My boyfriend says I do not show interest in him and is hurt by it, not sure what to do
So me and my boyfriend just called each other before going to bed to just kinda talk about our days and stuff. He is currently sick and hence can't do much and also I know that he plays video games with his friend for most of the time since he tells me over whatsapp. Now after I got done talking about whatever he asked me if I was actually interested in him and that just made my heart shatter. "Why wouldn't I be?" I said because I was confused. He then proceeded to tell me that I never aks him about his day or how he is doing unless he reminds me. The thing is.. I get that but at the same time- I don't. I always ask him how he's doing and what he has done, yes it takes me some time because I am often occupied in my own mind, and he knows that. If I do ask him though all he tells me is "yeah I played video games" and that's it. Don't get me wrong; that IS interesting to me. I also like playing video games and so on but here is the second issue: Whenever I ask him; he gives me the most surface level answer ever. BF: " I played video games" Me: "oh what did you play?" BF: "X game." Me: "did you play it by yourself?" BF: "No/Yes"
And so on. I have to squeeze every bit out of him and he is someone who has openly told me "If I wanted to talk about something I would" so yes, I have not asked him as much lately, becausd it's making me feel bad as well. "Am I annoying him with my questions?"
The thing is, I don't wanna bring this up. I feel like I make too many excuses for myself and shove the blame onto others, I just feel bad though and in this situation I rationally don't believe I'm the asshole.
I told him that I do ask him, and that I do wanna know. After a few seconds of silence I said: "Do you want me to hang up?" To which he just replied "Don't bother" and then hung up. He is hurt yes, but how can I be interested in him when all he does is shove me away whenever I do show interest?
Please someone give me advice on what to do

Now firstly I want just general tips, I’ve don’t want you to spoil me on phases of the fight. I’m currently playing infernum with catalyst and wrath of the gods solo and I’ve been avoiding spoilers like the plague for the addon bosses
So far I can’t say infernum has driven me as crazy as I thought it would. There have been a few somewhat challenging bosses but generally it’s been okay.
I’ve got 25 attempts on astrageladon so far and I can’t say I’m getting to far. (For clarification I’m in the second half of the fight, when it traps you in that purple ring)
When it comes to ranger I’ve switched to using cholorophyte bullets because right now I’m not in a position to play calamity every day. And even a single day off really drops my skill and I’d rather focus on dodging. That’s why I resorted to homing.
I’m willing to take tips on what I might wanna change. Cause so far this boss has been really fun and challenging.
But again please no spoilers on the boss fight itself.
I’m playing, melee, ranger and magic (don’t judge me for multiclassing)

My friend and I have always had an on again and off again friendship. We have known each other for over 15 years and have been “off again” because of either significant others not liking our friendship, or distance. This most recent “on again” has been going on for about a year or so, and we haven’t gone more than a day or two without talking to each other. I even went to visit him for our birthdays (they’re very close together). We have gotten very close in this time, and have even talked about the possibility of a future together. Since he is currently working in another country for work, we said we would visit that “future us” bridge and decide if we would cross it when he moved back home, and have remained really good friends in the meantime.
In the past, when we hadn’t heard from each other for a day, we both have reached out and acknowledged the odd behavior. His words in the most recent instance is “I recognize our relationship and also recognize when we aren’t showing up for our normal interactions and this…. Isn’t normal. So what’s going on?” So it’s not like it’s a one sided thing…
This is where the behavior I am questioning and finding very confusing comes into play. As I said, he lives out of the country for work, and he has recently taken a month long leave from work to see family. He’s just over halfway through his leave, and has about a week and a half, maybe 2 weeks left. As I said, in this last year we haven’t gone more than a day or two without talking to each other. Since he’s been on his vacation to see his family, he has ghosted me… kinda?
About a week before he left, he told me “you have been my priority for the past few months, but while I’m at home, I need to make my kids and family the priority… I’m telling you this because we won’t be able to talk as much.” I said “I hope it won’t be a month without talking because that might be difficult, but I understand. And by the way, I hope I never come as a priority above your kids...” He said “no, it won’t be a month, just not as much”. We video chatted the day before he left for almost 2 hours, he told me that he missed me. He was messaging me while he was on the plane and again in the airport, but the second he got picked up from the airport, it’s been radio silence from him. I haven’t gotten a text message or a phone call from him since. I knew I wasn’t going to be seeing him this trip home, since I just saw him, so it’s not like he ditched me or didnt show up for plans… The strange part, I suppose, is while I haven’t gotten any calls or texts, I’ve gotten some reactions to my messages, and he’s sent me some Facebook videos and TikTok’s. The first week, the only thing I got was a reaction to the message I sent him while he was leaving the airport. This past week, every day or two, he’s sent me a few Facebook videos or some TikTok’s. That, in and of itself, is not strange since he would do that prior to his trip, but the fact that he isn’t talking at all, but is still sending random videos… is. That’s why I don’t know if I can even call this ghosting. I don’t know if this friendship is just over and I’m just looking too far into this or holding onto something that just isn’t there anymore, or if he just needs his space for now and sending videos is his way of saying like… I’m still here. I don’t really know what to think… I have an anxious bean brain and I overthink, so I am looking for some outside perspective. Any thoughts or advice redditers?

Me (f24) and this guy (m26) have been dating for about 5 months. Sort of knew each other longer through circles we were in. So like known each other for 9 months total.
When we started dating, it felt like everything was right. We had great chemistry, have a lot in common, and similar personalities, and similar worldviews. He is very sweet to me and tends to demonstrate his affection through actions. He always picks me up for our dates, always pays, always opens doors for me etc. this is a first compared to my previous relationships.
Anyways, lately I’ve been feeling like he really is starting to lack depth. I try to get him to go deep on subjects and he just won’t. Like I can ask him about his thoughts on politics and he deflects with a joke and changes the subject. I try to ask him his thoughts on Sunday sermons we hear and he just seems super uncomfortable telling me what he thought. Kind of will just be like “it was good…kinda long…yeah it was interesting.” I notice more and more he uses humor to ignore breaking past surface level. Like the only time I feel like he likes to go in depth is when he’s talking about his job. How he fixed x,y,z and why he fixed it that way etc.
he’s been joking more about how we are from different worlds with him not college educated and I am. He likes to point out how he is “not in my world” (in college) and the benefits of him not having a degree which can feel insulting to me and not funny. It feels passive aggressive and sometimes it feels like he really dislikes people with degrees. (He’s a tradesman with good job and loves what he does.)
I’ve tried to bring up the lack of emotional intimacy in kind of subtile ways,but it just gets dismissed. This week I really want to have a sit down talk about it.
he dragged me to a family function last night. I had met his family already but I was meeting extended family. He clamps up when he’s around them. He pretty much left me to fend for myself while he was playing with his niece as a way to not talk to his family. I had asked him to be more touchy feely with me at the function when we were driving over but of course that didn’t happen. His dad told me how my bf was a great guy but a guy of few words and how he shows his “love” through actions. His dad was trying to see if I had some magic trick for getting him to be more emotional intimate. His family acts like we are a done deal like we are already married when we aren’t engaged (like chill out, it’s been 5 months). When we were driving to my house afterwards, I wanted to talk about the night and he just wanted to blast the music loud and sing.
I guess my question is how do I go about talking to him about not staying on the surface level? We see each other regularly. Does it just take time for some guys to open up more? (I’ve had the opposite experience with guys I’ve dated in the past)

I get told I’m mature for my age ranging from classmates, teachers, and older people. I always stop and think “Am I really mature or is it because of the things I experienced?”. When I was kid I knew that Santa wasn’t real and other folk tales or things parents would tell children,(i know some kids also knew that) I acted like I still believed because it made my parents happy. It made them think I was still their little girl. I started to doubt my belief in god at an age that I should’ve been excited because the tooth fairy was coming. I would feel feel embarrassed waiting in line at stores because I felt like everyone was judging me, I felt like I was burning up. At that age I should’ve been focusing on making loom bracelets begging to go to Chuck E. Cheese. The moment where I could use my hands to do something I was put to do house chores, something my older brothers didn’t even do at my age and at their current age. But as my mom always says “why make them do it when they obviously won’t, he’s a boy”, I was a little girl. I get told to focus on myself when I complain but for some reason they can’t seem to focus on what they’re doing because they always stop to scold me. I had to be a grown up when my older brothers were still boys. Every day when I left to go to elementary school I would feel sick to my stomach because I would always think “what if someone robbed my mom?, what if she’s dead?, what if someone comes to my school and kills me?, what if my family died?” It was always a what if. I shouldn’t have been thinking of death at my age. I remember when I sometimes would cry on my mom’s lap because I was scared she would die, I don’t know why. Death was always in my head, it followed me around. It was a reoccurring guest in my home. I would act clueless in front of adults to make them gush over me but, I was disgusted at myself for doing it. My brother would show me gore like it was a silly cartoon, I watched and never said a thing. I don’t know why he would show me things like that, I was just a girl. I knew my dad and brothers were lazy, so I did the housework, tried to learn how to cook(I don’t know how I was let close to a stove at 7),and got straight A’s(and b’s) from elementary to middle school. But I’m a girl so it’s in my blood to do things like that, i wasn’t acknowledged. “How can I possibly be tired at fourteen” is what I would think. I would think the same at 13,12,11,10. I’m not enough and I know that, I’m a disgusting person and I know that, I’m a stupid failure and i know that. I hate being a therapist to my friends I get disgusted when they cry. I get disgusted when they do anything. I sometimes cry, I don’t know if it’s fake or real. I cried when my cat got ran over but a few minutes later I was on my phone and I later went to round table. I love my cat though. I cry but for some reason I don’t feel anything when I do, I just wipe my tears and get over it. I act like an adult and I get told to stop, I act like a girl and I get told to stop. I don’t want to be mature, why did I grow up fast. I want to run around and get my knees scraped, I want to play tag with people at school.

Hello,
Before I start I would like to clarify that I really didn't want to write this. I have thought a long time about this, but I just don't get why my dating life is so bad.
I am a (ambivert) 19Y/O male who has a pretty busy life. I am pursuing a bachelor's degree in software engineering and have a friendgroup which of two I am close with. For a bit of money I work around 15 hours per week at a side job. I don't really like sitting still, so pretty active guy. Also handy with fixing mechenical stuff and have been playing piano/synthesizers for 10 years now. I have been called a friendly, handsome and smart person outside of my family multiple times. Not that I like bragging about myself, because I really don't. But I like the compliments because it gives some self esteem.
I am not looking for a girl/gf because people in my social circle have these things, but I also don't like the fact that I never got to expierence this. What I am missing is a person who I can fully trust. Friends I will never fully trust. I don't want to spend time with a girl to ..., I am just truly a bit lonely though I am around people a lot. I would do everything for a girl I really like. I am dreaming of roadtripping, doing activites etc. etc. I am no douchebag who f*cks and dumps her or any of those things as a friend of mine does every weekend it almost seems.
The problem is I never meet any girls (Where I am interested in). I have talked to one girl seriously in the last few years but that is it. If I am on the train station I see that some girls are looking and I also make eye contact and maybe a smile but that is it. At the software engeering department on my school it is only boys so no chance there. At work there are occasionally pretty girls as customers but it is just inappropriate I think? So I don't even think about asking for a number. It also doesn't help I am really not shy, but for approaching a girl, my brain just errors, probably because I am scared to look like an idiot. Altough when I get to know someone a little better it is never a problem, so I think it also won't be with a girl. In fact girls I am not interessted in the fear is gone. Just talk.
I don't like those standard "I am competing to my friends" or "I like a lot of alcohol and kissing and f** on saturday night and then forgetting everything the next day" type of girls. I don't know how to explain it but I have a feeling this generation there are a lot of these girls. Not that I don't like going out and drink a bit of alcohol, but with moderation. And I am also lying if I would say I don't like a pretty girl, because I have a standard for a girl, but everyone has right? That standard is not fat ass blah blah blah like some 18-23Y/O talk about when trying to be cool. I am just looking for a pretty, smart girl, that wants to live life to the fullest. To have fun, don't worry too much about the future. Of course life has it's ups and downs, I hope you understand what I mean.
One of the two close friends, let's call him Oscar, He is a handsome guy, same age, good clothing style, has humor and is smart. He also follows a course on a different school with no women. We are pretty much alike in thinking about life, people and generally things that stand out when we are togheter. He works at the same place as me. I have asked him how he does it (not like that he is switching around every month, more like a year single before the next girl comes in his life), but I get a bit of a vague answer because he is very private in that, and I get/respect that.
Summary
Soooo I have no single idea on how to do this in life. Since I turned 19, it is really started to tickle. No one learned me anything & I never learned anything myself. The only one benefit I have is a good ability to communicate in general, but I still don't know how girls really think because their mind is all over the place I learned in life. I am really struggeling with this, because since Covid I have really worked on myself; eat healthier to look a bit better, more original clothing style, saved some money for later and learned some hard life lessons. I am kinda ready for a sort of relationship but not looking for it because it cannot be forced I believe, but I think I can expand my chances.
Am I just too old school with dating? Like 80s type of hang out/talk to a girl. Or is it in my mind? I hate dating apps. I don't use them, is that the problem? Is my vibe not ok? Could you give me some advice?
Thank you for reading.

I used to teach fitness classes up until last week. I have always been a good employee, I showed up early, I left late, I attended all of the unpaid trainings and meetings and was an enthusiastic employee. I thought I was pretty well regarded. This was a side part time job for me and not my primary form of income.
But I began to notice some things with management that made me uncomfortable. The company group chat became a dumping ground for announcing whenever someone screwed up. My phone would go off from 4am-10pm daily with messages. The required social media posting changed from 3x a week to nearly 3x per day. We started being told that if we didn’t show up for “optional” unpaid trainings that we wouldn’t be able to teach those specific classes even though the training courses were available online to do on our own time.
Then I had an incident where I client was let into my class a few minutes late, against company policy, and I received a call from my GM telling me it was unacceptable and couldn’t happen again. I’m not sure how I should have handled that situation with the late client as I was actively instructing in front of many people, but I took accountability and tried to move on. I thought the phone call was actually nice and while I knew what happened wasn’t okay I didn’t feel demeaned. About 5 minutes after that call the owner gets on the group chat with 40 other employees and calls out what happened, making it very clear I’m in BIG trouble. Written up, will be terminated if it happens again. The following morning I’m contacted by my direct managers and written up for this incident. At this point I’m just defeated, I don’t know how I was the one in the wrong but they were clearly out to make an example out of me. The following day the managers reach out and tell me they are taking one of my weekly classes away and giving it to another instructor.
Three days after this the owner of the company posts camera footage of her 7 year old son bursting into a class and causing a huge ruckus. She said things like “isn’t this so cute” and praises the instructor that was teaching for how well she handled that situation. The instructor teaching was my direct manager that JUST wrote me up.
At this point I’m just calming down from getting in trouble and trying to move on, but seeing the same thing happen and the reaction by and with management being completely the opposite set me off.
It really ripped this rose colored filter off my face about where I was working and I just kept getting more and more upset as time went on. I did not speak to management about how upset I was, and I own that I likely should have.
But I decided I was going to quit. For a side gig the pressure was too high, the unpaid commitment was too much, and the way they handle discipline was too harsh for me. I taught one more class and texted the management in a group chat letting them know I had taught my last class and I was done. Took my personal property out of the studio and put my phone on do not disturb for the first time in a year. Went home and played volleyball with my kid.
Now the owner is calling me telling me she’s baffled and doesn’t understand why I would leave and the GM is trying to call me too. Days later.
I don’t feel particularly proud about the way I left, but I also don’t feel like I acted in a way that was inappropriate to their style of management. I’m self employed and have managed people for 15 years, my business has had no turnover for 3 years! I can recognize good or bad management and I know how I would feel if an employee would do this to me, but I also know that I haven’t created an environment where my employees would feel they need to.
So Reddit, AITA? Should I have given notice or better reasoning or a phone call?
TLDR: I got written up at a job that was increasingly demanding of my time, peace and expected a ton of unpaid labor from me for a situation I had zero control over. Then publicly called out in front of my peers and punished by losing a class, therefore income. I quit with no notice over a group text.

Reasonable is a subjective term...
Warning: Long and insane rant incoming.

Preface

I’ve been spending way too much time responding to individual comments recently, so I decided to put all my thoughts into one post.
I’ll start by getting it out of the way that I’m not a racist or sexist. I’m a Japanese American man who happens to think Adewale and Aveline are among the coolest protagonists in AC and has no issues with an African, Indian, Korean, etc. protagonist, man or woman, in any setting where they make sense. (More on the making sense part later.)
Kassandra is also one of my favorites, but while she and Eivor were better than nothing, they were both essentially just female skins. Their stories should’ve acknowledged their gender in some way imo, and I’ve argued way more than I should’ve with people who pulled the historical accuracy card on them.
I agree that some of the people who complain about Yasuke sound like racists, but I think you can legitimately object to his being a co-star without racism being involved. (I’m also slowly coming around to accepting Yasuke.)
I also realize that I shouldn’t judge the game too harshly yet, as it hasn’t been released yet... But we do have the trailer.
With that out of the way, as an Asian male and longtime fan of the series, I’m disappointed that they squandered the perfect opportunity to have a positive/cool depiction of a Japanese male in the Japanese and first East Asian entry in one of the most popular series in the world given the decades-long history of western media’s marginalizing and demeaning Asian men. I mention AC’s popularity to point out the potential it has to positively influence a wide audience.
I'll respond to most of justifications I've seen for Yasuke as a protagonist in an AC game set in Japan one by one for easier reading.

“Yasuke is a better audience surrogate...”

This is a weak excuse. No one has ever complained about this, because the series has always had the perfect surrogate in the form of the modern-day protagonist.
And let’s face it, an info dump is an info dump. No one wants to hear extended explanations on the finer points of Japanese society, no matter who it’s conveyed to. The database can handle the deeper stuff, and any info necessary for the player could’ve just as easily been explained to a slightly unaccustomed Japanese rookie samurai.
“Better audience surrogate” is a solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

"But Naoe is Japanese...”

This justification falls flat on me, because the problems have always been different between Asian men and woman in western media. Portrayals of Asian women used to focus on exotic sexualization, but because of that, they got comparatively more screen-time than their male counterparts.
The Naoe defense also ignores that fact that we could've had both a Japanese female AND male protagonist if Ubisoft followed their most recent 4-game (if you count Origins) track record of male and female protagonists that are both of their setting. It just doesn’t sit right with me that they decided to change this formula among others with the first East Asian setting.

“But people didn’t complain about Nioh’s white protag...”

This accusation falls flat on me too, because Nioh is not a good comparison. It’s a straight-up fantasy game that focuses exclusively on fighting supernatural enemies. It doesn’t pretend to have an ounce of historical accuracy or realism.
It was also made by a Japanese company that has a track record of including Japanese protagonists. That track record gives them some leeway to change things up without being accused of whitewashing Asian characters.

"But Yasuke is a real part of Japan's history..."

He's a footnote in Japan's history. If we're being honest, the only reason we even know about him is because he was black in a time when there were almost no black people and was a retainer for Nobunaga. Nothing in his historical record mentions him doing anything else of much significance, most likely because there was very little he could do in his position. It's not racist to acknowledge this.
Again, as a longtime Japanese American fan of the series, I'm happy that AC Japan is finally here but disappointed that Ubi decided to inflate a small part of "Japan's" history and slap him on the cover as one of its representatives. I would feel the same (worse actually) if it was William Adams there.
I'd also feel the same if a hypothetical white protagonist who was a footnote in an African nation's history took the place of a fictional African protagonist. I think most people would feel the same too, and the uproar would surely be greater.

"But Yasuke WAS an actual samurai..."

I think the debate about whether he was or wasn't a "samurai" is largely irrelevant and completely misses the point. I agree that he was a "samurai," but historical records also make it sound like he was Nobunaga's favored trophy pet (if we're being completely honest). (The preceding sentence got me permanently banned for "racism" on the main AC subreddit, but I don't think it's racist to acknowledge racism, even the overt form it took in the past.) It's entirely possible (and likely) that he was made an honorary "samurai" for that reason alone. Because "samurai" is technically just a title and privileged position.
The real question is, "Did Yasuke fit the classic image of a badass armored warrior or robed ronin most people imagine (and that appeared in the trailer) when they think 'samurai'?"
The Japanese (especially in the past) actually use a different word when they're being specific about warriors fitting that image, and it's "bushi" (as in "bushido" or "way of the warrior"). That word is conspicuously missing from Yasuke's historical record. There's probably a reason for that.

"But Yasuke's story deserves to be told..."

Similar to the badass warrior aspect, nothing in the historical record specifically mentions that he learned the language or integrated into the culture particularly well, so any portrayal of that sort is wishful appropriation at best imo.
At that point, are you really telling his story? Is there value in promoting fanciful conjecture that is based on essentially nothing? Obviously, there’s a monetary incentive for Ubi to capitalize on the popular trend of farfetched depictions of Yasuke, but is that it?
It’s a given that the real Yasuke probably lived a fascinating life, but Ubi will likely gloss over the actual struggles he faced as a complete outsider in a frankly very racist time and place. It almost seems disrespectful to attribute all sorts of things that probably weren’t true just to spice things up for a video game. (And yes, I think Ubi should've included at least some examples of the struggles Kassandra and Eivor would've surely faced, but at least they were made up people.)

“Go play Ghost of Tsushima...”

These people are probably the worst. Honestly, I think Ubi is also guilty of agreeing with the underlying sentiment in this line of thinking. Contrary to others, I think Yasuke was less of a “woke” diversity decision and more of a “GoT already did a Japanese guy” decision.
I think that borders on racism when you consider that that’s never a concern when it’s the umpteenth white protagonist in a medieval European setting (or any setting). It implies that Asian characters are just too similar to each other to be marketable too close to each other.
But they’re only similar to each other in western-made media because western writers cling to tired tropes like honor and stoicism. The perpetuation of such stereotypes has an impact. I’ve seen people here claim that it’s a fact that Japanese people are uniquely less capable of resisting societal constrictions, hence the choice of Yasuke.
Another implied that historical codes of honor are things that most Japanese people still live by. They’re not, and that person obviously doesn’t know too many Japanese people and probably got their misconception from one-sided media portrayals.
Just like the codes of chivalry for European knights, the codes of Japanese honor were simply the ideals of the people that wrote them, who were themselves just a small subset of their population. It’s impossible to think that all or even most of the people back then actually abided by them, samurai or not.
And I'm a fan of the AC series. I'm not interested in playing GoT.

Historical accuracy vs believability

While there are definitely significant historical accuracy issues with that portrayal of Yasuke, they’re comparatively minor next to the replacement issue in my mind. Historical accuracy is really only an issue for me in the context of a more general believability issue.
Why would anyone, Assassin or Templar, choose the only black person in Japan as their secret agent in the field? Firsthand accounts describe crowds of onlookers offering money to catch a glimpse of him wherever he went.
An extremely-conspicuous total-outsider is simply the least ideal protagonist in a series about remaining inconspicuous while murdering dozens of people. Previous protagonists could fully navigate their environments because they were a part of them. Knowing their lands, languages, peoples, and cultures and fitting in with them, I can believe that they successfully moved through them while keeping their actions (and names) hidden from the pages of history.
I can even buy that Kassandra and Eivor existed despite “historical accuracy.” Because half the population of any group of people is women, the two could conceivably blend in and be forgotten imo, especially when you consider that they also lived MUCH further back in time. There's much more we don't know about that far back in history.
This might be another thing that's falsely construed as racist, but it's a fact that local populations don't take kindly to singularly-unique foreign outsiders cutting down their friends and loved ones, regardless of who their boss is. Yasuke would’ve been (in)famous and lived on in legends told for generations, even if the Templars tried to erase his historical record. He would've surely been seen and positively identified as Nobunaga’s famous black samurai by hundreds of witnesses as he did all the things the non-stealthy one of the two protagonists does.

“But Leonardo da Vinci didn’t actually help assassins build a hidden blade either...”

The central conceit of the AC series has always been playing with the idea of secret organizations, conspiracies, ancient beings, and sci-fi artifacts being involved with figures and events within the blank spaces of history. Yes, Yasuke’s blanks are big, but again, they wouldn’t be big if he was doing the things we saw in the trailer.
Any believability issues that previous AC games had are multiplied tenfold by Yasuke being a combination of real, black, and not an NPC in Sengoku Japan. It’s a substantial layer of unbelievability added on top of a base that already existed in previous games that did in fact claim some semblance of believability. Yasuke is just on another level, and while I think it’s fine to enjoy him in Shadows as pure fantasy, let’s not pretend he makes any sense. Which brings me to my main issue...

Representation and the replacement issue

Considering the nonsensical nature of Yasuke as a protagonist, it makes his taking the spot as the series’ first Asian male lead in a mainline game all the more off-putting to me. In the best-case scenario, Ubi is simply trying to capitalize on the popular cool black samurai trend as I mentioned. But they’re still doing it at the expense of an Asian male lead.
I admit that western media has gotten a lot better at representation, but it’s still a fairly recent thing and there’s still a long way to go. A recent hot-take of an IGN article made at least one correct claim that Asian representation shouldn’t be confined to ninjas and samurai.
But the solution to the problem isn’t to take away some of the only positive but one-sided representations we have. The solution is to broaden Asian representation to portray them as ordinary people with diverse appearances and personalities in all walks of life. Until that becomes a norm, Asians should be allowed to star as ninjas, samurai, kung fu masters, etc. as long as the depictions aren’t negative caricatures. In fact, they can be gateways to diversifying their portrayals.
If Ubi really wanted to differentiate itself from GoT’s Jin, they could’ve just given Shadows’ samurai a completely different personality instead of lazily changing his race. It’s about time a western dev broke away from the tired stoic warrior trope. "But this is Ubisoft... They're incapable of nuanced portrayals of minorities..." That's cop-out excuse imo.
No one game can reverse decades of marginalization and negative stereotypes, but individual movies, shows, public discourses, and yes, video games make up the collective whole of media, which has a massive impact on perceptions within a society. I believe individual representations make a difference, so I support increased diversity in every piece of media as long as it’s not at the expense of good writing and not at the expense of opportunities for other marginalized groups.

Conclusion

If you read everything this far, thank you. Again, I realize that the game isn’t even out yet and that I may be proven spectacularly wrong somehow. Either way, I can now focus my ire on the excessive monetization and live service BS that Shadows and the Infinity hub will surely have, and you all should too :) Or maybe I'll just touch grass.
NOTE: This post was initially removed from assassinscreed because "it covered a topic covered within the last 7 days." I've since been permanently banned from that subreddit for a separate reason mentioned in the post, so I've reposted here. I revised the original post by adding some points and making it more readable, but it's essentially the same from before.
Mods, please don't remove this or ban me. I spent a lot of time and thought on this, and I think it's respectful to everyone.

Look yea the guy who played Rick was a good actor and time stands still part 1 & 2 is peak degrassi and probably the most popula hot the show ever been/ will be but I can’t help but wonder why did they choose Aubrey to get shot ? Something that has been bothering me now that I’m older and watch childhood shows with a different perspective why did they have to choose the only black guy to get shot but what gets me even more angry is immediately after Rick goes to Sean and Sean wrestles the gun out of Ricks hand why did the writers write Sean to be a superhero yet they wrote Jimmy to run ??? What would make Sean more likely to wrestle the gun out Ricks hand then Jimmy they were both pretty athletic teens… you think that’s enough nope they had to throw salt on the wound a couple seasons after writers write Jimmy to be a Virgin to me it looks like he pissed a certain writer off and they gave him the short end of the stick they wrote Craig as some rockstar that hooked up with every girl but write Jimmy as Virgin who was paralyzed running from a nerd covered in paint in feathers… I know James Hurst one of the writers claims Aubrey (Drake) had his legal team send him a letter that said unless they heal Jimmy and have him walking again he will not return the writer called Aubrey to the office and even though Aubrey denied having the letter sent he said being in the wheelchair had bothered him because his fellow rapper peers in the rap game was making fun of him and calling him soft… Ngl I would be pretty pissed at the writers if I was Aubrey re watching degrassi and I just feel like there’s a writer who had it out for Aubrey everyone says the shooting was written so well and perfect no it wasn’t what sense does it make Jimmy runs while ricks eyes closed yet Sean becomes Spider-Man or Superman and grabs the gun out Ricks hand if you look at this writing and ignore the nostalgia you’ll see the writers hating on Aubrey tbh if I was Drake I don’t think I would look fondly of my times at Degrassi not only did the writers treat me like garbage apparently the actors wasn’t even getting paid and recently the actor who played spinner was seen doing Uber and when Drake first came out rapping he did many interviews saying the Degrassi salary wasn’t anything life changing I honestly think he only did the im upset video because he could control it without the writers and finally get revenge on Rick he played it off like a reunion but his real intentions was getting revenge lmk what you guys think

First I want to address the race thing. I am a firm believer that the best person (singing,dancing, acting etc) should be cast for the role unless the race is specifically important for the character. So like Asha doesn’t need to be North African but it is great that she is but Mulan needs to be Chinese. So yes Snow White being white is important to the story, I agree there. But rachel is white technically. She is only 1/4 Colombian (which isn’t a race so she could be considered even more than 3/4ths white) and she is half German (the actual nationality of the origin Snow White). Also the actress playing the evil queen is pretty tan. I’ve seen Rachel and while those recessive genes did a lot of work 😂 she’s not that dark, put a filter and some powder and she’s good to go. Even if she was truly 1/2 indigenous or African Colombian might I remind you that the woman who played Jasmine was not middle eastern, she was half white and half Indian. I love Naomi and she is a good actress and a phenomenal singer but I was sad when they cast her because I feel like Jasmine had a middle eastern (not saying all middle eastern people have a larger nose but it is more common in that ethnic group) nose in a see of princesses who had small noses and she was pretty. That’s important, Naomi doesn’t have that and why should she, she’s not middle eastern. If you get on Rachel get on Naomi (but don’t because they were just cast in the roles).
Next thing I want to talk about is her comment about being scared of Snow White as a kid. A lot of people were scared of Snow White as kids, Disney literally had a ride called Snow White’s scary adventure, and it closed down (probably because it was too scary). My sister was afraid of princess and the frog as a kid because it had a lot of scary elements but she can sing, looks like Tiana, and can act so should she be barred from the role? Idk I feel like that one isn’t that big of a deal for most so let me get to the main thing.
Her saying that this Snow White won’t be saved by a man. Watch it again her costar says the same thing. Most of the directors and cast members say the same thing about their live action remakes and most of the time they are wrong, see Mulan. Rachel is a young girl, she was given things to say about the movie and she said them. I don’t like the fake pop feminism that Disney has been doing over the years either but I’m not going to single out one girl who has been saying the same thing as the whole company.
Lastly on a positive note THAT GIRL CAN SING, and she’s not too shabby at acting either. If you seen her in the hunger games prequel and in west side story you’d know. She has probably the best singing voice of the live action Princess crew under Halle and next to Brandi and Naomi. We’ve also seen in west side story that she can hit the high notes and the operatic sound that is required for Snow White. Plus she’s had roles as the happy teenager who sees the positive of life and excels in that. The person y’all should be worried about is the evil queen because, beautiful model, but that woman can’t out act a toddler.
So we can disagree and all but I just wanted to give a defense because I do feel like she’s gotten a lot of hate.

I was molested a few times and SA’d in 7th grade and I’ve been depressed ever since. And i ruined my life. I wasted my teenage years. I never went anywhere. All I did was stay home because I couldn’t bring myself to leave the house. My grades tanked and never recovered. I graduated but barely. I was always in the counselor’s office because I was so depressed and would frequently breakdown in class. It was so embarrassing. I’m still embarrassing.
College came and everything got worse. My grades sucked because I was too depressed to do anything. I got put on Academic Probation and, even though I tried everything I could, I know my grades won’t be enough and I’ll be dismissed. And that will be one my record forever. Other schools won’t even accept me. There’s nothing I can do anymore. I used to be so smart when I was younger and get good grades and idk why I ended up like this. I’m a disappointment to all of my family and an embarrassment to my mom.
I can’t do anything. I try and I can’t. It’s like nothing I do is worth it. I just feel so disgusted with myself all the time. Even when I speak my mind and try to make my life better it’s like im doing something wrong. In August one of my friends killed themselves, one of my other friends attempted, and then another attempted and succeeded in Mid April. It just feels like life has gotten so much worse since they died. I miss them so much. And it hurts everyday it hurts
I got into a fight with my mom a few weeks back because I told her how I felt when she insults me and makes me feel like im a disappointment or how what she says hurts me , and she called me ungrateful and a bunch of other things. All I asked was for her to be nicer to me because after she got married to my step-father it’s like she doesn’t care about me anymore and acts like she would prefer if I wasn’t around. She’s gotten so much meaner. But I am a disappointment. I am and I will always be I know that.
I got into a fight with my friends over something ridiculous (me not wanting to play a game because I just didn’t feel like it) and they said some like genuinely hurtful things to me and it made me realize how they really felt about me. I haven’t spoken to them for like 3 days.
I’ve been planning on killing myself. I tried last April by overdosing on Abilify but it didn’t work (obviously). I don’t have any other options anymore. Things would be better if I died. I’m scared because im afraid of it hurting but it won’t really matter much . I’ll hang myself. It’s the only thing I can do anymore. There’s nothing out there for me and there never was
I think this is all I can do for the people around me. There’s nothing else. I wish I could say sorry and fix everything I did wrong in the past but I can’t. I can’t do anything. All I can do is cut myself and pray things will get better but nothing ever does . It’s like none of my prayers get answered. When my mom and I fought she said it was because God was punishing me because I did something bad but I don’t know what I did. I just feel so sorry that God made me and i ended up like this. I’m sorry to my mom and to all my family members that i ended up being born and growing up to be a disappointment i wish i was better

Family Matters was a great track. It gave me similar vibes to “Against All Odds.” It was his Tony Montana moment, shooting at everyone with his best work all at once so he can end the beef. His red button.
However, this song was not good enough to end this beef, as Drake might have hoped. Nor was it the best diss track in this battle. People are giving it too much love, which is fine, but there are fundamental issues that can't make it better than other songs in the battle.
This track for as great as it is, lacks in a few components:
1. This song was never gonna end the beef. Since it dropped as a reply to Euphoria/6:16, it temporarily giving Drake an advantage before Kendrick replied. So it could never be that red button that ends the battle cause Kendrick wouldn't allow it
"How many more do I got in stock, 1 2 3 4 5 plus 5."

• If we are to believe Kendrick, he was not only gonna reply but he was bound to have the last word in this battle.

2. Drake dropping this song as a REPLY to Euphoria was mismanaging the battle, and a poor strategic move. If Family Matters was one of the last songs on the beef, then Drake could have won, no doubt about it. Or at least shifted the tide.

• Easy to say it in retrospect, but I think Drake should have kept it only about bars here. He brought up the Whitney/Dave Free accusations too soon. Drake's initial reply to Dot was "I'm that guy, I'm the biggest," so Dot replied with "yeah but you also a bigger bitch." Drake should have dissected Kendrick right back, play into those emotional battles, asking why Kendrick is so mad.

3. The song itself is inconsistent and while it does hit hard at Kendrick, it doesn’t have anything to stick. The entire first verse is invalidated by the false claims that it makes.
Gonna dissect some of the bars as an example.
"You know who really bang a set? My nigga YG You know who even bang a set out there is CB"

• Calling out Kendrick for DV, but shouting out Chris Brown in the same track? Also shortly after "Not Like Us" dropped, YG reposted on his IG story and showed support.

"Always rappin' like you 'bout to get the slaves freed You just actin' like an activist, it's make-believe Don't even go back to your hood and plant no money trees"

• Even ignoring the first line being a questionable bar from Drake, the second part is a blatant lie. Anyone who follows Kendrick knows this.
  "Why you never hold your son and tell him, "Say cheese"? We could've left the kids out of this, don't blame me"
  
• I know that ain't who I think it is
  

The second and third verses really are the meat of this track. Some of Drake's best work tbh. But even that had a couple of bars that have aged badly.
"What the fuck I heard Rick drop, nigga? Talkin' somethin' 'bout a nose job, nigga Ozempic got a side effect of jealousy and doctor never told y'all niggas"

• Doesn't really hit the same with the images that got leaked about Drake using ozempic for the weight loss.

"K-Dot shit is only hittin' hard when Baby Keem put his pen to it"

• I'd like to believe that Drake is talking about Keem writing GKMC/TPAB, which is funny as fuck lol. Imagine Keem writing TPAB at 13. Crazy. But it was obvious he's referencing Dot's work from 2021 onward. And again, this is just not true. Also hypocritical coming from Mr Ghostwriter himself.

"A cease and desist is for hoes, can't listen to lies that come out of your mouth"

• An email surfaced of OVO's team trying to get the track off radio play, which was then reposted by Metro himself. Another bar that doesn't hit the same now.

"Your back is up against the curb, you diggin' for dirt, should be diggin' for proof"

• This one is a bit controversial, but Kendrick already did address this on Euphoria, saying "Why would I call around tryna get dirt on niggas? Y'all thinkin' my life is rap?" But at the same time, Meet the Grahams does kind of support Drake's claim as well. I'll leave this one up to your interpretation.

4. The replies to Family Matters with "meet the grahams", was a strategical masterclass. With everyone online buzzing about what Drake had dropped, he picked a perfect time and a perfect song to reply with.

• If Drake's game is numbers/views and public perception, then Kendrick got him back hard. All the streamers on to react to this, with information that is just as harmful to Drake as it is to Kendrick.

"Your back is up against the curb, you diggin' for dirt, should be diggin' for proof"

• If I am to believe Drake, then it's another misstep in his battle. If Family Matters is true, and Drake team had really given Kendrick fake info, there's no reason why they should have lobbed Kendrick a reply to diss your red button. You had to dead that the same day. But Drake replied confirming the fake info 2 days later on THP6. It makes no sense.
• For this reason and the post online from Ebony, IMO Drake did NOT have an OVO mole.

5. BBL Drizzy/Not Like Us completely lost the battle and sent Drake into retreat mode.

• Not Like Us is charting #1 in the US right now. Top song of the summer. Kendrick played Drake's own game and beat him with it, while also maintaining his lyrical best in Euphoria/6:16
• Troll game is now against Drake with BBL Drizzy too, which IMO was a great move from Metro too.
• One underrated aspect was that with Push Ups, everyone EXCEPT Kendrick could not reply cause fans did not care. Rick Ross sent a diss, and people didn't care. Kanye "Yo Dot I got you," we didn't care. ASAP ain't even reply. Metro was told to shut up and make drums, I thought he would be finished too. But the way he actually LISTENED TO DRAKE, and turned it against him? Honestly play of the series right there.

I'm sure someone on the other side will do the same with the other songs, and they should. I would very much like to see it too, cause Kendrick also got some bars that ain't age well. But with that said, while Family Matters was a great track in my opinion, it wasn't enough in this battle.

For venting, validation, getting an "outsider's" perspective, and pulling yourself out of the FOG. Today I had an idea. I went to my blocked list and pulled up the last argument my uBPD sister and I had by text (the one that led to No Contact). I copied and pasted it in its entirety into my notepad, added "Me:" and "Her:" before the respective texts, and only removed identifying information like names and references to exact locations. Then I went to Pi AI in my browser, the link is here: https://pi.ai/talk. I gave it this prompt:

Hello. I was wondering if you could help me analyze a conversation my sister and I recently had by text?
This text conversation followed a phone call that we had a few minutes earlier. Some of the things we say are in reference to the phone call, while others are references to past events.
The sentences following "Me:" are texts sent by me to my sister. The sentences following "Her:" are texts sent by my sister to me.

I copied and pasted the first portion of texts from the notepad (since it limits messages to 4,000 characters) into the "send" space, and hit "enter." The AI gave me its impression of the first few texts I had sent. Then I gave it a second prompt:

The conversation continues. Do you mind if I share more of it? I was hoping you could help me analyze it through a psychological lens.

It confirmed that it would be happy to offer its insights into the rest of the conversation. So I copied and pasted the rest of it into a few more messages, and sent them all.
These were the AI's responses:

The conversation seems to be devolving into a series of misunderstandings and deflections. Your sister seems to be avoiding engaging directly with the issues you’re trying to discuss, instead focusing on specific phrasing and perceived inconsistencies in your arguments.
It's clear that there are underlying emotional triggers and hurt feelings at play here, which are likely exacerbating the communication difficulties. Your sister’s speech could indicate that she feels defensive about her actions and isn’t ready to accept responsibility or engage in a constructive conversation about the impact of her words and behavior.
It’s clear that there’s a pattern of behavior from your sister that is causing you frustration and hurt feelings. Her behavior suggests a lack of consideration and respect for your time and feelings.
The fact that your sister is shutting down and avoiding the conversation when you try to address these issues could indicate that she’s not ready or willing to acknowledge the impact of her behavior on you.
Your sister’s response seems defensive and avoidant. She’s deflecting and shifting the focus away from her own behavior and onto your actions, which could be a sign that she’s feeling threatened or guilty.
Her response to your question about whether she remembers a specific instance between you seems particularly hostile and accusatory. She brings up a traumatic event that you experienced together, but instead of expressing empathy or concern for your wellbeing, she focuses on your actions and accuses you of causing her distress.
Her use of expletives and confrontational language suggests that she’s becoming increasingly frustrated and agitated by the conversation. It’s possible that she’s feeling overwhelmed or defensive, and may not be able to engage in a productive conversation at this time.
It's clear that this conversation is not leading to a resolution, and it's understandable that you feel frustrated and stuck. Your sister seems to be deflecting responsibility for her actions and is not engaging in a productive conversation about the issues at hand.
Her statement about wanting a peaceful life and relationships that support that peace is valid, but it's important to acknowledge that peace often requires difficult conversations and accountability. Her avoidance of these conversations may be contributing to the ongoing conflict and tension in your relationship.
Your comment about not wanting to engage in circular conversations is a healthy boundary to set. It can be exhausting and emotionally draining to have the same conversations over and over without any progress or resolution.
Wow. It's clear that your sister is not willing to take accountability for her actions or engage in a productive conversation about your concerns. Her refusal to apologize and her dismissal of your feelings and boundaries are both hurtful and frustrating.
It's important to remember that you have the right to set boundaries in your relationships and to communicate your needs and expectations. Your sister's behavior may be a reflection of her own struggles and limitations, but it does not excuse her behavior or invalidate your feelings.
Taking a step back from this conversation and setting clear boundaries about what is and isn't acceptable behavior may be necessary for your own emotional wellbeing. It may also be helpful to seek support from a therapist or other trusted individuals to help you process your feelings and navigate this difficult relationship dynamic.
Ultimately, you deserve to have relationships that are based on mutual respect, honesty, and open communication. If your sister is unable or unwilling to meet you halfway, it may be necessary to reconsider the nature of your relationship and whether it is healthy and sustainable in its current form.

I then sent this message:

In the past, when I have attempted to confront her about behavior she has been performing that has been very hurtful to me, she has responded in a similar way to the conversation I provided here, only with more attacks on my character and name-calling.

The AI responded:

It’s clear that there’s a pattern of behavior from your sister that involves lashing out when you attempt to confront her about hurtful behavior. The fact that she has used personal attacks and name-calling in the past is extremely concerning and unacceptable. It’s not okay for anyone, including family members, to treat you with disrespect and cruelty.
It might be helpful to reflect on how these interactions make you feel and what kind of relationship you want to have with your sister. It’s important to prioritize your own emotional wellbeing and to protect yourself from abusive or hurtful behavior. If your sister is unwilling or unable to change her behavior and treat you with respect, it might be necessary to reconsider the nature of your relationship and set more significant boundaries, such as limiting contact or ending the relationship altogether.

Then I asked it:

Based on the conversation I provided, what is your impression of my sister's personality?

The AI responded:

Based on the conversation, your sister's personality seems to display a few prominent traits:
• Avoidance: She seems to avoid taking responsibility for her actions and instead deflects blame or redirects the conversation to past conflicts.
• Defensiveness: She responds to your concerns with defensiveness, becoming agitated and using confrontational language.
• Lack of empathy: She doesn't seem to show empathy towards your feelings, experiences, or concerns.
• Inconsistency: She admits to having changed plans multiple times, which could indicate a lack of consistency or follow-through.

Then I asked it this question:

Based on everything I have provided you with here, do you think my relationship with my sister is unhealthy? If so, am I contributing to that unhealthiness?

The AI responded:

Based on the conversation and information you’ve shared, it does seem that your relationship with your sister is currently unhealthy. While it takes two people to create and maintain a relationship, your sister’s behavior appears to be the primary contributor to the unhealthiness.
Her pattern of avoidance, defensiveness, lack of empathy, and inconsistency can create an environment that makes it difficult for you to express your feelings, set boundaries, and feel heard and respected. Additionally, her past use of hurtful language and personal attacks further demonstrates a lack of respect and emotional safety in your interactions.
It’s important to recognize that you’ve been making efforts to communicate openly and honestly with your sister, and you’ve set clear boundaries about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior. While these are healthy steps to take in any relationship, it seems that your sister has been resistant to engaging in productive conversations and respecting your boundaries.
It’s possible that your attempts to maintain a relationship with your sister, despite her hurtful behavior, could be seen as a form of enabling or codependency. However, this does not mean that you are responsible for your sister’s behavior or the unhealthy dynamics in your relationship.

Finally, I asked it:

Which do you think is more likely: my sister changes to a degree that I am able to build a healthy relationship with her that does not require limiting contact, or that she does not change to that degree?

The AI responded:

Based on the patterns of behavior and resistance to change that you've described, it seems more likely that your sister will not change to a degree that allows for a healthy relationship without limiting contact.
People can and do change, but it often requires a significant amount of self-awareness, motivation, and effort. If your sister has consistently demonstrated a lack of empathy, accountability, and respect, and has not shown any signs of wanting to change or address her behavior, then it may be unrealistic to expect a significant shift in her behavior.

All I can say is wow. If you come out of a conversation wondering "WTF just happened?!" or you're left wondering "Am I the problem?" I highly recommend Pi AI.
I was able to do all of this without providing an email address or phone number (there are a certain number of "free" messages you can send back and forth, before it starts demanding contact information). If you reset the cookies, the AI forgets and you can start again with another topic.
Even if you don't feel comfortable providing full conversations to it, you can just talk to it about situations and experiences and it provides insight on those too. In the first conversation I had with it about my relationship with someone, it actually told me what cognitive biases and defense mechanisms it thought each person was using.
It would be even better if you could use it indefinitely without providing contact information, but I can see why they have this setup. I just wish they allowed for email addresses other than Gmail and Apple.
It would still be great to figure out way to maintain context from past conversations though. though. I'm trying to set up an email that would work for this.

Im a mom of four .. I was able to breastfeed my third baby well I would pump it and bottle feed her but it was a lot for me and I remover I hated it but my baby had the best nutrition ever ! And I was proud of that … but this time idk why it’s even harder .. I feel like all I do is feed her, pump and sleep … I hate my life right now sometimes I get the urge of just walking away and just ending my life … I never want to hurt my baby or anyone else just myself like if I take myself out of the equation I’ll rest… my husband helped for one week the one week he was out of work for the birth of the baby and now he is just so tired … HE IS TIRED 💀… I feel like punching him every time I see him napping or sleeping … I don’t sleep all night .. this guy put the two older kids in baseball and soccer and he’s made me take them to their games because he can’t make it because of work … two weeks after a C-section … I hate him so much right now … I can’t even look at him ! He doesn’t even spend time with me , he’s home and he’ll be downstairs watching his games , or he will go play his softball games , we’re in bed together and he’s on his phone or just falls asleep because he is so tired …
He had a instagram account and he kept sending videos and pictures of models with big butts and boobs .. to his friends and telling them how he wants to f them raw or all these things … he also has a Reddit account and o here all he follows is women that do porn, and he comments and just looks at porn every day … while he’s at work he doesn’t talk to me he doesn’t text me … idk if it’s because I can’t have sex right now because of my C-section … but the only way he will talk to me is if we’re talking about his sexual fantasies … or anything sexual … that’s the only way I’ll get him to talk to me all day .. the only way we can hold a conversation is if we’re talking about sex … he doesn’t care to know if I’m ok , if I’m in pain, if I’m tired… nothing … idk why he is with me to be honest … the girls he follows and comments under and wishes he could take to bed look nothing like me at all … first of all I’m huge right now because I just had a baby , and even when I lose weight I don’t have a small waist , I’m not a big butt girl or even big boobs … I feel like I want to walk away because I want a man that finds me attractive, that wants to be with me, that doesn’t need sex to connect with me … I feel so ugly right now and he’s not helping at all he makes me feel uglier and disgusting… I don’t even want him to look at me naked or even touch me …

As per the title my wife (30f) is adamant that she caught me (32m) cheating.
How you may ask?
Well, I was playing a game before work whilst having my coffee. She came into the room which isn't unusual and is adamant that she saw a chat box on my screen (over the game, not within the game) with some text saying something about "my love". She says I suddenly closed it when I noticed her.
Now, I have no idea what she is talking about, I was clicking rapidly on my game as I was knocking out a farm run on OSRS(Old Shool RuneScape). Even if there was a chat box which there wasn't, it would not be over my game as if you click a window that is on top of another, the window you clicked would be in front of the other. I tried explaining this to no avail and she is still adamant that she saw something there.
I love her to death, that's why I married her. She is my world and it feels like it is all crumbling down around me. She has all my passwords to everything as I have nothing to hide and like knowing that she can access anything in case of an emergency or if I need her to do something for me whilst I'm at work.
I'm in shambles and honestly getting close to my breaking point with other things going on in my life.
How am I supposed to prove my innocence? I'm really struggling to think of how to reconcile this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Spring had finally begun to fully settle over Casterly Rock, and the early season showers had slowly given way to serene, sunny afternoons. Joanna kept the windows cast open as often as she could, especially in the nursery. The children would need the fresh sea air to preserve their health, what with so much travelling ahead of them.
Daena most of all, blessed creature.
Joanna had perched herself on the edge of Daena’s bed, running a comb through the princess’ tangled tresses. Daena was doing her utmost not to fidget from her place on the horsehair bench, and failing.
“It hurts,” she reported, though Joanna had taken care to be generous with the oil she put on the comb.
“I know, precious, but this is why you ought to let me braid your hair before you venture into the brambles.”
She hummed a tune from a play they’d seen the evening prior, which distracted Daena for a good while until the Princess started squirming once more.
“I made you something,” she said after a time.
“Oh?”
“By myself, with my needles.”
Without turning round, Daena stuck a hand under the waist of her skirt to rummage through her pockets, eventually producing a small wad of cloth.
Joanna couldn’t determine what it was with any certainty, but she inspected it with awe nonetheless.
“Such fine craftsmanship! Show me how to use it properly.”
“You do it like this,” Daena said, dabbing the cloth against her face. “But with water.”
A washcloth, Joanna realised.
“Oh, how thoughtful of you. I’ll treasure it always. Thank you, sweetling.”
Daena settled then for a while, it seemed, listening patiently to Joanna’s humming. It was a play about the trials of a young shepherd. Willem had spent much of his time since imitating the sheep, bleating at his siblings while they broke their fast. It caught her by surprise when Daena spoke next.
“I wish you were my mother.”
Joanna paused, halfway through a tangle. She set the brush aside, leaning down to envelop Daena in an embrace.
“I would be so honoured to have a daughter like you, but we ought not to discuss such things.”
“Why not?”
“Because it would make your mother sad. We can be something else, if you want. Something special, but different.”
Daena was content with that for only a moment. Joanna hadn’t even begun to tackle the next knot when a small hand closed around hers. Daena had twisted in her seat to look up at her.
“My mother won’t be sad. She’s never sad.”
“I had a lovely little girl much like you, once. I know it would have made me sad.”
That was enough new information for her to ponder in silence. Daena resumed her obedient position between Joanna’s knees and let her finish her work on her hair. It shone in the firelight, a molten mix of silver and gold. Joanna weaved it into two neat plaits before pinning them, one overtop the other, to form a crown at the top of her head.
“There we are. You look lovely, Princess.”
“Are we going sailing today?”
Joanna wished that Damon had neglected the topic entirely, but he’d slipped, mentioning their plans to the children over breakfast. While Desmond was entirely uninterested– or perhaps more excited to have the opportunity to get up to mischief without them– Daena was less than thrilled at the idea that she was not invited.
“Another day, perhaps. It’ll just be me and your father, I’m afraid.”
“Can’t I go with you?”
“Not this time.”
“I never get sick on the boat.”
“I’ve never been afraid of that.”
“I don’t understand. Why do you have to be alone?”
“Because, little dove, people who love one another want to spend time together.”
“You love him?”
“What do you think?”
Joanna squished Daena’s cheeks between her hands just to watch her squirm before sending her off with a kiss.
She met Damon at the docks before the sun had sunk below the horizon, casting its light in shades of red, orange, pink and purple all across the sky. She wondered if she ought to have been worried by the invitation, given his sudden morbid fascination with an untimely death, but the evening was too lovely to squander contemplating such matters.
“A thousand apologies for the delay, Your Grace. Your daughter’s hair was beyond saving.”
“A family trait, I’m afraid,” Damon said with a smile, and he extended a hand to help her onto The Maid of the Mist.
She rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek once safely on board.
The Maid of the Mist was one of the few places where both she and he could truly be alone – no Kingsguard, no city watch, no advisors… just the two of them. Oftentimes, they’d retreat into themselves, Damon focused entirely on the sails, the rudder, the horizon, herself daydreaming of what could have been.
Being alone together was something they both cherished and had unfortunately found little time for in recent weeks. Joanna’s residual anger aside, Damon had been too preoccupied with the Great Council to escape. Once again, they were left to pretend that things were simpler, and that they’d never ceased taking the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company in contented silence.
Once Casterly Rock was far enough behind them and Damon had set the sails, they found each other. Damon had kicked off his boots and sat himself by the rudder, leaving a place for Joanna to sidle up against him. It was quiet, save for the lapping of the waves, and slowly she could feel the tension they’d boarded with melting away.
“My sister will be arriving soon.” It was Damon who broke the silence after a time.
“I have everything in hand. You needn’t worry.”
“I’m worrying about the things that cannot be in hand. Such as my sister herself.”
“I think you forget how well I know your sister.”
“Knew my sister.” He looked down at her, nestled in the crook of his arm, and raised an eyebrow. “Have you forgotten the reception she gave you in Oldtown?”
“I had other things on my mind. Seeing you again, mainly. Besides, we’ve always had that sort of relationship. The push and pull.”
“Another thing about women I suppose I’ll never understand.”
She looked up to see him smiling; she hated that she could forgive that sort of grin so readily. Doubly so now that their son shared one that looked much the same. She swatted him before settling back into his arm.
“Don’t spoil the moment, Damon Lannister.”
He squeezed her tighter to himself.
“I’m glad we have this moment.”
Her throat suddenly felt unbearably tight. Every conversation they’d had as of late had been tinged with a sense of foreboding, as though a fortune teller had promised Damon that his death waited just around the corner.
“The children are displeased with their new wardrobes.”
“Oh?”
“Well, Willem didn’t fuss at least, and Daena is positively delighted we’ll match. Desmond, however… was very unhappy. Especially about the stiffness of his shirt collars.”
“Hm. There will be more than just the children unhappy with a matching ensemble.”
“I don’t mean to offend. In truth, if I thought it bothered you, I never would have suggested it.”
Damon pulled away to look her in the eyes. “No, it doesn’t bother me. Quite the opposite, in fact. It brings me great pleasure to see our family presented as it ought to be.” He leaned back into their embrace. “It’s only my sister I was thinking of,” he explained. “Though nothing will be able to appease Ashara in this regard, and so half measures are whole wastes of our time.”
“Ashara is hardly the sort to be unhappy without reason.”
“I don’t mean to say she hasn’t her reasons, only that those reasons needn’t beckon me to action. I cannot fix the world’s unhappiness, Joanna, but I can try to make my children happy. I can try to make you happy. Tell me how I can make you happy.”
“I am the most happy.”
“Hm. And yet not the most believable.”
She scowled at him then, though it was only half meant, and quickly soothed when he offered her an apology kiss in turn.
“I have something for you.”
“I’ve heard that from one Lannister already today.”
“Oh?”
“Daena made me a washcloth.”
“Ah, is that what that was?”
“As though you could ever present a gift even half as worthy – handmade, thoughtful.”
Damon raised an eyebrow playfully. “What I have for you is handmade, just… Well, not by my own hands, necessarily. And thoughtful? I hope so. A great deal of thought went into it. All the thoughts I have, in fact.”
“Well, not to be greedy but get on with it then.”
“Wait here.” He got up, taking care not to disturb her, and moved to the cabin.
Joanna pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin atop them. The breeze off the Sunset Sea was warm. Spring has truly settled in and she decided that should summer never come, that would be fine enough. This was fine enough – for both of them.
When Damon returned he was carrying a small leather pouch in his hands, which he held with care as he took his seat back beside her on the deck.
“I hope it isn’t another washcloth, darling, because I already have a favourite.”
“Here, see for yourself.” He gingerly passed her the bag, not being able to contain a final, “careful,” as he did so.
Joanna opened the bag carefully to find a set of jewels– necklace, earrings, bracelet and small sunburst tiara, all in the most dazzling matching rubies.
“These are Lannister jewels.”
“They’re your jewels.”
“No, they’re–”
“They’re yours, Joanna. For decades now, they’ve been set aside for you.”
Joanna felt almost afraid to touch them, still holding the open satchel and staring at the treasure within. When she reached a hand forward, her fingers were trembling and she could not bring herself to continue.
“Put them on,” Damon insisted.
“No, you put them on me.”
He obeyed, taking back the satchel and then sitting up properly to clasp the necklace around her throat, the earrings on her ears, the teeth of the tiara’s comb in her hair, the bracelet around her slender wrist. The last she could see glittering in the sun reflected off the Sunset Sea.
She wished she could see the rest of them.
“Well, how do I look? Like the Lady of the Rock?” It felt strange to say out loud. They’d been dancing around the subject for so long.
“You’ve always looked like the Lady of the Rock, Joanna. Now you look like my wife.”
He had always been the only one who could make her blush.
“I’d say to never take them off, but you do have to sleep, I suppose.”
She laughed, feeling light and breathless as she tilted her wrist to watch the gold of her bracelet catch the gold of sunlight.
“I wonder,” Damon said, “how it would be for you to do so in my bed once more.”
“I have been sleeping in your bed, Damon.” Joanna refused to let him be coy. “Are you asking me to bed you properly?”
If he were embarrassed, he was trying not to let it show and Joanna delighted in that.
“I am the Lord of the Rock, am I not? What am I to do with its Lady?”
“I think you’ll be disappointed when you find that this lady does as she pleases.”
As if he’d taken it for a challenge, Damon leaned over to slide an arm around her waist, pressing his forehead against hers. She could feel her hair brush the floorboards of the deck, and at once wanted to feel them under her back.
“You’re my wife, Joanna,” he said, murmuring the words as he buried his face in her neck, the heavy gold and ruby earrings becoming tangled in his windswept curls. “I want to have another child with you – I want to have seven children with you. It’s a holy number, Joanna, don’t you see?”
“Well, I do believe we made our last on this boat…” With his lips against her throat she found it harder to come up with the right words – the sensible word – no. That no, it was too risky, that no, they had gone far too far already, that no, to push even further now would be taunting the very gods themselves with–
“Six more to go, then.”
“Damon…”
“If my life were to end tomorrow, my only regret would be that I didn't spend more of it with you, Joanna, that I didn't leave this world without leaving more of you and I together in it.”
“Don’t talk like that, you aren’t–”
“But we can fix that – we can fix something at least, right now.”
Joanna slid her fingers into his messy hair, the golden bracelet disappearing into golden curls. She knew what was sensible, but The Maid of the Mist was hardly a place to be sensible. It was home, after all. For all of them.

I Female (32) have been with my husband (33) for 14 years. We are high school sweethearts who have only ever been intimate with each other. We have been through a lot and stuck by each other through traumatic and happy life events. We became parents in 2021 and again in 2022. With my first I suffered a terrible work injury at 7 months and suffered from back and hip damage that made me bed bound until delivery and required physical therapy after to manage the recurring pain. That limited how often I could get intimate for a while as the pain waves can be intense; I recovered decently by the time we had our last third, but got such bad Postpartum depression that the antidepressants killed whatever desire I had for intimacy along side with feeling severely depressed. I understand that intimacy is a key factor in a relationship and we never had issues before. I did get off the meds I was on when I felt I could handle my depression on my own to try and gain back some of my libido back, but here lies our other issue. I provide primarily all care for our kids, housework while working full time, some days I don’t get sleep bc of the kids and still have to go to work, leaving me exhausted and sometimes in pain. I understand those are not excuses but I get told back handed comments constantly about how “yeah yeah you’re too tired, you had a long day, you’re just gonna fall asleep bc I was busy doing something” I understand his frustration but the comments don’t exactly help motivate me, and in top of that I recently found he has a “Sex log” where he writes down why I wasn’t intimate on what day. I can say that personally felt hurt by that and it has made it difficult for me to find that spark when I feel judged. I have talked to him about how I am finding it hard to be intimate, not because of lacking attraction to him but rather because of the pain, depression, lack of sleep and to a degree feeling very uncomfortable in my own kids post two babies back to back and on top of it we work opposite schedules so the kids don’t go to daycare. . He seems to understand but then the cycle of comments begin if he feels the wait has been too long; mind you we waited 3 years to even get intimate while we dated and the lack of sex didn’t play a factor on how much we loved one another. So am I the asshole for not making intimacy happen more than once a week?

My boyfriend (18M) and I (18F) have been together for a few months, this is my first romantic relationship. We know about each other’s view/beliefs, I am more agnostic while he is Christian. We respect each other’s beliefs and agreed that we can make it work. One of the reasons I fell in love with him is because of how understanding and open minded he is (this is important for later). We always talk and communicate things out and listen to one another’s opinions. For context he wasn’t a “hardcore” Christian at all.
One night he called me on the phone and was frightened because he said he heard a loud bell sound coming from somewhere. He was panicking about how he’s terrified he doesn’t think God will save him when he returns and that he has urges to get closer to God, I had no idea what this meant and we have never talked about God before. What made me feel uneasy was that a good few minutes pass by and he’s acting like his calm self. I tried asking him about it the next day but he avoided it.
A few nights later we were playing videos games together, but then he started randomly asking questions about my faith. I didn’t mind the questions, but his whole demeanor changed. Some of the questions were, “If you found out God was real would you regret the path you chose?,” “If God isn’t real then why does he have so many followers?,” “I get there are other religions but they have been proven wrong so why doesn’t everyone follow Christianity?” I was caught off guard and it felt a little passive aggressive. What really made me feel off was that he was discrediting other religions, it made me think he’s not as open minded as I thought. I believe that people should love everyone no matter what, even if they believe different things.
He then went on talking about sins and how some things in our relationship will change, like how we can’t have sex anymore (we both have a high sex drive). At this point I knew he was deep into his beliefs. So I asked him if us being together conflicts with what he follows, and he told me the Bible says we can’t be together but it’s okay with him. I asked if he’s only staying with me because he thinks I’ll convert and he said no. He told me he will not force anything on me and he loves me for who I am. I still love him so deeply, it’s just that ever since that night he talks about his faith almost everyday and his whole character changes when he does talk about it. I try my best to listen because I get to understand him more, but when I try talking about my views on the topic he dismisses it or laughs it off. This is the only thing he avoids listening to me about in our relationship we were always so open so I don’t understand what changed. I really want to communicate more with him on this topic but I’m scared to ask anymore.
He has really bad family issues, so is religion what he chose to lean on for comfort? Or it could just be a new stage in his life. What ever it is I want to support him the best I can.
I don’t know what to do at all. I am still so in love with him but I don’t know if I am just holding on to who he was before. I asked him why all the sudden changed his views and he said that he has an urge to get closer to God and read the Bible, I’m not religious so I don’t understand these urges. Like I said this is my very first romantic relationship and I feel so trapped. I don’t see myself changing my beliefs, and I also don’t want him changing his for me. And it’s not like we are arguing or anything, I feel like he’s not the same person I fell in love with.

Context:
I’m rewriting my WIP for the fifth (and hopefully last) time to make the story more character driven and make my characters motivations stronger. I’ve changed the first three chapters so many times I have no idea what’s good anymore. It’s a portal fantasy Reverse Harem with fated mates. You only meet two love interests in the intro (and one of them only shows up towards the very end of the set up), but I am just looking to see if my FMC's motivations make sense, or if I have made the Set Up too convoluted and given her too many goals.
**Please note the scenes I am posting have been written as an outline, and is not intended to read line by line like a finished manuscript. I will be writing it in First person POV when I finish plotting.**
Backstory (TLDR; Character A needs to gain access to the Other World so she can make a bargain to trade her Father's life for hers, we open on the 6th anniversary of him being taken, her 24th birthday. I ramble on for quite a bit so if you would like to get right into it please skip to Intro/Set Up)
Motivation:
Character A’s Father was stolen by otherworldly creatures 6 years ago and taken to their lands. Character A harbours guilt and blames herself because she disobeyed her Fathers rules and snuck into the woods with her friends on her 18th birthday to go swimming. Her Father came looking for her and that is when she witnessed him being taken.
In the area they live in, disappearances around the full moon were common, with many losing their loved ones over the last 50 years with no explanation. There were a lot of theories of aliens, bigfoot, cougars, werewolves, and only her Father claimed that magic wielding creatures were responsible.
Character A grew up being told stories about these lands, how the creatures enslaved humans to play in their games until they died for entertainment. Her Father told her magic was real but it was to be feared and to run from any sign of the unusual, forbade her from leaving her house after sunset or from ever going into the woods, and he always tried to keep her close to him.
He had a hard time holding down a job due to the grief he felt from losing Character A’s mother during childbirth and when he would drink he would make it known that he resented Character A for derailing his life, because now he was burdened with protecting her instead of living as a family. Her mother was buried there and her father refused to move away from her body. Character A internalized this, feeling guilty for being the reason he struggled so much, and spent her life caring for her father the way she would a child. Cooking, cleaning, paying bills, etc. She would even get revenge on his bosses for firing him. Her Father always claimed it was never his fault, that they were abusing their power and couldn’t handle somebody smarter than them, and losing his job would send him into an alcoholic depression.
Character A heard her Fathers words, and combined with the way out-of town business men had turned her small mountain town into their own personal resort, developed a deep hatred for anyone that held power. She would find little ways to get revenge on her Fathers bosses, and when she was older, spent her spare time getting revenge on the trust fund kids who didn’t care if their actions had consequences for the people living there.
She had a big dream of leaving her small town and exploring the world, but she felt responsible for her Father. She took care of him, and she was afraid of what would happen to him if she left, but she knew she was suffocating under him. Although her guilt and love for her father prevented her from seeing the full truth of what he was, narcissistic and abusive, deep down she knew and she became restless under his restriction.
When she was young she believed his stories but as she got older and never saw any evidence to back up his claims, the more she chaffed against his rules and started sneaking out. She wasn’t dumb, she always carried a knife and bear spray. She read up on what to do if you encountered a predator in the forest, and she begun stealing what little freedom she could for herself. She didn’t believe in magic, wolves and mountain lions were the only things that made sense to her.
Wound:
After her Father is taken Character A is broken. Everything her Father said was true, all he was trying to do was keep her safe, but she disobeyed him and now he was taken to a magical land to be tortured by never ending games. She is distraught and depressed. She begins sleeping in the woods, hoping to be taken too so her pain can end.
A few months later, at the end of summer, her best friend and boyfriend, the only people her father approved of her spending time with, tell her that they still plan to leave for the year long trip they were all going on. They want to start their lives, they think Character A has become delusional in the wake of her Fathers disappearance, they can’t be stuck there taking care of her, they can’t handle her emotions, they need a fresh start. She realizes they have been having an affair, she internalizes them telling her she is too much to handle and that she is unlovable. She was a burden on her father and then a burden on them. She doesn’t see them again for six years.
Present Day:
Character A has spent the last six years trying to get to the other world during the full moon. The weeks in between she spends physically training, researching anything she can, working just enough to cover her bills for the month, and distracting herself with casual flings or sleeping with the trust fund kids in order to gain access to something she wants to steal from them as payback for something they have done. She never lets herself get too close to anyone, knowing that she plans to disappear, but she partied with whoever is willing to distract herself until the next full moon.
Every passing year on her birthday she grows more and more desperate. She begins researching magic spells and rituals that might show her the entrance to the otherworld. She finds a newly discovered mushroom being sold that claims to help you see what is hidden from human eyes.
Character B:
A month ago Character B was sent from the other wolrld to retrieve Character A. She is the descendant of a lost royal line and they have received a vision from the goddess that she is her Heir, the key to defeating the darkness and restoring balance to the land. Character B does not live a good life in the other world, he is nothing but a glorified prisoner in his own life, and all he’s ever wanted was a family of his own, but because of the queen and his father, he cannot have that. He avoids confrontation, always choosing to run from his problems instead of fight. He first lays eyes on Character A as she is driving a motorcycle into a lake.
He is unsure if the vehicle is supposed to drive under water, so he waits a moment before trying to do a rescue. He doesn’t know it’s her until she swims up into the shore, and begins gathering weeds from the lakebed. he thinks she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen and can’t imagine dragging her back to his world where she could be in danger. He wants to watch the curious human for a bit longer to see what she does
He silently follows her and watches her climb into a window and place the weeds around a man sleeping in a bed, then creep down the hallway to an office where she unlocks a safe and pulls out a stack of papers. She then meets up with somebody, hands over the papers with a hug, then walks into the forest.
She walks and walks and he realizes she heading towards the portal and gets nervous, until she reaches a tree with five different coloured ribbons tied around one branch. She takes a new yellow ribbon , adds it to the branch and continues walking until she reaches another tree with ribbons where she adds another ribbon, then walks to the very centre of both trees and sits down. She softly hums a tune to herself.
She seems relaxed, strong and confident, he thinks this must be some new human ritual he hadn’t heard of yet and her humming is soothing to him, but he notices a shiver. He feels a strong need. To wrap her up in a blanket and make her warm. He decides right then that he cannot take her back and ruin her peace, that he himself would not go back, that he would befriend her and they would hide together her in her world and they would be safe and happy. It was pointless trying to fight anyway, they were never going to win and it would be better for them both to be safe and far away from the evil queen.
The next morning he follows her to her favourite coffee shop, glamoured to look more human and remove his pointy ears, and introduces himself as a man trying to get away from his overbearing parents and family he doesn’t get along with.
Intro/Set Up
Chapter 1
-Character A is thinking about how she has to get laid tonight, because it will be her last chance before she disappears and probably dies. Character A is stealing some documents and a bunch of cash from a safe in The Guys home office, she pulls a bag out of her pocket and with it, a card for the bookstore she works at flutters under his desk. She puts the documents and money in the bag and bends down to pick it up when she notices the family photo on the desk and she stops.
It is a picture of The Guy, His Son that she stole and crashed his bike into a lake last month, and The Other Son that she may have killed nine months ago when she burned his cabin down. She is filled with rage when she looks at the photo and thinks she doesn’t regret what she’s done. Character B calling her phone snaps her out of it and when she hears someone come home, she leaves, but she forgets the card.
-She stops at the bookstore to give Coworker 1 the documents and money. Coworker 1 says she will never be able to thank her, that this was the last thing she needed she could get out of town. Character A tells her good luck and to give them hell. Coworker 1 is leaving town tomorrow, she connected with a journalist who can help her expose The Guy and once she does she won’t be able to come back. Coworker 1 is very grateful to her, and Character A makes sure to tell herself that they aren't friends, because friendship requires a level of vulnerability that Olivia could not give her, but she knew Coworker 1 was a good person and deserved so much more than what she got when The Other Son sexually assaulted her at work while His Son filmed it. How when she received a payout in exchange for her silence they knew it wasn’t the first time. They were determined to find further evidence, and they did. Signed NDA’s from all of the employees they had paid off in the past.
Character B joins them at the store. Character A is petting her beloved bookstore cat and goes to pull some treats out of her bag. Her hand brushes against a vial of red and white mushrooms and Character A hopes that they are the key she has been searching for. For six years she has felt like she has been brushing up against the edge of something, but has never been able to get herself to the other side. She was deep in a witchcraft discussion forum when somebody posted about a new discovery of mushrooms, one that allowed the ingestor to see through the Veil, to show them all the magic they cannot see. The poster was pretty insistent that it wasn’t just a trip, that they were able to see threads of magic. After years of failed meditating, drinking teas, burning herbs,and chanting spells around the ley line conversion and not finding anything, what did she have to lose with some magic mushrooms?
Character B calls her name, startling her from her thoughts and she knocks over a box of alien and bigfoot merch. Coworker 1 cracks a joke about being careful with the product or else the alien truthers will riot, Character A rolls her eyes at the people who flocked there in search of the wrong thing. Character B apologizes for startling her and says he was just admiring one of her new Boxwood Topiaries, three trees of varying height that ended with hearts on top, and she says she finished it yesterday.
She loves plants but, like a cat, she can’t commit to having them because she doesn’t plan to be around long, so she does topiary art as a compromise, and the extra money she earns goes towards buying her herbs and mushrooms. Her Father never managed to save much money and she wasn’t left with much after he was taken. She had to use her savings replacing the furnace in her home shortly after her Father was taken, and now she only worked enough to keep her living until the next paycheck. She spent the rest of her time training and researching. Preparing to go to Wonderland in search of her Father.
Character B is making friends with the cat, having charmed it onto its belly, and Coworker 1 gives Character A a knowing look. Character A shakes her head, says they are just hanging out, nothing serious. Coworker 1 says he could be good for her. She knew they had been hanging out, that Character A had let him stay at her house for the last two weeks. She wasn’t judging though, Character A seemed lighter around him, and he was so nice. She had seen him helping Mrs. Smith with her groceries the other day.
Character A thinks that was what initially warmed her up to him. Coworker 1 was right, she never brought guys home, but the first week that he was here he had never failed to notice when people needed help and always offered to lend a hand. Plus he was fun, and fun to look at, and he was always looking for a new adventure. He took her mind off of what a failure she was for not saving her Father yet, and he seemed relatively harmless. So when he said he had never seen her favorite comedy movie she just HAD to take him home to watch it. And he hadn’t left, she hadn’t asked him to. It was becoming a problem. Because she was going to disappear tonight, and a small part of her was beginning to feel sad she would never see him again. It was why she hadn’t slept with him yet, she knew she enjoyed his company just a little too much and wouldn’t risk any further attachment. Character A agreed that he was a good person but emphasized that it was just casual. Coworker 1 says alright, she will back off, and she will let them get to the party. She needs to finish packing and wants to leave as soon as possible. Character A says she understand, they hug and say goodbye.
Chapter 2
-Character A and Character B are walking to the Board Game party. They are dressed as Clue characters, she is Miss. Scarlet and Character B is Mr. Green. They had played every board game she owned, which was a lot of them, in order to decide what to dress up as for the Your Favorite Board Game Party. He turned out to be a good competitor and got way more into the games than she expected him to.
He hands her a cinnamon bun, her favorite, and tells her he had made a whole batch for her, claiming that he knew she hadn’t gotten one since they were hiking that morning, and all she had eaten that day was trail mix and beef jerky and he refuses to let her party on an empty stomach. She happily takes a huge bite, grateful for this one thing she loved before she left this world forever.
He says he’s been thinking and asks her to go traveling with him. She almost chokes on her food. His words rush out and he assures her he has money and can pay for everything and they can go anywhere she wants. Her heart sinks into her stomach. Before her Father went missing, an offer like that from a hot guy would have been her dream, but she couldn’t now, or ever. She looks at the half eaten cinnamon bun, thinks how he had made them because he had gotten coffee with her every morning for the last three weeks, and he saw how every Saturday and Sunday morning she would get a cinnamon bun the size of her face and eat it. She looks at the Green jacket he wore and remembers laughing in the thrift shop as he tried on a full leather catsuit while they searched for the perfect outfit for the party. He was too good. She begins to think that in another life, they could go. They could adopt an adventure cat and take it with them on their world travels, but that wasn’t possible for her. She wasn’t staying in this world, and even if she was, she was too messed up. Too broken. Too much of a burden. And she could never give all of herself to one person ever again, she did it twice, and was broken by both of them because she was too much.
She decides he’s gotten too close and she needs to push him away, so in the hopes that it will scare him, she explains that she can’t leave because her Father was stolen by a magical creature and taken to the Other World. She tells him the entire story her father told her, of creatures luring people to the Other World and keeping them for the Queen's entertainment, forced to be pawns in her games. They are ruthless and obsessed with games and everything reeks of roses. She tells him its her fault that he got taken and she can’t live with herself until she either gets him back or gets revenge for his death.
Character B begins pleading with her, telling her she shouldn't go. She is surprised he doesn’t balk or think she is crazy. He isn’t looking at her the way Ex-Bestfriend and Ex-Boyfriend did, like they feared she would infect them with her crazy, no, he looks at her with genuine terror in his eyes. She stops walking, they are just outside the party house. What do you know? She says. He inhales and steps forward, desperation etched into hs features, and says that he knows that everything she said was true, and that it is much worse than she even thinks. That if she goes, she will not make it back here. It’s too dangerous, and he just wants to keep her safe. She is flabbergasted, and checks over his features for signs. No pointed ears, no animalistic features such as scales or a tail, no strange eyes. How do you know all this? He doesn’t answer, his mouth works like he’s trying to come up with something and betrayal starts to roil in her gut.
Before he has the chance to lie, two men throw their arms around their shoulders. It is the couple that Character A hooks up with on occasion. They start walking them into the house and the one with Character A asks if she wants to come over later for a joint and to hook up. She tries to muster up a yes, it is what she wanted after all, but she can’t think straight after her conversation with Character B. She turns back to see he’s been steered into a conversation with a few other people and thinks she needs a drink to calm herself and give her some courage.
-She walks into the kitchen for a glass and bumps into her Ex-Boyfriend. She is thrown for a loop again. He says Happy Birthday and remarks that he didn’t think he would find her at a party today, since he knows how much she hates her birthday. Character A is surprised to see him and momentarily forgets about Character B, and asks what they’re doing back in town. He says its because Ex-Bestfriends mom is still missing. Character A says, oh, right. And feels stupid for thinking she wouldn’t run into them. She was devastated to hear Ex-BFFs Mom had been taken, she was like a second mother to her, but after Ex-BFF left she couldn’t stand to look at her Mom anymore and remember what she had lost.
He mentions something about the baby coming soon and Ex-BFF wanting to be as close to her mom as she can. Character A questions the baby and he tells her they are pregnant. Character A flashes back to both of them telling her they were leaving and couldn’t stay in contact with her anymore, that she had become too much for them to handle on the horizon of their new lives. She noted the way they looked at each other and how their knees pressed together, and that was when she knew they had been having an affair. She comes back to the present when he leans in close and says he actually wants to ask her some questions about her dad. She sees a familiar head with a mop of blonde hair moving through the crowd towards them. Seeing Ex-Boyfriend was bad enough, she cannot see Ex-Bestfriend. See her pregnant. And now he wants to hear what she has to say about the disappearances? You can go fuck yourself, she spits and walks away before he can say anything else, and thankfully, before Ex-Bestfriend reaches her. She thinks his betrayal hurt her, but her betrayal broke her.
-She is fleeing the kitchen, heading for the back door, desperate to get away from them, when she bumps into an attractive man in a red velvet sport coat with a red velvet top hat. They are both imprinted with roses. He apologizes for bumping into her and her heart skips a beat, thinking of the Queen's obsession with roses. She asks him who he's supposed to be and he smiles but pauses before saying his name is Character C, he’s friends with Character B, and her heart stops all together. A chill runs through her and Character B interrupts and asks him what he’s doing here. Character C hugs him and says its good to see him and says he thought he was dead. Character C turns to Character A and says that he took off for a month without saying anything, could she even believe it? And they had an important event that the three of them needed to attend tonight. Character B starts to argue with Character C when Character A hears her name called. The Guy she stole from is there, he holds up the card to the bookstore that fell under his desk and said he wants the contents of his safe back, and maybe the sheriff will go easy on her if she returns it, or maybe he won't since he will also be investigating his cabin burning down and one of his sons going missing. Character A plays dumb but he grabs her around the neck and says he knows it was her, she’s a pathetic bum just like her father. Character B punches him, forcing him to release her and they begin fighting. The other partygoers jump to Character A’s defense and start fighting the other guys that came with him. Character C picks up Character A after she was knocked over to keep her from being trampled, and Character B breaks away when The Guy starts fighting with someone else. So they turn and head for the door, but The Guy's Son, the same one from last month who she stole the bike from, blocked the back door.
-Character A turns and together they run into the basement, locking the door behind them. They run down the stairs and into a bedroom where she locks the door again. She whips out her knives and points one at Character C. “Why do you want me to go to the Other World?” He holds up his hands and smiles, “I need your help finding a weapon that will help me defeat the Queen .” “Why me?” “The Goddess showed me in a dream that it is you. I will pay you in gold and return you back here, unharmed, once you find it.” Character A hears them break through the basement door and descend the stairs. “Fine, I’ll help you do it.” Character B protests and steps forward but she gestures the knife at him and he stops. “But first, you will help me find my Father and send him back here. Alive. And healthy.” All she knows about the Other World is what she could glean from her Fathers stories and what she was able to research about lore, but she had no idea what was accurate and what was not. She would be a fool to think she should turn away help if she could bargain for it. “I will help you find you Father, but it won’t be until after tonight, we must attend the Queens party so you can search for the weapon, this is the best opportunity we will have for another year.” The Guy begins banging on the door. She took it back, she was being a fool, she had very little hope that she would be able to fulfill her end of the bargain, but she was out of time, and she may never have a chance to get to the Other World again. “Deal.” She says as she steps forward to shake his hand. Character C grasps it and an electrical charge runs up her arm. He pulls a small vial out of his pocket. He dumps some black sparkly powder on his tongue and a hole appears in the floor. Grabbing Character B’s hand as well they jump through it just as the door breaks open.
If you have read this far, seriously thank you so much and I love you and if you want feedback on anything please direct me to where I can provide it!
I wanted to note that the mention about her potentially killing The Other Son is relevant to the plot because he did not die in the fire, he was lured to the Other World and will be there as an antagonist when Character A shows up. Also, the mushrooms become relevant to her finding the weapon in book 2. She gets sidetracked this book by finding her father and bargaining to take his place in the game (the party they are attending is to watch this game take place) and having to fight her way out of them. The entire first book takes place over the course of one single night.

When I first started selling on Amazon, I quickly realized that understanding the Buy Box was crucial for maximizing my sales. It was a game-changer for my business, and I want to share what I’ve learned about it and how you can win it too.

What is the Buy Box?

The Buy Box is that prominent white box on the right side of an Amazon product detail page where customers can directly add items to their shopping cart. It’s the spot with the “Add to Cart” button, making it the most convenient option for customers. Because many buyers don't look beyond the Buy Box, winning it can dramatically increase your sales.

Why is the Buy Box Important?

Winning the Buy Box was critical for me because:

• Increased Visibility: My products became the default choice for buyers, which boosted their visibility.
• Higher Sales Volume: Most Amazon purchases go through the Buy Box, so winning it meant a significant increase in sales.
• Customer Trust: Products in the Buy Box are seen as more reliable, enhancing my credibility.

How I Won the Buy Box

Getting to that coveted Buy Box took some effort and strategic planning. Here are the key factors I focused on:

1. Competitive Pricing

I quickly learned that price plays a huge role. Amazon favors competitive pricing, and while I didn’t always have to be the cheapest, I needed to offer a competitive total cost, including shipping.

2. Fulfillment Method

Using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) was a game-changer for me. FBA items are preferred because Amazon handles storage, shipping, and customer service, which ensures a high standard of service. This move significantly boosted my chances of winning the Buy Box.

3. Seller Performance Metrics

Maintaining excellent seller performance metrics was essential. I focused on:

• Order Defect Rate (ODR): Keeping this low by ensuring high-quality orders and minimal issues.
• Cancellation Rate: Ensuring reliable order fulfillment to keep cancellations low.
• Late Shipment Rate: Making sure orders were shipped on time.
• On-Time Delivery Rate: Achieving high on-time delivery rates.
• Customer Feedback: Encouraging positive feedback and reviews to build a strong reputation.

4. Inventory Availability

I learned that having sufficient inventory levels was crucial. Products that are frequently out of stock don’t win the Buy Box. Consistent availability made me a reliable option for Amazon and my customers.

5. Shipping Time

Fast and reliable shipping is key. Offering quick delivery times, especially through FBA, helped me stand out. Prime members love fast shipping, and FBA made that possible for me.

6. Product Listings Quality

High-quality product listings made a big difference. I made sure my listings had detailed descriptions, clear images, and relevant keywords. This enhanced the shopping experience and favored my chances of winning the Buy Box.

7. Seller Tenure and Experience

While not the most critical factor, having a longer history of selling on Amazon with consistent performance definitely helped. Building a track record of reliability earned me more trust from Amazon.

Tips for Maintaining the Buy Box

Winning the Buy Box isn’t a one-time achievement; it requires ongoing effort. Here’s how I maintained it:

• Regularly Monitor Prices: I used repricing tools to keep my prices competitive.
• Optimize Inventory Management: Ensuring I always had adequate stock levels to meet demand.
• Maintain High-Quality Customer Service: Responding to customer inquiries promptly and resolving issues efficiently.
• Utilize FBA: Leveraging the benefits of Fulfillment by Amazon for shipping and customer service.

Winning the Buy Box was a powerful boost for my Amazon sales. By understanding the factors that influence Buy Box eligibility and consistently optimizing my seller performance, I significantly improved my chances of winning and maintaining this valuable spot. It took strategic planning and continuous effort, but the payoff in increased sales and customer trust was well worth it. If you’re looking to succeed on Amazon, aiming for the Buy Box should be a top priority.

23rd: Jane Bright (Nicaragua - 6th)

A deserving, incredible Survivor endgame level character standing next to Jane Bright.
u/SMC0629:
I don't have Jane in my personal endgame, but I'm not mad at all that she made it here. She's probably the most divisive character in Nicaragua, but I personally love her. She's got a spunky attitude, has a great rivalry with Marty, great relationship with Chase, and has one of my favorite eliminations ever. Her boot is so god damn memorable, that lasting moment of the alliance telling her it's gonna be her tonight, with Jane in complete shock and despair is just perfect. One of the best characters of Nicaragua for sure.
~
u/DryBonesKing:
Jane is on a very small list of players who I think has run the entire spectrum in terms of where they land in my rankings. Top ten, top hundred, middle of the pack, bottom hundred, bottom ten… I think I understand pretty much every Jane take known to humanity, cause I’ve had them. Nowadays, I tend to lean more positive on her, but I definitely still have too many issues I’m hyper aware of to let her rank too highly for me.
“What if we have Rupert’s hero edit to someone who was just really really mean, and did the bare minimum to hide it” is genuinely hilarious to me. Jane’s got good energy and her many, many, many feuds (the majority of which being with Marty) make her a great character to guide the narrative. There’s also just her boot episode, which is like… way too good of an episode for Nicaragua. I think I’m neutral-lean positive on Nicaragua, but it’s not a season that does a ton for me, but dear god, Jane’s boot and the scene of her dousing the camp fire is like so fucking metal.
She’s such a raw, powerful person. I think my biggest issue with her right now is just that, in a similar vein to Brandon Hantz, sometimes she feels a little too real at times. Like is she funny when she’s talking shit about Marty? Yes! Is the story great? Yes! But does some of what she says about Marty and his kids feel a bit too much? Yes, very much so. It’s not enough to detract from her character, but again… Brandon Hantz-tier of character. For me, that’s a pretty big compliment, but I also do not keep him in my Top 100. Same with Jane. But despite being one of the names that made Endgame that I disagree with the most, I am very curious and excited to see our resident “Least Sane Jane Bright Enjoyer” spin a tale or two about why she deserves to be up here!
Overall Rank – 138/821
~
u/Zanthosus:
While I disagree with her being endgame, I understand the reasoning and defense behind it. I respect the hustle that Tom did to get her here and I’m happy for him that Jane made her first endgame.
~
u/Regnisyak1:
I love that Jane is here, I am not even going to lie. Before my recent rewatch, I had Jane in the 200s, and after my rewatch, I was completely blown away at how complex her character is and the great relationships she had all season. To me, she felt real with her hatred, and the switch between the dry laugh we know her for, to the nasty person she became was endlessly incredible, she was such a great part of Nicaragua and one of the few praises I have for that season. Plus, when she finds out Chase, Holly, and Sash are voting for her, the music change and piano chord that happens there might be the piece media I have ever seen. Congrats Tom for getting her here!
Personal Rank: 73/821. 9/10.
~
u/ninjedi1:
Nicaragua is such a great season due to how emotionally charged it is, and Jane is a big part of that. Jane is the sweet southern lady until she feels crossed, then she has a whole vendetta against anyone who crosses her, so it's a lot of great fun. She is not in my personal endgame, but I can always appreciate a kooky character showing up in it.
~~~~~
u/Tommyroxs45:
Jane Bright:
This is undoubtedly my most anticipated write up of the rankdown, I have such a love for Jane and everything she does for Nicaragua. She has one of the best stories of all time, and just has so many moments that further it and make it cohesive. And that is what I will explain today. Jane is not just some badass southern old lady, ok well she is, but she’s also a very deep, broken old lady trying to put on a facade for herself. Her hatred towards everyone around her has its story and here it is…
The Mask
A lot like Rupert, Jane tries to paint a mask on herself as a hero and somebody who always follows her heart for the greater good. However, throughout the season we see cracks start to arise in this persona she puts on herself. She’s someone who needs a purpose and when somebody gets in the way of that, she gets insecure and bitter and that’s when we see the wrath of Jane break out.
The editors never try to pull the wool over your eyes by painting her as a hero, because they show petty rivalries with her and Marty and her boot episode meltdown. We get to see her from all angles, even if she only wants to present one. She’s insecure about herself, making her feel entitled to be treated as a queen and carried to the end due to her “heroic” manner. Once she realizes it doesn’t work like that and she actually has to play the game, all gloves come off and we get some of the most petty, uncalled for, or even bitchy moments that just have so much raw emotion.
She’s not painted as a hero while being an asshole (*cough* Ozzy *cough*) They show her as her flawed self, but they also let you make your own decision on what to feel without pushing a narrative onto you. Of course she wins Favorite Player at the reunion, so some people still thought she was a hero but you get to see this very broken and entitled person struggling. She really hates everyone but that’s not what she can show because that’s now who she wants to be and it’s such a complicated story arc throughout the season that we see the cracks grow and it’s told so subtlety but perfectly. And this is only the tip of the iceberg with how deep this old southern lady is.
Without this defining feature, she’d just be a badass southern lady but with it she becomes so much more just adding to this brilliant story building up all season until her boot episode. Her masking her real personality just makes her a much more complex character and when we see these glimpses of it, you start to realize, ohhh this is the person I’m supporting.
Even on top of the mask, there is so much more to Jane’s character…
Grief
When you watch Nicaragua for the first time, this part of her character is not inherently obvious. Grief?!? What are you talking about? She just seems like a badass until she’s a bitter old hag for being the target. While, yes that’s a very simplified version of this, there’s so much more to dissect there. The grieving of her husband, greatly plays a role in her story, and although it’s sometimes subtle you can see how it play into it so beautifully well.
In her very first confessional, what do we see Jane say?
“They think I'm some middle aged housewife that tootles around the house all day long, they’re in for a big surprise. Because that is definitely not me. I'm fifty-six years old and I'm the type person that stays busy all the time doing things. I just don't think there's anything I can't do. Winning the million dollars is real important to me ‘cause it’ll help me pay off my farm and the fact that I lost my husband, uh, in '09, it-it-it means I wouldn't have to work as hard as I do. But his spirit, I know is still with me and that's what keeps me going.”
Her husband obviously is impacting her mentally during this season, and we see this throughout the game. Every Time somebody makes a gesture that they want her out, her personal viper just breaks out. This is because she knows this is getting in the way of her dream, and the spirit of her husband that made her want to do this and she’s not letting anybody take that from her.
She’s still grieving and wants to win for her husband, and it is a very sweet story but sadly it takes a dark turn as she starts using this as entitlement for her to win. She believes she’s obligated to be brought to the end because of who she is and the loss of her husband and yeah, it’s dark but damn is it good when you think about it.
This is also why the family visit is SO important to her story in her boot episode. Right when her daughter, Ashley gets there, she starts talking about her husband and how Ashley is the one she is doing this for, to help her. This is WHO SHE IS FIGHTING FOR!
That is why it hits so hard when everyone flips on her! How dare they! She thinks. These people are voting me out right after I fought my hardest to give my daughter a better life?!? She’s one of the only I have left, this is disgusting. It’s so sad but at the same time it’s brilliantly shown not told. And what do you know, when Jane is talking about Sash’s mama raising him, she immediately brings up her daughter, just ugh how perfect does it round back to her family and her grief with loss.
Now obviously, does that make her outrage justified, I don’t know, maybe? Is she still kind of a bitch? probably! Is she a badass? Probably! That leads me to my next point.
Perspective
If you have read a lot of my other writeups on Nicaragua you would have noticed I love to talk about the perspective a lot of these characters receive on the season. Complimenting how diverse they can be seen depending on your morals or values. No character represents this better than Jane Bright.
How do I know this? Well let’s look at her placements in Rankdowns Past:
SRI - 485/501 - Seen as a bitchy, entitled, worse version of NaOnka, and someone who went way too personal in the game.
SRII - 455/537 - Seen as annoying and sour, forced fan favorite edit not giving her the trashing she deserved by the other tribemates.
SRIII - 549/575 - Seen as a narcissist and self-righteous, below the belt remarks and “a human embodiment of a rash” (that made me laugh a bit).
SRIV - 518/615 - Seen as an ultimately fascinating character, who got a dishonest edit that didn’t show her true side until the end. Ultimately ending up as an unlikable “venomous bitch” who somehow won fan favorite.
SRV - 108/653 - Seen as a great T.V personality whose kooky first half and vigorous 2nd half make for a good story and uplifts everyone around her while also being a great character.
SRVI - 127/731 (Had to be idoled to get here though smh) - Seen as a badass challenge competitor who is actually sour, who unfairly attacked Marty and is a bit too much when it comes to her toxic side to make her slightly less good.
SRVII - 185/767 - Seen as an extremely authentic personality and very entertaining to the chaos of Nicaragua, as well as having an iconic rivalry with Marty, being an iconic mother.
See the difference between one half and the other? Yeah, that shows just how well of a character she is edited as. She has so many times where she is shown to be a hero but juxtaposed with so many times she is shown as an asshole and it works off each scene perfectly. This is why we get such a difference of opinion and I think it’s told so well to where most people don’t even see it.
You have to weigh her good and bad and see based on your morals, if she’s a good person or not, and how acceptable or right was she for her constant hatred of others? I really love that as they aren’t trying to make you think a specific feeling about her. You need to come up with that conclusion yourself on how you think she is, that’s why she won the fan favorite vote in 2011 but today many call her an entitled bitch. (And yeah, she is but that’s a lot of what makes her so amazing).
Her kicking ass in challenges and being a lively spirit contrasted to her nasty demeanor to Jill and especially Marty personally attacking them and her boot episode meltdown, contribute to making one of the most wishy-washy characters when it comes to people’s opinions on her. I don’t what to be told how to feel, I want to come up with it on my own, and I feel like a lot of that has been lost in recent years of Survivor and seeing Jane and having all these different perspectives on her personality just adds so much life.
There is a reason why so many people despise her and so many people love her, she’s just edited that well to where people have had to come up with their own feelings about Jane. Not being coerced to feel a certain way, and I feel that is the best way to edit a character. What you see is what you see, not an objective stance the show is trying to put onto you, and I feel all of Nicaragua shows this but Jane is the prime example. Perspective means everything with her.
This makes her one of the most complex characters of all time, she’s either a broken woman seeking admiration, an entitled bitch, or a badass southern lady who is an inspiration. It’s all based on what you value and isn’t that what Survivor is all about, a social experiment where you weigh your values and personalities with each other to build a society.
Speaking of building a society, how is Jane’s relationships with the cast, well let’s see her main stars:
Sash: Jane and Sash’s dynamic isn’t really shown and I think that actually helps her and Sash’s story. Sash is sleazy and doesn’t really make any genuine connections and we see that in her breakdown scene. When you watch the moment she learns she’s going home and the confessional she gives, you see a direct tone shift from how she talks about Chase and how she talks about Sash. When she’s almost crying about Chase and his betrayal, she is outright vile and nasty when talking about Sash. Showing this major lack of connection between them, that she never saw him as a friend and will not hold back from releasing her rage on him.
Chase: Jane and Chase’s connection is one for the books. Both being from North Carolina and being southern types, they instantly bond and feel close to each other. Their relationship just feels more special than anyone else’s that season, that’s what makes the betrayal so much more entertaining. You literally see her about to cry over Chase, they really were close and got to know each other and just to have him stab her in the back, it’s so good. It just felt special but it wasn’t enough for him to not cut her…
Now how could you talk about relationships and not bring up Jane’s defining one…
Fartay:
Come on! This rivalry is one of if not the best rivalry in all of Survivor. They just despise each other and really are either of them in the right? Not at all, that’s what makes it so great. Marty’s a sleazeball, cocky, and a smart ass while Jane’s an entitled, bitter, old lady and they just work so well off each other. You just have personal jab after personal jab that is just so entertaining and perfectly helps tell Jane’s story.
There is really no reason why they should hate each other as much as they do but their walks of life and personalities just clash so hard that you still understand why they hate each other. Jane takes everything Marty does to heart without any grain of salt, and it makes her reactions so visceral and truly legendary. It’s what makes Jane the Jane we love to love or love to hate!
Now, I think it’s time to talk about the pinnacle of Jane. Her magnum opus if you will… her boot episode.
The Wrath of Jane Will Break Out Tonight
This is one of my favorite episodes of Reality TV. Everything about it is perfect and told in such a way to where it’s the perfect ending for such a broken character.
Building her up with her daughter coming during the family visit, talking about her and how much she wants to provide for her. Having a seed planted in Jane’s brain after she’s not taken to the reward thinking she was entitled to be brought.
Fabio winning immunity, throwing everything for a loop, just when Jane’s attitude has really started to shift and then we get to the scene. Which personally is my favorite scene in all of Survivor without a doubt. The scene where the alliance tells her it has changed and she’s going home is so brilliant. The raw awkwardness and silence next to Jane’s utter disbelief and anger. After she flips them off it is followed by again my favorite confessional of all time.
This is what she has been building up to, everything just falls about when she believed she deserved to win. Having such raw and unfiltered emotions where she’s about to break down and cry and then the turn to anger and fury bringing Sash’s mother into it, talking about how she raised a damn liar. (WITH THAT HEAD COCK THOUGH) All with very subtle sound effects or just no music at all until she gets up and makes one last hoorah by pouring water on the fire. “I started and I put it out” 🔥🔥🔥
Then we get to tribal, where Jane is just done with the bullshit and just calls everyone out for being liars and backstabbers. “The writings on the wall Fabio!” Like come on, that is TV gold, followed by the vote having Chase and Sash “cowardly” play their idols sticking it to Jane when she is already at her lowest by not even having her vote count. She leaves bitter and broken, not the happy ending she felt she deserved.
Mortgage Gate
I’m putting this here because that’s where it best fits, and this is brief because it doesn’t really affect my rankings on Jane because it’s not in the season.
I wish they did show this though, as having this added layer of controversy between Sash and Jane with real world implications would have been amazing, even if what Jane is saying isn’t true it still would’ve shown her as an ass, making up lies just to make someone look worse. I just think it’s such an interesting topic to discuss that I wanted to give it its own section. Sash is sleazy so I wouldn’t pass him to do that, however Jane is extremely bitter and entitled so I could also see her making that up, I guess we'll never really know will we… (I know Marty called the incident fake, but it’s Marty, of course he’s gonna dispute whatever Jane says, if she says the sky is blue, he’ll say it’s orange).
I'm Not Breaking My Tile!
This kind of relates to the mask section of this write up. However, I wanted to talk specifically about Jane’s challenge prowess and wins throughout the season and how much it adds to this arc. Building her up as this badass figure competing against big guys half her age and actually winning?!? It gives an excellent face to the real Jane, having this much courage to go against Chase and Fabio even after winning, not only being such a badass in that moment but showing how she’s trying to play up this persona of old challenge great.
Jane, The Tribe Has Spoken
So in conclusion, you can see that when you really glance over Nicaragua you don’t see Jane as some sort of deep character. However, when you really look into her and her actions and motives you see a broken old lady who is obviously grieving. She is such a deep and complex character that Nicaragua needed to really round out the story.
Jane isn’t supposed to be this likable hero, nor is she supposed to be a villain, she’s not edited as one archetype. However you value your morals, is how you will see Jane and even if you find her an ass, you have to admit they tell it very well. She’s also objectively entertaining, her rivalry with Marty, her being badass during challenges, cooking fish in the woods, her boot episode meltdown, and so much more are just so iconic to me and make this season what it is.
This write up obviously won’t sway everybody, but I hope that if you rewatch Nicaragua, take a closer look at Jane and her actions and see how it lines up with somebody like Rupert or Coach who are much more prevalent when it comes to these “entitled, broken, facade” archetypes. You will see a brilliant story of grief, hatred, entitlement, and a fake persona that the show knows she is trying to present.
Personally, Jane will always be one of my favorite characters of all time with amazing scenes and a story almost as complex as Ian’s. She didn’t win this rankdown, but she won my heart and has definitely earned herself a #1 spot on my rankings for this endgame.
SMC0629: 19
DryBonesKing: 21
Zanthosus: 24
Tommyroxs45: 1
Regnisyak1: 20
DavidW1208: 24
ninjedi1: 24
Average Placement: 19.000
Total Points: 133
Standard Deviation: 8.206 (2nd Highest)