when Lowry and Control were blurring, whoops. so, good thing that we decided on the first person, because that makes blurring into "we" instead of like. "yall" lmao.

XX12: Exorcism

how do you write hypnosis (especially from the point of view of the hypnotized)

i mean the real point of this chapter is just "look at my theory/interpretation that Lowry's hypnosis is linked to Area X's narrative control and isn't that fun"

XX13: Memory

i don't know what to say about this one. character discussions!

XX14: Disposition

this is simultaneously a filler chapter and also i should've spent longer dealing with things like Lowry having food issues (which is something i had sorta drawn from Acceptance but here is influenced by all the Absolution tidbits in which he's obsessing over eating animals in Area X lol).

but mostly it's a filler chapter because by this point, i knew that the second half of the fic would use all the same chapter titles in reverse, and i have Disposition2 already written so Disposition1 has to exist.

Bonus Sneak Preview: XX15: Escape

obviously a lot of my fic-writing efforts have been spent towards WOE.BEGONE lately, but i think another reason why Automatisms has been going slowly is that this next chapter includes a large change in time and context. so, i'm sorta wanting to think through whether there's anything in the old context that I still want to do before i decide on A Change. but really i should probably just go ahead and do the Change. as hinted above, i have a lot of post-Change stuff written. :>

- ace and no Serpent as it turns out whoops

[julemmaes]

Robyn

Rowaelin Month, Day Ten

A/N: I'd planned on posting them in order, but you get what you get. Idk when the other prompts will come tbf. I hope soon. Anyway, I managed to write over 6k words today and I'm pretty fucking proud.

This is just fluff over fluff, so yep enjoy!!

Word count: 3,047

Rowan was unbelievably late as he sped through the streets of Orynth.

So late that the school had called not only him, but also the front desk of the place where he worked when he hadn't answered the call on his personal phone. Sorscha, his assistant, had entered his office with an embarrassed smile on her lips, as if she didn't want to tell him that he had forgotten for the umpteenth time to pick up his daughter from school.

Lorcan had joined him, for some strange reason, but Rowan had stopped bothering when it came to his best friend. He'd been trying to figure out how he reasoned for years and had come to the conclusion that there was no logical sense in the actions of the man sitting next to him, who was currently singing at the top of his lungs to one of the songs on the Frozen CD - which much to the chagrin of both of them, had gotten stuck in his car radio months before, forcing them into hours of torture.

He would never deny that the songs were all quite catchy, but after the sixteenth time Rowan had had to listen to Let It Go at maximum volume, his positive opinion of the film had begun to waver.

As they pulled into the school parking lot, Rowan noticed with deep regret that the only cars still there were those of the teachers and school staff.

They both got out of the car, Rowan walking quickly towards the entrance while Lorcan dragged behind him.

He greeted the caretakers sitting at the entrance, who returned a big smile. A smile that grew even wider when his large, imposing friend entered a few moments later. He stopped to talk to the old ladies and Rowan walked down the corridor he knew led to Robyn's classroom.

He could hear muffled voices from inside the teachers' room on the left and the one he knew belonged to Miss Galathynius coming from the right. He looked out over the classroom, spotting the two people sitting at a desk.

As soon as his daughter saw him, her eyes widened and a huge smile flashed across her face.

No words. No "hello, daddy!" or "I missed you!" from the little girl.

Her teacher turned as she leapt out of her chair and ran towards him, hugging his legs and looking up at him. Rowan smiled at her in turn, running a hand over her hair that was shot in every direction.

"Hello, little bird," he murmured to her. The child's smile widened even more if that was possible.

The woman a few feet away from them pulled herself upright, crossing her arms over her chest and offering a sincere smile to the child, who hid behind his thighs.

Rowan was about to tell her that Robyn was shy with everyone like this, ready to defend his daughter's behaviour as he was used to doing in front of every adult, but he was beaten to the punch.

"It's good to see you, Mr Whitethorn," she said, extending a hand. Rowan shook it without hesitation. "Actually, I just wanted to write you a letter regarding Robyn," she continued, never taking her eyes off the little girl. "Nothing serious," she hastened to reassure him when Rowan grimaced, "quite the contrary. Robyn is remarkably good. One of the best in the class, though I shouldn't offer that information so bluntly."

Miss Galathynius winked at him, but he couldn't process what he'd just been told.

"Sorry, could you-"

The little hands clamped around his trousers tightened a fraction more and Rowan looked down, trying to figure out what was bothering his daughter, but then something happened that he hadn't even dared to dream about in recent times.

"You're here!"

The little girl broke off and ran away from him in less than the blink of an eye.

Rowan turned just in time to see Lorcan grab Robyn in mid-air, spinning her around as he brought her to his chest and showered her with kisses. The loud, incessant laughter that erupted from her seemed too much coming from that fragile little body, but he never tired of hearing it.

"Why hello baby!" said Lorcan laughing in turn, starting to tickle her until she begun to rebel and he was forced to let her slide to the floor. Robyn was still laughing at the top of her lungs and nearly fell to the ground as she squealed left and right, letting herself be pushed around by the closest thing to an uncle she had ever had.

When Rowan turned back to the woman, she was wide-eyed and her lips slightly parted as she watched the massive man dressed completely in black and the menacing face turn into a completely different person the second he had seen Robyn.

He chuckled, "I know, it's not every day you get to see a little girl be so comfortable with a brute like that."

Lorcan, who was listening to everything, looked him straight in the eye and without stopping smiling and playing with the little girl, mouthed to him to fuck off.

"Well, yeah. You caught me a little off guard." she confessed, still shocked to hear how Robyn was having a full conversation with Lorcan. They couldn't hear anything of what she was actually saying, but even just the fact she was talking to someone seemed to have Aelin unsettled.

She returned her attention to Rowan and let out a breath that sounded more like a giggle, "I've never heard her laugh before."

He nodded, blushing a little at the teacher's surprised but relieved tone.

"I'm sure the dean warned you about the problem she has," he said in a low voice. He grimaced at her poor choice of words, "I mean, not problem, but the difficulty she finds in interacting with people she doesn't know."

Liar, he told himself. Robyn hadn't spoken to anyone but him and Lorcan since the day Lyria had died. It wasn't a difficulty, but a response to the trauma that prevented her from speaking to anyone who wasn't part of her immediate family.

"I know, I know. We've been looking for solutions together." she informed him. "I give her a white board every morning. Come on, I'll show you." she turned to the desk they were sitting at earlier and raised the magnetic board, on which a few words were scribbled on. "I'll write here what she might need. Yes. No. I need to go to the bathroom. I'm thirsty. I'm hungry." she read, listing the various options. Rowan gaped. "We've only just started going over the alphabet for a second time, so she can't really read or write yet, as I imagine you know, but the little drawings next to each sentence help her."

She continued talking, but he couldn't quite follow.

The woman in front of him - aside from being breathtakingly beautiful - had done as much as she could to help her child with communication.

"Mr. Whitethorn-"

"Rowan. Please, call me Rowan." he said, clearing his throat once he realized how hoarse it sounded to his ears. Lorcan walked up to them at that point, still holding Robyn in his arms and positioned himself next to him, letting their shoulders touch in a comforting way.

"Call me Aelin, then," she smiled at them both. Then she made a small grimace, turning to Rowan, "I wanted to ask if it bothered you, that I sought a solution like that. Maybe I put her in distress, embarrassed her. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I wanted to solve this on my own. I really wanted to discuss it with you, with your husband too, to avoid misunderstandings. Maybe we could arrange a meeting."

He was about to tell her that she had given him the exact opposite of annoyance, that he had been more than pleased that she had helped Robyn this way, when her words finally registered.

Lorcan, beside him, had opened his mouth wide and his lips were slowly bending into a mischievous smile.

Rowan furrowed his brow, "I'm sorry, what?"

Aelin's smile seemed to falter. "A meeting? With you? To talk about how to handle the situation," then she shifted her gaze to Lorcan, "You're more than welcome to join as well. I didn't know Robyn had two dads, I apologise for assuming Robyn had a mum and dad. That was very rude of me-"

"I love this," Lorcan whispered, laughing in shock. He turned to Rowan with eyes that sparkled with amusement, "I would definitely be the top."

Rowan looked at him with an expression of complete shock on his face, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Robyn gasped, opening her eyes wide and bringing a hand to her mouth, pointing then to Rowan's.

"Yeah, sorry, love. I shouldn't have said the bad word." he apologised, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He turned back to Miss Galathynius, "I'm sorry to have to disappoint you, but we're not married."

"No need to lie, sweetie. I'm sure Aelin," he gave her a knowing look, "doesn't mind at all about our relationship status."

Aelin nodded, "Well, yes. That doesn't change anything. Mr..." she turned to Lorcan, searching for a name.

"Salvaterre."

"Mr. Salvaterre can still attend. The fact that you are not yet married is no reason why you cannot both be present at the meeting. You don't have to worry, we are a very tolerant school and if anyone bothers you, you can come directly to me."

A sound of sheer glee escaped Lorcan.

Aelin continued, "I mean it. I was pleased to see both of you today. I was also pleased to see Robyn smiling so much." she concluded, looking the little one in the face.

Rowan took a deep breath, bracing himself, "No, I meant, we're not a couple. We're not gay. He's her uncle."

The woman's blonde eyebrows shot up and a second later she turned almost as red as the dress Robyn was wearing as Lorcan shook his head muttering something very much like 'you're no fun', which made Robyn giggle.

"Why did you even get off the car?" he asked him exasperated.

Lorcan shrugged, "Because I missed my little bean, you monster." he replied, clutching Robyn to his chest. The little girl clutched Lorcan's shirt in her chubby little hands and Rowan huffed, shaking his head.

Aelin brought her hands to her face, leaning against the desk behind her. She shook her head, her face still hidden, "Oh, god. I'm so sorry."

Lorcan let out a dry laugh, "Don't worry about it. It was fun while it lasted." then he turned to Rowan again, who was still trying to recover from the idea of being involved in a relationship with his friend, "You're really no fun."

"Yeah, no fun dad." repeated Robyn.

Silence fell over the class. Rowan looked at her with wide eyes and blinked once, twice. Robyn was staring at him with a sweet scowl that mimicked so much that of the man who was still holding her, but Rowan couldn't get over the fact that his daughter had spoken while Aelin was still beside them.

He was about to talk, noticing how Robyn had started squirming in Lorcan's arms, when there was a knock at the door.

They both turned, Aelin peering over Rowan's shoulder, and saw the figure of a petite girl with black hair and eyes standing in the doorway, watching them with her head slightly bent to the side. She had a tag on her t-shirt that was too colourful to belong to someone who didn't work in a school with children, so he guessed she was a teacher herself. Besides, Rowan felt like he'd seen her elsewhere. Probably every day when he picked Robyn up from school, he said to himself.

"I know you're not supposed to eavesdrop but I stopped by earlier and heard you were a couple of dads," she said by way of introduction. "I just wanted to reassure you that the school is an extremely safe place. I'm the one who did most of the interviews with the parents," that's where they had met then, "and one of the questions that is asked is just about the tolerance of the people who will be attending the school."

Aelin watched her, remaining silent the whole time and putting on an amused smile, nodded, "That's what I was telling them. How tolerant the school is. They make such a cute couple, don't you think, Elide?"

Rowan turned to her, arching an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was doing. The woman, as if she could truly understand what he was trying to convey to her, nodded her head towards Lorcan, who Rowan only then noticed was standing weirdly, his eyes fixed on the woman in the doorway.

He grinned, deciding to take his revenge right away. "Oh, yes. Thank you so much for the reassurance," Rowan began to play along as well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lorcan turn towards him, dropping Robyn to the floor, who made a disapproving noise at being dumped so suddenly. "We are happy to know that this school is a safe place for our daughter. And for us."

Elide offered him a blinding smile, "Good. I'm happy to hear that you are pleased so far. And I am happy that Aelin is the one who is taking your daughter's class. She's the best one here."

Rowan didn't know her yet, but he knew the thing Elide had just said could only be true.

"Well," she said again, giving them an apologetic smile, "I really must go now, but if you need anything, you can find all my contact details on the website. Have a nice day!"

Aelin and Rowan said their goodbyes, thanking her. Lorcan took a while to recover, but when he realised he was staring into empty space he ran towards the door, almost stepping on little Robyn, who was moved by Aelin.

"We are very much not gay, miss!" he shouted into the hallway. Aelin, now beside him and with a hand on Robyn's shoulder, cackled. With Lorcan's infinite luck, someone walked by just then and gave him a stern look. "Oh, shut up ma'am. I'm an ally. The best ally."

Rowan shook his head as Lorcan launched himself in pursuit of the poor teacher and burst out laughing when he heard him shout, "I'm not homophobic! I'm willing to suck someone's cock if I have to prove it to you!"

Aelin opened her mouth wide before bursting out laughing in turn.

Robyn, seeing both adults so happy, giggled too and Rowan bent down to pick her up. The little girl laid her full head of white-light hair on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

She was tired and Rowan really needed to get her home to sleep.

He glanced at Aelin and reduced his lips to a thin line, "I'm sorry about the commotion, I'll try not to bring him into the building again. Even if it means tying him to the seat."

The soft laugh she gave made something tighten in his chest. He frowned.

Aelin didn't seem to notice the effect she had on him, "Don't worry, Elide is crazy about fools like him. If he says the right things, we might start seeing each other outside of school too."

Rowan nodded, now too caught up in the thought of having to take Robyn home to focus on anything else.

They agreed on when to hold the parent-teacher meeting and then he grabbed Robyn's backpack, walking towards the exit.

He was thoughtless as he reached into his pocket for his keys and balanced everything else - including the girl - on his other arm, but when Robyn's hand brushed his cheek, he looked down and his eyes met their twins. Green against green.

"What is it?"

The little girl's voice never stopped making him smile. Each time was like the first time she had said dada.

"I really like her."

Rowan frowned, "Who?"

"Miss Aelin." she whispered, almost as if she was afraid they might hear her.

He smiled at her, "Yeah? You like her?"

"She's nice to me."

Rowan had to put her down as he opened the door and let her get into the back seats by herself.

"I'm glad she's treating you well, love," he let her know, buckling her in.

He hoped she'd tell him more about her new teacher, but like any kid her age, the topic of conversation couldn't last for more than four lines apiece, "Where's Uncle Lorcan?"

Rowan snorted, "No idea, little bird."

Robyn nodded, "Elide is pretty too."

And as if those words had summoned him, Lorcan appeared beside the car, making them both scream. He entered the car in a heartbeat and turned to his daughter, who was still settling into the seat. "Do you know Miss Lochan?"

But before she could answer him, Rowan had entered the car in turn and smacked the back of his head, which made the Robyn giggle, "You're not using my daughter as your wingman. Now stop it and buckle up."

Lorcan gave him a gentle push, before doing as he was told and for once he was happy he'd convinced him to do something.

Or at least, Rowan thought he had convinced him.

"What if I left you a note to deliver to Miss Lochan, Rob? Would you be up for it?"

Rowan knew, even without looking at her, that she was nodding emphatically.

Keeping his eyes on the road, he murmured, "Could you stop calling my daughter Rob, please? You'll give her an existential crisis."

Lorcan clicked his tongue against his palate, "Rowan, I'm not giving her a damn thing. We live in this new world, okay? Your daughter could be called Simon and still be a beautiful princess. Grow up and educate yourself before you talk shit."

"Aaaah!" shouted Robyn, "Bad word!"

Rowan sighed and shook his head, but still he was smiling.

This was his life. Had been for the past two years.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.

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[soul-dwelling]

you mentioned in another answer that you find a lot of flaws in soul eater. could you expand on what you dislike about it?

Spoiler warning for the entire series:

How it handles fanservice, often relying on fetishizing underage characters (Chapter 113 and its treatment of the girl characters in particular; Meme's handling in NOT)

Some plot drags after Crona leaves the DWMA and even into the final arc on the Moon. It felt like the story was spinning its wheels (some parts of the Baba Yaga Castle arc, some of the Moon arc, the stupid shower scene with Kim and Kid, whatever that sky whale chapter was doing).

Soul Eater NOT struggled to locate a plot and didn't seem to know whether it wanted a series-wide plot or just to be episodic for worldbuilding and gag chapters

Lack of back story and worldbuilding (culture and origins of witches; Immortal Clan and why Free is the last one we've seen outside of supplemental content; what were Vajra, Pushka, and others like before they died)...until [SPOILER] came along and gave a lackluster, ham-fisted back story that potentially contradicts what was already defined in canon and does so for the sake of forcing a connection between [SPOILER] and Soul Eater that does disservice to both series. (This only gets worse when you re-read older chapters of Soul Eater and look at older supplemental supposedly "canon" content, all of which got contradicted so badly by [SPOILER] that it opened more questions that will lead to disappointing answers. When fans are coming up with more engaging back story and worldbuilding for witches, souls, Lord Death, etc, there is a problem with the original work...)

Speaking of [SPOILER]: no, Kid does not look like [SPOILER]. I don't see it, not any more than any of Ohkubo's characters suffer from a "same face" problem as any other character. This isn't helped by how inconsistent Ohkubo's overall oeuvre is--which is not a flaw: his style changed, that's fine, but stop acting like you could compare how [SPOILER] looks at the end of [SPOILER] to how Kid looks at any point in any manga and say they look similar. (That also opens up questions about Asura, but any more discussion about how bad a manga [SPOILER] was and I will be at this all night.)

Speaking of the supplemental content: it felt like it was repeating the same gags or were cliche or really should've taken what worked in them and used them better in the manga to progress characters. An audio drama with Tsubaki acting like Black Star to try to jog back his memory when he has amnesia? I wish that had been a chapter. Some Soul x Maka hints? Why weren't those in the manga? Then again, you have a plot like Maka drinking a love potion, and an underdeveloped fight involving Poseidon's lance, that are problematic in the former and underdeveloped in the latter.

In retrospect, some stakes felt low. (I appreciate that so few of the main and supporting characters are killed off. But I wonder whether, in a re-write, having more deaths would reinforce that this is still a series about Lord Death, the concept of dying, and what happens to the dead. And what deaths we did get come so late in the story that, while they hurt, also feel like a last-minute instance rather than a logical conclusion, or were of characters we barely knew at all and whose personalities and relationships with other characters were so underdeveloped that, while they hurt as much as the deaths of anyone else, aren't as effective as suits the story.)

Personally, for me, I don't think Ohkubo's manga style (B Ichi era/beginning of Soul Eater, later Soul Eater, end of Soul Eater/all of Soul Eater NOT) is as memorable, appealing, or outstanding as what BONES did with the first anime.

Speaking of the anime: The original arc that wrapped up the first anime (when it diverged from the manga's plot) could not keep focus on any one character very long (we keep following Maka running for episodes, the Kid versus clowns story is a fine fighting episode but leads to an anticlimactic conclusion for Lord Death and Eibon). And that's not getting into the good and bad parts of the "punch of courage" ending. And, while this is not the fault of the series, it has opened up the interminable "I want a Soul Eater reboot!" demand from people who do not realize how bad of a monkey's paw wish that is, not only considering adapting Chapter 113 but also having to acknowledge the prequel material.

And Soul Eater NOT, as an anime, is enjoyable for me--but in addition to the aforementioned fanservice problems and lack of consistent plot progression, the series suffered from disappointing visuals and animation.

(This isn't a flaw, but since I'm mentioning the anime: I can't speak to many problems with the acting or casting in the Japanese and English versions--minus, of course, Mignogna--or the music. Just about all the acting and casting is phenomenal, just about all the music is phenomenal and doesn't come off as repetitive or overstaying its welcome.)

With more and more time, the Book of Eibon "you look like what you find attractive in the opposite gender" conceit gets more and more problematic.

And Ragnarok's annoying gags regarding Crona's gender and pulling up their outfit were distasteful and infuriating.

There's next-to-nothing I could criticize as a flaw or something I dislike with the fandom in general. Granted, there have been individuals in the fandom whom I find abhorrent (when you see some clown putting hate symbols onto anime characters, like those fucking red hats, I don't understand how you can't have anything but contempt for such inhuman people).

I wish there had been more Tom and Jerry-esque shenanigans with Blair in her cat form, like how she tricked the Flying Dutchman in the monster factory arc. Hell, I've seen enough fan works do more with Blair as a "mother figure" role or just giving her more to do than "cat who tricks people" and "fanservice checklist," and she felt under-utilized in the manga.

The Death Scythes who aren't named Spirit and maybe Marie, Justin, and Tezca felt under-developed.

(I haven't played through enough of the video games to give a fair assessment as to their flaws.)

Team B (Kilik, Harvar, the Pots, etc) were underutilized and underdeveloped. Ox got off better--but it required a forced relationship with Kim, and that's all the more bothersome when NOT had a more engaging relationship between Kim and Jackie.

SquareEnix should've made more merch and other productions. But that's less of a flaw and more me being petty when it comes to promoting your product.

[starfallskitter]

The Guardian Alya Theory

Hi! Didn't expect to be writing Miraculous theory again so quickly, but I have an idea in my head that I needed to get out there. So hear me out.

Warning: major spoilers for Season 4 all throughout this theory. Specifically Gang of Secrets, Optigami, Truth, Furious Fu, Mr Pigeon 72... just, most of them.

In short, the theory is this: Marinette will discover that she can't be both Ladybug and the Guardian at the same time, and will make Alya the Guardian. Marinette's memory will be wiped and she will spend a few episodes re-learning how to be Ladybug, and re-learning Chat Noir, which will obviously change their relationship.

This means Alya will know who Chat Noir is. And I think, for a brief time before her memory is wiped, Marinette will know as well. Meaning: temporary one-sided reveal!

Now, here's all the evidence, below the cut.

There's a fundamental problem with Ladybug and the Guardian being the same person. There's the stress it places on Marinette, sure, and the Guardian certainly can have a Miraculous and use it, but the problem is right here:

Someone has to be the link between civilian identities, and right now Plagg and Tikki are the only ones who know- and that's useless when both heros are transformed. The Guardian needs to know the identity of both Ladybug and Chat Noir. And if there's one thing that the show has absolutely beaten into us by now...

It's that they can't know each others.

So, there's a fundamental tension here. Marinette is currently putting all of her focus on being the Guardian, on working with the kwamis and figuring things out about the Miracle Box; and as her plans increasingly involve her role as Guardian, using kwamis or the fact that Alya knows her civilian identity, she's not quite being Ladybug properly. She's not doing right by Chat Noir, because now, as her plans are increasingly involving things she as Marinette and/or she as the Guardian have access to, and Chat Noir is not knowingly included in either of those, he is being ousted. It turns out she still needs him (or Plagg, in Mr Pigeon 72) for her plans, but her relationship with him is suffering.

He says in Truth that he doesn't mind her being the Guardian as long as it doesn't change things between them:

Except it is changing, and it has been bothering him. Just look at his face when he realises (or more accurately, assumes) the akuma has been defeated without him in Optigami:

He is not happy.

I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone at this point that Ladybug is ousting Chat Noir and he's upset by it. At this point in the series he's doing okay about it, still managing to keep up a front and hoping this is temporary. Which, according to this theory, it is. Honestly, no matter how this goes, it's not going to make Chat happy, because in this theory, the ending won't please him. We'll get to that.

So Marinette can't be Guardian and Ladybug at the same time. So, she has to give one up.

She may try to give up being Ladybug, but I'm not convinced this will happen. She may try to give over guardianship to Su Han, but I'm also not convinced by this- it's not narratively interesting and seems to contradict the conclusion of Furious Fu. So, what might she do?

Well, there's a clear answer. Someone who's already helping figure out important features of the Miraculouses, who was able to figure out a whole new power of the Ladybug Miraculous:

And who has good investigative powers to reveal more secrets? Who is already heavily invested in the superheros? Who already knows that Marinette is Ladybug and is already helping her?

And who has Marinette possibly already said she's training up to be Guardian?

Now, whether she's reffering to being Ladybug or being the Guardian here is unclear. I've seen most interpretations suggesting she means Ladybug, and from the wording in this case it honestly seems like both; but it could definitely be either. And in the context of this theory, if we assume she means Guardian, then it's clear that Marinette is already noticing that Alya would make a good Guardian.

So, let's put the pieces together.

Premise: Ladybug and Chat Noir cannot know each other's identity until this Hawkmoth is defeated. Premise: The Guardian must know both Ladybug and Chat Noir's identity. Conclusion: Ladybug and the Guardian cannot be the same person at this point in time. (Chat Noir can't be either).

Premise: Ladybug and the Guardian cannot be the same person at this point in time. Premise: Alya would be a good Guardian. Premise: Marinette either will not, or should not, give up being Ladybug. Conclusion: Marinette will make Alya the Guardian.

There are two complications with this plan. One is in Alya being the Guardian, and one is in Marinette giving it up.

The complication with Alya being the guardian is that Hawkmoth knows her identity. He knows she's Rena Rouge, and as of Optigami knows that Rena Rouge is special as opposed to the other holders. This appears to not be stopping Marinette giving her the Miraculous, but obviously, based on the events of late season 3, it's more of a complication in her being the Guardian. She has, like, parents, and can't hide like Master Fu could.

A possible solution is some kind of trickery, in which they make it look like Alya has lost her miraculous, and make it seem like Ladybug's still the Guardian. I mean, Alya's miraculous is illusion-based, and this could be interesting if it's post one-sided reveal discussed below. I'm sure there are other solutions as well, but off the top of my head I'd assume that would be the plan. Perhaps the Box is camoflaged such that finding out what of Alya's is the Miracle Box at all would be a challenge. There's a lot of possibility.

The other complication: Marinette would lose all memory of the Miraculouses.

Now, it's presumed here that the way the memory loss works is that it happens every time (and it's not like the appearance of the box, or kwamis being in/out of it, in that it's a factor of what the owner believes), and that the memory loss only applies to the Miraculouses and the kwamis and all of that, and doesn't affect other memories- which seems to be Fu's experience of it, after all. He doesn't remember Marinette because he only ever knew her as Ladybug, but he seemed to remember the unrelated Marianne fine.

This means that if Marinette loses guardianship, she'll remember Alya, Adrien, her family, etc... but nothing about Ladybug, Chat Noir, Hawkmoth, Tikki, any of that.

Which means:

-She'll have to spend some amount of time re-learning how to be Ladybug, who Chat Noir is, etc. all of that. Chat Noir will probably be able to fill her in on all of this, and so will Alya and Tikki, so it won't take so long.

-She gets a total reset on her relationship with Chat Noir. Which I highly doubt he'll be happy with- but it might change her view of him. I say it might change her view of him because mainly, while their relationship has been pretty consistent, she definitely is starting to like him more in this season, seeing him differently- and I largely think that that's due to a change in circumstance, as Marinette can only trust so many people in her life:

But I think an important part of Adrien's character recently is that we've seen less dichotomy between Adrien and Chat Noir. His true personality is a little of both, but he puts both on to play various roles; but honestly, I've noticed some more of Adrien in Chat Noir, and some more of Chat Noir in Adrien. He's being more honest with himself around some people, the self we only really see him being with Plagg, which he was trying to be with Kagami and is increasingly being with Marinette. It's hard to provide specific examples, though.

But if Marinette's first impressions of Chat Noir are just a touch more Adrien-like than they were, perhaps her feelings towards him will change- without losing that aspect of trust. I know I'm being very vague here, but there's a lot of potential and it'll take a lot more episodes of this season than we've seen to predict how this might go.

It's also possible that Marinette will remember Chat Noir when she met him as Marinette. Then we might get some great Marichat, or her only having knowledge of him as that boy who came to her ledge or she fake-dated. Which would be interesting. It's not totally clear how this will work if it occurs, so it's up to the writers really.

So that situation provides a lot of angst: Ladybug forgetting Chat Noir. But what comes before her forgetting Chat Noir could be something really interesting. After all, if the Guardian must know Chat Noir's identity, perhaps Marinette will try that first. Adrien will, of course, trust her completely.

Cue at least one episode where Marinette knows that Chat Noir and Adrien are the same person (while Adrien not knowing the reverse). Cue Ladrien. And, right after that, an episode that revolves around Ladybug erasing those memories. While Alya knows everything that just happened. And that Chat Noir is Adrien. And she can't tell Marinette this as she has to re-teach her how to be Ladybug. Honestly, if any character knows what we as the audience know about the Love Square, it makes perfect sense that it's Alya.

In conclusion: angsty season finale that ends with Alya knowing everything, Chat Noir Very Upset, Ladybug getting a memory reset, and just generally everything changing? It's more likely than you think.

[ritchieblackless]

Blackmore and Powell's friendship pt 11.

(They are always that close in all Rainbow photo sessions...)

Well I saw that the previous part had a good acceptance (thanks for that).

In this part 2 I'd like to talk about three, short and cute but important, things to show that their friendship was not something superficial like 'we are bandmates and we have to get along' No, they were genuinely friends. And how nice (and non-expressive English) they are.

(This will be filled with some cute quotes)

(And again, I'm doing this because I'm still surprised that they were friends)

Cozy stayed with Ritchie when nobody else did.

In 1979 they re-build the band. In the late '78 Ronnie just left the band followed by David Stone and Bob Disley leaving Ritchie without a keyboard player, a bass player and a singer. Cozy, unlike the others, choose to stay with Ritchie (yeah, suprisingly, someone wanted to stay with our moody Ritchie) because he believed in the band. And that was not a matter for money anymore. Was a matter of friendship (if you want called it) and still believing in the band.

"We both took a week off to talk things out and we reached the conclusion that, yes, we wanted to carry on with the band because we still believed in it. After all, Peters And Lee did alright, so we reckoned that Blackmore and Powell, you know..." -Cozy. (Sounds 1979)

This is a extremely important thing because if Cozy hadn't chosen to stay with Ritchie probably the history of Rainbow would have been a little different. Maybe Down To Earth and Difficult To Cure would never have existed. It would have been a bit difficult for Ritchie to re-build the band on his own if Cozy hadn't stayed with him. (I know this is boring but I needed to highlight this)

This brought them more trust on each other and at the same time their relationship was wearing out (But I'll talk about that in another occasion)

• Admiration for each other.

Beyond their equal love for make Ronnie's, Tony's and everyone else's life impossible. They had admiration for each other (Like a normal bandmates but cuter and is funnily awkward because they are too English). Time for the nice quotes!

"No, it was Cozy's idea. He was amazing at that. The drum solo always was the most successful part of our show. Cozy came up with an installation that rises above the floor of the stage and moves closer to the audience. Twenty years later, Motley Crue did this too. Cozy came up with the use of dry ice and smoke, which made it seem as though a spaceship was taking off. He invented drumming to the music of Tchaikovsky. Cozy was amazing. When he did his thing, we left the stage to have a rest. For me it was a rescue, because I could go behind the scenes for some time to watch him play, take a rest and go back on stage. Cozy played wonderful and exciting drum solos. Drum solos are usually very boring. Even John Bonham played the usual stuff. Cozy really know how to make it exciting for the audience. His solos always left people happy, no matter how good the rest of the show was. (laughs)"

Interviewer: "When I met with Cozy a few years ago, he told me that other drummers did that kind of solo already way before he did it."

"I didn't know about that and I don't care very much. I saw and heard it from Cozy for the first time and it was amazing." -Ritchie. (Metal HM 2006)

(Those were many 'amazing' don't you think, Ritchie?) This is cute.

"We've got on very well since the band started. But I hate to think what will happen when we do have an argument ... no, he's been very good to me. He more or less lets me have a free hand. I like it this way. It's nice to work with someone as good as Ritch! He's on top" -Cozy. (Melody Maker 1978)

'Lets me have a free hand' That's another thing. We all know Ritchie for being demanding and he supervised the other band member's work but with Cozy was different (but I will highlight this in another part)

"You can't get any better than Cozy you know... he's always up there on stage going crazy, he always pushes me on when I look round, he always gives me that incentive to play because Cozy won't let anybody take it easy." -Ritchie (Sounds 1979)

In fact, Ritchie said the same thing about Cozy before, in 1977.

"There'll always be a Ronnie, there'll always be a Cozy and myself in Rainbow and that's all that matters, others may come and go because they always turn out to be sidemen, unless we get some one really good. And Cozy, you can't get any better than that, so anybody else who comes along has got to be as good as him or they're not accepted." -Ritchie (Sounds 1977)

(Okay Ritchie, okay, we got it) It is nice because we know Ritchie for being a hard, strange bloke. He rarely talks like that about someone. Just Jon, Candice and a very few people. That's way I'm saying, again, that Cozy was "special" in some kind of way.

Complicity and Trust.

Time for some more nice quotes! Although their ups and downs, they had a lot complicity and a nice trust in each other.

"Cozy and I would love to stay here. I think Cozy would love to live in Luxembourg, near the racing track and I would love to live in a castle. (Laughter of both)" -Ritchie (they were together in this interview) (Melody Maker, 1976)

They had another thing in common that made their friendship strong... they loved ABBA.

"I think here it's worth to return to the stories with Cozy in that French castle, when he and I were sitting by the fireplace in this ancient, we discussed music and listened to different tapes.

Once Cozy, having drunk a little bit more alcohol than usually, asked me: "Do you know what my favourite band is?". When I asked: "What?", he said: "You will laugh". I asked: "What's so funny?", he replied: "Well... I adore ABBA". And suddenly I started like: "I also love ABBA"... He revealed his secret, which was common to us (laughs). Because at that time, you couldn't admit that you like ABBA. It was so good when Cozy finally said it. "Let's listen to ABBA!". Cozy brought an ABBA cassette to the fireplace and we listened to it until the next morning. Everyone was happy." -Ritchie. (MH, 2006)

This is a ver cute and suggestive quote from Ritchie about revealing secrets to each other.

There's no doubt that they were great friends. They knew each other's thoughts (I'm not joking, they answer for each other). This friendship became so interesting to me 'cause they were almost best friend without knowing it and thinking that they were just bandmates.

(I'm sorry if this part is not as interesting as the previous one.)

[ma-gic-gay]

A few hours (and ice cream cones) later, Donna leaves to go to the Q's to play with Wiley and Ophelia. "I finally found a dress. It took three stores and way too many dresses that fit like crap but I've found one and I'm ready for the Ball tomorrow," Carly says excitedly when she finds him in the park. "I ditched the guards hours ago."

Of course she did. He rolls his eyes. She's going to get kidnapped again or something as a part of some new competitors revenge on him and she ditches guards. The mob is not a friendly business but leave it to her to forget that, less than six months after her kidnapping and rape. Only Carly. "Stop ditching guards."

"Well I've got you to protect me," she argues, smiling. When his expression doesn't change, she relents, "Fine. I'll take the guards when I'm not with you."

"Thank you," he says. "Donna's with Wiley and Ophelia at the mansion."

"So long as Nina's not there, I'm fine with it." Not this again. "Don't roll your eyes or tell me to play nice, Jason! She wants me arrested and she's acting like Nelle wasn't a terrible person! I don't care if she's Wiley's other grandmother."

Sometimes, Carly's exhausting to deal with.

He rolls his eyes again as she rests her head on his shoulder. "You know, Joss has been complaining lately she's feeling stuck in Port Charles. Which is stupid but it reminded me that I've never taken her to Florida, or any of the kids besides Michael and now I want to. So you coming with me or am I bringing guards?"

The last time they went to Florida, Michael was barely one. It was to officially bury Virginia and it was a very bittersweet experience to see Florida for the first time and also be packing up the house of a dead woman.

"Who exactly are you bringing?" Carly cheers when he agrees to go without agreeing fully.

"Donna, clearly. And I'll bring Joss and, do you think that Ava will let me bring Avery? Michael should go too, he spends way too much time cooped up in that house or at Aurora, so him, Willow, Wiley and Ophelia. Ooh, you should bring your kids! Scout and Danny will have fun in Florida and I'm sure Jake would love it. Well, of course, that involves Elizabeth letting you take him. Maybe if we bring Cameron too- well actually, no, that won't work because him and Joss broke up a few weeks ago and it's still way too raw for her. I'd suggest we bring Dante but he broke Lulu's heart so that's a big no, I don't care if he's my children's brother. Should we bring Brando and Sasha?"

She's rambling excitedly about this trip that seems to double in size each minute and he chuckles to himself at the absurdity of it. Somehow, within five minutes, Carly's built herself an entire vacation to Florida. Complete with exactly when they should go ("The third week in June! It shouldn't be too rainy or humid yet,") and how long they should stay (a week, she's decided). This woman owns an island and insists on going to Florida for a week so her kids can see her old home.

Before he can figure out what's happening, someone has taken him hostage, his hands inexplicably behind his back and he notices that another one of the surprise humans has taken Carly hostage. Fuck. No. He can't fight this guy, somehow he's too strong. And he can't reach for his gun because he's got his hands tied behind his back! Which means she's getting kidnapped and so is he.

Of course, the same thing is happening to Carly, but the dude who grabbed her is underestimating her gravely. She's got enough sense to try and kick him in the balls (so that's why she always wears heels) before settling for a good slap or two to wherever she can reach moments before her hands are tied as well.

He's basically fucked. And so is she.

"Let me go or so help me god-" Carly threatens before they put a gag in her mouth which she does her best to spit out. Fucking hell, these people are terrible.

"Let her go," he demands, feet unrooting themselves from the ground as he desperately tries to break out of this hold.

"How sweet, he's willing to sacrifice himself for his girlfriend. Touching, truly. Not going to work, however, Morgan. Enough of the touching goodbye, you better stop fighting if you want to see her alive again," his goon threatens. This guy sounds like one of Cyrus's old guys. Cyrus is behind this. Which means-

Carly comes to the conclusion at the same time he does and spits out her gag (impressive). "You better have a damn good excuse for this."

The goons don't even bother threatening them, they just drag them apart and Jason gets dropped in the back of some truck before he gets knocked out. His last conscious thought is where the hell Carly is and where he's going.

A few hours later, he wakes up, disgusted by the surroundings he's found himself in. He's handcuffed to a chair with his legs and his hands. And there's no blonde in here with him, he realizes. At the very least, he senses that they haven't took his jacket off or phone or gun from him. "Good, you're awake." Who's voice is that? He recognizes it from somewhere.

"Where is she?" He asks instead of worrying about his own surroundings.

"Your concern for her is really quite touching, but your girlfriend is fine," the dude says again, yet another voice he remembers but can't trace.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Sure, you just sleep together, live together and act like a married couple. Oh, wait, is she your wife? That would make more sense," the voice says. Who's voice is that? It's on the tip of his mind but he can't remember.

"Very funny. We're not married. Now, tell me, where the hell is Carly?"

"Calm your tits," that's a stupid expression, "she's being well taken care of. Let yourself worry about you for a minute, please. Your relationship with her is..."

"None of your business. I need proof she's okay." Why the hell aren't his demands being met? Who is this?

"Protective, how sweet. Answer the question."

"She's my best friend," he answers calmly. "Got any more questions or do I get proof she's okay and alive?"

"You don't sleep with a best friend, Jason." Shut up, they're not labelling things and this has nothing to do with the damn kidnapping!

"And who are you to judge us?" Mouthing off to a kidnapper, great idea.

"Me? I'm just the messenger. Don't shoot the messenger."

What the fuck is this dude getting at? He's speaking in goddamn riddles of sarcasm. "Where is Carly?"

"Well, that's none of your business." This man is absolutely infuriating. He's a douche and dead the second he gets to his gun. Or, really, anything that can be used as a weapon. Maybe even a pair of handcuffs. Kill him with handcuffs, yeah, that'll work after he finds Carly's location out.

"If so much as a hair on her head is harmed-"

"Your threats are in vain, though your concern for her is adorable. Tell me, do you expect you're calling the shots here? You're not, dumbass. I am. Well, technically my boss, but you know what I mean." Infuriating.

"You lay a hand on her and-"

"Are you going to keep threatening me? You're the one tied up to a chair, not me. I can move whenever I want to, you cannot." Bile pools in his stomach at the thought of someone's hands on her, hurting her. Causing her pain. Doing what Cyrus did to her again, as often as they please because he can't save her. "But, for your information, no one's gotten handsy with her yet."

How relieving. "Keep it that way."

"You know, she keeps talking about you like you're some damn superhero. To be honest, I don't see it. You're so in sync though, she's worried one of us are going to hurt your pretty boy face."

"Careful, you don't want to show all of your cards at once," Jason teases. It's probably a bad idea but Carly's kidnapped too and he can't get out on his own dammit.

"Keep mouthing off and I'll make sure she's beaten up good. Bruised so bad it won't go away for months."

That's a damn good threat, he's got to admit.

Clearly enjoying his silence, this dude continues, "Your only chance of getting to her is playing by my rules. Then again, she's been mouthing off to us the whole time we've had her. Stubborn brat, that one is. She won't let anyone even give her food, she's just been saying that you'll save her because it's how you two work." That's his girl. He can't help but smile at the thought of her talking the ears off of a kidnapper. He might talk the dude into letting her go. "You two are adorably in sync, her fighting us using your name as though you're a hero. Tell me, what did you ever do that made her think of you as her hero?"

"I guess I've just always been there to save her," he answers. Looking the kidnapper in the eyes, he continues, "and I always will, no matter the consequences."

"Cute. Your whole hero thing is cute and I think it's adorable that you both love each other so much. She's already about to kill us if it means she'll get a single piece of information on her big hero who always saves her."

Sounds like Carly. "If that's supposed to surprise me, it doesn't. I've known her so long nothing she can do surprises me."

"And you love her enough you'll do anything for her. Touching, really. Never have I ever had the pleasure of having two hostages who are so helplessly in love with each other like you two are, yet they're apparently only friends. Tell me, is there anything you wouldn't be willing to do for her, if it meant she'd be freed?"

"No."

"Good, good to know. I think we're ready to discuss the terms of your mutual release, because she's pissing my guy off so much he's had to get a little handsy." Name, address, the whole nine yards. The second he gets them, that dude dies. "Calm down, it was only once. She won't even scar."

"The terms," he spits out in an attempt to control his anger. This is infuriating.

"In exchange for your mutual release, you will give approximately fifteen million dollars to my boss." Who the hell needs that much money? Whatever. If she's free, he'll do near anything.

"I don't have my checkbook on me right now, but I can make that deal." Donna. How is she dealing with this? He suspects he's been gone long enough now that she's been able to understand what's going on.

"Good. You will make a check for fifteen million dollars to Miss Fiona Svlankovich," the hostage holder says, handing his checkbook to him.

"Wait. This seems too easy."

"It's not, I assure you. Fiona's a bit of an evil lady, but when she says she'll set you free after you do something, you and your “best friend” will be released," he informs him. A bit of an evil lady? She's a lot more than a bit evil.

"I can't exactly sign this with my hands tied behind my back," he says calmly.

"Shit," the hostage holder mutters. "I'll uncuff one of your arms, but only because you don't have any weapons on you." Idiot. He can feel his gun in his pocket as he gets uncuffed and signs the check.

Before he can be recuffed, he pulls out his gun and fires a single bullet into the dude's leg. "Tell me where Carly is or I'll take you out right now."

"On a date or in a murderous way?"

What type of fucking question is that? "Murder. So, her location."

"Someone's horny," kidnapping dude chuckles before he gets punched. "Fine, fine. She's somewhere in this house. You figure out where, that's up to you. So, you gonna kill me now?"

"Thinking about it. You take me to exactly where she is, right now," Jason answers, gun trained at this hostage dude.

Without a witty remark, he gets led the way to Carly. Conveniently, she's screaming at that exact moment, "He will find me and you will die. I hope you look forward to death because he's been getting me out of messes for longer than you've been alive."

She's tied up in a pantry, he notes before kicking the door open. "I swear to fucking god-" she starts before noticing he's there and tearing up. "Oh thank god you're here."

Unceremoniously, her guards pull out their guns and he shoots them both before shooting his own guard, Carly yelping each time. She's not a fan of the sound of a gun going off, nor kidnapping, so he doubts this is fun for her.

He makes quick work of getting her uncuffed and she falls into him, embracing him in a tight hug and burying her face in his neck as he does the same. "I knew you'd save me," she says and he can feel her tears soaking his shirt, but it's okay. He's got extras at home (and, of course, the clothes she bought a few months ago).

"We've got to get out of here," he mutters and she pulls away, tears of joy and relief still flowing down her face.

A few minutes (and dead bodies) later, they make it out of the weird ass mansion they're stuck in. Now, of course, the big issue is how the fuck they get out of here. There's no cars he can see.

"I don't want to walk but I will," Carly says, frowning as she looks at her disgusting outfit. "I liked this outfit too."

To be continued hopefully after this headache clears up

@ryleighjosephine

[imeldafurqoni]

The Education and its Urgency for Women

Lately I heard a lot about the needs of educational matters in my workplace, and even in the circumstances of my big families. This issue is also super hype in societies nowadays. In this post I won't judging or telling about the benefit of it, but just sharing my opinions and maybe a little bit perspective of mine. Because I know that this things have been punctuated in every social media, television, news or maybe in some educational events.

So, let's get started.

In my workplace, My assistant asked me once why did I have to study hard or maybe what did she meant was looked so hard to achieve my goal to take master degree. Even until this time she thinks that it doesn't necessary for me as a woman to pursue a higher degree because at the end of my journey I'd be a mother and maybe still find a settle work to help my future little family to raise my children.

And then in my family, here's happened in a big family, not in my primary family which I've been living with, they often asking me about when will I marry? This year or next year or in couple years later? With whom I'm going to marry? Who's my fiancé? Or have I found that lucky man? Did I done with my searching? Never did I heard them asking about would you continue your education or asking about what's your profession exactly? Or maybe what's the main authority of my profession? Well, actually my big families are always support me when I want to continue my educational degree but maybe because I'm a woman so they always think twice about it and finally jump in a conclusion that I might not need those higher degrees either in a future. Different situations happened when it comes to boy, they always fully supported. And never doubt in every single words they've said. Luckily, it doesn't happened in my primary family.

I don't talk about my neighborhood because I seldom have some chin-wags with them. I'm an old style girl who always busy with my me-time doing anything at home like drawing, reading books or maybe just listening music. I'm not into them, so it's obvious that I had a little interactions with them. But I've ever heard too, a little, that it's better for them to marry of their daughter than encourage her daughter to attain a higher education. Well I hope I'm not mistaken about what I've ever heard.

Now let's talk about my opinion.

Education and marriage in women seems like an out of dated issues that had been happened since a long time ago. If we still remember about our women's hero, RA Kartini, we'd certainly agreed that this things had been spoiled and still warmly discussed recently. In this section, I won't blame them who said that pursuing higher education isn't quite necessary or astonishing the ones said marriage for women is more urgent than taking a higher degree. Because I believes that everyone has its own opinion based on their priorities in their life. But maybe these are my long answers to remain those questions.

In my opinion, education is the greatest weapon to change the world. I know you knew about this quote, but yeah I profoundly agree with this. That's why we got our liberty after long colonization in our country a century ago. By education, we attains a lot of information we've never knew before, we discover lots of new things every time we study. And since we have a role as a mother, we're gonna be the first school of our children, and if the mother had so much knowledge then they will transfer their education to their children directly.

"Education is the greatest weapon to change the world."-unknown

Children are tend to learn rapidly based on what they saw since in a childhood. Education might not always refer to its attitude but educated person knows which attitude is right or not, even if sometimes they don't implemented well in reality. A good mother will always try to act and give the best to its children, and it reflects from its attitude, therefore the children will imprint it and their brain will digest this information and stimulates their willingness to become what they saw continuously. This conditions will fire up their spirit to achieve the same manners as their parents did and eventually teach them to pursue a higher education or maybe more. Our children will be the next generation of our country. So if the mother is well educated, then the children will follow to be so, and if they successful then they could build our nations and our country into a better future, and this is our hope. Well, some positive amendments.

Did we forget that crucial message?

Soekarno said that "our nations are huge nations, and huge nations will always remember what their predecessors have done to."

Our former patriots have been very meritorious in making our country as nowadays. And we must keep their values to make this country bigger and bigger, and more developed in each generations. And how to change these obsolete conditions is to attain education more and more , particularly to our next generations.

In line with that, for me, education is very important without seeing the gender background whether it's man or woman. Everybody should achieve an education and if they could, they should learn and learn to attain a higher education. To learn is a life time matter. If we stop learning, then what is the difference between us and a dead man?

Our world is always changing. If we stop learning, we're gonna lose. This should be keep in mind to our next generations and ourselves.

Be an inspiration for every human beings, be the fire in your societies to rage the positive shifting by education, don't be the fire which burns out the emotion to fight each other and make our country broke into pieces.

Then how to make it?

"Again, By pursuing education perpetually. So the urgency of the women who attains an education or more is very essential."

Surabaya, 6 Oktober 2017

#randomthoughts #selfalarm #selfreminder #theessentialneedsofeducation #myhonestanswer