#to complicate the very simple message at its core

[reason-with-the-underdog]

alhaitham seems simple but has a lot going on deeper (aka alhaitham loves media literacy)

ok all the alhaitham discourse makes me think about how there's a mismatch between alhaitham's perception and his actual self

that difference leads to:

- his moe gap

- the way that he's seen as mean/uncaring

- ppl thinking he doesnt have a personality or temper

- his humor & wit going unnoticed

i feel like i go back and forth on how complicated alhaitham is, but it all comes down to the way that he's an unreliable narrator

(he obfuscates the truth by not including details or by distracting with non-answers, so there's just a lot we don't know for certain)

like when his "something to share" voiceline is "oh i like to go to the bar after work to relax"

and he teases traveller like "if u want to know what i think, u can just read what's on the message boards lol"

when we all know he's just playing devil's advocate with kaveh on those message boards like BRUH this is on purpose

i keep harping on how his "food i dislike" voiceline gives a weird reason for why he dislikes soup because it really shows how you cannot take him seriously at all! despite his serious demeanor and tone!

taking him at 100% face value is just asking to be made a fool of bc he was being sarcastic rip lol

but that makes him a much harder character to understand! bc you have to question everything he says about himself.

like the "feeble scholar" line was literally just a joke and he's like "lol if ya wanna waste ur time getting hung up on it go ahead"

he isn't actually serious!!

and interestingly, he also doesn't care if he's understood by other people

so he won't really bother correcting incorrect assumptions about him

and he won't stop making weird sarcastic jokes that sound serious at first bc lol he thinks he's funny so why would he stop

but its not that he /can't/ be serious. so now you have to judge every line for "ok but is this a joke or real"

and even if it is genuine, next you have to consider "what's left out" because alhaitham will not be bothered to explain himself in detail. no, figure it out yourself

and sure that level of critical thinking and meta-analysis is good to apply to characters in media, but to understand alhaitham you actually have to go that deep

you can't just be lazy about it and go with a surface-level understanding

and he does this on purpose lbr

alhaitham likes reading books bc he loves picking apart the author's perspective & figuring out biases/assumptions & placing his own takes up against the author's

so of course he would delight in forcing a reader/player/fan to have to dig deeply into how he thinks & compare to themself

sorry that's called critical thinking and if you aren't capable of that then why the heck should he stoop down to your level so he can be understood?

idk so its very fitting that he is the way he is

he is interested in learning more about himself tho, hence him wanting to use kaveh as a "mirror" for self-reflection... haitham is a scholar of his own self too!

(u can argue that thru this lens he's able to intellectualise/"explain" his emotions and distance himself from them)

but yeah alhaitham purposefully chooses to live freely as he wants and doesn't care about being understood easily by other ppl

bc like all the best books, isn't it more rewarding to have to ponder over the details & wrack your brain over what's being said

bookworm to the core fr

[that-ari-blogger]

A Look In The Mirror

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power exists in cycles and spirals, that's part of why I call it an tragedy trying desperately to happen. A ton of the tension is driven by the question of whether or not the characters will break out of the cycle. In other words, the story is about agency vs fate (a bit like Romeo and Juliet, I wonder what else the two have in common).

There are many ways to get across this theme, perhaps with carefully laid parallels and nuanced storytelling, both of which She-Ra does. But Signals takes a different, far less subtle approach. The episode tells the audience overtly what the series as a whole is about, and what exactly can subvert it.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, God Of War: 2018, God Of War: Ragnarök)

Signals opens after Entrapta's loyalties become general knowledge, and I would like to start with Bow's story in this episode, because it is a microcosm of how the story works as a whole. A vacancy is opened in a hierarchy and the new appointee tries to do things the way that their predecessor did. People become caricatures of those they see as powerful in their designated area and have to learn that being themself is just as useful, if not more so.

Bow, for example, seems convinced that failure is to be avoided or hidden. He has to be perfect, and able to fix anything. But, as Entrapta herself explains:

"There’s no reason to get huffy because an experiment fails.  Failure is a vital part of scientific endeavor."

For all of her eccentricities, Entrapta is one of the wisest characters in the series, with only Razz outdoing her in that regard. (Swiftwind comes close). To that end, this is rather decent life advice, sometimes the best way to learn is to get something wrong and experience the consequences for that, instead of being either protected from consequence, or being punished for trying.

Hold on to this thought.

In essence, Bow is a relatively simple character by nature, he is necessary to balance out the entirety of the rest of the cast. But the word "relatively" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, because Bow is nuanced, specifically in his relationship with obstacles.

Bow begins with a very simple worldview, but Entrapta single handedly complicates this time and time again. With her death, her allegiance, and her legacy. Bow realises that his worldview needs nuance when his top down perspective gets someone "killed", then he realises that his idea of binary morality is skewed when Entrapta defects, and here he learns about failure and tactics by trying to live up to her image.

Bow remains simple, in contrast with the theme park character development of Catra, Adora, and Glimmer, but he does learn and adapt.

So, Bow sets the baseline, to break from the cycle, you need to change. You need to stop trying to be someone else, and instead focus on being the best you that you can possibly be.

God Of War: 2018 and its sequel use the analogy of fate to describe this principle. Thor becomes an absent father because of his own father's abuse, which then leads to Magni and Modi being schmucks as the cycle continures. Odin explicitly gets to see what his future holds and ends up inadvertently causing it to come true in his attempts to subvert his fate.

Fatbrett on YouTube has a video titled Odin - A Deconstruction of Villainy that delves into the character as a whole, but I would like to zero in on Odin's core flaw and the message of the game as a whole. To change your fate is to change your nature. Odin is incapable of change, so the prophecy comes true.

But Kratos and Atreus do change, but their journey is towards learning to not avoid being themselves. Kratos' journey in God of War: 2018 is directly caused by not telling his son about his past, and Atreus spends the entirety of God of War: Ragnarök trying to be either his father, or Odin. The message of the story is this:

"Don't be sorry, be better"

Learn from your mistakes.

Adora takes this in an interesting direction, because it's genuinely difficult to see her as having much meaningful character development in series one at all, and I actually think this is a good thing. Because on a surface level, Adora goes from bad guy to good guy and escapes from an abusive relationship. But does she? The only thing that happens to the parental relationship is a pallet swap.

All Adora does in season one is change her surroundings, but the key part of that is her foundation. Adora spends season one surrounding herself with people who will enable that character development to flourish and not be broken down... and Light Hope. In season two, Adora starts making strides towards actual agency, and that is all because of the setup she has been doing.

I have gone into Depth as to how Light Hope is a bad influence in other posts, but this episode hammers home just how easily Adora internalises things. She keeps Shadow Weaver's tales of the Weeping, Headless, and Undead Princesses in her mind, for example, absorbed uncritically.

But Adora also keeps the obsessive blaming. She sees a problem and immediately attributes the cause of it to the Horde, a holdover from her time there, where she had the same attitude towards Princesses. In this instance, she's wrong, and the problem is more nuanced, and her assumptions get the better of her.

Speaking of assumptions, the first ones make an appearance in this episode, kind of. The messages that they leave behind give a glimpse into their lives that we haven't come close to getting before.

"I’ve been thinking of them as these big epic figures. But they’re regular people, sending messages to their loved ones."

The theme of cycles and living up to legacies continues with the worldbuilding of this story. Modern Etheria tends to visualise the First Ones as great and powerful and perfect, but they were just as human as the rest of the characters. Once again, those trying to mimic their predecessors exactly come up short.

Over on the Horde side, Catra is going through a similar situation, she is trying to become Shadow Weaver, but coming up short because there was more the story than she realised. Shadow Weaver had to do paperwork, for example.

There's also the fact that she is still in the abusive environment. She still regularly visits Shadow Weaver, so the psychological bullying still happens, but she's also around Hordak, now. I said that Adora has just pallet swapped her situation, and I think Catra has done the same.

When Hordak takes the atmosphere out of the room, it is awful, and it's the moment in which Catra should realise that it doesn't matter how high up in the chain of command she goes, she will still be suffering. She should realise that she needs to get out of there for her own safety and sanity.

But she doesn't realise that. Instead, she applies what she has learned in her upbringing. She is convinced that all she has to do is succeed, and she will get that attention and fairness. Conditional acceptance is what she is used to, so she doesn't see anything out of the ordinary here.

"Failure is when something ceases to serve a purpose. When that happens, it becomes worthless to me."

This is Hordak's worldview, and I hate to argue with a villain, but I think he's wrong there. If success is usefulness, and everything will eventually stop being useful to you, then you have a pretty sad life. If you judge everything by utility and don't care for relationships or things that just look and feel nice, then you are alone.

But on a broader, purely utilitarian perspective, this idea is bunk by that standard too. Failure as worthlessness is an objectively false idea, because mistakes are things to learn from. If something doesn't work, try again differently.

In other words:

"Failure is a vital part of scientific endeavor."

Entrapta is back, and this episode actually gives a glimpse into how to subvert the cycles, specifically through Entrapta and Hordak.

Firstly, Hordak has evidently been trying the experiment over and over again without learning anything. So Entrapta, by nature of her ability to adapt, makes the experiment work. It's a tiny metaphor for what I've been saying so far.

But Entrapta breaks through Hordak's barriers because of her sense of freedom. The best way to break free of a downward spiral is to start moving in a different direction, and Entrapta does that easily. The reason she so easily switches sides is because she isn't tied down by anything (not even morality). She can't even be imprisoned because she is impossible to contain. Entrapta is a free spirit, and I think that that is what the series is about, personal agency.

Catra and Adora are repeating the same story over and over again because they think they have no choice, that's what the tragedy of the series is, the two main characters are on a road to destruction and can't change direction. But the story isn't a tragedy, it avoids being one at the last possible moment when the characters finally realise that they have agency, and that thematic is foreshadowed right here, in Signals.

Final Thoughts

In my plan for this post, I wanted to bring up the Darksouls series, of all things, but I think I will save that idea for a later episode.

In any case, this episode manages to discuss some overarching philosophy, as well as explicitly state that this has happened before, this is a story about repetition, learn from your mistakes.

Also, the cinematography in this episode is really cool. It flies under the radar a lot, but the camera placement and movement really heighten the tension and vibe of this episode.

Next week, I will be talking about Roll With It, an episode that is near and dear to my heart for completely unbiased reasons. Definitely unbiased. Not bias there at all. So, stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[sonkitty]

Finished Re-Reading Good Omens

I've finally finished re-reading the Good Omens book. I prefer to read books as ebooks, so I did. I use Kindle in particular.

On the last spread, whether through the web browser or the app on my PC, there are three instances of the word "pocket" (two versions in plural form). Rule of Three. Pockets!!!

There's a chapter break, then the overall ending paragraphs that have eight instances of the word "imagine".

I double-checked my paperback copy out of curiosity. I confess I bought this paperback copy because...David Tennant's on the cover. But it's convenient to have a more readily tangible version of the book to check this stuff.

So, in the paperback copy, those three instances of the word "pocket" are on the last numbered page for the contents of the story itself.

The section that uses the word "imagine" eight times is on the next page and not numbered.

...

So, to anyone new around here or wants a general reminder of my theory stuff...

Earthly Objects is a large, difficult hidden game in Good Omens 2. It's a layered game the characters play, and then an audience member can play trying to figure out how the game works.

It has a Rule of Three. It has 6 Threshold Tricks (3 Simple, 3 Complex) as findable, solvable puzzles. Each one is special in its own way, but one in particular—The Pocket Trick—is a hidden giant with a giant impact on many things, including the other 5 Threshold Tricks.

The Threshold Tricks are very, very complicated but based on simple ideas I call "core concepts". That's part of the puzzles to solve.

The Pocket Trick's core concept is, "Think outside the pocket," because it requires using one's imagination with assorted word play to solve the puzzles within it.

Another of the 6 Threshold Tricks is The Sunglasses Trick. It has eight touches.

One of the interesting hidden messages for The Pocket Trick that I'm not sure I have properly down in the wording and never posted goes something like the following..."If you played far enough to find The Pocket Trick to begin with, you've been using your imagination with word play all along." It's a small comfort when dealing with The Pocket Trick's astronomical level of difficulty.

Anyway, the reason I bring up that message is because to solve The Sunglasses Trick—the one with eight touches—I had to imagine the sunglasses were a door to Crowley. The core concept I eventually named for it was, "Crowley's sunglasses are his door to himself." It was the next-to-last Threshold Trick I solved (in a broad sense).

While Crowley himself isn't actually in this last spread of the book since it's about Adam, there is mention of a "cobra" (a snake) in the following sentence, "With the speed of a striking cobra the boy was up the tree."

...

This reading hasn't really helped me solve things further in my desperate attempt to improve my play, but it does make me feel I'm on the right track and have been on the right track with the Earthly Objects game, the Threshold Tricks, and The Pocket Trick in particular.

...

I don't know if I'll have more to say later, but I really wanted to get something out of my system after seeing the word "pocket" used three times.

[aesethewitch]

Digital Divination: Preliminary Thoughts & Personal Theories

If you've been following the last week or so, you may have seen me ranting about questions regarding digital divination. I've been fascinated with divination since I was a teenager, and now I've got a handful of personal theories and UPGs that I definitely take for granted. It's been a long time since I've asked the whys and hows of divination.

Time to go back to square one.

But if I'm going to dive into what makes divination work and, therefore, why digital divination does or doesn't work, I ought to start with what I know. Or, rather, what I think. So, we start with my personal theory.

*cracks knuckles*

Why does divination work in the first place?

I suppose it depends on what you're using it for. Some use it to literally divine the future. Others see divination as a tool for self-reflection or as a meditative focus. Others still seem somewhere in between, using it as a introspective tool to help with decision making based off of what is already known.

I fall somewhere between the "true" diviners of the future and the introspective tool users. In my opinion, divination (especially tarot) is best used as an assistant and self-improvement tool. I believe divination can predict the future… sort of.

It isn't perfect. That's certain. My existing running theory on why divination works has to do with the interconnectivity of all things, and this is why it works both ways, depending on the diviner's goals. It's either that, or the diviner is specifically requesting messages or assistance from a spirit, who guides their attention and tools toward the appropriate answers.

In the case of interconnectivity, the diviner essentially "taps into" those connections. This doesn't necessarily have to be via meditation or trance. For me, I rarely need to do either. It does require a focus, though, which I suppose could be construed as a trance-like state. The process involves reaching out for the connections and following them to draw conclusions.

In the case of spirit communication or receiving messages, it works somewhat similarly. I don't think that spirits can directly, tangibly affect the physical world we exist in. I do think they can manipulate connections like we can (and sometimes with greater effectiveness or power). So rather than a spirit shuffling and literally pulling the cards for you, they might tug on a connection to your hands and make a card fly out, influence you to stop shuffling at a certain point, tug on the strands surrounding a pendulum to make it swing, etc.

This all ties in with my personal views on fate and faith and free will, which... I may talk about at some point. For now, *handwaves us onwards*.

But Aese, you offer tarot readings all the time. You even take money for tarot readings! Don't you think they can predict the future? I hear you ask, very hypothetically.

Yes! And also, no.

According to my theory, it isn't so simple. There are countless winding, interconnected paths weaving into a blurred future which hasn't taken shape yet. Though I believe in fate (*noncommittal handwiggle with accompanying ehhhhh, it's complicated noise*), the willful interference of humanity and spirits in the world reshapes the future constantly.

At its core, divination is a connection to the inner self, the subconscious. It's through this connection, branching outwards into the world, that we're able to divine.

There is no way to be 100% positive about an outcome. There is always a chance that something will change and alter the situation and, therefore, the future. Nothing is set in stone until it happens. This is why you'll get divinatory readings that resonate really strongly but which don't come to pass.

The goal with divination shouldn't be to obtain certainty. It should be a tool to observe the present and determine the most likely outcomes. It's a decision-making assistant. Is it often correct? When I do it, yes. But that's because I'm specifically pulling for the most likely outcome. Without severe interference (and sometime accounting for it), I find a rather consistent success rate.

For this reason, I don't like yes/no questions. The answer is almost always going to be "maybe." People don't particularly like that, especially people who don't do divination themselves.

I also immediately distrust any diviner who espouses a 100% accuracy guarantee when predicting the future (unless, of course, it's hyperbole for advertising or humor purposes). I definitely believe there are those whose accuracy rates are extremely high and who have a certain skill with divination. They deserve to be proud of their skills. Hell, I'm proud of my skills.

But no one will ever be 100% accurate all the time. You would have to account for every tangent, every twist, every interference to be perfectly accurate. And to do that would take so much time, effort, and skill that it would be prohibitively expensive and/or a ridiculous waste. Just go live your life. Yeesh.

But none of this mentions tools. None of my existing theories require that I have a firm connection to a tool. I've picked up a new tarot deck and had spectacular success without practice or "seasoning" it.

So why, then, doesn't digital divination work for me?

I don't know! I have absolutely no idea. It could be because of my personal connection to the medium, it could be unfamiliarity, it could be that I just don't like it and so it doesn't work. It could be a preconception that it won't work, and therefore, it ends up inaccurate. Not a clue!

Yet.

My next steps are going to be compiling other theories on why divination works. I want to have as wide a net to cast as possible so that I can test multiple theories at once. Then, I'll hunt down as many apps, websites, and various online tools as I can to test, dig through reviews, decide which ones to use, and then get down to it. It's the scientific method, baby! Hypothesis, experiment, record results, do it again.

If you have thoughts, theories, or want to yell about divination with me, feel free to add a comment or reply or send me an ask. I'm going absolutely feral about this and would love to chat about it!!

If you like my work and want to throw a couple dollars my way via Ko-Fi, it would be much appreciated! This research is going to be mostly public for exposure and interaction, but there may be behind-the-scenes notes and more in-depth UPG stuff that'll be Ko-Fi exclusive. Plus, even one-time supporters get extra and early stuff all the time!

[nellie-elizabeth]

Doctor Who: Boom (14x03)

I regret to inform you that this was a very good episode of Doctor Who. Fucking Moffat, knock it off with being an occasionally very good writer. I hate this dude.

Cons:

I thought the romance arc between Mundy and the random dude whose name I can't remember was probably the least memorable part of the episode? It just felt a little flat and proscribed, and it fell into some cliche writing tropes. Why is it always that an oblivious woman is being pined after by her long-suffering martyr of a best friend? It's giving Rory and Amy, it's giving... Joss Whedon. I don't know. I didn't hate this, but it didn't add a ton to the story, it almost felt like more of a distraction to the core relationships that we should have been focusing on.

This was the most I've enjoyed Ruby and the Doctor's relationship on the show yet, but there was this one moment that I had a problem with in the writing. The Doctor is calling out to a dying Ruby and basically says "I need to talk out loud in order to think, and you're the only person I can talk to." I think I get what the goal was here, but it read a little strange to me. Because the point of the Doctor is kind of that he can make friends with most people, isn't it? He finds the connection, and the adventurous spirit, and the bravery, in all sorts of people he comes across. We even see him forming connections with the other people he's meeting in this very episode. So I do wish the sentiment had been adjusted just slightly. Ruby shouldn't be valued and loved simply because she is uniquely able to provide the Doctor with companionship. You know?

I thought the resolution felt a little rushed, with the father's love saving the day. Very sweet or what have you, but I could have used a bit more build-up to it? As is Moffat's MO both as a writer and as a show-runner, he's always better at the setup than he is at the payoff.

Pros:

I think when Doctor Who is at its very best, it takes a simple concept, a small group of people, and it plays out the complications of the scenario over the course of the hour. This was an episode with a small core cast, basically only one setting with just a few cut-aways to the camp where the soldiers were staying, and there's a pretty simple problem to solve: the Doctor is standing on a landmine. If it goes off, because of his special Time Lord-y-ness, he could blow up half the planet they're on. So the stakes are higher than simply the Doctor's life, and they're on a timer.

And from there it's really just a lot of intense stakes-raising, alarming moments of tension as the Doctor tries to keep his emotional reaction to a minimum so as not to trip the sensor. I loved the scene when the Doctor is begging Ruby to back away and she's insisting on staying close to help. Great relationship building, great classic rapport between the Doctor and his companion. She's brave, he's worried about her, but together they thwart catastrophe.

As is often true with this show, and with sci-fi more in general, this episode has some not so subtle political messages baked into it. I think it was brilliantly and disturbingly done, showing us first the soldiers and the way their lives hang in a delicate balance, then starting to learn about the for-profit model of this weapons manufacture, and then the gradual and chilling revelation that these people are not at war with anyone at all. It's an empty planet, and they're fighting nothing, letting themselves be killed for the benefit of a corporation running on auto-pilot designed to maximize profits. Yeesh. That's a thought, isn't it.

There's also the lovely detail that all of the soldiers are part of the church. Ruby talks about how strange this is, and the Doctor points out that the military and the church are usually hand in hand, and that her current reality is really just a blip in the pattern.

The gasp-out-loud moment of this episode is of course when Ruby gets shot. I love the way the scenario is set up here, where Ruby is going to shoot Mundy with her consent, in order to draw the ambulance's attention away from the Doctor, but Mundy's love interest dude sees Ruby pointing a gun at her and misinterprets. And then the Doctor, forced for the sake of this whole planet to stay frozen in place and just watch it happen... great face acting from Gatwa here as he reacts with horror while simultaneously trying to tamp down on his reaction.

This was a good episode, with a lot of good moments. I think tamping down into a more tragic story allowed for the Doctor and Ruby to have some exchanges that didn't feel so... manic, the way the first two episodes were? And that was a big help to make them feel like they have a more grounded relationship. Ruby begging to know her next of kin in the final moments of her life is going to haunt me, that was so tragic! And while maybe a little bit trite, the father's love saving the day thing did still work okay for me, all things told.

I'm hoping we can get some motion on the Ruby mystery in the coming weeks, and hopefully preserve a bit more of the naturalistic bond between our main characters as we move forward.

8.5/10

[ileftherbackhome]

No why do you think folkmore are her worst albums????

Okay, so when I say folkmore are her worst albums, I am speaking in terms of replayability and taylor-ness. I do not mean the quality of the albums themselves are bad, I just find that I never seek out folkmore to listen to if I'm trying to listen taylor swift. I find folkmore to be albums that you need to be in a very, very, very specific mood for. I also find that folkmore was kind of like her attempt to be taken seriously musically and I just really enjoy glitter gel pen taylor and I find that while she can write critically acclaimed "serious" music, taylor shines the best when she is using simple imagery to paint a very, very vivid picture of complicated emotions.

I think what makes taylor so awesome in terms of songwriting is how accessible her songs are. She really understands how to use simple language to make you feel a specific way and I find folkmore to be too flowery. In short, folkmore feels like she was trying too hard to be a serious 30 year old popstar and it kind of shows in the type of music she wrote for those records.

Since folkmore, Taylor has received this reputation of her songs being high-brow, complicated lyrics and that has never been her MO. Ironically, it's always why I get angry at the idiots who call tortured poets a cringey title because the way taylor's music is set-up works exactly like poetry. The best poems have lines that, if isolated, are regular ass sentences but put together, the poet has managed to make you view such sentences in a different light.

Despite how much people overuse the phrase "14 year old girl poetry," I find that folkmore is more accurate to that than any other of taylor's albums because the connotation of 14 year old girl poetry being bad comes from how hard children try to make their work be taken seriously and thus, overusing purple prose and metaphors to make themselves sound smarter. In reality, good poetry is simple at its core. It understands how to convey a message in a language that appeals to a broad audience and doesn't hide behind sat vocabulary to make its point because it doesn't need to.

Let me stop it here because I could rant for ages about how much I hate the overworship of folkmore because they really are mid taylor albums imo. But if you want me to explain in greater detail, I will. Hope this answered your question.

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

I love this new ask game. So, how about you get spoiled a bit with ❤️‍🔥💙💘 for Fuelara?

DJSADAFSDA I'm glad to hear so! And I love that you spoil me T^T <3

Fuegoleon x Solara (Romantic)

❤️‍🔥-- Hopes & Dreams/Life Passions

Their life passion is quite simple at its very core, and it's to have a family life. Just be able to live together and raise a family. Of course they have their own personal strives; for Fue it's to become the WK and Solara does still want to build herself some kind of a career as an ambassador, though there are complications about her being the ambassador between Clover and Thea because she's personally affiliated. But she does want to pull her own weight in terms of a career too and not be "just" a wife.

However, their common dream for the future is to raise a family. Which simultaneously for them isn't anything special that they want, and it's The Special Thing that they want. It feels special, but considering how most people have a family, it's not a unique wish.

💙-- Hurt/Comfort

They approach to hurt feeling differently. Solara is more emotional, and would like to talk things out, while Fuegoleon is more solution oriented. This becomes concrete when Fue has a problem and he's able to speak out his worries to Solara freely, because though she can't necessarily do anything about it, she'll lend an ear. However, when Solara has a problem, Fue wants to "fix it", because he does not like to see her with worries. Which unfortunately sometimes makes her feel unheard, because she just wants to get the emotion out and talk about it. They do govern around it well, but sometimes such feelings pop their heads up.

💘-- Romance

They try to introduce little romantic gestures into their daily life. A lot of quick kisses and tender touches, as well as remembering the importance of a little flirting in every day life. Romance isn't about Big Gestures to them, it's the little things you can do in your daily life to keep the spark alive. Leaving little notes or messages for the other, and maybe giving the other's tushy a wee squeeze from time to time with a smirk, just to make the other feel wanted. Because romance is about making the other feeling wanted and appreciated. There are more than one way to express it.

[drunkenfeminista]

oh god, not the ace discourse on my feed in the year 2023...

no one deserved the level of hate that ace folks in that era got on here. no one deserves death threats, endless harassment, doxxing, and all manner of other awful awful actions against them simply for existing in a way thats different from others. it was disgusting to see back then and it still is to this day.

i do still find it endlessly frustrating and disrespectful though to see so many ace folk and allies consistently push this narrative that those who are ace are inherently queer/LGBT and that the queer folk who tried to correct that belief are actually horrible monstrous bigots who all violently attacked ace people. this isnt true and never was true, even admitted in the replies to this very post where ppl point out a lot of people doing that were also transphobic/homophobic in ways. a lot of ace people at that time refused to understand that the LGBT community and the very acronym itself, were not some open subculture or general group of societal "outcasts" like punks or goths that you could simply just declare you were a part of because you wanted to be. whether ace people want to accept it or not, being asexual is not an inherently queer thing. a LACK of sexual ATTRACTION is not in the same category as queer romantic/sexual attraction or even more so an experience of gender dysphoria of some kind. you can be asexual while also being cishet. where is the queerness there? if you are ace and trans or ace and homoromantic, you ARE queer, but not because of your asexuality. you are valid and real if you are asexual and NO ONE has the power or right to say you are faking it or attack you for it or any of the toxic shit that DID eventually happen, but a lot of people have ignored the fact that ace people essentially threw a fit about not being seen as LGBT until they victimized themselves enough to just be haphazardly lumped in with a community that was at the forefront of civil rights for marginalized identities. which, in my opinion, has done A LOT of damage to the progress the queer community was trying to make at the time. it is not solely on the shoulders of ace people, im not saying that at all, but it did play a factor in my opinion.

a lot of people dont seem to understand that the fights for queer rights, the establishing of marginalized communities, and the defense of othered peoples is an incredibly complex and complicated issue with a lot of nuance, grey area, and definitely mistakes to be made that are a core part of the discussion. let me tell you, as an ANCIENT tumblrite, this website was NOT a place for nuanced discussion in 2014-2017 and it frankly barely is now. when i was in my late teens and early 20s, the entire world was black and white and you were either on the side of good people or you were an evil monster and my part of the ace discourse was the first time i was seen as some evil person by what i thought was *my* community as a lesbian trans woman. it very much opened my eyes to the fact that things are not simple, these discussions are not good vs evil, reality isnt a movie or a comic book. but we were all kids or young stupid adults and most of us were growing up in a time period where it was becoming okay to simply exist as we were. the LGBT community was sort of a beacon for that and so EVERYONE tried to jump in the pool not realising it wasnt built for that.

at the end of that whole time period, i and plenty of other people like me were labelled monstrous acephobes and it was very disheartening to see when our only real message was that ace people dont belong in *this* community, not that they dont deserve one at all or more generally to exist. i love my ace friends and most of them agree with me outright, but its still something argued and fought over today with the same lack of nuance i saw back then. human beings dont like to be told they dont belong somewhere because were told the general idea of not belonging somewhere is inherently bad when it isnt. sometimes, things arent made or created for everyone and that is perfectly okay. its why communities and beliefs are built everyday; not everything is a perfect match for who you are or what you stand for. it is okay to accept that without either side making the other out to be a villain.

I don't think younger/newer users fully grasp the shit show that ace discourse was around 2014-17

It was so hostile that, to this day, discussions that begin to derail just enough can make me physically nauseous, some specific mockery trigger crying sessions years later. We lost most accounts with any sort of ace positivity. There was no information, no support, and all this damage was done predominantly by other queer people.

All this to say that you, however you identify yourself, should be engaging with aphobic comments the same way you do any hate. We don't sugarcoat or try to be comprehensive with people who are blatantly racist, homophobic or terfs, so why give it a pass just because it's coming from a queer person? I see how this tolerance goes and it's done enough damage as it is.

[victormanta]

The free book "How to Stop Hurting the Ones We Love" - my impressions

Adrian Carter's book, "How to Stop Hurting the Ones We Love", released recently, offered me a new perspective on relationships—something I had never thought about before. It is more than just a simple read; it is an authentic journey into the human soul and an invitation for me to discover calm, non-aggressive communication.

From the very first page, I was impressed by the depth and simplicity of the messages conveyed by the author. The book became a valuable source of inspiration for me and brought me inner peace. It is a combination of clear and timeless principles that taught me how to communicate more beautifully, tolerate more, and build relationships based on love and empathy.

Empathy seen from a ground-breaking perspective

A central aspect of the book is empathy. Reading it, I discovered how empathy could become the foundation of my healthy relationships, whether personal or professional.

A memorable moment in the book was related to the metaphor of "being loved like a lizard." It piqued my curiosity and, at the same time, made me reflect. This simple idea—about unconditional acceptance, free from pressure—felt incredibly profound to me. I realized that if I let go of the constant need for control and validation, my relationships would become more authentic and filled with love.

Easy to understand

What impressed me most is how Adrian Carter managed to translate the complexity of human emotions into simple, accessible concepts. I didn’t come across complicated techniques or hard-to-understand terms; everything felt designed to reach my heart directly.

One quote from the book stayed with me: "If frustration no longer exists, what we communicate is implicitly more beautiful." This is the core of the entire work. Adrian didn’t offer "quick" fixes, patches, or gimmicks to mask anger; instead, he provided practical tools that helped me understand and diffuse negative emotions early on. For me, it was a way to learn how to create a space for communication that is honest, affectionate, and respectful.

Much needed in career

In a world where aggression is increasingly less tolerated, being able to communicate with empathy has become a significant asset for me. I found the practical examples and principles immensely useful, applicable in both my personal relationships and career settings.

A guide for everyone

As a parent wanting a better relationship with my children, a partner seeking a deeper connection, and a professional looking to communicate more effectively, I found solutions in this book that I could apply in any context.

How relevant this book is

For me, "How to Stop Hurting the Ones We Love" is more than just a book; it is a plea for a kinder and more empathetic world. Its message about serenity, understanding, and love felt universal and highly relevant to my life.

If I were to recommend a book that inspires and transforms the way we communicate, it would undoubtedly be this one. Not only did it help me understand the emotions of those around me better, but it also taught me how to love myself. It truly feels like a gift for my soul and a light in my relationships.

I am convinced that - just as it ws for me - for many others it will make the difference between being grumpy and ungrateful to a life filled with serenity, gratitude, and smiles. The wonderful transition from being avoided in relationships or social settings to the joy and the rewards of being sought after and appreciated by good people and, most importantly, by "the ones we love."

FREE on Google Play and Apple Store. Check the links below.

EBOOK on Android devices

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=xMoeEQAAQBAJ

EBOOK on Apple devices

https://books.apple.com/book/id6670409523

AUDIOBOOK on android devices

https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECyug76rM

PAID PHYSICAL BOOK in UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DFT3LZDD

PAID PHYSICAL BOOK globally

https://relationshipflorist.com/shop

[fizza-feed]

Unveiling the Art of Prompt Engineering: Being Precise in Dialogue Creation with Delicate Efforts

Introduction: In the Internet age that is very conversational between person and machine, the impact of prompt engineering cannot be overestimated. Conversational Design is at the center-stage of the seamless and engaging experiences which one can have on various platforms, such as chatbots to virtual assistants. What this blog will do is to dives into the complexities of prompt engineering, its role in user experiences and how the central principles guide the process.

Understanding Prompt Engineering: At the core, prompt engineering works on developing prompts that contain concise and clear messages or hints for the users. These prompts serve as the basis of communications, directing users through their interchanges, and thereby obtaining the intended reactions. Whether it's just a short greeting, a user-driven prompt or a call to action, all messages are being well-crafted according to this strategy to reach our communication goals.

undefined As the core component of prompt engineering, NLP technologies are applied fully. NLP provides the capability to machines to comprehend and produce human-like language, thus enabling more natural and sailing interactions. Through appropriation of NLP algorithms, it is possible for prompt designers to analyse user input, to parse intents, and generate feedback in a timely manner. By doing so, conversational interfaces remain versatile by answering varied user questions and preferences, hence boosting user interactivity.

Key Principles of Effective Prompt Engineering:Key Principles of Effective Prompt Engineering: Clarity and Conciseness: The messages delivered to the users should be express, exact, and easy comprehending so they should only grasp the intended point without any confusion. Personalization: Tailored distractors to individual users' likes and situations increase significance(the essence of the actions) and enhance a feeling of involvement. With that, the sense of rapport is created. Context Awareness: The prompt-engineering process considers the conversation context and makes changing of prompts only if they are necessary to be done depending on prior interactions. Progressive Disclosure: Instruction of comprehensible information should be simultaneously made through sequential prompts in order to avoid information deluge and make sure that the interaction is entertaining, all the time. Empathy and Tone: The simple technique of adopting a conversational tone in the prompts, along with a demonstrated empathy towards the user, helps to create a connection through the user's positive rapport and trust.

Applications Across Industries: Prompt engineering is used not only in customer service, but also healthcare, education, and different domains as well. It is set to democratize this field, affecting companies and customers. Well-designed prompts conversational robotics bring personalized assistance, virtual motivators in healthcare guide highly interacting lessons, and patients find necessary support and advice in time, showcasing multiple applications of prompt engineering in different domains.

Looking Ahead: By the day when a prompt engineering becomes more relevant is obvious as the conversational interfaces keep improving and expanding. AI and NLP developments will make the ad of prompts more precise and greal which will enhance the complicated and intelligent conversation between humans and machines. Adopting dialog engineering tenets, companies and programmers will have reached VR conversational experiences that fulfill the customers' expectations, ensure communication and improve the virtual world.

Conclusion: In the domain of talking bots, the fact that prompting design stands out as the bedrock of an effective communication between humans and computers cannot be overstated. Through sticking to obviousness, the development, and healing, prompt engineers create messages which are heard by users; this is the throw of efficient and engaging communication for an oodles of apps.

[bardchoices]

" you got a better idea, do you? "

‘ yes. ’   no. not immediately, at the very least. truth be told, the right idea rarely comes to her straight away and when it does, there’s always a few flaws. through the years it’s become apparent that this is just how life is, take it or leave it  —  it would have been easy to turn away from the grove’s problems, the tiefling’s problems, to carry forward to address the very pressing one wriggling in their respective skulls. but ever since the nautiloid, since coming across astarion and the others and taking up the mantle of a leader that she never intended to be, she found herself seeking the answer to one question:  what would larkin do?

the answer is as simple as it is complicated  —  he would do the right thing. that was something she could usually see eye to eye with him on, in her own way. in this case it meant spending a little extra time to track down a missing person and pass along a message. harmless at its core, but no doubt promising several bumps in the road, if previous experience was anything to go off of. exasperated sigh falls from her lips as she pinches the bridge of her nose  ( gods, I’m starting to mimic his mannerisms, too )  before she turns her attention full stop on astarion.

‘ think of it this way  —  this tanlor fellow has hung around this area for centuries and lived to tell the tale. there’s something valuable we can get out of this, too  —  and we need every advantage we can get. ’   a pause, a weighing of options, a shrug of the shoulders.   ‘ if worse comes to worse, you can keep everything you can fit into your pockets while we’re there. ’

BULLET TRAIN, featuring an audience with @palecharm

[abbinurmel]

.... Y'know what's so infuriating? This COULD work. Rather it could have and SHOULD have worked, it should be made, this should be happening, if we are stuck with this era of rehashes and returns to old IPs, then we OUGHT to be adapting books like this, in order to drum up small child literacy and interest in classic books and imagination more. It WOULD work as a family movie. I have seen it. There have been plenty shorts made, charming little animated shorts in many different styles.

And, while there have been few, there DO exist some cinematic features /reboot series that when they were done with love, LOVE, even if they reinvented the wheel of very simplistic lore, they still inflated a tiny baby book into something grander and more entertainingly complicated that was still beautiful and new and interesting for adults and kids alike, without losing the core message and timeless vibes( see Del Toro's "Pinocchio", nearly each version of "The Little Prince", most 'Winnie The Pooh' animations that was ever done in 2D, "Where The Wild Things Are" in the 2000s, and "Green Eggs & Ham" on Netflix.)

Were this done, with any ounce of common sense and actual thought beyond a greedy brainless exec's random shower thought and a jump on AI for half a fleeting second- You could have instead something MAGIC. Or at the barest of bones, "very cute and harmless adaptation for toddlers to remind them that a book exists."

This, isn't that. This is cynically pathetic.

Instead of this gross monster we could have:

-a stop motion flick or short, or any kind of experimental animation that maybe would even exist without dialogue it could be a beautiful little music video or short that could go before a film in a theater, with enough perfect time to tell it's simple little story.

-a live-action film that's done with a little bit more drama, maybe about a child who's using his purple crayon to escape reality, leaning on to topics like coping with childhood divorce/death/escaping abuse, or at least simpler childhood miseries like bullying, bad grades and boredom at school

-a cute, funny kids movie about a boy who already has that crayon and its magical effects and kingdom are all visually imaginary to everyone else around him, but in Harold's mind everything is real, and some new friend one day at school interacts with him and learns hey this is actually "true" after all, in say a less sad and tamed 'Bridge to Terabithia' way, and it's a story about reclaiming your imagination or not forcing yourself to grow up as quickly so much as a kid.

-Or if you wanted to be literal fantasy with it, go like 'Pete's Dragon' or god forbid 'Out of Jimmy's Head', where Harold DOES operate a magical kingdom/can care for magically drawn purple crayon pals, and UH OH someone got the crayon stolen, or UH OH Harold made the mistake of giving up drawing and so his crayon drawing world friends come to OUR word and wacky doodled cartoon hijinks ensue...

-Or, you want to be edgy with this?? Do you want to go there buddy you want to be super duper adult and edgy there buddy??? Make a horror film. Make a god damn awesome horror film about it. Make it about a kid who grew into a psychopath and has schizophrenia or whatever mental illness horror movies unfairly tap into all the time, he's delusional and is creating split personalities and voices in his head and someone has to decode what he means by all this on paper, are the delusional creatures real, is his 'alternate drawing world' real, can you enter into it from the other side or through dreams like in a Silent Hill kind of way?

-Maybe the crayon is possessed by spirits, maybe it's a talisman to protect him in a dark fantasy "Neverending Story" type of world overrun with demons and shadows and he already lives there, it's a gritty high fantasy and he has to save his realm from some evil forces with the power of childhood innocence? ...And maybe this epic adventure yarn is all revealed with a twist that this journey is all SYMBOLISM, based inside a child's head as he creates some doodles in his notebook, pulling something meta and clever akin "The Lego movie"?

-what about a really really really sad drama movie, where you do the whole "Terabithia" or 2000s "Wild Things" angle, and you just smack us over the head with Despair. Don't even pretend this is for kids really, it's going to go the "Big Fish" route, make it about a really really sad lonely kid dealing with all kinds of terrible things and it's not humorous at all, and he says he's going to draw a better world for people and he uses this as a way to cheer up others who are also dealing with their own trauma and despair and loneliness. He visits kids with cancer, he visits lonely elderly people at the end of their life next door, he visits his alcoholic father who's giving up on life and abandoned him, and he shows them drawings he's done depicting 'The Better World' he's created for them, and they learn lessons, like in "Amelie" or "Chocolat"...It leans onto the sad orchestral music and channels all the Robin Williams "Patch Adams" sorta beautiful, sappy just almost TOO saccharine wistfulness but oh gosh darn it it's just so emotionally RAW and beyond good Academy Acting, and the movie ends with the kid dying of some tragic beautiful illness or something and he draws heaven before he passes away in bed, and the audience sobs and sobs their poor little brains out, mmyes DELICIOUS...

-Maybe he's a wizard's apprentice or something like that in another realm, he's going to use the crayon for good but evil spirits in the crayon or a villain team don't care for his agenda and do evil when they become sentient/snatch it away, and he has to stop his own creations or the villain from mucking about in the real world?

.... I have just conceived several concepts completely out of the blue, while sitting on the toilet I might add. Not that you needed that image. But just going to show how much more interesting I could make this movie just on my own without barely lifting a finger and I am not a professional storyteller in any way. Totally aware that some.of these ideas will subjectively be better or easier to execute well than others, and, that is entirely the point, that you have a medley of options, no one choice is going to please everybody, but here is a story choice and a trailer that doesn't, please, ANYBODY. That's how freakin lazy this is. Jeesh.

every time I look at what movies are coming out I get tireder

[mandyvonnid]

From Ordinary to Extraordinary: The Game-Changing Transactional SMS Service in Saudi Arabia 

From Ordinary to Extraordinary: The Game-Changing Transactional SMS Service in Saudi Arabia 

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[abigailnussbaum]

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, S5

Overall I’d say this was the best season since the first one, and the ending it gives the story is a satisfying and moving one. I really liked how the show gestures back at some canonical She-Ra concepts - the rebels hiding out in the Whispering Woods, for example - while at the same time doing things that are completely outside the original canon’s scope - She-Ra in Space! And I thought the ensemble was well-used, main characters, side characters, and antagonists all getting their own storylines and resolutions in a way that isn’t easy with such a wide cast of characters, but was handled with elegance.

But look, if you’ve read anything I’ve written or tweeted about this show over the last four seasons, you know I have fundamental issues with how it chooses to direct its storytelling and characterization energies. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the concluding season didn’t address most of those issues. A big part of that is that the show I wanted She-Ra to be clearly wasn’t the one Stevenson and her team were making, and that’s fine. But I find it genuinely strange that of the three series that are obvious thematic and emotional successors to Avatar: The Last Airbender - She-Ra, The Legend of Korra, and The Dragon Prince - none of them reach the same heights of plotting and characterization, and at least in She-Ra’s case I think this is rooted in an unwillingness to complicate a rather simplistic central theme. 

(Also, at least part of the problem has to be that the show’s five-season, 52-episode run spanned only seventeen months. Even if you add in the production period for the first season, that’s a truly bonkers schedule that must have told in the depth and complexity of the final product.)

Take Catra, for example. If you’d asked me where I thought her storyline was going before watching the season, I would have said pretty confidently that she was going to get at least some level of redemption story. After all, her situation at the end of S4 perfectly positions her to switch sides by stripping her of all the things she thought she wanted and placing her in a precarious position that she might not be able to talk or manipulate her way out of. The season premiere establishes those facts even further by making Horde Prime a literal monomaniacal monster. And yeah, it’s pretty clever that in a series that places so much emphasis on the importance of friendship as the path towards moral growth, the villain is narcissism personified, a person who has no use for others except as they reflect himself, and subjugate themselves entirely to his will. So it’s not surprising that, finally cut off from any realistic path towards power and made to feel her own vulnerability, Catra would finally start doing some soul-searching and realize how badly she’d treated the people who cared about her. 

(Though if you’ll allow me a snide moment, I can’t help but point out that in the Best Redemption Story Ever, Zuko actually gets all the power and approval he’d thought he wanted before realizing that it means nothing without his honor and self-respect. I think we all know that if Catra had gotten a position of power from Horde Prime, she would have felt no loyalty towards Adora and Etheria, and helped him to conquer them.)

Similarly, I think I would have given you better odds than even that the series would end with some romantic storyline between Catra and Adora. And I don’t want to downplay the importance of depicting a story like that - before the end of the season I found myself wondering why Bow and Glimmer’s romance was being depicted so chastely, before realizing that the writers wanted the first kiss on the show to be between two women. I respect that impulse and the representation the show ends up delivering - we’ve come a long way from Korra and Asami holding hands at the end of their show. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel that the way that the show arrives at this point requires a significant rewriting of Catra’s personality and character arc, not to mention the history of her relationship with Adora.

As the fifth season argues it, the root of Catra’s resentment of Adora is romantic disappointment. She complains that “Adora doesn’t want me. Not the way I want her”, and leaves the team when Adora decides to risk her life by destroying the Heart of Etheria because she takes it as a personal rejection. But this is, to say the least, a massive whitewashing of what we’ve seen of Catra and Adora’s past relationship. In flashbacks, particularly the ones from S4, it’s made clear that even when they were on the same wavelength, Catra and Adora’s friendship was toxic and dysfunctional. Catra may have always loved Adora, but it was a selfish love, one that saw Adora as an instrument for the validation of Catra’s confidence and self-image, and denied her any opportunity for pursuing her own interests and desires. 

There’s room for a story about Catra growing past that selfishness and learning to love generously and openly, of course, but we don’t get that story in S5. When Catra complains that in sacrificing herself for Etheria, Adora is refusing to want things for herself, it’s not an honest character moment. Catra has never cared what Adora wants - in fact, her refusal to acknowledge Adora’s right to make her own choices and take a path in life that left Catra behind has been the crux of their enmity since the series premiere. Having her suddenly change tunes doesn’t feel organic, but like a parachuted-in personality transplant.

To put it back in ATLA terms, Catra was never Zuko. Adora is Zuko - someone raised with bad principles who nevertheless has enough innate compassion, and a powerful moral compass, that with a little support - emotional or magical - they can break through their indoctrination and become a hero. Catra is Azula - obsessed with power, possessed of very little compassion for others, and, most importantly, seriously emotionally unbalanced. I’m not saying someone like that can’t be helped and can’t become a better person, but it takes a great deal more than what the last season of She-Ra has given us.

Meanwhile, if you look at Adora’s storyline, on one level it gives us what I’ve wanted for a while. I’ve complained a lot about how Adora has remained static throughout the middle seasons of the show while other characters - Glimmer, Catra, Scorpia - got character arcs and changed meaningfully. One effect of that has been to create a strange disconnect between the show’s central themes and its main character. In a story that is supposedly all about the importance of friendship and personal connections, the heroine is someone who achieves her heroic destiny by rejecting those connections in favor of a more global morality, and who then had to struggle with balancing her sense of global responsibility with personal attachments - to Glimmer and Bow as much as to Catra.

The fifth season finally circles back to these ideas and places Adora at its center. I thought her conversation with Mara about having the right to be more than She-Ra, and to do more with her life than sacrifice it for others, was a really powerful moment. I just feel like, once again, the foundation wasn’t laid for it. First because Adora’s growth has been mostly ignored during the intervening three seasons, and second because this is a character arc that clashes with the show’s friendship-above-all message in ways that aren’t really acknowledged.

When you think about it, the moments when Adora has been the most herself are the ones when she rejects toxic friendship and stands up for herself - in her confrontations with Catra, especially over the course of the first season, and when she defies Glimmer’s decision to use the Heart of Etheria and the end of S4 and destroys the sword. So to the already complicated issue of where to draw the line between the things you want for yourself and the things you owe others, you add the thorny matter of when to detach yourself from toxic friends who see you only as a means to an end. Except that She-Ra never really grapples with this extra wrinkle - and again, Catra’s hasty personality transplant plays into this, because we get to pretend that the only problem she and Adora ever had was romantic miscommunication.

In a season that is all about putting aside differences and personal grievances to fight for a common cause, there is a refreshing number of instances that remind us that those grievances are still relevant - the fact that nobody will ever really trust Shadow Weaver, for example, or the other princesses calling Entrapta out on her seeming indifference to the consequences of her actions (though in this case, and yet again, Entrapta’s neuroatypicality is used as a get-out-of-jail-free card from taking personal responsibility). Even Glimmer gets to spend a bit of time in the dog house, at the same time that she and Bow work together and save each other’s lives. But once again, when it comes to the main character, we can’t let pesky matters like a lifetime of toxic friendship get in the way of a happy ending in which lesbian love conquers all.

There was a good story to be told here, one that could have easily ended up in the same place as the series actually did. But it required actually delving into the complexity of a character like Adora, and dealing honestly with the problems in her relationship with Catra. She-Ra ends - as it did throughout it run - by choosing to paper over those difficulties in favor of a friendship-conquers-all message that is a great deal less convincing.

(Also, am I wrong or are there a lot of loose ends still? I don’t think we ever find out who Adora was, what Greyskull is, and what She-Ra actually is.)

[jamieedlund]

I love your art of Aaravos being Callum's teacher. It's such a neat and interesting idea especially if Callum had been at his side since he was young or even somehow his descendant but doesn't know it but Aaravos does. Even if he's not the au itself is such an awesome idea to explore

Asdfghjk first of all thank you for seeing their potentials I love receiving messages about my agenda

Secondly in my eyes Callum shouldn't be related to Aaravos ...or any magical creature for that matter because that would rob him out of his "hard work" or i guess the importance of him being the probably first human to wield magic w/out a primal stone. Why not just let him be maybe a bit special since he is a protagonist. (And make him work hard for his magic PLEASE I hardly call waking up after a nightmare hard work...I'm not even going to touch on the wings scene just... no.) It would be so much more meaningful to both the character and the story if the magic just IS Callum's rather than passing it off as a heritage type thing don't you think?

As for him being with Aaravos since he was young, the story I'm following continues after season 3 so this isn't a scenario I had considered due to, pardon my personal opinion, they really did not do Callum justice as a protagonist. But the story they've put in place for him already had so much potentials. Consider this: the parallel between Callum's love for his Master and how he misses his mother(pardon the ugly doodles I can't do digital art atm)

I've always had this idea that Sarai was the one who taught Callum how to braid her hair and her last ever hairstyle was done by Callum before she went off to become her people's savior 🥲 So to Callum to braid/take care of someone's hair is a special gesture to show them his affection. Wouldn't that be such an emotional thing because Callum taking care of Aaravos hair is actually a REALLY BIG DEAL for him. (And maybe to Aaravos as well since the only hairstyle he rocked was whatever that was in the intro)

These type of character moments are so important to Callum and is completely plausible and yet the show kinda just... didn't do it for him.

Of course it's completely up to interpretation whether Callum actually see Aaravos as a parental figure. To me he doesn't and my reasoning for this is simple: as a teenager, Callum is allowed to have complicated feelings. His love for Aaravos - the adoration and the desire to protect someone who had lived for so long and in a time where the world wasn't very kind to him- is more nuance than I can explain but at its core, to him it would probably feel different from his love to his mom and his step dad.

I would like to think that despite everything Aaravos has done, Callum understood him very well and while swaying him to just run off and do good together, their bond is unique and is a very precious type of love.

Ty for coming to my Ted talk.

[paper-io]

Paper.io Skins Hack 2022

Paper.io 2 hack galore. So if you are trying to find exactly how to hack paper.io 2 to get 100% win, skins, invincibility, god mode as well as even more, after that right here's the best Paper io hack and also Paper io 2 hack as well as private server.

Including basic video game layout, smooth gameplay, simple mechanics, appealing graphics and characters, Paper.io is unquestionably among one of the most preferred io video games around. Its Voodoo saviour in fact and also best for killing boredom.

At its core, Paper.io (in addition to its successor Paper.io 2) is an on-line technique video game where players are charged to "conquer" as much regions as possible.

In as much as it sounds rather merely, the main objective sure isn't very easy. One false move and also you 'd run into other gamers trying to enclosed an area of the map and also when this takes place, it's game over.

Among things that make Voodoo's Paper.io fascinating is that even if a part of the map is neutral or enclosed by another player, you can easily claim it when you're able to border the location.

Graphics-wise, Paper.io 2 rocks. Its minimalist geometries combined with the color scheme provides it a contemporary look as well as the controls look pretty strong as well.

Notwithstanding the invasive ads, if you are aiming to unlock all the skins in paper.io, to go invincible or probably to make it possible for god setting, after that right here's the best Paper.io hack as well as Paper.io 2 hack of 2020.

Paper.io 2 Hack Games with intricate mechanics and many functions commonly call for lots of play screening. This is to make sure that all components are well balanced and working effectively.

Luckily, Paper.io and also its follower are amongst the many games that feature a debug food selection and regardless of been integrated for debugging objectives, we can quickly accessibility and also use it to our advantage.

Call it Paper.io cheats, exclusive server, hack or whatever. But we're going to walk you through the steps on just how to bring up Paper.io 2 debug mode and afterwards we will certainly go additionally to unwind just how to use it to unlock all skins, enable invisibility and god setting.

Raising Paper.io 2 Debug Menu To start with, ensure you have actually downloaded and install the current variation of Paper.io from Play Store or iTunes. Once this is done, simply fire up the video game and also click on your username.

A box will certainly show up, go on as well as eliminate all the message within that box as well as key in the adhering to;

V00d00Debug2019

And also the debug food selection will pop-up. You can currently proceed and start tinkering.

From transforming gamer shade, to camera dimension, rotation and more to customizing the background and also map shade. However these things aren't essential in the meantime.

Enable God Setting or Invisibility Similar to Cheat codes which instantly give gamers resources, products and also more, Paper.io hack exist and also they would certainly let you transform entities along with stats.

From Paper.io 2 Debug Food selection, simply click to make it possible for the Disable enemies option as well as once this is done, you will not face any kind of obstacles whilst confining territories.

The Disable opponents choice resembles god setting in the sense that it renders the player unyielding as well as supply easy access to difficult to reach areas.

Recognizing fully well that Paper.io is difficult, a multitude of gamers may look for to enable god mode in other not to die, therefore making the gameplay less complicated. With these alternative, you have actually all the video game to yourself. No adversaries, not a problem.

Open all Skins There are a wide variety of brand-new skins to unlock in Paper.io as well as once unlocked, you can easily put one of them on your character to make it look special. From moose to storage tank, giraffe, unicorn, duck, paint roller and also more, right here's exactly how to unlock all the skins in Paper.io 2 easily.

With the debug menu opened, merely locate and click to allow the Unlock Skins option as well as you will be excellent to go.

Completing So these are all the official Paper.io and Paper.io 2 hack that function. They 'd can be found in useful, particularly to make the gameplay easier. On the whole, keep dominating.